The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection - Absolutely Free Via Origin

[PGHammer]

Remember EA's announcement that the Sims 2 was going to be retired?  And that as a thank you to those that had the game that they were offering a free upgrade to the Ultimate version (basically every add-on and DLC for it)?  The offer just grew - and is now available to the planet at large (at least those that have Origin).  No; I'm NOT kidding.

 

Use the following redeem code on Origin - I-LOVE-THE-SIMS.  (Not kidding here, either.)

 

Source - PC Gamer: http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/23/the-sims-2-ultimate-collection-goes-free-for-all-on-origin/

 

[MightyJordan]

Can confirm it works. Thanks for posting. :)

[PGHammer]

Can confirm it works. Thanks for posting. :)

Not a problem - I tried it myself before posting (as I saw the link via PC Gamer's Facebook page and checked it myself for authenticity) - then checked here and saw that nobody had posted it yet.

[spaceelf]

From what I can tell the game doesn't work on Windows 8.

 

I don't know if it can be made to work, but I never found any relevant/working troubleshooting tips.

 

(I'll try it again later since people claim it should work.)

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Already had customer services add it to my account last week, but GG EA for giving it away.

 

The code expires July 31st, 2014 at 10AM PDT so get it while you can.

[Raa]

Nice catch!

Worked for me. :)

[Boxster17]

Thanks for the heads up, not sure I'll ever play it but hey it's free :)

[compl3x]

Came here to post this. Good looking out OP.

[Eric Veteran]

From what I can tell the game doesn't work on Windows 8.

 

I don't know if it can be made to work, but I never found any relevant/working troubleshooting tips.

 

(I'll try it again later since people claim it should work.)

It's working fine for me on Windows 8.1.1 Pro x64. The resolutions are funky but you can edit the graphics config file to change that.

[spaceelf]

It's working fine for me on Windows 8.1.1 Pro x64. The resolutions are funky but you can edit the graphics config file to change that.

Fair enough.  I still get 'You're low on disk space' and have no neighborhoods and can't create one.

 

805GB free on my main drive, 684GB on this one apparently isn't enough!   :p  

 

- http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-2/INFORMATION-REQUEST-No-Neighborhoods-to-pick-from/td-p/3156388 in case anyone else is having this problem

[articuno1au]

Thanks PGHammer

[Zlain]

Ah found it, thanks :)

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

A guide to change resolution

[PGHammer]

From what I can tell the game doesn't work on Windows 8.

 

I don't know if it can be made to work, but I never found any relevant/working troubleshooting tips.

 

(I'll try it again later since people claim it should work.)

It works on Windows 8.1 update 1 - even in x64 (I installed the game on it); however, I will admit that it is dog-slow; easily the slowest game I have ever run on the OS - yes, even compared to Crysis 3.

 

That is one thing that absolutely makes NO sense at all, as I have run older games (from EA and Maxis) with nary a quibble - what in Ned did Maxis get WRONG?

[crispkreme]

It works on Windows 8.1 update 1 - even in x64 (I installed the game on it); however, I will admit that it is dog-slow; easily the slowest game I have ever run on the OS - yes, even compared to Crysis 3.

 

That is one thing that absolutely makes NO sense at all, as I have run older games (from EA and Maxis) with nary a quibble - what in Ned did Maxis get WRONG?

 

You might be in software rendering mode. If the game is only giving you the option to run in 800x600, your graphics card isn't recognized. If this is the case, follow this guide to make it work. http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=3666

[spaceelf]

It works on Windows 8.1 update 1 - even in x64 (I installed the game on it); however, I will admit that it is dog-slow; easily the slowest game I have ever run on the OS - yes, even compared to Crysis 3.

 

That is one thing that absolutely makes NO sense at all, as I have run older games (from EA and Maxis) with nary a quibble - what in Ned did Maxis get WRONG?

See above, I already found the fix for mine.

 

I don't really see playing much of this, but it was fun for a bit.

[Orange]

O nice! Sims 4 is out soon tho ;)

[PGHammer]

See above, I already found the fix for mine.

 

I don't really see playing much of this, but it was fun for a bit.

Once you fix the graphical errors, the game can be quite fun - however, it still loads dog-slow.

 

And the page WITH the fix has the problem narrowed down - the game predates a lot of modern GPUs (not just AMD and nVidia) - it also (of course) predates more modern Intel integrated GPUs, such as HD4xxx; my GTX550Ti - an old Fermi GPU itself - is NOT in the game's GPU database.  I understand why those of us with more modern GPUs are having problems as the game itself dates back to 2009; how old is nVidia Fermi, for example?

[spaceelf]

I couldn't tell you, other than having to turn Shadows to Medium it performs fine on my box with the 660.

[_dandy_]

Never been a fan of that Origin or Stream.  And given that EA's been known to drop support for old games, is there any way I can back up this 13GB download so it can be reinstalled elsewhere later without having to go through the download process all over again?

 

Meaning, it just dumped everything into the Program Files folder, and a bunch of other random locations, added crap to the registry, etc--so obviously it's not gonna be enough to just copy the content of the Program Files folder to reinstall on a clean machine (not that I was expecting any differently).

 

I do own the original game, and all the expansion packs (no Stuff pack though)...I was mostly interested in having a way to reinstall the game without having to swap 10+ CDs/DVDs.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Andrew G.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Never been a fan of that Origin or Stream.  And given that EA's been known to drop support for old games, is there any way I can back up this 13GB download so it can be reinstalled elsewhere later without having to go through the download process all over again?

 

Meaning, it just dumped everything into the Program Files folder, and a bunch of other random locations, added crap to the registry, etc--so obviously it's not gonna be enough to just copy the content of the Program Files folder to reinstall on a clean machine (not that I was expecting any differently).

 

I do own the original game, and all the expansion packs (no Stuff pack though)...I was mostly interested in having a way to reinstall the game without having to swap 10+ CDs/DVDs.

 

The reason EA released the Ultimate Collection was because older copies (i.e Double Deluxe) were no longer supported. Ultimate Collection will continue to receive support for now though and you'll still have access to the game/s even after support ends.

 

If you still want to backup the installer, you need this option checked in Origin:

 

[PGHammer]

I couldn't tell you, other than having to turn Shadows to Medium it performs fine on my box with the 660.

Medium?  With a GTX660?  That is Just Plain Wrong; I have a GTX550Ti - with half the RAM of the 660 and a smaller bandwidth memory bus besides, and my setting is still firewalled; also, unlike Sims 3 (or most later games), Sims 2 DOES use physical memory as virtualized VRAM - that trick is so old, it predates DX9 , and goes back to when GPUs still rode the AGP bus to play.

[_dandy_]

The reason EA released the Ultimate Collection was because older copies (i.e Double Deluxe) were no longer supported. Ultimate Collection will continue to receive support for now though and you'll still have access to the game/s even after support ends.

 

If you still want to backup the installer, you need this option checked in Origin:

 

Thanks for that.  Was not aware of it--I've only used Origin for a very short period of time a long time ago and it's long since been deleted.

 

Of course, since I didn't have the option checked when I downloaded it, the folder is currently empty...which means I'll have to re-download it if I want to hang on to the installer.

[spaceelf]

Medium?  With a GTX660?  That is Just Plain Wrong; I have a GTX550Ti - with half the RAM of the 660 and a smaller bandwidth memory bus besides, and my setting is still firewalled; also, unlike Sims 3 (or most later games), Sims 2 DOES use physical memory as virtualized VRAM - that trick is so old, it predates DX9 , and goes back to when GPUs still rode the AGP bus to play.

It gives me black squares under the characters instead of shadows with High shadows, which is apparently a long standing GPU driver bug.

 

To be honest I already uninstalled the game.  I don't need this.  I'll probably even uninstall 3 when 4 gets here.