Uploading Renos to the Gallery

orenjiAi

Hi! I'm new here so I don't know if this has been asked before.

I find myself having the most fun (and frustrations) when I am building. Some people have a ton of creativity when it comes to these builds. And I applaud them for that. But as for me, I prefer renovating rather than building from scratch. (This is really close to what I do in my irl job too.) Sometimes, I chance upon cool looking builds and then gut and renovate them to my liking.

So I would just like to know what the general consensus is for uploading renovated works to the gallery? Would it be just fine for me to do? Or is it a no-go? I'm not trying to take credit for other people's work, I mainly just want to share my interiors.

Thanks in advance.

NorthDakotaGamer

I upload renovations. It will always have the original by tag.

A_Mom

I think it’s also nice to give the original builder’s creation a shout out like “this is a renovated/remodeled/redecorated version of @joebuilder’s “Crafty Cottage”.

orenjiAi

Alright! Thanks for the replies @NorthDakotaGamer @A_Mom I'll do just that.

MDianaSims

A lot of gallery builders use their name as hashtag in the description, so you could use that as well, especially since @ tagging doesn't work on the gallery.

Atreya33

The name of the original creator will be visible as well as yours. So everyone can see who created it originally.

I have also uploaded renos, mainly because I don't want to loose them, should my hard drive or pc crash. I usually change the description and mention the original creator in there as well as the changes.

Repo

There is nothing wrong or against the rules with re uploading builds. It's fine as long as the original creators name is still on it. However, be careful to read the description of the build. Some creators ask that their creations not be re uploaded and some will get angry and yell at you if you do so. Acknowledging the original creator in the description is a really nice thing to do, too.

Chazzzy

Unfortunately everything about this game has been turned into a real-life money maker. You’ve got people uploading builds and if they get a certain number of downloads off the gallery, their YouTube subscribers could go up which could mean more people are watching their monetized videos and then ka-ching! These are the people who want you to “give credit in the description” or worse, not reupload them. They’ve ruined the gallery experience. They are the ones who will report your builds as being “too similar” to theirs and may get your stuff removed. It’s really ridiculous. Why is everyone trying to make money off this game? Why can’t we all just play it and enjoy it without looking at this game as an opportunity to line pockets? Smh

I say download whatever you want, make whatever changes you feel like making, and reupload it mentioning no one. It shouldn’t matter.

orenjiAi

I think I can sort of understand why others are so protective of their builds. Some just want recognition for having created something they were proud enough to share. They put a lot of thought and effort on these. They must have worked hours to make it look just right. The same goes for me too. I thought it would be nice if others could also play in the interiors I worked so hard on. But it doesn't help me that the gallery shows the exterior of the build first (and I try to keep their shells intact) so unless I was really specific in naming (and apparently tagging too) I can be easily mistaken as a credit grabber. It saddens me because I'm mainly doing this for fun.

Repo wrote: »

be careful to read the description of the build. Some creators ask that their creations not be re uploaded and some will get angry and yell at you if you do so.

Glad you brought this up since I haven't thought of checking their TOUs. One of the them specifically said that they'd prefer if their works didn't get reuploaded. I might have just dodged a bullet there.

Repo

@orenjiAi , there are also lots of good builders who put up shells and unfurnished houses. Try using hashtag shell, shellchallenge, unfurnished or empty. Most builders that I follow upload shells or unfurnished houses and most are in styles I'm not good at building. When I need something I don't build well, I go look through their catalogs first. I also spend some time randomly looking at new builds in the gallery as some builders don't use hashtags but have some nice builds, or are builders that don't speak the same language as me and won't come up with a hashtag search. I have found a few people to follow that way.

orenjiAi

Repo wrote: »

@orenjiAi , there are also lots of good builders who put up shells and unfurnished houses. Try using hashtag shell, shellchallenge, unfurnished or empty. Most builders that I follow upload shells or unfurnished houses and most are in styles I'm not good at building. When I need something I don't build well, I go look through their catalogs first. I also spend some time randomly looking at new builds in the gallery as some builders don't use hashtags but have some nice builds, or are builders that don't speak the same language as me and won't come up with a hashtag search. I have found a few people to follow that way.

Thanks for the tip! The shell challenges seem good; I guess they are sort of similar to what I do. I’ll give it a try.

Dianesims

Well I don't have a youtube channel, and I don't mind if people want to renovate my builds, as anyway if someone re-uploads your build, your name appears as it says "original by". I don't think it's the case for sims though.
Otherwise, it would probably bother me if people just changed like, a chair and then re-uploaded my stuff as theirs.

Chazzzy wrote: »

Unfortunately everything about this game has been turned into a real-life money maker. You’ve got people uploading builds and if they get a certain number of downloads off the gallery, their YouTube subscribers could go up which could mean more people are watching their monetized videos and then ka-ching! These are the people who want you to “give credit in the description” or worse, not reupload them. They’ve ruined the gallery experience. They are the ones who will report your builds as being “too similar” to theirs and may get your stuff removed. It’s really ridiculous. Why is everyone trying to make money off this game? Why can’t we all just play it and enjoy it without looking at this game as an opportunity to line pockets?

I say download whatever you want, make whatever changes you feel like making, and reupload it mentioning no one. It shouldn’t matter.

AnnLee87

I disagree. This is why I do not share my builds on the gallery. It's not yours to upload! I feel it is a form of plagiarism. I spend hours building and it would destroy me if someone one took it apart and claimed it as their own. I don't care if my name is displayed now. No one looks at that. What another person does to my build may reflect poorly on me because no one can tell who did what. It happened in the beginning of The Sims 4. I uploaded my builds and others took them as their own. One was taken by an youtuber and ended up becoming a maxis favorite or whatever they call it. They only thing they did to my build was put it on a slightly bigger lot and added more landscaping and a path to the back door. Sure now they credit the original creator but that don't fix how I feel. The original creator tag is just like a footnote. Not many read footnotes.

Aine

I always upload edited lots to the gallery, as a safety issue, since I've lost tray files before. I would never try to claim I created it from scratch though.

orenjiAi

I feel that this question would be best described through example. This is from my personal game and has not yet and will not be uploaded to the Gallery without OP consent. This is Just for the sake of showing what I mean with "renovated". If the original builder will flag this post, I will take it down.

Here is GrumpyLynnSims' amazing take on the Foxbury Commons. It's obviously designed with the player in mind and I love them for that thought. They made it so that your sims wouldn't be left wanting if you ever go here to study. This original lot had all sorts of activities to build up your skills like a debate room, an observatory, a robotics lab, and of course the library. I think it has captured the Foxbury school spirit pretty well with all the reds, the banners, and even the makeshift logo. Here's their speedbuild and some photos: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cq8yhwni3Pc





But in MY game, the Commons isn't meant to be an accommodating welcome space for students. It's the university's way of flexing that it's better and flashier than uBrite. It's a large soulless factory whose product is only the finest of the finest in the sciences. And so to better reflect how I imagined it to be, it turned out like this:





I think the renovated Commons interior actually ended cool-looking. So I thought maybe there are others that would want a glass and concrete factory-looking library as well. I'm alright with sharing too. But I do realize that ultimately, this work is a joint effort. Their shell and my contributions. It isn't just mine alone. And I'm not trying to pass it off that way if I were to upload it to the Gallery.

ManakoHime

In the past, when I use to do the same thing, I always asked if it was ok for me to re-upload what I have done, if they said no then I wouldn't do it. If they said I can as long as I gave them credit/put their name up/give a link then that was fine. Some people don't like the idea of re-uploading and that is fine, they are the ones who put in the time to make the lots to begin with.
luckyheather has done some lovely shells and she even does a Shell Challenge, I haven't entered one yet as I am not confident in my building skills just yet but go look them up on the forum and the gallery.

Sharonia

I wish I could find a creator that renovates all the maxis pre-made houses that are in game. Some of them are just awful and not being a builder myself it's a real struggle to deal with some of them during my game play.

Simburian

orenjiAi wrote: »

Hi! I'm new here so I don't know if this has been asked before.

I find myself having the most fun (and frustrations) when I am building. Some people have a ton of creativity when it comes to these builds. And I applaud them for that. But as for me, I prefer renovating rather than building from scratch. (This is really close to what I do in my irl job too.) Sometimes, I chance upon cool looking builds and then gut and renovate them to my liking.

So I would just like to know what the general consensus is for uploading renovated works to the gallery? Would it be just fine for me to do? Or is it a no-go? I'm not trying to take credit for other people's work, I mainly just want to share my interiors.

Thanks in advance.

I do it all the time, renovating, enlarging and doing many other things to my lots and uploading some to the Gallery again. There are millions upon millions of uploaded lots in the Gallery and one only has about 10 minutes before your renovated lot gets hidden in the latest uploads. It doesn't really matter unless you have lots of followers and they get annoyed by it. Luckily I only have about 20 and probably most of those don't still play the game after 6 years. I don't care and as I play on two laptops use it for downloading to the second one easily.

I love taking an old build and seeing what it looks like with new windows, doors and all the other stuff that comes with new packs, even uplifting them with the terrain tools which weren't there when previously built.

Just carry on and enjoy what you do. It's your game and do what you like with it.

CaprianaB

Sharonia wrote: »

I wish I could find a creator that renovates all the maxis pre-made houses that are in game. Some of them are just awful and not being a builder myself it's a real struggle to deal with some of them during my game play.

I don't know about all the houses, but I've seen quite a few in the gallery by Lilsimsie.

AnnLee87

@Sharonia I did renovate all the premade builds into houses. I mostly just gutted the build and kept the outside the same, removing any signage. They are not my builds so I don't share on the gallery. I don't use individual venues. I use the park lot in Willow Creek for an everything lot that I can switch if I need it to be a restaurant, gym or a nightclub ect. The lot has everything built like a downtown with a town square. It can be changed to any lot type. All the requirements are there plus all the skill stuff including a rocketship.

However, lilsimsie does Maxis renovations and shares them on the gallery. She makes videos for Youtube and does live on Twitch. She also has a master save file on her website. There are several others that renovate Maxis builds. Right off the top of my head I can name Plumbella, DevonBumpkin (newcrest only for now he just started his save file), fantayzia and Aveline.

Maxis renovations are a regular thing for lilsimsie. I am sure there are more out there but lilsimsie does it the way the Simgurus do. They are limited by base game plus one pack and how the build performs on low end computers. If she deletes an object she keeps a count and only adds that amount of objects back to the build using all the packs as she chooses. She does not inflate the cost of the build. It's interesting to me to see how she does it. She already renovated many of the Eco Lifestyle builds because she got early access during virtual Sims Camp.

orenjiAi

CaprianaB wrote: »

Sharonia wrote: »

I wish I could find a creator that renovates all the maxis pre-made houses that are in game. Some of them are just awful and not being a builder myself it's a real struggle to deal with some of them during my game play.

I don't know about all the houses, but I've seen quite a few in the gallery by Lilsimsie.

Oh I’m a fan of lilsimsie. I put one of my households in her save file. She fixed a lot of the houses and community lots. She also put backstories for almost all the sims too. It’s turned out to be a truly immersive world. Plus I like how she renovates all maxis match-y. The Britechester world is the only thing I changed myself.