Unreleased neighborhoods
Screenshot of Riverside, one of the Unreleased neighborhoods.
There have been several neighborhoods made by Maxis and Electronic Arts for The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 that were developed but ultimately never made available to the public. Riverside and Waterside were used in pre-release previews of The Sims 2 but did not ship with the game, and other neighborhoods are referenced in the game files. Two incarnations of Sunset Valley were made, but due to the delay of The Sims 3's release, were redesigned. The Sims 4 was to originally feature a third world, Windenbourg, but was scrapped and eventually remade for the Get Together expansion.
The Sims 2
The Sims 2 ships with three neighborhoods. Pleasantview, Strangetown, and Veronaville. At one stage of development, Pleasantview was named Pleasantville, Strangetown was originally named Strangeville, and Veronaville was originally named Europa. These names can be found in thumbnails_family.txt included with all three The Sims Stories games. Veronaville was also intended to feature roads with European-style crosswalks, the terrain template of which still exists in the game but is not used.
Other neighborhoods were planned for the game, but were either repurposed into the three that shipped with the game, or were scrapped completely.
Two lots are referenced in development files that do not exist in the final game:
- 115 Wright Way (Pleasantview)
- 100 Via Veronaville (Veronaville)
Riverside
Early Riverside
The neighborhood fly-through for Riverside
Riverside was the original neighborhood that was to ship with The Sims 2 base game, but was removed during development. It is believed that the Sims that appeared in various video previews for the game may have been the inhabitants of Riverside. The neighborhood terrain template for Pleasantview is actually the terrain for Riverside, suggesting that the road layout was altered and the terrain template repurposed for Pleasantview.
A recreation of Riverside was attempted by a user known as Thsms204, but was never completed. Another group, called "The Riverside Group", built upon Thsms204's work and completed a full, working recreation of Riverside in March 2014, available here.
Waterside
Don, Sarah, and little Alex settled down in Waterside. Sarah wants a bigger family, but Don still craves the romance of his youth. Can you hold this family together, or will these Sims just grow apart?
A screenshot of Waterside, showcasing the Baxter's house and multiple empty houses.
Waterside was a neighborhood used for previews of The Sims 2, and was created by producer Tim LeTourneau. According to development notes inside thumbnails_family.txt it was intended to ship with the game alongside the other three neighborhoods. lotSpeck.txt indicates that a Speck family were meant to also reside here, in a lot called "Little Charmer - 1BR 1BA"
It is home to the Baxter family, Virginia, Dina, Laura, and Tina. The neighborhood description entry for Waterside can still be found in NeighborhoodManager.package, though unlike Riverside, the text strings are missing. Several lots seen in Waterside were reused elsewhere in the game, such as in Pleasantview, and as pre-made lots in the Lots and Houses bin. Don Baxter and Dina were seemingly reworked into the Pleasantview Sims Don Lothario and Dina Caliente, respectively.
An edited aerial view picture of Waterside appears as the loading screen background when launching The Sims 2.
.png "Waterside (Will).png (1.32 MB)")
.png "Waterside (Will - 2).png (1.51 MB)")
.png "Waterside (menu).png (1.13 MB)")
Sedona
A neighborhood named Sedona is referenced in NeighborhoodManager.package, though all other data is missing. As it was not featured in any previews for The Sims 2 details are scarce, though it was possibly an early desert-themed neighborhood in place of Strangetown. Sedona is likely associated with the neighborhood template of the same name that is included with the base game. The name also has an unused camera fly-through associated with it.
Lakeview
Very little is known about Lakeview. The only evidence of its existence is an unused camera fly-through associated with the name. It was possibly an early incarnation of Riverside or Pleasantview.
Unused fly-throughs
Hidden within the game are a number of neighborhood camera fly-throughs that are not used, but are still associated to specific neighborhood names. It is possible to enable these for use for any neighborhood by simply renaming it to one of the following:
- Sedona
- Europa
- Lakeview
As the flythroughs follow pre-determined coordinates, a neighbourhood's terrain may not be ideal for them. The camera might clip through terrain and lots. Europa's fly-through does not exactly fit the terrain for Veronaville, suggesting that it was modified significantly during development. The first scene of Lakeview's fly-through causes terrain to partially disappear for unknown reasons.
The Sims 3
Sunset Valley went through several incarnations throughout development, which can be seen in early pre-release screenshots and videos for the game. One known version was made in March 2008 but was redesigned. Then the second was made after that and was supposed to ship in February 2009 but was delayed.
The Sims 4
Windenbourg
Early screenshots of The Sims 4 featured a Tudor-themed world known as Windenbourg, but was scrapped and did not ship with the game. The concept and some assets for this world were repurposed for Get Together's Windenburg. One early screenshot depicts an area resembling The Summer Home in Windenburg's countryside, suggesting the layout was partially kept for the final version.
Rose Beach
Shared concept art of The Sims 4 reveals a conceptual, coastal beach world called Rose Beach. It features a large beach, a cave entry and expensive houses on top of the cliffs. The world was not made and there are no plans to ever create it.[1]