Good Evening All,

I think this might be my first time ever posting on here. I apologize ahead of time if this is the incorrect forum for this discussion. What I am looking to do, if it is even possible is I want to create a new modding program for The Sims 3. The issue is, I am using Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 to be exact), and many of the standard Sims 3 tools that people use simply don't work on Linux, at least not out of the box, without using WINE, Winetricks, Bottles, Protontricks, using a Virtual machine in Virtualbox (which comes with it's own issues). The other day, and I don't know if this was caused by a recent Ubuntu update, but I WAS able to TSRW to make mods for the Sims 3, however now its malfunctioning again, and quite frankly I'm kinda sick and tired of TSRW, and having to put up with all its nonsense. From poorly formed workflows, to being a giant pain and unwieldy to use, to annoying proprietary formats that data is saved in, I am kind of tired of dealing with TSRW, and I would really like to develop a cross-platform, non-proprietary, open source Sims editor that basically does it all, you can create GEOM models, edit them in realtime, check to see if textures will work in realtime, generate Sims3Packs OR if you prefer just RAW packages, an editor where you can make clothes/outfits, objects, textures etc. The thing is... now in 2026, I know the game is several years old, and I'm not sure what resources there are for knowing how the game's core systems work, but this is a project I would like to do, if there was anyone who could point me in the right direction where to even begin finding info for how stuff works. About me, I'm a 43 year old post veteran who works in the IT / Tech support sector. I studied computer science and programming in particular as my specialty, and its not a matter of needing the skills to do so, I have those. I am just not sure where the information would be for how things work. I am sure everyone would love a replacement for the buggy mess that is TSRW. Also this opens modding up to people on Linux and Apple if I can pull this off. I used to make some mods before using TSRW, but now since I'm not on Windows anymore it's being even more uncooperative.

A search on this forum for a particular thing almost always yields some good results.

Other places I've found helpful:
* https://simswiki.info/wiki.php?titl...oding_Tutorials
* https://www.nraas.net/community/Help. Just having NRaas MasterController in your game can in itself be quite enlightening to how it all works internally too.
* this (sims 1) newish effort looks very promising: https://github.com/DnfJeff/SimObliterator_Suite
* s3pi would likely be useful https://github.com/marcos4503/sims3-package-interface
* just searching github for sims 3 stuff. It looks like there are other projects you could join or have a look through there as well; most I've seen are more specific than "all the modding"
* if you're doing a lot of 3d stuff, I'd recommend having a search for Sims-specific Blender plugins as there seems to be a lot of stuff that looks very useful

I too am excited to get to a point where I have a workflow that suits me and make mods with it, but I've been in the following cycle for a while now:

1. get excited
2. start on something
3. end up spending most of my time either trying to get various .net tools to work (some of them do now, all with wine, and that is awesome :D), or waiting on the game to load so I can test something

So I feel your pain. The bad thing is it seems tools and information are fragmented through space and time... The good thing is that there is A LOT of super helpful stuff, and the community is super responsive too.

Good luck and I'd be up for testing stuff out.

Thanks mijiturka, I am just wondering where the biggest need is right now. Like I said before right now I've gotten most of the tools that are available for Windows to work in Linux (by finesse and by using different supporting tools). I think most likely if I take this on, I'll probably write it in something that is platform friendly like WxWidgets (since it works cross platform) it will work on Windows, Linux, Apple/Mac OS, and any platform that supports C++/C#. Btw if you (or that goes for everyone here), if you're having troubles getting Sims editing tools working in Linux I've gotten many of them to work if anyone needs help. I am by no means a digital arts expert but I do know programming, which is where my strength lies.

Thanks for offering help with getting existing tools to run on Linux, definitely some PM's coming your way from me on it! :D

A slight terminology correction, but TSRW isn't used to create mods. I know that in a larger video-game context any game modification is by definition a mod, but the Sims community makes a distinction between 'custom content' (CC for short: cosmetic items, such as CAS clothing, skins, or build/buy objects) and 'mods' (gameplay content that involves XML or script modding).
Those who aren't familiar with script modding might overlook posts like this, thinking you're referring to that kind of mod.

That aside, there are several alternatives to TSRW - not all condensed into one program, sure, but quite a few of them are part of the same 'suite' by the S3PE developers.
I do not like and therefore do not use TSRW, yet I still make plenty of CC. It's really not necessary.
Installing content via the launcher is also no longer recommended, so .sims3packs are not typically used anymore.

Destrospean just recently released CAS Designer Toolkit, which bundles a lot of the same features and Linux support.
I don't have experience with that one, but it looks promising.

Just letting you know that the community is alive and well and has made a lot of these advancements already, there are so many incredible community tools that have made a lot of the old clunky workflows redundant
For example, Blender is flawless (and familiar, for 3D artists) for making GEOM in thanks to the SmugTomato plugin. What we're still missing in 2026 are updated Blender plugins for build/buy objects, which use the mesh formats MODL and MLOD.