What are you working on now?
 

Show us a picture(s) of your current project! And when you will be uploading it!

Here is mine:

It is a cute home on the beach, maybe for a retired couple or a starting family? Anyways, i wont give too many details, but it will be up in the next week or so. . .If you want it to be. (:



Thats the outside, Comments?

Wow, your beach house looks lovely from the front! I like how you've placed the plants and trees!

Here's what I'm working on at the moment, it's a library called the "Flora Paradise Library". I will probably upload it in a week.

Front (Side View) of Flora Paradise Library



First Floor of Flora Paradise Library

Any comments?

Oh cool! (: looks good! Maybe where the entrance is, you could make the interior of it one space wider? does that make sense? Then add a peak, to add some excitment to the outside, then for the white room, maybe some black and white pictures? and in the entry, you should maybe add some long couchs with a fern in the middle? So then there is a spot to sit, and there is furniture! Also some terrain paint! Hope this helps!

Tyu.

My junk yard house i just finished it found it : HERE

WOW Amazing Lunararc ! I love it !

More classical this is my entry to a challenge on TSS Tyu must know about...

I LOVE both of them! luna, that is UNREAL how trashy that is! haha, awesome!

Guardgian, i love you lot. It was/is really unique! And yes, i think i may have heard of that challenge before. (: haha.

I'm working on a Sims 2 lot, actually, unlike most of these ones. (*sigh* Sims 3 has taken over MTS...) lol anyways.... for my Sims 2 lot I'm making my first DECENT residential lot. In the backyard it has a special eating area with an archway full of roses and other flowers above it. If you want to see what I have so far and want to help me make it as best as it can be, please find it in the Sims 2 Creator Feedback forum. (It's titled 'Need help with this roof')

making ahouse from an animation movie few years ago outside is allmost finished, what u think ?? my first to come online sims 3 creation

Lavaster, I feel like the only one that's NEVER played Sims 3. My sims have played it more than I have.

I'm redecorating the Pleasantview houses. The Burbs moved into a Lothario/Caliente style house and I made it more modern looking. Right now I'm doing the Goths' house (after I made Bella do a welcome-home ceremony). I downloaded a 3-in-one Megahood to decorate - 6 neighborhoods and Bluewater and Sim State is all too chaotic for me to keep up with.

Jolien, I love it! Very spooky looking. I like the columns around the door.

http://img827.imageshack.us/f/shootsmonsterhouse.jpg/

Here is a revisioned version of it, i increased the spookyness, notice the toys on the grass and the glowing eyes of the house

Check the link

Princess And The Frogg Mansion
 

i'm working on the mansion of the princess and the frog, i'm woriking with a few screenshots i made with the movie, this is what i have so far, okay its not an exact match but its the closest i could go
react of what you think! i still have to do allot, the inside outside details`...

Modernhaus
 

Ive been recently working on this project, which im basing off a design I found online,http://www.houseplans.com/3160-squa...-garage-(33725), so it looks very similar so far but with a few added features. The front and inside are done, but I haven't even touched the backyard as of now... I've been real busy.

Here's some pics, btw I took these by accident, because I didn't feel I would need them up until now:

[IMG]Screenshot-88[/IMG]

Yep Thats all I have thats good, I'll get back to you on that....

I've upload to MTS some lots for TS2, but my last lot is waiting for approval... Here some screenshots

my mansion! U like???

finished 2 weeks ago. mansion

I'm working on a pre-made world that is not mine, but re-decorating it completely. I've even changed the maxis buildings, like the bonzai club etc. I am so getting into it, with my own background story and everything. Cant wait to play it!
There is a posh part of town, the suburbs, the city centre (with a few high-rise buildings and apartments), and a run down area. That 's where my vampire lounge, graveyard, junkyard, techno disco club and abandoned warehouse are at. There is something wrong with the ground there so most of the trees all die out, not to mention the strange eerie mist covering the air. I think the fangers have something to do with it There is a big old psychiatric hospital which has rooms that are now rented out as apartments. I alwas use a lot of cc so of course kudos to all you cc creators who make my sims 3 experience so much more exciting ^^

Semi Finished Mountain Home
 

This house I've got to say is too huge. I made it for a big family but I have so much space down stairs and up stairs! I've tried to fill it but, eh, just not working out.



Its a bit unfinished in the front. I've been going bonkers over what to do with the garage and the roof isnt going like I want it to.



Heres the side of the house. I put a lot of bushes to give it a neatly untamed sort of feel. I wanted to do something with that patio like space but I cant figure out what. Any suggestions?



Heres the deck and the pool. Spent a while on that.



Bit more of the pool

Here are some rooms

i am restarting my game i want to re-create my old urban city.i'll show shots soon.

For the downstairs area, maybe you could make it into a bit of an in-home art gallery? You could put a few paintings up, a pedestal with a sculpture, and maybe some plants if you want! Carpets also make it look like more space is being taken up.

My Creation
 

This is what i've making past few days. Maybe 30% finished.
If you have any suggestion feel free

Remodeling
 

Currently I'm remodeling/rebuilding the lots in Pleasantview and its sub-hoods. I just finished a new construction home where the Brokes' lived.


I initally wanted to remodel the Brokes' home, but decided to try something different. After bulldozing the lot and plopping down a fresh 2x4 lot, it hit me to make an expensive lot for the "trailer" section of Pleasantview. I did it with a MGTV frame of mind, trying to make it look high-end yet cheap at the same time. I also left it unfurnished and put down a For Rent sign, you know, for realism. I uploaded it Tuesday night and am waiting to hear the verdict. In the meantime, I've started on rebuilding of Sim State Dormitory. I'll post a picture of it soon.

I've made a tutorial so folks can make a mansard roof that doesn't fall over the sides of their house. It won't work for some houses, but it will help others.

I've started working on another Victorian. I think it's going to be aged, and a bit worn.
I've started working on the interior colours. I'm thinking dark and desaturated.
I'm doing my best to keep it base game. But it's really hard to ignore SN when you're building Victorian...


I was inspired by the colours in copper when I considered the exterior...the pinks and verdigris.

I'm working on a lot that is driving me nuts. I've gotta leave the structure alone for a bit,
so I'm concentrating on the lot's landscape. I've made my first successful arched footbridge, so that's something.
I just hope I can remember how I did it the next time I need one.

Oooh. Pretty!

Can't you just do your own thing, and just keep the inspiration sort of? Do they really have 2 places to dine in opposite corners?



I'm making a modern white mansion on a slope again. Doesn't that lamp look like it's much closer to the camera? It's hanging above the middle of the table.

I don't usually take request, unless it's something I like working on. I did a couple of times, but the last time the requester didn't like it I guess. I thought it was splended, but there you are

I have finished that house and now I'm supposed to go to TS4 and do the same house there. Bah ... I'm so not motivated to deal with downloads I have to use as is and struggling with endless swappes on wallcolors

Thanks Oh ... the sloped window is an object, I hardly ever use cfe these days, I prefer to be able to paint my ceilings.

As to sloped ceilings - I learned the hard way that if I want my slope painted, I have to do it before it becomes a slope.

BUT, there is a trick you can use in most cases. It can be tedious to do...But if you can keep a temporary piece of the ceiling floor that is NOT sloped, but is CONNECTED to (i.e. touching) the sloped part...
you can usually change the ceiling paint/texture by selecting the un-sloped section of the ceiling, and changing IT.

First make sure that you CASt all those parts that you need to have ceiling paint...and cast them to be identical with the un-sloped, level piece of ceiling.

If you can change that one section later, any other sections that actually touch it (and also match its paint and texture) will change with it.

This has worked for me 5 out of the 6 times I tried it...under bridges, under arches, and in an attic with a sloped ceiling that was over the spiral stairs.

I just went in after I was certain I liked that particular ceiling, and just deleted the temporary piece of flooring that touched it. Magic. :D

I've made my first lot for The Sims 4 - a Victorian Family home.

Have you then tried playing the house without floating tiles turning up everywhere? Do you play from below from the sims view point? It's several different types of bugs as well. When it comes to this sloped thing I'm not sure I would be able to make it looking like glass either. It would have to be espalier or some metal lookalike.

I was in a challenge or what it's called on this site once about cfe and even the judges had to learn how to use it before they could judge. I'm never going to join a comp on this site again.

I try to remember to "walk" around the building, in build mode, looking up. Then if there are any stray,
slanting ceiling pieces I use my sledgehammer to delete any floor pieces.

There are some that required re-adding a floor above them, but they've always been the level unsloped pieces...
so I added a floor, and then deleted it...and the ceiling below it disappeared.


I see what you mean about not having glass, though. I never thought of that...it would look different. Damn.

I've been in a couple of contests, and both times was one of the lowest scoring contestants in each...but it was still a lot of fun.
I'm still debating on the calendar contest...but they require a "single sim" in the picture. My Sims don't take such good photos in-game.
They seem to have dark splotches on their faces...shadows, or sumthin'
I'll need to experiment with invisible lights and see if they work in the daylight (with a setting of 5? I'm hoping?)

They keep coming back in my experience, also for the downloader, but I guess it comes down to what you make and if it can work with white ceilings.




I had some suggestions from k4 and something, very good creator of poses if you know. I needed to have invisible lights above the sim, my black spot vanished then. I just don't think it can be a fair contest if the people giving out the points know less about the issue than the contestants with the lowest knowledge. I guess I didn't really fit in there either, following up on TeeHeeHee and Simsample's attempts to recreate that Korean's work some years ago doesn't make me into a contestant, more like a judge probably.

That could be something to try for you tsyokawe. I made a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Z...4C2EE9FAD11D049

It's a very nice way to build ecohouses if you haven't tried it already. It's ages since I did it, but it still seems to work for some people in this thread: http://modthesims.info/showthread.p...9&goto=lastpost

The tackiest Wedding Chapel imaginable. I've missed every holiday-appropriate opportunity for creating a lot so far (though I certainly hope to eventually have at least Halloween and Christmas-themed lots), but Valentines Day seems like an appropriate time to make a lot for your Romance Sims to have a terrible, cheesy wedding in, before breaking things off for a new flame halfway through the honeymoon.
Basically, I'm making a lot that if you just saw the foundation, the only conclusion you could draw would be a fast-food restaurant (dingy parking lot, big neon signs, dumpster with empty cardboard boxes in the back, etc...) and then a pretty normal shaped chapel (on the outside) that's bedecked in lots of neon. Inside, as much neon and fluorescent coloring as possible, giant stuffed bears to bear (hehe) witness, standard-issue wedding cake and champagne for a quick toast, and out front, a photo booth- saving your Sims the expense of hiring a wedding photographer as well as providing an on-site place to... ahem... consummate the marriage.
Hopefully I'll finish this around Valentines Day so your Sims can do everything they can to destroy the image of a wedding as a picture-perfect white-layer-cake affair, and find an excuse to bust out the powder blue tuxedos and Elvis wigs again!

screenshots! screenshots! we want screenshots!

OK, here you go! It's remarkably difficult to deliberately try to make something terrible, without it just looking like I don't know what I'm doing in the game!

Other projects that I'm still fairly consistently working on are the Schinasi Mansion in NYC (June's House from the TV show White Collar, for those of you who watch it) (also, probably the next upload I'll have finished after my wedding chapel), a sleek black modern skyscraper, large enough (finally) to have a helipad on the roof, an early 20th Century tenement-style skyscraper, an Elvish castle build on the mountains above a pristine lake, a bed-and-breakfast in a faux-castle that was two doors down from my grandparents' house in Wichita, KS, a Saturn V rocket (which is giving my CFE fits right now at the top of the rocket), Hatley Castle in British Columbia, Wayne Manor/Wollaton Hall (hopefully @Fergus' Mind has photos of the interior at some point?), a residential cemetery for a more traditional Vampire, another mostly-abandoned warehouse that will have an illegal stolen art exchange on the upper levels, and a new Dark Tower for the Ivanoviches of Darkwood Hollow (not sure if that's gonna be an upload, or just one for my own gameplay)...

Yeah... I'm pretty bad at staying focused on one project...

A variety of Mars colony bases and a Earth Mission-Control building, both just to upload, and also for a challenge I'm working on writing for other members to create an off-Earth subhood.

I downloaded this as soon as it got uploaded. Thank you very much. This fits in very well amongst my working class area around the city. I might just convert it to be a business lot and add a tonne of telescopes and microscopes, so it becomes a Sims 2 Nasa Station.

I have this thing where I build city halls the same way. I'm building one, albeit smaller than the one that was lost, right now. Kind of looks like NYC City Hall in a way.

I'm working on an old, defunct signal tower for my next Dinky Dwelling.

Because I am completely incapable of focusing on one Sims project at a time, my current slate of ongoing projects include a Far Eastern monastery, a NASA training facility, my Wayne Manor lot (still gradually filling that in... that's been on the list for probably the longest time), the S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion from Captain America: The Winter Soldier (which will be a two-lot upload), a Romanesque colonnade and bath, a few more Martian colony structures (I'm still trying to get the challenge I'm working on to come together too), a grand palace theatre for Jambalaya Quarter, and of course my usual blend of various downtown skyscraper projects.

No, I am never going to finish everything on my "to-build" list- why would you ask such a ridiculous question?

Projects I've had on the front or back burner. All these are all for TS2:

1) Concrete House #04 - Part of my series of concrete houses. A modern mansion, loaded. It's essentially done, including testing, but there's just something off about it. I might make some minor changes, especially since I now have a new CC Discrete Concrete fence set. Or maybe I'll keep it NoCC, I dunno. 4 bedrooms, swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam room, game room, music room, etc. Like I said, loaded.

2) White Stucco #05 - Part of my series of white stucco houses. Another "round" house, like my White Stucco #03, but smaller. Done, except for a few minor touchups and testing. 2 bedroom, with swimming pool, fruit trees and greenhouse.

3) El Dorado Court - A new and much improved interior layout for this uploaded apartment Lot, one of my more popular ones. Done, except for testing, which I don't expect to reveal any problems.

4) El Dorado Place - Identical to El Dorado Court, above, in its interior layout and exterior looks, but with an added story and placed on a larger Lot that includes a driveway. It's not the sort of driveway to goes into the Lot, but skirts by on the front of it. Done, except for testing.

5) El Dorado Towers - Two circular shaped, modern apartment towers (similar to my uploaded El Dorado Court, above), about 7-8 stories high, with a single, large apartment on each floor. Will include a parking garage, swimming pool and other common area amenities. The tower shells and apartment layouts are done, but not anything else. This won't see the light of day for months yet.

6) El Dorado Terrace - Future anticipated apartment building, which will be the most luxurious of the El Dorado series.

7) Oak Pass Guesthouse - A TS2 version of a real house in California. 2 bedroom with pool. Done, except for minor finishing touches and testing.

8) Cobblestone Tower - Very loosely based on a large upscale apartment house in Brooklyn, NY. 23 apartment units of various sizes and layouts, on 6 floors. Done, except for about half the furnishings and testing. This Lot used up all but about 100 of the available wall sections. It's only on a 3x3 lot, but it's monstrously huge. Don't know when I'll get back to this.

9) MIT House, aka Monsanto House - My TS2 version of a concept house that sat at Disneyland during the 1960s. Early stages of construction, although a previous version was completely done when I mistakenly deleted it. I wasn't entirely happy with that version anyway.

10) Concrete Apartments #03 - Modern/futuristic apartment building, with about 20 very small apartments on 5 floors. Players would need certain mods to play this, because the Sims are expected to eat in the common areas. The tiny apartments are basically just for sleeping and bathing, with everything else in the common areas. Includes many common area luxuries, like swimming pool, spa, doggie baths, game room, lounge, hobby room, etc. Also includes a parking garage. Done, except for testing and minor touchups.

11) Concrete Apartments #04 - Same as above, but with fewer, normal-sized, fully functional apartments. Not started yet, but will use the one above as a starting point.

12) About another half-dozen previously uploaded Lots, which I plan on re-uploading. They are obviously done, but will undergo minor changes and improvements and probably some required re-testing.

I'm probably forgetting a couple.

I'm finally finishing a house that's based on a so-called "Prairie"-styled architectural plan. Based on. I did not nail it.

While working on said building, I found out the joy and frustration of CFE. Quite a few times. I've used it before, of course, but not this often, and not with different heights and sizes of roofs. In doing so, I found out that CFE on multiple overhang roofs can be a nightmare, and leave some awkward gaps. I've been wracking my brain for several hours trying to figure out how to cover them (Of course, they're not of uniform size and location .... that would be easy, even for an advanced-beginner like me.. Nope. Different sizes, different locations.) I finally settled on using a Jope backsplash recolor, move_object and snap_objects to make a sort of "frieze" between the two gaps in front. (Not really.) None of the art I had could cover them well. Not sure if I like the particular recolor I used on the "frieze", but I must have tried at least a dozen recolors, and this one was the only one I could more-or-less successfully match up. I might change it, though. I covered the back gaps the best I could, using a plant to at least minimize the effect in one area. (Cheap, tacky trick, I know, but I must have tried at least three-dozen objects. Not an exaggeration here!)

My daughter figured out how to recolor. Perhaps I should enlist her services in altering the hue on this makeshift frieze.

I had to separate a couple of the buildings, rather than connect them as shown in the architectural plans, because I could NOT get CFE to work on them while connected. At all.

I saw someone use a CFE wall between two stories successfully once. I have no idea how he or she did that. I tried and bombed. I got the stompy Sim (routing error). So I had to re-work a third of my building to at least get Don to go to the upstairs break room, including getting rid of that CFE between the stories. I reluctantly put it on top. At least Don L can go get his chips from the vending machine.

So far, I've spent more than 30 hours on this lot, and may spend a few more. This is straight gameplay hours, but including bathroom breaks. (I mean, one does need to use the loo SOMETIMES!) Lots and lots of trial-and-error and "oopses" ... it's not THAT elaborate a lot! It looks like it would be simple, actually. (Hah!) I'm still learning new methods.

Obsessive? Nah. Why would one say that? Would I tackle another project I find challenging?

You bet.

I pictured this as some sort of artist colony/showcase. I didn't put that much effort on the landscaping. I think I pooped out after just trying to get those roofs in order!

My previous lot was based on plans for a fire tower. in my backstory, the buyer converted it into a small nightclub. Right now, it's on my Uni campus. It has a storage shed in the back (the real plans show it a little closer, but oh, well), where a Sim couple can sneak in for a little alone time.

Here's a really bad picture of the first building. For some reason, of the picture editors I use, only MS Paint lets me do any editing at all to this picture, and I admit it's pretty shabby editing!. But it may give you an idea of what it looks like.



For those using Photobucket ... is its refusal to let you edit new? You used to be able to easily do it.

While there are enough problems with this lot that I'll have to scrap it and start over, I'm very happy with the successful proof-of-concept for a space station! (Apparently orbital altitude above SimWorld is only about 250 feet... )

Interesting looking house, gazania.

@gazania

If you could take some screenshots of the spots that are giving you grief, maybe there's a solution that one of us other builders has stumbled onto. :lovestruc

Most of my life, I've had a fantasy of maintaining a yard with many shrubs and flowers.

I can still spend hours looking at photos of gardens, both the itty bitty ones, and the overly grand.

This house is only large enough for one old, retired couple. I want to live here.

I love small sim houses :lovestruc

Lovely! I want to live there and putter in the garden.

Why don't you get yourself TS2 Ultimate Collection for free from Origin? That way I could give you my built houses and let you do the landscaping, as I don't really like doing it and am not particularly good at it.
Question: When you make a Lot full of shrubs and flowers such as this for TS3, do you need a mod to keep the Sims from having to trim them, like in TS2? Or did they get rid of shrub trimming altogether for TS3?

@ScaryRob

In Sims 3, the only plants that need maintenance are the harvest-ables. Everything else just stays as is.

edited to add: it's the 20th...so probably dumb to add this, but...I just remembered that with Sims 1 we used to have to water the flowers.
I remember one yard where I had 60 some tiles covered with agapanthus, and my sim took forever watering. Seems like a lifetime ago.

I remember how surprised I was with Sims 3 that I didn't have to water the potted plants inside or the bushes and flowers outside.

OK, I thought I read that somewhere - thanks.

Among other things? I had lots of fun with my secret spy base in my Kingsman Tailors lot, but as I was making it, as much fun as secret rooms and hidden passages are, there's also something fun about having things right out in the open and on a huge scale sometimes too! This inspired me to start in again with my S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I'm not sure that a secret organization could have a LESS secret headquarters, but it's a fun building, and it's prompting me to take a slightly different approach to building that I often do, since it's such a minimal style! (Plus the fact that it takes up two full-size lots!)

I can't wait to see the inside!

I'm working on another tower.



I'm hoping to make a medieval/fairy tale/Renaissance world on Castle Island by Volvenom.

You should know by now that I never even come close to just working on one thing at a time... Right now, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion and Hatley Castle (which has a thread in the TS2 CFF, if you're so inclined) are the two big projects that I'm spending the most time on, but that could change quickly whenever I get bored of them. I also always have unstarted projects that I'm considering how best to do as well... oftentimes, these will be inspired by an image that I want to capture the "feel" or "mood" of- it doesn't even necessarily have to have a practical building in it. Right now, the two that I'm most interested in taking inspiration from are a couple images I found of DeviantArt... neither is practical to try to make for TS2 in any sort of direct sense, but both have a mood that I'd LOVE to capture in a future lot.

I recently finished another couple of my brutalist concrete houses. If it weren't for the concrete wall covering, they'd probably be called International style, which is kind of like mid-century modern. Not sure if or when I'm going to upload those.

One I will definitely upload within a couple of few days is the one I'm currently working on:

Although I've changed the rear of the ground floor to a billiard room, instead of that sideways garage. I also got rid of the rear of the driveway and put in a small pool in that area. This still leaves 3 parking spaces further to the front of the driveway, up to where the car is now.
This house is based on a TS3 lot which caught my eye the other day, called Open Opinion. I worked off the pics and floorplans the creator included.

Yet another Victorian...

I splurged at the EA store again. Their Bohemian Gardens is on a Daily Deal for the next hour. I just bought it for about 900 points.
I just gotta have all those harvestables. The thing is, though, I can't be sure that anyone wants to download lots with EA stuff.
And I don't play the game so much...I go into Live Mode to test routing and so that my Sims can upgrade and tend the garden.

So I'm feeling some remorse for having spent approximately 9 bucks for something I'll probably never have use for.

Just once, I'd love to upload something using every EP I've got and every EA Store item available (without feeling guilty).

A few months ago, someone PMd me wanting my Greycliff Hotel without SN objects. I spent days trading stuff out, before uploading what I thought was SN-free.
Then it hit me - the windows and doors in the back (facing the ocean) were ALL from SN! I deleted the second file. I notified the member, but I never did hear from him/her.
There are just some looks we cannot fake with Base Game build objects.

So far, this house's interior is pretty much basegame and SN with some stuff from Ambitions (to hopefully appeal to the family-building crowd, I put in a washer and a dryer).

edited to add: I just realized the porch rail is from MH. I love MH. I think I'm going to use MH to build this. I love the stove from MH. I would love to put that in my kitchen.

@tsyokawe - I know what you mean about wishing you could use the Store items including Store worlds - so much great stuff came with Midnight Hollow.
I have tons of Store stuff from 6 years of playing Sims 3. And now I have 7000 simpoints from grinding, so Store items are/were never a problem for me. I was never opposed to the Store anyway, unlike so many people, although I do think some a lot of the stuff is way overpriced. Pre-September 2, 2014, (a day that shall live in infamy!) I thought, though, that I was supporting the development of Sims 4. But instead I was supporting some a-hole named Andrew Wilson and some others whose names I forget.

@ScaryRob - I don't have Sims 2 unfortunately, but I love that house and that style of architecture.

I'm basing it on a TS3 house, here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=566119

@ScaryRob

I like the cleaness of this, it's fresh and feels cool in what is clearly a hot place.

I like the yard a lot....the idea of a private courtyard is very appealing.

I didn't really care for the babyshit yellow, but I'm not liking this cream colour, either.

Essentially, everything's done. My sim has upgraded everything. But I'm just not happy with the colours.

I'm thinking of going with a medium grey (no hint of yellow at all)...give it a run down look....my favorite sort of Victorian...old.

I'm not a TS3 player, so I can't relate how it would look in-game, but it already looks fairly grey to me. It looks very good too, nothing wrong with it, imo.

I'm building a coffeehouse and would like to set up a small stage-like section. What is the best way to do this?

Have you thought about split leveling?

If you need more help on this, just yell

I think your question belongs in one of the Creator Feedback forums, depending on which game you're playing: http://www.modthesims.info/fd.php?f=473
Yes, I agree, this website has far too many forums, subforums and seemingly duplicate forums.
This here forum is kind of for creators who know what they're doing and just want some feedback on aesthetics.

From the tag for this group: "Lot Creators group - This group is for any expert and beginner lot builders out there! "

I am not an advanced or expert builder by any means, but I'm not brand new either. This *was* a question on aesthetics, what kind of stage would others suggest I use. Perhaps my question wasn't clearly worded, but that is what I meant. I would like to think that even experts can learn something new from time to time and asking a how to question shouldn't be out of line anyway. Oh and thanks for the welcome.

TO- thanks for the link. I like sims supply stuff.

tsyokawe- I like the medium grey, and especially the detail on the dormer over the front porch.

You're welcome attuned, I couldn't help thinking that an area using split leveling would be a cool area for a band and a bit more interesting than a plain platform.
Also I'd love to see pics of it so far when you're ready to show them :p

I like the idea of using this forum to discuss builds in a less formal atmosphere.
I think it might be a little less intimidating for some people to be able to discuss their building issues with other builders.

Of course, I was only reminded yesterday that we also have the Create>Building forum,
but that seems made for specific questions. Sometimes, a person isn't sure why something isn't working. Or they
want a particular look, and they aren't sure yet how to achieve it, or if it's even possible following EA's rules of physics.



To answer attuned's question: when making a small stage, I've fallen back on the deck tool.

When using CFE, there's always that point in the room where you're going to have to punch in a door through the wall.
Doors and windows won't show up right in walls that are shorter than 15 steps.

I only know of one way to merge two levels like that, and it always involves an angled wall.
I haven't learned how to hide those yet, except to use wallpaper without any horizontal lines.
That leaves vertical wood slats and stucco, pretty much.


Of course, now that we have NRaas Debug Enable>Move...it occurs to me that it might be easier to hide stuff using wall décor.
Just move it from one "floor" up or down. Or maybe something like the wooden kiosk from LN(?) could be placed in front.
Using moveobjects on, you can place things right into the wall...just enough to hide something behind it...

I think with LN came some dance floors, but if you're just looking for just the stage you have a few options.
1. make the coffeehouse on the ground and use a foundation any size you like for band.
2. the deck tool as suggested, but then struggle with doors and windows, and fences.
3. cfe can give you any size stage you like if you don't wanna use the ground for the coffeehouse. It has quite a few annoying bits though with twisted lines and floating floortiles.

I often end up hiding cfe walls behind 1 tile extra wall. Like split level staircases with an extra 1 tile wall on the side. It's possible to fix those doors cutting through with having windows overlapping on the regular wall above, so to double the door/window/arch whatever effect, so to speak. It just has to work off course. I've seen SimSupply do it several times, but my sense of minimalisme usually prevents me from adding when I can just have a wider wall. It just has to be clean to me, and two doors just isn't.

Thanks tsyokawe and Volvenom!

My subsequent houses and community lots are leaning more toward simplistic.

I did a house for an elder challenge. Not to upload .. I wouldn't do that to someone unless I finally either design one on my non-hug-bugged computer, or finally use the AGS I uploaded ... but to see if I could do this. The house looks simple, but I think I spent as much time on it as many more complicated lots.

For my personal challenge, I went with a few caveats. The house was to be something a real senior citizen would prefer. I'm a caretaker, and I have observed what sort of place a real-life older person with some physical impairments would want. This house had no stairs (all one level and no foundation), one and a half baths. Smaller lot that I shrunk, so there is a tiny area for a garden and a few trees, but not much more. The senior I have in mind likes to putter around the yard a little when the body is cooperative, but sometimes, that body will just not cooperate, and the senior loses steam more than in the past. Half the house is open-concept ... half-walls on a large part of the kitchen, allowing a Sim with hearing impairments to see someone enter. Lots of room to move around, yet areas for the Sim to lean or grab onto something. A separate bedroom that doubles as a computer room and a room for visiting grandkids. Mostly Maxis ... I tried to keep the CC list waaay down, but did insert such CC items as a screened porch in the backyard (MTS) and a daybed in the spare room (Sims2Artists, I believe.) Lots of owl pillows to make the daybed more ... errr ... daybeddy (to cover up the pillow on the daybed). I like owls; therefore. my senior is getting owl pillows, darn it! I got those from a few sites. Open porch in the front for people-watching and waiting for neighbors to drop by.

Trying to stick mainly to Maxis content and not getting too fancy was the challenge for me. I've been trying somewhat fancier buildings previously.

Currently, I'm perfecting my ability to make strip malls. My first efforts weren't bad, but I really needed to improve. I've been looking at real strip-malls to see where I went wrong. I kept most of my mistakes, though ... I liked the stores once I finished them! It's just that the buildings aren't connected the want I had wanted, and the roofs do not reflect the roofs you see on most strip malls. I'm also learning to work around the limits of shrunken lots. I THINK I'm improving as I go. That remains to be seen.

A couple of pictures of the senior citizen's house. I'm still trying to improve my picture-taking skills, so please bear with me. (And yes, I realized I left a tiny portion of the red marking in the corner of one picture .... oops!) The weird part is that this house is so simple, yet took much longer than I planned when I created it. And yes ... I cheated and auto-roofed this one because no matter how hard I tried, the roofing was being wretched.



I had already added a couple of extra CC items after I originally created the house. Having met the challenge, I thought I could relax just a little. Speaking of which ... that side view of the house is screaming for a vent near the peak of the roof. Time to see if I can find one! (http://www.parsimonious.org/furnitu...able_Vents.html is a good place to start, I believe.)

All those are really promissing !
For me now, I'm not working on a lot making, rather on a mod or 2. But I think I might do a waterworld someday.

All for TS2:

I love them all (and it's for TS2, Yeah !).

I'm working on my first custom vacation destination. Nothing that elaborate. I'm using Three Lakes for the customs, etc., and may do a secret lot later. I figure if my Sims want mementoes right now, they can hit the three standard destinations.

I'm using a junk hood, and will then try to send my test Sim on vacation. I plan to package my hotels for future use, though,

Right now, I'm working on a hotel which also has vineyards. I know there is one such hotel here on this site and it's lovely, but I'm addressing a different culture and climate.

I WAS planning to do a two-story hotel, but got lazy and am winding up with six rooms already on the first floor. I don't really want to go for any more than that, thanks. So I'm chopping my hotel in half.

The two adjoining lots are on hills. The hotel is on an island accessible by ferry (at least in my mind). I'm having trouble with the ornamental slips (found on MTS). I'll have to look at a couple of real pictures to see if I messed up and if so, how. Maybe I did place them right.

Originally, I had planned to make two vineyard-only lots with the Plumb Bob Keep vines on all the lots, including some on the hotel lot. The vineyards on MTS are ornamental. It turned out the ornamental ones will work better because those two other lots really are too hilly. EDIT ... It appears the Plumb Bob vines DO work on vacation lots fairly easily. My Sims will just have to wait until the grapes are ready, though. Not a problem. In real life, winemakers have to do the same thing!

I'm sticking with a tiny hood because this IS all a test. Good thing it was. When I use the lots and layouts in the future, I'll know what to do a bit more.

If worse comes to worst, I already packaged a prototype of a lot that had the Plumbbob Keep vineyards. I can imagine that my Sim on the mainland sells wine to the vacation hood. It's all good.

Constant edits because I'm learning as I go! The hard way, usually.

I am currently finishing up my "Le Chateau de la veuve" Also know in English, The Widow's Mansion. It'll have a back story to it. I am just waiting on feedback regarding the wallpapers, floors, kitchen, and bathrooms. All other rooms will be unfurnished except for lighting.

... And I've now encountered an episode of learning the hard way again.

I've finished the vineyard/hotel lot. It turns out that if visitors stay at least a few days, they can pick grapes with the Sunni vineyard. Not sure yet about stomping them, but at least they can take them home. They can't do much with them, unless they have a winery on their premises, but they can sell them or keep them as decor.

I next finished a Dutch colonial "historic house" that seems to be a part of many vacation destinations. It's not period-perfect. There aren't as many early- to mid-Colonial CC furniture and building stuff (I'm leaning more toward early-Colonial than late- Colonial) out there, so I've had to wing it more than I thought. My house is anachronistic all over the place, but at least it kind of looks colonial-ish. I do know there is a Dutch door out there, but I opted for a Maxis door.

Next was a saltbox. This one took a little less time because saltboxes are boxy and pretty basic. Even back then, people apparently thought they were boxy. I imagine that this was was once a pottery and basket shop owned by a widow. I still have to see if visitors can weave baskets with that Sunni basket-weaving station. There is a large pond with reeds in the back.

I'm now working on a second church. The first one was a lovely lot I downloaded from Sims Community Project and I revised it to match the theme of Old Forsythe Town (the name of my vacation hood). This one was the original church, but the inhabitants moved to the larger building as the population grew. I'm also keeping ultra-basic on this one, since this one would be a much older building for a much-smaller population. This one will have a room once used for meetings. Time to put that motivational lectern in there. I have to see if a Sim can use it. That would be good for skilling.

I'm still trying to be good re windows, since early- to mid-Colonial buildings often didn't have many of them. Glass was expensive. But I did add an extra window to some of the buildings. I tweaked a little with authenticity there.

I do need to play the buildings to check routing. Since most are on larger lots, I have to check to see if they're playable that way as well. I had to include much more CC interior detail than I usually use to try for some semblance of authenticity, and I'm not sure if that will cause lag. I cut down on the landscaping for that reason, but don't know if that will be enough.


Tcbandie10, that's a really nice lot, by the way!

(Section snipped because I revised the lots, and really should make sure the routing is good before I post pictures. Pictures under spoiler tags later.)

Almost done.

-- I did a LOT more terrain adjustment than I ever did. I've figured out how to correct slight elevation problems in beach lots, using a tutorial here. More dramatic elevation differences .... not so much.

-- I also learned how to do flatter and smaller beach lots. (Vimpse ... http://vimpse.tumblr.com/flatbeachlot) Those are for the north (bay) area of my hood. The ones on the south end (ocean) are farther apart and pricier.

-- Checked all the new lots I've done (at least 14 ... I have to count) in another hood for playability. Corrected mistakes and re-packaged. Am ready to take the housekeeper out back and repeatedly smack her with wet noodles (glowers at housekeeper), but I THINK I corrected all housekeeping routing errors that caused freezing. I will never use Echo crops or the PBK chickens on a vacation lodging lot again, though the chickens work great on a vacation community lot. (Coop only. Not the nesting box.)

The largest lots are slightly slower, but playable. I'll have to keep an eye on those, though. I removed several outdoor items to reduce any lag, but may have to take off a little more. I'll see when I put this all together.

-- Learned how to do a two-step foundation. It's tempting to re-do a couple of the Colonial houses, but I don't think that's necessary. My Warlock's house, though has the two-step. (http://shastakiss.livejournal.com/24987.html)

Lots of trial. Lots of error. Particularly lots of error. Lots of research into saltbox, Dutch Colonial and early Georgian houses. Lots of adjusting my lots because I often realized that I couldn't be a stickler for historical accuracy, and I was experiencing routing problems. As a history buff, that makes me wince, but I think I'd better suck it up and move on.

This hood has taken me more than a month to do (at least five to six weeks), and is STILL only a test hood. I plan to save it, then see if I can make the Bigfoot lot (the empty lot on the lower left). If I bomb badly, I still will have the pre-Bigfoot hood.

I was going to use another terrain when I do the good vacation lot, but I think I'll stick with this one, even if it isn't my favorite. I think it would be too much of a PITA to do this on another terrain and have to deal with extra elevation issues. I'll already have to be doing this with several of my lots, such as the flat beach ones and perhaps the slightly-sloped ones.

An overview. When I'm done, I plan to make a photo of most of the terrain and use it as a map in my Visitor's Center.



Extra thanks to the creators of these threads. Where ARE my manners?

http://modthesims.info/t/529698
http://modthesims.info/t/278903

I'm starting to hear crickets here. Allow me to babble, please. It's better than a quiet forum ... maybe?

Inspired by the Community College thread in the Sims 2 forums, I'm actually working on a main hood community college. Well, not exactly a community college. But as close as one is going to get. I'm aiming for a more suburban-style college, since I am best familiar with those. In real life, I've waited on those campuses often (my kids and I would ride-share) since 2008!.

Charmful's MTS submission is inspiring me greatly, and I commend her for a great lot. (Here is hers, by the way : http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=549043 ), Really nice!

In my case, I'm working on a community college more inspired by the type my kids have attended, plus a couple of other ones I've seen and visited. Also, I wish to cut down on downloading too much extra CC because my Downloads folder is getting bulgier all the time. All those historical lots in the other post really expanded it! My packaged lots, however, will be pared-down even more, and I will have mostly Maxis items and recolors before packaging. I'll add the frills later.

I also commend Charmful for keeping her college on a single lot. Mine is up to two separate lots, lot-adjusted to make them appear closer to each other. I might be a little over-ambitious, though. So far, I have a small cafe area, a tiny coffee shop (students NEED caffeine! ) , a small admin/counseling area (in reality, the Sims will probably just do their homework there. I wasn't planning to put fake Sims in these!) , art studio, science lab, computer lab, a building to build robots, a small auditorium for solo and duo performances and/or poetry readings (those can vary), a wee dance studio (I kind of borrowed that idea from Charmful), two spare classrooms (probably use the Sophie-David lecterns in there) and a library.

I will probably do a third campus with a medium-sized gym containing a makeshift basketball court. Since I will use the same lot template, I'll probably leave the main building on this one for ... something. Who knows what? A cooking lab is very possible. Community colleges do have those, and I usually have a cooking lab on all my Uni campuses.

Needless to say, my kids went to a pretty good-sized community college.

I also hope you don't mind a hood shot soon. I'm not finished yet, though. The buildings are my favorite boxy shapes, but in all fairness, like the old houses in my historical vacation hood, most community college buildings are pretty boxy in real life! (There is a part of my very-much-unfinished-at-the-time main building in this picture, but I switched out the windows ... http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...302#post5039302 )