So I've finally gathered all the sims 3 packs and have purchased some worlds from the sims store but I'm really not too impressed with the pre-made sims and feel like just making a bunch of my own sims to place in the worlds. I would need to add more houses to the worlds and I just don't feel like doing it myself because it literally takes me nearly a day to make a house (or a single sim for that matter lol). I'd rather just download houses others have made but I've already broken my game once so now I'm a little leary of downloading things. I'm just wanting to find trustworthy houses to download that don't have too much, if any cc, and would like it if they kept in the theme of the worlds I have. Nothing too crazy. Anyways, just looking for suggestions, if anyone feels like dropping a line, I'd really appreciate it!

Just cruise the downloads here. MTS screens downloads well before acceptance. There are hundreds if not thousands to choose from.

I have never broken a game with mods. Sometimes I've downloaded one that doesn't work with my patch and things get screwed up until I remove the offending mod and clear caches, but the game/save is not permanently broken.

...Well, OK, there is one set of mods of an *ahem* "adult" nature that I sometimes use and that breaks some features -- namely the opportunity structure, among other things -- but that's because it's an incomplete mod with some seriously crappy programming. But! It has one (non-adult) feature that I really like and that I can't get anywhere else. So, I only use it in saves where I know I won't be using the features that it tends to break. But even that mod doesn't, IME, break the save, much less the game, entirely.

For the OP, there's really no reason to fear mods OR downloading houses. For the latter, use this to check for anything wacky before you install stuff, including lots, that are in sims3pack format. Sometimes, the in-game packager includes stuff in packages (like mods) that it shouldn't include. And sometimes, creators don't check for stuff for crap before they upload it. Like daisylee said, anything uploaded here on MTS has at least been checked by someone besides the creator, since uploads here are moderated. If you download sims3packs from anywhere else -- Especially the Exchange! -- I'd check it. Unfortunately, you can't check anything that's just in .package format. So, if you want to be cautious, make a back up before you install anything new -- mods, sims, lots, clothing, whatever -- then install the stuff and play for a bit in a testing mindset, just to see if anything's hinky. If you downloaded something for CAS, go into CAS and make sure the thing is there and that it works properly. If everything seems to be OK, then quit without saving your "testing" playing, reload the save, and play on as usual for real. If anything is hinky, exit the game, remove the stuff you installed, clear your caches, restore your backup, and reload the game. It's always good, cautious policy to install and test one new thing at a time so that you know exactly what might have caused any hinkiness, which makes it much easy to remove the offending thing. Then clear caches and install/test the next thing.

Also, never switch between saves within the same play session. The game has a tendency to not clear all the shit from one save out unless you completely exit the game to desktop. So, if you're playing Town A and decide you'd really rather to play Town B instead, you need to completely exit the game and then reload the game and load up Town B. Don't just go the Main Menu while playing Town A and load up Town B instead. You can screw up Town B by doing that, and if you save it after it's screwed up and you don't have an un-screwed-up backup...Well, then you're screwed.

Also, if you want to play EA worlds or custom worlds that come with Sims but have no interest in the premade Sims, you can annihilate all of them in a batch easily by installing and using Master Controller. Install the mod, go into the game and the world you want to play, and pick one of the households. Load it up, go to map view, click on the world's city hall, choose NRAAS and then Master Controller. Then click on Town and choose the option "Total Annhilation." This will delete all Sims in the world except for those in the household you chose to load, which you can then evict and destroy in Edit Town mode. All of the houses will then be empty and you can fill one, some, or all of them with your own Sims. (Or just let the game's story progression eventually create new families for the houses you don't put your own Sims in.)

There are plenty of places to look if you want to download houses, MTS, TSR, Tumblr, the exchange, to name a few.

Don't be worried about using any of these places to source lots, AS LONG AS you know how to check sims3packs and remove any unwanted/bad cc. I remove all/any nasty stuff I can see with custard, convert to a package file and plop them straight in to my Library folder. There are many tutorials on how to keep your game clean.

You are absolutely right, bad cc can attached itself to sims and lots and infiltrate your game and cause major issues. I still see the infamous Arezzo counter right in sims3packs all the time when downloading sims AND lots and am amazed when people say they've never heard of this! Just Google it folks. This one piece of content is then passed on through sharing content without knowing how to do so safely. Beware, checking everything you put in your game is your responsibility. Good luck and happy house hunting

Yeeeeeah, that's why I said *I've never.* And why I recommended making a backup of your save(s) before installing anything new.

I dunno, it's just in my various surfings around TS3-related forums, especially the official EA one, there seems to be this...I don't know if it's a fear of mods or if it's some kind of weird "Well, I'm so awesome that *I* don't use any mods!" sort of pride or something, but it's usually attached to "OMG, mods can break your game!!!!" paranoia. Which is just bizarre because...they really can't. They can break a save, maybe, in very rare cases. So, back up before you add a mod. Then if something breaks, delete the mod, restore your backup, good to go. Otherwise mods can generally just be removed and, if all else fails, the game is uninstallable/reinstallable. Just back your shit up, and you're golden. I just don't get the fear/paranoia. But then, I usually don't. I think I missed out on the fear/anxiety/paranoia gene when it comes to life in general.

Only real problems I had were the infamous lemoncandy cc which gave us the blue lots. It was not her fault as some of the first CC done and it was not known they would do that. Had the Rebecca I think it was doll. And again, totally unintentional from the creator's point. I lost saves but not my game. We learned a lot since then, such as checking CC with Custard and Dashboard and so on. And using Process Monitor to find problem items.

I think I had 150ish mods in my Sims 2 game. Have had some but nowhere that many in 3. Mostly Nraas ones in 3 and a few assorted others. So far no issues really as when had any problem removed the item and then was OK. I had a lighting mod mess up my game recently. Pulled it out and the game was fine again.

Had issues with cc beds that had not had a pets fix. Fixed them and the game problems were gone.

For the record, the Arezzo counter right is not a virus, and not fair to suggest such. As daisylee correctly points out above, lots of creators have made errors with their content, but not intentional I am sure.

Also for the record, I have downloaded content from here that has had problems with it and should be removed or fixed.

Gets back to my original point of taking care of our games ourselves

Which makes me want to ask: are lots saved as .package safer? If I'm not mistaken when placed in game the cc in the lot would just disappear if you don't have them in your game, or replaced with something the cc has been cloned from.

I save my lots to the Library and share the package file from that folder. This is certainly the easiest and safest way to do it in my opinion. CC will only show (if used on the lot) if you have it installed in the same way as the original creator.