Hello. I've been out of Sims 2 for awhile, so you may need to talk to me like I'm not the brightest crayon in the box.

I have collection files. I've been downloading CC and putting any collection folders in the appropriate folder and they show up fine in my game.

The issue is that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the order of collection files. How does the game sort them? By file name? By file creation date? By date of addition? Is there a way to sort them so that the ones I use most often are together and I don't need to scroll through them all to find one?

If there is something you think is obvious already existing in the game to do this, please be specific on how to access it as I am without a clue. I am sincerely regretting that I allowed myself to be coerced into getting rid of all my old Sims 2 books because "You've got too much junk already and you're not going to play that old game again." My bad. Double "Duh!"

There's a list of the items and some sort of (internal) hexcode tag in the collection file that tells the game which collection to show first and last. I've edited one file manually, but I don't recommend it - I had to edit a collection-only item that was very stubborn...

You can sort collections ingame by using the moving arrows. Put them anywhere you want in the collection overview. No need for any extra programs (like SimPE or similar), this you can do entirely ingame. Same with moving items into/out of and forth+back in the collection.

When you edit the collection, the file updates.

The collection files don't need to be in the "Collections" folder - I've kept most of mine in with the set they belong to (and then wonder what they are and where they came from when ingame, because I forget what they're for, but at least they're easier to remove once I find the things ). I kinda prefer recategorizing and re-prizing items these days, as I find collections to be a bit annoying for some purposes (especially small collections that don't need to be collections. Large, and otherwise very cluttery sets that are best kept hidden from the catalog until the times you actually need them are golden as collections. Same for random stuff you struggle to find when you need it - chuck it in a "random" collection, and no more need to spend an hour looking for that *thing* you need to use all the time).

Thank you. I saw those little arrows but wasn’t sure what they did.

I think I need to sort out some collections for my game. I am extremely fed up with constantly hunting through tiny pictures in the main categories, especially deco stuff which is often totally randomly mixed up between "statues" and "misc", and kids' stuff, which is all dumped in the same category. I love having lots of variety and choice for things like toys, but it is annoying to have to hunt for them.

It is such a daunting task, though. Any tips or tools which make this easier?

Improving size of thumbnails: https://pforestsims.tumblr.com/post...iny-decor-items
Recategorize items (EAxis objects, but you can do it directly in the file for CC objects, by editing in the OBJD, shown in step #5)
The Object Relocator is also a handy tool if you're not too SimPE-savvy.

I use the more or less empty "mics" categories for deco purposes wherever possible. Kitchen/misc = food and food related items. Plumbing/misc = towels, soaps, washing equipment, and similar. I've also put clothing deco in with drawers (but pricing keeps them separate). I have also put toys and baby/child related items in the child category, mostly because it makes nursery and kids' room decoration easier (but that's the one that's gotten most cluttered from the move). I've got a lot of hospital-related stuff, so most of it is left in deco/misc + statues (but I've tried to do some pricing trickery to also keep statues for actual statues, and misc for random stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else). Car/vehicle related deco and such is in misc/cars, pet-related deco in pets, flowers and such in plants/misc, party/birthday/christmas/holiday themed items in party, and so on. Some of the sections get a bit more difficult to navigate, but not by any means the way it used to be with deco/misc + sculptures (could barely find anything in there).

For pricing in the more heavy cluttered sections (food in particular), I've tried to keep track of which prices I've used, and price sets so they appear together. This eliminates the need for a lot of small collections.

I wanted to thank your for this bit of wisdom and wish I'd known it before. I just spent too much time weeding out collection files for stuff I deleted from the game (Why take up space in the downloads when it looked good on the itty bitty picture for the CC but you know you're never going to use that ugly thing once you've seen it in the game?) I wish I'd left them in the folders with the sets and then I wouldn't have had to troll through the collection folder. Oh well, you live and you learn.

You can rename the collection files, too