The Sims 3: Gameplay and Features
YES! The Sims 3. From many recent videos I’ve been seeing, here are my compiled list so far. I’m going to go from the intro to saving the game. More Images coming soon!
First of all, click this link to see the minimum requirements given by the site. Don’t worry it opens in a new window.
Introduction:
Many of you may have seen this video in The Sims 3 site (nonworking) (third of the latest videos). It’s the introduction. Well before that is the EA logo with the Plumbob on top. After the EA logo is the “The Sims 3″ sign and its animation. After that is what i said in the beginning 
.
Loading screen:
As I knew it, the main loading screen where it compiles everything.
Create Neighborhood/Saved Game Screen:
If you start new game, you will go to Create Neighborhood. One of the MOST LIKELY OPTIONS is Sunset Valley since that is what the game developers keep on talking about. I don’t know if they will add more.
Say you already started the game and saved it, then you’ll end up to a screen where you can load your neighborhood. It shows you the Sim that you’re playing and it’s house. You may also create new game from this screen.
Another, most likely final loading screen:
Ahhh, you’re about to enter your neighborhood. Beyond this, there will probably no more loading screens. Nothing special about this loading screen except that it tells you game tips while loading.
Neighborhood mode/Live mode:
If you made a new game, you’ll be guided with a tutorial to start your neighborhood. It’s pretty darn similar to how to create the Sims but this time, THERE WILL BE A LOT MORE, MORE FLEXIBLE OPTIONS! Like creating your very own style without the hassle of “mods” The “fat” or “thin” option is also more flexible, giving you a more accurate “medium” size sim or obese…or whatever you want to call it. There is also a Muscle size meter. Not just “no muscle” or “muscular” option, you can control the degree of muscles, just like the fatness of the sim.
If you came to sim mode, you most likely already started the game. From here, you can control your sim(s)! What is even special is that you can see the whole neighborhood by pressing M or clicking the Map View button. Then you can zoom in anywhere you want WITHOUT LOADING SCREENS!!! The best part is, while you’re aging, other sims in the neighborhood ages or dies eventually. Make sure you keep reproducing with your sim (you know what I mean). There is a control option in the option menu under gameplay for you to adjust so you can control how long sims live like it will take them 190 (long) or 390(epic) sim days before they die and such.
Buy mode:
Almost the samething as The Sims 2 but the “sort by room” menu is revamped as what I saw from the site. The options will be in place like a rug picture will be at the bottom, a coffee table on top of it, and a phone on top of the coffee table or a plant. You can still sort it by funtion but i prefer room. One of the features in The Sims 3 buy mode is the create a style. You can customize just about any object. Say for example you buy a bed. You can customize it frame to make it look like wood and change its color too. Also, another feature is the diagonal placement of things. I like how i will be able to place my sofas now diagonally and being able to convey the viewing distance without having to buy 3 sofas. The best part is removing the grid (which is on default enabled) and press and hold the ALT key to FREELY PLACE/ ROTATE AN OBJECT!
Build Mode:
Again, almost the samething as The Sims 2 just revamped. The create a style function is here too! Now with this tool, I think you might be able to create a house with different wallpapers BUT USING THE SAME WALLPAPER! There will be no curved roof option but there’s still dome option and the boolprop****watev cheat. There’s also no automatic create a basement option.
Live Mode (closer look):
In live mode, you are given only six mood meters. The room meter and comfort is taken out. It seems that the room meter is inaccurate since you can just go to another room and it’s fullfilled. Comfort is also useless. Try in real life standing all day. I know you won’t be able to but a simple sit on the ground and boom, you’re probably refreshed. So what EA did is they added “moodlets”. What this is are moods that last only for sometime. Say for example in real life, you may be disgusted and your mood will most likely be bad for 5 to 10 minutes after you’ve seen it. But once that time has passed, you ain’t disgusted anymore. You’re probably happy again since you’re not seeing that disgusting stuff. Also, embarassment is a perfect example. You won’t stay happy when someone goes in the room while you’re naked, you’ll probably remain embarassed for 3 hours or up to 1 day depending on how bad it is. So that’s what moodlets are.
Skills are also changed. You won’t know the skill unless you started it or heard about it. You gotta go to something like guitar classes/ handiness classes. Yes, there will be guitar class (SIMSOCIAL GAME) just to let you know. You can only the class once so decide whether start out with it or end with it. Learning skills also differs in how fast you learn it due to some factors. One is you mood. Lower your mood, lesser want to study, slower learning. Also, there will be “book” levels now. Vol.1 or Vol.2 or Vol.3, Vol.1 being the easiest, Vol.3 being the hardest.Your sim has to buy the new, higher level book to be able to learn more.
Wants are also changed into wishes. You have 4 wishes that you can keep. Wishes keep on coming depending on what your sim does or sees. If he sees dirty surroundings, his next wish will probably be hiring a maid. At first time you play your sim, they will have no wishes until they do something to pursue a wish.
Personality traits, which I needed to tell you earlier, is also revamped. You see, you might be someone who is a couch potato while being a slob and being a loner and being grouchy and having no sense of humor. Well…if you put that traits that i just said in The Sims 2, you will hardly use your personality points on anything. Besides, as a Capricorn, I AM a couch potato but IM NOT a heavy sleeper. So Sims 3 is really aiming for reality, not virtuality. Your sim also has favorites like favorite food, favorite color, and favorite music, just like us humans all do.
Lifetime Happiness points are gained by completing wishes, just like the wants system. But this time, you will also earn more when your sim is “Elated” or in other words, very very very happy. It will go up one by one. It might not seem alot, but what if your sim enjoys being alone, taking naps, and also clean? Those are positive moodlets and may take 6 sim hours for that to ward off. That means about 6 minutes of 1 by 1 happiness points.
Career is also revamped. You can now control what your sim does at work, although you won’t see the sims doing it, like making your sim relax at work or Work Hard. They both have some consequences. Main consequence of relaxing at work is…pretty obvious, well, your job performance will go down and possibly a demotion but your “fun” mood meter will go up and your sim will be entertained (moodlet). Meanwhile, Working hard will give you better job performance. But the big consequence is that your sim will be stressed out and overworked eventually and therefore their mood will go down.
There is now something called opportunities. There may be an eating contest in the restaurant so if you win, you will earn some money. Also, you can help your friends and earn either reputation, becoming better at a skill, or some cash. But sometimes and most likely happens with sims with unlucky personality trait, sims will get a bad consequence. By the way, doing these opportunities will NOT take a single loading screen. Going to your friend’s house is LOADING-SCREEN-LESS! Oh such advancement.
Your sim now has an inventory to keep their collected items seen on the ground just about everywhere in your town which can range from space rocks to bugs either rare or common. Your sim also has a cellphone. You can use it to throw a party, call for services, call someone, or even teleport home though you gotta have the object to teleport and you can’t buy it either :p buy the game and you’ll see! PLEASE DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT AS TORRENT OR ILLEGALLY…WE LOVE EA WE GOTTA SUPPORT THEM BY BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS… Anyways, yes your sim has a cellphone. You can even change its ringtone!
Options menu:
Clicking on that 3 dot thing on the bottom left corner of your screen allows you to Save, Quit, Edit your Town, access Sims Launcher, Save As…, and the Game options. Now here is where you can peacefully save your game, turn off your computer, save some electricity, lower your electric bill, and you might want to exercise since you may look at the time and realize a day has already passed :p. In the game options, you will have graphics option first. I will tell you, there WILL be drawing distance. I’d set this to low because check out my system specs at the bottom. In the meantime, most of them will be on medium and probably all options turned on and 2 or 3 options on high or very high if there was one.
I think that’s all you need to know. The options menu isn’ really that special and don’t need full atttention since it WILL be almost the same as The Sims 2. Oh yeah, by the way, here’s my system specs:
Intel Celeron 575 at 2GHz
2GB RAM 677Mhz
Intel 4500MHD
2GB Readyboost
IT WORKS WITH THE SIMS 3!
READYBOOST IS NOT RAM!!!!
Check back to see how The Sims 3 will run! I will try to help you set the best possible options depending on how fast your computer runs. I will tell you that by commenting back so bookmark this page
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Can i run the sims 3 with this my system requirements ?
Celeron 3.2 ghz 512 mb ram
nvidia geforce 8400 gs
You just need more RAM, 2GB at least, but other than that, yes it will run for sure! I will try to set my RAM to 512MB and run this game to see if it will run well enough when I get it/ But if you cant buy any RAM, google Game Booster and memory improve master free. I’ll post a link in this article how to use and the benefits of them later so stay tuned.
Can I run with these system requirements? I will list the systems of two computers
first computer:
Intel Core 4300@1.80Ghz
memory: 1014MB RAM
My other computer:
3200+ AMD Athlon XP processor
512 MB RAM memory
160 GB hard drive memory
I there any more information you need?
Yes, thank you very much !
To JJ:
I don’t know if your first computer is dual core so I want to know that, and it has average amount of RAM. I also need to know its graphics card.
Now for the second computer, I know that the processor is enough but the RAM kills it. get 2GB (2048MB) of RAM for both computers. I also need to know its graphics card.
Basically provide me the following information:
–Graphics Card?
–Quad, Dual, Or Single Core?
And I want you to upgrade your RAM to at least 2GB.
To Rizhsky:
No Problem, but can you tell me if it’s smooth even with 512MB of RAM?
Hello! I had thought about buying the sims 3 this June, but I want to know before setting or if you can work on my laptop:
Acer Extensa 5230
Intel Celeron 575 2GHz
3GB RAM
Intel GMA 4500m
160GB HDD
Up to 220MB Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
Thanks!
Hello Vitoo, I got good news, yes it will work. We both have almost the same specs except for the memory, which I only have 2GB. So go ahead and buy the game! Sooner or later my article will show my settings of The Sims 3 like the Draw Distance, Texture Detail, Sim detail etc. Keep on checking! I also recommend you to google and download both Game Booster and Memory Improve master to free up RAM since this game eats a lot!
To unf0rgiving :
yes, i can. But after my school exam next week! Okey!
Thank you very much unf0rgiving! Tomorrow I’m going to buy it! When possible, put your configuration! But the game will be smooth or jerk?
Sorry for my English, Spanish and I am not very fluent
Hello vitoo, where are you buying the sims 3 game ?
Vitoo- I don’t know what config so I’ll say my Sims 3 config is at the very first page and my Computer Configuration is at the 2nd Page at the very bottom. It’s kinda both smooth and jerk. It smooth when you are in a constant location like staying in house. But the jerk is most emminent when switching from map view to sim view or vice versa. But that jerk is maintainable. It won’t kill your playability.
Thank you! I forgot one thing! If you have Windows Vista are the same requirements, go me right?
Yep, I got vista too. Be sure to download and install and use Game Booster and Memory Improve Master Free since vista itself uses lots of memory.
I have Sims 3 and it takes around 1 hour to save. When I’m saving i barely have any other programs running, one max. I bought my Mac in December 2008. I know I need to upgrade my operating system from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7. Do you know if I have to pay for that? Or can I just get an upgrade off the website.
I have
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Memory: 2GB
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
VRAM: 256 MB
If you need anything else, please ask.
Thanks
I have a doubt. I have read that Win Vista needed 2.4GHz, but the two only have 2GHz. You say you are fine with Win Vista, no? 2.4GHz So these are false? 2GHz only require, as in XP?
If it is not a problem this afternoon buy The Sims 3
livbh:
Whoa…whoa whoa…first of all I don’t have a mac. Second your system specifications are way better than mine! All i can say is did you try defragmenting your hard drive?
Vitoo:
Yes i know it needs 2.4Ghz for single core, but I have 2Ghz and I can run it ok. Lag is maintanable. I think theyre saying you need 2.4Ghz for video recording since that when it really slows down. I don’t know about u but 13-20FPS in The Sims games is enough. The lag that i’m saying is 5-8 FPS, its mainly when switching from Map view to Live View or just really fast scroll (clicking on a sim 2 times while that sim is no where near where your camera location is). I know it’s the sims 3 and you’re thinking its way more resource hungry, but no its like all The Sims 2 expansion packs put together.
Wait vitoo, I didn’t have my FRAPS turned on while playing the game and the fpscounter cheat isnt so accurate so it’s always somewhere between 8-13FPS in fast scroll. I am working on trying to get best possible graphics while maintaining above 15FPS
I am a newby to the Sims, so I wonder, how about creating new Sims later? Right now it seems that is possible only before starting “living”, only in the very beginning of the new game. If it is so, also if it is not possible to import my Sims from one game/town to another, it´s a great pity! Otherwise – a lovely game
Tilina:
Yes you can still create sims later by click on the circle with three dots inside on the bottom left corner of your screen and select “edit town” then there you will find an option to add another family to your town. You can also add houses from this option.
Hey
I bought the Sims 3 today being v. naieve about the system requirements.
I checked on canyourunit.com and i failed the requirements
But not on all of them
My Memory is the only thing letting me down
I have 512 GB
My video card met the minimum requirments.
Im not bothered about the game running as smooth as i know is not possible with my memory
But if i have 512 GB on Windows XP, will i be able to play the game? x
uhh, did you mean 512″MB”? If so, i think so but it’ll be pretty choppy when moving around real fast. Best thing to do is install it and try it
Telling me the results would be pleasant
my computer specs are graphic card 4500 mhd and 3g of ram. will this play the sims 3??
Lightning
if you have at least a 2ghz processor then your good
I cannot play the game and i have a RAM of 512Mb .. my videocard passed the test so i assume it’s not giving out problems… the error which keeps coming up says: “Unable to start game. Service Initialization error”. I’ve downloaded and run Game Booster and Memory Improve Master but the error keeps coming… what should i do now? any help plsss??
Oooh…I never had that error. Try not turning on game booster and the memory improve master, that might work yet if it does, youll have some jerking issues most likely
hey.i just start playing the sims 3 this couple days.and i figure out the time control isnt very useful.since even i forward it until 4 its still so slow.i really hate it when i must wait till they woke up! and then i reckon in the sims2 we are allowed to scroll the map by just put the cursor in the edge and it will go to the right or left. but in sims 3 we are only allowed to go to the left or right by clicking right on the mouse! its really annoying. how to make it easier?
I am a devoted fan of Sims and with reading these i can see that i already know all that you have pointed out… but some of the cheats from Sims 2 do not work on Sims 3 – ‘aging off’ as the optins menu shows you can turn aging offf or make it last longer than normal so you can age slower than usual!! Cool isnt it!! So you can still age but have loads of time to study and gain skills and be able to reach your career goals!!
Happy Simming!! LOL
holaa.yes.i dont have any problem even if my sims aging.but its really annoying when we must wait them while theyre sleeping and workingg.
Were all those pictures that you have put up taken when you were running the sims 3 with preferable settings?? Could you put up more pictures, preferably of the sims? Are they not pixelated?