Tutorials: Landscaping Help Section

[Decima]

This thread has been great!

Anyone know how to raise/lower the terrain or paint it on the world editor? 

[Twinmum]

This thread has been great!

Anyone know how to raise/lower the terrain or paint it on the world editor? 

The world editor is not for changing the ground height or terrain paint. To do something like that would need to be done using the Create a World tool.

[Decima]

Can you edit an existing world like Sunset Valley using the create a world tool?

[Twinmum]

I have not had a lot of experience with the CAW tool, so I don't know, plus this is starting to get off topic for this thread, so you should ask this question on the Create A World board.

[samoht04]

I have not had a lot of experience with the CAW tool, so I don't know, plus this is starting to get off topic for this thread, so you should ask this question on the Create A World board.

There is a blank copy of Sunset Valley - with all the Roads, Terrain etc. but it lacks the Lots, probably Spawners and maybe Trees I think.

[Swirl-Girl]

I like landscaping and I'm think of doing an apocalyptic lot, just for the fun of making someplace look in ruins.
I think that I would make good tutorials, except for the fact that I can't get in game pictures up.(Please don't bother trying to give me advice, it has nothing to do with not knowing how to.)I can figure things out.

[Castaras]

Hi, need a little advice on this house I'm doing.



I'm making this house for my legacy game, and have two sides to my front gardens. One I've filled in with an old manor style garden, but I'm not sure what to do with the other side. If need be I'll just do another garden in it, but I'm wanting to see if I can do something different there. Not sure what though.

edit: looking at the screenshot, I think I'll need to change some colours with the paths. Red looks to be a bit bright in comparison to the walls. Tooo edit mode!

[Joria]

My advice would be remove most of the walk way and the fountains and add a pond area instead.  It would be a good fishing for death fish spot, (you can then fish any time of day and catch them!), and could be a pleasant spot to sit and read under a nice willow tree or something.

[Swirl-Girl]

@Castaras I noticed that you got attacked by the fence too. When you use fences like that on a large expanse it gets a little, meh. It is just the same. Especially on the right side. It will probably help if you use a different fence that has little breaks in it so it isn't just a large expanse of that. But on the right a pond and willow tree would be nice as Joria said. In the middle section where you have the fencing going to the middle it looks a little odd, it's like a corset for your path. For the path it would be nice as a slightly brighter grey similar to the house, but be wary of your fencing.

[Castaras]

Yeah, when looking at it at a distance I noticed quite a few problems. Have split the fence into smaller chunks of 2 or 3 in length, adjusted the fencing round the middle, changed the walkway to being a grey, and changed the colour of the fencing to grey and pale green marble. In the end, I realised that I didn't have a playground for my kids yet, so ended up putting that in the other side.

...Although I realised that I'd created it on a 64x64 lot when I have a 60x60 lot just as I finished the whole house. >.< So that'll be fun rebuilding it on a slightly smaller lot. Luckily, there was plenty of space in the 64x64 so it should fit perfectly. At least it should be quicker than the many hours I spent on it last night!

[Frey]

Hi! I would like some helpt with the landscaping of the house I'm building  .



This is the first modern house I've ever built and the landscapings I usually make don't look very good with this style of house, so I have no idea what to do! I'm not sure I like the fountain either, I just built it to see how it looked like. Right now I think it looks a little out of place but maybe it's because there's nothing else in the garden.

Thanks!

[ZapKid]

Ooh! I love that house plan. I've got to try building it someday...

...Anyways, I think nice and clean would be the best. Maybe not even any trees; maybe you can make the grass more green? There's a nice look used on a house in Bridgeport, can't remember the name but it's one of the fancy ones. The Bling House? I don't know. It has a cool criss-cross design on the grass though that might apply here.
That's all I really have for you- maybe put some rocks around the fountain and possibly remove the lily pads?

[Frey]

Thanks Zap! Here's the link to the house plan if you want to try it yourself 

http://www.houseplans.com/2269-square-feet-3-bedrooms-3-bathroom-modern-house-plan-2-garage-31953

I didn't build the original pool because I had no idea how to make those stairs and the lower terrain around it. That's why I thought about a simple fountain but I'm not liking it very much so maybe I will delete it or make it a little smaller. Apart from that, the outside looks pretty much the same as in the original plan, but inside I changed a lot to make the house more sim-able, like making the hallways a little wider and all that.

Anyways, coming back to landscaping, I will give it a try! I will load Bridgeport to see if I find what you mean. I will try with some bushes too or maybe a fence, I have no idea. I always build cottages, country houses and that kind of stuff and the landscaping is very different! I'm kind of lost  .

I'm also thinking about making the bricks on the outside a little darker but I'm not sure. I think I will do some landscaping first and then see how it looks like.

[samoht04]

Landscaping for modern homes in AP is quite tricky since you can't go all out modern without it looking too in your face. The best hope would be to mix up the rural, wild feel of the town with some modern influences. Have modern paths etc. but wild flower borders or something. Like Zap said that house would be better suited for BP or SV.

I agree about the bricks as well. 

[Frey]

Yeah, I'm building in AP just because I have an empty version of it and a lot of space available. But I don't have to leave the house there, I can move it to BP or SV afterwards. I started building in AP with a totally different idea, then found this houseplan and started working on it without really thinking on which town was better.

I think I will actually move it to SV, since I've been working in the landscaping today and although I'm still not 100% happy with it, I think it looks good with just greeneries, stones and modern paths and all that. I tried using colorful flowers etc. but it looks better without them.

I replaced the fountain with a pool and I think it looks better. But I'm having trouble distributing the space, if you know what I mean. That's actually always my problem with landscaping.... I put everything there but it always ends up looking more like a messy garden than actual landscaping. I have to learn to use fences, stones and terrain paints or something like that to separate the areas a little bit.