INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Put all files ending in ".package" into this folder:
C:\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads
NOTE: If you installed the game in a different folder then adjust that directory path appropriately. Most of you have the "../Downloads" folder already, but if not then just create it. Scroll to the bottom of this page for additional tips & links.
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DESCRIPTION:
TS2 Weather Machine by Simslice.com!
Buy Mode Price: ง10,000
Buy Mode Category: Electronic
Enabled for use at-home and on all away-from-home lots
Requirements: None - made to work with any version of The Sims 2 game.
Object Description:
Climate control has reached a new level, from Simslice the original weather makers! This version for TS2 has four unique weather patterns and most importantly the Auto-Seasons feature! With Auto-Seasons "On", you get a daily weather report and experience consistent weather conditions automatically during the day, based on that report. It happens on it's own, just like real weather! Turn Auto-Seasons "Off" to terminate your climate at anytime. You can also manually program the machine to produce weather anytime you choose. Enjoy snowball fights with your friends, playing in autumn leaves, splashing around in the summer rain, or if you're in a silly (and hungry) mood, let it rain Pizza slices! Various accumulation appears on the ground, all of which can be interacted with... including a few wildly fun surprises too. Or just click a button to stop all showers or remove all debris from the ground instantly. No expansions required to use. This was a lot of work to create, and it may not be perfect, but I hope you enjoy this simulated weather experience in your TS2 game. :)
ฉ2006+ Simslice http://www.simslice.com Please do not copy, clone, hack, sell, distribute to others or post on other sites. Thank you and enjoy! :)
All coding done by Homeslice.
"Broken state" model and most textures and texture animations completed by Homeslice.
Special thanks to Wintermuteai1 and Pixlemonk for contributions to the base model & texture.
Special thanks to Mickyss for helping finalize snow storm model & texture.
UPDATES:
Updated April 2006: Sims will no longer try to sit down when they eat a pizza slice or snack leaf. This interfered with some of the animations and it wasn't necessary anyway.
Updated December 2006: We received a lot of requests for the "raining cats & dogs" feature that our TS1 version had... now with the release of the Sims 2 Pets expansion pack, we have created and incorporated this option! Click on "Make Weather" then "Rain Cats & Dogs". You will be given additional options to tailor the experience to your liking. Along with this theme, we also included an "It's Raining Sim" feature (sung to the tune of "It's Raining Men"). Choose gender and age, and have a variety of Sim visitors fall from the sky and splat down onto your lawn to say hi. We also included six (6) new autumn-related objects -- several types of leaf piles and a few autumn veggies too. These six objects were included in here, with permission, by the creator's of the Jwoods Autumn Donation Set at MTS2. A big thank you to Numenor, BobL, LyricLee and the other folks at MTS2 for their fine work and we hope you enjoy these as part of your weather patterns too. Just click on "Make Weather" then "Leaf Swirls" - these items randomly fall about our original leaf piles. Many of these can also be bought in Buy Mode for just a few Simoleans (listed under Decorative). More details below...
Updated February 2007: New & Improved graphics - the machine now has more panels adding better aesthetics, plus 2 animated scrolling text screens (black text on green) where the blank monitor screens used to be.
Updated June 23, 2007: Added Acid Rain feature. For those who have the Seasons expansion pack, we also added ability to spawn the new Aspiration Reward, the Weathernaught 57X to create Maxis-made weather too: Create Weather, Change Seasons, etc. Originally, the Weathernaught could only can be used 5 times (that's the way Maxis made it), however now you can use this Weather Machine to recharge the Weathernaught indefinitely... so that you can use it forever! Note: The Weather Machine has no charges - it also can be used indefinitely.
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A LITTLE HISTORY OF WEATHER IN THE SIMS:
The Past - TS1: Since the beginning days of The Sims, one of the most requested features was weather. With our original Deluxe Weather Seasons Package for the original Sims game (TS1), we believe we were able to provide that in a pretty realistic manner by having nine different types of weather available, including snow storms, rain, fall leaves and more. Using the "Auto-Seasons" feature, it also could create a simulated "natural climate" so weather would come and go just like real weather does, all on it's own, but the user could still assert control over it if they wanted. You can download the TS1 Deluxe Weather Seasons Package here --- http://www.simslice.com/support-ipweatherseasonspage.htm
The Past - Original TS2: When the Sims 2 was released, there was "rain" code made by Maxis, which was basically a lot-wide "effect" that came with cool features such as power outages and lightening. The scuttlebutt around the Sims Community was that this project was deemed not feasible and abandoned by Maxis, but they were good enough to leave that code in the game (probably thinking fans might find new ways to enjoy it... and we did :p ). Some fans made objects that used that rain code, including us at Simslice (see our "Rain Maker" Obelisk, linked at the bottom of this page). It was believed by many that the reason the rain project was abandoned by Maxis was because of a variety of irresolvable issues, such as that fact that it rained inside.
The Past - First Weather in TS2: Before the Seasons expansion pack was released, this TS2 Weather Machine was (and is) our attempt to bring to The Sims 2 game that we made for the TS1 game. It was the first of it's kind, just like in the TS1 game. It doesn't utilize any of the abandoned Maxis rain features (except for the lightening), and it doesn't rain inside. It also doesn't use large effects or high-poly models, so game slowness should be greatly minimized (but note that anything that saturates a lot, such as weather showers, will affect game speed somewhat). Like our TS1 Black Weather Machine, this version has weather patterns to represent all four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. And like our TS1 White Weather Machine, it also has the Auto-Seasons option which allows for a simulated weather "climate" to be created in the game and run autonomously without need of player intervention... just like real weather! When the Pets expansion pack came out, we incorporated the "raining cats & dogs" feature that our TS1 version had, as well as new autumn leaf objects. You can download this TS2 Weather Machine here --- http://www.simslice.com/thesims2/ts2weather.htm
The Present - Seasons and TS2: Some 8 ep and sp releases later, Maxis released the Seasons ep (expansion pack) in 2007. This is there first "official" attempt at weather since the game's inception seven years eariler, in 2000. There are many weather features our Weather Machine has that that Seasons expansion does not have, and vise versa. Those that do not have that expansion pack can always use our Weather Machine - it has no expansion pack requirements for use and it allows for greater control over the weather. Our Weather Machine was updated in June 2007 to include, among other things, much greater control of the Weathernaught 57X - the Seasons ep Aspiration Reward object that controls Seasons ep weather. With the Weather Machine, now you can spawn the Weathernaught 57X anywhere for free, and even recharge it so you can use it indefinitely (the ep only lets you use it 5 times). So whether you have the Seasons ep or not, our Weather Machine STILL gives you the ultimate control and the best experience of weather in your TS2 game!
The Future - TS2: It is doubtful Maxis will add any new Weather to the game after Seasons. We have made many updates to our Weather Machine over the years and we plan to continue to upgrade it in the future with more additional weather options and gameplay features. At the very least, we want to include the remaining 5 options used in the TS1 Weather Machine, and additional options are being planned as well. We also plan to update our TS1 version too.
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GAMEPLAY INFO -- PLEASE READ:
This version of the Weather Machine has four different weather options: Snow, Rain, Autumn (Fall leaves), and for the surrealists among us, Pizza Showers! The term "Shower" used in this text refers to any falling weather types, such as rainfall, snow flurries, leaf swirls or pizza showers. The term "Debris" refers to anything deposited on the ground during the storm, such as snow, rain puddles, leaf piles or pizza slices.
"Auto-Seasons": This feature is optional (default is "OFF"). When ON, you will experience weather automatically at various times throughout the day, based on the weather predictions reported each day at 7AM. In some cases, that also means you'll have clear skies (no weather). When OFF, weather will cease to occur automatically. Whether ON or OFF, you can still manually create weather anytime you want. If you don't like the weather report for the day, just delete the Weather Machine and buy it back from Buy Mode. If it's still 7AM, just set Auto-Seasons back "On" and it will generate another report, and odds are it will be a different one.
Making Weather - General Info: Duplicate showers cannot be created simultaneously - for example, if it's snowing, you can't create new snow until the current snow storm stops (but you can create other weather types). The machine can be used inside or outside, but the weather will only happen outside (starting on the closest outside tile). You can create weather anywhere outside, but in some case (such as a second-story balcony) you might have to move the Weather Machine up there to get accumulations. Sims with low Mechanical skills will be baffled and just bang on the Weather Machine to operate it... which will work fine but could damage it. Sims with moderate skills cannot damage it and Sims with high skills don't even need to approach it -- they can operate it anywhere via remote control!
"Make Weather.../Snow Storm (+)": The plus sign (+) denotes that this option creates a heavy snow storm. It has more snow flakes, lasts longer and covers a larger area. It looks better than the lighter Snow Flurry (below) and this weather pattern is included in the Auto-Seasons feature.
"Make Weather.../Snow Flurry (-)": Same as above, but this produces a lighter storm that dissipates faster and doesn't cover as much ground as the heavier Snow Storm (above). Best for use with really slow computers. This weather pattern is NOT included in the Auto Seasons feature.
"Make Weather.../Rain": This does not summon the Maxis rain you may have seen before in our Rain Maker Obelisk. This uses new rain we made. It doesn't leave many puddles behind but you'll see some of course. Check out a rain storm at night -- the lightening during an evening thunderstorm is pretty cool to watch! It will not rain inside, and power will not go out during a storm. Lightening is pretty safe too (only a 1 in 120 chance of it ever causing a fire, and if it does it's usually outside and the Weather Machine is programmed to immediately call the Fire Department for you). Just a fun feature we wanted to include, and there were no loss of lives or property during testing. ;) This weather pattern is included in the Auto Seasons feature.
"Make Weather.../Leaf Swirls": As trees shed their skin, and Fall winds pick up, leaves can be blown about. This simply generates some leaf swirls which quickly settle into leave piles. This weather pattern is included in the Auto Seasons feature. UPDATE DECEMBER 5, 2006: Six (6) new leaf-related objects included. See "Update" above for details.
"Make Weather.../Pizza Showers": Who needs a buffet... or even a kitchen? Just let it rain pizza at your next party! This weather pattern is included in the Auto Seasons feature, usually when the report says something has "gone awry" hehheh. Fun surprises included too.
"Make Weather.../Rain Cats & Dogs": UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: This feature was added due to numerous requests pending the release of the Sims 2 Pets expansion pack. If you have the Pets expansion pack, you will see this option in the game. Otherwise, you won't see it. Select this option, choose "Cats", "Dogs" or "Both" and watch the fur fly. Only 10 animals fall at a time, so as not to overwhelm your game with characters. Run this option as many times as you want. Depending on the speed of your computer, there will be a slight pause while the game scans for animals and again when the animals are generated. If your computer is slower, you might see them blink on the ground for a moment before they start showering down from the sky. Don't worry... they land safely on their feet. ;)
"Make Weather.../Rain Sims": UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: This feature was added because of something my wife said about the song, "It's Raining Men". Select this option so that It's Raining Sim! You will get a dialog window with options. Choose "Males", "Females" or "Both Genders". Then another window pops up, and you can choose "Kids" (Children & Teens), "Grownups" (Adults & Elders) or "Both". Sims will then fall from the sky like rain and land (...rather ungracefully) in little rain puddles. Only 10 Sims fall at a time, so as not to overwhelm your game with characters. Run this option as many times as you want. Depending on the speed of your computer, there will be a slight pause while the game scans for Sims and again when the Sims are generated. If your computer is slower, you might see them blink on the ground for a moment before they start showering down from the sky.
"Make Weather.../Acid Rain": UPDATE JUNE 23, 2007: Operates much like our regular rain, except it is laden with chemicals. You can play in the puddles but there may be consequencese (see below). This weather pattern is NOT included in the Auto Seasons feature.
"Clean Up...": If a specific "Shower" (e.g. rainfall, snow flurry, etc.) or "Debris" (e.g. leaf pile, rain puddle, etc.) is on the lot and you want to instantly remove it, use this option. Any special debris (e.g. snowman part, snack leaf, etc.) associated with that weather type will also be removed via this option. UPDATE DECEMBER 5, 2006: Five of the six new leaf objects will also be removed. The larger pile, titled "A Pile of Autumn Leaves by Mother Nature", should be deleted manually.
"Info..." This is a just a quickie guide you can view from in the game that briefly explains the basic features of the Weather Machine.
If you have the SEASONS expansion pack, you will also see these options -- UPDATED JUNE 23, 2007:
"Make 'Seasons EP' Weather.../Reign of Fire": This is the possible weather "fluke" that happens when Sims operate the Weathernaught 57X (the Seasons ep Aspiration Reward object) improperly. With our version however, you can experience the fireballs falling from the sky but without the risk of injury or loss of property.
"Make 'Seasons EP' Weather.../More...": Allows you to spawn the Weathernaught 57X for free if you want it. With that, you can control all of the Weather in the Seasons expansion pack.
"Make 'Seasons EP' Weather.../Recharge Weathernaught 57X?": The Weathernaught only allows for 5 uses (charges) before it becomes inert and useless. However now you can use our Weather Machine to recharge the Weathernaught back up to it's full 5 charges anytime... so you can use it forever! Aesthetic difference: After recharging, each charge crystal will be re-illuminated as expected, but the cradle holding the crystal will remain opaque. Chances are you won't even notice, but I just wanted to mention it anyway.
Note:
We originally were going to include all the Seasons Weathernaught 57X features directly into the Weather Machine, but it became too confusing from a gameplay perspective and we decided against it. We decided instead to keep them (Weather Machine and Weathernaught 57X) as two separate objects, but to allow for adjustment to the Weathernaught (such as recharging) to give the player the ultimate weather control and experience possible for the TS2 game.
WORKING WITH WEATHER:
Occasionally but rarely, some showers might get stuck on porches or other outdoor "obstacles". Showers are technically moving objects (object making is not an exact science). :) There are four ways you can resolve this very easily. One, just pause the game, click on the shower (or debris) and move it to another tile, just as you would move any other object. Two, you can also manually delete any shower. Three, use the "Clean Up..." feature to stop the storm entirely. And four, you can also just move the Weather Machine to a new location, and recreate the storm - for example, if you want it to snow upstairs on a balcony. Weather showers always start on the nearest outside tile to the Weather Machine, and spread outward to other areas of the same terrain "type".
MOVING ACCUMULATION:
You can move the accumulation on the ground just like any object: pause the game, click on it and move it (or delete it). This is helpful if you see bare patches where you want to add some accumulation for example.
INTERACTING WITH ACCUMULATION:
There are several surprises that we won't mention here - let us know, or better yet post some screenshots in our forums, if you catch any of them. ;) But here are the basics:
SNOW: You can play in the snow for Fun points and slight decrease in Comfort points. There are two ways: sitting and standing. For convenience, the "Run Here" option was also included in snow tiles. If you have The Sims 2 University expansion pack, you have the added feature, "Throw Snowball At.../" where a Sim can scoop up snow, make a snowball, select someone on the lot and hit them with it. Both Sims enjoy the experience (Fun increase) and it raises relationship points with each Sim by 2 points each time. If you have the Maxis Snowman download, your Sims can "Make Snowman" - make and assemble a snowman on the snow tile. You can change the look and attributes of the snowman too. The snowman download was included in the Holiday Party Pack (December 2005), or you can download it from The Sims 2 Exchange here:
File name: "Snowman Construction Set.Sims2Pack"
Preview Image: http://thesims2.ea.com/sims2_exchange/object/67/67/preview.jpg
Download link:
http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/object_detail.php?asset_id=67&view=maxis&search=1&asset_type=object
More on SNOW: Snow will stay on ground for about 24 hours before it melts and disappears. Using the "Cleanup..." feature to remove snow will also remove any snowmen you made from the snow. However this feature only works if there is snow on the ground.
RAIN PUDDLES: Sims can splash around in them for Fun points and slightly lowered Hygiene points. These puddles are different than the standard game puddles although the look the same. Rain puddles evaporate quickly and they do not ever spawn weeds. When you use the "Clean Up..." feature to move rain puddles, for your convenience it will also remove all regular water puddles too and, although our puddles do not spawn weeds of any kind, it will remove any weeds on your lot too. Maids will want to mop these up too.
PILE OF LEAVES: Neat Sims who want a clean yard will probably prefer to bag the leaves and dispose of them. Maids won't dump them for you. Playful or Sloppy Sims might prefer to jump in the pile and play around. Curious Sims might pick up leaves and inspect them for Fun points. Sims with questionable characteristics might even eat them! ;p UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: The six new leaf objects mention above cannot be bagged - since we did not make these objects, they are basically "decorative" but still "interactable" (Sims can jump in some, view others, all depending on their age group).
PIZZA SLICES: Perfectly edible. Sims will not "get fatter" eating them, they never spoil and there is no chance whatsoever of food poisoning. In fact, Sims will like eating these slices so much they might dance a little jig with each bite. Of course slices that were whirling around in the atmosphere might be charged up a bit and could cause some strange effects... just like with real-life pizza showers!...
CATS & DOGS: UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: If you have the Pets expansion pack, you have this option. They are randomly generated from existing pets in your game. When they first arrive, you can greet or shoo them as you see fit. Same with the Sims (in the "Rain Sims" feature).
ACID PUDDLES: UPDATE JUNE 23, 2007: No expansion required for this option. These accumulate on the ground during an Acid Rain Shower. You can decontaminate them by mopping them up, but any exposure is not healthy. Sims with higher body points will be more resistant to any adverse affects. Daring Sims can splash around in them for Fun points, but it's not so good for Hygiene and the chemicals could be harmful to clothing... or have other (non-lethal) consequences... ;)
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NOTED ISSUES:
This Weather Machine has a lot of files - anything this complex will have potential issues. Fortunately, we have tested this extremely vigorously and the only issues noted were very minor but we wanted to list them for you here just the same:
ZOOM: When you zoom really far out, you might not see the showers as well, which was intentional. Showers are basically objects, so having the showers fully cover every square inch of all three dimensions of the game slowed things down too much. Saturating the lot with objects, particularly with high-poly objects or large-scale effects, will naturally slow the game down some anyway, the amount of which depends on your processing speed. We don't use either of those. Our work around to minimize that issue as much as possible was accomplished by forgoing using actual 3D weather as planned, and instead using smaller, invisible flat 3D models with animated textures of weather moving on them, turned at various viewing angles - they look just as 3D as 3D does, plus the design should cut down on rendering time and improve game speed even during heavy storms. :) The drawback is you can't zoom all the way out to the maximum view and see weather fall from the very top of the sky. Since most people don't play the game that far out anyway, we thought our solution solved more issues than it created.
ROUTING TO THE MACHINE: After extensive testing, this issue only happened a couple of times, and hopefully it's something that you will never encounter (and if you do, it's minor anyway). If a Sim is blocking the front of the weather machine when you instruct another Sim to route to it, the first Sim will step out of the way and your Sim will approach the machine just as they normally would. Nothing new of course. However in some rare cases, this might keep the "object in use" after the action is completed, and render the machine... well, un-click-on-able (technically speaking :p ). This actually might be due to a routing bug in the game itself so there's not much we can do at this time. Hopefully you will never experience this, but if you do, the best solution will be to simply delete and re-buy the Weather Machine from Buy Mode. If this issue doesn't happen, but the action you wanted the Sim to do on the Weather Machine doesn't happen either (an even rarer possibility), just click on it and try the action again and it should work fine.... AND if you had Auto-Seasons "On" then also check to make sure it is still "On" and it didn't reset to the default setting (which is "Off").
SNOW BLEEDS: Snow may appear to leak a bit through the walls inside the house. To resolve it, simply delete the snow tiles closest to the outside walls (the adjacent snow tiles will overlap too, so it will look just fine). This issue is intentional, because it solves more problems than it creates. This happens because the snow pile "object" is slightly larger than one tile in the game. This was done to prevent "visual" gaps from appearing between snow tiles on the lawn, to give a more natural, seamless look (although at night it does show a bit more detail). Another solution would have been to make a perfectly square snow tile instead, which didn't look natural either. Besides, covering the lot like that would take away all of the standard lot routing commands (e.g. "Watch Clouds", "Teleport Here", etc.). So this way if you click on the overlaps, you will still have those routing options, without sacrificing the visual aesthetics or snow-play interactions. :)
WALK-THRU MACHINE: If you place the Weather Machine out in the open and away from other adjacent objects, you might notice (or might not notice) sometimes a Sim might pass by it, and actually walk through the far edge of the Machine. That is because the base object we used was originally much smaller than this model turned out to be and we hope to remedy this issue in a future update.
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MOVE OBJECTS CHEAT: Removing trouble the old fashioned way...
All weather objects are coded to be deleted the normal way - just go in Buy or Build Mode, click on it and delete it. This is useful if you want to make smaller plots of snow for example but don't want to rid your lot of snow entirely. For any weather debris, you can also use the "Clean Up" function to quickly remove all of a specific type of debris (such as snow) from your lot at once. But if for some unforeseen reason you can't delete something, you can try this official cheat to do it. Go into the Buy or Build Mode, then hold down Ctrl+Shift while you hit the "c" key. This brings up the "cheat box", which will appear in the upper left corner of your screen. Type in "moveobjects on" (without the quotes) and hit enter. Then click on anything you want to remove and hit the delete key. Then bring the cheat box back up, and type "moveobjects off" and hit enter. It's VERY important that you do that last step too! Then play the game as usual.
credit : http://www.simslice.com/thesims2/ts2weather.htm
Put all files ending in ".package" into this folder:
C:\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads
NOTE: If you installed the game in a different folder then adjust that directory path appropriately. Most of you have the "../Downloads" folder already, but if not then just create it. Scroll to the bottom of this page for additional tips & links.
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DESCRIPTION:
TS2 Weather Machine by Simslice.com!
Buy Mode Price: ง10,000
Buy Mode Category: Electronic
Enabled for use at-home and on all away-from-home lots
Requirements: None - made to work with any version of The Sims 2 game.
Object Description:
Climate control has reached a new level, from Simslice the original weather makers! This version for TS2 has four unique weather patterns and most importantly the Auto-Seasons feature! With Auto-Seasons "On", you get a daily weather report and experience consistent weather conditions automatically during the day, based on that report. It happens on it's own, just like real weather! Turn Auto-Seasons "Off" to terminate your climate at anytime. You can also manually program the machine to produce weather anytime you choose. Enjoy snowball fights with your friends, playing in autumn leaves, splashing around in the summer rain, or if you're in a silly (and hungry) mood, let it rain Pizza slices! Various accumulation appears on the ground, all of which can be interacted with... including a few wildly fun surprises too. Or just click a button to stop all showers or remove all debris from the ground instantly. No expansions required to use. This was a lot of work to create, and it may not be perfect, but I hope you enjoy this simulated weather experience in your TS2 game. :)
ฉ2006+ Simslice http://www.simslice.com Please do not copy, clone, hack, sell, distribute to others or post on other sites. Thank you and enjoy! :)
All coding done by Homeslice.
"Broken state" model and most textures and texture animations completed by Homeslice.
Special thanks to Wintermuteai1 and Pixlemonk for contributions to the base model & texture.
Special thanks to Mickyss for helping finalize snow storm model & texture.
UPDATES:
Updated April 2006: Sims will no longer try to sit down when they eat a pizza slice or snack leaf. This interfered with some of the animations and it wasn't necessary anyway.
Updated December 2006: We received a lot of requests for the "raining cats & dogs" feature that our TS1 version had... now with the release of the Sims 2 Pets expansion pack, we have created and incorporated this option! Click on "Make Weather" then "Rain Cats & Dogs". You will be given additional options to tailor the experience to your liking. Along with this theme, we also included an "It's Raining Sim" feature (sung to the tune of "It's Raining Men"). Choose gender and age, and have a variety of Sim visitors fall from the sky and splat down onto your lawn to say hi. We also included six (6) new autumn-related objects -- several types of leaf piles and a few autumn veggies too. These six objects were included in here, with permission, by the creator's of the Jwoods Autumn Donation Set at MTS2. A big thank you to Numenor, BobL, LyricLee and the other folks at MTS2 for their fine work and we hope you enjoy these as part of your weather patterns too. Just click on "Make Weather" then "Leaf Swirls" - these items randomly fall about our original leaf piles. Many of these can also be bought in Buy Mode for just a few Simoleans (listed under Decorative). More details below...
Updated February 2007: New & Improved graphics - the machine now has more panels adding better aesthetics, plus 2 animated scrolling text screens (black text on green) where the blank monitor screens used to be.
Updated June 23, 2007: Added Acid Rain feature. For those who have the Seasons expansion pack, we also added ability to spawn the new Aspiration Reward, the Weathernaught 57X to create Maxis-made weather too: Create Weather, Change Seasons, etc. Originally, the Weathernaught could only can be used 5 times (that's the way Maxis made it), however now you can use this Weather Machine to recharge the Weathernaught indefinitely... so that you can use it forever! Note: The Weather Machine has no charges - it also can be used indefinitely.
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A LITTLE HISTORY OF WEATHER IN THE SIMS:
The Past - TS1: Since the beginning days of The Sims, one of the most requested features was weather. With our original Deluxe Weather Seasons Package for the original Sims game (TS1), we believe we were able to provide that in a pretty realistic manner by having nine different types of weather available, including snow storms, rain, fall leaves and more. Using the "Auto-Seasons" feature, it also could create a simulated "natural climate" so weather would come and go just like real weather does, all on it's own, but the user could still assert control over it if they wanted. You can download the TS1 Deluxe Weather Seasons Package here --- http://www.simslice.com/support-ipweatherseasonspage.htm
The Past - Original TS2: When the Sims 2 was released, there was "rain" code made by Maxis, which was basically a lot-wide "effect" that came with cool features such as power outages and lightening. The scuttlebutt around the Sims Community was that this project was deemed not feasible and abandoned by Maxis, but they were good enough to leave that code in the game (probably thinking fans might find new ways to enjoy it... and we did :p ). Some fans made objects that used that rain code, including us at Simslice (see our "Rain Maker" Obelisk, linked at the bottom of this page). It was believed by many that the reason the rain project was abandoned by Maxis was because of a variety of irresolvable issues, such as that fact that it rained inside.
The Past - First Weather in TS2: Before the Seasons expansion pack was released, this TS2 Weather Machine was (and is) our attempt to bring to The Sims 2 game that we made for the TS1 game. It was the first of it's kind, just like in the TS1 game. It doesn't utilize any of the abandoned Maxis rain features (except for the lightening), and it doesn't rain inside. It also doesn't use large effects or high-poly models, so game slowness should be greatly minimized (but note that anything that saturates a lot, such as weather showers, will affect game speed somewhat). Like our TS1 Black Weather Machine, this version has weather patterns to represent all four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. And like our TS1 White Weather Machine, it also has the Auto-Seasons option which allows for a simulated weather "climate" to be created in the game and run autonomously without need of player intervention... just like real weather! When the Pets expansion pack came out, we incorporated the "raining cats & dogs" feature that our TS1 version had, as well as new autumn leaf objects. You can download this TS2 Weather Machine here --- http://www.simslice.com/thesims2/ts2weather.htm
The Present - Seasons and TS2: Some 8 ep and sp releases later, Maxis released the Seasons ep (expansion pack) in 2007. This is there first "official" attempt at weather since the game's inception seven years eariler, in 2000. There are many weather features our Weather Machine has that that Seasons expansion does not have, and vise versa. Those that do not have that expansion pack can always use our Weather Machine - it has no expansion pack requirements for use and it allows for greater control over the weather. Our Weather Machine was updated in June 2007 to include, among other things, much greater control of the Weathernaught 57X - the Seasons ep Aspiration Reward object that controls Seasons ep weather. With the Weather Machine, now you can spawn the Weathernaught 57X anywhere for free, and even recharge it so you can use it indefinitely (the ep only lets you use it 5 times). So whether you have the Seasons ep or not, our Weather Machine STILL gives you the ultimate control and the best experience of weather in your TS2 game!
The Future - TS2: It is doubtful Maxis will add any new Weather to the game after Seasons. We have made many updates to our Weather Machine over the years and we plan to continue to upgrade it in the future with more additional weather options and gameplay features. At the very least, we want to include the remaining 5 options used in the TS1 Weather Machine, and additional options are being planned as well. We also plan to update our TS1 version too.
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GAMEPLAY INFO -- PLEASE READ:
This version of the Weather Machine has four different weather options: Snow, Rain, Autumn (Fall leaves), and for the surrealists among us, Pizza Showers! The term "Shower" used in this text refers to any falling weather types, such as rainfall, snow flurries, leaf swirls or pizza showers. The term "Debris" refers to anything deposited on the ground during the storm, such as snow, rain puddles, leaf piles or pizza slices.
"Auto-Seasons": This feature is optional (default is "OFF"). When ON, you will experience weather automatically at various times throughout the day, based on the weather predictions reported each day at 7AM. In some cases, that also means you'll have clear skies (no weather). When OFF, weather will cease to occur automatically. Whether ON or OFF, you can still manually create weather anytime you want. If you don't like the weather report for the day, just delete the Weather Machine and buy it back from Buy Mode. If it's still 7AM, just set Auto-Seasons back "On" and it will generate another report, and odds are it will be a different one.
Making Weather - General Info: Duplicate showers cannot be created simultaneously - for example, if it's snowing, you can't create new snow until the current snow storm stops (but you can create other weather types). The machine can be used inside or outside, but the weather will only happen outside (starting on the closest outside tile). You can create weather anywhere outside, but in some case (such as a second-story balcony) you might have to move the Weather Machine up there to get accumulations. Sims with low Mechanical skills will be baffled and just bang on the Weather Machine to operate it... which will work fine but could damage it. Sims with moderate skills cannot damage it and Sims with high skills don't even need to approach it -- they can operate it anywhere via remote control!
"Make Weather.../Snow Storm (+)": The plus sign (+) denotes that this option creates a heavy snow storm. It has more snow flakes, lasts longer and covers a larger area. It looks better than the lighter Snow Flurry (below) and this weather pattern is included in the Auto-Seasons feature.
"Make Weather.../Snow Flurry (-)": Same as above, but this produces a lighter storm that dissipates faster and doesn't cover as much ground as the heavier Snow Storm (above). Best for use with really slow computers. This weather pattern is NOT included in the Auto Seasons feature.
"Make Weather.../Rain": This does not summon the Maxis rain you may have seen before in our Rain Maker Obelisk. This uses new rain we made. It doesn't leave many puddles behind but you'll see some of course. Check out a rain storm at night -- the lightening during an evening thunderstorm is pretty cool to watch! It will not rain inside, and power will not go out during a storm. Lightening is pretty safe too (only a 1 in 120 chance of it ever causing a fire, and if it does it's usually outside and the Weather Machine is programmed to immediately call the Fire Department for you). Just a fun feature we wanted to include, and there were no loss of lives or property during testing. ;) This weather pattern is included in the Auto Seasons feature.
"Make Weather.../Leaf Swirls": As trees shed their skin, and Fall winds pick up, leaves can be blown about. This simply generates some leaf swirls which quickly settle into leave piles. This weather pattern is included in the Auto Seasons feature. UPDATE DECEMBER 5, 2006: Six (6) new leaf-related objects included. See "Update" above for details.
"Make Weather.../Pizza Showers": Who needs a buffet... or even a kitchen? Just let it rain pizza at your next party! This weather pattern is included in the Auto Seasons feature, usually when the report says something has "gone awry" hehheh. Fun surprises included too.
"Make Weather.../Rain Cats & Dogs": UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: This feature was added due to numerous requests pending the release of the Sims 2 Pets expansion pack. If you have the Pets expansion pack, you will see this option in the game. Otherwise, you won't see it. Select this option, choose "Cats", "Dogs" or "Both" and watch the fur fly. Only 10 animals fall at a time, so as not to overwhelm your game with characters. Run this option as many times as you want. Depending on the speed of your computer, there will be a slight pause while the game scans for animals and again when the animals are generated. If your computer is slower, you might see them blink on the ground for a moment before they start showering down from the sky. Don't worry... they land safely on their feet. ;)
"Make Weather.../Rain Sims": UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: This feature was added because of something my wife said about the song, "It's Raining Men". Select this option so that It's Raining Sim! You will get a dialog window with options. Choose "Males", "Females" or "Both Genders". Then another window pops up, and you can choose "Kids" (Children & Teens), "Grownups" (Adults & Elders) or "Both". Sims will then fall from the sky like rain and land (...rather ungracefully) in little rain puddles. Only 10 Sims fall at a time, so as not to overwhelm your game with characters. Run this option as many times as you want. Depending on the speed of your computer, there will be a slight pause while the game scans for Sims and again when the Sims are generated. If your computer is slower, you might see them blink on the ground for a moment before they start showering down from the sky.
"Make Weather.../Acid Rain": UPDATE JUNE 23, 2007: Operates much like our regular rain, except it is laden with chemicals. You can play in the puddles but there may be consequencese (see below). This weather pattern is NOT included in the Auto Seasons feature.
"Clean Up...": If a specific "Shower" (e.g. rainfall, snow flurry, etc.) or "Debris" (e.g. leaf pile, rain puddle, etc.) is on the lot and you want to instantly remove it, use this option. Any special debris (e.g. snowman part, snack leaf, etc.) associated with that weather type will also be removed via this option. UPDATE DECEMBER 5, 2006: Five of the six new leaf objects will also be removed. The larger pile, titled "A Pile of Autumn Leaves by Mother Nature", should be deleted manually.
"Info..." This is a just a quickie guide you can view from in the game that briefly explains the basic features of the Weather Machine.
If you have the SEASONS expansion pack, you will also see these options -- UPDATED JUNE 23, 2007:
"Make 'Seasons EP' Weather.../Reign of Fire": This is the possible weather "fluke" that happens when Sims operate the Weathernaught 57X (the Seasons ep Aspiration Reward object) improperly. With our version however, you can experience the fireballs falling from the sky but without the risk of injury or loss of property.
"Make 'Seasons EP' Weather.../More...": Allows you to spawn the Weathernaught 57X for free if you want it. With that, you can control all of the Weather in the Seasons expansion pack.
"Make 'Seasons EP' Weather.../Recharge Weathernaught 57X?": The Weathernaught only allows for 5 uses (charges) before it becomes inert and useless. However now you can use our Weather Machine to recharge the Weathernaught back up to it's full 5 charges anytime... so you can use it forever! Aesthetic difference: After recharging, each charge crystal will be re-illuminated as expected, but the cradle holding the crystal will remain opaque. Chances are you won't even notice, but I just wanted to mention it anyway.
Note:
We originally were going to include all the Seasons Weathernaught 57X features directly into the Weather Machine, but it became too confusing from a gameplay perspective and we decided against it. We decided instead to keep them (Weather Machine and Weathernaught 57X) as two separate objects, but to allow for adjustment to the Weathernaught (such as recharging) to give the player the ultimate weather control and experience possible for the TS2 game.
WORKING WITH WEATHER:
Occasionally but rarely, some showers might get stuck on porches or other outdoor "obstacles". Showers are technically moving objects (object making is not an exact science). :) There are four ways you can resolve this very easily. One, just pause the game, click on the shower (or debris) and move it to another tile, just as you would move any other object. Two, you can also manually delete any shower. Three, use the "Clean Up..." feature to stop the storm entirely. And four, you can also just move the Weather Machine to a new location, and recreate the storm - for example, if you want it to snow upstairs on a balcony. Weather showers always start on the nearest outside tile to the Weather Machine, and spread outward to other areas of the same terrain "type".
MOVING ACCUMULATION:
You can move the accumulation on the ground just like any object: pause the game, click on it and move it (or delete it). This is helpful if you see bare patches where you want to add some accumulation for example.
INTERACTING WITH ACCUMULATION:
There are several surprises that we won't mention here - let us know, or better yet post some screenshots in our forums, if you catch any of them. ;) But here are the basics:
SNOW: You can play in the snow for Fun points and slight decrease in Comfort points. There are two ways: sitting and standing. For convenience, the "Run Here" option was also included in snow tiles. If you have The Sims 2 University expansion pack, you have the added feature, "Throw Snowball At.../" where a Sim can scoop up snow, make a snowball, select someone on the lot and hit them with it. Both Sims enjoy the experience (Fun increase) and it raises relationship points with each Sim by 2 points each time. If you have the Maxis Snowman download, your Sims can "Make Snowman" - make and assemble a snowman on the snow tile. You can change the look and attributes of the snowman too. The snowman download was included in the Holiday Party Pack (December 2005), or you can download it from The Sims 2 Exchange here:
File name: "Snowman Construction Set.Sims2Pack"
Preview Image: http://thesims2.ea.com/sims2_exchange/object/67/67/preview.jpg
Download link:
http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/object_detail.php?asset_id=67&view=maxis&search=1&asset_type=object
More on SNOW: Snow will stay on ground for about 24 hours before it melts and disappears. Using the "Cleanup..." feature to remove snow will also remove any snowmen you made from the snow. However this feature only works if there is snow on the ground.
RAIN PUDDLES: Sims can splash around in them for Fun points and slightly lowered Hygiene points. These puddles are different than the standard game puddles although the look the same. Rain puddles evaporate quickly and they do not ever spawn weeds. When you use the "Clean Up..." feature to move rain puddles, for your convenience it will also remove all regular water puddles too and, although our puddles do not spawn weeds of any kind, it will remove any weeds on your lot too. Maids will want to mop these up too.
PILE OF LEAVES: Neat Sims who want a clean yard will probably prefer to bag the leaves and dispose of them. Maids won't dump them for you. Playful or Sloppy Sims might prefer to jump in the pile and play around. Curious Sims might pick up leaves and inspect them for Fun points. Sims with questionable characteristics might even eat them! ;p UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: The six new leaf objects mention above cannot be bagged - since we did not make these objects, they are basically "decorative" but still "interactable" (Sims can jump in some, view others, all depending on their age group).
PIZZA SLICES: Perfectly edible. Sims will not "get fatter" eating them, they never spoil and there is no chance whatsoever of food poisoning. In fact, Sims will like eating these slices so much they might dance a little jig with each bite. Of course slices that were whirling around in the atmosphere might be charged up a bit and could cause some strange effects... just like with real-life pizza showers!...
CATS & DOGS: UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2006: If you have the Pets expansion pack, you have this option. They are randomly generated from existing pets in your game. When they first arrive, you can greet or shoo them as you see fit. Same with the Sims (in the "Rain Sims" feature).
ACID PUDDLES: UPDATE JUNE 23, 2007: No expansion required for this option. These accumulate on the ground during an Acid Rain Shower. You can decontaminate them by mopping them up, but any exposure is not healthy. Sims with higher body points will be more resistant to any adverse affects. Daring Sims can splash around in them for Fun points, but it's not so good for Hygiene and the chemicals could be harmful to clothing... or have other (non-lethal) consequences... ;)
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NOTED ISSUES:
This Weather Machine has a lot of files - anything this complex will have potential issues. Fortunately, we have tested this extremely vigorously and the only issues noted were very minor but we wanted to list them for you here just the same:
ZOOM: When you zoom really far out, you might not see the showers as well, which was intentional. Showers are basically objects, so having the showers fully cover every square inch of all three dimensions of the game slowed things down too much. Saturating the lot with objects, particularly with high-poly objects or large-scale effects, will naturally slow the game down some anyway, the amount of which depends on your processing speed. We don't use either of those. Our work around to minimize that issue as much as possible was accomplished by forgoing using actual 3D weather as planned, and instead using smaller, invisible flat 3D models with animated textures of weather moving on them, turned at various viewing angles - they look just as 3D as 3D does, plus the design should cut down on rendering time and improve game speed even during heavy storms. :) The drawback is you can't zoom all the way out to the maximum view and see weather fall from the very top of the sky. Since most people don't play the game that far out anyway, we thought our solution solved more issues than it created.
ROUTING TO THE MACHINE: After extensive testing, this issue only happened a couple of times, and hopefully it's something that you will never encounter (and if you do, it's minor anyway). If a Sim is blocking the front of the weather machine when you instruct another Sim to route to it, the first Sim will step out of the way and your Sim will approach the machine just as they normally would. Nothing new of course. However in some rare cases, this might keep the "object in use" after the action is completed, and render the machine... well, un-click-on-able (technically speaking :p ). This actually might be due to a routing bug in the game itself so there's not much we can do at this time. Hopefully you will never experience this, but if you do, the best solution will be to simply delete and re-buy the Weather Machine from Buy Mode. If this issue doesn't happen, but the action you wanted the Sim to do on the Weather Machine doesn't happen either (an even rarer possibility), just click on it and try the action again and it should work fine.... AND if you had Auto-Seasons "On" then also check to make sure it is still "On" and it didn't reset to the default setting (which is "Off").
SNOW BLEEDS: Snow may appear to leak a bit through the walls inside the house. To resolve it, simply delete the snow tiles closest to the outside walls (the adjacent snow tiles will overlap too, so it will look just fine). This issue is intentional, because it solves more problems than it creates. This happens because the snow pile "object" is slightly larger than one tile in the game. This was done to prevent "visual" gaps from appearing between snow tiles on the lawn, to give a more natural, seamless look (although at night it does show a bit more detail). Another solution would have been to make a perfectly square snow tile instead, which didn't look natural either. Besides, covering the lot like that would take away all of the standard lot routing commands (e.g. "Watch Clouds", "Teleport Here", etc.). So this way if you click on the overlaps, you will still have those routing options, without sacrificing the visual aesthetics or snow-play interactions. :)
WALK-THRU MACHINE: If you place the Weather Machine out in the open and away from other adjacent objects, you might notice (or might not notice) sometimes a Sim might pass by it, and actually walk through the far edge of the Machine. That is because the base object we used was originally much smaller than this model turned out to be and we hope to remedy this issue in a future update.
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MOVE OBJECTS CHEAT: Removing trouble the old fashioned way...
All weather objects are coded to be deleted the normal way - just go in Buy or Build Mode, click on it and delete it. This is useful if you want to make smaller plots of snow for example but don't want to rid your lot of snow entirely. For any weather debris, you can also use the "Clean Up" function to quickly remove all of a specific type of debris (such as snow) from your lot at once. But if for some unforeseen reason you can't delete something, you can try this official cheat to do it. Go into the Buy or Build Mode, then hold down Ctrl+Shift while you hit the "c" key. This brings up the "cheat box", which will appear in the upper left corner of your screen. Type in "moveobjects on" (without the quotes) and hit enter. Then click on anything you want to remove and hit the delete key. Then bring the cheat box back up, and type "moveobjects off" and hit enter. It's VERY important that you do that last step too! Then play the game as usual.
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