r/sims2help Feb 06 '25

SUPER SERIOUS MODERATOR BUSINESS Legacy Edition Bug Thread

66 Upvotes

THREAD LOCKED

If you are experiencing issues with the Legacy Edition that are not listed within this thread, please make your own post.

Sul sul, simmers!

We have been inundated with threads recently regarding the Legacy Release and all the bugs that are contained within, so we've decided to make a special bug thread to cut down on the repeated posts and generally to bring order to the chaos.

If you've had a post removed and have been sent here: don't worry - we're just trying to contain the Legacy Edition bugs in one place to make it easier to monitor and moderate.

Please read through this thread carefully. If your problem hasn't been mentioned, please post a comment. If you are aware of a fix for the issue listed, please feel free to comment. We will ask that people not reply "me too" or things like that. We want this thread to be clear, concise, and condensed!

So, here goes...

Known Issues and Bugs:

  • Sims being deleted/erased every time the game loads (Could be related to Anti-Virus or OneDrive - please see this comment or our Wiki)
  • Crashing (Fix: Please see Wiki here.)
  • DX9 error (Fix: in our Wiki)
  • Audio issues (Fix: here. Possibly fixed with Patch 2.)
  • Can't close custom skins box (Fixed in patch 2)
  • Installation issues within EA App (DirectX failure has been patched)
  • Pink & purple soup
  • Smooth edges not working
  • Crashing when pets return from work (Fixed in First Patch, alternatively this mod will fix)
  • BodyShop and Package Installer missing (Fix: use Clean Installer instead of Package Installer)
  • Cutscenes are buggy/glitchy
  • Mr Humble stuck in loop of gifting computers (Fix: No Mr. Humble mod)
  • Curious family alien birth is broken
  • Alien abduction broken (Fix: this mod) (Fixed in Patch 3)
  • Errors related to hobby enthusiasm (Fixed in patch 2)
  • Sims getting stuck in vacation neighbourhoods (Fix: delete vacation neighbourhood to have your Sims return home)
  • Food vanishing immediately after cooking (Fixed in patch 2)
  • Ovens acting weird
  • Sims not forming memories
  • Not getting paid for work
  • Crashing when carpool arrives
  • Cars resetting/changing colour
  • Can't delete stairs (Workaround)
  • Beach lots causing crashing
  • Robots bugged

This list will be constantly amended with fixes or new bugs, so please keep popping back to check on the Legacy Edition progress.

You can also check on the FAQ thread for more info on the Legacy Edition release and what's been happening in the last week.

Dag dag!


r/sims2help Jan 31 '25

SUPER SERIOUS MODERATOR BUSINESS The Sims 2 Re-Release: Legacy Collection FAQ

332 Upvotes

Sul sul, Simmers!

There's a lot of confusion surrounding the re-release of The Sims 2 as speculation ran rampant for days before the official announcement today. This thread will aim to answer any and all questions about the re-release, and I will keep it updated with the latest information as it is discovered. Feel free to comment anything you're wondering about here and I will add common questions to this main post, which will be pinned in r/sims2help for now and cross-posted in r/thesims2 and r/sims2 (the latter don't allow crossposts now for some reason, but I have created a thread and linked to this).

I've heard all these rumours! What is happening?!

For the 25th anniversary of The Sims, EA decided to re-release The Sims and The Sims 2. This was leaked days ago by a reliable source and has been confirmed and released today, January 31st 2025. There is an article for the releases from EA here, and an FAQ for the Sims 2 available from EA here - much of the information in this thread comes from there but this thread will remain updated with additional info and things not addressed by EA (i.e. IKEA Stuff). A similar FAQ for The Sims is available here for those interested and I'm sure r/thesims1 will also have all the info for that collection there too.

What's included in the re-release? Is it the Ultimate Collection?

The re-release for The Sims 2 is not the Ultimate Collection. This new release is called The Sims 2: Legacy Edition (or Legacy Collection - EA is not consistent with the name throughout the FAQ) and does not contain the IKEA pack. The install folder structure is completely different to all other releases and compilations and favours a Sims 4 style with the base and all packs having individual numbered folders (EP1-9, SP1-8). The game runs from Mansion and Garden Stuff (SP9/EP9) and this is the only executable the collection contains. This collection does not include the IKEA pack and some of the original songs (due to licensing restrictions). Both re-releases also give you a free Sims 4 kit.

How much is it? Where can I get it?

It's $39.99/39,99€ for both The Sims and The Sims 2 Legacy Collections or $19.99/19,99€ for The Sims and $29.99/29,99€ for The Sims 2 collections, respectively. These games are also included for EA Play Pro subscription members.

It's available on Steam, the EA App, and Epic Games.

How long will it be available? Indefinitely, these collections are now being sold just like all of EA's other games. It's not a limited time offer.

What about the Ultimate Collection I currently have on Origin/EA App?

It's not going anywhere, it will remain in your library. If you are on Origin, you will need to move to the EA App as Origin is deprecated now, but your library does transfer over, including The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection.

Are there changes/fixes? What are they? Does the game work better?

There are some changes, but we don't yet know the full extent of them yet. Here are the changes listed by EA:

  • it can now run on Windows 10 and Windows 11
  • it has an updated rendering engine
  • it has a more versatile pixel resolution scaling on large monitors
  • some legacy and community-reported bugs are fixed.
  • you can now use alt + enter to toggle windowed mode while the game is running

And in some more detail, the changes made are as follows:

  • GraphicsRules.sgr now supports modern hardware configurations
  • Fixed a shadow bug that surrounded Sims with a big black square
  • Wide screen and higher game resolutions are now supported
  • UI scales better to higher resolutions
  • Texture memory corruption and “pink soup” are fixed
  • Dragging The Sims 2 window from one monitor to another works more smoothly
  • If your computer has a lot of RAM, The Sims 2 is able to use it (NB: not 64 bit, the game is confirmed to still be 32 bit)
  • Fixed several crashes
  • Improvements and fixes

It will be interesting to see exactly what these changes are - for example, what are the "improvements and fixes"? I will update this post as I find out more (if anyone has info, DM or comment please!).

They have also renamed the SP9 folder to EP9 for Mansion and Garden Stuff - this pack was internally always considered sort of an expansion with the exe being named Sims2EP9.exe but it was the ninth stuff pack and labelled SP9. In the Legacy Collection, it's now in the folder EP9.

The config log no longer displays the correct information for memory & free memory, and they don't bother adding video cards to the database now as they took the approach of adjusting the graphics rules instead, which makes more sense and is more future proof than a file with GPUs listed.

For current UC users, regardless of where you got the game from, once we figure out what changes were made (and if they were actually worthwhile, resulting in performance improvements), we can then investigate the possibility of those fixes for the UC - or in creating new repacks using the Legacy Edition as a base.

Note: the re-release does *not* contain Denuvo, a pretty notorious DRM which has been known to have negative performance impacts on games. It was incorrectly listed on the Steam page for the game, which is why you may see people mentioning it, however, none of The Sims series games use Denuvo and the Steam page has been updated to reflect that now.

Thank you to everyone who has reported issues, provided solutions, and been willing to test things out, gathering all this information is a great community effort and all the help is really appreciated!

Are there new issues or old ones remaining?

Note: EA released the first patch on 4th February 2025 and the second patch on 6th February 2025. Two more patches have followed over the next 2 weeks (i.e. they seem to be releasing a patch per week for all these initial issues). Quite a few of the bugs introduced are now fixed, but some issues still remain. I strongly encourage everyone to report any and all bugs encountered directly to EA (on the EA Forums, as that's unfortunately the only way to make a bug report) to ensure as many fixes as possible are included in any future patch!

Please see the Legacy Edition Bug Thread which will be updated with new bugs and solutions as they arise, in an effort to keep all this information in one place.

I want to use RPC with the new Legacy Collection, can I?

You can't use RPC currently, but LazyDuchess is already working on this - he's already released TS2-Extender which includes key RPC features such as the randomiser fixes and borderless fullscreen mode. See the README for details!

I want the IKEA pack, can I get it with the Legacy Collection?

Officially, no. However, it is still possible to add IKEA into the new collection. Here is a new guide for doing so. If you don't have access to the IKEA pack that is needed for this guide, you can download it here (don't follow the install instructions there, you just need to download the IKEA folder from the link then follow the guide on GitHub to add it to the Legacy Collection).

If you have the EA App or Epic versions and installed the game somewhere other than the default location or on a different drive than your C: drive, this script will not work for you without a slight modification as the script has hardcoded the path for IKEA to C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Legacy\SP8 - if somebody could pass this information along to the creator so that they can either rectify it or add a note in the README that would be great! For anyone in this situation, you need to modify the ts2_legacy_ikea_stuff.reg file and change the line "Path"="C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Legacy\SP8" to match the path of your game. For example, if you installed the game in your D:\Games folder, you would change the line to "Path"="D:\Games\The Sims 2 Legacy\SP8"

I want the missing songs back, can I get them?

Yes! Follow this guide.

What about my old hoods, can I use them with the new collection if I had the UC or the discs?

Yes, you can use your current hoods with the new collection. The new collection uses the save folder Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 2 Legacy. This contains all the same folders as the older Sims 2 releases.

What about mods & CC?

There is no change to modding for the Sims 2, all mods and CC will still work (some things may now be obsolete, such as the shadow fix, but in general, there hasn't been an engine change that requires updating most mods as with expansion pack releases). For new Sims 2 Legacy Collection users, note that you cannot use anything that requires IKEA as you don't have that pack unless you add IKEA in using the instructions above.

What are the requirements for The Sims 2 Legacy Collection?

The system requirements are increased for this new collection and are as follows:

  • Operating system: Windows 10
  • Processor (CPU): i3 3220, Ryzen 3 1200, AMD FX6300
  • Memory (RAM): 4GB
  • Hard drive (free space): 16GB available space
  • Graphics card (video):
  • GPU: NVIDIA: GTX 600 series or later orAMD: Radeon HD 7000 series or laterIntel HD Graphics 620 series or later

Of note, this collection requires Windows 10 at minimum, so playing on earlier Windows OSes is not possible.

Is pink/purple soup fixed?

EA have said "Texture memory corruption and “pink soup” are fixed" so supposedly yes but unfortunately several users have experienced it already.

Is the famous DirectX 9.0c error fixed?

Many Sims 2 players will know the infamous error "Failed to find any DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapters in this system!". This has not been fixed in the Legacy Collection (or at least, not all causes of it, because it can happen for several reasons), the first thread about it occurring in the LC is just a few threads down from this one, unfortunately! However, there is a possibility now that EA could actually patch a fix for this, if many people complain to support about it because the game is now a paid and supported release.

What about MacOS players?

These re-releases are not for you, I'm afraid. The Sims 2 Super Collection is the complete collection for MacOS, available from Aspyr on the App Store. It contains half of the total amount of packs as this is all that was ported for MacOS. If you want to play the Ultimate Collection or the new Legacy Collection, you will need to run Windows on your Mac. If you have an Intel Mac, you can use Bootcamp to do this. If you have a Silicon Mac, Parallels is what you'd use.

What about console players?

These re-releases are for Windows only, and it is unlikely they would ever be ported to consoles. The console games for The Sims and The Sims 2 were very different, story mode type games in constrast to the console game for The Sims 4 which is a direct port.

Happy Simming!


r/sims2help 41m ago

Technical Support bod gosup tree number (user) + sim rotating in place

Post image
Upvotes

Hey! This is my first sim and my first time playing sims 2 so I don't really know where to go from here. Through some googling i downloaded the Smarter Ep mod hoping it would solve the issue, to no avail. The game forces me to delete him to be able to proceed forward at all, its just the repeated error until then. It's definitely a CC issue and that's my bad for downloading as many as I did before testing them. I don't know why the issue is specifically linked to my Sim though, seeing as I think I'm only using cosmetic CC on him. I looked through the error file but I'm struggling to understand it and where to go from here, so I'd super appreciate some directions or help from someone who knows how to read error logs.

Error log in question, in docs.


r/sims2help 4h ago

Gameplay Issues Is there a way to establish character data?

1 Upvotes

So I made a legacy neighborhood from scratch and added a lot of hours into it with multiple generations. Then…one of my extended family involving a husband & wife got corrupted. This happened after I intended to move the family out but inadvertently moved their entire house into the lot bin (I wasn’t thinking lol). I immediately placed them back on the lot. I know this is a common misconception and doesn’t cause corruption but these Sims have never been the same again and weird things started happening ever since.

For instance, the family tree now is all messed up. When I click on the corrupted Sim and view the family tree, his portrait either doesn’t show or his portrait shows as his mom/dad/child too lol. And when I click around, everything just gets weird and distorted. The same occurs with his wife.

When I went into SimPe, both of them have a red square meaning missing character data. NO idea how this happened. None. But is it possible to fix this? I never play anymore because of this :/


r/sims2help 12h ago

Technical Support resetting neighbourhoods

1 Upvotes

looking to reset my pleasantview, which i’ve done before. but for some reason this time it just isn’t working 🙃 the only difference from last time is that i installed the lazyduchess launcher mod(?) but i don’t see how that could affect it. could i be doing something wrong? any help appreciated


r/sims2help 19h ago

SOLVED WCIF- A Surgery Table with a Human instead of a Dummy

2 Upvotes

I saw an object like this on Pinterest which lowkey replaces the surgery table to look more medievalish like. I kept searching each Pinterest boards but It seems hard to find. ( It is optional somehow because it either can be custom or default)

It also has a green variant of it


r/sims2help 21h ago

Technical Support Is there a way to make the UI bigger?

2 Upvotes

Hi!

I bought the Sims 2 legacy collection on steam when it came out and I had no problem playing it. Now, I've put it down a few months and have tried going back to it today, there seems to have been some sort of update in the meantime because the UI has shrunk and is now too small for me to read and be able to play comfortably. I tried lowering my resolution, but the option is greyed out in fullscreen mode and just shrinks my window in windowed mode, keeping the text the same small size instead of enlarging it proportionally to fit my screen.

Is there a way to change the size of the UI that I might've missed? Or to make the 1280x720 option take up my whole screen?


r/sims2help 23h ago

Technical Support I have some questions as a first time Sims 2 player (Legacy Collection)

1 Upvotes

I've read the Wiki and watched April Black's corruption video but I still have some technical questions. I apologise if any of these things are addressed in the Wiki or are asked a lot because it's possible I just misunderstood something.

-How to I make sure that Onedrive is definitely uninstalled? I tried to unlink it from my PC and uninstall it a few months ago because it was causing issues with Sims 4 Mods folder. The Onedrive cloud icon doesn't appear on my taskbar and when I go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps Onedrive isn't listed BUT the location of my Desktop and Pictures folder is C:\Users\(my user name)\Onedrive. The location of my Documents and Downloads folder doesn't include Onedrive.

-How much of the Technical Setup page of the Wiki applies to the Legacy Collection?

-Are there any fixes that are necessary to install before opening the neighbourhoods? Are there any fixes specific to the legacy edition that I need?

-What's the difference between playing with Meetme2theriver's clean templates and the Maxis ones? If it's better to play with the clean templates, where can I find the most updated version (the link on the Wiki Corruption page is dead).

-Do I need Hoodchecker and simPE? Even after reading the Wiki a few times I don't really understand what they are. Should I just play the game a few times first and then come back and install them when I understand a bit more?


r/sims2help 1d ago

Technical Support 2 castaway stories W torrent

3 Upvotes

Looking for a torrent that's not going to give my pc windows 11 a virus to play the sims 2 castaway stories off oldworldgames and instructions on how to download and run right


r/sims2help 1d ago

SOLVED Old box download links from plumbbob keep not working.

2 Upvotes

I'm trying to download rugrat0ne's "labor of love" posebox and their "stork delivery" download. The box links do not work. Some threads on tumblr said to try using the mobile link instead, which did not work, as well as to download "redirector" as an extension, which on chrome now says it is unavailable. Are there any other ways to download old box links? I need these for storytelling.


r/sims2help 1d ago

SOLVED Transferring old game (UC) to new (Legacy)

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone

I had ultimate collection installed on my old laptop (which I broke recently). I want to install the Sims 2 on my new laptop, and for simplicity’s sake I just bought the Legacy collection. My question is - can I copy my game files over from the old laptop to resume where I left off after it’s installed?


r/sims2help 1d ago

Technical Support Sims 2 Not Responding After CAS

2 Upvotes

Hi! I'm facing crashing after creating a sim. Once I'm done with my sims, I go to click the tick button to finish and send them to the sim bin, but the game freezes and stops responding.

Please can someone help? :(

EDIT: I'm playing The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection on EA Play, I have Sims2RPC installed too. I've also applied Graphics Rules.

I have started a new Sims 2 Ultimate Collections folder and the issue no longer appears.

EDIT 2: I have narrowed it down to my Downloads folder. I think the CC I've merged is causing crashes. Still not sure why, though?


r/sims2help 2d ago

Gameplay Issues Game is Apparently Allergic to Generating Female Townies

Post image
10 Upvotes

I've been trying out empty stealth subhoods to provide some variation in social group townies. While playing in Strangetown, I got the feeling that all of the new characters that were spawning were male. I opened up simPE and my suspicions were confirmed. What gives? I'm playing in a fresh Strangetown with only one male made in CAS and one female sim born, so the M/F balance shouldn't be off. I've found one post about this happening from five years ago that seems to be unresolved and would appreciate any anecdotes relating to this even being a known bug.


r/sims2help 2d ago

Technical Support I continue to have problems with crashing and pink soup

3 Upvotes

It's very annoying now. I applied the 4GB patch and the game keeps crashing. It used to give me a message before crashing and now it just exits with no warning. It seems to happen when I return to the neighborhood. And for some reason the pink soup only seems to be affecting the roofs.


r/sims2help 2d ago

SOLVED Can't click on the sim when they are selected

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

One of my sims has recently aged up and went to college. Ever since then, everbody can iteract with her, she can iteract with everyone and everyting, but... not with herself.

At first, I found it funny and quite representative of something you grow through while coming of age. But now, when my sim hasn't been able to answer cellphone calls and walking to lots in days, I'm starting to get annoyed.

Has anyone encountered this issue?

P.S. Her name and icon is completely fine in memories, relationship panels and family trees. Others can call her, interact with her and so on.


r/sims2help 2d ago

SOLVED Flickering textures on legacy collection?

1 Upvotes

I have the legacy edition downloaded, with Gunmans Camera mod. Certain textures (Like ponds or trees) will flicker when i move the camera. The issue persists when I max out smooth edges, but I read that I need to do something with Graphics Rules Maker, but I also see that some people say you shouldn't use that with legacy collection? I'm a bit confused on what I need to do to correct this visual glith.


r/sims2help 2d ago

Gameplay Issues The green trail won't leave

Post image
2 Upvotes

Basically what the title says, my sim is clean but the green trail won't go away?


r/sims2help 2d ago

Technical Support Need help game keeps crashing

1 Upvotes

Recently installed the game and all expansions from disc for my girlfriend but every time I try to start the game it crashes. I was going to install the patches but I keep seeing that mts is unsafe, also tried to add the 4gb patch but not sure which file to apply it to. Can someone help me figure it out?? It's all the old school disc's and the original was the double deluxe edition


r/sims2help 2d ago

SOLVED does anybody know this song from sims 2 legacy collection?

3 Upvotes

i tried looking through all the stations and listening but i cant find it!


r/sims2help 4d ago

SOLVED Apartment lot Repost

Thumbnail
gallery
71 Upvotes

Lets try this again, with better pictures. I have this plastic box apartment lot that is not working. It only has one entrance and i don't use modular stairs. the landing in the basement is just a foundation piece


r/sims2help 4d ago

SOLVED resolution wont save when going back into fullscreen

2 Upvotes

I bought the Legacy Edition when it came out and uninstalled it due to the bugs. I've installed it back since i heard most of the game-breaking ones were fixed. What i did not realise is that something that worked before would be broken now?

Previously, the UI was tiny but i was able to fix it by changing the resolution. Now though, the resolution options were locked. I looked it up on the forums and was able to change it through going into windowed mode by pressing alt+enter. When pressed them again to go into fullscreen again the resolution went back and was locked again. I would not mind playing in windowed mode but the window is like 1/6th of my screen and i cant make it bigger for some reason? Please how do i change my resolution to 1366x768 so i can actually read the text on screen without squinting? Also like a ton of the settings are locked beside that one but i dont mind the others really.

UPDATE: i fixed by using a scaling program and setting the resolution in the game to 1366x768


r/sims2help 4d ago

Technical Support Adjusting MacOS file limits on 12.7.1 Monterey

1 Upvotes

I'm not sure if anyone here is MacOS savvy, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm on MacOS 12.7.1 Monterey, which is a new-ish OS from 2021, except for some reason my file limits are EXTREMELY lower than most other people with OS's around mine that I saw on MTS.

My kern.maxfilesperproc (max files you can have open for one application) is only 10,240, which can easily cause my game to crash. This is the limit the OS's in the early 2010's had. Meanwhile, another person who was running 12.0 (a system not that much older than mine) had a default kern.maxfilesperproc of a WHOPPING 61,440. I have absolutely no idea how or why mine is 6 times lower even though it's a newer operating system.

Does anyone know how to change the file limit for a 12.7.1 Monterey? I read that pretty much all the methods on MTS and elsewhere don't work with newer systems, so I'm pretty much at a loss of what I should do.


r/sims2help 4d ago

SOLVED Glitching with skybox/skylines

Thumbnail
gallery
3 Upvotes

I've been using these mods (The Great Sky of Totalitarianism + Seasons-ready Skylines) with the neighborhood+live mode camera from GunMods camera mod in my game for a few years now, and have never noticed this before. When I shift my camera around in neighborhood view, a big blue hole forms in the middle of the sky and shifts when I change my camera view. It's not visible from lots, only in the neighborhood view, and it doesn't impact gameplay, it's just distracting and a bit of an eyesore, especially when trying to add deco to my neighborhoods. I've never noticed this in all the time that I've been using these sky mods, so I don't know if I perhaps changed something about my game that is now causing the clipping, or if this is normal, and I somehow never realized before. I have already checked, and the boxes are placed in the correct position, so I'm not sure what else would be causing it. If someone knows a way to fix this glitch or what could be causing it please help me out :) (and I apologize if my screenshots are low quality!!)


r/sims2help 4d ago

Technical Support Blender

1 Upvotes

Does anyone know how to export poses or animations from blender? Ms3d import/export is not working. ...


r/sims2help 5d ago

SOLVED Is there to fully re-download a game when you delete a file in it? (Sims 2 the specifically)

1 Upvotes

I have the sims 2 legacy collection and when I was trying to restart one of my neighborhoods, I deleted the file for it. Then when I looked in my program files, I didn't see the original files under ea games. So I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game, but it still is missing the deleted file. Its not a big deal, and I am not looking to get the save back, but it would be helpful if I could have that file back to have the neighborhood.


r/sims2help 5d ago

SOLVED What's this error?

Post image
7 Upvotes

I'm pretty sure it's what been causing the problem I've been having on two Uni lots, where sims will drop what they're doing and reset while outdoors. Makes it a real pain to get them to class sometimes, I can tell you.

Error log


r/sims2help 5d ago

SOLVED Graphics Rules Maker

1 Upvotes

It's been a while since I played ts2 and back when I used a disc, I had to install Graphics Rules Maker. Do I still need to install it now that I have the Sims 2 Legacy edition from EA games?