Installation Order for Expansion Packs
Although there are no specific instructions from EA on how to install or reinstall all the Expansion Packs and Stuff Packs for The Sims 2, conventional wisdom seems to think that it's a good idea to install them in the order that they were published:
- Base Game: The Sims 2*
September 17, 2004
- Patch: The Sims 2
- Expansion Pack: University March 2, 2005
- Patch: University
- Expansion Pack: Nightlife September 13, 2005
- Patch: Nightlife
- Expansion Pack: Open For
Business March 2, 2006
- Patch: Open For
Business
- Stuff Pack: Family Fun Stuff April 13, 2006
- Patch: Family Fun
- Stuff Pack: Glamour Life
Stuff August 13, 2006
- Expansion Pack: Pets October 17, 2006
- Stuff Pack: Happy Holiday
Stuff** November 2006
- Patch: Pets Body Shop December 2006
- Patch: Pets Not published yet.
- Expansion Pack: Seasons Probably coming in March 2007
You can also download this list in a printer-friendly Microsoft Word
file. (That's .doc format.)
IMPORTANT: If you have a working game, back up your entire game before
installing any of the expansion packs!
Yes, it does take a lot of time
and a huge amount of disk space to make a backup copy of your game, and
there's almost half a chance that you won't need the backup.
Nevertheless do it! The fan
boards are filled with sob stories from people who didn't make a backup
first; you don't want to be one of them!
All you need to do is:
- select your The Sims 2 folder,
- control-C to copy,
- navigate to somewhere else on your machine, and
- control-V to paste.
Then take a long break while your machine copies
the files.
If you are installing from scratch, it's going to take you all day to
reinstall this software. You can afford the time it will take for your
computer to make a copy of your The Sims 2 folder. If you have a
separate physical disk drive installed in your computer it's a really
good idea to send the backup copy to that disk so that you will be
protected from a hardware failure.
*The Sims 2 Holiday Edition includes Holiday Party Pack, released November 17, 2005
**The Happy Holiday Stuff Pack includes the original Holiday Party Pack with about 20 new items added.