Fat Dormies

[Gus Smedstad]

It used to be that people used the weight benches and the treadmill.  Now, they only use the treadmill.

Yeah, I noticed that too.  I stopped using the community lots well before I installed Nightlife, and this is the first time I've been back.  So I have no idea which expansion borked the weight benches.

 - Gus

[Zazazu]

And I've got the dorms gender-divided also, so they go to the community lots to date or have study dates or meet each other in the library.

What! Everyone knows that fully coed dorms are the only way to go. Otherwise you don't get near the level of debauchery that makes Uni fun.

I don't like "everything in one lot" community lots. I like different places with different atmospheres and for them to have to move around.

The problem with everything community lots is that you only need one. That means you end up going to the same lot, over and over and over. I have one all-in-one lot downtown. It's the only lot I have downtown. It only exists so that my sims have someplace to go when some random person calls them telling they've found "a new place downtown", which reaches new levels of hilarity when there's only one lot. All other community lots are focused and either in the neighborhood or, coming soon, in Uni (I'm thinking only a coffee shop and a bookstore/clothing store, as I'm dorm-centric). Saish (named after Saish Test, my sim first family in TS1 & TS2) is a restaurant/club (restaurant level is a loft equal to approximately 3 floors in height, yummy), but that's as much multitasking as lots can do.

[Gwill]

I tend to have one type of lot for each purpose.  I have one date-lot, with everything they could possibly need to have a great time (including a restaurant, since dates always roll that stupid dine out want) and woohoo in every thinkable possition.  I have one lot for shopping, usually a very small lot; with absolutely everything a sim can buy.  Then last I try to build a "fun" lot for outings, but I never manage to get them right (neither the lots or the outings).

[Gus Smedstad]

Well, I made a mini-campus lot with a dorm, student union, library, and gym as separate buildings.  In testing it, I rather liked the effect.  It felt more "real."  It's sort of deliberately inefficient, since the travel times to stuff like bookcases and computers are somewhat long, but that's not a huge drawback for students who have too much time anyway.

However, even though my computer has moderately beefy arms, it was a bit slow.  I turned on the frame rate monitor, and found I was getting 7-10 FPS, vs. the 17-20 FPS that's more common for my normal dorm.  I suppose I should have expected that, the Sims 2 has always been kind of slow compared to other games.

The real problem of course is when the game's really stressed.  On my normal lot 10 FPS isn't a big deal, but 2 FPS on the mini-campus is painful.  So I guess I'll stick to what I'm doing, though I kind of like the design of the dorm-section of the mini campus better than my current dorm.

 - Gus

[Sagana]

Too bad, it sounds like fun. But yeah, that'd be my other reason for avoiding 'all in one' lots - my computer barely runs the game, really. I can tell when a lot in my bin is too big just by mousing over it - there's a distinct pause before it's willing to take a glance.

[Zazazu]

Gus, what lot size were you doing? I'm away from a computer with the Sims2 for another 12 or so hours, so all I've been able to do is sketch stuff out....but in my opinion a 6x6 is going to be overkill. I'm thinking a 4x4 should do it, with a 3x3 possible with a very small quad area (ditch a central gazebo) and smaller buildings.

Anyways, I really like the idea. I'll have to break my rules and build a new Uni lot early tomorrow. Eve may not be going to college now, as I've decided on a way to both invite some tradegy and bring Charisma the Freak back into the foreground.

[Gus Smedstad]

The Mini Campus is on a 6x5 lot, which for some reason is labelled 5x6 in my game, even though it's 6 wide and 5 deep.  I don't have 6x6 as an option.

You're right that 6x5 is overkill.  The library is as big as the full-sized library, and the gym is only slightly smaller than the full sized gym, though most of it is given over to an indoor pool.  Only the dorm actually needed a 2nd story to hold what I wanted, though I built a 2nd story on to the library for appearance's sake.

A 4x4 seems doable.  3x3 would require that I build up far more vertically, since the current dorm layout occupies all of a 2x2 lot with no space left over for borders.  That's a challenge, though, and I like challenges, so it's back to construction for me.

 - Gus

[Zazazu]

Just did a 3x3 quad set-up (no landscaping):

The third story on the study/library and the second story on the gym are just loft space I added for looks. It looks good and makes sense to me, but the dorm is definitely smaller than my taste. You could probaby convert the space into 4 smallish bedrooms for playables. I did two small suites (one with attached bath) on the second floor and six mini-whatevers for myne door placement so I'd have NPC dormies.

And yes, that's a ninja in the fountain.

For Flamingo, lot available here: http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/lot_detail.php?asset_id=547614
Note that any custom content that says it's by me on that page isn't. Varagies of EA. I just place the walls.

[Flamingo]

Zazazu, would you be willing to share that lot? I'm impressed by your building skills, and am really quite tired of using the dorms that came with Uni.

[Gus Smedstad]

Interesting to see another take on the idea.  I posted images of my 3x3 campus in another thread here.  Mine is far more crowded than yours, but I have more bedrooms (11 rooms, 12 beds), and I packed a lot more rec equipment into it.  The pool doesn't count because I put it in a basement.

The 12 Myne Doors are attached to 1x1 cells, with a single regular door to the entire area that can be locked.  The idea being that the dormies will be forced to use the regular facilities rather than hiding in those inviso-rooms.  I've tried stacking the Myne Doors before, but had enough troubles that I decided to separate them this time.  With NoUniProtect installed, it's important to force the dormies into real beds, because otherwise they tend to fall over and die when they come out of their rooms.

 - Gus