another WIP
 

changed mine quite a lot after I remembered that no garage cars are public cars lmao
also due to some miscalculation, the middle unit is smaller, has no ensuite bathroom, but has "equal" room sizes. could be a perfect fit for adult siblings or friends.
the corner units are more suitable for families with small or teenaged children.

I have more questions. For Round 1, I am a little bit uncertain about what kind of build is permissible, possibly due to the different uses of the terms "townhouse" and "row house" in different countries/regions. Can the build be in any style etc provided that the requirements are met, or does the build have to be similar in style to the example pictures?

Personally I would describe Example 1 and Example 2 as terraced houses and Example 3 as a semi-detached house, so I wouldn't actually describe any of them as townhouses or row houses, which is leaving me uncertain as to what kind of build is allowed for this round! The requirements state that the 2-4 units must be side by side, not on top of each other. At least one unit must have two bedrooms and children's/toddler's furnishings and all units must be proper, long-term homes. I assume that all of the 2-4 units have to be attached to each other? Provided that all of these criteria are met by my build, are there any other requirements in terms of style, layout etc? I have a couple of ideas but I'm not sure if they'd be considered as row houses/townhouses or not..... Does row houses/townhouses just mean houses which are attached side-by-side, or does it mean something more specific?

Also, are CC arches allowed, for the exterior of builds, seeing as we can use CC doors and windows?

@lauratje86, I don't think the units have to be attached, not all townhouses are. I think townhouses just tend to be in closer proximity to each other and maybe have less yard. Google defines townhouse as "a tall, narrow, traditional row house, generally having three or more floors," which fits with what I know.

And @kanzen you could totally stick an ensuite in the middle unit, if you wanted! Just sacrifice some hallway:

Option 1: Flip the sink and the toilet in the upstairs bath and move the door to the middle of them, giving access to the largest room. Enclose the walkway next to the stairs, making a 2x3 bath accessible only from the hallway.

Option 2: Shrink the upstairs bath, moving the wall behind the sink to in front of it. Rearrange the plumbing; the toilet would have to be in front of the back half of the tub or the tub could be replaced with a shower. Then enclose the space next to the stair, making a 2x4 bath.

Option 3: Shrink the master by four tiles, moving the wall shared with the hallway back into the bedroom one square (don't need to move the bottom half of the wall, the two tiles shared with the bathroom). Move door of the bathroom to in between the sink and the tub. Either flip the sink and the tub or move the sink one tile down (to where the door used to be) so that a counter or other deco is behind the door swing. (Plumbing placement would really depend on the fixture you used and where sims get into and out of the bath, so if you change so things, just remember to watch the door swing.) A new 2x3 bath can then be placed in the hallway space above the new ensuite. This option makes a wider hallway.

I'm sure there are other options, too. See what I mean though, about looking at other simmers' floorplans and sticking in bathrooms?

@Phantomknight
yes I see what you mean but I prefer my hallways a bit bigger since sims like to be sims in hallways =)))
I also put a shower in the garage and the main living floor. so...unit 1 and 3 have 4 bathrooms and unit 2 has 3 xD it's kinda excessive already..

dear oh dear look at all the space we can use =))))
heck maybe i'd edit it again.

I think they just need to be attached to each other, the examples given are just ideas. I am going for a row of Georgian terraced town houses, UK style.

I'd been operating on the assumption that they needed to be attached to each other and in a line, with each unit's access along the frontage (as opposed to a compound where all units face each other). My ideas are based loosely on a courtyard inn or renovated stable/coach house, with 4 units that form a U. The centre two units are taller than the two that form the wings, but all have about equal portions of the building's frontage. The units would all have yards, but there would also be common area in the U.

Aaaargh! It's hard trying to build a decent parking lot without invisble driveways. I'm using a combination of Mootilda's Rotatable Driveways and moveobjects on to build the parking spaces on the side, overlapping them to make the cars seem like they are parked right next to one another. And because having the driveway all the way up against the windows looked bad, I also made them overlap shrubs, using a low fence to hide the "growing on concrete" aspect of them. They should be functional. I will test when I'm done.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Fantastic progress pics so far - so creative. Mine is rather stodgy and dull in comparison. I worked on one of my already existing apartments to save time but think I should have started from scratch but I have no time. Nearly ready for pic taking when I get a chance. I wish we knew how much an apartment might cost before rezoning and putting a Sim in.

^agreeeeeee. I'm not done yet but have a sneaking suspicion that the rent on mine is going to be over what is suggested for two sims.

Not familiar with Mogs parking mod, I use Mootildas, but if user has to have it for driveways to work then yeah not allowed.



I had a hard time figuring out how to explain that round, since as you say terms vary and english isn't my first language so had to use wikipedia/google images to try and find terms that would convey what I had in mind. You got it though, by rowhouse/townhouse I meant attached side-to side. As long as it meets requirements and is attached side-to-side, style beyond that is entirely up to you. I will update requirements and clarify that units must also be attached side-by-side since it seems that isn't a given depending on definition of rowhouse/townhouse. If anyone already built something not attached I am sorry, I hope it's not too much work to make them attached.

CC arches are okay, since they are just another version of a door.



I hear ya! It's pretty easy to check though. Just move it to catalog, put down two copies and zone one to apartment and it'll tell you price-range from hood view I checked after getting shell done before adding any furniture so I'd know how much the floor space itself adds, and if I needed to reduce size of back yards. Turns out I did

I was worrying about that when I started work on my option 2 yesterday, but then I remembered gummilutt is right--it is really hard to go over $6000.

I have apartments in my hood that are several floors and 4 double bedrooms each with a garage as part of the unit and they are still less than $6000 in rent. They are still too pricey for most of my sims, however.

Building apartments is easy. Taking pictures is hard.

That camera mod seems to be crashing the game - at least, it's crashed three times today in a configuration that hasn't crashed in months, and the cameras are the main thing I put in, and it was always while dealing with moving the camera around. However, I only have one more apartment to take pictures of, and then it's making the composite(s) and picking the four best pictures from each unit. I'm afraid the front and back views will have to be composites, as even with the camera mod I couldn't frame the width of the lot from sim's eye level. The overhead camera, however, worked.

@Yvelotic2001
those shrubs will be a maintenance nightmare with the small fence and cars in the way of the landlord...

I'm finished building/decorating. Now it's to play test mode.

With only 4 pics per apartment it's going to be a tough choice whether to take a pic of an extra bedroom, hobby room or top furnished hallway. Lounge and kitchen are the most important and a bedroom. Forgot to take a ground level top down pic of the whole lot, but nearly there.
I needn't have worried about going over budget. The most expensive apartment is under 4,000.

Seeking clarification: We only do individual (photoshopped) rents of each apartment if over budget? Otherwise hood view?

@gummilutt is it too late to ask for a transfer to contestant? xD
apparently the switch of creativity helps my writing and drawing rather than hinder it.

If I doesn't work when I play test it, I'll find a way to make something work to hide that ugliness. Like I said, Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

EDIT: Does anyone know why counters don't connect on corners if placed below the landing of a modular staircase? It's really annoying me. If I can't fix that, I'll have to completely redesign one of the kitchens, which will be a PITA.

I think we are allowed to composite images, so if you wanted to take a pic of kitchen and dining, for example, you could put them into one picture. I definitely need more that 4 pics per unit to show things off so I plan to combine bedroom interiors into one, bathrooms into one, etc.

Well wait...now I went back and looked at screenshot rules and don't see mention of it being allowed but I could have sworn I saw something somewhere about compositing. @gummilutt - are we allowed to composite pics like Cat does with a two for one? Or must they be straight 1up pics?

Edit: We are not unless it's for rent that goes over the suggested limit or if front/back required pics can't fit into one frame.

If we're following the MTS screenshot guidelines, then we prefer you not to do that as it makes the individual images very small, but it's gummi's call.

It's Gummi's call, of course, but I think (obviously) that compositing/collaging 2 pictures together is fine. Just remember to keep each picture as large as you can. If I can't see something, I can't judge it. With only 4 pictures allowed - there's NO way I could be a contestant! The more pictures, the merrier, I think

ETA:
I wouldn't collage more than 2 pictures - or they will be too small.
Remember on the 'overhead' shots - get as close as you can and keep the walls up (so judges can see if fridges are in front of windows - its happened before - and find the telephone, etc...)

Progress screenshot
 

This is as far as I've got

I'm only compositing the front and back views, because nothing I do makes them fit, and the rents. Otherwise I wouldn't. Take lots and lots of pictures and pick out the best four per unit, that's my plan; or at any rate, the four per unit that best shows off the apartment as a whole. It's how professional photographers work, after all. Sometimes they'll take two or three rolls of film, and only use one picture.

I take the sim's eye views during playtesting, and now I've found a problem with that last unit, so...it is what it is. I can probably bear it if somebody beats me to First Entry.

Correct As for the 4 per unit, remember you have an additional 8 pictures for "structure". What part is up to you, so if you want to use those for the units that's up to you. It's there in case you have a lot of common area, or if you feel some unit needs more attention. If you guys all think 4 per unit + 8 is way too little I'm open to increase limit, if my judges are okay with that.



Not too late, as long as applications are still open that's fine. I will move you tomorrow, off to work in a minute.



Nope, no editing at all except for room tags if you want think they are needed. As Karen pointed out, it makes the pictures smaller which is a PITA for the judges.

Exception to the no editing rule : the required screenshots. If your front/back is too small to fit in one frame you may composite them into one, but it's also fine to do two pictures (would recommend it since bigger = better), still counts as one as far as required screenshots go. And rent-picture if you went over the 6k rent and want to show which units do and which don't.

Thanks for clarifying. It's good to know I could repurpose some of the 8 structure images to show units. I have three floors on each unit so I can def use that now I know there's no compositing them.