Packs required

Description & Information Guideline: Packs required

Appears in: Build Mode - Walls & Floors, General Guidelines, Neighborhoods & CAS Screens, Pets - Animals, Poses and Animations, and Sims

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Possible Assessments

Category	Title	Description
Build Mode - Walls & Floors	Walls/floors packs correct	You have not marked any EPs or SPs as required but you have noted which EP/SP is required for the matching EA/Maxis floor/wall/terrain paint. Thank you!
General Guidelines	Packs missing	Please double check that the EP and SP requirements requirements are correct, as it appears you have forgotten to mark some packs which are required.
General Guidelines	Unnecessary packs	You have correctly marked all of the EPs, GPs and SPs which should be required. :) However, you have also marked additional EPs/GPs/SPs which shouldn't be required to use this content.
General Guidelines	Packs correct	The Expansion Pack, Stuff Pack and Game Pack requirements are clear and correct. Thanks! :)
Pets - Animals	Unnecessary packs	You have correctly marked all of the EPs, GPs and SPs which should be required. :) However, you have also marked additional EPs/GPs/SPs which shouldn't be required to use this content.
Poses and Animations	Poses prop EP	These poses are made to work with a specific prop from an EP, SP, or GP, but that pack has not been listed as required.
Sims	Packs missing	This sim appears to require EP/SP/GP content to maintain their appearance, but these pack(s) are not listed as required.
Sims	Occult - packs missing	This sim is an occult (e.g. plantsim, servo, vampire) which requires a specific EP/SP/GP to function, but that pack is not listed as required.
Sims	Sims - Unnecessary packs	This sim does not appear to absolutely require any EP/SP/GP content to maintain their overall appearance, but one or more packs is marked as required. Consider editing your upload to change this, so more downloaders may see your upload. :)

General Guidelines

Tagging uploads properly by what Expansion Packs (EPs), Stuff Packs (SPs), and Game Packs (GPs) are required for the content to show up is mandatory on MTS. So always make sure to tick what the content needs rather than just all the packs you own

Why is important?

Without this information there's a good chance that the downloader won't actually be able to use your upload in their games if they don't have the needed packs! It also enables downloaders to use our compatibility filtering, which automatically shows them only items they can run (based on the EPs/SPs/GPs owned fields of their MTS profile).

For this reason, we also recommend unticking all EPs/SPs which are not essential, as leaving them marked as required may discourage potential downloaders who could otherwise use the content, and may make the compatibility filtering hide the upload from some people who could use it.

What if I don't know what packs my item uses?

Usually the object/CASpart you cloned or any tuning mod that came with a specific pack are the ones that require a specific pack. Although we would strongly recommend cloning a base-game item when editing an object/CASpart, unless it's of course an edit for a specific pack.

Another way to figure out which pack might be required is that in the Buy/Build mode screen you should also see various of icons that show you which pack a specific item is from, including any new content that was made with a specific pack.

Section Guidelines, apply in addition to the above General ones.

Build Mode - Walls & Floors

Walls and floors do not require Expansion, Stuff, or Game Packs to work. It is therefore unnecessary to mark any as required. In doing so, if potential downloaders have filters on for custom content for only the packs they own, they may not see your upload.

If this is a completer set, though, please mention in the description which EP/SP/GP is required for the matching EA/Maxis floor/wall/terrain paint.

Pets - Animals

Pets only require the relevant expansion pack, Pets for TS2 and TS3, Dogs & Cats for TS4.

The Sims 3 Guidelines, apply in addition to the above General ones.

Lots & Housing

Lots can be installed regardless of the EPs and 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, or the items used are essential to the look of the lot, you must list it as being required. Walls and floors are built into patch level, not EPs/SPs, so these do not matter for EPs/SPs required.

Tip

Whenever you start building, open a text editor and once you start using a piece that needs a particular pack, you write down the pack that you just used. That way you'll have an easy list to consult at the end!

Poses and Animations

Poses usually require only the base game unless they're made specifically to be used with a prop from another EP.

Sims

Sims should almost always be base-game only, no EPs or SPs required. All sims packaged in .sim format will require the base game only. The main exception to this is if your sim is an occult who can be created in CAS; in those situations Supernatural is required.

Otherwise, only tick EPs/SPs as required if the content you have used on your sim is absolutely essential to their overall look (for example, an item of clothing or hair that is needed to make a sim look like a certain cartoon character). If your sim could have that content changed to something similar and still look basically the same, do not tick the EP/SP requirements, but please make sure to mention it in the text of your post ("Hair is from Supernatural, clothing from Late Night").

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Examples

Correct example - Pet

For the upload of a pet, only the Pets expansion is marked as required.

Incorrect example - Pet

For the upload of a pet, this would be incorrect, as several unnecessary packs are listed as required.

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