There are three speeds (plus pause slow, fast and ultrafast. I rarely use slow. Instead I skip back and forth between pause and fast or ultrafast (giving each sim a list of things to do in pause, then switch to letting them do it).
Okay, so people do not play at normal speed. That's fair enough. I play for like 8 hours and make my sim marry to a woman who brings in $45,00o. That's rewarding to me. And I need a time-killer game right now. By the way, how do you save the game? I hit the floopy icon. I suppose it saves my game. Now I want to make a back up of my game on CD. Where is the saved game??
You probably have a folder icon called "my documents" on your desktop. In it, there ought to be a folder named "EA Games". That's what you backup to keep your neighbourhood safe.
Snail's pace I almost exclusively play in Normal Speed. Fast and Ultra-fast make my head spin (and the frame skipping looks downright horrible). I love watching my Sims lives and I feel I miss things when the game zips by. There are exceptions, but they are minor and usually involve long lists of queued tasks, work, school, or sleep.
I also play in normal speed. I too feel like I miss things when I see things in fast or ultra-fast. I don't think I could keep up with those speeds anyway. Sometimes I do go through fast mode or ultra fast, but I only do that when I need something to happen quickly or if someone is taking too long chopping up the onions.
I go back and forth between normal and ultra fast. I always keep my finger on the "p" key to pause it if something starts happening that I want to see and I am in ultra fast. I use ultra fast especially if there are only 1 or 2 sims and they are both sleeping or studying or some other boring task.
Actually, the ` key is right next to the one which is much closer to zero who is all the way near the end by the backspace. Unless you're talking about the numberpad, but I doubt it because the ` key isn't there.
This game pause key issue still bothers me. I mentioned as soon as the game came out and got no adequate response. The ` key won't work in my game. It clearly works on my keyboard ... look: ` ` ` ` [SHIFT] [CAPS LOCK] ```` [RIGHT ALT] so please don't gimme no BS about my keyboard being faulty. It is just within TS2 that the ` key will NOT pause the game whatever the state of the caps lock/other key combinations. I now wonder if it is a language/keyboard issue? UK keyboards are slightly different to US ones (the main differences being where the # and @ signs are plus having a sign for the time being ... ah the beautiful British pound ... sigh.
So annoying! Like when I'm daydreaming on 3 and a fire breaks out or something, and I jolt awake and pause it with P and my fingers all the way at the beginning of the numbers ... Maxis, you silly fool, my poor fingers cannot be expected trek across the keyboard every time something cocks up and I have to recuperate just because you have decided to teach us spelling! No! P.S. Mirelly, I am a Brit also (& unproud ... o British government, when will you learn, nobody likes an ageing stuck-up ex-imperial poodle), so evidence is mounting for your theory. One is zoomed-in normal speed to participate in their lives, which I do if I am in the right mood and/or something cute or picturesque is happening. I love seeing families sat round a table discussing things, or people playing with babies, or cooking salmon, or any of those mundane, domestic, monotonous things that make the Sims so maddeningly addictive; also interaction is often best played at one, especially if you are trying to win over a reluctant Sim (for friend/marriage/move in w/e purposes). Two is for if I have a fullish house and am skilling someone who is on the brink of a supper-s hit-shower-sleep cycle, things that require attention but not two much. Three is used for greenmood skilling, getting through supper-s hit-shower-sleep cycles that I can't be bothered to watch, school/work, that kind of thing. I am starting to use normal speed more though, pulling myself away from my TS1 habits and realising that TS2 is far fuller and less boring, and so does not need so much ultra-speed, which makes you miss some of the cute scenes etc that are more frequent with TS2.
Yeah, I was talking about the number pad... I'm right-handed. Although I hadn't thought about the fact that most of you will have your right hand on the mouse... (I'm disabled and use the mouse with my foot, right hand on the keyboard... I honestly forget sometimes that not everyone does it that way!)
I have arthritis in my hand , wrist and elbow (among other places) so it is easier for me to use the mouse generally. I forget that not all people use the mouse. I don't even know what keys on the keyboard control except for "p" and I only use that because if I keep the mouse over the pause button a little bubble comes up and I can't see the time.
Hey British players! You can enable the ` for pausing the game if you.... Control Panel >> Regional and Language Options >> Languages Tab >> Under Text services and input languages click the [Details] button In the section change the default input language to "English (United States) -US" In the lower section "Installed Services", check to see if English (United States) and Keyboard . US are installed. If not you will need to click the [Add] button and follow the instructions ... Note you may need your Windows disc. Finally check the settings by clicking the [Key Settings] button. Look for Hotkeys for Input languages --- you can set this up to suit yourself but I left it at left Alt + Shift. Proof! UK K'board asdfghjkl;'#!"$%^&*()_+ US K'board asdfghjkl;'\!@#$%^&*()_+ Once you have OK'd your way out you will have to reboot. Note that you can't change keyboards from inside the game! All the above applies to Win XP
