The Sims 2

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The Sims 2

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).

Disc version may not run properly on Windows 10 due to issues with SecuROM.^{[citation needed]}

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

General information

Official Website

The Sims Wiki

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v3 DRM.
Mac App Store		Super Collection.

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

The Windows version is no longer sold digitally.

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

The Ultimate Collection from Origin uses SecuROM.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Apartment Life
Bon Voyage
Celebration! Stuff
Family Fun Stuff
Freetime
Glamour Life Stuff
H&M Fashion Stuff
Happy Holiday Stuff
Holiday Party Pack
IKEA Home Stuff
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff
Mansion & Garden Stuff
Nightlife
Open for Business
Pets
Seasons
Teen Style Stuff
University

Version differences

• The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection is a complete edition containing all expansions and Stuff Packs. Origin customers are upgraded to this version automatically; for non-Origin versions contact EA Support for manual activation. SecuROM 7 DRM.
• The Sims 2: Super Collection includes six expansions and three Stuff Packs. This version is only available for OS X.
• The Sims 2 Holiday Edition (2005) includes the base game and the Holiday Party Pack (aka Happy Holiday Stuff Pack).
• The Sims 2: Holiday Edition (2006) are a re-release of the 2005 version with some additional content
• The Sims 2 Deluxe Edition includes the base game, the Nightlife expansion, official downloadable content from the (now defunct) Sims 2 Exchange and a DVD with exclusive extra material.
• 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

Retail versions of the base game, expansions, and the Family Fun Stuff pack require patching after installation. The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection on Origin is already patched.

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

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Graphics Rule Maker

Fixes common issues, like graphics settings disabled or not getting applied on newer GPUs, black square sim shadows. No manual file editing needed.

Instructions

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	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

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

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 32 MB.

Instructions

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Speech is fictional language called Simlish. Speech is subtitled with generic icons.
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Traditional Chinese

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

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.

If playing on a PC Desktop it is solved by:

• Pressing tab when selecting options in the pie menu

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor (CPU)	800 MHz	2.4 Ghz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	1 GB
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