Game Mod Discussion at Carl's Sims 3 Forum

[Seabody]

MTS also has Mods (Hence ModTheSims) so it's alright to link to under the rules.

[Carl]

Right. That's why I specified sites that feature only CC. Thanks to you all who have made helpful posts already

[CSquared2]

I really need to pay more attention.  I was just hanging out, checking on sub-forums I don't usually visit and it hit me: that forum wasn't there before.  What's that about???  A week and 11 pages later . . .   

I'm also really glad this rule has been relaxed.  I totally understand the caution the rules were meant to instill regarding mods.  I've also played with mods for ages (more heavily in TS2 than TS3) and know how they can enrich a game.  I'm also glad because . . . when twallan popped up, I was so excited to have his expertise here, and I felt like an idiot suggesting that he not talk about mods, but I didn't know what else to say and I didn't want him to decide Carl's site wasn't for him if somebody said the wrong thing.  I'm glad he's stayed and now we can benefit from all his knowledge.   

I do have a quick question.  I tried to read thoroughly through the 11 pages, but I'll admit to skimming, so my apologies if I missed this: I saw challenges discussed in regards to mods, but what about regular, non-challenge stories?  Until now, I've refrained using mods (specifically, to allow an increased family size) in a story because they were so frowned upon here.  Would inclusion of modded gameplay be allowed in stories posted here?  If it makes any difference, the story is hosted on a blog, I just share it here.

[Carl]

You can use mods in stories, of course. It's just that in challenges mod use is banned to keep us from having to say this is ok, but this isn't. Also, remember any new specific questions about mods should be put in the mod board now. This topic has seen the end of its usefulness, other than comments or questions about the policy.

Edit: I added a line about mod use in challenges and stories into the mod board rules. Thanks for reminding me

[CSquared2]

Oops, sorry, this looked like the place to ask.  You're welcome, and thank you!

[Metropolis Man]

Fantastic Carl. Well done. I am really pleased to see the new board go live.

[NonaMena]

I'm hereby change your name to Jedi Master NonaMena (that would be a great Star Wars name anyways, wouldn't it?).  This is very wise advice, and probably not something that we should be doing here.  A day or two after the patch is released, and they will all be updated.  Play-by-play's are unnecessary because the information will be quickly outdated.

Haha Off topic, but! In fact, I do have a lovely Jedi Master in SWToR, although she isn't named NonaMena.

Anyhow, the new Mods forum is looking nice and super busy already.

[AdnaanA]

Hi! I suggest you go to http://nraas.wikispaces.com to read up. He's excellent with documentation. But for now,

1. Errortrap cleans up your save game. Most of the time it works in the background and you don't notice it. If it fails to correct the issue, it'll record a script error located in the sims 3 folder. You can zip it up and send them back to Twallan and see if there's anything to be corrected.

I believe you meant Overwatch. It mostly reduces lag by deleting vehicles spawned by npcs, turning of stereos and tvs, recovering missing sims, resetting stuck sims etc. Again, you won't notice it except at around 3 a.m. cos that's when the cleanup is done.

2. I'm not too familiar with Woohooer because I didn't install this. But yes, Woohoo-ing is a skill called Kama Simtra. =P

3. MasterController is what it says. It allows you to control every single aspect of the game. I can't play without this. There're optional modules with one MasterController Cheats for the cheaters out there (me).

4. PortraitPanel allows 24 portraits to be displayed simultaneously.

Hope this helps! =)

Thanks PiggyPox!

[Branr]

My 2 simoleans after the fact:

I am totally in to this decision, been a nrass mod-user for most of my TS3 experience.I don't know how many times I read about someone complaining about excavation being broken in WA, and not being able to tell them a simple mod would fix that problem, considering EA failed to fix it for over two years.  I recently read that the bug has been fixed, but for all that time, people didn't use WA (my favorite EP) due to bugs that were resolved by a couple files.

[Joria]

Waaaay after the fact.  I've never used mods, although I've been a member on MTS since Sims2.  Why?  Scaredy cat sums it up pretty good.  I like playing my game "clean" and have learned to put up with lag, freezing and other problems.  I'm pretty old so learning new things is often a major challenge to me.  I would like to try two of the mods I've read about but someone would basically have to hold my hand and go step by step with me.  Is it worth bothering you all for that?  Not sure.
Another reason I've not used them is I'm basically on permanent vacation and too lazy to stir myself to have to remove and replace every time there is a new update.  Just too much work.  I'd rather play and at my age (73 I think), I've totally given myself permission to do just that, pretty much all day and most of the night long, (in between naps). 

I love challenges and I love learning new things.  I love Metro's challenges, (mostly except when I'm pulling out my hair over one), I love creating new worlds with our Top Secret (no more), team and I love learning things that could be fun.  Who knows.  I just might bother one of you to help me add a mod, but meanwhile, Esther and I will muddle along without them.  I'm glad we can discuss them, I'm glad others will be able to share their experiences and not worry about whether or not they said, "MTS is a great site", or whatever.  No one ever said we couldn't use mods, they just said we couldn't talk about them and now we can.  Bravo, Carl!

[RunAmokSims]

I agree with Saltypaws. One of the things that always worried me about Sims 3 was the lack of fps limiting, I ended up frying my video card due to it. After an extensive amount of research, I found a mod that limits my fps to no higher than 30. Some things the development team of the game overlook can be game breaking just as much as the bad mods out there.

I have some questions about this.

How can I check the fps my game is running at?
Which mod regulates this?
Can you run at higher graphic settings if you use it?

The reason I ask is that I play on a lap top and just to be on the same side I've always played in window mode.  Would using this mod make me feel more secure about playing full screen? Does it make any difference?

[wednesday21]

I have some questions about this.

How can I check the fps my game is running at?
Which mod regulates this?
Can you run at higher graphic settings if you use it?

The reason I ask is that I play on a lap top and just to be on the same side I've always played in window mode.  Would using this mod make me feel more secure about playing full screen? Does it make any difference?

1) To check the fps your game is currently running at open up the cheat box and type in "fps on". A double- or single-digit number should appear in the upper right corner of your screen, that is what you're looking for.

2) Check out this article on SimPrograms; as far as I know, it's not a mod but a program/tool called FPS limiter. I'm going to add it to my game because browsing through some threads on other Sims forums it seems that this thing helps people enormously.

3) Not sure so don't quote me on this, but probably.

ETA: The download link is not working for me. I tried this one instead, - http://www.mediafire.com/?ym4g3rugdyg

For information about this FPS limiter tool go here.

[RunAmokSims]

1) To check the fps your game is currently running at open up the cheat box and type in "fps on". A double- or single-digit number should appear in the upper right corner of your screen, that is what you're looking for.

2) Check out this article on SimPrograms; as far as I know, it's not a mod but a program/tool called FPS limiter. I'm going to add it to my game because browsing through some threads on other Sims forums it seems that this thing helps people enormously.

3) Not sure so don't quote me on this, but probably.

ETA: The download link is not working for me. I tried this one instead, - http://www.mediafire.com/?ym4g3rugdyg

For information about this FPS limiter tool go here.

I've been reading and I started my game up just to check the fps.  it ranges between  the lowest number I saw was 8 and the highest number I saw was 12. From what I've been reading in the articles it's normally about 20 to 35. Now I'm really confused.

 I'm running it in windows mode and I have the default graphics setting.  I don't know if it makes any difference but I have an AMD Athlon II dual core M300 processor and  a AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 - 256 MB.