Is there any way to have multiple installations of Sims 2?

[MichelleCYoung]

I see these wonderful defaults for download, and people who have made their worlds entirely medieval, or Victorian, or Regency, or what-have-you, and I think, "I'd love to have such an immersive experience, but it means I'd have to replace EVERYTHING, all at once! Basically, I'd have to commit to ONE neighborhood, with all its default replacements, and I'm not the type to do that."

So, I was wondering, with multiple disk drives, could I have multiple installations of Sims 2? One with the basis modern stuff, one with medieval stuff, and maybe one with Regency, or possibly old west stuff? (I have some ideas about a western-themed story). Or do I have to commit to one kind of story? That ain't gonna happen.

I've never changed defaults before. Are they just in the Downloads folder? If so, I suppose I could set different Downloads folders for different stories, and swap them out. It's not like Sims 3, where you have to put them in AND install them (which takes forever). So that's a possibility, for a strictly-themed neighborhood. Although, I'm not even sure about doing that. I kind of like mixing them up. Having the main modern neighborhood and the medieval sub-hood was fun!

Anyway, if anyone knows how to do multiple installations on the same computer, or if it's just impossible, please let me know one way or the other. I have some ideas to explore. I've already committed to bringing back Youngdale, but AFTER SimNaWriMo, where I'm focusing on my Xtreme Apocalypse. Focusing. What a strange thing.

[Radiochocolate]

So, I was wondering, with multiple disk drives, could I have multiple installations of Sims 2?

I am unsure of this, but I think it would be more trouble than necessary if your goal is just to have different default replacements.

I've never changed defaults before. Are they just in the Downloads folder? If so, I suppose I could set different Downloads folders for different stories, and swap them out.

Default replacements go in the Downloads folder unless otherwise specified by the creator. I highly suggest creating sub-folders for each theme's defaults so that you can easily cut-paste them out to a location outside of your Sims 2 documents (I keep mine in the EA Games folder so I don't have to click as many times to put them back). Otherwise you could probably just add a z to the beginning of the folder you want to use that specific time, since usually the last default loaded is the one that gets used (although there can be some mild inconveniences when one theme replaces a clothes mesh completely and the one that was supposed to load last only replaces the texture).

If you're putting in back-ups of previous neighborhoods, make sure to check that the neighborhood number doesn't overwrite an existing one. If you end up having to rename it, I suggest following this tutorial, because simply renaming the folder isn't enough; you need to rename everything inside it.
I'd love to see an Old West story from you and as someone who just downloaded heaps of DRs for a medieval themed neighborhood, I can say that there is definitely no need to commit to one kind of story.

[Seera]

You can't have multiple installations as the game points to the one My Documents folder for the saves.

However you can have multiple Sims 2 folders inside of the My Documents.

The game runs off of the one that just says The Sims 2

So you could rename the current one to and add Medieval to it and make it your Medieval saves. And then load the game up and it will generate a brand new Sims 2 folder and you can use that for your modern day save.

Or you can have one with Apocalypse at the end of it when you're not playing it so that you can just keep the mods in that are legal for the apocalypse and not have to remember to remove them each time you go to play.