Celebration! Stuff Hey guys, what's up ? Me and my mother just arrived home now, and on our way to the supermarket I decided to go to the Mall first to see if TS2 Celebration! Stuff was already available. It was, and it surprised me, because yesterday I also went to the mall and the game wasn't there yet. Now a little thing puzzles me. I installed it, and when trying to run the game, it told me that I was loading the wrong TS2 version and that I should run "seasons". What puzzles me is: Does this mean celebration must be installed BEFORE seasons ? I know a lot of people install the TS2 packs in any order, but I prefer to install them in order. Since Family Fun and Glamour Life CDs both run when they're the last ones installed, this celebration warning screen really puzzled me about which should be the order of the installation process. I'll take this opportunity to also ask if most of you who own the "happy holiday stuff pack", the only stuff pack, at least assuming that celebration! is not the same case (but it told me to load seasons, so I don't know), that does not run the game or presents its logo in the main hood selection menu, do you install the happy holiday stuff between pets and seasons ? I do, because it was released here in Brazil just after Pets. So I want to know if I'm right about this too, hehehe . Byes !!!
I think they may have changed the policy since since FFS. After a stuff pack is half the price of full EP so I suspect that if you have Seasons you will continue to need the Seasons dics to run the game.
Ok Mirelly, thanks. But regarding the installation process, does it also suffer any changes or need any changes because of this change of policy ? Is it: 1- TS2 DVD edition, University, Nightlife, OFB, FFS, Glamour, Pets, HHS, Seasons and Celebration ? or 2- TS2 DVD edition, University, Nightlife, OFB, FFS, Glamour, Pets, HHS, Celebration and Seasons ? Thanks !!!
Hmmm, I was just reading the manual now, and it says that, after installation of the celebration stuff, if you have pets or a posterior EP installed, the game will have to be load with pets or seasons (or the latest in a near future). It also says that the game will run with the celebration! CD only if you have everything up until Glamour. So, does that mean: TS2 DVD edition, HHS, University, Nightlife, OFB, FFS, Glamour, Celebration, Pets, Seasons ? Note that I also changed the HHS slot in the installation process because I think this one is irrelevant, since this CD will never be use to load the game no matter in which "slot" of the process he is installed. I think this is important to know for future reinstallations, but also if a patch for celebration is released. Maxis say that you don't have to install every patch because any new versions of the game or the most recent patch for any of them corrects all the previous ones (but I install all patches anyway). So, if you install celebration after glamour, then apply the patch for celebration (supposing it was already there), only then installing pets and seasons and their patches, will this result in a buggy game ? (because the Celebration patch will be newest than the seasons patch). So I really think this is important to know, the order to install each pack. Now with celebration, Maxis really messed up these questions about the order to install things. Geez. See ya !!!
I am not being critical, Jill, but I really think you are over-obsessing. The order isn't utterly important. What is important is that you have fun playing the game. If you really want to be "tidy" then by all means resitruct yourself to installing in exact order of release which would bump Celebrations up to after Seasons. I still haven't bought Glamour and will probably add both Glam and Celeb at the same time. I never bought FFS and wouldn't have it as a gift.
Well, the whole reason for this thread I posted is because I read these some time ago: I think it's important to know things like this. But regarding celebration, I did some tests here just now, and I think you can install it both before or after seasons, it really seems it don't matter. Now regarding pets, I would advise you install celebration after pets, never before. The manual does say the game will run with celebration CD if installed after glamour, therefore "before pets", but at least here for me the game did not run this way, and the CD is mint clean. Plus, after you install pets, it updates this with the pets patch, but the patch is localized, not universal like the one of thesims2.com, so if anyone likes to use the internet versions of the pets patch (being of thesims2.com or a localized ts2website that you download stuff), then install celebration after you install pets and its patch. I think the "before or after" seasons is irrelevant, though I don't know how that will be if a celebration patch ever comes available, because I think that if you install celebration first before seasons, then the seasons patch, then if Maxis do release a patch for this new stuff pack, I don't know if it will show the message "you have a newer expansion" or not. If it does not show, it is concerning too, because it will mean that if you installed seasons after celebration, then you installed a pack that contains older file versions. I don't know if this is the case, but Maxis does claim that "a new pack updates all the previous ones, so you don't have to install all the patches". And that's why I don't really know if celebration must be installed before or after seasons despite the fact that it was released after seasons. And I can't find out why it did not ran the game when I installed everything with it but pets, following the manual.
That's what I said. It's not utterly important. The game should be able to cope and if it doesn't, well you have lost nothing, because you still have the option to reinstall in the "correct" order. Faced with the choice of uninstalling everything and then starting over from scratch or installing an out of sequence EP or stuff pack I'd go for the out of sequence option first. If a reinstall is needed it's best to wait until it is really needed (cos the game has broken utterly). And anyway we're talking about stuff packs not EPs. Stuff pack only add content with alterations to game code being minimal to non-existent. (Adding new items to a few pie-menus and a few new objects with new interactions & animations associated with those objects don't make an EP. By definition an EP is an expansion on the previous game requiring a wholesale makeover of the saved game format (because the EP adds new features such as YA stage and extra wants slots for University, or the dating and social groups of NL, or yada yada yada blah blah blah). A tray of santa cookies or a new barbeque grill don't make an EP and a stuff pack should be addable to the game as safely as any other custom content. FFS was badly bugged on its release and I was rudely vocifierous about its shortcomings at the time. It many many players (kids especially) easter holiday because Maxis has shut up shop for a vacation and it was left to some geeks at MTS2 to put out a 3rd party unofficial fix over the Esater weekend. This was because Maxis made FFS a mini EP. The disc was needed to run the game and they couldn't have tested all the changes as thoroughly as they ought ... the debacle of its shameful debut is proof enough of that. Since then it appears that EA has come to the conclusion that kids are going out and buying stuff packs and then selling their last EP on ebay. (It's the conclusion I would come to, if was an impoverished kid with limited pocket money and a shiny copy of a 8 week old game disc that (with luck) I might never need again. With stuff packs being so (relatively) cheap to buy new, they are hardly worth selling, used, on ebay because by the time you factor in postage and sellers and paypal premiums it's hardly worth the effort for the return. Like I said. I'm not being critical, Jill. You're free to manage your computer's software installation in your own way. But part of me is wondering if the nejoyment you get comes more from a nice tidy installation than from actually playing. Hope you don't mind my teasing.
No Mirelly, I don't mind. And I have to apologize for the confusion I created maybe not just for myself, but for people in here, about "the order to install things" and the "possible celebration patch if released, will it work best if celebration is installed before or after seasons ?". I know I was thinking way ahead, because there's not even a patch yet, but that's me. I like to be prepared hehe. These two doubts popped up in my mind today, really, but now I've figured it out it's all EA's fault. Why do I say this ? Like I said, I did setup tests today the entire afternoon (I'm really tired uninstalling, cleaning winregistry, reinstalling, etc..., but to help myself and a community I'm in, I don't mind), testing different orders of installation for the whole collection. So, as I reported, the celebration manual says that the game will have to be load with celebration! CD if the player has everything installed but pets and seasons. So I installed everything up until glamour, and after glamour I installed celebration and the game did not load. I reported this here in the previous post. Now to satisfy my curiosity, I unistalled everything again, then I installed only the original + celebration, and nothing else. So guess what, the game does not load either. Wild guess ? All I can think about is that EA Brazil messed up with the original disc that is supplied to them to make the national copies. I don't really know if the CD loads or not for you guys overseas (without pets or seasons of course), but if it does, then EA Brazil did messed up with the disc. Even with just the original game installed, the end of celebration setup (brazilian version) presents only two options, "readme" and "exit". So there's no "run TS2 Celebration", even in this situation of just installing it after the original. So of course trying to run it after the setup is closed by double clicking the icon does not work also, and it keeps asking for the CD like it was not already in the drive. So all I can think off is that EA Brazil manufactured the CD differently than what it should be, and this CD is manufactured then just like HHS, which also does not load anything (but in the case of HHS, it's normal to have been manufactured this way, as it does not even have a serial number to install). Since FFS and Glamour Life both load the game, celebration, which has a serial to install (so, different than HHS), not loading, puzzled me from the start. So, my apologies. The problem was always because of the way the Brazilian CD was manufactured after all. And as for the order to install, yes, no mysteries. Install it just after seasons, and update the bodyshop link to the celebration path, because the version is updated. But the order to install things is important, because you do prevent glitches. So stick with the releases' chronology. And then if a celebration patch is released, I think the developers will make a patch taking into consideration that this patch only updates celebration, not messing up the seasons files. Or they could release a seasons patch 2, which will update both if you have both installed. Anyway they'll have to remember that seasons is the one that needs to be loaded, but it is already patched, so, or they patch only celebration, or they re-release the seasons patch which will update both, and the patch has to be "smart" enough to know that the celebration was the last installed, but seasons the one that's used to load, so none of them gets messed up. Let's wait and see if this patch and this issue will come up. See ya !!!
Grrrr... All the time I lost yesterday to test things... I'm a little angry at myself today... GRRRR.. hehehe . See the thumb ? If someone do have glitches or any bugs because the game wasn't installed in the supposed "correct order", all you gotta do is edit this registry key. See the picture. The correct order until celebration for this regkey is: Sims2EP1.exe,Sims2EP2.exe,Sims2EP3.exe,Sims2SP1.exe,Sims2SP2.exe,Sims2EP4.exe,Sims2EP5.exe,Sims2SP4.exe For the multilanguage trick I taught in yet another thread, if someone, who does not live in USA or UK, but wants to play the game in english (if you have a multilanguage version of TS2), the regkey to be edited is not the one from seasons anymore. Seasons is required to load the game, but to change the language, you have to edit the regs of the last EXE listed in the regkey line listed above. Cheers everybody. Now it's racing time hehehe. F-1 is almost up. Bye byes !!!
OK Now I haveCelebration! Stuff, I have some input on this. It appears (heck, it's more than appears) that both Celebration! and Glamour Life make substantial (mini expansion-pack) changes to your game. If you don't have all the previous Expansion Packs then getting one of these Stuff packs will add playability options to your game. Glamour specifically mentions adding the romance/chemistry and influence elements that originally shipped with NL and Uni, respectively. I'm not usre but Celeb probably does as well. In addition the Celebration? Stuff manual clearly states that gamers with Pets or Seasons will need to launch the game with the original Pets or Seasons launcher and that the Celebration! Stuff desktop and Start Menu items created by the CS installer will not work (They are installed solely for the benefit of starting games that are expanded beyond Nightlife. Frankly this seems a bit naughty and lazy of EA who are charging serious cash for a mere 60 items. One would've thought that a minute amount of extra geek time could have added a sub-routine to the installer to cover all the relevant permutations of game extensions ... there can hardly be shortage of space on a 670MB disc
