Three-story house with major complications.

[SJActress]

I wouldn't have any idea how to BEGIN to search for something this complicated, so let me just tell you what I want to do.

I'm trying to build a three-story house. 

In the FRONT of the house, the first story is at ground level.

In the BACK of the house, the THIRD story is at ground level (basically, the house is built into a mountain). 

To add to the complication, the Sims must be able to walk out onto the yard (I can compromise a patio) on the third level in the back. 

I've tried this tutorial, resigning myself to making the third story the same height as the sidewalk and just digging a pit for the first two stories, but even this doesn't work, because I can't stack two walls in order to reach a two-story foundation (one story, I can).  Also, I need a two-story foundation in back because it is the only thing that would allow Sims to walk out the third story (because it hides the huge slope inside). 

If the Sims didn't actually have to walk outside in the back, I could use this tutorial, but for obvious reasons, I'm fairly certain it won't work.

I feel like I'm back in C Programming class or something...I know there's an answer to this, but I can't wrap my head around it.

Do you understand what I want?  Do you have any ideas/suggestions/links for this?   

[notveryawesome]

Have you tried just building the house and then building up the terrain around the back of it? I don't know if this would actually work, as I've never tried it, but it seems like it should.

[witch]

I spent some time on a similar idea some years ago. I wanted a monastery built/backing into a mountain, with tunnels under the ground. I never managed to get different height foundations and their walls to join up, even with the exact 12 clicks for a wall and 4 clicks for a foundation bizo.

You might try MikeInside's building tutorials on MTS2, they host his site, although he no longer plays. If anyone could suss your issue, he probably could.

[SJActress]

Have you tried just building the house and then building up the terrain around the back of it? I don't know if this would actually work, as I've never tried it, but it seems like it should.

No, that won't work, because you can't modify the terrain right next to a wall, meaning there's nothing to hide the HUGE slope, meaning I can't get them to walk outside on the third story in the back because there's a floor tile stretched all the way to the first floor and they can't cross it.

even with the exact 12 clicks for a wall and 4 clicks for a foundation bizo.

You might try MikeInside's building tutorials on MTS2, they host his site, although he no longer plays. If anyone could suss your issue, he probably could.

Yes, the # of clicks issue sucks, but I don't think that's the problem (I can get ONE wall to match the foundation, but I need to build another foundation on top of the FIRST foundation, somehow, to get the second story all the way underground--or, figure out how to stack TWO walls to a two-story foundation).

The links for tutorials I provided are from MikeInside...I love his tutorials, but even THEY don't seem to do the trick for this (look at the pictures in the links and I think you'll understand why).

Thank you for the suggestions so far... 

[witch]

Sorry, didn't look at your link, just went back in memory to the several weeks I spent trying, on and off, to get the damn thing working.

There's one house in the original Pleasant hood that does something like this, I'll have a look when I boot up the game in the next hour or so. Never did figure out how they did it.

Huh. Photobucket still had a pic of it. I was trying to get MikeInside's help at the time. The picture is hard to see, but in the game it's called 125 Lakeside (Drive?).



The foundation on the right is higher than the one on the left, from memory.

[notveryawesome]

Hmmm, for the second foundation, have you tried the indoor split-level foundation rather than the typical brick one? Sorry, I can't remember which EP it came with. Pets or Seasons, I think.

[witch]

Nope. I misremembered. HappyMoonBelly aka MaxoidMoonBelly made it and it does not have a foundation on the right.


What about putting the foundation up high and cascading the other storeys down, like with the garages that are lower than the foundation? You could use the 'attached garage' tutorial for a guide. Just means you wouldn't have a foundation at bottom level.

[Cappuccino]

No, that won't work, because you can't modify the terrain right next to a wall, meaning there's nothing to hide the HUGE slope, meaning I can't get them to walk outside on the third story in the back because there's a floor tile stretched all the way to the first floor and they can't cross it.

Didn't try this myself but just a thought: can you place stairs across that slope? Or a deck serving as a bridge maybe? Though maybe that's not exactly what you wanted I guess.

[SJActress]

What about putting the foundation up high and cascading the other storeys down, like with the garages that are lower than the foundation? You could use the 'attached garage' tutorial for a guide. Just means you wouldn't have a foundation at bottom level.

Good suggestion.  I'll give that a try and see what happens.

Didn't try this myself but just a thought: can you place stairs across that slope? Or a deck serving as a bridge maybe? Though maybe that's not exactly what you wanted I guess.

No, because the tile it goes over is stretched to the ground, and it has to go over a flat tile.  If that WOULD work, I'd be willing to compromise on it, but it doesn't. 

[Zazazu]

Everything would be so much easier if wall heights under 4 clicks were supported. I recently was building a restaurant with a very slightly similar concept...built right into a hill, with the kitchen area supposed to be on the lower floor but significantly above the first while being at the highest level of the lot...I gave up after a bit on making it realistic and ended up putting in a 1-tile buffer and loading it with hedges on top of coffee tables to camouflage.

[Avalikia]

I decided to take a crack at this because I happen to be very familiar with building cheat codes (even though I, oddly enough, rarely if ever use them).  I did manage to make a three story building with a porch coming out the back that was 1/2 story higher than the ground in the back(making it about twice as high as an ordinary foundation) with no visible imperfections when the walls were up.  If you're interested in the details of how it's done I could write it down if you'd like, but it's basically a cross between the "house on a hill" and "two story basement" concepts.  I did notice that there's a lot of fancy things I could do with this double-height deck... (i.e. turn it into a two-level deck, also add access to the second story, etc.)

[SJActress]

Avalikia, I am absolutely interested in the details.  Actually, if you want to make it simpler on yourself, you could just upload a package file of the building and I'll install it and study it! 

Everyone's suggestions so far are really good--it's like a brainstorming group or something.  Keep them coming! 

[Avalikia]

Double apologies for how long it took me to upload this.  It simply took a long time for me to remember to package the lot while the game was running, then another long time for me to remember to upload it here while I was here.     If you have any questions about it, let me know.

[Phaenoh]

Try this tutorial, http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/story_detail.php?asset_id=157414&asset_type=story&user_id=141616

[ScoobyDoo]

Was that part of that 4GB newsgroup upload several months ago? 

I've got that same house.  I ended up using grid paper and rebuilding it from scratch.

[MyPrecious]

I too appreciate all the suggestions and instructions. A long time ago I built a house for the "me" Sim into a hillside, with a garage alongside and the main living room directly above, the thing is I somehow used walls for the garage and then foundation for the house? I have no clue how I made them connect and work, I have a hazy memory of repeatedly counting to drag the ground level up so that it was level with the garage walls and using loads of swear words.  I often go back to that house to see if I can figure out how I did it but until today have had no luck. The above tutorial has helped so thanks.

[Zazazu]

I have no clue how I made them connect and work, I have a hazy memory of repeatedly counting to drag the ground level up so that it was level with the garage walls and using loads of swear words.

You can do that by drawing some walls first, enabling the floor level cheat, then dragging foundation to meet the wall and leveling with floor tiles.

Like this, but in reverse: