Last Updated: October 31st 2020

• TS3 & TS3 Category Extensions: General Rules *

• Timer starts whenever the camera zooms into the lot
• No Cheating (This includes Splicing Runs)
• No Glitching (unless otherwise specified in the Category Specific Rules)
• Premade Sims (i.e. Those that come with the town) are banned. Your sim must be freshly made.
• Custom Content is not allowed for use
• Mods are not allowed for use
• You can either, start from a house that comes with the town, or build a house yourself
• Seeding of the Neighborhood for Family Friends is allowed
• Categories will have specific rules. Please read those before starting or submitting.
• All runs will require video proof
• All runs require a timer to be visible at all times

• Regarding Expansions: * We do allow expansion content to be used in runs, HOWEVER, we will not be saying that Expansion Runs need to do Base Game + The Expansion Content. All Runs will follow the base game content, you will be allowed to use expansion content.

Please submit all Expansion content to the Sub Category "With Expansions" for the Big Category (ex: max All Skills/Maxed Job) that you are running. An Example of this would be: You are using Seasons and Pets and Supernatural. You get a 1h 50m 59s in Max All Skills. We expect to see it in Max All Skills (With Expansions) and not part of the No Expansions boards.

Also if you are using another world than Sunset Valley, please submit under the With Expansions Category, with the name of the world you were using.

Please also when submitting your run, list the expansions used as part of your submission.

• Regarding Store Content: * Store Content will not be allowed on the Main Boards going forward. Please submit all store content to relevant category on the Category Extensions Board.

NOTE: Any runs that were already on The Mainboard with the Sub Category "Store/Shop Content", have been moved over and have been auto-verified by myself and Melon.

• Regarding Console Runs and Emulator * Emulators are allowed for console runs. For those wanting to run the game on Emulator, please read the Global Sims Rule Change for Emulator on https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg. We at this moment, only support Dolphin EMU (for Wii) and MelonDS for NDS runs. You can find the setup for Dolphin EMU on: https://www.speedrun.com/simsbo/guide/rt97s

• Regarding TA (Tool Assisted) Runs: * TA Runs are allowed. That means you can submit your run if it is done on multiple parts. It must however be done on the same game file and no actions are queued if the timer is stopped. If the game window is active, the timer must be always running.

Last Updated: October 31st 2020

• TS3 & TS3 Category Extensions: General Rules *

• Timer starts whenever the camera zooms into the lot
• No Cheating (This includes Splicing Runs)
• No Glitching (unless otherwise specified in the Category Specific Rules)
• Premade Sims (i.e. Those that come with the town) are banned. Your sim must be freshly made.
• Custom Content is not allowed for use
• Mods are not allowed for use
• You can either, start from a house that comes with the town, or build a house yourself
• Seeding of the Neighborhood for Family Friends is allowed
• Categories will have specific rules. Please read those before starting or submitting.
• All runs will require video proof
• All runs require a timer to be visible at all times

• Regarding Expansions: * We do allow expansion content to be used in runs, HOWEVER, we will not be saying that Expansion Runs need to do Base Game + The Expansion Content. All Runs will follow the base game content, you will be allowed to use expansion content.

Please submit all Expansion content to the Sub Category "With Expansions" for the Big Category (ex: max All Skills/Maxed Job) that you are running. An Example of this would be: You are using Seasons and Pets and Supernatural. You get a 1h 50m 59s in Max All Skills. We expect to see it in Max All Skills (With Expansions) and not part of the No Expansions boards.

Also if you are using another world than Sunset Valley, please submit under the With Expansions Category, with the name of the world you were using.

Please also when submitting your run, list the expansions used as part of your submission.

• Regarding Store Content: * Store Content will not be allowed on the Main Boards going forward. Please submit all store content to relevant category on the Category Extensions Board.

NOTE: Any runs that were already on The Mainboard with the Sub Category "Store/Shop Content", have been moved over and have been auto-verified by myself and Melon.

• Regarding Console Runs and Emulator * Emulators are allowed for console runs. For those wanting to run the game on Emulator, please read the Global Sims Rule Change for Emulator on https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg. We at this moment, only support Dolphin EMU (for Wii) and MelonDS for NDS runs. You can find the setup for Dolphin EMU on: https://www.speedrun.com/simsbo/guide/rt97s

• Regarding TA (Tool Assisted) Runs: * TA Runs are allowed. That means you can submit your run if it is done on multiple parts. It must however be done on the same game file and no actions are queued if the timer is stopped. If the game window is active, the timer must be always running.

Hey all, Something that cropped up in discussion today on the community Discord is Launcher Differences between Steam and Origin.

When EA reintroduced TS3 to Steam, it came with a launcher difference (1.67) whereas Launcher version 1.69 is an Origin Exclusive Update.

There is a workaround to this, basically if you want the ability to disable your expansions without uninstalling them on steam, then:

Register the keys from your Steam Version to thesims3.com, which you must be signed into origin, redownload and play through Origin.

This should allow you to gain access to The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager Option on the Launcher (1.69), which allows you to select which expansions you have enabled.

Kr, Wolfie

Hey there everyone,

First off Happy Halloween. Secondly you might have noticed a lot of changes on the Leaderboards. Well that is what this thread is for - To Detail what exactly was changed and how it affects runners. Lets get into it.

1. Changes to the rules

As expected, with the change of the boards, comes a new ruleset. We invite everyone to read https://pastebin.com/2nnttLKd and let us know what you think and what should be changed.

2. Changes to the Boards

All the boards have now been split into No and With Expansion Content. By Expansion Content we mean, anything that doesn't use Sunset Valley as a default world, plus anything that you have enabled - Seasons, Supernatural etc.

Store Content has been moved out of the Main TS3 Boards and moved to the CE boards.

3. The Category Extension (CE) boards

The Category Extensions Board is for all Memey type categories that do not fit on the Mainboards. Examples of this would be Drown, Death, Get Abducted.

The CE Boards is also the home to all Store Content Runs.

If anything is wrong here or you would like to discuss further, please reach out on The Sims Community Discord.

Kr,

Wolfie and Melon

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

For all runners, there is now a global rule change for EMU runs and The Sims Series, if you want to learn more please read this thread:

https://www.speedrun.com/thesims/thread/1yqkg

Happy Simming!

[NOTE For the SR.Com Mods - This was approved by Beastly via Discord and by the majority of the game leaderboard Moderators. This post is for all games minus Sims 2 DS and Sims 2 Castaway, as the mods have not responded at this time]

Attention all Sims Runners,

Over the last few months, the Mod The Sims Team (which is the team of all leaderboard moderators) have been talking about one thing: Emulator and Accuracy.

We know this is a big topic within all speedrunning communities, but following the developments from PCSX2, we as a team have had to make a decision that we think would be better for the community in general.

This decision comes as a joint effort between the leaderboard moderators and the main moderators for the games. We hope that this keeps the games open and it is an easy starting point for new runners to start playing these games.

The following changes are now in effect across all games:

Nintendo Gamecube: The only accepted Emulator that all mods have agreed upon is Dolphin Emulator 5.0, 5.0-Development Builds and 6.0 (when it releases). All Other Emulators are banned.

Gameboy Advanced: The accepted emulators are BizHawk’s GBA Core (Latest) and mGBA. Please use mGBA as a backup if you can not get BizHawk’s GBA Core to work. All Other Emulators are banned.

Nintendo DS: The accepted emulators are melonDS (Latest), DeSmuME 0.9.11 and BizHawk’s NDS Core (latest - When it releases). Please use DeSmuME 0.9.11 and BizHawk’s NDS Core (latest) as a backup. All other emulators (ex: no$GBA) are banned.

PSP: The accepted emulator is PPSSPP or PPSSPP Gold. All other emulators are banned.

PS2/Xbox/Xbox 360/iOS/Android: All Emulators are banned. Links to all the above pre-approved emulators can be found below:

Nintendo Gamecube (Dolphin): https://dolphin-emu.org/download/ GBA (BizzHawk GBA Core): https://github.com/TASVideos/BizHawk GBA (mGBA - Backup): https://mgba.io/downloads.html NDS (MelonDS): http://melonds.kuribo64.net/ NDS (DeSmuME): http://desmume.org/download/ NDS (BizHawk’s NDS Core): https://github.com/TASVideos/BizHawk PSP (PPSSPP): https://www.ppsspp.org/

Please Note the following if you are submitting a run using any of the above mentioned emulators:

All Settings used must be in their default state or per the Specific Game Guides for that Board: You must show off these settings for verification at the end of any completed run, this also includes game-specific properties as some emulators override the core settings when playing games. An example of such a setup that could be used as a standard can be found on https://www.speedrun.com/simsbo/guide/rt97s

Save States and Pre-Run Setup is banned: The only exception to this rule is using load states to return to the main menu is fine OUTSIDE OF RUNS. The only exception to the Pre-Run Setup rule is that cheats in categories ex: Bust Out Regular%, Sims 1 Console: MIDAS Enabled% etc. are allowed to be entered before the timer starts, this will still be allowed, but everything else is banned.

The application of fixes for emulators is allowed, however, all FMV’s must be available and left in their default state upon the final submission of the run (ex: The final Cutscene at the end of the Bust Out Career that you are playing as). If FMV’s have been tampered with, the mods of the games reserve the right to ask why they were tampered.

The use of 3rd party tools, other than those required for your run (So your recording software, Your Timer, Your Notes and anything else used for streaming purposes (so StreamLabs Chatbot, VLC, SMG Now Playing)) are not allowed for usage during runs. If any attempts to pass runs using these 3rd party tools, will result in a ban from the leaderboards for that game.

If you are using GBA or NDS emulators only, in any of The Sims Series Games the following applies to you:

Capture Rules: You must capture the full Emulator Window including the Window Border when submitting your video

As we are still relatively new to this and some things will require clarification, we ask that you talk to your relevant leaderboard mod before you start your run over on our community discord, https://discordapp.com/invite/967rn3j

Happy Simming:

• The Sims Speedrunning Community Moderators

Hey there everyone, this is a thread to note down all the strats that have been discovered by the runners of this game.

If you find anything on your travels and want to share it, please do so here :)

Hey there everyone,

With the changes brought in regarding the Leaderboard Split, we have decided as well to do a list of all the Emulators that you can use to run the game. This is to keep the game open to everyone, HOWEVER, there will be a guide in the guides detailing the setup of such an Emulator, as a standard for all runs.

The following Emulators are Approved:

NGC: Dolphin + Nintendont The approved emulator is Dolphin 5.0 and 6.0 (Normal, Dev and Unstable Builds) using OpenGL Graphics ONLY. DirectX11 Graphics is banned.

Nintendont is allowed for runs but ONLY with the "Unlock Disk Speed" option disabled. This must be shown at the beginning of the run. All other emulators are banned.

PS2/Xbox: All Emulators are banned, due to inaccuracy.

Emulator not here? Bring it up in The Sims Bustin Out Discord Channels on the Community Discord.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the community Discord.

Happy Simming, Wolfie and Patrick

Good Timezone everyone,

As part of the changes in the moderation team (with the introduction of Wolfstorm to the Moderation team), we have also taken a decision to revamp the leaderboards.

The following changes are now in effect:

Bust Out (No Cheats) is now a standalone category - This replaces the Old Bust Out (No Cheats) Sub Category

Bust Out (Cheats) is now a standalone category - This replaces the Old Bust Out (Regular/Cheats) Sub Category.

All Category Boards have been split to Console and Emulator retrospectively. (New and Existing) Emulator Runners, Please check the Guides Section for setup information before running the game.

Thanks. Have a good evening and Happy Simming!

• Wolfie and Patrick

Just a heads up, in case you guys werent aware, The Sims Community has a Speedrunning Community discord, you can find it here:

https://discordapp.com/invite/NwznKSr

If you are a Leaderboard mod, please ping me on there and I will sort you out!

Happy Simming, Wolfie

Goeie Avond all Runners, Good Evening all Runners:

As you may know, the rules of all categories in the game currently state that custom content (including official content) is currently not allowed for use in any category in the game, but is allowed to be installed on your game copy.

Today, Melon and I are announcing that we are going to relax on this rule a little bit, but there is a catch 22:

If custom content has been used, it MUST be from the official Sims 3 Store (https://store.thesims3.com/) and you MUST when submitting your runs, provide a link to them.

Any runs that are found to contain custom content with no link to the item on the official store, will result in you being requested to do so to a moderator via our Discord.

In the event that you do not fulfill this request when asked to do so, will result in your run not being verified.

Thank you and a reminder that ONLY official content is allowed for use in runs (ie: Dragon Valley and all content on store.thesims3.com). Custom content is still banned!

• Wolfie

Just a heads up, in case you guys werent aware, The Sims Community has a Speedrunning Community discord, you can find it here:

https://discordapp.com/invite/NwznKSr

If you are a Leaderboard mod, please ping me on there and I will sort you out!

Happy Simming, Wolfie