I managed to get The Sims Creator working in Windows 11. Here is the process, documented:

(You'll need 7-Zip, or another rar unarchiver.)

Installing The Sims Creator:

1. Download TSC from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/simarchiveprojectreadme
2. Copy the "The Sims Creator" folder from the archive to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis".
3. Copy the no-CD EXE from the "The_Sims_Creator_Fix" rar archive to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\The Sims Creator", overwriting the default EXE.

Installing legacy 3D graphics (old DirectX) support for The Sims Creator:

4. Download dgVoodoo2: https://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/
5. Copy the files from the MS\x86 folder in the dgVoodoo2 archive to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\The Sims Creator".
6. If Windows XP compatibility support is turned on for the Sims Creator EXE, make sure you disable that.

With the dgVoodoo2 libraries installed, The Sims Creator properly works in Windows 10 and 11, and is fully usable.

Edit:

Except for the fact that it can't save!! (See below.)

I'm keen to try it out with a graphics tablet -- since TSC allows you to paint straight onto the 3D character/mesh (which is quite an amazing feature for its time).

Will let you know how it went.

One thing that isn't working in Windows 11 is that TSC is unable to read the files from the Sims installation directory for me for some reason. If you come across this as well, a workaround for this is to copy the ExpansionPack folders (you don't need the Sound and Skins folders in them, just the FAR files) and the GameData\Animation, GameData\Textures, and GameData\Skins folders directly into TSC's program folder. Then it will load them.

Also, a handy tip: the software doesn't say, but you can hold down the Shift key and drag with the left mouse button to pan. Handy for laptop trackpads. You don't need a middle mouse button.

Yup, sure as heck works!

Using a tablet, you can easily paint on the 3D mesh directly using TSC, and it will paint the textures in the right spot for you.

This tool rocks for body and head skin painting and creation for The Sims.

Keyboard shortcuts in Paint mode:

B - Paintbrush
T - Texture Paintbrush
E - Eraser
I - Color Picker
O - Rotate

Ctrl + Z - Undo

H - Pan
Z - Zoom

(While using the rotate option/tool, holding down the Shift key will allow you to pan as well. Right click and drag zooms in and out.)

R resets the view you've clicked to default position.

W turns the wireframe on or off in the 3D view.

In any mode/view of the software, if you press P, you can set up the 3D renderer/preview graphics.

After further testing, everything works, but I couldn't get it to save in Windows 11, no matter what I tried! Not even administrative permissions worked. That's a pretty big problem -- and one that I did not foresee as being one.

I wonder is there is a way to change the default save location of TSC to the program's home folder, or to the user Documents folder. 🤔

Probably an easier way would be to reinstall the program outside of the UAC protected locations. Make a folder somewhere like C:\Games and put it there instead.

Thanks. I tried that, but the program still couldn't save. It's trying to save to a different folder than its own, and I think that's drawing some sort of no-no in the new Windows system.

My Sims installation is installed directly onto the C drive, so I don't understand why it is not able to read from it and write to it, but it isn't for some reason. It can read, however, from its own program folder, and save to it. So I'm looking into editing it so that it saves to its own program folder instead of trying to save to The Sims installation directory.

In retrospect, it was a really silly design choice from the developers to have the software force saving to the Sims installation diectory -- to have that directory harcoded in the software. But I guess they were trying to make it as straightforward and easy as possible for players to use.

After further testing, I have a suspicion that this is not permissions related. I think a certain software library necessary for TSC to write files is missing from Windows 11, and that this is the cause for the save failing.

I've tried all sorts of combinations, and giving it write access to folders, but none of it has worked -- things that in practice should work. So I think it's not writing not because it can't access the folder, but because it's missing a necessary component in order to be able to save/write.

I just wish I knew what that component could be... 🤔

It's frustrating to get so far, only to fail at the end. 😔

At this point, I'm ready to give up. I think The Sims Creator is just not compatible with Windows 11. 😮‍💨 It needs to run on Windows 98/XP (in a virtual environment).