Unused Animations

This is a sub-page of The Sims (Windows).

The Sims has quite a few character animations that are not called by any objects, unsurprisingly remnant of various stages of development and deprecated behaviors.¹. If the animations below seem familiar, it's probably because modders have a history of using them in their creations.

(Source: LUCPIX)

Sub-Pages#

Resources#

MovementsGo Here...or where?

NeedsOther ways to express one's inner struggles.

Object InteractionsSims could have had more emotion crying at soap operas.

Sim Interactions"Intense" or "condescending"--it's your call.

Test Animations#

25 June 1999 20ː12


`adult-test-animation.cmx`	`adult-test-animation2.cmx`	`adult-test-animation3.cmx`


`adult-test-animation4.cmx`	`adult-test-animation5.cmx`	`adult-test-animation6.cmx`

Six oddly fluid and long animations that might be samples of motion-capturing experiments that have been made in development, in spite of the fact none of the final base game object animations use this technology.

They're all referenced — albeit unused — by desk objects (as adult-test-animationx. adult predated the a2o animation label prefix in early builds).
Furthermore, stereo objects reference the second and third test animation in their skill tables. In fact, a notable time the player can spot "test-animation2" in the final product is in the opening clip, which ping-pongs between footage of different early builds of the game: A character is briefly shown running "test-animation2" next to a boombox, though such behavior can not be reproduced in regular gameplay.²

Enthralled#

25 June 1999 19ː07


`a2o-enthralledstart.cmx`	`a2o-enthralled.cmx`

The game has two "enthralled" skills. The used one makes Sims applaud, and is called in the game when they see/listen to something they enjoy. On the other hand... the unused animations have sims undoubtedly as enthralled, but moving in a stranger way.

Idling#

25 June 1999 18ː58


`a2o-idle1-start.cmx`	`a2o-idle1-loop1.cmx`	`a2o-idle2-start.cmx`	`a2o-idle2-loop1.cmx`

Early idle animations. Remnant from early builds as the Steering Committee demo.

Sitting#

Seating#

25 June 1999 19ː00

a2o-sitting-loop.cmx

Early sitting animation. An oddity about it is that it's a single-frame loop, rendering the characters basically static. Another remnant from early builds as the Steering Committee demo.

Floor#

25 June 1999 19ː00


`a2o-sit-floor.cmx`	`a2o-sitting-floor-loop.cmx`	`a2o-standup-fromfloor.cmx`

A Sim sits on the floor. Sims only fall to the ground in the final product when they pass out or lose a fight. The second sample pictured above, "sitting-floor-loop", is basically a series of unused tree animations grouped as one. Another remnant from early builds as the Steering Committee demo.

Noteworthy Cases#

Shoving#

20 July 1999 00ː07
The game's opening clip shows an old brief footage of two Sims shoving one another, which they can not do in the base game. These would be repurposed for the Hot Date expansion pack onward.


`a2a-shovee1.cmx`	`a2a-shover1.cmx`	`a2c-shovee1.cmx`	`a2c-shover1.cmx`


`c2a-shovee1.cmx`	`c2a-shover1.cmx`	`c2c-shovee1.cmx`	`c2c-shover1.cmx`

Lost Animations#

Animations that are no longer found the game, yet some objects contain animation table ids that reference them.

Object Cleaning Animations#

a2o-floorlamp-clean

a2o-bookshelf-clean

a2o-sink-bathx-clean
a2o-sink-cheap-clean

Suggest scrapped cleaning interactions for sinks, bookshelves and lamps, though Sims in the final product don't need to clean them. Object cleaning was later introduced in The Sims 2, but only with the kitchen and bathroom appliances.

Turning On Stoves#

a2o-stove-turnon

Stoves don't need to be turned on in the final game, as the cooking interactions immediately start as Sims put the pot on them. Yet, other kitchen appliances (toaster oven, barbecue grill, microwave...) contain prepping start animations.

Carrying Items#

a2o-rarm-carry

Items that can be picked up by Sims have this string. rarm refers to carrying with the right hand, as Sims do. Therefore, it must be a leftover of its used counterpart.

a2o-pooltable-switchhand

Sims technically switch cue sticks from one hand to another in their pool gameplay, as a transition method for the interaction. For such, however, a2o-pooltable-idle-start is called.

Shaking Head#

a2o-shakehead

Found in outdoor flower objects. It possibly is an outdoor flower equivalent of a2o-houseplant-shakehead.

Footnotes#

References#

The animations from the retail build obey a filename prefix convention where a stands for adult, c means child and o is a short for object. With that in mind, it gets easier to realize, for example, that cmx files with names that begin as a2o contain animation data for adult Sims to use in non-character objects!↩︎
In fact, the motion-capture system was cogitated for the game, however briefly discarded after it was observed that such animations proved to be not as good as the ones engineered manually, as it is told via one of the game's trivia Easter egg.↩︎