MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Sims

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So you've made a Sim and you want to share it on MTS2. Below are guidelines you need to follow before you can share your Sim here at MTS2 in our Downloads section. Please take the time to read through 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 the more likely it is to get approved. Thanks!

Contents

Quality

MTS2 is committed to excellence, and thus we have high standards for uploads. Please read these guidelines carefully to make sure your sim upload is up to our standards. Uploads which do not meet MTS2 standards may be rejected.

Sims Based on a Person or Character

The following are the quality standards for any sims based on real people, celebrities, anime characters, cartoon characters, or characters from books.

Celebrity Sims

Celebrity sims are those that are modeled after real people - actors, musicians, politicians, etc.

Quality Standards

Celebrity sims must bear an immediately recognizable and accurate resemblance of to who it's supposed to be or it will be rejected. We are aware of the limitations of Body Shop's sliders, but it is also possible to 3D edit sim faces to get an even more accurate sculpt. Some faces are harder to make into sims than others - if you choose a hard face to sim or you are not an experienced celebrity/character sim creator, be prepared to spend a long time working to get it just right.

Custom Content for Celebrity Sims

  • Some people with more interesting faces may require you to make or to find texturing for the face to make them seem more like themselves. We do not require that all celebrity sims have masks/skins, but if they don't have an immediate likeness without a mask/skin, you will likely need to do some adjusting to the texturing to help the likeness.
  • If you are making a face mask or special skintone for your celebrity so they bear a closer resemblance through texturing, please consider doing it via the Dependent Skintones Method which will greatly reduce the filesize of your upload and will reduce the amount of bloating of peoples' Downloads folders!
  • Do not use someone else's mask or skintone to make a sim of the same person that they did originally - make your own skin or find one that was not originally of that same person. Using someone else's content to make the same person is rather lazy and extremely bad form, and you will find your sim rejected for it.

Anime and Cartoon Sims

Anime and cartoon sims are those from an animated series, animated movie, or cartoon. This can also include computer-generated characters.

Quality Standards

Anime and cartoon sims are some of the most difficult sims to make, due to their strange faces and need for a lot of content. In many cases, it may not be possible to use existing content or utilize the regular sim face sculpting tools to create an accurate representation of an anime or cartoon sim. It may require creating a whole new set of meshes to truly do them right, especially in cases of characters that are extremely inhuman in shape. For example, see the way these sims have been done:

For anime sims, some effort should be made to give them a unique look, and to differentiate characters by more than just content. There's a lovely article on making anime sims at Bogsims which has great illustrations of how to create human-looking anime sims.

Custom Content for Anime and Cartoon Sims

  • We understand that anime and cartoon sims may need quite a bit of custom content to look right (especially clothes and hair) but as with using someone else's mask/skin for making the same celebrity sim, using someone else's hair/clothing/etc. to make the same anime sim is considered very bad form. Please try to keep use of others' content for the same sim to a minimum - one or two pieces at most, and remember that all of the rest of the sim including the face sculpt must represent a unique and accurate version of the character you are trying to make.

Book or Novel Characters

These are characters from a written story or book.

Quality Standards

Depending on how the author has described their character, two people may have wildly different views of how the character looks. Therefore it is important that you:

  • Post a short excerpt from the text of the book or novel with the author describing their character's physical appearance and personality OR if you don't have a copy of the text handy or cannot find a concise description, post a short description of how the character was described in the book in your own words. The character's personality should be something that comes through in their face - a determined set of the jaw, a compassionate look in the eyes, etc.
  • If the book has been made into a movie, please make sure to specify that you are creating the book version of the character and it is not meant to resemble the celebrity which played the character in the movie.
  • Make a distinct effort to make the character look like a unique person. Please read the information below for the "Other" category - in addition to the points above, book and novel characters will be judged based on the standards for "Other" sims.

"Other" Sims

These are sims which do not fit into the above categories - random sims you have made yourself that are not based on anyone real or any existing characters. The "other" section is generally the most difficult to get your sims accepted to, so please make sure you have read and fully understand all of the guidelines below before submitting to that section.

MOST sims uploaded to that category get rejected for quality reasons - with literally thousands of "Other" sims already uploaded, we only accept the very best of the best, sims that represent a unique overall look as well as an interesting face.

Quality Standards

Simfaces.jpg
Anyone can make a pretty sim with some nice content. It takes true effort and skill to make a unique, interesting face. "Other" sim uploads don't have to be pretty - in fact, sims that look more like real people - not so much pretty or interesting - are greatly preferred to yet another "hot model" type sim. Your sim's face sculpt should not resemble any of the Maxis faces whatsoever, and even without custom content should be obviously unique.

There is no reason for anyone to download a random sim that they could have made themselves with a few minutes and the same content - and there is no reason for MTS2 to host this sort of sim, as we already have about 2000 "other" sims on the site. Please make a real effort to make interesting, unique faces that not just anyone could put together.

Creators of sims are highly encouraged to strip their sims down to all non-defaults (take out your default replacement eyes and skin), no makeup, and all Maxis content... and see if the sim really has an interesting, unique face... or if they just look special because of the content they're wearing.

To the right are two illustrative comparisons (male and female) of what we are looking for in unique faces (please click for larger versions):

Sim 1: An attractive sim, with all custom parts, and an interesting, unique facial sculpt that took a lot of tweaking and playing with to create. This is a good example of what we are looking for in terms of a unique face, and assuming all other guidelines were followed, a sim like this would likely be accepted.
Sim 2: An attractive sim, with all custom parts, with a face that is mostly Maxis, with a little tweaking here and there. Anyone could make this sim with the same content and a few minutes in Body Shop. Even if the other guidelines were followed, a sim like this would likely be rejected.
Sim 3: Sim 1, but with all Maxis parts and no makeup. Perhaps not as attractive as Sim 1 or Sim 2, but still quite interesting. With a little makeup and a custom part here and there and the rest of the guidelines followed, this sim is still unique in facial shape and would likely be accepted.
Sim 4: Sim 2, but with all Maxis parts and no makeup. Just... a sim. All the custom content on Sim 2 doesn't make this sim acceptable, as the face shape is very plain and not unique.

Tips for Creating Unique Sims

We've compiled a guide with tips from many simmers on how they create unique, interesting sims. See: Game Help: Creating Sims.

Custom Content for "Other" Sims

Sims uploaded to the "Other" category must not only have an interesting face, but represent a unique overall look in their custom content.

This means you will need to create some custom content for your sim. You may use some existing custom content made by others, but some of the custom content on your sim must be made by you. This doesn't mean to just recolour a set of eyes or blush in hopes of getting your sim accepted, but to make some items which truly add to your sim. If you could switch out the item for any other and have basically the same sim, it's not yet unique enough.

  • For great examples of what we mean by this, see Kamikitten's fantastic Robert Hawkwood and Emily or Zombiejill's Jill, which all have several pieces of content made by the sim creator especially for those sims (as well as nice unique face sculpts too). These are the kind of "Other" sims we are looking for on MTS2 - not just a pretty face, not just some nice content, but an excellent combination of the two.

Quality of Your Custom Content

If you have made your own content for your sims (for any category), please make sure you have thoroughly reviewed the Body Shop Creator Guidelines as the included custom content you have made is expected to follow the same guidelines and be up to the same quality standards as if you had uploaded it separately, not on a sim.

Use Creator Feedback

Please utilize our Creator Feedback Forum for great tips on how to get your sim looking perfect. Note that using the Creator Feedback Forum is not a guarantee of acceptance, but it is helpful to have other people offer tips and suggestions.


Screenshots

In addition to overall quality standards, you will need to show pics of your sim so people know what they're downloading. Here's what we're looking for:

Screenshot Basics

For instructions on:

  • Taking large, clear pictures (bigger than the game will allow)
  • Changing your in-game settings for best graphics quality
  • Camera controls

See: Screenshot Basics

You need to make sure you have nice big, clear pictures that show off what you've made. They can't be too blurry or pixellated, and you need to know how to use the game's camera controls properly, so make sure you review the information on that link thoroughly before continuing.

Required Screenshots

These screenshots are a requirement when uploading sims and you will not get your upload accepted without them!

Neutral Face Closeup (Required for All Sims!)

A good neutral face closeup and body shot.
Show a close-up of your sim's face with a neutral expression. While it may look a little boring, sims' faces distort quite a lot when they make expressions so having a good idea of what your sim actually looks like normally is necessary. Extreme facial expressions like big smiles, open mouthed animated talking, laughter, etc., can distort the face and can make an interesting sim just look like another goofy sim.

If your sim normally wears a mask, veil, or other item that covers their face, please remove it for the required face closeup shot.

Body Shot (Required for All Sims!)

Show a further-away shot of your sim from a distance. This can be from at least their hips and up or you can show the sim from head to toe. If you have made the sim's outfit, make sure to show them head to toe, to show off the outfit you've made.

Comparison Pic (Required for Celebrity/Character Sims!)

A good celebrity sim comparison pic
If your sim is based on a celebrity, anime character, cartoon character, game character, etc., then you need to include at least one picture of the original person or character for comparison purposes.

Please provide at least one plain basic comparison pic of the character or celebrity - just a photo of them. Simmerized (combining the sim's face with a photo in Photoshop) or divided pics (left side is sim face, right side is real face split down the nose) provided for comparison are not acceptable. You can, however, put two pics side-by-side like the below example with similar poses and expressions as this will best show how close your likeness is.

Adult Comparison (Required for Child Sims!)

If your sim is younger than a teen (that is, a child or toddler) please include one picture of your child sim as an adult. This is simply so downloaders know what to expect when the child sim grows up - sometimes adorable children and toddlers become hideous adults. A child sim that becomes a hideous adult is not a disqualification for approval - it merely lets people know that they probably shouldn't let your child sim age.  :)

Big Enough

Your pics should be large enough to see the detail of what you've made. Remember, MTS2 allows images up to 1280x1024 pixels and 195 kilobytes so you should be able to upload nice big pictures. See the information above under "Screenshot Basics" for info on taking larger pics than the game will normally allow.

And please don't take smaller pics and just make them larger in your graphics program - this just gives you a blurry pic that's bigger in dimensions with no additional detail.

Close Enough

Toofar-pets.jpg
Make sure your screenshots are taken nice and close - your sim should fill up most of the picture, without a lot of space on the sides. Pictures taken close-up show your sim much better than ones taken from far away.


In-Game

Sims-ingamevsbodyshop.jpg
In order to see what your creation looks like in-game, we require in-game screenshots. You must actually load the game and take your screenshots there. We do not accept Body Shop pics, texture pics, SimPose, 3D program pics, etc., without the required in-game pics too. Please don't try to cut out backgrounds or fake in-game pics. We can definitely tell the difference.

For best results, put your item on a sim on a lot. Create-a-Sim screenshots are acceptable, but the lighting in CAS is pretty bright and you may not be able to get detail pics and that sort of thing, too.

Enough Light

LightandDark.jpg
Don't take your pics at night or in a dark room! Take your sim outside in the sunlight (make sure they're facing the sun - light comes from a certain direction on the lot!) or put them in a well-lit room. At the same time, make sure you don't use too much light: Create-a-Sim screenshots can sometimes be too bright.

Inline/Attached Screenshots

When posting images that appear in the text of the thread (these are called inline screenshots), please make sure to limit these images to no larger than 800x600 pixels (so it doesn't create a horizontal scroll on the page for people on lower resolutions).

Please also do not post more than 4 inline screenshots - 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.

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.

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.

No Pay Content

Do not use pay content in your screenshots! Do not use pay hair in your screenshots!

You MUST use free or Maxis hair 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.

As of 21 July 2007, MTS2 no longer allows the use of pay content in screenshots. This includes (but is not limited to) hairstyles. You must use free or Maxis hairstyles on your sims! Do not use pay or donation hairstyles on your sims when uploading here. For more information, please see the Site News article on the subject.

MTS2 has an extensive collection of free hairstyles in our Downloads section, and you can look in the Sims2Wiki Hair Gallery for more free hairstyles. You'll be able to find something you like.


Packaging Your Sim

Whether your sim is born in the game, made in Create a Sim, or made in Body Shop, you'll need to package it properly as a sims2pack file so you can share it.

Born-in-Game Sims

If you have created your sim in Create a Sim or if your sim was born in-game you will need to follow these instructions on how to extract your sim using SimPE, so they are accessible to you in Body Shop. Do that before you go any further, then come back to these instructions.

Packaging with Body Shop

Run Body Shop

Body Shop is a utility that comes with your game, used for creating and packaging sims (among other things). You already have Body Shop on your computer. To run Body Shop, click Start - Programs - EA Games - The Sims 2 (or the newest expansion you have installed) - The Sims 2 Body Shop.

  • If you are having trouble with Body Shop not loading, crashing when loading, or other related issues, please see: Game Help:Body Shop

Ready the Sim for Packaging

Readying your sim for packaging.
If you have just extracted your sim using SimPE, you will first need to clone the sim to make sure all of its content comes along with it properly. Click Build Sims, then Build or Clone Sims. Look for sim you packaged from the game in the list of sims - they may not be first in the list, so you may have to scroll to find them. Click the button toward the bottom to Clone Selected Sim, then click the checkmark (Done Building Sim) to make a copy of the sim.

If you have created your sim in Body Shop, you do not need to clone the sim. Just click Done Building Sim to save the sim how you want them.

Package Your Sim

How to package your sim.
You should be back looking at a bunch of sims. Click the X at the bottom to Close Sim Bin. Now click on Package Sims. You'll be seeing another sim bin. Find your sim here and select them. If you have just cloned your sim or made multiple copies of the sim, it will be the first one in the list. Click the little box icon at the bottom to Package Sim to File. You'll now be at a different screen, where you can type the filename for your sim and enter a description. You can put custom content credits here, a description of your sim, your name, your web address, whatever.

When you have your filename and text written in, click the checkbox at the bottom to Accept and save your sim as a sims2pack file.

Packagedsim.jpg
You'll get a message saying that your sim was saved to your desktop with the filename you gave it. That sims2pack file is the file you will upload when sharing your sim at MTS2.


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 and remove any meshes that you have not recoloured yourself (or that 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.


Looking Inside the Sims2Pack

To see what's inside the sims2pack file, you'll need Clean Installer. 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.

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.

Opensims2pack.jpg
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.
Simcontentsci.jpg
Clean Installer will open and you will see a list of the contents of the sims2pack file, including what tooltips are used.


Custom Content Links/Credits

Now you need to:

  • 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.
  • Provide links to any custom meshes used by any clothing, hair, or accessories.
  • Check everyone's terms of use and make sure that you can indeed share their work in sim uploads.

You will be asked to provide this information in MTS2's 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.

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.

Citooltip.jpg
You can check the filename for a particular item by floating your cursor over it:

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:

Search MTS2
Mts2search.jpg
MTS2 has four different search types that may be of use to you:
  • Downloads search, which will search download titles and keywords.
  • Google search, which will use Google to search MTS2 text.
  • Advanced search, which can search particular forums and uses a different way to search to find different results.
  • Member search, to search for usernames.
Google
Google.jpg
Second, go to Google and try searching there with the clues you've gotten from the filenames and tooltips.
Content List
Tocc.jpg
The Table of Custom Contents, the Content List on the Sims2Wiki, can be extremely useful in finding content, especially if it's in a particular theme.
Where Can I Find?
Wcif.jpg
If all your searching fails and you can't find the item on your own, try the Where Can I Find Forum at Sims2Community.com. You can search that particular forum, which is a great resource 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. You will need to register separately from MTS2 to post there.


When to Remove Content from the Sims2Pack

Content That Cannot Be Redistributed: In checking the file for contents and locating all the parts, you may come across some pieces that cannot be redistributed. Creators have a right to say what can and can't be done with their custom content, and if they say you cannot upload it with full sims, please respect their wishes and remove that content. If you have a link for a file that the creator has asked that you not distribute, you can provide that link to downloaders and say that the item was not included - if they download it separately and install it along with your sim, it will properly show up on your sim.

Content You Cannot Find: If you just cannot locate a link for a piece of content after searching and searching, or if the particular item cannot be redistributed, then REMOVE that content from the file, or repackage your sim using items you can track down/can share.

Meshes: If you have the Pets expansion (or any later expansions), the version of Body Shop that comes with Pets and later expansions will also include meshes for any custom hair and clothing in the sims2pack file. Please do not include these meshes with your full sim upload unless:

  • They are your own meshes which you have made yourself. In this case, please include a numeric poly count for your mesh somewhere in the post.
  • You have recoloured the item the mesh is required for yourself, and if the creator allows redistribution of their meshes with recolours.

Please do not include meshes that are uploaded on MTS2, even if the creator says it's okay - this creates redundant uploads. Also do not include meshes that the creator says not to include, or if the creator doesn't say. If you get special permission to include a mesh that normally cannot be included (or the creator's policies don't say anything) please say in the text of your upload post that you have permission - we can't read your mind!

If you do include the mesh, make sure you include a credit and link in the text of your post - and make sure you state that the mesh is included!


How to Remove Content from the Sims2Pack

For instructions on how to remove unwanted content from a sims2pack, including content that cannot be redistributed and meshes, please see this mini-tutorial by Tiggerypum. The tutorial explains how to remove unwanted meshes if you have the Pets expansion, but the exact same method works for removing all content from a sims2pack file.


Adult Content and Nudity

MTS2 is not an adult site. We do have an adult site affiliated with MTS2, 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.

Skintones

Skintones uploaded to MTS2 must be completely "barbie" below the waist. That is, you cannot include genitals or pubic hair for either gender. Skintones uploaded to MTS2 may include female nipples, or you may leave them off if you prefer, for a Maxis-like skintone that is completely "barbie." This includes skintones on sims.

You must obscure your skintones even if they are completely "barbie" if your sims appear nude or semi-nude. Please see the Body Shop creator guidelines under Screenshots for more information on how to obscure your skintones.

Other Adult Content

Content with swear/curse words or sexually suggestive themes may not be uploaded to MTS2. Please upload these items to the adult site instead.

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.

"Nude clothing" uploads are not allowed on MTS2 - that sort of thing needs to go on the adult site.

For more information and a further list of items we do not allow on MTS2, see: Uploads Not Allowed on MTS2.

Clarification on Adult Sims

Sims of porn/adult film stars and sims that would be more appropriate for an adult audience should go on the adult site. People looking for porn stars will be more likely to look there than MTS2.

Transgendered or crossdressing sims may be uploaded to MTS2. "Effeminate" males or "butch" females are fine for MTS2 as well - we do not consider these uploads adult content. They do not need to go on the adult site unless there's something inherently more "adult" in nature about them.


Quality

Screenshots

Screenshots

Packaging Your Sim

Packaging Your Sim

Credits for Included or Pictured Content

Credits for Included or Pictured Content

Adult Content/Nudity

Adult Content and Nudity

Right Info/Right Files

Right Info and Right Files

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