The Sims 2, Movie Making Tips

The Sims 2, Movie Making Tips
By WelshRogue

Introduction

This short Tutorial has been created to give people brand new to the Movie Making Game that is the Sims 2 a foot up without the need to read the rather large tutorials that other Websites provide. While the others give you more depth, this one should provide you with fast answers right off the mark, so lets get started.

Writing the Script

This one is where you get to go nuts. Get all your Ideas down on paper First. What kind of film do you want to do? The Sims 2 allows you to do so much but be warned, that anything outside of the standard layout could be very difficult to achieve. By all means, but adventuring but if this is your first project, I would suggest something a bit simpler. I chose a typical Drama/Sit Com style because the Sims work well with that kind of stuff. I write a script the way I wanted to do the Drama that I am working on and did it outside of the boundaries of the Sims 2, then I went back and altered it with what I could and could not do. Best way to write a script is to play the Sims 2 so you know what the engine is capable off, but at the end of the day, this is totally up to you.

Creating the Set

Depending on the Scale of your project you may want to design a brand new neighbourhood for this. Take your Time. Design all the little features in the Area, build each individual house (Tip: You can package houses from other Neighbourhoods and use them in yours) and then film all your Neighbourhood shots NOW before you go any further. This is to avoid seeing the Plumb-bobs on the houses. Remember that House Design is depending on what you’re filming. I can’t really help you out there, but try and avoid too many wall hangings that might block your camera, and make sure there is some open space for characters to act in.

Creating the Actors

Firstly, DO NOT Create the Sims in the Game until AFTER you have used the Body Shop. The Body Shop is important as you may need to clone Sims later, plus its great for making a few bits of custom content that will make your movie unique. After you are done creating your cast, make them in game, selecting the template from the character creation screen. (Tip: It’s always good to create an extra Sim to hold the Plumb-bob while filming which you can hide out of the camera view)

Now, here comes the difficult part. I tend to make all my characters be ‘Knowledge’ Aspiration as that’s the easiest one to control. Also, make your Sims personalities be equal in all areas, again this is for control. Now you have two options available, if you are going to shoot scenes in multiple Residential lots, you are going to need to clone the family as many times as there are houses you need to use. So for example, if you want to use 3 houses, you should clone your family 3 times. This is because sims can visit lots. With this method, when you go to another lot, all of your actors are there waiting.

Setting the Scene

Right, you have designed your set, hired your actors and made sure they are available on all the lots there needed on. Most people think this is the most difficult part of making the movie, but it’s not when you know what your doing. As I said above, it’s all about Control. Sims always have these desires to run off and do what they want and they can be VERY difficult to please, but these tips will help you keep control of the situation.

Firstly, turn Free Will OFF. This can be found in the Settings Menu while in game. This will stop your Sims from moving around so you can keep them in the places you want them when filming. Next thing you need to do is apply the ‘boolprop’ cheat which is key to most movie control. This cheat will allow you to modify Need Bars, modify skill bars and even relationship bars. This will make it much easier for you to perhaps spark a fight, for a character to do Yoga or maybe even faint. More information on this cheat later.

You will likely have already done this but using a cash giving cheat such as ‘kaching’ or ‘motherlode’ will make it a lot easier to get the props you need for your movie. Two more cheats you will need are ‘ageing’ and ‘moveObjects’. Ageing will keep consistency with your characters throughout your movies and Moving Objects (which includes Sims) will also help when you’re after that special shot. All Cheat Codes and their explanations will be found at the end of this document.

P.S If you want to get rid of the ‘Baloon Bubbles’ above your Sims heads for your movie, download the ‘No Baloon Patch’ from www.simlogical.com.

Shooting the Movie

Now that you’re geared up with the right stuff and have all the tools at your finger tips, its time for lights, camera and action. So let’s go in that order. Firstly, Lights. Yes its picky, but depending on which lights you use and their positioning, you can make some good lighting effects. Fireplaces in the middle of the night for example, are a great effect.

Camera is nice and easy. Press ‘V’ to start filming and again to stop. But try and keep your angles good. Press the ‘Tab’ Key to go into Camera Man Mode, so you can zoom down to the Sims and get the best shots. Also, make sure when you shoot with buildings that you bring the walls up. I can’t stand watching movies when people are standing outside and I can see the indoor furniture. Also try and hide the gaps above the walls by lowering the camera a bit. Make sure that you make good use of the Pause Button and remember to use your ‘Plumb-bob’ holder Sim we made at the start so he can take the Plumb-bob outside of the Camera View.

Don’t forget to choose the Video Quality and Size before you start shooting. On Some machines, its set at a rather poor quality to start off with, but don’t go making High Resolution shots if you don’t have the HDD or Webspace to store them, when you start taking large amounts of shots it can get a bit excessive and flood your Hard Drive. I purchased a 120GB Drive, purely for Sims 2 Video Capture. Also note another important Filming factor, SOUND. I film with the sound on, but I turn off Music and Voices. As I use Voice Acting in my movies and provide my own music when needed, but the game captures the Sound Effects, so I don’t need to add them in later.

Finally, ACTION. With all that information above, you should now be able to make a pretty spiffy movie. Get your Sims into position, mess around with them, and shoot every shot you can and then piece it all together later, which now brings me onto my last section.

Editing the Video

Now that you have shot your pieces, you need to put it all together. This is where the magic happens. For those with Windows XP Home or Professional, you will already be blessed with a Free Video Editing Software called Windows Movie Maker. I myself use this, because im too cheap to buy the more professional and expensive stuff, but it does the job so there’s no problems.

It’s pretty self explanatory. Remember to put Titles up on it, displaying your movies name and if you want, add the ‘Made with the Sims 2’ Video as I do, which you can download from the Sims 2 Website. Once your happy with your finished product, seal it up to WMV Format (this is supported with Windows Movie Maker) and ship it off to the Web. Remember if it’s fewer than 10MB you can publish it to the Sims 2 Website in you’re Sim Page.

Just a quick note on Voice acting as well. If you do get Voice Actors, WAV is a good format to get the sound files in on, but if you’re using Windows Movie Maker, Voice and Music don’t go well together, so you need to keep them separate, otherwise it gets a bit messy. You can use the Windows Sound Recorder to make your Voice Files, or ask other people to do voice acting and then send you the files through the Web or Email. (Tip: If you’re asking people to send you Sound Files over the Web, then make sure you get the sound files first, before you do any filming. Traditionally, filming and putting the sound in at the same time works great, but in some situations its just not possible, so your better off taking the sound and then getting the Sims to sync up with the sounds)

An Ending and the Codes

Well, that’s about it. The rest of it that’s not mentioned here I probably can’t answer but there is no better way to learn then to play the game itself. The Sims can do some outrageous things and I feel that anything is possible, especially as more expansion packs are released.

As promised, here are the Cheat Codes that will help you Develop your Movie:

Press ‘Shift+Ctrl+C’ while in Game to bring up the Console. Then Enter the bellow codes.
‘kaching’ – Gives 1000 cash.
‘motherlode’ – Gives 50,000 cash.
‘ageing on/off’ – Turns Ageing On/Off.
‘MoveObjects on/off’ – Enables moving Sims On/Off.
‘boolprop testingcheatsenabled true/false’ – Allows you to adjust Needs/ Skills Bars in Game. (Note: This cheat must be activated in Neighbourhood View)

Happy Movie Making!
-Elliot Roberts

_________________
WelshRogue (Director & Editor)
Game Engines: The Sims 2, Planetside, EVE-Online, The Movies.
WelshRogue Productions Visit: www.welshrogue.co.uk

Thanks! Do you mind if we post this as an Article?

_________________
Hugh Hancock

Founder, Machinima.com
Artistic Director, Strange Company

Machinima for Dummies - coming Summer 2007.

"My name was Mike. His name is Bob."

not at all.

didnt expect that. hehe

_________________
WelshRogue (Director & Editor)
Game Engines: The Sims 2, Planetside, EVE-Online, The Movies.
WelshRogue Productions Visit: www.welshrogue.co.uk

We loves us the content.

BTW, could I persuade you to take us some screenshots to accompany the article? One per section would be fantastic. Mail them to me at the usual address (info at machinima dot com)

_________________
Hugh Hancock

Founder, Machinima.com
Artistic Director, Strange Company

Machinima for Dummies - coming Summer 2007.

"My name was Mike. His name is Bob."

Thanks, WelshRogue, for putting in the time to create this excellent article. I really appreciate it!

gToon

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mo chin, pang yau...mo chin

Yeah, really great! Very Happy

I bought Sims 2 today(!) and just started playing with it. I got it for Machinima only.

Do you know if it's possible to freeze the game and move the camera and then start shooting again? And if it's possible to record the events of the game to be able to (re)film the same scene from different angels?

/ Sammyblue

Wow.. WelshRogue, you really put some thought and work into this.

I'm building an 'articles' section for my moviemaking fansite (www.sims99.com) and was wanting to put together a similiar article... but you've already done such a fantastic job.

I wonder if you would mind if I reprinted it there? Just perhaps PM me or email me and let me know how you would want the credits to read, and any link you'd like me to put in it?

Again.. great job on that. I'm sure it will be of great help to a lot of new moviemakers!

Nova

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Promote your machinima film at: Sims99

Well I did it really for my Website but it having gone over it, it has a lot of typos and needs a bit of screenshots and such just to make it look a bit better, but once its all finished properly, you can feel free to put it on your Website, but try and point the credits to my Webby as well. Wink

_________________
WelshRogue (Director & Editor)
Game Engines: The Sims 2, Planetside, EVE-Online, The Movies.
WelshRogue Productions Visit: www.welshrogue.co.uk

Excellent post! I recently found out about Machinima and agree that the Sims2 engine is fantastic for this genre. I am a filmmaker in LA, and a game fanatic as well! I went out and purchased Sims2, and BF1942. I look forward to making my first film! Cheers, Dave

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From Chaos Comes Clarity...
www.claritypictures.net

Awesome information im really interested in making Machinima i was wondering if u knew how to put voices and the movie together

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Am I On

http://christmas-orgasms.info/

Great tips.

The cheat codes do works! Very Happy

Anyone know a good camera hack for Sims 2, i can't recreate the look from The Strangerhood, anyone know how they did it?