Sims 2 Movie-Making: Useful Mods & Hacks
USEFUL OBJECTS & HACKS FOR MOVIE-MAKING
Britannica Dreams
August 06, 2007
The Sims
USEFUL OBJECTS & HACKS FOR MOVIE-MAKING
Sims 2 movie-making is so much easier with the use of mods and cheats, or anything that drastically cuts out the need for normal gameplay and also saves you time.
Most of these mods and objects we have tested personally and found to be very useful, but please bear in mind that many of the mods and hacked objects could be unstable and are in beta testing, so use with caution and back-up your game files first. You'll also need to check the creators' notes for compatibility with the expansion packs you own, as some mods will only work with certain EP's installed.
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Camera Mods
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GunMod's Camera Mod - allows you to zoom closer, film at ground level, see the sky and the whole neighbourhood.
Delusion's Video Capture Mod - alters the configurations to enable you to record in 1280x1024, cutting out the graininess and blurring.
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Seasons Mods (Expansion Pack 5)
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Mods that require the Seasons EP installed:
Jaydee's Seasons EP Animbox - contains 140 interactions from the Seasons EP - fishing, playing catch, snowball fight, skating tricks, new pool interactions, reacting to weather, freezing & much more. (Usable only by adults, teenagers and elders)
The Seasons Weather Controller - Look under "Sims 2 Objects> Other Objects". This mod allows you to change the current season and the season's length. There is also an option to make weather and even turn weather off altogether.
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Filming Dialogue
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TS2 Studios Machinima Tool : an easier alternative to Paul's Reaction Tester, also has various "talking", "mirror" and aspiration failure animations on command.
Jaydee's OFB Reaction Tester - cloned from the TS2 Studios reaction tester, this tester will only work if you have Open For Business installed - includes a useful "hang out" option. It has many of the OFB shopping interactions accessible, as well as the useful "Overlay" option added. You can also find a guide to using the "Overlay" flag on Jaydee's site.
Standing/Talk Conversation Hack - prompts dialogue animations, includes a handshake interaction and less to menus to ease to make finding animations for dialogue easier.
Sitting Talk/Conversation Hack - similar to the above hack, but used when the sim in sitting down instead.
Talk Overlay Hack -allows for less animated talking and allows Sims to talk standing without arm movement and sitting with less animation, can be used for talking while driving, walking, in the bath and is designed to be used with the above two hacks (sitting/standing conversation hacks).
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Capturing Poses & Expressions
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WalkStyle + Facial Animation Changer - allows you to make your sim walk in different styles, according to mood, aspiration etc and also has a menu for different facial expressions. (shows up as a flamingo in the catalogue)
Squinge's Mods- various really useful mods for movie-makers - a full list of Squinge's mods, please check this thread regularly for updates as those mods listed here are just a handful of what is available . These are indispensable mods for all movie-makers, which include:-
(Note: you'll need to be a registered member of InSIMenator.net forum in order to download these mods)
- Squinge's Hula Dance Mod & More - allows you to make sims do different poses & animations works for teens, adult, young adults & elders
- Squinge's Sneak Interaction Enabled
- Squinge's Wash & Look Out The Window Mod
Dance Animation Hack - contains all the dance animations from the base game, for teens to elders only.
Idle Animations Hack - This hack includes most (if not all) of the base game idle animations and CAS animations. They are sorted first by arm position (sides, hips, crossed), then by weight (shift to center or right), then by personality. Arms Side/Weight to Center/ has the most options.
Photo Poses Box by Jaydee - It's a box that contains around 40 poses from the loading screen (both couple and solo ones), Photobooth poses (will only work with Nightlife) and Sim Icon poses (regular ones, vampire (NL required), werewolf (Pets req), zombie (uni req). Usable only by adults, teenagers and elders
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Werewolfs, Vampires etc
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Game File Modifications
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GunMod's Radiance Light System: excellent hack that replicates natural light, makes the dark really dark and creates interesting shadows. **highly recommended**
V2.2 by Chocolate Pi - I'm not sure if this newer version is being supported or not, please check the thread for more details before installing. We're currently using GunMod's version (see above) and it works fine with OFB and the FFS packs installed. The benefit to Chocolate Pi's version is the wonderful shading it creates on the swimming pool water.
The third beta version of GunMod's Radiance Lighting - System by ChessPieceFace at MATY - I haven't tried this newest version, you'll need to read the thread to see what improvements have been made and whether or not you want to upgrade the mod.
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Eliminating Cartoon-Like Extras
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No Stars When Slapped by Numenor
No Musical Notes - eliminates the animated musical notes from musical instruments and stereos.
Two-Jeff's Movie-Making Tools - eliminates the animated sleeping ZZZ's and can trigger nightmares to order.
Stop Gurning by Inge of Dinnerbell - It makes your Sims pull fewer weirdly exaggerated cartoon faces, unless they're using an object with its own specific silly faces written into the animations.
No Balloons Patch and Plumbbob Zapper by Inge - useful for people who don't have the Nightlife EP installed, as this EP and later ones has in-built game cheats to remove bubbles/balloons and the plumbbob (the green motives diamond above the Sim's head - I'm guessing some people might not be aware of this, judging by some of the emails we get ;) ). Might not be compatible with the expansion packs Nightlife and after.
Plumbbob Toggle Mod - works with all versions of the game, including Seasons. Also removes the blue/white plumbbobs for group outings and dates scenarios.
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Motives & Aspirations Mods
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InSIMenator: A real "super" hack, cuts out the need for many of the boolprop cheats and ingame cheats, such as keeping sims' motives/mood high throughout filming and too many to list here. **highly recommended**
Merola's Mood Painting: similar function to the InSIMenator
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Build Mode Mods & Essentials
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Basic "Bottomful Floors" for Easy Popcorn Ceilings by HystericalParoxysm: These are floor tiles, so you can cover an entire area quickly and easily and are useful for screenshots and movies and not intended for normal gameplay. Please see the MTS2 download thread for the full details.
Ceiling Tiles by JGWhiteus add ceiling tiles to your rooms for filming, avoids the sky showing
Basic Popcorn Ceiling Tile Recolours by HystericalParoxysm
Malkavian mansion ceiling tiles recolors by Dektora
White/Snow Covered Roof Replacement by niol(note: this is a global mod and lightens ALL rooftops in your game). (11/03/07 - this modification is now redundant if you have The Seasons EP installed, as you'll have a "proper" snow covered roof in Winter, but could be useful for anyone who doesn't have this EP and wants a white roof.
Coloured walls for chroma key effects
The greenscreen set and walls are unfortunately uncredited, if anyone knows who built them please drop me an email.
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Weather & Nature Related Hacks
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The Seasons Weather Controller Look under 'Sims 2 Objects> Other Objects'. This mod allows you to change the current season and the season's length. There is also an option to make weather and even turn weather off altogether.
Lethe's Buyable Fog - comes in colours grey, white, black and pink - looks best at nighttime.
Katy76's Moon on your lots as a romantic planet
The following three hacks are also a little redundant if you have Seasons installed, though the Holoprojector is useful if you need a red/purple sky (perhaps a sunset?!)
Krepuscular Skyes Holoprojector: changes the sky colour from the lot view, various colours available
New Weather Atmosphere - buyable sky, which replicates different cloudy skies (with static clouds), such as stormy cloudy sky, rainy cloudy sky, fair weather cloudy sky.
Rain/Thunderstorm Hacked Object - search for Carrigon's hacked objects- potentially unstable object, so don't save after using this.
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Smoke & Fireworks Effects
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Flaming Kareoke at Dinnerbell - need to be registered and logged in to see this download. Kareoke machine has a smoke and flame effect when used.
Carrigon's Smoking Snowflake - pretty pink smoke!
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Useful Effects
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No Censor Blur Hack for Pets EP by quaxi
Invisible Censor Blur - you'll need to be 18+ to register on this forum and access the downloads
Sim Effects Mod: adds various effects to Sims, fire, smoke, sparkles, glows, as used in Visiting Scrooge on the ghosts and the fairies in 'Happy Ever After'.
Buyable Fire: create fires at will!
Smonaff's Ghost Hack - makes regular sims walk and look like ghosts. Also change the colour of the ghost, change walk style from normal > ghost > zombie.
Family Ghost Mod: makes any family member a playable ghost
Forever Burn Fireplaces - fireplaces are lit all the time and do not start house fires: by Carrigon (lo
ok in the forum of Carrigon's global hacks)
Prop Attachment Hack - by Jixs. This hack allows you to access props on demand and treat them as accessories, for example your sim will hold these objects around with them. Huge list of props that work with this mod include guns, OFB bags, drinking glasses, microphone and more.
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Misc Useful Hacked Objects & Mods
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Teleporter Shrub and painting: allows you to teleport your neighbours or NPCs over to the playable lot.
No School Hack - useful for child actors! Note: The InSIMenator also has a feature that allows you to select no school for children permanently.
SimMacFly Potion - make your sim "fly"
Phone Manipulator - make the phone start ringing and stop
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Food Related Mods
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No Spoiled Food Mod by Monique
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Clever Lighting
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(See GunMod's Radiance Light System above for maximum lighting benefits in game)
Coloured Spotlights - red, green, and blue spotlights that will give off coloured light - red, green, and blue respectively. You can use them to create different lighting effects in illuminating objects such as statues and trees. Combine two or more lights to create different colours
Coloured Ceiling Bulbs - combine to create different lighting effects.
Xanathon's Starlamps - great for nightclubs and stage lighting
Two Storey Lights - lights up rooms that are two storeys high from ceiling to floor. Note: unfortunately these lights don't work when you have GunMod's Radiance Light System installed, though the creator is working on a workaround for this.
Invisible Lights by Pegasys - download the .rar file. These lights can be hard to see or grab when placed on a lot, so it's recommended that you place the visible version down first and then use the customise tool to turn them invisible.
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Mods For Changing Appearance
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Custom Skintone Selector - You can set skintone for sims if you have any of the custom skins installed on the list.
Skintone Selector - You can set skintone for sims.
Sim Copy Mirror - copy a sim's appearance into another sim, copy outfit, makeup, skin, eyes, and facial structure, neighbours also can be summoned and copied.
Sim Copy Mirror - this hacked object allows you to copy a sim's appearance into another sim while you're on a lot, useful for making "doubles" for filming.
Shop At Home: Hacked Coat Rack -(replaces WinterMute's hacked dresser) by MaryLou and Numenor
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Mods for Pets
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Create a puppy or a kitten instantly
Hacked Vampire Bat with a touch of personality
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Downloads For Business/Outdoor/Community Lots
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(See also the Extracted Maxis Objects & Collections for more community objects)
Bus-Stop/Liquer Store/Telegraph Poles - free objects, but some are pay only.
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Music Video Essentials & Instruments
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Instruments may require The University Expansion Pack.
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Costume Make-Up
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Unlocked Outfits & Weapons
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Functional Warrior Sword: a hacked sword with a menu of various animations
Unlocked Outfits - career outfits & game NPC outfits, including military uniforms, hospital scrubs and The Grim Reaper's outfit.
Carrigon's Usable Knife - cloned from the finger prints gun career reward object
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Misc Useful Downloads
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Invisible Skins - a paysite, but the skins can be found in the freebies section.
Objects For Stories - extracted game objects, includes the engagement box, butter and cutting knives and sharpener
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Neigbourhood Decor
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Decorations/Buildings for the Map or Neighbourhood View:
Inner City Buildings By Arenaria at MTS2
Various Hood Decor - Arenaria's urban buildings (as seen in Scars & Souvenirs) and various castle buildings (paysite with rotated freebies)
Jixs' Neighbourhood Buildings - more very nicely designed 'hood' decor
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Extracted Maxis Objects & Collections
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Iconed Residential-to-Community Collections by Loverat - makes some residential-only objects buyable on community lots.
Community Items On Residential Lots
OFB Craft Objects Collection by Windkeeper - all the craftable items made buyable objects.
Buyable Maxis Vehicles - for decoration purposes only, not driveable - includes the career vehicles such as ambulances, fire engine, police car etc.
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Collection Files
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HP's Taking Totally Bitchin Pictures Collection File - super collection file, making it quicker to find stuff, packed with many of the hacks needed for movie-making, including props, pose mods. You'll need to have the mods installed first to show up in the collection file.
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Other Links
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For more up-to-date links to themed custom content, please check out our Guide to Finding Custom content by Theme.
And also this constantly updated list of useful mods and programs at MTS2
Thanks to Michelle & Kheri of Britannica Dreams for contributing this article.