How to trick the game with the expansion packs?

[deyapretty]

Hi,

First of all, I don't want to hack the expansion packs!

I saw several lots that I like, but they all need tons of expansion packs :( So I wanted to know if there was a way to trick the game into thinking I have all the expansion packs but ONLY so it adds the items that are missing. I don't want to hack the expansion packs, I mean, I don't want to be able to travel, or have the changeing seasons etc.

Thanks for your help!

[labellavienna]

What are you trying to install...? Lots?

[M.M.A.A.]

What are you trying to install...? Lots?

Yes, the OP mentioned lots in the beginning.

Back to the main topic.

What you are asking for is impossible and is against the site-rules, why? Because you still want to get content from other EPs and SPs without even owning the EPs (rightfully). However, you can request the creator to build a similar lot but without the content that you can't play with, so for example, if you only have OFB and NL as your EPs, request a creator to build a lot for you that is compatible with what you have.

[gazania]

Hi,

First of all, I don't want to hack the expansion packs!

I saw several lots that I like, but they all need tons of expansion packs :( So I wanted to know if there was a way to trick the game into thinking I have all the expansion packs but ONLY so it adds the items that are missing. I don't want to hack the expansion packs, I mean, I don't want to be able to travel, or have the changeing seasons etc.

Thanks for your help!


I tried downloading a lot (lot only) without the required expansion. I ALMOST succeeded, but there was one tiny bit of custom content that even when the creator loaded it for me without it (she was being really sweet about it), the lot kept crashing. There was probably something else we overlooked, but I appreciated the effort.

You COULD ask the creator if the lot only is compatible with your expansions, realizing that you'll probably have to wing it with some of the content. I managed to get another lot that way. But be aware that it could crash the game if the creator overlooked something. With so much content, it would be easy to do so. Use the Clean Installer to help sort things out.

Do realize, though, that even with the base game only, there is certainly a great selection of lots to choose from. You don't have to stay entirely away from the party. :) What expansions DO you have? I believe you can filter them out here ... I know I do. I have only up to Seasons, BTW, so if you have more expansions, you have more to choose from than I do!

There are also older lots on other sites that may fit the bill. I downloaded a cute house from Parsimonious, for instance. (Parsimonious doesn't have too many modern houses, however ... I would consider many of them Victorian.) I just wouldn't take a chance with certain sites (don't know if it's Ok to name them here), but that's just me. Or you can take a Maxis/EA house and tear it apart to your tastes.

I've downloaded clothes off Sims 2 Cri, but admittedly, not lots. Perhaps someone else has, and can relate his or her experience. I see that several require only BG, Uni and Nightlife. And I can guarantee I'm missing a whole BUNCH of sites that have been around for a while where you can find older houses. I would have recommended Tarox for historic lots, but it looks like it's gone. However, much of it is in the Sims Graveyard (thanks to the thoughtfulness of the creators) , though I'm not sure what expansions you'll need now for some of them. The jpgs do mention what you'll need on many of them, however. I'm not sure what type of houses you're looking for. Aussie Topenders has been around for a long time and has some houses. Some are rather unusual, but many do seem to favor larger lots.

Strangely, though there are some houses that have made me say "awwwwww" to myself when I find out they need expansions I don't have, I have found more than enough lots to download. You might also want to check the content update site here for a couple of ideas and see if they've been around long enough to have older lots.

EDIT ... Came up with this link while Googling: http://www.xn--hg-gkaw.de/houses.htm

Looks interesting, and so far, the downloads I've run through my AV and MBAM seem to be clean ... has anyone here had any experience with this site? (I BELIEVE that WCJ is Uni, by the way, but I'm not sure.)

[sweetbaby160]

I have only had one problem lot, that doesn't want to appear at all due to my lack of the holiday ep...but generally speaking, when I have downloaded a lot (with CleanInstaller) that happens to have ep/sp content that I don't have, I just get a lot of flashing blue bits..ie: I downloaded really nifty & super cluttered lot from GOS, spent a good 15min clearing out the blue pizza boxes/beer cans etc.

[joandsarah77]

I don't think there is any way to 'trick the game' and I don't believe the crashing has anything to do with what the lots contain. I know I tried very hard to upload a lot for a friend who is on a Mac and short of those ep's because they never made them for Macs. Annoys me that does. In the end I told her we would run a test with a blank lot and it still crashed her game. Far as I can see you either accept what you have and look for lots/cc for that or just buy the ep's you don't have. We're not talking $500 here, Ebay sells them for about $10 a piece, it's not like when they first came out, I paid something like $40-$50 for each ep.

[gazania]

I know when I did finally get the expansion for that first lot, the lot worked fine. Perhaps the creator realized she made an "oops" with something else, and cleaned it up quietly. :)

[Saturnfly]

Crashing would indicate you don't have the required EP's to download a certain lot, each EP contains DIFFERENT data, and games lacking those EP's would not recognise the new data.

That's why when you attempt to uninstall an EP, your game will no longer work unless you do a complete reinstall of every EP.

The easiest thing would be to look at the pictures of the house and try and recreate it in your own game, you cannot have objects from EP's without actually having the EP's installed. Well you probably could, but that would be illegal and against site rules. Also, as someone else suggested, use clean installer, which you should use anyway, for any house you download.
Just suck it up.

[Mootilda]

More important than the EPs that you have is the game engine. It's often possible to load a lot which requires an EP which you don't have, just so long as you have an updated game engine. Without a game engine which is equal to or greater than the game engine used to create the lot, the lot will crash your game; there is no way to fool the game engine.

The simplest way to get the updated game engine used to be to download the up-to-date Store Edition. However, as I understand it the Store Edition is no longer available for download on its own and the Store Edition which is included with collection packs is not always up-to-date.

The next-to-up-to-date game engine is Mansion and Garden Stuff. Perhaps you could find that SP fairly cheaply, and that SP would allow you to load many lots which you can't currently load. Just be aware that an up-to-date game engine is no guarantee that the lot will not crash. I would recommend backing up before trying to install any lot which is missing EPs.