The Sims and Fictional Characters

It looks like the discussions for this game have disappeared, so I thought I'd restart it. I have a few questions about the expansion packs for the Sims 2 and 3. First of all, I have heard that it is possible to keep the Sims you currently have in the base game when an expansion pack is added. Is this true? Also, according to the Sims websites, it says that an expansion pack like Pets that isn't the first one doesn't necessarily require getting all the other ones that came before it to work, you just need the base game. Is that true too?

Edit: The title is supposed to be just "The Sims," I'm not sure how to change topic titles. Is there a way for me to do that or does a mod have to do it?

edited 15th Dec '10 6:50:34 PM by Rainbow

Those are both true.

^ What he said. Unlike Sims 1, for Sims 2 and 3 characters stick around after any and all expansions. Likewise, you can install expansions in any order you'd like.

edited 16th Dec '10 12:06:18 AM by KnownUnknown

Can you? Because I remember that whenever I needed to reinstall Sims 2 I had to do it in chronological order.

I've heard that is only for reinstalling everything, including the base game, but not necessarily for adding an expansion to the base game without reinstalling it.

And thank you to those who answered my question, especially about retaining Sims.

edited 16th Dec '10 5:38:07 AM by Rainbow

I didn't have many problems installing the Sims 2 expansion packs out of order. The only one I found out about later is that the copy of Nightlife I bought didn't have the "Downtown" sub-neighborhood for some reason.