I am writing to bring attention to a long-standing issue in The Sims 2 known as the "First-Born Syndrome" genetics bug. This bug causes the first baby born in each play session to have identical genetic traits, including physical appearance and personality, as the couple’s first-born child. As a result, the expected randomness and genetic diversity in the game are lost, limiting the player's experience. This issue stems from the game's genetics algorithm, which resets to the same sequence every time the game is loaded. Since this greatly affects gameplay and realism, I urge you to consider addressing this bug in a future update or patch.

You really shouldn't be making uneducated guesses over things you (very clearly) don't understand.First of all, a community-made patch for the First Born Syndrome has been around for a couple of years by now. Just look it up and you'll very quickly find it for yourself. There's even a version compatible with the latest Legacy Collection.Secondly, EA is not a modder. They own and have access to the source code of the game. If they wanted, they could torn down the game and build it back up for all it matters. Point being: fixing a bug that modders couldn't otherwise fix is completely in the scope of what they can do, and the game being a certain age certainly doesn't prevent them from doing it. Not the first time I've seen people use the game's age as an argument of some sort, but that's just not how games and code work. Sure, some limitations are hard to workaround, this one isn't that.I also think the Legacy Team should be looking into this. It's a long standing bug that got overlooked at the time, but one that impacts not only the genetic sequencing, but also other stuff that relies on that same sequencing formula for randomness.

"We should be grateful for what we have" like we didn't just pay $30 for this game (or $40 for the bundle) is an absolutely wild take. We don't have to be grateful for bugs in a game we paid for.

Rolling the pacifier is temporary workaround, but a patch should be released.

This is a bug report thread. If this doesn't bother you, I'm not sure why you're here telling everyone else that it doesn't matter, and now, to refund the game.

Why i should refund it when they can fix this with ease since they're already fixing some bugs. Anyways..

the Sims 2 Legacy "First-Born Syndrome" Genetics Bug

20 Replies

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ArilyBoo
Rising Vanguard
10 days ago
This is why I always “roll the pacifier” or randomize sim genetics on sims blender prior to any baby being born.
SimsMegaDeluxe
Seasoned Traveler
10 days ago
Rolling the pacifier is temporary workaround, but a patch should be released.
ArilyBoo
Rising Vanguard
10 days ago
I understand, but it’s a 21 year old game and no one in the custom content community ever successfully (to my knowledge) made a patch for this, therefore I don’t think it’s possible. I would suggest just to develop a habit of rolling the pacifier anytime you run the game. I know it can be annoying but once it’s a habit it’s not to bad.
cebmarin
Seasoned Hotshot
10 days ago
As a long legacy gameplayer this game may be 21 years old, but I'm a new player, and I used to enjoy observing the gene transfer in newborn babies, especially in families with many children. After noticing this, I lost the desire to play.
SimsMegaDeluxe
Seasoned Traveler
10 days ago
No, LazyDuchess has already created a patch for TS2LC fixing the first born syndrome bug. The sims team should release there own patch. Very fixable. ArilyBoo
simserenity
New Rookie
10 days ago
You really shouldn't be making uneducated guesses over things you (very clearly) don't understand.
First of all, a community-made patch for the First Born Syndrome has been around for a couple of years by now. Just look it up and you'll very quickly find it for yourself. There's even a version compatible with the latest Legacy Collection.
Secondly, EA is not a modder. They own and have access to the source code of the game. If they wanted, they could torn down the game and build it back up for all it matters. Point being: fixing a bug that modders couldn't otherwise fix is completely in the scope of what they can do, and the game being a certain age certainly doesn't prevent them from doing it. Not the first time I've seen people use the game's age as an argument of some sort, but that's just not how games and code work. Sure, some limitations are hard to workaround, this one isn't that.
I also think the Legacy Team should be looking into this. It's a long standing bug that got overlooked at the time, but one that impacts not only the genetic sequencing, but also other stuff that relies on that same sequencing formula for randomness.
ArilyBoo
Rising Vanguard
10 days ago
The games age is reasonable. We should be happy they re-released it. I doubt they are going to completely rebuild a 21 year old game hahahahahhaha
Point being is we should be grateful for what we have. It’s not a game breaking bug…there are ways around it and far more other issues that can be addressed.
naeshelle
Rising Hotshot
9 days ago
"We should be grateful for what we have" like we didn't just pay $30 for this game (or $40 for the bundle) is an absolutely wild take. We don't have to be grateful for bugs in a game we paid for.
SimsMegaDeluxe
Seasoned Traveler
9 days ago
You should use LazyDuchess TS2 Extender for Legacy Collection as it will fix this in the meantime.
cebmarin
Seasoned Hotshot
8 days ago
I understand that you may be grateful, but I can't be. I paid $29.99 for this game, and with the exchange rate of 1 dollar being 36 Turkish Lira, it’s a significant amount of money. This bug becomes really frustrating, especially if you're playing legacy or want multiple children in the game (and it's a life simulation game based on families). Given that there are mods available even for the Legacy Edition, I don't think this is a bug that can't be easily patched or fixed. I hope they can fix it.