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).

Alt-tabbing may not work properly during the game's loading screens.

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.

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

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System	Location

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Origin		Ultimate Collection does not need Origin running to play.

Video settings

In-game graphics settings.

Widescreen resolution

Instructions

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

Anti-aliasing (AA)

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.

Black Square Shadows

There are two methods that may fix shadows appearing as large black squares:

• Set Shadows to Medium in Graphics Settings.
• Use the Graphics_Rules.sgr file presented here: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/User:Lost_Labyrinth/TS2/Graphics_Rules.sgr
  • This method may allow setting shadows to high whilst fixing the problem.

Neighbourhoods inaccessible in Ultimate Collection

If neighbourhoods are unavailable from the Choose a Neighbourhood screen, follow these instructions:

1. Open regedit (Window+R)
2. Backup your registry first by going File -> Export and selecting the "All" button
3. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then open SOFTWARE.
4. For 32 - Bit CPUs: Find the EA GAMES folder and open The Sims 2. Change the Display Name, Deleting the ™ out.
5. For 64- Bit CPUs: Open Wow6432Node. Find the EA GAMES folder and open The Sims 2. Change the Display Name, Deleting the ™ out.
6. Before the entry should look like this : The Sims 2™ Ultimate Collection
7. After it should say: The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

Issues on newer CPUS

Games designed before the release of multi-core CPUs may have issues on newer CPUs with multiple cores and Hyperthreading. If The Sims 2 does not progress in loading at startup, try the following:

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.

This setting is not saved and needs to be repeated after startup whenever necessary. Note that with the Ultimate Collection or any installation with many Stuff and Expansion packs, the initial loading screen will always take some time due to the amount of content included.

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; 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