If there was a general Sims board I'd post there, but since there isn't, I'm asking the people who love Sims 2 and have played Sims 3. Is it possible to have Sims 2 style rotational play, businesses that aren't just rabbit holes, Sims with more expressive faces etc? I briefly owned Sims 3 until I found out every family was in its own save, so you couldn't play an entire hood. The blank faced Sims and rabbit holes weren't for me, either. But that was several years ago, before the availability of mods and expansions.

This to me should be in the Sims 3 forum and yes mods make sims 3 more playable and I don't remember whats it called but the mod can do a lot of things even let you play in rotation of all sims in the hood without losing progress that you did.

Found it and its called the "MasterController" http://nraas.wikispaces.com/MasterController along with the other mods there make Sims 3 more fun and playable.

While you can never truly recreate the Sims 2 experience in Sims 3, if you use a number of (by that I mean a lot of) mods you might be able to get some of the gameplay (rotational and business wise) you are looking for, but the sims themselves are just lifeless (just my personal opinion).

Honestly, you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you start out thinking about trying to play the Sims 3 as a Sims 2 game - they are completely different. If you want to play Sims 3, then play it for what it is...it's own iteration of the Sims.

When I played, all the mods I used were by Twallan/Nraas and his mods can be found http://nraas.wikispaces.com/. Please be aware that he retired from modding in 2014, so you cannot post on the board, but you can still download the mods. His mods were the only reason I even played as long as I did (June 2009 - late 2011 shortly after the Pets release).

Good luck and happy simming!



Edit: Didn't refresh to see Mark had posted as I was typing.



Maybe, they thought they would get more advice about Sims 2 playstyle in Sims 3 from posting in a section where people still play the Sims 2, but have some experience with the Sims 3 as well. If they had posted this in the Sims 3 section, someone would have just come along and told them to post it in the Sims 2 section.

I'm considering getting the game, and as I said, I want to hear from people who are prefer TS2 and who will probably better understand what I'm asking, not people who last played in 2009 because they were happy with the TS3 base game.

Thanks for the link, Marka.
ETA- PenelopeT, that's exactly why I asked here.



I guess I'll need to just stick with what I have. Thanks.

I love Sims 2 and 3, and currently play both. I know on the official Sims forums on the Sims 3 section there are people who play rotationally like Sims 2, and use a lot of mods to do it. I don't know what they are. I do play with mods (mostly Twallen's, some like overwatch make the game playable in general) but I play it like PenelopeT mentioned, as it's own iteration of The Sims. I play Sims 3 entirely different than I play Sims 2. Sims 3 I do just one family, as a legacy through the generations. Like I mentioned already though there are those that play Sims 2 rotationally with mods but you might have to ask on the official Sims forums which mods you'd need if you want to try that. Personally I just play which-ever one i'm in the mood for, I love them both but for different reasons.

It's up to you though if you think Sims 3 would be for you or not. Good luck

Thanks for the input. Today, EA released a trailer for a new Sims 4 EP that looks pretty good, so hopefully that'll revive TS4 for me, and that can be my alternate simming game.

To my knowledge, there aren't mods that can make TS3 function EXACTLY like TS2, but you sure can get close. Like others said, download overwatch to keep the game stable, master controller to give you, we'll control over sims, and then just go mod shopping. TS3 is different than 2 because of the whole rabbit hole situation, also the fact that they never truly implemented a way to run a business. Sure they released the savvy seller's collection which let you sell items, but it just wasn't the same. It lacked the depth that OFB had. On the other hand, 3 allows you to roam an open world, which in turn is an amazing feature. I have never understood why people say TS3 sims are lifeless and boring..? In my opinion, they're FULL of life! Maybe not a single much as TS2 but still. So with each game you're going to give and take certain core elements that make it a different generation of the game. I truly love 3, and it will always have a special place in my heart, but it's just such a shame that they "completed" the game iteration in that shape. So glitchy and laggy and slow. You really need a tank of a computer setup to pull that game along. That's one of the main reasons I play 2 instead...besides the fact that I only have enough GB on my boot camp for one full set of the games. For the most part, besides the subtle corruption issues, for a 12 year old game 2 runs better than 3. So if I had to give you advise, I would say if you're looking for a refresher, download new skins and hairs and CC for 2 and enjoy it for its self.

Oh, I still love Sims 2, as it is and was hoping for more of the same. Thanks to tumblr, I've seen some Sims 3 things that looked interesting, like the magician and some of the supernatural stuff. Those things won't hold my interest for long unless Sims 3 was given the depth that I thought it lacked before, so I figured I'd start this thread.

My Sims 2 game is out of control with mods, so I wouldn't want to download a ton of things, only to get sort of close to my preferred setup, on top of dealing with lagging and glitching. So thanks, everyone. You all saved me some time, money and, likely, frustration.

Default replacements for the eyes helped with my lifelessness issue I've had with 3.

I know a creator on here called Anni (I think) did a lot of work towards making sims 3 more sims 2 like. I have no idea to what extent. That does not change what I see as the fundamental problem and why I think most of us stuck with sims 2, is that the sims 3 sims have no soul. It was more than just the pudding, but how they moved, reacted and idled. You can't put soul into something with no soul.

I kind of have to echo @PenelopeT here. I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you try to make one game more like the other. Because, in the end, you'll never entirely succeed. I think each game should be enjoyed on its own merits, and I think that each is more enjoyable if you accept it on its own terms. In other words, I think it's more fun if you think of them as completely unrelated games and then find an enjoyable way to play each. I've always said, "Why modify TS3 to be like TS2 when I can just play TS2?"

I actually wish TS3 ran better on my Simming computer because I like some of the game's aspects (and its pretty scenery, although I'm not entirely fond of its "oversaturated watercolor" look) and I'd like to try to play a true legacy style game in it, something I've never really managed to do in TS2 because I get caught up in playing the whole neighborhood. I feel guilty about not playing spares and leaving them to rot in the Sim bin. So, I play them...and then I play THEIR kids...and suddenly I'm playing a BACC, as usual, not a legacy. With TS3, I wouldn't feel the "spare guilt" because they'd still be there, aging and having lives thanks to story progression and all. That's appealing to me. But, alas, TS3 doesn't really like my Simming computer, probably because it's an old machine. It crashes a lot and when I DO make an effort to play it seriously, I always end up with the save errors that I've never been able to solve (and I've tried every solution I can find online.) Mods may or may not help and uninstalling some EPs might help (My TS3 game is all EPs, but totally vanilla), but to date I haven't summoned the will to mess with it, partly because I know I'll be completely frustrated if I go to the effort and it STILL doesn't work.

I've also just recently bought Sims Medieval, and I'm having fun with it as a change of pace. I'm not really a "quest game" kind of person so it's not something that's going to have much "repeat play" value for me, and I think the quests are too directed and, frankly, too easy, but it's fun as something different. (My husband really likes it, but he DOES like quest games and "fantasy medieval," so I'm not surprised. ) But, again, I play it for what it is, without thinking about what it could have been and without trying to make it something that it isn't meant to be. I think it's a lot more enjoyable that way. I might even get its EP, if hubbo doesn't beat me to it. But of course, all of this is just my opinion.

I have to say that's the one sim game I actually found offensive - not disliked or hated - offensive. I was so angry with it, I uninstalled it and threw the disk away. I wouldn't even sell it on to someone else.

Some people like it though. Tastes vary I guess.

Why is that?

I found it limiting and got bored of it quickly, I didn't find it offensive though, what did I miss?

My daughter, the Medieval Studies student and the historically-accurate medieval TS2 player, hates it with a passion, too, and comes close to frothing at the mouth over it in her vitriol, so you're not alone, maxon.

I dunno. I can see why it would piss people off. It certainly is an insult to history, but it's obvious that it was never meant to accurately portray history. It's cartoony fantasy "medieval," same as, say, a Robin Hood movie. Or one of a billion fantasy-quest games you can play. In that sense, it's kind of unfortunate that they named it "medieval" because it really isn't. But, like I said, I take it for what it is and enjoy it well enough. I really like my blacksmith dude. He's the only one I married off and he has five kids already. (Kinda disappointing that the kids never become adults.)

I never took it as an accurate portrayal of history, it is after all only a game and one made by EA at that.

I played a bit of it as my monarch and mostly put random people in stocks.

Then I played as a priest and had him woohoo half his congregation.

I'm not sure this is what I'm supposed to do.

Sims Medieval was a huge disappointment. They should have just added a medieval EP to Sims 2. I played it for a week then got bored and never touched it again.

I think sims 4 is worse. At least TS3 has toddlers, nice scenery and some fun things to do like diving and tomb raiding.

I actually enjoyed The Sims-Medieval - up to a point. Unfortunately, most of my medieval sims ended up in the pit. Especially the ones I liked best.

Sims 3 - so damn boring. I just cannot play with a single family. (The sims - I actually liked one or two of them, but they died quite soon).

The Sims 4 - very pretty, so pretty it can make you sick. The Sims are rather likable, though, and a lot more charming than the Sims 3 Sims - I might have liked Sims 4 if there were toddlers instead of those ridiculous emotions. Sometimes I feel guilty for not playing it, since it was a gift. (But not guilty enough).

Well, that's a comfort. The event that caused me to rage quit and uninstall went like this:

I'd bought the game and had been trying it for a while. I'd made a queen, a blacksmith(ess), a wizard and a couple of other things. There were things I was finding grindingly dull and was thinking 'this is bad' every other minute - you know the 'let's go and get stuff from the woods/village/cave/location of your their choice' and then your sim disappearing for half a minute, coming back and then a text panel telling you what they did, the 'no you can't build your own castle stuff' and the 'you mean my sim has to walk all the way across the map again along these boring green lanes just so they can disappear for half a minute again while they buy something from the shop, ffs?' stuff*.

Then I thought, 'y'know this game play is crap and I'm not getting anything out of it. I want to stop.' Then I decided instead of sending whichever character I was playing off across the map again so I could sit and stare at the screen for 30 seconds again while they went into the cave and fought the bear (as the panel helpfully told me afterwards), 'well, it might be dull and poor gameplay but it sure does look nice. The graphics are lovely for a sims game. I know, instead of grinding away collecting stuff, let's take the sim on a tour around the place and have a look at things'. So I did that for a bit and then got a pop up message saying I was being punlished (deducted points or something) for not getting on with my next objective. That's what I found offensive. I was so angry that I immediately quit and uninstalled. I was FUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFU. Crappy game. Ugh.

*Not to mention your queen might produce an heir and a spare but if she had an affair with the Spanish ambassador and got pregnant (no birth control), your eldest kid disappeared on the birth of its sibling. No age progression, no real sense of a developing locale, not much else to recommend it. God it was bad.

Thanks for refreshing my memory, yep it was all that stuff and the rabbit holes that got me. For a wandering around game I don't think you can beat Skyrim.

As base games go, Sims 3 is worse than all the others, to me. Sims 4 Sims have a modicum of charm. Sims 3 is filled with creepy robotic things who all have the same face. The scenery added in some of the other packs is incredible, though, and some of the objects look really fun, too.

My happiness with TSM arises from the fact that I went in with very low expectations and ended up being pleasantly surprised. The only pang I have is that I have recently been introduced to Skyrim...and well, I have no words to describe how expansive and beautiful I find Skyrim to be. :lovestruc It is difficult to go back to TSM, because I am more inclined to recreate my TSM sims as characters in Skyrim where I am free to adventure more fully with them. What I find interesting is that one of three expansions for Skyrim, Hearthfire, would benefit from the Sims Medieval in regards to decorating and even, to an extent, family life. Ah, what could have been! :lovestruc

I don't think one is supposed to go back to TSM