@gummilutt: So, I realized when taking pictures of the tenement that I'd never taken out Sophie-David's neighborhood deco effects, so that they were still lurking invisibly on the lot and started generating pigeons and gulls the moment I went live. So I took them out. And now they've left behind flowerbeds on the roof, paving, etc. (I like lots of birds on my lots, what can I say?)

So, do I move everybody out and back in again, editing the lot to remove the flowerbeds? Or do I put the mod back in and the birds make the shots a little nicer? Since they're sort of neighborhood deco I have hopes.
(This is not really delaying me much, one way or another, as camera mod experimentation took away tab mode somehow, so I haven't even started taking pictures yet.)

I had a question regarding allowed photo size. The contest forum rules state that photos should be a maximum of 1280x1024 and so I posted photos that were 1280x720 to keep my screen's aspect ratio correct. But it seems those were too small to see some details and I'm also noticing others aren't posting within those maximums. So, what sized photos should we post? My screen is a 1920x1080, so should I just post at that size? Obviously I'll make sure to keep the file sizes reasonable, but would that be okay?

I think the minimum is 800 x 600 so anything between that and the maximum is fine, as long as details can be seen.

Reading over the creator guidelines: "Your images can be up to 2560x1440 pixels, and 800 kb"

Eta: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php...Lots_and_Houses

And see that's why I'm confused. The creator guidelines and posted contest rules are different. Maybe the contest rules are a bit outdated?

Maybe. But gummilutt did say in the rules that screenshots should follow the Creator Guidelines, I'd go with that.

Before I upload, plant fences are permitted right? They are fences.

I put up an entry a few days ago...though I was super early. After round 1 was due but before the scoring came out.

OMG, you did too! I remember thinking how amazing it was and you kept rentals so low.

Perhaps at the cost of playability points ;P We'll see. If I didn't have the divider it would have been over 1,000 for each unit.

I had a bush fence in my townhouse entry. Mentioned it in the description. It's allowed

Yep totally allowed I use those things more than actual bushes, saves the trimming trouble :D

Round two: Cheap living
 

Ok, well, I probably won't have time to upload after today, so here's my entry. The lot consists of 5 apartments in two buildings.
Notes to judges: The plant fences used are the bamboo, sunflower and flower fences by Rosebine and a hedge fence. (They're marked on the top down shot of the lot.)
All units have smoke/fire detector above oven. All units have phone, although not on upper levels. The units are small enough that they can go downstairs (they need the exercise). The phone in unit 4 is on the wall next to the fridge. Units 3-5 have trash chutes. The other two have bins in the kitchen (they're closer to the main bin out the front).
I've play-tested all units and everything works fine. The only potential for stompies is in unit 4 if a Sim is opening the oven door while another Sim wants to go past. But stompies like this happen in normal spacious houses anyway. Onto pics:

Required pics

Some exterior shots:


Now the units:
Unit 1 at the front on the left is two-bedroomed, costing 1959.

Unit 2 at the front on the right is also two-bedroomed, costing 1903. The second bedroom is a guest bedroom.

Unit 3 is at the rear on the right, two-bedroomed, costing 1855. The second bedroom is for a lodger.

Units 4 and 5 are on the left at the rear and are one-bedroomed.
Unit 4 costs 889.

Unit 5 costs 926

The units have a small section at the back.

I built on a 1x3 so taking pictures is quite difficult hahaha
I'll try to be on time
pls send positive energy guys

Please follow the Creator Guidelines rather than the Contest guidelines for image size as Gummi said in her rules. Occasionally we miss things when updating various guidelines so I will point this anomaly out and get it fixed

From the Creator Guidelines: Size: 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall is a good size for the smallest pic you would want to upload. Your images can be up to 2560x1440 pixels, and 800 kb, so you have lots of space to work with!

So, I am doing a play along for this second round, almost finished go to check on my pricing, and for the cruddy units (my starter sims get units like I had when I first moved out of home, absolutely awful!) the rent is really really high! I have used the cheapest doors and windows, the cheapest counters, the cheapest bathroom furnishings and the in most cases for the rest of the furnishings cheap ones. Yet my two bedroom units are 1888.89 and my 1 bedroom is coming in at 1489.39 (eek) The lot is on one floor, no foundation, no landscaping as yet, apart from some shrubs, and is fenced. Is there some trick to keep the rents low? Cause i'm stumped! I've made a copy and have taken all the furnishing out to see what it would be, and rents are still high! (1176-1650) With nothing in them except for lights!! Value of the lot with nothing in it is $48,000! Even that seems really high! Heres a couple of pics, any help pretty please? Have built apartments many times and never had a problem with really high rents, unless i want them to be of course!




*Edit
Wondered if it was a location thing, so plopped it into my 'nothing' hood. And nothing happened, still the same. Then wondered if it becomes cheaper if they are seperated and not attached, so did that, rent did go down but nothing to write home about, so am officially stumped. I had a browse round and saw someone said its to do with the square footage. Well theres not much square footage there! You guys that have finished yours, whats your secret to your low rents??!!!

Rent is also affected by how much space each apartment uses. It is not affected by how much landscaping you do as that is communal space. (I've just discovered this for this contest!)

Round 2
 

Round 2: Summer View Apartments

All apartments have a phone. The smoke detectors are hidden behind the cooker hoods (cos they're ugly!). Each apartment has access to a trash chute (it's on the landing outside their front door).

There are several communal areas for this apartment complex, a laundry room (just has sinks in it cos no CC allowed), an office and a gazebo with a BBQ, plus a seating area and a chess board.

Rents:
Blue apartment: $993
Red apartment: $909
Green apartment: $1893

Ahhh! I was about to upload when I realized my bedrooms aren't soundproofed! -frantic furniture rearranging-

That's what I thought too, dosnt match though to my units, as they're not very big at all!!

Ekrubynaffit, build a second floor of units.

If I understand the way it works correctly, the game performs arithmetic on the lot starting with dividing the lot value by the number of units, or possibly figuring what percentage of the lot total square footage is taken up by an individual unit and assigning a starting rent equating square footage to percentage of value; yes, that seems likely) and then adjusting for differences.

Presumably this is a more stylized version of the real estate appraiser's method of comparing non-identical properties, which consists of keeping track of sales in the property's area in order to estimate by what percentage a feature adds or detracts from local market value. So a fireplace or a balcony might be assigned a 5% increase in value, the most expensive plumbing, appliances, and fixtures might be assigned 10%, etc.

This is, at any rate, how it seems to work for me.

I have all my pictures taken - I think! I had to pull out all the modded cameras to fix the tabbing issue, so the floorplans and back-front shots were taken with modded cameras and the detail pictures are taken with the normal camera. I get to start all over with the next build; but that should be easier because when I got completely frustrated with picture-taking I built the roommate complex and de-customized/redecorated the "big" apartment (which is actually smaller than the cheap one), so picture taking should be most of the work that's left. This was the hardest build because of the "cohesive style" criterion. The only way I can come close to that (and I probably still didn't succeed) is to mentally create a character for every single unit, and when you've got 14 units that's kind of exhausting! I should be able to sort through the photos, cherrypick them, retake a couple if necessary, and post it all by this evening, so see you later.

Karen, those are some very attractive apartments <3

Thank you very much Charmful

@ekrubynaffit
Space adds a lot to rent, but I've found that bathrooms and kitchens add the most(at least that's the way it seems to me). So your one bedroom apartment has two bathrooms and that is going to skyrocket your rent. Also it looks to be a bit too big, although that may just be the bathroom space plus fixtures. Try removing the door to one of the bathrooms and see what happens to the rent. I've also noticed while working on this round that for each $15 you spend on certain objects it will add $1 in rent. So if you add a $300 ceiling lamp that will add $20 to your rent. That sort of thing can add up crazy fast. Objects that count toward rent include basically anything that you'd expect in a rental in real life that you wouldn't take with you when you move out. If it's nailed down it counts. I don't know how much a square of space adds but I think it's about the same, maybe a bit more(sorry I didn't check that specifically).

I've attached a photo of a one bedroom apartment I made that came in at $1005. It's not my contest entry, it's just something I made a while ago, but it shows roughly the size you're going to want for your one bedroom. I've found that two bedrooms are way easier since space alone doesn't add nearly as much as kitchens and bathrooms do.


Edited to add, cause I don't want to double post: but @Karen Lorraine that lot is stunning! Blows mine way out of the water. Fantastic job! :lovestruc

Round 2 - Cheap living
 

There are four studio apartments, all one room except the bathroom. No close up pics of the bathrooms because they're very boring and all the same. As well as a communal garden, there's a communal kitchen (apartments have their own kitchens too) and computer/study room.

Note to judges: some of the apartments may be sound-proof. I suspect most aren't. This is intentional - in cheap apartments you have to deal with noise from neighbours! It would compromise the aesthetic I was going for too much to change things to make them sound-proof, so I've chosen to take the points-hit instead.

All apartments have phones, smoke alarms and trash compactors. These should be visible in overhead shots of each apartment, but I've also noted on the pictures of the apartments where they can be seen. There's also a smoke alarm in the communal kitchen, and a burglar alarm in the hallway.

@ekrubynaffit, I think the number of rooms plays a part as well. One big room seems to always be cheaper than the same space divided into two, or multiple rooms. While I do think your apartments might be a little too spacious to be "cheap," the amount of inner rooms could also be playing a part as well. Try deleting your walls between the living room and the kitchen and combining the bathrooms into one room, and see how that lowers the rent.

Thank you very much

@NatteryakToad, from reading the article gummi linked to in the rules post, I learned that noise isn't generated as long as there is no empty tile for it to spawn from. You could swap your endtable and bed to be on the shared wall and put the mirror by the door--that way there shouldn't be any noise, if you wanted a simple fix (if you are worried about the space encroaching on the kitchen, you could also make the bed a Murphy bed).

In any case, it's a good thing I looked at your post, as I totally forgot I meant to put a mini computer lab in my public space area! I had grand ideas for the area, but I scaled it down once I settled on a lot size and then the building sizes. Hmm, I guess my coffee nook/terrace will have to swap with the arts & craft space and be an outdoor painting terrace instead. And then inside, the arts & crafts space will be a coffee/computer lab spot.

If you can't tell, I'm still not done with mine; I'm with Peni, creating unique but cohesive units is exhausting! It doesn't help that some hobbies have more deco than others. I've got 11 units with about 3 units left to decorate, though at least 2 have a furniture layout. At least now I should have enough ideas--one of my remaining units could be for an artist, since the public art space will be shrunk down a bit.

Tonight's going to be a long night for me; it'll be a miracle if I have time to test.

Round 2
I wanted to make a fishing lodge with a communal kitchen, but I couldn't come up with a plan that I liked that had units large enough to justify the cost savings. So instead I made a set of cottages on a lake. The lake has three units for rent and a common clubhouse.
Unit 1: 2 story red building
Unit 2: L-shaped building with bluish siding
Unit 3: rectangular with log siding
Clubhouse: octagonal building

Some pictures were taken in build mode, some in live so that the chairs tucked in.










CC used:
recolourable open underneath deck stairs that I used last time: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=221958
I'm not sure which recolour of Numenor's stairs I used, but it's probably Michelle's: http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/...hp?f=177&t=1722
Sunni's default doors and her custom doors, as I felt they worked for cottages and were cheap: http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/...hp?f=174&t=3726
fanseelamb's value window addons: http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=6729

17 S. Marina Street
The Nova Colonia Chamber of Commerce doesn't like me calling it a tenement. It's Affordable Working Class Housing, for pity's sake! And it's true that some of the long-term tenants have made themselves some pretty nice set-ups.
TFront

Here there be required shots:


Burglar alarms have been deliberately omitted, as this sort of building is seldom protected. Fire alarms are directly over the stove, though if the stove is in a corner it may be on either wall. (Unless I overlooked it. I blame the cabinet that fell on my head) If it's feasible to have the phone on the second square away from the entry door, it is. They do all have both.

I used 5 of my "structure" shots to give closer floorplans of individual units. Since I couldn't use my floor plans of 3C and 3D, I would like to point out that the bits of bedroom wall shared with their neighbors are blocked by a bookcase (3C) and a fishtank (3D).



Sim's eye views, 4 of each unit highlighted above and 3 structural:


I hope those pictures aren't as much work to look at as they were to post! I think I'm in compliance now. Thank you for you time.

@Peni Griffin - Nice job on the kind of grimy, city feel with the dirty walls and tiles and wow at having the patience to decorate so many units! Your first two 'sim eyes view' pics are the same image, was there supposed to be something else you were showing there or did it get added again by mistake?

@stitching - I LOVE your concept of little cabin rentals <3 Nice job on your swimmable lake, those are always kind of a pain to build but it adds so much

I'm so in love with this round's entries!

@stitching Using carpet for the swimmable lake is genius! I love that common area decking! So beautiful!

@Peni Griffin Yours is so delightfully horrifying! I swear I can hear the sirens from here! It's completely disgusting and I'm in love with it!

Thanks for pointing out that duplicate pic. I'm sure there's other mistakes in there, too, but I can't deal with it any more today. I'll edit some more tomorrow - and definitely reread the picture guidelines and get the number down to something reasonable/legal. Even if the judges could be expected to deal with all those pics, it wouldn't be fair to the people who can count. I'll be lucky if I haven't disqualified myself.

@Peni Griffin, the max picture total from round 2 on is 32 plus the required screenshots (gummi updated the first post). Hopefully that helps? And I can't speak for the judges, but I personally never bother with fire alarms in apartments, as apartment lot coding makes it so that whenever there's a fire, the alarm goes off automatically and firefighters show up right away. It's happened to me a few times now.

...What? Don't look at me like that. I didn't intentionally set any fires, but if one happened to occur and happened to provide some extra drama by killing someone... Well, I wouldn't be upset. But it's extremely unlikely to happen because, as I said, the fire department shows up pretty early.

Since all of my attempts resulted in rents over 1k, I decided to go with a large house converted into small, like really small, studio type rooms.

Absolutely gorgeous, Lunie!

I really like this 'Artist's room for rent' vibe in the old house

You know what would be interesting to see (but probably not for this contest)? I very large house completely divided up into full two-bedroom apartments. I lived in one of those once. A house on the outside, but apartments inside.

Cheap Living: Minor Manor
 

*sweats nervously* mine's not exactly a very large house...

The Minor Manor

A small 1x3 fancy-looking brick house converted to 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartments.
Just cos you're poor doesn't mean you have to look the part!

Rent:



Communal Areas:
Living Room with TV, a Poker Table, and a Piano
Gym with Shower Facilities
BBQ Area
Gardening Plot for each unit
*cough*makeout*cough*spot*cough*
Library
A game of chess on the ground floor and the top floor
Trash Chutes in the hallways
Burglar Alarms on both doors on the ground floor

Each unit includes:
A complete kitchen and dining area**
Phones & Sprinklers***
Beds with at least 6-5 energy/comfort points and 2-4 environment points
Television
Bathroom
Study Desk* & Bookshelf* (2br units only as the 1br units are on the same floor as the library)
Easel* (1br units only)
Drawers (doubles as bedside tables)

Playtest based decisions:
**Sims are...*sighs deeply* private creatures. They will cook in a communal kitchen but will return to their units to eat. Nevermind the flights of stairs between their sofa and the kitchen - these pixels would rather have privacy than avoid starvation. I did everything I could to make them use the eating facilities below but no, no.
***Alarm or not, the fire department will come. I opt for the sprinkles instead of the alarm cos the alarms are just too damn ugly

Wow, Kanzen, you've packed a lot into that small house, well done, it's gorgeous!

thank you <3
I had doubts on the accessibility of each items cos of the placements but it all worked out fine.
my only regret is I never found a way to make the communal kitchens the place to be QUQ

Round 2 coming in just before the buzzer! I based this apartment building off of the many apartments I saw back when I attended college in Indiana, as a low-budget option for us broke college students.
Built on a 2x3 lot, this apartment building features 6 one-bedroom apartments and a small gathering area in the backyard for those weekend parties. Each unit has the same layout as the turnover of tenants is frequent and the landlord won't stand for such frequent renovations! But all the tenants have painted the walls and cabinets to their own tastes, and each has a different style. All apartments include a phone, trash can, and fire alarm for safety and cleanliness purposes. They also each have a dresser and bookshelf as I consider those essential for my sims!

Round 2: Squalor's Square


Don't let the name fool you, the outside may be a tad grungy, but sims will be very comfortable here. Though I didn't have a particular spot in my mind, this lot was designed as a downtown low income housing complex for recent graduates, sims just moving out of their family home, and sims who are clinging to their youthful, responsibility free days and who need a little bit more time to get their finances in order. I'd like to admit though, that things didn't turn out exactly as I'd liked, as this lot continued the trend from round 1 and ended up proving to be a PITA. Never in all my simming days have I encountered these seemingly random but annoyingly persistent stair issues, but of course I have to experience them now, in the middle of a contest.

Anyway, the lot is meant to be a bustling one, with sims always around, hanging out, and there are several ways it meets that need. First, there are 11 units, so even if playables occupy 4 apartments, there will always be plenty of neighbors around to pal around with, romance, and feud with. There are four studio apartments, two 2 bedroom lofts, four 1 bedroom apartments, and one 2 bedroom, two-story apartment--and all of them are completely, 100% accessible, despite this game's darnest attempts to foil my plans. To keep all those sims occupied, there are plenty of activities on site should an apartment be too small for entertaining, including a mini arcade, reading lounge, musicians' corner, computer lab, gym, painter's terrace, an outdoor barbecue area with vending machines, a roof top deck with a campfire, and last, but not least, a fountain for those oh-so-amusing pranks. Rent picture is below, everything else will be under spoiler tags (Warning for those on slower pcs, as there's a lot of pics and they are fairly large). Because the lot is actually made up of five separate buildings, the individual building floor plans will be under their own spoilers, with unit pictures (hopefully, that makes things easier for the judges?).






Now for the apartment units. All units have a fire alarm, burglar alarm, trash chute, and phone. Fire alarms should always be above the fridge; most units have a visible phone and trash chute, but due to the angle of some of the layouts, a couple aren't visible.








And that's the end!

ETA: Pictures of Dummy floors for Buildings 1 & 2; renumbered pictures, swapped some unit pictures for ones with wider scope. Also edited so that descriptions are above their respective pictures.

Okay, got my pictures reduced with 7 hours to spare! And I'm surprised (but delighted) to see that Kanzen beat my low rent! Can anybody get it down to $550 by deadline? Going once, going twice...

By the deadline I can't, but if I were home I bet I could get under, or at least very close!

On another note, though, my condition has improved significantly, and so I might leave the hospital today! YAY!

wow @Phantomknight
I'm blown away! Marvelous work <3 It looks like a very fun and interesting place to live!

@Phantomknight - I'm loving this complex! I'm always a big fan of the brick lofts, we have so many cool apartments like that where I live. Love your public spaces and the work you did for the entry archway, very cool-looking

Sunset Court Apartments:
Lot Size: 3x3
Apartment Rent: One-Bedroom - $1000 , Two-Bedroom - $1998

For this lot I wanted something with a slightly dated feel and used this building as inspiration. I had liked the dated simplicity of it. That said I'm afraid it may have been too simple. I mean I like how the apartments turned out, but the structure is a very ho-hum. It certainly doesn't hold a candle to all the other apartments this round! Damn fine work you guys! Oh well, the lot is functional, and I do like the courtyard and the landscaping. Although the landscaping is a little cheerier than I typically go for I think it turned out nice considering. Hope you guys like it!

There are 4 units, 2 one-bedroom apartments and 2 two-bedroom apartments. Each apartment comes with a kitchen, 1-2 bathrooms, living room, fire alarm, phone and either a trash can or a trash compactor(notes on locations of the essentials are in the apartment descriptions).

The common area has a grill with tables and chairs, a playground, and a chess table.

Notes:
- All units were fully playtested and every object is accessible and the apartments are easily navigable by sims without stomping. I took the sim level shots in live mode to show off the accessibility of various questionable objects. All bushes are able to be reached and trimmed. There is a lot of them but hey, it's not like the landlord has anything better to do.

- All bedrooms have been noiseproofed. Though I want to note that my entry for the last round was not noiseproofed and I didn't receive a penalty for that. I should only have 4 points for the host bonus. It's probably dumb of me to mention it but it isn't fair to those that made the effort.

- I used two plant fences for this lot, the bushes around the back and sides of the lot(by AdonisPluto found here) and a small flower fence for decoration in various places(by Rosebine found here)

- Again I used the one and two tile wall shelves as a vanilla OMSP to add deco on top of furniture. I used it mostly for the kitchen counters so I could add more deco but still have them be usable by sims preparing food.







And here are the apartments!









Edited to add: Can everyone see all the inline photos? For me flickr seems to be stating a couple of the photos are "no longer available", which is a load of crap. If you can't see them then either click on the photo for a link or look at them in the uploaded photos. I can't figure out why it's happening, sorry.

Edited to add: Got it. No clue why that was happening but editing them again and reuploading seems to have fixed it. Weird.

I love the arched interior windows. Are they a BV thing? A couple of your photos aren't showing up, Magnolia.

@Magnolia
I really enjoy the layouts of your apartments and the nice green space at the center for social gathering. Also very clever use of the in game shelves as omsp substitutes! I was wondering how you got more than one item on the kitchen corner counters

@yavannatw - those interior arched cut outs are a part of the Torrox build set by moune999

Charmful is correct, the cutouts are part of the torrox set.

And the photos, I can't figure out what is going on with them. Flickr seems to be rejecting those photos specifically. I'm going to fiddle with it some more and see if I can find the logic to it. In the mean time you can click on the photos and it will link you to the photos on flickr, which do show up.. *sigh*

And thank you Charmful for the compliments!

Edit: Got the photos fixed. Thanks yavannatw for the heads up

Thanks for the praise @kanzen and @Charmful!

And @Magnolia, I don't know what you're talking about; I think your lot looks beautiful and charming! It's simplicity is what makes it great and I could see it fitting in right at home in lots of neighborhoods and working for a few different set ups--from starter families to retirement homes. I absolutely loved your staging and decorating--like how you put the shelf on top of the BILLY but also put the cd shelves next to it--:lovestruc !

Awww, thank you so much! That's very sweet of you to say

It's nowhere near your entry though! That lot is absolutely masterful! I could never pull that off! Seriously brilliant work!

@Magnolia your lot is wonderfully done as well! It's a simple and non-intrusive structure that could appeal to many players to download for their game. The decorating is superb and the common space courtyard is a wonderful idea to give life into a place!

I'm really sorry everyone. Not doing great on the hosting thing so far. Contest curse kinda struck again, life has turned out to be a lot busier than I anticipated. Have had to make a rushed decision to move so currently apartment hunting, while also selling my apartment, which is complicated further by the fact I currently live with my parents which is a 2 hour drive from where my apartment is and where I normally live so a whole lot of driving back and forth at the moment. Thought I'd have time after house guests left, but had forgotten I needed to be at my apartment to let photographer in. Whenever I sit down at my computer the backlog of things to deal with is so long I'm barely caught up with things from vacation several weeks ago. Doing my best but real life things have to come first so contest has had to wait :/ I am hoping I'll have an easier time keeping up with contest now I am up to par with posts, and no longer have several pages worth of stuff to go over.

-------- On to the contest stuff!

About pool table discussions, I too find they need 2 tiles around them to work well. If you don't have 2 tiles and two Sims are playing there will be a lot of stomping and finicking with where to stand when waiting to play your turn. They can work with 1 tile but it's much more annoying, and that's what the playability category is meant to look at.

About the confusion with Magnolias score, it was 78.5 when I first posted but had missed a score fix by one of the judges so went back and fixed it shortly after posting. Guess you were just too fast for me Charmful :P

Charmful: Regarding the host bonus, there is no picture in your attached photos that shows the entire lot at ground level. Ground level means ground level, if you have a foundation then it should be on the foundation level. It also has to include the entire lot, no parts cut off. Your picture of the first floor is cut off at the top and the bottom, so even if we ignore the ground level aspect it's not showing the entire lot. As for back picture, you are cutting off the grass. A back picture should show the entire back, and that includes whatever ground is behind the building. Even if yours isn't cutting anything off, it feels like it is because there's no grass and Maxis buildings can't be right at the edge

Karen: Your playability score and total has been raised as per Ellu's request. I do agree with Ellu that a blocked mailbox is a pretty big playability problem in an apartment, as it's something you are likely to not notice until Sims have been living there for a week and after that long having to move families out to fix it would be kind of annoying. So take note people, do not block your mailboxes on the rent-paying side

@ekrubynaffit glad you decided to play-along!

Treehawk: Yes, store items count as CC. There's also a chair that appears to be CC, visible in Round1Unit5-5 screenshot.

Yvelotic: I am so sorry to hear you've been in hospital. I hope it's nothing too serious, and that you are doing okay. Definitely more important than a contest, even if contest is something you also enjoy

Peni: I would say no on the birds. Technically only a visual thing but it's adding something that's not there normally, as opposed to skyboxes/water mods that only change the appearance of something that exists. Since I was not here to answer on time I will ask judges to let it pass this time if you kept them, but in remaining rounds no hood deco. (if skyboxes are hood deco then they are exception, never used one so no clue)

I think that's all the things I needed to respond to, I hope so at least. A few things were already answered so I skipped those, but if anyone feels something is missing please let me know. Too wiped tonight to add round 2 entries to the table, only going to end up screwing up the table or something so it's better I do it when I wake up. Sorry judges, I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience.

No custom hood deco? Oh, dear...You can clearly see some in the background of the roof picture. I'll have to pull all that.

I decided to do the edit to be on the safe side; no reason I should get away with things just because life got on your tail, and it wasn't that much work even with the headache.But by the time I'd done that I'd had to restore my original cameras and couldn't take proper front and back pictures, so I kept the front pic with the birds and took care to point it out. It won't arise again (I don't think) because I didn't use the birds on the next two apartments. And I should now have plenty of time to sort out the dang cameras and find a combination that does what I need it to do without crashing the game or otherwise annoying the heck out of me.

There's something very pointed about you having to go apartment-hunting in the middle of hosting an apartment contest.

the apartment gods are with you gummi!
there might me a message between all the madness...

edit: question~ are maxis extracted objects CC? like craftable now buyable objects --- a craft toy, pottery, or flower??

@kanzen - I think that was answered in post #175 - you can use stuff that is extracted from the game to decorate like career and aspiration rewards, I *think* craftable items are included in that.

Ohh I wanna play along! Is it to late to do Round 1?

Yeah that chair is a store item as well, unfortunately. There's no store stuff this time though! Thanks for the official ruling.

Also, everyone's builds look incredible! I can't believe how everyone came up with something different from each other and they're all so good! I definitely feel a little upstaged, haha.

oooh alright I'll keep that in mind! ^^ thanks

Like I said, I *think* they would be able to be used. Someone disagreed so maybe not. However I noticed a lot of pottery hanging out in phantomknight's awesome loft so we'll see if there's points taken off for using those kinds of items, though I don't think they would have put them there if it wasn't allowed.

right...well until we get some sort of confirmation, I'll halt on putting buyable-craftables for now =)
Im working on my next entry on a 2x2 haha mm
this might be a good place to raise my founding sims! Roomie apartments means space for more which is perfect since I like developing sims in groups. When they go off to start families of their own, they already have friends and job connections ahh yes...planning, something my IRL should do.

hopefully I'll get it done soon so I can go back to my comics.

FYI - on the Store Items (and craftables/rewards/etc) I probably won't mark against any of those because it has all been standard in my "Vanilla Build Game" for so long, I don't think I even know what is a store item vs a M&G/Apt Life item.

Also, you should all know, I will get some judging done today, but then won't be able to do more of it until Monday night (at the earliest.) I have a stress test on Monday - I don't know what that's gonna do to me My mother is turning 78 this weekend! And her 88yo best friend is throwing a party for her - which means I've got a LOT of work to do LOL! It should be fun though, so long as I don't have a heart attack/stroke in the middle of it all.

Good luck Gummi I hope you find the perfect place!

So I'm home at last! I have to go to the hospital every morning until the rest of the week still, but at least I'm feeling strong enough to build, so I will continue now. I will try to do my best for this round.

Wow, thanks, @Magnolia! I don't know if I'd ever call something I'd built masterful--especially since I know all the problems I had with that lot and a part of me can't help but see it as a box. Or, well, several boxes built next to each other. But thank you! I shall take your compliment and run away with it.

As for the buyable craftables, I was going to cite the same post Charmful linked to. That's the reason why I used them this round and last, that once placed, no additional downloading is needed. But if the official ruling is no, then my round 1 score should be updated.

And @Yvelotic2001, glad to hear you're feeling a bit better!

See personally, I don't get the "box-bashing." I mean sure, you don't want *all* your houses to be perfect squares, but hey, around the turn of the 20th century, that was a major architectural design. And if you do them right, prairie box houses can be far from boring. I've also been frustrated several times in designing a house because the roofs don't behave how I want them to, or they clip through a room making that part of the room unplayable. Box houses at least don't have that issue. :D

That said, I did love your entry, and it's made me think about making something similar sometime in my own game.

Lauri

I am sorry it's so very late @PenelopeT! When I finally had scores ready to post I was too tired to look at play-along and then things just kept getting crazier. But I have finally had time to go over your round 1 play-along entry! I'll add it to the round 1 score post as well

PenelopeT: Very interesting lot! I like your take on the concept, with your slightly off-line buildings. The different color facades are a great touch. The choice of fence feels a bit at odds with the lighter airy facades, but I can see why you chose it. Interesting choice to have red brick on the interior when exterior bricks are not. But it certainly does give a very industrial feel. Your interiors are a little more empty than I personally like, but I think you did a good job at keeping in fairly cohesive. Well done!

@AliaD85 I feel like there's something I'm forgetting in regards to your play-along entry. Did you post a round 1 entry, or a round 2? I'm sorry I don't quite remember, brain is a mush after these past few weeks.

@emmyjulia you are very welcome to build and post a lot retroactively if you want to. The only difference is you won't get a comment from me

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The irony of apartment hunting while hosting an apartment building contest was entirely lost on me, but now you pointed it out that's really quite amusing

Kanzen, buyable maxis content do not count as CC, as it's only needed on your end when making the lot. A downloader does not need to have buyable craftables mod to be able to use your lot, so it doesn't count

Thank you for heads up Catherine. Good luck with the party, I hope your mum enjoys herself, and that your stress test goes well.

Very glad to hear you are back home and feeling better Yvelotic!

Table has been updated with links to all your round 2 entries. Really awesome that all of you that completed round 1 made it into round 2 as well

I am on the finish line for this round's build on Jo's contest. Would it be possible for me to have an extension, 1 or 2 days perhaps, here? My apartment complex is on its way, I think an extra day's work would let me finish it. If not, maybe I could be docked some points for posting after the deadline. I'm not really one who appreciates asking for extensions, but my Crohn's decided to offer me a voucher worth a week of vacations at a nearby hospital *sigh*

@gummilutt

I'll have a talk with judges and see what seems fair, and I'll let you know Yvelotic. Submit your entry in the meantime and we'll see how to handle it best

No worries on the comment delay, real life stuff comes first.

I appreciate you taking the time to give me feedback - it was a fun lot to build and decorate. As for the apartments looking a little "empty", I am an absolute minimalist in real life who keeps the furniture in my own home light and just so, don't do clutter and likes for things to be tidy pretty much all the time. In fact, friends and family members often tell my husband and I that the interior of our home always looks as if we are preparing for an open house/showing to sell it.

So, clearly real life sort of influences how my sims homes are decorated.

Oof that's rough, I just had a similar move 2 months ago moving to a place 2 1/2 hours away. We did a month overlap so we could move the furniture ourselves and also the new place was filthy and had to be scrubbed and we decided to paint as well. So back and forth driving, cleaning, painting, packing, unpacking, more cleaning. I was completely dead by the end of it. Mind you, it was totally worth it as the new place and community is thousand times better than the old, but it was sooo exhausting! Good luck with it all! You've been doing great keeping up in the midst of all that!

And on the contest, I think I was supposed to receive a small raise in the playability score from Ellu (link here) but then I think I also got a point for soundproofing when I shouldn't have. So I'm not sure what my score really should be. Probably lower overall, lol, but yeah.

I have to be boring and dull and "disagree" on that (not the actual post, or not the craftables/rewards, either) , and say I do try to mark, as every object you download will be CC, no matter if it is store or not. And it is not vanilla if it is not real vanilla

But yeah I did not spotted those also

@Magnolia, posted about it to gummi

I'm just sayin' for myself I will probably not mark against them because I am likely to miss the Store items as CC. They've been in my game (even when I pare it down to my version of "Vanilla" for building purposes) - they've been in my game since M&G/Apt Life came out way back in 2008! I'm not saying I'm right/wrong for thinking this - but, because they were made by Maxis, they've been in my 'Bins' folder forever, and it won't register with me that they're CC.
(BTW - Some of my items were not downloaded. If you bought the discs at certain times/places these things were included on the disc. I got a few of the things that way! No download at all.)

This is now the law.
But to be on the safe side, I won't unless absolutely necessary!

Im gonna playtest later on and see if 6 sims can harmoniously co-exist with one well planned bathroom, and one small 2x2 shower-toilet combo.

EDIT: I playtested and while my apartment unit has no problems at all and 6 sims were able to navigate through everything unchallenged, 3 of them died in front of the vending machines outside.
I suppose...they couldn't decide what to get??? um....omg.

edit 2: can someone shed a light to this....situation?
my test sims pretending there aint no beds.

Is there something blocking access to the beds that I can't see, maybe?

Try removing the dressers/wardrobes and see if that helps first. Could that violin be an issue too...maybe? If not, is there something on the walls hanging really low over/around the body of the beds?

If there's nothing blocking the beds and sims can use them when directed, I wouldn't worry about it. My sims ignore beds in favor of napping on the couch or somewhere else aaaaallllll the time. Drives me nuts. I even tried a no napping mod but it didn't work. Roommates who can't be directed seem to love to do this as well.

Speaking of silly roommates who can't take care of themselves, were the sims that died roommates or regular playables? After playing an apartment yesterday, the roomie my sim had, Camryn Lee, I think, would spend all day/night entertaining herself in the poker lounge or whatever, but when it came time to eat something, she preferred to not eat and loiter by the vending machines instead of making food in the kitchen. So maybe vending machine advertising is stronger than the fridge? But also, if they are hungry enough, maybe sims can't finish getting something to eat out of the machine because they interrupt themselves to do the hunger desperation wave? That's my theory anyway. It's hard to tell because I wasn't paying attention but I'll keep an eye out in the future.

@Karen Lorraine @PenelopeT all the beds are perfectly accessible when sims are directed to use them. They just...really prefer the couches for some reason.
@Phantomknight the sims that died were all playables. I ran my playtest with free will on and let them do their thing. They just stood there in front of the vending machines - browsing for hours on end until they passed out, slept on the concrete, complained about being hungry and eventually died on the spot. There were no blocks on the paths. Those vending machines are just too enchanting!

I played an apartment with a vending machine outside before. http://modthesims.info/d/319166 but I didn't get such a weird death inducing vendo-fascination! It's probably because I was playing with an older family with the parents knowing how to cook in that apartment while in today's playtest I used 6 fresh CAS sims without a skill to save their life =)) heck one of them set the microwave on fire!

Do you maybe have a mod that prevents autonomous refrigerator use?

Honestly playables are super dumb on free will and should not be left without orders.

Would a studio apartment with two beds count as a double-bedroom (maximum rent being 2000) or as a single-bedroom apartment? My layout can fit either 2 beds or a bedroom with walls, not both.

Those vending machines are a pain. Sims will stand there staring at it for hours on end rather than do anything else at all. It's ridiculous. I don't bother with them any more.

My understanding has always been that studio, one bedroom, and two bedroom are separate distinctions. That a bedroom isn't really a bedroom unless it's closed off with walls and a door. That said there does seem to be a new trend of not totally sealing off a space with walls or even a door and calling it a bedroom. I was looking at apartment buildings for inspiration and saw that a few times. Usually there was at least a wall to give the feeling of a separate space though. I'm not a judge though, so these are just my impressions, obviously. Can you do the one bedroom and stay under 1000? You only technically need a single unit having one bedroom, the rest could be studios.

I already have four 1-bedroom apartments (T1, as we call them here). For the final two units, I wanted to make them a little bit bigger. They are the units in the highest floors of the building, and as there's an elevator there, they would typically be slightly better than the rest. That's why I wanted to know if a studio layout with 2 beds would count as a 2-bedroom apartment, because then I could have 2000 simoleons for rent. A studio (T0) doesn't have any separate bedrooms and would normally use the 1000 simoleon rent for 1-bedroom apartments because usually there's only one bed there. That's why I'm asking if I can use the 2000 simoleons for the 2-bed studio. I intend to give the beds some sort of privacy, though.

I asked this question, or something very like it for my round 2 in this post. I believe the consensus was that as long as it was staged as two bedrooms it could use the 2 bedroom price restriction:

and


Once I explained that I had planned on a wall separating the space, much like Magnolia mentioned, @CatherineTCJD was more on board. So again, I think the key would be to define the space as actual bedrooms--and not just a bed in the middle of a living room or kitchen--and you should be fine. If you're curious, I did use the layout with a wall in my round 2 entry, my units 2A and 2B in building 2.

A "Studio" apt should be one room (well, plus a bathroom) with 2 areas - one for the bedroom, and one for the living/kitchen. IF you have a second bed in there - it would be more like for a guest (not a permanent resident) or an emergency crib.
Phantom's unit that he asked about earlier was a 2 story loft with a bed on each level... it still felt that the downstairs bed was a glorified couch.

I think Gummi's intent on the rent/bonus is for it to be 2 separate bedrooms. Not a bend in the rule

@kestrellyn I don't D: they attempted to cook something but always leave the stove or microwave in favor of the siren-song of the vendo from hell!

@yavannatw I suppose I should get rid of them q A q


concerning the lack if bed use:
is it...maybe...a factor that none of my CAS sims are related or friends and are shy about room sharing?

I mean...sims do that "ew no way!" reaction when they have to share a double bed with someone they're not in cahoots with. With that in mind, I used separate single beds but I guess they still won't use it hahaha maybe if I turned them all friends something might change.

stay tuned folks!

That would really suck if that were the case. Logically single beds should be fine. Double beds no, that makes sense. But single beds really shouldn't be a problem. Here's hoping it's just random chance.

Btw, as a fan of tight spaces I love your layout. It's super cute! :lovestruc

@Magnolia aww thank you! The layout was originally from my awkward romance comic where the characters move to their first home together. The two extra bedrooms are supposedly the girl's study (shes a med student) and the guy's...guy room lmao
gotta have separte spaces for a harmonious romantic co-existance amirite?

however that layout was made for 2 comic people in mind who arent as dumb as sims. (I certainly wont draw them setting the microwave on fire------no wait that might actually be a funny twist hahaha)

so I might expand it a bit...give those dumb sims some room to move and act less dumb

kanzen, I also forgot to ask if you have any sleep mods. Sometimes, depending on the mod, sims who don't have an assigned bed yet are more prone to sleep on the couch than on a bed.

But yeah, I may be starting to agree on the vending machines. Sims are fascinated with it. They can be so weird sometimes.

Also...

Regarding beds and sofas, beds have a sort of broken ownership code in them which I think is the reason roomies never use them autonomously. If you use controlpets cheat to direct a roomie to a bed, they get smarter about using them. Especially if you have Smart_Beds mod.



Two beds in one room counts as one bedroom. That's specifically why the requirements say "2 bedrooms" and not two beds As Catherine said it's not meant as a way to be able to cheat the rule and build more expensive/fancy than is the purpose in this round, but to give you guys the option to build roomie-friendly if you want to. This is the only round with a "real" restriction on rent where you have to really think about your choices, so I would like to see you guys work within the constrictions of the challenge set and find a way to do something you are happy with that meets the money requirement. If you want to do a true studio apartment there's always the coming two rounds with more generous budgets.

Everyone is in agreement that you more than deserve an extension, so you will get scores for this round even though it is "late". Hope your Crohns calms down. I have an aunt who has Crohns, no fun at all.

ah yes...the Smart Beds mod! I forgot about that! Yes I do have it and after making the silly lil pixels relax on their respective beds for a bit they now use it........10% of the time. Hey, better than nuthin!'

Oopsie - sorry! You should be Phantom "Knightress" - oh ye female of the Most Noble Order

FYI everybody - I got about halfway with the judging for round 2; and now I'm "going dark". I will be out of town for the weekend with no PC/internet. I will finish the scores when I get back on Monday. Hopefully Gummi will have them by Tuesday, and they won't be late ...hopefully.

Those of you who pray/believe/or send positive vibes... please send them my way this weekend! I've been having severe issues with my heart/blood pressure lately - the Dr's are trying to track it down - but, I'm really worried about the stress levels this weekend. It's started already - we get to drive 2 hours through a heavy thunderstorm to get there. Yikes! Please pray :lovestruc Thank you.

Sending positive vibes your way! Hope it all works out for you Catherine <3 And if ever you have to do that drive again, please drive safely and don't rush through a storm QUQ

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playtest report: now that the bed and vending machine issues have been resolved I now have a new problem.
DOGS. strays rolling on my petunias!
The flowers die and I can't really buy and place new ones in a public space while playing my sims... the problems never end, aye? Note to self: avoid putting flower beds where strays can reach em in an apartment lot.

I still haven't seen my flowers die or be watered after about two sim weeks of play when they are elevated outside on the stage tool. No strays roll in them either. I wonder if putting them there makes them immortal?

Hope you feel better Cat! Be safe!

*strokes my imaginary beard*
I do have a habit of putting my flowers on stages and foundations (strays have rolled on flowers on foundations btw) but I have yet to see flowers die on stage tools...
prolly because all I do is build rather than play the game lmao

Eh, the landlord'll fix it.
I have yet to find the will to fiddle with camera mods again. But I need to get on it.

Recommended rent is 1k per bedroom, does this equate to 1k per sim for round 3? If I have 4 roomies, is rent at 4k?

The 1k per bedroom rent was a special restriction for round 2. Presumably round 3 will use the rent recommendation from the main body of the first post, which was



For round one, people were being restricted to 6k for all multi-sim apartments no matter how many sims were living there, so I assume it will be the same for round 3.

Thanks for that. I finished building just now, but I have still some extensive play testing ahead, due to the extensive use of quarter tile placement, moveobjects and 1-tile spaces. Most things I have used before separately, but with so many possible playability problems together, I have to test the lot quite a bit.
As for roomies using beds autonomously, am I the only one whose roommates sleep in their bed without ever having to use controlpets? Granted, sometimes they go and run errands, but they mostly sleep at home, at least for me.

@CatherineTCJD sending love your way. Having recently spent a week in the hospital myself, I know first-hand how bad being sick is. I wish health problems to no one. I hope you feel better soon.