Cliffside Retreat - On the Edge

Greetings to one and all,

Well I though I might share with you this rather unique house perched on the side of a cliff.
It is suited to a location that has a road near a steep drop off, as the road is on the upper side of the lot.


Lot Details:

Lot size: 5 x 2
Cost: $158,880
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2 Full
3 Partial (toilet & basin only)
Garage: 1

Due to Garage you will need to have Nightlife.
(I also have University, but dont think I have used items from that EP).

The lot is furnished including a sports car in the garage.


Realism Issues:
On arrival the car drives to just off the edge of the top concrete dirveway then disappears. It then emerges from the

hillside straight into the garage. The reverse is true for a vehicle leaving the lot. Note that you are unable to park on driveway....
park brake wouldn't hold anyway
Explanation... hmmm... must be a system of pulleys and levers operating a platform that is hidden in the hillside :D

To get down to the Main Living area I have used the stealth stair technique, there exists only one modular stair that takes

sims up and down the blink of an eye.
Explanation... It is actually a super fast lift :D

More information Steath stairs can be found at the following links:
SimMasterRalph's tutorials,
http://thesims2.ea.com/mysimpage/up...sset_type=story

And Working Elevators by pierrepaulpaquin
http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/sto...&user_id=931091



Custom Content:

The lot is packaged with one custom recolour done by myself for a darker version of the gray fieldstone.
Otherwise it should contains no other files or hacks. (checked with Clean Installer).


Custom content used in the lot but not included in the file are various items of furniture from the Grand Trianon collection

created by The Dream Team.
This includes the following:
Poster Mirror Bed
Poster Mirror Armoire
Poster Mirror Light
Poster desk with Hutch
Poster mirror High Dresser
Night stand
Bedroom chair
Lower Loft bed
Upper Loft bed with Ladder
Mirror Bathroom - Suspended
You can find all the files at the folllowing location:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=76172


I have also used but not included with the lot the invisible driveway and drive way extension posted by roddyaleixo
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...75&page=1&pp=25
(This is a great way to get driveways of any flooring type).



Camera angles and zoom levels

Due to the nature of the lot and its large slope the live mode camera can be a bit temperamental.
Also you will find that you can not zoom as closes as you could on a flat lot.
I am using the GunMod's Camera Mod 3.1 settings which can be found here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=97642
(I might have a play around with the settings at some stage and if I find any way to improve the camera I will post it here).



A bit more background to the design

I have created a few terrains that have a distinct lack of flat ground because I find it more challenging to design my houses

on sloped ground.
The game defaults however keep any lot’s slope pretty tame.
I am not sure if you can place this lot with standard settings, and if you find you have the dreaded 'red' no placement

allowed under the lot in your neighborhood view you might need to adjust some settings to gain access to more locations.

To maximize the places available for lots you need to edit the Neighborhood.ini file.
To make it work in all your neighborhoods you need to change the neighborhood.ini files in the following directories, (if installed in default locations):
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Sys
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 University\TSData\Sys
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSData\Sys

Its helpful to backup the file first in case you mess things up

Open each neighborhood.ini file with notepad and look for the paragraph that begins with the words [LotPlopTunables]
My setting at the end of the paragraph is:
MaxLotSlope=80.0

And to stop the lot becoming too flat when created in the [SmoothingUnderNewLot] paragraph I have changed the value to:
SmoothingTalusAngle=35.0
(Probably dont need to do this one if you prefer gentle changes in your lot terrain).

Dont forget to save the changes after your done.

Boatnana’s post has a few more details of allowing lots to be placed on bigger slopes:
Change max slope value **Update Dec 14, 05**
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=47544


So nothing left to do but to see the pictures...

Enjoy !

Created by Duds at MTS2
Feel free to use the 'thanks' option to the left, makes me feel wanted :D