Game guide:Viewing the edges of a lot or neighborhood

This article describes features that are only available in The Sims 2.

The Sims 2's game camera can be fairly restrictive at times. By default, they will not allow the player to stray very far from the lot they are currently playing, or to view the edges of the neighborhood; if the player attempts to do so, an "invisible wall" will stop them. This can make it impossible to achieve certain picture-taking angles or, in the case of the neighborhood view, may leave parts of the neighborhood inaccessible. For example, there is a stretch of road past the bridge in Pleasantview that is suitable for building lots; however, the game's default camera settings make it impossible to view that area.

Fortunately, the game's camera settings are very easy to edit, as they are stored in text file format on your computer. This article will show you how to modify the neighborhood camera (used in the neighborhood view), the live mode camera (used during actual gameplay), and the first person "cameraman" camera (used when the Tab ↹ key is pressed) to remove these "invisible walls", allowing you to view the very edges of the neighborhood.

Modifying the neighborhood camera

Most players generally want to modify the neighborhood camera in order to comfortably view their neighborhood. Some players may also want a less-restrictive camera so they can view lots at the fringes of the neighborhood more easily, or to build lots situated right at the very edges. Some clever or adventurous players may also want to view hidden lots and Easter eggs buried in the once-unseen corners of the neighborhood (such as Watervista Palace in Belladonna Cove).

To do this, navigate to the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Cameras folder. Find a file titled "NeighborhoodCamera.txt". Open it with a plain text editing program, such as Notepad.

Then, look for the following text in the file:

constrain   .35 .35 .35 .35

Replace this with:

constrain   .90 .90 .90 .90

Save the file. You're done! You should be able to pan to the very edges of your neighborhood now!

Modifying the gameplay camera

By default, the camera used during actual gameplay won't allow the player to stray too far from the lot they are currently playing. If Nightlife or later is installed, however, players can click on a neighboring lot to visit or play it, saving them the hassle of having to go to the neighborhood view. The game's default camera makes visiting distant lots in this fashion fairly difficult, although tweaking the camera files and removing the restrictions can resolve this issue.

To do this, navigate to the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Cameras folder. Find a file titled "LiveCamera.txt". Open it with a plain text editing program, such as Notepad.

Then, look for the following text in the file:

setparam constraintwidth                   -10

Replace this with:

setparam constraintwidth                   -1000

Save the file. You're done!

Modifying the first person camera

The first-person camera, or "cameraman" as it is sometimes called, can be activated whilst in the neighborhood view or while playing a lot by pressing the Tab ↹ key. This camera is often used to allow players to get into a good position to take pictures or record videos, or simply to view the world from a personal point-of-view. This camera is also restricted by the "invisible wall" limitation, but that can be removed.

To do this, navigate to the My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Cameras folder. Find a file titled "FirstPersonCameras.txt". Open it with a plain text editing program, such as Notepad.

Then, look for the following text in the file:

setparam constraintwidth         -10

Replace this with:

setparam constraintwidth         -1000

Save the file. You're done!

Restoring the default cameras

If, for some reason, you decide that you want to go back to the game's default camera settings, or if you made a mistake and broke your camera files, don't panic! You can restore the game's default camera settings by simply deleting the entire "Cameras" folder (Yes, you can do this). The next time you start the game, the game will regenerate the folder and recreate all of the files with the default settings.