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r/sims2help Guide: Setting Up The Sims 2

# r/sims2help

r/sims2help
technical-setup

# Back to Index

This section contains information on setting up the game for a modern system, including allowing it to recognise your GPU and use up to 4GB RAM (not applicable to the Legacy Colleciton). If you're looking for troubleshooting information instead, to help with crashing/pink flashing/shadows/brightness/darkness/etc., please see the troubleshooting section.

## Sims 2 on MacOS

Note that none of the information in this section should be relevant to you if you are playing on MacOS - see the Mac section of the wiki for information on playing on that OS. It is relevant if you are playing on Windows on your Mac, however, for example if you are using Bootcamp or Parallels.

## Sims 2 on Steam Deck

If you want to play Sims 2 on a Steam Deck, please see this video tutorial.

# Getting the Game Running

Not applicable to the Legacy Collection

If you are playing The Sims 2 nowadays, you need to run the Graphics Rules Maker program to add your video card to the games database and modify your graphics rules for you (alternatively use the Graphics Rules file linked below). You also need to apply the 4GB patch. You will need the shadow fix mod if you have black shadow boxes and the bright CAS fix mod if you have a too bright or too dark CAS (with sims looking shiny/bright or dark like shadows/silhouettes).

These are minimal steps to be done to allow the game to recognise your hardware, you may need to try further steps (e.g. DXVK) if you continue to experience issues such as pink flashing.

Information on how to apply all of these fixes can be found below.

# 4GB Patch/Pre-patched NoCD/Origin/Cracked exe/George (prevents crashing, required for RPC)

If you have the RPC launcher (included with osab's installer) then you have the 4GB patch - the setting can be toggled in RPCSettings. We recommend using the RPC Launcher if you don't already have it as you can use it to apply the 4GB patch among many other features! You need to have a NoCD/cracked exe in order to use the RPC launcher, you can download George linked below for this

You do not need to have pirated the game to use a cracked exe - you can use these even if you installed via disc or the Ultimate Collection via Origin/EA App

The Sims 2 is a 32 bit game which means it can only use a maximum of 2GB of memory (RAM). Installing the 4GB patch will allow your game to use a maximum of 4GB of memory, reducing the chances of crashes and allowing you to play for hours upon hours. However, if you only have 4GB RAM, installing the 4GB patch is unlikely to help and will probably cause issues. You should really only install the 4GB patch if you have more than 4GB RAM.

You can download a pre-patched, cracked .exe, fondly named George, here! A cracked exe means that you will not need to use the disc or Origin/EA App to run the game when using this exe. The cracked exe can only be used if you have Mansion and Garden Stuff. The .exe needs to be extracted from the .rar file and then placed in Your Installation Location > Fun with Pets > SP9 > TSBin (for the UC) or Your Installation Location > The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff > TSBin (for the discs/oldgamesdownload/Mr DJ's "UC"). Your installation location can be found by referring to the information in the below section, "Where Are My Installation Files".

Before putting the exe in there, make sure to rename your original Sims2EP9.exe to something else. For instance, mine is named Sims2EP9.exe.Backup. Once you've placed the cracked .exe in the TSBin, you can either run the game using the RPC launcher or right click on the cracked exe, make a shortcut, and send it to the desktop. Use that to launch the game.

Never run the game in compatibility mode - this will prevent the patch from working (same goes for the pre-patched exe, and the DXVK fix) and it may need to be reapplied after removing compatibility mode.

# Graphics Rules File (2025 recommended alternative to using the GRM)

We now recommend using this Graphics Rules.sgr file instead of running the GRM. This graphics rules file is from the Legacy Edition and has increased compatiblity (not requiring you to add your Video Card to the database).

To use it, just download the file and place it in your install location under Fun with Pets/SP9/TSData/Res/Config (if you don't have the Ultimate Collection, it goes under Mansion and Garden Stuff/TSData/Res/Config), replacing the file that is already here with the same name. For example, if you have the Ultimate Collection from the Starter Pack, go to C:/Program Files (x86)/The Sims 2 Starter Pack/TSData/Res/Config.

# Graphics Rules Maker (GRM)

We recommend using the Graphics Rules file linked above instead of the GRM as that file has better compatibility and will likely result in better performance.

The Graphics Rules Maker (GRM) will automatically edit your Graphics Rules and Video Cards sgr files for you - make sure to get the latest download from that link, as if you downloaded the game from Games4theworld, you will have the old V1.1 version of the program which had several problems. The latest version of the GRM is already included with osab's installer.

Note that you need to have Windows 10 in order to use the latest version of the GRM; if you have an earlier OS, use the link above to download an earlier version.

When you run the GRM, make sure to select "The Sims 2" as the game from the dropdown at the top and click "Locate Game" if it doesn't say "Game found" beneath the path. Then click the Auto-detect button and the program will select the best specs for your system. It's fine to check all the boxes in the program, though you shouldn't check "Disable Sim Shadows" unless you don't want Sim shadows for some reason. Instead, if you are experiencing the black shadow box issue, get the Shadow fix mod which will allow you to keep shadows in your game but without the black boxes.

# Dual Graphics / Using dedicated GPU for the game

Applicable to the Legacy Collection and all other Windows versions of the game

Generally, if you have dual graphics (common in gaming laptops), you want your games to use your dedicated (Nvidia or AMD) GPU instead of your Intel/AMD graphics chip. Follow the instructions here to set the game to use your dedicated (high performance) GPU - you want to add your Sims2EP9RPC.exe and Sims2RPC.exe, or Sims2EP9.exe if you don't use RPC (all located in your TSBin for the latest pack - with the Ultimate Collection that's Fun with Pets/SP9, or Mansion and Garden for non-UC).

You can also use your graphics control panel to set the game to use the dedicated GPU, though this is superseded by the Windows setting above from a certain Windows 10 update but there is no harm in doing it anyway. There are instructions for both Nvidia and AMD here.

# Where Are My Installation Files

Depending on where you installed the game, and which version of the game you have, you might need to do some searching to find out exactly which folder your installation files are located in.

First off, you'll need to find out where you installed the game. The simplest way to do this is right click on the shortcut on your desktop, and choose "open file location", which will take you to the TSBin of your latest pack. Usually it will be somewhere in Program Files.

Here are the default installation locations for different versions of the game. The game will be installed in one of these unless you decided to change the location.

- EA App Ultimate Collection: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection
- Origin Ultimate Collection: C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection
- Osab Starter Pack Ultimate Collection: C:\Program Files x86\The Sims 2 Starter Pack
- Games4theworld Ultimate Collection: C:\Program Files\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection
- Discs: C:\Program Files (x86)\EA Games
- MrDJ/Oldgamesdownload: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mr DJ\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

Note that this is not the location where your Downloads folder (for Mods/CC) or your personal Neighbourhoods will go. That's always in Documents/EA Games (or possibly C:\Users\Public\Documents\EA Games\, if the normal Documents/EA Games folder is empty) - the folder in here will be called The Sims 2 or The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection, if you have the actual UC (without the TM if you use Osab's Starter Pack).

# Windowed Mode (Also a fix for DirectX 9 error)

Note: if you run the Sims 2 Ultimate Collection through the EA App then you cannot use the below method to enable windowed mode. Instead, click the 3 dots that appear when you hover over the game's image in your collection and then click View Properties. Put -w in the box under Advanced Launch Arguments and click save. The game will then run windowed - remove the -w to go back to fullscreen

If you have the RPC launcher, you can toggle between windowed, borderless, and fullscreen in the RPCSettings.exe and do not need to follow the process below.

If you would like to play in Windowed mode, you can navigate to where you have your Sims 2 shortcut, which is usually on the desktop and you double click it to run the game. Once you have found your shortcut on the desktop, right click on it and choose Properties. A box will pop up. Click on the Target line and scroll to the end with the arrow keys, or press End on your keyboard. Then, press the spacebar once followed by -w. So your Target line should read something like this:

> "C:\Program Files\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSBin\Sims2EP9.exe" -w

Please do not copy the above line unless your installation location and folder names are the same. Depending on where your game is installed, yours will be different. Please type it out as described above.

It will look like this.

Press OK and when you load your game next, it will be in Windowed mode. This should get around the DirectX9 error ("Failed to find any DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapters in this system!") as well.

# Custom Windowed Resolution

You can also use the above method to force the game to run in a different resolution. You follow the exact same path as before. You go to the Target line and type a space, followed by -r1920x1080. So, your Target line would look something like this:

> "C:\Program Files\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSBin\Sims2EP9.exe" -w -r1920x1080

You can force it to run in whatever resolution you like. For example, I have mine running in 1778 by 992 which is larger than 720 and still able to display in the correct 16:9 ratio. You don't need to use windowed mode to do this, just get rid of the -w if you don't want it in windowed mode.

# RPC Launcher (includes First Born Syndrome Fix)

not applicable to the Legacy Collection

osab's Starter Packer already includes the RPC Launcher

This is an incredibly helpful tool for Sims 2. The genetics randomizer for The Sims 2 is broken which causes something called First Born Syndrome. In short, if you make your Sims have a child, close the game, and make the same sims have another child the next time you play, those children will be clones of each other, which can be seen by looking at their personalities. The RPC Launcher fixes that issue by applying appropriate genetics code. This launcher may fix the DirectX 9 error.

The launcher also has the 4GB patch included. If you have Discord you can display what game you're playing to your friends or other server members, and you can also set it up so it displays what you're doing in the game. If you don't want the Discord and other features, LazyDuchess has released a FBS Fix 2.0 which can be applied to your normal exe without the RPC Launcher.

# TS2 Extender (first born syndrome fix for Legacy Collection)

only applicable to the Legacy Collection

RPC cannot be used with the Legacy Collection so TS2 Extender is an alternative which fixes FBS for Legacy.

Last revised by Mysterious_Potential 4 months ago
Created May 2, 2020
6 years ago
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- PAGE SECTIONS

- Back to Index
- - Sims 2 on MacOS
  - Sims 2 on Steam Deck
- Getting the Game Running
- 4GB Patch/Pre-patched NoCD/Origin/Cracked exe/George (prevents crashing, required for RPC)
- Graphics Rules File (2025 recommended alternative to using the GRM)
- Graphics Rules Maker (GRM)
- Dual Graphics / Using dedicated GPU for the game
- Where Are My Installation Files
- Windowed Mode (Also a fix for DirectX 9 error)
- Custom Windowed Resolution
- RPC Launcher (includes First Born Syndrome Fix)
- TS2 Extender (first born syndrome fix for Legacy Collection)

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