GETTING STARTED!

As much as you would like to just jump in and start building, you must lay down some ground work and the right tools first.

1. Download the Create-A-World tool first from The Sims 3 website here

2. Download the Tutorial file here and the Walkthrough file here

3. Although I am going to talk you through it, it doesn't hurt to have a manual for guidance


4. Open a blank world and practice the controls as explained in the manual. I will try to explain stuff in sticky areas, but I am not going to go into detailed mouse control explanations. But feel free to ask questions when you are confused.

5. If you get an error that your CAW tool is incompatible with your present game version, have no fear. Here's what you do. (This is NOT my original idea, will give credit once I remember where I got it from http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/278761.page )

LATEST UPDATE 1.50 simply download the latest CAW from the sims 3 website.

For older patches:

 - open C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Create a World Tool, that is where you CAW is installed.

 - open the file called "Default". It should open with notepad

 - open C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin, that is where you have your latest SIMS ORIGINAL installed.

 - open the file called "Default"

 - so now you should have 2 notepad files opened.

 - scroll down to the bottom of the default file from your SIMS. You should see something like this:

GameVersion = 10.0.96.013017
CompatVersion = 13
WorldBuilderCompatibilityVersion = 10

 - scroll down to the bottom of the default file from your CAW. You should see something like this:

ameVersion = 1.13.7.014037
CompatVersion = 14
WorldBuilderCompatibilityVersion = 11

 - Now simply change the WorldBuilderCompatibilityVersion in the CAW default file to match the WorldBuilderCompatibilityVersion in the SIMS 3 default file and then SAVE

In my case, I changed the CompatVersion 14 to 13. And the WorldBuilderCompatibilityVersion 11 to 10 .

 - Restart CAW, it should work.

6. So now you have CAW working and you have played around with the controls, it's time to start. Join me in the next Chapter.

NOTE always re-download CAW from the Sims 3 website whenever a new EP is released in order to get the latest version. Right now the latest CAW is version 1.19 which is for Seasons/University.