What do I need to know about Sims 3?
I've only ever played Sims 4 due to being on a mac. I've finally got bootcamp working now, and I'd love to play 3—but I've heard a lot of things about it that will probably throw me, a lot. So, I'm a...
Forum Discussion
It's an incredibly fun and engaging iteration of the game that will take over your life and ruin it completely. I was a young man with a full head of hair and no signs of acid reflux whatsoever when I started playing this game and now I'm a complete mess (granted all that would have happened anyway, but still worth mentioning...). It should be avoided at all costs. >:) :p
Okay, just kidding. Mostly.
It's usually best to start with the base game and add the EPs and maybe TS3 store content in very gradually (and then consider CC and mods) to best appreciate what each one does and how these things impact gameplay. If you love to design stuff, even really talking about sims, lots, and arranging things in worlds in-game, one can get totally absorbed doing those things for ages. If you're more interested in actual gameplay, then of course that would be your concentration at least in the beginning.
EA worlds are great to play in at first, but Isla Paradiso is design-flawed and needs fixing up first, Bridgeport has more issues than most of the others.
Patches are cumulative, we don't get to decide which ones we want or don't want. A disc installed game should be patched up to 1.67 (newer discs require Origin and 1.69 now), Steam installs are on 1.67 automatically, Origin digital installs on Windows get 1.69. Both patch levels are the same except for the required Launcher/Origin tie-in on 1.69.
As for mods, I'm rather partial to these over here for some reason. The ones specifically designed to protect and improve performance would be Overwatch, ErrorTrap, Register, Traffic, and to an extent GoHere and Traveler (if world travel of any kind is desired). Then MasterController for player control and its helpful Reset Everything command on City Hall.
(Yes, we know the site is shutting down soon but we will have moved to our new site by October so any warnings that now display can be ignored).
Some of the EPs are very heavy on performance impact. Which model and year Mac do you have, does it have sufficient RAM and processor and a dedicated AMD or Nvidia graphics card?
@Bettyboop55 - The OP will be using Bootcamp and therefore be running the Windows version of the game. The shortcomings of the Mac version and difficulties in getting it installed on current Mac operating systems would not apply in this case.
Okay, just kidding. Mostly.
It's usually best to start with the base game and add the EPs and maybe TS3 store content in very gradually (and then consider CC and mods) to best appreciate what each one does and how these things impact gameplay. If you love to design stuff, even really talking about sims, lots, and arranging things in worlds in-game, one can get totally absorbed doing those things for ages. If you're more interested in actual gameplay, then of course that would be your concentration at least in the beginning.
EA worlds are great to play in at first, but Isla Paradiso is design-flawed and needs fixing up first, Bridgeport has more issues than most of the others.
Patches are cumulative, we don't get to decide which ones we want or don't want. A disc installed game should be patched up to 1.67 (newer discs require Origin and 1.69 now), Steam installs are on 1.67 automatically, Origin digital installs on Windows get 1.69. Both patch levels are the same except for the required Launcher/Origin tie-in on 1.69.
As for mods, I'm rather partial to these over here for some reason. The ones specifically designed to protect and improve performance would be Overwatch, ErrorTrap, Register, Traffic, and to an extent GoHere and Traveler (if world travel of any kind is desired). Then MasterController for player control and its helpful Reset Everything command on City Hall.
(Yes, we know the site is shutting down soon but we will have moved to our new site by October so any warnings that now display can be ignored).
Some of the EPs are very heavy on performance impact. Which model and year Mac do you have, does it have sufficient RAM and processor and a dedicated AMD or Nvidia graphics card?
@Bettyboop55 - The OP will be using Bootcamp and therefore be running the Windows version of the game. The shortcomings of the Mac version and difficulties in getting it installed on current Mac operating systems would not apply in this case.
