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

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(→‎Credits for Included or Pictured Content)
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*'''[[MTS2:Creator_Guidelines/Sims/Credits_Etc|Credits for Included or Pictured Content]]'''</big></blockquote>
 
*'''[[MTS2:Creator_Guidelines/Sims/Credits_Etc|Credits for Included or Pictured Content]]'''</big></blockquote>
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{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
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|-
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! style="text-align:left" | Credits, Policies, and Removing Content
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You've got your sim packaged as a .sims2pack file, but now you need to take a look inside that .sims2pack file to see what is included. You will need to remove any content that the creator says you can't share. You will also need to collect credits and links for any content you have included in your screenshots.
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This is usually the most labor-intensive part of uploading sims, but if you ensure that the content you use on your sims is shareable and identifiable before you ever make the sims, it helps a lot.
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|}
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{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
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|-
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! style="text-align:left" | Looking Inside the Sims2Pack
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To see what's inside the sims2pack file, you'll need Clean Installer. [http://sims2pack.modthesims2.com/ Click here] to go to the Clean Installer website, where you can download it for free. There is also a Quick Start Guide, FAQ, and Manual at the Clean Installer site to help you get started using it.
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Once you install Clean Installer, it should associate itself with .sims2pack files, so when you double-click on any one of them to open it, Clean Installer will come up and tell you what is inside.
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[[Image:Opensims2pack.jpg|right]]Go to your Desktop. You should find a new file there, with the same name that you gave your sim in Body Shop when packaging. It should have an icon like the one shown. Right-click on this file and choose Open.<br style="clear:both" />
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[[Image:Simcontentsci.jpg|right|300x300px]]Clean Installer will open and you will see a list of the contents of the sims2pack file, including what tooltips are used.
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|}
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{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
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|-
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! style="text-align:left" | Credits, Policies, and Removing Content
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
You've got your sim packaged as a .sims2pack file, but now you need to take a look inside that .sims2pack file to see what is included. You will need to remove any content that the creator says you can't share. You will also need to collect credits and links for any content you have included in your screenshots.
 +
 +
This is usually the most labor-intensive part of uploading sims, but if you ensure that the content you use on your sims is shareable and identifiable before you ever make the sims, it helps a lot.
 +
|}
 +
 +
{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
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|-
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! style="text-align:left" | Custom Content Links/Credits
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|-
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|
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Now you need to:
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* Figure out what everything inside is, and track down who made it so you can give them credit for their creation, and a link back to their site, their profile, or the original thread where you downloaded the item.
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* Provide links to any custom meshes required for the included clothing, hair, or accessories to show up.
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* Check everyone's terms of use and make sure that you can indeed share their work in sim uploads.
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You will be asked to provide this information in the MTS upload wizard.  While the wizard does save links entered previously by other creators, some of those links may not be correct.  It is your responsibility to make sure that all of the links for your upload are working and correct.
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Start a text file on your Desktop where you can type everything out as you locate the parts. This can be the hardest part, depending on how descriptive the original creators were in their tooltips and filenames. They are generally good clues, though.  Generally it's good to start your text file by organizing it by item, so you know when you have a credit and link for each item, and then a section for any required meshes and the links to those.  Then you can begin filling in each item as you find out where it came from.
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[[Image:Citooltip.jpg|right]]You can check the filename for a particular item by floating your cursor over it:<br style="clear:both" />
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===Tracking Down Custom Content===
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Use the tooltips and filenames to track down where you found the items originally to check the policies and provide credits and links, and in some cases, to see whether a mesh is needed. There are several ways to do this:
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====Search MTS====
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[[Image:Mts2search.jpg|right]]MTS has four different search types that may be of use to you:
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* Downloads search, which will search download titles and keywords.
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* Google search, which will use Google to search MTS text.
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* Advanced search, which can search particular forums and uses a different way to search to find different results.
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* Member search, to search for usernames.<br style="clear:both" />
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====Google====
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[[Image:Google.jpg|right]]Second, go to [http://www.google.com Google] and try searching there with the clues you've gotten from the filenames and tooltips.<br style="clear:both" />
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====Content List====
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[[Image:Tocc.jpg|right|300x300px]]The [[Content Lists|Table of Custom Contents]], the [[Content List|Content List]] on the Sims2Wiki, can be extremely useful in finding content, especially if it's in a particular theme.<br style="clear:both" />
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====Where Can I Find?====
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[[Image:Wcif.jpg|right|300x300px]]If all your searching fails and you can't find the item on your own, try the [http://www.modthesims.info/fd.php?f=556 Where Can I Find Forums] at MTS. You can search these forums, which are great resources of previously asked-for content, and if you can't find what you're looking for, you can post asking if someone knows where it came from. Give as much information as possible, like a screenshot, the tooltip, filename, and any more info you can to help people help you track it down.
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|}
  
 
==Adult Content/Nudity==
 
==Adult Content/Nudity==

Revision as of 12:58, 29 May 2011

Contents

Introduction

So you've made a Sim that you want to share! Here are the guidelines you must follow in order to share your Sim at MTS. Please take the time to read through all of these guidelines as some key items have changed and may affect your upload. Pay close attention to what is required, and your upload will spend less time in the moderation queue and be more likely to get approved. Thanks!

This page is split into separate sections for easier readability. Please make sure to review ALL sections before submitting your sim!

Types of Sims

General Quality

Required Screenshots

Certain screenshots are required when you upload your sim - and they must be big and clear enough to see what you've made!

Well-lit
Chairs-EnoughLight.jpg
Make sure you take your pictures during the daytime in bright sunlight, in a well-lit room, etc., - make sure your screenshots are nice and bright enough that people can see what you've made. Nighttime shots or those in a dark room really don't show off your creation very much.

At the same time, make sure you don't use too much light: if you put light-coloured item under a bright light, it can wash out and lose a lot of the detail of what you've made.

Big Enough
The larger your pics, the better! Tiny pics won't show enough detail to see what you've made.
  • Minimum Size: 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall is a good size for the smallest pic you would want to upload. You may have smaller pics for thumbnails and the like, but for your required screenshots, please go as big as you can!
  • Maximum Size: MTS allows pictures up to 2560 pixels wide by 1440 pixels tall, and a file size limit of 800 kbs - so you can have nice, big, pretty pics. You may have to resize your pictures or apply compression to get them to fit within that limit.

Please don't just take a small pic and size it up in your graphics program to get bigger pics - this only makes the dimensions larger but doesn't add any detail and just gives you a blurry, pixellated larger pic, not a nice clear one.

Maximum Number of Inline/attached screenshots
  • Inline screenshots are images that appear in the text of the upload that load for the viewer along with the rest of the text. Inline screenshots can either be linked from the attached screenshots, or from an external hosting site like Tinypic, Photobucket, or Flickr.
  • Attached screenshots are screenshots that have been attached to the upload using the "manage attachments" feature on MTS. They display as small thumbnails until clicked on.


You may host your inline screenshots elsewhere like Photobucket, Tinypic, or Flickr - however, these screenshots hosted elsewhere must be additional "bonus" screenshots. All of the screenshots we actually require for your upload need to be attached 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.

You may now upload up to 100 pics! Of course, please keep it to a reasonable quantity... only things like huge sets, full worlds, etc. should have that many pics! 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 item.

For the bonus photos, we recommend you use a spoiler tag to hide the images, then people can click on it to see them. Their pages will load faster if all the images aren't downloading at once. [spoiler=interior rooms]http:// wheveremypictureis/picture.jpg[/spoiler] The 'interior rooms' can be replaced by whatever grouping you want to present, 'hidden garden', 'pool views', 'master suite', 'kids room', etc.

You may place as many photos within a spoiler grouping as you'd like.

Packaging Your Sim

Credits for Included or Pictured Content

You are responsible for providing accurate descriptions, links, and credits for all pieces of custom content included with or pictured on your sim.

Adult Content/Nudity

We do not allow adult content at MTS - please read the following to know what constitutes adult content.

Right Info/Right Files

All the fiddly bits - description, title, putting your file into a rar or zip, etc.

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.
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