Official "The Sims 2" Thread

[gizbug]

First question.
I make my own sim/and family, but whenever i leave the game, and come back, I can't locate him. It's like he was deleted

 

[gizbug]

bump

 

[warcrow]

What do you think of the game so far? I just saw some screenshots, and it looks cool.

 

[blurredvision]

I've thought about starting a thread like this the past couple of days, but was waiting for someone else to........

Anywho, I picked up the DVD version today for my girlfriend and I to play. I never played much of the original Sims, so I can't really give any thoughts on differences and improvements. The interface looks the same to a casual observer like me, but I'm sure things have been tweaked a bit. The graphics are pretty darn good for a game such as this, although nothing impressive or never seen before. With my main system info in my sig, I'm able to run this game at 1600x1200 4xAA/4xAF with no problems whatsoever. It's smooth as hell, and I've yet to see a frame rate drop anywhere in the game.

I did experience some frustration, though. I originally started making my own sims, a guy and a girl. After atleast 30 minutes of creating (time gets away), I was almost done with the girl when the game crashed. I got a dialog box that simply said "The Sims 2 has crashed, and will exit now", or something to that simple effect. So basically, I lost all my work. I then used the external Body Shop program to create my sims again, and actually found it to be a tad faster to navigate, although this could be because it was my second time through. When I finally got back into the game, I found that my sims I had created in the Body Shop didn't translate 100% into the game, with minor changes to the face and most all clothing (all situations).

Another thing I do not care for is the inability to scroll to the right with my dual monitor setup. When I move my cursor to the right side of the screen, it just continues out of the game and onto the second monitor. I'm optomistic that there is a fix for this, or it can be fixed in the future. Until then, I can either disable my second monitor (which sucks), or move my cursor to the extreme right of the screen without going onto the other monitor.

I'll give some more thoughts when I actually play the game a bit.

 

[imported_chrisbtx]

Picked up the DVD edition for 33 bucks today... installing now and will post some impressions if I get around to it tonight.

 

[blurredvision]

Just played it for around an hour or so, and I'm liking it so far. From what little I played of the original Sims, this plays much like it. The 3D camera takes some getting used to, and I haven't gotten the chance to even figure out all the nuances of it yet. All the 3D models in the game are outstanding, and are better than I would've expected. The animations are pretty good also, with a wide range of facial expressions that help you know what's going on with your sim at any given point of time.

The problems I'm having is understanding sometimes what my Sims are trying to tell me, but I either figure it out or it works itself out.

I also initially tried the movie maker function, which ran pretty good. You can basically record the video of what's going on at any given moment. I have since went to view the movies, of which were of absolute horrible quality and of very small size. I'm assuming the lowest setting is defaulted with the game. At the lowest, it records the movie at 128x128 at 36kbps and 10 frames per second. Pretty shoddy. But, with some of the computers people will be trying to play the Sims 2 with, it's understandable. I will try the other settings later and post back with my results.

EDIT: As for recording movies, there are two main options. The quality of the recording, and the size of the recorded video. On medium size and medium settings, I was able to get a decent framerate, although it's still not good enough in my eyes. This feature, like any other video cap programs (fraps), is hardly useable within intense 3D games until we start getting a lot more processing power and bandwidth inside the comp.

I also took a pic of my sims by using the printscreen button. My Sims. That is in game, running at 1600x1200 4xAA/4xAF at around 60fps (this is an educated guess, I'll fraps it later to get a better estimate).

 

[Bateluer]

I gotta ask this question: How many ways are there to kill your sims?

 

[lavagirl669]

Just picked up the DVD copy today, but haven't installed it yet.....

Was a big fan of the original Sims
and this appears to be a vast improvement.

 

[Czar]

I tried it.

Started my playtime trying out one of the premade families, a family of an alien man and human woman and their two half breed children. After 10 minutes of learning the interface on what you can do I started to make the woman eat all the food in the house. While doing that I found out that the husband is the biggest bum I have ever seen, he spent all his days in bed or in front of the tv only wearing boxer shorts and shirt. That lasted about an hour or so before I got bored.

Then I started to create my own house, spent about 30 minutes at that before I scrapped it because I couldnt figure out how to remove walls.

The day after I had a look at the tutorials to see how to delete walls. 2 minutes later I was off to create a new house. Spent about 40 minutes trying to do a good house. Scrapped it, started on another smaller one. An hour later I got tired of it, about half way done. Went to play with the sims creation tool, most amazing thing about this game in my book. So many possibilites, spent about 30 minutes playing with it. Then went to continue with the house, another 30 minutes there.

And thats where I am at right now. I still dont feel I have played the game at all.

 

[CVSiN]

Im digging it...
I bought it yesteday and been messing with it..
its very similar to sims1 in how it plays the sims are alot smarter now..
and the ability to leave the lot is built in stead of an expanstion..
building a new house is very easy now they have a room tool that all you have to do is drag a room out and it does the walls for you...

Game is pretty racy for a T rating.. i tired a premade family in pleasentveiw and the first thing to happen was a family guy was doing the maid after the wife went to work...
funny stuff...
i didnt tell him to do it the AI did it on its own...
the AI seems to be very good now it can do most things on its own all you have to do is watch if you want...
the goal system seems to be pretty cool you alot are more like challeneges for the player to be able to do for bonus points.. most seem pretty adult too..
a few of my goals from last night..
Have Public Wahhoo with 3 differnet People..
Have 3 loves at once...
make wahhoo in the hot tub..
and more along those lines..
Multiple partners seems to be encouraged in the sims2 havent been able to achicve those goals yet but working on it lol

 

[gizbug]

so no idea why when i create a sim/family IN GAME, and i save/exit, come back, he is gone?

I made a deck behind my house, still no idea how to delete it. I dont like the leveling tool for leveling ground.

 

[CVSiN]

Hes not gone hes most likely in the family select screen as you havent bought him a house yet...
you have to buy him a house and move him in...
mine saved just fine

Hold the CTRL key to do any demolition man.. read the damn instructions or are you a pirate?

 

[warcrow]

"aaaaaaarrrrrr MATEY! I just might be picking this one up today, me scurvy foes!"

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: CVSiN
Hes not gone hes most likely in the family select screen as you havent bought him a house yet...
you have to buy him a house and move him in...
mine saved just fine

Hold the CTRL key to do any demolition man.. read the damn instructions or are you a pirate?

I never read instructions, and I do not pirate. Instructions are for n00bs!
Well, let me correct myself... I dont read the instructions right away, I usually read them after playing for quite a while.

 

[CVSiN]

ya but youre not the one up here pestering peeps for keyboards commands and basic info that is covered on the keyboard shortcut paper =P

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: CVSiN
ya but youre not the one up here pestering peeps for keyboards commands and basic info that is covered on the keyboard shortcut paper =P

I definately can't call you a liar. :beer:

 

[MikeMike]

can you not wahoo until your an adult?

lol.

MIKE

 

[warcrow]

Ok I picked up the game....er....for my GF.

Goddamnit, this pisses me off. This game is good. Real good. I've only played the game for about 2-3 hours and I've already got a beautiful girlfriend, cheated on her with some black girl from work, then "fell in love with her", set my stove on fire, some dude had a nervous breakdown in my kitchen becuase I wasnt paying attention to him, and....I got a promotion...twice.


*sigh*


















....I love it.

 

[spidey]

My wife's aspirations include WooHoo with three people in public. :Q

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
I gotta ask this question: How many ways are there to kill your sims?

Yes, must hear about all the sadistic new ways. With shots! heh.

EDIT: I didn't play the original much, but there was a fun way to keep away unwanted visitors. You make a pool "moat" around your house, with a diving board but no ladder. Sims jump in, try to get to door, and eventually die off since they can't get out without a ladder! hheh.

 

[Chaotic42]

I went to get it today. No one has recieved it yet.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I went to get it today. No one has recieved it yet.

Really? What places did you check? I know my local Wal-Mart has had a sign up near the entrance/exit for weeks advertising the game in-store for the 16th. And where I'm from, if Wal-Mart has it, then every other store will have it as well.

 

[XprincoX]

went with my lady friend to pickup the dvd special edition version at bestbuy today....

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I went to get it today. No one has recieved it yet.

Really? What places did you check? I know my local Wal-Mart has had a sign up near the entrance/exit for weeks advertising the game in-store for the 16th. And where I'm from, if Wal-Mart has it, then every other store will have it as well.

Ivan prevented any kind of game delivery.

 

[raildogg]

ahhhhh ......

no thanks ....

im a first person shooter fan ... hehe ... nothing like the joy of beating someone with a headshot online .... can the sims 2 do that?? I think not ...