Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims,alt.games.the-sims-2 (More info?)
As most of you probably recall, in the core The Sims 2 and The Sims 2
University, if you placed a house from the Lots and Houses Bin into a
neighborhood (or campus), it would be REMOVED from the Bin, meaning that
for any particular house design, you could only have one in a
neighborhood, unless you went through some contortions to get a copy
into the bin (or set the houses in the Bin to read-only).
Well, EA/Maxis apparently realized that this was Not a Good Thing, and
in Nightlife, if you place a lot in the Lots and Houses Bin, and then
place said lot into a neighborhood/campus/downtown, it will STAY IN THE
BIN, TOO!
Good job! Levittown is now semi-trivial! (What would be REALLY nifty
for budding Levitts would be a utility that would take a lot and reflect
it!)
************************************************************************
Still missing, or there but not documented so I haven't found them yet:
* Spiral staircases. Actually, in addition to basic spiral staircases,
I'd like to be able to establish straight staircases with
intermediate landings (which would allow the staircase to turn at
right angles, or to have a staircase that goes up one floor in
either a 2x4 switchback or a 3x3 squarespiral). Also, the landing
squares top and bottom should NOT be squares where a door is
disallowed.
* VARIABLE PITCH ROOFS! I'm sorry, but without being able to make a
hipped or gabled roof flatter than the default, there's a LOT of
perfectly reasonable floor plans that are going to look STUPID in
neighborhood view (or roof-on view), because the damn roof ends up
taller than the ground-to-roofline height of the house. There's
also many examples of houses where the roof over part of the house
is flatter than over the rest of it. N.B. - I've heard there's a
cheat for this; I haven't seen what it is, or how exactly it works.
More info, please?
* Paved slopes. Example: My parents live on a block where the land
slopes down from the street toward the railroad tracks. Their
next-door neighbor built up the land so that it's at street height
all the way back - except that they sharpened the natural slope
where they wanted the driveway so that they could put their garage
under the house. The driveway, therefore, slopes down from the
street pretty sharply. It's a nice house; I'd like to be able to
reproduce it in the game. Can't, though, because I can't do the
sloped driveway.
* Curved/turned driveways. I know plenty of houses where the garage
doors don't face the street; the driveway wraps around to the back
of the house. Also, would allow carriageways - e.g., a
semicircular driveway with the car 'parked' at the apex of the arc,
under an overhang, giving close access to the front door. Most
useful with large lots with expensive houses.
* Instead of fixed-size lots - or maybe in addition to them - how about
a lot-laying mode where I can just drag out a lot of whatever size
and shape I want, with the street along whichever edge is
convenient? If irregular-shaped lots are permitted, coupled with
edge construction (see next paragraph), some really realistic
attached housing could be done - but even without edge
construction, large lots that wrap around smaller lots offer some
interesting possibilities (Estates with former carriage houses
being
separate properties? "Inaccessible" properties with "easements"
for street access?).
* Build to the edge of the lot! Yes, I know that most places don't
allow this in real life; it leads to adjacent lots being considered
'encumbered'. But it would be ideal for downtowns, at least, as you
could then lay out narrow lots - say, 1x2 or 1x3 - and build a row
of brownstones. In neighborhoods, small lots - 2x2, 2x3, and 3x3 -
could also allow edge construction, so that you could build
attached housing.
* Modular construction! The way I envision this, you would build (and
optionally furnish) a 'module' like a normal lot, but after saving
it, it could be placed (anywhere it'd fit) onto another lot as a
single unit, without carrying the actual lot. An example of this
might be a 'standard carport' or 'standard garage' - build a
driveway-and-carport/garage, save as module, and then just place
the entire thing as a unit instead of building it up each time.
Combinations of rooms - a large bedroom with an ensuite bath, for
example - could also benefit from this technique, as could dorm
construction. If the forthcoming Open for Business expansion
allows the business to be something like a hotel, the
room(s)-as-module ability could REALLY speed construction of the
hotel. Also could speed construction of Apartments, if they're
implemented (see next paragraph).
* Another Downtown-appropriate idea - Apartments! Construct like you
would a dorm on a campus, perhaps even using the Myne Door as the
"front door" to each apartment. Once designated as an Apartment
Complex, the same tools in Build Mode are disabled as for a dorm -
but instead of the entire building being a single household, each
apartment is a separate household. Oh - stairs required for
complexes 2-4 floors; elevators for 5+ floors! Which means that
EA/Maxis needs to come up with some elevators!
(Tip - the same one I work into all my posts on housebuilding <g>: If
you figure that each square in build mode is 2.5 feet, and think your
plans out in feet, especially if converting real plans, you'll end up
with houses that are quite reasonable to you AND your Sims. When placing
lots, each square of lot is 10 squares of build, or 25 feet.)
--
Jeff Zeitlin
jzeitlin@cyburban.com
As most of you probably recall, in the core The Sims 2 and The Sims 2
University, if you placed a house from the Lots and Houses Bin into a
neighborhood (or campus), it would be REMOVED from the Bin, meaning that
for any particular house design, you could only have one in a
neighborhood, unless you went through some contortions to get a copy
into the bin (or set the houses in the Bin to read-only).
Well, EA/Maxis apparently realized that this was Not a Good Thing, and
in Nightlife, if you place a lot in the Lots and Houses Bin, and then
place said lot into a neighborhood/campus/downtown, it will STAY IN THE
BIN, TOO!
Good job! Levittown is now semi-trivial! (What would be REALLY nifty
for budding Levitts would be a utility that would take a lot and reflect
it!)
************************************************************************
Still missing, or there but not documented so I haven't found them yet:
* Spiral staircases. Actually, in addition to basic spiral staircases,
I'd like to be able to establish straight staircases with
intermediate landings (which would allow the staircase to turn at
right angles, or to have a staircase that goes up one floor in
either a 2x4 switchback or a 3x3 squarespiral). Also, the landing
squares top and bottom should NOT be squares where a door is
disallowed.
* VARIABLE PITCH ROOFS! I'm sorry, but without being able to make a
hipped or gabled roof flatter than the default, there's a LOT of
perfectly reasonable floor plans that are going to look STUPID in
neighborhood view (or roof-on view), because the damn roof ends up
taller than the ground-to-roofline height of the house. There's
also many examples of houses where the roof over part of the house
is flatter than over the rest of it. N.B. - I've heard there's a
cheat for this; I haven't seen what it is, or how exactly it works.
More info, please?
* Paved slopes. Example: My parents live on a block where the land
slopes down from the street toward the railroad tracks. Their
next-door neighbor built up the land so that it's at street height
all the way back - except that they sharpened the natural slope
where they wanted the driveway so that they could put their garage
under the house. The driveway, therefore, slopes down from the
street pretty sharply. It's a nice house; I'd like to be able to
reproduce it in the game. Can't, though, because I can't do the
sloped driveway.
* Curved/turned driveways. I know plenty of houses where the garage
doors don't face the street; the driveway wraps around to the back
of the house. Also, would allow carriageways - e.g., a
semicircular driveway with the car 'parked' at the apex of the arc,
under an overhang, giving close access to the front door. Most
useful with large lots with expensive houses.
* Instead of fixed-size lots - or maybe in addition to them - how about
a lot-laying mode where I can just drag out a lot of whatever size
and shape I want, with the street along whichever edge is
convenient? If irregular-shaped lots are permitted, coupled with
edge construction (see next paragraph), some really realistic
attached housing could be done - but even without edge
construction, large lots that wrap around smaller lots offer some
interesting possibilities (Estates with former carriage houses
being
separate properties? "Inaccessible" properties with "easements"
for street access?).
* Build to the edge of the lot! Yes, I know that most places don't
allow this in real life; it leads to adjacent lots being considered
'encumbered'. But it would be ideal for downtowns, at least, as you
could then lay out narrow lots - say, 1x2 or 1x3 - and build a row
of brownstones. In neighborhoods, small lots - 2x2, 2x3, and 3x3 -
could also allow edge construction, so that you could build
attached housing.
* Modular construction! The way I envision this, you would build (and
optionally furnish) a 'module' like a normal lot, but after saving
it, it could be placed (anywhere it'd fit) onto another lot as a
single unit, without carrying the actual lot. An example of this
might be a 'standard carport' or 'standard garage' - build a
driveway-and-carport/garage, save as module, and then just place
the entire thing as a unit instead of building it up each time.
Combinations of rooms - a large bedroom with an ensuite bath, for
example - could also benefit from this technique, as could dorm
construction. If the forthcoming Open for Business expansion
allows the business to be something like a hotel, the
room(s)-as-module ability could REALLY speed construction of the
hotel. Also could speed construction of Apartments, if they're
implemented (see next paragraph).
* Another Downtown-appropriate idea - Apartments! Construct like you
would a dorm on a campus, perhaps even using the Myne Door as the
"front door" to each apartment. Once designated as an Apartment
Complex, the same tools in Build Mode are disabled as for a dorm -
but instead of the entire building being a single household, each
apartment is a separate household. Oh - stairs required for
complexes 2-4 floors; elevators for 5+ floors! Which means that
EA/Maxis needs to come up with some elevators!
(Tip - the same one I work into all my posts on housebuilding <g>: If
you figure that each square in build mode is 2.5 feet, and think your
plans out in feet, especially if converting real plans, you'll end up
with houses that are quite reasonable to you AND your Sims. When placing
lots, each square of lot is 10 squares of build, or 25 feet.)
--
Jeff Zeitlin
jzeitlin@cyburban.com
Anyway, I've used it, and it works just as
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