SimsLlama

TIL you can tuck a whole closet behind the stairs in The Sims and it actually works??

I’ve been wasting entire rooms on wardrobes like a fool when I could’ve been hiding them in that awkward dead space all along 😭

ok I need to document this because I’ve just fixed something that refused to work on the SAME machine under Windows 11 😭

Sims 2 custom videos (black screen / not showing) on Linux Mint – FIX

I was having the classic issue:

custom AVIs not showing on computer screens / TVs

black screen or nothing happens

files work fine in VLC so it makes no sense

this is NOT a mod issue. it’s a codec problem.

what’s actually wrong

Sims 2 uses an old video system (DirectShow + VP6 codec)

Linux doesn’t include that properly in Wine by default, so the game literally can’t read the video even though the file exists.

how I fixed it (Lutris method)

open Lutris

select The Sims 2 in your library

at the bottom of the window, next to the Play button, click the small arrow (▲)

click Winetricks

you’ll get a window asking what to do:

👉 choose “Select the default wineprefix” → OK

next screen: 👉 choose “Install a Windows DLL or component”

install these:

quartz

wmp9

lavfilters

let everything install, close Winetricks, then launch the game

result

custom computer screen videos → WORKING

custom TV videos → WORKING

no black screens anymore

important note

if you copied your Sims 2 install from another OS before, don’t overwrite the VP6 folders inside the game files. those are OS-specific and can break video playback.

honestly???

this worked better on Linux Mint than it EVER did on my Windows 11 setup 💀

I haven’t added anything new… windows update came out of nowhere and apparently after checking the ts2 legacy forum, others are having the same issues.

I still love what the game does. Starting from nothing, building a town, watching families and generations develop – that’s the best. As far as I know, The Sims 2 is the closest any game has come to that.

Malcolm Landgraab carried out his first official fine at one of the new HMO properties. Offence: Trash Overload. Penalty: §600.

Tenant protested: “It’s a shared house, we don’t even have enough bins.” Malcolm (reading straight from Nancy’s rulebook): “That’ll be §600. Pay or pack.”

📢 GE0FFREY LANDGRABB TRENDI DROP 📢

Geoffrey has entered his entrepreneurial era. Forget medicine. Forget family dignity. This man is out here reselling his own dad-shirts on Trendi for §9,999 a pop.

The flyer says “Landgrabb” because Geoffrey misspelled his own surname. He claims he “doesn’t mind because technically it’s Nancy’s name anyway.” Nancy does, in fact, mind – she has not stopped screaming since.

Nancy: “Do you have any idea what this does to the brand?!” Geoffrey: “Yes. It makes it stronger. Double the B, double the prestige.”

Malcolm told people at school his dad was “a fashion mogul.” His classmates saw Geoffrey’s Trendi page. He has not been seen since.

don lothario really went from homewrecker to home goods

🎂✨ The Bush twins just aged up – and let’s just say, teen life is already off to a brilliant start.

Elio and Lyra blew out their birthday candles, put on their best awkward smiles, and emerged as fully-fledged Family Sims. That’s right – the lab may be chaotic, Servo may be unpredictable, but what these two really want… is connection.

🧠 Elio is the quieter twin – thoughtful, observant, and 100% the type to get a perfect report card. He just scored the §1,000 SimCity Scholar's Grant for his grades. His ideal match? A well-connected Sim who loves pets. Just… please don’t wear cologne around him. Ever.

🎤 Lyra is all confidence and charisma. She earned two scholarships – the §1,000 SimCity Scholar's Grant and the §750 Bain–Gordon Communications Fellowship – and honestly, she could probably talk her way into a third. She’s turned on by Sims in underwear and those who can cook, but well-travelled types? Total turn-off. (Worldly? Sure. Baggage? No thanks.)

They’re both growing up fast, but not too fast – last night they were still chatting over cake about dresses and Servo’s weird TV habits.

📬 Another day, another plaque.

Lyndon Bush just received yet another award for his “devotion to the science hobby” – and at this point, even he’s lost count. The Hobby Council keeps acting like it’s a surprise. It’s not.

We’re talking about the man who has a Servo, alien twins, a radioactive chrysanthemum garden, and something in the garage that occasionally hums ominously. Of course he’s enthusiastic. He is the science.

⚡🌼 It’s alive. It’s alive!

Lyndon Bush has officially defied the laws of nature – again. With lightning crackling, wolves howling, and his assistant Grivella hauling high-voltage cables across the lab, Lyndon attempted to reanimate the dead. And succeeded.

Well… sort of.

Instead of reviving a lifeform, the energy surge hit a withered patch of chrysanthemums. The result? Glowing, lush, perfectly pulsating blooms – resurrected from crispy oblivion. His garden is thriving. The world is (probably) safe. And the Reanimatron 2000 (aka “Ronnie”) has earned Lyndon a cool §25,000 patent.