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EA provided us with 2 cheats to use dealing with those apartment lots of EP8.  Unfortunately, they didn't bother to provide documentation for them.  So after playing the game for a while not knowing why one worked when another didn't, I stumbled over the answer.

In an earlier post, I parrotted a post I read on another site saying that aptBaseSpecificToolsDisabled was use in the main neighborhood, and aptSublotSpecificToolsDisabled was used in the suburban neighborhoods.  That was completely wrong.  My bad for not testing those statements first.

It appears aptBaseSpecificToolsDisabled can only be used on unoccupied apartment lots.  Anything you do with this cheat will be a permanent change to the lot and will effect all apartment units.

aptSublotSpecificToolsDisabled is used on occupied apartments lots.  Changes are maintained only for the household that was in play when the cheat was used. When the family moves out, the changes are lost.

I was playing a CAS sim, Hugh, in the trailor park after installing Gunmod's lighting mod.  Night came upon my sim while he was outside smoozing with Jessica Peterson, and it was completely pitch black.  EA built the lot with no external lighting at all.  So I use the Sublot cheat and place some street lights along the street and the back of the lot.  I moved the bathroom furnishings around in Hugh's trailor also to make it easier for gameplay with the view I like to play from.

Later I played Jessica.  The very first thing I noticed was the lights I'd just placed were missing.  I exited and went back to Hugh and saw the lights were still there.  That's when I realized the meanings.

Conclusion:
Apartment Base - the entire apartment lot.
Apartment Sublot - unique view of the apartment lot when playing a given household

So I load up Hugh's possessions and move him out.  Same for Jessica.  Now with the unoccupied apartment lot, I placed the lights as I needed them.  Moved Hugh and Jessica back in to separate trailors.  Hugh went back into the one he had before, and Jessica into a different one with more room. Remember I rearranged Hugh's bathroom?  It was back to the original arrangement.  But the lights were there.  For both playables.

Conclusion:  Changes in Sublot are reset when the family moves out of the lot.

Thank you! Finally!

This is very helpful thank you

Interesting. Thanks for posting this.

The sublot is actually deleted when the playable family moves out, and is then recreated from the baselot when another one moves in.  Only playables though, not social group tenants.   They don't have their own sublots.

Hrm interesting, thanks for the clarification....