Hello. Sometimes when I design a Sim's house, it makes a difference which way the shadows fall or which sides of the house get sunlight. For instance, if I have a walk-in basement in back, I'd like the sun on the back side that has the big windows, but if I'm designing a portrait painting studio I'd like like indirect light. I know that from the inside, a window's illumination is the same no matter which way it faces. Is there a fix for changing the sunlight's angle on a lot just to satisfy esthetic sensibilities? I've found a work-around solution but I'm asking anyway. The link to my work-around approach is here:
http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/story_detail.php?asset_id=71844&searchPage=exch&search=1&asset_type=story&key=solar&order=UPDATE_DATE+desc&nrows=5&storyCat=&locality=&country=&view=newTo summarize what I've done: I did some experimenting with some neighborhoods to see if the sun's predominant angle would be the same on all new empty lots, and I got mixed results. One neighborhood I did several months ago (I didn't study it too hard then) had adjacent lots with different angles, but a more recent one (since Nightlife and its "see-the-neighbor's house" feature) had consistent sunlight angles in the 6 empty lots I placed. Lots placed in the bin seem to save the angle of sunlight saved with them! For instance, the Maxis cheapest ranch house is always lit from the front, although its thumbnail shows the reverse (tested, all the houses in the bin will have shadows opposite of their thumbnails, at least in daylight view.) I used this "feature" (sunlight angle being saved) to find an empty lot with the sun in the angle I want, move it to the bin, and then clone it to where I want it (like right across the street). No problem if the yards are both flat but disruptive if the source and target have different terrain. I've never tried SimPE but I'm imagining perhaps the lot information has something with one of four values to describe the sun angle. At night the moonlight angle is opposite of the sunlight angle.
This has been my theory, and here I'd like to quote part of Anne B. Elk's theory of brontosauruses (which is hers): "Ahem!" I thought this place might be a good place to ask about it, but I'm not asking any resources be diverted from life support to engineering...
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