This is probably the hardest one to quantify, but it's one of the most important aspects. Is your lot interesting enough for others to be worth the effort of uploading, hosting, downloading, and installing it? Most good creators spend hours upon hours even on simple creations. Not every lot has to be an elaborate castle, but we expect you to not just quickly slap together something and expect it to get accepted. We will not accept lots without wall covering or flooring. Try to put some effort into what you create, and it will not only show through in the quality, it will also be a lot more fun to make!

Changing the decor of a Maxis/EA house/apartment shell or converting a house from another EP/Game without significantly changing the architecture is something that anyone can do quite easily. Please put some effort into making a unique, well structured, original Lot. It can take a lot of practice, work, and effort to create a unique lot that not just anyone could build and will show through in the quality of your lot.

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

• Building Great Realistic Houses

Tip: Using Create a style-tool in TS3 can have a tremendous effect on how your lot will look. Please explore the possibilities of this tool. Selecting the patterns and colors yourself instead of using EA-made presets creates much more unique, and often better looking results.

A small tutorial here.

• Remember that while a lot may look big and grand, it may be extremely frustrating to players that a sim will spend two sim hours hiking from the front door to the kitchen just to make a sandwich.

• Even in very small houses you should try to avoid making corridors only one tile wide - sims will get stuck all too easily. Make sure that there's enough space for sims to pass by each other where there's going to be a lot of traffic: the mailbox for example shouldn't be jammed in a corner, because the game uses it as a waypoint for every sim entering and leaving the lot. Make sure that objects your sims will need are actually useable: double beds for example must be accessible from both sides - sims can't climb over each other.

• Whenever possible, use modular stairs instead of fixed ones - even in lots built for small households, fixed stairs are a recipe for traffic jams because they can only be used by one sim at a time.

• Also, it can be annoying when big items like fireplaces or pianos get in the view of the player - playtest your lot to see how it works, both for you and the sims. Even if you build unfurnished lots, it can help to put in some "example furniture" and test a few setups - you will often arrive at a much better floorplan that way.

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

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.

• Don't just use the autoroof tool - actually work on designing your own roofs using the different roof tools. This usually gives you a much better result.
• Remember to use the roof angle tool to adjust your roofs to an appropriate angle for your building. Lower angle roofs often look better than higher angle ones, especially on smaller structures.

• Terrain paint doesn't cost anything in Build Mode, and the standard 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, put some thought and effort into your placement.

• Look at some real gardens or landscaping websites for ideas.

Why? Unlevel lots can cause issues when placed in neighborhoods. They distort the land they're placed on and, once removed, can prevent people from ever placing another lot there. They can also tear holes in the scenery, leaving an unsightly blue gash in the landscape.

Therefore, all lot uploads on MTS2 must be built on level, flat-edged lots. If, for some reason, the design of the lot that you want to build absolutely requires an unlevel lot, you must make it VERY clear in the text of your post that it is an unlevel lot and thus should not be placed adjacent to any other lots, and that it can cause your neighborhood map to become unusable or have holes where it is placed. If you do not have a specific reason for building on an unlevel lot that is obvious in the upload, or you do not have a clear warning about the dangers of using unlevel lots, your lot can be rejected.

Tip

• TS2 - If you click the "Day/Night" toggle and place lights during the night they will automatically be switched on.
• TS3 - If you click the "Day/Night" toggle the lights will toggle on/off.

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.

Tip:

• TS2 - If you press R on your keyboard before hitting Tab, it will also temporarily remove the gridlines.
• TS3 - You will have to move in a sim to the lot to take your pictures in Cameraman Mode, and without the gridlines. While this is a bit of a hassle, the camera controls (and resulting pictures) are MUCH better that way.

You MUST use free or EA/Maxis items in your screenshots! MTS promotes and supports free content, and using pay content in screenshots is basically like free advertisement for paysites. This includes pay content you found elsewhere for free - if it was pay originally, it's still promoting pay content. We strongly recommend taking pics with neutral backgrounds, just showing off what you've made and nothing more. Not only does this look nicer for uploads, it also eliminates any possibility that you may inadvertently include pay items in your screenshots.

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.

If you need free hair for a model in your pics, MTS has an extensive collection of free hairstyles in our Downloads section. You can also look in the TS2 Hair Gallery or TS3 Hair Gallery for more free hairstyles to find something you'll like.

We STRONGLY recommend that you credit the hair (and other content) used in your screenshots in the text of your upload post. With hundreds of hairstyles out there, it's very difficult for our upload moderators to know every hairstyle on sight, and if we have to hunt down where the hair is from to see if it's pay or free, it may take longer for your upload to be approved. Make it easy on us and at least say something like, "Hair from XM Sims (free)" in the text of your post under a little section for model credits.

Show the back of the house from the outside making sure to include any patios or pools.

Make sure you show the house with all levels visible, and the roof on - and that you do it from a sim's eye view, not high above, from a player's eye view.

Please note, that the trees have been added to the lot to show the difference in the example pictures.

Make sure that you display the floor plan for each playable level on your lot if there is more than one accessible floor, and be sure to center just the house itself in the picture.

TS3 Apartments

Make sure the floor plans include the livable area as well as the NPC areas that are marked with the hidden room marker. For levels that you have used the level skip marker, you can just state that in the description about those levels, you do not need to provide those floor plan views.

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.

• 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.

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 CUSTARD/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.

Why upload a clean lot?

• If you only use a small amount of custom content, it's no problem if you can't include it for some reason – a short shopping list will still be easy for downloaders to follow.
• If the content you have used is very popular – stuff from Holy Simoly or MaryLou for example –, it is often easier to just list it as "Required but not included" for those few who don't already have it.
• If you are on a Mac or cannot use CUSTARD/Clean Installer for some other reason, using only EA/Maxis content makes your life a lot easier – then you don't need to worry about unshareable/unwanted custom content in your lots.
• Many users prefer clean lots as they like to remodel/redecorate houses with their own selection of custom content. They prefer a nice, well-built clean slate that they can customize, rather a bunch of random custom content that they aren't going to use anyway.
• Files with no custom content are small, 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 CUSTARD(TS3)/Clean Installer(TS2) to rid your finished lot of all custom content (except terrain paints¹.) Or you can simply remove your Downloads folder before you start building, and use only EA/Maxis items – this will also make your game load a lot quicker, and the catalogue easier to browse.

• [1] TS2 Only. See "Content that CAN be Included: Terrain Paints"

Good titles:

• Mission-Style Living-Room Set
• 10 Simmer Way (Large family home)
• Fluffy Party Dresses

Bad titles:

• My First Upload!
• Lipstick

Good descriptions:

• This is an edit of the Mission furniture without the silly wooden armrest which makes this lovely set more versatile and suitable for any Arts & Crafts or Mission style home.
• Here are five dresses perfect for a special occasion. Each is different, with special details, and they come in blue, purple, pink, white, and green.
• This is a sim of actress Angelina Jolie, famous for her roles in Girl Interrupted and Tomb Raider.

Bad descriptions:

• This is my first upload... I don't know what to put here...
• My English is bad... just look at the pictures
• I really liked this dress so I made a sim to wear it!! I hope you like her!

• For hotels - include the per night charge.
• For apartments - the weekly rental rate.
• Starters must be under §20,000 and furnished with the basics for sim survival (kitchen, bath, bedroom living)

If you have built apartments for the Apartment Life expansion, your apartments must be furnished. This is the way apartments were intended to be built - downloaders shouldn't have to use cheats to use your apartment. You can lightly furnish an apartment - that is, all the basic fixtures, counters, plumbing, appliances, etc., plus beds, couches, tables, etc., without going all out and fully decorating the whole thing with plants and pictures and the like, but please make your furnishings functional and liveable.

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, along with a credit and a link to the exact page where it may be found.

• Take care not to hotlink the necessary file as this drains the other site’s bandwidth.

In the event that this exact page cannot be linked to (i.e., site policy, JAVA difficulties, etc.), please link to the desired site’s home page and then provide adequate instructions to direct players to the necessary file. For example: ExampleSimSite.com > Downloads > Bedroom > Pink Fusion Set

That way, the download can get those items separately. If they download them separately and get your upload which was packaged with those items included, then the removed items will show up properly when people install it.

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 ALMOST 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 IF the lot is installed with the Clean Installer. Because you cannot force people to use the CI,and it is not available for Mac users, please check all EP's and Stuff Packs you had installed when the lot was built.

Please make sure you mark the correct expansions and stuff packs 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 only the expansion packs actually needed for the features you build, so that as many people as possible can use your lots, you can use Numenor's AnyGameStarter or the BaseGameStarter.

Please mention in your post if you built your lot with the BGS/AGS and which EPs you used. Otherwise, it will look like a mistake that the EP flags of the upload don't match your profile.