Problem importing terrains into the game

[virgali]

I made 2 new terrains so far and TS2 just won't accept them. It keeps telling me that it only imports small terrains! Well how freaking small (excuse for my french) is small. The smallest terrains on there ar teenie weenie...I can barely build a decent hill on that thing!

Can I really only use the smallest and if so is there a work around for that?

Thanx in Advance,
virgali

Edit: to add pics of the terrains

[Renatus]

Yes, you can only use the smallest terrains. They're harder to terraform, but they're pretty huge in Sims2 - 3 squares in SimCity4 is about 5 or 6 in Sims2 (it's kind of wonky and doesn't seem to convert evenly).

[virgali]

Thank you Renatus... I thought one City4 square was the same as a TS2 one! Pssh! This makes things a bit more complicated, I really need to watch out with the hills and lakes and such so They won't me too large...

Thanx for the help
 

[Renatus]

No problem! Also make sure you have some sort of camera mod installed in Sims2 so you can see the entire terrain... the default camera only allows the player to see a little piece of it as the playable area, probably for cosmetic reasons (so us players don't have to see the map ending in a big blue drop... big deal!).

[simmiecal]

One thing I noticed as well when making terrains - be careful with roads around mountains. Look for anything that looks like a reinforced road going up a mountain (kind of like a "road bridge") because that part of the road will disappear when you import the terrain into sims. Also, it will not render tunnels. Watch for any cross roads near the base of a bridge. What looks ok in SC4 will wind up having the cross road go thru the bridge in sims.

If you want to use the bridge that shows in the sims neighborhood terrain decorations, in SC4 the water level has to be barely noticeable. If the water is too deep, in sims the banks of the river will be too far apart and/or the height of the bridge will not match up with your roads. Also be sure that the terrain level is the same height on both sides of the river.

In SC4, if you lay two roads right next to each other, when you import the terrain, it will make a strip of land between the two roads. That strip of land is wide enought for you to place a 3x1 lot on it. Look towards the upper right to see what I'm talking. I use these as "parkways". In SC4, this was two roads adjacent to one another.

[virgali]

Yay!

Thank you very much for all the advices. Most stuff are pretty hard to do on a small scale but it's fun learning how to manage things. I'll definately be downloading that camera mod now. I usually start by working in the corners so many of my mountains are practically invisible.

Many things you guys mentioned were things I was experimenting with so you are a real time saver... hopefully I will be having some nice terrains soon to share with you.

Greets,
virgali