Hi fellow Simmers!

As I've spent a good part of this week trying to get The Sims 3 running on Linux I thought I'll make a summary of what actually worked. I would argue the setup on Linux is not much more difficult than on Windows, however there are way fewer guides on how to do it.

The following setup was done on Linux Bazzite for The Sims 3 on EA Apps. As I'm a beginner there myself I'm not sure what could change in different Linuxes - nevertheless, it should be a good place to start.

1. Installation of The Sims 3:

There is an amazing step-by-step video made by citrine Simming on Linux: How to install
It's made for the Sims 4 but for the Sims 3 it works with the same steps, with the exception that at the end you click on installing Sims 3 instead of Sims 4.

The summary:
1.1: Make sure you have Lutris installed. This is the application that will allow us to open EA App and then the Sims 3.
1.2: Install the EA App through https://lutris.net/games/ea-app/
1.3: Once EA App is installed, open it through Lutris and install The Sims 3.

2. Essential adjustments to make the Sims 3 work -The Sims 3 Performance & Bug Fix Guide 2026

The guide was made for windows setup, therefore some of the things need to be setup a bit differently.

2.1: Guide's step 1 - Making The Game Recognise Newer GPU Models (Essential)

Step-by-step instructions by citrine Simming on Linux: Complementary Guide

2.2 Guide's step 8 - Limiting FPS (Essential)

The solution proposed by citrine in Simming on Linux: Complementary Guide didn't work for me as Mangohud would not work with EA App at all. However, I managed to limit FPS the following way:

2.2.1 Open Lutris, then

2.2.1.1: EA App "Configure" -> Runner options -> Graphics -> Enable DXVK





2.2.1.2: EA App "Configure" -> System options -> Game execution -> Environment variables -> Add: DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 (Key: DXVK_FRAME_RATE) (Value: 60). Save



You can check if it worked by opening The Sims 3 and using ctrl+shift+c with "fps on".

3. Tiny UI Fix - Guide

3.1: Put the whole tiny ui folder in the ...Games/the-sims-3/drive_c folder (renamed in this example "tiny-ui")
3.2: Optional: for simplification later on, renaming .ps1 file that opens the tiny-ui to "start.ps1"
3.3: Now, to open and run:
3.3.1: Open Lutris
3.3.2: Click on EA App and then below click on the arrow next to wine image. You're looking for an option named "Open Wine console"
3.3.3: Type in the command (hit enter after each line):
cd C:/tiny-ui
C:
pwsh
./start.ps1
From there on everything works exactly like in Windows (follow the guide on steam)



Also, for Linux, make sure to download the third option of tiny-ui file (not Windows and not for Mac). Currently it's the third one listed: "tiny-ui-fix-for-ts3.zip"

*** For some reason after opening powershell (command pwsh) writing results in some strange signs. Therefore, I just write "./start.ps1" anywhere else and copy-paste it.

Optional tools:

4. Delphy's Sims 3 Pack Multi-Extracter

Follow step-by-step instructions by citrine Simming on Linux: Complementary Guide

5. s3pe

For one of the dependencies to other mods (I don't remember which one) the following version was recommended for Linux: s3pe_11-1216-1651 and that's the one I'm using.

To run s3pe:
5.1: Open Lutris, then
5.2: Click on EA App and then below click on the arrow next to wine image. You're looking for an option named "Run EXE inside Wine prefix"
5.3: Search for "s3pe.exe" file in the s3p3 folder

6. Installing original Sims 3 store content: Unknown

I only read that installing through the launcher is not possible... As I was moving my Sims 3 from Windows to Linux I did the following:

6.1 Copied the whole "The Sims 3" folder (from the Documents) - for backup
6.2 Copied and pasted (with "overwrite" option) the whole The Sims 3 folder from windows to Linux Sims 3 folder
6.3 Copied and pasted (with "overwrite" option) my Linux clean backup folder (from 6.1) to Linux (main) Sims 3 folder

I have no idea which files exactly contain the store content, but it was successfully added, along with my saved games from Windows. Any hints on where exactly the store files are located, and how to add the newly purchased content directly to Linux Sims 3 are highly appreciated.