Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Trending
  • Pokemon Winds and Waves
  • New Games for 2026
  • Submit your game clips
  • GDC
Don't miss these
The Sims 2
The Sims How The Sims 2 inspired the first generation of YouTubers: "The 2000s were a simpler time"
The Sims 4 tattoo artist career
The Sims The Sims 4 Marketplace sparks angry fan reactions and comparisons to paid Fallout and Skyrim mods
The Sims 4 burglar
The Sims The Sims 4 Marketplace is coming with paid mods – because that's definitely what fans of EA's life sim want
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Lae'zel, a Githyanki woman with olive green skin and tied-back red hair, smirking
Baldur's Gate New Baldur's Gate 3 update comes 10 months after Larian's "final" Patch 8 for the D&D RPG, with fixes in tow
A doctor in the Love and Deepspace Secret's kiss event says to focus on what you need
Simulation Games I'm a lapsed Sims fan who just wants a doctor husband, and Love and Deepspace's new update lets me date 5 guys at once
The Sims 4 screenshot of the Enchanted by Nature expansion pack which shows a fairy in a yellow outfit and other mythical creatures standing underneath trees
The Sims The best Sims 4 expansion packs to buy right now in 2026
The Sims 4 Lovestruck reveal trailer screenshot showing an adult woman with short black hair and a dark lace mask dancing, her hands crossed behind her head
The Sims The Sims 4's biggest sex mod, WickedWhims, is launched 400,000 times a day according to its creator
The Sims
The Sims "The Sims has always been more than a game": Maxis says its values aren't changing as it works on "the next evolution"
The Sims 5 Project Rene: a purple screenshot of the the upcoming game.
Simulation Games Project Rene: Everything we know about the future of The Sims
No Man's Sky
Survival Games No Man's Sky's latest patch fixes a bug that's in the top 2 hardest issues the devs have ever had to solve
Oblivion Remastered
The Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remastered's wildest bug made me choose between losing achievements or living as a fugitive
Dune: Awakening - two soldiers looking at the mouth of a sandworm during the new game.
Survival Games After surprise server shutdown, Dune: Awakening devs squash bug that cost players 1,000-hour bases
No Man's Sky screenshot showcasing a character floating in space next to a ship
Survival Games No Man's Sky player mods in the third-person camera customization fans have wanted for almost 10 years
An Animal Crossing: New Horizons player standing on the pier in front of a hotel
Games I haven't played Animal Crossing: New Horizons since 2020 - here's why the 3.0 update has lured me back in
A player character sat surrounded by books in a cozy room in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Animal Crossing Animal Crossing: New Horizons update ensures Timmy and Tommy never let you out of their sight again, stops fence cloning
  1. Games
  2. Simulation Games
  3. The Sims
  4. The Sims 3

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

News
By Anna Koselke published 12 February 2025

Look no further than this "definitive guide"

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The Sims 3
(Image credit: EA)
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


Want to add more newsletters?

GamesRadar+

Every Friday

GamesRadar+

Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.

GTA 6 O'clock

Every Thursday

GTA 6 O'clock

Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.

Knowledge

Every Friday

Knowledge

From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.

The Setup

Every Thursday

The Setup

Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.

Switch 2 Spotlight

Every Wednesday

Switch 2 Spotlight

Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.

The Watchlist

Every Saturday

The Watchlist

Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.

SFX

Once a month

SFX

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

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

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.

You may like
  • The Sims 2 How The Sims 2 inspired the first generation of YouTubers: "The 2000s were a simpler time"
  • The Sims 4 tattoo artist career The Sims 4 Marketplace sparks angry fan reactions and comparisons to paid Fallout and Skyrim mods
  • The Sims 4 burglar The Sims 4 Marketplace is coming with paid mods – because that's definitely what fans of EA's life sim want

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.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming Platforms
Anna Koselke
Anna Koselke
Social Links Navigation
Staff Writer

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.

Read more
The Sims 2
The Sims How The Sims 2 inspired the first generation of YouTubers: "The 2000s were a simpler time"
 
 
The Sims 4 tattoo artist career
The Sims The Sims 4 Marketplace sparks angry fan reactions and comparisons to paid Fallout and Skyrim mods
 
 
The Sims 4 burglar
The Sims The Sims 4 Marketplace is coming with paid mods – because that's definitely what fans of EA's life sim want
 
 
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Lae'zel, a Githyanki woman with olive green skin and tied-back red hair, smirking
Baldur's Gate New Baldur's Gate 3 update comes 10 months after Larian's "final" Patch 8 for the D&D RPG, with fixes in tow
 
 
A doctor in the Love and Deepspace Secret's kiss event says to focus on what you need
Simulation Games I'm a lapsed Sims fan who just wants a doctor husband, and Love and Deepspace's new update lets me date 5 guys at once
 
 
The Sims 4 screenshot of the Enchanted by Nature expansion pack which shows a fairy in a yellow outfit and other mythical creatures standing underneath trees
The Sims The best Sims 4 expansion packs to buy right now in 2026
 
 
Latest in The Sims
The Sims 4 tattoo artist career
The Sims The Sims 4 Marketplace sparks angry fan reactions and comparisons to paid Fallout and Skyrim mods
 
 
The Sims 4 burglar
The Sims The Sims 4 Marketplace is coming with paid mods – because that's definitely what fans of EA's life sim want
 
 
The Sims 2
The Sims How The Sims 2 inspired the first generation of YouTubers: "The 2000s were a simpler time"
 
 
The Sims 4 Lovestruck reveal trailer screenshot showing an adult woman with short black hair and a dark lace mask dancing, her hands crossed behind her head
The Sims The Sims 4's biggest sex mod, WickedWhims, is launched 400,000 times a day according to its creator
 
 
The Sims
The Sims "The Sims has always been more than a game": Maxis says its values aren't changing as it works on "the next evolution"
 
 
The Sims 4 screenshot showing a young woman with shoulder-length wavy brown hair and an academic green coat, her expression surprised
The Sims The Sims 4 legend behind piracy tool rendering nearly $1,500 of DLC totally free quits town and takes his loot with 'em, players pay tribute as copycats immediately try to charge for alternatives
 
 
Latest in News
Silksong
Action Games Hollow Knight: Silksong patch 5 is is "the last significant update" before Sea of Sorrow DLC
 
 
Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Assassin's Creed Shadows players protest Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 "AI slop" filter
 
 
Pikachu on a brick path looking up over its shoulder into the foreground
Tabletop Gaming If you want to collect Pokemon cards again like me, this is the best place to start
 
 
Image of the Asteroid Manor in Starfield, a player-house in a hollowed out asteroid
RPGs Starfield will let you have a true "home among the stars" with its new Asteroid Manor player house
 
 
Spider-Man Brand New Day
Marvel Movies Spider-Man: Brand New Day's comic book cover recreation hints at the villain in Punisher's sights
 
 
Resident Evil Requiem Leon Kennedy
Resident Evil Resident Evil Requiem lead will reveal Leon's spouse "someday," but not today
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Silksong
    1
    Hollow Knight: Silksong patch 5 is is "the last significant update" before Sea of Sorrow DLC
  2. 2
    Spider-Man: Brand New Day's comic book cover recreation hints at the villain in Punisher's sights
  3. 3
    Assassin's Creed Shadows players protest Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 "AI slop" filter
  4. 4
    I bounced off of Cyberpunk 2077 for 2 months when I first played it, and that makes it perfect for Xbox Game Pass
  5. 5
    If you want to collect Pokemon cards again like me, this is the best place to start

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...