Game Help:Gameplay Guides

• For more guides to gameplay aspects related to specific expansions, see: Game Help:Expansion Packs.

Gameplay ... Information that will be helpful in the various aspects of playing Sims 2.

General

Adoption Adopting children has never been so easy!

Careers and Jobs A guide to excelling in the workplace, and all the job levels and stuff.

Death All the ways to die, ghost colours depending on method of death, etc.

Keyboard Shortcuts A list of keyboard shortcuts you can use in the game.

Parties Throw a tremendous bash that has everyone in the neighborhood talking for weeks!

Picture Taking & Movie Making Provides detail explanations on how pictures & movies through the game are created & how to use them to your advantage.

Playing Your Own Music Want your sims' radios to play your music rather than theirs?

Pregnancy What to expect when you're expecting a sim baby.

Private School How to schmooze with the headmaster like a pro.

Cheats

Cheats A list of the game's cheats, with instructions and descriptions on how to use them.

Cheat Box Won't Appear What to do if you can't get the cheat box to show up.

Disable Censor Blur How to get rid of the blurred pixellation when sims are nude or using the toilet.

Inviting More Sims to Parties How to invite more sims to parties than the game lets you.

Testing Cheats Information on the game's testing cheats (aka boolProp).

Userstartup.cheat How to automatically enable cheats so you don't have to type them each time you play, and shorten them so you don't have to type so much.

Bugs, Glitches, And Corruption

Avoiding Hood Corruption How to avoid accidentally corrupting the game.

Deleting Neighborhoods How to remove a neighborhood from your game.

Extract In-Game Sim How to export a sim born in-game or made in Create a Sim so you can remake them or share them with others.

Moving Sims How to move sims from one neighborhood to another the right way, so you don't break your game.

Sims, Characters, And Non-Playable Characters (NPCs)

Aliens Everything you ever wanted to know about little green men from outer space.

Babies Well, the bun's out of the oven... what do you do now?

Babies and Children Direct links to all our guides on breeding and raising kids in Sims 2.

Children Making the most of a fun time in a young sim's life.

Issues Regarding NPCs Which ones are safe to play with? And which ones will break your game?

Teens All about rearing rebellious teenage sims.

Toddlers Potty training, learning to walk, playing in the toilet, and more.

The Nanny How to deal with the old lady who comes to eat your food and ignore your children.

The Social Worker What to do if your sim children have been taken away by the social worker!

Creating Your World

Change Last Name How to change the last name/family name of sims in your game.

Changing Sims' Appearance How to change everything about how your sims look - face, hair, eyes, makeup, clothes, skintones, etc.

Choose Gender of Babies Want a boy, or a girl, and getting the wrong gender? Here's how to get a baby of the desired sex.

Change Lot Zoning How to change a lot to/from residential, community, dorm, or secret society.

Creating Sims How to make interesting, unique sims, and how to create sims to produce beautiful children.

Community Skilling Not gaining skill points when doing skill stuff on a community lot? Here's why.

Hotels Building Tips & Recommendations Building accommodations can be tricky & lead to its housekeeper(s) freeze up! Here are some tips, tricks, & mods to help reduce those bugs.

Gender Preference Information on how gender preference works in the game.

Installing Lots Multiple Times How to install that perfect house sitting in your lot bin more than once.