2016 Building Contest General Rules

[Seabody]

The Building Contests give you the chance to show the forum what you can do. The chance to put your work up against other builders in a friendly competition to create the best entry for the task, whilst you take up the challenge you will find yourself experiencing new styles, themes and ways of building and learn as you practice your skills more and more. Each task will be different, it's up to you to create the stand out entry and win the votes of the forum! Let the contests begin!

General Contest Rules:

• The Contests are open to entries from both TS3 and TS4.
  • Your Entry must make it clear which game it is built for.
• Third Party Custom Content is banned from the Contest.
• Custom Made Patterns are banned due to not displaying properly in some games.
• Use of all Expansion Packs and Stuff Packs are allowed, unless stated otherwise.
• You may not start building your entry until it has reached the time stated in the Contest Post, early starting will result in disqualification.
• No Comments of any sort are allowed in the Contest Threads whilst the Contest is running, anyone who does comment will find their post removed. Once Voting ends you will be allowed to comment and give Constructive Feedback.
• Do not announce who you voted for anywhere on the forum, doing so will result in your post being removed or edited.
• Rudeness is not tolerated towards anyone else’s Entries or Comments.

Entry Rules:

• Any entry must be built by yourself, and built freshly for the Contest, on your own with no help or advice from anyone else, including in the Showboat Thread(s).
• A Maximum of 10 Screenshots from in the game are allowed. If you edit two images into one it counts as two. You may not link to any Image Hosting Websites which contain more images, the 10 Screenshots is not just to keep Image numbers down, it adds to the challenge. It is also a forum rule.
• Only 1 Entry is allowed per person, per Contest.
• All entries must be built in an EA Created World*. This includes Store Worlds such as Barnacle Bay, Hidden Springs, Riverview etc. If you are forced to play a Smaller Custom World for technical issues please PM the Team.
  • Union Cove is allowed due to it being a Forum Created World.
  • All official TS4 Worlds are allowed.
• Once your entry is submitted changes are not allowed unless extenuating circumstances arise and Twinmum, Dellena, and Seabody are made aware through PM. They will then make the decision about allowing/disallowing changes.
• You must make sure that you have completed all of the Specifications, anything Optional will be stated and you do not have to complete those.
• Live Mode is banned, all building and decorating must be done using Buy Mode, Build Mode or Buydebug (in TS3). You may use Live Mode to Play test and Take Screenshots, but all furnishing is to be done in Build and Buy Mode.
• Edit the Details of your Lot to include a Name and a Description, using Edit Town - in TS3.
• You should Lock your Download Thread when you Post it, if you do not know how it will be done for you.

Cheats and Modifications:
These cheats are allowed; all others are banned.
TS3

• buydebug  - "How to use Buydebug"
• constrainfloorelevation true/false
• moveobjects on/off
• placeFriezes on

TS4

• MoveObjects on/off - allowed for outdoor plants only. This is because there can be glitches with MOO'd furniture.
• showhiddenobjects
• Enlarging Objects

All Forum Rules Apply.

How to enter the Contests:

You need to post both a thread and a reply to the Contest thread for your entry to count. Please title your entry thread in the following manner:
2016 Building Contest #1 (Sims 4) Name of your build. (change the number after building contest to reflect what contest it is, and change the Sims 4 to Sims 3 if you are entering a Sims 3 build.)

Your entry must contain:

• A Lot Name
• Lot Size
• Number of Bedrooms
• Number of Bathrooms
• Cost (furnished and unfurnished)
• Any Content required not in the base game (ie EP/SP/Store/Game Pack)
• A Description
• A Download
• A link to your entry thread
• Photos!

For TS3 entries, please attach your .sims3pack entry to your entry thread. For TS4, upload your build to the gallery and use the hashtags #carlsguide #buildingcontest2016 and #yourusername, where yourusername is your username (of course, any other hashtags you want to use are fine).

We playtest entries to make sure they're usable. If there are unusable aspects, we'll PM you to let you know. There is no obligation on your part to fix these issues. You can, if you want, or you can let them stand.

Previous Contests:
Follow this Link for the List of All Completed Contests.


If you have any Contest Ideas or Questions then please PM Twinmum, Seabody and Dellena (all three of us).


Last Update: 5 February, 2016
Updated to add: Clarified thread-naming nomenclature

[Shewolf13]

I have a question regarding this rule:

Live Mode is banned, all building and decorating must be done using Buy Mode, Build Mode or Buydebug (in TS3). You may use Live Mode to Play test and Take Screenshots, but all furnishing is to be done in Build and Buy Mode.

Does that include changing light colors? 

[Seabody]

Changing light colors can be done in build and buy mode in TS3 - Ctrl+Shift Clicking. I don't know if it's doable in TS4, but if it requires Live Mode, it's banned.

[Shewolf13]

@Seabody

Unfortunately, I don't know of anyway to do it other than live mode in TS4... bummer.

[MomOfMany]

Can someone who builds in Sims 4 please tell me how you go about building? I don't know what the best route to go for these challenges is. Do you just go start into manage worlds? Do you create a sim then use a money cheat till you have the amount for the challenge then build? How do you know the value of the house furnished and unfurnished? I really want to participate in these challenges but I don't know how to start it. Please help so I can enter!

[Shewolf13]

Hey MomofMany ^^

I place a Sim in the world and then I go to Manage Worlds and pick a lot, depending upon the needs of the challenge and then I build on it without having my Sim there.  Just keep track of funds by periodically going to lot info.  That'll tell you how much you've spent so far.  Once it's built, you can use money cheats or freerealestate on to move your sim in to play test if you so desire.  What I would do is save it to library, which will give you furnished price.  To get unfurnished, move your sim to the house and click unfurnished.

If there's an easier way to do the unfurnished, I'd love to hear about it, but that's how I do it.  Hope this helps ^^

[grimsoul]

For me while in build mode after saving the lot to My Library I then place it back on the lot and select unfurnished then check the info box to get the price of it. To me it's easier that way sense you don't have to leave build mode to get the price.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but for the furnished price you use the price from the info in build mode, not the price that shows when you save the lot. Not sure why the prices differ, but the price that shows when you save the lot is less than the price shown in the info in build mode.

[Shewolf13]

The prices differ due to the cost of the actual lot, Grimsoul.  And thanks for that!  That makes sense ^^

[MomOfMany]

Yes that does help! Thank you so much! I didn't know about the lot info button so I didn't know how to keep track of my spending which made it difficult. Also I had absolutely no idea how to find the unfurnished price so thank you both very much! 

[grimsoul]

Thanks Shewolf13, I hadn't thought about that. So the price shown in build mode includes the lot value but when you save the lot it is only for the cost of the items on the lot.
So sense lots of the same size can have different prices depending on where it's at and if you use the price in build mode for a challenge you want to use the cheapest lot you can get of the size you want to use to have a little more money to use for items in the build.

[Shewolf13]

Yup, essentially.