The Sims 2

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The Sims 2

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Developers
	Maxis
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows	September 14, 2004
macOS (OS X)	June 13, 2005

The Sims
Subseries of Sim
The Sims	2000
The Sims Online	2002
The Sims 2	2004
The Sims Stories (series)
MySims	2008
The Sims 3	2009
The Sims Medieval	2011
The Sims 4	2014

Key points

Runs well on low-end hardware

Large community

All Origin versions get a free upgrade to The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection (contact EA Support for non-Origin versions).

Availability

Some expansions are no longer available for purchase.

All Origin versions are automaticaly upgraded to The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection. Contact the EA Support for retail versions.

Version differences

• The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection is a complete edition containing all expansions and Stuff Packs (except Happy Holiday Stuff). Origin customers are upgraded to this version automatically; for non-Origin versions contact EA Support for manual activation.
• The Sims 2 Holiday Edition includes the base game and the Holiday Party Pack (aka Happy Holiday Stuff Pack).
• The Sims 2 Deluxe includes the base game and the Nightlife expansion.
• The Sims 2: Double Deluxe includes the base game, Nightlife expansion and Celebration Stuff.

The Sims 2 Store Edition

There was briefly an online store that sold additional items for use in The Sims 2. To use the store, the game required a patch to The Sims 2 Store Edition. Store Edition removed the need for a physical CD, but introduced instability to the game. Support was pulled from the Sims 2 Store, and the Store Edition is no longer available.

Essential improvements

In-game camera and game recording settings.

Game is slow on newer CPUs

As The Sims 2 was designed before multi-core CPUs, it acts improperly on newer CPUs with multiple cores and Hyperthreading. To fix this:

1. Run the game.
2. Open Task Manager, and right-click the game's process. Click "Go to details".
3. Right-click The Sims 2's process under details and click Set Affinity.
4. Untick all CPUs except CPU 0.

Patches

The game, its expansions plus the Family Fun Stuff pack requires patching after installation.

Although the game's patch site has now gone down, many expansion pack patches are available from the PCGamingWiki filespace.

Disable intro movie

To disable the intro movie that plays every time the game opens, navigate to the following folder:

<path-to-game>\TSData\Res\Movies

Move/rename/remove intro_eng_audio.movie. The intro movie won't play anymore.

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location

Save game data location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Origin

Video settings

In-game graphics settings.

Widescreen resolution

The game's max res is 1600 x 1200. For higher resolutions you need to edit the following file:

EA GAMES\(Latest expansion installed)\TSData\Res\Config\Graphics Rules.sgr

For users who own the Ultimate Collection version of the game, their most recent expansion is Mansion and Garden Stuff, meaning the path is as follows:

(Origin Games directory)\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSData\Res\Config\Graphics Rules.sgr

Set maxResWidth and maxResHeight to your display's native width and height, or copy/paste the following:

option ScreenModeResolution
setting $Low
uintProp maxResWidth 2560
uintProp maxResHeight 1600
uintProp defaultResWidth 800
uintProp defaultResHeight 600

setting $Medium
uintProp maxResWidth 2560
uintProp maxResHeight 1600
uintProp defaultResWidth 1024
uintProp defaultResHeight 768

setting $High
uintProp maxResWidth 2560
uintProp maxResHeight 1600
uintProp defaultResWidth 1024
uintProp defaultResHeight 768
end

This fix does not automatically change your game's resolution. It will need to be set manually in the game's settings, but the game should now allow the changing of resolutions.

Field of view (FOV)

Each of the game's cameras can have their FOV set independently using the fov parameter in their Camera Settings files, which are contained in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Cameras

Edge Smoothing (Antialiasing)

If your "Edge Smoothing" slider is greyed out in-game, then it's likely that the game cannot determine how much VRAM your GPU has and is defaulting to its failsafe of 32MB. To remedy this issue, go to: EA GAMES\(Latest expansion installed)\TSData\Res\Config\Graphics Rules.sgr And find the section below.

if (not $useSoftwareRasterizer)
   # failed to obtain device texture memory size, force to 32MB
   if ($textureMemory = 0)
      seti textureMemory       32
   endif

Change the value for seti textureMemory to the value of your GPU's VRAM, in megabytes. (with no "MB" suffix, so 1GB = 1024, 2GB = 2048, 3GB = 3072, 4GB = 4096)

Doing this will result in the game falling back to your actual amount of VRAM when the game cannot determine the amount itself, meaning that options that are not enabled with the default of 32MB texutre memory will now be available. Should you change your GPU, this line should be changed to reflect your new amount of VRAM to avoid potential issues.

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Issues fixed

Vista/7 Compatibility

The Sims 2 is compatible with newer versions of Windows, however the original release of the game has issues, and will show an error message when loaded. Patching the game or installing the expansion packs will correct this.

Stuck Sims/Poorly Placed Objects/Frozen Objects

Periodically, a sim may become trapped or an special object may be placed in a bad location, preventing a sim from doing anything. In other cases, a normal object may be improperly tagged as "in use" and cannot be moved, sold, or manipulated. To fix these issues, open the cheat console by hold Ctrl, Shift and C, then type moveobjects on and enter buy mode. You can now pick up the sim or broken object, and move it to another location. To restore the game to normal after this, open the cheat console again, and type moveobjects off.

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)	800 MHz	2.4 Ghz
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3.5 GB	15.0 GB (For all Expansion Packs)
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 7200 nVidia GeForce 2 Series 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0 compatible	ATI Radeon 9600 nVidia GeForce 6 Series 64 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible
Other	When the Seasons (or Later) Expansion Pack is installed, T&L incompatible graphics chips can be used[citation needed]; however it requires a Minimum CPU speed of 2.4 Ghz.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.3.8
Processor (CPU)	1.2 GHz PowerPC G4/G5
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 9000 nVidia GeForce FX5200 32 MB of VRAM