Difference between revisions of "MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Sims 3 Sims"

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* '''Uniqueness:''' Any "other" sim, not based on an existing person or character, must have a unique, interesting face sculpt with all the features sculpted, not resembling the default faces.
 
* '''Uniqueness:''' Any "other" sim, not based on an existing person or character, must have a unique, interesting face sculpt with all the features sculpted, not resembling the default faces.
 +
We've also made our own small example page of default sim faces in the game so you can clearly see what we check the sim's face is the closest to, and therefore considered not unique: [http://www.modthesims.info/rubrics/3872/ts3/ Sims 3 default faces]
  
 
* '''Other content:''' If you have made content for your sim, you must also provide additional pictures and/or information for your custom content (like polygon counts if you've made a mesh).  Make sure you see what we require for [[MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Sims 3 CAS|CAS Uploads]].  Tip: Consider uploading content you have made separately first, to the appropriate section (clothing, hair, etc.) so people looking for that type of content can more easily find it, and so you can show it off better with its own separate pics and info.  Then you can just link it as credit to yourself when uploading your sim.  
 
* '''Other content:''' If you have made content for your sim, you must also provide additional pictures and/or information for your custom content (like polygon counts if you've made a mesh).  Make sure you see what we require for [[MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Sims 3 CAS|CAS Uploads]].  Tip: Consider uploading content you have made separately first, to the appropriate section (clothing, hair, etc.) so people looking for that type of content can more easily find it, and so you can show it off better with its own separate pics and info.  Then you can just link it as credit to yourself when uploading your sim.  
 
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==Files==
 
==Files==

Latest revision as of 15:57, 26 August 2020

Contents

[edit] Sims 3 Sim Upload Guidelines

When uploading a sim for The Sims 3 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

  • Likeness: Sims based on a person or character must be recognizable as who they are meant to be.
  • Uniqueness: Any "other" sim, not based on an existing person or character, must have a unique, interesting face sculpt with all the features sculpted, not resembling the default faces.

We've also made our own small example page of default sim faces in the game so you can clearly see what we check the sim's face is the closest to, and therefore considered not unique: Sims 3 default faces

  • Other content: If you have made content for your sim, you must also provide additional pictures and/or information for your custom content (like polygon counts if you've made a mesh). Make sure you see what we require for CAS Uploads. Tip: Consider uploading content you have made separately first, to the appropriate section (clothing, hair, etc.) so people looking for that type of content can more easily find it, and so you can show it off better with its own separate pics and info. Then you can just link it as credit to yourself when uploading your sim.

[edit] Files

Saving your sim
Your sim must be saved as a .sim file to upload to MTS. When you save your sim in-game, use the button to save your sim to the bin. This will create a .sim file in your My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\SavedSims folder. This is the file that you will put in an archive file (see below under Zip, Rar, or 7z) to upload to MTS - NOT the .sims3pack created in Exports when you "share sim".

Why? The .sim file is much smaller in filesize, should work for everyone (even if they don't have certain expansions the sim might have been saved with), and can just be tossed into SavedSims when people download, it rather than having to install it with the Launcher.

  • Save your sim with default skin! If your sim is wearing a custom, non-default skin (which shows up as a new skin to choose from, not a default replacement), please make sure to choose a default/default replacement skin instead before saving your sim! Don't remove any other custom content when saving, though, please - just the skin.


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.


Credits and links for custom content
You are responsible for providing accurate descriptions, links, and credits for all pieces of custom content included with or pictured on your sim. This is to give credit to the creators for their hard work, and to make sure downloaders can get anything that isn't included by downloading it separately.

Crediting and Linking: If your sim is shown with ANY custom content, then you will need to provide links and credit for ALL pieces of custom content shown on your sim! This is not optional! Downloaders will need to follow the links you give as a "shopping list" to get your sim to look as it should in-game. Unless the content is no longer available from the original creator, do not include any of the custom content itself in your rar/zip file - only a "shopping list."

You must provide links and credit for all custom (default or non-default) hair, skintones, eyes, clothing, accessories, patterns, custom sliders, makeup, eyebrows, or beards. A link and credit means writing something like: "Everyday hair by Anubis360: http://www.modthesims.info/d/402962" - it states the item (hair, lipstick, whatever), the creator's name, and gives a direct link to where it can be found. If the site uses Flash or frames and you cannot link directly, please provide the best link you can, plus directions on how to get to the item ("click on hair, then page 3, and it's the fourth one down").

You may use content from the EA Store on your sim, but again, you need to link and credit it as such, so people can get it.

Please also make sure that you are clear on what is included with your sim and what is not. In the interests of clarity and consistency, please use the following terms so it is clear to both the moderator reviewing your upload, and the downloaders reading your info.

  • "Included" means: Custom content included in the zip/rar file. Please do not do this unless the content is no longer available from its creator, or unless you have made the content yourself.
  • "Packaged/Saved" means: Custom content saved with the sim upon sim bin save/export. Except for non-default skin (see above under "Saving your sim"), your sim should be packaged/saved with everything they're shown wearing, so downloaders can simply go get those items and your sim will show up wearing them.
  • "Optional" means: Custom content used in additional screenshots of the sim, but not packaged with the sim or included in the zip/rar file.


Expansions Required
When uploading your sim, you'll be asked to tick which expansion packs (EPs) and stuff packs (SPs) are required for your sim. This should almost always be base-game only, no EPs or SPs required. All sims packaged in .sim format will require the base game only. The main exception to this is if your sim is an occult who can be created in CAS; in those situations Supernatural is required. Otherwise, only tick EPs/SPs as required if the content you have used on your sim is absolutely essential to their overall look (for example, an item of clothing or hair that is needed to make a sim look like a certain cartoon character). If your sim could have that content changed to something similar and still look basically the same, do not tick the EP/SP requirements, but please make sure to mention it in the text of your post ("Hair is from Supernatural, clothing from Late Night").


Saved properly
As noted above in the section about saving your sim, you must remember to put a note somewhere in the text of your post when you upload, "This sim is saved with default skin, but with the other CC shown", ideally in bold text, so the moderators know the sim has been saved properly (with custom content, but minus any custom skin), and downloaders know they will have to choose the proper skin, but that everything else should show up properly on your sim if they download it separately.


[edit] Screenshots

Screenshots
You will need to include certain screenshots with your sim. You must at least have:
  • A close-up picture of the sim's face, from the front, with the sim wearing a neutral face expression, not smiling, laughing, wearing a mask or sunglasses, etc.... Like a passport photo.
  • For sims based on a person or character, a comparison picture of the real person, ideally similar to the close-up picture of your sim.

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.

Please remember, for your required pictures:

  • As saved: Your pictures should show your sim as you have saved them, so that what downloaders see is what they'll actually get. The exception to this is custom skin, which you can show in your screenshots but you must save the sim without it.
  • In-game: Pictures of TS3 sims must be taken on a lot in a well-lit room, not in CAS, as it distorts the sim's features.

Tip: You may, of course, include other pictures like a full-body picture, posing pictures, whatever, to show off your sim how you like, and if your sim is a toddler, child, or teen, you may want to include a picture of how they'll look when they grow up, just so downloaders aren't surprised when if your cute kid turns into a weird-looking adult.

[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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