#ts1 development

[l-1-z-a]

🖥️ Evolution of The Sims technologies

This is information by conversation from 🌎 #ts3-beta-chat channel in The Sims 2 Beta Discord Server about on which engine each game of The Sims series is developed and what technologies are used by each game of the series.

Just to offer clarity/summarize the above:

1. TS1 is built on top of MFC (Edith) and Gonzo/Rizzo. It uses a renderer which utilizes a mix of SC2K, SC3K, and Quake3D code.

2. TS2 extends TS1’s behavior engine but replaces the renderer with a new 3D engine, although it still uses the Gonzo development framework. It’s pretty much TS1 on steroids internally.

3. Sims 3 is overhauled and doesn’t use any of the tech from TS1/TS2, although it retains several assets ported over. It uses a new behavior engine (no name, but it uses traits/commodities instead) and Renderware (plus other stuff like Speedtree) for the 3D engine.

4. Sims 4 is once again built on a new engine, in anticipation of the game being an MMOG instead of single player. It loosely extends GlassBox from SC2013 (dubbed SmartSim now) but they pretty much have to overhaul it to remove the multiplayer aspect, so it really ends up becoming its own thing. It doesn’t reuse anything from TS3 except the concept of the traits/commodities behavior engine being used for SmartSim.

[simlicious]

Simmers, modders, game devs, pay attention! Are you interested in learning how Sims make autonomous decisions in the Sims games (hint: with the help of an AI system)? Then this video might be for you. Make sure to check out the comment section of the video, because David Graham, who was an AI programmer on Sims Medieval and lead AI programmer on the Sims 4, has been active in the comments (as rezination), taking and answering questions diligently! There have been some good ones, so check them out.

[softpine]

there's something novel and a little emotional about being able to make your sims gay in ts1. you could make lesbian parents in this video game. you could fine tune your sims sexuality. the towers hadn't even fallen yet. people used to ask the developers how they handled the backlash for allowing same sex relationships in the game and they said no one really cared actually, it was fine. that's so beautiful. does anyone feel like crying over this

[simnostalgia]

So if you remember, WAAAY back, I posted a video when we found out that The Sims actually started out as a addon for Simcity 2000. We got a couple of seconds of video.

Here's some more images, from TCRF, showing off sims and buildings. My guess is that this is after the 1994-5 docs that we got? So this may have been 1994-1996 at some point.

By 1996 at some point they'd moved on to more fully rendered Sims so I'd guess that this is early '96 at the latest?

Funny thing is, this is the earliest development for the SimAntics engine which means that this is ALSO the earliest development point for The Sims 2, since that was just an extension of the TS1 engine engine.

Who knows, maybe there is something from even THIS far back that made its way up to TS2? After all there are pictures of one of the Steering Committee build sims and some UI elements from 1998 left in TS2's files.

[s1ndle]

I just realized I never shared this here. lol, lmao even

While I was putting together the Freesy for FreeSO, one of the other members of staff wondered if the object could be put in TS1 as a keepsake of sorts. The FreeSO file can't just be plopped in to TS1 unfortunately. So a new version had to be developed from the ground up. Which is what I ended up doing!

The final object created for FreeSO is now available for The Sims 1! Now you can enjoy The Freesy in digital perpetuity, view and mourn this collectible to your heart's content.

• Download • SimFileShare

Big Thanks to: • Woobsha Raeven • The Architect • dotequals • riperiperi • Everyone else on FreeSO team! (You guys rock!🤘) • mixiate

[elden-hicks]

playing ts2 pleasantview is even funnier to me sometimes, cause i've also played ts1 and had messed with the premades in the past in such intricate ways, which the developers had never intended in the sequel.

like i actually remember making daniel pleasant and cassandra goth as a power-couple of the ugly ass (thank you game for the randomly assigned heads) wizards with their own dragon farm. daniel had moved to the goths' mansion and i had to starve mortimer and bella in order to continue the legacy.

those two were genuinely super sweet with each other and had, like, two adopted children and three dragons, though daniel had died in the fire, once he tried to charm the flamingo statue and cassandra had been mourning him automatically for days. they definitely were the couple in my ts1 game (only behind elden/claire and chris/melissa).

the bummer is that i had already known how the developers intended them to grow up and behave later on, but this didn't stop me from matching them up for fun. i was more surprised how much i became attached to them. "fuck, did i really think that daniel/cassandra was a cute couple?" in that kind of way.

but in ts2 universe i can't even IMAGINE them to be on friendly terms, let alone dating each other. i've always imagined them being on that passive-agressive terms and they are only nice to each other whenever mary-sue enters the room.

dan thinks that cas is a big weirdo and spoiled naive nerd, while cas thinks that he's a massive dumb prick who can't keep it in his pants (and honestly, mary-sue could've done so much better).

yet now, with the new hood being set up in ts1, i kinda want to pair them up again.

they are so cute, it's illegal

[mage-sims]

Welcome to Greenwood !

GREENWOOD - V2

If you live in Greenwood, that has to mean you are something other than human, insane or even both. With its dense forests, crystal blue ponds and eclectic architecture, the town has the kind of bizarre charm that puts a spell on anyone who steps on its ground. For centuries, it has been a sanctuary for people who had been cast away from their homelands. But is it really such a quiet and peaceful place ? What kind of secrets do the inhabitants have ? Is it true that people were murdered ? Why are alien spaceships drawn to the town so much ?

You will find out as you play the neighborhood. It's ✨a mess✨.

Most of the Sims have some kind of tie to the supernatural, either being a supernatural Sim themselves, extremely into the supernatural, extremely against the supernatural or having had to deal with the supernatural at some point.

The hood just needed some changes, such as a more coherent architecture, less terrible community lots and less trees, because the neighborhood deco in V1 caused quite a lot of pink soup and crashes for some people with less powerful computers or who used an enlarged viewing distance in lot view with disabled fade distance. If you still experience pink soup, maybe try LazyDuchess's experimental fix or lower your lot skirt size / enable the fade distance.

WHAT IS IN THE HOOD ?

If you still have v1 and you've had that save for a while, then you don't need to delete it and grab v2, of course.

The hood has :

16 playable families and 4 bin families.

77 lots : 32 community lots, 38 residential lots (16 occupied, 22 empty), 3 apartment lots with 4 slots each, 2 buildable lots and 2 hidden lots.

Completely re-done hobby lots, to include stuff from all the expansion packs and with some stuff that made me go "WTF" removed (main hood only).

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS :

• For the main hood, place the GRWD folder into your [Your Name] / Documents / EA GAMES / The Sims 2 / Neighborhoods folder. • For the subhood, place the SGWD folder into your C: / Program Files (x86) / EA GAMES / The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection / The Sims 2 Open For Business / TSData / Res / NeighborhoodTemplate folder.

REQUIRED MODS :

MidgeTheTree's Child Lycanthropy mod. Not having it won't break the game, but it will cause graphic glitches.

DOWNLOAD LINKS :

Main Hood : https://simfileshare.net/download/3698483/

Subhood : https://simfileshare.net/download/3698616/

THANKS

Many thanks to all the people who gave me feedback during development and after the release of v1, on Discord and MTS. Y'all are really amazing ^^

Stay tuned, because I am working on some pretty big stuff that will be revealed... someday, I don't really know, but I can't wait to show that to y'all. All I'm going to say is : if you like futuristic stuff, TS1's Magic Town and if, like me, you had a Monster High/Ever After High phase at some point, you may like what's coming next.

[moonwoodhollow]

I was tagged by @venriliz for the "post 10 facts about you" tag game, so without further ado, if you want to know more about me, take a look behind the cut. (I really wrote a lot and wanted to spare you from a long ass post on your dash)

I love to cook! Since my parents tried to involve me in their daily dinner cooking very early on, I consider myself a fairly good cook. Unlike them, I also love to bake and once considered going to culinary school to learn patisserie, I still do actually lol (I mean there's nothing more romantic/romanticized than going to École Ducasse in Paris to learn patisserie.)

I started playing the Sims in 2nd grade in elementary school. I went to a friend whose older sister was playing TS1 and I was hooked and got my mum to buy me the game, luckily I also had my own computer and could play it pretty undisturbed. (my mum really regretted buying me that game lol)

I wrote a book. I love writing, especially mystery and detective stories but so far I haven't published anything (yet), I see it more as a hobby than something serious but who knows!

I love to sing and was in the choir in school and church (not religious just went to the choir). When I'm alone at home I often sing along to my favourite music and dance a lot which scandalizes my cat.

After school, I was an Aupair in China, which is partly one of the reasons why I love China (culture, language, food, people) so much.

I am 30 and cannot drive a car, which is always something people love to make fun of, I really don't care to be honest, but since my gf will read this: I will get my license, soon!!

My actual name is Swedish/Norwegian even though I'm not from there, my parents just really liked the name! It's pretty close to Berry though.

I love taking photos with an analogue camera, I have several and think their photos have that special ~something~ // if only the developing wouldn't be so expensive.

I have a resting bitch face, so people who don't know me well always think I'm angry/arrogant when in reality I'm really in my own world or thinking about what I want to cook for dinner (I always think about food!!)

Hmm last fact; I'm not a particular fan of Disney films, there are some I like but in general I just don't really vibe with most them.

I tag: @thebramblewood, @cinamun, @therichantsim, @chaoticpixls, @softle0

@softerpixels, @acuar-io, @chere-indolente-plays, @elksun, @vicciouxs and everyone who wants to do this!! (sorry if you've been tagged already and don't feel pressured to do this btw!)

[chojrak-making-things]

(part 4 - previous part of overvier here)

But this world after all, is focused mainly on families.

Several occult dynasties makes you feel like in supernatural soap opera, and has potencial to develop some stories from it.

But there are more regular households too. I choosed older man living with daughter in big mansion. He instantly wanted to learn a lot new skills and go on university.

There were a few heavily overstuffed houses, which I would refurnish, but overall I think the charm lies here in small places hidden along the paths in world. Like those mini-parks bellow.

or bus stops (more like a metro station)

I had a few replaced objects, mainly christmas garland from store, but also the hat of Santa. In my game he looked like he was more about business than giving.

Beside that I didn't notice anything unusual. I think this world is very close to how Magic Town from TS1 would look if it was made for TS3 (but with christmas accent added of course).

It also reminds me of vacation island, also from Sims 1, because of how three biomes were created - beach, forest and snowy mountains. Maybe it's not that clashing like in TS1, but splitting into 3 biomes gives me that feeling. Here are more pics, since it's the last part of overview:

[northeastjobs]

Corporate Organisational Development Support Officer

Corporate Organisational Development Support Officer, TS1 2DT Contract Type: Permanent | Working Pattern: Full time | Salary: £30,060 - £31,586 | Advert End Date: 07/07/2025 23:59 |  http://dlvr.it/TLWtW8

[cropark]

A semi-automatic turnstile gate is a type of access control system used to manage the flow of people entering or exiting a secure area, such as a building, stadium, or transportation hub. These gates typically consist of rotating arms or barriers that allow passage only after a valid authentication, such as a card swipe, barcode scan, or biometric verification. https://www.novusapl.com/Semi-Automatic-Turnstile-Gate-NS-TS1-V22D0.php

Key Features:

Semi-Automatic Mechanism:

Access Control:

Durability and Security:

Safety Features:

[l-1-z-a]

📺 Let's start exploring the facts about The Sims and The Sims 2 development from the recent stream with Will Wright

On the stream, Will Wright gave some interesting facts about the development of the original The Sims:

The Goths family came from experimenting with test characters and is based on the Addams Family.

The game used characters with distinctive traits to test mechanics, such as Darren and Samantha from Bewitched, or Edith from All in the Family.

"When we were doing the original Sims, we put in a few test characters... We had Darren and Samantha from Bewitched, Edith from All in the Family, and then we did the Addams Family, which kind of evolved into the Goths." (00:50:20 - 01:16:38)

Samantha from Bewitched

Samantha is the main character of the television series Bewitched.

Bewitched is a cult American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 17, 1964 to March 25, 1972. The series, created by Saul Saxon, tells the story of the unusual family life of a witch who decided to live as an ordinary housewife and her philandering husband.

The main character is Samantha Stephen, a kind and charming witch who falls in love with a mortal man, Darrin Stevens. After her marriage, Samantha decides to give up magic to live a normal family life, but her abilities and the interference of her eccentric relatives, especially her witch mother Endora, often become the source of comical situations and conflicts.

Each episode reveals how Samantha tries to combine her magical abilities with everyday problems, from dealing with neighbors to interacting with her husband's co-workers.

Samantha, whom Will Wright mentions, can be found in The Sims Steering Committee (1998), a prototype for The Sims.

In levels 2 and 3 she is the central character, and in level 4 she is a member of the family. In Level 2, Samantha shares a room with a female character named Mercedes.

She was also one of the first characters created for The Sims.

This article describes an early stages of development of The Sims, including its original title "Jefferson", the formation of the key development team, changes to the user interface and the introduction of the first characters, and the difficulties Maxis faced in trying to convince Electronic Arts of the value of the project. Written by LUCPIX a researcher of the development history of the first installment of The Sims. It mentions all those characters mentioned by Will Wright on the stream.

Interestingly, in The Sims 2: Apartment Life, Samantha Cordial lives in Belladonna Cove and is ready to become a good witch. She has the ultimate good witch in her friends.

Darren

Darren was also one of the first characters The Sims created for testing.

There are two characters named Darren in The Sims 2:

Darren Dreamer:

Darren Wood, one of the pre-made gardener from Strangetown:

Edith from All in the Family

Edith is the wife of Archie Bunker from All in the Family.

All in the Family (1971-1979) was an iconic American sitcom created by Norman Lear. It revolutionized television with its bold approach to social issues. The series is adapted from the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and tells the story of the lives of the Banker family living in a working-class neighborhood in New York City.

The main character is Archie Bunker, the conservative, grouchy head of the family who often expresses outdated views on politics, race and society. He is contrasted with other characters, including his wife, daughter, and son-in-law, which sets the stage for satirical and insightful discussions of social issues.

Edith was the first character created for The Sims.

Edith's concept art:

The character, Edith, won the hearts of Maxis, to the point where they renamed the development tools after her.

Here are all the characters:

All the works from which these characters were drawn are iconic American TV series that, despite their different styles and genres, addressed important social and political issues.

The Addams Family (1964–1966) used the eccentric yet loving Addams family to satirize the standards of "normalcy" in American society, emphasizing the importance of embracing differences and authenticity. The Addamses, while living in luxury, rejected consumerism, upheld family values, and demonstrated an alternative approach to happiness.

Bewitched (1964–1972) employed the story of a marriage between a witch and an ordinary man as a metaphor for intercultural relationships facing societal prejudice. The show also tackled feminist issues, portraying a woman with immense power who chooses a traditional role while maintaining her individuality and independence.

All in the Family (1971–1979) boldly and satirically explored racism, sexism, and political divisions in 1970s American society. Through the character of conservative Archie Bunker, the series depicted generational conflicts and addressed issues such as gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and anti-war sentiments amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

Thus, the characters used for testing and development in The Sims were not chosen by chance. Their prototypes from these iconic American series not only had vivid and recognizable traits but also reflected profound social and cultural themes that remained relevant for decades.

These series not only influenced popular culture but also inspired Maxis developers to create characters capable of conveying the complexity and diversity of human relationships. Through these figures, The Sims inherited the ability to subtly mirror societal realities, bringing the spirit of experimentation, humor, and social reflection into the game’s universe.

Source (RU):

[guinplays]

Sad post 😐

Well, I've been thinking about coming back. And what didn't give me any motivation is that no one saw my post. I mean no one at all. And I have some thoughts.

Tumblr's algorithms suck. No, it's logical that I lost followers over the couple years of my absence, most of them are now inactive. But, it's just shame that posts by bloggers who haven't had activity for a long time now don't show up to other people.

The sims community is dead (ok, maybe not dead, almost). You may disagree, as there are still bloggers and content creators and others who care about the sims. But let's be honest - it's a small percent of the huge community it once was. Going to my blog now I'm sad to see almost only CC ads in my feed (no offense, I respect the hard work of content creators, but this is a bad sign for the community). The accounts of once super passionate bloggers and storytellers are abandoned after all these exodus from Tumblr. By the way, do you know of any alternative to Tumblr where the sims community feels better? Please share if you do! I've also tried Insta, but it's a very different format, less comfortable for blogging, for my taste. So suggestions are accepted 😉

Ea games is killing the game series with their own hands. Loud words, but it really hurts me when I think about what ts4 could have been and didn't become. I've been watching the development since ts1, and I saw a lot of potential in it. Plus, I'm up to date on game dev technologies, so this isn't empty words, but an opinion on real missed opportunities. I won't say much about what the publisher is doing and what the audience needed at this time - you all know for yourselves.

Anyway, thoughts. It's really sad and very unusual to being alone on my blog. But I've decided to ignore that and focus on the fact that I'm doing this for myself, not to attract any audience. So I'm going to share my thoughts and pictures. Just because I want it to be here.

[l-1-z-a]

Some more thoughts based on the post about D3DERR_INVALIDCALL in The Sims 2.

The path to the source code file contains the abbreviation GZ. It is very likely that this is the file structure of the Gonzo development framework on which the game is built. It uses this shorthand in its files.

The SimCity community has recently started developing a reimplementation of it.

More details at their link:

We also have a discussion about the technology used in The Sims in The Sims 2 Beta Discord Server in #ts3-beta-channel:

1. TS1 is built on top of MFC (Edith) and Gonzo/Rizzo. It uses a renderer which utilizes a mix of SC2K, SC3K, and Quake3D code.

2. TS2 extends TS1’s behavior engine but replaces the renderer with a new 3D engine, although it still uses the Gonzo development framework. It’s pretty much TS1 on steroids internally.

I did the DEP fix on my pc and I haven't gotten any crashes yet but I've gotten pink code along with this on the cheat console (I had a lot of messages saying this there): WARNING D3D Error: Bad return code, is this normal? : D3DERR_INVALIDCALL C:\dev\sims 2 remaster\DL\GZFrame\Graphic\GZGraphic4\Win32\source\GZGraphic4ShaderProgramDX.cpp(435)4

Hi! Any file ending with .cpp is a source code file. So we can gather that there is a bad return code/invalid call error concerning Direct3D (which is Microsoft's DirectX programming interface) and something that is in the game's shader code. We don't have access to the source code, so I don't know what exactly the issue is here.

So this is basically what I've been saying all along. It looks like the game is doing something "illegal" when rendering things (meaning it is not strictly following the rules of DirectX), and this is what potentially causes pink flashing. But as long as we don't have access to this source code, there is nothing we can do about it.

And there is a big fat BUT: There is no guarantee that this error has anything to do with the pink flashing either. It could also be coincidence, since errors aren't necessarily always visible. For example, if you open your browser's developer tools, there will be a bunch of red errors there too, but you just don't notice them because the program handles them automatically.

[simnostalgia]

Fun Fact: You can see here what seems to be an original lay out for TS1's neighborhood. In a way, this looks very similar to the pre-development hood where the layout was the same but the street, rather than being a simple loop, had a few bends and turns.

Also interesting but those house models might be from SimCity 3000.

Credit to LucPix for the pic!

[s1ndle]

Happy 25 years to this photo!