Tutorial: Apartment Building

[Asleep]

Yes you can!  The whole back yard is designated as a public area.  In a public area, you don't own anything (which is why it's so cheap with 3 arcade games, 3 high end washers, 3 high end dryers, a hot tub and a full playground), so you can't alter it at all unless you put the cheat codes in.  Likewise, when you move, you can't take any of that stuff with you, even if you "pack furniture."  But other than that, you can do whatever you want in it.

One thing I noticed about Bridgeport is that if you had any intention on raising a family, you weren't going to be doing it comfortably in an apartment.  There is one really good one, but it starts out occupied by the "Art Central" crew.  There are some larger, more expensive apartments available, but they're all 1 bedroom, and even with the expansive size, when your family grows from 2 to 3, things start getting cramped.

This was an experiment for the most part.  I wanted to see if it was possible to make a family oriented apartment, and to see how much it would cost in the end.  And it was a lot cheaper than I expected it to be.  I went bare minimum on the furnishings, but I could upgrade a lot of the appliances and the furniture and it would still be affordable by a single sim fresh out of CAS.  But most of all, I wanted to familiarize myself with the process.  And I learned something very important:  once you actually try and do it, you find out it's easy as pie.  Really, anybody who has ever built a house and has even a minimal knowledge on using cheats could do it.  It's literally that easy.

While I was just messing around, I actually made a very workable apartment.  Plus, it gave me dozens of ideas for my next one.

Also, I was careful not to use anything that didn't come from the base game or the 3 expansion packs (no store downloads or stuff pack items), and it was done on a 40x30 lot.  The landscaping is terrible, but if anyone wants it, I'll upload it to the exchange or submit it to the swap shop.  And you don't even have to feel guilty about altering it.

Please put it on the Swap Shop, Hosfac! I really want it!

[Hosfac]

Ok, after I make a quick run through it to make sure I haven't used anything the store or from the stuff packs, I'll e-mail it to Carl so he can post it.  I was pretty careful the first time through, but I want to make very sure I don't accidentally cause problems for someone.

I'm relatively good with interior design, but I still struggle with the yard for some reason.  The landscaping is very basic.  But really, sometimes basic is just what a Sim needs. 

[Leto85]

Ok, after I make a quick run through it to make sure I haven't used anything the store or from the stuff packs, I'll e-mail it to Carl so he can post it.  I was pretty careful the first time through, but I want to make very sure I don't accidentally cause problems for someone.

I'm relatively good with interior design, but I still struggle with the yard for some reason.  The landscaping is very basic.  But really, sometimes basic is just what a Sim needs. 

That's just a good thing in this case. This way, another member can place multiple apartments side by side to match a sort of neighbourhood feeling and create different yards on each lot. That way it gives some variation while staying in the same style.

[Hosfac]

Well, I've gone through literally everything I used in building the apartment, and replaced anything that didn't come with the base game, WA, Ambitions and LN.  The problem I have now is that I can't find it to send it anywhere.  Can anyone tell me how to prepare it for the swap shop, and where to find it once I do?

Edit:  Scratch that.  Carl was kind enough to point me to the information I needed.  It's been e-mailed, along with the screen shots and the information so I would imagine it would be available in the swap shop as soon as he gets a chance to put it up!

And it only contains items from Ambitions and Late Night.  No WA content at all.

[Pam]

@Hosfac:

I'm either confused or a little slow, but how is this an apartment?  It really seems like just a 2 bedroom house with lots of washers and dryers.  It's not a high rise like we see in Late Night, nor is it something for multiple families to have their own unit.  What am I missing here?

[mtglady]

Pam, I believe this is a four-unit apartment complex with four enclosed parking spots, a public laundry, a public game room and a public back yard.  It was designed for use in SV, RV and other worlds where you want apartment living that doesn't look out of place (or tower over the rest of your buildings).

It has one usable unit on the second floor and three 'hidden' units for NPC's.  If you look at the second picture, you can see a door on the left side of the hall for the hidden unit.  This unit is across from the playable unit.  Then there are stairs to the third floor with two more hidden units.

Hosfac, please correct me if I am wrong .

[Pam]

Thank you, mtglady!  Does that mean your Sim cannot plant a garden in the back yard or build a pool like you can do in a regular house?

[Asleep]

@Pam: You can, Hosfac mentioned it a few posts back.

Yes you can!  The whole back yard is designated as a public area.  In a public area, you don't own anything (which is why it's so cheap with 3 arcade games, 3 high end washers, 3 high end dryers, a hot tub and a full playground), so you can't alter it at all unless you put the cheat codes in.  Likewise, when you move, you can't take any of that stuff with you, even if you "pack furniture."  But other than that, you can do whatever you want in it.

[mtglady]

He said it is a public backyard and that planting is allowable.  I'm not sure about the pool part, but if it is marked as public then pool building should be allowed.  

 

[Hosfac]

Thank you, mtglady!  Does that mean your Sim cannot plant a garden in the back yard or build a pool like you can do in a regular house?

Your sim can't alter public areas unless you use "testingCheatsEnabled true" and "restrictBuildBuyInBuildings false."  If there's a sim living in the building in question, however, the cost for any and all upgrades to public areas come out of their household funds, but doesn't add to their "net value" like it would if you added a pool to a regular house. 

But if the back yard is designated a public area, they can plant freely.

[Hosfac]

The apartment building is up.

http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,3639.msg72033.html#msg72033

[mtglady]

Yea!  *** running off to download now edit - (running off to download now) .
Asterisk's in front of a comment is often used to express a thought.  I changed it to make you happy Simstar - lol!  Better now?

[Asleep]

Yea!  *** running off to download now  .

What's with those asterisks?

[PolarBair]

Okay I got a little ambitious and started building a huge mansion at 15 Summer Hill court in Sunset Valley (The 60X60 lot in the rich area) and after designing and furnishing the plethora of gust rooms I thought any good mansion should have I thought, "These are starting to look more like luxury suites in a fancy hotel." so then I thought "I might as well make this into an apartment building but I'm having some trouble.

Reading this thread I saw that in build mode you Shift-Click or Shift-Control-Click n a door to a unit to mark it as an NPC door but do so before placing any room markers.

Well, I had already placed public room markers but not the private ones so I deleted the public room markers and then saved a copy of the house to the library and then started a new game and placed the building on the lot in the new game with no markers and if I shift click on a door it just grabs the door and if I Control-Shift-Click on it the options I get are (Lock, Delete it, Reset, Clone, Add the ability to add triggers and activated behaviors)

Tesingcheatsenabled is on
buydebug is on
restrictbuildbuyinbuildings is off

What else do I need to do to be able to set the doors to the other units as NPC doors?

Might the fact that I already furnished these units be a problem? That was before I found out what a waste of time that is. The furnished price for this lot is currently 1.3 million.

[Swirl-Girl]

You mark the doors as NPC after placing markers. You don't get the option unless the door leads to a public area and a hidden area, I believe so at least.