Forum Discussion

greenean71's avatar
7 years ago

How many playable Sims can you have in a NH?

So I have been playing the same custom neighborhood on and off for about 8 years now. I have had many, many Sims come and go and was just wondering if there is a magical number of Sims you can have in a NH. I usually have around 50 to 60 living Sims living around the NH and right now about 50 Sims that are deceased that I have in a cemetery. Do the deceased Sims count as the population as well?
  • pre nightlife it was 1000 or something but post nightlife it is 16000 or something like that, but it also includes all the townies service npc's and other characters.
  • thefella is right. I know in the one I played for about ten years I had over one hundred of my own Sims, at least three or so of each subhood, so that's about twelve or more subhoods, and each of those contain around another 150-200 premade townies/NPCs in the files that come with each subhood. So, I wouldn't worry about it. I saw a few glitches but those were all caused by me. Posing Sims, or moving Sims with MOO or whatever it is we do to snap the right picture can cause the jump bug, and or cause the Sim to get stuck or can cause the Sim to reset. Any corruption I saw was always caused by me and or pose boxes, mods etc. Because after years of actually playing that hood and all it's attachments I started to tell a lot of stories with all those Sims so I was using a lot of poxes etc.

    ETA: Ghost are objects, don't ever delete because it breaks data to the memories which can cause corruption. No, it's not TS4.
  • According to the SimsWiki the maximum number is around 32,000 for packs after Night Life, 1,000 for the base game.
  • "theFella;c-16713974" wrote:
    pre nightlife it was 1000 or something but post nightlife it is 16000 or something like that, but it also includes all the townies service npc's and other characters.


    I think I am ok for awhile then.

    "Cinebar;c-16714237" wrote:


    ETA: Ghost are objects, don't ever delete because it breaks data to the memories which can cause corruption.

    I have never deleted any of the urns or tombstones, at least in this NH. They are all in a cemetery that I made.

    "Brindleton;c-16714856" wrote:
    According to the SimsWiki the maximum number is around 32,000 for packs after Night Life, 1,000 for the base game.


    I have all the packs. There would never be a reason for me to have that many Sims, but good to know!

    Thanks for all of the replies!
  • Though there is no cap really on how many Sims you can place in any neighborhood, you might want to remember (if coming from TS4) TS2 Sims have memories for everyone they met, and everything they buy. This includes all the 400+ townies that the EPs add and the base game.

    On lower end pcs you may notice some lag or slow to scroll when your Sims and all the others have visited owned business lots, because even townies retain the stuff they buy in their inventory. Unlike TS4 if you played those these townie Sims you would find the stuff in inventory and all the memories other than first kiss/first woohoo. The game doesn't make them hold that memory, even if they were dating your Sim, when you make them playable later. Point, some people may see some lag or slow to scroll when their Sims they play visit many community lots and meet lots of Sims (they retain those memories) and or run a business and meet just about everyone who comes there, and or buys a lot of stuff at other Sims stores. This goes for townies, too. So, memories, and inventory for everyone in the game may be a good reason to hold down townies population on machines such as a laptop. And maybe not run as many owned businesses because townies keep those memories, too, and all the stuff they buy.

    Legacy houses/lots hold all the data of every Sim that lived there, and though you can play a legacy generation after generation, just remember that lot has all the left over data of all the Sims there, and maybe one day you should move a family to a new, unplayed lot.


  • "Cinebar;c-16715901" wrote:
    Though there is no cap really on how many Sims you can place in any neighborhood, you might want to remember (if coming from TS4) TS2 Sims have memories for everyone they met, and everything they buy. This includes all the 400+ townies that the EPs add and the base game.

    On lower end pcs you may notice some lag or slow to scroll when your Sims and all the others have visited owned business lots, because even townies retain the stuff they buy in their inventory. Unlike TS4 if you played those these townie Sims you would find the stuff in inventory and all the memories other than first kiss/first woohoo. The game doesn't make them hold that memory, even if they were dating your Sim, when you make them playable later. Point, some people may see some lag or slow to scroll when their Sims they play visit many community lots and meet lots of Sims (they retain those memories) and or run a business and meet just about everyone who comes there, and or buys a lot of stuff at other Sims stores. This goes for townies, too. So, memories, and inventory for everyone in the game may be a good reason to hold down townies population on machines such as a laptop. And maybe not run as many owned businesses because townies keep those memories, too, and all the stuff they buy.

    Legacy houses/lots hold all the data of every Sim that lived there, and though you can play a legacy generation after generation, just remember that lot has all the left over data of all the Sims there, and maybe one day you should move a family to a new, unplayed lot.




    There probably is a cap, but just unrealistically high. So only neighborhoods played sir SEVERAL generations with several families would start to reach that cap. You're going to hit issues with the save due to the reasons you've said before you hit the hard cap on number of Sims.
  • The reason I thought you might be concerned about population is because you mentioned it a few times and TS4 has a cap on how many before it culls Sims. However, TS2 doesn't have a cap on population, and never culls anyone (deletes) and only replaces a townie Sim when needed like when your Sim moves in a clerk or bartender etc. Sims don't get replaced in TS2 unless it is called for by making a townie playable or killing one. ETA: If you want to know how many Sims are in each town, you can look in program files of base game and EPs and when you add a new subhood those add the characters files contained in those files for each different type subhood. Which is usually 150-200 more Sims. I'm not sure why you are worried about population totals. TS2 bascially has not limit since it's in the thousands and thousands.

    ETA: No the data is not erased from game when Sims die. That's why we don't delete ghosts, they get renamed to objects but retain all their relationships and memories, in case you want to bring one back. If you delete a ghost, some data gets left behind which can cause corruption if stuff like that started to pile up and corrupt the memory files from getting/ being broken. (I need more coffee)
  • "Cinebar;c-16715901" wrote:
    Though there is no cap really on how many Sims you can place in any neighborhood, you might want to remember (if coming from TS4) TS2 Sims have memories for everyone they met, and everything they buy. This includes all the 400+ townies that the EPs add and the base game.

    On lower end pcs you may notice some lag or slow to scroll when your Sims and all the others have visited owned business lots, because even townies retain the stuff they buy in their inventory. Unlike TS4 if you played those these townie Sims you would find the stuff in inventory and all the memories other than first kiss/first woohoo. The game doesn't make them hold that memory, even if they were dating your Sim, when you make them playable later. Point, some people may see some lag or slow to scroll when their Sims they play visit many community lots and meet lots of Sims (they retain those memories) and or run a business and meet just about everyone who comes there, and or buys a lot of stuff at other Sims stores. This goes for townies, too. So, memories, and inventory for everyone in the game may be a good reason to hold down townies population on machines such as a laptop. And maybe not run as many owned businesses because townies keep those memories, too, and all the stuff they buy.

    Legacy houses/lots hold all the data of every Sim that lived there, and though you can play a legacy generation after generation, just remember that lot has all the left over data of all the Sims there, and maybe one day you should move a family to a new, unplayed lot.




    I have played TS4 but not enough to really get into it. I have no idea how the townie Sims work in that game. I never really left TS2. It's still my favorite out of all of the series. I play TS2 on a pretty good updated desktop. It has a great graphics card and tons of RAM. I never had any lag or graphics issues on the desktop and the game runs smooth even on most of the high settings. I have read in the Prima guide that the number of townies or NPC's that show up on a community lot depends on the processor speed of the computer. I have always had plenty of either show up on any given lot because I have a pretty powerful processor.

    I didn't know that data of every Sim that has lived on a lot stays with the lot. I have several legacy lots that I have had lots of generations of Sims living in. Good idea about moving legacy Sims to another lot after so many genrations. I have not ever done that. I have one lot that is on it's 8th or so generation. So does that data count as part of the population? I guess it would for the most part considering that I have most of the Sims that have passed on still in the NH although long deceased. I just always thought that once a Sim passes the data from them deletes itself and the tombstone/urn is just for a reminder of a once living Sim.