The Sims 2 Storybook Viewer, or "Sims 2 Album" for short, is a software application written to provide extended functionality to the neighborhood and family storytelling feature of EA Game's The Sims 2 game. This program is free to distribute and use, however, is not open source. Please read the terms and agreement at the end of this document for more details.
Official Alpha Release: Which indicates that this software is still being tested and debugged. Some feature modifications may be implemented on request. However, all of the core functionality is now complete and you are free to use this software. Your comments and feedback are welcome. Keep an eye out for the latest release available on the official web site.
The official web site for The Sims2 Album is:
http://www.transamerican.net/s2album/
Beginner's Notes for the Intermediate Newbie
The Sims 2 Album is not a "game mod" or object to be dropped in the downloads folder. This is a software application which requires installation. Use The Sims 2 Album to open, view, or edit your storybooks and organize your snapshots that you created while playing The Sims 2 Game. If at this point you have no idea what is being discussed, please consider setting this application aside until later when you have better familiarized yourself with The Sims 2 Game, the storytelling feature of the game, and the general structure of the game files.
When you create a storybook with snapshots in The Sims 2 Game, a special file is created in your game folder. The special file is easy to find, just look in "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Storytelling". Each file you see in the "Storytelling" folder with an .xml extension is a storybook file. Each file with the ".jpg" extension is a snapshot. The Sims 2 Album is used to open a single .xml storybook file for viewing and editing.
Some common example default storybook files are:
So, simply put, find the storybook .xml file, open it, and then view or edit the storybook. You may have to open several .xml files before you find your family's specific storybook. This is because the Sims 2 game does not create very descriptive filenames for the storybooks!
If you save the storybook under a different name other than the name the Sims 2 Game created, it will likely no longer be visible when playing The Sims 2 Game. If you would still like the ability to view the storybook you opened and edited with this software when you are in The Sims 2 Game, then do not save the storybook under a different filename. Simply choosing the "save" option saves the storybook .xml file with the same name, rather than choosing "save as" which is used to rename or export the storybook.
Quick Getting Started Guide!
Nearly all functions in this software can now be accessed in three ways
Use only a Single-Mouse-Click to activate controls on the interface.
Right click the mouse to access the new context menu.
Order by Button Controls at the top:
OPEN (folder icon)
SAVE (disk icon)
SAVE AS (disk and pen icon)
moving your storybook: You may move your storybook and associated snapshots to an alternate directory. When selecting the Save As option, you will notice that if you navigate to another directory to save your storybook in, you will be prompted to also copy the thumbnails and snapshots. Now you can better keep track of what snapshots are actually in use with which album.
export as HTML: The HTML export is now available. You may save your storybook as a web page for uploading to the Internet. This feature automatically builds a web site out of the storybook you have opened.
export tip- In the Save As dialog, choose HTML and save the storybook HTML export to a different folder. This will copy all of the snapshot images and thumbnails with it so everything will be ready for you to upload to your web site.
EDIT (pen and paper icon) Clicking the Edit icon enables more icons. They are the Truck icon, the X icon, and the Thumbtack icon.
PHOTO (pallet icon) insert or replace any snapshot in your album. Insert will allow you to create a new page and edit the text.
TOOLS (toolbox hands icon) application settings.
EXIT (door icon) exit the program.
More on the Move Storybook Page Function:
When in edit mode, you may select the page you are currently viewing and relocate it to another area of your storybook. By clicking on the Truck icon or pressing CNTL-M the page will get removed from the storybook instantly. The page will go into 'holding' represented by a Thumbnail in the top right of the screen. You should navigate to the place where you want the page in holding to be inserted. Say, for example, you removed the page from page number 14 and wish to move it to page number 20, by navigating ahead to page 20 you are ready to place the page out of holding and back into your storybook. To do this, simply click the Thumbnail in the top right of the screen and the page as well as associated text will be inserted.
At this time all of the following features are enabled:
Features to be addressed in alpha release:
Hey testers! Your suggestions / comments / feedback are welcome! Please let me know how I may improve the UI and functionality of this program. Post your comments on the s2album thread of modthesims2.com. Also, any volunteers to improve this help document, dress it up, include picture examples, are also welcome. Thanks!
Donate your time if you are excellent at documentation or creating help files. There is vast room for improvement on this help document. If you are interested in taking on the task of creating better help documentation please make contact though the forum on modthesims2.com. Note: cash donations are not being accepted for this software. Use it for free, enjoy it, but respect the authors and programmers by not redistributing this under a different name.
Disclaimer and Legal Stuff:
The developer, hosting provider, or any other party affiliated with this software may not be held liable for any damages in any form resulting from the use of these software, tools or utilities. You may use this at your own risk. By downloading any of the files contained on this page, you are agreeing to this statement.