Readme The Sims(TM) 2 MAXIS(TM) 8/3/04 Version 1.0 Table of Contents General System Requirements Performance Tips Known Issues Video Card Issues Windowed Mode Other Command Line Options Cheats Video Capturing Camera Settings Custom Content Custom Neighborhoods Using SimCity(tm) 4 Terrain Custom Neighborhood Picture The Sims 2 Body Shop GENERAL ------- For the latest up to date information on The Sims 2 and The Sims 2 Body Shop visit: http://www.thesims2.com. Installation: If you have a version of The Sims 2 Body Shop already installed, please make sure it is closed before installing The Sims 2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------- * 800 MHz processor * 256 MB RAM * Windows(R) XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Operating System. * At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space * A T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM. Supported video cards: ATI Radeon(TM) series (7000 or better) VE series (see note below) 7000, 7200, 7500 8500, All-In-Wonder 8500 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800 X300, X600, X800 NVIDIA(R) Quadro(TM) series Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4 NVIDIA GeForce series (GeForce2 and better) GeForce 2 GeForce 3, 3 Ti GeForce 4, 4 Ti, MX 420, 440 GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950 GeForce 6600, 6800 Intel(R) Extreme Graphics (see note below) 82845, 82865, 82915 NOTE: If you have a non-T&L capable video card, such as Intel Extreme Graphics or Radeon VE series, then you need at least a 2.0 GHz processor. PERFORMANCE TIPS ---------------- When you run The Sims 2 for the first time, the game will automatically configure its graphics options based on your machine's specs. If game performance seems sluggish or choppy, there are a few things you can try to improve things: * Make sure your computer meets the game's system requirements (see above). If you do not meet these requirements, the game is unlikely to run acceptably. * The number of Sims you have on your lot is one of the biggest factors in determining performance. Lots with low numbers of Sims (4 or less) will run more smoothly than lots with many Sims (8+). * In the game, go to the Graphics/Performance Options panel. Reducing or turning off options will improve the game's performance. Reflections, Screen Size, and Smooth Edges are the options that will affect your frame rate the most, followed by Shadows and Lighting. * Turn off all other applications while running the game. * Some large showcase lots in the game (like 1 Wright Way in Pleasantview) may be slow when scrolling around. Frame rate should pick up considerably when the camera stops moving and you are interacting with the Sims. * Adding RAM to your system is an efficient way to improve performance. * Defragment your hard drive regularly for optimal disk performance (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter). KNOWN ISSUES ------------ Low Hard Drive Space: If you run out of hard drive space while playing The Sims 2, the game will be unable to store new data, such as saved games, video captures, and new neighborhoods. In certain cases, when attempting to save the game with no hard drive space, the game will appear to save, even though data has not been stored. Please make sure you have at least 500 MB of free hard drive space when running the game. Wheel Mouse Camera Rotation: If you’re unable to rotate the camera by using your mouse wheel, please make sure that you set the scroll wheel button function to autoscroll in your mouse settings. Installation/Uninstallation: If you experience any problems installing or uninstalling the game, please temporarily close any virus scanning software you have, and try again. Removing Saved Games on Uninstallation: Choosing to delete saved games when uninstalling will only remove saved games for the current user. Saved games for other users on the computer will remain under their respective folders under C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\EA Games. Due to the large size of saved games, you may wish to remove them manually. Locale Settings: Depending on your version of Windows, you will have two or three places where your locale settings are stored. If these settings are not consistent with each other, you may experience problems saving movies, and may have extra saved game folders generated under My Documents. In order to fix the problem, you will need to make sure all of your locale settings match. For example, if you are playing The Sims 2 in Thai, all your settings should reflect Thai location and language: Windows 2000: Open the Regional Options Control Panel, and set the Your Locale option. Then click Set Default..., and select the appropriate location. These two settings must match. Windows XP: Open the Regional and Language Options Control Panel. Under Standards and Formats, select your language option, then select your location in the Location field. Click Apply, then go to the Advanced tab. Select the correct language in the Language for non-Unicode programs field, and check the box under Default account user settings. Then click ok. Make sure you reboot to complete this process. Video Card Issues: ATI RADEON SERIES PROBLEM: Sims and objects sometimes appear too bright or all white. Sometimes Sims have patchy lighting. CARDS: Radeon 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800 This is a known bug in some older drivers. Upgrading to the latest manufacturer's drivers will resolve this. PROBLEM: Special cinematic events (such as first kiss) are too blurry. CARDS: Radeon 9000+ This is a known bug in some older drivers (Catalyst 4.5). Upgrading to the latest manufacturer's drivers will resolve this. PROBLEM: Texture dropout, distorted Sims and objects, strange horizontal lines on Sims and shadows. CARDS: Radeon 9000 This is a known bug in some older drivers. Upgrading to the latest manufacturer's drivers will resolve this. PROBLEM: When running in high resolution (1600x1200), lighting effects are corrupted. CARDS: Radeon, Radeon 7200, Radeon 7500, cards with below 64Mb video memory This is a known issue and is caused by choosing a higher resolution than The Sims 2 can support. Running in a lower resolution should resolve this. PROBLEM: Neighborhood and water have bright flicker. CARDS: Radeon, Radeon VE, Radeon 7200, Radeon 7500 This is a known driver bug. However, updating your driver to the latest version may help. PROBLEM: In Create A Family, creating a baby Sim will result in a bad floor texture. CARDS: Radeon, Radeon 7500 This is a known bug in some older drivers. Upgrading to the latest manufacturers drivers will resolve this. PROBLEM: Bad textures and random color bars appear when using video capture. CARDS: Radeon 7000 series, 8000 series, 9000 This is a known bug in some older drivers (Catalyst 4.3). Upgrading to the latest manufacturer's drivers will resolve this. PROBLEM: Shoreline flickers in neighborhood view. CARDS: Radeon 7000 series This is a known bug in some older drivers (Catalyst 4.3). Upgrading to the latest manufacturer's drivers will resolve this. FORCED ANTI-ALIASING: Sims 2 will have graphical problems if anti-aliasing is forced on in display properties. To fix this: * Right click on your windows desktop and select Properties. * Choose the Settings tab and press the Advanced button. * Select the 3D tab and make sure SmoothVision is set to Application Preference. * If not, press the Custom... button and change the anti-aliasing setting to Application Preference. NVIDIA GEFORCE SERIES PROBLEM: In certain lighting conditions, Sims will have small flashing triangles. CARDS: GeForce FX 5600 This is a known driver bug. Turning lighting options from high to medium will resolve this. Updating your driver to the latest version may also help. PROBLEM: From certain camera angles, Sims may be missing some triangles. CARDS: GeForce FX 5200 This is a known driver bug. However, updating your driver to the latest version may help. PROBLEM: The neighborhood and many screens display all grey. CARDS: GeForce 6800 This is a new video card, and this is a known driver bug with an early version of the driver. Disabling hyperthreading on your machine may help (see below). Updating to the latest driver may help. PROBLEM: Interface panels and buttons may disappear or turn a solid blue color. CARDS: GeForce 4 series This is a known bug in some older drivers (before version 6177). Upgrading to the latest manufacturer's drivers will resolve this. FORCED ANTI-ALIASING: Sims 2 will have graphical problems if anti-aliasing is forced on in display properties. To fix this: * Right click on your windows desktop and select Properties. * Choose the Settings tab and press the Advanced button. * Select the GeForce tab. * Select Performance and Quality settings from the left menu. * Switch Anti-aliasing settings to Application Controlled. PROBLEM: Game crashes soon after starting. Some recent NVIDIA drivers have problems when running when Hyperthreading is enabled on your processor. Try updating your driver first. If this doesn't help, turning off Hyperthreading in your BIOS will workaround this issue. If you have no idea what Hyperthreading or BIOS is, it's probably not worth messing around with this stuff. Contact your video card manufacturer for assistance. UNSUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS If you have an unsupported video card, The Sims 2 will run in software rendering mode. When software rendering mode is active, rendering performance is slower and graphical quality is reduced. Examples of unsupported video cards are: ATI Rage Fury Matrox Millennium G400 Matrox Millennium G550 NVIDIA Riva TNT2 Matrox Parhelia ST Micro KYRO S3 DeltaChrome S8 SiS 315 Trident Blade XP SiS Xabre 400 XGI Volari * Video Problem tip: If you are seeing graphical problems not described here it is always best to go to your video card or computer manufacturer's website and make sure you have installed the latest drivers for your hardware. WINDOWED MODE ------------- To run The Sims 2 in windowed mode, first create a shortcut to the game by right-clicking on Sims2.exe and selecting "Create Shortcut." Then right-click the shortcut, and select properties. At the end of the "target" line, add a space and the text "-w" (without quotes). Click Ok, then launch the game by double-clicking on the shortcut. Running the game in a window will allow you to more easily switch between different programs, but please note that running other programs at the same time as The Sims 2 will be detrimental to the game's performance. Also note that edge scrolling does not function in windowed mode. If you experience any graphical anomalies, please make sure your desktop is set to 32-bit color. Other command line options: -w windowed mode -f fullscreen mode -nosound run with no sound -r800x600 run at 800 x 600 resolution -r(w)x(h) run at (w) x (h) resolution CHEATS ------ To enter cheats in The Sims 2, first open the command console by simultaneously pressing ctrl-shift-c. Note that cheats are case-sensitive. Some of the cheats that can be used here are as follows: help: lists all the cheats in the game. help [cheatname]: displays specific information about the cheat. exit: closes the cheat window. expand: expands or contracts the cheat window. moveObjects on/off: removes footprint limitation for all object placement in Buy Mode and Build Mode. Removes limitations placed on hand tool for when objects are in use, or are normally non-movable objects. Is known to cause issues with game elements, routing, hidden object generation and manipulation, etc. Note that using this cheat allows you to delete objects that normally cannot be deleted, such as Sims, the mailbox, and the garbage can. If you delete these objects, there is no way to get them back, so be careful! aging –on/off: prevents Sims from aging. This can disrupt the carefully tuned gameplay balance, and will prevent little Johnny from ever growing up, so treat this cheat with care as well. autoPatch -on/off: This cheat lets you re-enable notifications when there is a game update available for The Sims 2. Just turn Autopatch on and go to the Custom Content Browser (the little snowflake button on the UCP in the neighborhood). If there’s an update available you’ll be asked whether you want to download it. slowMotion [value]: The slowMotion cheat takes one parameter: the "slowness" setting (such as slowMotion 4). This value ranges from 0 to 8 where 0 is normal speed and 8 is the slowest speed. boolProp enablePostProcessing true/false: enables the use of postprocessing cheats (see below); very useful for movie making (also see below). Please note that you must have a video card that can handle pixel shaders in order to successfully use this cheat. If you use the cheats and you don’t have pixel shaders, the screen will most likely go partially dark, and will not come back until you turn off enablePostProcessing. If you turn on postprocessing, and you turn on cinematics, and a cinematic plays, you may also experience unwanted graphical glitches. bloom [r g b x] (rgb is color) (x is the bloom amount) [0.0 - 1.0]: This cheat adds a blur effect, like a sitcom flashback moment. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work. vignette [centerX centerY X] (X is the vignetteing factor) [0.0 - 1.0]: Adds a blur effect from the specified center. Using "vignette 0.5 0.5 0.5" should put some blurry bits at the edge of the screen. Vignette 0.5 0.5 1.0 is maximum edge blurryness. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work. filmGrain [val] [0.0-1.0]: This cheat makes the screen grainy. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work. letterBox [val] [0.0-0.4]: Adds a letterbox effect to the view. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work. VIDEO CAPTURING --------------- The ability to create movies with The Sims 2 is built right into the game. You can simply start creating a movie in game by pressing the 'v' key on your keyboard and 'v' again to end the movie. You can also pause and unpause the capture (without pausing the game) by pressing the 'b' key while recording. There are also various options for the quality of the movies that you can create. Please note that adjusting the Video Capture options in the game will affect the performance of the game. Changing your Video Capturing options: What screen size will my video capture be (in pixels)? Small = 128 x 128 Medium = 320 x 240 Large = 640 x 480 What difference does adjusting Video Capture Size in Camera Options make? Low: This option will provide the highest amount of compression for resolution. Videos made with this option turned on will be of lower visual quality, but save on hard drive space and will affect performance the least. Medium: With medium selected the video resolution will increase but the videos will take up more hard drive space and will affect performance a bit more than low. High: Selecting high will provide videos with the lowest amount of compression for resolution. Videos made with this option turned on will be of the highest compressed quality, but this option will increase the file size of the videos significantly. It is recommended to only use this option if you have a 1.4Ghz machine or faster. Uncompressed: This option will not compress the video capture. Uncompressed will tend to create very large file sizes, about on the order of ten times larger than the high quality setting. It is not recommended to use this option unless you have at least a 2.4Ghz machine or faster, and a faster hard drive helps as well (ATA100 or greater). This option is ideal for advanced users who wish to change the videos to other formats. Video Sound Capture: This option will either enable or disable sound from being captured in the Video Captures you create. Having this option enabled will affect the overall performance of the game during the video capture, and will also increase the file size of the video capture. *Tip: If recording frame rate is low and your video seems choppy, try recording with sound off. This will allow the game to slow down the simulator to match the recording frame rate so that playback will be smooth. *Tip: Video recording should work with all configurations. It may take some experimentation to determine the balance of size, frame rate and quality that works for your system. *Tip: Recording at the maximum quality with sound will only perform acceptably on very high-end systems. On most machines, you will have to sacrifice either sound or quality to record with a smooth frame rate. *Advanced Tips: All the video capture settings default values are in an .ini file that you can edit. You can modify things like capture frame rate, default folder to capture to, file naming, capture size, max bit rate, and preferred codecs. Want to capture in a different codec? Just install the codec and then make it the preferred codec. The file is located here: My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\ConfigVideoCapture.ini. *Tips for making great videos: Plan your shots! Be sure to use both standard camera mode (F10 will hide the interface menus) and also the Cameraman mode (aka free camera) activated via TAB. Cameraman mode is available in both Neighborhood and lots and allows for very controllable and super close movements as well as sweeping pan and zooming type shots. This will take practice but once you get the hang of it, you can make some really incredible video captures with Cameraman mode! *Advanced Tip for making great videos: Sometimes, the in-game camera restrictions can hinder that perfect shot. The Cameras in the game are tuned for gameplay, but sometimes they are not the best for making that really great video you are looking for. You can try editing the camera settings, but make sure you backup the old ones first before experimenting with things like min height, max height, speed per step, amount per key press, field of view etc. Do this at your own risk as these changes will also effect how the camera moves in the game. Making changes to these settings may make the game unplayable. Advanced users only! The camera txt files are here: My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Cameras Sharing video captures with friends but they cannot view the video? The codec we are including on disk is the On2 VP6.1. On2 Technologies, Inc. offers free downloads of VP6.2 for personal use. In our tests, it appears to be seamlessly backwards compatible with VP6.1. Please visit the On2 Technologies website for more information. CUSTOM CONTENT -------------- You can add your own content to the game for skins, music, TV channels, video games, collections, neighborhood terrain, and neighborhood pictures. Skins: To use a .sims2skin or .sims2pack file that someone has created using The Sims 2 Body Shop, just double-click the file. The file will install itself automatically no matter where it is located on your computer. Music: In order to play your own music in the game, just go to My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Music, and drop your .wav or .mp3 files in the appropriate folder. MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and THOMSON multimedia. TV channels: To have your own movies played on the in-game TV channels, just go to My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Movies\ and place .avi files in the appropriate folder. Ideally, the files should have stereo sound, and be in a 128x128 pixel format, otherwise they will be stretched to fit. Video games: In order to have your own files played as video games, take any existing .avi file that you have. Then browse to one of the game subfolders under My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Movies\Games\ and place your files in the appropriate folder. Rename your movie as the exact name of one of the existing movie files (gamename_ATTRACT.avi, gamename_INTRO.avi, gamename_P1LOSE.avi, P1WIN.avi, gamename_P2LOSE.avi, or gamename_P2WIN.avi, where gamename=bus, ssx, or sc4). Then when you play the corresponding game segment in The Sims 2, your movie(s) will play on the screen instead. Collection icons: To use your own icon for a custom collection, simply drop any .tga, .jpg, .png, or .bmp file into My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Collections\Icons, and your picture will show up as an option when you create a new collection. Since pictures will be stretched to fit the format, they should be small and roughly square for best results. Custom Neighborhoods Using SimCity 4 Terrain: New custom neighborhoods for the Sims 2 can be created using SimCity 4 terraforming tools. First, only small cities can be imported into The Sims 2, so be sure not to start with a medium or large city. Make sure the city you use contains roads; otherwise you will not be able to place lots in your new neighborhood. Take the .sc4 file you wish to use, and place it in your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\SC4Terrains folder. When you go to the neighborhood creation screen in the game, your terrain will be available to use to create a new neighborhood. Please note the following: Most of the terrain features created with the God mode tools can be imported, including foliage (except for palm trees); however, fauna (animals) are not imported. Also note that terrains are imported mirrored from the original SimCity layout. Switching to Mayor Mode, only original SimCity 4 road bridges or SC4 Deluxe small steel arch bridges, manually laid roads/street that are straight, right angle bend, cul-de-sacs, and T & 4 way intersections are imported as streets into Sims 2 neighborhoods. Diagonal roads and railroads are ignored and not imported. Practically all other placeable features are ignored upon import: zones, elevated roads/highways/freeways, buildings or other facilities, airports, landmarks, etc. Once loaded into the game a neighborhood's default terrain type can still be modified via the following cheat: 1. With the neighborhood you wish to change loaded, open the cheat dialog by pressing Ctrl-Shift-C. 2. Type: terrainType Desert (Changes current neighborhood terrain type to Desert. Note that the cheat is case sensitive.) terrainType Temperate (Changes current neighborhood terrain type to grassy terrain. Note that the cheat is case sensitive.) CUSTOM NEIGHBORHOOD PICTURE --------------------------- In order to create a custom picture to represent your neighborhood on the main menu, first save the picture you wish to use as a .png file (a 4x3 size ratio works best, but pictures with other proportions will be stretched to fit). The file must be named N0XX_Neighborhood.png (where XX is the neighborhood number). Then place the file in the neighborhood's directory (e.g., My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N004). THE SIMS 2 BODY SHOP -------------------- Overview: The Sims 2 Body Shop is a powerful tool that lets you design unique and diverse Sims that will be playable in The Sims 2 and sharable with your friends. You can create custom content such as clothing, skin tones, eye colors, hair, or glasses that can be used in any combination to make infinitely unique Sims. The Sims 2 Body Shop also gives you incredible control over your Sims’ faces through the ability to select from a diverse range of facial "types" and sliders to fine tune even the smallest details, such as nose length, eyebrow thickness, lip curl, and chin shape. User's Manual: A complete user's manual is available on http://www.thesims2.com. Installation: The Sims 2 Body Shop is included in The Sims 2 and is automatically installed with the game. There is no separate installation necessary. Installing New Content: When installing new content, make sure that neither The Sims 2 nor The Sims 2 Body Shop are currently running. Important note: DO NOT install the Body Shop Maxis Starter Content Pack along with The Sims 2. This content is already installed with The Sims 2; installing the starter pack on top of The Sims 2 may corrupt your game data. Hot Keys: There are several hot keys in The Sims 2 Body Shop that help you preview your Sims. Many of these can be used in combination to get a precise view of your Sim. F3 -- Toggles between “free camera” and “set camera” modes. In free camera, you can use the following mouse controls to rotate the camera in all dimensions: * Click and drag the Left Mouse Button -- Orbits the camera around the Sim’s head. * Click and drag the Right Mouse Button -- Controls the camera zoom. Move the mouse away from you to zoom out. Move the mouse toward you to zoom in. * Click and drag Left and Right mouse buttons together -- Changes the center point the camera is looking at. F5 -- Toggles the 3D room off and on. If there is a bitmap graphic named “userBkg.bmp” in the “\EA Games\The Sims 2\” folder in My Documents, the image will be displayed as a backdrop. F6 -- Displays the Sim in the “bind pose,” with arms held straight out. This is helpful for viewing parts of the Sim that may be hidden by the normal pose. To return the Sim to the normal pose, click on any Sim thumbnail or content thumbnail. F7 -- While in “set camera” mode, displays the Sim at the far zoom position. F8 -- While in “set camera” mode, displays the Sim at the near zoom position. F9 -- Toggles the UI off and on. < and > -- Rotates the Sim. (Also shown on the keyboard as the comma “,” and period “.” keys.) Display Options: Pressing ALT+ENTER will toggle The Sims 2 Body Shop between windowed mode (default) and full-screen. You can manually set the screen size to 800x600 by creating a copy of The Sims 2 Body Shop shortcut. To create a shortcut, right click on TS2BodyShop.exe and choose "Create Shortcut". To edit the shortcut, right click on the shortcut and select "Properties." At the end of the line called "Target", add a space after the existing text and type "-r800x600" at the end of the path name. To set the screen resolution to 1024x768 follow the same steps, but instead type "-r1024x768". Known Issues: Issue: Textures may appear blurry on video cards with minimum spec video memory (32 MB) Solutions: * Run The Sims 2 Body Shop in 800x600 screen size (see instructions in Display Options section above) * Reduce your monitor's desktop resolution to 800x600 Issue: Skin Tone projects that were saved using the pre-release download version of The Sims 2 Body Shop will not load correctly in the “Load Saved Projects” screen in this version. The projects also will not “Import to Game” successfully. This does not affect custom Skin Tones that already were imported successfully with the pre-release version of The Sims 2 Body Shop. Solutions: Please check TheSims2.com for more information on this issue. More information on known technical issues is available on http://www.thesims2.com. Thanks for Playing The Sims 2! The Sims 2 Team MAXIS Archived by OldGamesDownload.com on 8th November, 2020