S2UI Inspector is a homegrown tool to visually inspect and preview The Sims 2 user interface elements. Written in Python and PyQt6.
The Sims 2 UI is made up of "UI Script" files inside packages like ui.package.
These are modified XML files that define the layout and behaviour of the game's
user interface.
This tool should make it easier to figure out how the UI works, as well as for modders who wish to visually test their changes without starting the game.
At the moment, it only reads, and there may be some bugs rendering elements. Future versions may allow editing and saving changes!
This tool spun off from the Sims 2 4K UI Patcher project.
The tool is still in development. No releases yet! However, you can run it locally. See next section for instructions.
git clone https://github.com/lah7/sims2-ui-inspector.git
git clone https://github.com/lah7/sims2-4k-ui-patch.git
This program uses the sims2patcher modules from lah7/sims2-4k-ui-patch. Copy the sims2patcher folder from sims2-4k-ui-patch to sims2-ui-inspector.
If you prefer to copy using a command line, on Linux/macOS:
cp -r sims2-4k-ui-patch/sims2patcher sims2-ui-inspector/
Or for Windows:
xcopy /E sims2-4k-ui-patch\sims2patcher sims2-ui-inspector\
Create your virtual environment, activate it, and install the dependencies:
python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt
python ./s2ui_inspector.py
This tool was designed for The Sims 2's UI format. While it might work for other Maxis games such as SimCity 4, this isn't tested nor supported at this time.
GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3)