You’ve installed your games and are raring to go, but you’d like a little more personality. You hear that downloads and custom content can turn your Sims 2 game into pretty much anything you want it to be, how amazing?! So magical! There’s some things you should do first if you want to protect your game, computer and sanity, though.. So STOP! Read this before downloading anything!

Backup

Backup everything you already have! If you’ve only just downloaded your games you can realistically skip this step, as you’re able to uninstall and re-download everything to start a fresh, anyway! This is a must do particularly for those who’ve been already playing some time, those who don’t wish to lose all of their favourite Sim families!

It doesn’t take long, if you have a memory card or external hard drive you can simply drag and drop it all into there and the job is done. If that isn’t an option then make a space within your computer to pop in an extra copy of everything. Do remember this is going to take up a lot of additional space however. If you do have access to a hard drive or memory card they’d definitely be a better idea all round.

Backing up your game is so important because when you start to install custom content to your game you just don’t know what could go wrong. You may install a mod that conflicts with another mod or the content may have a pesky virus attached to it.. You can of course do things to increase the chance of only downloading safe content, such as…

Read up about downloading

If you’re a novice then I’d definitely read up a little about it all first. There’s different file types, mods, typical custom content.. Do you know how to extract files onto your computer and in the right place? What do you do with a package file, where does it go? What the heck is a Sims2pack file? It might seem like a lot to take in, but it’s all fairly straight forward. Give it a quick once over, put it into practice by downloading a few cool things and you’ll then be off like the wind, bullseye!

You could also acquaint yourself with trusted downloading sites. Many, such as Mod The Sims and The Sims Resource host a multitude of artists and modders. Many of these are featured and so may be a little more trusted within the community. Usually the amount of downloads will speak for themselves, too. Others may have their own websites. This is likely a good sign, especially when the site is ‘clean’, easy to navigate and updated regularly. If a website doesn’t seem 100% safe then it’s always best to tread carefully or steer clear all together because the last thing you want is to wreck your game, or worse still, your whole computer. Speaking of which…

Protect yourself against viruses!

Ensure you have a virus checker and that it’s kept up to date. It will help detect any viruses if they attempt an attack and can help you to remove them if you already have some lying around. Of course even the best of virus protection may never keep you 100% safe but they tend to do the job pretty well, usually. It’s definitely better to be safe than sorry.

Create your downloads folder.

Now that you’ve considered all of the above it’s time to get cracking, my friend! Typically you’ll start off without a downloads folder, especially if you’re playing the Ultimate Collection version (Origin released all of the Sims 2 expansions and stuff packs a few years ago for nothing, cool huh?). This doesn’t need to be a headache, simply follow the quick and easy instructions below..

Documents > EA Games > The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection. Is there a Downloads folder? No? Then add one in. Simply create a new folder and name it Downloads – it HAS to have the caps lock on the D to work. If you have any trouble with getting your downloads to work you may need to check in game, look at your games general settings and ensure that custom content is enabled. You may also get a pop up before selecting a town – check the box that enables custom content and you’re good to go!

Even easier – open up Body Shop for the first time, this will create the folder for you automatically.

Install CEP!

CEP is the (Colour Enable Package), this is by Numenor and can be found at Mod The Sims, along with easy to follow instructions for download. If you have any trouble with installation and can’t find a way out online (you should be able to, there’s tonnes online and the read me file is a piece of cake) then feel free to drop me a message and I’ll try to help!

What is the CEP? Well, this is a lovely little creation that enables Maxis creations to be recoloured. SO MANY downloads out there are Maxis recolours and you’ll NEED to have the CEP installed in order for them to show up in your game. It’s pretty much a given that most if not all Sims 2 custom content users already have this, and so many artists fail to state if the CEP is needed or not in order to use their creations. Due to this it’s honestly so much easier to simply start out your downloading journey with this little gem. It’ll save you so much hassle when painstakingly searching through your game for something you knew you downloaded yet appears to be invisible! I’ve experienced this myself and it’s not fun.

I hope this helps you to get set on a beautiful and lengthy downloading journey. I wish you all the happiness with your new found content freedom. There’s so many downloads out there just waiting to enhance your game! I’d love to know what was the most helpful point in this post, why not leave me a comment below?

Ready to install some game mods? Check out my favourites here.