Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 4th Jul 2019 at 8:25 AM
Default Sims3planet.net is no longer safe
Last month after a break from Sims 3 and a longer break from Sims 3 cc I decided to see what new had been shared and maybe try some old fav's again. An old fav was sims3planet.net. They kept the old cc and was more or less up to date with new stuff and was safe. Not anymore. The site has pop up pages and when you click to download cc it comes down as an executable file This is not safe. Except for the odd program written for Sims 3 it isn't the norm to pack cc as an executable file for Sims 3 or any Sims game for that matter. I also think the site has changed hands the old users do not seem to be there anymore.

Do not download from this site or recommend this site
Advertisement
Lab Assistant
#2 Old 4th Jul 2019 at 8:43 AM
That's too bad. I got so much nice, but sadly deleted CC from there.
Forum Resident
#3 Old 4th Jul 2019 at 11:09 AM
If you're getting pop up ads, aren't you using no script and an ad blocker? You should be.
I don't have those issues when I visit that site. I have had the executable thing happen on the odd occasion - I just cancel those downloads and ignore. Many of the other downloads still work.

♥ Receptacle Refugee ♥
InnaLisa Pose Archive
Field Researcher
#4 Old 4th Jul 2019 at 4:55 PM
Why would anybody use that site who steals from creators and abuses them?

Are you next going to wonder why pandora sims mods make your game broken?
Theorist
#6 Old 4th Jul 2019 at 8:07 PM
Not to piggyback on this thread but it seems relevant--is there a master list of CC out there for Sims 3 that's still "good." There are so many viruses and dead sites and links every time I go to download something. Does anyone know of one place that might be helpful? I usually go to Lana's but a lot of those links are gone or dead or missing.

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers
Theorist
#7 Old 4th Jul 2019 at 10:02 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Wojtek
I use THIS site. There are downloads for TS3 and TS4, all categorised. You can also search the site and each download page has links to the original site and a backup copy of files in case the author's site is unavailable.



Is it a safe site? I actually wound up on some site after I posted here (kept googling and getting other sites bringing me around the web) and it had a ton of links but it's off someone else's blog. I feel like I would be cheating putting up his or her exact information.
Maybe we can start a thread again (there was one) of active, safe sites. I fondly recall one site I used to visit that had tons of links from all over the world. The good old days..

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers
Mad Poster
#8 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 12:23 AM
I've noticed some sites like Blogger and Tumblr occasionally get a random download even if I don't click anything. I've got auto downloads blocked (+ ad and popup blockers, AV, and various other protective measures), so they only show as a "do you want to download this file?" line for a file with a weird name (and I always X them out), but it's still a bit scary when it happens. Could be a browser issue. It's very random and happens once or maybe a few times that particular day on that particular site, and then just stops happening for a long while. It's happened less than 10 times the past couple years. I don't know what those files contain, and I'm not interested in risking anything by downloading or opening them.

Maybe something similar is happening to you?

A lot of sites have been closed down the past few years, so be a little careful with which ones you visit. If you're not sure, maybe do a Google search, and see if the search says something about the domain name (if iti does, chances are it's not safe to visit). You can also use the Internet Archive (wayback machine) - it archives most sites quite well, though not forums where you have to log in. It occasionally has troubles with archiving downloads.
Instructor
#9 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 1:22 AM
There's nothing wrong with the files, the ones that show up as executables were simply archives missing an extension. Manually renaming them to add .zip/.rar (didn't seem to matter which one) fixes it and they can be extracted as usual. Ran them through the antivirus and all before testing in game. They work.

No comment on the popup thing since there are about eight billion free options available to block them.
Forum Resident
#10 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 1:49 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Giga
Why would anybody use that site who steals from creators and abuses them?

Are you next going to wonder why pandora sims mods make your game broken?


I think it's a perfectly valid option to download CC that has been sadly deleted or lost. I'm sure anyone would prefer to download from the original creator if possible, but sometimes the links are outdated or broken, or the creator has vanished from the community.

I don't personally agree with taking someones content and re-uploading it to your own site while they're still active and creating in the community, but many people share abandoned CC amongst themselves.

♥ Receptacle Refugee ♥
InnaLisa Pose Archive
Field Researcher
#11 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 1:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Oh.... I don't know... perhaps because 90% of the WCIF are found there? Jackass creators who keep only 1 link to their work and then carelessly abandons them is why we have WCIF.


How is a creator a jackass for even allowing you to download their content in the first place? Did you pay money for it at some point or no? Did you help that creator at any point? Or do you just execpt free stuff for yourself with a click of a button?

Also, those people do not just do WCIF, they stole active creators stuff too and profit from it.

Jeesus Christ, you people are ungrateful.
Top Secret Researcher
#12 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 3:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Giga
How is a creator a jackass for even allowing you to download their content in the first place? Did you pay money for it at some point or no? Did you help that creator at any point? Or do you just execpt free stuff for yourself with a click of a button?

Also, those people do not just do WCIF, they stole active creators stuff too and profit from it.

Jeesus Christ, you people are ungrateful.


I think people who create content want people to download their content. And you never know who might donate to those creators, buy them a coffee or pizza like they ask for on their webpages. One should not assume.

There are several creators (won't name names) who begrudgingly put their content out there then expect gobs and gobs of money for it or have a brain aneurysm if they find out someone altered said content in any way shape or form even tho they don't state that in any sort of TOU. If you want something in return - don't offer it up for free to begin with.

nitromon is talking about the ongoing WCIF thread here at MTS.
Field Researcher
#13 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 6:42 PM
Quote: Originally posted by KatyFernlily
I think people who create content want people to download their content. And you never know who might donate to those creators, buy them a coffee or pizza like they ask for on their webpages. One should not assume.

So I can assume nitromon has donated to all these creators back then and now is mad because he cannot redownload his purchase? Because that is about the only time it is justified to call a creator jerk. Not when the CC has always been free and now is gone. You are never entitled for someones work, even if it was free.

Nitromon is defending people who are using sims3planet, not WCIF. And also calling creators jerks that put out their work for other people to download in the first place. Just because they lost interest (i don't blame them, people are selfish and entitled, this thread is a good example of that) and have removed the link does not warrant namecalling. Nor it doesn't justify sites like sims3/4planet stealing and profiting from their creations. I also mentioned earlier that the site is not only using creators who are long gone but creators who are still are here, trying to fight sites like that from stealing and then getting abuse from thiefs.

But sure, justify this behavior all you want. Good way make to way sure that these creators don't make the mistake of sharing other stuff but instead leave the community entirely.
Scholar
#15 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 9:12 PM
that Russian site makes me blush with a shame, because of my completely rusted Russian in which I was quite fluent like 30 years ago
//shame! *bell ring* shame! *bell ring*

overall; guys I suppose even on PG-13 site we can safely say: some things need to be taken with a bit of caution and reason, you know e.g. safe browsing, that thing.
Use script blocker and ad blocker. For privacy's and safety's sake using TRR would be a not bad idea too, in firefox: [ https://wiki.mozilla.org/Trusted_Recursive_Resolver ] check your browser status: [ https://www.cloudflare.com/ssl/encrypted-sni/ ].


favorite quote: "When ElaineNualla is posting..I always read..Nutella. I am sorry" by Rosebine
self-claimed "lower-spec simmer"
Undead Molten Llama
#16 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 9:56 PM Last edited by iCad : 5th Jul 2019 at 10:09 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by ElaineNualla
that Russian site makes me blush with a shame, because of my completely rusted Russian in which I was quite fluent like 30 years ago
//shame! *bell ring* shame! *bell ring*


Duolingo, my dude! I went to the Russian site that Wojtek linked to just to see what it was like and was quite stoked to find that I could read much of what was there without translating the page. It was Duolingo's Russian course that I'm about halfway through that is oiling up my Russian that's accumulated ~30 years of rust.

On the ethicality of the site: I'm with nitromon in that I'm a firm believer in sharing for free and reuploading in multiple places so that stuff is not lost over time. There seems to be a lot of whining in the Sims community in general about "stealing" things that the creator of doesn't own, which is totally the case across the board with all Sims CC. If it's in .package (or .sims3pack or whatever) EA owns it. No one else. Them's proprietary file formats, and without that formatting your lovingly-handmade-from-scratch meshes that you totally didn't lift from some other game or borrowed bits of from EA's or other people's meshes or flat-bought/got from Turbosquid or whatever and textures that you painted every single pixel of and totally didn't use any pictures you found online and whatnot are useless in terms being of able to put it one's game. Sure, you might "own" such meshes and textures by themselves, but when you stuffed them into a proprietary-to-EA file format you ceded your copyright in full to EA. That is explicit in the EULA you agreed to when you installed the game. In short, no one can "steal" from you what you don't own.

That's said, it's completely crappy to reupload someone else's freely-offered work and stick the link behind an Ad-fly type thing so that you make money where the original creator didn't/doesn't. If that's what's going on on that site, that's not cool. But reuploading in general? That's a good thing. I'm fairly new to playing TS3 in any serious way, and I have to say that I've been enormously frustrated by finding something I'd really like to have but not being able to find a working download link. I guess I'm just spoiled by TS2, where even though it's an older game with, now, fewer dedicated sites, stuff's been archived well in various places. Maybe I just don't know where the good TS3 archives are, though? I'm going to be looking further into both sites, at least...

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Undead Molten Llama
#17 Old 5th Jul 2019 at 11:00 PM
Yeah, well, I'm 'Murican, and while there are some pretty big enclaves of Russian immigrants here and there in the States, Russian isn't a language you hear too often, and even if you hear it it's not similar to English, so you can't figure out what's being said. Spanish is widely spoken and depending on where you live you might hear a lot of Hindi, Chinese, Korean, and Arabic. But not a lot of Russian. I learned some Russian because I did some teaching over there a long time ago, but "Use it or lose it" is a thing, and I have very little occasion to use it. Duolingo's fun, though.

Anyway, thank you for the link to the Sims-New. Right off the bat, I found some longer hairs for males, which I haven't found a lot of otherwise. And I'll check it out further when I have more time. And I'll keep poking around looking for active TS3 archives with working links.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Field Researcher
#18 Old 6th Jul 2019 at 12:42 AM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Before I answer that, I should point out that I myself am creator and a game modder. So my comment is from the perspective of a fellow creator and not simply a "downloader."

Sims3planet may hosts other creators' work without their permission. But they had always credited the creators and their names are always on there. I do not have a problem with them or any sites like them. It is not as though they took their work as their own or are they moneterizing it.

And that's all I gotta say about that.

Lol, you have bunch of houses. If that makes you a creator, the bar is low. In fact, then we all are creators. Who hasn't made a house? BTW, I'm also a modder and create objects etc. but seeing this kind of entitlement on MTS puts me off from ever sharing anything execpt with friends.

Also, that's a lie. Sims3/4planet monetises their downloads and no dot always credit people. https://pitheinfinite.tumblr.com/po...planet-they/amp But since that's all you gotta say, so guess the truth and the morals don't matter to you. Just the "art of sharing". Never mind namecalling other people.

@iCad Why on Earth would I listen to EA's Eula? They can put anything in there. They can claim as much they want that they own stuff, but the fact is that it was the creator that made the all the hard work. Also, why was TSR a pay site a pay site for years if EA actually had two legs to stand on? And why do people on patron get away with pay stuff? (btw, I do not care if somebody has paid stuff or not, I simply won't download nor use it. But if somebody else wants to pay for it, it's their money)

Also, this post from @mithrak_nl beautifully summarises how EULAs and TOS are not above law. Just like any kind of contract. Your boss can say in your contract that he will pay you $1 dollar even if the minimum wage is $15. You can sign it and start working. Then you can contact the ombusman and get your rightfully earned $15 because your boss is not above the law, even though he really wants to be. And let me even not get into how shady EA is with its microtransactions and loot boxes claiming that they're "surprise mechanics".

To me it is absolutely ridicious that I see this EULA exuse being used as a reason to direspect creators and their work, especially if the CC was free in the first place. If you're frustated that the CC is not there anymore, idk, why don't make your own then? That's what I do.
Undead Molten Llama
#19 Old 6th Jul 2019 at 3:12 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Giga
Lol
@iCad Why on Earth would I listen to EA's Eula? They can put anything in there. They can claim as much they want that they own stuff, but the fact is that it was the creator that made the all the hard work.


Because it's a licensing agreement? Because it's the thing that's actually legally binding when it comes to copyright claims, if anything ever came to legal blows? And also? Sims creators don't always do a lot of "hard work." Many times, they buy or steal or download meshes from sites that sell/offer them for free. Often, they take them (not always legally) from other games and convert them. They will use pictures they find online for textures, ones that they may not have legal license to use. They may pirate software to make whatever it is they make. But even if NONE of that was the case, even if they poured years of blood, sweat, and tears into making a single item completely from scratch, NO creator is entitled to break licensing agreements just because they put in a lot of work on something.

You speak of people not being entitled to free downloads (and I agree), but by the same token creators are not entitled to break a licensing agreement that they signed off on simply because "Hey, I worked hard" or "Hey, I spent money to buy this mesh" or "Hey, I hate EA, so screw 'em." Note that I say this as both a Sims creator (who has made more than houses, thank you, and in any case I think nitromon was referring more to the programming he has done, outside of Sims stuff) and as a person who, IRL, has a significant chunk of her income coming from royalties, residuals, and revenue from licensing things to which I hold (legitimate) copyright. I don't care if you don't think EA's EULA is worthy of respect. You can have that opinion all you want, but the fact of the matter is that the law is not on your side, and if it ever came to legal blows, the law would thoroughly trump your opinion on the subject.

Quote:
Also, why was TSR a pay site a pay site for years if EA actually had two legs to stand on? And why do people on patron get away with pay stuff?


Because there's a thing called "Return on Investment." It takes cash to advance legal proceedings against individuals and companies. Lots of it. Especially if it requires international action as, say, suing T$R would, given that EA is a US company and T$R is a Swedish one. In order for it to make sense to put in that cash, they'd have to expect that they would be awarded more money than they would expend and, in all likelihood they would not be, so it is not worth it to them to use their legal department to advance legal action against some folks using Patreon to sell CC or even against T$R in its bad old days. This IN NO WAY negates the fact that they own their property and have the right to expect that end-users (that's all of us) will honor the agreement they freely made by installing EA's game on their computer even if they never enforce that agreement.

However, it ought to be noted that T$R changed their business model precisely because EA threatened to bring down the hammer on them because, I would imagine, they had started to make enough money that EA might actually expect a return on investment if they sued them. That's why T$R "went free." It wasn't out of the kindness of their little hearts. Also note that EA has officially stated (on their official website, though not -- yet? -- in the EULA, so it's not yet completely legally-binding, but still) that EVERYTHING Patreon creators make needs to be made freely and publicly available after...I think it was three weeks? They likely won't go after people who don't comply -- because, again, RoI, though I wouldn't be surprised if they one day send legal notification to Patreon that their users are breaking EULAs and at that point if Patreon has half a brain in its head they'll summarily terminate those users' accounts -- but because they have said this, EVERYONE is free to share the stuff they've gotten from Patreon with no repercussions, so long as they have had it for longer than 21 days. The creators have no leg to stand on if they protest. All they can do is storm off with their toys, if they want. Which they are welcome to do, and while I might lament the loss of their CC and their talent....Well, if I have any of their stuff, you can bet your sweet bippy that it'll be reuploaded, pronto.

Quote:
Also, this post from @mithrak_nl beautifully summarises how EULAs and TOS are not above law. Just like any kind of contract. Your boss can say in your contract that he will pay you $1 dollar even if the minimum wage is $15. You can sign it and start working. Then you can contact the ombusman and get your rightfully earned $15 because your boss is not above the law, even though he really wants to be.


Um, that's not a good example because if this scenario were to happen in a place where government-mandated minimum wage laws are a thing, then it is highly illegal for a company to pay their workers $1 an hour and they would be in MASSIVE HEAPS of trouble with the Department of Labor or whatever such a governmental department is called in the country in question. Any employer that would do that would have to be suicidally stupid because their employees, past and present, could sue en masse in a class action and win perhaps billions of dollars (or whatever the local currency is) to split between them, depending on the size of the company in question.

And, in fact, this is an argument that CREATOR'S "TOUs" are ridiculous. Why? Because as the property owner EA's EULA trumps their "TOU," and EA isn't breaking any law. At all. Pay creators, OTOH, are on VERY shaky ground. Because EA owns the property, THEY get to decide what's OK and what isn't, not creators, just as the government decides what minimum wage is, not employers. And EA says, in a nutshell, "Sharing freely is all you're allowed to do." Basically, there's a hierarchy of authority in any situation. The government is above employers when it comes to wage standards, and EA is above CC creators when it comes to third-party stuff made for their games. This isn't rocket science.

Quote:
And let me even not get into how shady EA is with its microtransactions and loot boxes claiming that they're "surprise mechanics".


"Because I don't like EA's business practices, I'm/creators are entitled to do what I/they want?" Really? Well, you can feel that way but, like I said, the law is not on your side.

Quote:
To me it is absolutely ridicious that I see this EULA exuse being used as a reason to direspect creators and their work, especially if the CC was free in the first place. If you're frustated that the CC is not there anymore, idk, why don't make your own then? That's what I do.


Well, I do. Not for TS3, but if I keep up this phase of playing the game, I may start. But that's neither here nor there. My question is: Why do you think it's OK (legally speaking, your opinion of their business practices notwithstanding) to "disrespect" EA's licensing agreement when it's not OK to "disrespect" a third-party creator's TOU?

For my part, I will respect the agreement I made with the entity that holds legitimate ownership/copyright of the thing I'm using, regardless of what I think about the entity in question. Period. Just as I want my own property/copyrights to be protected, and I will protect them (and have protected them) by suing people's asses when necessary. I simply recognize that I do not have copyright to anything -- not one single thing, no matter how many hours of work I've put into it (and I have done exactly that) -- that I have made or ever will make for a Sims game, and neither does any other non-officially-licensed third-party creator. I will respect the work they've done, sure, and if I build on it by using their stuff to make something different, I will credit and thank them. But I will not condone them breaking licensing agreements just because they worked hard on something. Just as I will not condone anyone breaking my legitimately-held copyrights. It really is that simple.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Forum Resident
#21 Old 6th Jul 2019 at 12:52 PM
I have absolutely no problems with sims3planet I got ublock origin installed I use firefox the new version.
However I don't find everything on my new sims ru I don't know where is the backup file we talked about in this discussion. I don't speak Russian at all.

I speak French only. If my statements are harsh, rude for you, that's not intentional. I just think Different due to my Language and my Culture.
But truly, I am open-minded than you think of.
Undead Molten Llama
#22 Old 6th Jul 2019 at 4:54 PM
I am fairly certain that EA has always seen CC, whether or not people share it "legally," as a sort of indirect revenue stream that they have to do absolutely nothing to keep flowing. As in, "Oh, people will see a cool piece of CC or mod that they really want to have, but -- oh, dear -- it requires an EP they don't have! Now they have to buy it! Darn, what a shame." Even just keeping their games alive, with large communities who actively play them because of the constant inflow of CC, is enough of a plus in EA's book to justify (to themselves) turning a blind eye on those who sell CC. I'm pretty sure that's how they viewed T$R for all those years, allowing the site to grow in popularity and traffic, weighing the cost of reigning them in vs. what they figured they were getting in free advertising and such. When it got to a point where there was more of a balance in that spectrum AND people were grumbling more and more about the issue of paysites in general, causing bad PR, then it was time for a talk. Now, they still get the free advertising because of the size of the T$R site and its traffic, but without that niggling legal issue.

As for Patreon and whatnot...Insignificantly small fry. Not remotely worth dealing with. No RoI. I'd estimate that, at most, they'll send a Cease & Desist to Patreon and maybe even to some social media sites, letting Patreon et. al. deal with the issue, which they will likely be overzealous in doing just to cover their asses, so those who are breaking the licensing agreement will ultimately, perhaps, damage all of us who make, share, and download CC for Sims game. But, EA'll weigh doing that very, very carefully against the likely PR backlash they'd receive and the damage to the free advertising that they're getting.

So yeah, EA's not some blameless angel looking benevolently down on us. They're a business, and they'll protect their interests when and only when those interests are being damaged enough to warrant action. It's just that, for me personally, I will comply with licensing agreements, however I may personally feel about the company who issued them, because I respect licensing agreements in general, given that part of my livelihood depends on them as well.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Mad Poster
#23 Old 6th Jul 2019 at 7:29 PM
Sims3what.net? Can't be that big a loss if this is the first time I'm hearing of it in my 10 years of playing and modding TS3.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Forum Resident
#24 Old 6th Jul 2019 at 7:34 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Wojtek
You have to be registered in order to download backup copies.


I did it thank you. Unfortunately they are not everything a lot of their links are borken in sims-new.my1 as well as in sims3planet

I speak French only. If my statements are harsh, rude for you, that's not intentional. I just think Different due to my Language and my Culture.
But truly, I am open-minded than you think of.
Undead Molten Llama
#25 Old 6th Jul 2019 at 11:31 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Gargoyle Cat
You can see you why anybody( myself included) would be confused by your posts, right?


Well, in one post I was talking about how EA views CC in general, whether or not it's shared appropriately and in line with the EULA. That CC in general is a form of free advertising for their games. T$R was and I believe remains the largest centralized source of content for all four Sims games. (Not that EA cares about the ones they've discontinued, but you know what I mean.) Therefore, EA will see it as the largest source of that free advertising, which is indeed valuable to them. And I believe I said that they likely allowed T$R to grow and expand on its original business model because that, in turn, gave them more and more free advertising. But, in the end, there is only so much infringing that a corporation is going to allow. When that threshold was approached, I believe there was a conversation had. "Threats" may have been overstating, but in the business world, insinuations of legal action if things are not adjusted can be pretty threatening, especially for smaller companies that can't absorb large decisions against them.

As for what prompted the change, at the time I read in stockholder reports from EA itself some cost vs. benefit speculation about legal action against paysites for their games in general as well as some actions actually being taken, given that I am an EA stockholder with enough shares to have board voting privileges and infringement is a thing of concern to stockholders if it negatively affects the bottom line of the company they've invested in. T$R was mentioned by name -- not specifically what was done but that SOMETHING was done or said or sent or whatever -- and it stuck in my head because...Well, because I hate T$R.

But even just thinking about it logically, T$R was very lucrative for a long time. They wouldn't change that model without good reason nor would they likely have changed it as abruptly as they did. Since they were infringing on licensing, it makes sense that the licensor came down on them in some manner. I agree that EA buddying up with T$R as they did was/is...Well, speaking as a fan rather than a stockholder, I think it damaged them far more than it helped them in terms of fan perception of the company, which was/is already bad in lots of ways. It also, I think, emboldened other paysites that EA would obviously never bother addressing. But, it was the decision that was made. For whatever reason. I, personally, think it was a very bad decision, but of course I have some bias on the subject.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Page 1 of 2
Back to top