#ts3 tutorial

Graphics :

*Note : my sim details, visual effects and texture quality in game settings are all set on high !

My Reshade Preset

HQ MOD - *kwimii (tutorial used : here)

Shader tweaks

Presets :

Hair Color Presets Replacement

Eye Color Presets Replacement

Face Presets Default Replacement V.2 : Headshapes, Eyes, Nose, Lips

Defaults :

Default Eyes (Redwood)

Default Skin + Asian Skins + No Skin Glow

Default Face Overlay (Replaces Default Eyelashes Texture)

Make-Up :

Main Favorite Creators : @sourlemonsimblr, @smallsimmer, @pleaseputnamehere (their make-up cc is like my religion deadass)

Eyelashes

Eye Contacts (all from @satellite-sims)

Hair :

Main Favorite Creators : @rollo-rolls, @nemiga-sims-archive, @lalasimmer, @cazysims (on TSR), @vmsims25

Eyebrows :

Main Favorite Creators : @sourlemonsimblr, @pralinesims (on TSR)

Main sliders :

*Note : most of the sliders I use are EA sliders, other sliders are just to make my sims look a bit more unique but these sliders I'm listing I always use them with no hesitation

SmoothFaceNormals

Male Jaw Sliders

Credits : 

My method

I recorded the polycount of 10 items from each category below so that I could get a decent representation from each one to calculate the average. Since there is a wide range in some of the categories, I’ve opted to also include the minimum, median, and maximum for a clearer picture.

This list is not exhaustive; I feel like after a while, you kind of get the point. Also, this has been sitting on my computer for ages, and I don’t know if/when I will continue collecting data for it, so I figured I would just share what I have for now.

CAS

Tops:

Average polycount: 3538.4

Minimum polycount: 2868

Median polycount: 3443

Maximum polycount: 4872

Outfits:

Average polycount: 4281.8

Minimum polycount: 3865

Median polycount: 4205.5

Maximum polycount: 4932

Bottoms:

Average polycount: 1094.2

Minimum polycount: 770

Median polycount: 1016

Maximum polycount: 1768

Hair:

Average polycount: 4343.2

Minimum polycount: 2298

Median polycount: 4691

Maximum polycount: 6840

Shoes:

Average polycount: 621.6

Minimum polycount: 456

Median polycount: 594

Maximum polycount: 968

Accessories

Average polycount: 520.8

Minimum polycount: 118

Median polycount: 433

Maximum polycount: 1098

Objects

Dining Chairs

Average polycount: 806.3

Minimum polycount: 362

Median polycount: 799

Maximum polycount: 1054

Sofas and Loveseats

Average polycount: 1699.4

Minimum polycount: 958

Median polycount: 1414

Maximum polycount: 2920

Livingroom Chairs

Average polycount: 791.0

Minimum polycount: 290

Median polycount: 920

Maximum polycount: 1006

Beds

Average polycount: 3529.4

Minimum polycount: 1974

Median polycount: 3316

Maximum polycount: 5668

Plants

Average polycount: 746.3

Minimum polycount: 104

Median polycount: 801

Maximum polycount: 1998

Sculptures

Average polycount: 1659.3

Min polycount: 440

Median polycount: 1417.5

Max polycount: 5263

Misc

Average polycount: 914.4

Min polycount: 380

Median polycount: 988

Max polycount: 1926

Curtains

Average polycount: 762.4

Min polycount: 262

Median polycount: 802

Max polycount: 1438

Wall Art

Average polycount: 524.1

Min polycount: 62

Median polycount: 171

Max polycount: 2403

Dining Tables

Average polycount: 754.8

Min polycount: 468

Median polycount: 685

Max: 1262

For vehicles, check out this follow-up from @dhalsims

Further reading from people who are way smarter than me:

Polygon counts and Sims CC by @simlicious, plus their tutorial on how to check polycounts using TSRW. Edited to add: check out their newest essay about polycount vs vertices!

Let’s Talk Polygons by @mspoodle1 plus their tutorial on how to use S3pe to check polycounts.

A warning about high polycount custom content - for downloaders and creators by @tommeraas-cc (this post is for TS4 but still relevant for TS3 as well).

Maybe no one cares about cc polycounts anymore, but I sure do. 😅

Disclaimer and Credits

Desiree and I are no tech experts and just wrote down how we did this. Our ability to help if you run into trouble is limited. So use at your own risk and back up your files!

We both are on Windows 10 and start the game via TS3W.exe, not the EA App. So your experience may differ.

This guide is based on our own experiments and of course criisolate’s post on tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/criisolate/749374223346286592/ill-explain-what-i-did-below-before-making-any

This guide is brought to you by Desiree-UK and Norn.

Compatibility

Note: This will conflict with other programs that “inject” functionality into your game so they may stop working. Notably

Reshade

GShade

Nvidia Experience/Nvidia Inspector/Nvidia Shaders

RivaTuner Statistics Server

It does work seamlessly with LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch.

LazyDuchess’ Launcher: unknown

Alder Lake patch: does conflict. One user got it working by starting the game by launching TS3.exe (also with admin rights) instead of TS3W.exe. This seemed to create the cache file for DXVK. After that, the game could be started from TS3W.exe again. That might not work for everyone though.

A word on FPS and V-Sync

With such an old game it’s crucial to cap framerate (FPS). This is done in the DXVK.conf file. Same with V-Sync.

You need

a text editor (easiest to use is Windows Notepad)

to download DXVK, version 2.3.1 from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/releases/tag/v2.3.1 Extract the archive, you are going to need the file d3d9.dll from the x32 folder

the configuration file DXVK.conf from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/blob/master/DXVK.conf. Optional: download the edited version with the required changes here.

administrator rights on your PC

to know your game’s installation path (bin folder) and where to find the user folder

a tiny bit of patience :)

First Step: Backup

Backup your original Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path! The DXVK file may overwrite some files! The path should be something like this (for retail): \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located.)

Backup your options.ini in your game’s user folder! Making the game use the DXVK file will count as a change in GPU driver, so the options.ini will reset once you start your game after installation. The path should be something like this: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 (This is the folder where your Mods folder is located).

Preparations

Make sure you run the game as administrator. You can check that by right-clicking on the icon that starts your game. Go to Properties > Advanced and check the box “Run as administrator”. Note: This will result in a prompt each time you start your game, if you want to allow this application to make modifications to your system. Click “Yes” and the game will load.

2. Make sure you have the DEP settings from Windows applied to your game.

Open the Windows Control Panel.

Click System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings.

On the Advanced tab, next to the Performance heading, click Settings.

Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

Select 'Turn on DEP for all programs and services except these”:

Click the Add button, a window to the file explorer opens. Navigate to your Sims 3 installation folder (the bin folder once again) and add TS3W.exe and TS3.exe.

Click OK. Then you can close all those dialog windows again.

Setting up the DXVK.conf file

Open the file with a text editor and delete everything in it. Then add these values:

d3d9.textureMemory = 1

d3d9.presentInterval = 1

d3d9.maxFrameRate = 60

d3d9.presentInterval enables V-Sync,d3d9.maxFrameRate sets the FrameRate. You can edit those values, but never change the first line (d3d9.textureMemory)!

The original DXVK.conf contains many more options in case you would like to add more settings.

A. no Reshade/GShade

Setting up DXVK

Copy the two files d3d9.dll and DXVK.conf into the Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path. This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located. If you are prompted to overwrite files, please choose yes (you DID backup your folder, right?)

And that’s basically all that is required to install.

Start your game now and let it run for a short while. Click around, open Buy mode or CAS, move the camera.

Now quit without saving. Once the game is closed fully, open your bin folder again and double check if a file “TS3W.DXVK-cache” was generated. If so – congrats! All done!

Things to note

Heads up, the game options will reset! So it will give you a “vanilla” start screen and options.

Don’t worry if the game seems to be frozen during loading. It may take a few minutes longer to load but it will load eventually.

The TS3W.DXVK-cache file is the actual cache DXVK is using. So don’t delete this! Just ignore it and leave it alone. When someone tells to clear cache files – this is not one of them!

Update Options.ini

Go to your user folder and open the options.ini file with a text editor like Notepad.

Find the line “lastdevice = “. It will have several values, separated by semicolons. Copy the last one, after the last semicolon, the digits only. Close the file.

Now go to your backup version of the Options.ini file, open it and find that line “lastdevice” again. Replace the last value with the one you just copied. Make sure to only replace those digits!

Save and close the file.

Copy this version of the file into your user folder, replacing the one that is there.

Things to note:

If your GPU driver is updated, you might have to do these steps again as it might reset your device ID again. Though it seems that the DXVK ID overrides the GPU ID, so it might not happen.

How do I know it’s working?

Open the task manager and look at RAM usage. Remember the game can only use 4 GB of RAM at maximum and starts crashing when usage goes up to somewhere between 3.2 – 3.8 GB (it’s a bit different for everybody).

So if you see values like 2.1456 for RAM usage in a large world and an ongoing save, it’s working. Generally the lower the value, the better for stability.

Also, DXVK will have generated its cache file called TS3W.DXVK-cache in the bin folder. The file size will grow with time as DXVK is adding stuff to it, e.g. from different worlds or savegames. Initially it might be something like 46 KB or 58 KB, so it’s really small.

Optional: changing MemCacheBudgetValue

MemCacheBudgetValue determines the size of the game's VRAM Cache. You can edit those values but the difference might not be noticeable in game. It also depends on your computer’s hardware how much you can allow here.

The two lines of seti MemCacheBudgetValue correspond to the high RAM level and low RAM level situations. Therefore, theoretically, the first line MemCacheBudgetValue should be set to a larger value, while the second line should be set to a value less than or equal to the first line.

The original values represent 200MB (209715200) and 160MB (167772160) respectively. They are calculated as 200x1024x1024=209175200 and 160x1024x1024=167772160.

Back up your GraphicsRules.sgr file! If you make a mistake here, your game won’t work anymore.

Go to your bin folder and open your GraphicsRules.sgr with a text editor.

Search and find two lines that set the variables for MemCacheBudgetValue.

Modify these two values to larger numbers. Make sure the value in the first line is higher or equals the value in the second line. Examples for values: 1073741824, which means 1GB 2147483648 which means 2 GB. -1 (minus 1) means no limit (but is highly experimental, use at own risk)

Save and close the file. It might prompt you to save the file to a different place and not allow you to save in the Bin folder. Just save it someplace else in this case and copy/paste it to the Bin folder afterwards. If asked to overwrite the existing file, click yes.

Now start your game and see if it makes a difference in smoothness or texture loading. Make sure to check RAM and VRAM usage to see how it works.

You might need to change the values back and forth to find the “sweet spot” for your game. Mine seems to work best with setting the first value to 2147483648 and the second to 1073741824.

Uninstallation

Delete these files from your bin folder (installation path):

d3d9.dll

DXVK.conf

TS3W.DXVK-cache

And if you have it, also TS3W_d3d9.log

if you changed the values in your GraphicsRule.sgr file, too, don’t forget to change them back or to replace the file with your backed up version.

OR

delete the bin folder and add it from your backup again.

B. with Reshade/GShade

Follow the steps from part A. no Reshade/Gshade to set up DXVK.

If you are already using Reshade (RS) or GShade (GS), you will be prompted to overwrite files, so choose YES. RS and GS may stop working, so you will need to reinstall them.

Whatever version you are using, the interface shows similar options of which API you can choose from (these screenshots are from the latest versions of RS and GS).

Please note: 

Each time you install and uninstall DXVK, switching the game between Vulkan and d3d9, is essentially changing the graphics card ID again, which results in the settings in your options.ini file being repeatedly reset.

ReShade interface

Choose – Vulcan

Click next and choose your preferred shaders.

Hopefully this install method works and it won't install its own d3d9.dll file.

If it doesn't work, then choose DirectX9 in RS, but you must make sure to replace the d3d9.dll file with DXVK's d3d9.dll (the one from its 32bit folder, checking its size is 3.86mb.)

GShade interface

Choose –           

Executable Architecture: 32bit

Graphics API: DXVK

Hooking: Normal Mode

GShade is very problematic, it won't work straight out of the box and the overlay doesn't show up, which defeats the purpose of using it if you can't add or edit the shaders you want to use.

Check the game's bin folder, making sure the d3d9.dll is still there and its size is 3.86mb - that is DXVK's dll file.

If installing using the DXVK method doesn't work, you can choose the DirectX method, but there is no guarantee it works either.

The game will not run with these files in the folder:

d3d10core.dll

d3d11.dll

dxgi.dll

If you delete them, the game will start but you can't access GShade! It might be better to use ReShade.

Some Vulcan and DirectX information, if you’re interested:

Vulcan is for rather high end graphic cards but is backward compatible with some older cards. Try this method with ReShade or GShade first.

DirectX is more stable and works best with older cards and systems. Try this method if Vulcan doesn't work with ReShade/GShade in your game – remember to replace the d3d9.dll with DXVK's d3d9.dll.

For more information on the difference between Vulcan and DirectX, see this article:

♦︎ You're probably surprised to learn that there are so many maternity references hidden in the game files, while in the actual game there's only a handful of maternity options. Well, EA was silly as usual and forgot to enable a majority of them for our preggo Sims to wear. What's even weirder is that there are a bunch proper maternity bone deltas for clothing without any maternity morphs. Even ones for female teens and elders! In case you didn't know, bone deltas are basically what communicate to the game the shape of a Sim's body. This is to prevent clipping issues like hands going through bellies.

MATERNITY RESOURCES DOWNLOAD: SIMBLR.CC | SIMFILESHARE

♦︎ So most of the resources included here are for adult female Sims. Like I mentioned above there are some teen and elder maternity bone deltas too, but EA obviously never made any morphs. So for them I've included a few basic pregnancy morph references. These are edited by me, but based on and compatible with teen and elder maternity morphs by sweetdevil and SimplexSims. They should work alright for most clothing, but if you require more maternity morph references, then I recommend you use the ones from the EA conversions done by @sweetdevil-sims or by me. Nothing for males is included in the resources, but the tutorial does have a section for adding maternity bonedeltas to male Sims.

♦︎ Reminder that EA's maternity morphs don't just give your Sims a pregnant belly, but also make your Sims gain a small amount of weight overall. This is why it's very important to assign correct bone deltas alongside the maternity morphs. These not only prevents clipping issues with the belly, but also thighs, arms, hips, etc.

TUTORIAL START

♦︎ Required tools: S3PE | Mesh Toolkit | Blender + GEOM Tools Optional tools: BoneDeltaEditor | S3OC

♦︎ I've tried to make the tutorial noob friendly. As such it's pretty long. If you're an experienced CC creator/converter, then you'll probably know how to do a lot of what's explained here.

♦︎ This tutorial has been split into multiple sections. This first section explains how to add maternity morphs to a finished CC or EA clothing package. If you already know how to do this, you can skip to the section about adding maternity bone deltas.

Creating maternity morphs using EA references

♦︎ First, open the package file of the clothing item you want to enable for maternity with S3PE. If you want to enable an EA item for maternity, then clone it with S3OC (Cloning > CAS Part > Select one > Clone or Fix > Uncheck Renumber > Start).

♦︎ If your package has no internal names for the resources inside S3PE, then make sure to generate these using Mesh Toolkit: Package Tools > Name Those Files.

♦︎ In S3PE select all the LODs under the GEOM tag (lod1, lod2, lod3) and export them to your WIP folder. If you see any with a morph name, like lod1-fat, then skip those.

♦︎ If you see any LODs with multiple groups (like lod1, lod1-1), then in Mesh Toolkit go to: GEOM Tools > Combine Meshes. Combine lod1 with lod1-1. Combine lod2 with lod2-1, etc.

♦︎ Next inside Mesh Toolkit go to: Auto tools for GEOM > Auto-create Morph Mesh. First select your LOD1 as the GEOM base mesh to morph. Then click Select file for the reference mesh. Now it's time to select a good reference.

♦︎ This is the way I like to do it. If I'm creating a maternity morph for an adult female top, I'm going to look in the af_Morph_Refs folder, which is inside the resources folder that I've provided above. In the search bar I type: afTop. Right click inside the folder and 'View > Extra large icons' and 'Sort by > Type', then at the bottom right of the window switch from 'GEOM mesh files' to 'All files' so you're able to see the thumbnails of all the references. Then I usually like to start up TS3 and go into CAS so I can compare these in-game to the top I'm adding the morph to.

♦︎ You'll want to look for a similar shape overall, especially paying attention to which parts of the body are bare. Using a long sleeved top as a reference for a top with bare arms isn't the best idea, but the reverse could work alright. With tops it's especially important to pay attention to whether the lengths of the tops match up. For the top shown in the preview I ended up choosing the highlighted reference in the image above, as it matches that top the closest.

♦︎ Right click on the thumbnail of the reference you want to use > Open file location. Inside this folder you'll want to select the lod1 simgeom file. Next select the file for the reference morph. Which is either also a simgeom or a blendgeom file and should have SPECIAL in the filename. Now click the 'Create Morph Mesh' button and save your new maternity morph. I usually name it LOD1_SPECIAL.

♦︎ Time to see how your morph looks. Open blender and head to Scene Properties. Under Sims 3 GEOM Tools click 'Import GEOM' and open your lod1. Then make sure to select it once it's imported and under GEOM Tools click 'Import Morphs'. In the window that pops up make sure to uncheck VertexID Lookup.

♦︎ Now it's time to inspect your morph mesh to check for any wonky geometry or messy normals. This mesh looks pretty smooth and requires no changes. If your morph has especially bad geometry, then you could try a different reference. It's likely that yours will at least have some weird normals (shadows) and you may want to fix that. I won't go over how to fix geometry in this tutorial, as that's more general blender knowledge, but I'll go over how to fix bad normals below. Lots of steps ahead, bear with me..

♦︎ Right, how to fix bad normals on a morph. First duplicate your morph in blender. Under modifier properties, select the 'Weighted Normal' modifier on the duplicate. Now take this duplicate into edit mode. Hover over and press the L key to select parts of the mesh which are supposed to smoothly join together. Press M > By Distance. Repeat until you're rid of the unnecessary seams. Next select all parts on which you'd see a Sim's bare skin, like hands and bare arms for example. Under Object Data Properties > Vertex Groups > Click + to add a new group. Now click on 'Assign' while you still have those parts selected. Now you'll want to import a bare reference. Import GEOM and choose from the resources folder an appropriate mesh. For tops I'd pick 'afTopBra_burnt'. Afterwards import it's morph too. Now on the duplicate mesh apply the 'Data Transfer' modifier. Source: the morph of the bare reference. Vertex Group: the group you added. Checkmark 'Face Corner Data', expand and click 'Custom Normals'. In the drop down below it select 'Nearest Face Interpolated'. Now exit edit mode and apply both modifiers. Go back to your original morph with the bad normals and apply to it the 'Data Transfer' modifier. Select the same options again, minus the vertex group, but this time Source: mesh with fixed normals, and under the dropdown select 'Topology'. Apply and the normals should be smooth now. To export the fixed morph you'll need to export it's base mesh. If you perform this method to smooth normals on a base mesh, then remember to delete the added vertex group before export!

♦︎ Now you'll want to create the morphs for lod2 and lod3. With maternity morphs it's generally fine to reuse the lod1 morph as a reference for the lower LODs. So repeat what you did before, but this time morph lod2, use lod1 as the ref mesh and then the lod1 morph as the ref morph. Now repeat with lod3 and you should have a morph for each LOD.

♦︎ In Mesh Toolkit go to: Morph Tools > Make Clothing/Hair BGEO. Here you'll put your new maternity morphs. Select your lod1, 2 and 3 morphs, then click 'Make BGEO'. Save to your WIP folder. Skip this if you're adding morphs to a clothing item from TS3 Store.

♦︎ Now inside your package file select the BGEO resource of the maternity morph. It's usually the last one and should end with '_special'. Right click > Replace > Select the BGEO you saved in the previous step. With clothing from TS3 Store morphs are saved as GEOMs, so to add those go to Mesh Toolkit > Package Tools > Add Morphs to Clothing/Hair. Tick 'Add as Morph Meshes' and untick the option above. If the LODs have multiple groups then you'll have to create the morphs again for each group, using the morph reference you just made.

♦︎ Congrats, your clothing item now has a maternity morph! Don't forget to click on the CASP resource inside the package > Grid > ClothingCategory > ValidForMaternity: True. You may now save your package or select the BGEO and export it to a new package to make it an override. Your clothing item will still need appropriate bone deltas, so make sure to follow the next section.

Replacing bone deltas using EA references

♦︎ Every clothing item enabled for maternity requires correct bone deltas to prevent clipping issues. You'll want to make sure the shape of the clothing item you're using it's bone deltas from is similar in shape. The shape at each area of the body matters. So for flared pants, you'll want to use the bone deltas of another pair of flared pants. It's NOT recommended that you use the bone deltas of a full body outfit for a top/bottom or vice versa. Teen and elder females have a lot fewer maternity bone delta references. In some cases the best option may be to use an adult female bone delta for them. You'll usually want to use the bone deltas of the clothing item you got your morph reference from, but this isn't always the case (some of them don't even have any, thanks EA).

♦︎ Open your package with S3PE. Select the maternity BOND (it's usually the last one and should end with 'BOND4' or 'special'). Right click > Copy ResourceKey. Then, right click > Replace. Go into the BoneDeltas folder inside the resources folder that I've provided above. Open the folder that matches your clothing item. So for an adult female top I'd look inside 'afTop'. Right click inside the folder and 'View > Extra large icons' and search '.png'. Make sure that at the bottom right of the window it says 'All files', so you're able to view the thumbnails of all the references. Pick one that matches your clothing item in shape. It helps to compare them in-game. Right click the thumbnail > Open file location. Now select the .bonedelta file. After it's replaced, click on Grid > Expand ChunkEntries > Expand again > Double click the value next to TGIBlock > Paste > Commit.

♦︎ Your clothing item now has correct maternity bone deltas, yay! You may now save your package or select the BOND and export it to a new package to make it an override.

There's a tiny summary of these steps inside a .txt included with the resources. Now, if you somehow still can't find the bone deltas you need along the 90+ references, then there's a painful process you can go through to convert the bone deltas of a full body outfit to ones suitable for a top/bottom or vice versa. This is only recommended if you're as tedious as I am. These steps are also included in the .txt file.

Custom bone deltas (male maternity clothing)

♦︎ If you'd like to give a male clothing item proper maternity bone deltas or if you'd like to edit female ones, then you'll want to use the BoneDeltaEditor tool. For males it will be a bit less straightforward without any already created references for you to use, but it's still doable. All existing male maternity clothes only seem give your Sim a pregnant tummy, without any weight gain on other areas of the body like with female Sims. Male maternity morphs are scattered all over by different creators, but they all seem to use the ones by our dear departed CmarNYC as a base. Right, let's get into it (yuh).

♦︎ First we'll have to replace one of BoneDeltaEditor's files. Otherwise the bones won't have proper names and it'll be impossible to determine what's what. At the bottom of this tutorial: LINK download the Pets_updated_bones.zip. Extract the bones.xml and replace the one in your BoneDeltaEditor folder with it.

♦︎ Open your package with S3PE and export the BOND that ends with 'BOND0' or 'normal'. Open BoneDeltaEditor.exe twice. Open the reference you want to use in the first window and the BOND that you just exported in the second one. Now, which bone delta reference to open in the first window is something you'll have to find out by doing a few comparisons. Either in-game or in blender. You must find a clothing item with a base mesh or morph that has a similar belly shape as your maternity morph. Which age or gender it's from and whether the rest of the body matches up doesn't really matter. You'll only be transferring over the bone delta values of the belly. Once you've found a match, it's time to transfer over some numbers. Copy and paste over the Offset values of R_frontBellyTarget_slot, L_frontBellyTarget_slot, R_BellyTarget_slot, etc. You get the deal. Make sure to do both R and L. Also don't forget to click Commit before selecting another bone. Repeat this with: R/L_carry_slot. Then File > Save (As). Now you'll have your male maternity bone delta ready for use. To correctly import it to your package, repeat the steps from the previous section.