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Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#1 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 1:35 AM Last edited by RGiles : 18th Apr 2005 at 8:57 AM.
Default Downloads and Betas Move Complete
It took a few days to complete, but moving the files from the old Downloads and Betas sections is finally finished. Yay. With that out of the way, we have a few points to make and a few questions to ask.

Most importantly, did we move your downloads to the right place? The easiest way to see all your downloads and where they’re located is to click the Quick Links menu and then click “My Downloads”. (Pics below) If anything you’ve shared is in the wrong place, please give us a link to it on this thread and tell us where it should be moved to. We’ll get to those as fast as we can. Note one exception… if you had shared a Sim of yourself, it has most likely gone to live in the Self-Sims forum (that is, if we noticed it). Sims of yourself no longer require approval, and have their own little corner on the site.

http://forums.modthesims2.com/attac...tid=53178&stc=1

You can get to the “My Downloads” page for any other member by clicking on their username in any post to view their profile. Thanks for adding this, Delphy.

Another thing we (or at least I) wanted to ask was whether you think it it’s better to have new object meshes separated by type as they are now, or all in one big forum. I like them separated because I think new items don’t get buried as quickly, but hey, that’s me. Tell us what you think.

There’s been some confusion about what the rules are for sharing new items, now that beta items and non-beta items are all in one place. This is my fault because I didn’t update the announcements right away and still have not finished updating them all. This isn’t a complete list of guidelines, but just the stuff that I’ve seen people questioning.

Does your upload need to get approval from the staff before it can be downloaded by others?
For most things, no. The only type of uploads that need to get approval are Lots and items made with Bodyshop (Sims, skins, hair colors, eyes, clothing and so on) which have always required approval. The reasoning behind this is that these are the biggest files we host, using the most system resources. If you don’t want to wait for approval or didn’t get approved, you can still share these items for free on the official Sims 2 Exchange. For all other types of items such as hacks, meshes and object recolors, no approval is required.

Do you need to put “Testers Wanted” in the title of your post for hacks, recolors, meshes, etc.?
No, that’s not required anymore. It’s entirely up to you whether your item needs testing, and when the testing period has ended. If the item you’ve shared does need testing, it’s helpful to say so in the title. If it’s a stable finished product, there’s no reason for you to ask for testers. If you’ve asked for testers in the past and feel that the testing period is over, you can edit your post and remove the “Testers Wanted” from the title.

Why doesn’t a thumbnail show up for your item in the list of threads?
The thumbnails only work if you’ve uploaded your image as an attachment. They won’t work if you’ve linked to your image on another host. This is a software limitation. Also guests or members who are not logged in will not see the thumbnails for any files.

Is there any special section for beta tests at all?
Not at the moment. The Beta Testers section we had previously worked when the site was smaller, but now with people who are essentially mass downloaders, we found that we needed to re-organise it so that downloads where much easier to find.

The idea now is to create a limited access beta area. Modders will be able to temporarily post their work to a group of users who have shown themselves to be good testers and offer helpful feedback. Large complex hacks or modders who share a large number of items may have their own testing forums, if that best suits their needs. Of course for this to work, we need the modders to understand that nothing is in beta testing forever. Your mod may go through many versions, and you want a test of each version before you make it available to the public. Or you may just want to know for certain if your new mesh works with and without University (and later with Nightlife). But at some point there will be a public release.

This isn’t entirely ironed out yet, but if you’re a modder who would like to be able to run a smaller scale beta test before making a public release, please let us know what you think and whatever ideas you have about it.

That’s all that I can think of right now except that it’s really way too hot in my house. :P

RG
Screenshots

You can't use a bulldozer to study orchids.
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Lab Assistant
#2 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 2:16 AM
Thanks for letting us know, the site has been getting better and better over the last few weeks.

Silk stockings, What bliss they recall,
When love promised all, Forever more . . .
Cole Porter - 1954
Forum Resident
#3 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 3:59 AM
rg doe sthat mean those of us who dont get chosen to beta test those objects have to wait? to download that object
Test Subject
#4 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 4:34 AM
I love how it is all separate now. I would always try and find things, and would have to go through tons of other wonderful posts before I could find it. I can browse through the thumbnails so I know what the post is about, makes it easier to multitask as well.

All in all, I love coming here. It's always fresh and enjoyable. Keep up the good work!
Beautiful Girl from Norway
#5 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 7:27 AM Last edited by Nemi_89 : 18th Apr 2005 at 7:40 AM.
Thanks for the uppdate RG... Now give the sausage u'r underpants! (witch sounds verry crazy if u havent read the poll... in that case it will just sound a tad crazy)
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#6 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 7:53 AM
Nemi, I've read it It's hilarious and insane, which is exactly what it should be.

Carly, for the betas it will depend on the type of download, and it will depend on the wished of the creator. People who want to post straight to the public will be able to choose that. Nobody would be required to run a private beta. But a couple of exampes might help.

For some of the large complex hacks, they often go through many revisions, and the author might want to have a limited test of different revisions to decide which is the best one to release. While version 1.0 is available to everyone, they might be testing version 1.1 privately.

Or for something like that kitchen set I'd made, if I could have tested it for 1 or 2 days privately, I could have found out the problem and fixed it before release so that hundreds of people didn't have to download an update. So there would have been a day or 2 more before everyone got it, but they would only have had to download it once.

I don't know yet how many modders would be interested in using private betas, but I don't expect it to be used in most cases.

RG
Test Subject
#7 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 8:32 AM Last edited by Simling14 : 18th Apr 2005 at 8:36 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by RGiles
Another thing we (or at least I) wanted to ask was whether you think it it’s better to have new object meshes separated by type as they are now, or all in one big forum. I like them separated because I think new items don’t get buried as quickly, but hey, that’s me. Tell us what you think.

I don't like it so orgenised because it takes too long to check all of the sub forums.
Also, I would prefer the downloads orgenised by last post rather then first post. That's because people update their objects sometimes and I don't know about it when it's buried. I know there is a last downloads link, but it only shows the threads since I last was in the site, and I don't always check the downloads when I go into MTS2. An other thing about the new downloads link that bothers me is that you can't check only for objects or sim meshes (I don't like it too orgenized, but I don't like it too unorgenized ether).

By the way, there's a picture in your first post that doesn't show up :smash:
Test Subject
#8 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 2:20 PM
Maybe is a stupid question...
but where is the old adult (+18) section?
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 4:16 PM
what about wall coverings and flooring, do they have to be approved?
Lab Assistant
#10 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 4:23 PM
With sims that have been created in Bodyshop, how long is the approval period- 24-72 hours or longer?
Field Researcher
#11 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 8:10 PM
I apoligize to say this but I think the navigation is much harder, since you moved everything around. I am as lost as a snowball in hell, from one visit to the next. The objects I am finding alright but the meshes and clothes downloads are really confusing to me. :confused:

about an hour ago, I was going to download this metalic skin but when I came back I forgot what sub-catogory it was in and I am still looking for it. lol
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 8:42 PM
I love the re-organization...it's more logical now and I have no problem finding anything I'm looking for...thanks for all your hard work!
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#13 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 8:44 PM
Quote: Originally posted by spikesgal2004
what about wall coverings and flooring, do they have to be approved?

Nope. Since those are such small files, I turned approvals off on them. If this causes some sort of a problem, we can change them back to required approval like they used to. But I don't see how it would.

You can't use a bulldozer to study orchids.
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#14 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 8:47 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Ennaedwyn
With sims that have been created in Bodyshop, how long is the approval period- 24-72 hours or longer?

Normally it should be less than 24 hours, I think. We have more people who are able to do the approvals now.

You can't use a bulldozer to study orchids.
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#15 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 8:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by LynnMar
about an hour ago, I was going to download this metalic skin but when I came back I forgot what sub-catogory it was in and I am still looking for it. lol

I'm not sure which one you're looking for, but I'll bet you it's one by Binkl3y.

You can't use a bulldozer to study orchids.
Field Researcher
#16 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 11:45 PM
I think its a lot easier to get around the site I've only noticed one thing....Like under new object meshes I think more should be combined so that you only have 3 or 4, by the time you go threw everyone of them, return the next day, you kinda have to go thru all of them again. It might be easier on the server if one person didn't have to load so many pages every single day. Same thing with new clothes meshes, they are mostly female anyways, now you have to look in different locations to find them all.
Sorry if I didnt explain this right, what I'm thinking and typing doesn't always come out right, but think you might get what I'm trying to say.

Jessica

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work"
Sophisticated Sims
Featured Artist at Spiffy Sims
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#17 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 11:52 PM
My preference (if we can pull it off... we're working on it) is to keep the categories separate so that if I'm looking for a sink or a teen male shirt specifically, I can got and look in the right place for them, but also have a "newest downloads" list for each major category so that you can see all at once what new object meshes there are, what new clothes, and so on.

Do you think that would help with what you're talking about?

RG
Field Researcher
#18 Old 18th Apr 2005 at 11:57 PM
Yes thank you, thats what I was trying to say lol, so you can see all the latest updates so you don't have to go thru all the threads again

Jessica

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work"
Sophisticated Sims
Featured Artist at Spiffy Sims
Test Subject
#19 Old 19th Apr 2005 at 2:21 AM
I like the idea of newest downloads too. Though going thru all the threads again you pick up udates and such.
Lab Assistant
#20 Old 19th Apr 2005 at 8:18 PM
I had just gotten the hang of the first version and than it changed. In a way I like tha new organization but now I have hard time finding the older stuff.
Field Researcher
#21 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 5:58 PM
I like them separated too.. It's so much easier to find things And you guys have done a great job of making the site easier to navigate. It's a lot faster too (especialy uploads) now that everything is in place. I think it's at least 70% better than it was. Thank you so much.....
Space Pony
#22 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 6:21 PM
Why did it have a pop up window asking for my password and username when I tried to come here this morning? And instead of it being http://www.modthesims2 etc... it was http://www.downloads/modthesims

I went into a saved email from here to get here finally
Test Subject
#23 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 7:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by sierradane
Why did it have a pop up window asking for my password and username when I tried to come here this morning? And instead of it being http://www.modthesims2 etc... it was http://www.downloads/modthesims

I went into a saved email from here to get here finally


i had the same thing happen
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 9:08 PM
I like separated categories. It makes it much easier for me to find what I am looking for, initially. I would, however, like to see a list of updated hacks/mods and a separate list for new meshes/recolors. That would be ideal, in my opinion.

Would it be possible for everything to post to a "new items" sub category and then after x number of days, automatically post to the "second choice" permanent home sub category for the item?

Some data bases can be set up with an "if, then" (if date is > than +7 days, then move to "second choice" sub category) search feature, which would automate sorting after the first week, etc. The "new items" sub category would self "dump and sort" in automatic rotation. But the database for this site may not be that sophisticated, so ignore my idea if it isn't feasible.
Lab Assistant
#25 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 1:53 AM
Default Found it!
Quote: Originally posted by Ennaedwyn
With sims that have been created in Bodyshop, how long is the approval period- 24-72 hours or longer?



Here you go I found it for you
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=30589
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