Mapleton- The Unpopulated Version

[ediblebodyparts]

Here is my first real attempt at seriously using CAW. Zazazu's Asherton is what prompted me to give CAW a shot again, and Mapleton is the result. Asherton was a huge inspiration so thanks Zazazu.

This is the unpopulated version, and I will be working to create a built up and populated version. Most of the lots are small and do not match the standard lots sizes of the base worlds, so you will probably have to build your own houses. This does contain WA items and it may contain Store items as well (does have Riverview items). Here's a bit of history about the island:

Discovered in 1843 by Sir Francis Maples off the coast of what is now Washington State, Maples Island has a unique history. A wealthy Seattle man named Doctor West purchased the island for his own private getaway. When building his mansion, workers discovered iron deposits and a mining community quickly built up and was known as Weston. During the Pig War, a fort was built on the island to keep an eye on the British. After the stock market crash, Doctor West's family abandoned the island. The residents petitioned to have the name changed to Maples Island after the original discoverer and renamed the community Mapleton. The eastern island is still known as West Island and that is where the most expansive properties remain.



General
Map: Small
Layers: 2 with 3 sublayers
Requires WA and Riverview
Spawners are all from the base game; however the community garden has WA plants

Lots
Total Number: 58

Rabbitholes (everything but the Diner):
Mapleton Theater: 28x20
Mapleton General Hospital: 28x40
Mapleton Community School: 28x40
Mapleton Memorial Stadium: 50x20
Mapleton Cemetery: 25x10
Fort Mapleton: 40x36
Mapleton Municipal District (City Hall & Police): 20x44
Mapleton Square (Bistro & Day Spa): 22x26
Mapleton Shopping Plaza (Bookstore & Grocery): 22x20
Mapleton Commercial Complex (Science, Criminal, & Business): 22x50

Community (8 built-up lots):
Mapleton Pond (fishing): 20x26
Mapleton Community Park (Garden and play set contains WA plants): 21x22
Mapleton Community Gym (Contains Martial Arts equipment): 16x16
Mapleton Center of the Arts (contains WA items): 15x16
Gazebo Park: 14x22
West Island Park: 17x22

Residential (40 - empty lots):
(2) 30x30, (1) 28x30, (1) 22x14, (3) 22x10, 20x30, (2) 20x20, 20x19, 20x15, 20x14, 20x13, 20x12, 18x17, 18x16, 17x12, 16x18, 16x12, 15x27, 15x25, 15x18, (2) 15x16, 15x15, 15x12, 15x11, (2) 15x10, 11x18, (2) 10x12, (6) 10x10, 9x26



Custom Content Used:
Scalloped Roofs by QBUILDERZ
Immodest Pediment by VoiceIHear
Half Walls by Flabaliki
Creeping Ivy by lemoncandy
CAW Textures by Martine and Hysterical Paroxysm

Usage: Feel free to mess around with the world or use the CAW files and change it however you like, but please credit me if you upload it. CAW files are in the .rar file named Mapleton_empty_CAW

Finally, please let me know of any issues that come up and I will fix them for my populated version. Also, constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks!

Files:
Mapleton_empty the Sims3pack world file
Mapleton_empty_CAW the CAW files

[That Eighties Guy]

You might want to freshen up the rabbithole community lots. Plopping them down with a gray-ish ground doesn't do much for shiny.

I do give you a plus in creativity in trying to connect several rabbitholes together.

[ediblebodyparts]

Thanks for the feedback, I will try to work on that more with the populated version, but I will admit I am not very good at that. The greyish ground is actually paving stones and looks nicer up close, and I did try to do something with each community lot, but I agree that there could be more landscaping done. Out of curiosity, are you going simply off of the screenshots or did you actually load it up in game? Thanks again!

[Sigmund]

Haven't tried it in game yet, but I do tend to prefer worlds that have the lots closer together, so I like what I see so far. Will give more constructive feedback once I actually have time to load the game.

[ediblebodyparts]

Just checking in to see if any one got a chance to play it over the weekend. I started work on the built-up version, but with my current schedule, it will take me a bit. Thanks to all who downloaded it so far!

ETA (3/14/10): Just found out that I was accepted to the University I recently applied to so the built-up will probably take a bit longer. I tried posting this on MTS, but mostly because of my non-standardized lot sizes, they rejected it. I made a new version with more consistent lot sizes, and only lost a couple residential lots. Would anyone be interested if I put that one up too?

[gotchan]

I downloaded and installed it yesterday. It seems to be working fine. I've started to make some houses for it, but much as i love small lots and always build much smaller than the lots available in Sunset Valley and Riverview, i'm finding i have to relearn some habits when i'm forced to build this small. I've completed two houses to usable levels, one of which ended up much more expensive than i intended. I'll try to complete a street over the weekend and post some screenshots.

I love small lots and close-packed buildings, so thank you very much for this. (I'm on a Mac and so can't use CAW easily.) I like how you've mashed some of the rabbit holes together to make good looking frankenbuildings. Once i get a few sims in, i'll check if any of the entry/exit points conflict. My only quibble so far, and an extremely minor one, is it is an island. Why do so many neighbourhood builders love islands? Every sim neighbourhood has a number of sims wandering around or working in the rabbit holes with no house on the map. Obviously they live beyond the screen borders, but on an island where do they come from? 

[ediblebodyparts]

Thank you so much for posting your feedback! I'm glad to hear that the small town thing works for you, and that you like my frankenbuildings (which on a world this small, that is about all you can really do). To be honest, I hate islands too for neighborhoods. Since you have a Mac and can't use CAW, you probably aren't aware that when you start a new neighborhood in CAW, it starts as a green square floating in an endless ocean. Before Mapleton, I tried the various methods to not make it look like an island, got frustrated, and ended up making an island. With the current tool, it is much easier to make an island than not. So hopefully, I will have a non-island world in the future, but I don't have the time or patience right now. Thanks again for your feedback, it is much appreciated!

[csquared]

I downloaded this last week and began creating some lots over the weekend.  I had some trouble when I first installed it with the Riverview content not showing properly- I had to place any Riverview building myself but it wasn't too much of a puzzle because any multi-rabbit hole lot had at least one original I could line the others with (and the thumbnails were still showing the Riverview buildings so I had some reference).

I really like the layout, small lots aren't normally my thing but I've found it's kind of fun to have to think differently in planning buildings.  I'm not sure if this is common when building small lots or using CAW-created hoods but near the edges of the lot (2-3 squares in) I couldn't place certain objects (stairs, foundation, walls) because it could not be flattened, despite using the "flatten lot" tool).  I found this to be quite annoying in such small lots, especially when the lot appeared to be flat and level with the sidewalks but I'm guessing it just happens when using CAW because the sidewalks are a smidge sloped or something.

I'll try to post more when I get some sims mucking about.  If anyone has some buildings that fit the smaller lots (10X10 and the like) you should upload them and post the link here- I have a feeling I'm going to be tired of making them myself, so maybe we can get a populated version going with everyone's creations.

[gotchan]

@ediblebodyparts: I did not know that about CAW. It explains the obsession everyone has for islands. EA (and subcontractors) really seem to have a number of very poor programming practices.

@csquared: I'm finding that, too. Doors which can only be installed the wrong way around, roofs which can't be built because the surface is not level but can be built if i start in the opposite corner. I think it's EA weirdness and nothing ediblebodyparts could influence. For example: basements start at ground level, not the level of the bottom floor, so the first basement in a building with a foundation is 5 modular stairs levels deep, not 4. This meant i could not fit the basement stairs in one house, but the game happily allowed me to connect a 4 section modular stair at right angles to the top 1 section modular stair landing. I tested it and sims use the stairs and end up in the basement even though it would require crawling through a 1/4 height area under the fireplace to get to the second flight of stairs. Since it was an EA quirk that caused the problem, i'm not going to complain about an EA quirk that gives a workaround. I'll have to do some testing in play to see if the other kludges cause any problems.

I have a few building finished. The weekend chores are done, so i'll try and complete a section and post some screenshots.

[ediblebodyparts]

I'm glad you guys like the layout so far. I have only structurally completed a couple of the 10x10 lots. The are 2 bed 1.5 bath houses with no basement. I might add that in. I would love to see your screenshots, and as soon as my schedule gives me a chance, I will finish one of the houses and upload it. I am planning on making all of the 10x10 lots similar, like in a neighborhood.

[bestofsmall]

I've installed your world and been building a bit on it . So far I have one block complete and a couple of houses in my China Town area . It has been a bit hard for me to maneuver the camera while building but thats me and nothing to do with the world , so far it seems to work great I have one sim and I keep moving him from house to house to try them out . I hope to get around to actually playing him some soon . Sharing the small lots we build is a great idea !
Here are some pics of the houses I've done so far some of the shots were taken while building so things may have changed a bit in the final version .

http://s616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/bestofsmall/S3%20Small%20Lots/?action=view&current=a02fc4ea.pbw

and the houses are all in one folder here

http://www.box.net/shared/124i8xduvf

[gotchan]

Screenshots!

Finished the core area. I had the resolutions set low so i could move around quickly and build without the engine trying to render the adjacent lots. I set it back higher to take some overview shots. In the meantime, here are individual portraits. For the purpose of keeping things straight, i will call anything built in my instance of the neighbourhood West Mapleton. There is a lot of custom content in these lots. The screenshots show extensive use of:
HugeLunatic's "Ye Olde Windows": http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=371508
Einfach Simlisch's City and Town door and window sets: http://einfachsimlisch.ei.funpic.de/Sims3/build.html
plasticbox's "Simple Kitchen": http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=393576

There is more which i will list if and when i share the lots with anyone.

Address: 11 Cherry Avenue
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 1 bath
Lot Size: 18 x 16
Furnished: 20,680
Unfurnished: 18,000
Basement




Address: 13 Cherry Avenue
Purpose: Hero Starter
1 bdrm, 1 bath
Lot Size: 15 x 16
Furnished: 14,248
Unfurnished: 10,711




Address: 1 Park Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 1.5 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 10
Furnished: 17,291
Unfurnished: 14,451
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 3 Park Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 1.5 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 10
Furnished: 17,223
Unfurnished: 14,149
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 5 Park Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 1.5 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 12
Furnished: 18,575
Unfurnished: 15,413
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 7 Park Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 1.5 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 10
Furnished: 18,319
Unfurnished: 15,067
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 2 Miner Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 1 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 10
Furnished: 16,953
Unfurnished: 15,253
Basement.




Address: 4 Miner Street
Purpose: Hero Starter
1 bdrm, 1 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 10
Furnished: 15,755
Unfurnished: 13,253




Address: 6 Miner Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 2 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 12
Furnished: 20,399
Unfurnished: 17,839
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 8 Miner Street
Purpose: Holding Tank
4 bdrm, 2 bath
Lot Size: 10 x 10
Furnished: 28,065
Unfurnished: 23,493
Basement.




Address: 10 Miner Street
Purpose: Holding Tank
4 bdrm, 2 bath
Lot Size: 22 x 10
Furnished: 26,138
Unfurnished: 21,178
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 12 Miner Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
1 bdrm, 1 bath
Lot Size: 22 x 10
Furnished: 18,895
Unfurnished: 17,610
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 14 Miner Street
Purpose: Holding Tank
3 bdrm, 2 bath
Lot Size: 22 x 10
Furnished: 24,392
Unfurnished: 18,867
Can be expanded to basement.




Address: 16 Miner Street
Purpose: Breeder Box
2 bdrm, 1 bath
Lot Size: 22 x 10
Furnished: 25,136
Unfurnished: 22,316
Can be expanded to basement.

[bestofsmall]

@ gotchan excellent! They all have such character . Please post a download link it would be so cool to have them in my hood , also thanks for the idea about turning down settings I hadn't thought of that I'll try it today , my camera jumps up or down and the surrounding buildings are always in the way I even have to "shoot" through some of them . I can hardly wait to see everyone's houses .

[ediblebodyparts]

@ gotchan Wow, those are really cool! Admittedly, not the style I generally go with, but really awesome nonetheless. I got back to building last night and I have most of the block with 10x10's done. There I am doing traditional brick houses. I am glad I put up this version so that I can see the all the different styles people use!

@bestofsmall I really like what you are doing too! I hope everyone keeps posting pics, I will try to get some up myself later tonight.

[csquared]

Wow all the houses you guys have designed look great, I haven't had time to get much farther than a few standard (read: cloned) smaller lots and one slightly larger starter and those aren't even fully furnished yet.  I'm moving this weekend and then I'll have a bunch of time once I get set up in my new place.  I'll try to post some screenshots and such after then.

For example: basements start at ground level, not the level of the bottom floor, so the first basement in a building with a foundation is 5 modular stairs levels deep, not 4. This meant i could not fit the basement stairs in one house, but the game happily allowed me to connect a 4 section modular stair at right angles to the top 1 section modular stair landing. I tested it and sims use the stairs and end up in the basement even though it would require crawling through a 1/4 height area under the fireplace to get to the second flight of stairs.

I ran into the basement/foundation issue as well, I couldn't fit the stairs in the house I was building and instead placed them outside partially under a porch.  It would have caused my sims to have to bend over backward to use them but they seem to have no problem with it.  I'll be accounting for that from now on and I might try your solution in that house if I can fit it.

I'm glad you guys like the layout so far. I have only structurally completed a couple of the 10x10 lots. The are 2 bed 1.5 bath houses with no basement. I might add that in. I would love to see your screenshots, and as soon as my schedule gives me a chance, I will finish one of the houses and upload it. I am planning on making all of the 10x10 lots similar, like in a neighborhood.

I made some of the 10X10 lots into city-style 3 story lofts.  The second and third floors are the house with the first floor being an art gallery, adventure display, library, etc.  Non-resident sims don't use them or anything but I found it interesting and if there's an expansion like Open For Business it would work really well.

[gotchan]

I've built enough houses that i've been able to put some sims in and play. A couple of notes:

I suspect there is a routing issue near the circle in this screenshot:


Two uncontrolled Sims have gotten stuck there. It might be the lamp post, but it doesn't look like it. It might be the criminal rabbit hole is overlapping the sidewalk. But in either case i cannot see why they couldn't cross the street or turn around.

Mapleton Community Park and Gazebo Park don't show up as venues at which you can throw a party. This seems to be because they do not have enough park objects. (See this article: http://www.modthesims.info/article.php?t=350385.) Adding a single bench to Mapleton Community Park makes it show up on the party venue list. Unfortunately Gazebo Park is too small to cram enough park objects into without ruining its look.

That leads me to a couple of thoughts on small worlds in the Sims after some in game experience. I like the small lots. I like the close lots. But, i'm less happy that the entire world is small, that all community spaces are small, and that there is nowhere that is away from everywhere else. The close lots do result in a lot of camera bounce and clipping pauses. This doesn't bother me. I consider the camera controls primitive enough that i'm not going to place the blame solely on crammed lots. EA could have done a better job with the camera. I will consider cramming lots together in only one dimension if i build my own world.

[ediblebodyparts]

Thanks again for all of your feedback. As far the the Criminal Building entrance area, I will keep an eye for that, but haven't run into any problems there myself. I will see what I can do so that parties can be had at Gazebo Park. I had intended for it to be used for outdoor weddings, so it's important for that to work. I love/hate the small map thing too, but sadly I took the easy way out and did it because it was a size I could handle for just beginning. My goal is to one day have a mainland larger map that actually looks nice. In my previous attempts the terrain painting looks awful.

[gotchan]

I'm learning a lot about the restrictions of small, close lots in play. The camera in The Sims 3 is lacking, but it's what we have so we have to make allowances.

When playing my main family, i can hear the neighbours showering, cooking, flushing the toilet, and woohooing. Also, when the burglar alarm goes off a lot of sims come running to investigate. None of them actually do anything helpful, of course.

I found out Gazebo Park wasn't available for parties when i tried to have my sim's wedding there. Next time i'm in the game i'm going to try putting park objects in a basement under the gazebo. Even if it works it will cause problems as sims will be aware of the objects but will be unable to route to them. Maybe if i put them several basements deep. I don't know if sims consider levels when responding to the lure of objects or if it's just a 2D calculation.

EDIT: I crammed a bunch of park objects into a the fourth basement level below ground and also put more flowers and shrubs in above ground. I should have done one or the other to be sure which worked, but Gazebo Park now shows up as a party venue. I haven't held a party there so i do not know how sims react to desirable items so deep below ground with no access. It could very well cause repeated routing distress.

[Rayea]

I finaly managed to get a hold of this working version (for me) of this place and I am quite happily starting to build.
Thank you for making this *grins*

So far, I have decided to make a modern-ish, slightly futuristic place for a change. (I usualy make olde worlde or ancient, but there is just not enough custom content yet for that. i can manage without the watebutt sinks but there just isnt any compatable cookers yet)

As to the Pavilion with the deep basement...I have yet to test any sims, but I build a mausoleum undergroud without basements and placed stairs down (I wanted to make an indoor kind of place with urns rather than graves) I just dug down deep and then placed a foundation over the top (adding the floortiles when the game did not want to place foundation flooring over the crypt)

Once I get going, I will try to post some pictures.

(Also, to the working for me part...I had to install the unpopulated file on my spare hdd that has only bare S3 and the CAW tool, patched to 1.8 or 1.9 and then took the .World file out to take to my normal game. Hard work, I know but I am still too un-awesome to get my game working in the latest patched version)

[radiophonic]

Only problem I had with this city is the lack of larger lot sizes. Even some small, 1b lots couldn't be placed. Other than that, nice work.