Sims 3 - The Official Building/Remodeling Showboat Thread

[Anushka]

I was about to suggest mess under the bed, having balls in mind, but you've made it anyway. Now move in neurotic mother and have her freak out in that room daily

EDIT: Thanks for the tip about dart board being functional even if something is on the way, I never tried that but now I will.

[Ausette]

I like it dane, overall the home seems really warm and natural . I wonder if you could build an entire house that cluttered, eh? Anushka, you've done a fantastic job matching up the bunglows to make them "fit" together, and that's what I look for when I download worlds! I can't wait to download it; if you're short on buildings I'm sure we could help you out (I might have a tiny laundromat you could use if you're interested). Filly and samoht, I love your mansions and I really admire you for being able to work on that scale. 

Whew, that's a lot to catch up on! This is what happens in uni, I guess. 

[RubyLovesSims]

Wow, that is one cluttered bedroom, danefaith....
Looks fab, though!

[Anushka]

I don't know if it is slightly off topic, but I start building on lot that is marked partly in sea - CAW is not creating problem when you mark it that way, so I thought it would be nice to have a party area with waves splash and it went good for a while:

Until, I told my test Sim to try fishing in sea from home lot. Then she entered the ocean without any hesitation:

And start fishing(in this pic she couldn't use pool to swim in it):

I tried placing fish spawners to have sharks swim around her legs but they kept spawning too low, half in sand, I even elevated part to place it, but it is not behaving as usual - cause it is not really an usual situation.

Next idea was pool in ocean so Sims can kind of swim in it. I used constrainfloorelevation false to soften the edges of pool, but did too much so after looking almost perfectly:

But then:

She is breathing underwater. I'll try not to lower it too much but then it look wierd that Sim is fully underwater while around sea is couple of centimeters deep.
What do you think, is it too wierd to play with this idea, or should I go for it?

[TheChronicR]

That idea is awesome, Anushka. Well, maybe that is quite weird, but, hey, Sims have inhuman powers like Ambrosia or Death Flower, so why can't they breath underwater?

[LoveEvil]

@ LoveEvil:  Wow, how did you build over water?  I've never seen that done before.  It's definitely a very nice pier.

@ Micler: Thanks for the input.  I'm looking back and agreeing on the keyboard.  I might move or replace it.

Thank you all for the nice comments, that lot is right next to the water which helps but I have the water going on the lot and underneath the pier thanks to the fog emitters placed on the edge of the land so it looks like the tide is going in and out.  

Edit - I would have no idea how to do any of this in caw as never used it before. Plus using the fog emitters in normal build mode means it works for anyone who places the lot down without having to edit their world.

[Ausette]

There's been so many lovely coastal lots on the showboat lately, so now I feel obliged to chip in my own little beach house   . Emphasis on "little". It's taken me ages, too; I spent weeks wondering what theme to use for the interior before I decided on "Gran's new holiday home". Here's Navy Nook:









The trendy upstairs bedroom is for when the grandkids want to stay over . The rest of the house is Granny's attempt at being modern, so there's all sorts of kitschy trinkets lying around. I'd love to hear some criticism. Oh, and I'm also having trouble with the roof:



If I put the roof right up to the wall, I can't put any objects next to that wall on the inside of the house, and if I place them with moveobjects on Sims can't use them. I really need every bit of space I can get and I don't want to change the exterior, so does anyone know how to fix it?

EDIT: Oh, and I'm only using Ambitions, base game and freebies for this one, just for the challenge. 

[Seabody]

Just create a one-tile wide space where the roof ends, and connect it to the upstairs. Use walls, and make sure it is seamless - so same wallpaper, same roof, and that sort of thing. It's based off an idea I saw in Jonothan Creek - An attic on the second floor of a several storey house.

EDIT: They share the same basic principle - deception. Think of it as the opposite of Doctor Who's TARDIS - It's smaller on the inside.

[Anushka]

LoveEvil, thanks for explanation. I never saw that effect for fog emitters, are splashes on rocks waterfall or there is a splash too? Can you share a link to download this lovely Pier? I'm very curious in unusual effects that regular building tool is providing, and what you described would be very usefull and effective:)

Aussette, Grany's Navy Nook is lovely. I can uderstand the trouble roof is giving you so lately I build roof before any furnishing is done. Sometimes autoroof will work, then you can change what you want. Are those extended tile floors on second store floor giving you a trouble? I think I recognize half gable there, and there is a lot of tips how to put walls on roof on this tread, using gable and half gable.

Chronic, thanks, it is more natural and pretty realistic that Sims can walk and swim in water (cause it is in water, not on water), but I know many members would hesitate to use this world if it look too much strange - in fear of mods and CC, and messing the game. I'm not using even SP's, but I understand that it will raise doubts once they see things I took pictures of. I also don't know if it will affect the game in any way. I've seen this in other worlds but not much comments or testing is done. I'll probably use this watery thing moderately and see if it will affect the gameplay during testings, and eventually I can always block route with rocks so Sims won't chose that path. It's good that I mark only few lots like this and I can change that easy enough.
If anyone has any suggestions and thoughts about this please share, I'm curently having blocked inspiration cause I'm not shore what to do with it.
PS I managed to put pool to fit nicely, Sim is swiming with head above water, and with right coloring of pool, it looks like part of the beach is build to be sea water pool. I still have some ideas how to lower front wall of pool to blend with sea, and to put rocks to stop Sims from swiming there, but I don't like the result that much. Any suggestion would be appretiated.

EDIT: Love Evil, never mind, I track it down on official forum, along with some other interesting creations you've made!

[Ausette]

Thanks for the tips guys, in the end I just went with a little hipped roof. I think the problem was caused by having slanted sections of roof directly next to the wall, but because the edges of the hipped roof are at floor level it's no longer an issue.



Sorry Anushka, but I can't really think of a way to block off parts of your pool that you haven't already. You could probably get a nice-looking reef though if you used those rocky World Adventures sculptures, like this:

[TheChronicR]

That house is super awesome, Ausette. I love the backyard, but maybe you could recolor that table? It is a bit too bright in my opinion. I also love the use of terrain paint.

[Feefel]

Hello everyone!
I figured I'd use my first post here.
As a long time lurker of this thread, it inspired me to build something, and I got this.
It's not done yet, but I think its one of the best houses I've built so far! (I'm more of an interior design person than an exterior D:)


Front-


Back-


And the only rooms I have done (Foyer/Dining and Living)-




I started this house a week ago, and I don't have the time to work on it as much as I'd like to. :/
Also, if the pictures are sized wrong I apologize.   

[Anushka]

Welcome Feefel,

Great to see new builders around. Your house look lovely, I specially like backside terace, stone fence and patio are blending in and you decorate it very pretty.
I was wondering if you can move that one window in front of the house so it is at least one square before corner? or the other one to the corner so they are simetrical? And I would put some lower flowers in front too, around that greenery, not too much, just a few. It is very interesting how you combine stone and wood outside. And those few pictures of inside you placed, are looking very elegant.
As for the pictures,I think they are right size but have you checked this tread?
Again, welcome to the forum

[Feefel]

Welcome Feefel,

Great to see new builders around. Your house look lovely, I specially like backside terace, stone fence and patio are blending in and you decorate it very pretty.
I was wondering if you can move that one window in front of the house so it is at least one square before corner? or the other one to the corner so they are simetrical? And I would put some lower flowers in front too, around that greenery, not too much, just a few. It is very interesting how you combine stone and wood outside. And those few pictures of inside you placed, are looking very elegant.
As for the pictures,I think they are right size but have you checked this tread?
Again, welcome to the forum

Haha, oh wow, I didn't even notice they weren't even. I'll fix it now. Thank you.

[ejnarts1]

I like this idea. And I love building. I've been busy, since I started playing 3, remodeling near every home/lot in every neighborhood that I've been playing (SV, Twinbrook, Bridgeport). It's been a lot of work, albeit enjoyable.

This was the Alto home in SV. That roof they had on it just didn't do it justice at all. I'm a bit disappointed that it's only 3 bedrooms, the master suite...I just couldn't find a replacement spot on the lot. But, I'm happy with how it turned out...much more functional and much more estately looking IMO. Thanks for letting us have our ego moments here, lol.