Make the most out of the new Graphics with Tips & Tricks in Settings, UI and Graphic Overhaul Mods.

The Sims 2 rerelease has truly been a surprise for Simmers both new and old. For many it was a trip down memory lane, for others, it was the introduction to such a poignant moment in The Sims franchise history. Even now, in 2025, The Sims 2 still looks good yet, you may be wondering what can I do to enhance the games’ graphics? Are there any graphic overhauls or lighting mods that can be added to the game? Is there a windowed mode of the game?

Fear not because we’ve got you covered!

The Sims 2 Rerelease Settings

At launch, your game will run in what it feels are the default graphics settings. Now, there is nothing wrong with this and for many players, it will work just fine. However, as we are now running the game on Windows 10 and 11, a little bit of tweaking may be in order to truly optimize the graphics experience.

Your graphic settings can be found by click on the three dots on the bottom left-hand corner of the user interface. You’ll then want to click onto the monitor icon to bring up the Graphics/Performance Options tab.

Now, as you can see in the screenshot above, some options are not available. For this, simply jump into your any Sims 2 rerelease household and go into the same settings again.

While the settings are identical, you will be able to see that you can adjust the shadows and tweak each different graphics settings to meet your needs and work in line with your PC set up.

Now, you will notice that both Screen Size and Refresh Rate are greyed out in both screenshots. When playing in full screen, these will be available to change whereas when you play in Windowed Mode, these graphic settings will not be available.

Playing in Windowed Mode

We’ve just mentioned playing in Windowed Mode, but now you might be curious as to how you do that in The Sims 2 Rerelease. In fact, there are two ways of doing so.

The first, is by simply pushing the ALT and Enter keys together. Easy as that!

The second way is by editing some code. That may seem slightly overwhelming, but we’ve got several easy steps to help guide you through!

• Find The Sims 2 shortcut on your desktop. If you can’t find the shortcut, find the Sims2EP9.exe file in The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection > Fun with Pets > SP9 > TSBin, right click and create shortcut.
• Right-click on the shortcut and select properties.
• Under the Target section of the Shortcut Tab, add -w.
• Press Apply and select OK.

By doing this, it will ensure that The Sims 2 rerelease version will always load and play in Windowed Mode, providing you launch it from the desktop shortcut. If you launch the game through the EA App, it will load in full screen.

If, however, you are loading in Windowed Mode and the game doesn’t quite fit, simply double-click on the header bar at the top of the screen, and it will adjust to your screen size.

Graphic Overhaul & Lighting Mods

The great thing about The Sims 2 rerelease is the fact that mods from back in the day still work and for the most part are still compatible. So you may be wondering, are there any lighting mods or graphics overhaul mods for the game?

Gunmod’s Radiance Light System 2.4

Described as a mod that helps enhance the lighting system of The Sims 2 by utilising the physics behind lighting to create what has been known as the most realistic lighting seen in The Sims 2.

Gunmod’s Radiance Light System is a Base Game compatible mod that work with all additional content. The mod originally by Gunmod has continued to be looked after by various modders including dDefinder.

Additionally, why not check out GunMod’s Camera Mod too. Experience The Sims 2 in greater detail from new perspectives.

Maxis Match Lighting

Take the vanilla lighting graphics in The Sims 2 rerelease and give them a new lease of life while keeping to the same aesthetic of the game.

The mod by Dreadpirate on Tumblr has been one that has been popular with The Sims 2 players for some time and is easy to follow thanks to the step-by-step instructions!

User Interface Mods

Enough about Lighting and Graphics overhauls, what about UI Mods? There are certainly some out there you can add to The Sims 2 Legacy Collection!

Clean UI for The Sims 2

Another highly popular The Sims 2 mod is the Clean UI Mod from Greatcheesecakepersona. The mod gives the game a fresh, modern feel while streamlining the overall user interface experience, all while keeping all your essential details on screen!

The mod also adds several new loading screens, The Sims 4 inspired cursors, various fixes and removal of flaws and much more! This mod also comes with some additional UI mods detailed in the full post below.

Starship UI

However, if you’re looking for a dark mode UI, Starship UI is the one for you!

Using the Clean UI as the base that we mentioned above, Simstate has made a dark mode alternative of the mod. This UI Mod adds not just a modern dark mode alternative but six additional loading screens, dark cursors, cleaner UI lines and more!

Installing Mods in The Sims 2 Rerelease

Not sure how to add mods to The Sims 2 or feeling a little rusty on the process? In fact, it’s as easy as it is to do in The Sims 4.

Once you have downloaded your UI Mods (or custom content in fact) you’ll want to extract the files. On Windows 10 you will need an extraction program to do so, however if you are on Windows 11 you’ll be able to extract using the built-in right-click file options.

Before installing, just double check first that there are no mod-specific rules listed on the creator’s page.

Now that you’ve extracted your files, you’ll want to add the package files to your games. Simply head to Documents > EA Games > The Sims 2 Legacy > Downloads (you may need to create a folder called Downloads initially)

Next, load up your game as usual, and the mods you’ve just installed should be present. For Custom Content, you may need to check that it has been enabled in the game settings.

Then you are good to go!

What are some of your favourite UI Mods or graphics overhauls for The Sims 2?

For all the latest The Sims 2 Legacy Collection news and information, stay tuned to Sims Community!