Proto:The Sims 2 (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)/Demo Builds

This is a sub-page of Proto:The Sims 2 (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox).

Title screen

In early September 2005, EA/Maxis compiled a couple demo builds for The Sims 2 Console. The PS2 US demo was compiled on September 2, 2005 in the Alpha stage and the PS2 EU demo was compiled on September 9, 2005 in the Beta stage, about 1-2 weeks before the final build.

Build Tag

As with all other builds of The Sims 2 Console, it has a build tag buried in the executable, indicating its development stage and compile date.

SLUS_291.73
A.09.02.0

SLED_537.70
B.09.09.0

Demo Lockouts

• Freeplay Mode is inaccessible without cheats, as the menu just skips over that button.
• You only have access to Cliffside Retreat for 12 in-game hours.
• The demo has a unique message that appears at the beginning and the end.

• 

  Demo-exclusive starting message #1

• 

  Demo-exclusive starting message #2

• 

  Demo-exclusive ending message

• The lot has a bunch of custom objects placed in the demo, to give players a better feel of what they may get in the final release.

Demo	Final

Inaccessible Lots

Despite only having Cliffside Retreat available in the demo, the other lots can be visited by enabling either the aforementioned enable_edith_debug_interactions debug option or enable_development_menu. The backgrounds are missing, the exterior of the buildings remain the same, but all the objects have been removed, with the exception of trash cans, a holographic console, some refrigerators and stoves for some reason. The only exception is the 1st Freeplay lot which can only be entered through AuthorMode with Freeplay Menu. It also has more objects that are pretty much the same as earlier builds.

• 

  Rockwell Acres

• 

  Shoreline Trails

• 

  HMS Amore

• 

  Sunset Canyon

• 

  Tranquility Falls

• 

  Jugen House

• 

  The Orbit Room

• 

  Mesa Gallery

• 

  Alien Crash Site

• 

  Bio Dome

• 

  Andromeda Arms

• 

  8 Rockpile Rd Strangetown

Developer Options

To do: Update these along with the main page's dev options.

A bunch of cheat options left in the game that can be enabled. Most of these won't have screenshots, as they're identical to the ones seen on the Main sub-page.

DEMO.NGH

enable_development_menu

If enabled, development menu is available on main menu

EUR	USA
0051FED0 00000001	0051D6B8 00000001

Enables a Lot selection menu, which allows you to jump into any Story Mode lot from the Main Menu. Instead of it saying DEFAULT.NGH, it says DEMO.NGH.

Author Mode Menu

This option requires the previous Development Menu to be enabled.

EUR	USA
0051F964 00000001	0051D154 00000001

AuthorMode with Freeplay Menu

This option requires the previous two Development and Author Mode Menus to be enabled.

EUR	USA
0051F95C 00000001	0051D14C 00000001

enable_all_player_cheats

If enabled, gnome is revealed and all player cheats are enabled

EUR	USA
0051FECC 00000001	0051D6B4 00000001

Spawns the Cheat Gnome filled with all of the regular cheats, that would normally be enabled through various cheat codes in the final game.

enable_edith_debug_interactions

If enabled all edith interactions flagged as debug only will be available

EUR	USA
0051FEA4 00000001	0051D68C 00000001

Gives a ton of debugging options in both the Cheat Gnome and in most interactable objects. Must have the above cheat also enabled, since there is no other way of spawning the Cheat Gnome in the Demo.

display_performance_metrics

Used to display the fps and cpu

EUR	USA
0051FE0C 00000001	0051D5F8 00000001

Enables a little display in the corner showing the performance and hardware usage.

display_text_boundaries

Used to highlight the boundaries on the TV where text can't touch

EUR	USA
0051FE10 00000001	0051D5FC 00000001

Displays a red border around the screen, that would likely be hidden due to overscan on older TVs.

enable_flash_bounding_boxes

Enable colored bounding boxes used by flash text

EUR	USA
0051FE3C 00000001	0051D628 00000001

Displays colored textbox boundaries.

Audio

Music

In all other builds, all the music that's stored in AUDIOSTR.ARC are Mono 24kHz, with the exception of the Main Menu song which is Stereo 48kHz. But for whatever reason they reduced the menu song down to Mono 24kHz specifically for these demo builds. Yet the filename in the demo remained the same, indicating that it should've be 48kHz.

Headphones may be required to hear the difference.

Filename	Demo	Final
music_48_title_track

Sound Effects

The SAMPLES.ARC container was cut down to 3636 files compared to 9466 in the final game. Almost all except 184 sound effects were re-encoded into a lower frequency, just like the music.