Would anyone else be interested in making a rule about uploading images as screenshots that can be clicked to enlarge? I found the most annoying thing about the foundations contest was having to wait for every massive image on the page to load before I could scroll down to the last post I read....I don't know how to make that little screenshots box though ....or at leat a limit on how big the images are, like make it the normal 800x600 px limit the same as for CC uploads.

If people are gonna be doing maybe as many as 20 images per lot that's a lot of waiting for images to load Also, how about a sliding scale on image amounts eg. maybe 8 is more than enough to show off a 10x10 lot but 20 might be required to show off a 40x40 lot?

That sounds fair. I don't know how to get the screenshots that can be clicked to enlarge. Sometimes my photos would show up in those screenshots and other times they didn't. I even noticed with my last entry that the pictures would change between the large screenshots and the click to enlarge screenshots.

Oh, wow! Great job setting this up! Congratulations to all the former contestants in the Foundations Contest - everyone did great and you were all awesome in helping each other out!
Miss Roxor - Photobucket, which I use, lets you share a clickable thumbnail. That would mean nice small pics, that we could click for a closer look. Is that what you had in mind? I don't know if the other photo services do the same or not, but think it would be a great idea. My PC is not the fastest and sometimes it took forever to check through a contest or chat page, because the pics loaded so slowly. And sometimes you have to travel through the same set of pics multiple times to reach the newest post on that page. Thumbnails would definitely speed up reading through the posts.
I shall have to get to work on a devious foundation for you all.
This should definitely be fun and educational!

First of all... hello everybody! I just joined a few minutes ago.

I second the idea of posting thumbnails instead of big pictures - not all of us have a fast internet connection. I'm using ImageShack and they offer thumbnail pictures, too.

What about this idea: the title picture (a pic of the full house) could be in 800x600 and all other pics should be in thumbnail size - maybe except floorplans. So in that way it wasn't such a big problem if someone posted more than 10 pictures in one post.

I agree that all foundations should be posted in a seperate thread. In my opinion everyone who posts a foundation should clearly state the rules for his/her foundation. Why should we set up rules like what type of lot, what size of lot, what objects used? We don't want to build the same lots again and again, do we? I'd get sick of 30x30 lots pretty soon...

So I'd say general rules for size of pictures, yes. General rules for foundatiion size/type and kind of objects (buy/free/whatever), no. That should be decided by the person who posts the foundation. Maybe a general rule could be that everyone who posts a new foundation should include the following information/rule for his/her foundation:

- size of lot?
- residential / community lot?
- specific theme (or not)?
- objects allowed (cc yes/no, shop items yes/no, whatever)?
- required pictures?
- time limit?
- special additional rules?

Also, I think no one should post more than one foundation at the same time. Which means, everybody should set a time limit for his/her foundation to be build on.

So, that means that the only general rule(s) I can think of that should be made are 1.) size and number of pictures posted 2.) information/rules for posted foundation (see above list) and 3.) limit of one foundation thread per person at the same time.

Can't think of more at the moment.

It would be cool if the foundations creator could set special rules (if they want) on the lot they upload. Like if it's a theme or you have to build two liveable floors.

I'm sort of torn on the limit of pictures. On the one hand we don't want it to be too many and on the other we don't want too few. But I will say collaging pics is encouraged cause you can fit more views of things in fewer images.

About a time limit and only having one foundation per person how would we set that up without having to remove the thread afterward as none of us have the authority to lock a thread?

edited to add:
Ok I posted a foundation for you guys to play with.
Foundational Plan 817

Maybe just put a clear


************************** Time is up for this foundation lolz It's now "closed" ****************************



I doubt people would spam it down after it's "closed" anyway

I agree to use thumbnails except for one screenshot (maybe the front view) and think that 20 pics maximum should be sufficient


I also use imageshack for uploading screenshots, I can definitely recommend it. You can just copy the thumbnails for forums and paste them directly in your post. You can also specify wheter the thumbnail should contain image size informations or not before uploading the image.

I would also favor not to have free/pay content restrictions, except when a creator of a foundation specifies it, of course.

I am trying to organize my downloads, but with some things it is really hard to distinguish between pay and free downloads and I do not want to re-download 20 gigabytes of cc

Ok I guess I'm just going to have to throw my hands up and give up about the CC thing lol
Like someone else said if you intend to upload it here make sure you don't use pay content in it.
Also bear in mind you may have others begging you to upload something cause they love it and simply HAVE to have it lmao

I guess when you want your limit to be up on a certain foundation you've posted you can edit the thread title to indicate it's closed before posting another.

Instead of closing a thread so someone can post another foundation, why not say a person is limited to 1 foundation a week or month. Then as new people come to the group they can feel free to download and post pics of any foundation they work with.

I could be on board with each person only posting one foundation per month. Everyone is throwing out different suggestions and to be quite honest it's mind boggling trying to figure out the best route to go on some issues. lol

One per month is a good idea Keeping in mind there is maybe 10 people who each post a foundation, 10 foundations to work with is quite okay for a month

I also figure that maybe there are some who may not post foundations of their own and just download others to build on lol

3 or 4 is quite something to spend time building!

Greenlea: Don't get to overwhelmed. This is a new group and a new idea to boot. As you see ideas you think are keepers edit your first post and add them. This may be a social group, but someone needs to be the final word. Considering you started this group, it should be you and I think all will agree with this.

I do thank-you for starting it.

I edited the first post to add some things. And you're right it's brand new and it'll all get sorted eventually lol

Would it be ok to make the same foundation for both TS2 and TS3 in the same thread? I think it could be interesting to see how that would turn out. I don't know if I could make one or not, but if I do, does it matter if I have EPs and SPs?

I like the CC restriction, it makes everyone use their own creativity instead of someone else's talent. The use of CC and other rules can be specified by the thread starter.

Yes! If anyone sees a Sims 3 Foundation and wants to replicate it in Sims 2 by all means go for it. I don't have Sims 2 installed at the moment but whoever plots out the Sims 2 foundation can attach it it in the thread.

I like the restriction to a point as well but there's quite a few who wish to use custom content. It was different with the contest as you got a bonus for no custom content and only using EA things but here I feel it might ought to be a more relaxed environment.

I'm so glad you made a social group for this :D

I like the idea of having pictures of TS2 and TS3 houses in the same thread. I no longer play TS2 but I'd love to see what others come up with using that version.

About the thumbnails thing... I use photobucket and on the couple of occassions I've posted thumbnails they have appeared as thumbnails but when you click on them it redirects to my photobucket page instead of just enlarging them on here...am I doing it wrong? I've seen people post them on here so they show up in a neat little box titled 'Screenshots'. How is that done?

Also, about pay content: Is there not a MTS site rule that you cannot post a pic that shows pay content? If so then this group might be breaking site rules by allowing it....I'm too tired to look it up now though, goin to bed

Oh, another thing, group pages are moderated so couldn't the thread starter just ask a mod to close the thread when it's time is up? As long as it's not hapenning every day I don't see them having a probem with it.

I've done the thumbnails bit on some occasions too, ended up on my profile page. What I usually do instead is create my own thumbnail pictures, as in resize them myself. And just link those pictures to the bigger ones. Because I don't want that stupid free advertising for Imageshack or whatever and also the "size dimensions" all over the picture

About that MTS site rule I'm not sure cause I hadn't seen anything around that said that. I just know pay content isn't allowed in any uploads. I may go to the section where people post game pictures and see if it says that anywhere.

Also the thread closing is a non issue now. We just discussed having a limit of 1 person being able to post one foundation per month to build on. Works better that way I think anyway because anyone who comes along later and wants to join would be blocked out of our previous foundations if the thread were closed.

*ETA
I done some looking around and didn't find a rule about pay content in pictures. If anyone else does find such a rule then please direct us all to it lol

I knew I didn't just imagine it ...Pictured pay content ...but I think you're right and I just remembered it wrong, this seems to refer to pictures of stuff you're uploading, should be fine to just have it in pics

I was under the impression that it was not supposed to be used at all in pictures. Should be a can get what is pictured without having to pay, but I may be wrong.

Also, Kaospilot, I can't remember but are you uploading your R4 entry? I loved it.