the sims 2: EVERYTHING you need to know about playing it in current year [updated ver.]

the first 3 sims games are my childhood, and while i played the first game the most as a young child, i do have memories of watching my family play the 2nd game. a year ago i downloaded it, knowing it has the best lore in the franchise and my god its a fantastic game and easily the best in the series, despite it being almost 20 years old. issue is, its difficult to play now because EA has removed it from every digital storefront, essentially abandoning it.

so heres all you need to know about installing the game now and how to get the most out of your experiance! ive tried to make this in depth and include a lot of links for further reading and watching, but i may update this with more stuff. my main goal is in life is to get as many people as infatuated with the sims series as i am, so dont hesitate to ask anything because i will talk your ear off. i love this game and i hope that by showing you ways to play it, you will too. 

okay how do i get it?
well, you have four options here.

1. if youre one of the lucky bastards that got the ultimate collection while it was free on origin, just reinstall that and youre good to go! it has all packs and is the best way to play the game in the year of our lord.
2. if youre on mac, download the sims 2 super collection from the app store. unfortunately this is not avaliable on any windows. it also doesnt include the last two expansion packs, freetime and apartment life, and there is no way to add these either. this wouldnt be so much of an issue but both of these expansions are pretty major and add a LOT of stuff, especially apartment life being the final pack and adding a lot of requested things and small final details. so this really isnt the best way to play the game
3. get the discs if your computer has a disc drive! this is the only way to legally get every single pack for windows. i recommend getting the DVD edition if you do down this route, since its got improved performance and theres a better chance itll work. plus, you cant play DVD packs if youre usinf the CD version of the basegame. the pros to this is that sims 2 packs are VERY cheap, going for as low as 50p at cex. the most expensive one is AL since thats the most recent, but its less than a tenner. the issues you may face are storage space to actually put the boxes, and disc scratching. the game is nearly 20 years old! theres a chance the disc you get might not work. personally? i just collect the discs because im insane and am obligated to buy anything sims related.
4. YO HO HO ITS A PIRATES LIFE FOR ME! technically ts2 is considered abandonware, so dont feel bad if you go down this route because its the easiest way to get the game in current year. no developers are losing any money and the swat team wont bust down your door for installing a game from 2004 off oldgamesdownload so dont worry. if youre going to install the game this way, heres some RECOMMENDED ADVICE ON DOWNLOADING HERE! [tumblr blog, download links are safe]

but how do i get it to work well??
the sims 2 was never intended for windows 10, and while most computers can probably play it right out the download, its not really recommended. so heres some mods 'n stuff to make your experience a bit smoother!

i recommend checking out pleasantsims' guide [blog post] on the topic, along with her list of anti corruption mods which can be found here [blog post]. go to her blog for the recommendations and full instructions, ill just list the stuff u need to know. 

• increase available memory in the games config log
• install the 4gb patch [hosting site]
  
• go to documents > EA games > the sims 2 and create a folder named Downloads
• download the mods listed in cindys blog under anti-corruption and follow the installation instructions
• boot up the game and troubleshoot if needed. r/sims2help [subreddit] has super cool folks who can help solve any issues that you may have.

game corruption. what is it and how can it be prevented?

everything you've been told about corruption is probably a misconception, or vastly blown out of proportion. its a big topic in the ts2 commuinity and one that has caused a lot of players to be worried about causing it, but it really isn't that big of a deal.

corruption is basically when the game 'breaks' and theres inconstancies in the games code. this can cause glitches, crashes, infinte loading screens and the like. but good news! the premade neighbourhoods that are shipped with the game - ESPECIALLY strangetown - come pre-corrupted!

to quickly dispel a huge misconception: no, deleting sims and graves in-game will not cause corruption, but its not advised as it will probably bloat your game files. 

the cliffnotes is that to prevent corruption, don't fuck around with adding universal npcs your household, don't fuck with game files unless you know what you're doing, don't kill child sims, run hoodchecker occasionally and BACK UP YOUR SAVES. for a better and more in depth explanation, go watch this video [youtube] by april black, who goes into detail of why many myths are incorrect on a technical level, how this misinformation spread and how to prevent corruption. 

modding - what you need to know
if you havent already, you'll need to make a downloads folder in documents > EA games > the sims 2. you HAVE to name it exactly as Downloads or this will not work! you'll also likely need something like 7zip or winrar to unpackage rar and zip files, which bundles of cc or mods may be downloaded as, but this isnt too difficult to do.

as for looking for mods? i pretty much only use mod the sims [hosting site] and whatever i can find by looking through ts2 cc tags on tumblr. theres quite a few emo and goth stuff on mts, straight from the days of the 2000s, so take a look around for a bit and see what you like! its also useful for adding new objects, gameplay stuff and skintones (i love the sims 2 and while the darkest skintone is pretty dark, theres only 4 tones in the vanilla game. thankfully its not hard to install more if you wish!). make sure to test every item and object, sometimes they may appear as just a bright pink texture and this just means a texture is missing. ususally this can be an issue with the actual file but dont worry, your game is fine it wont break anything lol. 

compilation of sites referenced, further reading, youtubers i like and other junk:

• pixu's sims 2 hub - download the sims 2 [tumblr]
• pleasantsims' sims 2 page [blog, contains mod recs, challenges & guides]
  
• sims 2 mod & cc hub on mod the sims [mod hosting site]
• sims 2 page on the sims wiki [general wiki for the franchise, covers pretty much every corner of the series]
  
• izzzyzzz - 'the mysteries of the sims 2' [youtube video, covers the spooky aspects of the game and goes over the basics of the lore]
  
• plumbella [youtube channel, has sims 2 lps and has 'entire history of' lore videos where she goes more in depth]
  
• pleasantsims [youtube channel, lets plays, game comparisons, general sims 2 stuff]
  
• pleasantsims' scripted play order videos [playlist, covers the recommended play order of each premade household. recommending separately if youre like me and care a lot about the lore]
  
• crystalflame360 [youtube channel, various sims 2 content including lets plays and videos about corruption!]
  
• april black - sims 2 hood corruption - technical deep dive [youtube video]
  

to conclude
i hope that this was somewhat helpful to at least one person out there! again, i may update this for clarity, if i find more stuff or if EA finally decides to put ts2 back on digital storefronts (which i do find very unlikely). again, feel free to ask any questions or whatever, and dont forget that r/sims2help is there if you have a technical issue! im kinda dum and just saying what i know

anyway once youve got the game set up, sit back and have fun :] i hope that you enjoy it as much as i do!

NOTE: this blog was originally published in december on my main. this is a reupload so i can keep this blog organised and i needed to rewrite the corruption section as more information surrounding it has been found.