Mod The Sims - Game_Help:Installing_Lots_Multiple

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Installing the Same Lot Multiple Times

Many Simmers find a style of house they like playing with, but do not want to rebuild for each family.

In order to use a house on multiple lots (even in multiple neighborhoods), you need to:

Build the house that you want
Once you have the house built and decorated to your tastes, save it and go back to the neighborhood. DO NOT move a family in yet!!!
Once you are in neighborhood, Select the Lots and Houses button
Click on the house you just built
When the information comes up for the lot, Click on the Package Lot icon
Select Package to File. The game will package the lot and tell you the name and location it is stored.

Once the lot is packaged, it becomes a .sims2pack file and can be installed as many times as desired.

Make sure you move the .sims2pack lot outside of PackagedLots and install it from there. Lot files still in PackagedLots can not be installed.

Note: This is not needed in later EPs. Lots will not disappear from the lot bin once you place them in your neighborhood.
Note 2: Rather than the steps above, you can open your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\LotCatalog folder. Select all the files in that folder. Right-click and choose "Properties" to bring up the properties window. Check the "read-only" box to make all of the files in there read-only. Then click OK.

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Thanks to daysies for the original article.