What is SSoW's Cloning Policy?

Almost everything the Society makes is free to clone: we have a 'Workshop' section with bases, graphics and tutorials to help you out. Objects from the other sections of our site are also usually free to clone as well. The only exception would be when we have ourselves used an object base or graphic from another site: if we credit another creator in the object file, you must refer back to that site for their cloning policy as well. Please link back to us on your site and credit our work. Please distribute creations made on our bases for Free.

For more details please see the SSoW Use and Cloning Policy page

What is the difference between SSoW Bases and SSoW Objects

Virtually nothing. Any of our work may be used as a starting point for your projects. The items in the "Bases" section are simply objects of special interest to Object Makers but have no value for those playing the game. A bookcase with empty shelves, for example, is much easier for an object maker to work with but are pretty boring for the player.

'No EP', and what that means

The Society strives to make our objects accessible to the lowest possible Expansion Pack (EP) or no EP, but we do not do this by reducing all objects to the lowest possible function. Many objects that are 'No EP' can exist in the 'vanilla' Sims game and have some function (like shop displays that are 'browse only') but also retain their function in the expansions, so users with the EP will be able to buy products. In addition, some objects are hacked to look for what EPs you have installed and then play only animations that you have, with no 'missing animation' bubble, while people with higher EPs will have more animations on some objects, like the Disgruntled cashier NPC.

Basic Installation instructions (PC and Mac)

Here are basic installation instructions for the kinds of files you can download from S.S.o.W. The Society creates and tests files on both Mac and Windows platforms, all files are both Mac and Windows friendly.

.iff files are usually object files, and are installed in your game's Downloads folder, or in a subfolder in the Downloads folder. "Object Patches" and "Fixes" are exceptions. Those iff files are not to be installed in your game at all.

.cmx, .skn and .bmp files are 'skin' files, and that includes the 'skins' of accessories your Sims might hold while using one of our objects. The custom drinks from the refrigerated drinks displays in the Market section include skin files for the custom drinks. cmx, skn and bmp files are installed in Gamedata/Skins.

While we do offer objects with 'new animations' the animations we use actually come from the game or the EPs, they are just being used by a new object. So you won't have any animation files to install with our objects. You will need whichever EPs are listed as required to get the animations, even if the base object, like a mirror with new animations, is something from the original game.

Installing and Using Props and Accessories

Props (also called accessories) are small 3D items made of skins and meshes that attach to Sims temporarily. Some examples are the apple a sim holds, the basket ball when a sim is holding it, a hat a sim puts on or the mop that appears briefly when a sim is mopping spills up. These are all made up of skins files and can be installed just as you would other skins in your GameData/Skin folder.

The objects we make often share the same props, so the drinks in the drinks displays of the Shops and Market section, for example, use the same drinks as the drinks in the Well Stocked Fridges in the Better Kitchens section. We enclose the necessary files with each object download: if you install your accessory skin files in Gamedata/Skins, any 'duplicate' files will overwrite when you download a new object that uses the same props. (If you have your own preferred method of handling skin files, you may want to keep all S.S.o.W. accessory files in the same 'subdirectory' so you won't have duplicates.)

Cloning objects that use Props and Accessories

If you clone an object that requires a prop you may include a copy of the prop with your own object. Unless you are changing the prop in some way please keep the same file names. (This will prevent us from having same apple in our games 10 times over.) If you want to change anything about the prop you will need to make a copy of each of the files and rename them. Each recolor of a prop means a new prop has to be made.

All of our props (so far) are copies of Maxis meshes that we have modified (using bodywarp) or recolored.

Expansion Pack compatibility

Downloads offered by the Society are labeled for expansion pack compatibility, so for instance, an object file labeled on the site as 'UL required' or with the UL at the end of the file name requires the Unleashed expansion pack to use in the game.

Here's a key to the abbreviations for each Expansion Pack (EP) , listed in order of release:

• The Sims (TS)
• Livin' Large or Living it Up (LL)
• House Party (HP)
• Hot Date (HD)
• Vacation or On Holiday (Vac)
• Unleashed (UL)
• Superstar (SS)
• Makin' Magic or Hokus Pokus (MM)

Some of our objects are labeled HD+..the '+' attached to the HD means that object requires Hot Date OR any EP later than Hot Date. Many of the features added in Hot Date, like new interest categories, also exist in the later EPs even if you never added HD, so users without HD can use an HD+ labeled object, if you have an EP that came out later than Hot Date.

Since Deluxe was released after the Vacation expansion pack some HD+ may work and some may not. We do not have any way of testing so Deluxe users who ahve not got later expansion packs installed will ahve to figure out whch items work by trial and error. If you find one of our objects do not work please let us know so we can edit the webpage and let others know.