The Sims 2

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The Sims
Subseries of Sim
The Sims	2000
The Sims Online	2002
The Sims 2	2004
The Sims Stories (series)
MySims	2008
The Sims 3	2009
The Sims Medieval	2011
The Sims 4	2014

Key points

Runs well on low-end hardware

Large community

Although the game's patch site has now gone down, many expansion pack patches are available from the PCGamingWiki filespace.

Availability

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Versions

Deluxe Editions

There are multiple deluxe editions of The Sims 2.

Holiday Edition - Includes Holiday Party Pack
Deluxe Edition - Includes Nightlife
Double Deluxe - Includes Nightlife and Celebration Stuff

The Sims 2 Store Edition

There was briefly an online store that sold additional items for use in The Sims 2. To use the store, the game required a patch to The Sims 2 Store Edition. Store Edition removed the need for a physical CD, but introduced instability to the game. Support was pulled from the Sims 2 Store, and the Store Edition is no longer available.

Improvements

In-game camera and game recording settings.

Expansion Packs

This is a list of all expansion packs:

University
Nightlife
Open For Business
Pets
Seasons
Bon Voyage
Free Time
Apartment Life

Stuff Packs

The game also sold collections of items and clothing, known as stuff packs, between expansions.

Holiday Party Pack
Family Fun Stuff
Glamour Life Stuff
Happy Holiday Stuff
Celebration Stuff
H&M Fashion Stuff
Teen Style Stuff
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff
IKEA Home Stuff
Mansion & Garden Stuff

Patches

The following Sims 2 products require patches after installation:

The Sims 2 (CD or DVD original release)
University
Nightlife
Open For Business
Pets
Seasons
Bon Voyage
Free Time
Apartment Life
Family Fun Stuff

Game data

In-game general settings.

Game files location

Template:Game Location Table

If you a Deluxe edition, the folder name will be different.

Expansion packs are in their own folders under EA GAMES

Save files location

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Video settings

In-game graphics settings.

Template:Video settings

Widescreen resolution

The game's max res is 1600 x 1200. For higher resolutions you need to edit the following file:

EA GAMES\(Latest expansion installed)\TSData\Res\Config\Graphics Rules.sgr

Set maxResWidth and maxResHeight to your display's native width and height, or copy/paste the following:

option ScreenModeResolution
setting $Low
uintProp maxResWidth 2560
uintProp maxResHeight 1600
uintProp defaultResWidth 800
uintProp defaultResHeight 600

setting $Medium
uintProp maxResWidth 2560
uintProp maxResHeight 1600
uintProp defaultResWidth 1024
uintProp defaultResHeight 768

setting $High
uintProp maxResWidth 2560
uintProp maxResHeight 1600
uintProp defaultResWidth 1024
uintProp defaultResHeight 768
end

Field of View Modification

Each of the game's cameras can have their FOV set independently using the fov parameter in their Camera Settings files, which are contained in %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Cameras.

Input settings

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Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Issues and Fixes

Vista/7 Compatibility

The Sims 2 is compatible with newer versions of Windows, however the original release of the game has issues, and will show an error message when loaded. Patching the game or installing the expansion packs will correct this.

Disable intro movie

To disable the intro movie that plays every time the game opens, go to the following folder:

EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Movies

Rename the file intro_eng_audio.movie into something else, like intro_eng_audio.movie.old. The intro movie won't play anymore. If you want the movie back, just change it back to its original file name.

Stuck Sims/Poorly Placed Objects/Frozen Objects

Periodically, a sim may become trapped or an special object may be placed in a bad location, preventing a sim from doing anything. In other cases, a normal object may be improperly tagged as "in use" and cannot be moved, sold, or manipulated. To fix these issues, open the cheat console by hold Ctrl, Shift and C, then type moveobjects on and enter buy mode. You can now pick up the sim or broken object, and move it to another location. To restore the game to normal after this, open the cheat console again, and type moveobjects off.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3.5 GB	15.0 GB (For all Expansion Packs)
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 7200 nVidia GeForce 2 Series or better T&L compatible card 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0 compatible	ATI Radeon 9600 nVidia GeForce 6 Series or better 64 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible
Other	When the Seasons (or Later) Expansion Pack is installed, T&L incompatible graphics chips can be used; however it requires a Minimum CPU speed of 2.4 Ghz.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.3.8
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3 GB free
Video card (GPU)	32 MB ATI Radeon 9000/nVidia GeForce FX5200

Developers
Cover image missing, please upload it
	Maxis
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows	September 14, 2004
macOS (OS X)	June 13, 2005