More Awesome Than You!

A pre-order is being offered that will give you an "exclusive mascot and life-sized sculpture to promote your Sim's shop as the best in the neighborhood."
I may be having a slow day but what is this exactly?  ???

The 'mascot' looks like a chicken costume you can dress your sims in. I have no idea about the other though ???

http://thesims2.ea.com/about/ep3_order.php

How... lame. Bet anyone a euro that the 'incentive' will be dead easy to find on the Exchange or elsewhere for download, though.

Yep, which is why I won't pre-order anything from EA.  I found the hotrod from the last incentive very easily, and I plan to do the same with this.

Perhaps I'll dress up JM in a chicken suit....oh, the possibilities!  ;D

The mascots (the dude in the chicken suite or some other get up) and statues would be like advertisement for your business. The mascots would likely attempt to get sims to come in your business by carrying a sign or some other such method or perhaps simply add to the attraction of your business, the statue would act as a landmark for your business, also likely raising the attraction factor for your business not dissimilar to real world marketing strategies. It would be like any other gimmick where you have a "spokesperson" and some branding type thing (statue in this case) that identifies your business, rather than have commercials and billboards etc.

okay, LOL, you guys explaind it much better. For some reason when I read that it just wasn't registering what they meant.

By they way
Where can I get this "hotrod" and what is it, LOL?

A cut in the outrageous price of the updates would be a good incentive.

it's a car, I think it is an old model car and I'd love to know where I could get it too!  I had pre-ordered but not in time to get the car  >:(


I recently pre-ordered OFB at amazon.com so I'll be getting that mascot and sign thing.

Uhh, I could package the car and give it to both of you, if you want...

YES PLease Blue!!   ;D

Me too please.  :)

And me please ;D

For a limited time only, here's the link to download (http://www.bigupload.com/d=55796460).

Thank you :D

Also if you do a search for "hotrod" on the Exchange you'll find a bunch of lots that have it. At least it was that way a month or two ago.

They removed all those lots, slowly but surely.  There may be one or two sticking around, but when I checked a while ago, they were all gone.

Thank you Blue!!!!!!!!  :-*

A local computer shop gives a 20% discount when you get the manual also.....that is the way I go since the booklet offer no insight into the games.

Good Simming,
Twink

My EB Games offers a discount on the Prima guide too, when you get the game at the same time.  However, the Prima guide is crap, so after the Uni guide, I'll never get another one.  The only reason I got that one was because the game was really new to me (both base and Uni), and I didn't know about all the online help out there.  :)

I always get the guide, some of the info is good and I like having it on hand...



heh, I really should install my printer on this computer, been meaning to for about 7 months now  ::)

heh, of course cause I got the nifty hot rod, I just had to go looking for recolors at mts2.com  ::)

I thought others would want some too, so I kept track (I think I found them all)

http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=100189
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=96732
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=94810
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=94680
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=93723
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=92826
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=92545
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=91871
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=91600
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=91507
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=89984

there was only a couple I didn't download (the purple ones) but I ended up going back for the trashed one *laughs*

Well, if anyone wants some "cold shower"  -  here it is: Open for Business requires 1000 MHz processor.

Here I come, new computer...:)

"Minimum System Requirements for The Sims 2 Open For Business
 
 
In order to install and play The Sims 2 Open For Business you must have The Sims 2 installed and meet the hardware requirements listed below:

Windows XP, ME, 98, or 2000 operating system.
1000 MHz (1 GHz) or faster processor.
256 MB or more RAM.
At least 1.5 GB of additional hard drive space.
Supported T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM.
Supported Video Cards:
ATI Radeon series 8500 or better (7x00 models no longer supported), All-In-Wonder 8500, 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, and X850.
NVIDIA GeForce 2, 2 GTS, 3, 3 Ti, 4, 4 Ti, 4200, 4600, and 4800.
NVIDIA GeForce MX 420, 440, and 460.
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, 55500, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, and 5950.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300, and 5900.
NVIDIA GeForce 6200, 6600, and 6800.
NVIDIA Quadro, Quadro2, and Quadro4.
Intel Extreme Graphics 82865, 82915, and higher.
NOTE: If you have a non-T&L capable video card, such as Intel Extreme Graphics, then you need at least a 2.4 GHz processor.   

Oh, the purple ones are my absolute favourites Sleepycat!!

Thanks for the links  :)

What happened to the free steak knives with every purchase ordered in the next ten minutes? ::)

hehehe not a cold shower for me gali, my 7 month old alienware pc kicks ass  8)




your welcome aussieone  ;D  Do the purple ones look really good in-game?  I admit I didn't look very close at the pics of them  ::)

Myself wasn't interested at all in the hot rod, I think it's pretty ugly. I've seen much better vehicles at TSR and MTS2. I'm glad this time the pre order gift is also obtainable in europe too tho.

I've always pre ordered the EP's because then I get them before the official release date. Since I already pre order I'm glad I'm also getting a gift when I do. I think the chicken suit is cool, the idea of my sims wearing cpstumes is very appealing to me. I'm already thinking about requests evn for new meshes.

I would love it if my sims could wear a Strong Bad costume for example...

Greets,
virgali

Sleepycat...

The solid Purple recolur looks really good in the game

The other one that has purple/pink is not too bad either, but I must admit I do favour the solid purple one because it reminds me of a very similar car that a friend of mine once owned. I think it was an old Ford (circa 1950's or so) that he restored with every spare cent he had!!

Sleepycat, if you liked the cars by sixstringslim make sure you check out his other stuff. He's got a matching pit crew pickup that just kills me.

There's a Strongbad costume on TSR, but it doesn't have the gloves.

Cool! Too bad about the gloves tho... I'm still putting a request at MTS2... Maybe someone will make one with the gloves.

Hopefully they'll have a Strong Bad doll also somewhere

You've been running your game with Less than this already?!?!? I mean, those are pretty much the same requirements for NL. Man, have you been livin in the "dark ages" :P Hell... my computer is twice as fast as the required processor speed and it's friggin obsolete by like 4 years already. ::) The only reason my game runs so well is because of the kick ass grfx card I won for free. I can't imagine how your game might crawl along? Anyways, I don't mean to be like an ass or anything, I'm just amazed at people trying to run these graphics and processor intensive games on machines that are pretty much on their last legs or should have been put out to pasture a long time ago.


And I don't think anyone really pays attention to that part or even understands what it means. I sure as hell didn't :P Even though my sister had gotten a new Dell last year, which was hella speedier than mine, and should have been pretty much superior to mine as far as most of the specs go, for some reason the Sims would only display at the lowest res possible (800x600). I couldn't figure it out, and I could have sworn that when we first installed it, the game ran at a higher res! It turns out that the comp didn't have a "real" graphics card. It had an integrated chipset (which is the "Intel Extreme Graphics 82865, 82915, and higher." part on that list) and I didn't know that meant it was a "non-T&L capable video card" like it says now. I think the original packaging never explained that, or at least I couldn't find it. And I don't think the official website included this tidbit: "such as Intel Extreme Graphics"

It's as if Maxis tried to hide the fact that their bare minimum specs are pretty much the barest minimumest specs you could possibly run the game where it looks barely better than crap. Thanks Maxis, "could you vague that up" a bit more for me? :P

So yeah, even if you Do get a new computer, you still need to get a kick arse graphics card, otherwise your game will look like shite! I only found this out after scouring the MTS2 boards and chatting with a few helpful peeps in MTS2 chat. So what's the valuable lesson we've learned today kiddies? The Sims Online Community rul3z! Maxis dr00lz!  ;D

Ste

Nightlife also requires a 1000 MHz processor. In fact I think the specs for OFB are the same as for NL.

I've already pre-ordered OFB, and I'm not that excited about it. :( I was more excited about NL, but this game will be interesting, none the less. The chicken suit wasn't that appealing, more that I could get it early.

I'm sure I'll enjoy it once it gets here... :D

NL requires 800 MHz processor, that's the one I have.

Thank you, Blue! Ooooooooooh, I feel so dirty.  :D I didn't preorder, but I bought NL the first day out. My trailer-trash guy needs an appropriate set of wheels. So trashed recolor, here I come!

I almost panicked when I read the requirements for OFB. Then I realized...I have a 2.66GHz with a speedo.

Gali, you scared me for a minute.  I had to ask my husband if our computer would run OFB.  He said our computer is over the limits and I should be fine.  What a relief, let me tell you.  I was going to have a fit if I couldn't get the new EP! ;D

In the chat transcripts on the official site it said the minimum requirements were the same as NL's.

I think that there are just hardcore Sims fans who want to play the game but can't afford the sorts of machine needed to run it the way it should be, which is their right.  However, the ones who bitch and moan and "don't understand why" their graphics suck or why they can't get the Events Camera or invite more than 2 people to a party deserve a fair shaking.

What annoys me about the whole "pre-order incentive" (and the Holiday Pack) is the fact that not everyone has a credit card, EA.  Why take the hot rod off of the exchange?  Anyone who downloads a lot with it would have to own your product (and be registered with you).  If it was a subscription thing, I would understand, but to withhold objects from people who don't have the financial access you prefer is a bit insulting.

Very simple reason: Maxis wants to collect all of your personal information and everything about you. If you order it directly from them, they know EXACTLY which serial number they sent you, so anytime that serial number phones home, they know it's YOU.

Naturally, this is a goldmine of information that they use for their own nefarious purposes. Notice how they promise never to use this information, a sure sign that something dodgy is occuring, because if they never planned to use it, why ask for it?

Naturally, by trying to suppress this "bonus item", they try to encourage people to cough up all their goods and be tagged for monitoring. Don't fall for it.

Thanks for the car Bluesoup, and the recolour links Sleepycat! ;D

thanks for the car  :)

NL runs pretty damn spiffy on my comp and it isn't even  anything that special... but I was for sure NL would kill it.  I'm too worried about OFB since they said that if you're running NL, OFB should be about the same.

Play the game on an emachine LOL... then switch back to a normal comp..you'll never complain about lag again

I played TS2 when it first came out for a few days on one ....our computer bit the dust the same time I attempted to install it.  We bought an emachine to tide us over on the bare computer necessities..that lasted about 5 days until neither of us could take it anymore

Frame by frame by frame...I was desperate what can I say...

Anyways....

Me too! I did exactly the same thing - even called hubby during my lunch break to ask.

My computer is way over specs except I also have a stupid inboard Extreme Graphics Graphics card. I'm hoping to get (and figure out how to install - I'm a Mac critter by nature) a new one before OFB comes out. I want special events cameras and other such goodies. It will run on higher resolution than 800x600 tho. But it also has the secondary requirements thing, so I guess that's why.

Thanks for the upload. I'll be looking for the "trashed" version as soon as I get home, so thanks for the links too.

It's fairly easy to install a video card, I did it with little instruction and I am *not* the most mechanical of people (funny, though, that I work in the service department of a car dealership  :P).  You'll be able to install it fine, I'm sure.

We've got a higher end emachine and have been pretty happy with it. I did add more RAM and a new video card last September though. I wanted reflections, cut scenes and realistic hands on my sims. It wasn't hard at all to add the cards, thanks to some encouragement from Witch. I purchased both from Newegg and they arrived in a couple of days. I took my tower over to the kitchen table because it has more room but it was a pretty quick job to pop off the case, put in the new cards, put the case back on and go. And I consider myself to be electronically challenged.

Ditto.
Thanks!

Ah! A whole group of people that know how to share! I'm so glad. When I happen onto that outfit: Well, I know how to share too. And I will post in this thread.

You know when you go to the movies and they give you that little blurp about copying DVDS is piracy, blah blah--doesn't that just MAKE you want to go home and burn a CD??

I can't believe how many people apparently didn't have that car!  I already have 54 downloads.  I thought I might get 3 or 4 at the most, but I'm glad everyone can get some use out of it.

And yes, I am a sharer.  It is ridiculous to try and force people to pre-order a product to get a free download.  Either way, they're getting my money for the product.

I had an emachine when I got TS2, and YUCK!  It was sooo slooow, the whole hand/paw thing was going on...I knew I needed a better graphics card.  And my emachine was 2.4 GHz, but that crappy Integrated Intel was too much!

So I bought a better card and guess what?  The power supply wasn't big enough to power the card.  Had to get a bigger power supply.  Did the whole thing myself - swapped the PS and put in the card (well, I've been installing my own cards, HDs CD-ROMs for years, never a PS, though).  I was amazed at how much faster the game ran on the same computer with a better card.  With the Intel, it would literally take minutes to transition from day to night or vice versa.  And to view a different floor of the house took quite awhile, too.

So when I started looking for a better computer last summer, I just looked for the best I could find, figuring it should be good for a few years.  That emachines was only 3 years old, and I was already outgrowing it with the software I was running.  (Too many 3D games, I guess.)

I liked the emachines until I started playing TS2.  Funny how this game makes you suddenly start looking at how good your hardware is.

Psst. For any Australians out there, it's quite possible that some stores (EB Games in particular) will have 'pre-order' sets for normal sale, if you get the game in the first few days. I got the Hot Rod for Nightlife because they had more pre-ordered games than, in fact, had actually been ordered. It makes no sense, but hey, new stuff!

When OFB comes out here, I shall be right back to that store looking cute and eager.  ;D

Ah, something like that, or like the bit about convincing the machine to understand it has a new card and not read the old one, that's what scares me. Actually my computer is an emachine, but I'm not unhappy with it except for the Extreme card. My sims have all their fingers (well when I set the settings where I want them) and it chugs a bit at the 7:00 time changes but usually not badly unless I just have tons of custom content in one house (my poor India villa with the courtyard and thousands of plants was kind of unplayable) but I think it'll work fairly well if I just put a decent card in it. (Ok the computer is exactly as old as Sims2 and I'm also not anxious to buy a new one :) I want good color water and reflections and cut scenes :)

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm certainly game to give it a go and will come here for advice when it gets painful and the silly machine won't recognize the new card :)

People need to freaking stop with this "eMachines suck" crap.  It's the hardware that sucks, not the manufacturer.  eMachines just tends to go cheap with their computers and shove anything that they currently have in the warehouse onto it.  That's how I got stuck with a 1.3GHZ Pentium 4 with 128MB RDRAM, a 32MB nVidia Riva TNT 2 card, and Windows ME.  However, it performed better than other computers that other people had at that time.  I heard people running TS1 with 256MB ram having more problems than I did.

Then, I bought one again.  They're pretty damn cheap for what you get, and this time I got a pretty good setup.  Athlon XP 3000+ with 512MB DDR Ram, a 64MB Geforce 4 MX 420/440 card, and Windows XP.  I added 512MB of RAM since then, and the game runs without many flaws although I can't increase my resolution.  I blame that budget card, but I doubt I'll put another one in since I don't care that much about graphics.  Besides, I doubt a graphics upgrade will make much of a difference in the looks unless I spend over 200 dollars on it.

Yeah, if you buy an eMachine with a Celeron processor it's gonna suck.  Also, low-end Dells tend to have those "Intel Extreme Graphics" and I doubt they'll run better and they'll probably cost more than mine.

As for the Mascot thing, it reminds me of the "Buy Superstar and you get free celebrities!" thing.

Thanks for saying that, Batelle.  I would love to upgrade my computer if I had the finances for it, but at this point, I am struggling so it would be unwise to spend money on my computer at this time.  I love the Sims 2 and I will play it any way that I can, even if it's a bit sluggish at times and I don't get cutscenes.  I just have to learn how to work within my limits for now.  As I said in the MATYville thread, anyone who thinks I need to get rid of my computer and buy a new one is more than welcome to send donations to my Paypal account. ;D  Otherwise, I will hobble on as I am now. 

OFB doesn't sound too terribly exciting to me at this time, but I'll probably get it for "completeness" and the new features, and because all the new hacks will be written for the latest expansion pack.

This sounds exactly like the emachine I have. Like I mentioned above I added more RAM (I'm up to 1g now) and put in a 256mb Nvidia Geforce FX 5500. Through Newegg both cards cost me about $100. The graphics are quite nice now. I have very little lag too. I'm quite happy with my emachine. ;D
 

your all welcome for the links   8)




Ha! I know I had forgotten to download something, I saw that pickup and meant to download it! *loves pickups* aka "pick me up trucks" *laughs*


edit - damn! sixstringslim has some really great stuff, I'll be busy downloading tonight! (those "leather clothes for the gals" are awsome!)

I have thought and thought about pre-orders incentives: there has GOT to ge a monitary reason why they do the whole extra sales steps BS. Otherwise they wouldn't do it!

I think the manufacturers must be setting the sales price based on number of pre-sales --the more presales generated, the more interest out there, the higher the price they can squeeze out of us. Or out of the retailers.

But they are always the same price.

Where's this? I remember seeing his stuff back on lugnut.com, or something, before they up and died. Is he back somewhere now?

I thought I saw him at VS a while back.  But I never go there anymore because it's slower than molasses.

he has a bunch of great stuff on mts2 and he has a section over at vs now...which sucks since it takes forever for vs to load for me but he has such nice stuff

Those are the specs for my eMachine as well.  I bought it because my HP was shot and I didn't have a ton of cash to buy anything more expensive.  I have a massive downloads folder but keep my number of big meshes down.  As long as I avoid huge houses on huge lots, my game runs pretty smoothly.  Lot load times are sucky and I don't get cut scenes but I'm ok with that. 

OFB comes out right before my birthday and I've already negotiated a new video card and RAM upgrade if the expansion does untoward things to my computer's performance.

Before upgrading my video card I could see the cut scenes.  After you've seen them all a half-dozen times or so there didn't seem much use so I turned them back off.  Now they're not even an option.

I totally appreciate the whole playing on the maching you have thing.  I was lucky enough to be able to upgrade my computer shortly before TS2 came out and as long as I wasn't using the largest lot with max amount of people I was doing okay.  With NL the game was running fairly well still, then I installed Uni and mainly the load time stinks now--performance is marginal.

I remember some years back a young fellow who worked in Staples was always giving me a bad time because my hardware was outdated.  I finally looked at him one day and asked if he was married.  He replied, "No."  I said, "Well, there ya go!  You get married, have a family and likely as not you can't afford all the nice toys."  We do the best we can with what we have, and honestly considering the amount of money that comes into our house, we have tons more than most people I know who make more.  Nope--my kids don't wear name brand clothes or have the latest gaming systems.  They wear hand-me-downs and clearance stuff.  They play a few PC games (mostly ones we find on clearance), a couple of GBA games and original NES and SNES games.  Our furniture all came from second-hand shops.  But we have a warm, dry house, clothes on our backs, plenty of hot water for washing, good food to fill our tummies, and TS2!

Amen to that, Misty!  :)

That's the reason I don't have a family (I'm 23).
At this point in my life I'd rather have a kick ass computer.

Misty:  Been there, done that, wore the ragged old t-shirt for years!  My kids are all grown now and on their own, so they're the ones raising families and finding out that you can't always get what you want.

I am only now finally at the point where I can afford a few extras.  Number one priority?  My computer!  I live on it when I'm at home.  I've had to make do with what I could afford for years.  In fact, I always recommended to my friends that they just find the best thing they could get for whatever money they could afford to spend.  I always had last year's technology (or the year before! depended on what I could find for the little money I had to spend on it!)  And that computer had to last until it was so outdated I couldn't buy new software because my computer wasn't up to it.

You're doing good as long as you have food, clothes and a roof over your heads.  Necessities always have to come first, and with kids, there are a lot of necessities.  I didn't buy any new clothes for myself for years while my kids were growing up.  But they had what they needed and what extras we could afford.

Hang in there!

You know, you keep acting like you have to justify going to rentech.com to everyone. You realize there's no horrible stigma attached to it, and you're free to download stuff there if you can navigate the horrible lag, right?

Because it's not cool enough to attach a horrible stigma to it.

Thanks, Blue!  I didn't preorder NL cause I wasn't interested in the car much, but since I have NL...

I am going to preorder OFB though.  The concept looks fun.  I'm actually looking forward to it.

I stopped going to VS not because of any stigma, but because the site in general sucks ass. Now and then I go to see what new stuff Morague and Slim have, and that's it. Those two are the only reasons to go there IMO, and now Morague is posting stuff to TSR, and Slim posts a lot of his stuff to MTS2 as well, so...

Jen

 ??? I hardly ever even mention vs... (most of the time I don't even remember it exists *laughs*) I do have to talk myself into going there, crappy dial-up + vs don't go very well together  :P

I did go and I managed to get most of his stuff, took me about 8 hours  ::) 

Actually, Rentech.com is even less tolerable on a non-dialup. When you're on a dialup, there's the expectation that everything is supposed to move at a snail's pace.

When you're on Real Internet, it doesn't go any faster, but you expect it to do so. And it doesn't.

lmao @ real internet


We might be getting Directway soon, it's the only option besides this very crappy dial-up that we have. Cable apparently stops about 5 miles down the damn road  ::)


as for vs, wow I get to actually feel sorry for those with real internet *giggles*

Well, I tried to get Morague's new replacement mesh for the ladies pajamas that make the arms and legs longer, so they don't look like they shrunk in the wash.  It took forever for the page to load, and then it took several tries to get the file because it kept saying it couldn't access it or something.  But I finally did.  Maybe I'll see what she has at MTS2 to see if it loads any faster.