Our intent with SimsUshare is to enable multiple people in your department to create and share simulations, whether through your mobile devices or laptop/desktop computers. This page details how to copy and share simulations.
To get the most from the app, we recommend that you acquire both the mobile app and the desktop/laptop companion. This enables you to:
The simulations you make or load onto your iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad) are stored in a folder called SimsUShare, which you can access through iTunes. Whether you want to put sims on your device or take them off, obviously first you need to have your device connected to your computer (Mac or Windows). Here is a screenshot of where the activity takes place:
To copy your sims off your device, either to use them in the Desktop application or to keep them as a backup, scroll down into the “File Sharing” area. Beneath the box for “SimsUShare Mobile Documents” are two buttons, “Add…” and “Save To…”:
If you want to put the sims into your copy of the Desktop companion application, continue with the following:
SimsUShare
in your Documents directory on your computer. Locate that folder, open it, and then open the “sims” folder. Let’s call the “sims” folder the “target folder.”You will use a similar mechanism as above to load any sim into iTunes, except you first need to zip (compress) your simulation(s) and then choose the “Add…” button in iTunes (pictured above). You have to zip the simulations because they have to go in a specific structure which iTunes does not permit you to control. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
Simulations are stored within a special folder called SimsUShare
in your Documents directory on your device or computer. Use any File Manager app to take a look there, after installing and running the app at least once). On all platforms, each sim you make is contained in a new folder within SimsUShare/sims
, with an alphanumeric name automatically assigned based on the sim name you chose. For example, a sim you entitled “Ranch House 1” (because you are so creative) will likely have the folder name RANCHHOUSE1
, unless that was already in use at the time you made the simulation, then it will have a slightly different name. Needless to say, folder names have to be case-insensitively unique (i.e., no “Ranch1” and “RANCH1”).
That sim folder (RANCHHOUSE1
) completely contains the assets in your sim, so you simply copy the folder to/from your device and computer. Your job is done!
Behind the scenes, when the app starts, it scans your sims folder to organize the sims it finds (you can also choose the menu item “Scan for New Sims”, from menu on the main screen). If it discovers a new sim, it will come up with a prompt asking you if you want to integrate the new sim(s) it found. You can choose to integrate them, or ignore them (it will keep asking you each time the app starts). If you have deleted a sim folder manually from your device or computer without telling SimsUShare Mobile, it will adjust its record of the sims (geeks take note: that list is handily stored in SimsUShare/catalog.xml
, if you’re curious, so please don’t mess that up).
The simplest way to copy/transfer sims among different machines is to use the shared folder feature of SimsUshare. This feature lets you choose a folder to place or copy your sims. Other people or computers you use SimsUshare on can also point this location, and thereby you can share your sims. By default, anyone who points to a shared location can copy, modify, or even delete that sim, but you can setup your network permissions to let others only copy or play your sims (speak with your IT admin about how to do that, and look at our documentation for the details). Typically, you will want to keep your own sims in a private folder and create additional folders in which you copy sims that you want to share.
If you have several people who want to share sims, you may be interested in our Station Edition, which allows any user on a computer to create and share sims.
Here is a video that describes how to set up your shared folders:
Simulations are stored within a special folder called SimsUShare
in your My Documents or Documents directory on your computer. Navigate to that folder to take a look there (after installing and running the app at least once). On all platforms, each sim you make is contained in a new folder within SimsUShare/sims
, with an alphanumeric name automatically assigned based on the sim name you chose. For example, a sim you entitled “Ranch House 1” (because you are so creative) will likely have the folder name RANCHHOUSE1
, unless that was already in use at the time you made the simulation, then it will have a slightly different name. Needless to say, folder names have to be case-insensitively unique (i.e., no “Ranch1” and “RANCH1”).
That sim folder (RANCHHOUSE1
) completely contains the assets in your sim, so you simply copy the folder to/from one computer to the other. Your job is done!
Behind the scenes, when the app starts, it scans your sims folder to organize the sims it finds (you can also choose the menu item “Scan for New Sims”, from menu on the main screen). If it discovers a new sim, it will come up with a prompt asking you if you want to integrate the new sim(s) it found. You can choose to integrate them, or ignore them (it will keep asking you each time the app starts). If you have deleted a sim folder manually from your computer without telling SimsUShare, it will adjust its record of the sims (geeks take note: that list is handily stored in SimsUShare/catalog.xml
, if you’re curious, so please don’t mess that up).