Sims 2

Well, I know it’s an old game, but it’s still much fun. Many people received the Complete Edition when it was free on Origin, so why not bring a bit of life into it and have some fun 😀

But first things first. You run the game and see pixels that take up half of your screen. You try to change the resolution, but no, there’s only one option available 800 x 600 and the game is runnng on the lowest settngs possible. Chances are, that you are runninng Sims 2 on a computer that is less than 10 years old. But the game doesn’t recognize your video card and thinks you’re using something much too shitty to run the game.

To fix it you need to take several steps. First download the graphics rules appropriate for your Video Card from the bottom of this post. Follow the instructions from this post to put the file in the correct folder. This will tell the game that your video card is strong enough to run the game in highest setings.

The maximum resolution that Sims 2 originally allow is 1600 x 1200. If you have for example a FullHD monitor, you can do it, by editing the Graphic Rules file manually (the one that you just downloaded for your graphic card). Detailed instructions on how to do this you’ll find in this post.

Now run the game and see if it looks al right. If there are black rectangles under your sims feet, just change the setting of the Sims shadows to medium.

Now you just need to enable the custom content in your game and you’ll be ready to start the real fun. Start the game, go to Options and set “Catalogs Display Custom Content” to ON. A tutorial with pic for doing this you’ll find here.

There are two important things you need to rememeber when getting Sims2 CC.

1. For any new object to work you need to have a mesh (which is basically a 3D model of it without textures). But if you already have a mesh, eg. because it’s part of the base game, you can get only recolors for it, that change it’s appearance.
2. There are two main types of files that you will have to install in a different way. Those are Sims2Packs and Packages.

Package files you instal simply by putting them in the Downloads folder in the Sims 2 Folder in your Documents (NOT in Program Files). If you don’t have this folder, just create it. You’ll find detailed instructions for installing package files on this page.

Sims2Packs are supposed to install themeselves once you double click them. Unfortunately it seems that either because of Origin Launcher or because of the Ultimate Collection they don’t seem to do anything for me. To install them anyway, you’ll need to download sims2pack clean installer. Choose Sims2PackInstaller_NoInstall.zip. Once you have it, unzip it and run it. Now you can double click your sims2pack and clean installer will install it for you.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to take nice screenshots from your game. There are a few tricks to make them look better:

1. Don’t make screens using ingame “C” shortcut. Thay are in really small resolution and they won’t make a good starting point for any editing. Use Print Screen key instead and paste the scren into e.g. Paint, than save it.
2.  Use cheats to make plumbob disappear and to move your posed sims. To use cheats, in game press ctrl+shift+c. A console will appear. First, put boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true, to enable the cheats. You can copy and paste things in the console.  Once you have it, use the following cheats:

• PlumbBobToggle off   – to hide the plumbob
• Showheadlines Off  – to hide thought ballons
• moveObjects on – to let you move the sims in buy mode, as if they were normal objects

Ok, so we can install CC in our game now. But what to install?

Default replacements to make your game look better from the start:

1. Default faces, to make starting creating a sim from scratch a much easier process.
2. Base game hair default replacements
3. Default Replacement Wispy Beard and Moustache Packages
4. Skins – anatomically correct, you’ll find here. It comes with a default eye replacement. For a barbie doll version, you could go here, but I can’t say I used them myself, because I prefer adult content in my game.
5. Sexy feet

Hair:

1. 3to2 Braid Hair
2. Movies Orchid Hair 3to2 All Ages by Julie J
3. Roaring Heights Wavy Bob 3to2 All Ages
4. Movies Western Hair 3to2
5. Loose Bob 3to2
6. Butterfly078 3to2 Nouk-io-Pooklet’d
7. ButterflySims 082 3to2
8. Julie J – 3to2 Cleopatra Style Hair Trappified Pooklet’d io’d
9. 3to2: EP8 Mermaid Hair
10. 3 to 2 Hair – Playful Updo
11. Skysims Hair 245
12. skysims hair 246
13. Skysims Hair 243
14. Skysims Hair 241
15. Skysims Hair 238
16. Skysims Hair 237
17. Skysims-Hair-233
18. Skysims-Hair-228
19. Skysims-Hair-224
20. Skysims-Hair-217
21. Skysims Hair Adult 212
22. Skysims Hair 209
23. Loki Hair retexture

Clothes

1. Veranka 3to2 Male Outfit with Strap Boots and SexyFeet
2. Smart Shirt & Pants 3to2 Multishoe
3. Male 708090s Shirt and Showtime Pants – 3to2
4. Flower Misty’s Boho 3to2 with Sexy Feet and Sandals
5. Flower Misty’s Boho 3to2 with Sexy Feet and Sandals
6. Skirt and tights outfit
7. Mord Sith Outfit
8. Darken Rahl
9. Fight anyone hack
10. Male shirt
11. Great site with all kinds of stuff!!!
12. Many great clothes
13. Dress and mesh
14. Fashionable Dress and mesh
15. Ice Blue Gown and mesh
16. Kate: Bridal Gown and mesh
17. Structured frill bridal dress and mesh
18. Gothic Dresses Set 1 and mesh
19. RequestSet1-Wedding gowns and meshes 1, 2, 3
20. The Bridal Collection 2010 and meshes 1, 2, 3
21. Wedding dresses

1. Curtains for Spooky Houses
2. Coffin Beds Re-Vamped
3. Gothic Recolor Set
4. Transparent Window Curtains Decorations and mesh
5. Victorian Streetliving
6. Olde English Fireplace Recolours
7. Punching Bag by Tanchi and recolors
8. Unlocked Alien Eyes
9. Counter fix

Mods I think useful:

1. Sim Blender
2. The “CEP” – Color Enable Package
3. OMSP
4. No Starvation 
5. No getting fat
6. No trash memories
7. Immunity Controller
8. Better Lost Friend Notifications
9. Need Freak
10. Stay Late
11. Unbreakable Elevators
12. Simply Leftovers
13. Summer Vacation Mod
14. Dishes Fixes
15. No Carpool for Mothers
16. Buy Clothes Anywhere
17. Book of talent

1. PoseBox (Starry Sky) by MuSi
2. Descriptive Poseboxes

1. Loki
2. Darken Rahl
3. Lord Sado (The male sim I’m using in my screenshots)