Some tips for The Sims 3 Buy/Build
Install LazyDuchessâ Smooth Patch to alleviate lag, esp in Buy/Build and CAS.
Keep your CC merged and organized, esp your patterns, this will also alleviate a lotta lag across all modes.
When building on community lots, or any lot rlly, avoid going to the edit world menu, and just put testingcheats enabled into the cheat window, then shift+click the ground of the lot to enter Buy/Build mode. This makes leaving it to save a lot easier, with less âpreparingâ screens to possibly get hung up in.
Lower your settings, you donât need any adjacent lots loaded, and you certainly donât need super water on either. You can always switch these back on when youâre done.
While youâre at it, remove your HQ mod, and turn off your Reshade/Gshade preset, or at least turn off your depth shaders. I only ever turn on my depth shaders when Iâm taking screenshots for better fps while playing. The DoF shader esp requires a lotta resources your game could be using to simulate all those 78 townie sims instead.
Save as⌠vs Save, I Save as⌠at least every third save. Itâs also just good habit to keep backups.
When using the CASt tool, set down everything you plan to CASt first, then switch to a category like the wall tool to avoid eventual lag and drag when using it a lot. Love yourself. You donât have to suffer using CASt tool in an overpopulated category like misc deco.
Utilize the clone option through testing cheats to duplicate already CASted objects, itâll keep your design just like the dropper tool, but itâs a lot less time consuming, I promise.
Donât be afraid to use the swatch save tool for objects you use often, esp community lot objects, as it helps to keep your aesthetic consistent. I also keep all of my favorite streetlamps, benches, and public trash bins etc in a convenient custom collection folder to speed up the process of doing multiple lots in one sitting. These handy tools are there, use them.
The issue with custom counters. They mess up sometimes, if you canât recolor it suddenly, hereâs how to fix that. Now if you canât place down a cupboard suddenly, even though nothingâs in the way, and youâve got moveobjects on activated, try putting it on the wall a tile over, and then try adding it to your desired spot again. Lastly if you set down counters or cupboards at a corner, and it messes up the textures, but you can still recolor it, you could do what the video I linked above does, or you could simply pull out the CASt tool, and switch it back to any of its original swatches and click the check, then feel free to recolor it as you want.
Railings will also do the âcanât recolorâ trick too, but this is a simple fix, just delete it, and replace it, and youâre good.
âOh no, I switched between buy and build mode, and now my catalogue wonât load, and I canât click on anything at all!â Donât panic, hit F2 and/or F3 on your keyboard, these are shortcuts for switching between them, and if youâre lucky itâll load properly again. Should you get the bug where you load a category and itâs somehow empty, donât fret, just click on a different category and this should fix it. Then if you get the bug where all the objects you put down disappear suddenly, sorry your game is haunted. Call an exorcist, or just reload, they might reappear if you do.
Tbh, if you run into any kind of major bugs, itâs likely a sign to either save immediately or just restart your game. These only ever show up when youâve been at it a while ( at least for me ), therefore starting fresh wouldnât hurt. Probably also wouldnât hurt to check whether you mightâve installed something the game didnât agree with by running Dashboard, or put it through the olâ Save Cleaner.
Honorable Mention: Keep an eye on the texture sizes and poly counts of objects. I know itâs tempting to build these ultra hyperrealistic lots with clutter at every inch, but unless youâre just doing it for screenshots, or for your story, or using it very sparingly, it is not by any means recommended purely for gameplay. This is just the truth when it comes to any Sims game. You donât want lag, or max memory crashes, or save errors? The Sims 3 is a 32bit game, thatâs almost old enough to drive, be easy on it.
