SC4 and The Sims 2

[CrazyLoo 0]

I recently re-acquired SC4 with the idea of making a map using SC4 then importing it to Sims 2 to make my own neighbourhoods. I've read that it can be done, but i haven't put it into practice yet (been too caught up in just playing SC4!!). Has anyone else tried this before? If so, do you have any recommendations? eg best size to use (i used a small map for my first design, but wondered if bigger maps would work too)
CrazyLoo xxx

[Korot 6]

Please take not that what you important into Sims2 are individual cities, not large regions.* That being said, I have never done it before, so I can't really help you with it.

*) I base that on the fact that Sims2 neighbourhood filenames end with .SC4, which is the same extension used on individual SC4 cities, but not for whole regions

Regards,

Korot

[Mootilda 76]

You can only import small cities into TS2. Only some things will transfer over: terrain, standard roads, some bridges, some trees.

Once you have the city created in SC4, copy the SC4 file to your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\SC4Terrains folder. The next time that you create a new neighborhood, your new terrain should show up as one of the terrain options.

It's best to create several pictures to go with your terrain; otherwise, you will just see a standard grid pattern in the terrain selection dialog and it can be difficult to find the correct terrain. The picture must be named the same as your SC4 file, but with a suffix describing the type of terrain. For example, Alpinloch.sc4 has pictures named Alpinloch.png, Alpinloch_concrete.png, Alpinloch_desert.png, Alpinloch_dirt.png, and Alpinloch_lush.png. If you want to understand the format, just look at your existing SC4Terrains folder.

You may find this useful:

http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorials:A_quick_guide_to_create_your_neighbourhood

One other thing: when the terrain is imported into TS2, it will be flipped.  Annoying, but that's how they decided to do it.  You might want to put in a couple of placeholders (like hills, water, or roads) and then import it into a temporary TS2 neighborhood to get a feel for the resulting orientation, before you spend a lot of time on something.

[The Bluejay 40]

Could you use a Sims2 Terrain in SC4 as a small city?

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Theoretically yes.

Interestingly, I got SC4 so I could make my own Sims 2 maps!

[Mootilda 76]

Originally posted by: The Bluejay

Could you use a Sims2 Terrain in SC4 as a small city?quote>

If you have the Sims 2 terrain as an SC4 file, then you can import it into SC4 without any problem.  In fact, this is my recommended method for adding new roads to an existing TS2 neighborhood.

However, if you do not have the TS2 terrain as an SC4 file, then there is currently no way to export it in a format which is recognized by SC4.

[CrazyLoo 0]

Thankyou so much for all your help guys!!

CrazyLoo xxx

[CrazyLoo 0]

Hello again!! I've followed the info you guys gave, and for the most part, it worked a treat. My main Sims2 map (called Sim City!) came through as it was supposed to, lots of trees, all the roads in the right places. "Hoorah!" I thought, and went to make some more - I made 2 holiday maps, a downtown map and a shopping district (forgot about a campus in my excitement!). Did the same thing as i had done with my main map, and loaded up Sims 2 to associate them. Once i'd finished, i found that all these other maps had big gaps taken out of the roads. The straights were all there, but any corners or junctions had been removed, along with deveral sections of road in each direction. Any thoughts on what i may have done wrong? I think i may have used 'streets' in one of the maps, not 'roads', but the ones with proper roads should have been fine. Please help! CrazyLoo xxx

[Mootilda 76]

Were you using non-Maxis roads? TS2 will only recognize Maxis roads, and only some of those.

[Sam 163]

You also can't use diagonals, and only bridges that shipped with SC4 vanilla will work (not rush hour or custom). I'd suggest removing all mods from both your plugins folders, then making your map, being careful to avoid Rush Hour specific content.

I've made quite a few maps for Sims 2 with SC 4 and you have to be really careful. In particular, don't lay roads close to the edges. And by close I mean not within 25% of the width of the map on both sides, ie there is only about a quarter of the map right in the middle you can build on, everything closer to the edge gets wiped out to build the background scenery.