Custom Neighbourhoods

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See also Terrain Type cheat.

Custom Neighbourhoods
You can import "SimCity 4" Terrains into The Sims 2 to create new Custom Neighbourhoods. When you download one of these files, from this site at least, it will be a .ZIP file so you need Winzip or any similar program that can handle Zip files. It's a slightly complex procedure so I will walk you through a "worked example" using my Neighbourhood Newton Abbey.

• Download Newton Abbey and unzip the file called "City - Newton Abbey.sc4" into your C:\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\SC4Terrains folder, or its equivalent (That's the default location the game installs itself into. If you have put it on another drive you know how to find the directory already.)
• Start your game.
• Go to the "Choose a Neighbourhood to Play" screen.
• Scroll right until you see the Create Custom Neighbourhood button.
• Click it.

• Click Yes on the next dialogue box.

• Scroll down the list of terrains on the left till you see "City - Newton Abbey.sc4" - click on that.

• Click on the "Go" button at the bottom of the screen

• In the next dialogue box you can enter the name and description of your new neighbourhood. Click the Go button and you will see a loading screen, then you can play the Neighbourhood.
• When you have had a look at the Neighbourhood, exit your game.
• Also in the zip file is a .png file - this is an image of the neighbourhood for the Choose a Neighbourhood screen - rename this file to the appropriate Neighbourhood Number - for example in mine Newton Abbey is N007; so my file is named N007_Neighborhood.png (where XX is the neighborhood number). Then place the file in the neighborhood's directory (e.g., My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N007).

The next time you open your game you should see the image in the viewer as well as the Neighbourhood in your game.

• You may wish to decorate the Neighbourhood to suit your tastes. I tend to put lots of trees in, and hot air balloons, as I live in a city where we see many of these. It is a great pity that the decorations cannot be seen from the play mode screen - I hope that Maxis will fix this in a later version of the game.
• Populate your new neighbourhood!

If you have SimCity 4 you can make your own custom terrains for Custom Neighbourhoods. Add a Custom Neighbourhood Picture. Or download custom neighbourhoods made by Sita here.