An open world and being able to visit your friends are two different things. EA could have implemented it in TS2, without having to re-do the whole engine to enable an open world. The same way EA could have disabled visiting neighbours in TS3 even though it has an open world. Mods have proven that the TS2 engine can bend to things EA didn't implement, like community time, and obviously visiting.

A close world and an open world, both have their pro's and cons. The pros of a closed world is that you can concentrate on one lot at the time, and your computer can also concentrate on giving it's resources to this lot alone. The cons, at least with the way EA implemented community time, is that you can't live parallel lives.You can't send the husband to the pub, and have the wife have an affair while he's out, because time doesn't move forward on the home lot, which messes up Sim needs quite badly when they return.

The pros of an open world is being able to actually see the neighbourhood while you are driving, or walking, but as it's mentioned, you can't be in seven different places at once, so you need to choose who to focus on. But usually it's very unlikely that you actually have split your whole household that everybody is on a different lot. Mostly you'll have some at home, and the rest on the same community lot. Sometimes having an open world is a blessing, like once in a household of 7 where I was going crazy with so many Sims at once, I would send the grandfather to the bar, the kids and their dad to the park and concentrate on grandmother, her daughter and grand-son who stayed at home.

If you want to get the feel of an open neighbourhood, you could always download or build those apartment lots that were built to look like a patch of street, with real houses as apartments, instead of them being blocks of houses. Just embrace yourself to horrible lagging, unless you have a real good computer. At least horrible lag was my experience with them on my older computer, which is why I couldn't use them, even though some were really well built.

The real irony with this open world thingy is that TS2 AI would work so much better in a TS3 open world setting. I played TS3 for a while and eventually abandonded it when i realized that I've reduced the game to TS2 settings. Why play TS3 then , if their AI isn't what I want?
I agree with Peni - TS2 community lots and parties (and parties on community lots!) are quite enough for me and my desire to see them cause mayhem and have fun. I love how TS2 com lots function. Most of my Sims' lives happen there - I have com lots for everything, and combined with OFB, this game has so much more to offer with regards of what "open world" ideally should be that I'm content with what I have.

Is there a problem with that?


Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I think that the open world for Sims 2 would be amazing, because I was drooling over Sims 3 "open world concept", but since I never got to try it, my opinion is bias. Maybe, just maybe the Sims 4 ( oh gosh the horror! not 8 more expansions!) will have the best of Sims 2, and the best of Sims 3! *sarcasm* Oh well, one can dream, and EA can crush.

Well, not to me, i guess, but it is, to them/some.

I don't like the open world as it is in Sims 3. I just want to control everything in the 'hood, not just one household .

A open world would be nice. Visiting friends or at least chating whit the neighbours for example. But, as alredy told, the computer must be good enough to hadle it. Sims 3 is made for the computers of today, sims 2 for the computers made back then. I think the game is fine as it is.

I must admit that I wish that The Sims 2 had tombs and an in-game feature that could recolor things like objects, structural features, and sim parts. Real basements would also be nice, but that would probably be hard to do. It seems that tombs could be a lot deadlier in The Sims 2, but many things would have to be made before such a thing is even remotely possible.

I've been reading this thread for some time now and while I agree with most of the viewpoints, I must say that I would like an open world in TS2 and I do think it can be done to appease us control freaks, errr... storytellers.

I would love to have my Sim look up from his desk in his office which overlooks the park and see other playable Sims hanging out, walking the dog, throwing a Frisbee. But I would want very little that happened to those Sims while I was not controlling them to be "tracked" while I was not playing them. Say Luke is out walking his dog while I am playing another Sim. If Luke meets and chats with a new Sim, the next time I play Luke that interaction would show in his memories, like it is now. But Luke would be **limited** to what he could do with his new acquaintance until I was playing him again. That way some things are happening outside my control, for surprise and variety, but nothing that I would not want to happen - like Luke sells his dog and mysteriously ends up with a larvae baby on the floor.

I've spent so much time on making a close knit little village that I would love to see that village come to life outside my Sim's windows.

I do wish the game had an open world, but the summoning hacks replicate that enough for me to be content with what we have. The only thing that would make me happier would be a way to send Sims out at any point without me having to go with them. I'd really like Sims of all ages to have the "Go out" option similar to the ones teens have. It would be nice to have Sims pack up their kids and send them off to the aunt and uncle's house or something. Then the parents could have time alone and the kids would walk back onto the lot the next day with increased/decreased relationship scores with their aunt, uncle and cousins that they visited.

Eh, I'm pretty happy with the way TS2 operates in that respect. Having random Sims walk by the household I'm playing or milling about on community lots is enough for me. The concept of an open world is an interesting one but I don't necessarily need/want it, personally. I learned about TS3's open world set-up a while ago and it makes me quite happy that I chose TS2 instead.

I'm almost positive that there are mods that prolong or diversify the "take a spin" interaction, for this very purpose. I'm not using them, so I wouldn't know for sure. Maybe someone else?

Got it: http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,8887.0.html

Cruise as long as you want mod. I use it to simulate a Sim who travels for a living for her imports business - she cruises for a day and a night and when she comes home, I increase her funds to simulate earning. Of course, there are other Sims in her household, so while she is gone on business trips there are lots of other things to do.

So yeah, it's really good for simulating that one Sim is gone on vacation or a business trip when you need them off the lot for awhile.

No! I do not want an open world, in fact I was so profoundly disappointed by TS3 (everything from graphics to game play) that I don't want anything that even smells like TS3!

On a more serious note, open world game play wouldn't really improve my gaming experience in TS2. I find it easy enough to have my Sims socialize with other Sims as it is, and in TS3 I didn't find the open world to be something that vastly enhanced my fun. Rather found it quite annoying, since my Sims suddenly spend a lot of time just getting to places, time that I could have spend on actual game play, instead of just watching my Sims get to/from work or whatever..

I was more in thought about this, I don't mean the TS3 engine, I mean our beloved TS2 Sims in a very small world/hood. I am with the other poster that has made their small, tightknit village. I have made one lot all medieval to the max. It has several buildings and does look like a very small village. But only eight Sims can live there. I really don't want a hack to increase the number living there, I just wish a tiny world/hood with TS2 Sims (not my pudding faces and all their hangups) coould roam around and interact (I have already stated remove Story Progression) and my playable Sim could watch what they are doing from high in his/her tower balcony. And if they wanted to just call over one of those Sims or go down the road to a pub without loading screens.

I already have the hack/mod that allows apartments above stores, so that is fun, but still not the same. I would want all my little mideval characters to be seen and interacting (not reading) in my TS2 hood.

Thanks, Simsica and Liv Lukas. That will help a lot.

I don't think that such a thing is possible in TS2. I mean, I don't think the game supports it. If it were possible, it would be done. The hackers have combed through the exe file of this game very thoroughly. It can't be done. It's just about what the game is, how it's structured, what is its coding, and what is not.

So it's not possible, though it would be desirable. Much more so than TS3.

There are room fogs that hide things in dorms, hotels, and apartments. These could be used as the basis of room hiders in places in The Sims 2 intended to be used as tombs.

An open world would be a wonderful addition to The Sims 2 game if such a thing was possible. There could be settings that dictate how other households and other sims behave. Excluding college regions and vacation regions, there are many neighborhoods that sim families can live in. Some of the worlds that come with The Sims 2 and its expansion packs would be fun to run around in.

As of the moment, I have both The Sims 2 and all of its expansion and stuff packs (excluding Glamor Life, Happy Holidays, and Store Edition) and The Sims 3 and its World Adventures and Ambitions expansion packs installed on my computer. I use The Sims 2 for family life and storytelling and The Sims 3 for adventuring and exploration. I have Pleasantview as the base world in The Sims 2 and Sunset Valley as the base world in The Sims 3. I am creating a storyline that involves both games, so to this end I have linked the vacation worlds of the two games together. Seeing what the exotic areas are like, my story links France with the mountain region, China with the Far East region, and Egypt with the tropical region. The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 can be viewed in the manner that light and dark are in the yin and yang symbol.

I'd die if there was a seamless neighbourhood like there is in TS3 for TS2

If there was a sims 4..... I'd love the sims to be from TS2 and the rest from TS3.

I like the sims 2 the way it is

TS2 also had bits of "open world". If you wanted a sim off the lot you could send them to walk the dog, jog, or go for a spin in the car or intall a car alarm. Sure, you couldn't see what those sims were doing while away, but it shows that such activities are possible. And then they could always cheat on the spouse while he/she were at work. For TS2 I wish it were possible to see the neighbouring lots in better detail. Visiting other sims on their home lots would have been nice too, they could have programmed the game to treat the host family as if they were on a community lot.





Actually loading screens are faster than moving around in an open neighbourhood. I find it strange that people who never used community lots in TS2 suddenly find TS3 community lots so appealing, especially when there's so little activity to be had there.

No. As nice as the open world idea sounded, in practice it's pretty terrible IMO. Sims in TS3 spend 90% of their day going somewhere, you can hardly ever find who you're looking for because they're always going somewhere and good luck finding a person who isn't already involved with someone else. Not to mention that it's hard on computers that aren't high end and next to impossible to adequately control a family larger than 3 or 4 (and even that is pushing it, especially if you're playing two adults with jobs that really need to be micromanaged - like the ones that come with Ambitions). Plus I find that the open world aspect really creates a distance between you and your sim. I hardly ever really like any sim I've played in TS3. I love all my TS2 sims. I like having them "trapped" in their house.

I have to say I would hate it. x.x I don't like change and to be honest, I'm not bothered at all by loading times but I am bothered by extreme lag.

Exactly. Try waiting 3 Sim hours for your Sim to bike from one lot to another in China and then tell me that's better than waiting on a load screen. Blah.

I would only be okay with open worlds if I can control ALL the households at once, instead of just once at a time.

If you are like me, then yes, you want to control all Sims in the world. So, let's say Story Progression isn't there.

The other Sims in the TS2 'open world' that aren't being played wouldn't be getting involved no more than they do in TS2, already.

Even your playable Sims in TS2 get 'involved' 'cheat', 'flirt' make friends etc. when you aren't playing them when you see them on a community lot. So, that much would be out of your control, but not to the extent that Story Progression plays that for you.

And let's say it is the TS2 Sims, with all their little habits and traits, not the TS3 Sims.

O.K. at least you wouldn't be getting the notice that Jack thinks Jane is being fliry, or rude. and all things TS3 related as in their personaility notices to you would no longer be there, it would be the TS2 Sims and all their interactions, not TS3 Sims in no way shape or form. (not even what they think or feel would be remotely to TS3 Sims) because EA woke up and realized Simmers don't want to be told what their Sims are thinking....they want to imagine what that is by the thought bubble over the Sim head and that's it. They make the story in their own minds, just as in TS2.

Unlike the beginning of TS3 where Sims sometimes went running off to fish at a spot (not actually a community lot placed in the open world) near by in the world, they mainly stay home now if you don't send them somewhere.

The open world for TS2 could have worked the same way. Sims wouldn't leave the home lot unless you made them. Yes, if you stopped playing that Sim you would see them at any of your venues, like browsing for clothes (not available in TS3) just like when you see them come to a community lot in TS2, now.

It would just be that you would see your TS2 Sims walking down the street, or driving their car to work or the car pool. And a new added twist, you would see the ocean waves behind your TS2 house (the distant terrain/effect objects in TS2) without a BV beach lot. That was something I wished for before BV, where we could see moving water/waves when you placed a house near any of the water in the TS2 hoods. Little did I realize that was what would be happening in TS3.

I have heard the Devlopers of TS4 have said people will be pleasantly surprised, I sure hope so. But what ever that means I am sure it won't be a return of the animations, interactions and Sims of the TS2 games.

ETA: And just like other games a limit of how many lots and Sims could live in this open world could be done just like any other game maker places on pc specs. Examples of this are already in game: Low end pc/3 visting Sims, Midgrade GraphicRule.Sgr 14 or so etc. And just like MS games, many different genres, a number of how many simulated Sims can be generated could be clamped. I love the TS2 community lots I build or premade or others make...therefore, rabbit holes would have to be ruled out in my version of an open world of TS2, and because the trait system and other such matters wouldn't be there, Sims would go to community lots when your Sim goes there Just as they do now due to TS2 coding and not the coding of TS3.