Sims 2 Super Collection - Differences + Any Essential Mods?

"Terra;897416" wrote:
I'm downloading Sims 2 Super Collection right now (which has been a masochistic exercise since every time my Internet connection goes out, which happens all the time in rural Scotland, it restarts the download from scratch, but 12 hours later I'm still not giving up), and I'm wondering: what differences will I notice? Does the game look any different from the old regular Sims 2 on the Mac? It says on the App Store that it's got several enhancements exclusively for Mac but I don't really understand what that'll mean in my game:

- Native resolution support, including 4K and Retina
- Drastically improved performance, thanks to an all new renderer

Also, my old beloved Sims 2 game gradually nuked itself after about 5 years because we had corrupted the poor soul out of that game without realising it. Now I'm wiser and have seen this guide for avoiding corruption, but I'm wondering whether there are any mods that really help with preventing corruption.

the game will mostly be the same just with better graphics and frame rate. dont know any mods that can help.

@Terra

First congrats on getting your UC, I am not a long time player of 2 but I love it now. I am not sure what the differences may be between mac and windows OS systems but yes there are mods that help with corruption it just depends what you are actually looking for?

Because I got used to mods and CC after the sims 3 series finished I wasted no time adding a ton of them to 2 also without knowing too much about what causes corruption.

the following link has a massive list of what not to do to cause corruption in the game and I admit it was all way over my head when I first started playing so my advice would be to play the game as you like to and check if you think you are about to do anything wrong before you do it or come out of the game add the relevant mod and start the game up again that's how I got better and started to remember what I could and could not do...

http://simswiki.info/wiki.php%3Ftitle%3DGame_Help:Avoiding_Hood_Corruption

For example I don't like old fashioned houses and community lots in my game but was aware if lots had urns and I deleted them this would cause corruption so I downloaded something called the lot inspector mod which is an object when clicked on in game informs you if there are any urns or other problems to do with the property prior to bulldozing the empty lot. (never bulldoze a lot with sims living in them or an owned business)

This mod can be found on the following link

http://www.cyjon.net/node/430

If there is an urn on the property you want to demolish the best way to remove it safely is to create a cemetery in your town and get a sim to take the urn there.

Never save a family and home lot to the bin either

I have not experienced too many problems in the short time I have been playing 2 but I did add the following mods from the get go

No corrupted death package
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=2368.0

no unlinkondelete package
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=2083.0


creature fix package ( this is supposed to stop the downtown vampires going on a biting spree causing corruption by biting NPC's like Mrs Crumplebottom)

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=1482.0

Don't interact with the NPC's Like Mrs Crumplebottom and the Unsavory Charleston as apparently this can cause corruption as well.

After installing these few recommended mods as time went on I started to remember what I should not do in game to cause corruption and then I moved on the what I call the niggle mods ( the ones I want in game to change certain sim behaviors I don't like-)

If you want a mod that changes sims motives ( invaluable-) and similar a really useful mod that comes as an object placed in residential and community lots is the sim blender, its the first mod I ever used when I started playing sims 2 and its so easy and useful. it can be downloaded on the following link and there is a description of what the mod can actually do.

http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=20.0

I am not sure if you used the Hack Conflict Detection Utility before when you used to play which basically checks for mods that conflict with one another but it is a good idea and it does work. it can be downloaded from the following link

http://leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=2063

you will also need clean installer if you intend downloading lots and using them in game and this can be found on the following link

http://sims2pack.modthesims2.com/index.php?page=3

Also you will need CEP if you intend to use any recolors of objects/cc in your game and that can be found on the following link

http://modthesims.info/d/92541

Another thing I want to mention is that a lot of players who were used to playing the disc version of the game found that the path where mods/programs are installing with this new digital version of the series is different and while I never played the discs version of the game before I was also experiencing similar problems when I first started to download these programs/mods that I wanted to use.

I found what was happening was that these programs were actually installing into the sims 2 folder and not the sims 2 ultimate collection folder as outlined below.

My documents
1st EA games folder when clicked into you will see
The sims 2 folder then underneath
The sims 2 ultimate collection folder (this contains your downloaded game files)

2nd Ea games (empty can be ignored)

If you want to add mods/CC you will need to make a folder called Downloads with a capital D and place your mods and cc in there and add it into your sims 2 ultimate collection.

There is some great info concerning file paths for UC on the following link and when I followed the instructions everything worked for me

http://modthesims.info/t/534429

If you want to find and use the sims 2 body shop you will have to follow this path

C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\CSBin

once there you will see the body shop icon click on it and add a shortcut to your desktop or wherever else you wish to put it and then you will have bodyshop ready anytime you wish to use it.

And I lastly I also experienced problems with 2 sometimes in that it would not start up and I found that by going into Origin my games and clicking update game it fixes it every time.

Make sure you check everything I have outlined with Mac as I have no idea if all this info is for windows only.

Let me know how it works out for you or if I can be of any further help and above all enjoy the game :)

@Nette

whenever I have experienced a problem with black triangles under sims feet changing the shadows in game in the game options stopped it for me however I notice online that it did not work for everyone so I saved this link to a mod to remove those shadows in case I would ever need it in the future.. link below

http://modthesims.info/d/569585

I am sorry I know nothing about 1080p as I am experiencing my own problems in relation to a new graphics card I have just had installed and am trying to sort something like that out myself. to be able to get back into my game..

I don't know if it was mentioned but here is a mod to remove the black square.
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=569585

They say you can also just lower the settings in the game (I forget which one) but this way you'll still have the shadows from other stuff.

@Terra

You are very welcome I only played the 2 base game when it first came out for a little while and truly loved it but my life was so busy back then I did not have time to play then I lost the base game in a move, fast forward more years than i care to admit and everything was 3 so I bought everything 3 until I noticed people were still getting 2 UC and begged EA to give it to me which they did after I bought a new disc version of the base game and went from there.

I cannot begin to express the initial confusion I experienced playing 2 the whole series all at once and for a long time I tried to play like 3 and if it was not for some very helpful 2 players on this forum I might have given up lol

So while I don't understand the Mac system too much I do understand extreme frustration of trying to play a full new sims series and getting confused as to file paths and adding the best mods/cc and generally working out what the heck to do next so just ask and I will help in any way I can like other players helped me :)

@harun789

On the contrary you did help because it made me realize that it appeared there are differing graphic rules programs for different graphic cards and if I had not found that out I would not have been able to find the next step.

And even if you could not help the fact you responded and tried to means a lot to me :)

Yay, I'm glad you're working towards getting your issue resolved. :)

I finally got TS2: Super Collection to download on my computer - hooray! So far the only differences I've noticed are that the graphics are definitely a little better (though that may be because my laptop could handle higher graphics than our old computer) but the UI is really small! Still, I'm so happy to be playing the Sims 2 again. :)

@Terra

I am so pleased you finally got the series to download and you are able to use and enjoy it :) ( I think it took me 2 days to download the UC )

Honestly last night was the first night I slept in days properly lol

I think mac users are quite lucky at the moment as you get the fill series including the castaway story's? window users don't get those.

Of course I started trying to add back what I call necessary mods and programs last night and came up against the incorrect file path lol but now those are all sorted again and I can get on with the bit of adding everything back a little at a time and testing.

Looking at your Avi do you still play 1 at all? I bought the complete series 1 a few weeks ago and it did actually look quite good on the set up prior to this upgrade but the sim detail was really awful so I am having a laptop made by my tech with all the right specs on just to play 1. I have been waiting for this laptop for a few weeks because I have been saving up for this PC upgrade first but now that's over with I will be playing 1 in the next couple weeks then after that I never want to hear about PC upgrades, specs or computers for a very long time :)

Come back and post some pics I would be really interested to see the picture quality of 2 on a mac :)

@Terra

apologies for getting your Avi mixed up I went for a quick google search to see what you were talking about and no I never seen those games before however I don't have a handheld console so never really looked. I have always got by with desktops/laptops but now you have mentioned it I suppose it could be a good idea for when out and about.. I will do more research :)

Yes I learned the hard way about sims 2 pics not saving to my documents as well-)

"SPARKY1922;15124443" wrote:
@Lotjemulderrr

I have to tell you this but you are not going to get much help ( if any at all ) to play non legit games on these forums as most players don't take kindly to the subject..

I appreciate you may not be well off enough right now to purchase the games you want but honestly in the end it is the best way.

If you were on a windows OS EA chat might have given you The sims 2 UC for free with a little sweet talk or if you purchased the base game with a new code to be given the full series in return but with a Mac I am pretty clueless..

@Terra

Is the Sims 2 a paid version on MAC or free like our UC version for windows?

It costs $30. I'd ask anyone looking for help in getting an illegal free version to please keep that conversation out of my thread, @Lotjemulderrr.

@Terra

Actually that is a steal if its the whole series. I decided that as I was experiencing so many problems after this recent upgrade I had better buy the Sims 2 series on disc as it's getting a little rare to find good copies here and I was lucky I found a well taken care of collection which cost me around £40 but at least now I feel more comfortable knowing I have the series on disc safe in the knowledge that if UC will not work properly for any reason in future my PC techie will simply put together a desktop that will play 2 for me.. :)