Hi

I am currently working on a new lot, and someone suggested I decorate it with plants/vegetation on the structure to add more asymmetry to the building. Should I:

- Buy Mansion & Garden Stuff to help complete my lot
or,
- It sucks and I should go for Custom plants instead?

What do you think?

I like M&G, but mainly for the build stuff. I'd do both!

M&G lets you change roof angles and has animated ceiling fans. So it's well worth getting. A lot depends, however, on what you can afford and what prices you can find on M&G disks.

Someone will probably come along while I'm typing to recommend you call EA to get the UC for free, and that's clearly another option. It comes with non-monetary costs, though - time dealing with EA, making the modifications that enable you to use it without logging onto Origin, etc. Only you can do the cost-benefit analysis.

I really like M&G myself - the build stuff is really good. I do like the plants as well and use them quite often - both flowerbeds and shrubs. I don't know if you want to go cc-free or not, but if you want to, M&G does make cc-free easier - in my opinion, anyway

I do use the UC - it is an option, but if you can lay your hands on a copy of the M&G, certainly easier. If you can't, there is always cc plants, and there are numerous pretty ones. I wish I could tell you to have a look at these, but the pics are gone: https://rdnussimaginethat.blogspot....asonal%20plants because they are truly gorgeous if you want to take a chance on that. See the day lilies I used here: http://www.modthesims.info/showpost.php?
p=5352415&postcount=516 (You may know them, of course, but I love your work, so if you don't, I hope it helps).

( I had to switch to UC, being bright enough to break both my game and one of the BG disks on the same day, but I have never regretted that. I would not have liked to lose a working game though, so if you can get it to keep as a backup until you need it, that is imo the best idea).

I recall past threads asking whether a certain pack was worth it.

I plan to eventually get all packs.


last I checked, Amazon's price for Mansion & Garden was somewhere between $40 and $50.

M&G also comes with the green energy options - solar panels and wind turbines... both of which give your sims a discount on bills. The smaller solar panel can be placed on roofs, which keeps them out of the way.

I have the pack, and I have custom plants (season-friendly ones are my favourites). M&G was definitely worth the purchase price, IMO.

Mansion & Garden, in my opinion, is the best stuff pack. It has great plants, animated ceiling fans, solar panels and windmills - which actually lower your bills - and, of course, objects from 3 architectural styles, Moroccan, Art Deco and Second Empire. And I almost forgot the roof slider came with M&G! After that feature was added, I never again used the cheat to change roof slope (I don't even recall how the cheat was written lol)

EDIT: You can buy a used copy for 5-15 dollars.

It might also be worth to check the international market. Personally I own all expansions pack in the German version except IKEA which I got in Hungary. The game won't care since the discs include all languages anyway and the installer will be in your computer's language. Just choose your language during install and you should be fine (at least I have been for the last 7 or 8 years I think)

Edit: A new copy would also cost 40€ over here but amazon has them used starting with 15€. I would check ebay for used copies.

You just have to remember to mod out the excessive shade eye saluting and flower sniffing.

Mansion & Gardens also has quarter-tile placement!

If you don't mind a non-pristine game, you can get a used M&G game. You could ask here if the code is included, for instance. That's the main thing. The disk does not have to be perfect, but it needs to be playable. I see even cheaper ones. One, though, apparently has a disk that needs to be resurfaced. The organization is planning to do that. Others here can advise if you might want to spring for another copy.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Sims-2...YI3pcHmhXiLHIyg

I see a sealed Buy it Now on EBay for about $20. I was never that unnerved over a used game, but that isn't a bad price for an unplayed game.

At least two-thirds of my disks are used. Half of the remaining third include games that had damaged boxes, but were never played.

Hi all, thanks for being so many to respond to this! :D

Aysarth
Both, as in get the stuff pack and use custom plants too? Sounds like it could be a good idea, I tend to like to keep the number of CC low with my lots, but it's probably manageable!

Peni Griffin
Oh wow thanks for mentioning it. No Origin, please! lol. I tried Sims 4 and haven't tried it again and having to keep strings attached is one of the reasons. I agree with you about the non-monetary costs and will avoid these.

JustPetro
My lot is already not entirely CC-free, it has arches and a few other deco things, and one of the versions will probably have CC plants too. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check your links for sure!

mdsb759 and Yvelotic2001
Yikes! 40-50 is more than twice what I am willing to pay! I am not getting a new copy for sure. It's an old game, a used copy will be way enough.

Selly_2009
Solar panels and wind turbines? wow! That sounds really cool!

Katerina Petrova
You are right about the international market. For the moment my Sims 2 is all in french (my little one doesn't know english enough to play in english) but some of my EPs are in english, some in German, lol. Whatever language would be alright.

simsample
That sounds funny the first time, annoying all the other times, like many of Maxis' post-basegame interactions, lol. I don't play the game enough anymore to be annoyed by the annoyances but my little one recently discovered the UNI ones and insisted to keep them on. She is amused by the stupidity of them. Sometimes she will chant Gerbits-Gerbits-Goooo-Gerbits just to annoy me, lol.

Bulbizarre
That sounds like a nice alternative to the moveobjects/snapobjectstogrid cheats.

gazania
I have a lot of used EPs as well. I wouldn't know how to resurface a disk though so I would avoid that one. If M&G isn't the very last EP/SP in the list maybe I can just borrow it from somebody and give it back then run the game with Apt Life? or do you need to run the game with M&G if you have it?

Billielith, M&G acts like an EP rather than an SP, so you'll need your own copy of the M&G disc to run the game. My AL disc was only used briefly to run TS2 before I got M&G (and for re-installing when required).
Like the previous EPs, it updates the game engine and hence needs the latest disc, but any mods you may have installed that were updated for AL will run fine.

I certainly understand your choice, but I feel compelled to mention that it is not difficult to play without Origin at all, once you have downloaded the game. You just point the shortcut to the Sim exe file, done in seconds. I haven't logged on or used Origin in years. And someone mentioned just this week that they were offered UC when they called EA for some other Sims purchase.

Yes, you need M&G, it's technically somewhere between an SP and an EP and it's needed for certain things to work properly. That is more important than the plants it provides. If it was merely a Stuff pack, missing plants that would be fine, but it's important for other more code related reasons. If I could not have M&G I would also not install AL.

Another option if you can't find a disc for M&G is to get Fun with Pets. It's what I have, and it includes Pets, Family Fun Stuff, and Mansion and Gardens. Again you'll have to use the disc for startup.
If you can suffer through origin for a couple hours or so, then UC gives you all ep and sps and, once you change it to not run through origin (an easy fix, with a post on this site on how to do it), you won't ever have to use a disc.

It's actually more than just a nice alternative. If you use it carefully you can place a dining table and chairs off-grid, but still working. As a builder that discovery was exciting. I can't say how many times I have needed to do just that to balance out a dining room or a restaurant seating. I hardly ever use snap off grid anymore except for the few items that the quarter tile cheat doesn't work on.

You should be able to find a disk on eBay quite cheaply. I bought myself a complete set of disks all EP's and SP's hardly used for $100.

Selly_2009
Ah, so M&G is the latest disk. Good to know. Back when I had a computer letting me use Any Game Starter I knew all those lists, lol.

Sunrader
Hmm, if the workaround anti-Origin is simple to do maybe I should try that. I wonder if the free version offered to the person calling was a one-time thing? Plus do you think it could be a US-only offer? I would be calling them from Canada.

joandsarah77
I suppose it's treated as an EP because of the new build tools/sorts. That quarter-tile placement sounds extremely useful. I use moveobjects/snap all the time with the OMSPs to place more deco on tables. I'll probably use it a lot. The items it doesn't work on are the bigger items I suppose?

Flickstar
I already have Pets. I own all the EPs single (each in their own box) except the University Life collection and it has problems installing correctly sometimes - I don't know if it's because it's a Collection but I trust the single ones better, lol. Fun with pets would probably work but I might prefer just the single SP if I can find it.

@billielith it also added a new game engine. Lot's packaged with M&G should not be used by those without it as they can crash.

That is important to remember when you have it and share lots.

Is M&G worth it? Well, I do like the plants but then I like making gardens so perhaps I'm not the best person to ask. Those lupins brought welcome extra height to the flower beds and I love the sunflowers without reservation.

Whoa what? I didn't know about this cheat! :D

@didyouevenmakeasound it's setquartertileplacement on then you toggle it on and off with Ctrl f I recommend you add it to your user startup cheat file(and if you haven't got one of those to google and get one) To use it on a setting place down some square flooring such as tiles or lino and then the dining set on the grid. Turn on the cheat and carefully one step at a time move the table and each chair to where you want them. The tiles help you see if you are placing them correctly. If they are correct the chairs will scoot in when play is clicked. Can be used for chess tables and computer desks as well.

WHOA! MAGIC! I tried it out earlier and my mind has been blown! Thank you SO much for enlightening me on this :D

You're welcome