The Stones Throw Greenhouse Venue and New Premium Content

[Twinmum]

Not impressed so far! The roof pieces are actually classed as a roof decoration. If you put it on the roof, the roof still shows up (unless I'm doing something wrong) and the light does not show through. If you remove that section of roof and just place it where the roof should be, it lets rain (and I assume snow also) in. Also, unless you leave a gap in the wall, the game sees it as being a room and you can't plant things straight into the ground!
I wonder how the venue works? I might have to place it on an empty lot and see how it plays.

[pallyndrome]

While I am glad I have not bought it yet myself, for those of you who already have, EA has released a thread showing how to do some clever building adjustments to the greenhouse to keep the snow out: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/611517.page

[Twinmum]

Thanks Pally.. off to fire up my game and try it. Wonder if it will keep the rain out too.

[samoht04]

While I am glad I have not bought it yet myself, for those of you who already have, EA has released a thread showing how to do some clever building adjustments to the greenhouse to keep the snow out: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/611517.page

I'll post it here in a quote as well:

We are investigating more permanent solutions, but here are some easy tips to “winterize” your Stones Throw Greenhouse and get you back to playing straight away!
 
Since the glass roof sculptures are not actual roofs, they aren’t great at keeping out the snow.  Snow recognizes a room as having a roof when it has a certain number of tiles covered.  However, when there is a wall with an archway, it breaks up that room.  So we start by eliminating a couple of the archways to become hallways.  This allows the venue to see the majority of it as one big room and counts the tiles in the two story areas. 

Here:


 
And here: 


 
Then I just rotate one of the glass pieces and extended the roof over the bar a bit like so: 


 
You can also line the edges of an area above a gardening station: (I made this brighter wood so you can see it, but obviously you’ll probably want a color that matches better.)


 
And that’s it!  Super easy to do.

This will keep all of the most intemperate snowfall at bay!


 
(You may have noticed I also turned that bar into a quaint kitchen area.)
 


 

I don't have this issue at the moment, since I don't have Seasons but that will be a pain if I do get Seasons and then any builds I use this for will be snowed in. 

[Twinmum]

Just tried this with my green house. It seems that you need half the area covered. I have a 9 x 6 greenhouse and I placed floor tiles just around the very outer tiles (26 tiles) but the rain still came in. I then place tiles in the four corners and that stopped the rain. Also, all but the trees in there have returned from being dormant to growing (it's still Autumn/Fall) but the trees might take a little longer.

*edit* the trees are not dormant after all. It's just they have changed to Autumn colours 

[samoht04]

Just tried this with my green house. It seems that you need half the area covered. I have a 9 x 6 greenhouse and I placed floor tiles just around the very outer tiles (26 tiles) but the rain still came in. I then place tiles in the four corners and that stopped the rain. Also, all but the trees in there have returned from being dormant to growing (it's still Autumn/Fall) but the trees might take a little longer.

*edit* the trees are not dormant after all. It's just they have changed to Autumn colours 

Any workarounds for the not being able to plant straight inside yet?

[Twinmum]

Any workarounds for the not being able to plant straight inside yet?

You can use the move objects cheat, but I don't like to do that. What I do, is remove a piece of wall. You can either replace it when you have finished planting or leave it removed. If you leave it removed, you don't get the unfinished moodlet that you get in an enclosed room with a dirt floor. Not sure how the plants handle this method in the winter when it snows... they might return to the dormant state (I'll report back on that point)

*edit* scrap the idea of leaving the wall removed. Some plants go dormant, but more importantly, it lets the rain (and so probably the snow too!) in again! I guess I'll go back to removing the wall when I want to plant and replacing it when I'm finished.

[Magz from Oz]

I don't have seasons yet, so it looks nice in my game.  I'll try to figure out building the glass roof by editing the store building in edit town.

[AnnDruvez]

Question though, based on a picture I saw in the store last night - I saw some plants around in the planters. Does the greenhouse watering system water those planters, or no (since sprinklers don't)?

I'd like to know the answer to this, too. Especially since a few of the pics look like there are planters in range.

[RunAmokSims]

Any workarounds for the not being able to plant straight inside yet?

I placed the venue on a lot in MF but just did it so I could look around and see how it was built. I then proceeded to build a much smaller greenhouse on my lot for my alchemist/witch. 

I tried moving my existing plants indoors and some would move, others wouldn't. I got tired of guessing which would go and just opened buydebug.  I was able to plant right into the ground, inside my existing greenhouse. I had even had a money tree in my garden but it wouldn't transplant but adding one from buydebug went right in.

I'm pretty disappointed that the greenhouse doesn't act like a real greenhouse and the plants still go dormant.  Year round gardening was the main reason I bought the set.

Also I have a sprinkler addicted Sim and she'd live in the sprinklers if she could. Now that's it's fall and getting chilly I have to stop her obsessive need.  She'll put on her coat to go out then change to her swim suit to play in the sprinklers inside the greenhouse.  I was hoping the new sprinkler system would fix that but the seed station, compost bin and sprinkler frame are all connected.

One question though. Does anyone know what items will go into the compost bin?  I'm aware of what you can add in RL but silly me I wouldn't assume that it's the same for the Sims.

[Wiry]

Is the venue itself snow proof, or does it require players to do it?

[Twinmum]

The venue is not rain/snow proof when you download it. You have to do that yourself.

As for plants going dormant, I've attached a greenhouse to my Sims house. I remove a piece of outside wall when I want to plant anything and then replace it when all the plant actions are cued. So far all the plants are still growing (it's fall and they were dormant when they were outside) The trees, however have still lost their leaves and so are in a semi dormant state.
I think though, that anything planted in Fall (or Winter) wont leave the dormant state till it warms up, but things planted in the warmer seasons will continue to grow indoors. This theory needs further testing though.

[Twinmum]

mmm, OK. Up until now, my experience with plants was only during Fall. I just hit Winter and the first snow fall and it seems all but two or three of my plants have now become dormant and I'm guessing those few will also become dormant given a little more time.    So no  year round gardening it would seem. Hope they fix that soon.

[Sammijo]

Shirin and AnnDruvez: Yes, the gardening center will water planters.

[AnnDruvez]

Shirin and AnnDruvez: Yes, the gardening center will water planters.

Thank you!