Using WinZip to Extract Downloads

To use downloaded files in your Sims game, you must first use WinZip (http://www.winzip.com/) or some other unzipping program to extract the files contained in the zip file into the appropriate folder for the type of file you have downloaded. This example shows how to installed a downloaded skin into your Sims game. This example assumes that you have WinZip installed on your computer and a folder to save downloaded files to and also that you have a reasonable knowledge of how to use Windows. If you do not have WinZip installed on your computer, you can download a trial version at the official Site.

After you find a file you want to download, click the "download" link and the window shown in Figure 1 will pop up. You are asked if you would like to save the file, select Save (or Yes depending on your Windows version)

After clicking save, a window like in Figure 2 will pop up asking where you wish to save the downloaded file. Browse until you find the folder you wish to save the file to and click on the save button. This has now saved the downloaded file to your computer"s hard drive.

Figure 2

Now that the file has been downloaded to your computer, we can now begin the process of unzipping it to the appropriate folder in your Sims directory. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the folder where you saved the zip file in the above 2 steps. You will see an icon that looks like a filing cabinet with a vice attached to it. As you can see in Figure 3 it the file has the correct icon and also the same file name as the file we had downloaded from the Skins Database on The Sims Resource.

To begin the unzipping process, we simply double left click the appropriate icon and it will start up WinZip for us.

Figure 3

When WinZip starts up it will display the screen as shown in Figure 4 if you are using the trial version of WinZip. Simply click the "I Agree" button to continue.

Figure 4

WinZip will open it"s control Window. Be sure that you are using WinZip in it's "Classic" mode instead of "Wizard". In Figure 5 you can see all of the files contained within the zip file which you downloaded. These are the contents of the zip file and are the files that The Sims needs to be able to use the skin in the game. There are large icon buttons above the view window, click the extract button.

Figure 5

After clicking the extract button, you will be brought to a screen which asks you to select a folder to extract to. In Figure 6 we see a Folders/drives window. Here you will browse until you see a folder that represents C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Skins. This folder is where you wish to extract the files into. Make sure that the Skins folder is highlighted as shown in Figure 6 and then press the Extract button on the top right of the window. After the files are extracted, you can close the WinZip window and the files will have been placed in the appropriate folder.

Figure 6

Extracting for other download types is done in the same manner. The only different is the folder which you extract to using WinZip as in Figure 6.

Please note that Walls and Floors are NOT zipped. These should just be saved to the correct folder.

File Type Downloaded Folder To Extract Zip Contents To (The Sims 1 Only)

Objects (Furniture and Other Items) C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Downloads

Walls (Files of .wll) C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Walls

Floors (Files of .flr) C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Floors

Houses (HouseXX.iff) C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserdataXX\Houses

(The Sims itself has one userdata folder where as the expansions have multiple userdata folders representing the various neighborhoods)

Animal Skins should be treated as Sim Skins, and go in the /skins folder.

File Type Downloaded Folder To Extract Zip Contents To (The Sims 2 Only)

Please refer to Installing Sims 2 Custom Content for details.