I have had some (limited) success adding real basements to Bella's Belles Townhomes from AL. It's an interesting test lot because the 4 houses are each at different levels. I was able to create a new level for the lot and then drop that level underground using the GridAdjuster, while maintaining the different heights of the different foundations (and associated basements).

Caveats:
- Some objects move up or down unexpectedly while adding the level, or while using CFE to adjust the elevations in game. Since this occurred even when I didn't actually change the elevation of objects in the LevelAdder, I have to wonder whether the lot has some odd grid elevations or level information. It was fairly simple to pick up these objects and place them down in the correct spot.
- I had some problems creating scaffolding for the CFE to raise and lower the house. Solved by using the GridAdjuster to create properly-sized (16 click) walls. I suspect that the lot has some odd grid elevations due to prior use of CFE.
- Roofs and awnings can appear in the wrong place on the lot until the lot is saved and reentered from the neighborhood view.

What's next:
- Make sure not to move the road when adding level 0. [done]
- Test with lots with minimum level = -1 [done]
- Try adding level 0, level 2, and possibly a level above the highest level, to ensure that there aren't any unexpected problems. [level 2 done; top level still needs to be tested]
- Create a test lot for upload. Minimal EP requirements. Not an apartment lot, since they have known issues with build mode. Possibly add a real basement to an existing base-game maxis-made lot. Play test to make sure that everything's working alright, then upload to see whether anyone else has problems. [done, although I used a townhouse apartment lot]
- Write tutorial for adding a real basement to an existing lot. [wrote some short notes; still needs pictures and more complete descriptions]

Nope. Placing apool into teh living room didn't create the desired effect. Didn't work.., Sure, I was able to put the pool in the living room, but when I removed the pool, the ground level returned to the original level. It did not leave a nice big hole.

I will try to add a new level. What I'd like to do is just add a level in one place. Don't mind the house. The CC is stripped out right now. But you can see where I built it on the ground level without a basement. After building the house, I wanted to drop the living room a couple of steps down. As you can see from the pic. Just dropping the ground level makes the walls slope which isn't suitable for a split level, dropped front room.

(Of course. I can just rebuilt the house the right way, but where is the challenge in that? )

Now I will explode my house with the level-adder. :P

hmmm I get an unhandled exception error when I try to run the leveleizer when the game is going. I have all EP's and Sp's up to Mansion and Gardens.

Unhandled exception error

InvalidArgument=Value of '15' is not valid for 'SelectedIndex' Parementer name: SelectedIndex

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: InvalidArgument=Value of '15' is not valid for 'SelectedIndex'.
Parameter name: SelectedIndex
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.set_SelectedIndex(Int32 value)
at LotExpander.PrimaryForm.Liste_SelectedIndexChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e) in G:\Source\LevelAdder\Source\010\003\PrimaryForm.cs:line 165
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.set_SelectedIndex(Int32 value)
at LotExpander.PrimaryForm.Liste_SelectedIndexChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e) in G:\Source\LevelAdder\Source\010\003\PrimaryForm.cs:line 165
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.set_SelectedIndex(Int32 value)
at LotExpander.PrimaryForm.Liste_SelectedIndexChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e) in G:\Source\LevelAdder\Source\010\003\PrimaryForm.cs:line 165
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.WmReflectCommand(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3082 (QFE.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
TS2GridAdjuster
Assembly Version: 0.3.0.0
Win32 Version: 0.3.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/porkypine/Desktop/Downloads-ea/MOOtildaTestStuff/Leveladder/TS2GridAdjuster.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3082 (QFE.050727-3000)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
simpe.package
Assembly Version: 1.0.2990.38590
Win32 Version: 1.0.2990.38590
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings//Desktop/Downloads-ea/MOOtildaTestStuff/Leveladder/simpe.package.DLL
----------------------------------------
simpe.interfaces
Assembly Version: 1.0.2990.38586
Win32 Version: 1.0.2990.38586
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/porkypine/Desktop/Downloads-ea/MOOtildaTestStuff/Leveladder/simpe.interfaces.DLL
----------------------------------------
simpe.helper
Assembly Version: 0.66.2.38582
Win32 Version: 0.66.2.38582
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/porkypine/Desktop/Downloads-ea/MOOtildaTestStuff/Leveladder/simpe.helper.DLL
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging porkypinevalue set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

hmm.. I 'm looking at the files


________________________________________________


I Can run the utility when the game is closed. I can select the neighborhood and the lot but when I go into the game nothing has changed. When I start the game and run tyhe levelizer. I get the unhandled exeception error.

When the game is going, I only see the neighborhood E001: etc. names, there is no sub content. When I browse for a lot, it also give the unhandled exception error.

Am I supposed to put those SimPE .dll files into the SimPE folder? hmm. that didn't work...

Wel.. Sorry,. I couldn't get it to work. Maybe I'm doing something incorrectly.

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me that there are problems when the game is running. Since I basically stole the initial logic from the LotAdjuster, this bug has to be there as well.

Can you tell me how far you got before you got this message? Did you see the neighborhood or lot selection screens? Were you actually able to select a neighborhood before the crash?

Which level did you try to add? If you add at the very top, you're not going to see anything very interesting... adding level 0 will add a level below your existing house. Adding level 1 will add a new level above the foundation, or above the first floor if you don't have a foundation.

If you want a split level which goes under the ground, you'll have to use the real basement tutorial to push a level underground:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...451#post2172451

Since you don't already have a foundation, you'll have to add two new levels, then push level 1 underground using the "real basement" method. However, you won't want to push underground a full 12 clicks, since you just want the living room to go under the ground a small distance. I'd try 4 clicks, which is the smallest stair available.

You might want to wait until I post the next version, since the version that you're using now can't move objects or roofs. For an existing house, you'll need those.

[Update:]

Actually, I don't believe that a ground-level split will work... there's no way for sims to get from a level above 0 to the ground unless you have stairs, and stairs require a difference in level of 4 clicks or more. So, you might be able to build it, but your sims would never be able to enter the house.

hahaha.. Well.. SOMEthing unexpected happened. lol I'm only using a guineas-pig lot for this effort so I don't care if it sproings.

I ran the utility outside the game and selected level 0 this time instead of 2 and when I opened the game, it raised the walls the the floor and the road up one level, but left the windows and doors at original ground level... So I was selecting the incorrect level when I tried it out of game the first time around.

If I run it in-game -
the TS2LevelAdder 0.3 window opens. I can click Start
It then asks me to choose a neighborhood. When I try to select or browse for anything, it throws the exception error.

But I am not surprised the leveladder doesn't run while the game is going. SimPE and the game don't work at the same time on my computer - the SimPE files are tied into the game files somehow and they don't share well.


Pics below.

The interesting thing is that I can make walls on the new lower floor but I can not insert a foundation.

Ultimately,. I'd like to be able to insert a level in only one room, like to make a split level where there wasn't one before or to add a foundation when the original house was not on a foundation. (I see your comments )

However.... I CAN add a foundation with boolProp constrainFloorElevation false and then the house snaps back to the ground... Hmmm.. interesting... Looks promising. :0) then I can put the whole house on a foundation and make my sunken living room???... I'll try it and report back. :0) the only problem is that the level added doesn't push the windows and doors up. I get the can't intersect other objects error whnen I try to insert the foundation under windows.

This looks very promising. :0) At least a new under level can be added. even if currently it requires a lot of cleanup.

I'll try out the next version when it's ready..

Yes, adding a foundation and then removing a part of the foundation to create the sunken living room is definitely the way to go.

The version that you have doesn't handle objects yet, which is why the windows didn't move. My new version handles objects; I'm working on the logic to stop moving the road into the air.

:0) Ok.. I'll try out the next version.

In the meantime. I used the level adder to install a foundation, However, when I remove the foundation up to the exterior walls in the living room. that was fixed by uysing the boolProp constrainFloorElevation false cheat to insert a short exterior wall.

So,. this will work nicely for builders who know how to use cheats. It will be even nicer when the doors and windows move up. :0) I like this tool. :0)

Hey.. I just discovered an interesting bug. The house had a driveway on ground level with an attached garage. I inserted a foundation level, leaving the garage on the ground but could not place the garage door. When I sampled the placement of the driveway pieces, I see that they are rotated 90 degrees away from the mailbox and road. So,. when the road is lifted, the driveway loses it's reference value.

pics to follow.

The dark blue is the wall level directly on the ground.

I'm exiting to neighborhood view and moving the lot to a different corner. just to see what happens.


Well, as soon as I lifted the house, I can see it does nothing. Hmm.. How to move the road back down. constrain floor elevation didn't do anything.

I got knocked off line by a heavy thunderstorm.

SUCCESS! By moving the lot to a new location. The driveway reoriented itself and I was able to place the garage door. However, I now have the old road hovering above the new road. I wonder how the schoolbus will drive in? upstairs or downstairs? Let me move someone in. I'll be back.. It will be interesting to see if the bus hooks the mailbox or the road.

The answer would be not to the original aerial road. The new family arrived at ground level mailbox. BUT, this was after the house was moved. I'm having too much fun with this, I need to get dinner ready. I'll make anew lot and play with that to see what happens.

Ok.. the driveway orients to the road and when the road is elevated, the driveway turns 90 degrees and doesn't function as far as placing a garage door goes. However a car parked outside the garage door, drives off normally on eh grass.

but the arriving sims orient to the mailbox and will arrive under the elevated road. Now I'll see if a car INSIDE the garage can get out the garage door.

Ok. The garage door functions correctly as long as you don't try to reposition it. The driveway functions correctly as long as you don't try to move it.

So,. The garage door and driveway pieces will function provided players Do NOT try to move their garage doors or driveway pieces. But of course, people who are remodeling their lots will run into this problem.

I'll try to post my latest test version tomorrow. You can specify how high you want the new level to be. All objects higher than a specified height will move up by the size of the new level. The road stays on the ground level, so that won't be a problem anymore. The program now handles roofs and fences correctly. I think that you'll be pleased with the difference between the two versions.

The only thing (that I know of) which might not be working is pools.

To solve the driveway, I'd suggest picking up the lot in the neighborhood view and placing it down again to regenerate the road, then ensuring that the driveway and garage are on the ground level.

It really does seem that being able to add a new level under only a portion of the lot would be helpful. Then, you could leave the pool, driveway, etc. where they are and just add a foundation or basement under a section of the house.

I just downloaded the original test version, so I can play with it after you upload the new version, which I presume means that you will delete the original version from this thread. It looks like it has some *interesting* side-effects. .

Please post about any "side-effects" that you notice, so that we have everything documented.

I may have found the level for the OBJT record; it may be stored in the 3D Array Instance 0x0C; indirectly, via the array level.

I believe that the data that we have about the 3D Arrays is incomplete. I'm looking at it now to see whether I can resolve the placement issues that I'm having after adding a new level.

Hokay, I`ve got both versions, now.

"I didn't realize that version 0.3 was incorrectly named. Sorry for any confusion... you should be able to rename the 0.3 EXE to avoid further confusion."

..."GRID adjuster", mon amie? .

The primary logic for the welcome screen, hood and lot selection, determination of attributes for specification screen, etc. is the same for most of these utilities. It's easier to copy an existing working program and modify it than it is to rewrite or copy bits and pieces. It would be much harder to get these programs out this quickly if I had to start from scratch each time.

...which is why I thought that a single combined utility might be easier to maintain....

...or mebbe not...

Hmm, shared #include files for common parts? Nah, probably wouldn`t work well enough to be worth the bother, but `tis still an idea.

It's easier to maintain different tools as long as the primary changes occur inside the code which is unique to each tool. However, you're correct if the primary changes occur inside the shared code. I consider that code to be fairly well tested, so in less need of changes.

Here's some of my thoughts about why it's better to have separate programs:
1) Don't have to worry as much about interactions when something changes.
2) Less to test when there's a change; I've been finding testing of the LA somewhat overwhelming.
3) Simpler UI is an advantage for everyone.
4) Less people using a feature "accidentally". People have to specifically download programs with the features that they want.
5) I get more downloads For a long time, I had one download, so I didn't get access to journals and other "creator" features.

If I had tons of time, I'd consider finding a better way to share code. But, for now things will have to stay this way.

So, 3D Array instance 0x0C doesn't seem to be any more likely to map an OBJT instance than the XOBJ was. Sigh.

[Update:]
I believe that I have a fix for the "difficult to place" bug. Still trying to figure out why the ground wants to drop down.

I won't be able to test the new version until later in the week, maybe even the weekend. I'm back at work and commuting so I don't have much time in the evenings.

I've been having problems with the grid after adding a level. This can be solved temporarily by going into any other house in the neighborhood and saving the lot*. Then, the grid on the lot with the added level works until I exit the game.

This seems to point to uninitialized data. Once the game has initialized the data using the other house, everything is fine.

Which, in turn, seems to indicate that I'm missing one or more changes to the maximum level. So, I need to look over the records that I'm actually changing, to see whether any of them are not having their maximum level reset. If everything is fine there, then I'll have to see whether I can find any other maximum level fields in any of the other records.

Sigh. Things are never as easy as we hope.

* Need to determine whether the save is actually necessary. It's possible that just loading another lot is enough.

Since the latest version, I found and fixed two more bugs:

- Fix the problem where objects would fly in the air if they were originally sitting on another object, like a table or counter.
- Handle levels correctly when there is a level = -1 on the lot.

With these additional changes, I was finally able to add a foundation and 2nd story to 9 Fledgling Flats, without disturbing the unique roof. So, I believe that this is looking pretty good now. I should have a new version available for testing tomorrow.

I was able to add 2 additional levels to a base-game lot, so we may have a way around the 6-level limit.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any way to determine the level of an object with any certainty. None of the XOBJ, OBJM, or 3ARY instance 0x0C works consistently. The XMTO record seems to control the actual object level, but I haven't been able to find any way to associate the XMTO with one or more OBJT records.

[Update:]
I had another thought last night: we might be able to make a reasonable guess about the level of an object based on the elevations in 3ARY instance 1, assuming that the grid elevations are basically standard height walls.

I just wanted to document the steps to add a real basement to an existing ground-level lot, so that they're available. I did this successfully for 9 Fledgling Flats, without disturbing the unique roof. Note that I am running with all EPs and SPs (but not the Sims Store).

TS2LevelAdder: (create dummy level)
- Level 0
- Elevation 4
- Move objects starting at 0

Run game and add:
- Foundation under existing structure
- Invisible tiles on ground floor, inside of foundation walls

TS2LevelAdder: (create basement level)
- Level 1
- Elevation 0 for standard foundation height, or Elevation 2 for 6-click foundation, or Elevation 4 for 8-click foundation, etc.
- Move objects starting at 0 (I suppose that this could be 4)

Run game and add:
- Floor tiles for basement on level 1. It's important to do this before the basement is pushed underground; otherwise, the floor tiles may try to take the ground level down a bit. Note that this is the hardest step: since there may now be two levels at the same elevation, the game doesn't want you to place the floor tiles. [ToDo: determine whether there's any way to make this step easier]

TS2GridAdjuster: (push basement underground)
- Level 1
- Depth and Width to match size and location of basement
- Flat Elevation -12 for standard foundation height, or Elevation -10 for 6-click foundation, or Elevation -8 for 8-click foundation, etc.

Run game and add:
- Walls in basement.

Since I succeeded in adding a real basement to 9 Fledgling Flats, I decided to try again with Maxis' Bella's Belles Townhomes, shipped with Apartment Life.

It was a breeze. Here's what I did. Note that the first couple steps from above are unnecessary, since these townhomes already have a foundation:

Run game:
- Add invisible tiles on ground floor, inside of foundation walls

TS2LevelAdder: (create basement level)
- Level 1
- Elevation 0
- Move objects starting at 4

Run game:
- Add floor tiles for basements on level 1; match the floor tiles on the main level of each townhouse.
- Remove paint from foundations, since they will be underground and it's a waste of money.
- Replace outside stairs, to ensure that they go from the porches to the ground; they now have to cover an additional level.
- Adjust some of the other outside items, such as plants, which were incorrectly moved up one level (bug).

Note: most of these things are easier to do now, before we push the basements underground in the next step.

TS2GridAdjuster: (push basements underground)
- Rerun 4 times with Level 1 and Depth = 15 - 28 each time
- Width 4 - 9 Flat Elevation -12
- Width 10 - 15 Flat Elevation -10
- Width 16 - 21 Flat Elevation -8
- Width 22 - 27 Flat Elevation -6

Note that the elevations above must be negative to move these levels under the ground.

TS2GridAdjuster: (move ground level 10 clicks above basement floor)
- Rerun 2 times with Level 0 and Depth = 16 - 27 each time
- Width 17 - 20 Flat Elevation 2
- Width 23 - 26 Flat Elevation 4

The above step is necessary to ensure that objects in the basement can be picked up and moved.

Run game:
- Add walls in basement; paint outside to match townhouse
- Add stairs to basement and put additional railings in kitchen.

I see you are making excelent progress here, Mootilda!

P.S.: While I love your new cow avitar, I loved your cat avitar, too.

Mootilda, I followed your theory about lowering the ground farther below the basement floor, and it resolved the minor lighting peculiarity I wrote about over in the Bella's Belles thread. I just decided to bring my comment here so as to avoid derailing that thread further.

I lowered the ground inside the basement to 2 storeys below the basement floor, and that made almost all the tiles at the edge accessible. I just couldn't get to two of the corner tiles (back-left and front-right). The other two corners were perfectly fine, which I don't understand so I guess I'll try to lower the ground still farther.

Your suggestion to try picking up small objects from the outside of the wall, didn't work for me, but I realised in trying it that it would be impractical for me in normal play. The house I'm working on has stage segments on the outside at the ground level with columns, and of course windows in the basement walls. None of my other lots are as grand, but almost all of them have foundation plantings. It would be too irritating to have to dismantle all of that to pick up a toy xylophone in the corner!

I thought of a potential complication related to lowering the ground as well. What about game resets, or other instances where the game teleports sims onto the lot? Many times, I've found sims in the basement. There's a pretty common bug where telephone callers can be teleported to the lot, and I've found them wandering in my sims' basement. If we lower the ground, could sims be teleported below the basement?

I'm working on a change to the GridAdjuster to move the water level along with the other grid elevations. This may resolve some of the remaining problems.

I suppose that it's possible that we'll just never get this to 100% with the early EPs. I still need to do some testing to determine which EP allows the ground to be raised 10-clicks above the basement floor.

My only other suggestion at this time: when you place something on a tile next to the basement wall, try picking it up again right away. If you can't, then use the undo button to remove it and put something taller into that square. If you still can't pick up the object, then undo and avoid using that tile. You could even partition it off with walls, to make sure that you don't accidentally use it.

If the water-level change doesn't resolve this, then I'm stumped; I haven't got any other thoughts on how to fix this right now.

I guess that we'll have to wait and see whether this is an issue. If we're lucky, the water-level fix will allow us to place the ground level very close to the basement floor, so that we won't lose people.

I'm unsure what it's meant, but just in case, foundation block by the foundation tool can only be made on the ground level, level 0. If column deck/screendeck or column deck will form full standard size 16-click-high when not on the ground or at level 0; and the formers will form the 4-click-high size when on ground, level 0.