How do we create stairs that go through the ground?

[Seabody]

This description might be a little vague.
One day I was playing around with stairs on raised ground with a basement below, and I accidentally created stairs that go through the ground into a basement. Like the ones at the introductory tomb in China, after you step on the first floor panel.
My question is how do we make these types of stairs?
(It was not the result of a mod or CC. I don't use those.)

[Hosfac]

Are you referring to the tomb where there's one, continuous staircase that goes from the foundation into the basement?

While I'm not 100% certain that it's possible for us to do it, if it is it would undoubtedly be tricky.  It would involve playing around with elevating the foundation so the stairs from the foundation to the ground would match perfectly to the stairs from the ground to the basement.  You do this by making a small flat spot of higher elevation that will be somewhere beneath the foundation, then starting the foundation on this elevation and extending it beyond it.  There are several examples of this in the game, but one that I can think of off the top of my head is the Goth house in Sunset Valley.

[Lilygirl]

I've set this up before by placing the basement stairs first and then adding the stairs from foundation to the ground. I can't remember if I needed moveObjects on but I'm leaning towards not. The thing is though, every time I tried this my Sims complain about a pathing issue. I eventually gave up and decided that Sims need that square of ground between the 2 sets of stairs to navigate the stairs. I'm thinking this is something the developers took out of the game after they designed the tombs, well from my game anyway.

[samoht04]

I have had Split Level entrances to Basements in three houses. Two in my Legacy and One in my old Dynasty. You have to plan them whilst building or make sure you have room to add on at the side though. Theres a Thread on it here. I didn't need moveobjects for mine though. I don't know if it is possible to get a straight into the Basement from a Foundation though. 

[Seabody]

I read that thread and one post sounded like what I was asking about.
I'll check if that works.

[geekgirl101]

The only way I've successfully made stairs going from a foundation level to the basement was by making 2 staircases - one that went from foundation level to the ground level and one that went from the ground level to the basement.  To do this with an existing lot with a foundation you're going to have to do the following:

1. Delete an area of the foundation of 4 x 6 squares.
2. Draw a 2 x 4 square wall inside the bare area at ground level.
3. Go to the basement and plant the stairs underneath the bare area.
4. Go back to the foundation level and delete the 2 x 4 walls.
5. Plant a set of stairs going from the foundation level to the ground level, make sure there is a 1 square clearance between the 2 stairs.
6. Redraw the foundation around the bare area so it's now just a 1 x 6 square hole.

You can place flooring to cover 2 of the squares furthest away from the stair entrance to the basement, but don't cover any more than that or it'll look like your sim is walking through the floor, and they'll also get pathing issues too.

I don't think there is a way to make the stairs go all the way from the foundation straight to the basement, if there is I'm assuming you may have to do the same steps as above only this time place the square wall at the foundation level and allow 1 or 2 squares of foundation to be inside the walled area and try to position the stairs so that they go all the way down, or up.  I'd have to try this to see if that's at all possible but I highly doubt it works like that.

[Seabody]

I just tried Marklo4's idea in the thread you linked to samoht. It didn't work. It worked!

Also, I remembered the name of the tomb - Halls of the Lost Army. It's the one you enter in the very first adventure given to you in China. When you step on the floor plate, a set of stairs appear, leading to the tomb.
What I'm after is pretty much a replica of those stairs.


Here are the steps I took to replicate those stairs:
1. Drag out a foundation.
2. Drag out your basement below the foundation
3. Make sure you are above the foundation (where you'd build walls)
4. Select the stair tool and adjust everything to your liking
5. Press and hold Shift and left click on the spot where you want the stairs
6. The stairs should go through the foundation and the ground!

I was ecstatic when I found this!

[Lilygirl]

A simple Shift-Click?! Awesome, I'll have to give this a try. Thanks Seabody, and Thomas.

[Hosfac]

You're kidding me!  This is all it takes?  :O

You still have to leave an opening for the stairs to go through, right?

[Lilygirl]

You're kidding me!  This is all it takes?  :O

You still have to leave an opening for the stairs to go through, right?

Confirmed! It works just like the steps Seabody listed! No need to create a hole in the foundation for the flight of stairs, Hosfac. Simply hold the shift key with stairs selected and the game will give you a preview of what the staircase will look like. Then left-click with your mouse and viola! There it is, a staircase through foundation into the basement. Awesome.

[Seabody]

You still have to leave an opening for the stairs to go through, right?

No. I'm now trying to figure out how to make walls around it.

[Lilygirl]

Seabody, I did this by deleting the foundation around the stairs, leaving just the rectangle that would exist of the stairs weren't there. This gave me the foundation walls next to the stairs similar to when you build stairs through a foundation without this trick. Then, to create a larger foundation for the rest of the house, just be sure to leave a space around the stairs that is foundation free. When you put floor tiles over everything you won't even notice that underneath you're actually missing some foundation.

[Seabody]

Thank you Lilygirl!

[Hosfac]

That just seems so odd.  Nothing else in regards to building Sims houses is this easy lol.

Just so I understand the issues involved with this:  what's going on with the "building walls around the stairs" thing?  Is there a chance I could convince either of you to post some screen shots of the issue and solution?  I'd like to know what problems I'm facing and how to fix them before I actually encounter them. 

[Lilygirl]

It really is that easy, Hosfac. Pictures for you on what I did.

First drag out the foundation, and a basement beneath it.



Next, select the stair tool you want to use and position the stairs on top of the foundation, without placing them (ie. don't Left-Click yet)



Press and hold the Shift key. The staircase will disappear. Move the mouse until you get this. Then, Left-Click to place the stairs.



Now you have stairs running through a foundation into the basement.



About the missing "walls" next to the stairs beneath the foundation. This part:



To create walls around the staircase, I deleted the foundation around the staircase.



Then I covered everything with floor tile: no evidence of missing foundation.



Using the constrainfloorelevation cheat, I closed the foundation with walls.