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Guide: Creating archive files
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Introduction
When uploading to MTS, you need to supply your custom content in the form of an archive, either a ZIP, RAR, or 7z file. This is a file created by an archive program (such as that in-built to Windows or Mac OS) or another tool like WinRAR, WinZip, or 7zip. Compressed files take up less space - which means they're quicker for you to upload, take up less space on MTS's servers, and are quicker for people to download.
A way to create archive files. If you are running Windows 10, there is a built-in utility that can create and extract ZIP files. Simply select the file you want to archive (or select multiple files in the same folder using Ctrl + Click), right click on the selected file(s), the from the pop-up menu go to "Send to" and select "Compressed (zipped) folder".
If you are not on Windows 10, or want a more robust program that gives you more options for archiving files, we recommend 7-Zip. It is a great little utility that can both compress and extract from 7z, RAR and ZIP files. Other programs such as WinRAR can also be used.
Tutorials
Tutorials - General (All games)
Once you have found and (if needed) renamed your files, it's time to archive! These instructions are to use 7-Zip, which is our recommended program. It is a great little utility that can both compress and extract from ZIP and 7Z files.
Select the first file in the list and CTRL-click on any more files that you want to add to that archive. If the files are all in a row, you can hold the SHIFT key and then click on the last file in the list to select all of them at once.
If you have files in a different folder that you want to add to the same archive (for example, another user's mesh that you want to include with your clothing recolour, or files for a lot that didn't package with the .sims2pack), it's easiest to copy those additional files into the same folder temporarily so you can put them all together at once.
With all of the files you want still selected, right click on one of the selected files find 7-Zip in the popup menu, then select "Add to archive...". You will now see a screen appear labelled "Add to Archive". - In the box to the right of "Archive", type the name of your file. Typically the name of the set or item. - Under "Compression level", choose "ultra". This makes the archive file as small as possible. - In "Archive format", choose whether you want a zip or a 7z file. Ignore the other options.
Once the settings are correct, click "OK". A window will pop up that shows the progress of the archiving. Depending on the size of the file this may take less than a second, or several minutes.
Once you've created the archive, it will show up in the same folder as your files. Float your mouse cursor over it and hold it there, and you should see a small white box, which will include the field "size". The file size limit on MTS is 250 MB per file. You will probably never exceed this, except for very large TS3 worlds.
Once you have found and (if needed) renamed your files, it's time to archive! These instructions are to use WinRAR, which can compress and extract from .RAR, and .ZIP files.
Once you have found your files and renamed them if desired, you need to select the ones you want to compress into a RAR or ZIP. Select the first file in the list and CTRL-click on any more files that you want to add to that RAR or ZIP. If the files are all in a row, you can hold the SHIFT key and then click on the last file in the list to select all of them at once.
If you have files in a different folder that you want to add to the same RAR or ZIP (for example, another user's mesh that you want to include with your clothing recolour, or files for a lot that didn't package with the .sims2pack), it's easiest to copy those additional files into the same folder temporarily so you can put them all together at once.
Now, with all the files you want to compress still selected, right-click on one of the selected files and choose "Add to archive..."
When you have your settings set up properly, click OK.
You'll get a window that pops up that says "Creating archive..." and will disappear once it's done. Depending on the size of your archive, this may take just a second, or may take several minutes.
Once you've created the archive, it will show up in the same folder as your files. Float your mouse cursor over it and hold it there, and you should see a small yellow box that pops up, similar to the picture below.
The size will be displayed at the bottom. In this case, the file is 1.70 MB. The file size limit on MTS is 250 MB, so a 1.7 MB file is well under the limit.
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