Organizing hood layout

[lindaetterlee]

I am working in SimCity on making a new hood terrain but hitting a road block on how to organize it. Any suggestions?
I would like it too look like a real city but still have some what of a intelligent design.

[Strangel]

One thing that's really beginning to irk in one of the hoods I have is the amount of roads on hills. >.<
Major amounts of my best real estate cannot have a house placed on them because the road slopes too much for the game's liking. In some cases, I can't even set the smallest lot because the road slopes!

[Flamingo]

Yes, I have to agree with Strangel here, flat terrain will save you a lot of frustration. Another thing that would really help you out would be to organize the roads so that you can fit the lot size you typically play. Aside from that, I'd only really worry about aesthetics.

[witch]

I just experimented till I made something I liked. I have a couple of hoods for download at laverwinkle sims if you want to have a look. Maybe you should have a look at a few hoods people have done so you can see what you do and don't like?

[cwykes]

How do the block sizes in Sc4 relate to the block sizes in The sims2?  for example, if you want to place a whole load of 2x2 lots back to back to make a crowded area, you need the roads 4 squares apart in Sims2.  Is that 4 squares in SC4?

[maxon]

How do the block sizes in Sc4 relate to the block sizes in The sims2?  for example, if you want to place a whole load of 2x2 lots back to back to make a crowded area, you need the roads 4 squares apart in Sims2.  Is that 4 squares in SC4?

I just answered that yesterday in this thread
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,7341.0.html

Here it is again:

No of Squares SC4             No of Squares TS2
no square (i.e. surrounded by roads)
                                       1x1
1x1                                  3x3
2x2                                  5x5
3x3                                  7x7
4x4                                  9x9
5x5                                  11x11

and so on

Bridges - you can only use the first one
Trees - watch it, a single small tree in SC4 becomes 9 trees in a clump in TS2                                 

[witch]

Talking about trees, every time I create a new hood based on one of my sc4 templates, the trees come in as a different type, they're all the same as each other in the hood, but each hood has a different type.

[cwykes]

thanks for posting it again - I hadn't read the other thread.  Basically it's impossible to make a terrain allowing lots of equal depth back to back.  You can have ?x1 backing on to ?x2 or ?x2 backing onto ?x3 or you can have a one tile gap.  So I can now stop hoping to find the ideal terrain for my 3x2 willow walk lots!  I've been thinking about making a city area with small lots very close to each other. I think 3 deep is too big for a city lot, which means building on 1 deep lots or accepting a gap.   

[maxon]

thanks for posting it again - I hadn't read the other thread.  Basically it's impossible to make a terrain allowing lots of equal depth back to back.  You can have ?x1 backing on to ?x2 or ?x2 backing onto ?x3 or you can have a one tile gap.  So I can now stop hoping to find the ideal terrain for my 3x2 willow walk lots!  I've been thinking about making a city area with small lots very close to each other. I think 3 deep is too big for a city lot, which means building on 1 deep lots or accepting a gap.   

Yes, essentially - I generally use 1x1=3x3 or 2x2=5x5 for urban systems, very occasionally a ?x3 for a long street.

What works quite well is using 3x2 lots with 2x3 lots (if you see what I mean) or those very small lots that were posted at MTS2.  With the 1x1 or 1x2 community lots, you can get a nice row of lots along the street (especially if you concentrate on getting the street lighting consistent which helps the effect).  1x1 is a very small shop whereas 1x2 gives you more room to develop a proper shop like lot.  I use the 1x1 for things like corner shops/newsagents and the larger lots for food shops and so on.  I really prefer small lots nowadays - it makes for a better, more interesting panaorama. 

Combing uneven with an even fills up the space (obviously) - or for more suburban hoods, I often just stick in a row of trees between the lots.  Those - what would you call them - dumpsters? - the sort of big dustbins you can get from the neighbourhood decorations also work well like this - they look good behind a community lot and you can see them from the lot view like the trees. 

Also JadeElliot suggested a nice touch with the beaches - you know the waves you can have breaking on the shore?  Well, you can sort of turn them front to front (the the breaking wave bit overlapping in the middle) and what you get left with is the beach bit.  Use them like this on dry land and you can make sandy paths in the neighbourhoods - they often work well again running behind residential lots in a suburb (have a look at her site to see some pictures).

[cwykes]

Lots of great ideas there - I think I'm missing the dumpsters you mentioned as I've only got base game and OFB, but I could try and fit a row of trees between the lots - sometimes they just won't place in a small gap.   I was thinking of a row of advertising boards along the road instead of/among the ?x1 shops.  I'm all in favour of small lots - they don't lag the PC so much!  But I've never tried anything smaller than 3x1 for community lots and 2x2 for houses.  I'll have to get some small plots and experiment.  I made several 3x1 lots on desert terrain to fit down the middle of the road in strangetown and a few more for the riverside in Veronaville.  I'm doubtful about making a playable house on a 2x1 or 1x2 especially if Winter in The Seasons forces Sims indoors, so we can't put items like the bookcase and armchair in the garden any more.  Winter might mean I have to build a whole new lot of community lots with walls and rooves rather than outdoor markets/ swings etc.  I use the OFB awnings for a market stall type lot.

I realised just now that if you place more roads cutting across to give you city blocks, you can fill all but the centre square(s) of each block using small lots.  So you don't need a long row of trees or a big gap - Doh! 

[maxon]

The mini lots are here:

http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=195467
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=195469

They're very useful.  You're right, the very small lot (1x1) doesn't make more than a kiosk really but the 1x2 lot will allow reasonable space for a set of stairs and you can build up.  There is a problem with the driveways I think - though I've not tried to fit one on one of the very narrow lots but if you don't have Nightlife that doesn't matter.  I like the space management you have to do on small lots and think the build compromises and solutions you come up with make for more interesting buildings.  I like making markets too. 

Maybe the dumpsters came with Nightlife?

Fitting the trees in a small gap - there's usually only a small sweet spot when trying to fit in trees on empty squares bounded by lots.  Zoom in close and move the tree over the square slowly - when it lights up, you can place it.

[cwykes]

Thanks for the links - I've DL'd.  I had a go at making some terraced houses to give 3 or 4 separate homes on one lot.  They're like the pre-war built places you find all over the UK - well I think they are(!)  It wouldn't work as intended without the OFB locked doors and gates to restrict access - for a couple I've controlled access with two gates in the fence - one each.  I think it would be a pain to play for a long time, but it was fun to build and fun playing to begin with anyway.  I put them in Meadow Lawns along with the Willow Walk houses.  They've got long narrow gardens just like the real thing - people used to grow veg and stuff, so I thought they'd be just right for the seasons.  we shall see.  Are there others around like that?
I'll put up a couple of pics later
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/cwykes/MeadowLawns/MeadowLawnspage.html

[witch]

You might like these terrace variations...
http://laverwinklesims.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=cbb03639854b7d1dedc842fc19d239ba&board=33.0

ETA: No gardens though, sorry.

[Mizz Rose Bud]

One thing that's really beginning to irk in one of the hoods I have is the amount of roads on hills. >.<
Major amounts of my best real estate cannot have a house placed on them because the road slopes too much for the game's liking. In some cases, I can't even set the smallest lot because the road slopes!

I have found that if you put "road-bits" down instead of drag the road tool across the terrain, it will flatten the land to the same level as the nearest ... this way you can level the land where you want to place your lots.


Rose

[maxon]

Cwykes - I use Inge Jones's (SimLogical) apartment system - you can set it up to allow any given number of sims in certain areas.  I use it in my apartment blocks and rows of terraces.  She also has some nice English terrace doors and windows.

The apartment system works fine with Pets and I'm praying it's going to work with Seasons too.

PS Meadow Lawns looks good.

[cwykes]

Cwykes - I use Inge Jones's (SimLogical) apartment system - you can set it up to allow any given number of sims in certain areas.  I use it in my apartment blocks and rows of terraces.  She also has some nice English terrace doors and windows.

The apartment system works fine with Pets and I'm praying it's going to work with Seasons too.

PS Meadow Lawns looks good.

Thanks and thanks   I'll try the apartment system out with Jubilee Gardens.  I didn't want to use CC in the hood, because it gets out of hand too easily and the thing is already big enough.  Maybe I'll experiment later changing the doors and windows on Jubilee gardens. I wish I'd finished Meadow Lawns already.   Now Seasons is out, I want to install it and play with it not finish Meadow Lawns!  And I have 2 concerts this weekend to get in the way as well.

[angelyne]

Hey Maxon,  would you consider making some of your terrains available for download?  I want to create a downtown area based on plasticbox BackDoor lane series.

http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=178282

All the terrains I have seen are not suitable for a densely populated downtown.

[cwykes]

I want to create a downtown area based on plasticbox BackDoor lane series.

If you make it as a normal hood, you can turn it into a subhood afterwards and then you have the choice of which hood(s) to add it to in your own game.  If you do it that way, you could also put it up for download so other people can add it to their existing hoods as well.  It would be nice to have another Downtown available for download...   

It's not hard to convert the hood to a sub-hood if you don't mind a little SimPE work and some file renaming.  The basic "how to" is here http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,3996.0.html  Unfortunately Pets broke the counter, so unless The Seasons has fixed it again, you can't add extra default hoods any more.  You have to replace the maxis default with your own sub-hood.  I've proved that the method works with a complete OFB subhood and tested that it works for Uni & NL sub-hoods as well.  Sedona is here if you want to take a peek   http://static.moreawesomethanyou.com/cwykes/  and the Sedona pages give some info on how to install the subhood so you can see how it works.

I'd be happy to help you with the conversion.   

You might like these terrace variations...
http://laverwinklesims.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=cbb03639854b7d1dedc842fc19d239ba&board=33.0

ETA: No gardens though, sorry.

I'd love to have a peek, but I don't have Nightlife so chances are they're going to crash the game!  They are very pretty with the foundations, railings and interesting roof line - much prettier than mine.    I was kind of curious to see what the minimum, playable house width was, so I squeezed 3 terraced houses onto a 2x3 lot - the narrow house and long back garden is pretty much what I remember seeing as a kid.  Anyway I ended up with two houses 5 squares wide with one 6 tile house in the middle.  5 tiles wide is pretty narrow given that the stairs take up most of 1 tile width, but it was playable.  It would be annoying long term though, but then sims are supposed to move out when they earn some money!  Looking at the pics of your terrace, that extra plot width gave you two 6 and two 7 tile houses which must be how you squeezed an extra bedroom in.  Maybe I should have put the toilet at the bottom of the garden on some of them and had a second bedroom instead!  That would have been realistic when some of this terraced housing was built.