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A Very Big Radio Expansion: Part One (New Genres)
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Please find Part Two here, and Part Three here!
What is "A Very Big Radio Expansion"?
This is a collection of new radio stations for your game, which will appear on all residential stereos and community speakers. New genres! New music for the existing ones! Atmospheric music! Podcasts! Tomb ambience! Background music for your venues! All this, and more!
Watch the UHD trailers!
The Sims 3 - A Radio Mod Preview - Trailer #1
The Sims 3 - A Radio Mod Preview - Trailer #2
The trailers are just a snippet of what's included in the collection, but hopefully they give you a sense of how they can be used to enrich your game.
Why "A Very Big Radio Expansion"?
This project has been a long time in the making, about two years now. There are already a good handful of mods for The Sims 3 adding radio stations or building on the existing ones using music from other Sims games and other sources (for instance Music to their Ears by Nasenfahrrad, Converted Sims 4 Radio Stations by garrettgivre, Roaring Twenties Radio Music by bonbonxoxx and The Urbz: Sims in the City Radio Stations by Lost Pantheon) but what I had in mind for this project was something cohesive that will eventually be more expansive, too.
In particular, I'm interested in filling in the musical "gaps" that EAxis left when they wrapped up The Sims 3. Lots of world cultures, subcultures and themes got nods in the game through EPs, SPs and Store sets but without the music to go with it, something feels missing when you build a beautiful Mughal-inspired Indian mansion and garden, or a New Wave nightclub in Bridgeport. My ambition is for every look, feel and moment to have its own soundtrack.
On this page I have tables that list all the stations being added in my project so far. The "I'm ideal with..." column is where I've matched the new and expanded stations with content from various EPs, SPs and Store sets, as well as some of my favourite themed custom content sets, that should complement each other nicely. Finally, a Psychedelic Rock station for your Sims kitted out in Boho Vintage Style! Bluegrass for your rural Farm Fresh Folk house! Smooth Jazz piped into your Master Suite!
So what now?
This project isn't finished yet, but I've reached a point where I'm ready to share the parts that are. My plans for the future are to create more stations, and to expand/refine the stations I've already made. Some of the them are more fleshed out than others right now, but you can check again later to see if any of them have received an update.
You'll see below that I have a column in each table for the status of a particular station. Ideas I've had and suggestions I have accepted from comments or messages will be marked as "Pending" until I start working on them. Stations I'm still developing will be marked as "WIP" and then changed to "Coming soon" when they're almost ready to publish. Once they are uploaded, I will either mark them as "Added" to show that it has been published on this mod page (under the Downloads tab), or as "Part One" or "Part Three" to show that you can find it on A Very Big Radio Expansion: Part One or A Very Big Radio Expansion: Part Three. I'm splitting the mod across multiple pages because there are so many individual parts, and the file sizes are to big to group them.
Part One is focused on my brand new genre stations, so that's genre music that didn't come with The Sims 3 or its DLC, like Ska, Grunge and Trance. Part Two is for my special stations, which is everything from seasonal music, to themed venue and event music, to the kind of ambient music you might use in tombs or to set the right atmosphere on a romantic date. Finally, Part Three is for my add-on content for the EAxis stations that shipped with the game (Pop, Indie, Latin, etc).
Installation
Each station has its own individual .package file and they are clearly labelled with the station names. These .package files are simply dropped into your Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages folder in the normal way. You are welcome to use all the stations, or pick and choose which stations you would like in your game. Part One of this mod alone is roughly 2.5GB in size in total, so bear this in mind when downloading the files and adding them to you Mods folder.
I've tested the stations in my game both merged and unmerged and noticed no issues or performance impact in either case. Because of the huge file sizes, however, you may find that S3PE returns errors if you attempt to merge too many into a single .package file. It's up to you how you'd like to handle the files.
Rest assured that apart from the add-on stations coming in Part Three, which sometimes rely on EPs or SPs, nothing else is required for these stations to work as intended. Anything listed in the "I'm ideal with..." column is purely optional. You can safely ignore it, if you prefer.
New Genres
My new genres. Note that these stations are not simply "conversions" of stations from other games in the series. The way I've approached this project is by deciding on a bunch of genre stations, and then filtering in all the music I sourced into what I feel are the appropriate genres for each track. Songs that might have been Jazz in The Sims 4 don't sound anything like Jazz music from The Sims 2, so music from the Jazz station in The Sims 4 will be put in the Swing station, to make it more cohesive. Something that you might recognise from the Latin station in The Sims (2000) might be an Easy Listening song for the purposes of my mod (because it doesn't sound anything like the Latin music in The Sims 3). So basically, don't necessarily expect to find everything where it went in another game.
8th January '23
Updated Rock'n'Roll with 5 new tracks from The Sims 2's Oldies station
12th January '23
Updated Retro Pop with 2 new tracks from The Sims 2's Pop station
Added Medieval Bardcore station.
1st May 2023
Added Atomic Jazz station
Seasonal
Seasonal stations for special times of year. Seasons is highly recommended for this set.
Venues
These stations are great for setting the right atmosphere at a local venue.
Tombs
This set was devised to give a bit of mood and ambience for tomb exploration. As such, World Adventures is highly recommended for these stations. I suggest setting up hidden speakers throughout your tombs for the best effect.
Events
You might find this set of stations handy for special events in your Sims' lives, such as at celebrations and parties.
Atmosphere
This set of stations might better be described as production music or library music. They are intended to be used in the background of your gameplay to enrich the mood and tone of "scenes" you create in your game, such as you might hear in film or television. For example, you could have hidden speakers set up in the park to play happy or romantic music, instead of having a picnic silence.
Talk, Commercial and Audiobooks
Commercial radio, podcast and audiobook stations are created using blended audio assets from across all games in The Sims series. SimNation Public Radio uses the "Talk Radio" station from The Sims 4. Please note that Sims may autonomously dance to these stations, as they are still considered music by the game. I don't think there's anything I can do to stop this at present.
Special
Stations that don't fit into any of the other categories.
[1] You can use the Transmogrifier to make any music box object into a stereo to use with this station.
Add-Ons
These are the "add-on" stations, meaning that they add tracks to the existing stations released by EA in the base game, EPs and SPs. Please take note of the "Requires" column and make sure you have the necessary content installed.
Known issues
Compatibility
The only compatibility issues will be with other custom radio stations that have the same in-game name as any of my own. You can mix and match my stations with stations made by other creators, and I encourage you to do so, but just be sure that you only have one station by each name - so you can't my S-Pop staton at the same time as having another creator's S-Pop station if they are both called "S-Pop" in the pie menu. Similarly, it is not possible to have two or more add-on stations for the same genre - so if one creator has an "Island Life" add-on, you cannot use it with mine. In both cases, you just have to pick which one you prefer.
Credits, thanks and permissions
Primary credit and thanks goes to gamefreak130 for their Broadcaster Custom Stereo Music Utility, which I used to create the stations for this project.
Most of the music was sourced from games published by Electronic Arts. Some royalty-free and licensed instrumental pieces were also used. Specific credits go to The Stardust Sisters for "Songs in the Key of Simlish", simsi45 for "The Sims 2 Makeover (simsi45 remix)", Blowing Free for "Sax Moods - Capture the Spirit", African Tribal Orchestra for "African Groove Lounge", Marc Durst for various albums, Jeremy Soule for "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Original Game Soundtrack", Leon Willett for Dreamfall - The Longest Journey (Original Soundtrack)", Russell Shaw for "Fable III (Original Soundtrack)", David Bergeaud for "Ratchet and Clank OST", Laurent Lombard for "Stereophonic Sofa", Jack Jezzro for various albums, Angelo Badalamenti for "Soundtrack from Twin Peaks" and R3 Music Box for various tracks. If you believe I have missed a credit, please get in touch to let me know.
I'd like to acknowledge the work of Hydrangea Chainsaw, C-chan, votenga, mspoodle and especially Sandy at Around the Sims. All of these creators have content featured in the I'm ideal with... section which I strongly encourage you to check out.
I claim no ownership of the audio assets and works used in this project. This mod is free to use in any way you wish. Please credit the artists where appropriate.
What is "A Very Big Radio Expansion"?
This is a collection of new radio stations for your game, which will appear on all residential stereos and community speakers. New genres! New music for the existing ones! Atmospheric music! Podcasts! Tomb ambience! Background music for your venues! All this, and more!
Watch the UHD trailers!
The Sims 3 - A Radio Mod Preview - Trailer #1
The Sims 3 - A Radio Mod Preview - Trailer #2
The trailers are just a snippet of what's included in the collection, but hopefully they give you a sense of how they can be used to enrich your game.
Why "A Very Big Radio Expansion"?
This project has been a long time in the making, about two years now. There are already a good handful of mods for The Sims 3 adding radio stations or building on the existing ones using music from other Sims games and other sources (for instance Music to their Ears by Nasenfahrrad, Converted Sims 4 Radio Stations by garrettgivre, Roaring Twenties Radio Music by bonbonxoxx and The Urbz: Sims in the City Radio Stations by Lost Pantheon) but what I had in mind for this project was something cohesive that will eventually be more expansive, too.
In particular, I'm interested in filling in the musical "gaps" that EAxis left when they wrapped up The Sims 3. Lots of world cultures, subcultures and themes got nods in the game through EPs, SPs and Store sets but without the music to go with it, something feels missing when you build a beautiful Mughal-inspired Indian mansion and garden, or a New Wave nightclub in Bridgeport. My ambition is for every look, feel and moment to have its own soundtrack.
On this page I have tables that list all the stations being added in my project so far. The "I'm ideal with..." column is where I've matched the new and expanded stations with content from various EPs, SPs and Store sets, as well as some of my favourite themed custom content sets, that should complement each other nicely. Finally, a Psychedelic Rock station for your Sims kitted out in Boho Vintage Style! Bluegrass for your rural Farm Fresh Folk house! Smooth Jazz piped into your Master Suite!
So what now?
This project isn't finished yet, but I've reached a point where I'm ready to share the parts that are. My plans for the future are to create more stations, and to expand/refine the stations I've already made. Some of the them are more fleshed out than others right now, but you can check again later to see if any of them have received an update.
You'll see below that I have a column in each table for the status of a particular station. Ideas I've had and suggestions I have accepted from comments or messages will be marked as "Pending" until I start working on them. Stations I'm still developing will be marked as "WIP" and then changed to "Coming soon" when they're almost ready to publish. Once they are uploaded, I will either mark them as "Added" to show that it has been published on this mod page (under the Downloads tab), or as "Part One" or "Part Three" to show that you can find it on A Very Big Radio Expansion: Part One or A Very Big Radio Expansion: Part Three. I'm splitting the mod across multiple pages because there are so many individual parts, and the file sizes are to big to group them.
Part One is focused on my brand new genre stations, so that's genre music that didn't come with The Sims 3 or its DLC, like Ska, Grunge and Trance. Part Two is for my special stations, which is everything from seasonal music, to themed venue and event music, to the kind of ambient music you might use in tombs or to set the right atmosphere on a romantic date. Finally, Part Three is for my add-on content for the EAxis stations that shipped with the game (Pop, Indie, Latin, etc).
Installation
Each station has its own individual .package file and they are clearly labelled with the station names. These .package files are simply dropped into your Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages folder in the normal way. You are welcome to use all the stations, or pick and choose which stations you would like in your game. Part One of this mod alone is roughly 2.5GB in size in total, so bear this in mind when downloading the files and adding them to you Mods folder.
I've tested the stations in my game both merged and unmerged and noticed no issues or performance impact in either case. Because of the huge file sizes, however, you may find that S3PE returns errors if you attempt to merge too many into a single .package file. It's up to you how you'd like to handle the files.
Rest assured that apart from the add-on stations coming in Part Three, which sometimes rely on EPs or SPs, nothing else is required for these stations to work as intended. Anything listed in the "I'm ideal with..." column is purely optional. You can safely ignore it, if you prefer.
New Genres
My new genres. Note that these stations are not simply "conversions" of stations from other games in the series. The way I've approached this project is by deciding on a bunch of genre stations, and then filtering in all the music I sourced into what I feel are the appropriate genres for each track. Songs that might have been Jazz in The Sims 4 don't sound anything like Jazz music from The Sims 2, so music from the Jazz station in The Sims 4 will be put in the Swing station, to make it more cohesive. Something that you might recognise from the Latin station in The Sims (2000) might be an Easy Listening song for the purposes of my mod (because it doesn't sound anything like the Latin music in The Sims 3). So basically, don't necessarily expect to find everything where it went in another game.
8th January '23
Updated Rock'n'Roll with 5 new tracks from The Sims 2's Oldies station
12th January '23
Updated Retro Pop with 2 new tracks from The Sims 2's Pop station
Added Medieval Bardcore station.
1st May 2023
Added Atomic Jazz station
Seasonal
Seasonal stations for special times of year. Seasons is highly recommended for this set.
| Name | Status | I'm ideal with... |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Holiday Easy Listening, Winter Holiday Holiday Hits, Winter Holiday Jazz, Winter Holiday Orchestra | WIP | Seasons, Tis The Season For Gift Giving!, Gifts for the Holiday Presents, More Holiday Presents, Winter Holiday Cookies, Sims 4 to 3 Seasonal Decorations, Gifts for Christmas Advent 2018, Gifts for Christmas Advent 2021, Alcohol & Cocktails, Holiday Hearth Apron |
Venues
These stations are great for setting the right atmosphere at a local venue.
| Venue | Status | I'm ideal with... |
|---|---|---|
| Jacoban Church | Part Two | The Sims Medieval Total Conversion Catalogue, The Sims Medieval Jacoban Cathedral, Basilica di San Stefano |
| Peteran Church | Part Two | The Sims Medieval Total Conversion Catalogue, Abbey of Saint Maron, Saint Simeon’s (A Country Church) |
| Campfire | WIP | Seasons, University, Welcome Back to Three Lakes, Sims 4 to 3 Campground #1, #2 and #3 |
| Circus | WIP | Seasons, World of Wonder Carousel Collection, Le Cirque Celebration, Seeing Stars, More Magic, "Curl Up" Moustache For The Tasteful Gentleman |
Tombs
This set was devised to give a bit of mood and ambience for tomb exploration. As such, World Adventures is highly recommended for these stations. I suggest setting up hidden speakers throughout your tombs for the best effect.
| Tomb | Status | I'm ideal with... |
|---|---|---|
| Desert | Part Two | The Queen's Palace and Tomb, Dar Karawan |
| Fantasy | WIP | Tutor of Tudors, Full Interior Castle Set, The Complete Castle by Castle Kits, Inc., The Sims Medieval Total Conversion Catalogue, Sims 4 to 3 Decrepitude, 3 New Pushable Tomb Objects |
| Mesoamerican Temple | Part Two | Sims 4 to 3 Adventures in the Jungle! #1, Sims 4 to 3 Adventures in the Jungle! #2, Sims 4 to 3 Fountains |
| Sci-Fi | WIP | Into the Future, Futureshock |
| Urban | Part Two | Titus Industries (Playable Tomb), Abandoned Municipal Waste Research Facility (Playable Tomb), 3 New Pushable Tomb Objects |
Events
You might find this set of stations handy for special events in your Sims' lives, such as at celebrations and parties.
| Event | Status | I'm ideal with... |
|---|---|---|
| Graduation Ceremony | Part Two | Generations, University |
| Romantic Ceremony | Part Two | Generations, Live, Laugh, Love, Romanza Ceremony, Reception + Attire, Romanza Bridal Party, Sims 4 to 3 Wedding Cakes & Toppers, 5-Star Restaurant Dining |
| Live at SimCity Arena | Part Two | Late Night, Showtime |
Atmosphere
This set of stations might better be described as production music or library music. They are intended to be used in the background of your gameplay to enrich the mood and tone of "scenes" you create in your game, such as you might hear in film or television. For example, you could have hidden speakers set up in the park to play happy or romantic music, instead of having a picnic silence.
| Theme | Status | I'm ideal with... |
|---|---|---|
| Hollywood Romance | Part Two | Generations, Seasons, Master Suite, Indulgent Living, 5-Star Restaurant Dining |
| Pizzicati Comedy | Part Two | Seasons, Outdoor Living |
| Playful Comedy | Part Two | Generations, Pets, Seasons |
| Serial Thriller | Part Two | Ambitions, Movie Stuff |
| TV Dramedy | Part Two | Generations, Seasons |
| Film Noir | Part Two | Ambitions, Late Night, Master Suite, Movie Stuff, Jazz Age, Fifth Avenue Fashions, The Gentlemen's Lounge, Club Vaindenburger, Up the Ante Compilation, Cluedo Weapons |
Talk, Commercial and Audiobooks
Commercial radio, podcast and audiobook stations are created using blended audio assets from across all games in The Sims series. SimNation Public Radio uses the "Talk Radio" station from The Sims 4. Please note that Sims may autonomously dance to these stations, as they are still considered music by the game. I don't think there's anything I can do to stop this at present.
| Name | Status | Genre/Topic |
|---|---|---|
| SimNation Public Radio (Talk radio) | WIP | Politics, Culture, Environment |
| MaxSimum FM (Commercial radio) | WIP | All |
| WhooNoo 100 (Commercial radio) | WIP | Pop, Retro-Pop, S-Pop |
| Plant Rock (Commercial radio) | WIP | Rock, Metal, Nu-Metal, Alternative |
| Beyond Belief (Podcast) | Part Two | Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Health |
| Landgraab Financial (Podcast) | WIP | Money |
| Where's Bella? (Audiobook) | WIP | Children's |
| Zombies? Zombies! (Audiobook) | WIP | Sci-Fi |
| Unicorns for Audrey (Audiobook) | WIP | Fantasy |
| Special Snowflake (Audiobook) | WIP | Romance |
Special
Stations that don't fit into any of the other categories.
| Name | Status | I'm ideal with... |
|---|---|---|
| Music Box | WIP | The Transmogrifier (aka Object Script Changer) [1] |
[1] You can use the Transmogrifier to make any music box object into a stereo to use with this station.
Add-Ons
These are the "add-on" stations, meaning that they add tracks to the existing stations released by EA in the base game, EPs and SPs. Please take note of the "Requires" column and make sure you have the necessary content installed.
Known issues
- Volume (Minor) — At the moment the volume of music across the tracks is a little bit inconsistent, resulting in some of them being considerably louder than music originally in the game. This is fixable but it's going to take some time to catalogue the problematic tracks and adjust each one individually. I will update the files as and when I am able to fix them. In the meantime, my suggestion is that you lower the 'Music' volume in your audio settings in-game and then use the stereo volume controls to adjust them up and down from there for the best results.
- Song or artist names not displaying correctly (Minor) — Some of the song titles or artist names contain letters outside the ASCII character set, which means they don't show as intended in the Options > Music menu. I caught most of them already but there are still handful I noticed last time I booted up my game. It doesn't seem to have any impact on gameplay or playback, so it's a low-priority issue that I will fix as and when the stations are updated.
Compatibility
The only compatibility issues will be with other custom radio stations that have the same in-game name as any of my own. You can mix and match my stations with stations made by other creators, and I encourage you to do so, but just be sure that you only have one station by each name - so you can't my S-Pop staton at the same time as having another creator's S-Pop station if they are both called "S-Pop" in the pie menu. Similarly, it is not possible to have two or more add-on stations for the same genre - so if one creator has an "Island Life" add-on, you cannot use it with mine. In both cases, you just have to pick which one you prefer.
Credits, thanks and permissions
Primary credit and thanks goes to gamefreak130 for their Broadcaster Custom Stereo Music Utility, which I used to create the stations for this project.
Most of the music was sourced from games published by Electronic Arts. Some royalty-free and licensed instrumental pieces were also used. Specific credits go to The Stardust Sisters for "Songs in the Key of Simlish", simsi45 for "The Sims 2 Makeover (simsi45 remix)", Blowing Free for "Sax Moods - Capture the Spirit", African Tribal Orchestra for "African Groove Lounge", Marc Durst for various albums, Jeremy Soule for "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Original Game Soundtrack", Leon Willett for Dreamfall - The Longest Journey (Original Soundtrack)", Russell Shaw for "Fable III (Original Soundtrack)", David Bergeaud for "Ratchet and Clank OST", Laurent Lombard for "Stereophonic Sofa", Jack Jezzro for various albums, Angelo Badalamenti for "Soundtrack from Twin Peaks" and R3 Music Box for various tracks. If you believe I have missed a credit, please get in touch to let me know.
I'd like to acknowledge the work of Hydrangea Chainsaw, C-chan, votenga, mspoodle and especially Sandy at Around the Sims. All of these creators have content featured in the I'm ideal with... section which I strongly encourage you to check out.
I claim no ownership of the audio assets and works used in this project. This mod is free to use in any way you wish. Please credit the artists where appropriate.
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A Very Big Radio Expansion: Part Three (Add-Ons)
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World Adventures
High-End Loft Stuff
Ambitions
Fast Lane Stuff
Late Night
Outdoor Living Stuff
Generations
Town Life Stuff
Master Suite Stuff
Pets
Katy Perry Stuff
Showtime
Diesel Stuff
Supernatural
70s, 80s and 90s Stuff
Seasons
Movie Stuff
University Life
Island Paradise
Into the Future
