The files available for downloading on this site are often compressed, meaning they are condensed into smaller files more suitable for transmission over the Internet. After you download a compressed file onto your computer, you must extract the data from the compressed file before you can use it. Below are some programs which are useful for extracting compressed files available here on the Maxis web site.

Macintosh files are compressed into .sea files and then encoded with Binhex into .sea.hqx files. These can be extracted using StuffIt Expander from Aladdin Systems. Visit Aladdin Systems' StuffIt Expander page for instructions and to download the program.

PC files are compressed using the .zip format. Aladdin Systems Stuff It Expander for PC will handle .sit, .sea, .hqx, and .exe files as well as .zip files. Download StuffIt Expander