this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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It gets difficult when you have old stuff. I'll put a spoiler for a pointless, pent up rant, lmao
paljastus
My problem has been getting the sims 2 working, so far I keep my main on win10 just because of it, I hate windows so much but I'm just stuck. I even have zorin on my laptop, so I know how much better things are on linux which makes this extra frustrating.Of course I can get the legacy version through steam, but getting the game run is the least of my worries. The actual problem is I want to run ultimate collection with RPC, need tons of mods where a lot is installed in the game file folders directly, and around 7 small programs on the side which would all then have to be somehow configured to work in the same bottle (as far as I understand). And I have not even found working linux alternative to the mindmapping tool I use to create family trees, and the only working one even on windows that has auto-arranging cells you can link crosswise just by clicking is through fucking microsoft store, and I can't run it through virtual machine because I need to use it at the same time I play and that requires way more juice than I have...
It's all way above my skill level and I don't enjoy tinkering enough to dive even deeper into it, so I just gave up. I've considered dual booting, but I game on the other screen and do other stuff on another at the same time, so it would be pointless since I'd still only use the win10 on it anyway.
It's a damn 20-year-old game, so changes of getting any of this more easily linux compatible depends entirely on if some random hobbyists want to take a look at it. And I cannot even give up playing it the way I do, it's one of my autistic hyperfixations so it'll probably have to be pried from my cold, dead hands. I don't know what the situation will be when MAS ends in few years, but I'll have to figure something out before it
That is a tall order! Old game, lots of mods, lots of windows files/folders. Probably a lot of tinkering just to get that far.
You doing real family trees, or sims family trees?
For real ones: Gramps is not particularly easy to use, but it is real genealogy software and supports the open standard for importing and exporting data.
As for the game, this is what I would do: I would grab a $20 machine or re-purpose an older one. Put windows on it. Put your game on it. Remote into it (either RDP, or use moonlight). Clipboard is shared, the screen is the game, it works really, really well. And you can preserve your SIMS game when Windows starts to force changes that break things because your main computer is used for the secure stuff like browsing and email, and other games.
That said, I have seen the Sims 2 complete repacked with patches for Lutris that is basically click and run. How many of your mods work, I don't know.
Sims family trees! What I use right now is quikflow, it's the only tool I've found so far that actually allows me do what I need on the fly, since I use it as I play. The auto arranging especially is priceless, when there's easily over 100 sims and they're all related to each other it gets really difficult to keep track of the family without the fluid enough software for it. The trees also constantly grow and change, and I have to mark all the dead and family lines etc. and it's just a giant clusterfuck lmao (but it's incredibly fun). I do keep searching for a linux-usable program that would be even better suited for the trees, but so far I haven't found any, they're all too bulky and lack the auto arranging and/or easy cross-linking.
And yeah, I might have to just do something like that. With the lutris versions the trouble is the links keep dying (I think EA is intentionally targeting them to get people buy legacy edition), so every time I look into it they are dead already, or have installation requirements that are seriously complicated. I probably do have to jump to legacy version at some point, but then I'll also have problems with the extra programs... yeah, I have no idea how to sort out that whole mess.
Even though most games do work now, when you do these weird random niche things, linux is still a bit too hard to approach