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Difference between revisions of "The Sims 2"

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
(→‎Video settings: high frame rate)
m (Is the EA support drunk or something, the game runs just fine on Windows 8, or at least for me it does. I did always play it in Windowed mode but even on Fullscreen every single graphical option was available to me.)
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# Right-click The Sims 2's process under details and click Set Affinity.
 
# Right-click The Sims 2's process under details and click Set Affinity.
 
# Untick all CPUs except CPU 0.
 
# Untick all CPUs except CPU 0.
 +
 
'''Notes'''
 
'''Notes'''
 
{{ii}} Setting is not saved and needs to be repeated after startup whenever necessary.  
 
{{ii}} Setting is not saved and needs to be repeated after startup whenever necessary.  

Revision as of 17:28, 28 July 2014

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Template:Infobox game/row/osxporter
The Sims 2
Cover image missing, please upload it
Developers
Maxis
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows September 14, 2004
macOS (OS X) June 13, 2005
The Sims 2 on Wikipedia
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).[1]
Alt-tabbing may not work properly during the game's loading screens.

General information

Official Website
The Sims Wiki

Availability

Template:Availability Table

Some expansions are no longer available for purchase.
All Origin versions are automatically 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.[1]
  • 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

Instructions

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

<path-to-game> changes according to what expansions you have installed. For example if you have Ultimate Collection or all expansions path would be ...\Fun with Pets\SP9\...

Save game data location

Save game cloud syncing

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

Video settings

In-game graphics settings.

Template:Video 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 32 MB.
Instructions

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Issues unresolved

Failed to find a DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapter

This seems to be issue when playing with Windows 8 and 8.1[2]
Game runs fine in windowed mode but opening game regularly gives error about DirectX compatibility even if all other system requirements are met. Shadows, resolution and refresh rate options are greyed out.

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.
Instructions

Black Square Shadows

Instructions
Instructions

Neighbourhoods inaccessible in Ultimate Collection

Instructions

Issues on newer CPUS

The Sims 2 was made before the release of multi-core CPUs. It may have issues at the startup loading screen on newer CPUs with multiple cores and Hyperthreading. Try following if The Sims 2 does not progress in loading at startup.
Instructions

"More..." button does not work in conversations

This issue is caused by using a mouse when playing on a laptop with a touchpad. It is solved by either:

  • Disabling the touchpad whilst playing The Sims 2, if possible.
  • Using the touchpad to play instead of a mouse.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista
Processor (CPU) 800 MHz
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 3.5 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon 7200
nVidia GeForce 2 Series
32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0 compatible
Other When the Seasons (or Later) Expansion Pack is installed, T&L incompatible graphics chips can be used[3]; 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

References