Hi everyone! 😊
I’m a beginner in The Sims 3 modding and I’m just starting to learn how packages, tuning files, and game assets work.

I watched a YouTube video where a girl teaches how to add a new TV channel in The Sims 3 by replacing the TV videos, and I started trying to do something similar — but with the in-game laptop/notebook instead of the TV.

My idea was to keep the interaction like “play chess” (so the Sim would still gain logic skill), but only change what appears on the screen, to simulate a game running on the computer (like Plants vs Zombies). Basically, just a visual replacement while keeping the logic skill gameplay.

I tried to find the “video” that plays on the computer screen to replace it, but I couldn’t find any .bik, .dds, vfx, or anything like that in the packages.

From the help I’ve received so far, I understood that the TV actually uses real video files (.bik), but the computer/laptop does not use real video. It seems to work with visual states, shaders, and procedural effects instead of actual video files, so there isn’t really a “video file” to replace like there is with TVs.

So my question is: is there any real way to get an actual video playing on the laptop/computer screen in The Sims 3, or is the only possible approach to fake it using animated textures/visual effects?

I’m very new to modding, so even simple technical explanations would help a lot. Thanks in advance! :D