Something funny with building first house

[mysticmirror]

I just got to share this because it's too funny .  So I just got the Sims 3 a week or so ago. I couldn't get it before because of a bad computer. Anyway, my family that I've been working on got too big for the house it was in so I thought I'd try to build my own. Well I got to thinking about how all of my houses turn out the same in Sims 2 and my daughter is really good at building houses and designing them so I asked her for help.  Well it took me forever to find a spot for the size land I wanted that was actually near the road and once I did I had to completely flatten it because it was on such a hilly terrain. So when I flattened it the mailbox and the garbage looked funny where it was at so I turned on the moveobjects on.  Well I moved my stuff and then forgot to turn it back off when my daughter came into the room. So here we sat trying to build our first house with Sims 3. The first thing that went wrong was the roof, we kept getting roofs where we didn't want them. Finally figuring out a way to delete the roof we didn't want we moved on. Both of stating to each other that Sims 2 was never this hard to put a auto roof on. Then we added doors and windows. Too funny . Doors kept flying out of the walls and the windows well it took us like forever to get them placed because we'd get one where we wanted and then it would move funny then we'd have to replace it again.  Me and her looked at each and couldn't believe how hard it was to put windows on a stupid house. I guess on Sims 2 I would have figured this out sooner but since I wasn't used to how to build a house in this one, I was perplexed.  I was beginning to think that I was never going to try to do one of my own houses if it was this much work. Then we tried to put furniture in. Well of course we ran into trouble trying to put counters in as they kept flying out of the house and it was really hard to position them in the spot we wanted them. Then it dawned on me what the problem was . My daughter was so mad at me when I fixed the problem and how much trouble she had. We found the rest of the house soooooo much easier, LOL.

By the way my daughter and me both love how you can change the colors and patterns around the house. My daughter said now I can really design something great!

So I thought I'd share this because I'm sure you all have done things similar or remember the trouble you had building your first house.

[Pam]

That's funny!  I remember being so frustrated at the beginning because I couldn't even figure out how to build a wall and foundation.  I'd never played Sims at all, so it was an entirely new experience for me.

[mysticmirror]

I remember building my very first house on Sims 1 and it like took me forever and when I was done it looked terrible. I guess I leaned something from my experience though never try building a house with moveobjects on, hehe.

[Gheez]

I don't expect that your daughter stayed mad at you for long. I imagine that you'll both giggle to yourselves, each time you build a house, remembering your first time and all the trouble that you had.

I sort of wish that you'd also accidentally pressed the V button and so had a video of the flying doors that you could share.  

PS Did you know that in the Sims 3 we can now move the bin and mailbox without needing to use 'moveobjects'?  I much prefer building in TS3.  Glad that you do now too.

[Hosfac]

I try not to think back on my first Sims 1 house.  That sucker was ugly.  I had no concept of architectural design back then, so it was little more than a box with doors.  I eventually made it look pretty good after I found some seamless plate glass windows (if you put 2 of them next to each other, it looked like a single window) by turning it into a "glass house".  :p  I've tried several times to recreate it in Sims 3, but since I don't use custom content or mods anymore, it just doesn't look the same.  But I still give it a go every now and again.

There are times where you just have to use moveObjects to do what you want to do when building a house, so I understand all too well what happens when you forget to turn it off.  Windows hanging out in mid air, paintings and curtains in the middle of the room, geeze, you name it.  But that's one of the least crazy of the building cheats.  I've been messing around with "constrainFloorElevation" lately, and that one can wreak some havoc (can you say "10 foot high foundations?").  But at least you're one "undo" click away from eliminating any errors lol.

[mysticmirror]

I don't expect that your daughter stayed mad at you for long. I imagine that you'll both giggle to yourselves, each time you build a house, remembering your first time and all the trouble that you had.

I sort of wish that you'd also accidentally pressed the V button and so had a video of the flying doors that you could share.  

PS Did you know that in the Sims 3 we can now move the bin and mailbox without needing to use 'moveobjects'?  I much prefer building in TS3.  Glad that you do now too.

Yeah your right we will laugh . I wish I would have videoed it too.

Ohh well I learned something new, I didn't know you didn't have to turn on the moveobjects to move the bin and mailbox. Thanks

[Hosfac]

Stick around here long enough, and you'll learn a bunch of new things lol.

[mysticmirror]

I try not to think back on my first Sims 1 house.  That sucker was ugly.  I had no concept of architectural design back then, so it was little more than a box with doors.  I eventually made it look pretty good after I found some seamless plate glass windows (if you put 2 of them next to each other, it looked like a single window) by turning it into a "glass house".  :p  I've tried several times to recreate it in Sims 3, but since I don't use custom content or mods anymore, it just doesn't look the same.  But I still give it a go every now and again.

There are times where you just have to use moveObjects to do what you want to do when building a house, so I understand all too well what happens when you forget to turn it off.  Windows hanging out in mid air, paintings and curtains in the middle of the room, geeze, you name it.  But that's one of the least crazy of the building cheats.  I've been messing around with "constrainFloorElevation" lately, and that one can wreak some havoc (can you say "10 foot high foundations?").  But at least you're one "undo" click away from eliminating any errors lol.

I've never tried that cheat before. Maybe after I get the basics down I'll have to give a go. At least for some laughs anyway.

[Frey]

I use constrainfloorelevation false a lot too, and the first time I did I also forgot to turn it off... then I spent like 2 hours trying to build a decent house and I didn't understand why my walls and floors kept looking like a surrealistic painting or something. Hosfac is right, that one can make real messes when it's unnecessarily turned in! The worst part is, I've been using that cheat for ages now and I keep forgetting to turn it off when I'm ready.

[Hosfac]

I've never tried that cheat before. Maybe after I get the basics down I'll have to give a go. At least for some laughs anyway.

It's good for building attached garages on houses with a foundation and for filling in the ground under stairs built to access lower levels of outside terrain so that it looks more natural.  But it's really tricky to work with, and causes some very interesting problems when you forget to turn it off when you're done with it lol.

[Ausette]

We've all been there mysticmirror, all my Sims 1 houses were surrealist bricks and my first Sims 2 homes weren't much better  . When I updated to the Sims 3 I remember being almost horrified by all the fancy new tools and patterns because it just seemed like so much to learn! I got used to it though, all you need is some time with the tools, a little inspiration and perhaps a little help from time to time. We've got some great building guides here, a brand new Swap Shop board where you can download buildings and tons of people at the Building and Construction board who'll help you, so I'm sure you'll pick it up fast enough!  

[Naga]

I've been messing around with "constrainFloorElevation" lately, and that one can wreak some havoc (can you say "10 foot high foundations?").  But at least you're one "undo" click away from eliminating any errors lol.

One thing I noticed lately is how that cheat can sometimes permanently damage the ceiling of whatever it is that you're building. Sure, you can undo things and all, but if you forget to turn the cheat off, the ceilings will eventually be twisted over and unpaintable and all that kind of pain.

The first house I built? It was actually an upgrade to the Newbie's house in The Sims 1. I added a 2-square pool and a box-with-a-door room. It was roofless.

[Frey]

The first house I built? It was actually an upgrade to the Newbie's house in The Sims 1. I added a 2-square pool and a box-with-a-door room. It was roofless.

It's funny, you all remember so much about what you used to do with TS1 and 2 and I can't remember almost anything! I have like sim-amnesia or something... but I was like 10 or 12 when I started with TS1 and I'm 22 now so maybe that's why.

[samoht04]

My first Sims 2 House I was proud of was lived in by a couple who were having a baby, then the wife who was heavily pregnant was cooking and died in a fire along with the baby and the house caught fire. Typical eh? 

[jessiethedog]

Haha, I still mess up like that! I am hopeless at building with TS3, but I was good with TS2...
TS1 just didn't have a wide enough selection of objects, wallpaper or anything to be honest. I just used pre-built houses. They were amazing at the time (probably because I was four lol).

Naga-You remember the Newbies? Yay! I'm not alone!