So, ever since I bought a new laptop in spring (Acer Windows 8.1 with intel processor), Its seems like Sims 2 won't work properly on it, so for the last few month Ive keep debating whether I should give Sims 3 a chance to kill off some of my free time. (Im staying home alot and living literally in a forest. ) The newer Sims games should work on my laptop at least.
Several years ago, I used to have a downloaded copy of it to test it out but ended up deleting it again four hour later ( ), because I didnt like some things about it, but now it been a quiet a time since its first relased so Its probably have some mods to adjust the playstyle like the way you could with TS2. The reason why I ask on here is because I keep debating whether I should get it or not (where I live, the games are quiet pricey). Anyways, Ive a couple of questions about the base game. Even though I test played long time ago, Im not familiare with the game at all.

# Story progressions - Have any modder creating any mods to allow you play the families like the TS2?
# Neighborhood - Is there any way to create a new character free neighborhood on the base game or do you need to have the Goth, Crumblebottom etc in it?
# Sims 2 were very buggy and you had to be very careful when playing it outside its orginal use because of possible corruptions - How are TS3 in this area?

The first two questions were the reason why I was "obsessed" with TS2 because I really liked when you had more control of your sims and that your could create your own themed neighborhood, so IF there are any mods or tweaks on these areas, I might give it a chance. Ive also been consider TS4 because of I like the sims looks better, but its so new so Im not sure, I also heard it had alot of negative critism.

and sorry if I put this in the wrong forum.

> Story progressions - Have any modder creating any mods to allow you play the families like the TS2?

Yes. NRaas Story Progression helps with that, here is a guide on how it handles aging.

By tweaking/messing with the other options, it is completely possible to have inactive sims never age, get married, advance skills or jobs etc.

> Neighborhood - Is there any way to create a new character free neighborhood on the base game or do you need to have the Goth, Crumblebottom etc in it?

Master Controller gives you the option to completely clear a world of sims.


> Sims 2 were very buggy and you had to be very careful when playing it outside its orginal use because of possible corruptions - How are TS3 in this area?

This very much remains available today, though the Nraas mod suite (with Overwatch, ErrorTrap and Traveler in particular) minimizes the chance of your savegame being borked - or at least greatly help delay the inevitable.

It does seem incredibly overwhelming, doesn't it? But if you take your time to read what each mod does (or if you're like me, just poke around in the game and hope for the best), your save games will be MUCH more stable. As a warning, though, Nraas Story Progression is more complex and customizable than EA's version; as such, your game will run a tiny bit slower but also feel much more "alive".

I can't say anything about TS4, as I've never played it.

1. Awesomemod [ http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...c,15185.0.html/ ] or Nraas Story Progression [ http://nraas.wikispaces.com/StoryProgression ] archievable in both however in different way, Nraas suite, at last basics like Overwatch, Traffic and so are essential also for keeping game running;
2. There're plenty of towns - both EA's and user made, for EA's ellacharmed fixes are 1st priority [ https://ellacharmed.wordpress.com/c.../world-fixes-2/ ], user made are very diversed, from small to big, and so on.

There's no bug-free software, however gaming companies with our beloved one Sims deliver settled a whole new area and standards in such matter. Both S2 and S3 have theirs respective pitfalls borned in bad (or really bad) project, compromises, limitations, code itself and so. There're mods for this (Nraas and Awesome are most well known, also small fixes are present here on MTS for annoying details). However mods cannot repair what was broken at the core of course. This topic is your friend [ http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=517365 ] for the beginning.

According to Sims 4, the software is too early in development in comparisation to mature and presently closed software like S2 and S3 to judge with sense. Ask around 2020, we shall see what grown

@ Sweetdevil.
I don't mind taking some time reading or learning about the mods, at least I know now there were such mods existing for the game that tweak those areas of the game which was the only things I wanted to know. ¨^^
(I rather ask the question on here because it helps me to avoid spending hours finding them and then changing my mind of buying the game. )

I think I will get the game next month since it was possible to tweak the story progression (Hated when the relatives in the other houses aged up too fast before I was able to switch household)! Thanks to both reply's and thanks for the links! I will read about when Ive the game,

@ Nitromon:
That question, I was refering to that when playing a household in TS2, the others doesnt age. This was a feature I didnt like in TS3 when I tryied it, because I like to have more control over each household - such as aging and relationships and got quickly bored when I test played it. Im not native english speaker so Im not so good at explaining myself. ^^;;

Also, Ive been reading about the TS2 requirements before and there were posts that mentioned that Intel processor doesnt work properly with the game.
I tryied to installed it which worked fine but the graphic was a bit laggy, like objects dissappearing when moving the mouse. After hearing many people had problem with Intel, I ended up giving up and the reason why Im consider moving on from TS2 and try the newer ones. Im not good at graphics and processors and even now Im worrying TS3 would cause graphic issues on my current laptop because I dont understand the minimal system requirements (graphics, Ghz, Ram, processor etc).

Yeah, the Intel graphics card probably makes Sims 2 dicey (been there, done that).

If I understand correctly, you want complete control over every family? I think that's what is referred to as rotational play.

As far as I know the rest of the world will still progress to a point, I'm not sure, so the complete control you had with TS2. Even with NRAAS or Awesomemod, you can't quite eliminate progress completely.
I could be remembering wrong but I remember a long discussion with someone who started out with TS3 and hoped to play like in TS2 and the result was that non-played families will progress (not in every aspect), so the complete control like in TS2 is not entirely possible.

Overall, TS3 is just a different game because of the Open World.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, there's an option with Nraas story progression to limit aging, etc., in inactive households. There's more than one way of doing it, but I don't know how they work because I haven't done it. I'd suggest hoping over to the Nraas site and asking questions there. People there are really helpful and will explain things so that they make sense if you ask them to.

The Nraas site is at: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/

This is what the system says I have:
Windows 8.1 2013 Acer
Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU N2840 @ 2.16 GHz
4,00 GB RAM (3,88GB can be used)
64 Bit system/processor

So, CPU. When I searched on the TS2 forum, they mentioned that Intel make TS2 will crashes if installed, especially when using CAS or when adding more EP'S/SP's.


Well, I just wanted to control my own household's aging, so when I switch household they dont age or got married and didnt want to have the orginal maxi families (I.e. Goth), thats the only thing I wanted to tweek. Because I got bored of playing only one active family all the time.
Because when I was playing TS2 I was playing a challenge, a sort of build your city from scratch. Im not sure if thats possible with TS3. I only heard that player are playing the legacy challenge on TS2. My previous laptop crashed while I was doing that on TS2 so I guess I wanted to redo it on TS3.

I can't access any other information than the information I just wrote so I dont know what the GPU is, but according to the icons on the bottom of the screen it do says Intel HP Graphic.

and yes, Im using a quiet inexpensive laptop because Im a bit clumsy and spill things over it (cola and ice cream...) The ones I had didnt last more than 3 years so I dont really want to spend a fortune. Sims is the only game I play to kill time and for that I dont feel like I need to buy a powerful game computer. The previous one I had worked just fine for TS2 and all EP's plus 2GB CC. The one Im using now, my father picked up for me.

Im aware about not trusting everything on the forum, but I use them more like a guideline to get some ideas and then search about them.
(Iike Im really sceptical about messing around with the system just for the sake of a game. I did something similare long ago, but I only needed to change a letter in the system to make the later EP works. I dont really want mess with the system graphic rules because I afraid it would mess up the laptop). :P

EDIT: I ended up asking about TS2 graphics on TS2 forum as people suggested on here.

Edit 2: Seems like I am able to play TS2. :lovestruc: Its slightly glitchy but doesnt crash. But, I dont understand why I cant patch the game. :S Thats the only problem so far.

Just on the side my little pennies counting - doesn't such machine used to have hybrid GPU's presently? I mean Intel (in such case) Something Graphics and ATI/NVidia onboard too? Anyway - in TS2 you may encounter problem with shadows on most new GPUs. Without graphics rules messing the simplest way is just turn them down in game interface (medium should work, while high might be borky - infamous "black rectangle" below the sim). As nitromon stated above on the S2 MTS forum you'll find guys who researched such problems to the bottom I believe.

What means you can't patch the game? And what version of TS2 you have installed?

Both Awesome and NRaas SP are able to simulate somewhat TS2 style of playing by combination of disabling aging/skilling/death/actions - it's not quite "full control" like TS2 but as close as possible. And "from the ashes" style is quite possible in TS3 - there's even a few challenges with such gameplay in focus on MTS

Are you refering to the large about 4square black retangulares that are below the sim's feet? I get something like that when they are indoors only.

What I mean with patches, the ones you can download on here. I tryied to run them, but they keep crashing.
Ive a downloaded version (its so hard to find them so yeah ) with mounted CD but they have never been a problem using before. Since I installed everything from a backup perhaps they're already installed. I don't know because I have never notice the glitches from having it unpatched.

Have you tried putting shadows to medium? Sometimes that helps.

There's also an in-game option that allows you to switch Story Progression off. That way, the inactive family won't age, marry, get jobs etc. without you telling them to

exactly - medium shadows solves problem (unless you want to mess with graphicsrules)



maybe... there're many versions of Sims 2 and patching some of them are somewhat tricky sometimes... //someone should disable the "some" key on my keyboard x.x
Sims 2 are part of the last breath of romantic era of Development, ya know - nothing is certain, truth is out there and trust no one
BTW
if you already have Sims 3 - have you ever try to aquire Origin Complete version from EA giveaway? However closed, it's still possible, depends of your charisma skill

I don't have TS3 (yet), was planning to buy it next month but now my back up on TS2 is working and that I can play my only hood that Ive been working on for months last year. (Im now on 6th generation :lovestruc ) so I might wait getting it. I didnt thought it was possible to install TS2 but the game apparantly handled it and Ive tryied graphicrules (thought it was about messing inside of your laptop, not the graphic rules for the game. ). I could only play it on one of the smaller screens, but it was the one I was using before so I dont mind those "less prefect" issues.. For some reason I can only play one game at the time or I will get bored with one of them and uninstall it.