A basic map is one that does not include any buildings, but has all the rest of the neighborhood in place. Everything that needs Create a World to do has already been done, and what's left is to build the houses in-game. Some players really just want a blank canvas upon which to build (like SC4 maps for TS2) so this is the most basic type of neighborhood/world map you can upload here to MTS. But even for a basic map there's still quite a bit that needs doing. Below are the minimum requirements for a world upload:

• Natural terrain sculpting and painting: Your terrain should look plausible – not just flat and boring, or jagged for no reason. Terrain paints should blend in a logical way from one to another - a smooth blend from grass to sand, for example. Mountains should be dark and mountainy, grassy areas green and grassy. If you're building a non-realistic world (like an alien or fantasy environment), plausibility just as important as with a terrestrian one.

• No auto-paint: Please do not use the option to auto-paint your world in CAW - or if you do, don't just stop there. It creates a very blotchy grass-and-stone look which may be a decent start for certain areas, but a world left auto-painted just looks lazy and unfinished.

• Optimized: You should not use more than 8 different terrain paints per chunk, for improved performance.

• Custom textures (optional): If you make your own terrains, road, or sidewalk textures, they should be seamless without repeating too much visually, have the right scale, and look good in-game.

• Intersections: Place intersections where your roads meet, and at the end of any dead end road. Cars/vehicles will not be able to turn around otherwise.

• Smooth graded roads: Use the road tools to give your roads and sidewalks a smooth grade (i.e. if you were driving down it, your car wouldn't tilt dramatically from side to side but would stay mostly level).

• Roads not too steep: If you have a very steep cliff, you may need to make your roads wind back and forth instead of going up near-vertically.

• Good amount of lots: Even a small world should have enough lots for several residential homes, rabbit holes, and community lots. Extra lots in various sizes allow players to add their own buildings. Too many lots is better than not enough.

• Standard sizes: Lot sizes should usually be a multiple of 5: 10x25, 20x20, 30x50, 40x40, 50x60, etc. (the exception being the 64x64 lots the game uses as its largest size), so that players can easily move buildings around. Look at the bottom right corner in CAW when dragging out a lot to see the size - no guesswork. You -can- have other lot sizes for things like community lots or to fill in gaps, but try to keep to multiples of 5 whenever possible.

• Flat lots: Use the Flatten Terrain tool before placing a lot, so that you are always putting lots on a completely flat patch of ground (unless you have a very good reason to not have a flat lot, like a beach lot or one built into a hillside). This makes it easier to place and share lots.

• Near roads: Lots should be placed next to a road in most cases, unless you have a very good reason not to do so. Make sure you use the grid tool so your lots are aligned right up against the roads too, without a gap.

• Proper Routing: Routing for both the camera and sims should make sense - areas that look like they'd be off-limits should actually be non-routable, and areas that look accessible should be easy to reach, with no random non-routable spots. You can find more information on routing in the CAW Help Document.

• Layering: Correctly done, layering increases world performance. Don't just dump everything on one layer! Items you have placed in your world (lots, decorations, effects, etc.) should be layered and grouped in a logical way.

• Aesthetically Pleasing: Your decorating should add to the overall beauty and theme of your neighborhood, with good choices and placement of items - neither too many nor too few.

• Thematic: Try to keep your decorations to a particular style - use trees and flowers that make sense for the type of region you're building. Giving your neighborhood a particular unique flavour and style makes it more charming and realistic than just using one of everything, or a random pyramid because it'd look cool.

• Spawners: You should have a good variety of spawners for gems, beetles, butterflies, etc., with some sort of logical placement.

For first-time creators, we strongly recommend to upload a few lots first before you attempt to create a full map (and also sims, if you plan to include sims with your world). Make sure you understand how to create lots that meet our standards BEFORE you try and upload fifty of them at once. Changing one lot so that it meets our standards is relatively easy; having to change fifty of them all at once will only lead to frustration.

The standards for the houses you build in a full map are the same as if you were uploading them separately to MTS. Please review our Lots and Houses Upload Guidelines fully!

Everything required for a Basic Map is also required for a Full Map, plus the following:

Lots:

• Rabbit holes - Full set: Rabbit holes provide places for your sims to do important tasks as well as attend school and their jobs. There are 16 different rabbit holes - make sure you include them all to have a nicely functioning neighborhood and be able to get all jobs. If you choose to omit some of them, it should make sense for the theme of the neighborhood, and you should make sure there are some empty lots so players can add them back in if desired.

• Rabbit holes - Decorated: Rabbit hole lots require decoration to make them look part of their neighborhood - benches, trees, terrain paint, etc. - if you're going to tell people where the rabbit holes should be, you should make an effort to decorate the lot so it's integrated into the rest of the neighborhood's style.

• Community buildings - Full set: You should build all or most of the various community buildings (art gallery, gym, etc.) which are not rabbit holes. If you don't build them all, you should leave empty lots for the player to build or place their own.

• Enough residential lots: You should include several residential buildings in a variety of sizes. Make sure the lot sizes are multiples of 5 (25x30, 50x50, etc.). Some/all residential buildings can be vacant, but all of the houses need to be furnished (see our Lots and Houses Upload Guidelines).

Sims:

• Quality: If you are doing a full map and including sims for a populated world (including sims is completely optional!), please make sure that your sims meet the MTS Creator Guidelines for Sims. This means unique faces for random "other" sims, and good likenesses if you're trying to make them look like real people. The standards for sims uploaded with a world are the same as if you uploaded them separately, so make sure they're good!

For instructions on compressing your files into an archive, please see: Creator Guidelines: Creating Archive Files.

• Do not include multiple archives with the same contents - that is, please don't put your files in both a .zip as well as a .rar because some people only want .zip files. Choose one format.

• Do not double-compress your files... a .rar file inside another .rar file (or any other archive inside another) doesn't compress it anymore, and it makes it so we can't see the contents without downloading, and also just makes an extra step for the people downloading.

• The file size limit on MTS is 50 mb. If you exceed this limit you will need to split your archives. This should probably never come up except for large worlds for The Sims 3, or huge sets of smaller items.

Most worlds will be under our 50 mb file limit. If your archive file is larger than 50 mb, you will need to split it, to upload it in multiple parts. To do this, you will need an archive program like WinRAR that can compress a file but split it into multiple pieces. Click "more info" below for details.

It's important that you include certain information so that players know what to expect when they use your creation! Part of this is also so the MTS moderation staff knows your world has been made right.

You may want to copy-paste the headings here to use as a template. This information should be in the text description for your upload.

• Map Size: Tiny / Small / Medium / Large
• Spawn Points: What spawn points are there? Are EP spawn points or relic dig sites included?
• Routing Info: Where can sims not go? Where can the camera not go?
• Layering: How many layers do you have?
• Textures: How many textures have you used total? Do you have more than 8 textures per chunk anywhere in the world?
• Lots:
  • Number: Total number of lots, and lot sizes and quantity of each (example: 50 total lots - 25 of 20x20, 15 of 40x40, 10 60x60)
  • Rabbitholes: None / All / Some (list)
  • Community Lots: None / All / Some (list)
  • Residential: Number of residential lots, and lot sizes and quantity of each (as above).
  • (Full Map Only): For the 10 representative lots (5 residential, 5 community) you've chosen to include pictures for, you need to also include the standard required info for them. That means you need a description of the lot in text, describing its purpose, features, style, etc. You will also need the lot size (25x30, 64x64, etc.) and the lot price (the price of the lot, both furnished and unfurnished). For more on where to find and how to provide this info, please see: Lots and Houses Upload Guidelines.
    
• Sims (Full Map Only):
  • If you are including a save file with sims, or have pre-populated your world, please include some basic information for the 5 representative sims you have chosen to take pictures of.

If you have used any custom items in your world, you MUST provide full links and credit for ALL items used in the world. This means any custom build items, objects, patterns, or content used on any included sims must be linked and credited.

Make sure to state whether or not the content is included or not (as downloaders need to know if they need to download it all separately or not). If you do include content, it must be okay with that content's creator. Please check their policies.

• Included custom content: List custom content that has been included within the world file or the archive, with links to the download page. Items like this are:
  • Sims3pack CC used and not cleaned out from the file
  • Package-files you have manually added to the archive (usually content you made for that particular world)
• Required, but not included custom content: List custom content you have used on the world, but not included within the world file or the archive, with links to the download page. Items like this are:
  • Sims3pack CC you have cleaned out the world file
  • Package-file CC

If you made your world without CC, you of course don't need to list any. A note: "No CC" or "Made without CC" is nice to have, but not mandatory.

• Overrides for textures, etc.: If you have included override resources into your world file, such as texture recolors, please list what objects/textures are overridden, so that the downloaders may avoid conflicting files.

You will need to include at least:

• at least ONE picture from high above your world, showing the whole thing. If you can't fit it all in one shot, you can take several different shots as long as it's obvious you've shown everything. You can label the overview pictures with text if you want - just make sure it doesn't cover up too much.
• at least FOUR other pictures of some of the views people will see in your world. This should be nice scenic views, taken from a lower angle (a sim's eye view, or a low player's eye view). You can of course take more pictures to show off all the pretty sights.

If you have built on the included lots, you will need to post pictures for at least 10 lots - 5 residential and 5 community. You may choose which 10 lots you show, but we suggest you choose lots that are representative of the overall style of the world. We have this requirement so both MTS staff and people who may download your world can see that your lots are good quality.

Please include

• a front picture showing the whole lot of each 5 residential- and community lots you have chosen to show.

You may also include additional pictures like floorplans, backside picture, comparison picture if a lot is based on a real life building. But those are completely optional!

If you are including sims with a save file, or pre-populating your world, you will need to show at least 5 sims. You may choose which 5 sims, but as with lots, we suggest you choose ones that are representative of your creator style and quality. This is so MTS staff and downloaders can see that your sims are good quality.

Please include

• a close-up picture of the sim's face, from the front, with the sim wearing a neutral face expression (like a mugshot) - not smiling, laughing, etc.

You may, of course, include other pictures like a full-body picture, posing pictures, whatever, to show off your sim how you like, but please make sure to include at least the above. For sims based on a person or character, you can include a comparison picture of the real person, ideally similar to the close-up picture of your sim.

You may wish to take optional extra pictures to show off your world. Additional pictures are good! Show people all kinds of interesting stuff, all the little details you've put in. Even if you're making a Basic Map, you may wish to compose your upload in Creator Issues as is advised for Full Maps - you can add additional pictures attached to subsequent posts in the thread, which will show up on the Comments tab.

In exception to the other screenshot guidelines, please take one picture in CAW to show how the lots are located in the world.

Because worlds are so complex, it may be easier for you to compose your upload in MTS's Creator Feedback Forum first, where you can start collecting your pictures, information, etc., work on your text formatting, and make sure you've got it all together. Then it's just a matter of copy-pasting when you go to upload! You can also ask for testers there, if you want some folks to take a look at your world in-game and let you know that everything works right.