Forum:TS2 stuff packs

Today I came across a couple of users changing the release ordering of stuff packs for The Sims 2, presumably on the basis that The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack isn't branded as a stuff pack despite its content resembling one. Up to now we have treated Holiday Party Pack as the first stuff pack for The Sims 2.

Some articles are referring to stuff packs naturally as if Holiday Party Pack is considered as the first official stuff pack while some are claiming that "Stuff pack X" is the "Y stuff pack for The Sims 2 (Z with Holiday Party Pack)". This is not only inconsistent but rather confusing too.

Do we want to keep referring to Holiday Party Pack as the first stuff pack while all succeeding SPs are labeled second, third and so forth, while possibly noting on the article that it's not branded as a stuff pack, or do we want to not count Holiday Party Pack as a stuff pack at all but rather as something else (in which case, The Sims 2: Family Fun Stuff would be the first official stuff pack)?

Please discuss below. 17:28, March 18, 2014 (UTC)

Discussion
I think the best approach would be to classify the Holiday Party Pack as a stuff pack. The numbering of stuff packs ultimately isn't all that important. I think a clarifying statement on Holiday Party Pack would be best, explaining that while it is was not referred to as a stuff pack, it essentially is one and that's how we choose to classify it. --  LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 23:39, March 18, 2014 (UTC)

Huh? Where did this question come from? The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack is clearly a stuff pack. It was originally known as a "Booster" pack, but seeing how well it did, they decided to make more of them and renamed them "Stuff" packs. And that, my friends, was the very first stuff pack in The Sims series. K6ka (talk &#124; contribs) 23:52, March 18, 2014 (UTC)


 * Holiday Party Pack is treated differently. The method to install the pack is different, and it's not listed in the launcher. The objects and the clothing in the pack are considered The Sims 2 base game, because the game considers these items as just add-ons instead of actual stuff pack. Technically, it's only some items added to The Sims 2 base game installation folder, while actual stuff packs have distinct installation folders. Therefore, I think it should say Family Fun Stuff as the first official stuff pack, while noting Holiday Stuff as the first add-on for The Sims 2 (making TS2 have 8 stuff packs and 10 add-ons).


 * There are many versions of this holiday stuff:
 * The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack
 * The Sims 2: Happy Holiday Stuff
 * The Sims 2 Holiday Edition (2005)
 * The Sims 2 Holiday Edition (2006)
 * I've never been able to tell the difference between all those versions. The first two versions are considered as the 1st and 4th add-on pack.  Nikel  Talk  –  Vote!  16:44, March 27, 2014 (UTC)

Bump, for the purposes of determining the outcome of this thread. I just can't tell what (if anything) we've decided here. --  LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 01:32, May 18, 2014 (UTC)
 * I think the method of installing it is different simply because it was the first stuff pack. They might have simply changed the way they did things after this pack. However I also think it's best that we keep referring the Holiday Party Pack as the first stuff pack. Ѧüя◎ґ (talk) 22:58, May 31, 2014 (UTC)
 * Well, in EAxis's disorganized mess of packs for what is technically just one stuff pack (I mean, c'mon!), it appears to be a stuff pack since all it really does is add... stuff. I don't think it needs to be treated differently just because it was the first. I'm pretty sure the developers were uncertain of whether something like this would be successful. When it worked, they pretty much made stuff packs similar to expansion packs, with their own startup screens and game startup icon. They even used game engines, taken from the latest expansion pack when that stuff pack was released (see this thread for details). As far as I know, the first stuff pack was just a bunch of .package files stuffed inside the The Sims 2/TSData/Something something something, don't remember and I'm too lazy to check right now... but basically it wasn't like the later stuff packs or any expansion pack. Uninstalling was only a matter of deleting the correct files. But it was still stuff, I guess. --k6ka (talk &#124; contribs) 00:13, June 2, 2014 (UTC)

One month later
About a month has passed and no verdict has come to fruition. Should the Holiday Party Pack be considered the first stuff pack for The Sims 2? Ѧüя◎ґ (talk) 04:47, June 26, 2014 (UTC)