Jul 16, 2016 First you can try reseting the game to default. Go into your EA Games file, and find the Sims 2 UC folder. Change it to Sims 2.bak and start up your game. The game should generate new folders for everything. If it works, delete the old Sims 2 file and continue on. The skin your sims have now, is the skin that replaced (I am guessing) the lightest maxis tone, or whichever one you used. They wont be the same. The only way for your sims to go back to the skin tone they had before is to uninstall the default skins.
The Sims overview
Type:Strategy
ESRB Rating:Teen
Release Date: 02/04/2000
Developer:Maxis
Publisher:Electronic Arts
The Sims is a creation from the makers who really invented the word SIM. In their first edition, The Sims, the object of the game is to manage and control people. While this concept may sound easy and maybe even boring to some people, The Sims is completely the opposite.
You will find yourself with several dilemmas as you first begin by buying or making a house, as well as very little money and items, such as furniture or food, in your house. One of your primary tasks in the game is getting a job. By getting a job, you will begin to make a living and buy more advanced items for your house, enhancing your character's life, and becoming more successful and happy. You must also keep your Sims satisfied in such areas as social, entertainment, hunger, and cleanliness.
The Sims is a must for anyone who enjoys simulation games or likes to act out portions of their own life and watch the consequences.
System Requirements:Microsoft Windows - Apple - Linux
| Windows System Requirements | |
|---|---|
| Operating System: | Windows 95, Windows 98 |
| Processor: | Intel Pentium 233 MHz |
| Memory: | 32 MB RAM |
| Graphics Card: | DirectDraw compatible PCI or AGP video card, 2 MB Video RAM, 800 x 600 resolution |
| DirectX: | DirectX 7 |
| Sound Card: | DirectX compatible sound card |
| Hard Drive Space: | 300 MB |
| CD/DVD Drive: | 4X CD-ROM |
| Controls: | Keyboard & Mouse |
| Multiplayer: | n/a |
| Apple System Requirements | |
|---|---|
| Operating System: | macOS 8.6 or 9.x with CarbonLib 1.2.5 or later macOS 10.0.3 or later |
| Processor: | PowerPC G3 or G4 233 MHz |
| Memory: | 64 MB RAM (Mac OS 8.6/9.x) 128 MB RAM (macOS X) |
| Graphics Card: | |
| Sound Card: | |
| Hard Drive Space: | 350 MB |
| CD/DVD Drive: | 8X CD-ROM |
| Controls: | Keyboard & Mouse |
| Multiplayer: | n/a |
| Linux System Requirements | |
|---|---|
| Operating System: | Linux kernel 2.2 or higher XFree86 4.1 or higher |
| Processor: | Intel Pentium II / Celeron 350 MHz AMD Athlon / Duron 350 MHz |
| Memory: | 64 MB RAM |
| Graphics Card: | 16-bit color, 800 x 600 resolution nVidia GeForce & 16 MB Video RAM recommended |
| Sound Card: | OSS or ALSA supported sound card |
| Hard Drive Space: | |
| CD/DVD Drive: | 8X CD-ROM |
| Controls: | Keyboard & Mouse |
| Multiplayer: | n/a |
Expansion Packs
A total of seven expansion packs were released and are available for The Sims game.
The Sims: Livin' Large
- Released August 31, 2000
- Added additional new characters, careers, items, and other features
The Sims: House Party
- Released April 2, 2001
- Added the ability to host parties and gatherings at the Sims' houses
- Added additional new items and characters
The Sims: Hot Date
- Released November 12, 2001
- Added ability for Sims to be involved in short-term and long-term relationships and give gifts to others
- Added new destinations for travel outside the Sims' homes
- Added additional new items and characters
The Sims: Vacation
- Released March 28, 2002
- Added ″Vacation Island″ as new destination for Sims and stay in a hotel, tent or igloo
- Added ability for Sims to buy souvenirs
- Allows game to be saved with Sims on vacation, on the island
- Added additional new items and characters
The Sims: Unleashed
The Sims 2 Help Red S
- Released November 7, 2002
- Added pets, including cats and dogs
- Added ability for Sims to have a garden
- Increased neighborhood lot count from 10 to 40 and ability to re-zone some lots for building shops, safes, and other businesses
- Added additional new items and characters
The Sims: Superstar
- Released May 13, 2003
- Added ability for Sims to become celebrities and famous
- Added ″Studio Town″ as a new destination, being a new work area for celebrity Sims or place to visit for non-celebrity Sims
- Added additional new items and characters (both work and leisure)
The Sims: Makin' Magic
- Released October 29, 2003
- Added magic to the game, giving Sims the ability to cast spells, forge charms and buy alchemical ingredients
- Added ″Magic Town″, a place where Sims can buy magical items and ingredients from vendors, as well as having lots for Sims' homes, allowing them to live outside the primary neighborhood. These lots also have the chance of growing magical items.
- Included a preview of The Sims 2 game on CD
Screenshots
Cheats
Some of the below cheats will not work after updating the game to a later release.
- Cheat on those nasty Bills - Keep one of your unpaid bills until the mail carrier comes to deliver another bill. Once the flag is up, pay the bill you currently have, removing the other bill residing in your mailbox.
Cheat Console
While playing a game, press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C to display a prompt box in the upper left corner of the screen. Once this box is displayed, entering one of the below codes activates the appropriate cheat.
Additional Information:
Enter an exclamation mark (!) at the prompt to repeat the last cheat entered.
Enter a semicolon (;) between codes to enter multiple codes at the same time.
| CHEAT CODE | RESULT OF CODE |
| klapaucius (if patch version 'rosebud') | 1000 Cash |
| hist_add | Add new family history stat to the current family |
| write_destlist | Appends the route destination list to AllRoutes.txt |
| water_tool | Create moat or streams or swimming pools |
| shrink_text [font_size] [text] | Create shrunk_text_#.bmp files. |
| edit_char | Create-a-character mode. |
| draw_all_frames [off/on] | Draw all animation frames disabled/enabled. |
| draw_origins | Draw colored dots at each person's origin |
| core_dump | Dump entire memory to core_dump_[date:time].txt file. |
| dump_happy | Dump selected person's most recent list of scored interactions to a file. |
| dump_mc | Dump selected person's motive contribution curve to a file. |
| debug_social | Enable debug flag to show outcome choice dialogs for social interactions |
| sim_log end | End Sim logging |
| cht [filename] | Execute 'file.cht' file as a list of cheats |
| draw_floorable [off/on] | Enable or disable draw of Florrable grid |
| assert | Force an asswert for testing |
| log_animations | Log animations in the event log window |
| map_edit [off/on] | Map editor disabled/enabled |
| move_objects | Move any object |
| tutorial off | No tutorial object generation when tutorial house is loaded |
| browser_failsafe | Prevent web browser crashes |
| preview_anims [off/on] | Preview animations diabled/enabled. |
| tile_info | Programmer stats |
| quit | Quit game |
| #import | Read in behavior tuning constants from Tuning.txt |
| rebuild_cp | Rebuilds entire Control Panel/UCP from scratch |
| refresh_faces | Refresh the BMP_resources for all people whose IFF files are writable |
| refresh_textures | Rematch dependent textures and regenerate bitmaps for all user characters |
| restore_tut | Restore tutorial |
| rotation [0/1/2/3] | Rotates camera |
| route_balloons [off/on] | Routing debug balloons disabled/enabled |
| fam_test [opcount] | Run series of random operations on unhoused families |
| save | Save currently loaded house |
| history | Save family history file |
| plugh | Say 'plugh' |
| xyzzy | Say 'xyzzy' |
| draw_routes [off/on] | Selected person's path hidden/displayed |
| log_mask | Set event logging mask |
| autonomy [1-100] | Set free thinking level |
| sim_speed [- 1000-1000] | Set game speed |
| edit_grass [number] | Set grass change value |
| grow_grass [0-150] | Set grass growth |
| lot_size [number] | Set lot size |
| sim_limit [milliseconds] | Set maximum milliseconds to allow simulator |
| sim_speed [- 1000-1000] | Set Sim speed |
| set_hour [1-24] | Set time of day |
| bubble_tweak [z offset value] | Set z offset for thought bubbles |
| [directory path] | Sets the neighborhood directory to the path |
| lot_border [tl tr bl br] | Sets up the borders on the lot with non-editable flag |
| allow_inuse | Sets whether menu items appear for in use objects |
| memview | Show memory view window in debug builds of the game. |
| sim_log begin | Start Sim logging |
| swap_houses [house #] [house #] | Swap the two house files and updates families |
| sweep [off/on] | Ticks disabled/enabled |
| tile_info [off/on] | Tile information hidden / displayed |
| visitor_control | Toggle allowing visitors to be controlled using the keyboard. |
| report_assets | Toggle assets report |
| auto_reset | Toggle automatic object reset feature |
| sim_peak | Toggle calls to PeekMessages within Sim loop |
| cam_mode | Toggle camera mode |
| all_menus | Toggle display of unavailable interactions in person control menus |
| obj_comp | Toggle object compression insave file |
| quats | Toggle quaterniontransformations |
| sound_log | Toggle sound log window |
| sound | Toggle sounds |
| html | Toggle web page creation |
| reload_people | Total reload of people skeletons, animations, suits, and skins |
| soundevent | Trigger sound event |
| write_routes | Write out an RTE file every time a route is found |
| #export | Write out behavior turning constants to tuning.txt |
Hints & Tips
- Phone - As one of your first purchases, it is recommended you purchase a phone and that it is placed in a commonly used location of your house. There are several phone calls made during the game where you are awarded money over the phone.
- Skills - Develop your Sims' skills to help improve their chances of getting raises and bonuses from their job.
- Burglars - Purchase a security system to help prevent your house from being robbed. Catching the burglars is also will be an additional money bonus for you.
- Other Family Members - Get other family members into your household to add extra income. While this can cause family problems, it can be used to your advantage to get additional income.
Technical Support
| Reference | Question |
|---|---|
| Games | Full listing of computer game terms, jargon, and slang. |
| Games | All general computer game related Q&A's. |
| DirectX | Microsoft DirectX help and support. |
| Sound card | Sound card help and support. |
| Video card | Video card help and support. |
| Electronic Arts | Electronic Arts company and contact information. |
| Maxis | Maxis company and contact information. |
| CHGAME | Basic game troubleshooting. |
| CH000096 | Where can I find cheat codes for my game? |
| CH000156 | I've lost my unique identification number can you give me one? |
| CH000201 | No sound in new game, elsewhere it works fine. |
| CH000482 | Do you have a part, manual, warranty information, refund information, or rebate information? |
| CH000620 | Why is my online game so slow? |
| CH000789 | How do I play my game over the Internet? |
| CH000786 | General Sims questions and answers. |
| Forum | If your question is not listed here try our computer help forum. |
Welcome to the The Sims 2 wiki guide.[edit]
You moved into SimCity. You built a small house that has expanded into art rivaling architectural masterpieces such as the Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower. You're livin' large with items like your Servo robot and chemistry set. You've thrown the best house parties on the planet, and Drew Carey is over every night. Your bachelor Sim has gone on hot dates and met their spouse Downtown. Your growing family went on vacation to Vacation Island. You got a pet in Old Town and unleashed him onto the public. You sent your Sim to Studio Town and got him to become the biggest superstar SimNation has ever seen. After being bored with all that, your family did the Harry Potter thing and is makin' magic all over Magic Town. You are the SimCity god. And you're still not satisfied? What the hell is wrong with you? Well, don't worry about it. We here at IGN are not satisfied, either. If we were, we each wouldn't have invested several hundred bucks into one computer game and its seven expansion packs… and now, its sequel! Being a true sequel, as opposed to just another expansion pack, means a number of things. Practically every gameplay element has been tweaked (and some downright overhauled), and old strategies may not work quite as well as they used to. But don't worry, because we here at IGN know what it takes to get Sims behaving the way they should. Of course, how they should is up to you, but no matter how that may be, we're here to help. This guide is your be-all, end-all information super-package for The Sims 2. You'll get all the basics: from how to create a Sim to not having your Sim wet itself in the middle of a party. But we won't just cover simple survival. You'll learn how to get your Sims promoted up the corporate food chain and make more money than you ever dreamed of. We'll also teach you how to turn that money into architectural art that will be the envy of the Internet… or at least your Sims' virtual neighborhood. Throughout it all, you'll see real (fictional?) examples of Sims living the dream, with screenshots to boot. In fact, the majority of the guide will cover the life cycle of one particular family, starting with one particular Sim. No matter what twists and turns the wacky life of your Sims may take, IGN will be right here. We haven't forgotten, though, that most of you have already played The Sims 1. To give vets the help they need as quickly as possible, text in bold and red denotes major gameplay changes that you'll need to be aware of. Minor things (like the renaming of the Room bar) will not get such a denotation, but things like the new Aspiration Meter and Rewards will. What are the Aspiration Meter and Rewards? Well, you'll just have to read on and see, won't you?
This wiki was automatically converted from the The Sims 2 Guide (PC) guide at https://guides.ign.com/guides/564180/ and may require cleanup. Please help improve this wiki if you can, and remove this notice if appropriate.
The Sims 2 Deluxe Help
Contributor Assistance[edit]
The Sims 2 Hints
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