The Sims Life Stories FAQ

[BeosBoxBoy]

Purpose: to provide answers for the most frequently asked questions concerning The Sims Life Stories

Last Edited: 4 March 2007

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: What is the abbreviation for The Sims Life Stories?

A: SLS

Q: What other name might this game have?

A: see below:

• De Sims(tm) Levensverhalen - nederlands
• Die Sims(TM) Lebensgeschichten - deutsch
• Les Sims(TM) Histoires de vie - français
• Los Sims(TM) Historias de la Vida - español
• Os Sims™ Histórias da Vida - portuguese (Portugal)
• The Sims(TM) Elämäntarinat - finnish
• The Sims™ Historie z życia wzięte - polish
• The Sims(TM) Histórias da Vida - portuguese (Brazil)
• The Sims(TM) Kertvárosi Krónikák - magyar (hungarian)
• The Sims(TM) Livets Historier - norsk
• The Sims(TM) Livets Historier - svensk
• The Sims (TM) Životní příběhy - czech
• The Sims(TM): Житейские истории - russian

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: Where do I install downloads and mods for SLS?

A: In Windows XP

   C:\Documents and Settings\*Your Windows User Name*\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims™ Life Stories\Downloads
--see note below

Information for Macs is unavailable at this time

In some fonts and language versions the name of the folder may not be the same.  You must run the game at least one time for the user folders to appear in you My Documents folder!  After that you may manually add the Downloads folder.

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: Does InSIMenator work with SLS?

A: Yes, see post immediately above for where to place the file.

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: How do I create a Downloads folder

A: Either manually adding it or by installing one of the registration incentives from http://sims.yahoo.com/

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: Does Custom Content (hair, shower-proof skin tones, new meshes, etc) work in SLS?

A: Yes, although I have not exhaustively tested this, I believe any base-game item compatible with The Sims 2 will work in SLS; you must then enable the custom content as in TS2 after Nightlife and later EPs in order to use custom content.

Enable Custom Content

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: What are the cheat codes in SLS?

A: see the list below for Maxis/EA acknowledged cheats:

Warning:  Not all cheats are stable and can destroy your current game.  If you heavily use cheats eventually your saved game can become corrupted and you will have to delete the saved game. The Sims (TM) Life Stories is designed for the casual and new player, so try the game without cheats.

To enter cheats in The Sims (TM) Life Stories, first open the command console by simultaneously pressing ctrl-shift-c. Note that cheats are case-sensitive. Some of the cheats that can be used here are as follows:

help lists all the cheats in the game.

help [cheatname]: displays specific information about the cheat.

exit: closes the cheat window.

expand:   expands or contracts the cheat window.

moveObjects on/off: removes footprint limitation for all object placement in Buy Mode and Build Mode. Removes limitations placed on hand tool for when objects are in use, or are normally non-movable objects. Is known to cause issues with game elements, routing, hidden object generation and manipulation, etc. Note that using this cheat allows you to delete objects that normally cannot be deleted, such as Sims, the mailbox, and the garbage can. If you delete these objects, there is no way to get them back, so be careful!

aging –on/off: prevents Sims from aging. This can disrupt the carefully tuned gameplay balance, and will prevent little Johnny from ever growing up, so treat this cheat with care as well.

autoPatch -on/off: This cheat lets you re-enable notifications when there is a game update available for The Sims (TM) Life Stories. Just turn Autopatch on and go to the Custom Content Browser (the little snowflake button on the UCP in the neighborhood). If there’s an update available you’ll be asked whether you want to download it.  

slowMotion [value]: The slowMotion cheat takes one parameter: the "slowness" setting (such as slowMotion 4). This value ranges from 0 to 8 where 0 is normal speed and 8 is the slowest speed.

boolProp enablePostProcessing true/false: enables the use of postprocessing cheats (see below). Please note that you must have a video card that can handle pixel shaders in order to successfully use this cheat. If you use the cheats and you don’t have pixel shaders, the screen will most likely go partially dark, and will not come back until you turn off enablePostProcessing. If you turn on postprocessing, and you turn on cinematics, and a cinematic plays, you may also experience unwanted graphical glitches.

bloom [r g  b x] (rgb is color) (x is the bloom amount) [0.0 - 1.0]: This cheat adds a blur effect, like a sitcom flashback moment. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work.

vignette [centerX centerY X] (X is the vignetteing factor) [0.0 - 1.0]: Adds a blur effect from the specified center. Using "vignette 0.5 0.5 0.5" should put some blurry bits at the edge of the screen. Vignette 0.5 0.5 1.0 is maximum edge blurryness. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work.

filmGrain [val] [0.0-1.0]: This cheat makes the screen grainy. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work.

letterBox [val] [0.0-0.4]: Adds a letterbox effect to the view. Must have entered boolProp enablePostProcessing true for this cheat to work.

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: Do camera mods work in SLS?

A: Yes - see images below:

Using CaptFalcon007's CAS Camera Fix V1.0 from MTS2


Using CaptFalcon007's CAS Camera Fix V1.0 from MTS2


Using snappledude21's see whole neighborhood v1.0 from MTS2

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: Do sims & objects from the Exchange work in SLS?

A: Yes, but you must use Sims2Pack Clean Installer (link) to extract the items and then manually move the files to the SLS Downloads folder.  Simply changing the file extension from .Sims2Pack to .SimsLSPack will not work.

You will then need to enable custom content as one does in TS2 after Nightlife and later EPs.

Enable Custom Content


Custom Sim Bin in SLS CAS

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: Does Crammyboy's famous mod work in SLS?

A: Yes, just like in TS2 (no screen cap possible due to age limitations of site)

[BeosBoxBoy]

Q: Do wall treatments and flooring made with The Sims 2 HomeCrafter Plus work in SLS?

A: Yes, but as mentioned above, these items will need to be extracted from the Sims2Pack with Sims2Pack Clean Installer (link).