1.0.631.00002 is for the DVD/RZR release.
1.0.631.00107 is for the Digital Download release of the game.

The no car animation thing bothered me at first, then I started thinking about it, and for car creators this could be a good thing. With no animations, will that not make it a bit easier for them to put new cars into the game, since they don't have to deal with all the extra animations that TS2 had?

Did some more checking and there are actually multiple patches.

http://na.llnet.eadownloads.ea.com/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/sims3_sku1_update_manifest.xml - 1.0.631.00001
http://na.llnet.eadownloads.ea.com/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/sims3_sku2_update_manifest.xml - 1.0.631.00002
http://na.llnet.eadownloads.ea.com/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/sims3_sku3_update_manifest.xml - 1.0.631.00003
http://na.llnet.eadownloads.ea.com/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/sims3_sku5_update_manifest.xml - 1.0.631.00005
http://na.llnet.eadownloads.ea.com/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/sims3_sku7_update_manifest.xml - 1.0.631.00107

depending on your region.

If you look at the 2nd line of each page you will see this...

<patchTarget TargetContentId="sims3_dd">  for version # 1.0.631.00107
<patchTarget TargetContentId="sims3_sku2"> for version # 1.0.631.00002

for sim3_sku7 i'm pretty sure sims3_dd refers to the Digital Download version, the other patches are for different regions.

If you look at the rest of the lines on the pages, you will see the different codes for each region.

Hope this helps to end the version # confusion....  I think this is right.

Digital Download is version # 1.0.631.00107 and the patch for it is Sims3_1.0.632.00107_from_1.0.631.00107.exe

DVD is version # 1.0.631.00002 and the patch for it is Sims3_1.0.632.00002_from_1.0.631.00002.exe

When in the neighborhood view map. at the bottom is the filter panel. If you select "Home and Work"  It shows home, workplace, and appears to also show the location of any current opportunities.

After 9 long years (since Sims 1) Sims can FINALLY watch tv from any angle.    This has always been one thing that irritated me .

I don't know the person, personally. Melly_Sim over at MTS2 did a recreation of all the sims 1 lots for sims 2. He/She also did that template as a request by someone.  I can't point you to the original post because all of Melly_Sim's files have been pulled with no explanation.  I would guess it was probably the pleasantview.sc4 that came with Sims 2 run through SimCity4 to put the roads in the right place.

Here is the sc4 file for the Pleasantview template.

http://rapidshare.com/files/100168794/OriginalPleasantview.rar.html

Mootilda, if it's just a case of wanting a proper template for pleasantview, I have a template that was made by Melly_Sim over at MTS2 quite along time ago.  She has since pulled all her files from there, but I still have the file if you want a copy of it.

Kyna, I'll take a look at the families etc for that hood, but it sounds like it might be more work then it's worth.

I downloaded it myself, but haven't had the time to fully check it out yet.  Hopefully its not too much work to repair. It does look like it could be an interesting neigborhood to play.

The pleasantview.sc4 terrain that came with sims 2 is in fact the original terrain for Riverside.  That is the neighborhood that Maxis created during development of the Sms 2 base game.  It's the neighborhood you see in the early development videos and trailers for the game.

Some references 

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/thesims2/images.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs%3Bimages&page=21
Near the bottom you will see early screenshots of the Riverside neighborhood, dated December 2003.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/thesims2/media.html?mode=trailers&page=1
Also from Gamespot. If you watch "The Sims 2 Official Trailer 6" you will see a flyby of the original Riverside. Also dated December 2003.

http://www.freewebs.com/thsms204/index.htm
This person has done a recreation of the original Riverside neighborhood. In the Riverside Information section at this site, he mentions he was surprised to discover that the hood template needed for Riverside was the Pleasantview template included with the game.

Could time be saved by just going ahead and replacing those 8 resources and skip the comparing step? Most of the objects I need to update are all pre seasons objects anyways, so could I not just assume all 8 would need replacing anyways?.

The fierce gargoyle is a wall hanging that came with Sims 2 Pets.  It's in the wall hangings category, near the end ($4,500).   Except for 2 Lifestories objects,  all of the Lifestories and Petstories downloads available from sims.yahoo.com are all in the full Sims 2 and Expansions .  In the Lifestories download section, the painting and the floorlamp are exclusive to Lifestories.

I'm not sure if i'm just doing something wrong, but I can't seem to get bodyshop to run in either fullscreen and/or 1024x768. As far as I know its -f -r1024x768 in the target line of the shortcut, but this doesn't seem to be working at all. I have all the expansions and stuff packs up to Teen Style stuff.  Help please.

When I first heard about the complaints about choppy and lagging gameplay in Bon Voyage, the first thing I thought of was Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.  When Atari released the Wild expansion for this game, they used Securom 7, and there was a huge issue with framerates at night in the game (FPS would drop to almost nothing).  It was an issue with the securom 7 and they released a patch to fix the problem.

-- 2nd message in the thread -- Re: RCT3: Wild! Patch #1 Released -- http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=514212

I wonder if this is the same thing happening with Bon Voyage?

Do we grab the anitredundancy file that is in the BV\test directory?  Or is there a special file you have to fix this?

I've been building a hotel lot in a custom BV hood, and while playtesting it, I discovered that the "buy" option has been disable on clothing racks when they are placed on lodging/hotel lots.  The "buy" option is there when they are placed on community lots, just not on lodging/hotel lots.  I loaded up the 3 hoods that came with BV and looked at all the pre-built hotels that came with BV, and i've noticed that none of them have clothing racks on the hotel lots.  I think for some reason EA has decided to disable the "buy" option only for lodging/hotel lots.

The pre-built BV Inn that came with Bon Voyage has a 1 simoleon rating. It's 1000$ a day to stay.  Sounds like a very expensive date/fling to me LOL

Can someone explain what goes through the minds of EA developers when they do stuff like this...

After reading akatonbo's post about what the prima guide said, I decided to put a hotel in the main hood.  I thought the prima guide info might explain why the travel options were the way they were.  Well guess what, hotels in the main hood or non-BV sub hoods are pretty much useless.  They don't show up as destinations when booking a vacation (no big deal). You visit the hotel like you would any other comm lot.  When you get there you can reserve a room and then check in.  But you can't leave the lot.  The new "Walk to..." is disabled.  If you "Call Taxi" on the phone you are told "If you leave you will be checked out of the hotel and will have to pay your bill".  Once you check in to a hotel in the main hood, you can't stay there and visit other comm lots. You are stuck at the hotel until you check out.


Edit:  Considering my recent experience with Bon Voyage, it's possible i'm missing something completly obvious about how hotels should work in the main hood. So please correct me if i'm wrong. LOL

I feel like a complete idiot, so feel free to poke me with any large sticks you may have handy.

When your at a community lot and want to go back to your hotel, you "Call Taxi" or "Walk to...", you then get two options.  Community Lot or Home.  When I saw Home, I mistakenly assumed it meant ending your vacation and going back to your house in the main hood.  So from the start i've been selecting Community Lot.  It lists all the community lots in the hood, including your hotel with a bed symbol beside it.  That's why lot times between the hotel and comm lots weren't being synchronized.  I finally tried clicking on Home instead and when I got back to the hotel, the lot times were synchronized.

I think this could still be considered an issue though.  If you go back to your hotel by the Community lot option instead of the Home option, lot time isn't synchronized properly and you can get hit with the double payments etc, and there is no warning at all about this.

That is actually the one thing that is really bugging me.

I could swear after installing seasons when it came out, going to a community lot with a sim, and when that sim went back home, the time on the home lot was sychronized with the comm lot. I remember being surprised by it.   But as I was writing this reply, something occured to me.  Sims Pet Stories does synchronize comm/home lot times.  And i'm wondering now if thats what I am remembering.

Downloads is empty,  when I install a new expansion pack, I always move my current sims 2 folder, and let the game generate a new/clean sims 2 folder.

Is there anything in the directors cut (or any hack) that would synch time on lots with no player input and thats why its not working now, because I don't have the hacks in?


I've checked the bill and I am being charged extra. But I think I will go back and double check, just to make sure.

First I should say i'm running Bon Voyage with no custom content.

There seems to be a bit of confusion about what the problem is.   This is how it's working on my game.

I have a family checked in to a hotel. It's 9 am in the morning. I send the family to a community lot, when they arrive at the community lot they stay for the day. 

When it's 6 pm at the community lot, I send them back to the hotel. 

When they arrive back at the hotel, as soon as they appear on the lot, I get a message saying "Checkout time passed while you were away from the hotel, 800$ has been added to your bill".  This is correct and working properly.  I've gone past the 12 noon checkout and i'm being charged for another day stay.

The problem is. the time at the hotel is still 9 am, the same time as when they left.  I keep the family on the hotel lot.  At 11 am I get a message saying its time to checkout, if I stay past noon, 1 day stay will be added to my bill. At 12 noon I get a message saying "Thanks for staying. Another 800$ has been added to your bill". I've been charged a second time for the same day's stay.

The way it's supposed to be, and the way it seems to be working for everyone except me LOL is this.

When I leave the community lot at 6 pm,  when I get back to the hotel, I get the message saying "Checkout time passed while you were away from the hotel, 800$ has been added to your bill" like i'm supposed to, but the hotel time should be 6 pm, the same time when I left the community lot.  This way the 12 noon checkout is not passing by again and i'm not being double billed for the day.

I've already tried uninstalling Bon Voyage, H&M Stuff, Celebration, and Seasons. I then reinstalled Seasons, then Bon Voyage. And i'm still getting the problem of the lot time not synching.  So i'm going to uninstall the whole thing and reinstall everything from the beginning again and hopefully things will work then.   I've never had problems with sims or sims 2 in the past, this is the first time i've ever had serious gameplay issues. So i'm very frustrated at the moment.   I do appreciate and thank everyone for all the input you've given so far.

I or my game is having some sort of psychotic episode...   Has community lot/home time always been synchronized in Sims 2, or is there a particular expansion when time synchronization started?  The reason I ask, is I now seem to recall when seasons came out that one of the first things I noticed was that lot time was now synchronized.  I've just tried a family in a main hood, and time isn't synched there either.  But I do know at one point it was.  So it looks like i will be reinstalling sims 2, because I think something is definitly fubared.

This just gets worse and worse. LOL

I played a different family,  booked a vacation at Three Lakes.   Checked in at the campgrounds Monday 10am. I spent the night and decided to checkout and try a hotel.  I checked out of the campground Tuesday 1pm. At this point two 12 noon checkouts have passed, but camping is free, so there has been no charge.   

Went to the Three Lakes Cabins. As soon as I finished the final check'in.  I recieved the message "Checkout time passed while you were away from the hotel, 475$ has been added to your bill".... Not once, but twice. So in the end I was charged the normal 475$ for checking into the hotel, plus 475$ twice for the 2 noon checkouts that passed at the campgrounds that were supposedly free

If you go from the hotel to the community lot after 12 noon, and don't stay at the community lot past 12 midnight, things are fine. This gives you aproximately 11 hours game time on any community lot.  You can then return to the hotel, time would be back at the start time, and you could then go off to another community lot for another 11 hours.  You could repeat this over and over and take advantage of the time issue and stay on vacation indefinitly.