I haven't played this game in a few months... and started playing it again... well... I was wondering if anyone knew how to take characters from one game and put them into another game? I was initially playing Veronaville, but I added in a bunch of new Sims. Now, I realize that I want my characters to be in a completely separate game from all the original Veronaville characters... LOL I also don't want to have to rebuild all their relationships either. So, I guess I basically want to "split" this game into two. Oh... for the record, I still have the original Veronaville unplayed... I made a "copy." Maybe I need to "delete" sims??

Joyce, I wish I could open my game and mess around with it, but I guess I deleted my actual game install when I formatted my old hard drive! I have lots of files and stuff still, but I don't have a way to install the game anymore. :( So, I can't actually open up the game and help you out. I'm pretty sure that there is a way to do what you want to do, though. I know you can save sims and export them to other places...and you should be able to save copies of sims...so that way you can have your family still living in Veronaville and one living in where ever and never the twain shall meet! LOL Look in your EA Games folder and tell me if you have anything in your savedsims folder? I don't have a singel file in there! I think I should have though. <_< Also, have you been to the sims2 website? I'm sure you have, but just in case...there's also one called simslice that you might want to look into.

No... I don't have anything in my saved Sims file. I'm wondering if I can "copy" the files from "characters" folder into another "neighborhood" folder (although, I wouldn't be able to tell which Sims I'm copying).

I managed to figure out that I can "copy" a whole neighborhood and then rename it (from like N003* to N005*)... so that's how I have my replica Veronaville. Maybe I will on-line at some of those sites you mentioned :)

Okay, so Jon will never find his Sims2 discs for me so I can reinstall and see if my sims or neighborhoods or houses are all lost, so I sold some more toys and bought my own Sims2 game. I don't have time to install it right now, but I sure will later tonight.

Did you get it figured out then, Joyce? Any updates?

Mel... before you install the game again... go and copy your "neighborhood" and "storytelling" files... then once you install, you can copy your files back. I did look up info about transferring it and I did find out how, kind of... but they said that the game could get messed up after that.

Anyway, I just encountered a glitch in my game and I can't get my couple to have a baby... everytime I get them into bed (even just to cuddle), they just suddenly "pop" out of bed (not get out of bed, they just appear out of bed or floating next to the bed).

Wow, that is an interesting glitch! I hope you can get that worked out!

I didn't install the game yesterday like I'd planned, I went to and it turned out that EBgames sold me just the bonus disc and not the actual game disc! (I bought the DVD version, btw). So, I had to go back to the store this morning and have them fix me up, which they did. :D All of my old info, except for the game, as far as I know, is still on my E drive and I'll be installing the new game on my C drive. So, hopefully, I can just take copies from those folders and insert them into my new game's folders. At least I hope so anyway.

I haven't been able to play any of my old characters in my new game, Joyce. I didn't package them or save them in any way as far as I can tell. In my new game, I have packaged everyone of my houses, since they all have sims living in them...and I'm hoping that that will allow me to use them in other towns. I did save a house from my first game and I used it in my new game. I think it may have been the only thing I'd packaged, since I really didn't know what packaging did.

So, do you have more than three neighborhoods in your game? If I renamed one of my old ones and copied the file into my new game, I wonder what would happen.

I didn't know anything about "packaging" houses... so I just copied the "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2" directory from my parents' computer onto a CD-R.

If you look under "Neighborhoods"... you notice files named N001, N002, N003... those are your 3 neighborhoods. Well, I made a new directory and called it N004.... then I copied the files from neighborhood I was playing from the CD-R (which was N003-- Veronaville) into the N004 file. Then I opened the file and renamed all the N003*.* files to N004*.* (I renamed them using the window command prompt so that I could rename them a batch of them at once.)

When I started my game... I had 2 Veronavilles... the 2nd one was the one I had copied into the game... I renamed it.

I also copied all the "story telling" files... but I seemed to have "lost" the original opening story... all the files are obviously still there... I haven't figured out how to put them with my "new" neighborhood though.

I don't know if copying technique works perfectly... but if you are trying to "restore" the game you had, it works fine. If I had known about "packaging" the houses/neighborhoods before, I probably would've done that on my parents' computer. As it was, all I did was copy all my files onto a disk so that I could bring them here with me!

Oh... when I looked on the Sims 2 site... and I realized that my "storytelling" stories are stupid! LOL I was just treating it like a photo album. So, my story titles were stuff like so-and-so gives birth, so-and-so gets a promotion. And all my titles were like that! I didn't think to write an actual story!!

:lol: Joyce, you are funny! I don't do the storytelling stuff at all. Sometimes I'll write a bio for my sims, but I don't even like to do that.

:party Update! I found my sims and they are now installed in my new game on my new hard drive. :D I just renamed all of the neighborhood files like you said, Joyce and then copied them to my new game and voila! They are all doing well and I packaged all of their lots too, just in case I lose them again.

Hooray!

Yeah! I'm glad that you were able to recover your Sims :)

I don't play Sims but reading this is very entertaining. It's like being goddesses...sounds fun (and time consuming!)

Amy! :hello Hey, girl, how are you?? :D

The Sims 2 is verrrry addictive. I don't play my sims so much as I build and decorate their houses! :ha I didn't get into the Sims (1) at all, and I only had it on my pc, so I was reluctant to give The Sims 2 a try, but I've been in love with it for over a year, though it's hard to find time in RL to play any games at all these days.

Can't really add anything here...since I don't have the PC version or anything (stupid slow computer) but I wanted to say...YAY YAY YAY YAY Sims 2 is coming to Xbox and other consoles this month!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :party

:hello Hey guys i'm back and of all things you guys are talking about the sims.I am very addicted to both sims and sims two.I have every exspansion pack to them both.My favorite part is building houses.Walter bought me the book on the sims 2 nightlife.It has all the cheat codes like funds ,aspiration points you name it.I don't get much time to play,having 5 children and all but I still play.I'm glad you guys found out how to set your neighborhoods.If any on has any other problems let me know,I'll look in my book to see if it can help.I'll talk to everyone later.Bye :ssc

Great wildfire! I did have a question. Do you know how to build a community lot and designate it a community lot? I have created my own town and I want to put a community lot in, but the only way I can do it at this point is to download one that someone else made and use it.

TIA

:hello That is an easy one.when you go to your community you have a choice on houses or vacant lots.Just as if you where going to build a house,the first thing you have to do is choose the size of the lot and where you want it.When you set your lot it asks you to name it.It will also ask if it is a residential or community lot.click community and name i t [market,restuarant,park,or whatever.] Just like building a house you have to enter the property.Once there you build first then buy.Every thing you need is in the buy mode [clothes,groceries,restaurant equipment etc..]Have fun.If you need anything else just let me know. :lol:

:darth :sw3
:sw1 :sw2
:battle :yoda :lites

I just love these star wars emoticons.They are to cute. :sw4

Yup! You start with placing an empty lot and instead of picking it as a residental lot, you put down community. I created my own community lot with everything there (it doesn't look the prettiest... I have to work on my architectural skills), but I jammed like every single thing in there!

Oh... can someone tell me how to package houses/lots? Can I do it from inside the game or do I need to download a program to do it?

And I don't think we can design objects?? So you know what I did? I made "wallpaper" that has like a "painting" built into it, so when you put it up, it looks like a picture on the wall. :)

Joyce, you can package lots/characters from inside the game. So, at the neighborhood level when you click on a house and that info window pops up, showing you who lives in the house or whatever...there is a custom symbol with a house on it, I think and that says: Package Lot when you hold your cursor over it. You just click that and it takes a minute and then voila! Your lot is packaged and ready to be reloaded in another neighborhood, sent via email or uploaded to the web. ;) I have saved most of my sims/houses that way just in case I lose something.

I didn't know that about the lots and being able to set them as residential or community...I usually start out with a premade house and modify it to death. LOL We should start our own little sims exchange! :lol: Iian actually built a house on a blank lot the other day and told me about being able to choose it as a residential one, so that is great to know.

You can make custom objects...I'm not exactly sure how. I have downloaded a program called Simpe, you might want to check into that and also check into the www.modthesims2.com site, it rocks! I'm actually planning to donate some funds toward it when I get back from yet another weekend excursion. I am dying to play the sims 2 again! But, without a portable computer, I will have to wait until next week!!

LOL Duh! I knew I had seen it before but forgot! I like building my own houses, but I need to work on my design skills. The houses that come with the game usually have rooms that are too small!

My most recent house I made is like a condo for 2 families. I like how the backyard turned out since it was on a hill.

Oh! And thanks for the tip about that other site! I will have to check it out!

I want to see some of your houses, Joyce! You can see some of my houses on my website: I don't wanna grow up!

The images are small so that I could fit a lot on each page, but they do that rollover thing, so put your cursor over the images to see another view of the same house. I've built so many more since I made those pages!

Did you get the images of the houses by packaging them?

I just got the images by using the Print Screen and psp. I didn't know how else to do them and that works out pretty good, I think.

Well, I was able to package the lots I wanted to keep... but I wanted to import them into a new game. How do I do that?

BTW, I'm not 100% sure that I will be able to do screen capture on the houses ot show you. I think my computer is running near 100% capacity for the game. When I click off the screen, it sometimes freezes up the game.

[edit: I just figured out that if I take any "pictures" in the game, it saves it as a .jpg in the storytelling file, so I guess I can show some "house" pictures.]

Hmmmm, I just started playing again, LOL, so I have to remember how to do stuff like that. I believe that you can just copy them into the new game in the packaged lots folder and then double click to open them. Or maybe you put them in the downloads folder and then double click to open them. You can also move people out of your houses, or before you move a family into the ones you build, you could package them and send some to me. That way I can not only see your houses, but use them too. :lol: If you ever see any of mine that you'd like just let me know and I can send them to you, no prob.

OK... I made up a website for the 2 houses I made...
My Sims 2 website

:eyepop Joyce! :love Your houses are soooo beautiful! I've been building houses for a long time and none of my houses even compare to that! I guess, I build homes for function. Like, I'll build what I think my family will need and then I usually find that I've built it too big or too small, LOL I love the multi-dimensional faces on your houses, Joyce. I don't know how to do that...I've never mastered roofs and dormers! TG for the auto roof option. :lol:

I'm now trying to figure out how to build dorms/apartments for the college towns. I built one, but it was at the neighborhood level...ooops, so it's just a muliroom house! I'll probably just package it and keep it because it was the first time I had made one.

LOL! I thought your houses were cute too!!! The Sprightly house and ur_ru houses are nice!

Well, the 2 houses I showed, I was trying to build them to look nice. Most of my Sims live in the already built houses in the game which I would modify.

The "twin townhouse" took like a super long time to build! I started it because I wanted to see if I could build a walk-out basement... and then it morphed into a gigantic house! I purposely built it on a hill. LOL

The "first house" is more of a functional house. I normally just like to make like 1 big open room (for the kitchen, dining and living room area), and then 2 bedrooms... and the "spare" bedroom functions like a study. There was a house that was like this already came in the game, and it was the first house I used for my first Sim, and I really liked the "functional" aspect of it, so I made my own version. Oh... and I wanted to put in a "bay" window in that house too!

I use the auto roof feature too! I just change the roof style until I find one that I like for the house. I hated that everytime I changed something on the house, I had to make a new roof and then you have to paint the siding on there too. LOL

Oh! I figured out how to install the packaged lots. All I had to do is double click to install them! Duh! I thought once I packaged them, I would be able to use them in another game! I didn't realize I still had to install them! LOL

Well, I found the cheat codes to be able to build/modify existing dorms and it works. Only, I have to use it every time I want to build, it's not something installed in the game. And then, I found the cheat/hack that will allow me to make dorms 'rentable', though I haven't tried it yet. So, I'm ecstatic. :D

I know exactly what you mean, Joyce. I also go for the open kitchen, dining, and living area and then all other rooms are bedrooms or bathrooms. The (new) Sprightly home is one of my favorites because it was one of the first times I ever managed to build a second story. I was not so good with putting in stairs and I had the whole second floor just as a recreational area with the lounge chairs, statues, art and the piano. There were only two Sims living there too, Isabella and her adopted daughter Jan. Jan was my first teen to go off to college and when she got there, she morphed into a beautiful young adult! I was suprised.

I'm just playing out a quickly thrown together Sim named Kobi Dain in the University part of the game. I haven't played actual Sims much, just built houses and stuff. So, he's my experiment...I'm going to at least graduate him from college and see what happens after that. I do plan to package everything up and save it all to disk so I can reformat my hard drive, but I get off track with that.

Have you played a Sim in the Desert town with a knowledge aspiration yet? I set one up last time I started playing, but I forgot about him. Duh. I was hoping to see or be abducted by Aliens. Have you had anything like that happen yet?

I haven't gotten any alien abductions, been killed by a satellite, had any twins, let a robber escape, etc. None of my sims have even died yet. LOL I am planning on trying some of those out... That's why I need to start a new game with my Sims. I don't want anything to happen to those! So, now I have a game that I can do whatever with. hee hee!

My first Sim died. :( I played her life all the way through and didn't have any children or anything. She had the knowledge aspiration and I really didn't know how to play. I don't think she was a very happy Sim either because I really didn't know what I was doing and I didn't know about the smoke detecter being so darned important! Most of my Sims are only a few days old, actually. I make them and then spend all of my play time building and decorating. I made the Chaos family right after the new Sprightly's and Venus is still a Toddler!

I don't blame you one bit for having a back up game! I should have done that before I installed all of my hacks. There are so many that I don't have the proper mesh for or whatever and they are just like invisible objects and unusable. So, I plan to package and save all of my houses and families on my storage drive...reformat my hard drive and then reinstall the game and download that Clean Installer that you get from the Maxis site. Hopefully, that should help with corrupt files, etc. I may have to refer back to this thread to re-learn how to do everything like transferring files. ;)

Well, I had packaged my lots, and then when I installed my package lots into my new game, some of my families weren't related anymore! I couldn't figure out how to use the cheat codes to make them related again, so I went back and moved all the relations back into one house so I could repackage it! Anyway, that's cool because the sons that had moved out were living in the "first home" I built, so I could package that house empty.

I had played the Sims (original), so I knew about the smoke detector being important.

Oh! I wanted to post! I created a new family for my Sims 2 game (the Lamb family... LOL), and they had twins! I still need to play the desert and see if I can get any alien abductions. I heard you just have to peer through the telescope for a long time at night...

just as an FYI- any questions you can't seem to get answered here- checkout the simslice.com forums. I'm a member there too, and there are a few people there that can answer just about any question you may have :)