SimsLlama

Hello! I'm Calum, a deaf gay man in London with lots of love for the Sims! I'd say expect some general chaos and maybe some long radio silences since I barely update Simblr and some random reblogs. Well, if you love it as much as I do, you're in the right place. Thanks for stopping by! :-)

[simsllama]

I’ve kind of given up on The Sims 2. Today it’s just been a mess. Sims’ faces disappearing, random crashes with no error message & households sometimes refusing to load.

I haven’t added anything new… windows update came out of nowhere and apparently after checking the ts2 legacy forum, others are having the same issues.

I still love what the game does. Starting from nothing, building a town, watching families and generations develop – that’s the best. As far as I know, The Sims 2 is the closest any game has come to that.

I’ll wait for the day when a game lets you properly create a world from scratch inside the game itself and actually trust it to hold together 😳

[simsllama]

well… this aged quickly 😭

reblogging this because I’ve actually got everything working now – and yeah, the answer really was Linux

I installed Linux Mint, set up Sims 2 through Lutris, and it’s honestly night and day compared to what I was dealing with on Windows. no random crashes, no disappearing faces, no chaos (so far…)

even managed to fix things that NEVER worked properly for me before, like custom videos, which is wild 💀

so yeah – I’m officially moving over to Linux for Sims 2 going forward

I’ve decided to start fresh as well instead of trying to salvage my old setup… slightly painful but also kind of exciting? let’s see how it goes

massive thank you to everyone who pointed me in this direction and shared advice – it really helped me get here:

@eulaliasims @nerianasims @olivethegreat @brandinotbroke

really appreciate it 🤍

[simsllama]

TIL you can tuck a whole closet behind the stairs in The Sims and it actually works??

I’ve been wasting entire rooms on wardrobes like a fool when I could’ve been hiding them in that awkward dead space all along 😭

it fits perfectly, looks clean, and frees up so much floor space – why did no one tell me this sooner

[melsie-sims2]

I'm looking for fresh new Sims 2 content to fill up my dashboard!

Reblog if you're currently active as a gameplay/storytelling Simblr. Whether you post daily, or once every few days, I wanna see what you're up to!

Ideally I'd love rotational gameplay, long-term 'hoods, BACCs, uberhoods, etc. I will still absolutely check out your content if you only do legacies or single-family households though.

i'm in my 30s so preferably only people who are 21+. i'm lgbtq-friendly.

Sims 2 only! 💚

[simsllama]

FIX: Sims 2 custom videos not showing (black screen) – Linux Mint / Lutris

ok I need to document this because I’ve just fixed something that refused to work on the SAME machine under Windows 11 😭

Sims 2 custom videos (black screen / not showing) on Linux Mint – FIX

I was having the classic issue:

custom AVIs not showing on computer screens / TVs

black screen or nothing happens

files work fine in VLC so it makes no sense

this is NOT a mod issue. it’s a codec problem.

what’s actually wrong

Sims 2 uses an old video system (DirectShow + VP6 codec)

Linux doesn’t include that properly in Wine by default, so the game literally can’t read the video even though the file exists.

how I fixed it (Lutris method)

open Lutris

select The Sims 2 in your library

at the bottom of the window, next to the Play button, click the small arrow (▲)

click Winetricks

you’ll get a window asking what to do:

👉 choose “Select the default wineprefix” → OK

next screen: 👉 choose “Install a Windows DLL or component”

install these:

quartz

wmp9

lavfilters

let everything install, close Winetricks, then launch the game

result

custom computer screen videos → WORKING

custom TV videos → WORKING

no black screens anymore

important note

if you copied your Sims 2 install from another OS before, don’t overwrite the VP6 folders inside the game files. those are OS-specific and can break video playback.

honestly???

this worked better on Linux Mint than it EVER did on my Windows 11 setup 💀

if your Sims 2 videos are broken and you’re on Linux, try this before doing anything else.

[simsllama]

I’ve kind of given up on The Sims 2. Today it’s just been a mess. Sims’ faces disappearing, random crashes with no error message & households sometimes refusing to load.

I haven’t added anything new… windows update came out of nowhere and apparently after checking the ts2 legacy forum, others are having the same issues.

I still love what the game does. Starting from nothing, building a town, watching families and generations develop – that’s the best. As far as I know, The Sims 2 is the closest any game has come to that.

I’ll wait for the day when a game lets you properly create a world from scratch inside the game itself and actually trust it to hold together 😳

[simsllama]

Cassandra Goth after 2 glasses of nectar…

[simsllama]

As a deaf gamer – I honestly find it bizarre that, in TS4, sims randomly wear hearing aids when they're going swimming or going to sleep. EA could have disabled that for inappropriate categories!

Look at him using hearing aid when swimming! Are they waterproof?!

[simsllama]

VISIT Other Sims in the SIMS 2 🚶🚗 Mod Overview

[ts2nostalgia-zine]

🎉 THE DAY HAS COME!!! IT'S OUT!!!! 🎉

This has been such an amazing and fun journey! We're beyond happy so many great artists could join us and turn this little idea into a beefy magazine! We want to extend our thanks to each and every contributor and we hope you had as much fun creating for the zine as we had seeing, reviewing and assembling everything. 💚

How can I read this zine?

We coded this cute online flip book (big thanks to npc_crow!) to really get the magazine experience, but you can also download the free pdf here!

But I want to actually hold it in my hands! Can I get a physical copy?

Same, dear reader, same!

We are still trying to find an optimal solution uniting quality and affordability, and that requires looooots of testing.

Our plan is to sell physical copies at non-profit aka production & shipment price, and per request to avoid out-of-pocket expenses by printing stock without knowing if it would sell entirely. We hope to be able to fulfill printing requests soon and will be sure to update you about that.

Until then, we hope you enjoy the digital version!

-Team Nostalgia

[faremises]

🏡Neighborhoods in The Sims 2 (2004) dev. Maxis

[simsllama]

Malcolm Landgraab carried out his first official fine at one of the new HMO properties. Offence: Trash Overload. Penalty: §600.

Tenant protested: “It’s a shared house, we don’t even have enough bins.” Malcolm (reading straight from Nancy’s rulebook): “That’ll be §600. Pay or pack.”

Nancy is thrilled. She calls it “professionalising the rental market”. Everyone else calls it daylight robbery.

[simsllama]

📢 GE0FFREY LANDGRABB TRENDI DROP 📢

Geoffrey has entered his entrepreneurial era. Forget medicine. Forget family dignity. This man is out here reselling his own dad-shirts on Trendi for §9,999 a pop.

The flyer says “Landgrabb” because Geoffrey misspelled his own surname. He claims he “doesn’t mind because technically it’s Nancy’s name anyway.” Nancy does, in fact, mind – she has not stopped screaming since.

Nancy: “Do you have any idea what this does to the brand?!” Geoffrey: “Yes. It makes it stronger. Double the B, double the prestige.”

Malcolm told people at school his dad was “a fashion mogul.” His classmates saw Geoffrey’s Trendi page. He has not been seen since.

Meanwhile, one poor Sim actually bought the shirt, wore it to the Romance Festival, and was immediately broken up with.

[simsllama]

don lothario really went from homewrecker to home goods

look at him… man used to break hearts, now he’s breaking down over folded pink t-shirts

[zevrans]

THE SIMS (2000, dev. by Maxis)

[simsllama]

🎂✨ The Bush twins just aged up – and let’s just say, teen life is already off to a brilliant start.

Elio and Lyra blew out their birthday candles, put on their best awkward smiles, and emerged as fully-fledged Family Sims. That’s right – the lab may be chaotic, Servo may be unpredictable, but what these two really want… is connection.

🧠 Elio is the quieter twin – thoughtful, observant, and 100% the type to get a perfect report card. He just scored the §1,000 SimCity Scholar's Grant for his grades. His ideal match? A well-connected Sim who loves pets. Just… please don’t wear cologne around him. Ever.

🎤 Lyra is all confidence and charisma. She earned two scholarships – the §1,000 SimCity Scholar's Grant and the §750 Bain–Gordon Communications Fellowship – and honestly, she could probably talk her way into a third. She’s turned on by Sims in underwear and those who can cook, but well-travelled types? Total turn-off. (Worldly? Sure. Baggage? No thanks.)

They’re both growing up fast, but not too fast – last night they were still chatting over cake about dresses and Servo’s weird TV habits.

College is on the horizon. But for now, the Bush house has two new teens, two bright futures, and enough personality to power the Reanimatron 2000.

[simsllama]

📬 Another day, another plaque.

Lyndon Bush just received yet another award for his “devotion to the science hobby” – and at this point, even he’s lost count. The Hobby Council keeps acting like it’s a surprise. It’s not.

We’re talking about the man who has a Servo, alien twins, a radioactive chrysanthemum garden, and something in the garage that occasionally hums ominously. Of course he’s enthusiastic. He is the science.

Servo tried to intervene and tell them this wasn’t his first award. They gave him a pamphlet on pottery instead.

[simsllama]

⚡🌼 It’s alive. It’s alive!

Lyndon Bush has officially defied the laws of nature – again. With lightning crackling, wolves howling, and his assistant Grivella hauling high-voltage cables across the lab, Lyndon attempted to reanimate the dead. And succeeded.

Well… sort of.

Instead of reviving a lifeform, the energy surge hit a withered patch of chrysanthemums. The result? Glowing, lush, perfectly pulsating blooms – resurrected from crispy oblivion. His garden is thriving. The world is (probably) safe. And the Reanimatron 2000 (aka “Ronnie”) has earned Lyndon a cool §25,000 patent.

Science. Madness. Horticulture. Just another day in Silverbrook.