so… not sure if anyone has use for this… but many years ago I asked midgethetree how I could make my own default burglar music. I followed the steps given and was proud af of it. lmao and after like 4 years, I've finally decided to share seeing as how no one else has done it (that I know of). this is for anyone who finds the sims 2 or sims 1t2 burglar music jarring.
probably should've shared during spooky season lol but I hope someone has use for it! this is my first ever upload so lmk if there's an issue.
NOTE: This will be the last feature update for Cinema Secrets. I will be focusing more on my newer Cozy Home lighting mod moving forward.
Made lots of improvements to the matching the lot to the surrounding area (best used with @christaskyy's lot skirt shader) and matched the roads as best I could. This also means Cinema Secrets and Cozy Home share the same configuration for the Seasons and the Time of Day states. Only the actual lights differ in both.
KNOWN ISSUE: unfortunately, I can't get the roads for 6pm lighting to match without losing the pink sunset, so this is the best I could get the lighting to match
Added in the Light Direction files available in all lighting mods (both in regular and "world lit by fire" mode). Make sure to update your userStartup.cheat files with the updated lines in userStartup.cheat contained in the zip folder.
Fixed vacation night lighting (accidentally put in the configuration for the morning lighting. Sorry about that!)
Ported a lot of fixes from my newer Cozy Home lighting mod especially with morning and evening lighting.
Added in the light replacement for neighborhood and lot night light replacement in the 4.0 folder. Make sure to put these in your Downloads folder otherwise nights will not look right.
Changed default roomLightingType to 5
Moved the light definitions from Base Game to M&G because the lights don't look right when overlapping on top of the other
Sims 2 Tutorial - Apartments on a foundation with a private backyard.
I did a tute for this years ago at mts, thought it was looking a little tired so heres an update.
This tute is for when you have built an apartment lot on a foundation and you also have individual enclosed backyards with stairs leading down to them. You do not need to do this tweak if you have no foundation.
First thing you will require is an invisible fence Pfishes one works perfectly, download that pop it in your game and build/open your apartment. Build your shell, add apartment doors, add back doors, the stairs and enclosed fences and any other little bits you want to add. It's better to do this tweak before you add any other details, incase for some reason it doesn't work, also make sure your apartment is still residential if not change it back (changelotzoning residential) now you're ready to follow the tute.
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Sorry Typo here, says it won't delete the stairs, is supposed to say it won't delete the invisible fence!!! My spell check person was sleeping on the job! (me)
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If you still have an invalid message then you need to look a bit further and figure out what the issue is. Some are:
- you have used the wrong apartment door, it's easy to mix up the hotel door and apartment door. Easy way to tell the difference is the apartment door has a door mat and the Hotel one doesn't.
- You've used the right door but the mat is facing inside. Make sure it faces to the outside.
- You have used the great divide fence somewhere in the apartment (you know that teeny low one that is great for blocking off areas and using as edging) this is a big no in apartments as it creates a whole new exclusive area. Did you know if you enclose a baby crib with this fence then their cries won't be heard by sims in the same room trying to sleep! So don't use it in apartments!
- You havn't fully enclosed a backyard somewhere
- You havn't fully enclosed an apartment inside eg. you have forgotten to add one piece of wall seperating two apartments.
- You've used an apartment door as a back door and a front door, just use a normal door for the back.
Thats all the things I could think of that might cause an error when trying to change it after the tweak, am sure there's more, sometimes a fresh pair of eyes over the lot can help you see what you didn't before!
Sims 2 Mod Edit: More Functional Easels with Hobby Enthusiasm Gain
I’ve always loved the more functional easels, the initial idea came from AnoeskaB who made the Maxis Easel more functional. Then, @fracturedmoonlight made several new easels with this added functionality, many of which being 3t2 conversions. After that, @drewinthesky then combined AnoeskaB’s More Functional Maxis Easel and Fractured Moonlight’s More Functional Custom Easels with gdayars’ Diagonal Easel Mod, so this awesome set contained the maxis easel and a gorgeous bunch of custom easels with both added functionality and the diagonal placement fix. Drew In The Sky then made another set, with even more easels, some converted from the Sims 4 by Veranka and added both the additional functionality and the diagonal placement to these easels too.
However, the problem I’ve always had with these awesome more functional easels is that they did not have any enthusiasm gain, meaning sims who used them would not gain enthusiasm in the Arts & Crafts Hobby. I’ve taken this community effort one step further and added hobby enthusiasm to the more functional, diagonal usable, maxis, 3t2, 4t2 & custom easels!
I’ve made a couple more edits to these easels too; I’ve compressed them, merged in any recolors with the mesh file, changed the filenames to the format most friendly for loading times (reduced length, removed spaces, etc.) and also updated the in-game catalog descriptions to better reflect and give credit to all of the creators involved with this project. As of the latest update, I’ve also adjusted the prices so now they are just +/-100 difference from the maxis easel instead of being drastically cheaper or more expensive.
I hope you enjoy building Arts & Crafts Enthusiasm with these awesome easels!
Read More & Download on my Website!
Alternate: SFS
Huge thanks to @crispsandkerosene for this amazing tutorial which made this possible and to @deedee-sims for pointing me in that direction!
It took me quite a long time to get my head around this community project, and before I understood that it was actually Drew In The Sky responsible for the most and most up-to-date versions of these easels, I asked the lovely Fractured Moonlight for permission to add hobby enthusiasm to their custom more functional easels and they kindly granted it. However, since it was actually Drew In The Sky’s edits that I built upon, I can only hope they would grant permission too but sadly seem inactive.
Well it wasn’t just me, to be fair. I would have never been able to without @fireflowersims help and HugeLunatics trust in both of us. Thank you to both of them for their work and thank you @teaaddictyt for reaching out and doing the more public communication.
I’m super happy I got the chance to work to fix it. It wasn’t an easy undertaking. It seemed like every little thing would cause more errors, I fixed one and another thing broke. But now it seems stable, finally.
A lot of technical stuff below the cut, beware.
Fixing such an old forum is not easy. Documentation is rather sparse because the framework it runs on is old. There is however a more modern version, but updating is difficult. Here was the issue for the forum - upgrading failed.
A website (usually) consists of two different parts: 1 - The files. They contain the code, scripts, designs, images, attachment, profile pictures etc. 2 - The database. The database connects all the different parts and tells the website where to find something. Everything gets stored in tables, assigned IDs and given values. Everything written, each post and topic is also stored in the database. So without the database the whole page would be useless.
It was clear from the beginning that the database was the culprit for the failed upgrades. I got an earlier backup from HL and started working.
I set up a local environment with two versions of XAMPP. One running on php 7.4 (the last version having compatibility for the forum framework version and the upgrade script to the recent version) and the other on a modern 8.3, which was the same as the version the server @fireflowersims set up for GOS.
I ran the upgrade script (which consists of 4 separate parts) on the old backup and ran into errors right away. The script would just outright crash on me, most often without a log or message. The (local) server would just stop responding. My original plan had been to upgrade to version 2.0 first, then 2.1, since it was the recommended order. However the database backup had already been partly upgraded to 2.1. That was the reason my upgrade script failed. Reversing those changes could have been a possibility but extremely time intensive.
(This is the frontpage of the upgrader. I stared at it so much. Like you can see it has a ton of steps)
Instead I asked for the current database and HL provided it to me. This one was already further along on the upgrade and I could see the error HL had run into before handing over. I had to look at the upgrade scripts and source php files to diagnose what the framework was expecting - and failing - to find in the database.
That’s where I found the main culprit for *most* of the errors: Time tables. The framework saves every action that a user does in a log, a long table with the action, an id and a date. This was where everything had gotten wrong. The upgrader expected to see one column for the date, named *day*, while the current table had a different column for day, month and year. I tried fixing the table at first but that didn’t seem to work, so I completely deleted the table and created a new empty one myself. (By now I think the issue stems from forgetting to uninstall certain packages before upgrading, more on that later)
That was possible because the log actually doesn’t hold relevant information for the forum to work. It just records each step, probably for moderation purposes. Once I had done that step the upgrade script was finally able to proceed.
There were a few more errors where I had to look at what the script was doing, find the corresponding code in the sources and edit the database myself. Thankfully the code is relatively well commented and named, so I was able to find what I needed.
Finally I got the upgrade script to run to the end and I was actually able to open the forums (local) page. I hadn’t been able to for now so it was a first. But a lot of stuff was still missing, like all the topics. I could see that the posts were back, but not sorted correctly.
The fix was simple but annoying. The forum framework comes with a repair_setting.php file which I had run several times to fix all the paths, but apparently it didn’t fix *all* of them. So back to the database I went, ran some queries and fixed them myself.
Then the forum finally worked again!
(This is what the forum looked like when I first opened it. It ONLY had recent posts)
(The working local forum, no files yet with the default theme. Seems wrong to look at GOS without the dark theme, right?)
There were still a few things I needed to fix but the database seemed to work fine now. I had never done so many queries in my life. I know SQL, and had to fix databases before but not this intensely. So I guessed I learned something new haha.
Next was the exciting step to upload my clean install to the server. @fireflowersims and I had some directory issues, but I was able to fix them manually once again.
Then I had to take a look at the files which mostly consist of avatars and attachments. They didn’t work at all once moved to the clean install. Once again I took a look at the code and realized that the upgrade script would have changed those files as well, but because I ran it on a clean install it didn’t actually do this step.
I didn’t want to run the upgrade script again, worried that it would mess up a now working database. Instead I wrote a script myself that sorted through all the attachments, looked for the IDs of the avatars from the database so it could move and rename them.
Last were the attachments. This was an easier fix. They just had to be given the ending .dat. @fireflowersims ran a command through the console and then the attachments worked too!
We were getting closer!
Next was the theme. The old theme didn’t work on the modern framework anymore so @fireflowersims looked for a new one which I customized with CSS, trying to get it closer to the way the forum looked before. I think it turned out quite alright, hope you guys think so too!
(Trying to find out what CSS class addresses what? Make everything red and green!)
(All the spider webs)
Next was packages, or mods, to the framework. Fire and I encountered some hiccups here too, since there were some leftovers in the database. The packages hadn’t been properly deinstalled before running the upgrade script, which was another source of the errors. I tried fixing them manually but one of the packages would continue to just break the site no matter what I tried, so we settled for an alternative.
Some more work was put into SSL and making the forum secure. Once again some settings seemed to just break the page and each time I had to go back in the database and manually fix what had gone wrong. It was tedious but by now I knew my way around quite well.
@fireflowersims handled a lot of the server administrative work and DNS settings. I know very little about that part so having @fireflowersims there was great and they made sure the page is reachable at the correct address.
So yeah, I hope the site stays online for a long time now. It’s such a big part of our community and communities history. I used to download so much from there when I was younger. I wanted to give back to the community I love so much. That was the reason I spent many many hours digging through code and old forum threads.
Thank you so much JulesSims for this incredible work and all the time you put in. And thank you to FireFlower for giving me all the updates as things went along, for being the host and the support. We back!
After being driven out of their previous residence, the infamous Kine Society pulled together all their remaining funds to buy out an undeveloped micronation outside of SimNation's jurisdiction far west of Strangetown. With no electricity or running water and very little money left, will the cow cult thrive or crash and burn?
So, this is my new BACC! It'll be a very casual romp with some rules here and there; the Kine Society will be starting with next to nothing and will have to build a functional town from scratch!
for a while i'd been using objects.package modified by me to unhide objects that sims use during interactions and it's now a MUST HAVE for me when it comes to no cc decorating!
initially i posted a whole modified objects.package, but @simnopke suggested i make an override mod instead, so i did! anyone who has downloaded the previous file can bring back their backup or download one someone posted here and then proceed to download the new mod, as modified objects.package isn't needed anymore :)
DOWNLOAD
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS READ PLS!!
the file goes into Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff\TSData\Res\Catalog\Bins (if you have Ultimate Collection or Legacy Collection the Mansion and Garden folder is called SP9)
enjoy :3
21.02.2026 - first update - added fish, utensils, crops, trash/leaf piles, weeds, roaches, etc; to change a crop's quality use testingcheats -> shift + right click on the crop -> change material (works only on some crops, not all, but that's outside of my control)
02.04.2026 - second update - properly assigned categories to objects, those that don't fit any category can be found in decorative -> all
I do a lot of mini tweaks/fixes of CC for my own use, and sometimes I think they are possibly useful to someone else. Like today, when I fixed a couple of things on Veranka's lovely rack from her deliciously indulgent bakery set.
The slots are not quite aligned with the shelves, and as you may have heard, I cannot with floating. Unless it comes with a wizard practicing a levitating spell 24/7, it's not allowed 😁
The slots are also duplicated for each tile, so that objects want to go on them twice, which I find a little exhausting in using the object. I have tweaked the shelves a tiny bit to align with purple omsp heights, set the slot height to be correct for the mesh, and I split the slots so that those that are on the right are on that tile, and slots that are on the left are on that tile. No more duplicating, huzzah.
Download from simfileshare
It has recolors so definitely go grab those from the original upload if you did not have it already, not to mention all of the other cute items of the set :) Remember to remove the original rack file if you already had it. Note that slot adjustments cannot take effect until the item is removed from lot and then rebought, so if you had existing placements you want to update, you have to delete it first and buy a new one. Annoying, but such is CRES life unfortunately :3
Credits: Veranka for the original creation and the picture I snatched for preview
Exciting update this morning is that the wizards working on GOS have overcome all the update issues and have the site running on a lovely, modern PHP version and have managed to get many functions of the website working again 😊 I'm unsure how much longer they'll need to keep working out bugs and such, but they are continuing to do so.
Hopefully, the site will be back pretty soon! (good thing too cos I have CC I wanna download 👀👀🤣)
Good morning (from Australia), just an update for everyone that Sims2Artists is now rehosted and accessible once again. The site is being cleaned up and will likely go down again for a major update later down the track, but first priority it GOS.
As to GOS itself, all files have been secured and are in good hands. Still "running into many interesting and varied errors" while trying to update 😱🙈 but the main news is that things are moving.
Just a reminder I have pretty much nothing to do with any of this, I'm just the messenger but I'll certainly post as many updates as I can to keep everyone in the loop 😊
I had been looking for the best way to implement this info on the Sims Wiki (but these are cut Sims, so there's not really a place for them? Or maybe someone else can do it). I've also been working on some videos talking about them. (I love watching these types of videos and prefer that visual format) but at this rate who knows when I'll finish it. So here we go!
If you love Strangetown and crave any ounce of lore that you can get like me, here's a few townies. They even have their own secrets!
Please read p6tgel's post to get all the info about the cut character TA7, everything I know about him is over there, so I don't have anything to add here. All I'm going to say is... I remember wanting to find out so badly who Mister Smith's friend was after playing The Sims 2 PSP for the first time. I'm so glad they actually did add more to the story. Learning more about the alien society and getting another title (like Pollination Technicians) just makes me want a Sixam neighborhood even more lol go read about it!!
Missing Kine Society Cult Members
Tunak Tun
Tunak is the only cut character that I could find photo evidence of in an old screenshot. He is a cut Kine Leader (like Sara Starr), as seen in his brown robe talking to Bull Dratch. The schedule file for the Kine Dairy indicates that Tunak would have spawned only during the day.
Unfortunately, it's a view of his back, but his character file confirms this appearance. (just want to say... the details on the Kine robes are actually beautiful. The crunched down quality we got in the final release makes them look like rags) Gender: 0 = female, 1 = male. The eye color is only specified if they're not the default brown. (I'll be using the Sims 2 PC to recreate them, as it shares a lot of assets with the PSP version)
Tunak Tun's Details
Bio: "A member of the Kine Society."
social = 7,
intimidation = 1,
personality = 1,
His social and intimidation scores are on the lower end for Deadtree locals, so social games aren't as difficult. He has the Air personality type. His topic sets (interests) are cow, cow milk, cow bell, cow beast, full moon, and crystal ball. A visual of these:
Tunak Tun's Secrets
(Personal): "Has been known to sneak in a burger or two on the sly."
(Intimate): "Likes to wear loose robes for that 'fresh and ventilated' feeling."
(Dark): "He actually just made up his other two Secrets. He's a pathological liar."
According to the game code, Tunak Tun would also count towards the goal to "Earn the Trust of a Kine Leader [Relationship 4]", just like Sara Starr and Sinjin Balani.
Zen Mu
Zen Mu is regular Kine Society member that wears a white robe. The schedule file for the Kine Dairy indicates that Zen would have spawned only during the night.
I went through every face template available in the Sims 2 PSP CAS and I can't find Zen Mu's (might be hidden like some hairs/clothes are) and I don't see the stubble hair in the PC version.
Zen Mu's Details
Bio: "A member of the Kine Society."
social = 7,
intimidation = 1,
personality = 2,
Their social and intimidation scores are on the lower end for Deadtree locals, so social games aren't as difficult. They have the Water personality type. Their topic sets (interests) are cow, cow milk, cow bell, and cow beast. A visual of these:
Zen Mu's Secrets
(Personal): "Severe lactose intolerance has made her unpopular in the Kine Society."
(Intimate): "She is deathly afraid of cows, but don't let the cows find out … they thrive on fear."
(Dark): "When she meditates, her power animal is a horse … the highest form of Kine blasphemy."
Interestingly, Zen Mu's gender and character model is male, but all 3 of Zen's secrets uses she/her pronouns.
Small fun fact - Personal Kine robe for the player: It looks like we would have received our own kine robe at one point, probably after passing inspection, according to the item list file (item 72). Now, we can just go to a wardrobe and buy a robe ourselves.
Extra fun fact that I randomly like to talk about on my twitch streams, but I don't remember if I've said it over here?
These two award winning cows were actually given names by the devs in the Kine Dairy level spawning file. Bessie and Gertie! <3
Like many of us, I grew up with Garden of Shadows. To me, it was more than just a forum. It was a place I could ask for help, learn new skills and, best of all, find amazing content in any style I could possibly want. I loved the board names, the people, the themes; everything, really.
And I admit I was more than a little heartbroken to find it gone.
After mulling it over, I decided that I wanted to preserve what I possibly could. I spent a few hours yesterday running through strategies and ideas about how to best go about it, and the best I could come up with was, well, exactly the same.
So, here it is: the Garden of Shadows mirror forum.
I've only just started, but I hope to add a little bit to it every day. The primary focus will be on preserving all the knowledge and custom content. I'm tackling it myself, but if you feel so inclined, you're more than welcome to join in.
--
PS. I am not here to offend, break Terms of Use, or to step on any toes. This is simply an effort to preserve content and knowledge for a game I have played and loved for over twenty years. Thank you ♥
Here's my collab with wonderful @gummilutt - now we can have suitcase variety in the game! :D
🎨 Color Traits Mod:
BV Suitcase Default
Maxis Match OR Modern
Download: SFS Modern suitcase polycount: 1272
⚠️This mod requires Color Traits created by Epi @episims AND Trait Globals by @picknmixsims to work!
As all color trait mods, it makes the suitcase appear in Sim's favourite color (one of 12), if color trait is present in Sim's inventory. Grey is the default shade. You can choose between original suitcase or hardshell suitcase.
🔺Conflicts:
Pets and toddlers on Vacation by @lamare-sims - Suitcase mod needs to load AFTER Lamare's mod (add "zzz" suffix prefix to the filename to make it load last).
BV suitcase texture replacements are not compatible with this. Also, modern default will clash with objects that use original Eaxis suitcase texture.
You may also be interested in decorative mini-sets based on suitcase mesh and textures:
Decorative Suitcases
Hardshell Suitcase & Maxis Match Suitcase
Download: SFS | BOX
Both meshes found in Buymode/General/Dressers, recolors are merged.
Made this for myself, but figured someone would want to use it as well. This edit is for the Regular Version, though I have no issues on making an edit for the Pay Version too.
With this edit, children can now throw parties (BHAVs "borrowed" from @belladovah's mod) in general and those parties can be hosted in community lots (thanks to Midge's tutorial here) as well. As for children, besides Maxis parties, Pool Parties (I think they were enabled for all ages actually) and Slumber Parties have also been made available for them.
Of course, my edit will conflict with Simler's original mod - remove his package and replace it with mine.
DOWNLOAD
Thanks to @morepopcorn @ TeaAddict's Discord for helping me out!
I have something completely different for you today.
Recolors of the Indestructible Concrete Modular stairs and deck stairs.
Download at the bottom
To create the recolors for the Indestructible Concrete Modular stairs, I used the recolorable file by HugeLunatic.
You can find the original here.
To create the recolors for the Desk stairs, I used the recolorable file by Numenor.
You can find the original here.
I used the wood colors from Sims 4 here, and for the floral and diamond motifs, I used the Step by Step colors from Syboulette.
You can find the original here.
All credits go to Syboulette for the colols and HugeLunatic and Numenor for the recolorable files.
Included with the download, you will also find matching flooring options, for example, to have your terraces in the same shades as the stairs.
As always, the download also includes photos with the color chart. This way, you can easily select for yourself what you do or might not want in your game.
For the anon who wanted to know the settings I used to make some stuff from Sun & Moon autonomous (as well as for any other interested parties), so that they/you can adjust things for their/your own private use (Don’t share altered Sun and Moon files, per their policy!), I did this. It’s sort of a mini-tutorial as to how to set/change autonomony and advertising for any custom object, actually, which is much quicker/easier than patching a Maxis object. Simply open the object you want to modify in SimPE and follow the steps above.
If you don’t just want to use the advertising values I set (and you really, really might not want to, honestly!), there is more info/details about the issue below the cut:
