The Sims 2: Castaway (PlayStation 2, Wii)

The Sims 2: Castaway
Also known as: Die Sims 2: Gestrandet (DE), Los Sims 2: Náufragos (ES), The Sims 2: Autiosaari (FI), Les Sims 2: Naufragés (FR), The Sims 2: Island (IT), De Sims 2: Op Een Onbewoond Eiland (NL), The Sims 2: Bezludna Wyspa (PL), Os Sims 2: Náufragos (PT), The Sims 2: Skeppsbruten (SE) Developer: The Sims Division Publisher: Electronic Arts Platforms: PlayStation 2, Wii Released in US: October 22, 2007 Released in EU: October 26, 2007 Released in AU: October 25, 2007 This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences.

The Sims 2: Castaway is an odd spin-off where your Sim crashes onto a remote island and must survive by making a base, cooking food, crafting items, and making friends with monkeys.

This was the sixth and final Sims entry on the PS2, and the second of three Sims games for the Wii.

To do: The Sims 2: Pets leftovers. Death Daisy Potion graphic oddity.

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Developer Options Plenty of debugging options left in the game.

Unused Graphics

As Castaway was built off of the engine of The Sims 2: Pets, most of the graphics (including unused!) from the game appear in the files.

All of the graphics for the Wants and Fears (including the new and placeholder ones from Pets) are present. Wants and Fears do not appear in Castaway at all and as no new ones were created, it was safe to say it was scrapped very early in development. It could be a bit redundant to upload them to this page, but it is still worth noting.

Xbox Controller Buttons

The Xbox controller graphics are STILL present, all the way from The Sims 2. Considering that the last console was nearing the end of its life by this game's release, it is likely that the Xbox controller graphics are just leftovers.

GameCube Controller Buttons

The GameCube controller button graphics are present. It's possible that Castaway originally started development on the GameCube before being moved to the Wii (As they both share similar, if not same hardware) and those graphics were just leftovers. Also, the GameCube was discontinued at the beginning of 2007 (with the final game being released that Summer), so a GameCube port wasn't likely considered.

Unused Music

The Create-a-Sim, Build/Buy Mode, and other menu tracks from The Sims 2 and The Sims 2: Pets are present, leftover in the files. The leftover songs are as follows:

music_24_bbcas1
music_24_bbcas2
music_24_bbcas3
music_48_title_track
music_load_initial_loop
music_shopping1
music_shopping3

Unused Text

Lot Names

First Jungle - Likely a removed lot. The final game goes from First Beach to Deep Jungle, with no First Jungle lot in between them.

Urbz Lot Leftovers

NEON EAST
COZMO STREET
DIAMOND HEIGHTS
SOUTH SIDE BRIDGE
SKYLINE BEACH
GASOLINE ROW
CENTRAL STATION
KICKTAIL PARK
THE FOUNDRY
98TH AVE, 3RD FLOOR
BLANKWOOD TOWERS
DARIUS' PENTHOUSE

Unused Files

For whatever reason creating copies of save files on the PS2 version are prohibited. But despite that, there's an icon for copying the save file which under normal circumstances would never be seen.

copyicon.ico

Looks very similar to the default save icon, except it has an extra sprout on the ground next to the buried plumbob.

And there's also a placeholder icon.sys and some unknown/unused slime1 - 3.ico save icons, which are also present in The Sims 2 and The Sims 2: Pets and can be read about here.

Development-Related Text

Compile Log

A log file with over 5MB of compile info is found in the root. It has quite a lot of information, nothing too juicy though.

Download The Sims 2: Castaway (Wii) Compile File File: TS2CA_-_eorwb.rar (Compressed: 349KB; Uncompressed: 5MB) (info)

Logger

Found in log, this appears to be the remnants from a debugger/logger. How it was used is unknown.

Download The Sims 2: Castaway (Wii) Log Folder File: TS2CA_-_log_.rar (Compressed: 8KB; Uncompressed: 26.5KB) (info)

content_version

Basically contains the version of the game.

668453 
1.Content.DL.1706 

build_tools_version

Appears to be the build date of the SDK tools used to compile the game.

666849 
1.devline.0.1401 

Lot Errors

Most of the compile file lists some error and debug messages, never seen in the game. Most of it is made up of various errors with lots.

 * Level lot_14 has routing islands for sims!

 * Level lot_14 has routing islands for boars and chimps!

 * Level lot_26 has routing islands for sims!

lBuild Confirmations

The log also has lines stating build dates, file conversions, and multiple error messages.

 

 [8/23/2007 19:49:42] Building Datasets...
[8/23/2007 19:49:42] Making Datasets...
Making Datasets

Converting Maya files

Processing Maya files list from node Datasets

Maya file conversion time: 0:0.12

Converting Max files
Max file conversion time: 0:-0.24
Datasets folder took: 0:1.01

Processing Time: 0:1.02
done.

Developer Notes

QA Read Me

A "readme" is located in scripts/qa/. It's pretty self-explanatory.

This folder contains Lua test scripts that were created by the QA/Autotest team.
There shoudl be no dependency on these files from the game side, but it's okay for these files to use files from teh game side.

-Eivind (ehagen@maxis.com)

viewer_settings.js

Contains multiple notes from a developer on how not to compile code and layouts for the game.

// Must have a delay before doing the initial ReadCookie.  Who woulda figured that Javascript would
// have thread timing issues.   Sheesh.

A note explaining how to deal with a certain script error.

// Important Note: DO NOT modify this file in engine/logger/scripts unless you
// wish to change the default settings for everyone.  You should only modify the copy of this file in
// your output/disks/[platform]/logs directory.  When the game is compiled, a check will be done to 
// see if the version of this file in the engine/logger/scripts directory or the version in the 
// output/disks/[platform]/logs directory is newer.  If the version in your logs directory is newer,
// the global version of this file (in the enginer/logger/scripts directory) will not be copied and
// your version will be kept.  Thus, changes made to your local copy will remain unless 
//    1) the version in engine/logger/scripts is newer
// or 2) you erase your copy in your logs directory.

Another note warning the user not to delete the .js file.

Debugging Material

Throughout the logs are many sources and mentions of a debug mode being used throughout development, however it is currently unknown at this time if you are able to access these features.

[debugger]
log_level = info
formatter=simple
formatter_settings=
; filter this channel from the debugger
 MEMORY_CHECKPOINT = none

(Above) Presumably settings for adjusting the debug channel.

log_level = all
formatter = simple
formatter_settings = none
GENERAL = none
MEMORY = none
RESOURCE = none
MULTISTREAM = none
GRAPHICS = none
SOUND = none
STATE_MACHINE = none
SIMULATOR = none
EDITH = none
CAS = none
UI = none
UI_CORE = none
APT = none
PLATFORM = none
MEMORY_CHECKPOINT = none
SAVEGAME = none
TIMING = none
ASSET = none
ANIMATION = none
WANTS_AND_FEARS = none
WEATHER = none

(Above) A complete list of toggled debug settings.

#nomenu = 0         # skip the menu?
#mute = 0         # mute the sound?
 #nocountdown = 0      # skip the countdown?
#fps = 0            # display fps counter?
#enableprintf = 0   # display debug text to console?

(Above) Even more settings.

Version Differences

Language Select

The Wii version has a significantly fewer amount of available languages in the European release. It's missing Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, and Greek.

PlayStation 2	Wii

The font texture font_frankfur_s24_p0 in the Wii release is identical to the one found in the PS2 release, meaning it still contains all the necessary letters for the languages that weren't included.