More Awesome Than You!

Some of you have seen this house in its full custom-content glory, as most of the action in my now-ancient MATY neighborhood pics (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,2622.0.html) took place in it. I've had a lot of gameplay hours in this house, and I can say that it plays quite well, even with seven adult sims, and it looks really good! It is expandable if necessary (I built a lab for Sim Reggikko off the downstairs back bedroom, with an observation deck on its roof), and there is plenty of room for aspiration and career rewards in the side and back yards—there is even room outside the fence in back.

The original looks a lot better, with modern full-wall windows and sliding doors on the upstairs front and side, and BobL's open-plan stairs inside and out. The paint and flooring are much better also, as are many of the furnishings and all the artwork. But this is the best I could do with all-Maxis content.

The lot for download is 100% hack-free. For some unknown reason the Sims2Pack includes one recolor of SimWardrobe's arch column (but not the mesh itself) that I didn't even use in the house, so I don't know why it's there. Installing just the lot file using the Clean Installer will not affect the house in any way.

The house is §165,000 furnished as in the pics below, and §50,000 unfurnished. After everything was done and packaged, I changed the name of the Sims2Pack to HegelianContestHouse, but the house itself is named simply Contest House. Sorry! It should be easy to pick out by its thumbnail, though.   ;D

Hegelian's Rancho Reggikko (http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/HegelianContestHouse.zip)

*Requires all EPs through OFB.*

Here are some pics:

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse01.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse07.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse08.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse09.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse10.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse11.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse12.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse13.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse15.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse16.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse17.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse18.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse19.jpg)


You can see here that there is plenty of room for reward items:

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse02.jpg)

(http://members.cox.net/callahfc/ContestHouse/Images/ContestHouse23.jpg)

Your first entry was better just at a glance, and secondly, you can't submit two entries, Reggikko, not even by puppeting Hegelian's corpse.

Well, pffft, I like it.

Not that my opinion counts, as I am not a judge.

If you had been paying attention, you would have recognized that I began playing this house long before I moved to Louisiana. You would also recognize that this house is not in Reggikko's style.


Hey, thanks L!   :-*

I like this, and while not technically awesomespec in any way that I can see, it would suit my playing style nicely, so I am taking it.

Critiques, if you care  (Or...some changes I will be making):

Basement?
Foundation just begs for a masonry treatment, instead of more stucco, in my humble opinion.  (Okay, I don't really have humble opinions)
Front doors and balcony doors are way too close together to not be lined up, and looking at the plans it seems like they easily could have been.
Also, a gabled portico roof accentuating the front entry would have been a very nice touch.
Daily Gardener?  How about 24-hour gardener!  Can you really keep that many flowers alive?
Ack!  Wrought-iron fence all around!  You don't get the 'black-laser-defense-system-of-doom' with this?  Your graphics adapter must be more awesome than mine.

Questions:

How do you get a 1x2 coffee table to sit in the center of a 2x3 rug?  Also, how it it that a 1x1 lamp can be at the center of a 1x2 table?  Is this a cheat I missed or were the objects modified?



I have no idea what you are talking about, but I'm sure you already have a bunny with a pancake on it's head somewhere.

Hey Khan
While I am not nearly as awesome as Hegelian I think I can answer a couple of things for you.
For the plants try  this  (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,2612.0.html) by TwoJeffs
For the furniture placement it could be boolprop snapobjectstogrid false
Hegelian might also be using some of the invisible surface objects that you can DL from TSR or MTS2 and using them with the moveobjects on cheat.

I see, an awesome mod that turns plants into plastic.  That would explain it and it sounds very tempting.  I will have to think about it, though, I like to keep my hacks very select and very few.


Ah yes, a cheat I missed.  You are surely correct, if the name of the cheat is anything close to what it actually does.


Huh?

There are objects you can download (various sets by various creators) that are designed to allow you to place multiple objects on a single surface, something that the moveobjects and snaptogrid cheats can't accomplish alone. It's a bit complex to explain without pictures:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=178791

You can see what it really looks like in the second reply (third post) here. (http://laverwinklesims.com/index.php?topic=460.0)


It didn't really work for what I wanted to do with the interior. Unfortunately, sim scale doesn't mirror real-world scale, and compromises are necessary for game play (I built a Sims version of my actual house, which is rather small, and it looks huge; there was no way to make it playable at a scale of one-tile = three feet, especially when I needed to place stairs that turn 180 degrees at a landing).
 

The front entrance is under the upper deck or balcony (whatever you care to call it). Sticking roof structures under decks is problematic (or I haven't figured out how to do it).

But have at it—you can do to it whatever you like. The first thing Reggikko did was tear out a bunch of the interior walls.


Well, they're concentrated in two places, so it shouldn't be too difficult. No plastic flowers here, but if the gardener can't do it, influence can be brought to bear. Temporarily making the gardener selectable and dragging his or her active points to nine or ten can help considerably with the gardening (this is helpful with maids, too—make them active and neat).

If always-perfect-plants is more than you want (I don't use it myself), Windkeeper at TSR has plastic versions of the Maxis plants, for those situations where you need them, either because you don't feel like gardening or you want to place flowers in a place where the gardener can't to them.


No problem with these fences or any others. I have a Radeon X800 GTO (AGP) that I flashed with a hacked BIOS to unlock the four disabled pixel pipelines (from 12 to 16) and give a slight boost to the GPU and memory clocks.  It's cooled with an Arctic Cooling ATi Silencer 5 (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=61).   ;D

LIke TaWanda says, you can turn off the snap-to-grid feature with a boolprop command (I have an alias in my userstartup.cheat file to make it easy). You need to turn it back on when you're done, because things like doors and windows can't be placed otherwise. It is good for placing things like lights, tables, and paintings. You can use it for custom rugs but not for the Maxis rugs, which don't display properly when off the grid. Also, I believe you run into problems with chairs if you move a table or desk off the grid.

No invisible objects in this house, although in the original I used Tiggy027's invisible wall cutouts and (visible) cutout frames to create a counter cutout in a full wall where the half-wall is in the contest version. This was more aesthetically pleasing and allowed the refrigerator to be placed in a more optimal position on the opposite side of the kitchen from where it is in the contest house.

Well, I don't see how the fridge placement is an IMPROVEMENT. It's still just exposed to any rampaging partygoers who in stupid sim-fashion decide to mess themselves up and trash your house. That alone earns you a big fat
(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/cats/fail.jpg), since I can't see how you can secure that.

Nah. I just turn the refrigerator to the wall before the party starts.

*snicker*

Nuisance. Having to enter buy mode like that is to be avoided in good design.

Don't mind if I do...

This is actually what I was getting at about the front:
(http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s268/khanofwyrms/ts2sshot/snapshot_00000007_138c8098.jpg)

Not a big deal, just a little focus for the front entry.

2.2 for aesthetics. This one is really very pretty, and meets my criteria nicely.

Glad you like it! I do too.   ;D


Since this was a Maxification of an existing design, I wanted to do as little reconstruction as possible. In the original, in-game design, the upper-level front uses Numenor's window-walls and sliding glass door, so from the street you can't actually see the lateral offset of the lower and upper doors. In that design, the gable would just break up the clean line of the roof, which I prefer to added non-functional appendages (although as I noted in Twooflower's thread, this has been the trend in recent upscale house design in the U.S.). This isn't a Greek Revival design, and, personally, I don't think the gable adds anything, plus you lose a window. Glass and light was one of the primary goals for the original design.

Bribe: 0.0
Functionality: 0.6
Scenarios: 0.7
Cost Effectiveness: 1.0
Expand 0.8
Physics: 1.0
Aesthetics: 2.2

Technical: 0.833
Total: 0.5

Correct Behaviors
Level Edges - Will Not Damage Neighborhood
No Physical Anomalies

Correctable Issues
Visitors Not Properly Confined To Viewing Deck
Kitchen Not Sealed
Hot Tub Not Access-Controlled[/color[/b]

Fundamental Flaws
No Clearly Defined Viewing Deck - Impossible to Maintain Camera on Single Floor