Building RabbitHoles

[Aj_wood]

Hi, first post here, so please bear with me.
I'm in the process of planning a huge project in CAW. I'm just wondering if it is possible to build a building and then make it into one of the rabbit holes. For example, can I build a new school how I want it to look, then some how make the game treat it as it does the "base" school, i.e. when the school bus arrives my little simling will turn up and attend classes.
Any help will be great, even if it is a flat "Not possible".

A.

[Seabody]

Hello Aj_wood and welcome to the forum.

I'm afraid that it's a flat "not possible", without resorting to either Modifications or Custom Content, which isn't allowed here. Sorry.

[Twinmum]

Sorry, I beg to differ.. it can be done.

First up, welcome to the forum Aj.
In answer to your question, yes it can be done. I played around in CAW a bit ages ago and worked out one way to do it. I guess you know to change the block to a community block. I get confused at the next step, I can never remember what type of community block to pick between visitors allowed and no visitors (I’ll check shortly)
Once the block is the right one, build a basement that is big enough to house the original school plus a staircase.
Now turn on the moveobjects cheat then in build mode, click on community objects and select the school and place it in the basement and turn moveobjects off. Add some stairs up to the surface. Now just go up a level and build the school as you want. Make sure the stairs are on the inside and people can actually get in to them and there you go.

Norma

[Seabody]

Okay, here comes the big moment: D'OH! I always forget that method, despite having used it in the past.

Once the block is the right one, build a basement that is big enough to house the original school plus a staircase.

I beg to differ (dejavu?) - you only need to build a basement big enough for the doors. If it's City Hall and 4 doors are needed, simply build a basement large enought to hold those 4 doors, a little walking space, and some stairs. You need to do this with all doors - The Business office has two useable doors, so both of those need to be available to access.

[Twinmum]

lol, OK, I used to just build it big enough for the whole building,
I just checked the setting too. You can set it as visitors allowed, but townies will just hang out there. If you set it to no visitors allowed, sims will still go there to use the rabbit hole, but won't just stand around there.

Norma

[Aj_wood]

Thanks so much Norma!
It isnt the line of thought I was going down, but is a solution that works amazingly none the less. I would never have thought of it! Given the massive amount of work I am putting into my new World, I would have hated to have all these buildings that are so out of place.

A

[danefaith]

Now this place is just begging to converted into a criminal cesspool, and I aim to do just that!

What's going to happen is the building you make is going to serve as the overground "shell" for the actual rabbit hole.  Once you've made a building, all that is required is to make a basement, and put the rabbit hole down there!




So create a stairwell down, and give yourself a nice big block of basement.  Input "moveobjects on" in the cheat menu, and place the rabbit hole so that the door is reachable by sims. The entire rabbit hole does not need to be in the basement, just the door.



Here you can see the rabbit hole being operated by one of my more nefarious sims.  Just another day's work for the dastardly!

Edit: seems I was beaten to the punch.  Oh well, maybe the pictures will help clear any gaps.

[Aj_wood]

danefaith,
Actually that is VERY helpful. I have only one question: does it only have to be a one story basement, or do you need to build it so far down it is totaly sunk? For example, to create a new Business rabbithole, would the top of the tower stick out of the top of the new building? If so can I simply build my new structure around it and enclose it like a shell?

[Seabody]

It won't stick out, it only needs to be one story deep. The game doesn't render the bit that should stick out.

[Aj_wood]

Excellent!
Thank you so much! It really was the only big concern about creating my new world, I would hate to see all the work spoilt by having the rabbit holes so drastically out of place in a period world. Now everything can be done as planned, thanks again!

[danefaith]

One note, however: due to the nature of horses, the exception to this rule is the equestrian center.  Those horses just aren't quite as comfortable clopping down a flight a stairs.  Hopefully that won't negatively impact your design goals, but there's no way around that one.

[Aj_wood]

Me again,
I'm wondering; once I have built the new building on top of the rabbithole, when I want to interact with it do I have to move the camera into the basement and click directly on it or can I simply interact with the "shell" I have built to cover it?

[Twinmum]

From what I remember, I think you need to go down a level and click on the actual rabbit hole. (I think) But I have been known to be wrong lol

Norma

[Choccolatee]

You have to go down a level to click on the rabbit hole, but in Map View there are those little tag things above the building that gives options on what you want to do there.

[AbrahamC]

I was wondering if you were going to start a thread specifically based on your project world. I was kind of hoping that I could get involved some how and would like to hear more about it.