Revision as of 08:24, 22 May 2008 (view source) Plasticbox (Talk | contribs) (→‎Big Enough) ← Older edit		Revision as of 08:24, 22 May 2008 (view source) Plasticbox (Talk | contribs) (→‎Exterior Shot) Newer edit →
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	We require certain screenshots for lot uploads - if you do not include these screenshots, your lot will not be approved!		We require certain screenshots for lot uploads - if you do not include these screenshots, your lot will not be approved!
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	[[Image:ExteriorShot.jpg|right|300x300px]]Show the entire lot from the outside.  Make sure you show it with all levels visible, and the roof on.		[[Image:ExteriorShot.jpg|right|300x300px]]Show the entire lot from the outside.  Make sure you show it with all levels visible, and the roof on.

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Revision as of 08:24, 22 May 2008

Lots and Houses

Introduction

So you want to share your lot that you've slaved over decorating and building for all to bask in your greatness? It's easy to do as long as you comply with all the necessary requirements. The less guesswork, the better! Please take the time to read through these guidelines as some key items have changed and may affect your upload. Pay close attention to what is required, and your upload will spend less time in the moderation queue and the more likely it is to get approved. Thanks!

Quality

Uniqueness/Effort

Is your lot special, unique, and different? Is it something that anyone could build?

This is probably the hardest one to quantify, but it's something that is obvious whenever upload moderators look at an upload: have you really expended some serious time and effort on your lot? You can't just crank out a bunch of stuff in a short amount of time and expect it to be good. Nor can you spend a while just fiddling with something but not really trying and expect a good result either.

Most good creators spend hours upon hours on even simple creations. We understand that not everything has to be that difficult, but we do expect you to not just slap together something in 15 minutes and upload it and expect it to get accepted. Really try to put some serious effort into what you create, and it will show through in the quality.

For tips, info, and tutorials on how to make your lot unique, interesting, playable, and desired, see:

• What are people looking for in a house?
• Better Houses Tips and Tricks
• Build Mode Tutorials

Aesthetics

Does your lot look nice? Does it have a good flow to it? Is the way it's laid out attractive, interesting, and enjoyable to look at?

Playability

Is your lot going to be good to play with? Does it have a good layout that won't have sims stomping and complaining every few seconds? Strive to make lots that are not only nice to look at, but actually good to play with. Remember that while a lot may look big and grand, it may be extremely frustrating to players that sims have to spend two sim hours hiking from the front door to the kitchen just to make a sandwich.

Exceptions to this rule are lots that are not meant to be played with - mazes, lots designed primarily as decoration for neighborhoods, and movie or picture sets.

Realism

Does your lot look like what it's supposed to look like? Not all lots have to be realistic, and fanciful ones certainly shouldn't look like your everyday house, but if your lot is based on a real building or real type of building, it should look like what it's supposed to look like.

For example, a castle should not just be a huge building with stone walls, but should look like an actual castle, and supermarket should look like an actual supermarket. You can look up pictures of the type of lot you're trying to build on Google Image Search for some good ideas.

Roofing

Though roofing is usually one of the more difficult parts of building, your roof should look right for the lot, and pleasing to the eye. Sometimes you may have to redesign part of a lot, or choose a different type of roof to make a roof that looks right. Don't just use the autoroof tool - actually work on designing your own roofs using the different roof tools. If you have Nightlife and up, you can use the "roofslopeangle <N>" cheat to change the overall angle of your roof; from Seasons on you can also change the angle of parts of the roof with "individualroofslopeangle <N>".

Landscaping

With the exception of starter lots, all lots should have some type of landscaping - and even starters will look a lot better if you add a tree or shrub and apply a little terrain paint in the right places. Terrain paint doesn't cost anything in Build Mode, and the standard Maxis terrain paints can look very nice - try painting a bit of soil underneath trees and shrubs, dirt around the house and where sims will walk, add a garden path .. you'll be surprised what a difference it makes. Don't randomly plunk down a tree or two just to have landscaping, try to make it work with the lot. Look at some real landscaping websites for ideas.

Screenshots

People want to see what they're downloading! Your screenshots sell your upload - if people don't like the look of your screenshots, they're not going to download - and if your screenshots are too bad, you won't get your upload approved.

All of the screenshot images below can be clicked for larger versions. You wouldn't want to upload them with as small of pics as are displaying here anyway - we're just using smaller pics so this thread loads quickly and is easy to read.

Screenshot Basics

For instructions on:

• Taking large, clear pictures (bigger than the game will allow)
• Changing your in-game settings for best graphics quality
• Camera controls

See: Screenshot Basics

You need to make sure you have nice big, clear pictures that show off what you've made. They can't be too blurry or pixellated, and you need to know how to use the game's camera controls properly, so make sure you review the information on that link thoroughly before continuing.

Big Enough

Your pics should be large enough to see the detail of what you've made. MTS2 allows images up to 1280x1024 pixels and 195 kilobytes so you should be able to upload nice big pictures. See the information above under "Screenshot Basics" for info on taking larger pics than the game will normally allow.

And please don't take smaller pics and just make them larger in your graphics program - this just gives you a blurry pic that's bigger in dimensions with no additional detail.

Required Screenshots

We require certain screenshots for lot uploads - if you do not include these screenshots, your lot will not be approved!

1. Exterior Shot

Show the entire lot from the outside. Make sure you show it with all levels visible, and the roof on.

Interior Floor Plans

Show a basic layout or floor plan of the lot. This is best done with an overhead shot. You may label each room so it is obvious that a particular room is meant as the master bedroom, another as a bathroom, etc.

Make sure you show the floor plan for each level if your lot has more than one floor.

Comparison Picture

If your lot is based on a real building (for example, a particular castle, a particular chain of supermarket, a house from a movie), then please include a comparison picture of the real building. We understand there are some major limitations in the build tools and lot sizes, so it may not be possible to reproduce a building exactly, but it should bear a close resemblance as best as can be achieved with the tools available.

Screenshots as Packaged

Please make sure your screenshots show your lot as you have packaged it. Downloaders want to see what they're actually getting. You may show an additional shot or two of the lot fully furnished if you have uploaded it unfurnished, but make sure you mention that those are not how the lot is packaged, and include a list of the items you show in your furnished pictures so people may get those items if they like. Make sure not to include pay content in any of your screenshots or in your packaged lot.

Enough Light

Daytime shots preferred for your screenshots, as it is much easier to see what your lot looks like during the day. We will only accept nighttime screenshots if they are sufficiently light enough to see your lot clearly, and you should include daytime shots anyway. Nighttime shots should be additional, extra screenshots, not your main shots. Make sure to place lights on the lot if you try a nighttime shot and turn them on. If you click the "Day/Night" toggle and place lights during the night they will automatically be switched on.

Close Enough

Please take your screenshots on the lot, not zoomed out too far or zoomed in too close.

Screenshots of lots taken from neighborhood view are low detail and often have holes in the walls and are missing objects. They have a poor angle, too high up, and really don't show off your lot very well.

Screenshots taken on the lot should show the whole lot, at a sufficient zoom level that the lot is centered in your view. You shouldn't have a lot of blank space on the sides, and you shouldn't have the edges of the lot cut off in your picture because you're zoomed in too far.

Centered

Make sure that your building is the main focus of your screenshots, and adjust your camera angle show that the lot fills the whole image, in the center of the image. Don't take your pictures at an angle that shows something irrelevant like the sky, the street, or the house next door, while cutting off your lot.

Angle

When taking your pictures, drop down to a low level with the camera, so that you are taking your pictures basically from a sim's perspective. Many beginners make the mistake of taking pictures from high above the lot, from the normal perspective one would have as a player. This gives mostly a picture of the roof and not the lot itself, and really doesn't show off the lot very well.

Shadows Off

Before taking your screenshots, go into your Game Options under Graphic Options and turn the Shadows option Off. While shadows may look nice for some things, usually having shadows off creates a much cleaner, nicer look for your lot.

No Gridlines or User Interface

When taking your screenshots, you should take them in Cameraman Mode (using the TAB key) so that you don't get the User Interface (the blue control panel) in your shots. You also have better control of the camera in Cameraman Mode.

If you press R on your keyboard before hitting Tab, it will also temporarily remove the gridlines, making for a much better screenshot.

Detail Pictures

Detail pictures are not required for your upload to be approved, but they can help show downloaders what your lot will look like a bit better. These pictures don't show the whole lot, but show individual rooms through a "sim's eye view". Do not add extra content to these pictures. Users will want to see what they are downloading, not what it could have looked like.

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:

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 that the file has been saved to your: My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\PackagedLots directory.

Congratulations! You have packaged your lot into a Sims2Pack file.

Credits and Links for Included or Pictured Content

Check/Remove Content with Clean Installer

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 above 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.

• If you cannot use Clean Installer: 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) or 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. We're very sorry if you're stuck in this situation and would like to use custom content in your lots, but we cannot allow users to freely upload lots with whatever content happens to have been included.

Content that CANNOT be Included

Please use Clean Installer to remove all items of the below types from your sims2pack file before uploading.

• Hacks: Lots containing hacks are not accepted. Most Sims 2 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 gameplay in undesired ways.

• Careers: Lots 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 house.

• Pay Items: As per the news item July 2007, do not use pay items in your lots. A pay item is an item that if you went to the original creator's website, you would have to donate money for access to the item (it doesn't matter if you can get it for free through a file sharing site - it's still a pay item). Do not use pay items in your photos of the lots, even if they are not included. Links for "optional" or "recommended" content may be included as long as they are free sites only. See this news item for more details: Site News - New Creator Rules re: Paysite recolours, General Rules and Others
  • This includes ALL items from TSR - whether they are currently free or not - due to the regular changes of what is free or pay on TSR. Featured Artists are under paid subscription, and Select Artists or Non-Select Artists have their own terms of distribution, most of which are not clearly posted. Select Artists or Non-Select Artists can become Featured Artists at anytime, therefore preventing their items from being downloaded freely in the future. This includes all FA's free items. If a TSR artist has uploaded the same/similar item here or elsewhere, and they have allowed redistribution, please credit the appropriate thread and not the profile. This is subject to change in the future.

• Non-Redistributable Content: Even if an item is free, certain creators do not wish their content included in lot/house 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 each and every creator whose content you are including to see if it may be included. Items where their policy is not clear/does not exist are not allowed - if you get specific permission from the creator for such items you need to state it in the text of your post. If you cannot include an item due to policies, lack of permission, or ambiguity in the policies, you need to remove it, even if it's free. Free, non-redistributable items MAY be linked to in the post in a section you can put in bold called "Required but Not Included" - if you remove these items from the sims2pack file and then link downloaders to where they can be found, if they download and install the required items, they will show up properly on your lot. For a quick list of policies for a lot of major sites, see: Creator Policies

• 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 peoples' 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 in the lot. 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.

• Items You Cannot Credit/Link: If you cannot remember where you got an item and cannot provide a link to it, you can try asking at our Where Can I Find? Forum on Sims2Community (sister site of MTS2 - separate registration required) to see if anyone knows where the item is from - make sure to provide a picture and a description of the item so people can help you track it down. If you still cannot find where it was from, you should remove it from the sims2pack. After doing this, please verify that it is not an item that is required for your house to look right - temporarily cut and paste the contents of your Downloads folder elsewhere, double-click on the sims2pack file to install it, and see what it looks like in-game after you have removed the content. If the lot looks different without the content you removed, you should replace it with something else - either a Maxis item or something you can include, and re-take your screenshots. Remember, what people see is what they need to get, or what they can get following your links! If you don't know where it came from, use something else!
  • Please see the below note under "Content that CAN be Included" under "Terrain Paints" for the exception to this rule!

Content that CAN be Included

You may include items of the following types with your lot/house upload:

• Free, Redistributable Content: If a creator says that you may include their items in lot/housing uploads, and the item is a free download, you are welcome to include that item in your sims2pack file for upload on MTS2 if you have used it on the lot. 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 in the lot, you certainly may include that item in the lot 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: 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, 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 lot contains custom content, you MUST include a LINK and CREDIT for EACH and EVERY custom content file included in the upload.

When uploading to MTS2 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 one person has entered the info for an item (or if it was uploaded to MTS2 originally) then nobody else has to enter that info again - it automatically gets added as credit if that item is included later. You are, however, responsible for making sure the links and credits are correct, even if the custom content wizard fills in the wrong information (due to someone before you entering the wrong info).

Please link to the creator's site, if it is on a separate site... or if the creator posts at a forum site such as ModTheSims2 or InSIMenator.net, link to the original upload thread or the creator's profile. You may NOT link to "ModtheSims2" for items uploaded at MTS2 - you need to provide a more direct link to the actual creator.

As builders, we must all show the utmost respect for the people who create our furnishings for us. Providing a simple credit and link is the least we can do to show our appreciation for including someone else's hard work in our files. Nobody wants their work stolen, used without permission, or used without being credited.

Keep in mind that if your lot contains content that someone else made, and that artist does not approve due to their policies not allowing your usage, your lot will be removed at their request. You would be allowed to upload a new version of the lot 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

Clean Lots

It's sometimes easier if people choose to upload clean lots. A clean lot, simply, is a lot with no custom content whatsoever - or a bare minimum of custom content.

Why upload a clean lot?

• If you've only used a small amount of custom content but you couldn't include it, so a small shopping list will be easy for downloaders to follow
• If the content you have used is very popular content - stuff from Holy Simoly, or MaryLou's Independent Expressions expander set windows for example, and everyone already has it anyway, or will want to go get it, and the rest of the set.
• If you are on a Mac or cannot use Clean Installer so you cannot be sure your lots are free of unshareable/unwanted custom content.
• Many users prefer downloading clean lots as they like to download custom content separately, and tend to remodel/redecorate houses when they get them anyway. They'd prefer a nice, well-built clean slate that they can customize without a bunch of random custom content that they aren't going to use anyway.
• The files are smaller so it's quicker for you to upload and quicker for people to download.
• It's a lot easier on you in uploading - you don't have to check a ton of policies and track down links for everything.
• It's a lot easier on the staff that moderate house uploads - it takes a lot of time to check all the content links and policies and stuff on included content, and houses with little to no custom content often get approved quicker as a result.

To create a clean lot, use Clean Installer to rid your lot of ALL custom content - except terrain paints (see above under "Content that CAN be Included" under "Terrain Paints"!). OR you can simply remove your Downloads folder before building and use all Maxis items. If you intend to create clean lots this second option is likely best in most circumstances.

If you remove content from the sims2pack, you still need to provide links and credits for all those items which are Required but Not Included for your lot when it was built. Basically, you'll need to make a shopping list for downloaders. Otherwise, if you used custom wallpapers and floors they'll have bare walls and floors - and if you used custom objects they'll have Maxis defaults in place of those objects (random statues and plants and ugly Maxis furniture everywhere! eeww!). Downloaders want to get what they came for - tell them what they'll need so the lot will look as you intended it! If you've used a lot of custom content, you don't want to have a HUGE shopping list for downloaders so please don't pack your lot with tons of custom content, remove it with Clean Installer, and then make people download a whole bunch of stuff separately - they're likely to just skip past your lot to find something easier to download.

Right Info and Right Files

Once you have your creation made and screenshots taken, you need to make sure you have all the fiddly bits in order when uploading.

Right Files

Your lot upload should be a .sims2pack file, packaged from in-game. Please make sure you upload the correct file, following the instructions given above under "Packaging Your Lot" to make sure you have the correct file.

With later expansions, recolours of Maxis objects may not package properly with the lot. In this case, you will need to go into your Downloads folder and find these recolours yourself. You can put them together in the same ZIP or RAR with your .sims2pack file, and if you get all the needed recolours put with your lot, if users put both your lot and the recolours in their game, your lot will show up properly without any additional work.

ZIP or RAR

You will need to put your .sims2pack file(s) (as well as any additional .package files for custom content that did not package with the lot) into a RAR or ZIP file to upload here. Please see here for instructions on doing so. Please do not include both a ZIP and RAR with the same contents - just choose one.

If you are uploading multiple lots on a single thread, please package these separately, one ZIP or RAR file for each lot. This ensures it goes through our custom content checking process properly, and makes it easier for people downloading who may only want certain lots and not everything you've uploaded.

Please do not double-compress your files - you should not have a ZIP inside a ZIP or a RAR inside a RAR. This does not compress the files any more and just makes an extra step for downloaders.

Upload in Sets

If you have created several items in a set, or similar items in the same sort of theme at the same time, please upload these together in a single set, all on one thread (instead of all separately, one by one, on different threads). This is easier for everyone: on our upload moderators, as they only have one thread to review rather than several... on you, as submitting a single thread is much quicker and easier than several... and on downloaders, as they can get everything they want all in one place rather than having to hunt around.

Multi-Post Lot Uploads

In the case of lots, because of the many screenshots required for particular lots, and large lists of custom content credits, if you are doing a large set of lots all on one thread, it may be easier to create a thread that has no actual lot downloads in the first post, and then has the downloads further on in the thread. For an example, see this upload by plasticbox.

If you would like to do a thread that way, then create a new thread in the Creator Issues forum. Only you and moderators will be able to see your thread in that forum. Use the first post for general information. Be sure to include at least 1 screenshot as well as one actual attached file (you can put a readme.txt file in a zip or rar for this attached file) on the first post so that your thread will show up properly on your profile once it is finished.

You will have to compile the custom content lists yourself - you will not go through the upload wizard this way, so it is up to you to make sure you have a link and credit for every single custom item included.

When you have finished organizing your thread and you are ready to have it go into the upload queue, contact any moderator listed at the bottom of the Creator Issues forum and ask them to please move your download into the upload queue for moderation. There it will go through normal moderation, and can be approved, rejected, or asked for required changes.

Content Required But Not Included

When you went through all of the custom content which packaged with your lot, you may have found some items which you could not include, and had to remove them from the .sims2pack file.

For these items, you can make a "shopping list" for downloaders - create a section in the text of your post, starting in bold, saying, "Content Required But Not Included" and then list each item which you had to remove, with a credit and a link to where it can be found. That way, people downloading your lot can get those items separately. If they download them separately and get your lot which was packaged with those items included, then the removed items will show up properly on your lot when people install it.

Expansion/Stuff Packs Required?

Lots will generally require all expansion packs that you had installed when you created and packaged the lot. Even if you did not use items from those expansion packs, the lot will still require those expansions.

The exception to this is University - if you did not use any items from the University expansion, then your lot will not require University. This works the same for Stuff Packs - if you did not use any items from a particular stuff pack, then your lot will not require those stuff packs.

Please make sure you mark the correct expansions required when uploading lots! If users install lots that require more expansions than they have installed, it can cause their game to crash when they click on the lot in the lot bin. To be safe, mark the lot as requiring all of the Expansion Packs and Stuff Packs you had installed when you created and packaged the lot.

If you would like to create lots which require less expansion packs than you have currently installed, requiring only the expansions actually needed for the features you build, you can use Numenor's AnyGameStarter to run the game with only the expansions that you need.

Lot Picture as Main Thumbnail

If you have based your lot off a real house or house plan, please choose an actual picture of the house you've built (i.e. an in-game picture) as your default thumbnail. Please don't choose the photo of the original lot instead - people want to see at a glance what they'll get in-game, not the picture you used as inspiration.

Good Title

You'll need a good title for your upload - something descriptive... like, "Cozy Tudor Cottage" or "Ultra-Modern Mini-Mansion" is good. Something non-descriptive like, "My First Upload!" or "Nice house" is not.

Good Description

You'll need to write up a little basic description of what your upload is... you don't have to get too fancy, but you do need to write something to get people interested.

For instance, "This 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath split-level Tudor cottage will be perfect for a small family home with room for expansion. It features a small garden, with room for adding a garage if you choose." Something like, "This is my first upload... I don't know what to put here..." really doesn't make it sound like you've put any effort into it - and will reflect poorly on your creation.

You don't have to write a novel, just something that makes it sound like it's worth taking a closer look at.

Lot Size

Please include the lot size in your upload description. Later expansions include a little round "i" icon in the top left when building on an uninhabited lot which will include the lot size.

Lot Price

Please include the lot price in your upload description. Later expansions include a little round "i" icon in the top left when building on an uninhabited lot which will include the lot price.

Checklist

This is a checklist of everything gone over above so you can be sure you've done everything you need to do to ensure your submission is correct. This is just for your own use - checking these boxes doesn't actually -do- anything, just is an easy way to keep yourself organized.

Quality

Uniqueness and Effort - Your lot has an interesting layout and architecture, and is unique and interesting - not just something anyone could build - and has taken a good amount of effort to create.
Aesthetics - Your lot looks nice overall, with a good style, layout, colours, and flow to it.
Playability - Your lot is laid out in a way that will make it good to play with, not just pretty to look at.
Realism - Your lot looks like what it's supposed to look like.
Roofing - Your lot's roof is appropriate for the building and looks good - not too steep, and not awkward.
Landscaping - You've added some landscaping to your lot that is well-thought-out and adds to the look of your lot.

Screenshots

Big Enough - Your screenshots are large enough to clearly see what you have made - limits are 1280x1024 pixels and 195 kbs.
Required Screenshots - You have the required screenshots for lot uploads: One exterior shot showing all levels and the roof on, one floor plan shot of each level, and one comparison shot if your lot is based on a real building.
Screenshots as Packaged - Your screenshots show your lot as you have packaged it - not with a bunch of extra custom content that you didn't include.
Enough Light - Your screenshots are taken during the day, so your lot can be seen clearly.
Close Enough - Your screenshots are taken from lot view - not neighborhood view - and are not zoomed out too far, or zoomed in too close.
Centered - Your screenshots are centered on the lot, showing it in the middle of the picture, and don't show a bunch of sky, the ground, or the house next door instead.
Angle - Your exterior shot shows your lot from a sim's eye view, not from high above.
Shadows - You have temporarily turned shadows off in your game options so your lot is easier to see.
No Gridlines or User Interface - The gridlines on the ground and user interface panel are not visible in your screenshots.
Detail Pictures - If desired, you have included interior detail pictures from a sim's eye view - none of your detail pictures include additional content that is not packaged with the lot.

Included Content

Checked and Removed Unwanted Content with Clean Installer - You have opened your sims2pack file with Clean Installer, and removed any content that should not be included.
No Pay/Unshareable Content - Your lot upload does not contain any pay/donation items, or any items that the creator does not want shared - or any items from TSR, pay or not.
Sims/Hacks/Careers - Your lot upload does not contain any sims, hacks, or careers.
No Redundant Recolours - You have removed any recolours which you are not actually using in your lot.
No Uncredited Items - You have removed any items that you cannot credit/link, and repackaged your lot with replacement items.
Credits/Links for All Included Items - You have a credit (the creator's name), a description of the item, and a link back to that creator's profile or site.

Right Info/Right Files

Right Files - Your files are .sims2pack files which have been properly packaged from in-game.
ZIP or RAR - You have compressed your file into a zip or rar archive (but not both).
Upload in Sets - If you have created a set or several similar/related lots, you have uploaded them all together in one thread, rather than on separate threads.
Content Required but Not Included - If certain content did not package with the lot, or you could not include it due to policies (but the item is free), you have linked to those items under a section you have put in bold called "Content required but not included."
Expansion/Stuff Packs Required - You know which expansions or stuff packs are required for your content, and have marked only the required one(s) as required.
Lot Picture as Main Thumbnail - You have set an actual in-game picture of your lot as your default picture, so your thumbnail is of your actual creation and not a real-life photo.
Lot Size - You have included the in-game size of your lot.
Lot Price - You have included the in-game price of your lot.