Difference between revisions of "MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Neighborhood Maps"

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=Neighborhood Maps=
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=Sims 2 Neighborhood Maps Upload Guidelines=
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When uploading a neighborhood map 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.
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==Quality==
 
==Quality==
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Have you made a new neighborhood map using SimCity 4 and want to share it?  This guide will walk you through every step of what we require on MTS.
 
  
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{{Guidelines-Quality-TimeandEffort}}
 
  
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{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
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{| class="nicetable" style="width:100%"
 
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! style="text-align:left" | Is Your Neighborhood Unique? (*)
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* '''Terrain sculpting:''' Your terrain should look plausible – not just flat and boring, or overly jagged.
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|No matter what style or design you choose, your neighborhood should be unique and different.  We already have plenty of perfectly flat grid neighborhoods available, so try to do something interesting that other people haven't already done before.
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<br style="clear:both" />
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|}
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{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
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*'''Playable:''' A neighborhood that's lumpy all over with few, if any, flat, buildable areas, and very few roads is really not going to be very useful for anyone. Remember, you're creating something that people are going to actually use in their game, so it should be as useable as possible
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! style="text-align:left" | Make Sure Your Neighborhood is Playable (*)
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|A neighborhood that's lumpy all over with few, if any, flat, buildable areas, and very few roads is really not going to be very useful for anyone. Remember, you're creating something that people are going to actually use in their game, so it should be as useable as possible!
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<br style="clear:both" />
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|}
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{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
 
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! style="text-align:left" | Use Realistic Shapes (*)
 
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|We don't need any heart shaped, spiral shaped, star shaped, etc. neighborhoods.  Getting creative with your terrain sculpting is fine, but remember to strive for realism.
 
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<br style="clear:both" />
 
 
|}
 
|}
  
 
==Screenshots==
 
==Screenshots==
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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.
 
  
  
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{{Guidelines-Screenshots-BigEnough}}
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{| class="nicetable" style="width:100%"
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{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
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! style="text-align:left" | Required Pictures (*)
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! style="text-align:left" | Required screenshots
 
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|[[Image:EnchantedCove.jpg|right|300x300px|thumbnail|A good overview shot.  Example is [http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=261680 Enchanted Cove by enchantedw0lf].]]You will need to include at least one overview shot of your neighborhood that shows the whole terrain.  You can, of course, include multiple pictures of your neighborhood if you like, showing different aspects of it, but you do need to include at least the one whole pic.
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|[[Image:lush.jpg|right|200x200px|thumbnail|right|http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=478837 Black Mesa by HugeLunatic].]]
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<br style="clear:both" />
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You will need to include four overview shots of your neighborhood.  Each of these shots must show the neighborhood in one the four terrains.
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|}
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Tip: You can, of course, include other pictures of your neighborhood if you like, showing different aspects of it.
  
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<br style="clear:both" />
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{{Guidelines-ScreenshotsBigClearEtc}}
  
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{{Guidelines-Screenshots-Tips}}
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|}
  
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===No Over-Photoshopping===
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==Files==
  
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While it can be tempting to get artistic with your screenshots in Photoshop, please don't.  Screenshots need to be just as things look in the game, with no extra filtering such as contrast, sharpen, blur, saturation, etc.  Also, please don't too crazy when it comes to adding text - make sure your text is in blank areas of the picture or covers an absolute minimum of your creation.  Remember, you're showing off what you've made for the game, not your skill in Photoshopping your pics.
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{| class="nicetable" style="width:100%"
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<br style="clear:both" />
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|-
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! style="text-align:left" | File Types
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*'''Neighborhood.sc4 file:'''  This is your terrain from Sim City.
  
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*'''Neighborhood.png:''' This is the default neighborhood picture for your neighborhood.
  
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===Inline/Attached Screenshots===
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*'''Neighborhood_lush.png, Neighborhood_dirt.png, Neighborhood_concrete.png and Neighborhood_desert.png:''' For your neighborhood to work properly with different terrain types, you will need to include all of these images taken from in game.
  
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Please do not post more than 4 inline screenshots (images that appear in the text of the thread). Having a lot of images that have to load on the thread makes browsing downloads very slow and can make the thread jump around as they keep loading.
 
  
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You may host your inline screenshots elsewhere like Photobucket.com - however, these screenshots hosted elsewhere must be additional screenshots, and you must make sure to actually attach your required screenshots to the thread itself.  If your Photobucket account runs out of bandwidth or you delete the pics, people still need to be able to get the required screenshots on your thread.
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'''''Note:'''''  ''Your new terrain should and will be called something other than "Neighborhood".'''
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|}
  
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You can attach up to 8 screenshots to the thread itself, with the 4 additional inline screenshots hosted elsewhere (or attached) for a total of 12 possible screenshots.  This should be plenty to show what you've made, even for fairly large sets.  Remember, you can always collage several different images together into one image if you have a bunch of stuff to show off, or want to show multiple angles of an outfit, or the like.
 
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<br style="clear:both" />
 
  
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===No Pay Content===
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{{Guidelines-InfoFiles-ZipRar7z}}
  
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'''Do not use pay content in your screenshots!'''
 
  
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You MUST use free or Maxis content in your screenshots!  MTS2 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.
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==Information==
  
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As of 21 July 2007, MTS2 no longer allows the use of pay content in screenshots.  For more information, please see the [http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=240944 Site News article] on the subject.
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{{Template:Guidelines-InfoFiles-TitleDescription}}
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<br style="clear:both" />
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==Adult Content/Nudity==
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{| class="nicetable" style="width:100%"
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|-
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! style="text-align:left" | Required EPs/SPs
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|style="color:#000"|
  
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MTS2 is not an adult site.  We do have an adult site affiliated with MTS2, [http://www.sexysims2.com Sexy Sims 2] where adult content may be uploaded.  But because MTS2 is a PG-13 site, no adult content may be uploaded to MTS2 itself.
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Basic maps made in Sim City are base game compatible, but decorated hoods will require the Expansion pack that the neighborhood objects came from.  You can use [http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=250555 AnyGameStarter] to limit the EP requirements when decorating your neighborhood.
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<br style="clear:both" />
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|}
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===Other Adult Content===
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Content with swear/curse words or sexually suggestive themes may not be uploaded to MTS2.  Please upload these items to the adult site instead.
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Items relating to illegal drugs do not belong on MTS2. You -may- post items relating to prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as alcohol and tobacco on MTS2, but items related to illegal drugs should go on our adult site.
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For more information and a further list of items we do not allow on MTS2, see: [[MTS2:Uploads_NOT_allowed_on_MTS2|Uploads Not Allowed on MTS2]].
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<br style="clear:both" />
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==Right Info/Right Files==
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Once you have your creation made and screenshots taken, you need to make sure you have all the fiddly bits in order.
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===Right Files===
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You will need to upload:
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* One .sc4 file.  This file will have the name of your neighborhood.  For example, "EnchantedCove.sc4"
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* At least one .png file.  This should be the default neighborhood picture for your neighborhood and should be named the same as the neighborhood.  For example, "EnchantedCove.png"
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For your neighborhood to work properly with different terrain types, you will also need to include:
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* Four additional .png files, taken of your neighborhood using the different terrain types.  These will be named the same as your neighborhood, with an underscore, and the terrain type.  For example, "EnchantedCove_concrete.png", "EnchantedCove_desert.png", "EnchantedCove_dirt.png", and "EnchantedCove_lush.png".
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<br style="clear:both" />
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===ZIP or RAR===
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You will need to put your neighborhood's files - the .sc4 file as well as the .png(s) - into a RAR or ZIP file to upload here. Please see [[MTS2:Creator_Guidelines/RAR_or_ZIP_Your_Custom_Content|here]] for instructions on doing so. Please do not include both a ZIP and RAR with the same contents - just choose one.
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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.
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<br style="clear:both" />
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===Upload in Sets===
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If you have created several similar neighborhoods 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.
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===Expansion/Stuff Packs Required?===
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Expansions and stuff packs are not required for neighborhood maps.  They are all base game compatible.  Do not mark any EPs/SPs as required for your neighborhoods.
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<br style="clear:both" />
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===Good Title===
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You'll need a good title for your upload - something descriptive... like, "Mystery Cove" or "Seaside Resort" is good.  Something non-descriptive like, "My First Upload!" is not.
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<br style="clear:both" />
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===Good Description===
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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 neighborhood map features plenty of flat area to build overlooking a seaside view, with areas along one road suitable for beach lots."  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.
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<br style="clear:both" />
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==Checklist==
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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.
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===Quality===
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<html>
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Time and Effort</b> - You have spent a substantial amount of time and put a good deal of effort into creating your neighborhood.</input><br />
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Uniqueness</b> - Your neighborhood represents a unique, interesting overall look.</input><br />
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Useability</b> - Your neighborhood is useful and useable, with plenty of flat, buildable space and roads to put lots on.</input><br />
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Realistic Shapes</b> - Your lot is a realistic, regular terrain and not in any silly shapes.</input><br />
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</html>
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===Screenshots===
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<html>
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Big Enough</b> - Your screenshots are large enough to clearly see what you have made - limits are 1280x1024 pixels and 195 kbs.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>In-Game</b> - Your screenshots are taken from within the game, and are not just pictures of your textures.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Required Pic</b> - You have included at least one overview picture showing your whole neighborhood.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>No Over-Photoshopping</b> - Your screenshots show the neightorhood as it appears in-game, with no additional filters applied which change the look of the image, and any added text does not cover your creation.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Inline/Attached Screenshots</b> - Your inline screenshots are no more than 800x600 pixels, you don't have more than 4 of them, your required screenshots are actually attached to the thread, and you don't have more than 8 screenshots attached.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>No Pay Content</b> - You do not have any pay content in your screenshots.</input><br />
 
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</html>
 
  
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===Adult Content/Nudity===
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==Other==
  
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<html>
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>No Adult Content</b> - Your content doesn't have any swear words, nudity, or illegal drugs.</input><br />
 
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</html>
 
  
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===Right Info/Right Files===
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{{Guidelines-NotAllowed}}
  
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<html>
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Right Files</b> - You have an .sc4 file, and at least one .png file.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>ZIP or RAR</b> - You have compressed your files into a zip or rar archive (but not both).</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Upload in Sets</b> - If you have created a set or several similar/related maps, you have uploaded them all together in one thread, rather than on separate threads.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Expansion/Stuff Packs Required</b> - You have not marked any expansions or stuff packs as required.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Good Title</b> - You have given your creation a good, descriptive title.</input><br />
 
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<input type="checkbox"><b>Good Description</b> - You have given your creation a nice description that makes people want to download it.</input><br />
 
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</html>
 
  
 
[[Category:MTS2 Creator Guidelines]]
 
[[Category:MTS2 Creator Guidelines]]

Latest revision as of 16:25, 23 February 2020

Contents

[edit] Sims 2 Neighborhood Maps Upload Guidelines

When uploading a neighborhood map 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.


[edit] Quality

  • Terrain sculpting: Your terrain should look plausible – not just flat and boring, or overly jagged.
  • Playable: A neighborhood that's lumpy all over with few, if any, flat, buildable areas, and very few roads is really not going to be very useful for anyone. Remember, you're creating something that people are going to actually use in their game, so it should be as useable as possible

[edit] Screenshots

Required screenshots
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=478837 Black Mesa by HugeLunatic].

You will need to include four overview shots of your neighborhood. Each of these shots must show the neighborhood in one the four terrains.

Tip: You can, of course, include other pictures of your neighborhood if you like, showing different aspects of it.

Keep the following in mind for your screenshots, especially the required ones:

  • Size: 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall is a good size for the smallest pic you would want to upload. Your images can be up to 2560x1440 pixels, and 800 kb, so you have lots of space to work with!
  • Lighting: For most things, it's best to take pictures in an interior room with good lighting. For lots, pictures should be taken during a nice sunny day, for floorplans, take the pictures with the lights ON.
  • Clarity: Neither blurry, nor pixellated/crunchy. Do not size up small pictures to make a large one as this will blur them, and make sure not to use too much compression/too low quality when saving your images.
  • Distance: Take your pictures so that your creation fills the screen without anything cut off at top or bottom - neither zoomed in too close, nor zoomed out too far.
  • Distortion: If you resize your images, retain the aspect ratio so they don't get stretched or squashed. Take care when zooming in and out with the camera that you do not create a fisheye effect on your pictures.
  • Photoshopping: Do not apply filters like sharpen, contrast, etc. to the required pictures, as downloaders want to see what your creation will look like in their game, not your skills at using Photoshop.
  • Attached: All required images must be attached directly to the MTS upload, not just inserted using the img tag, so that even if the pics get deleted from your Photobucket (or other host), the upload on MTS is still complete.
  • Show all items: For most areas, if you are uploading a set, you must take all the required pics for each item in the set. If there is an exception, it will be noted.
  • Picture limit: You may upload up to 100 pictures for a single upload thread, so feel free to add some additional pictures just to show off your work to its best. Of course, keep it reasonable - nobody needs 50 pics to show off one sim or hair.
  • Inline pictures: Inline pictures are those that use the [img] tag to show up in with the description text. So that it doesn't take too long to load, please keep this to no more than 4 pictures done inline, unless you put them inside an [infobutton] tag. To do this, see our guide on post formatting.

[edit] Files

File Types
  • Neighborhood.sc4 file: This is your terrain from Sim City.
  • Neighborhood.png: This is the default neighborhood picture for your neighborhood.
  • Neighborhood_lush.png, Neighborhood_dirt.png, Neighborhood_concrete.png and Neighborhood_desert.png: For your neighborhood to work properly with different terrain types, you will need to include all of these images taken from in game.


Note: Your new terrain should and will be called something other than "Neighborhood".'


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.


[edit] 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 EPs/SPs

Basic maps made in Sim City are base game compatible, but decorated hoods will require the Expansion pack that the neighborhood objects came from. You can use AnyGameStarter to limit the EP requirements when decorating your neighborhood.


[edit] 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.
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