The Sims 3 Recommended Mods List

Here is my recommended mods list for The Sims 3. These are all the mods I use in my game, organized by category.

Just like my Sims 2 mods list and Sims 4 mods list, this list is a constant work in progress. I update this page as I add mods to my game or remove the ones I no longer use. I typically play each game in cycles, so this list will be updated when I’m in a Sims 3 cycle. Check back soon!

Last Updated: 05/22/2021

Table of Contents

• Essential Mods
• Baby & Toddler Mods
• Career & Role Mods
• CAS & Genetics
• Default Replacements
• Environment Mods
• Miscellaneous Mods
• Money Mods
• Pose Mods
• Pregnancy Mods
• Retired Mods
• Romance Mods
• Shopping Mods
• Wish Mods
• Updates

NRAAS Mods (Essential)

These mods are essential, and I could not play without them. Download these first!

• Story Progression – Replaces EA’s Story Progression with a MUCH better system. I also recommend downloading the optional modules for this mod especially Career, Extra, Money, Others, Population, Relationship, and Skill.
• Master Controller – Adds options that allow you to control and change just about anything in your Sims 3 world. Also allows you to select any Sim in the world. I also recommend the optional modules including Cheats, Integration, and Progression.
• Mover – I use this mod to retains the dreams and opportunities of Sims when I switch active households. Also removes the “greater than 8” and “requires adult” restrictions.
• Overwatch – Periodically cleans up errors and eliminates junk that accumulates while you play. I find that this mod reduces lag – especially in saves with several generations of Sims.
• Error Trap – This mod catches and corrects data corruption errors.
• Retuner – Another very handy NRaas mod that allows you to retune many different things. I use it to reduce the price of groceries and books, and to lower bills.
• Saver – Prompts you to save after a given amount of playtime. This one is a lifesaver if you never remember to save.
• Debug Enabler – This mod exposes EA debug commands so they are usable in game. I use it mostly to reset stuck objects.

You can see the settings I use for the NRaas mods here any my Story Progression settings here.

Baby & Toddler Mods

These mods impact babies and toddlers and their interactions in the game.

• Baby Clothes with Legs – No more burrito babies. These outfits give your babies little legs.
• Baby Hair – See your baby’s hair color as soon as they’re born!
• Faster Toddler Training – This mod allows toddlers to learn skills in 1/3 the time and encourages Sims to autonomously teach toddler skills. You will need to register an account to download from Sims Asylum. Use a Gmail address for the best results.
• White Formula Default Replacement Bottle – Replaces the green milk baby bottle with a white milk bottle. No more disgusting green milk!

Career & Role Mods

These mods affect careers or roles (as in Sims who perform a role at cash registers) in your world.

• Careers – This mods has a lot of features and modules relating to careers. I primarily use it to give my unplayed Sims the “unemployed” career to prevent them from being assigned as coworkers in jobs I don’t approve of. I also like the additional self-employed options and academic careers.
• Register – Allows you to select which Sim you want to perform certain roles in town (such as cashiers, etc.) With this mod, you can let your playable Sims work jobs in town instead of random townies.

CAS & Genetics Mods

These are mods that affect Create-A-Sim or the game genetics in some way.

• No Mutated Hair/Eye Color – Forces newborn Sims to have their parents’ or grandparents’ eye and hair colors. Prevents a random (mutated) color from being chosen.
• Zoom-In CAS Camera – Allows you to zoom in closer in CAS to edit your Sims and pets.

Default Replacements

Although technically custom content, I’m putting them in the mods list. These are the replacements I’m currently using in my game.

• Sugar Pill Skin by BurntWaffles
• Bruno’s Behind These Eyes TS2 to TS3 by BurntWaffles
• Bloom’s Sexy Feet
• Cute Feet for Toddler’s and Children
• CAS Overhaul – Default replacements for much of the clothing – even store stuff and expansions/stuff packs – to remove that horrible shiny texture.
• Default Replacement Makeup by Coeurvid
• Default Replacement Brows & Facial Hair by SimpleLife
• Baby Skin Default Replacement

I actually like the Sims 3 hair textures, so I use the in-game hairs and I also own a ton of the store hairs so I have a large, matching selection.

Environment Mods

These are mods that affect the environment in some way. They’re the Sims 3 equivalent of Sims 2 neighborhood mods.

• Blue Skies & Sunshine Lighting Mod – A default lighting mod that overrides the lighting in all worlds. Makes the environment and the Sims look so much nicer, plus gets rid of that awful bloom in the default lighting. I use the St. Claire’s water version.
• Enchanted Environment – Replaces the EA sun, moon, clouds, rainbow, stars, snow, frozen pond texture, and snowy footprints with much nicer versions. (Mod is no longer available from the creator. Download directly from my Mediafire.)

Miscellaneous Mods

These are mods that don’t fit into any other category.

• Always Put Books Away – Makes Sims more likely to put books away instead of leaving them sitting around. You will need to register an account at Sims Asylum to download.
• Cooking & Ingredient Overhaul – Adds tons of new recipes and ingredients to the game. 
• Go Here – This mod replaces the “Go Here” interaction with one that can be stacked in the queue, allowing the user to better direct the route of a sim. It also makes inactive Sims less likely to go home, restores haunting ghosts in the grave yard, fixes common routing errors, and allows you to “Teleport” Sims to a location.
• Moar Interactions – Adds new interactions and fixes some of the EA ones.
• Mood Hotfix – Fixes the “Well Rested” moodlet as of Nightlife (if your Sim is in a terrible mood after sleeping in the cheapest bed for no good reason).
• More Fun from Hobbies – Writing, Painting, Gardening, and Tinkering give fun or more fun.
• No or Fewer Automatic Memories – This mod stops the memory scrapbook from filling up with useless memories. I use the “Only Important Memories” version.
• OMSPs – One more slot, please. Use to add more decorations and clutter to surfaces.
• Once Read – This mod replaces all read book type interactions so they only autonomously select books your Sim hasn’t read already.
• Porter – Allows you to pack and move your family to new worlds while keeping jobs and relationships intact.
• Realistically Slower Cars – Slows down all vehicles to a realistic speed in-game.
• Relativity – This mod can be tuned to change the speed at which time flows during the course of a sim-day.
• Tagger – Overhauls the map tagging system. I use it to change lot addresses and to see my Sims’ net worth and sexual orientation from map view.
• Time Shifter – Allows you to set the time of day, similar to the set hour cheat in Sims 2. Use with caution. Your entire neighborhood will be affected. I mostly use it for taking screenshots if I need it to be night time or day time, etc.

Money Mods

These are mods that impact money or finance in the game.

• Apartments & Roommates Fix – This is the mod I use to manage my rental properties and landlord/tenant system in my Sims 3 Let’s Plays. Allows you to play as landlord and/or tenant.
• Minimum Wage – A mod to lower the pay of all Sims 3 Careers. All jobs now start at $15 per hour. 
• Online Banking Mod – This mod adds to all computers the option to use ‘online banking’ (i.e. deposit/withdraw money from a bank account).
• Tax Collector – This mod provides a way to manually collect Tax Money from your sims. The money can then be used in various situations like improving the school or library within the town or financing a children’s home.

Pose Mods

These are the mods I use for posing my Sims in screenshots.

• Sims 3 Pose Player – A buyable object that plays any installed poses (EA or custom) by name. You’ll need to download pose mods to go with the player. There are a ton on MTS and I also recommend Studio Star Girl for Poses.
• Screenshot Backdrop – Color castable backdrop to take screenshots in front of a full bright color.

Pregnancy Mods

These are mods that affect pregnancies in the game.

• Less/More Frequent Male Pregnancy (from Abductions) – I use the “High” chance version.
• Pregnancy Progress Controller – This mod adds a set of pie menu Pregnancy Options to all sims teen and above, both human and pet. It has a ton of functions (choose sex of baby, terminate pregnancy, show status, etc.), but I use it mostly for pausing pregnancy when I’m playing rotationally so Sims don’t give birth unless I’m playing them.
• Teen Maternity Clothes – Although this isn’t a mod, you will need some teen fmaternity clothes if you want teen pregnancy. I use the Woohooer to enable teen pregnancies (see Romance section below).

Retired Mods

These are mods I am no longer using, but I’m leaving them on the list in case anyone’s looking for them.

• Dresser – The mod adds accessories, body hair, makeup, and new hair to all sims. Also has the ability to invalidate CAS parts you don’t want in your town, and replaces them with random choices when a sim rolls them on their outfit. (I found this mod incredibly annoying.)
• Job Overhaul Mod – Sims will now attend interviews for jobs they want and it’s possible they won’t get the job! (Good mod, but in the end I didn’t like waiting on interviews, so I took it out.)

Romance Mods

These are mods that affect Love, Romance, and Woohoo in the game.

• Retuned Attraction System – An overhaul of the in-game attraction system. I use the “Easy Variety Attraction” flavor.
• Sleep Freedom – This mod overrides the EA requirement that teenagers be related to sleep in the same bed together. I’m categorizing it as a Romance mod because I use it so that teens can sleep in the same bed as their young adult partners.
• Woohooer – Adds risky woohoo, teen woohoo, and teen pregnancy. Also improves the romantic systems in the game.

Shopping Mods

Since shopping works differently in The Sims 3, I like using mods to add functionality such as shopping for clothes and selling things in player-owned shops.

• Consigner – This mod replaces the “Buy” interaction on the Consignment Register with one that allows the sale of potions, gems, rocks, metals, insects, relics, and sketches. If you have Pets installed, a new interaction called “Sell Pet” will be added.
• No Fridge Shopping – This mod replaces the meal-making interactions on the fridge with custom ones that check whether the Sim has the required ingredients to make the meal or snack.
• Produce Stand – Allows your Sims to sell anything (including produce and prepared food) from their home lots.
• Shop for Clothes – Adds interactions to the clothing rack object that came with Ambitions, allowing your Sim to “shop” for clothes. Removes the ability to plan outfit from all dressers. This mod is obsolete if you have Into the Future.
• Shop from Inventory – Allows you to sell items you have assigned as the store inventory through hacked registers, so you can basically create any type of store or shop you like.
• Written Word – Adds all Sim written books into the bookstore listing under “General.”

Wish Mods

These mods impact wishes, dreams, and opportunities in the game.

• Dreamer – This mod allows your Sims to satisfy unlocked dreams when their criteria is met. If tuned, the mod will stop the timeout of unlocked dreams. Read the instructions carefully. This one requires some fiddling.
• Disable Hopscotch Wishes – Stops your Sims from getting the annoying wishes to play hopscotch all the time.