This tutorial is located on the wiki.

Tutorials:TS3_Sims_3_Apartments^wiki

I'm not sure if I missed something, but how do you build apartments inside the high rise buildings?

Shells are very similar, your just editing the existing buildings rather than building a new one.

To edit the shell buildings you will need to enter the building and enter testingcheatsenabled true followed by restrictbuildbuyinbuilding in the console. This will then let you move/delete walls, add/remove levels, and change windows. Those buildings already have the hidden/public room markers, but this will make those visible so that you can move them around. You still need to have the apts designated for NPCs to have the hidden marker in them, and the lobby as well as the space outside your apt door must have the public markers. The shells come with the trash chute, mailbox and callbox; be sure to not delete them.

I installed Late Night a few days before Christmas and had not really time to enjoy. But the last days of 2011 I gave it a try and was really sad because I had no clue at all how to build there. But with your tutorial it worked like a charm! I've never used the testingCheatsEnabled true not to speak of the restrictBuildBuyInBuildings false. I was always afraid of crashing something. But it worked perfect! Many many thanks for that as great as plain tut! I could build a gorgeous public lounge and change the apartment the way I liked it. It wouldn't have been possible without your help!

Can you edit a current high-rise building already in bridgeport :p

Yes you can, please see my previous post. =)

Is there any way to move in NPCs that I want specifically? For example, say I want a neighbor named Penelope Clearwater to live in the apartment below me, is there any way to do that?

I found this tutorial on Google and it said to ask my questions here.

Should I be receiving "I gotta go, see you soon." messages whenever a NPC resident leaves the lot?

lore715 - You can't choose which NPCs move into your apartment.

FreakAboutSims - I think this is normal behavior when NPCs visit.

I made a custom apartment for my Sims and followed this tutorial. My Sims are able to enter and use their unit, but when I send them home, they don't go into their apartment. Instead they go through the lobby, past the elevator, into the backyard, up the fire escape, and finally stop outside the door of an NPC apartment (which is one level down from where my Sims live). When I click on their front door, I get the action "Ring Bell" as if the unit belongs to someone else, but it is greyed out and says "No one lives here." They don't try to enter the NPC units and will go into their apartment to do things. I didn't mark their door for NPCs, and their apartment has no markers placed inside of it. They will use the door to exit their apartment sometimes, and will enter through the front door as well, except when they "go home." I set all of the interior doors to the NPC apartments as NPC doors and as fair as I can tell using the tutorial, I've correctly used the hidden and public room markers. I did put exterior doors outside of each unit leading to the fire escape, which comes out onto the ground floor in the gated backyard, where I've placed a public room marker. Removing the exterior doors didn't help. The interior doors are within hallways that need to be accessed via the elevator. I placed public room markers in the hallways, and level skip markers on the NPC levels (one unit per level).

I can't figure out what I did wrong. The only thing I can think of is I made their unit two levels, with a staircase leading to the second level. The second level is only accessible from the first level of their unit.

It's not a huge deal, because like I said, they can access their apartment just fine, but it is annoying.

tonlynski, if you can show us an aerial view of the rooms, we might be able to help. It's hard to guess the problem without an image!

Yeah, I should have figured my description alone wouldn't be sufficient enough. Sorry about that; hope the attached images make things clearer.

Well, it seems I did something right, as they're now entering their unit when I send them home. I'm not sure what fixed that since I was removing exterior doors and adding more public markers (I placed some more on the outside, on each level) and was only checking to see if the door still said "nobody lives here" after making changes instead of testing to see where the Sims went when I sent them home. The "nobody lives here" message is still there, though. I forgot to mention before that I don't think any NPCs have moved into the other units, so that's another sign that I screwed up somewhere.

*The level in the second image is where my Sims would go when I sent them home (they'd stop at the top of the staircase when they reached this level).

You have public room markers and level skip markers on the same level. Not sure if this is the issue, but that might cause some sort of conflict. I've never used both because I typically want to ignore those levels completely, which is why I use the level skip. The stairs and fences could be creating two separate areas on the balcony. I know that fence will, but not sure if the way the stairs snug the fence will also do that. You also have a public room marker on the first level of the sims apartment, but I don't see one on the next level above, yet you have stairs going up to it. And there is nothing gating that area as private, which could cause an issue.

Okay, I thought I needed the public room markers so NPCs could go on that level.



I'm not sure if I understand. I tried removing both the stairs and the fences (I assume you mean the fences surrounding the stairs since the balcony is composed from half-walls) since they were only there for aesthetic purposes and nothing changed.



Again, I'm a little confused. The public marker is in what is supposed to be the exterior hallway. I thought I would need one there so inactive Sims could go there (ie. if my Sims have visitors). I didn't put one on the above level because I thought I wasn't supposed to put them inside the unit.

I removed all of the public room markers in the hallways where the elevators are, the stairs inside the unit, all exterior doors, but no difference.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what the public room markers are used for. I just put them in every area that I wanted inactive Sims to be able to go outside of my active family's unit.

Level Skip vs. Public Room - I think your understanding the difference. The public room marker will allow all non-playable and playable sims access and lets you see it. The level skip (afaik) darkens the area just like the private marker, and your sim will skip walking up any stairs or in any hallways that has that marker. If you want to see that area, and direct your sim through it, then I think you can't have the level skip marker.

There is a public marker on the 3rd floor outside your sims apartment but I'm not seeing one on the 4th floor. I know that you can have two doors leading into your apartment from public areas, but it doesn't look like you've marked the 4th floor as public. From all my tests stairs do not act as a wall/fence to enclose an area, you still need a wall/fence/halfwall with gate/door. I think the 4th floor balcony needs to have a public marker. If you removed all the stairs and fences though, this should have solved the issue.

Hmm, my Sims are able to go to the levels with the level skip marker if they take the elevator to that floor, and it's not darkened; I just can't view the levels without focusing on my Sim when they're there. Not that I would ever need them to go there, unless they wanted to knock on a hypothetical neighbor's door.

I see what you're saying about the 4th floor needing a public marker now. I didn't realize you meant the outside. I wasn't sure if I needed any public markers since taking the stairs all the way to the ground floor leads to the backyard, which is fenced and has a gate. But yeah, I deleted the stairs and the doors anyway.

Interestingly enough, I don't get the option to set the front door of my Sims' apartment as an NPC door like I do for the hidden units, even though it's not being recognized as their door (or at least it isn't when I click on it). I guess I should just be glad my Sims are going into the apartment when they go home, but I would like to have other Sims "living" in the building as well for the sake of realism. But maybe there is another reason no NPCs have moved in.

I agree with HL that you should remove the level skip markers- that is probably the reason why no NPCs are moving in- the apartments are being ignored by the game if they have skip level markers there.

Also remember that the elevator shafts should have a public room marker in them too, so that the NPCs can enter the elevators.

If you want to, you could mark your balconies as public space- this will mean that NPCs can enter them, but it will have the advantage that it will reduce the cost of your apartment. Anything not marked as a skipped level, public space or hidden room will be added to the bill! This includes enclosed areas such as hedged flower borders (as I found out). You can test whether you need a public marker somewhere by plopping a marker down and watching the lot value- if it decreases then you need one!


That is correct- you will not get an option to make an NPC door unless there is an enclosed public space on one side of the door and a hidden room marker on the other side.

I downloaded an apartment lot here and everything works fine, except nobody lives there except for my Sim. Whenever I goto ring the doorbell of an apartment, it is greyed out. How do I get NPCs to live on the lot?

This was the lot I downloaded.

Could the problem be that there are no homeless sims? I placed the lot in Bridgeport.

ok So i have built an apartment with the markers and the big building thing and its seems right but I cant get my elevator to work they can go into it and when i click on it it just gives me the option to change the light color or something like and they can woohoo in it but no go up... :/ then also the shell is like the Aquarius so I built the apartment floor and up top in the rimed area and next level is an outdoor bar like place and that's all and the elevator wont go to either of those levels from the lobby i made and I did mark public and the hall and the bar thing I also made public

Did you also make the elevator shaft a public space?

They weren't but i just labeled them public and it still doesn't work. Its something wrong with just the bottom one in the lobby. If I teleport my sim to the second floor I can get to the roof from there but not go down

Edit: okay so I just added another elevator on the lobby and it works fine.... so I don't understand hm..

Hey,
I made an apartmentbuilding but I think I`m not doing the moving of the npc part right because nobody lives there. Do the npc move in soon as je start living there? My version of the sims 3 is in dutch so when CTRL SHIFT click I see other things but if I translate them it says make front door instead of make npc door but the 3 others things are the same.

When I click on the door during live play I cant ring but I can lock it and use it as a front door or not.

And when I decorate my apartment I can look in the other apartments is that normal?

I also see other apartments when I'm decorating mine.

What I'm really have trouble with is the NPC door too. Is it alright to have Hidden Room Marker (inside the house) and the public room marker (outside the house) on the same level? I thought it would be okay.
I downloaded a lot from here and converted it into an apartment(was a good idea when I thought of it.) And I edited the lot and followed the instructions and got the mailbox and all, BUT alas, Can't make the NPC door. I thought moving the door to a new level would help (since the markers where on the same level), but really there would be two markers on every level no matter what. On the bottom level(where I moved the door to) I have it fenced in, but still not really working.(http://i55.tinypic.com/2eurk48.jpg) This is where the door should originally be, but I moved it down a level because I thought it would help..(http://i55.tinypic.com/2u4ltlu.jpg) the garage was there before, but I deleted it and placed the door. Am I a lost cause? ;o

dididodo - Your picture is really hard to see, it would be better if you could attach one taken during the day and bigger. From what I can see it doesn't look like you have the doors enclosed by a fence on the foundation. If you get "Make Front Door" instead of "Make NPC Door" then make sure all doors are enclosed by fences/walls and that your in buy/build mode when trying to assign doors.

globalprincess - Yes you want a hidden room marker inside and a public room marker outside. But it looks like you don't have the doors enclosed by a fence. The door must be enclosed on the same level.

If you look at the second picture in the tutorial you can see the small house is on a foundation. That is enclosed with a fence and gate on top of the foundation, which is the same level as the door.

Hey, I was finally able to make it a npc door, but when do they move in?
Thanks for your help!