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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th May 2017 at 10:13 PM Last edited by Mrmo : 21st May 2017 at 9:19 AM.
I won't install - what will I miss? (Changed plans)
So, I have taken a decision against installing AL but what will I miss more then the opportunity to build apartments (and maybe some new stuff)? Omang the things that comes whit the EP is wending machines and tht's a little sad as it would have been a nice objet to place at random locations. But I thought that maybe there is some EP free machines somewhere to download. I like to play supernaturals (or at least try to) so it will be a loss that I won't got to play witches/warlocks but maybe it's a good thing as I don't know how they work. But will I miss something else?
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 20th May 2017 at 10:28 PM
I really enjoy Apartment Life for the ability to build multi-family households, not just apartments themselves.

There is a load of cool playground equipment with lovely animations for kids and teens. Also a couple of new toddler interactions which are ridiculously adorable (peekaboo and toddlers hugging each other). There were a couple of baby items - taken out at the last minute and put onto the store which you can find online, which are an absolute MUST for me in my game, and they need AL to show up, because the animation files were included (or something).

The CC vending machines are cloned off the AL ones unless they are deco only.

New function household items are fold up beds, walk in closets, medicine cabinets which allow tooth brushing.

Magic is pretty fun and you can download mods which remove the annoying parts. You can hire a butler which works slightly better than the nanny.

Things I wouldn't miss are the social groups/social group townies (but you can prevent them from appearing) and a silly bit of code which makes the sim's portrait change every time they change into everyday clothing. There is quite a lot of content added because of these groups in interesting styles, though the clothing and hairs are not my taste.

I think it was a pretty full featured EP all things considered.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Field Researcher
#3 Old 20th May 2017 at 10:38 PM
ceilings. I was waiting a long long time for those ceilings.
Scholar
Original Poster
#4 Old 20th May 2017 at 11:02 PM
Yes, I did forgett about ceilings...
Mad Poster
#5 Old 20th May 2017 at 11:07 PM
If you like playing supernatural, you gonna LOVE playing witches. They are more fleshed out occults than any other in past expansions (imo at least). You get nifty abilities, such as extinguishing fire and saving someone from the grim reaper. Of course there is that annoying grinding part for accessing spells, but there is mod that makes reagents unrequired for spells. You probably gonna miss a lot If you really do enjoy playing supernatural.

As far for the apartment system: you can create semi-open worlds without actually building fats. Just make some houses, fence their backyard to them, add the special front door and you good to go!

AL introduce pretty neat decoration stuff, such as pipes and huge aquarium. There is something more to it, but I can't recall right now.

Oh, it also adds a new type of purchable/ownable vehicle - a helicopter!

You also get new playground equitment set. Merry-go-around, slides, monkey bar, and that high-house thingy.

Jumping rope is a cool interaction.

More details: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_2%3A_Apartment_Life
Mad Poster
#6 Old 20th May 2017 at 11:38 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 20th May 2017 at 11:54 PM.
Most newer CC houses and anything else that requires the AL/M&G game engine, I reckon. Most CC houses made with AL/M&G installed won't work without AL or M&G installed, even if they don't use any AL/M&G items.

I wouldn't give up AL for anything, because I adore the Store baby toys, and they don't work without the AL engine. I also love the ability to shift objects up and down, and the added playground equipment and play options, plus the fact that toddlers can socialize more (peekaboo and huggle).And a bunch of other things. The freezer clock CC object (based on a witch spell) has made my hobby as a storyteller sooooo much easier, too.

AL is one of my favorite EPs because it adds so many new options, not just out of the box but also with CC based on the AL interactions and objects. I haven't played with apartments for several years, because I find it one of the least interesting things in the AL EP.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#7 Old 20th May 2017 at 11:48 PM
Why don't you want to install AL? Without a complete game there are many mods, CC and lots that you won't ever be able to use. You also miss out of shifting things up and down the walls, ceilings, special couple cuddles in bed, the store baby toys-which are amazing and add a new depth to babies, apartments (which doesn't just mean a large building but caravan parks, hostels, a group of small houses on a lot like a community) elevators. Witches also but I would say they are the least of that pack.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#8 Old 21st May 2017 at 12:15 AM
Well your Sims will miss paying an extortionate rent all their lives for something that will never be their own. And you'll miss out on all that magic stuff. Personally I don't want either. It also has the reputation of being a particularly glitchy EP, so I suppose you'll miss out on the glitches!

AL would also probably burn out the graphics chip in my netbook in a few days, so in saying I don't want it, I'm making a virtue of necessity.

There are however some good features that I really would like, if I could only pick them out and leave the rest:
- ceilings
- a morning cuddle
- the ability to move pictures up or down a wall
- playground equipment

I'm sure there are others.

But I don't need the vending machines because I have this excellent base-game-compatible CC vending machine by pacotacoplayer. Amongst other things it sells an energy drink that is better than Ecstasy. My clubbers love it, and there are machines selling it at all my nightclubs. (Only ยง25 a can!) So, simsfreq, you can have good working vending machines without AL. I also have good CC playground equipment by Phaenoh and Rebecah.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#9 Old 21st May 2017 at 12:20 AM
Really, what glitchiness?

Play ground equipment, how could I forget that. AL is not an EP that I would leave out.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#10 Old 21st May 2017 at 12:33 AM
Floor dividers - or was that another EP? Although Sims can walk over them, they divide up rooms. I use them to surround beds so Sims can sleep with radios on and in bathrooms so Sims can use the toilet if another Sim is in the bathtub.

I'd suggest installing AL anyways. There's lots of nice things other than the apartments themselves.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 21st May 2017 at 12:52 AM
No those came much earlier.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#12 Old 21st May 2017 at 1:33 AM
Quote: Originally posted by AndrewGloria
AL would also probably burn out the graphics chip in my netbook in a few days, so in saying I don't want it, I'm making a virtue of necessity.


I had to opt out of everything above FT on my old laptop, because after installing FT, the game kinda slowed to a bit less than a crawl, so adding anything more would probably only have lead to a faster demise for the old bugger. Then again, the laptop was 4-5 years at the time, already struggling quite a bit with the game, and a slug compared to what's available today.

I did buy AL long before I had a computer I could install it on, and the first thing I did was to install TS2 with all EPs/SPs. Same with my newer laptop. The game mostly runs quite well on both of them. I have more troubles with TS3 and TS4, to be honest. On my laptop, Every TS3 EP added a lot of stress to the system, and TS4 is barely willing to run CC-free with one EP.

Anyhow, unless you're using a computer/laptop that is only meant for schoolwork and light programs, TS2 shouldn't be that big of a problem to run if you have anything newer than 2010-ish, more than 4 GB of RAM, an alright processor, and a not too shabby graphics card. It was made for a decent 2004-08 computer standard, after all. Most of the shabbier computers you can get nowadays are more powerful than some of the good ones back then.

---

I'd probably manage without Uni, Pets and BV, while Seasons, FT and Nightlife would have been a little more difficult to be without. AL and OFB are the EPs I wouldn't get rid of for anything. Not so much because of their actual purpose (apartments and businesses), but for all the extra fun stuff they added. The OFB toys and many other craftables are so much more interesting than the other toys, and AL has a lot of functions I'd hate to be without.

I think Seasons is one of the more graphic-heavy EPs, because of weather. My game always struggles a whole lot more if there's snow on the ground.
Scholar
Original Poster
#13 Old 21st May 2017 at 9:57 AM
I don't know how you all did it but I changed my plans. OK, I did start this thread to see if there was more to AL then I thought and appearently there is. I did bay the EP but have not installed it yet and after looking into the "...most favourite/least favourite EP/SP..." thread (number two of the sticky ones) I decided not to as it was said the EP was glinchy. And a glinchy game is something I can not live whit. My game is alredy somehow glinchy (I.E. I can not let sims have a birds because I do get artefacts that I can not fix). Well, I guess it's OK if the glinches is only small annoying things that can be avoided. If, however, my game is about to freeze, crash, reset or whatever I'm not in. But if there is no major issues, I'm going to install.

simmer22: My computer is a 2008-ish desktop machine whit 3GiB of ram and a quite weak CPU. My GPU is a little newer but not so much. It runs the game quite well even if it's takes time to load etc and asI do have the other EP's I guess it works for AL too.
Forum Resident
#14 Old 21st May 2017 at 11:14 AM
Welcome to the dark side, Mrmo.

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#15 Old 21st May 2017 at 11:17 AM
What are these glitches?!? I keep hearing rumour of them but no one says what they are. Probably unpatched people started the rumour because I've had AL since it came out and don't see a 'lot of glitches'.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#16 Old 21st May 2017 at 1:22 PM
Apartments are said to be glitchy, but honestly I haven't seen it.
Mad Poster
#17 Old 21st May 2017 at 1:33 PM
There are a few glitches, but there's a hack called "ALfixes" by Pescado, and probably also several other mods that fix them. The patches probably also fix some issues.

One glitch I can remember I've stumbled upon was with the new closets. I know I had some troubles when my sims tested out the woohooing option (just after installing, I think), but later it worked fine. There are probably a few others, but none that stand out to me. AL is probably not that more glitchy than any of the other EPs. I still remember Pets as the most glitchy EP - or at least the one where the glitches were most noticeable and annoying.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#18 Old 21st May 2017 at 1:51 PM
Alfixes isn't needed any longer and has it's own glitches, such as removing date cards.

Pets sinking into the floor I do remember, yeah.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#19 Old 21st May 2017 at 2:10 PM
My pets still sink into the floor on a lot reset. But they come straight back out once you unpause the game.
Scholar
#20 Old 21st May 2017 at 4:30 PM
I have had apartments glitch on me. Not too big of a deal to me. I just announce it is moving day and onward they go to a new place

"Oh look, my grandchild is now an elder. They grow up so fast. Gee, I wonder when I'll finally graduate college." Sims 2
Mad Poster
#21 Old 21st May 2017 at 7:02 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Why don't you want to install AL? Without a complete game there are many mods, CC and lots that you won't ever be able to use. You also miss out of shifting things up and down the walls, ceilings, special couple cuddles in bed, the store baby toys-which are amazing and add a new depth to babies, apartments (which doesn't just mean a large building but caravan parks, hostels, a group of small houses on a lot like a community) elevators. Witches also but I would say they are the least of that pack.

Bolded part: You can still get them with OFB expansion pack. Perhaps not the bar mesh on it, but i think that can be easily made without AL.
Turquoise Dragon
retired moderator
#22 Old 21st May 2017 at 7:55 PM
Apartment Life did have glitches in the beginning, but a lot of that was fixed later in patches. I don't use AL fixes and don't have a problem personally
Mad Poster
#23 Old 21st May 2017 at 8:46 PM
Witches are cool as I said, as there spells such as (not limited to): removing puddles, making sim fit/fat, summoning/banishing sim to/from your lot, manifesting a temporal (spectrecal) cat, freezing time (requires 10 magic pointskills), resurrecting someone as a zombie, torturing a sim with bees, inducing nausea to someone, erasing someones memory&relationship status, ect.
Top Secret Researcher
#24 Old 21st May 2017 at 9:16 PM
There are some problems with apartments that have mostly been fixed by patches and mods. Alfixes did break the love letters delivered after a date, but a modder made a modified version of alfixes here that fixes that. There's also a bug that causes incoming phone calls to fail, which is fixed by this mod.
Mad Poster
#25 Old 22nd May 2017 at 3:33 AM
Don't some of the non-skill-point things sims can learn from the book case come with AL and not FT? I forget, but I think some did. There's Physiology, Anger Management, Fire Safety, Parenting, Lifetime Happiness, and Couples' Counseling, I think. I think Fire Safety at least was AL . . .

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"English is a marvelous edged weapon if you know how to wield it." C.J. Cherryh
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