WHY EVERYTHING HAS TO BE IN A ZIP FILE
 I know it's
a pain in the you-know-where for some people, but for technical reasons,
files available for download have to come in what is known as a zip
file. A zip file is something that allows you to put many files together
and combine them under one single file. That way, if you want to send ten
files to your friend, you don't have to send him ten separate files. You
can just put them into a zip file and send it to him or her as a single
file. Whn she receives the zip file and opens it up, she will find all
ten files in there. Think of a zip file as a little mail package that you
can put more than one piece of paper in.
While downloading a zip file is easy, opening one is not so simple.
You will need a program like Win
Zip to open it and then copy it to the right folder on your hard drive. Below is a step-by-step tuturial showing you how to do this.
NOTE: Windows XP users don't need WinZip, because an unzipping program comes with it. However, you can still pretty much follow this tutorial as well.
INSTALLING A HOUSE
Note: Make sure you have downloaded Win
Zip first! You need this program do download and install houses.
Exception: Windows XP users, as you aready have a zip program automtically
installed.
1. CLICK ON DOWNLOAD LINK/ SAVE TO DESKTOP
This will make the file save to your hard drive. Always save it to your
Desktop, so it will be easy to find later on.
2. DOUBLE CLICK ON ZIP FILE ONCE IT'S DOWNLOADED
After the zip file saves onto your desktop, double click on it. When you
do, Win Zip's start up window will fire up. Click on "Use Evaluation Button".
You'll see a new window open up, listing a number of files.
3. CLICK ON HOUSE##.IFF FILE, THEN CLICK EXTRACT
One of these files will be listed as house09.iff or house02.iff
or house10.iff. This is the file of the house you just downloaded.
(In case you're wondering, the # in the name refers to the lot # of where
the house belongs.) Even though this file is now on your computer's hard
drive, it's not in your game yet! You must add this file to a specific
folder on your hard drive to get it to show up in The Sims next time you
play it. You do this by
extracting the file to a place on
your hard drive.
So click on the house.iff file so it's highlighted, then click on "Extract"
in the File Menu.
4. EXTRACT FILE TO RIGHT FOLDER
A new window will show up, showing you a tree list menu of the files and
directories on your hard drive. You must then keep clicking on the folders
until you get to the folder where you want the file to appear, then click
"extract" a second time.
Ah, but how will you know which folder to send a house file to? Easy!
With house files, the place where you send them to is very specific. They
must go under the "houses" folder, located in one of the UserData folders
on your hard drive, under "The Sims." The directory to this folder may
look something like this:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserData#\Houses
The # in UserData refers to the neighborhood you want your house
in. So if you want the house you just downloaded to appear in Neighborhood
6, you would extract it to C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserData6\Houses.
If you want the house to appear in Neighborhood 3, you would extract
it to: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserData3\Houses
And so on and so forth...
5.CAUTION: MAKE SURE YOU ARE EXTRACTING TO THE RIGHT NEIGHBORHOOD!
This is very important to know. Before you extract anything, make sure
you're extracting the house file to the right neighborhood. If you don't,
you might overwrite a current house you have in a different neighborhood!
INSTALLING OTHER FILES
Note: Make sure you have downloaded Win
Zip first! You need this program do download and install houses.
Exception: Windows XP users, as you aready have a zip program automtically
installed.
Repeat Steps 1-4 for Installing a House
However, this time, when you extract a file other than for a house, you will have to extract
it to a different folder than you would for a house, depending on
what type of download it is:
Object files: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The
Sims\Downloads
Skins: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The
Sims\GameData\Skins
Floors: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\GameData\Floors
Roofs: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\GameData\Roofs
Walls: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\GameData\Walls
And that's about it! I know this all sounds intimidating to a lot of
people, but if you're scared, don't be. Installing files is much easier
than you think-- just take your time to figure out the interface and try
this process at least once. You'll get the hang of it!
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