The Sims™ 2 Legacy Collection news & patch notes

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45471359/756b8a5016dda52ef6fc5c99d93a219967208c62.jpg Bask in the nostalgia of The Sims™ 2 by collecting five trading cards featuring characters you love. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314070/The_Sims_2_Legacy_Collection/

Sul Sul, Simmers! We hope you’ve been enjoying these games as much as we have! In this patch you’ll see some stability improvements as well as some more options for windows management in both games. Please continue to report any issues on the official EA Forums. - The Sims Team For the most current patch updates, please visit The Sims Game Info Hub here. February 27, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 20, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 12, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 6, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 4, 2025 patch notes are viewable here.

Fixed Issues:

• General stability and performance improvements
• There are significant frames per second (FPS) drops in various scenarios including multiple Sims in Ultra Speed, various complex lots, camera panning, etc.
• If Windows shortcuts (Win+Shift+ArrowKey, etc) was used to move the game window from one monitor to another, the player could end up with a plain blue window in the new location
• The Sims 2 might crash if a custom beach lot is placed in Belladonna Cove
• The Sims 2 minimizes if it is not the foreground application
• Pets can not be scolded or encouraged (e.g. to train a dog not to urinate indoors, or to discourage cats from sitting on counters)
• A Sim returning from work as an Eco Guru sometimes became invisible
• On screens with resolution higher than 1080p, the pie wheel options sometimes went off screen
• Sometimes when a family tries to travel to a community lot, only the family dog will travel
• On 2k and 4k monitors, selecting the “More” option sometimes resulted in the mouse pointer jumping off the screen
• After running for long periods of time (generally 2 hours or more), the player is sometimes prevented from interacting with the game
• Multiple uses of Alt+Enter could cause the game screen to eventually move off the bottom of the screen
• Multiple uses of Alt+Enter could sometimes cause the game to scale the window incorrectly
• The CAS UI does not scale/arrange well on displays with extreme aspect ratios (e.g. ultra-wide displays)
• If the computer has two displays of varied resolution capabilities (e.g. 4k + 1080p) the game window could jump from one screen to the other when making Resolution selections

Improved Functionality:

• The Sims 2 now uses a borderless window to provide the fullscreen experience

General Notes:

• There are recurring problems being reported on Intel Arc systems. Please see previous patch notes for more information
• Due to the way the underlying graphics layer that The Sims 2 depends on works, when switching between Full Screen and Windowed mode with Alt+Enter, there can sometimes be a substantial delay (many seconds) while the scene is recalculated and rendered

There may be issues not listed here that are in the process of being addressed as certain issues require an extended investigation on our end. Even though these fixes may be in active review, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll have an immediate fix for it in an upcoming patch. Please continue to share and report any issues on our forums, and join our official Discord community for tips, tricks, and news! Dag Dag, The Sims Team https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314070/The_Sims_2_Legacy_Collection/

Sul Sul, Simmers! Thank you for your support as we continue to improve PC compatibility issues and community reported issues. We appreciate your patience and hope you’ve seen some good improvements over the last few weeks. Please continue to report any issues on the official EA Forums. - The Sims Team For the most current patch updates, please visit The Sims Game Info Hub here. February 20, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 12, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 6, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 4, 2025 patch notes are viewable here.

Fixed Issues:

• General stability improvements
• Some players had difficulty setting/changing the game language
• Several game issues occurred when a University-lot pre-made Sim graduates and relocates to the home neighborhood
• The game could sometimes take a very long time to launch
• Restored music tracks from Acceptance and Annie
• “Wants” go missing after a teen goes to University and game focus is kept on them
• When a child ages to a teen, quitting without saving would not fully revert the aging process (the teen attributes would now be on a child body)
• Sims can sometimes become stuck at the hotel when vacationing (“Too many iterations” error on the loading screen)

General notes:

• There are recurring problems being reported on Intel Arc systems. Intel has recently ended direct support for DirectX 9 and is providing support via a transparent mapping layer. It is possible that this solution can have flaws that may impact any programs that rely on DirectX 9.

There may be issues not listed here that are in the process of being addressed as certain issues require an extended investigation on our end. Even though these fixes may be in active review, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll have an immediate fix for it in an upcoming patch. Please continue to share and report any issues on our forums, and join our official Discord community for tips, tricks, and news! Dag Dag, The Sims Team https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314070/The_Sims_2_Legacy_Collection/

Sul Sul, Simmers! We’ve loved seeing all the creative builds and memorable moments you're enjoying in these legacy titles! We’re continuing to address the major issues you've been reporting via the official EA Forums. - The Sims Team For the most current patch updates, please visit The Sims Game Info Hub here. February 12, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 6, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 4, 2025 patch notes are viewable here.

Fixed Issues:

• General Stability improvements
• In some situations, the game would show an error indicating “too many iterations”
• Modular staircases could not be deleted and could be a source of infinite money
• The dog Sim is missing from the household after moving to a lot
• The Design Tool palette chooser pop-up could go off screen and not be able to be dismissed or interacted with
• Music tracks by Depeche Mode and Natasha Bedingfield have been restored
• The mouse pointer, Sim names, and Info Panel tooltips in build/buy were sometimes not properly aligned
• Beach lots could sometimes have incorrect terrain paint

General notes:

• In some cases, issues that have now been addressed might have corrupted game saves from before they were addressed (e.g. when Sims could disappear, Sims can’t eat cooked food, etc). In these cases, please try starting a fresh save as the game won’t be able to correct the corruption, and working with corrupted saves may lead to unexpected behavior.
• While the Alien Abduction scene now works, the scene is still missing the alien baby. We’ll continue working on that. In the meantime, you will have the alien baby in the game once the scene is done.
• Some players have tried using Windows shortcut keys to move the full-screen game to another monitor. When in full-screen mode, the game should not be moved to another monitor or this may cause issues.

There may be issues not listed here that are in the process of being addressed as certain issues require an extended investigation on our end. Even though these fixes may be in active review, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll have an immediate fix for it in an upcoming patch. Please continue to share and report any issues on our forums, and join our official Discord community for tips, tricks, and news! Dag Dag, The Sims Team https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314070/The_Sims_2_Legacy_Collection/

Sul Sul, Simmers! We’re back with another update. Our team is working hard to resolve issues related to crashes and usability that have been reported in the community. Thank you for your continued reporting efforts via the official EA Forums! - The Sims Team For the most current patch updates, please visit The Sims Game Info Hub here. February 6, 2025 patch notes are viewable here. February 4, 2025 patch notes are viewable here.

Fixed Issues:

• The game could unexpectedly show a “D3D” error, then crash or quit. This should happen less with this update
• Improved error reporting

General notes:

• In some cases, issues that have now been addressed might have corrupted game saves before they were addressed (e.g. when Sims could disappear, Sims can’t eat cooked food, etc). In these cases, please try starting a fresh save as the game won’t be able to correct the corruption, and working with corrupted saves may lead to unexpected behavior.
• While the Alien Abduction scene now works, the scene is still missing the alien baby. We’ll continue working on that. In the meantime, you will have the alien baby in the game once the scene is done.
• Some players have tried using Windows shortcut keys to move the full-screen game to another monitor. When in full-screen mode the game should not be moved to another monitor or this may cause issues.

There may be issues not listed here that are in the process of being addressed as certain issues require an extended investigation on our end. Even though these fixes may be in active review, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll have an immediate fix for it in an upcoming patch. Please continue to share and report any issues on our forums, and join our official Discord community for tips, tricks, and news! Dag dag, The Sims Team https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314070/The_Sims_2_Legacy_Collection/

Sul Sul, Simmers! We hope you’ve been having a great time celebrating all of the Birthday festivities! We’re plugging away at reports of technical issues that some players have encountered in The Sims 2. Thank you for your support and continued reporting efforts via the official EA Forums, it really helps us identify and resolve issues. - The Sims Team For the most current bug updates, please visit The Sims Franchise forums here. February 4, 2025 patch notes are viewable here.

Fixed Issues:

• Addressed some situations related to the error “Some needed files were corrupted during the installation”
• Addressed some situations where the game could terminate with a pop-up message when creating a family or when entering a pre-made lot
• The game could get stuck on the color swap tool
• The Sims’ voices could be of low quality
• The Sims’ voices could be very quiet
• The custom skin window couldn’t be closed in some cases
• The “Graphics Rules.sgr” file was missing a rule that could cause “D3D” error messages
• During the Alien Abduction cutscene, sometimes audio could drop out and a Sim could reset
• Sims could be unable to eat cooked food
• The game could sometimes present a loading screen that could not progress
• Sims could sometimes disappear

General notes:

• In some cases, issues that have been addressed might have corrupted game saves before they were addressed (e.g. when Sims could disappear). In these cases you should try starting with a fresh save as the game won’t be able to correct the corruption, and working with corrupted saves can lead to unexpected behavior.
• While the Alien Abduction scene now works, the scene is still missing the alien baby. We’re working on that. In the meanwhile you will have the alien baby in the game once the scene is done.
• Some players have tried using Windows shortcut keys to move the full-screen game to another monitor. When in full screen mode the game should not be moved to another monitor or this may cause issues.

While some issues may not be listed here, they may still be in the process of being addressed. Some topics can require an extended investigation on our end, so even though these fixes may be in active review, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll have an immediate fix for it in the upcoming patch. Please continue to share and report any issues on our forums, and join our official Discord community for tips, tricks, and news! Dag dag, The Sims Team

The Sims 25th Birthday

25 Hour Live Stream

Watch The Sims 25 Hour Livestream, featuring your favorite Simmers and other special guests! Join talented builders & storytellers on YouTube, Twitch and TikTok. Tune in February 4th, 2025 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET!

Sul Sul, Simmers! We hope you’ve been enjoying revisiting The Sims 2! It’s been super exciting seeing all the joy and enthusiasm from our community for this classic game. We’ve also been focused on the reports of technical issues that some players have had, and have been diligently working to address them. We wanted to say thank you to the community for sharing your detailed reports via the forum to help us improve these games. - The Sims Legacy Team: – For the most current bug updates, please visit The Sims Franchise forums here.

Fixed Issues:

• Alt-Tab or Alt+Enter can sometimes cause a crash
• Some players on EA App received an error message indicating that certain needed files were corrupt
• The game would sometimes crash after creating a family
• The game sometimes launched at a small resolution (800x600) and then scaled that small format to fill the entire monitor
• In certain situations the game will launch and then immediately show a “DirectX” error, requiring use of the “-w” option to work around the problem
• Sometimes a Sim (or multiple Sims) would disappear after the player moves to another lot or neighborhood, or after leaving and rejoining the game despite saving
• Sometimes non-adult Sims (children, pets) would disappear
• Some interactions that result in a transferable reward (e.g. a dog returns from work) can cause the game to crash
• Addressed some infinite loading screen issues

General notes:

• Several players have had problems that are addressed by updating graphics drivers to the latest versions. Please make sure your drivers are up to date.
• Remember that the “boolProp testingCheatsEnabled” cheat will cause the game to periodically show various dialogue boxes with debugging information in them. The cheat is working as expected.
• We are investigating an issue where during certain cinematic events (such as Alien Abduction), the Sim can be reset and the event fails. While we are investigating this, you can work around the issue by making certain there are no other Sims on the lot to observe the event.

While some issues may not be listed here, they may still be in the process of being addressed. Some topics can require an extended investigation on our end, so even though these fixes may be in active review, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll have an immediate fix for it in the upcoming patch. Thank you for playing these games that are such a storied part of our history – starting 25 years ago! Please continue to share and report any issues on our forums, and join our official Discord community for tips, tricks, and news! Dag dag, The Sims Team

Sul Sul Simmers! Put down that grilled cheese sandwich and get ready for a trip down memory lane to 2004 with us! We’ve revived The Sims 2 and most of its packs to work easily with Windows 10 and 11! Please note that modern licensing restrictions have required the removal of 1 pack and some of the original songs, but we have included as many as possible. We thought we’d also make it easier to see all those classic pixels on your monitor! To scale the game to make better use of the screen space available, try using the Alt + Enter key combination to enter and leave full-screen mode. Enjoy that glorious widescreen The Sims 2 view! There are a few more updates as well to look out for:

• 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
• Fixed several crashes
• Improvements and fixes

We hope you’ll enjoy returning to the Belladonna Cove, Desiderata Valley, Riverblossom Hills, Pleasant View, Strangetown, & Veronaville! Spend time with all the classic Sims and Sim families. The Goths, Greenmans, Smiths, Monty/Capps and more are ready to come back to your screen from 21 years ago. Dag dag! https://forums.ea.com/blog/the-sims-game-info-hub-en/the-sims-25th-birthday-bundle-release-notes-for-the-sims-and-the-sims-2/11848630