Hello I made a program that downloads .package files for TS2 Automactily. But i have ran into a problem... i have no content to distribute! xD so i was wondering if any creators would like to have their creations used in the beta?
It would be very much appreacted!

I... don't get it. If people want content, wouldn't they just go to a download site and download it? A program that takes it from there and unzips/unrars and puts the .package files in the right place could be useful (like old Q-Xpress) but why would you need creators creations to test?

This program downloads from my server. I wanted to ask creators if i could put their creations on that server for the program to download. I was concerned that the creators would get upset if they found out that i rehosted the creation and that it would be automaticly downloaded to everyone who uses this program. So i was asking for Creators who would let me rehost their creations for this purpouse.

This seems like a lot more work than necessary for creators and downloaders. I certainly would not go to a random unknown site to download content. Plus when things are updated, how is that handled? And you are correct about rehosting. Being file share friendly is different than out right hosting someone else's work. At least to me it is. What about help with the downloads? Support wise for the objects? A creator can only be so many places at one time to support their stuff.

This is a solution where no problem exists. Creators already have practically unlimited space to put their content (namely, any sim site on the internet), and people can already download it just fine (with any web browser). Duplicating stuff on a private server, accessible only with proprietary software, is entirely missing the point. Also, what HL said.

If you want to do something useful, I'd suggest some sort of sims-related bookmark server / news aggregator or something. But then again, there are already bunches of "finds" sites out there that do exactly that .. maybe if you could do it in a more "compressed" fashion that would serve a useful purpose for some.

Not Really, Creator Gives me the ok and the program downloads it.

I just started, i need to make the site not random and unkown!

Now that i haven't thought of i will need to add a updateing system!
Thanks! Being a creator myself, i be more than upset to see my creation on another site without my permmison.
I will try my best to distribute content that shouldent need support. If one should, the user can contact me and i will direct them to the creator of that item. If items would confilct or cause a game error they would be removed from the server and clients computers.

EDIT:
I'm Just trying to make away for simmers to be able to open there game and find something nice without having to search for it.

From the clients' computers? Either the thing you want to do is massively spyware, or you have no idea what you're talking about.

No not spyware, that should requre UAC elevation that the program never asks for.(windows UAC is built-in and it would ask you if the program could access the folders that it would be needed to do that) The Client computer also should have protection from those kinds of things.

In order for what you're wanting to make to be useful, no matter what it is, it has to fill a niche that either is not currently filled, or it has to do it substantially better than existing methods.

There are already big sites out there that have plenty of content so people can find something nice without having to go too far. Here, TSR, GoS, InSIM, and many others. Downloading is easy enough, and the creators who want that kind of exposure for their work tend to go to large sites. There are also a lot of smaller sites, but again, the creators have chosen where they want to go for their own reasons: less exposure, but a different, more close-knit atmosphere. You can't offer either of those flavours with what you're wanting to do because they're already filled pretty darn well. Finding them is a matter of word of mouth and things like the Content Lists, SailorJune's lists, and Finds sites. It's not really hard to find tons of custom content out there - hell, most people are spoiled for choice and have to really try to control their urge to download everything, because there's so much nice stuff out there.

ALL content needs support. All content can be made well, or poorly. All content can have bugs and need fixes. Even if there is nothing wrong, many times people will -think- something is wrong and that needs addressing - if I had a dollar for every time I saw "this crashed my game!" posted about something that couldn't possibly have, I could buy a very nice new PC. Would you pull problem content with one report? Five? Ten? Only if the creator confirms there's an issue? What if the creator's gone? What if content has been stolen from somewhere else - or just part of the textures? What do you do about people who may need help with a piece of content that was removed because it was busted? If you're going to be hosting and serving all this content, these are all things you'd have to have systems in place to deal with.

A download client for a large, well-established website isn't a bad idea. We had one here and it was successful but required a lot of support and updates and thus was discontinued. A download client from an unknown party with very little content available is not going to be popular to start with, which will gain it no popularity to get more content. You're chasing your tail here: to get downloads you have to be popular, but to be popular you have to get downloads. If you -want- to have a popular download site to start this around, you're going to have to make some content and make a name for yourself first (kind of like with whatsherface, Liegenshoes and GoS).

I don't mean to be discouraging here, but..... what plasticbox said. This is a solution where no problem exists.

I'm probably one of the few people in the community who has been there, done that. The Q-Xpress Installer was an effort a few years back to allow automatic download and install from any site that supported it. It wasn't tied to one site - any site could use the PHP API provided and provide .qxpress files for download which the tool would recognise.

The problem wasn't really with the downloading, per se, but more with the tool. All the stuff that HP mentioned - conflicts, problem files, etc, still exist, but above all the people using it are people who have absolutely no experience with PCs whatsoever, and they would ask all kinds of questions.

If you want to burn through all your bandwidth in a matter of days from people using this tool, go right ahead, but honestly, as people have said, downloading stuff from a private server really isn't trustworthy at all. Much better to do it on the website level.

I think doing this for The Sims 2 - a game that is on it's way out - is kind of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. I just think that you are kind of approaching things all wrong.

thanks, Delphy. I guess i could try somthing else.