Help with sims showing up in bin...

[fox456]

Hello.

I have read through MANY posts and instructions, but I can't get any of the meshes to show up in the Sims Bin.  I've got the meshes in the appropriate Downloads folder.  I have no idea what could be wrong at this point.  I registered about 2 weeks ago and have been reading so much but haven't been able to view one download yet.  Is there any expert here who might be able to recognize the problem or with whom I could chat?  I'd really like to see some of the great creations in action in the game (and eventually try my own hand at some designs).  But for now, I just want to get the downloads working.

Incidentally, I have the main game and the University expansion.

Thank you very much!

[caffeinated.joy]

Well, my first question is to ask you if you're making sure the custom content you're downloading is compatible with the eps you have. Many will require you to have an ep you don't have. This will cause them to not show up in your game.

[fox456]

The only custom content I have downloaded is meshes for actual sims.  I thought I read in more than one place that the EP's didn't really matter when it came to the sims themselves.  Additionally, I remember seeing that they only required the basic sims 2 game.

[caffeinated.joy]

For the sims themselves it doesn't matter, no, but the custom content they come with can be dependant on the eps you have can be. This is because the mesh for the clothing or hair item the sim has may be extracted from an ep you don't have. Also, not all custom sims will come packaged with the pictured custom content, depending on whether the original maker will allow their stuff to be packaged with custom sims. In that case, you'll often find a list of links telling you where to find it all.

Are you extracting them to My Documents\EA Games\Sims 2\Downloads?

This may seem like a well duh thing but I've done it myself. Many custom sims come in sims2pack files rather than zip or rar files. You don't put those in the downloads folder. They're self-extracting files, so all you have to do is double click on them.  I've also found some zip files containing sims2pack files, and have mistakenly extracted them into the downloads folder rather than double clicking on them.

[ancienthighway]

You'll never see the mesh file.  What you actually see are the texture files that have the mesh associated with it.  For custom clothing and hair to be usable, you have to have both the texture file (the pretty styles you see on the various fansites) and any custom mesh file required.  Some downloads include both in the same compressed file.  Others are just the texture and you have to download the mesh separately.

On the other hand, if you are asking about downloaded sims, after those are downloaded they will not show up in the Sim Bin.  You get those into the game by going into CAS and selecting Custom Sim.  Pick the one you want, tweek it as desired, and it shows up in the Sim Bin just like any you've created from scratch.