Personally, I think EA realizes that the modding community actually helps them sell more games. I know that there were a few times I wouldn't have bought one of the stuff packs / eps except that there was a piece of custom content that was based on one of the meshes that I just *had* to have.

I don't think they would have held the Creator's Camp if they were diametrically opposed to modding.

I really highly doubt EA would ever get rid of modding or anything similar. Why would they need to? It'd be bad for business. I know that I bought the game expecting it to be modable. Half of the fun of The Sims is CC and I'm sure EA knows this.

If they ever get rid of it, it'd be the stupidest thing they've ever done, money wise and beyond....
So, I just doubt they'd ever get rid of it.

Okay all you smart people, mod away and make The Sims 3 even more awesome because I'm sure you will! Without you, The Sims would get boring pretty quick.

Has anybody been watching this development the modding community are developing a workshop for the creation of objects etc. Here is a link to the site.

I think with the more mods made EA might then see that if they release their own stuff alongside stuff from community they can increase the amount of people who buy and play the sims 3.

I do think there will be those advanced/hardcore....etc users who will see a growing number mods and visit places like MTS to get new content in order to increase the game life but then there will also be those casual users who see new content constantly being released in the Sims store and play the sims becuase of the fact EA is releasing new stuff.

Do we have a forum yet on how others are intergrating meshes from sims 2 into sims 3? I am ready to make some exciting clothing and get away from the generic clothes in sim 3.

Actually all of us modders are working together with this game, including the people from TSR

There's no forum so much as all of us working on getting to TSR's program running ASAP

Exactly. And I actually prefer it this way. I bought a few of the "stuff packs" before i realized that there were only 3-4 items max I would use out of each one... the store at least gives me the option to pick and choose ONLY what I want. Most of my items were from right here on MTS.

The main reason I didn't buy many stuff packs was the horror stories I heard about "security features" that came with them. I was thrilled when they opened the store, and have no problem buying a little of this and a lot of that.

HOWEVER. There are some very basic things missing from the base game right now. Diving boards? Oops. A basic bob for female sims? Nope. Hair for a male sim that doesn't look like something David Boreanaz sported on Angel? Well, there's the one long one, but.... nope. How silly of me to want a male sim that actually looks hetero-sexual. These are not things I believe I should have to buy from a store. A few dozen more outifts? Sure, EA, you can have my nickels and dimes. I thank you for taking them.

But I can't WAIT to see the hairstyles and "random objects" that the community will create. Echo gave us rugs for our toilets. Boblishman gave us salt and pepper shakers that shared counter space long before EA got the idea. Numenor? Gee, where do I start?

I'm a builder, and right now, my tools are sadly lacking. Get crackin' boys! :lovestruc

Oh, and I miss my light switches.

One thing EA did get right? OMG CHECK OUT THE GARDENS! :-D
Yay for not having to download fifty billion plants and ground textures to make my rose cottages!

I think we have to be more cautious, EA isn't doing very well, and that may give them a mandate to cut off CC. Think about it: iTunes would make more money if there was no Limewire. It doesn't mean that iTunes doesn't make any money, but they would make more if there was no free alternative. iTunes makes most of there money off: People who feel uncomfortable doing illegal things, people who don't know how to use Limewire, and people who are looking for things that they can't find on Limewire. This is the same with EA's store: People who feel uncomfortable modding their game, people who don't know about or how to use custom content, people who want things that the modding community hasn't made. EA could still make a lot of money of Stuff packs and the Store even with CC, but would it be enough to keep the company afloat? If iTunes was going down you would see a lot more lawyers (hired by iTunes, or people who have an interest in iTunes) going after Limewire. All I'm saying is that this isn't Sims 2 all over again. EA is going down, and it might drag the mod community with it.

i bought the sims3 and even though i know there is a lot of stuff i havent done yet [like steal candy from a baby...or have one] that its the change thats good and bad, people like the fact you interact more with jobs and dont have to load screens anymore to go anywhere and you get to colour everything and everything looks prettier, but also, the sims are real basic, i hate the mouth lines that never go away and the hair that is also, basic, although now we can add highlights But i think everyone is being impatient [as british people like myself are] cause ive only just started making ts2 CC and now ive got this, but i would have liked another body shop and for my characters from other games to interact and also the speed! is it just me or does it make little difference when you up the speed? Also, i want to make community lots but i cant seem to. I tried to d/l some CC from the sims website [with free $6 worth of tokens from registering] but apart from some already free jammies and another city place, i couldnt download anything, it wouldnt let me =/ but we must be patient, and to be perfectly honest, i wouldnt mind if mts3/2 made me pay a little every month to d/l stuff because i d/l so much i would say yes, maybe that could be a potential way around it, or we shall wait for the smarties out there to help us dummies adjust! - hurry please!

LOL... sorry, just got hit with major deja vu... Only my disk case didn't have little diamonds on it, it was more of a bluish color I think... and everyone was freaking out *gasp* no cc *gasp...gasp* EA is anti-modding *gasp!* This must be what it feels like to be in rehab going through withdrawls... you have the optimists, the pessimists and the downright conspiracy theorists and all of us are just bouncing against the restraining straight jackets. LOL.... I just can't wait for Houdini to come along and free us all. In the mean time I'm loving the custom patterns!! great great job ya'll!

I'm amazed at how many mods are already available at this site! When sims 2 came out we waited a long time for hacks and mods that people now take for granted. The sims 3 is a great game and there is so much to explore as it is, imho. I also feel that the create-a-style tool gives endless variety once you start using it, (and we already have a pattern-tool!) Its sad that people think its just "simple recolors", when simple recolors was all we had for many months with the sims 2 (being a slightly offended "simple recolorer" myself...)

I try to see it from a different angle for now. With sims 3 I don't have to organize gigs of downloaded stuff instead of playing, and I don't have to weed out not-so-good-looking meshes with horrible textures that screws up my graphic card.
And playing without hacks is probably harder but its also a nice way to learn how to actually play the game while waiting for mods and tools.
So there... a piece of my mind.

I'll try to find my way in source code for sims 3 I usually always do for games by EA (chamber of secrets sims 2 sorcerers stone all harry potter games lol) . When I do,I'll post a tutorial for modding. This might be hard though,because the open source files are hard to find

EA is fine. But like Hp said, this is the entertainment industry. They probably do want more control over the content released for the game, but there is also some very promising mods in the works already. As an avid simmer for many years and visiting just this site and creator pages alone I was always astounded by what the community offered for sale.

I don't agree entirely with sayyadina's post however, it really did not take long at all for sims 2 mods to be introduced. I distinctly remember a slew of mods and shiney hair-do's released just within it's first few months but modding was pretty straight forward and sim 1 creators already had a slew of experience. The sims 3 engine is vastly different, I kinda believe it was designed this way for alittle more control on EA's side and to slow us players down alittle until some expansions start rolling.

Either way I love the game design. Of course we all feel like there are alot of things either missing, refurbished from sims 2, or great ideas not completely finished and utilizing it's potiential. I am certain though it will be just as customizable if not vastly greater than sims2 with time.

The one thing that makes Sims so universal is it's customizing potiential. Without this the "adult" genre would have little to no desire to play it.
Without modding and extensive building tools this game merely becomes playing with a virtual doll house. Because let's face it, if EA made all of our content, with thier plastic hair-do's and refurbished objects this game would not appeal to ALL ages.

So whether EA is controlling the content more, or modders offer what they can until they've learned more, I guarantee sims3 will remain custom content king, thus appealing to everyone as it always has.

"The Sims 3 engine is vastly different"? Not really, no. Different, yes, but it still uses the same DBPF formats and has very equivalent analogies to the Sims 2 stuff. It's more difficult to mod, but remember we have only been doing it for a week.

You know, I don't understand this way of thinking. It isn't down to EA to make it easier for modders and they can't stop them short of a EIULA, which they haven't done.

Store, well they can fill that with all the maxi's rubbish they want. Did you know you actually have a choice whether you buy from it or not? They've always sold stuff, the stuff packs were expensive and hopeless in most cases. People are thinking the store is going to stop stuff packs. It's a good idea, it means you can pick out the items you want and leave the rest. The only big problem is the obcene pricing. If you don't like store, don't spend one penny on it, that is the only way we could get them to drop the prices.

Modding, I'm as desperate as the next and even emailed someone here to offer any help I could to speed it up, turns out there isn't a way I can help at this time. Like Delphy says, just hold out everyone, they are working on this and by the looks of it around the clock. Have you seen the fantastic mods already out, I'm amazed that this much has been done this quickly.

All it would take is a quick patch behind our backs (Now possible with the EA download manager), or a secret feature in a new expansion pack for modding to be shut down. It is up to EA, if they don't want their game modded then they have the full power to kill it off.



Let's solve this one through logical argument shall we? There are currently three options: Buy from the store (When I saw "Store" I mean any item made and sold by EA), download/make modded objects, or don't do ether. We can conclude that EA can shut down modding, whether they want to right now is beside the question, they are capable. So we can see that they have the ability to cut it down to two options: Store or nothing. Because most people want new items, and the third option is cut down, then there is only one option: Store. The Store is not 'evil' and I certainly believe it to be better than stuff packs (except when it comes down to pricing), but it is any corporation's dream to have a monopoly, and EA has the ability to get a 'CC monopoly'. Now I agree that Ea would be making a financial mistake by stopping CC, many people would stop buying the sims, but companies make rash decisions when they are not doing well economically. We simply have to be careful what patches we allow onto our computer, and what expansions we allow. All I'm saying is to be careful, because EA might decide to hide a "patch" for CC in an expansion pack or update. Just keep your eyes open for this.


I agree, modding is going great, and I appreciate what people like Delphy and others are doing greatly.

Shame on me. Look at all the mods we have already. Someone smack me for my lack of faith.

I'm absolutely thrilled at how fast things are developing for the Sims 3, especially the default skins and the mods and tools. What annoys me in the game is the strange toony look of the eyes. I searched and didn't see a thread that someone is trying to change that and do more realistic eyes. As HP did come up with the skins so unbelievable fast, did someone do something about the eyes? Anybody working on it? Did I miss something? Or does that not disturb others?

Here's one.

http://linna.modthesims.info/download.php?t=348047

I myself haven't been able to test it since I don't have Sims 3 yet. ... Here's an addict for you- don't have the game or the proper computer to play it yet, but I watch the forums and downloads like I did. :lovestruc

Yes, I've downloaded them already was a kind of foreseeing today, wasn't it?

lol dude they charge you $0.75-1 per item that is INSANE the expansions of sims 2 actually added more for less not to mention some added complete new features (pets, season, University, etc). The "STORE" idea of EA is a total rip off they should of just released some tools to add items by the mod community and work on the features of the expansion packs instead of this crap.. I believe 15+ expansion packs have been confirmed already!

I think the EA Store is too expensive also. SO 1 dollar gets 100 points which is 1 good item. By "good" I mean stuff like a hairstyle or a new counter. In a stuff pack there is about 50 items. To get 50 items at the store, I would need 5000 points costing me 50 bucks. A stuff pack costs 19.99 at the store. That is a 30 dollar difference.

Cheap route. short verison. the 75 point items. 1 item=75 points= .75 cents. 50 items = 3750 points= $37.50. Stuff pack still cheaper. I still think they will produce stuff packs for sale, for people who might not have internet or for people who are still too scaried to give out their credit card information on the internet.

As for Custom Content. Yeah I think there will be custom content sooner or later. IT just takes time. I know I'm spoiled with all the cool stuff that is out there for Sims 2. I know I want that cool stuff now for the Sims3. But it will come. Right now play the game as it is so you can appreciate all the hard work those people put into making the mods.

I have mixed feelings about EA. I think EA needs the modders and the people who made custom content. That is one of the appeals of the Sims. I know I'm guilty of buying a stuff pack not for the objects but for the meshes for the CC objects. I think because the Sims has grown mostly due to the user made content, EA will be biting the hand that feeds if it stops the CC. I'm not worried about the modding nor the CC.

However, I think EA is making it more difficult to slow the modders down. Maybe to buy time to see how the EA Store will do. But I also see a pattern. At the end of Sims 1 there was all sorts of crazy hacks. I had one where my sim did yoga on a mat. I think there was some crazy break dancing mat with like custom moves. I remember that game was hacked two ways from Sunday. Now at the end of Sims 2, it's pretty hacked and there are quite a few mods. But it doesn't seem so torn to shreads as Sims 1. So maybe, EA is just trying to have more control over the mods and hacks.

I don't know. I'm just thankful to all the modders and the people who make the CC that make my game more enjoyable for me. :D

I don't know that its negative behavior from EA. I think its the nature of the beast, so to speak. Maxis/EA created the new engine and game the way they saw fit and that they did not take into deep consideration what would be the easiest for modders - well what company ever does.

I think by now Maxis has gotten the message that the community will come up with its own tools and Sims3 willbe modded and created for outside of the tools they provide. And it actually saves them the cost of developers and time to make tools to do it in game, along with supporting tools and creating how to's and everything else that goes along with it. I notice that when you install the game they give you not only a subfolder for mods but for 'hacks'. Seems like they were anticipating something.

And when you think about it, leaving this for the community to develop tools that can then be used by creators, who in turn create a whole bunch of new content keeps people playing, keeps people buying EP's and, yes, Stuff packs if they have them or things from the store. The community creators in many ways pushed people into having to buy EPs and SPs so that they could use items based off things in those.

It remains to be seen but I don't think that the store will superceed the releases of SP's and EP's. Certainly not EP's as those usually contain a great dela of added code to support the supject matter of that EP. You are not going to be able to buy one puppy from the store and get all the code needed to have pets. I don't think it will even keep them from releasing SP's that aren't just a lot of new models for things already in game, but each SP usually did contain objects that did have new interactions and animations.

I think the store will just provide new covers for the old, a way to compete with the community and make money off it - and as things go the store is not at all a savings over buying a stuff pack. What will be interesting is once we have tools to do so, how fast near if not exact copies of what can be bought in the store will hit the community as free downloads - somewhere or other and whether the store will, in the long run, make $$ for EA.