How do I get miffy-made stuff in my game?
Firstly, you need to download
and install the evaluation version of Winzip from http://www.winzip.com
. During installation select the option to install in Classic Mode. Once you've
done this, open the zip files that you've downloaded from here in Winzip &
press extract. Select the appropriate folders from the explorer menu in Winzip
to put your stuff in:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Walls
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Floors
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Roofs
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\UserObjects
Do not do this while the game is running, otherwise you will encounter problems. Really you will.
Sometimes, I might put two or three types of small item into one zip file to save you having to download lots of stuff. All you need to do in this case is open the folder you downloaded to, and make sure that you move any files ending in:
Although you will find decorative roof items in many of my sets, they do not go in the roof folder. They are decorative items found in buy mode (outdoor, misc or decorative depending on what the item is) and they go in UserObjects like normal objects.
Miffy, I have never used folders before. How do I get to them and will I mess up my game?
I have written a guide for absolute beginners, which can be found in the link below:
Miffy, how do I get your houses into my game?
Houses are installed from my site by using folders. You will need to put them in the exact lot in the neighbourhood you want them in. You will also need to have downloaded AND unzipped all the objects first, otherwise you will get the dreaded "missing objects" pop-up and the house will look significantly different from the one you think you downloaded.
For the original "The Sims" game they go in: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserData\Houses
For the expansion packs
they go in:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserDataXX\Houses\HouseZZ
where XX is the number of the neighborhood and ZZ is the number of the lot.
For example, if you want a house in Neighborhood 3 - Lot 3, it goes here: ...\UserData3\Houses\House03.iff
DO NOT put a house intended for one lot into another lot (ie. a lot 2 house on a lot 4 plot). This will give you no end of grief and will give you error messages and/or crash your game. Some sites irresponsibly recommend "safe" ways to do this; believe me, DO NOT do this under any circumstances. I do not recommend over-writing your original houses either. You can safely rename them first (I usually rename to OriginalHouse01.iff) and then if there are any problems with your download, you can put back your original house at any time.
What expansion packs do I need to use miffy-made objects?
I would assume that all my objects require at least Livin' Large, House Party, and Hot Date to function properly. It has been widely discovered in the sim community that for someone making objects who has HD on their computer, renders all objects even if they are cloned from pre-HD packs to need HD to work in the user's game. It would appear that HD makes all user-made objects non-backwards-compatible. You may be lucky, but you won't know until you have bought and placed the object and gone into live mode before you find out. If the object disappears into thin air (taking all your hard earned simoleans with it) luck is not on your side.
How do I contact miffy?
Well, I am a complete and utter EMail hater, so at present I simply don't have an EMail address. But I virtually live at The Sims Resource forums, so if I am not online when you want to talk to me, I most certainly will be soon. Leave a message for me there either on the forum or by using the free Private Message facility and I will reply as soon as I see it (but not by EMail)! I have a guestbook here, but it fills up so quickly........
What do I do if I have
a problem with a download?
Let me know by contacting me privately at TSR. I'll do my best to fix it or find someone else to help me. However, please note that I am very new to TMog, and some objects are released with some bleeding / placement problems that I cannot fix in my current state of knowledge (curse those z buffers, curse them).
General Game Problems
Can't use the phone?
Car pool doesn't turn up?
Sometimes, you may find you have downloaded a house with a missing portal. This
can happen very easily if you or the house creator use the Move Objects_On cheat,
or the cheat for resizing a lot. Also, moving the trash can and the mailbox
onto the lot removes them if you bulldoze the house. These will cause you major
game problems, such as not being able to receive visitors or call the fire brigade.
To get replacements, you can download the trash can or mailbox here: http://www.drislink.com/slink/thesims/simfurn
And portals here: http://www.drislink.com/slink/thesims/object07.htm
Miffy, you mentioned
cheats.....
If you want a list of all the valid cheats, check out the best birdy on the
web's "Complete Cheats". Every cheat has been tested and completely
documented. Want to make your Sims invisible... it's there. Want to find out
why your Sim is standing around scratching his, umm, head? It's there. Even
the Money cheats! You can find the link in the Help! section of The Rooke's
Nest: http://members.aol.com/therookesnest/
Thanks to you, Mif, my
fireplaces are now turning into plants and my stairs are turning into windows.
OK, don't panic. This does not seem to happen to everyone, but to those it affects,
it seems to happen when you have more than 100+ downloaded objects in total
build mode categories. Having LL and/or HP does not affect this either - it
seems to either happen to you or not. Again, some people who have either HD
or the HD patch are affected, some are not. It also appears to be just the items
cloned from the original The Sims game which transform in this way. The item
you place when you select something else is the one you have "too many"
of - for instance, if your fireplaces are turning into plants, you simply have
too many plants in build mode. Obviously you can delete some plants if you really
want to, but you don't have to thanks to this simple fix:
Firstly, you need to go download the Transmogrifier (commonly known as TMog, among other less complimentary things!) from The Sims Transmogrifier (version 1.4 free download). You don't need a magic cookie unless you intend making your own items.
In TMog click on the item
you want to change.
Click on Edit and then Edit Definition.
Go to Function Flags and click on "General."
Go to Room Flags and click on "Miscellaneous."
These are the only 2 things you change to put the item in Buy Mode, you don't need to change the Build Mode type. You can do all build mode objects in this way, except columns which for some unknown reason sometimes don't support the surrounding tiles any more when changed.
Some notes to note: If you sell your house, the items you have put in buy mode will disappear along with all the furniture. This is not a problem for me as I tend to demolish houses, but this could well be an annoyance for some. Again, if you sell your house, the buy mode items will disappear along with all the furniture. However, I believe that the money (minus the set depreciation value) for buy mode plants would be added to your sims' total assets unlike with build mode plants.
