Can't place empty lot on flat terrain.

[horsey]

Hi guys

So don't you hate neighborhood terrains too and how they never ever let you place your lots where you want them for seemingly no reason at all? I added a downtown to my hood last night starting with the Pleasantview terrain which is supa flat and stuff but there's still like an entire street I can't place lots on See pic:



That's a 3x5 lot I think and the only lots I can place in that area can have a length no larger than 2 (that is, two tiles toward the water) but they can be as wide as I like. I've used the modifyneighborhoodterrain cheat, leveling and smoothing that area to no end. Iz totally flat right? I've even moved back the grass decorations to see if that was prohibiting me but it didn't do nothin.

I have NL, Pets, Seasons, FT and AL. Why this happen?? D:

[Lerf]

I dunno why. I wish someone did.  This happens to me a lot and I've never figured out what the problem is.

[Mootilda]

Did you check to make sure that there are no small neighborhood decorations in that area?  I once saw this problem caused by a (tiny) street sign.

Is the road completely flat?  Lots don't like to place on uneven roads.

[horsey]

Did you check to make sure that there are no small neighborhood decorations in that area?  I once saw this problem caused by a (tiny) street sign.

Is the road completely flat?  Lots don't like to place on uneven roads.

It should be completely flat. I've smoothed and leveled to the street with the modify terrain cheat at least like 10 times. And besides the grass, the only decorations nearby are that arched gate and the pond but I was having trouble even before I placed those. What I think is most infuriating about this problem is the game doesn't even tell you why you can't place the lot, it just won't let you

[Austere]

Does it do the same thing when you're not close to a hill or a mountain? The game is unbelievably picky when it  comes to hills and stuff. (Although in my game, the damn lots often CREATE mini hills once I actually go into the lot. Then I have to put stairs and shit just to get to the sidewalk. n_n)

[J. M. Pescado]

Move the pond. It may be bigger than you think it is.

[horsey]

Ok so duh I guess the problem was the grass decoration. I didn't think it was since I could still place the smaller lots. I needed to use a lot of grass to cover the concrete and whether I could place the lot or not had to do with the concentration of the grass. Oops sorry it was so obvious The game could have told me there was a neighborhood decoration in the way instead of just bein a bitch.

[Mizz Rose Bud]

It is not always obivious, some of those hood decorations leaves "invisible puddles" (I don´t know what else to call them) preventing you to place lots, even though you have deleted the decoration. I have recently been fighting with the train deco ... exiting the hood and go back, seems to clean up the terrain.

[Georgette]

Yeah, that happens to me all the time. Even when I've removed the decoration I often can't place a lot in its place. Thanks for the tip on restarting though, Mizz Rose Bud. I normally just swear at the screen, which has thus far proven to be ineffective.

[GelatinousSubstance]

I normally just swear at the screen, which has thus far proven to be ineffective.

That's because all it really wants is good lovin, and that's why this has never happened to me.

[Georgette]

*Georgette ponders exactly what kind of loving GS gives the computers, then shudders*

[GelatinousSubstance]

*GS lovingly strokes its monitor with caressing fingertips before suddenly realising, in that brief, lucid moment that often eludes it, that Georgette ponders strange things*

[Georgette]

Strange, sexy things 

[Lerf]

Does anyone else have the problem where you can't place a lot that's been built on, but you can put an empty lot of the same size in the location?  And I'm not talking about beach lots, BTW.

[GelatinousSubstance]

Occasionally. It tends to happen to me when the original lot was built with neighbourhood decorations too close (usually almost touching the lot). I only use my own lots, and this is the pattern I've noticed - other people's experiences may vary.

The only solution I've found to correct this is to remove decorations anywhere around where I want to place the new lot, even if they're ridiculously far away, and then replace them after the lot is set. Another solution I found that works is to set the lot somewhere where it will allow you, and then remove the neighbourhood decorations closest to it. I don't really know why this works, but it seems to work for me every time. My only guess is that somewhere in the game data (or lot package), the program is still holding onto the echo of previous decorations, and thinks they're still there.

[maxon]

Isn't that also to do with flat edge lots?  If your lot edges aren't perfectly flat with the pavement (sidewalk), this can lead to problems with placement next to other lots.  With empty lots, the sides will just adapt to the existing shape of the terrain but built-on lots have a more or less fixed shape and if it doesn't match the neighbour or doesn't match the local terrain near enough for that to adapt to the shape, you can't place it.  To be honest, I often move things around with SimPE unless it makes for really large differences in ground level between neighbouring lots.

[pbox]

When deco gets in the way, try a mod along the lines of this: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=265020 ("Neighborhood decorations can be placed anywhere", by saramk) -- I'm not sure if it covers all EPS or if there's anything like this for newer EPs if it doesn't, since I lost track of TS2 stuff a while ago. But I always had this in -- it can't hurt in any case -- and can't think of having had this issue in a long time.

[Georgette]

That seems like such a useful download, thanks for the link. I'm amazed it hasn't been featured, actually.

[ritaxis]

I have sarahmk's neighborhood deco in lots in my game and it works beautifully.  It prevents dumb lot blockage and what's even cooler is you can borrow the neighborhood deco to spruce up your lot.

For example:




This lot has a row of neighborhood deco trees marching across it.  At certain angles the trees look like they're floating in the air, but otherwise it works fine.

And I think they won't catch fire in a lightning storm.

[maxon]

Oh where did you get that nice bustop from?

[GelatinousSubstance]

My guess is that it's a neighbourhood decoration, considering that they can place them on lots with the hack they're discussing, and because there is a bus stop in the decorations section.

[maxon]

Well, you might be right but the graphics look rather better than the trees.  I currently use a French bustop (Around the Sims) for many of my community lots. 

[ritaxis]

Sorry I haven't been back to answer the busstop quesion.  I've been marrying off my daughter and stuff.

I thought for sure that the bus shelter was from Blacky's, which is where I get a lot of "everyday" type of items, but I can't find it there. I'm fairly certain that it is from a German site.  I know it is definitely from a free and probably from a file share friendly site because I've been purging everything that isn't.  The booty's all well and good, but why should I give the pay folks the satisfaction of thinking I need their stuff?

I have a bus stop pole from there:
http://www.blackypanther.de/include.php?path=content/download.php&contentid=10964&PHPKITSID=4551c92b483b2b0fbf27e0719df3b7f9
and another one from I think Ara-Garahan by Skye.
edit:
well, that was wrong: it's at MTS by Skya:
http://www.modthesims.info/browse.php?f=385&showType=1&tag=bus+stop&gs=1

There's another good bus shelter and downtown street set from Around the Sims:
http://www.aroundthesims2.com/objects/sets_downtown/002/index.html

further edit:
I just keep looking.  I can't even find it in my downloads folder by searching.  So next time I go in the game I'll try to see if the catalog description is at all informative.  Most of them aren't, unfortunately.

[maxon]

Thanks ritaxis - the ATS one is the one I have/use.  Sims will sit in it which is good.  But I like the pole too - better for less important lots.

[ritaxis]

I finally remembered to search for the bus shelter while I was in game.  It's by Xiomara, and it's in the Neighborhood 99 Forum Pack:

http://n99forumpaks.djssims.com/old.php?category=84