Much Games Offical Strategy Guide The Sims 2 Open For Business Strategy Guide Written by Mike Thorne ------------ Legal Notice ------------ This strategy guide is an offical Much Games strategy guide and is legal copyrighted materal of Much Games. This guide may not be reproduced, redistributed or appear on any other website with out the express written consent of Much Games. See http://www.muchgames.ca/index.asp?action=copyright ----------------- Table of Contents ----------------- 1. Introduction 2. System Requirements 3. Whats new 4. Bluewater Village 5. Talant Badges 5.1 Toy Making 5.2 Robotics 5.3 Sales 5.4 Cash Register 5.5 Stocking 5.6 Flower Arranging 5.7 Cosmetology 6. Business Perks 6.1 Perception Grants 6.1.1 Assess Mood 6.1.2 Assess Desire 6.1.3 Look for Mark 6.1.4 Convincing Personality 6.1.5 Manipulation 6.2 Motivation Grants 6.2.1 Simply Influential 6.2.2 Perk Up 6.2.3 Motivation Speech 6.2.4 Boundless Influence 6.2.5 Rally Forth! 6.3 Connection Grants 6.3.1 Notable Reputation 6.3.2 Sterling Reputation 6.3.3 Network 6.3.4 Head for Numbers 6.3.5 Power Network 6.4 Wholesale Grants 6.4.1 Wholesale Discount 6.4.2 Supplier Partnership 6.4.3 Bargain Hunter 6.4.4 Serious Negotiator 6.4.5 Shark of Sharks 6.5 Cash Grants 6.5.1 LeTourneau Prize 6.5.2 Valued Client Rebate 6.5.3 Chamber of Commerce Prize 6.5.4 Owners Assoication Reward 6.5.5 Will Wright Grant 7. Creating a Business 7.1 Home Based Business 7.2 Community Lot Business 8. Build Mode 8.1 Decks & Foundations 8.2 Basements 8.3 Split Levels 9. Cheat Codes --------------- 1. Introduction --------------- The Sims 2 Open For Business is the third expansion pack for The Sims 2. Now your Sims can create their own businesses. They can design their own clothing boutique, beauty salon, florist, high-end electronics shop, bustling restaurant chain, or virtually any other type of business. Hire your staff as the business grows and put talented Sims to work making toys, running the register, crafting floral bouquets, giving sales pitches, or manufacturing robots. But watch out for slacker employees and be prepared to fire them on the spot. From clever tinkerer to master craftsman, develop your Sim's talents to best suit your business needs. Will they build a thriving business empire or become eccentric entrepreneurs designing the next big thing? Open up shops selling just about anything from clothing, electronics, and toys to flowers, baked goods, robots and more. Customize any business to your choosing by tailoring the store theme, layout and prices. Hire employees with high sales skills and employ independent managers to run things while your Sim is away. Watch as your business grows from a mom and pop shop into a booming empire. Train employees, promote the best, and fire the rest. Cater to different customers including browsers and loyal shoppers. Dress your Sims in outrageous mascot outfits that resemble Knights, Ninjas, Gorillas, and more. Promote your best employees, but beware of slacker workers and be prepared to lay them off without hesitation! Customer is king. Develop your Sims' sales skills and determine if your employees should use a hard sell or drop the price to close the deal. Win the Best-of-the-Best Award to establish your Sim's business rep. Will your Sim's business make more money selling low quality products at basement rates or luxurious goods at scale-tipping prices? Arrange flowers, make toys, and create robots to catch thieves at home or clean up the shop. Develop master-skilled Sims to make the most prized and expensive goods. Settle for an entry-level crafter and churn out pet bricks or faulty toy robots. Just bring home the bacon any way you can! Stock up on essentials for your Sims' business, including display cases, a beauty salon chair, a toy workbench, a floral station, cash registers, and more. Complete your shop atmosphere with awnings and elevators for easy store navigation, or matching uniforms for all employees. With all the new items, there will never be another dull day building a business! ---------------------- 2. System Requirements ---------------------- If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM then you need at least: 1 GHz processor or better 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 At least 1.5 GB of hard drive space If you have a non-T&L capable video card, such as Intel Extreme Graphics, then you need at least: 2.4 GHz processor or better 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000 At least 1.5GB of hard drive space (5 GB of hard drive space for both The Sims 2 and Open For Business and 8 GB of hard drive space for The Sims 2, University, Nightlife, and Open For Business) Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better): ATI Radeon series 8500 or better (7x00 models no longer supported), All-In-Wonder 8500, 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, and X850. NVIDIA GeForce 2, 2 GTS, 3, 3 Ti, 4, 4 Ti, 4200, 4600, and 4800. NVIDIA GeForce MX 420, 440, and 460. NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, 55500, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, and 5950. NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300, and 5900. NVIDIA GeForce 6200, 6600, and 6800. NVIDIA Quadro, Quadro2, and Quadro4. Intel Extreme Graphics 82865, 82915, and higher. ------------ 3. Whats new ------------ There are over 125 new items and your sims get to be the boss in their very own business. -------------------- 4. Bluewater Village -------------------- Bluewater Village is a new neighbourhood that you can add to an existing neighbourhood like you can in both The Sims 2 University and The Sims 2 Nightlife when you add a university or a downtown to a neighbourhood. Bluewater Village has a wide varity of community lots that your sims can purchase to run a business. There are four community lots you can not purchase because residents of Bluewater Village already own them. The four lots that you can not purchase are: Club Dante, Electronics Superstore, Ramirez's Fine Furniture, and J'Adore Bakery. ---------------- 5. Talant Badges ---------------- Talant badges are a very import part of running a successful business by making it easier for your sim to make things like toys, robots, or flowers, to making sales, operating the cash register, stocking shelves, and giving make overs. Talant badges range from bronze, silver, and gold and each time your sim gets to a higher level for a badge the easier it gets for you sim to do the task releated to that badge. There are seven talant badges that your sim can earn and they are: toy making, robotics, sales, cash register, stocking, flower arranging, and cosmetology. -------------- 5.1 Toy Making -------------- With each level of the toy making talant badge your sim will be able to make different toys and be able to make toys faster than the previous level. Before you sim earns a bronze talant badge for toy making they can only make Sir Bricks-A-Lot a pet brick and when they get a gold badge they can make all toys including the Water Wigglers that sims can run through to cool down on a hot day. The following is a list of each badge for toy making and what new toys can be made with each new badge. No badge Sir Bricks-a-Lot Bronze Talent Badge fire trucks and clown-in-a-box. Silver Talent Badge Kites, a Twirl, and Spin and Wobble. Gold Talent Badge Water Wigglers. ------------ 5.2 Robotics ------------ Just like toy making you sim will be able to make different robots at each new level and be able to make them faster. The following is a list of each badge for robotics and what new robots can be made with each new badge. No badge Toy Robots. Bronze Talent Badge CleanBot and HydroBot Silver Talent Badge SentryBot and MunchieBot. Gold Talent Badge Servo. --------- 5.3 Sales --------- The sales talant badge is one of the most important talant badges your sims can earn. With each new level of the sales talant badge the easier it is to convince a customer to buy a particular item for sale. However even with a gold badge in sales there will always be a customer or two that will get mad when you try to sell them an item. The sales talant badge is required for those business that sell things and is very important in running a successful business. The following is a list of each badge for sales and the new sales pitchs that can be used with each new badge. No badge basic sell Bronze Talent Badge offer at cheap Silver Talent Badge hard sell Gold Talent Badge dazzle ----------------- 5.4 Cash Register ----------------- The cash register talant badge is another very important talant for running a successful business as the longer a customer waits in line the more likely that they will get upset and storm out of your store with out buying anything. The higher the badge for cash register the faster your sim can use the cash register and the faster they can serve a customer. ------------ 5.5 Stocking ------------ The stocking talant badge is another important talant that keeps your shop from running out of stock. With each new level your sims reach the faster they can restock the shelves and the less likely a customer will get upset because your shop has run out of stock. A gold level talant badge in stocking is very useful when restocking your shelves when you close your shop so your sim wont be stocking shelves all night like they would if they had no badge or the bronze badge. -------------------- 5.6 Flower Arranging -------------------- The flower arranging talant badge is like toy making and robotics the higher the level the easier it is to make flowers and the more flower arrangments you can make. The following is a list of each badge for flower arranging and each new bouquet that can be made. No badge daisy bouquets Bronze Talent Badge Wildflower Bouquets and Tulip Bouquets Silver Talent Badge Mixed Flower Bouquets and Rose Bouquets Gold Talent Badge Snapdragon Bouquet --------------- 5.7 Cosmetology --------------- With each new level of the cosmetology talant badge the less likely your sim will runin someones make over and the faster it is to perform the make over, ----------------- 6. Business Perks ----------------- A business perk is something that can help your business by making it easier to make a sale, to reducing the wholesale cost at which your business buys stock. A business perk is gained everytime your business reaches a new level. However the highest level a business can get to is 10 and there are 25 business perks meaning you will have to have at least 3 business to get all the business perks. --------------------- 6.1 Perception Grants --------------------- Perception perks will increasely help you in sales. This is because you can assess the mood of the shopper and what they really want. ----------------- 6.1.1 Assess Mood ----------------- You've gotten a pretty good idea of what a happy customer looks like. Now you can use "Assess...Mood" to evaluate how perky or peeved another sim is, and that makes you a happy Sim, yourself! ------------------- 6.1.2 Assess Desire ------------------- You've learned that some Sims yearn secretly to possess something new - A leather armchair? A Remote Controlled Car? Your Sim has learned how to tap into the hidden signals of their customers give off and can use ''Assess...Desire'' to find out just what they want. ------------------- 6.1.3 Look for Mark ------------------- You've learned that it can be hard to sell something to a grump who hates your store. Now, activating ''Look for Mark'' on yourself will let you detect the perfect sales target! ---------------------------- 6.1.4 Convincing Personality ---------------------------- You've seen a lot of sales by now, and you know the secrets of getting people to cough up their cash. You will now enjoy a boost to the effectiveness of all your Sales interactions with customers! ------------------ 6.1.5 Manipulation ------------------ Huzzah! You have attained a nigh-magical level of sales prowess! You can now use ''Sales...Manipulate'' to get customers to buy like they've never bought before. --------------------- 6.2 Motivation Grants --------------------- Motivation Grants are basically grants that allow you to make yourself more powerful and basically, give the consumer a better mood why using your own needs. ------------------------ 6.2.1 Simply Influential ------------------------ While most people need a boatload of friends to be really influential, you just need to be yourself! With this perk, yourself! With this perk, your capacity for influence will take a nice swing upward. ------------- 6.2.2 Perk Up ------------- You've learned that goods and services won't sell without a smile. Bad Mood? No problem! You've learned to put a smile on anybody's face by using ''Talk...Perk Up.'' ----------------------- 6.2.3 Motivation Speech ----------------------- You've learned to bring out the best in people with nothing more than a rousing speech! Using ''Talk...Motivational Speech'' will give other Sims the power to have increased talent for a period of time. ''Let's do this, people! ------------------------- 6.2.4 Boundless Influence ------------------------- Your ability to amass influence is uncanny! You're a born leader, and now when you gain influence by fulfilling wants, you'll get more than ever. Start giving orders, chief! ------------------ 6.2.5 Rally Forth! ------------------ You are the master of getting people psyched up! Now, activating ''Rally Forth!'' on yourself will cause you to give all onlookers a call to arms, sacrificing your own needs to boost theirs! Be careful with this powerful ability. --------------------- 6.3 Connection Grants --------------------- Connection grants basically increase the list of people you can contact or rather, the amount of people you can talk to. ------------------------ 6.3.1 Notable Reputation ------------------------ People are getting to know who you are...and they like what they hear! You'll now enjoy a starting boost to all of your new relationships. ------------------------- 6.3.2 Sterling Reputation ------------------------- The work is spreading about your growing business abilities! You'll now get a bigger jumpstart to all new relationships! ------------- 6.3.3 Network ------------- You've learned the importance of knowing the people that other people know! You can now use ''Talk...Network'' to instantaneously meet all the aquaintances of another Sim...and you get a starting bonus to those relationships too! ---------------------- 6.3.4 Head for Numbers ---------------------- Spending so much time pleasing customers has given you an incredible memory. You now can call anyone in town on the phone now, whether you know them or not! ------------------- 6.3.5 Power Network ------------------- Your networking skills have become stupendous! You can now use ''Talk...Power Network'' to instantaneously meet all the acquaintances of another Sim...and you'll get a powerful starting bonus to those relationships too! -------------------- 6.4 Wholesale Grants -------------------- Wholesale grants makes buying stock for your business cheaper and in return increases your profit. ------------------------ 6.4.1 Wholesale Discount ------------------------ Ka-ching! Your growing fame as a business owner has motivated your suppliers to offer you a discount on future purchases! -------------------------- 6.4.2 Supplier Partnership -------------------------- Your suppliers love to brag about having you as a customer! Enjoy this additional discount on your wholesale costs. -------------------- 6.4.3 Bargain Hunter -------------------- Your business' rising popularity has really given you an edge with your wholesalers! You can buy at much lower prices now. ------------------------ 6.4.4 Serious Negotiator ------------------------ Profit is great! Your business skill has given you the ability to negotiate even lower wholesale costs! --------------------- 6.4.5 Shark of Sharks --------------------- You've become the Shark of Sharks. Your ability to get the best wholesale deals is legendary! --------------- 6.5 Cash Grants --------------- This is basically a one off perk thing that gives your business some more money (simoleons) or some more §§§ to stop it from going bust. ---------------------- 6.5.1 LeTourneau Prize ---------------------- Nice Job! On the recommendation of some of your customers, you've won the LeTourneau Prize for new business owners! -------------------------- 6.5.2 Valued Client Rebate -------------------------- Well Done! The rising fame of your establishment has earned you this rebate from your suppliers! ------------------------------- 6.5.3 Chamber of Commerce Prize ------------------------------- Superb! Your business acumen has earned this cash award from the local Chamber of Commerce! ------------------------------- 6.5.4 Owners Assoication Reward ------------------------------- Congratulations! Your reputation as a mogul is spreading, and has earned you this cash prize from the Sim Business Owners Association! ----------------------- 6.5.5 Will Wright Grant ----------------------- Outstanding! Your business is becoming a household name, and has won you this grant from the Will Wright Foundation for Economic Advancement. ---------------------- 7. Creating a Business ---------------------- Once you have decided that you want your sim to have a business all you have to do is pick up the phone or go to the computer and select either a home based business or a community lot business for your sim. ----------------------- 7.1 Home Based Business ----------------------- A home based business is a business that your sim run out of their home. The most common home based businesses are those that sell toys, robots, and flowers that can be made from the new crafting tables. Once you have set aside a section of your house for your business an important thing to do is lock the doors to restrict your customers to only the business part of your house so they are not roaming around your house watching your tv and getting snacks from your fridge. -------------------------- 7.2 Community Lot Business -------------------------- Just like a home based business a community lot business also requires you to lock certain doors to restrict your customers from areas like a staff room where your employees can go when and watch tv or get something to eat while on a break. A disadvantage of a community lot business is that it is expensive to buy and most community lots cost more than $50,000 to purchase the lot then you have to buy stock for your customers to buy which depending on the type of business you own can get very expensive. Your community lot business can also sell toys, robots, and flowers that are made from the new crafting tables. However unlike a home based business the sky is the limit for a community lot business where you can sell anything you want even cars which requires The Sims 2 Nightlife expansion pack. You can also create a gym, spa, or a beauty shop, which you can charge sims by the hour they spend on the lot to use the facilities. -------------- 8. Build Mode -------------- Build mode is where you can build your sims a house or edit the one they are currently living in. Building a house can take some time depending on the size and shape you make it. Also don't forget to add a roof to your house, its not there to prevent the rain from getting in because it don't rain, it just adds to the look of your house. ------------------------ 8.1 Decks & Foundations ------------------------ Building a deck or foundation is fairly simple you just click, drag, and then let go, now you just built your deck or foundation. You can have your decks and foundations any size, shape and forum. This is made possable because you can make them a rectangle and you can also make them diangle which will allow you to do what you want with your decks and foundations. -------------- 8.2 Basements -------------- Adding a basement to your house can be a pain to do it just takes time and practice to master it. You can make a basement in a new house your building or an existing one. To make a basement in a new house you must first move your sim into an empty lot. Next go into build mode and make your foundation. Once you have your foundation made you will need to delete the middle section of your foundation so that it is only 1 block. ----------------------- Once you have that done it should look something like shown. Now |---------------------| its time to lower the ground so you can add a stair case. You can | | | | only add a stair case if the ground was lowered enough otherwise | | cut out of | | a message will come up saying the ceiling is too low or too high. | | foundation | | If this happens just rise of lower the ground. An easy way too | | | | tell if the ground is at the right depth add a wall treatment to |---------------------| the inner foundation wall the part that will be your basement and ----------------------- when the ground is at the bottom of the wall treatment then you will be able to add a stair case. Adding a basement to an existing house is done the same way but the existing house must have a foundation in order to add a basement. By removing the foundation in an existing will cause you to lose your flooring on the main floor expect for the tiles that are under objects. Once again you lower the ground until you are able to add a stair case. ---------------- 8.3 Split Levels ---------------- Split level foundations make it easier to build split level houses. The split level foundation can be place on the ground, on a foundation or on a deck. To place a split level foundation simply click and drag over the ground, foundation or deck to place a section of split level foundation. Unlike a foundation a split level foundation can be attached to a wall and any wall that is placed on a split level can have windows added but not doors. Split level foundations can also have a wall treatment added to it so that it matches the wall paper you have in the split level room. --------------- 9. Cheat Codes --------------- In order to enter cheats, you'll need to open the cheat window. You can do this by holding down CTRL + SHIFT + C while playing. Note when using the boolprop codes be careful because misuse of the code can corrupt the lot your playing, exit you out of the game or cause you to reinstall the game. boolprop objectShadows (True/False): Set to false to remove removes shadows on objects outside house boolProp guob (True/False): Set to false to remove shadows on objects inside house boolprop renderSelectedSimLevel (True/False): Set to true and walls will no longer cut away from selected Sim boolProp displayPaths (True/False): Set to true to see the path where the selected Sim walks to boolprop displayLookAtBoxes (True/False): Set to true and blocks appear on Sims faces and on parts where Sims look at boolProp simShadows (True/False): Toggle shadows on/off for Sims boolprop ShowLotPackageFilename (True/False): In neighborhood, shows filename of house when lot is highlighted boolprop carsCompact (True/False): Set to true and cars will have more detail in neighborhood boolprop lotInfoAdvancedMode (True/False): Set to true to show lot information boolprop locktiles (True/False): Set to false to place floor tiles outside lot boolprop lotWater (True/False): Set to false to remove removes water (ponds) from lots boolprop lotTerrainPaints (True/False): Set to false to remove floorpainting on lot boolprop displayNeighborhoodProps (True/False): Set to false to remove props like rocks and towers from neighborhood boolprop allObjectLightsOn (True/False): Set to true to light up objects continuously instead of only when used boolprop displayNeighborhoodRoads (True/False): Set to false to remove roads from neighborhood boolprop displayNeighborhoodFlora (True/False): Set to false to removes trees/plants from neighborhood boolprop displayNeighborhoodWater (True/False): Set to false to remove water from neighborhood boolprop displayLotImposters (True/False): Set to false to removes house graphics from neighborhood boolprop displayNeighborhoodRoadsWithModel (True/False): Set to false to remove bridges from neighborhood. boolprop lotTerrainLighting (True/False): Set to false and lots will not light up when highlighted in neighborhood boolProp TestingCheatsEnabled (True/False): vsync (on/off): increases game performance but lowers graphics moveobjects (on/off): moves objects and deletes you couldnt before autopatch (on/off): lets you know if theres a patch kaching: get 1000 cash motherlode: get 50,000 cash help -all: list cheats expand: expands or contracts cheat window exit: closes cheat window slowmotion: Puts the game in slow motion. Enter any number that 0 through 8 (0=fastest and 8=slowest) StretchSkeleton: makes your sims larger or smaller boolprop constrainFloorElevation true: Disables the ability to change elevation of floor tiles boolprop constrainFloorElevation false: Allows you to change elevation of floor tiles. aging on/off: turn on/off aging faceBlendLimits (on/off): turns off facial bounding limitations. It prevents the normal corrections the game will make for two parents with very different facial structures. intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims 8: You can invite more people to your parties. boolProp snapObjectsToGrid true/false: You can place objects outside the grid. intprop censorgridsize 0: Takes off censoring clear: Clears all cheat codes on the screen, but codes are still in effect. social_debug: You can tell what social reaction will happen before you do it deleteAllCharacters: At neighborhood view only, removes every Sim from the neighborhood. TerrainType (desert/temperate): Only for use in neighborhood view, toggles between the two terrain types. boolProp enablePostProcessing true: Turns Postprocessing on. boolProp enablePostProcessing false: Turns Postprocessing off. bloom rgb #: Sitcom flashback blur effect (# = 0.0 to 1.0) (require postprocessing on) vignette # # #: Blurry bits at the edge of the screen. (# = 0.0 to 1.0) (require postprocessing on) filmGrain #: Makes the screen grainy. (# = 0.0 to 1.0) (require postprocessing on) letterBox #: Adds a letterbox effect to the view. (# = 0.0 to 0.4) (require postprocessing on) addneighbortofamilycheat [on/off]: If turned on, you can add NPC's to the current household by Shift+Left-clicking on the NPC.* forcetwins: Using this cheat on a pregnant sim, this will change the pregnancy into a twin birth Plumbobtoggle [on/off]: Can make the overhead plumbob invisible. Ideal for machinimas or if you don't like them period maxMotives: Sets all needs for every sim on the lot to full. motiveDecay (on/off): Toggles motive decay on or off. aspirationPoints #: Adds the selected number of aspiration points to the total of the selected sim. lockAspiration (on/off): Toggles aspiration decay on or off. aspirationLevel (0-5): Changes aspiration level. 0 = lowest rung; 5 = platinum aspiration. Sethour #: Change Time (# is a number from 0-23)