Lexx - I won't bother argueing with you. I could do the same with a wall of my flat and achieve the same results. I've seen your "discussion style" over the past few years and I have neither the time nor the nerves to do your routine of "posting-the-same-stuff-over-and-over-again-until-the-other-is-fed-up-and-quits". I simply don't care.
However you infered that people who do not use mods are not "true" simmers in a very underhanded way. This is what I object to - the steady (more or less hidden) imputations that modders are somehow "better" and that people objecting what goes on at AAA aren't "right in their minds". I don't take this kind of cr@p from anyone. You don't want to cross me? Then think before your post and look at the choice of your words. Nuff said ... and I am still diplomatic.
tater - If I'm not completely mistaken the software Maddox Games used to create maps (commonly known as "Mapping Tool") is a commercial product of some obscure russian company. Maddox Games licensed its use so "opening" it or parts of it may have been out of question right from the start.