This is the official chat thread for our Foundations Contest!

Here you can post chatty stuff about the contest like:

• "Woo I want to join!"
  
  
• "The entries are so cool! I especially like Simmer1234's house!"
  
  
• "I'm almost done building my house! Yay!"
  
  
• Various other chattery type things - but please do not spam! Remember, we have a Private Message system so this thread is not for conversations you could easily have via PM or IM.

You can also post:

• Pics/text for a second or third entry - you're only allowed one official entry per person, but if you had another idea of what to do with the foundation but can't enter it, you can post it here!
  
  
• Pics/text for an entry that doesn't fit the rules - too much CC, added/subtracted foundation, whatever, or weren't able to complete it within the time limit.
  
  
• Pics/text if you just don't want to actually compete in a contest, but wanted to build on the foundation anyway.
  
  
• Pics/text if you only want to build for some of the rounds, but won't be able to/don't want to do all four rounds as part of the real contest.
  
  
• Pics of your hot sister, and/or Christina Hendricks.

Please remember to BE NICE! - While you can post comments on entries, don't be a douchecanoe about it. Positive stuff or nicely-put constructive comments only! Remember, the main point of this contest is FUN!

This is very off-topic, but HP, I am sad you changed your avatar. I seen the last avatar a couple of days ago and wanted to try and sim it. Just trying to get ideas for new sims. Oh well, missed that one, should have tried to save it.

I, um, wait, what was my last avatar? My brain is overwhelmed by the AWESOMENESS that is my current avatar and I can't even remember what I had before.

Haha Yes HP ur new avatar puts the AWESOME in AWESOMENESS

Random side question related to the contest, but is there any chance of a new little contest/award icon (a la MooMoo Award/MOCCA Award icons)? I would think some kind of icon that would fit any housing/building contest would be a really cool.

Also, I've been rather curious about this: when it says "a specially-created unique avatar" as the prizes for the top 3, who's doing the art for such?

Kaospilot - I agree with this, though on the flip side, you also have people asking why this isn't for The Sims 2.
|General comment| In my eyes, it's "Mod The Sims" now, not only "Mod The Sims 2" - why shouldn't Threesimmers have a chance to participate in something?

(Yes, Threesimmers. I personally think that just saying 'Sims 3 users' is boring. I don't know why. XP )

Rez Delnava - Icon candy is a cool thing, eh?
I'm sure that whomever's doing the avatar prize, though, it will look good no matter how it's sliced. At least I'd think so.
Of course, compared to you and others, I'm not as well-aware of all the people here and what they do personally (beyond the moderators and admins), so the key word is THINK...

Yeah, I was thinking in the same thing yesterday, it would be cool ^^

RE: TS2 version... We do have plans to do a TS2 version - but doing a combined TS2/TS3 version for this contest just wouldn't work. The building and decorating systems are different enough that scoring and wrangling all the "can we do X?" questions would just drive me batty.

TS2 version will either begin when another staff member decides to do one, or after the TS3 version is done - I just can't run two big contests at once without going mad.

Rez - There'll be an achievement for it, but I don't think there'll be a Moo-Moo-like icon.

Yep - and it's not just one judge but several. And then we have to total everything up.

Definitely doing spreadsheets for this stuff. =SUM ftw.

I can hear you quite clearly there, H.P. - just with the fact that TS3 has such things as more precise/detailed recoloring (instead of a few set palettes) and an active online Store to buy objects, there'd be a whole different set of rules I would see in play.

In other news - I like having ideas, but I don't like having the inability to utilize them (the things I was planning to moveobject overlap badly next to each other and would otherwise be a pain for the purpose). XD

Oh yes, that new avatar is Full Of Win! Don't worry about it, I usually see faces and wonder if I can sim it with Sims 3. This game makes me try for more uniqueness, they tend to look the same after a few generations.

Couldn't resist adding the 2 houses that came first, but got left out .

The first had an adventurer's theme throughout the house, but when I got a sim in to make the pictures I found out that the porch was not sims-proof. It turns out that using pillars at the edge of stairs makes those stairs unusable. I didn't know that.



Then I decided to go modern art instead, reason I gave up on that one was mainly the lack of modern art to hang on the walls. Also modern art is not really my thing so no idea what got me to start this one. Besides just as I am writing this I notice that I made the same stupid mistake on this building! Stupid pillars!



Anyway, I am happy with this contest. Usually I never participate in these kind of things, but this time I just couldn't resist. :p

Beautiful homes, Fyendiar. Yeah, columns too close to the stairs is a problem for sims, but I don't understand why they wouldn't use the middle stairs. A lot I built in my game had the same problem, but sims kept going up and down the stairs in a loop. When I moved the columns over, or added foundation for them, then the sim would use them properly.

If I want the look of columns close to stairs, I use Flabaki's (sp.) porch fences. No problem then.

Thanks for the compliment!

I have Flabaki's porch stuff as well, but I wanted to go without the use of any custom content so couldn't use them for this contest.

I had so much fun building my lot, but I'm jobless for the last days before next round... :/ The competition lasts too long How about a 4 day competition next? A day per round?

There are so many good lots, it'll be a challenge just to judge all the lots *raises a thumb for HP* Have fun!!

Pwetty pwease with like a totally fuck off huge cherry on the top!?
Jokes, but... it would be awesome if you get a little pic of a house under your name. :D

Yush!! Little cute icon would look awesome under the name But the profile achievement thingy is cool as well ^^

Sorry you misunderstood, I was commenting about columns to stair problems in this game. I didn't mean to suggest using CC in your entries, I understand that you don't want to use it.

I am using CC if I want a certain look, it's okay to use. Just it takes away from the amount of bonus points you can win, doesn't matter to me.

Does the house have to be playable in order for you to enter it into the contest? I don't really think it matters. At least, I hope not, since I highly doubt some areas of my entry are playable.

I don't think it is a requirement of the contest, just one of my own. I don't like homes that don't play well.

I don't, either, at least not for uploading purposes, obviously. But I figured since it's just pictures this round, I'd do a little extra, even if it meant it'd be unplayable.

Okay, so I'm hoping I might get some kindhearted soul who can help me out for this: posted my first entry last night and as some might notice, there's a driveway but no cars.

WTF is the rule on placing cars in TS3? I put a car parking space on the driveway, but I couldn't get the car to actually go on it (same with the bike rack). I ask because, well, that was my first-ever dive in Buy/Build Mode.

And while I'm on the topic, is there any other contestants who still play TS2 more often than TS3 and found themselves going for buttons in certain places? I mean, I must've hit the "Edit Town" button a gazillion times because that's where the Live Mode button is in TS2! My computer runs TS3 very very reluctantly, so it whines and complains and freezes up (I'm sure just to give me a heart attack about the random shut-downs - which stopped me from even attempting to play for almost a year - starting up again) and then will SLOWLY zoom out to town, so every time I hit that "Edit Town" button, I had to wait practically another five minutes before I could go back in.

Poor Contest Housejumper is going to be very nomadic for the next few weeks. Yes, I made a Sim just to go from house to house for live mode picture purposes.

I did end up converting the floorplan to TS2 for fun last night, I'll be posting pics over in the Pictures forum. It's very different than my entry - I've been inspired by Tenielle's grungified Baskerville.

Dont feel too bad about it - I vandalised the house nextdoor to my lot and employed the services of Gobias Koffi for firelighting and other 'house' services, purely for the sake of 'art' - and I didn't pay him .. Muahahahaha

Yea! I am working on my Moroccan themed home. Keep spot 51 and 1/2 open for me! PWEEZE!

It may get disqualified mainly because I have no CC at all - NONE - (store downloads are borked and I can't get my stuff.) SO, I only have what came with all the EP's. I am building a privacy garden around my "Ooo-la-la" bath :lovestruc - There are no fences tall enough, So I had to use cheats and a wall to put the arches in. It is technically a garden even if I used walls and a hedge to enclose it. The actual house and entries are ALL on the original foundation.

Should have it finished by Sunday evening MOUNTAIN TIME (USA) - I can't crank out just anything! I have to be somewhat satisfied with it in the time allowed - I don't have super-fast WOW building skills like Flabiliki has! :D

If you can place the driveway without using a cheat and it still refuses to let you place a car it sometimes helps to pick the driveway up, move it away, then put it back again where it was in the first place. I know it sounds crazy, but for some weird reason it fixes whatever was wrong with the driveway and lets you place cars again. Not sure why, maybe something to do with the "snap to grid" thing the game has, no idea.

I hope this "fix" works for you as well.

Oh and yup, constantly getting kicked back to the neighbourhood view for the same reason. Old habits die hard! Luckily it doesn't take my computer 5m to get back in though.

edit: a smiley refused to be a smiley so had to shoot it down and get a replacement!