More BITS! An Overhaul of The Sims 3's Soundtrack

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Uploaded: 25th Dec 2019 at 7:25 PM
Updated: 7th Aug 2023 at 3:23 AM
UPDATE 07.08.23

Hello stranger. It's been nearly three years and I'm updating this mod again!

  • With transu's modified EALayer3 encoder, I found a hacky way to create actually seamless loops and I've updated all of the DJ loops from Showtime. They're now in stereo! Do note, however, that this does not fix the jankiness of the turntable script and the music will still be interrupted randomly.
  • I discovered the other day that a majority of the World Adventures location music has been released digitally! So I've added it to this mod. That includes map/radio music from China, Egypt and France. Some tracks are missing, though.
  • A very long time ago, I was sifting through the Pattern Tool files and found some of the game's UI sounds in a better quality. I've included them here, but mainly for test purposes. They're such tiny sounds that any difference in quality is very negligible. I've been mindlessly playing since dropping these into my game and I haven't experienced a single crash, but I'm curious to know how other systems cope.

WARNING

The new audio files in this update are experimental and could cause a game crash. I haven't experienced crashing myself (even after 2 years of use), but it seems to vary from person to person. If you decide to give this update a whirl, let me know if you have any issues and I will consider backtracking to the stable version of EALayer3 (Where possible).
This is a mod that introduces higher bitrate music obtained from the digital music releases of the Sims 3's soundtracks. In addition, the mod features new music from the console editions of the game. Not all of the game's music has been released in a higher quality format, so there is some music that I couldn't replace. The old music will still play, it just won't sound as good. In the spoilers below you can find tracklists for each of the songs replaced.


























IMPORTANT NOTES
  • I recommend that you combine all of the packages from this mod into one. It won't affect the mod's functionality, and will save loading time. Also ensure that the combined package file is NOT compressed for maximum performance.
  • This mod directly replaces the game's .SNR and .SNS files for music. If you have another mod that replaces .SNR or .SNS files, there will be a conflict. Or if the .AUDTUN files for the title screen, loading screen, map view, CAS, build or buy are changed, then there is a chance that the game will not use this mod's audio resources.
  • The game will not play music for an expansion you don't have.
  • After spending a long time in CAS, the music may come to a stop. This can be remedied by previewing a track in the music menu and then going back. This bug is not caused by MoreBITS.
  • Although all of the files have been normalised with replaygain, certain tracks were mastered differently for the digital releases and have less dynamic range.
  • Replacing music in this game hasn't been experimented with that much. I have done extensive testing and my game seems to be completely fine. If you experience otherwise, please let me know.
  • Tracks not replaced by this mod will still play absolutely fine.
  • If you hear any kind of popping or distortion at the beginning of any of the songs, please let me know so I can fix it!

Technical Details
Lastly, here are the technicalities! All of the audio in this mod was encoded by LAME 3995o from a 16bit 44.1kHz FLAC source using the -Q 0 preset and a lowpass at 20kHz.

The game's original music was encoded at 192kbps VBR, so those with reasonably good ears/equipment should hear a difference.




Additional Credits:
Wojtek for their tutorial
Flyby for their tutorial
Arsil for their tutorial
Peter and Inge Jones for S3PE Ben Moench for the EALayer3 tool
Steve Jablonsky, Christopher Lennertz and Junkie XL for a wonderful soundtrack
Buurz and Gamefreak130 for their tips and advice
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