MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Sims 3 Lots and Houses/Sandbox

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Guidelines for Sims 3 Lots

I really will write a better introduction later honest...

Quality

Does your lot look nice? Does it have a good flow to it? Is the way it's laid out attractive, interesting, and enjoyable to look at?

Realism

A castle should not just be a huge building with stone walls, but should look like an actual castle, and supermarket should look like an actual supermarket. You can look up pictures of the type of lot you're trying to build on Google Image Search for some good ideas.

  • Architecture: write stuff here
  • Playability: The layout of the lot should make sense and be routable. Make sure sims have enough room to move around the house, and that they can access all items that can be used.
  • Roofing: The roof pieces should connect each other nicely, and not leave gaps between each other.
  • Landscaping: Don't let a Finn write this section and nitpick a ton
Tips
  • If you're not sure whether your lot is ready for uploading, use the Creator Feedback Forum to get feedback on it.
  • You can always plunder into our tutorials section for more ideas and learning new techniques in creating your lot, here.
  • Using Create a style-tool in TS3 can have a tremendous effect on how your lot will look. Please explore the possibilities of this tool. Selecting the patterns and colors yourself instead of using EA-made presets creates much more unique, and often better looking results. A small tutorial can be found here.

Files

The following sections contain information about packaging and archiving your lot, as well as custom content.

Packaging your Lot
TS3-LotShare.jpg

Once you have finished building your lot in the game, you will need to save it and then Edit Town to return to the neighborhood. From there select your lot and click the Share button on the lot panel.

Enter the lot name and description on the next screen, and then click the checkmark. When it's done, you'll have a new .sims3pack file on your computer.

TS3-ExportedLot.jpg

Lots are saved to the Exports folder, which is located in My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Exports

Custom content

Remove Custom Content with CUSTARD

Custard01.jpg
Custard02.jpg

Before uploading your lots please scan it with CUSTARD. Content that is installed from sims3packs will package with lots, and some patterns will package even if you didn't use them on the lot. Note: Presets of EA patterns do NOT package with lots.

  • Download Custard
  • Open Sims3pack
  • Untick cc you don't want to include
  • File Save As...
Compressing your file

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.

Information

It's important that you include certain information so that players know what to expect when they use your creation!

Title and description
  • Title: You probably already have a name for your lot - it makes a good title for your upload.
  • Description:You need to write a decent description for your upload. You don't have to write a novel here, just at least a few sentences about your lot. It's nice to let people know you've put some careful thought into your creation. If your English is not good, you can ask for help writing a description in Creator Feedback.
Please also include the following information in your upload text
  • Lot size: Mark the lot's size, for example 20x30
  • Lot price: Mark both unfurnished, and furnished price
  • Credits for Included custom content: List custom content that has been included within the lot file or the archive, with links
  • Credits for Required, but not included custom content: List custom content you have used on the lot, but not included within the lot file or the archive, with links

More info about custom content, how to tell what gets included or not, what kind of CC is allowed and what isn't, above on the Custom content section.

Game version and required EPs/SPs

In TS3 lots can be installed regardless of the expansions (EPs) or stuff packs (SPs) it was built with, as long as the downloader has the same patch version or greater. EP/SP specific content will just leave empty spaces. If you've used a considerable amount of content from an EP/SP you must list it as being required. Please list the base game version that the lot was built with. Finding Game Version

  • If you would like to create lots which require only the expansion packs actually needed for the features you build you can use johna's AnyGameStarter.

Screenshots

The only way people can see your lot before downloading and checking it out in game is from the screenshots you take for your upload. Taking clear, large screenshots (as a rough guide you should aim for at least 600 pixels) will encourage people to look at and download your lot.

You'll need to include at least:
  • Exterior Shots: A front and back shot showing the exterior of your lot.
  • Floorplans: 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.
You may also want to include:
  • Unobstructed views: if your lot has dense foliage blocking the view of the house.
  • Comparison pictures: if you lot is based on a real building.

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.


  • 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 lots are ready for uploading, use the Creator Feedback Forum to get feedback on it.
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