When support for the title ends, players will, of course, still be able to play it (and new players will still be able to purchase it), but EA will no longer release content or technical fixes for the game. It will, however, continue to offer for support to those who contact the company for help, but the game as it exists today will remain unchanged going forward (with the exception of user-created mods).
The Sims 2 Mods 18
As reported by Polygon, The Sims 2 TikTok hashtag has grown exponentially over the last year, with #sims2 and #thesims2 boasting over 200 million views between them. Sims 2 content creators are sharing gameplay tips, talking about their favourite in-game foods, making funny memes about their Sims, and even creating short films using The Sims 2 as a base.
The Sims 2 is a favorite of many in the Sims community, but not all players enjoy the content that exists in the game, and want to get creative or spice their games up. That's where mods and custom content comes into play. This wikiHow will teach you how to install mods or custom content in The Sims 2.
Running the Super Collection on Mac? Open Finder. Select "Go" in the toolbar at the top of your screen, hold down Option, and select "Library". Open the folder labeled Containers, then com.aspyr.sims2.appstore, then Data, then Library. Open Application Support, then Aspyr, and then The Sims 2. Your game's Downloads folder will be located in there.
Most mods do not go in the installation files. This is reserved for more complex mods, like the CEP, Radiance Lighting, custom UIs, or clean neighborhood templates. If the mod creator doesn't specify where the mod goes, assume it goes in the game's Downloads folder, not Program Files.
Disclaimer: Although I have all these mods installed and I know that they work together correctly for me, that is no guarantee they will work in your game. If you decide to install any of these mods, please read and follow all the instructions carefully. I would also advise that you back up your saved games first as well.
Note: I have converted all my Store Content into package files and installed them in my Mods/Packages folder via CC Magic. Therefore, any mods I use that affect those objects must be placed into my Overrides Folder.
The twin reactions to the Valve paid mods debacle reflect the larger culture behind video game modification. On the one hand, corporations often do rely on modders, benefitting from their work fixing bugs and engaging communities in their games. This constitutes a form of free labour (Terranova, 2016) where the work of users is appropriated without compensation. At the same time, the free labour provided in the creation of mods heavily augments the gaming experiences of average players and modders alike. Moreover, creators often use mods to proactively address issues that are not otherwise considered. Whether it be the inclusion of alternative forms of representation, gameplay changes, or stylistic changes, the labour undertaken in the mod economy takes many forms. Underrepresented groups in particular often use mods to reflect the kinds of representation they would like to see in games. Others still use mods as a basis to tell entirely new stories. Whatever the case, there is a nonfinancial value in modifying games.
The interaction between free labour, modding, and representation is an intricate but important system within game communities as a whole. Though it is an important aspect of modding, the free labour of modders appropriated by publishers is one small part of this web of systems. In particular, I am interested in the use of mod labour to create alternative mechanics, systems, algorithms, and representations within game spaces on behalf of marginalized groups. Though game publishers can exploit the labour of modders for profit, mods can also represent alternatively valuable forms of labour and community building; modding is often simultaneously productive for both publishers and players. This is not to dismiss the impact of the exploitation of modders. Rather, I am interested in the affectively productive power of mods that exists in spite of publisher exploitation. Queer players labour to create mods that productively and fundamentally enhance their play. The methods and motivations for this labour will be the main focus of this paper.
Mods that simply replace assets often rely on the two-part system of engine and content employed by many video games. It is relatively simple for players to replace items in the asset library, which are then taken up by the game engine and placed into the game. However, many mods consist not only of changes to assets but to gameplay as well. Alexander Galloway articulates the ways that modding can alter a game object:
This is not to say that we should not critique corporate appropriation of modding labour. Modding labour, however, does not only exist to be exploited. We should be intentional and specific with the language we use to best understand modding communities as they function economically. Modding is a diverse fan practice that participants enjoy for a variety of reasons. Queer mods in particular allow modders to shape their play into experiences that transform gaming into something affectively beneficial. While modding is labour, it is a labour that is profitable from a community and identity perspective.
One way of finding alternatives to conventional, straight gameplay experiences involves introducing various cosmetic enhancements to the game. More than a bug fix, which isolates small errors in the code to bring the game closer to the original intent of the developers, cosmetic enhancements move away from the game to alter the assets in a way that can change the narrative and implications of the game. Queer cosmetic enhancement mods often rely on switching gendered assets from one avatar to another within the game, or by making assets normally only available to one gender or sexuality of character available to multiple characters through intervention into the code of the game.
Queer mods can utilize alternative mechanics to demonstrate queerness through the rules and systems governing gameplay rather than through representation. Los Angeles-based design collective Arcane Kids explores this idea in their mod Bubsy 3d: Bubsy visits the James Turrell Retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2013). The game is a modification of the original Bubsy 3D (Eidetic), a game released in 1996. Busby 3D is widely considered to be one of the worst games of all time and a rip-off of the then-recently released and incredibly popular Super Mario 64. Instead of simply poking fun at Bubsy, however, Arcane Kids uses him as a tongue-in-cheek narrative device to simultaneously explore and critique the art world, gaming, and capitalism.
The labour of modding video games can take myriad forms. From cosmetic enhancements to mechanical alterations, modders are constantly inventing new ways to transform and interact with game texts. Though publishers often take advantage of this labour, it also has value separate from its economic potential. Modders build communities through the creation, distribution, and use of mods for various games. Queer mods in particular frequently function as the affectively necessary labour often needed for meaningful participation within gaming communities. Artists such as Duy Nguyen, Arcane Kids, and Robert Yang demonstrate that interventions that disrupt game objects are fruitful and necessary aspects of play and of gaming as a whole.
Thinking about games as a form of affective labour is an important critical lens that can open up new modes of possibility for analyzing games and the culture surrounding them. I would also advocate for a stronger consideration of the role of affectively necessary labour and alternative forms of value in other types of fan labour. Moreover, though I argue that mods constitute a form of affective labour, standard game production and even gameplay can be considered through this framework. A critical analysis of modding cultures reveals the tenuous norms that govern not only work and play but also gender and sexuality, and allows us to conceive of new ways in which they can interact and be reimagined.
Leave it to the gaming community to take a great game and make it even better. From legendary RPGs like Skyrim and Fallout to classics like The Sims, a true testament to the quality of a game is how passionately the user base tries to change it. Whether you're an experienced god of virtual beings or have only heard about floating green triangles in passing, these mods are sure to have you loading up your little microcosm, along with a few little tweaks. It's truly incredible the kind of mods that are available, and how creative the fans of this series can be.
Updated on October 31st, 2020 by Anastasia Maillot: The modding and custom content community for The Sims 4 is one of the most active ones in the world, with super dedicated creators. With the recent Journey To Batuu game pack and Eco Lifestyle expansion in 2020 having been a major disappointment for many simmers, mods are the go-to way to make the game actually bearable to play.
From bringing in new, incredible features that no one has ever even dreamed of seeing in the game to introducing features that should have been in the base game all along, here thirty mods that will both enhance the game and bring it to a new level of crazy. Warning: use mods at your own risk and always remember to back up saved games when downloading a particularly demanding mod pack!
Although there are ways to role play as a serial killer in The Sims 4 by simply cooking bad quality pufferfish and serving it to dinner guests, there are mods that make murder and violence ten million times easier. Well, in theory. Evil deeds don't come without consequences, as the Extreme Violence mod also introduces witnesses, jail time, and the police. 2ff7e9595c
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