MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Lots and Houses/Sandbox

Sims 2 Lot Upload Guidelines

When uploading a lot for The Sims 2 to Mod The Sims, we have some basic requirements to ensure that your upload is good, shown well, and has the correct info and files needed for people to use it in their games. This allows both moderators to check your uploads for quality, and for downloaders to see if your item is something they want to add to their games.

Quality

Realism: Lots based on an actual building type or specific building should look like what it supposed to resemble (for example a castle should not just be a huge building with stone walls, but should look like an actual castle). Lots not intended to be realistic can be more fanciful, but should still have some logic to them, and be aesthetically pleasing. Architecture: The way the lot is built should be unique, interesting, and more than just a basic box with four walls and a roof. Playability: The layout of the lot should make sense and allow sims to get around easily, with access to all the items they would want to interact with. Roofing: The roof pieces should connect each other nicely, and not leave gaps or connect at odd angles. The roof should fit the structure, look nice, and not just be an auto-roof (or resemble one). Furnishing/decoration: For The Sims 2, furnishing/decorating the interior of your lot is not required however, you are required to apply walls and floor covering to each room. You may include both a furnished and an unfurnished version of your lot separately in your upload. Apartments: When uploading apartments for The Sims 2, they should all be at least lightly furnished - that is, all the furniture required for a Sim to live (bed, toilet, fridge etc.) without the downloader having to use cheats to keep their Sim alive. Landscaping: Your lot should have nice landscaping that fits the overall style, with most styles of lots having at least some well-placed plants and terrain paint, while fancier lots should have more.

Quality-Related Tips
If you're not sure whether your lot is ready for uploading, use the Creator Feedback Forum for guidance. You can always explore our Tutorials section for ideas and learning techniques for creating your lot. If you are struggling with or have questions about technical aspects of building, you can post in Building forum.

Files

Packaging your lot
Once you have finished building your lot in the game you will need to save it, and then exit the lot to return to the neighborhood view to package it to a file. To package the lot, simply click on the lot from Neighborhood view, and click the * button as indicated in the screen shot below. This is also the perfect time to make note of the lot size and price: Then select "Package lot to a file" and click the check mark: You'll get a confirmation screen telling you the name of the file, and where it has been saved.
Custom content in the sims2pack
Before uploading your lot, you MUST scan it with Clean Installer. Many people do not realize that by having custom content in your Downloads folder, it can attach itself to your lot files -- even if you didn't USE that content in the lot itself! Clean Installer can scan your file, list the contents of it, and allow you to remove those contents. The image is demonstrating using a sim in a sims2pack but the same works for lots - uncheck the unwanted content (in our example two unwanted meshes are being removed) and then click Save As and save a new sims2pack file with a new name. Never save over your original sims2pack file - there's a bug in Clean Installer with that and you'll just end up with a corrupt file. For more information on using Clean Installer, please see the guide on the Clean Installer site, here. If you are having trouble using Clean Installer, including errors or issues with empty packages, please see MTS2's Clean Installer Support Forums for help. Using a Mac? On Vista and it won't run? Your options are, unfortunately, pretty limited: You can ask a friend who can use Clean Installer to clean the lot for you (and hope they do it right). You can take out your Downloads folder when building lots and make them with no custom content so you don't have to worry about things being included. See the below info under "Clean Lot" for more info on why this actually may be a good thing. Another option is to have two or more different Downloads folders that you swap in and out as needed -- for example, one with everything you need to play your game, another one with just a few wallpapers for building simple lots, another one with medieval items for building castles, and so on. That way, you can keep track of what custom content you use while building. Keeping different sets separate can be a good thing anyway: then you don't need to page through 200 medieval stone walls in the catalogue when you're building a modern seaside villa. We're very sorry if you're stuck in this situation and find it difficult to handle custom content in your lots, but we cannot allow users to freely upload lots with whatever content happens to have been included.
Custom Content That Can and Cannot Be Included
You may include items of the following types with your upload: Free, Redistributable Content: If a creator says that you may include their items in uploads, and the item is a free download, you are welcome to include that item in your upload on MTS. For a quick list of policies for a lot of major sites, see: Creator Policies Content You Have Made Yourself: If you have made content yourself that you have used, you certainly may include that item as well. If it is a new mesh you need to include all of the regular information in the text of your post (poly counts, where it shows in the catalog, etc.) you would expect for a new mesh. Terrain Paints (TS2): Do NOT remove any terrain paints from your sims2pack. This is the one exception to the non-redistributable policies/pay/must provide credit rules. If you remove terrain paints from a lot it can cause it to crash for downloaders. Due to this, all terrain paint creators should expect their content to be included no matter what. Please provide a link and credit for these items whenever possible, but if a terrain paint is not clearly marked with a creator's name/website, you may still include it and it will not be grounds for rejection. If your upload contains custom content, you MUST include a LINK and CREDIT for EACH and EVERY custom content file included in the upload. When uploading to MTS, the custom content wizard will require that you indicate the creator of each item, enter a description, and provide a link to the creator's site, profile, or original upload thread. The beauty of this system is that once somebody has entered that info for an item (or if it was uploaded to MTS originally), nobody else has do that again - it automatically gets added as credit from that point on. You are, however, responsible for making sure the links and credits are correct, even if the custom content wizard fills in the wrong information (perhaps because someone before you has entered the wrong info). Please link to the creator's site if they have a site of their own, or if the creator posts at a forum site, link to the original upload thread or the creator's profile. You may NOT link to "ModtheSims" for items uploaded at MTS - you need to provide a more direct link to the actual creator. We must all show the utmost respect for the people who create our content for us. Providing a simple credit and link is the least we can do to show our appreciation for being allowed to include someone else's work in our files. Nobody wants their work stolen, used without permission, or used without being credited. Keep in mind that if your upload contains an item that someone else made, and that artist does not want their work to be redistributed, your upload will be removed at their request. You would be allowed to upload a new version that does not contain their content. For a quick list of policies for a lot of major sites (including an easy reference on ones that freely allow including their content), see: Creator Policies Please use Clean Installer to remove all items of the below types from your file before uploading. Pay Items: As per the news item of November 2010, do not use pay items in your upload. A pay item is an item that you'd have to donate money to access if you went to the original creator's website. It doesn't matter if you can get it for free through a file sharing site - it's still a pay item. Don't use pay items in your screenshots either, even if they are not included. Links for "optional" or "recommended" content may be included as long as they are free sites only. You can use free items at TSR in MTS uploads. Any pay items - that is, ANY items by "Featured Artists" (FAs) at TSR cannot be used as their pay/free status does still change. Items by regular creators and "Select Artists" (SAs) CAN be used. Please also be aware that if, when uploading a sim, house, world, etc., where the custom content pictured is required, and you use an item by a creator at TSR... If that creator of the item you used becomes a Featured Artist (and thus, their work becomes pay), your upload may be tagged (hidden from public view). You will then need to switch the item to one that will stay free all the time. This doesn't apply to non-required items (hair shown in a picture where you're uploading clothing) though. If you don't like this possibility, please choose a different item to use in your sim, lot, and world uploads. Non-Redistributable Content: Even if an item is free, certain creators do not want their content to be included in uploads. This may be due to the content being experimental, problematic, or requiring additional instruction, or they may simply not wish to have their content distributed that way. It is your responsibility to check the policies of every creator whose content you use to see if it may be included. Items that are not clearly labeled as redistributable are not allowed - if you get special permission from the creator for such an item, please state it in the text of your post. If you cannot include an item, you may link to it in your post as "Required but Not Included" - if you remove it from your sims2pack file and then downloaders follow your link and install it themselves, it will show up properly on your lot. For more information on this topic, please read the Content Required But Not Included section found below. For a list of policies for a lot of major sites, see: Creator Policies Items You Cannot Credit/Link: All items included with your upload must be properly credited. If you don't know where something came from, use something else. If you cannot remember where you got an item, try asking at our Where Can I Find? Forum to see if anyone knows where it is from - make sure to provide a picture and a description so people can help you track it down. If you still cannot find where it was from, you need to remove it from your upload. After doing this, please verify that it is not an item that is required for your upload to look right: temporarily cut and paste your Downloads folder elsewhere and see what your upload looks like in-game - some custom content will revert to the EA/Maxis item it's cloned from when the actual item is missing, some will just be entirely gone. Try replacing the missing item with something else - a Maxis item or something you can include -, and in any case re-take your screenshots. Please see the note under "Content that CAN be Included" under "Terrain Paints" for the exception to this rule! EA Store Content: All content by EA cannot be included in uploads. Please list it as Required but not included with a link, or as Recommended but not included with a link. Hacks: Uploads containing hacks are not accepted. Most Sims players do not realize that lots can contain hacks. Usually they are meant for just one game version and can cause problems if users have later expansions that the hack(s) are incompatible with. Users also usually do not want hacks they did not mean to download as they can change major elements of game play in undesired ways. Careers: Uploads containing careers are not accepted. They can cause similar problems to hacks due to incompatibility, and users generally want to download only the careers they want - not ones you happened to pack along with your upload. Sims: Lots containing sims are not accepted. If your lot has a family in it, please remove it with Clean Installer. Most people don't want to download a lot that is infested with someone else's sims, and there's actually a lot of problems that can come along with downloading other people's sims if they have not had their memories cleaned properly before packaging. If people want to download sims, they can download them separately. Redundant Recolours: If you scan your lot with Clean Installer and find that it has 50 recolors for the same item, remove the recolors that are not used. When you use other people's custom content, remember that you are literally borrowing it from them. Don't borrow 50 recolors when you're only actually using one. There's also no need to give someone tons more files than they need to fill up their Downloads folders - they can do that just fine on their own.

Zip, Rar, or 7z

To upload your file(s) to MTS, you will need to compress them into an archive file, which makes them smaller and allows you to include many files in one download. The archive file formats we currently accept are .zip, .rar, and .7z. 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.

Information

Title & Description
Give your upload a descriptive title and write a text description for your upload, describing what you're uploading. Your title and description must be in English or provide an English translation. If you are not a native English speaker, using Google Translate is okay. You can also ask for help writing your description in the Creator Feedback Forum.

Required information

Lot size: The lot's size, for example 2x3 Lot price: The price to purchase the lot Included custom content: List custom content that has been included within the lot file or the archive, with links to the download page. Items that should be listed as included are: Package files you have manually added to the archive alongside your sims2pack lot file (usually content you yourself have made) Required, but not included custom content: List custom content you have used on the lot, but not included within the lot file or the archive, with links to the download page. This is a "shopping list" for your downloaders and is just the Package format content that you have used on your lot. Every item used on your lot - included or not - must have a link and credit to the creator, and if the item is not included, your link must go directly to the place where the item can be downloaded (not just the main site or the creator's profile). This should look something like: "Wood Pattern 3 by Armiel: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=511126" - what the item is, the creator's name, and a direct link to where the item can be downloaded. If you haven't used any CC, then obviously there is no list to make - adding a note like "No CC" is not compulsory, but nice to have.

Required EPs/SPs

For TS2, you must tick all of the EPs (Expansion Packs) you had installed in your game when building your lot (the Upload Wizard will guide you through this) regardless of whether or not you used any items from them. You must also tick any SP (Stuff Packs) that you used any items from, however if you know that you did not used a single item from a certain SP then you do not need to tick it. Tip: You can use Numenor's AnyGameStarter to create a game environment with less EPs and SPs installed if you know you don't want to use certain EPs/SPs.

Screenshots

The only way people can see your lot before downloading and checking it out in game is from the screenshots you take for your upload. Taking clear, large screenshots (as a rough guide you should aim for at least 600 pixels on the smaller side) will encourage people to look at and download your lot.

You'll need to include at least:

Front view: A picture of the front of your lot with all levels showing, from a low enough angle that it shows the structure well. Floorplans: An overhead picture of each floor. Please remember, for your required pictures: No photoshopping: Do not apply filters like sharpen, contrast, etc. to the required pictures, as downloaders want to see what your lot will look like in their game, not your skills at using Photoshop. As packaged: Your pictures should show your lot as you have packaged it, so that what downloaders see is what they'll actually get, or need to download, for the lot to look the same in their game.

Nice to have, but not mandatory:
Unobstructed views: If your lot has dense foliage blocking the view of the house. Comparison pictures: If your lot is based on a real building. Back picture: Showing the lot from the rear. Other pictures: Showing the rooms, landscaping, etc. from a sim's eye view, to give an idea of the feel of the lot.

Screenshot tips

Camera Controls: Take some time to just play around with the camera. It can take a while to get used to the camera controls, and even once you are experienced in their use, it may be challenging to get the shot you want with the constraints on the controls. If you haven't taken many sim pictures before, here is a list of camera controls: TAB : Puts the game into Cameraman mode, allowing better and more control of the camera, and removing the blue user interface. Make sure you are in live mode before going into Cameraman mode or you will see grid lines on the ground and floating where floor tiles may be placed. TS3 Note: You will only be able to go into cameraman mode once per load if you are in buy/build mode (without a family moved in). You can either exit to the neighborhood and return to take more pictures, or instead just move a family in for taking your pics. W and S : W moves the camera forward. S moves it backward. A and D : A moves the camera left. D moves it right. Q and E : Q lowers the camera. E raises it. + and - : Zooms in and out. Windowed Mode: TS2: In order to take your pictures using the methods described here, you will need your game running in a window, so you can easily switch to other applications without causing major instability and lag. Instructions on setting up Windowed Mode for Sims 2 may be found here: Game Help:Windowed Mode. Windowed mode should be perfectly safe - in fact, some users actually report better game performance when running in a window. Your mileage may vary. TS3: In Sims 3, you can use windowed mode by simply choosing it in your game's options. Full instructions can be found in Game Help:TS3 Windowed Mode. Windowed mode will allow you to use Print Screen or FRAPS or whatever screenshotting program you desire, without getting dark pictures. If you choose to NOT use windowed mode for TS3, you must use the C key to take pictures using the in-game camera - taking pictures fullscreened in TS3 without using the C key will result in icky dark screenshots. C Key vs. Print Screen: TS2: In order to take nice big pics, you should not use the game's screenshot system, using the C key or the camera button on the game's controls to take your pictures. Even on the highest picture settings, pictures will still be small, with a very high level of JPEG compression, making them blurry and crunchy. Instead, use Print Screen or a screenshot program. TS3: The C key camera is much improved in TS3, making it possible to use to take pictures for upload and still have nice big, pretty pictures. You can still use a screenshot program or print screen if you desire, but you will need to run your game in Windowed Mode (see above) to keep your pictures from getting dark. Using Print Screen: If you have enough RAM to run Photoshop or another graphics editing program at the same time as TS2/TS3, you may want to take screenshots yourself, without the use of a program to store them for you. To do that, simply press the Print Screen or PrntScn key on your keyboard - it's usually off toward the right, over the arrow keys, above Insert and Delete. This will copy your current screen to your Windows clipboard, as if you had selected and copied it as an image. Then open any graphics editing program, create a new document the size of your monitor's resolution, and paste into that document. Your screenshot should appear in the document. Screenshot Programs: There are many programs available, free and pay, that will take screenshots for you by using a hotkey, and save them to a folder - just like The Sims 2 with the C key, but with options for much better quality settings. Fraps Gadwin Irfanview A quick Google search for 'free screenshot program' will also bring up many other options, which may have other features that are of interest to you. Optimizing, Editing, and Compressing Images: Many simmers struggle with getting their images to be clear, crisp and under the maximum file size while keeping the image size larger than 800px by 600px. After getting your images from the in game camera or using a print screen program you will need to resize them and compress them into a jpeg image. Many graphics programs have a built in optimizing feature. Here are a few common ones: Photoshop *Pay Gimp *Free IrfanView *Free Paint.net *Free

Other

Uploads not allowed on MTS

These items are not allowed on MTS in any category. Pay/Pirated Content Everything required or recommended for an upload must be freely available, without having to pay. No uploads requiring pay content: We do not host content (for example, recolours of a pay hair or object mesh) that absolutely require pay content to function in-game. No optional pay, pirated, or stolen content: Even for optional or recommended content not absolutely required for the creation to work (for example, hair on a sim or a couch on a lot), this means: No content you must pay for. This means you cannot use items that are pay, donation, subscriber only, "special gift", etc. type content, anything accessible only when you pay money or subscribe. No content from sites that are repositories of unmodified content when it is still available from the original creator, whether these items are pay or free (no Booty or Simscave, torrents, sites full of stolen content or similar, but the Graveyard and sites that offer recolours or modifications with the mesh are okay). No EA content simply converted to base game use with no other changes. No pirated EA Store content. EA Store content, linked to the legitimate EA Store, is okay though. TS2 store content may be included, with proper credit, since the store is no longer available. Other content not allowed Items that belong on the adult site: No content posted on MTS can have visible nudity, sexual content, or adult content, and instead must be posted on our adult site, Sexy Sims. This means on MTS, you may not post: Content that contains nudity, which we define as exposing the female nipples, or the butt crack/genitals of either gender, including semi-transparent stuff like a sheer bra. Items that are merely "sexy" like skimpy miniskirts or string bikinis are fine on MTS. Transsexual/transgender items are also not considered adult content unless they contain nudity. Skintones containing genital details - female nipples are okay on MTS but see below regarding screenshots. Images of skintones with uncensored female nipples. Please blur or cover the nipples, butt crack, and genital area when taking screenshots of your skintones. Fine art uploads containing visible nudity. Items with specifically sexual content (sex toys, sexual poses). Items containing swear/curse words Items relating to illegal drugs. Prescription and over-the-counter drugs, alcohol, and tobacco are okay on MTS though. Sexualized children: We do not allow any sexy/sexualized content for baby, toddler, or child sims in any way - no breasts whatsoever on child sims, no "sexy" outfits, etc. If you want to make preteens, make a less developed body for teen sims. Sexualized child content is not allowed at our adult site either. Offensive content: Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, bigoted, hateful or otherwise offensive content will not be allowed. Again, also not allowed at our adult site. Gore/violence: We do not allow uploads which feature prominent, graphic violence and/or gore. Examples of things we do not allow would include items centred around mass shootings, images showing explicit violent imagery, cannibalism, and infanticide. Limited violence and gore may be featured if not the dominant focus of the upload, and not excessively graphic. Think a PG-13 movie. If uncertain whether your upload crosses this line, we suggest making a thread in the Creator Issues forum asking for feedback from a moderator before uploading. EXE installers: Creators are not allowed to post exe (or other executable) files for any area of the site but Modding Tools. If your content needs to be installed to a certain directory, you can compress your files and leave the directory structure intact, so you can tell people to just install to Program Files, for instance, and the files will go where they need to. Executable installers can easily hold viruses, and are generally not needed for installing most content. Preorder bonus content: Certain items were only available if you preordered certain expansions or stuff packs from certain retailers. It's unfortunate if someone missed out on getting them, but they can't be redistributed here as EA has made it clear that they do not allow it. Unmodified EP/SP/Store content: While it is common practice to modify and use bits and pieces of game content to create custom content, extracting content from an expansion, stuff pack, or Store item and uploading it unmodified is not allowed on this site. You are welcome to upload significantly modified versions of expansion, stuff pack, or Store content, but you can't just be ripping it and changing one tiny thing (or nothing) just so people who didn't purchase it can still use it. Stolen/reuploaded content: This should go without saying, but do not upload content made by others and claim it as your own, in whole or in part. Don't upload the work of someone else without their permission... if they wanted to share it at MTS, they can easily upload it here themselves. Uncredited content/violating permissions: If any part of what you have uploaded (mesh, textures, alphas, bump maps, coding, etc.) comes from somebody else's work, you MUST provide a link and credit in the text of your post, for the original author. State what you've used of theirs, the author's name, and give a link back to them. You must check the author's policies to see if you can use their content in the way you want, and you may not violate any policies stated. If there are no policies or they don't disallow your type of usage, or the site is permanently offline, then you can assume it's okay. Please see here for more details: Updates and Remixes of Creations. Redirects: If you want to move a creation to another site, please remove your upload from MTS, don't just edit the text to point to a different site.

Tips:
If your upload is rejected or marked as changes required and you're not sure why, ask in Creator Issues. If you're not sure whether your lots are ready for uploading, use the Creator Feedback Forum to get feedback on it.