The Sims 2 Images - Frequently Asked Questions

The Star Hermit · 24-09-2007, 11:14 PM

The Sims 2 Images - Frequently Asked Questions

Contents

Feel free to post additional image hints, tips or suggestions you may have.

The Star Hermit · 24-09-2007, 11:15 PM

Where can I find my Sims 2 pictures?

There are several folders where The Sims 2 stores your in-game pictures, however it does also depend on whether or not you have any expansion packs.

If you have The Sims 2 base game only!

If you only have the basic The Sims 2 game installed, your images are stored in one location only, this is:

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Storytelling

Remember, this your Sims 2 folder in My documents and not the program files folder, where you will find them.

Note: If you are using Windows Vista, you may find your My Documents is located at C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents instead.

If you have expansion packs installed!

Once you have any of the expansion packs installed, there is now more than one location you may find your images. The Storytelling folder as described above still exists, and you may still find some images stored in there; however each of your neighbourhoods now has a second Storytelling folder of it's own.

Each of your neighbourhoods has it's own folder for storing all the files that your game needs to run and play that neighbourhood, each is given a unique folder number:

E001 = Belladonna Cove (only if you have The Sims 2 Apartment Life installed)
F001 = Desiderata Valley (only if you have The Sims 2 FreeTime installed)
G001 = Riverblossom Hills (only if you have The Sims 2 Seasons installed)
N001 = Pleasantview
N002 = Strangetown
N003 = Veronaville
N004 = Your first custom neighbourhood
N005 = Your second custom neighbourhood
and so on for all your neighbourhoods.

You can find each of your neighbourhoods by looking in the following location:

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods

Note: If you are using Windows Vista, you may find your My Documents is located at C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents instead.

Inside each of the neighbourhood folders you will find a folder called Storytelling which stores many of the neighbourhood specific images. For example, if you were playing Pleasantview, you would look in the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N001\Storytelling; if you were playing Veronaville, you would look in My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N003\Storytelling.

The Star Hermit · 24-09-2007, 11:16 PM

Why are my pictures always small?

There are several possible reasons why your images may be smaller then others you see posted; you may have the snapshot size set too low in the Camera options, this is the size of picture that the game will take when you press the C button. The other main reason is that you may have selected a smaller 'thumbnail' image in your Storytelling folder instead of the snapshot image you want.

Each is explained in more detail below.

Snapshot size!

You can change the size of the picture that the in-game camera takes by altering the settings in the Camera options panel. To find the panel, press the F5 key or click the options icon on the User Interface, it's the one with three dots; this opens up the options panel. Now click on the Camera icon to open up the Camera options.

Look for the setting that says Snapshot Size, it has three options - Small (200x150 pixels), Medium (400x300 pixels) and Large (600x450 pixels). Selecting the Large option will take the largest pictures in-game, as shown below (click to enlarge):

Incidentally, you can also change the quality of the images taken in this options panel too, selecting the High setting should give you the best, sharpest images that your graphics card is capable of.

One important point to note, the larger the snapshot size and the higher you set the quality of the image here, the larger the eventual file size will be.

Thumbnail v Snapshot image

Every time you take a picture with the in-game camera, two versions of each image are saved. There's the normal 'Snapshot' sized image according to the settings you choose in the Camera options, but there's also a smaller 'Thumbnail' sized image which the game uses in the in-game story mode editor.

When you look through your storytelling folders for your pictures, you will see that they start with the name snapshot_ or thumbnail_ and also have a series of unique numbers.

For images you want to post or show others, be sure to select the larger snapshot sized image, as shown in the examples below.

Here's a medium sized image of the Broke family, with the file name snapshot_00000001_ede303e7.jpg

and here's the thumbnail version of the same image with the file name thumbnail_00000001_ede303e7.jpg

The Star Hermit · 24-09-2007, 11:30 PM

How can I post/show my images in this forum?

Hosting Your Images

To post images in this forum, you will first need to upload your images to a server on the internet; this is because every time someone wants to look at your pictures, their web browser has go and look at that picture first in order to show it. Since a web browser cannot usually look at anything on your own computer, you can upload your pictures to a place on the internet where web browsers are allowed to look.

If you have your own web space (either free or paid for) then you could upload your pictures and host them yourself, some web hosts don't allow you to link to images on their servers so check first before you do.

If your web host doesn't allow you to link to images or you don't have your own web space, a good alternative is to use an 'Image Host' that allows linking. Image hosts are individuals, companies or other organizations, that will let you upload your images to their servers and then show them on other sites such as this forum. There are many image hosts on the internet, most offer free hosting with some putting limits on bandwidth, number of images you can upload etc.

Two popular image hosts among Sims UK forum members are are:

but you can always use a search engine for others. The host will be able to give you instructions on how to move your images to their servers. Make sure that your images are in a format other than .bmp, for example .jpg or .gif are acceptable, as this compresses the image and makes the size smaller.

Tip: Check your host's FAQ's as they sometimes have smaller file size limits by default, but will allow you to increase them by altering your account settings. Another good way of avoiding your images being resized, is to reduce the image quality before you upload it. You can usually do this with most commercial and free graphics software, the result is often a greatly reduced file size but little noticeable difference in the image quality. Try reducing image quality to around 90-95% and check the file size to see the results.

Displaying Your Image

Once you have uploaded your image, the next step is put the address of your image into your post; this address tells web browsers and the forum servers exactly where to look on the internet for your picture. For your image to show, you will need to put the address inside a vB Code tag called the [dynimg] tag. The code will look something like this:

[dynimg]web address here[/dynimg]

So lets test this out. I've uploaded an image to my image hosting account, here's my image code:

[dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/Pets_400x300.jpg[/dynimg]

and here is how the image will display:

[dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/Pets_400x300.jpg[/dynimg]

That's all there is to it! Most image hosts now supply you with various ready made links for posting on different types of sties, such as forums that use BBCode, web sites, auction sites etc. Check the links provided as you will most likely find a link that uses the [img] tag anyway, if you use that it will save you having to type it all manually. It's still a good idea to try it out manually so you know how to use it correctly should you need to.

The Star Hermit · 24-09-2007, 11:32 PM

Clickable Images

Sometimes you may want an image to be clickable, perhaps you have a thumbnail pointing to a larger image, or maybe you are advertising your diary and want the image to take your readers to your latest update. Whatever the reason, you can turn your image into a clickable link by using another tag, this one is the [url] tag. The code will look something like this:

[url=link address here][dynimg]image address here[/dynimg][/url]

The first part, the link address, tells the browser where to go on the internet when the image is clicked. The image address is the address where your image is hosted on the internet (see How I can post/show my images in this forum above).

Note: It's important that you get the opening [url] and [dynimg] tags, as well as the closing [/url] and [/dynimg] tags in the correct place, otherwise the link won't work properly.

Okay lets test this out. I've uploaded an image to my image hosting account, now I want to make it a clickable link. Here's my code:

[url=http://thesims2.co.uk/] [dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/tsuk_screen.jpg[/dynimg][/url]

and here is how the image displays:

[dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/tsuk_screen.jpg[/dynimg]

As you can see, this image is a screen shot of the Sims 2 UK Homepage. If you hover over the image you can see the address in your browser status bar, if you click the image you will be whisked away to the Sims 2 UK website.

That's all there is to it.

larry shadow · 17-08-2008, 04:28 PM

can you post videos in the forums?

Ayeffen · 17-08-2008, 04:35 PM

You can't upload and post videos directly into the forum space, no. You can however upload to YouTube and embed your videos into your posts using the YouTube tags we have.

Here's some more detailed information on the feature:

Quote:

Originally Posted by EAUK_Omni

We also have some nice new features for you. The first one is the YouTube video embedding option. This will allow you to post YouTube videos that can be viewed inside the forum without having to open a new window and visit an external site.

To use the YouTube embed feature you have to use the YouTube tags which are YT in square brackets [] and /YT in square brackets []. Inbetween these tags you paste the YouTube video name. The video name is the part after the = sign in the videos URL. Here is an example:

To place this video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=e2ih0Ma5z_E in a thread I would enter the following:

[yt ]e2ih0Ma5z_E[/yt ] (without the spaces)

So I have placed the part after the = sign http://youtube.com/watch?v=e2ih0Ma5z_E inbetween the tags.

The result -

IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material.

I AGREE

24-09-2007, 11:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
The Star Hermit Fleet Commander Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sol 3 - Sector 001 Age: 40 Gender: Male Posts: 25,919	The Sims 2 Images - Frequently Asked Questions The Sims 2 Images - Frequently Asked Questions Contents Where can I find my Sims 2 pictures? Why are my pictures always small? How can I post/show my images in this forum? Clickable images! Feel free to post additional image hints, tips or suggestions you may have. Last edited by The Star Hermit; 24-09-2007 at 11:34 PM..

24-09-2007, 11:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
The Star Hermit Fleet Commander Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sol 3 - Sector 001 Age: 40 Gender: Male Posts: 25,919	Where can I find my Sims 2 pictures? There are several folders where The Sims 2 stores your in-game pictures, however it does also depend on whether or not you have any expansion packs. If you have The Sims 2 base game only! If you only have the basic The Sims 2 game installed, your images are stored in one location only, this is: My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Storytelling Remember, this your Sims 2 folder in My documents and not the program files folder, where you will find them. Note: If you are using Windows Vista, you may find your My Documents is located at C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents instead. If you have expansion packs installed! Once you have any of the expansion packs installed, there is now more than one location you may find your images. The Storytelling folder as described above still exists, and you may still find some images stored in there; however each of your neighbourhoods now has a second Storytelling folder of it's own. Each of your neighbourhoods has it's own folder for storing all the files that your game needs to run and play that neighbourhood, each is given a unique folder number: E001 = Belladonna Cove (only if you have The Sims 2 Apartment Life installed) F001 = Desiderata Valley (only if you have The Sims 2 FreeTime installed) G001 = Riverblossom Hills (only if you have The Sims 2 Seasons installed) N001 = Pleasantview N002 = Strangetown N003 = Veronaville N004 = Your first custom neighbourhood N005 = Your second custom neighbourhood and so on for all your neighbourhoods. You can find each of your neighbourhoods by looking in the following location: My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods Note: If you are using Windows Vista, you may find your My Documents is located at C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents instead. Inside each of the neighbourhood folders you will find a folder called Storytelling which stores many of the neighbourhood specific images. For example, if you were playing Pleasantview, you would look in the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N001\Storytelling; if you were playing Veronaville, you would look in My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N003\Storytelling. Last edited by The Star Hermit; 02-10-2008 at 11:26 AM.. Reason: Updated

24-09-2007, 11:30 PM	#4 (permalink)
The Star Hermit Fleet Commander Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sol 3 - Sector 001 Age: 40 Gender: Male Posts: 25,919	How can I post/show my images in this forum? Hosting Your Images To post images in this forum, you will first need to upload your images to a server on the internet; this is because every time someone wants to look at your pictures, their web browser has go and look at that picture first in order to show it. Since a web browser cannot usually look at anything on your own computer, you can upload your pictures to a place on the internet where web browsers are allowed to look. If you have your own web space (either free or paid for) then you could upload your pictures and host them yourself, some web hosts don't allow you to link to images on their servers so check first before you do. If your web host doesn't allow you to link to images or you don't have your own web space, a good alternative is to use an 'Image Host' that allows linking. Image hosts are individuals, companies or other organizations, that will let you upload your images to their servers and then show them on other sites such as this forum. There are many image hosts on the internet, most offer free hosting with some putting limits on bandwidth, number of images you can upload etc. Two popular image hosts among Sims UK forum members are are: www.photobucket.com www.imageshack.us but you can always use a search engine for others. The host will be able to give you instructions on how to move your images to their servers. Make sure that your images are in a format other than .bmp, for example .jpg or .gif are acceptable, as this compresses the image and makes the size smaller. Tip: Check your host's FAQ's as they sometimes have smaller file size limits by default, but will allow you to increase them by altering your account settings. Another good way of avoiding your images being resized, is to reduce the image quality before you upload it. You can usually do this with most commercial and free graphics software, the result is often a greatly reduced file size but little noticeable difference in the image quality. Try reducing image quality to around 90-95% and check the file size to see the results. Displaying Your Image Once you have uploaded your image, the next step is put the address of your image into your post; this address tells web browsers and the forum servers exactly where to look on the internet for your picture. For your image to show, you will need to put the address inside a vB Code tag called the [dynimg] tag. The code will look something like this: [dynimg]web address here[/dynimg] So lets test this out. I've uploaded an image to my image hosting account, here's my image code: [dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/Pets_400x300.jpg[/dynimg] and here is how the image will display: [dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/Pets_400x300.jpg[/dynimg] That's all there is to it! Most image hosts now supply you with various ready made links for posting on different types of sties, such as forums that use BBCode, web sites, auction sites etc. Check the links provided as you will most likely find a link that uses the [img] tag anyway, if you use that it will save you having to type it all manually. It's still a good idea to try it out manually so you know how to use it correctly should you need to. Last edited by The Star Hermit; 27-09-2007 at 01:55 AM.. Reason: Updated

24-09-2007, 11:32 PM	#5 (permalink)
The Star Hermit Fleet Commander Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sol 3 - Sector 001 Age: 40 Gender: Male Posts: 25,919	Clickable Images Sometimes you may want an image to be clickable, perhaps you have a thumbnail pointing to a larger image, or maybe you are advertising your diary and want the image to take your readers to your latest update. Whatever the reason, you can turn your image into a clickable link by using another tag, this one is the [url] tag. The code will look something like this: [url=link address here][dynimg]image address here[/dynimg][/url] The first part, the link address, tells the browser where to go on the internet when the image is clicked. The image address is the address where your image is hosted on the internet (see How I can post/show my images in this forum above). Note: It's important that you get the opening [url] and [dynimg] tags, as well as the closing [/url] and [/dynimg] tags in the correct place, otherwise the link won't work properly. Okay lets test this out. I've uploaded an image to my image hosting account, now I want to make it a clickable link. Here's my code: [url=http://thesims2.co.uk/] [dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/tsuk_screen.jpg[/dynimg][/url] and here is how the image displays: [dynimg]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/StarHermit/TS2/TS2/tsuk_screen.jpg[/dynimg] As you can see, this image is a screen shot of the Sims 2 UK Homepage. If you hover over the image you can see the address in your browser status bar, if you click the image you will be whisked away to the Sims 2 UK website. That's all there is to it. Last edited by The Star Hermit; 27-09-2007 at 01:59 AM.. Reason: Updated

17-08-2008, 04:28 PM	#6 (permalink)
larry shadow Rookie Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: North west uk Age: 15 Posts: 412	can you post videos in the forums? __________________ "why can't everything be rocket propelled?" - Nilsson - mercs 2

24-09-2007, 11:16 PM	#3 (permalink)
The Star Hermit Fleet Commander Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sol 3 - Sector 001 Age: 40 Gender: Male Posts: 25,919	Why are my pictures always small? There are several possible reasons why your images may be smaller then others you see posted; you may have the snapshot size set too low in the Camera options, this is the size of picture that the game will take when you press the C button. The other main reason is that you may have selected a smaller 'thumbnail' image in your Storytelling folder instead of the snapshot image you want. Each is explained in more detail below. Snapshot size! You can change the size of the picture that the in-game camera takes by altering the settings in the Camera options panel. To find the panel, press the F5 key or click the options icon on the User Interface, it's the one with three dots; this opens up the options panel. Now click on the Camera icon to open up the Camera options. Look for the setting that says Snapshot Size, it has three options - Small (200x150 pixels), Medium (400x300 pixels) and Large (600x450 pixels). Selecting the Large option will take the largest pictures in-game, as shown below (click to enlarge): Incidentally, you can also change the quality of the images taken in this options panel too, selecting the High setting should give you the best, sharpest images that your graphics card is capable of. One important point to note, the larger the snapshot size and the higher you set the quality of the image here, the larger the eventual file size will be. Thumbnail v Snapshot image Every time you take a picture with the in-game camera, two versions of each image are saved. There's the normal 'Snapshot' sized image according to the settings you choose in the Camera options, but there's also a smaller 'Thumbnail' sized image which the game uses in the in-game story mode editor. When you look through your storytelling folders for your pictures, you will see that they start with the name snapshot_ or thumbnail_ and also have a series of unique numbers. For images you want to post or show others, be sure to select the larger snapshot sized image, as shown in the examples below. Here's a medium sized image of the Broke family, with the file name snapshot_00000001_ede303e7.jpg and here's the thumbnail version of the same image with the file name thumbnail_00000001_ede303e7.jpg