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Just got TS2.

cody6268cody6268 Posts: 643 Member
edited January 2020 in The Sims 2
A small, local grocery store has a small consignment section, mostly used by neighborhood members and the family who owns the place to sell books and the like (I found a rare set of old ministerial books from the 1820s, which had been owned by a prominent British politician; and had been given to the widow of a friend of his, who, presumably emigrated to the United States in the 1840s, which despite my insistence to pay something, cost me nothing. I plan to donate them to a museum or educational institution that can store and preserve them properly--while I'd love to read them, the books are very, very fragile). OK, back on topic.

Among those items has been a copy of The Sims 2: Double Deluxe for about a year. I'd balked at the price, as I'd kept reading the price as being $15. I was not really crazy about paying that, since well, you know what happens with old PC games. They, quite often, don't work on newer machines. Well, I looked a lot closer than normal today and noticed the price was only $5 (turns out, the dollar sign was written pretty sloppy, throwing me off). Guess I need new glasses...

First of all, I put the CD Rom in my disk drive. Wouldn't run automatically. Minor panic... Then, I found the directory in my files for the CD, clicked on the file, and AutoRun started. Then, it asked for a code. Panic again, as I'd had issues out of an old copy of Sim City 4, leading me to repurchase the game on Origin. Looked through the documentation (thankfully, the former owner was careful; and kept everything), and there the code was, on the back of the manual. Then, it installed.

Load times are pretty short, actually a little shorter than TS4 on my mid-level consumer PC. At least it's not TS3, where I can go make a snack, and eat it, with the game still loading.

Sims seems to be more in-depth and smarter than either TS3 or TS4. CAS or "Body Shop" as it's called in TS2, is simple, but a little too simple, and kinda limiting. At least it's not TS3 or TS4 CAS difficult. The game is also harder, so far. I actually just killed my first Sim unintentionally, as I didn't watch the needs too carefully! I have never unintentionally killed a Sim in either TS3 or TS4--and in TS4, I only killed Sims playing around with some of the options in MCCC. I guess it's more difficult, in that I don't have MCCC or UI Cheats as I do in TS4, or even NRass as I do in TS3.

My favorite feature is how I can start with a blank world. If I recall correctly, can't they be made from scratch in Sim City 4? Or am I thinking of another game here?

My plans are: buy all the EPs if I can find the disks in decent shape, with codes. Origin does not have TS2, and that's a shame. TS1 and TS2 really need to be brought back, with either all EPs bundled with the games or at least available as DLC.

So far, the "black squares under the feet" problem I need to go under the hood and fix. Apparently, it's a shadows issue. Annoying, but not a big deal right now. May even lengthen the lifespan a bit while I'm at it. I may add some mods, but my plan, right now, is to play TS2 fully vanilla--no mods at all.

Comments

  • lisamwittlisamwitt Posts: 5,079 Member
    Yes, it was Simcity 4 that allowed you to create your own neighborhood. I admit, I don't know anything about the process though. I always used the templates offered by the game or nabbed some from ModtheSims.
    To deal with the black shadows, you can just turn shadows off or download Sim Shadow Fix from ModtheSims. Have fun!
    My computer won't play Sims 2 and I miss it. I'd ditch 4 and play 2 again in a heartbeat if I could.
    Gallery ID: LadyGray01
  • Summerbear5Summerbear5 Posts: 643 Member
    Congrats on getting the game! Yes it is more challenging than TS3 and TS4. That is one thing I really love about TS2 is the fact there is more into than others incarnations of The Sims. Especially with wants AND fears =)

    Some quick tips is make sure you fridge is always full of groceries...one time when I was new I didn't know you had to shop/order groceries and my sims were starving while waiting for the food delivery truck. In TS3 and TS4 the fridges always contain food but not in TS2.

    For the black squares under the feet there is a mod on modthesims by Nopke that will fix that.

    If you have any further questions feel free to private message me and I'll be able to help as best as I can.
    angrycat.gif
  • LaBlue0314LaBlue0314 Posts: 17,436 Member
    edited January 2020
    I just wanted to let you know there are several things that can cause game corruption, and it won't be of any fault from the player. There are mods that will prevent this from happening. Also here is a link that will let you know what they are and how to avoid them.
    https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Game_guide:Avoiding_corruption
    When I first started playing Sims 2, I made every mistake that could be made on that list.
    Also when you feel like you would like to add a challenge to your gameplay, this person has a few that she is currently doing. I normally avoid challenges, but there is one in there that I am playing that I am really enjoying. She even has a list of suggested mods as well.
    https://pleasantsims.com/
  • SPARKY1922SPARKY1922 Posts: 5,965 Member
    @cody6268

    Have fun after 10 years of constant 3 playing then having a go at 2 it almost frustrated me to the point of insanity but I think that was because I got the whole series in one go to learn-) However now I love the series in it's own right. My advice learn everything you can with one disk and move onto the next as I am sure that will make it more fun and amp up your knowledge of the series as you go along :)

    there is a mod to remove black blocks under the sims feet from Nopke at MTS if you might find that easier at the moment.

    http://modthesims.info/d/569585/sim-shadow-fix-updated-2-jan-16.html
  • hellokitty1496hellokitty1496 Posts: 243 Member
    It was a very nostalgic moment for me playing this version. The Sims 1 was fine, but The Sims 2 was very addictive for stories, gameplay, and eventually custom content & mods. It's still hands down my absolute favorite Sims gen out. It's only that way because of how popular everything was at that time and the cd collection to prove it (oi, I just wish I knew how to save my files correctly at that time!). The only things I disliked were the troubleshootings such as lag, frozen screens, error popups, and the inability to save before leaving(I think this only happened if you installed mods or had poor storage/memory).

    How are you enjoying it so far? Any future challenges besides not using cc&mods?
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