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Game guide:Changing the game language

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The Sims The Sims 2 The Sims 3 The Sims 4

This tutorial will show how to change the in-game language of The Sims games. Note that this will only affect the in-game text language, Sims will speak Simlish regardless of the text language.

There are reasons why you want to change the language:

  • You bought a game or content pack abroad or imported resulting in the game installing in that language. You need to change it to your native language.
  • The names of your Sims have changed after installing a content pack imported from another country. (The Sims 2 only)
  • You are learning another language. So you play the game in the language you are learning instead of your native language.
  • Many wiki pages need accurate text strings, necessitating playing in English, but you want to occasionally play the game normally in your native language.

Language table[]

If you play The Sims games on a Windows PC, below is the language table and its regedit strings.

Language The Sims The Sims 2 The Sims 3 The Sims 4
English US 409 01 en-US en_US
English UK 809 13 [note 1]
Chinese (Simplified) 004 11 [note 2] zh_CN
Chinese (Traditional) 404 12 zh-TW zh_TW
Czech 0B cs-CZ cs_CZ
Danish 406 09 da-DK da_DK
Dutch 413 08 nl-NL nl_NL
Finnish 40B 07 fi-FI fi_FI
French 40C 02 fr-FR fr_FR
German 407 03 de-DE de_DE
Greek 408 0D el-GR[1]
Hebrew 40D 0C
Hungarian 18 hu-HU
Italian 410 04 it-IT it_IT
Japanese 411 0E ja-JP ja_JP
Korean 412 0F ko-KR ko_KR
Norwegian 414 16 no-NO no_NO
Polish 415 14 pl-PL pl_PL
Russian 10 ru-RU ru_RU
Spanish (Europe) C0A 05 es-ES es_ES
Spanish (LATAM) es-MX
Swedish 41D 06 sv-SE sv_SE
Portuguese (Europe) 17 pt-PT
Portuguese (Brazil) 416 0A pt-BR pt_BR
Thai 41E 15[note 3] [note 4]
Ukrainian [note 5]

How to change language[]

The Sims[]

  1. With a Windows user with admin rights, search in the Start menu and open Regedit.
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Maxis\The Sims
  3. Change the value of Language to a number that corresponds to the language. See the table above under The Sims column. The values in the table correspond to the last three digits of the Hexadecimal value (0x00000nnn).
  4. Click OK.

The Sims 2[]

Windows[]

  1. With a Windows user with admin rights, search in the Start menu and open Regedit.
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 (On 32-bit Windows installations: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\EA GAMES\The Sims 2).
  3. Change the value of Language to a number that corresponds to the language. See the table above under The Sims 2 column. The values in the table correspond to the last two digits of the Hexadecimal value (0x000000nn).
  4. Click OK.

Mac App Store[]

Method 1:[]

In the system settings, go to General → Language & Region → Applications → The Sims™ 2: Super Collection → Choose the language.

Method 2:[]

Type in terminal:

arch -x86_64 open "$HOME/The Sims™ 2: Super Collection" --args -l:Polish

You can change Polish to one of the languages from Language table.

macOS (Origin / DVD)[]

This section is in need of additional information. You can help The Sims Wiki by expanding this section.

The Sims 3[]

Windows[]

  1. With a Windows user with admin rights, search in the Start menu and open Regedit.
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Sims\The Sims 3 (On 32-bit Windows installations: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sims\The Sims 3).
  3. Change the value of Locale to one of the codes seen on the table above, under The Sims 3 column.

Note that en-GB does not appear to be a valid value, and that invalid values will cause the game to crash at startup.

macOS[]

  1. In Finder, right-click on The Sims™ 3.app and select "Browse Package Content".
  2. In the search field, search .reg
  3. Open all update_always.reg files, change their "Locale" values to one of the codes seen on the table above, under The Sims 3 column and save the files.
  4. Go back to The Sims™ 3.app → Contents → PackageDependencies.plist and/or The Sims™ 3.app → Contents → Info.plist, and open it with a text editor.
  5. Change the value of <string>"Locale"="(...)"</string> to the same language code, then save the file.

The Sims 4[]

Regedit method[]

  1. With a Windows user with admin rights, search in the Start menu and open Regedit.
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Maxis\The Sims 4
  3. Change the value of Locale to one of the codes seen on the table above, under The Sims 4 column.

EA App method[]

EA App / Origin[]
  1. Right-click on the game in the library.
  2. Select "Game Properties" → "Advanced launch options" → "Game Language".
  3. Select an option.
Steam[]
  1. Right-click on the game in the library.
  2. Select "Properties"
  3. On the "General" tab, there is a drop down menu next to "Language". Select the language.
  4. Close the Properties window by clicking on the X on the top right corner.

Notes[]

  1. ↑ Despite many online guides claiming en-GB is an option, it does not work at all and will instead crash the game on startup. A fan translation exists on Mod the Sims, which uses the en-US code.
  2. ↑ Despite many online guides claiming zh-CN is an option, and that certain Sims 3 packs on EA Store have official Simplified Chinese product names, the language code does not work at all and will instead crash the game on startup.
  3. ↑ This version of the game is censored via the BHAV "Check - Is Thai?", removing the option to streak and making Sims wear underwear in contexts where they would otherwise be nude.
  4. ↑ Although there was marketing for Sims 3's earliest expansion packs in Thai, there is no Thai translation of the game itself, and th-TH instead launches the English version.
  5. ↑ A fan translation exists on Mod the Sims.

References[]

  1. ↑ File:Supernatural fairy flying on ice lake Sims 3 Seasons Appaloosa County Water Treatment fishing spot Greek.webp — Screenshot of the Greek locale, showcasing the Supernatural, Seasons, and Pets expansion packs.
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