As EA shifts its focus from The Sims 2 back to The Sims 4, The Sims 3 remains a mess on modern PCs despite a recent update – but one fan's got a solution

(Image credit: EA)

The Sims 3 recently received its first update from EA in 10 years, igniting (likely) false hope of more patches to get the game running properly on modern computers in the hearts of many a fan – but until (and if) such patches drop, this clever fan has compiled every fix under the sun in just one video.

Madi, known online as "acottonsock," spent hours putting a guide on every possible Sims 3 fix together so that players can actually enjoy the 2009 life sim on newer PCs. Her video, which she rightfully dubs a "definitive guide," covers just about anything and everything fans have spent years suffering through – from issues related to graphics cards to those caused by modern CPUs – and is unsurprisingly over an hour long.

EVERY Sims 3 Fix for Smooth Gameplay in 2025! (The NEW & DEFINITIVE Guide) - YouTube

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It might seem daunting to sit through so much content, but Madi has added handy timestamps to make the guide more bite-sized for folks looking to find specific fixes. Her video includes some must-have mods, too, as well as fan-created patches. This isn't Madi's first impressive Sims-related roundup, either, with her "masterlist" of over 200 Sims 2 mods dropping just days prior following EA's re-releases of the series' first two games.

If there's one thing the Simming community is good at, it's cleaning up areas of The Sims that have gone overlooked for years and enhancing the games with all flavors of creative mods. There's no telling whether EA will address The Sims 3's issues itself anytime soon, especially as work cracks on with The Sims 4 and its upcoming hobby-related expansion pack, but fans can safely look to Madi's thorough guide for answers until then.

Hopping back into the game now to fix it? Here are the best Sims 3 cheats for a solid start.

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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.