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Help CenterIntroductionThis page is the newest addition to The Sims Hangout! The Sims is now a very well established game; with no less than three expansion packs already out, thousands of third party addons and programs and available, The Sims experience is certainly growing rapidly! However, all this extra stuff brings its fair share of problems! On this page we aim to help you with the game in every way possible! If you need help, and you're still stuck after you've trawled this page, then... well I dunno :) The page has been organised in such a way that if you have a problem that you don't know the immediate solution to, you should be able to start at the top and work your way down. If you know exactly what is wrong and just need to know how to fix it then hopefully our quick links below will help you get right to the solution to your problem. NOTE : At the moment I know that some of the stuff in here is
duplicated on other pages... I will be streamlining the whole site over
the coming weeks but in the meantime I wanted to get everything on one
page. If you want to know when this page (or the rest of the site for that
matter) gets updated then please join our update service from the top of
the page. Your First Stop!Before you go any further, check the Maxis help page - it is a mine of information! It contains help with everything from installation issues to gameplay problems. It would be a waste of my time to repeat what is on that page so before you do anything else click here to go to the Maxis Support Page. You're still here... did you read what I said? Click
here to go to Maxis Support Page. ... ... I mean it! REALLY!! I'm not going to let you read on until you have checked the Maxis Support Page! Installation IssuesLost Serial NumberIf you have purchased a legal copy of the game, and you have
subsequently lost the serial number then the following documents from Sims
Plus may help you. If you have not purchased the game and are looking
to obtain someone else's serial number then you can stop reading because
you wont find it on this website. Go to Sims Plus Serial Number Help Page Livin' Large / House Party Installation ProblemsThere are numerous problems associated with installing these two
expansion packs, particularly if you are trying to do an uninstall
followed by a re-install. However, the best help available is back at that
Maxis Support Page that I bugged you about! They have provided install
help programs for both Livin' Large and House Party but I am not going to
link them here as it is imperative that you read the accompanying notes. Crashes / Lock-UpsOkay so you've got the game installed, but it's crashing, now what? Patch the Game to 1.1If you have the original game only, have not run any patches and are
experiencing problems then before you do anything else, patch your game to
version 1.1 as this fixes a lot of problems in the early game. Ensure you
get the correct version for your region. Also note that you don't need
this patch if you have any of the expansion packs as the fixes have
been incorporated into all of them. View
Patch 1.1 Readme Livin' Large PatchThis patch contains several fixes to Livin' Large. Maxis are not clear
as to whether or not the patch is required if you have a later expansion
pack but it is unlikely. Visit Maxis Livin' Large Patch Page Hot Date PatchLots of Hot Date issues have been fixed in this patch. Nothing really
major, but worth getting anyway as gameplay has been tweaked a fair bit. If
you're experiencing crashes with things like clothing rack then you
definitely need this patch. Sims Plus File FixerA little gem from Sims
Plus again. This one could help you if you are experiencing crashes
whilst loading Livin' Large or House Party, or if you are crashing upon
entering a house in version 1.0. One additional note here - you shouldn't
be running version 1.0 of the game. Install the 1.1 patch first! Sims File CopThis program comes from Maxis and is used to check your downloaded
files such as skins, walls, floors, objects and textures. Corrupt heads
often cause immediate crashes to the desktop so if you've been downloading
stuff then give this program a try. In fact, its a good idea to run it
every time you download a load of new stuff. Download Sims File Cop (1.10Mb) Game TweakingPerhaps your game isn't crashing but you're having certain little
annoyances with it. There have been a few things released to tweak a few
things so perhaps your solution will be found in this section. The Telephone PatchLivin' Large introduced a handy new feature - the ability to call up a
neighbour and just say 'Hi'. Previously you could only call to invite them
over. This patch allows you to import this feature into the game even if
you don't own Livin' Large. It is not required if you have House Party or
Hot Date. Download Telephone Patch (371k) Fly Swatter!Get rid of those pesky flies! This patch is not sanctioned by Maxis and
as far as I know there is no going back so be warned! It was created by
creative folks at the now dead Sims Exposed website. Roach Zapper!Another patch by the same people; this time its the roaches that get
the zap treatment! Once again, there's no undoing of this patch that I am
aware of so only use it if you are sure. Fixing Your Screw-Ups!So you've got the game installed, you've played with Bob & Betty
newbie for a while, got bored, decided to play around with building your
own houses and stuff, checked out our cheats page and managed to totally
screw up your game! :) Never fear, there is always a solution... Neighbour / Carpool ProblemsFirst lets look at the most common cause of problems - the MOVE_OBJECTS ON cheat! Let me guess... you got bored of only ever getting bills in the mail; no nice letters, just those damned bills! You thought you'd be clever by deleting the mailbox using the cheat didn't you? Hand up now all those that did this? :-) The problem is that the mailbox (and the trashcan, strangely) is what controls the communication system around the neighbourhood. If you have any of the following problems then probably need to replace your mailbox and trashcan :
Now if you are experiencing these problems but you have not been
messing with the cheats, it may be because you have downloaded a house
from the internet where the author has done so. The only solution to this
problem is to replace the mailbox and the trashcan as they were in the
original lots. Thankfully, the ever-helpful Sims
Plus team have created a utility to do just that! Download Mailbox Repairer (202k) Downtown ProblemsWe've only got one little fix here - and that's for if you've been a
little bit silly and deleted your downtown phone :-) Why, oh why would you
do that? I don't know, but if you have and your poor little sims are now
stuck wondering how to get home then download this fix from Sims Plus and
you'll be all set. Download Downtown Phone Replacer (228k) Reinstalling the GameSometimes there comes a time when the game just kinda 'breaks'. If you are getting weird errors, or the game crashes and you've tried all the solutions listed here and you've tried Maxis technical support page then it may just be time to reinstall the game. Now don't panic - you do not have to lose the families and neighbourhoods you've been playing! It is quite easy to back them up and restore them... First I'm going to ask you to scroll down the page a little to the section entitled 'Know Your Game Directory' and familarise yourself with where your game is on your computer, and the folders that it contains. Ok have you read that section? Yes? Good... now you'll know what your UserData, GameData and Downloads folders are for. These are the folders that you need to take a copy of before you reinstall the game. If you don't do this - you'll lose everything you have played! Once those folders are backed up somewhere you are ready to de-install the game. Note that you have a UserData folder for each neighbourhood in your game so don't forget to backup all of the ones that you use! If you are in the UK and you have Living It Up (UK version of Livin Large) then you may encounter a problem where, after having de-installed everything, you attempt a reinstall and then it kindly tells you that you have to de-install! Irritating to say the least...Maxis recognise this as a known bug and they do have a program called Sim Eraser that will remove the game for you properly. However, there are some conditions attached to the download so I'll link straight to that Maxis page, rather than offer the download here. Once you have reinstalled the game, you can copy your Userdata,
GameData and Download folders back into the Sims folder and play the game
and hopefully all will be well. Downloading Third Party AddonsSo now you've played the game, perhaps screwed it up a little and fixed
it so you decide that you'd best leave it to the professionals! You're
kinda bored of the same old stuff all over the place - now it's time to
hit the net and start downloading! But where to start? What goes where?
Winzip? I'm sure I zipped my flies up... :-o All About WinzipMost downloads that you will find on our site and others will be in one of two forms :
The executable files are really easy as you only have to double click on them to install them. Zip files are a little different... A zip file is one files that contains others in a compressed form (meaning that it is smaller, and thus quicker to download). Sometimes a zip file will contain just one file, sometimes it can contain many. But no matter what it contains, you need to UNZIP it before you can use it. You can download the zip file anywhere you like on your hard drive - perhaps in a temporary directory such as c:\temp. Once the file is saved you then need to unzip it to retrieve the actual contents. There are many utilities freely available on the internet to manage ZIP files. I recommend a Windows based one called WinZip. You can download the free shareware version at http://www.winzip.com. Installation of Winzip should be very simple - just double click on the program and follow the on-screen prompts. With WinZip installed on your computer you can now use any ZIP file
which you may download from any website. Double click on a ZIP file and it
will automatically launch WinZip and display the contents of the ZIP file.
What you do now depends on what the ZIP file contains. For example, many
of the larger applications such as the Character Editor come with an
installation utility - you can recognise these as they will be named 'setup.exe'
or similar. In this case click the 'Extract' button on WinZip and point it
to a temporary directory such as 'C:\temp'. Then you can double click on
the setup.exe that has been placed in your 'C:\temp' directory to install
the program. General Downloading GuidelinesFirst of all, always learn to read the text files that come with each download. I get many emails from visitors asking for help with a particular download, and yet the information they were looking for was right there in the readme file that came with it! A readme file is a text file that is called readme.txt (or something similar). And as you might expect, you are supposed to read it! Any file ending in .txt is a text file and you can read it just by double clicking on it. Next, you need to know where your game physically resides on your hard drive. Many download instructions will tell you to unpack files into a folder inside your game directory. When you first installed The Sims, a game directory is installed and by default this will be in :
Have a look there. If this directory does not exist then you have installed the game somewhere else! To find it, you can search for the game file itself. From the windows start menu, select 'Find' and 'Files or Folders' and type in 'sims.exe' without the quotes. Select 'Local Hard Drives' to search and it will trawl your hard drives looking for the game. Once found, you will see the folder name that contains the game
displayed in the list below your search options. Know Your Game DirectoryNow that you've found your game directory, lets take a look around! You will find several folders in there, and they will vary depending on which expansion packs you have installed. Here are the important ones that you need to know about :
Okay now read carefully! ...
How To Install These AddonsLooking at the above directory structure should tell you exactly where to put what but there are a few things you should be aware of. Firstly, some downloads (such as official ones from the Maxis website) will be executable files and they will install themselves into the appropriate places when run - we like these :-) Secondly, you should still read any accompanying readme files with all downloads even if you think you know what you are doing. There are some downloads out there that are a little advanced, and sometimes you have to put things in odd places etc. Lastly, you will have to re-load the game to see any objects, walls,
floors or skins that you have installed. How To Correctly Install HousesBe careful with houses! Firstly, if you have more than one neighbourhood in your game ensure you are working on the right one by being in the correct UserData folder. If you are just importing houses into your game to preview them its a good idea to use a spare neighbouhood that you don't have any families on - that way you can't make any horrid mistakes. One of the good things about houses is that they are loaded when entering the neighbourhood view, and not when the main game loads. What this means is that you don't have to restart the game whenever you install a new house. So what I do, is to flick between two neighbourhoods between loads. So, for example, suppose my blank neighbourhood is number 5, I will load up number 4. Then I will press [ALT] + [TAB] to get back to windows and copy some new houses into UserData5. I then switch back to the game, switch to neighbourhood 5 and there are all my new houses! Here's another tip for previewing expensive houses : I always find that no matter how good the screenshot of a house on the internet, I want to get in there and have a look at it from within the game. The problem is that, I don't want to evict current families to do that, and unless the house is under $20k, I can't create a new family to move in! So, I create a 'Mr Rich' in my spare neighbourhood! Here's how to do it: Create a family (you can call them whatever you like), and move them into a cheap lot. Hit [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [C] to bring up the cheat window. Type in the following and hold down the [RETURN] key : rosebud ; ; <--- note the spaces in there! Whilst you are holding the key down, $$$ is rapidly being added to your
account! Give your family as much money as you like - my Mr Rich has
almost $1m :-) Now, no matter what kind of house I download, I can always
move Mr Rich into it so that I can have a good look around! Sims ZipIts Sims Plus to
the rescue once again! Even though I'm confident that with the above
information you will be able to install anything with minimal effort, it
never hurts to have a helping hand. Sims Zip is a utility designed to
automatically install objects, walls, floors and skins (not houses) into
your game. Download and install Sims Zip and then you can drag any zip
file containing sims downloads over to Sims Zip and it will automatically
install them! Problems With DownloadsFirst I'd just like to point out that I am not the author of anything supplied on the download page and so I can't offer any support! First off see if there is a readme file in the package that you downloaded (you'll need to extract it first to get the files out). If there is, read it! You may also find some files with the .nfo extension. These stand for 'information' and so are also meant to be read. You can view these in notepad or you can also use a handy .nfo viewer called GetInfo. If you can't find a solution to the problem you are having then see if you can find a contact e-mail for the author of the program. If so, drop him a line explaining the problem. Some authors don't include e-mail addresses but they have websites so look for that also. If you don't have any luck there then your only other option is to try
and find other people who may be experiencing your problem. Sims Hangout
will be incuding a forum on this website in a few days time and I'll have
a section where you can discuss downloads. In the meantime you can simply
do a search on a search engine such as Google
(as that will tend to search forums as well as web pages) or you could
register a the Maxis website and post a message on the forums
there. Anything Else?This Help Center is here for YOUR benefit! If there is something that
you need help with that you think would also be useful of others and is
not something that is already covered by our FAQ
then drop me a line and let
me know. I'll see what I can do :-) A Resource for NewbiesOne last section that I'd like to add here is a website recommendation.
Newbie Club is a
website designed to teach people how to effectively use their computer. It
is not a website for 'dummies'! There is a difference! I have been
as thorough as I can on this page but there is only so much I can cover on
a web page about The Sims. You may need to know more information about zip
files, or perhaps you've just got your first computer and the whole
concept of files and folders is a bit alien to you. In this case, please
visit Newbie Club.
It is free to join, and they are simply a wonderful teaching resource.
Having said that, they are not just for newbies - I have been using
computers for almost 20 years and I found some of their articles useful!
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