I'm installing the ultimate collection right now and I'm excited as fuck, I'm going to recreate all my TS3-sims and watch them fight it out TS2-style. The only thing that really bothers me is the closed world, makes me feel a bit claustrophobic but juggling with eggs and bathing toddlers (if I remember correctly) completely makes up for it.

edit: OMFGBBQ, the routing, the attention to detail in TS2 and the endless amount of mods and cc created for it also kind of makes up for it.

edit 2: Crashes to desktop as soon as I try to load a family, fml.

We have Open For Bushiness. If owning your own restaurant, nightclub, bakery, whatever, isn't self employment I don't know what is.

Which is why the motive decay rewards are so worth it.

What I want is TS2 motive decay, but with less compressed time. That way, Sims have to eat breakfast and dinner (no more "one meal satisfies for a full day"), but they don't spend half of their non-sleep non-work/school lives in front of a meal or in a bathroom.

I think I said something similar before: Sims games shouldn't be about real-time strategy resource grinding and management, they should be about enjoying life. A Sim who is spending time struggling with motives is probably leading a bleak life, on top of being un-fun to watch and play.

@DrChillgood: Have you tried using this clock by Merola? I use it when I want to slow down time so my Sims can have a dinner before going to bed, without staying up to 4 in the morning just to finish their family meal.

When I installed a lot, the Clean Installer automatically selected a folder and it selected the EA Games folder. So I had a Teleport, a Downloads, and a The Sims 2 UC folder inside of it. Then I was reading on the Installer forum how the TM symbol in the name was messing up the path so I tried to delete those in the registry and in the TS2UC folder name.

When I started up the game, it created a new TS2UC folder and none of my mods were working because it was treating it as a brand new game. I fixed it (I think) by removing the extra folders then copying the contents of the Downloads, Neighborhoods, & Teleport folders in the old TS2UC folder and placing them in the new TS2UC folder. I started the game up and everything was there and seemed to work fine.

So basically, I still have no idea how to use the Clean Installer. So maybe I won't try to install any more lots.

I can't play TS2 at all now, it crashes before I even start it. I guess once you go TS3, you never go back.

Thank you EA, really.


edit: Aaand the body shop is not included in the ultimate collection, half of the fun for me was creating my own stuffs and now I cant even do that. Another eloge to EA.

It can be a compatability problem with newer versions of windows, and probably macs OS (but I dont know that much about apple computers), I had that problem with my game...

Oh... one would think the game would be updated to work with newer computers. Does anyone know any other way to get body shop though?

Yes, but you can fix it yourself. There is a link to a guide on the sims 2 discussion forum, but I cant remember which post, but I think you can find something usefull in this thread. As to where body shop is, this thread gives the answer in the fist post.

There must be people who are revisiting Ts2, this time with improved RAM on their computer. I would like to know, can you notice the difference?

Here's a few other major differences which for me make a big difference:
> No travelling to the future in Ts2. For me, this is a massive feature, as time goes by I appreciate it more and more.
> No horses. Ouch. Owning a horse is so cool, it's hard to have that taken away once you've experienced it.
> Basements. sprawling subterranean secret hideaways and tunnel networks, 4 levels deep, vs cheaty 1 level semi-basements. Can't go back to that, no way.

My pc isn't a modern gaming rig, but a 6 month old best gaming-bang-for-the buck rig. Had to do some fixes to TS2 to make it run widescreen and without black boxes instead of shadows. Apart from that it runs smoothly at max settings on this pc. Something I can only dream about with TS3. The improved performance was the most enjoyable thing I noticed when trying TS2 again. But the loading screens (even though fast) made the neighbourhood seem so detached from your lot. There is no difference between going on vacation or to a community lot in TS2. I realise though that I should blame TS3 for spoiling me in that department

I love the horses - they're so well done. Overall, the riding animations are pretty good. Wonder if Sims 4 will ever have horses.
And basements are handy for science labs. Lately, if I have trouble adding basement stairs inside the house, I put the basement(s) under the horse barn.

Please tell me this is irony, the horses are terribly made, the animations for bareback-riding and saddle-riding are the same and horses don't randomly get stuck in walls irl.

I was actually a bit uncertain about the last part so I googled it. But the point is that most horses don't.

You can control your Sims motives in TS2 by using Lifetime Aspiration Benefits http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Aspiration_benefit.

In addition to motives, these wonderfully helpful benefits that came with the Freetime EP, can also be used to add a second aspiration, aid in work promotions and add additional perks for a Sims existing aspiration.

Back to the OP's orginal post, I object to this whole notion of "going back". I don't see these games as sequential, but very separate with some common elements. So far, I've enjoyed all three for different reasons. So if I'm going "back", then I'm going "back and forth" and not between stages of games, but between individual games that each have their own appeal.

Body shop is included. It's inside one of the folders. The pets one, maybe? After I found it I made a short cut for it on my desktop.

Loading times are much shorter than I used to experience, even with a ton of CC and mods. I used to know how to make basements in TS2 but apparently I forgot nearly everything I knew about this game during the 5 years I have been playing TS3.

I will be going back to TS3 eventually. I also love the horses and actually want to start a legacy where my sims raise, train, and sell horses.

OT - It's not perfect, but the whole thing seemed like a very difficult (and mostly thankless) task, making the horses, the jumping animations, etc. I don't have a horse in rl (although I've groomed for my daughter at horse shows) - so for me, there's definitely an element of wish fulfillment. (I didn't disagree)



That's probably the best way to look at it - like all the games can exist simultaneously. One doesn't have to triumph over all the others. I think the expense is what's starting to get to me. Like just buying the Sims 4 base game is going to cost $60 and they've sort of made it clear that that's just the beginning. If it was cheaper I would tend to be less critical of it, I think.

I guess you're right, but when Pets was released I was so exited about the horses (Ive had horses for years and competed and stuffs) and then I just got so disappointed when I saw how unrealistic they were, of course I shouldn't expect perfect and realistic horses at their first try but I was still really disappointed.

Sims 2 and 3 both have a home on my little cruddy laptop right now. I have all the EPs for 2 and I recently did a reinstall and found I can play it on max without much crashing (I get some black background and weird graphics once in a while). I can only play Sims 3 on lower graphic setting which ruins my enjoyment. I think they both have merits and I find myself frustrated by the Sims 2 camera (lack of rotation) and the lack of open neighborhood. I just went back to playing (or downloading I should say) for Sims 3.

I downloaded Sims 2 UC a couple of days ago, and have been rediscovering how much I like it! I went back once a few years ago and couldn't stand it - but that was on my old computer that took much longer to load new lots. This one is much more powerful - though perhaps part of it is also that my TS3 game is misbehaving at the moment and I'm really enjoying a game that just works!

Oddly enough, it's little things that I find most frustrating - things like not being able to scroll through friends/chairs/whatever with my mouse, but having to click 'next' endlessly, all books are just books and sims can learn anything from them, having to make sure that all houses have phones, things like that. I miss CAST, and I miss being able to visit the neighbours if I want to meet them, and I miss having sensible skills rather than just 'creativity'..., but I'm still enjoying it a lot.

Now I have to work out how to install recolours...

I don't know about the "TS2 has more attention to detail" argument as I feel there are parts of TS3 that are extremely detailed such as the collection system and all of the mini-challenges in the game and the way certain objects affect Sims with different traits in different ways.

Personally I can't get back into TS2 not because TS3 is better but because I really hated loading screens and was happy to leave TS2 behind because it meant leaving loading screens behind. I love the open world and the fact that EVERY world is an open world. I love being able to explore underwater lots and boats and watching my Sim's college roommate fall asleep during a lecture. None of that I can get in TS2.

I do miss the personal touch of TS2 in that it cared more about how Sims interacted with each other than how they interacted with the world around them. TS2 EPs focused on new things for our Sims to do to get to know other Sims and strengthen relationships while TS3 EPs just gave more things for Sims to do -- usually by themselves.

The big change in TS2 was generations and genetics so family and relationships was the focus. The big change in TS3 was the open world so the games focused on getting your Sim out and about to explore everything and run all around town. TS4 is about this new super-advanced totally tactile emotions system (which so far just seem exactly like the mood buffs we have in TS3 but okay...) so maybe it will go back to being more about relationships? We'll see...

The loading times are fast, so is saving. Haven't yet visited a community lot but I don't think it will be any slower.

Basements is something that is done so much better in TS3. I always found TS2 basements unplayable and that was really disapointing because I remember EA telling us before TS2 came out how you can make basements. I even had a whole storyline of an adopted kid who would live in the basement but she ended up living in the attic because basements were a pain.
Another thing recarding basements, is tombs. I love tombing in TS3. I download tombs made by other creators that look like houses and such, and have them explore them. I've had one guy who is a thieve do these tombs as a "break into a house and steal everything". Now one of my ladies is actually a tomb raider. She's a nice, friendly B&B keeper in my town, but when she travels, she loots.

I also plan on having archaeologist who would only do the digging of relics interactions. I find this much more rewarding than going to your back yard and dig for a treasure chest.

With you on that. Only thing I dislike about Bridgeport is how the designers seem to have loved the boob slider a little TOO much.
Can't blame them though.

Ooh, that's a good idea! Is it possible to place tombs and treasure chests on residential lots? That would make me interested in doing tomb adventures again if I could style them as breaking into rich people's homes and stealing their loot.



I agree. To me, TS1 and 2 felt like a game and it's sequel. TS3 was more like the gritty Christopher Nolan reboot -- ambitious and brilliant at times but also deeply flawed at others.

I never stopped playing TS2. I switch between TS2 and TS3 as I have all EPs/SPs for both, and they both have their advantages and disadvantages, so I love them pretty much equally. I usually play TS3 for a while and then something starts to go wrong or the game gltiches up or starts crashing for whatever reason, then go play TS2 for a long time until my frustrations have worn off, then I go back to TS3.