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world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 3:39 PM
Default Downloaders, your opinion please! Your ideal download site?
Put aside everything that MTS is now, and ignore entirely the way we do things at the moment.

Now, imagine the ultimate site for downloading custom content. How would it function? What features would it have? What would it feel like to use? Are there sites (not just for Sims, but for other games, or even just downloading in general) that already do things in a way that you like? Are there features and aspects we currently have that you think would work better if we just changed them in a certain way? Or things we do now that you think are wrongity wrong and should be thrown out?

Tell us what you think - even if it's complaints - as long as you're reasonably courteous. If you are someone who downloads custom content for TS2/TS3, we really want to hear from you! Small ideas, big ideas, and everything in between, we want to know your thoughts and feelings, so we can make MTS the best site it can be!

(And if you're a creator AND a downloader, please chime in on the other thread too!)

my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
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Test Subject
#2 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 4:16 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HystericalParoxysm
Put aside everything that MTS is now, and ignore entirely the way we do things at the moment.

Now, imagine the ultimate site for downloading custom content. How would it function? What features would it have? What would it feel like to use? Are there sites (not just for Sims, but for other games, or even just downloading in general) that already do things in a way that you like? Are there features and aspects we currently have that you think would work better if we just changed them in a certain way? Or things we do now that you think are wrongity wrong and should be thrown out?

Tell us what you think - even if it's complaints - as long as you're reasonably courteous. If you are someone who downloads custom content for TS2/TS3, we really want to hear from you! Small ideas, big ideas, and everything in between, we want to know your thoughts and feelings, so we can make MTS the best site it can be!

(And if you're a creator AND a downloader, please chime in on the other thread too!)


Sometimes, I don't know whether it's just me, but I struggle to use the filter to find certain items. It would be nice to have an easier to use filtering system.

Also, maybe a "quick download" button.

And, again I don't know whether it's just me, but sometimes when I've been searching I see something but possibly don't download it for whatever reason and when I go back to it it may not always be there? Maybe, that's not a website thing though but creators removing their stuff?

Sometimes I download stuff which I've read thoroughly and I ensure that it will be compatible with my game but when it gets to the sims 3 launcher (lots) there's often warning signs to say that it's not compatible or proxies will replace some items. Is there anyway to have a more vigourous search when accepting creations to ensure that the information is all correct? Or, again, would that be something the creators' need to deal with if the downloaders' tell them?
world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
Original Poster
#3 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 4:23 PM
Coley-Stars -

Improved filters are on the plan already and high priority.

What would a "quick download" button do - where would it be placed?

Maybe you were filtering differently? We don't often remove uploads once they're up, so I"m guessing it was either filters or as you say, the creator removed it - we have no control over people removing their own content.

I'm not sure what detection we have on the TS3 stuff - I know for TS2 it was possible to detect EPs included, but for TS3, I think we can only see the patch version the house was made with. That's something Delphy would have to look into, if that's encoded in a readable way in sims3pack files.

my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 4:35 PM
Ever since I started using Delicious,I kind of wish for every website to use its tagging system. Current search system is good, but being able to pick several tags from a bundle, and to pick which tags to exclude from the search, would be amazing.
But then, I can't imagine how long it would take the staff to pick and agree on standard tags, and I can't exactly imagine moderators tagging old entries by hand. And there's lots of downloads posted by inactive users. So as nice as it sounds in theory, it seems like it would be very difficult.
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#5 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 4:40 PM
Well, we do have the Additional Parameters section of the filters, which is sort of like tags - although you can only filter positively (i.e. "give me everything tagged x", not "give me everything except what's tagged y"). And actually we did enlist a bunch of site helpers to go through and retroactively tag all old downloads when we added that system - CatOfEvilGenius is a saint .

Are there other differences between the search params system here and Delicious tagging?

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 6:16 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Nysha
Well, we do have the Additional Parameters section of the filters, which is sort of like tags - although you can only filter positively (i.e. "give me everything tagged x", not "give me everything except what's tagged y"). And actually we did enlist a bunch of site helpers to go through and retroactively tag all old downloads when we added that system - CatOfEvilGenius is a saint .

Are there other differences between the search params system here and Delicious tagging?


I don't think so, no? The ability to pick tags/exclude them is the only thing I can think of that is worth mentioning. Its other strong quality is how fast and easily one can tag stuff, but it wouldn't matter with submitting things, where one has to wait a couple of days for the items to be uploaded, anyway.
(now that I went and took a good look at Delicious, I don't think excluding stuff is actually possible. Or I don't know how to do that. But I still think it would be a very useful feature!)
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#7 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 6:22 PM
I agree - we're also hoping, one day, to set things up so you can view, for example, all sections apart from Lots & Housing, which will be awesome. It's a big job though, and probably a long way off, unfortunately.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Scholar
#8 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 7:13 PM
Actually MTS is my favorite site for downloading because the filters actually make sense and are easy to use. My only complaint is what Coley-Stars mentioned, that sometimes creators remove their stuff. I don't know if that can be controlled (I'm guessing not) and I can usually find something similar elsewhere. But overall I prefer here for downloads over Tumblr, Blogger, TSR, and just about everywhere else.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
bleed-in-ink.tumblr.com
Test Subject
#9 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 7:21 PM
I prefer the site remain dedicated to Sims only. Thank you
world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
Original Poster
#10 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 7:29 PM
efolger997 - Technically, it COULD be controlled, but it's not something that we would want to control, as there have been other sites that don't allow people to remove content once uploaded and they have gotten a lot of complaints about it. As far as this site is concerned, a creator's content remains their own, and if they want to take it down, upload it elsewhere, or make it unavailable entirely, that's up to them. Unfortunate, and we certainly don't -like- when it happens because then links go dead and something nice is no longer downloadable, but we don't want to hold peoples' stuff hostage, y'know? And I don't know of any way around that which balances the creator's rights with our desire to keep the stuff.

Avatari - I think perhaps that part of the first post was misunderstood a bit, as we don't have plans to expand to any other games, but there are sites that host content for other games (like, for example, the Nexus sites that do Skyrim, Fallout 3, etc. content) that may have some good ideas about ways to do things. We didn't want to limit people to suggesting things only already out there for TS2/TS3 sites if they see a cool feature that works well somewhere else.

my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
Warrior Gryphon
site owner
#11 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 8:00 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Nysha
I agree - we're also hoping, one day, to set things up so you can view, for example, all sections apart from Lots & Housing, which will be awesome. It's a big job though, and probably a long way off, unfortunately.


Except this feature has been done for years. You can turn off specific forums going all the way from top level categories down to individual subforums. See http://www.modthesims.info/subscrip...hp?do=downfsubs

Story books are full of fairy tales, of Kings and Queens, and the bluest skies.
Mad Poster
#12 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 8:45 PM Last edited by gazania : 15th Oct 2013 at 4:27 PM.
No-no's on the following items:

-- On a mutli-colored dress, for instance, no "Color 1, Color 2, Color 3" stuff. I might just want the blue color. Out of three items, it's no problem, but out of about 10 or 20 .... I'm no fan of some of the fancier color names I see, but at least I can Google and find out what color "RaspberryBeret" is if I know the name of the original person who came up with the color names. ("RaspberryBeret" is NOT a real color. At least I hope not) I seem to have the luck of the draw; if I guess that I want Colors 3, 5 and 21, those will be the colors I don't want, or they're all in similar shades of red.

If the creator can't do that, for some reason, a swatch showing us what "Color 1", Color 2" etc. look like works equally as well.

-- This should never, never appear on a lot description: "I have all expansions. Use Clean Installer if you do not." Sorry. Doesn't work. Trying to find out which tiny detail on a house belongs to AL is a PITA, and sometimes, even that doesn't turn out OK. I know this from experience with a house on another site, back when I had only the first three EPs. The creator really did try to work with me to find out which item in the house caused the crashing, but we were both stumped.

Fortunately, I don't see that as much here.

-- If an item is an NPC, either the creator or a poster using the comments section should note that ASAP. No need to be snide. I have some NPC customs in my game, and I like them, though I know if I remove them, I will have to reset everything. But a new, naive downloader may not know this. MTS might want to post a warning on custom PT tech sets as well.

-- On another note, in our profiles on the new format, why aren't the SPs listed? Or am I missing something really obvious?

Can't think of much else now. I'll add as I think of stuff.

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Field Researcher
#13 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 8:53 PM
I'd really like to have a way to separate between favorites and things I've downloaded and things I want to download later, like a watch list. For things I've downloaded, I'd like to see the date I last downloaded it and the date that the post was last updated so I can easily see which mods I need to upgrade after a patch or which ones the mod author hasn't worked on in awhile and might have abandoned. Maybe whether or not it's a favorite can show on that same list, and only let you favorite something after you've downloaded it, or even only after a certain time has passed after you've downloaded it so you're encouraged to actually try the CC or mod in your game before deciding you like it. Seeing the last update time on the watch list would be good too, in case you don't want to download something until it's been updated.

Those are the first ideas that come to my mind, anyway!
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#14 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 8:56 PM
yeah an update watcher of some sort would be useful. You can subscribe to the thread but then you get alerted when anyone posts not just the author.

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
Mad Poster
#15 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 8:59 PM
I'm a creator but I don't post stuff here, so I'll just do it from the downloader's side.

Things that I'd want to see in a downloads site:

1) A standardised information sheet about every lot that's in bold and easy to see on the download page, including necessary info. I know this has been done but I'd like it to be more detailed and standardised.

2) The same goes for any download. I want be able to see a lot of different specifications on a form that EVERYBODY has to fill out, such as poly counts, age groups, mesh included (or where to find it), link to their policies, etc.

3) An icon, badge, or indicator that a creator takes requests. They could check this box (a prompt would be nice) and a little badge would go under their username or on their page. Also, little buttons to PM them would be nice.

4) It would be tailored to a widescreen monitor (of course), but with an easy-to-use layout in muted but contrasting colours. Blue on blue is great and the colour blue promotes thought, discussion, and creativity. Green on blue is very hard for me to see. Black fonts would be used - not grey - and in bold when necessary. TBH, just give us back the old look! I still use it, but it was much easier to find things and when I click a link from elsewhere that leads me back here, it reverts to the new layout. I can use the new layout, but it feels to stylised and flimsy and not as robust and "gets the job done" as the old one. I prefer function over form any day, and MTS has always been that site.

5) A better picture viewer and possibly an integrated video viewer on the downloads page, similar to the "classic" one we have (which is not that old).

6) The option to have all pictures load as a page does, instead of when you scroll. I have very fast internet and it is a pain when pictures sometimes refuse to load halfway down the page, or I'm scrolling and the page jitters as new pictures load.

7) Forum-like comments on downloads would make helping people with bugs a lot easier. If somebody is having problems, 8 agree's is better than eight similar (and uninformative) posts about the same problem.

8) An integrated (and completely private) chat system if your friended felllow users were online, complete with formatting (similar to chatango).

9) The ability to sort out content by year in a search.


Angie/DS | Baby Sterling - 24/2/2014
This account is mostly used by my sons to download CC now, if you see me active, it's probably just them!
dodgy builder
#16 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 9:49 PM
I don't usually download much here frankly, what i download is either from Luna with all her fabulous objects and different styles, or TSR with loads of good creators, even though I have to pay for it.

When I do download it's usually mods, and I know what I wanted. I just found out the other day Buzzler had changed the nick to ButtLaser. I search for member and Buzzler, but nothing turned up. Nice if you could let me find Buzzler even if he/she changed the name last year or something.
Field Researcher
#17 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 11:01 PM
Not sure if this is already included, but what would be awesome is if there was a page where you could see recolors/modifications on modthsims that others made of the object you are about to download. For example if you want to download a piece of clothing, there would be a tab that would let you see recolors done by other people.

Another cool feature if it isn't already here would be to have the ability to search for lots and houses that do not have custom content, or that always have custom content
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#18 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 11:06 PM
As a downloader I am very happy with most things.

>I would like a better the search feature. The other day I was looking for the mod that makes those base game lights flush with the ceiling. I know they are here but I ended up having better luck finding the link on Google than I did here! I even put the actual name into the search bar after I had found it and even that turned up no results.

>It would also be nice if large uploads had the items contained in a folder. For example you download a file for a dress and it has 20 different recolour files.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
#19 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 11:11 PM
The only things I can think of is improved search engine. It basically never works for me, but I don't know about anyone else. And if you can track what you've downloaded like TSR does, that'd be pretty nice too.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#20 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 11:33 PM
You can track what you have downloaded goldcherry, it's up there under your user tools.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Former Hamster
retired moderator
#21 Old 13th Oct 2013 at 11:47 PM
Peterskywalker! - You can already see if a TS2 mesh has recolors here on MTS. Look to see if there's a tab, "Related Uploads". If it's there, you'll see recolors listed if any were ever done and posted here.
Test Subject
#22 Old 14th Oct 2013 at 12:48 AM
The quick download button would be really nice on the search results itself. It is would be easy for lazy people to download contents. Also, since some of the items require certain other items to make it work, like a Sim download requires a person to download from other sites its dress/slider content, there needs to be a way to instantly tell if the quick download will actually work instantly.

I always have that problem with downloading and give up halfway of finding the required files over the internet, especially for the old downloads since most of their links are broken.
is going to be a cat when she grows up.
retired moderator
#23 Old 14th Oct 2013 at 2:04 AM
Quote: Originally posted by queeryme
The quick download button would be really nice on the search results itself. It is would be easy for lazy people to download contents.

Considering how often these same lazy people subsequently post in my threads about why such-and-such is the way it is, when I took the time to explain why such-and-such is the way it is and they didn't bother to read before downloading, I'm completely against this.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#24 Old 14th Oct 2013 at 2:53 AM
^ Completely agree with that^ Even though I haven't had that happen very much in my threads I like to read comments in general and so often I will see someone ask about a mesh or why is it this way and can it be converted etc, etc and I think didn't you read the description? Also lazy people are unlikely to see that a mesh is needed if they could download from the search results itself-and what about thanking the creator? How would that be done from a search thread- oh I forgot that 3/4 of the downloaders don't bother to do that!

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Field Researcher
#25 Old 14th Oct 2013 at 4:11 AM
Just a couple little things: When I search, I never want the search to pull TS2 and TS3 at the same time. I can't remember exactly when this happens, but under certain conditions, it does. It's confusing. TS2 and TS3 are entirely different games, they should be differentiated.
I also feel like preview pictures have gotten smaller recently. My eyes are kind of going though, so maybe that's just me.

Otherwise I'm pretty happy here as a downloader, relatively speaking.
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