(You sent me this message so long ago I’m not sure if you were buying TS2 for 2015 Christmas or 2016 Christmas, lmao WHOOPS.)
But anyway! The best thing about TS2 is that you can basically play however you want! Are premades your thing? We have tons! Do you like creating a completely custom neighborhood – terrain, lots, Sims and all? You can do that, too! One of the things I don’t like about TS4 is the lack of a real “sandbox” mode. I don’t like being restricted to certain neighborhood layouts or being told I have to put certain lots in certain places. Then again, I haven’t really spent too much time with TS4 so I don’t know if this has been modded in any way. (I know literally nothing about TS3, so I can’t speak for that game.)
So, really, the best piece of beginner advice I can give (even though it sounds super lame lmao) is to play however you want! There’s no right or wrong way to play any of these games. The TS2 community has so many different styles – from gameplay to aesthetics – so you’ll definitely find something that fits you. Feel free to play with premades, feel free to start a legacy family, feel free to start a BaCC or an asylum challenge. Feel free to do nothing but decorate neighborhood terrains or build lots and take pretty pictures. 😀
For more specific beginner tips, such as finding CC, much of it will depend on how you’re going to play. If you want to play with premades, feel free to jump right into the neighborhood! If a completely custom hood is more your style, you’ll want to first install empty templates to prevent your game from generating Maxis townies. (And if you hate Maxis face templates, you can use default face replacements so your newly-generated NPCs and townies will not spawn with them. There are a bunch of different kinds, I use these.)
Speaking of default replacements, we have a whole default database! This is a great way to replace Maxis clothes to cut down on the number of custom clothing files you have in your game, or to ensure that townies and NPCs walk around wearing something that fits your gameplay aesthetic. 🙂
Looking for hair? Look no further! We have a database for that, too. 😀 You can sort by creator, Maxis-match or realistic, natural or unnatural colors, or even by different textures (such as waves or dreads).
If you don’t particularly enjoy or have time to spend building lots, the Sims Community Project is one of my go-to places for lots. And we have a nifty new blog by @holleyberry you can check, too! All of the lots from the aforementioned places are CC-free (which I love) – so you can install them without having to worry about dumping a ton of content you didn’t want into your DL folder, and you can feel free to redecorate with your own content!
Buy mode is a little harder for me to recommend because I use things from so many places. D: I keep meaning to work on my resource page, but that’s the most daunting part of it. I’m going to be lazy and link you to a past ask I’ve answered that has a couple of good places to start (including my sporadically-updated sideblog for CC finds). And for build mode you can check out some of my recommendations here. 🙂
Last, but not least, MODS! I play with a ton of mods, as my resource page shows. But if I were to do a reinstall, the first three I’d add are a camera mod, lighting mod, and ACR. ACR has been SUCH a game-changer for me, I don’t know how I ever played without it! It’s definitely made my neighborhoods a lot more fun (and dramatic ;D).
WHEW, this post spiraled way out of control. I should probably put some of this under a read-more… But anyway! I hope this helps you (or anyone else) looking to dive into TS2! As always, if you have any other questions, feel free to message me! I promise I’ll try to answer it sooner…
simper fi 