View for: The Sims 4 The Sims 3 The Sims 2

Files Guideline: File type

Appears in: Body Shop - All, General Guidelines, Lots & Housing, Neighborhoods & CAS Screens, Pets - Animals, Poses and Animations, and Sims

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Possible Assessments

Category	Title	Description
Body Shop - All	Project Files	The files that have been uploaded are the wrong files. The correct files is the file which is created in your SavedSims folder after you click "Import to game" in Bodyshop. Files taken from the Projects Folder will not work in other players games.
General Guidelines	TS3 incorrect file type	The file(s) included don't seem to be the right type. You can upload a .package file and/or a .sims3pack file for each of your creations. Check the files and make sure they are correct.
General Guidelines	Corrupt file	The file(s) included seem to be corrupt or broken.
General Guidelines	TS2/4 package	The file(s) included don't seem to be the right type. You can upload a .package file for each of your creations. Check the files and make sure you're sharing the correct file(s).
General Guidelines	Files correct but duplicated	While you've uploaded the correct file(s), it does appear that there are multiple versions of that same package. Make sure not to upload duplications!
General Guidelines	Files correct	Everything in this upload is in the correct file format and contains all necessary files. Thanks!
Lots & Housing	TS4 lot file incorrect	Some of the files for this lot appear to be missing or incorrect. TS4 lot files can be found in the My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Tray folder. Each lot upload should contain one .blueprint file, one .trayitem file, and several .bpi files, all of which were created at the exact same time.
Neighborhoods & CAS Screens	TS3 world file incorrect	The world appears to be corrupted, or is otherwise in an incorrect format. Make sure you are sharing the .sims3pack file which is created in the Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Exports\ folder when you do File > Select World to Export in Create-a-World.
Neighborhoods & CAS Screens	CAS screen incorrect name	The .package file for this CAS screen is incorrectly named. It needs to be CAS!.package to work correctly in game.
Neighborhoods & CAS Screens	Sc4 file incorrect - Maps only	The SC4 file is not named correctly and will not work in game. It needs to be 'Hoodname.sc4', and not 'City - Hoodname.sc4'. It needs to match the name of the image files
Neighborhoods & CAS Screens	Image names incorrect - Maps only	There are no terrain image files or they are named incorrectly; the map will not work correctly in game.
Pets - Animals	TS3 pet file	All pets should be uploaded in a .sim file format, rather than .sims3pack or anything else. You may keep the library package file, but you have to have a .sim file available in a different archive file if you do so.
Pets - Animals	TS4 pet file incomplete	It looks like some of the necessary pet files are missing or incorrect. There should be one .householdbinary file, one .trayitem file, one .sgi file, and two .hhi files.
Pets - Animals	TS2 pet file	All pets should be uploaded in a .sims2pack format.
Poses and Animations	TS2 pose files	The uploaded file does not contain the posebox object and the posebox hack saved as .package files.
Sims	TS3 sim file	All sims should be uploaded in a .sim file format, rather than .sims3pack or anything else. You may keep the library package file, but you have to have a .sim file available in a different archive file if you do so.
Sims	TS4 sim file incomplete	It looks like some of the necessary sim files are missing or incorrect. There should be one .householdbinary file, one .trayitem file, one .sgi file, and two .hhi files.
Sims	TS2 sim on lot	The upload is packaged as a .sims2pack file, but it's of a sim living on a lot, not just the sim themselves. Sims should not be packaged on lots as this can cause major issues for people who download it and can even ruin their whole neighborhood!
Sims	TS2 sim file	All sims should be uploaded in a .sims2pack format.

The Sims 4 Guidelines, apply in addition to the above General ones.

General Guidelines

Sims 4 content should be uploaded as package files, except for:

Sims and pets (see guidelines for those sections for details)
Lots (see guidelines for that section for details)
Programs

Lots & Housing

TS4 lots should be shared as tray files, which can be found in your Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Tray folder. One lot should consist of:

One .blueprint file
One .trayitem file
Several .bpi files, usually between 3-7 (more complex lots usually have more bpi files)

All files should have matching instance numbers.

Pets - Animals

TS4 pets should be uploaded as a "household". This will include:

one .householdbinary file
one .trayitem file
one .sgi file
and two .hhi files.

These files can be found in your My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Tray folder. For more details about how to export TS4 sims and how to find the correct files, see the tutorial below.

Sims

TS4 sims should be uploaded as a "household". This will include one:

.householdbinary file
one .trayitem file
one .sgi file
two .hhi files.

These files can be found in your My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Tray folder. For more details about how to export TS4 sims and how to find the correct files, see the tutorial below.

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

General Guidelines

Sims 3 content may be uploaded in either Sims3Pack or package format, except for:

Sims and pets, which must be uploaded as .sim files
Programs

Neighborhoods & CAS Screens

When you are finished creating your world, you can package it to a sims3pack file in Create a World. A sims3pack file with your world's name will then be created in the Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Exports\ folder. This is the file that you must share when uploading to MTS.

You may also share your .world file as a "DIY" version of your world, but please put it in its own separate archive. Make sure to also include the associated folder for that .world as it will not work without the folder.

Pets - Animals

TS3 pets must be saved as a .sim file to upload to MTS. When you save your pet in-game, use the button to save your pet to the bin. This will create a .sim file in your My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\SavedSims folder. This is the file that you will put in an archive file.

We do not accept pets in .sims3pack format. Why? The .sim file is much smaller and can just be tossed into SavedSims when people download, it rather than having to install it with the Launcher.

Sims

TS3 sims must be saved as a .sim file to upload to MTS. When you save your sim in-game, use the button to save your sim to the bin. This will create a .sim file in your My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\SavedSims folder. This is the file that you will put in an archive file.

We do not accept sims in .sims3pack format. Why? The .sim file is much smaller, should work for everyone (even if they don't have certain expansions the sim might have been saved with), and can just be tossed into SavedSims when people download, it rather than having to install it with the Launcher.

However, if you do want to give the option to people to download a Library package file of your sim(s), that's fine too! But keep in mind that we'd only be okay with this if you also upload a .Sim file separately from the library file! (i.e 1 zip file containing a library package, the other zip file containing the .sim file).

Also make sure to Save your sim with a default skin! If your sim is wearing a custom, non-default skin (which shows up as a new skin to choose from, not a default replacement), please make sure to choose a default/default replacement skin instead before saving your sim! Don't remove any other custom content when saving, though, please - just the skin.

The Sims 2 Guidelines, apply in addition to the above General ones.

Body Shop - All

All Body Shop Content must be uploaded from the "SavedSims" folder - not the "Projects" folder. Files from the Projects folder are unfinished and will not work properly.

Important: The correct files are in "Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/SavedSims" and will be called something like 83edf5a_YourProjectName.package, where the first part is a randomly generated string, and the "YourProjectName" part is what the project was named when created in Body Shop. Files can be renamed to something more descriptive (they'll still work renamed) but please do not delete the ".package" extension. This extension is required for the game to find your files.

General Guidelines

Sims 2 content should be uploaded as package files, except for:

Sims and pets, which must be uploaded as .sims2pack files
Programs

Neighborhoods & CAS Screens

Maps only

TS2 maps should be uploaded as the following set of files:

A sc4 file with the same name as the map (e.g. MyFirstMap.sc4)
A png file with the same name as the map (e.g. MyFirstMap.png)
A png file for each unique terrain type, preceded by the map name and an underscore (e.g. MyFirstMap_concrete.png)

The SC4 file associated with the map needs to be named "Hoodname.sc4" and not "City - Hoodname.sc4" (replacing "Hoodname" with the name of your hood.) Additionally, it must match the name of the image files.

Full neighbourhoods

TS2 neighbourhoods are uploaded as a folder which is named any four alphanumeric characters. E.g. "3EF6" or "ABCD" or "1234".

Empty templates must be used when creating a custom neighborhood to avoid the spawning of townies and NPCs. This includes subhoods and stealth hoods.

Unique Neighborhood Number: One of the most important things is to make sure that your neighborhood has a unique number. If two neighborhoods have the same number, one of them will not appear in the user's game. MTS has created a Neighborhood Number Repository so you can be sure that your neighborhood does not conflict with any existing neighborhoods. If/when your neighborhood is approved, your number will be added to the list to protect you from future neighborhoods clashing. After creating your neighborhood, it will likely have a very low number. You will need to rename all of the neighborhood files and folders to your new number. This can either be done by hand, or with a bulk renaming tool. In your upload you will have to also have to list your number.

CAS screens

CAS screens for TS2 must be named CAS!.package (with the ! mark) to be correctly recognized by the game. Files with any other name will not work.

Pets - Animals

Your pet must be "packaged" (placed correctly in a .sims2pack file) to upload to MTS. This needs to be a .sims2pack of just the pet itself. The file can be found in your My Documents\EA Games\Sims 2\Packaged Sims folder, after you have saved your pet as a breed.

Sims

TS2 sims must be correctly "packaged" in a .sims2pack file for upload to MTS.

Important: This needs to be a .sims2pack of just the sim itself, not the sim living on a lot, as importing sims on a lot can cause major, permanent, unfixable issues in downloaders' games!

Tutorials - The Sims 4

Sims

Preparing TS4 sims

1. Save

Save the sim as a household, by clicking the button at the top right of the Create-a-Sim screen.

Save household option

Note: Sims in TS4 are saved as households rather than individual sim files. If you are uploading a multi-sim set, you may want to consider separating each sim into a separate household. This way the downloader can easily choose which sims they want, and households can be merged by the downloader if they want to combine two or more one-sim households. If you have made a household with multiple sims and want to separate them, save it first so all your sims are saved, then remove the extra sims, and save the household again as a separate file.

2. Finish Save

Write a description for your sim, if you want, in the household info screen, and then click the save icon on the bottom right. If you get a popup saying "Template already exists in My Library. What do you want to do?" then choose Save New.

Adding sim description

3. Find Household Files

Open the My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Tray folder.
Click the button at the top right to bring up the folder view options, and choose Details
Click on the Date Modified header to sort by date.
There should be five files that have all the current date and time (when you saved your sim). There will be one .householdbinary file, one .trayitem file, one .sgi file, and two .hhi files. Don't worry if these files have different icons than shown (icon doesn't matter). Select all five of these files. These are the five files that you will need to put into a .rar, .zip, or .7z file to upload to MTS.

Household files

Tutorials - The Sims 2

Sims

Preparing TS2 sims

Created in bodyshop or in-game?

If you have created your sim in Create a Sim, or if your sim was born in-game, you will need to follow the instructions in the following sub-section about how to extract your sim using SimPE, so they are accessible to you in Body Shop. Do that before you go any further, and then do the below instructions to actually package the sim. If you have made your sim in Body Shop, you can skip this step.

1. Extracting sims created in-game

(If your sim was created directly in Body Shop, skip this section and proceed to the section 3, "packaging your sim")

See this tutorial.

2. Preparing your sim

Open Body Shop, if you haven't already. 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 if you have The Sims 2 installed. To run Body Shop, click Start > Programs > EA Games > The Sims 2 (or the latest released expansion you have installed) - The Sims 2 Body Shop. If you are having trouble with Body Shop not loading, crashing when loading, or other issues, please see: Body Shop Help

Packaging a sim in Bodyshop

If you don't have the sim open in Body Shop, click Build Sims, then Build or Clone Sims. Find your sim and select them from the list. Make any desired changes, then press Done Building Sim to save the sim how you want them.

3. Packaging 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 list of sims. 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. Then click the checkbox at the bottom to Accept and save your sim as a sims2pack file.

You'll get a message saying that your sim was saved to your computer's Desktop with the filename you gave it. That sims2pack file is the file you will upload when sharing your sim at MTS.

Packaged sim confirmation dialogue

Tutorials - The Sims 4

Pets - Animals

Packaging your pet

1. Save

Save the sim as a household, by clicking the button at the top right of the Create-a-Sim screen.

Note: Sims (including pets) in TS4 are saved as households rather than individual sim files. If you are uploading a multi-sim set, you may want to consider separating each sim into a separate household. This way the downloader can easily choose which sims they want, and households can be merged by the downloader if they want to combine two or more one-sim households. If you have made a household with multiple sims and want to separate them, save it first so all your sims are saved, then remove the extra sims, and save the household again as a separate file.

2. Finish Save

3. Find Household Files

A) Open the My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Tray folder. B) Click the button at the top right to bring up the folder view options, and choose Details. C) Click on the Date Modified header to sort by date. D) There should be five files that have all the current date and time (when you saved your sim). There will be one .householdbinary file, one .trayitem file, one .sgi file, and two .hhi files. Don't worry if these files have different icons than shown (icon doesn't matter). Select all five of these files. These are the five files that you will need to put into a .rar, .zip, or .7z file to upload to MTS.

Tutorials - The Sims 2

Pets - Animals

Packaging your pet

Pets born in-game: To package a pet that was born in a litter in-game, load the lot with the pet you want on it, then have a sim pick up the phone and call the pet registry to register your breed. It will be saved so that you can access that pet as a breed in Create-a-Pet. You can now proceed to step 3.
Pets created in Create-a-Pet: If your pet was created directly in Create-a-Pet, click the "Save Breed" button on the Choose a Breed panel.
Package the pet: After you have saved your pet's breed, click the "Package Pet to a File" button on the right of the Choose a Breed panel. Your pet will be saved to your My Documents\EA Games\Sims 2\Packaged Sims folder in a Sims2Pack format.

Tutorials - The Sims 3

Lots & Housing

Packaging lots

Sims3Packs

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.
Lots are saved to the Exports folder: My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Exports

Package files

Select your lot and click 'Edit Details' to give your lot a name and description.
Click the Save Copy to Library button on the lot panel.
Lots are saved to the Library folder: My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Library
Files will be given a name like ebf_0x123456789abcdefg. Though not required, we recommend that you rename the file so it's easier to identify. To do this, right click and rename to something with a unique, identifying name, like username-RedBrickVictorian

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