1. Introduction
The Sims Lot Manager is a simple utility that allows you to move lots between neighborhoods with just a few mouse clicks. The program has an option to store lots in a storage folder with descriptive file names. It took me many long minutes to develop this program. :)

2. Legal Disclaimer

The software is provided strictly on an "as-is" basis, without any warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, including without limitation any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement or compatibility with your computer hardware or software. The author has no liability of any kind or nature in connection with your use of the software (including without limitation liability for any consequential or incidental damages), and the entire risk of use (including without limitation any damage to your computer hardware or software) resides with you.

3. Installation

The program can be run from any folder. Temporary files and the storage directory are created inside the folder where the program file is located. Because of this the program should not be run from the desktop. I have it installed in:
C:\games\maxis\the sims\programs\LotMan

The program requires the Visual Basic 6 runtime files. The VB 6 runtime files may be downloaded from the following locations:
http://www.tweakfiles.com/misc/vb6.html
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/vbrun6.html
http://download.microsoft.com/download/vb60pro/Redist/sp4/win98/EN-US/VBRun60sp4.exe

You may already have the VB 6 runtime files on your computer.

4. Operation

The programs main window is divided into two frames. The source frame contains the lot, which you are copying from and the destination frame contains the lot that you are copying to. When you select a neighborhood in the source frame the lots in that neighborhood are displayed in the lot list. Selecting an individual lot will display that lot in the lot preview box.

To copy a lot you need to select the neighborhood and the lot that you wish to copy in the source frame. You then need to select a destination neighborhood in the destination frame. The destination lot number is always the same as the source lot number. You can't copy a lot 9 house on to lot 2. (Trust me, it's better this way.)

When a source lot and a destination neighbor hood are both selected, the lot that will be overwritten by the copy is shown in the lot preview box of the destination frame. All that you need to do at this point is click on the "Copy Source Lot to Destination" button. The program will ask for confirmation before performing a copy.

There is a button labeled "Copy To Storage" above the lot list in the source frame. This button allows you to copy the selected source lot to the storage directory. You will be prompted for a file name. The file name can contain spaces, dashes and underscores. Clicking on the Save button will copy the lot to storage while clicking on cancel will abort the operation without saving.

There are a pair of option buttons over the neighborhood selection box in the source frame. Selecting the storage button will populate the neighborhood selection box with a list of storage folders. There won't be any folders in the list if you haven't stored any lots. The folders are created dynamically.

The storage folders are named for the lots that they contain. For example, the storage folder called House09 contains all of the stored lots that go on lot 9 of the neighborhood. (Lots originally named House09.iff)

Selecting a storage folder will populate the lot selection list with the names of the lots that are stored there. If you select the storage folder House09 you will get a list of all of the lot that you stored that were originally named House09.iff. Selecting a lot will make an image of it appear in the lot preview box. Copying lots from storage is identical to copying lots from other neighborhoods.

When you are viewing lots in storage the "Copy to Storage" button becomes a "Delete From Storage" button. Clicking this button will delete the currently selected storage lot permanently. You are prompted for confirmation prior to deletion.

5. Adding Downloaded Houses to Storage Manually

The program automatically creates a folder called storage when it is run. This folder is always located in the same folder as the program file itself. Inside of this folder the lots are stored in folders with the name of the lot that they replace. These folders are created dynamically as needed. You can add downloaded housed to storage manually but you may need to create the folder inside of storage by hand.

Here is an example:
You download a house for lot 9 from Ted's Sim World. The file contained in the ZIP file is House09.IFF. If you have not stored any lot 9 house within the program you will need to create a House09 folder inside of the storage folder. You can then copy the lot file to the folder and give it a name like "Ted's Fantastic Bungalow.IFF". Make sure that the file name ends with ".IFF" as a file extension. The lot will then show up in storage inside of the program.

6. Support

You can find the Lot Manager support forum at:
http://support.simwardrobe.com

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