Insimenator.org

Hello, this is my first time posting here, but i have been following the site for a long time, and I have been playing all the sim games for ages..

But I have a problem, why is it that I am so bad at building houses?

all I can do is build a basement (big square) build a big square foundation, then put up all the walls and make the rooms almost 100% symmetrical, then place completely mismatched objects inside... nothing ever matches, I even try to download tons of CC from here (awesome stuff) to make my houses look better, problem is sometimes they don't even show up in my game..

all I want to do is make a nice full city, someone help :(

any good tutorial sites around?

don't be so hard on yourself varatrix hey at least you try and put alot of effort into building and that's all that counts hun. ;D 2hug


however about the mismatched objects i absolutely agree with ya.

Wow. Humph. Maybe you could tell me what you're so bad at?

I SUCK at building, but my decorating isn't so bad if I take my time.

I could upload my best houses for you, and see how they work for you?

What eps do you have? If you don't have the same ones as me, I'll make sure not to put anything there that will mess up your game.

Here's one of my houses. You like?
(http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp309/Madi_loves_yew/snapshot_96e68b5c_f6f1f0de.jpg)

Here's the one of the upstairs.
(http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp309/Madi_loves_yew/snapshot_96e68b5c_36f1f0e8.jpg)

And Downstairs.
(http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp309/Madi_loves_yew/snapshot_96e68b5c_16f1f0f3.jpg)

Not all of us are great simmers! I always place stuff in spots that I didn't mean to and can't get it out. Lol! Dang firetruck wouldn't come out.
(http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp309/Madi_loves_yew/snapshot_96e68b5c_36f27c10.jpg)

As well as the robot I placed floating next to the roof. XD
(http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp309/Madi_loves_yew/snapshot_96e68b5c_16f31d97.jpg)
Feel better at all? Lol.



EDIT: P.S., I know what you mean about the boxy thing. That's just what my houses used to look like, then I started trying new things, after getting inspired, of course. Just keep trying!!)

One thing that I've learned to do is *grow* my houses.  I start with a basic shape, then I place the front door.  Figure out what I want behind the front door (I love big open multi-level foyers), then decide what I want to come off of the foyer, or whatever room I have the front door open into.  I place furniture in the rooms just to make sure the room fits the furniture I want in it.  I don't do any decorating, yet.  There is nothing to stop you from pushing out a section of wall to add some space if the original foundation doesn't fit your room layouts.  Then on top of that, I layout the rooms without worrying about matching up with the downstairs walls (in actuallity, bad architectural practice.  This is Sims, though...).  Last thing I do is figure out the roof.  Sometimes this requires moving some stuff around.  Last thing I do is perfect the furniture layout.  Sometimes I need to move some walls to fit things or to clear up traffic issues.  Beleive it or not, some of my best looking houses came from nothing but a driveway and where I put the front door.

VampyrMuffinMan is on the right track. You should try again before giving up and feeling bad about them. I'm sure they look good. ;)

i will admit the only type of houses i can build are box like but they always turn out looking good and my sims seem to like them i try to do my best and i try to put effort into them and my dude always encourages me also but like i said i try to do my very best. ;D



madi i love those houses there very pretty. :D

(: Don't be discouraged. I don't even build houses anymore, I'm so bad.  1rock I actually download them all from beatdoc16 here (http://beatdoc16.livejournal.com/). Check out these, see if you like them.

Decorating is more of a matter of taste. If you like it, even if it doesn't match, then don't worry about it! :] It's your game, and you can play it however you like -- it's not anyone's business, if your stuff doesn't really match and it's not all perfect and beautiful.

Thanks Feisty. :)
Ever have a request when I reopen my new thread (I cleaned out my game, finally! YAY!!)
don't be afraid to ask!

SelenasHelper, that's mostly what I try to think about. No ones judging you, so who cares what the houses look like! Lol!

If you think your houses are bad. Theres one key thing thats missing.
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C'MON, if you think your houses are bad, CHANGE THE SHAPE! Dont build boring school-like houses! build modern houses! and EXPERIMENT! i built a 10 story house and only the last 2 stories have living space  ;D

Im sure you could make great houses, Make a messy house and see how great it is!

Tone down the caps and maybe offer some ideas that are a bit more constructive, such as adding odd-shaped rooms or strange-looking roofs. Make the foundation in the shape of an animal if you can and go from there. You can find easy to follow house plans on the net and experiment with those. Thing is, if you like to build, then build. Just let yourself noodle out with them and see what happens.

There's a lot of great building tutorials out there to help you be more creative mikeinside (http://mikeinside.modthesims2.com/) is a great place to start

as Paden says, looking at houseplans can be a really good inspiration

think about what you always do then just do the complete opposite

nothing wrong with big squares. my worse ones are always big and sprawling. they look like freakin' warehouses. i have one i really want to tear down right now, but i also don't want to bother. it is way too big and flat, though. i built in a hurry for no good reason months ago and i don't even play those sims anymore, but every time i see it neighborhood view it hurts my soul. one of these days i'm going to destroy it.

There's a trick to fixing a house like that.   Take the roof off, arrange the furniture in the rooms toward the center leaving just enough room to get around easily.  Now, just tear down the  outside walls and move them in around the outside of the furniture.  If you have two stories, do this to the first floor first, then match up the second floor as best you can.  If there are overhangs, it's not a big deal.  Many modern houses have that type of modular-looking style...just throw a flat roof on top or maybe a roof patio and you're set.

I am pretty horrible at building houses as well varatrix so don't feel bad but I seem to be getting better at building by looking at some of the houseplans by PlaticBox over at MTS2 I love her homes and I have almost downloaded everyone her Backdoor Lane lots which are like fake row houses and look beautiful in my City but today I had inspiration to build this type of Lot for my Apartment Sims by hodsh1 http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=325518 I like the idea he used for the Community but I didn't really want to download the lot because it was like 2MB and I just couldn't spare the download space for something I wouldn't use..so I decided I would make a Sub Division type apartment lot I did the arch ways like hodsh1 did but made like 2x2 apartments which I could only make 4 homes because of the lot size but I am VERY proud of it and it took me like 4 hours building the apartments and the overall layout of the Sub Division but I managed to get it done and I think I did pretty good on it and I don't mean to brag or seem conceited but I am really proud of it tis why I thought I would share lol because normally I SUCK at building anything and rely on downloading lots from others or my sims would be homeless lol but I might include some pictures tomorrow when I get all my sims moved in and all the homes furnished so you guys can see it but what I am trying to say is If I can build a nice lot like mine I know that you can build a lot equally as nice, just don't give up and take your time on everything you do and you will build something you really are proud of  ;D


*Note- I drank 2 Full Throttles today before my BIG adrendaline rush of building my lot so high gluctose intake amoungst other things could have contributed greatly to my lots success lmfao! :D

One thing you need to remember is that most people start out making "boxy" houses.  I've been playing since September 2004 and am a member of tons of sims 2 sites and believe me, that's what I've read over and over and over again.  I now have some houses on MTS2 (they are not great, but I guess acceptable enough to get on their site) and when I first started out, my houses were boxes too.

The first time I tried to make one that wasn't a box, I made an "L" shaped house.  Then I finally learned that they look better if some of the rooms stick out more than other rooms and if the second floor (if you have a second floor anyway) is not the exact same size as the first floor.  Usually I will make the second floor smaller and not actually have it be the exact same shape as the first floor.

Just get brave and experiment.  If you work with an empty lot (with no sims' living on it) then you won't feel pressure to hurry up and get it done.  Then, if you don't like it, you can always bulldoze it and start again.

As far as decorating it goes though, well sometimes I think I do a good job but other times I can't quite get it right.  I just think that I don't have that "artistic" touch that a lot of other people have and I don't think I can "learn" it either.  I think you just either have it or you don't.  So, I can now build houses that I like, but I still am not happy with my decorating choices.

As far as not being able to get the stuff you download, do you always make sure that it is supposed to work with the games you have installed?  Cause if you download say, a new table that is really just a recolor of a table from Uni, but you don't actually have Uni installed, then the table won't show up in your game.  Also, if the item you downloaded is a "brand new" item with it's own mesh, do you make sure you download both the mesh and at least one recolor for it?  If you don't get both, the item won't show up in your game either.  Plus, once in a while if something doesn't show up in the catalog, just try opening your Thumbnails folder and deleting the thumbnails that are inside.  The next time you start your game up it will take a little bit longer to load, but it will regenerate those thumbnails and things that were missing before can end up showing up.

But as I said, don't feel bad -- the majority of people start out like that.  Just don't give up and eventually your houses will start looking better and better.  ;)

good advice, but i'll still probably just move them out and trash it. it's a big lot for two sims that don't even want kids and likely never will. i just went kinda overboard because the house i previously had them living in was too tiny and i over compensated when i built them a new one. these days i try to stick to smaller, three story houses. the one i'm playing now is a fairly simple three story with a second story deck and a smaller third story with the surrounding remaining area serving as a bigger deck or whatever you call it over looking the shore and the side yard. it's simple, but i like it. well, i did until i got a dog and learned they apparently can't use spiral stairs and i had to stick and a few elevators in there because i don't like regular stairs.

the one nice thing about the "warehouse" was it was the first house i built with a garage. for some reason i could never get it right before so i always gave up. i don't know what i was doing wrong, but now that i know how to do it i've realised it's damned near the simplest thing ever and almost all of my houses have a garage.

as long as you try your best and put your heart and effort into building a house then that's what really counts/matters my husband always encourages and always tells me my houses look beautiful and yes my hubby is wonderful like that which makes me love my dude more her's the reason i keep building and being creative.

I do the same thing sometimes. It's having an "eclectic" style.

There are some great advisors on here already like Paden, Simsane and some others I've seen.

I do agree with Vampyre about "growing" houses. I'm all about that. I start basic and let it go from there. I like having the Sim move in and then after they live in it for awhile, add on when necessary.

I use all different kinds of methods of building, but no matter what method I use, I always use three cheats to build: boolprop move_objects on, boolprop snapobjectstogrid true / false, and boolprop allow45degreeangleofrotation true. These really work and are a necessity for me (even to game). First, I use the the snapobjects true (what is naturally on when you go into game).

One method I use is to place foundation in a big square (building a foundation for yourself gives you the option later on to build a basement if you so wish. You can also add connecting garages using other cheats). You can always take some of that foundation away if its too big. From there I figure out the basic first floor rooms. Kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom (I hate it when homes have no 1st floor bathrooms!). I use a basic guide to help me, which I jotted down using one of Maxis' basic houses. Living room 6 X 7, kitchen 5 X 6, main level bath 2 X 2, etc (I had a main bath that was 9 X 4 once fully loaded. Why would guests use all that?). Mind you, those are just examples. Those measurements could be off. If I need a little more room, I make more room. But I try not to make too large of rooms with little furniture (it takes a Sim 1/2 an hour to cross some of the living rooms I've seen). The basic measurements I have written is functional. They don't need a lot of space. Once you have the main floor rooms, you have options to add rooms from there. I do remember to give a little porch in front and, of course, it's optional if you want one in back.

Another method I use if the walls just aren't working for me is to set up the room with no walls. I "wall" around the furniture. This sometimes is helpful to see a visual aid and see if it is functional before officially setting it all up. Think of houses you have been in. Look through house and even apartment guides, pictures, magazines. Try copying a room you've seen and go from there. I do that and so do some of the great creators like the ones on Pimp My Sims, I'm sure. But start basic. Don't try with a 4 level mansion or anything, lol.

When I decorate, I use a ton of OMSP (ask me if you don't know what this is). But, those go hand in hand with the snapobjectstogrid false cheat. Can't have one without the other, it would kind of be like being salt without pepper. This hack and cheat go a looong way as far as decorating goes. More than one item on a grid?? Awesome.

Tips:

- Make sure that your Sims enter / exit rooms in an appropriate place. Think of the houses you have been in. Have any of them had the bedroom be entered / exited from the kitchen as opposed to the living room or hallway? Rarely, right?

- Just make sure bedrooms can easily access bathrooms and that you have at least 1 bathroom for every 2 - 3 rooms you have. And one on the main floor for visitors (doesn't have to be fully loaded. Sink, toilet, period.

- You don't have to close up every room with walls. You can have an openness about rooms. I have dining rooms / kitchens sometimes.

- Room diversity is good. Sometimes I hook a nursery onto the master bedroom and have an adjoining bathroom between the two. You can always turn that nursery into a little den / office for the parents when the babies are all grown up.

- The bigger the room, the longer they travel. The smaller the room (not too small), the easier they can get to the things they need. Just remember make sure the house is functional. Most of the downloaded houses I have gotten have been awesome from the outside, but completely impracticable on the inside. I always tear into my houses and then rebuild or alter them, making them work for me. I don't think there's been a house where I haven't had to alter things in some way. Don't make the dining room a million miles away from the kitchen, don't have the bathroom far away from all the other rooms, etc. I usually place the main bath in a central location, for instance, and the kitchen and dining room often share the same room / space.

- Start out small and basic. You can always add on later. But give yourself more options with making a foundation.

- To store any extra game-playing mods (InSIMenator, excess story objects, etc), use the attic! It's already there when you make a tall roof. All you have to do is add some flooring and a staircase (optional). Just remember not to place the objects to close to the edge. They'll poke out!

- When furnishing, think of what your Sim is like. Are they country? Goth? Punk? Conservative? Think of how THEY would furnish their houses. Some of my Sims have hideous taste. But it's their house, their lives. I just like diversity in my communities. Just a thought.


Hm, I guess those are the big things I think of when building. Guess I can always add more if I think of them. Hope this helps.

Happy building!


 

kinnika thanks for posting those tips they are very helpful. 3yay

Sure thing, and thank you. Glad they helped.

i can top that i never put showers or bath tubs in my houses and i always why my simmies will not come within 300 feet of one another haha.1rofl 2laugh  3yay

Death by flies, anyone??

Lol, too funny.

it really is i always lose it when random nps walk past my simmies and they have to hold their nose cause the body odor is so bad it is so damn funny lol.1rofl 1laugh