So, recently, someone on reddit asked a question about installing sims using Clean Installer, and since it's been like literally 15+ years since I've downloaded a sim to install and don't have any of those Sims2Packs hanging around, I came here, went to the Sims section, and downloaded a sim off of the front page of the newest downloads so that I could remember what it looks like when you try to install a sim with Clean Installer.

Except... the sim that I downloaded was a .package file, and not a .Sims2Pack. I thought, would putting this in Downloads even install the sim? Is this a legal way to upload a sim to MTS?

I checked the guidelines. Turns out this isn't a legal way to upload a sim to MTS. I thought, maybe this person uploaded a few sims the proper way a long time ago and got queue bypass, but then they forgot how to do it when they returned to the game recently. Nope. They have uploaded nine total sims, and all of them are in .package file format.

So, are uploads still actually being moderated before being posted? Is the moderation queue a thing of the past? I'm just a little confused, here.

As far as I know, the moderated upload queue is still going, but, as I understand it, the queue moderators assess the upload on the basis of the pictures submitted by the uploader, and the text of their proposed presentation post. However they don't actually download the proposed upload, so they may never see what's actually inside the compressed .rar or .zip file.

It might also be relevant to point out that while it is (usually) possible to see what's inside the compressed files by looking at the Information tab when viewing in "New Style", when viewing in "Old Style" (which is still the default), it says to use the Magnifying Glass to look inside the files. But the said Magnifying Glass was removed some time ago. So, if the queue moderator in looking at the proposed upload in Old Style, the only way they can see inside the compressed files, is to download them.

I should really mention, that I now find myself constantly switching between "Old Style" and "New Style" when looking both at members' profiles and at downloads. Some things are shown better in one, while other things are shown better in the other. I really have to look in both "Styles" to see everything clearly.

I suppose I really should post about this in the "Site Issues" forum.

I'm surprised that Moderators don't download the uploads. How do they know if they work otherwise?

But I know that the moderation queue is really backed up. I have queue bypass and one of my uploads only just lost the 'this upload hasn't been checked yet' tag. I uploaded it in April.

Some of them don't work! I've come across ones where people have uploaded the .package file from their Projects subfolder rather than the one from SavedSims. So they worked in the creator's game, and looked OK in the pictures, but they'll never work for a downloader. Some of them have been not only thanked, but also favourited. Admittedly these were old uploads, and some on SexySims, but still! On at least one occasion (a red adult male "communist" jacket with a hammer and sickle on it), I worked out what Maxis mesh it was it meant to use, and made it into a project of my own, so I made a working version which I uploaded as a comment to the original download thread.

I haven't read up on what the moderation queue allows, but looking away from that for a second, it is possible to share a sim as only package files (CC included), as long as the sim HAS been made or cloned in Bodyshop (Sims extracted via SimPE don't work the same way unless they've been cloned in Bodyshop).

There's no difference (that I've noticed, anyway) between the files inside a Sims2pack, and outside of it (pre/post packaging), other than them usually getting a new date stamp when you install them via the Sims2pack.

You shouldn't share sims that have been extracted but not cloned in Bodyshop, though. It's a bit like sharing those Project Package files. They don't pack with CC in Bodyshop, and they might cause some trouble ingame (although probably not).

The "safe" sim format is the 8+8 digit filename, something like "6ef152c6_24c85eca.package" - if it looks like anything else, it's most likely not a Bodyshop template sim.





The only reason those files work in the uploader's game is because they've imported the files to their SavedSims folder and didn't knnow those were the files that actually work. The Project files don't work in anyone's games (not even for the one who made the files). They're just templates for files, meant to be reused or thrown away. You can salvage textures from them, but that's all they're useful for if you don't have access to the proper files. It takes however long SimPE needs to start to check if these are valid files (they lack resources). Clean Installer marks them out, too.

Could be a mistake by the moderator, or perhaps the upload was made before the current rubrics were implemented? You can report these uploads.

I think sims as a .package file should work if you place them in the Saved Sims folder.

Thanks for reminding me. That's how I did it. It was this Communist Jacket by El_Froggo. Neptun7878 couldn't get it to work, and, when I looked at it in SimPE, it was obvious why it wasn't working. I extracted both the texture and the alpha layer from the file that El_Froggo had posted, Then I made a new project using a base game outfit, that was based on what looked like the same mesh, changed the textures to the ones I'd extracted from El_Froggo's file, tested it in CAS, and it worked. So I posted my version in the comments, so future downloaders can actually get a version that works. What is clear though is that, whoever reviewed this back in 2006, must never have opened the file or installed the jacket, or they would immediately have seen that it didn't work. It must have been assessed on the basis of the supplied picture, which does look OK. I don't know if today's queue moderators still work this way.

I think it would be a good idea if a mod could add my fixed version to the Files tab, so a future downloader will see it straight away instead of having to search through the Comments. El_Froggo's original version will never work for anyone, except perhaps himself.

Having made (or fixed) it, I couldn't resist making a Sim to wear this communist jacket in my game. Here he is:

That's where Bodyshop puts them, so yes, they work fine there.

They also work fine in the Downloads folder. I put all my (regular) downloads, including sims and all their belongings, in the Downloads folder. Have done so for ages. It's also usually where Clean Installer installs them to, so I don't see why they shouldn't go there.

I prefer keeping SavedSims mostly empty. If I have anything in there, it's recently made Bodyshop sims I keep forgetting to move elsewhere (they show up without CC when I'm low-CC testing mode, so it's mostly because I don't currently know who they are ), and perhaps the odd file from a project.