I believe there are several. I've been using Q-Xpress for quite a while with no problems. The following is a link to the tutorial about it. You can find the Q=Xpress of at Mod the Sims 2. http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Q-Xpress
Yes try 7-Zip which is a freeware utility that unzips 7 different types of compressed files. Official 7-Zip Website It's what I use. WinRAR is a pain in the arse, because it asks you register and/or pay every time you use it. You don't have to pay, or register, but clicking away the reminder is a nuisance. However Windows based computers don't come with built-in support for RAR files so you will have download something to deal with them ... sorry. Avoid WinRAR and be one small additional vote against dumb corporate insistence on ownership of what should be open to all. (Without stern notices, which serve only to intimidate those who don't know all the background.) [My views are mine alone and no-one elses. The World Sims website does not agree with my views merely because it allows me to publish them.]
thank you so much, guys. yeah, i heard that you didnt have to pay for winRAR, and i've heard about the annoying messages... but just to be sure. again, thanks!
LOL ... well yeah, but then you have to go through the irritating procedure of navigating to the folder to extract to ... and then go into the extraction folder anyway to make sure that you haven't also gotten ReadMEs or installed Sims2Pack files. Not to mention verifying that needed meshes were actually present in the compressed file .... So I'll stick with being the sort of klutz who prefers drag and drop cos I can see what I'm doing that way.
I have winRAR and I downloaded the free one (you get 40 days of free winRAR). When my 40 days are over I'm planning on uninstalling it and downloading the free one again. Dunno if it will work though. Plus, I've had winRar for a while now and I've got zilch annoying messages.
Oo thanks for the link, Lynet! That's going in the 'don't know how to download' thread. Sayaka, if your downloading from MTS2 (it's the only site I know of at the mo that has Q-express) then I strongly recommend that you download it. It's fabby-fantastic!
By the way, Q-Xpress has a tab called Local Install. I have a folder on my desktop called New Downloads where I put everything, including downloads from other fansites besides MTS2. Rar files or zip files, it doesn't matter. In my Q-Express, the Local Install tab allows me to browse for that desktop folder, and since I always use that folder, it looks there automatically now, (but I can change it if I want to, at any time.) Anyway, all I have to do is click on the Install button. Effortless. No brainwork required, which is fine with me. A minor P.S. I have downloaded so much, I sometimes download duplicates of what I already have. Q-Xpress won't catch that. If I suspect I've got a duplicate, I extract it right into the New Downloads folder and simply do a copy and paste of the pkg to the game's Downloads folder. If it's a duplicate, I get a message that it's a duplicate. Oops. Delete, instead.
um... another little problem. after you 'local install' some rar/zip files, is it supposed to show in your EA/Sim2 2/Downloads folder?? cause mine isn't showing, so i thought there might be a little problem.
Yeah, that sometimes happens to me too but they still turn up in my game. Have you checked if they show up in your game? If you search for them in the DLs folder (if you know the name of the DLed object/s) then they will hopefully appear. It worked for me. If the object/s don't show up in your game then we do indeed have a little problem..
You must also make sure that what was in the zip file was a package file and not and sims2pack file. See the downloads tutorial in the FAQ for more info on that. With FAQ links every darn where I am no longer prepared always to post direct links to articles.
