I only use those when I'm creating a "dated" kitchen.

No CC is no cc. If it didn't ship with the game, it is CC. So, the Stories stuff is cc (as much as I love it and use it all the time too!)

As for defaults... so long as it doesn't completely change the look, I'd say it's OK. Most of the ones you mentioned would be fine - except maybe the water shaders (but it is so dang pretty!) and build recolor/defaults (that's the fun of noCC building... nothing matches!) However, if the judges look at something and say - hey that is CC! Then you will get marked as using CC, and not get the bonus. So maybe, if in doubt, leave it out.

In case I wasn't clear - that is a definite NO on recolor/defaults and water shaders. They change the look too much to call it not CC.
"Fixes" - like the ceiling light and halfwalls - are fine.

BUT - remember - CC is ALLOWED! You just won't get the bonus. .

Oh maaaan! Even if you start rehabbing one now?
Maybe you could fill in as a Judge, or Emergency Judge?

Thanks for the clarification. I have a no-CC game folder for building but hadn't thought to take the Stories bundles out of the Bins folder before I went on my first renovation spree. Sure enough, once I load in again, some of those walls have become blank - I hadn't been trying to use them but they creep in! I'm trying for the no-CC bonus in the first round but will probably use CC in at least one of the renovations.

Grid adjuster and two-step foundations? I'll leave all of that to the more skilled builders - I keep finding things I can't change without making things go very wonky indeed. Feeling very glad of the undo button and amazed by our host's advanced building skills!

LOL - You must be working on the Strangetown Adobe. It will go very wonky indeed if you mess with the pool area.
Each one of these houses has a little "quirk" - just to make it fun.

Remember - the 'undo button' is your friend!

Advanced building skillz are NOT required at all for this contest! I mean, have all the fun you can (for me, that's where the fun is) but really, this contest comes down to rearranging rooms and decorating.

Aww still 5 more participants are wanted.
Maybe that's fine since we don't have eleminations?

I see even five with eleminations could have been fine. Likeone elimination per round and full pedestal at the end.

We don't OFFICIALLY start until May 3rd... and the first renovation isn't due until May 10th.
So we still have plenty of time.

I am preparing to present these houses as my "Friday Upload" - so it will hit the front page (MTS) and Tumblr, and Simblr then. And we shall see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed that we get enough participants.

Those are quite boring. Would be better to share your renovations. Because potential participants can spam their joy playing in sandbox with houses "officially published".

We need to lure them here so i think renovation houses and link to this thread can do better at advertising.

Oh I've kept my renos CC free so far. But if water shaders and defaults are considered CC, I may as well just use CC for my full builds. I'm not taking out my terrain replacements or shaders for this. 5 bonus points is tempting, but not that tempting!

Sorry! But the beautiful water and "fixed" matching furniture make everything look 100% better.
So, that's not a fair comparison to a completely CC-Free game. Which is why the completely CC-Free gets the bonus.
It is really very difficult to make plain old, vanilla, cc-free, look impressive. Some builders make it look easy - it's not.
But, if you can do it, it is totally worthy of extra bonus points!

I might be wrong... but I think most everyone is building with CC.
Don't stress about it, just have fun!

I think most simple way is to turn off CC in settings. No needto move all Downloas folder. At least that's what I plan to do.