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Original Poster
#1 Old Yesterday at 2:37 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Seasons
Default Domed roof allows weather inside? Possible solutions?
I'll start off by telling you that it's been quite a few years since I've allowed any sort of weather at all in my game, so pardon me if this post comes off as a bit dense... I'm just not used to dealing with climate issues.

The idea behind this lot was to create a "winter hunting camp" for my Native American Sims... a residential lot with enough small lodges to host several small family groups as they settle in for the hunting season, harvesting deer and ice fishing. They would move to the lot for the duration of the winter season, then move back to their permanent multi-family longhouses when spring came. The winter lodges are small, rounded frames covered with cattail mats (see my profile pic). So the first issue was building something with a domed roof, which was a bit less than satisfactory: the lodges - meant to be small to be able to be heated easily - are too small in the Sim world for the curvature of the roof to look right (the CFE method doesn't work so well with diagonal walls), so they ended up looking a little saggy around the edges, as you can see below. Now, it's true - I still at this point had the "no weather on any lot" package installed, but I also had an artificial weather controller running... which is why, although some deco objects are getting a bit snowy (to say nothing of the world beyond the lot borders), there's no accumulation on the ground within the lot - just ignore that for the purposes of this post.


Here's my real problem: the roofs aren't really roofs, but just curved upper floors, right? So, naturally, there's nothing to keep snow from building up INSIDE the lodge. You'll see that, in the lodge on the right, only one of the beds has snow on it... my duct-tape solution was to place some 2-story columns around the lodge exterior, and lay down some invisible tiles on top of them, adding a layer of floor ABOVE the curved upper "roof" floor... and then deleting the columns (but I only got halfway done with that project, hence the unequal snowfall). Perhaps there was snow piling up on top of those invisible tiles (or was there? I forgot to check), but... as long as I keep the view on the ground floor only, I won't notice that.


The odd part is, I only put up the invisible canopy over the one lodge... so how come there's no snow on the "roof" of the other one? Does snow only gather on the ground floor of roofless structures? (I genuinely can't remember if that's how it works) And... if the invisible tiles up above "roof" level blocked the snow from landing inside the ground-level lodge... why don't the curved upper-floor "roof" tiles do the same? And... is there a way to achieve that curved look with something that will actually repel weather?

Finally, just for entertainment purposes, a shot of one of my deco crows from PBK, which - unlike the worm you see him about to snap up - doesn't collect snow, but just turns gray. Spooky!


Although I've now removed the "no weather" package from my DL folder, which will make things look slightly more normal... my main problem persists. Basically, I don't want the snow inside the lodges, but it would be nice to have it land on the domed roofs... I have no idea if that's at all possible. I suppose I could find a snowy-looking floor tile to cover the "roofs", and just keep going with building lots of invisible snow shields... kind of a drag, but maybe someone out there has a more brilliant solution for me.

Thanks folks; I know how much you enjoy brainstorming my bizarre building issues.
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Instructor
#2 Old Yesterday at 11:38 AM
It may need more CFE trick, but making it two-floor can help, I think. The walls of second floor should be lowered(more CFE trick, I said) for you don't want overly tall ceiling. Make sure to place invisible floor tiles over the first(ground) floor to make it weather-proof. By the way, maybe the game does not make a room weather-proof if its ceiling is not flat(and there's no roof over it)?
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#3 Old Yesterday at 10:18 PM
Yes, domed floor roofs do let in the weather. To make weather proof you need to build a second story and CFE it down to 4 clicks. Cover that with floor tiles and then build a third story about that and dome roof that.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Instructor
Original Poster
#4 Old Today at 3:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Yes, domed floor roofs do let in the weather. To make weather proof you need to build a second story and CFE it down to 4 clicks. Cover that with floor tiles and then build a third story about that and dome roof that.


So if the THIRD floor becomes the roof, do I "inverse-dome" the floor tiles of the second floor? Or still do that to the ground-level squares?

Also, will snow accumulate on those 3rd floor tiles, or should I make them just look snowy?

My beard grows to my toes; I never wears no clothes.
I wraps my hair around my bare,
And down the road I goes.
-Shel Silverstein
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#5 Old Today at 3:46 AM
Quote: Originally posted by chitownriverscum
So if the THIRD floor becomes the roof, do I "inverse-dome" the floor tiles of the second floor? Or still do that to the ground-level squares?

Also, will snow accumulate on those 3rd floor tiles, or should I make them just look snowy?


I think you would do that by drawing a wall parallel to your building, I think 1 tile extra on each end. So if your roof is 8 tiles your wall will be 10. Then you draw two more walls on top of that. You distort the ground under the wall then grab the terrain tool and go from that third wall you drew over to the third wall and tiles on your building. You might need to add some floor tile atop that 3 stacked wall if it doesn't want to draw across.

I am not the greatest CFE'R though, someone like Cat @CatherineTCJD would know better.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Instructor
Original Poster
#6 Old Today at 5:37 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
I think you would do that by drawing a wall parallel to your building, I think 1 tile extra on each end. So if your roof is 8 tiles your wall will be 10. Then you draw two more walls on top of that. You distort the ground under the wall then grab the terrain tool and go from that third wall you drew over to the third wall and tiles on your building. You might need to add some floor tile atop that 3 stacked wall if it doesn't want to draw across.

I am not the greatest CFE'R though, someone like Cat @CatherineTCJD would know better.


Cool; hopefully she'll see this and offer some advice. I've also just downloaded this tutorial on wall height reduction by @V1ND1CARE; I'm gonna try a few things from it and see if I glean any insights.
Mad Poster
#7 Old Today at 1:48 PM
Fun!

Here's how I would build it...
Make a 2-story, floored on the first level only, frame.
Turn on CFE, and dig/reverse the dome.
Turn CFE off, and floor the upper level so it is flat - you may have to have added outer "edge" tiles in step one, and then add the tiles one-at-a-time to make it fill in/across.
So, at this point, you will have a scooped ground level, a reverse dome on the first floor, and a flat 2nd floor "roof".
Add invisible flooring to the underside of the flat 2nd-floor roof - so you won't have broken triangles inside later.
Turn CFE on - or use the grid-adjuster - and bring the flat 2nd-floor down to 20 clicks/4-steps above the first floor height. (If using the Grid-Adjuster, you could bring it all the way down to 17 clicks!)
Then - flatten your ground level, which will also flatten your 1st floor and bump up your roof.
Now that your 1st floor is flat, it will stop the snow - and it can be turned invisible so you won't even know it's there... except for lighting anomalies. *sigh*

Now: disclaimer... this was all off the top of my head, but I think it will work.
...If I remembered all the steps correctly - that is how I built this domed chapel: on my blog
And, if you want a completely invisible floor - use mine

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