Uploading Rules

Please take care to follow these rules for uploading or your content may not be approved, and you’ll have to start all over again. This post deals mainly with the Sims 2, but the principals apply for any other upload.

All creations must be your own original content. You cannot upload items for anyone else even if they have asked you to. We want these forums to be comfortable for all, so please read our posting rules as these also apply to our downloads/tutorials sections etc. These also include submitting downloads that are religious, political, sexual or offensive in nature, i.e. they are not allowed and will be removed.

Where To Upload Your Files

Click the ‘Upload’ link at the top of the page and surf to the correct category for your upload, then fill in the upload form.

Categories

Please upload content in the correct category. If we do not have the category you require, feel free to suggest one in the Feedback/Suggestions message board. If you have several different types of items to upload, please upload them separately. For instance, don’t upload a house, an object and a wall covering in the same place, add them to their own categories.

Required Details

When uploading lots you need to input the extensions and stuff packs required for your content. Walls, floors and ground covers are ALL base game compatible.

General

As it is, you are allowed to post image attachments (as well as your featured image). When posting lots, please add birds-eye views of each level so others can have an idea of the layout, as well as a good, daytime front view. Images should be between 800px and 1000px wide. Images larger than 150 KB will not be allowed. To optimise your image for upload, you can use this website. You need to add a featured image that will be shown within search results.

Please only upload zip, rar and image files. If you do not know how to zip your files, please see our tutorial. You can upload your zip or rar file(s) at the time of posting, up to 10 of them.

Hiding Content

If you have a lot of images or links, for instance, custom content, you can hide them behind a ‘toggle’ shortcode:

[ toggle ]Your content goes here[ /toggle ] Remove the spaces when you use this code!

This shortcode is ‘buggy’ and not recommended as it’s fiddly to get right, and once you edit your post, you will need to tinker with the code to get it right. We have added a working toggle code to the upload form which will hide credits and extra info until clicked.

Your lots and buildings must be playable. It’s no good to others if their Sims cannot enter areas due to poorly built content.

Your lots and buildings can contain Sims, but you must state that your lot is occupied. You can find more information on testing your buildings and removing the Sims and any custom content from them in our FAQ’s.

Once your have finished uploading, your content will be placed in a moderation queue for approval. Once it has been approved, it will be visible to others.

I can’t remember which packs I have installed

Just look at your ‘Program Files/EA Games’, or your Origin Games folder to see which packs you have installed.

Your lot needs to be tested before you can upload it. For that you need to add Sims to it. However, once you’ve tested it, you can use a program called Clean Installer to extract your Sims and any custom content that you do not want included.

You can find the user guide on the download site.

Taking screenshots

Taking a screenshot can be done by using any software designed for the purpose, or by simply pressing the ‘Print Screen’ button on your Windows keyboard.

If you are taking a picture of a lot/building in build/buy mode, first press the ‘R’ key to remove the grid, then press the ‘Tab’ key to clear the screen. Then you can take your screenshot before pressing ‘Tab’ again to get back to normal mode.

You can also use the built-in screenshot capture facility in The Sims game, but I much prefer the print screen option. The images tend to be larger and of a much better quality.

I also thoroughly recommend using Fraps. They have a free version, but it’s well worth paying for the upgrade as you can take some great screenshots and videos of your game. I use Ashampoo Snap for some really good quality screenshots.

Editing images

Once you have taken your screenshot you can edit the image in any image editor. I personally use PhotoPlus…It’s free, but you can upgrade very cheaply for more features.

Another good one is Photo Commander. It’s very simple to use and you can resize and crop your images as well as in any other software.

Take your screenshot, then paste it into the image editor of your choice. You can then crop and resize the image so it’s around 800px  to 1000px wide.

Pricing

You must add a price and a size to your residential lot. You can find the price of your lot while building, even community lots, by clicking the little ‘i’ in the top left corner (not available in the base game). You also need to add the cost of any meshes you upload, if applicable.

Packaging lots for upload

Packaging lots is very simple. In the neighbourhood screen, click on the home you want to package. Click on the package lot icon. In the next box that appears, you have the option to upload the file to TheSims2.com, or package to a file. Select the second option, the click the tick. Once your file has been packaged, another box will pop up to tell you where the file has been stored:

Find it, open it up in the Clean Installer software, and de-select the content you don’t want packaged with your upload.

Click the ‘Save As…’ button, but rename the file or you will receive errors. The saved file is then ready to be ‘zipped’ and uploaded.

Zipping files for upload

If you use Winzip, simply right-click on the file you want to compress, then select ‘Add to [yourfilename].zip’. Winzip should automatically create the zipped file in the same folder as your original file.
Most other compression software can be used in the same way. I use WinRar and save the files are .rar. They are smaller and easier to upload.