MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Full Neighborhoods

Full Neighborhoods

Have you made a new neighborhood in game and want to share it? This guide will walk you through every step of what we require on MTS.The correct way to upload a TS2 Hood is through our Creator Issues forum. There you will be able to start a thread and add in as many comment posts as you need to include the lots and their images. After you have completed your thread, create another thread in the same forum asking for your neighborhood (with a link to it) to be moved to Moderation.

Quality

Use Blank Templates: All neighbourhoods must be built using blank templates. Before you start building your neighborhood, you need to install clean and empty neighborhood templates. If you choose to include sims, you may do so after, but the blank templates are a requirement. Most of the templates are available for download on MATY, so do a google search for them. Uniqueness: Your neighborhood should be unique and different. Playable:. Make sure you have some flat buildable areas and a practical road grid. Realistic: Getting creative with your terrain sculpting is fine, but remember to strive for realism. Decorations: Your decorating should add to the overall beauty and theme of your neighborhood, with good choices and placement of items - neither too many nor too few. Try to keep your decorations to a particular style - use trees and flowers that make sense for the type of region you're building. Giving your neighborhood a particular unique flavour and style makes it more charming and realistic than just using one of everything, or a random pyramid because it'd look cool. Sims: It is a good idea to first make a backup of your neighborhood without any of the families in it in case the sims themselves are the reason why your neighborhood is not being accepted. This will give you the chance to create new families and try again, or simply upload without them. After a sim has been added to a neighborhood, it is impossible to remove all it's data from the neighborhood, so if your sims are the only problem with your neighborhood, you can't just delete the characters and try again. It will mess up the neighborhood, and we will not accept it. So PLEASE BACK UP YOUR WORK!

Screenshots

Hood screenshots

Main Image: We need a main image for your hood - it should not show map edges, but it should also not be too low to show the whole map. Please remember to show all of the roads - don't cut any off! Detail Pictures: Show at least THREE other pictures of some of the views people will see in your world. This should be nice scenic views, taken from a lower angle (a sim's eye view, or a low player's eye view). You can of course take more pictures to show off all the pretty sights.

Lot screenshots

Individual Lot Pictures:. If you have built on the included lots, you will need to give a full set of info and pictures for at least 10 lots - 5 residential and 5 community. You may choose which 10 lots you show, but we suggest you choose lots that are representative of the overall style of the world. The pictures you must include for individual lots are: Front view: A picture of the front of your lot with all levels showing, from a low enough angle that it shows the structure well. Floorplans: An overhead picture of each floor. Please remember, for your required pictures: No photoshopping: Do not apply filters like sharpen, contrast, etc. to the required pictures, as downloaders want to see what your lot will look like in their game, not your skills at using Photoshop. As packaged: Your pictures should show your lot as you have packaged it, so that what downloaders see is what they'll actually get, or need to download, for the lot to look the same in their game. Comparison Picture: If your lot is based on a real-life or fictional lot (for example, a replica of the Falling Water house or the Disney Castle), you will need to include at least one comparison picture of the lot it is based on. For examples of the types of pictures required, what information you must require, and for much more information on taking good pictures, please see our Lots and Houses Upload Guidelines.

Sim screenshots

Sim Pictures: If you are including sims with a save file, you will need to give a full set of info and pictures for at least 5 sims. You may choose which 5 sims, but as with lots, we suggest you choose ones that are representative of your creator style and quality. The pictures you must include for individual sims are: Neutral Face: One picture of the sim from straight-on (not a profile or 3/4 view) with the sim wearing a neutral expression (no big smiles, wide open mouth, etc.) Full Body: One picture of the sim from head to toe, preferably in a neutral pose (just standing there or walking), not animating wildly. Comparison Picture: If your sim is based on a real-life or fictional person (a celebrity, character from a movie, tv show, anime, comic, etc.) and not made up out of your own imagination, then you will need to include at least one picture of that person. They must have a neutral facial expression, and be shown as front-on as possible.

General Screenshots Requirements

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.

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.

Lots

A new change has been implemented here. Instead of requiring full images of every lot included in your neighborhood, we are loosening back to what we require of TS3 Worlds. You are only required to show 10 of your lots now. Please remember though, that they are still subject to all of the TS2 Lots Guidelines. Your moderator also will be looking at the images from your neighborhood to make sure you aren't just doing 10 good lots and all the rest sub par. It is within their right to ask for images of any additional lots to check on quality. Number: Total number of lots, and lot sizes and quantity of each (example: 50 total lots - 25 of 20x20, 15 of 40x40, 10 60x60) Community Lots: None / All / Some (list) Residential: Number of residential lots, and lot sizes and quantity of each (as above). (Full Map Only): For the 10 representative lots (5 residential, 5 community) you've chosen to include pictures for, you need to also include the standard required info for them. That means you need a description of the lot in text, describing its purpose, features, style, etc. You will also need the lot size (25x30, 64x64, etc.) and the lot price (the price of the lot, both furnished and unfurnished). For more on where to find and how to provide this info, please see: Lots and Houses Upload Guidelines.

Sims

Sims: If you are including a save file with sims, please include some basic information for the 5 representative sims you have chosen to take pictures of: Description: A basic text description of their personality, history, hopes and dreams, whatever. Again, you don't have to write a novel, but at least give us an idea of who the sim is meant to be. Age, Career, Location, Etc.: Toddler/Child/Teen/Young Adult/Adult/Elder? If they have a job, what is it? What lot do they live at? Are they married? Since sims included in a world are already living their lives, give some basic info on who they are and what they're doing.

Custom Content

If you have used any custom items in your world, you MUST provide full links and credit for ALL items used in the world. This means any custom build items, objects, patterns, or content used on any included sims must be linked and credited. Make sure to state whether or not the content is included or not (as downloaders need to know if they need to download it all separately or not). If you do include content, it must be okay with that content's creator. Please check their policies.

Files

Lots

Once you have your creation made and screenshots taken, you need to make sure you have all the fiddly bits in order. Unique Neighborhood Number: One of the most important things is to make sure that your neighborhood has a unique number. If two neighborhoods have the same number, one of them will not appear in the user's game. MTS has created a Neighborhood Number Repository so you can be sure that your neighborhood does not conflict with any existing neighborhoods. If/when your neighborhood is approved, your number will be added to the list to protect you from future neighborhoods clashing. After creating your neighborhood, it will likely have a very low number. You will need to rename all of the neighborhood files and folders to your new number. This can either be done by hand, or with a bulk renaming tool. In your upload you will have to also have to list your number. 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. Expansion Packs or Stuff Packs required? Particular items may be added with expansion or stuff packs, and depending on how your creation is made and the item you based it on, your creation may not work for users who do not own that expansion/stuff pack. You need to be sure of which packs are necessary for the items you have made. If users don't have the EP, your stuff may not work! If you are unsure of whether or not your creation will require an expansion or stuff pack, you can ask about it in the appropriate Create forum (under the Create menu on MTS) before uploading. Make sure you only mark the EPs/SPs required that your upload actually needs! Don't just mark them all! For specifics, please read: MTS2:Creator_Guidelines/Compatibility Split RARs . For a complex neighborhood, it's likely that your upload will be over the 10 mb file limit that we have at MTS. You will need to upload your creation in parts. To do this, you will need an archive program like WinRAR that can compress a file but split it into multiple pieces. To create a split RAR/ZIP: 1. Find the sims3pack file for the world you have created. 2. Right-click on the sims3pack file and choose "Add to archive" from the menu. 3. On the box that comes up, give your file a name where it says Archive name. 4. Select ZIP or RAR (RAR is preferred). 5. Change "Compression Method" to Best. 4. Under where it says "Split to volumes, bytes" type 9 mb. Leave the other settings alone. 5. Click OK to create your file(s). This may take a few minutes. When it's done, you will have one or more RAR files, ready to upload. Include Install Instructions. Because a broken rar is not something our downloaders usually face, you will need to include instructions on how to put them back together. You may use this text, or write your own. Download all the files. Remove the MTS_Creator_(numbers) from their names and you should be left with Hoodname.part1.rar and Hoodname.part2.rar and so forth. Unrar them together, to do this, highlight all the files together and open them at the same time in WinRar. Then place the resulting folder into your Neighborhoods folder. Place any CC into the Downloads folder. 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. Additional Stuff If your upload is rejected or marked as changes required and you're not sure why, ask in Creator Issues. If you're not sure whether your neighborhood is ready for uploading, use the Creator Feedback Forum to get feedback on it.