Sims 3 released 11 expansions in total, find out the best sims 3 expansion packs in this article. Sims 3 follows the same storyline as the other Sims games before it. You have the responsibility to control virtual worlds full of simulated people. In Sims 3 new features and tools players can use are added. Your sims can be famous, they can live in a new town called starlight shores, and ride in a limo. Your sims can be an acrobat, an singer, and a magician. There is a lot of surprises in this expansion!
If you’re as excited for Sims 3 University as we are you may want to check out our new Sims 3 University Life post with exclusive news information, screenshots, and a trailer for the new Sims 3 expansion pack coming out March 5th.
THIS GUIDE IS ALL YOU NEED TO TRANSFORM YOUR VANILLA SIMS 3 GAME FROM AVERAGE TO AMAZING.
If you want to change your game from AMAZING to RETARDEDLY ADDICTING check out our Best Sims 3 Downloads For The Picky Player , Mods For An Ultra Realistic Sim Body and Best Realistic Sims 3 Skins guide (all parts of our realism and essential Sims 3 mods series) because we did all the hard work and picked only the best Sims 3 downloads to add reality and beauty to your game without you wasting your time going through pages of crap!
Change the way you play the Sims 3 with this top ten list of up-to-date mods and add-ons provided by the great Nraas to greatly enhance your gameplay. After trying out a few of these mods you won’t know how you ever played without em! If you have just purchased a copy of the Sims 3 or had to reinstall everything this list is perfect if you want a solid set of downloads that won’t clutter or crowd your game. Even if you installed nothing after these 10 mods you are good to go. Always remember to save and back up your files before playing around with the game folders.
If you’re a fan of realistic Sims and or Doctor Who you may want to check out our latest list of the best Doctor Who sims and mods for the Sims 3.
If you do not know how to install .package files to your Sims game I strongly suggest you read this guide to installing Sims 3 .package files to ensure your downloads load correctly in game.
Read on for the most useful Sims 3 mods from Nraas to date.
Check out our take on why we believe everyone should mod The Sims.
10. ErrorTrap
This mod’s handles save-game cleanup and error reporting. A must to help prevent your Sims game from becoming bloated!
9. Sleep Freedom
This is an object mod, replacing a specific set of EA content double beds with a custom copy from Nraas that removes bed sharing restrictions. Much more realistic for inactive households, because irl people with < 70 longterm relationship are able to lay in the same bed.
8. Written Word
This mod allows you to manipulate which books are listed at the in-game bookstore. Finally, being an author has a useful and interesting purpose because you can buy, sell, and read “Sim written” books.
7. Go Here
This mod alters the routing interactions, the “Go Here” and “Visit Lot” interactions used either autonomously or via user-direction. Now you can have more flexibility when selecting either option, your sim can plan another action immediately after, etc
6. Careers
Allows you to load custom careers for your Sims. You can use this mod just for the custom careers Nraas made, because they ARE great, or you can add even more good ones from various sites.
There are useful add-ons for this mod such as:
‘Schools’ which contains custom high school careers, assigned to different rabbitholes in town ‘Part-Time’ which contains custom part-time careers that provide skills useful in later careers ‘Tones’ add an expanded set of career tones for the EA careers, ‘The Family’ which is a full-time career based on the movie “The Departed”, if that’s your thing ‘Unemployed’ is useful as a placeholder career to prevent the EA Careers system from giving your sim a job ‘Self Employed’ contains a series of self-employed careers, expanding on the Ambitions set, I’m usually a hacker ‘Homemaker’ is a useful stay-at-home career which rewards your sim for cleaning and keeping everyone happy
5. Woohooer
A very well designed and complex mod that alters the romance and woohoo interactions available to Sims. You can change the settings on everything from active/inactive relationship requirements, age restrictions for relationships, allow near relation romance (incest) or teen and adult love.
There’s two main add-ons for this mod:
‘Scoring’ adds an “attraction” scoring system that adds a new layer of depth to your sims’ relationships ‘Kama Simtra’ adds an optional woohoo skill to keep track how good your sim is in bed. Now THAT’S real.
4. Register
A mod to manipulate the service and role sims in your town. The mod replaces the EA Role Manager with a custom version that corrects several bugs and allows for greater flexibility. Put whoever you want on the register, you’re the god of that town.
3. Decensor
Programmatic control of the censor grid. Much better than the NoMosaic tuning mods because this mod allows the user to choose under which conditions the censor is displayed. Because big censor blocks covering Barbie/Ken bodies sitting on a toilet is just ridulous. If you’re looking for a sim skin realistic enough to fit your newly enhance Sim universe than I suggest you check out our list of the Best Realistic Sims 3 Skins ( default and nondefault ).
2. Story Progression
This mod performs the automated maintenance and control of the inactive population in your town, ensuring your inactive sims will progress on with their lives when you are not playing them. THIS IS A NEEDED ADDITION TO THE GAME THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LIVE WITHOUT.
I highly recommend these add-ons as they enrich the game in ways you can only fully realize once you start playing:
‘Expanded’ contains the Interaction Injection portion of this mod, and other parts not specifically required for progression. ‘Extra’ contains the Map Tags system, Motive control, Inheritance, and other good stuff. ‘NameList Tuning’ is a tuning file you can add seperately with this mod to load custom name lists for use by the base-mod. Especially useful if you have a sim town of a specific ethnicity.
Nraas has also included some add ons for this mod that add certain personality elements to your sims story, you may want to read the information on the site for those (and all these mods) as there is a ton of information about these personalities and how they work. I personally find that blazing while playing Sims 3 eliminates the need for artificial storylines in this way but I may try them again in the near future to see if my experience changes. Add-on with the personality types added in parenthesis below:
‘Cops And Robbers’ (Robin, Cat, Vigilante, and Kingpin) ‘Lovers’ (Bike, Casanova, Gigolo, and Tart) ‘Meanies’ (Brat, Bully, Thug, and Harpy) ‘Others’ (Loon, Mooch, Nerd, and Magnate) ‘Vampires And Slayers’ (Dracul, Lestat, Nosferatu, Helsing, and Slayer)
1. Master Controller
An extremely useful mod that adds functionality to manage the population of your town. The mod provides manual interactions for altering sims either individually or by whatever criteria you can think of.
This mod has a few useful add-ons as well:
‘Cheats’ adds a series of more advanced or “cheaty” interactions to the MasterController base-mod menu. ‘Expanded Tattoo’ expands the number of locations provided in Tattoo CAS. ‘Integration’ replaces in-game interactions with custom versions that call MasterController functionality. ‘Progression’ adds interactions specifically related to StoryProgression, you must have that base-mod installed as well.
Honorable Mention goes to:
AntiMagicScroll: This mod replaces all recipes and compositions that are destroyed after a sim uses them. Because we all know how annoying and unrealistic it is when that 30 dollar recipe book vanishes in a cloud of smoke after a single sim reads it. Now you can watch The Sims 24/7 on our new Hxegamer.tv TV channel, The Sims Station. Click below!
Written by Puff, a.k.a. Jean
A lifelong gamer, master healer, and freelance writer that’s currently making a home of Florida. Follow her on Instagram @onlyjeanbean, and click here to find her articles on Zootgamer.
The Top Ten
1Bridgeport
I used to not really like Bridgeport as it used to be too busy to me and I overlooked all the aspects it had to offer, but I have recently gotten really into it! I have played it quite frequently recently, and it has a lot to do in town and this just made me realize how unique it really is! This town is one of my favorites now!
I really love Bridgeport. It offers a wide range of activities to do with your sim. Not only is it a city (which I think is so cool) but also you can get the underground route to get to a place quicker! Also the little hills next to the city is an amazing idea to have where all the celebrities live, it really does seperate the average sims and the famous sims!
I love Bridgeport. I think it's the best because it's really the only city-like, urban town that comes with an expansion pack. Though it's basically invaded with vampires and celebrities, it's still really fun to play.
For me this is the best Sims 3 world because offers a lot of opportunities and activites for your Sims, there's a fusion between residential and urban environments and Bridgeport is completely different to the rest of worlds.
2Sunset Valley
Now Sunset Valley is at least in my top 3. I have played this town forever(I mean obviously since it's the base game town). The town is beautiful and until I made a sims 3 account and got Riverview, this was the only town I played even when I got new expansion packs with their own towns. I have played so many families in this town to a very far and vast point in their family tree, and know every single pre-made townie by heart. This one is amazing!
I love sunset valley! I almost use this town in every family, I think they have one of the most best houses there and I recommend you to try sunset valley. But, once in a while, you can't really do anything so maybe try the others too if you use this town too much.
Usually the first base game town with green trees is the best town ( like pleasentview and willow creek they were also the best in 2 and 4. Also I feel like the downtown neighbourhoods are good as well so bridgeport, Belladona cove, TS2 downtown and San Myshuno. Drivers killed at oswego speedway. I also love Isla Paradiso but its kinda laggy.
It's also so much fun to play in, and it's a beautiful row with some interesting Sims. The homes are also nice.
3Riverview
I love the feel this town has to offer! It's very nostalgic and looks beautiful! Love the river running through it and the whole sleepy town aspect of it.
This is my favorite. It's beautiful, suburban, and it has a lot of Sims so if you go to any community lot there will always be a sim there.
I really enjoyed this neighborhood. It was more beautiful than sunset valley in my opinion.
It has the awesome planes that have the farm patterns but n lot
4Moonlight Falls
My favorite part of Moonlight Falls is the supernatural fell it has. It feels like a fantasy world and I love starting human sims there and seeing what supernatural they marry or even marrying a fellow human and seeing what supernatural their kids develop into. I have played this town quite a few times and love it!
It is exactly what I'm looking for in a town. And apart from beautiful scenery and mystic feel, it runs really smooth (unlike Glitchport). And it has a ton of empty space to place all the lot you want. Superb town.
Sims 3 Worlds Ranked
It's beautiful. It's scenery, name, and Supernatural's expansions town, it truly reminds you of Disney's home of supernatural, Gravity Falls.
I love this town. I just began really playing in it, and I'm in love! The atmosphere, supernaturals, and size of the town are just amazing!
5Twinbrook
Twinbrook is a good one. It is unique in that is one of the only worlds if the only world(as far as I know) that has a laundromat. It doesn't have a feel to it where you want to be real ambitious or a real busy town like I thought it might seeing as it came with Ambitions, but it is still a pretty descent town.
I only recently got my hands on this pack, it's a great word with tons of opportunity's, the only thing I would change, is the amount of starter homes, I'm sure there's only 1 starter home on normal grass land, but you can only get it unfurnished. Other than that, it's a beautiful world, especially with shaders.
Has the most character in my opinion. I like how grimy it is, which is something you don’t see in a lot of sims content. Very spacious to place lots and gorgeous details in the environment which is visible from roads. The sims are memorable.
This was the first town I played in. It's not only really nostalgic for me, but it provides a different feeling than the other towns. While Riverview, Sunset Valley and the like are all lush, green, and beautiful, Twinbrook is sort of a sickly green color. It's definitely different and definitely welcome. Love it!
6Lucky Palms
Ever since I played The Sims 2 with that Strangeville neighborhood, I've loved the idea of a desert-style neighborhood in TS3. Lucky Palms provides just that. Adding also that it's fully compatible with all of the expansions, it's a total jackpot for me (no pun intended).
It's great for raising a family and all the sims are so interesting
Its nice to play a huge family in and have wedding in the game
This word is my favorite because of mostly the looks
7Isla Paradiso
For last 5 expansions (Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons, University life, Island Paradise, Into The Future) The Island Paradise is my favorite. Only bugs to be expected. I suggest you DON'T play if you have for example adults and kids because switching takes a lot of time as well as you can experience bugs.
I love Isla Paradiso, but it has horrible routing issues if you want to play an architect! If a client's house is on an island, the game makes you go back to the mainland for almost every client interaction. It wastes hours each renovation.
This island is beautiful and this was my first sims 3 expansion, and my favorite for a long time. My only issues is its WAY too small if you have a lot of other expansions, as there is nowhere really to put them because the place is so small.
Such a laugh town, but it is, BY FAR THE BEST ONE OF ALL. It's so beautiful. I'd have to say that Sunlit tides is the second. I love this map, but be warned unless you have a supercomputer from the year 3000 this game will run slowly.
8Lunar Lakes
Easily one of the most original and hauntingly beautiful settings, with the most unique take on the classic characters. Aesthetically stunning, from the flora to the architecture and interior decor.
Easily the most imaginative of the worlds, with the aesthetic seeming to draw inspiration from the cult sci-fi classic Fantastic Planet. Gorgeous, haunting, and endlessly fun to play in.
I'm not into sci-fi stuff but dear lord I love the aesthetic of the little mountain houses. this is my all time favorite world
9Appaloosa Plains
I've had Appaloosa Plains for a while and it isn't my number 1 pick, but it is still pretty good. I like the never ending fall aspect of it and all the things around town for pets to do. It feels just right for a sim who wants to train their horse and compete in competitions or someone who just wants to live a laid back life and keeps lots of pets.
I love the whole western and country style. It's nice to get a big plot of land on the outskirts of town and turn it into a farm. But there's always the possibility of getting a smaller plot of land in a cute neighbourhood, and have a regular house. Payday the heist. It's a cute neighbourhood, it looks cozy warm and friendly
Appaloosa Plains is a wonderful, spread out town with loads of areas to explore. The downtown area of it is bustling and peaceful at the same time.
I love appaloosa plains because of the country feel to it. I love the beauty of the world and so much space for your animals to explore.
10Dragon Valley
I actually like certain towns depending on career path for my Sims. But Dragon Valley..I love this town. It is big, beautiful and so unique. There a lot of empty lots, and a lot of large ones. My favorite used to be Isla Paradiso, but there are lag issues. Not so much after reading some articles and learning what to fix. I love also Monte Vista. But for play, Dragon Valley. For resort mogul, Isla Paradiso. For the culinary Monte Vista or Bridgeport. Nectary owner, Riverview. Different towns cater better for different careers. But if you love to build (as I do) I tend to go to the towns that have either a lot of empty lots, or have enough space and decent land to place lots. Lucky Palms is great for building. As is Sunset Valley or Appaloosa Plains.
I really love this town. its not just another town, its another universe. u can have dragons and lots of things. I love the buildings, I love new sims and I really really love those elfs
Lots of medevil building which make you feel like you from another time! Lots of new items and dragons*!
A pretty city with one-of-a-kind chances for breeding color skin slider sims.
The Contenders
11Hidden Springs
I love the greenery in the town of Hidden Springs. My absolute favorite town, so far haha. There are multiple little cabin nooks throughout the town, plus home to one of my favorite lps stars in this town! xoxo
One of the newer towns that I have and I have played in it quite a lot. The beautiful mountains and the dark grass do it for me! I also love the lots like the spa or the pool or the central park!
Hidden Springs is actually really cute. I've played it for so long and loved every bit of it. There's something magical about the place for your sims. If you aim on having a gardening sim or fishing etc. I suggest living there in the rural part, it's much more fantasy like.
The Fountain is actually not placed in the city, but I love the fairytale feeling the rural parts have, as well as the strikingly beautiful spa and the smaller number of inhabitants that works well with older computers.
12Midnight Hollow
Amazing spooky ambiance in this world. The Victorian houses are just incredible and perfect for my games. There's just so much to say about this world and SO much included with it. The trees, the roof accents, the awesome re-done rabbitholes. I didn't realize that they could/would put out a world with this much content.
Everything there looks like a vintage Victorian oil painting.
Its very dangerous city my friend!
Spectacular architecture.
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13Roaring Heights
Wonderful town..I think it's better than Bridgeport. It has a lot to do, interesting Sims, and an amazing vibe.
I just downloaded that town, and it's really really cool!
I love to make millionaires in this town.
It's got a 1920s/1930s theme, which I love! Also comes with rollercoasters and some really cute hair/clothing items! :')
14Sunlit Tides
This is literal paradise, next to Isla paradiso.
This is basically the non-lagging version of Ilsa Paradiso
Summer paradise it is!
Simple and beautifull
15Monte Vista
Just got this world, and I absolutely love it so much. It has lovely scenery and landscaping. Also, I just moved the Capp family from Roaring Heights into Monte Vista, right next door to the Monty family. Things are going to get real lol.
Lovely scenery, definitely a European town
16Starlight Shores
This is my absolute favourite town because it has so much to over like the fact that half the houses have that Spanish villa feel to them and then there are all the modern mansions!
I think starlight shores has the best house and has a very glamorous feeling to it.
Ver playable
This is the only town I ever play in because it has so much to do and I love the feeling of how it's so city-like with the karaoke lots and others
17Aurora Skies
A gorgeous Iceland-inspired town with nature completely different from other towns.
This looks like a modern city and new one I like it!
I am Swedish so this town feelt like home, especially the buildings.
Very beautiful I love it
18
Sims 3 Free World Download
Sims University
I love playing in University. The town has beautiful hills, and it's a really nice looking town. It has a lot to do.
I love the University feel to it. Although, I do wish it was a bigger University
I love the opportunity
19Oasis Landing
I love the skyline, I always imagined it to be a futuristic Bridgeport
The thing I love about Oasis landing Is how futuristic it is and you get to choose what it is like and how you want it to be
20Setra
This massive sized Egyptian-themed world is GORGEOUS! its what the Sims WA version should have been like. It's a lot smaller than Alpine County. So you shouldn't suffer too much on the lag. You can also DL this world populated.
This is absolutely my favorite town.
21
The Sims 3 Exchange
Barnacle Bay
The not-so-tiny island might have to be my favorite. You can walk around being a pirate without any sim judging you.
22Champs Les Sims
Possibly my favorite. I wish Sims could live in the World Adventures towns, and we could play the premade families there. Oh well. France (Champes les Sims) is massive and so detailed. I love the ambiance it has.
We love living here. It has the best scenery and we are so happy here.
Sims 3 Best Town To Start
23Sugar Maple Coast
I remember when I was younger and I got my first sims game, sims 3 pets Xbox 360, I remember this world. They need to add this to sims 3
24Al Simhara
The Sims 3 Store
Looks boring, Shang Simla better than this, bored within 1 days.