Tool

Tools are programs which are used outside The Sims (series) games typically for the organisation and creation of custom content. Several official tools have been created by Maxis and Electronic Arts for the use with the games, but many third-party tools created by the Sims community exist as well. The third-party tools usually provide more extensive functionality than the official tools, but may be more complex to learn.

Additionally, The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 both feature launchers when starting the game, which provide additional functionality and content management. The Sims 4 uses Origin as a launcher as well as to download and update the game.

Art Studio
The Sims Art Studio provides several single-tile templates for creating custom artwork. BMP and JPG images can be imported to cover the templates. Art objects made with this tool are not as fully featured as in-game ones, as they lack functionality introduced by The Sims: Hot Date. The objects also do not support the sub-categories introduced with that expansion pack, therefore they will only appear in Decorative > All.

Character Makeover Studio
The Sims Character Makeover Studio is a tool that allows existing Sims within the game to be customised. The tool was originally made available on the official website but removed after a CMX issue was discovered.

Creator
The Sims Creator is a tool bundled with The Sims Deluxe Edition and compilations that include it. It allows users to paint and modify skins, as well as import images to create new face textures.

Creator features a black swimsuit texture that is not actually found in the game itself.

Eraser

 * This tool (included on the discs for later expansion packs) is made to remove Windows registry entries that were left behind after uninstalling The Sims. In some cases, these leftover entries could interfere with reinstalling.

FaceLift & FaceLift Gold
The Sims FaceLift and The Sims FaceLift Gold are tools for creating and importing custom head meshes and textures.

FileCop

 * This tool checks some files, such as walls, floors, and skins, and removes incomplete or damaged files.

HomeCrafter
The Sims HomeCrafter enables the creation of custom wall and floor textures. Templates can be exported and custom textures can be imported. The wall or floor's name, description and price can be modified, and the user can paint walls and floors on a demo lot to preview how the textures will look within the game.

HomeCrafter features several example wall and floor textures that are not actually found in the game itself.

Hot Date Object Organizer
The Sims Hot Date Object Organizer is intended for recategorizing objects so that they sort correctly in the catalog subcategories introduced in Hot Date and can be made available in the Downtown catalog.

The tool was never updated for later expansion packs, so it cannot be used to make objects available in the Vacation Island, Old Town, Studio Town or Magic Town catalogs. Third-party utilities such as 'SimCategorizer' from SimWardrobe and 'SimOrganizer' do provide this functionality and can be used as an alternative.

Make-A-Date
The Sims Make-A-Date is a tool that allows custom Sims to be created and imported into the game as a Townie. The imported Sim must replace one of the default Townies. The tool shares a similar interface to Character Makeover Studio

Make-A-Celebrity
The Sims Make-A-Celebrity is a tool that allows custom Sims to be created and imported into the game as a Celebrity. The imported Sim must replace one of the default celebrities. The tool shares a similar interface to Character Makeover Studio

Menu Edit
The Sims Menu Edit is a basic tool for editing the text strings which appear in an object's pie menu, and is intended for use with cloned custom objects.

SimShow (Skins)
SimShow allows skins to be previewed and imported. A Macintosh version was made by Aspyr Media.

Body Shop
The Sims 2 Body Shop is an independent version of Create-A-Sim that can be used to design Sims as well as custom content.

Content Manager
The Sims 2 Content Manager is a tool used for organizing and managing downloads. Custom content can be disabled through its interface, which will rename the package file extension for that content to.

HomeCrafter Plus
The Sims 2 HomeCrafter Plus is a tool used for the creation of custom wall and floor textures, and a successor to The Sims HomeCrafter.

''Create a Sim
The Sims 3: Create a Sim is a standalone version of the game's Create a Sim mode and was made available to users who pre-ordered the game.

Create a World
The Sims 3: Create a World is a tool used for designing and creating custom worlds for use with The Sims 3, as well as importing custom terrain for use with worlds. Existing worlds can be imported into the tool in order to created edited versions of the official worlds.

Create a Pattern
The Sims 3: Create a Pattern is a tool for creating custom patterns for use with Create a Style. Patterns can also be uploaded to the official The Sims 3 exchange to share them with other players.

Third-party tools
These tools are not made by or affiliated with Maxis and Electronic Arts and have been made by users in the community.

The Sims

 * CMX Maker
 * Codex (Edith clone)
 * FarOut
 * FARx
 * IFFPencil 2
 * Lot Manager
 * NPC Replacer
 * SE Object Manager
 * Sim Categorizer
 * SimEnhancer
 * SimMetamorphoser
 * SimPose
 * SimWallCat
 * SimWardrobe
 * Townie and Tourists Name Editor
 * Transmogrifier

The Sims 2

 * Compressorizer
 * GridAdjuster
 * HoodChecker
 * HoodReplace
 * LotAdjuster
 * Sims2Pack Clean Installer
 * SimPE

The Sims 3

 * Sims 3 Object Creator (S3OC)
 * Sims 3 Package Editor (S3PE)

The Sims 4

 * Sims 4 Studio
 * Sims 4 Package Editor (S4PE)