the sims... 2!

i post the same way i play the sims: either incessantly or not at all

[ivycopur]

Pinned masterpost

Infant face tutorial

Pleasantview with infant faces + restored ancestors

Strangetown with infant faces (see this post for a fix to Johnny Smith's face if you downloaded before 6/17)

Tag for all my posts

TOS: Please don't paywall my stuff. Besides that, I don't care, do whatever you want with it!

[thesims2comics]

My interpretation of how Tybalts, Juliettes and Tanks (custom) cellphones would look in 2004 :D

[alelelesimz]

URBZ 💰 Daddy Bigbucks

🌆 Talk about Miniopolis (+3) ⤷ “Miniopolis! What a stunning sight to behold, don't you think? And once I own it all, every last street corner… a stunning sight I can charge people to admire!”

[thesilentfool]

I’m bored have some girl failures ~

[eulaliasims]

the world's sleepiest boy.

[nanominyo]

Uh, this was supposed to be fanart but I guess Plastic Box Cassandra is just her whole own character now.

[l-1-z-a]

🖼️ Insights into the Aesthetic Development of The Sims by Eric Hedman, a lead animator

1. Who was actually responsible for the visual style and art direction of the base game?

The art direction and coalescence of a bunch of the aesthetics, especially the superlative UI was handled by Mr. Charles London. He played the role of confessor and traffic cop across the original game and Livin' Large and helped establish the relationship with New Pencil. We had a few external artists contribute to various bits of things like the general aesthetic of the neighborhood screen and video intro. Generally though, the main bulk of the characters were handled by Eric Chin, and a good amount of scenic art was done by Ms. Jami Becker.

2. What exactly was New Pencil's role in the project? Why is so little known about their contribution after all these years?

New Pencil had an increasing role taking existing assets of defined footprints that Don, Patrick and I were prototyping and making mimic objects and later more fully fledged objects directly from 3DS Max templates I was building. Michael Murguia, Adam Murguia, Scot Tumlin, Scott MacIntyre, John Beebe, and Greg Faillace, were all people who had deep effect on the final product. Some ended up working with The Sims on subsequent projects. Greg himself has made quite an impact at Riot games where his eye and heart make All the stuff he touches there live quite a bit more than it would without him. In the 1990s and the early 2000s a lot of the things that we take for granted like distributed apps for records and social media/archiving were not the rule. One of the reasons the Internet Archive exists is because of the necessity to keep things from disappearing off the face of the digital earth. We had a good functioning BBS at one point which was as a good point of contact with players and developers... but that got thrown away because some folks thought it got in the way for authority and control of process. It had its problems, but it was also useful. I would like New Pencil to get its Laurels more than it has.... and as I do more videos where I can talk directly about how I ended up doing things I did, I will definitely do my best to give my perspective on how people inside and outside the team and NP did their good work.

Object Concept art and development renders, The Sims: Unleashed.

3. What were your main sources of inspiration for the expansion packs' aesthetics? I'm especially curious about influences such as Hayao Miyazaki, textures, visual language, and other artistic references.

Once things were chosen as topics and subjects, and scope was established we just started making stuff. The more time I had before we had to start handing the things off to contractors like NP or subsequent design/art houses the more I could provide more material for the artists and art supervisor folks to focus in on what was required. Before the ubiquity of internet art resources I generally relied on large amounts of art and design book reference. This is an admission that I used to be kinda ashamed of, but,... he goes... I am a bit of a weeb, except that I grew up around Japanese Americans, and Japanese nationals here in the SFBay Area... so they were always around me, and I them. My first college roommate was a guy whose parents both worked for JAL. One of my first crushes was a J.-A. girl in elementary school, just because she was so dang nice...and had the best lunches to trade with. :) . I was never an Otaku per se.

My own inflated ideas about Japan and Japanese culture did not survive past meeting people and knowing them as people. Hayao Miyazaki is a great influence as are Yoshitaka Amano, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Mahiro Maeda, Hiromasa Ogura, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Shinji Higuchi, Nobuyuki Ohnishi, Yoji Takeshige, Takashi Watabe and countless other Gainax, SanRio, and general Royal Space Force designers and artists. Also Hideki Kamiya, Mari Shimazaki, Hiroshi Shibata Masaaki Yamada....

So yes I have all the Miyazaki Art books from Japan up through Porco.... and some supplementary material....and I may have used scans from porco and kiki art for inspiration I sent to New Pencil as part of packets to inspire Old Town in Unleashed.... I will talk on this when I start making those videos.

Object and setting concept art, The Sims: Unleashed

Fun Fact: The Sims: Unleashed used Kiki’s Delivery Service (a film by Studio Ghibili) as inspiration for some of the settings in The Sims: Unleashed.

I didn't quite live in Kinokunia in Japan Center in SF, but I did like looking for the books that had the hidden gold in them. I have been accused of have a good eye.... and also that I have a sponge of a memory. (infj-audhd as I am....) I am much better medicated now. :D .... I am responsible for a lot of decision and directions during House Party and after.... I was not taken as seriously at New Pencil until Vacation... so Hot Date has some aesthetic issues that I would never have chosen as approved but that is a subject for another day and....you can see the trajectory and through line to Unleashed and Supestar winning awards and then well... I got kicked out.

4. Where did the Tiki and Art Deco influences come from? What inspired you to bring these styles into The Sims?

Me. I have a full bar and scores of Aloha shirts, and have carved tikis and made 3D rear projected and animatronic talking tiki heads and faces for special events and even a now world renowned Tiki Bar. ALSO I am a California Kid so I grew up around Deco and Art Nouveau in many of its permutations. Before the resurgence of Tiki I would spend my birthday afternoon at Trader Vics in Emeryville for their Happy Hour with my almost birthday twin Marie. A decent part of the success of the Sims Ex Pack design work, Hot Date thru Superstar is my association with Jason Leong, who took the reins on making sure we incorporated the ideas behind my templates and fevered sketches into the Where's-Waldo fever dream of our Old Town, Downtown, Studio Town etc aerial perspective masterpieces.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/thesims1/s/VuwowV57Xk

[l-1-z-a]

Sims 1 is a parody/satire game, right?

There is a solid hunk of nostalgia. I don't think it's a specific parody of any particular show but of the American Dream ideal of working hard and getting ahead. In many ways that is correctly pointing at wish fulfillment and escapism. We definitely had a set of architectural blueprints for famous TV homes as they would have occurred in "reality" vs the way they were constructed to accommodate TV audiences and LARGE TV cameras. When we personalized things like monster potions, alien abductions, ghosts and the grim reaper, it began to have more in common with absurdisty humor than situation comedy.

[l-1-z-a]

It have a very specific and distinct look on Americana phenomenon. What references did you use?

TV shows, old magazine and tv ads of the 50s 60s and 70s... You can see the style change after Livin' Large to be more directed toward art sets that were less about pieces of kitsch on their own, and more of a set of wall, floor and object art that supports a theme. We liberally borrowed from all sorts of places buyt then also tried to make things that felt distinctively our own.

[l-1-z-a]

What was that exaggeration that made Sims 1 feels almost like a soap opera sometimes? How did you manage to not overdo it?

Some people think we over did it from the start. There is a good explanation video that addresses this on my SimsStuff Playlist

We had very simple characters but we knew the machines of the day were going to throw a lot of the frames out, so the poses were broad pantomime and very focused one sim to the other except where the Sim addressed the player to complain their were hungry, etc. Even then, you had to know what was going on, so we did our own checking and rechecking what could be done at the scale. The expressions are closer to silent film acting or dance than standard human or animation acting.... Until Sims 2, 3 and 4 when it was 3D and you could move the camera.

[l-1-z-a]

I want to know everything about 60s catalogue feel of a buy-menu, satire descriptions, retro-ads colour palette, general consumerism touch on everything. It so special and unique.

It was mostly only partially organized and done piece by piece until House Party....and then came to fruition in Vacation.... However people were really able to lean into the sarcastic/sardonic catalog descriptions and a lot of the initial really crappy old and decrepit house items and scenic elements felt appropriate to show "rock bottom" working class stuff. The height of the descriptions came from Sean Baity.... and somewhat Claire and Roxy, but Sean was Jaded and cynical enough to really make those "puppies" sing.

[l-1-z-a]

Just want to say that the whimsical bougie pet bed from Unleashed is sth that has stayed with me since I was a kid together with the velvet green couch set, and generally Unleashed art direction. Goth Sr house garden is on my interior vision board (especially the winter garden with the parrot). I used to love making them into a magic-using family and a lot of the items lent themselves to what I can describe as “elevated Charmed” vibes

this one? Yeah, that was one of my babies. Unleashed was the expansion pack where no one was really trying to stop me or get in my way. The velvet green couch is also one of my babies. The fact that people really love it brings a tear to my eye... the way that Doktor SimsCRAFT!!!! remade it for Sims 4 really warmed my cockles. I grew up going to Disneyland and Universal Studios and have a film background as well as spending time watching lots of old movies. Art Direction and Production Design are important to me. The Unleashed I had the opportunity to make a version of the French Quarter and Genteel life accoutrements that could truly elevate the Sims 1 to a real simulation/emulation of visual life that would make the Sims themselves pop, but also make them feel more grounded in reality.

[vikcurious]

Social Bunny (alcohol markers on paper)

[andrevasims]

Sims Vacation renders

(Source)

[pudding-parade]

Butterflies.

I've been going around the world looking for spawned butterflies so I can put flower patches under them. :)

[andrevasims]

TS3 came out at a really interesting time where handheld/mobile gaming had more prevalence, but the difference between what a PC could do and what a handheld console or a phone could do had a much wider gap than they do today

which lead to developers trying to adapt one of the most encompassing life simulation games ever made into some of the least powerful systems ever made lol

this is the Java/Blackberry version of TS3, but there were actually multiple versions of the Java/Blackberry version as there was a separate game for World Adventures, Ambitions, Supernatural, and "Winter Edition"

[paluding]

Sims 2 - Making tall buildings actually playable

I've always hated how the camera jumps up and down when playing tall and slim buildings. Turns out, it's really easy to fix! It’ll take you less than a minute. All the details under the cut.

All it takes is opening the LiveCamera.txt file in your Documents>Cameras folder with a text editor and changing these two parameters near the bottom to a higher value. Doesn’t matter if you're using a custom camera mod or not. Those parameters should be there. I have set mine like this (remember to save a backup just in case you don't like these changes).

It might seem a bit extreme, but I still think it’s fine.

-The top parameter, floorheightsamplerange, handles how much the floors “extend out”, so the camera object can stand on it mid-air. The higher it is, the further the floor will extend. This will make it so your camera will be able to stick to the floor you’re on, even if you pan away from the building. No more annoying jumps up and down!

-The parameter below that, floorheightsampleinnerrange, handles the transition between sticking to the current floor and dropping to the ground level once it goes past the edge. The higher it is, the smoothest the fall will be.

I’ll note though that the behaviour of these parameters might not be 100% accurate with how the game actually works, but from what I tested I think it’s pretty close as an explanation. If someone knows better how this Live Camera works, please let me know and I’ll try my best to correct any inaccuracies.

Save the .txt file and check how it works in game. It might feel weird at first, but personally I find it so much smoother and easier to handle. If you’re not happy with these values, close the game and edit those parameters until you find your sweet spot. Unfortunately, you will have to close and open the game every time you change it to check how it works.

There’s so many cool Custom Camera mods out there that I thought it’s probably better to just show how to edit those 2 parameters than editing and reuploading all of them.

So yeah, that’s it. Now you can play those tall lots without getting a headache. Go ahead and send your college simmies to that hideous Sim State Tower with a hot tub on top of it. Now you’ll be able to see what’s going on up there.

[lovely-wows]

Somehow I ended up watching sims top model competitions on youtube, which lead to finding a flickr with some photoshoot pictures on it. Idk, I just thought these were pretty rad.

Flickr

[kashmiresims]

DAYS & NIGHTS OF SUMMER

-Scandalica City, 2026

[bunsim]

Did you know you can modify your game files to start with custom lots in the lot bin? Did you know you can add your favorite lots to the program files and you'll never have to import them ever again? I sure didn't. Here's how.

Part 1: Freshen Up That Lot!

Locate the lot you want to freshen up. If it's in your Documents > LotCatalog, it'll be named something like cx_00000001.package. [Hint: you can use CleanInstaller to browse your LotCatalog with pictures!]

Clean it up using LotCleaner and LotCompressor (and Magic Wand, if you want). Here's a tutorial. Do NOT skip this step, or you risk contaminating future save files with old sim references.

Make it a spiffy new picture. Personally I like to lump my similar lots together with a similar title/street name. And I color-code using CatherineTCJD's color-coding format. If you want to match me, you can download my template psd here.

Open your lot in Simpe and replace that old preview. Click 'jpg/png image'. Right click the property > Replace. Change file format to 'all files' to see your image. Click either 'yes' or 'no' on the 'resource changed' popup (it doesn't matter--one updates the image preview immediately, the other doesn't). Click save.

Part 2: Relocation Time! *MAIN LOT BIN*

You cleaned up your lot, right? No sim references left? Don't skip this step or you risk messing up future hoods. Clean up that lot!

Select your lot file and rename it to the cx_00000000.package format. You can use any numbers but it must be in that format and have 8 digits. The number denotes the order so get creative with your categories. (ex: lots cx_00000100-150: modern houses / cx_00000200-250: beachy, etc.). You can use any bulk renamer to rename files in order without having to manually number each one.

Pick an Expansion for your files. Mansion and Garden comes first in the lot bin, Base Game last. The expansion you select will denote the location of your lots within the catalog. The file location is the same in every expansion, so you can even spread your lots around for max organization.

Move your cx_#.package lot file to Program Files > The Sims 2 > [expansion of your choice (ex. Nightlife)] > TSData > Res > UserData > LotCatalog. You will already see some files here. These are the maxis lots that fill the lot bin every new game. You can delete them if you really want to, or just change the extension to something else to make them go away. (Catherine has a backup if you need them back.)

Done! Now your custom lots will prefill the lot bin every time you generate a new The Sims 2 save file in your documents!

This will not pre-fill existing games. If you want to put your new clean lots into your current file, rename your main The Sims 2 save file (in your Documents folder) something else. Launch Sims 2 so it regenerates a clean copy. Create a new Hood, let the game load, and check out the LotCatalog. It will be now filled with your brand-new lots. Copy them over to your main file's LotCatalog. [Check your main LotCatalog in game to make sure you won't be deleting/overwriting anything you want to keep (make a backup just in case!) Check it again with CleanInstaller. Do not delete/overwrite occupied homes! And delete your old and crusty lots in game if you want to be extra safe.]

Part 3: Relocation Time... 2! *SPECIALTY LOT BIN*

You cleaned up your lot, right? No sim references left? Don't skip this step or you risk messing up future hoods. Clean up that lot.

We will now populate the second tab in the lot catalog, the Specialty lot bin that holds Hotels and Apartments. You can put whatever you want in here; it doesn't have to be hotels or apts. You can move lots from the main catalog to this one, if you want. These lots do not appear in the LotCatalog of your main save file, in case you try to look for them there later. They only exist in the program files.

Rename your files. Unlike the previous lots, you can name these lots anything you want, as long as it ends in _Permanent.package. stinky_Permanent.package is perfectly fine. Name it something descriptive.

Pick an Expansion for your files. You can put them in any Expansion folder, but personally I keep my apts in Apartment Life to stay organized.

Move your files. Take your stinky_Permanent.package and move it to Program Files > The Sims 2 > [expansion of your choice (ex. Nightlife)] > TSData > Res > LotTemplates. You'll see some other files here already. These are blank lots and hotels/apts (if you're in Apt Life or Bon Voyage). Don't touch the blank lots, but you can remove the hotels/apartments if you don't want them. (You can move them to the main lot bin by renaming the files to the cx_# format and moving to the location in part 2). You can open them in SimPe to check what they are, but Catherine has a visual list here.

Done! These lots will appear in the Specialty lot bin every time you boot up the game, even in your current saved game.

Have fun and enjoy organizing!

[PS: did you know you can not only delete or relocate existing bin lots, but replace them with better, and cooler lots by simply overwriting the existing cx_0000000 files in your UserData > LotCatalog folders? Catherine has a visual guide which file is which, if you want to reinvent them all. The lot bin is your oyster!]

credits: CatherineTCJD for the Lot Refresh project that made me learn this. Bluerubberbear for the majority of the lots in my thumbnails and the lot in the psd file. Plumbtales for the other lots in the thumbnails and for the beautiful lot makeovers that I replaced maxis's community lots with.

[familyfunds]

The Sims 2 Essentials Setup Tool — v.1

One installer. Every essential fix, mod, and tool for The Sims 2, set up for you in a few clicks.

I got tired of hunting down the same "must-have" fixes every time I reinstalled The Sims 2 (to the point where it has kept me from playing), so I made a tool that does it for you! 🥳 You choose the fixes, mods, and tools you want, click through, and it installs them all — with automatic backups and a built-in undo, so nothing is permanent and nothing gets lost.

It works with both the 2025 Legacy Collection (Steam and EA App) and the older Ultimate Collection.

⚠️ One heads-up: I only own Legacy (on Steam) and the Ultimate Collection, so I haven't been able to test the EA App or Epic versions of the Legacy Collection myself. They should work, but if you run into any issues on those, please let me know and I'll push out a fix!

Most importantly, none of this content is mine. Every fix, mod, and tool belongs to the creators who made them — I only automate installing them. Full credits and links are in the guide that comes with it. Please go support these people 💜

⬇️ Download: SFS | GitHub

📋 Want to see exactly what's included first? Here's the full list of every mod, fix, and tool, with credits: https://github.com/familyfunds/sims2-essentials-setup-tool/blob/main/GUIDE.md

More details under the cut 👇

What is it?

The Sims 2 Essentials Setup Tool is a single Windows installer (.exe file). Instead of downloading, unzipping, and hand-placing dozens of separate fixes, you run one program, choose what you want from a checklist, and it puts everything in the right place for you.

There are three quick presets so you don't have to think too hard:

Recommended — the sensible default set.

Complete — everything.

Custom — start from a blank slate and pick only what you want.

What's included

Everything here is curated to work together and this isn't a random pile of downloads. I checked every package against the others for conflicts (comparing the actual game resources each one touches), dropped or swapped anything that clashed, and set the load order in the few cases where two mods needed to coexist. So you can tick things freely without worrying that two fixes will quietly fight each other.

Over 140 hand-picked fixes and mods, grouped into:

Anti-corruption & core — the safety-critical stuff that keeps your neighborhoods healthy.

Bug fixes — dozens of fixes for Maxis bugs, from memory issues to gameplay glitches.

Helpful gameplay mods — quality-of-life tweaks that just make the game nicer to play.

Essential tools & systems:

CEP (Color Enable Package) — downloaded straight from MTS at install, see the note below

The Scriptorium

Radiance Lighting System 2.5

GunMod's Camera Mod 3.1

Rugs off-grid

TS2 Extender 0.8.1 (fixes only, optional extras off by default)

Objects.package corruption protection

Missing content restore (you supply your own Ultimate Collection or disc files — EA content is NOT bundled):

Restore IKEA Home Stuff (works on both Steam and EA/Epic — it sets up whichever your game needs)

Restore Missing Music

Missing Holiday Items

Neighborhood setup: clean/empty stealth 'hoods, or fully disable them, plus the MATY no-townie-regen mods.

Startup cheats: 45° object rotation and quarter-tile placement.

Third-party tools: SimPE, Mootilda's HoodChecker / LotAdjuster / Sims2Pack Clean Installer, and Body Shop for the Legacy Collection.

Backups & undo

This is the part I care about most: before the tool changes or replaces any file, it backs up your original first (to C:\ProgramData\The Sims 2 Essentials Setup Tool\backups). To undo anything, just run the tool again and choose Undo — you get a checklist and can roll back everything or only certain pieces. It does not add itself to "Add or remove programs"; it stays fully self-contained.

Requirements

Windows (I tested and created this on Windows 11)

The Sims 2 Legacy Collection (2025) or Ultimate Collection

For the "Missing" content (IKEA / Music / Holiday), your own UC or disc files

How to use it

First, a friendly nudge: back up your Sims 2 "Documents" folder. The tool shouldn't touch your saves, neighborhoods, or downloads — and it automatically backs up anything it does change — but it's always better safe than sorry. Just copy your Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2… folder somewhere safe before you start. (Besides… when was the last time you backed up your saves? 😉)

Download the .exe. It's unsigned (normal for community tools), so if Windows SmartScreen pops up, click More info → Run anyway.

Right-click the .exe and choose "Run as administrator" — it needs admin rights because it writes into your game folder.

Pick your edition, confirm your Documents folder, tick what you want, and click through.

That's it. To undo later, run it again and choose Undo.

A note on CEP

CEP isn't bundled in the installer — Numenor asks that it only be hosted on Mod The Sims. So if you tick it, the tool downloads it directly from MTS at install time. None of Numenor's files are redistributed here. That does mean CEP is the one thing you can't install while offline — but everything else in the tool works completely fine with no internet connection.

Credits & terms

Genuinely, all of the credit goes to the creators — Numenor, LazyDuchess, GunMod & the Radiance team, HugeLunatic, Mootilda, cyjon, Pescado & MATY, TwoJeffs, Nopke, simler90, LordDarcy, MidgeTheTree, hiloyt, CroconawSims, and so many more. The full list with links is in the included guide.

While I've reviewed everyone's terms of use in detail to make sure I wasn't breaking any rules, I'm only human and I could have missed (or misinterpreted) something. If one of your mods or tools is included in this installer and you'd like me to remove it, please shoot me a message and I'm happy to do so.

The tool itself is free and open-source — you're more than welcome to review every file and exactly what it does on GitHub. It's not affiliated with EA or with any of the creators above.

Missing something? Suggestions welcome

Think I've left out a crucial bug fix or a genuinely helpful mod? Send it my way. If the creator's terms of use allow it, I'm happy to look into adding it.

A quick heads-up on my philosophy, though: I originally built this for myself, and I like my game as close to vanilla as possible. So mods that change gameplay in a big way, or add features that were never in the base game to begin with, generally aren't ones I'll bundle. This isn't meant to be an "everything" list, but I'm always glad to consider suggestions, so don't be shy about sharing what you'd love to see!

If you run into anything weird, drop me an ask! 💜

[faremises]

THE SIMS (2000) dev. Maxis