Can't get terrain to level properly in walk-out basement

[parasitegod]

Hi guys! I'm building my first walk-out basement, and so far the house is looking good. One problem, though. Something about the terrain in the basement area is warping all the floor tiles above it. I've tried a few different things with the terrain tools to try and level it back out, but nothing seems to work. Should I upload some screen caps and see if anyone has any ideas? Maybe even upload the house? Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated, though I don't know what I can offer in return besides a happy thought and 5 internets.
This is my first time posting in the forums, so I hope I got this into the right place. Sorry if I'm doin' wrong.

[missroxor]

How exactly are the floor tiles warped? Pics would be good :) I'm guessing you've levelled both the basement floor and ceiling? Can you place walls in the basement or does it say anything about floortile being above?

I think whenever you leave a thank-you comment in downloads it counts as a post.

[parasitegod]

Here are a couple of screen caps. I've tried messing around with the leveling down on the basement floor, including the area behind it. Maybe I need to sleep before I mess with this again, but I cannot get this to work.

[missroxor]

That said....that wouldn't raise the floor on the first floor I don't think...hmmmmm *goes off to think for a bit*


Nevermind that, I realised the basement floor was flat but still would like to know "Did you "dig" into the ground using clicks or steps?"...just in case it's useful. Also, can you delete that bit of basement and replace? Does it affect it?

[lewisb40]

I would love to see overviews of the entire lot with the walls up. The second picture have me confused, looks like there is no walls in the the basement, like it's using foundation.

I make a rule of thumb when using foundation basements on a lot, before building anything, use the level lot tool first. That will stop the unleveling problems you are having now.

[BenC0722]

What Lewisb40 said can help. Another idea is to try using CFE (constrainfloorelevation false), but before you resort to that, I have an idea.

I'm hoping you haven't built beyond the basement and first floor, and haven't placed many objects or walls. Because I'm suggesting you start all over, but to do some things a little differently before you build the rest of the house.

In fact, I wrote a step by step process with pictures, which I hope will help you. Just be sure to do them in order. The spoiler tags contain pictures of each step.

Step 1:

Place a piece of foundation somewhere.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-41.jpg

Step 2:

Flatten some terrain nearby.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-42.jpg

Step 3:

Place some walls in the lowered area. You may find that you will need to repeat steps 2 and 3 a few times. The key is to get the top of the wall to match up with the height of the foundation as close as possible.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-43.jpg

Step 4:

Press Ctrl-Shift-C, then type in constrainfloorelevation false , just the italicized text. Then do this.

Start from one of the phantom floor tiles on the top of the walls, and drag to the foundation. Don't do it the other way around. If you do, you will find yourself unable to build walls in your basement that intersect with the border wall.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-44.jpg

Step 5:

Immediately after the completion of step 4, press Ctrl-Shift-C, and then type in constrainfloorelevation true .

Then add foundation so it looks like this. Start from the corner of the pre-existing foundation block, and drag along the border wall.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-45.jpg

Step 6:

Flatten some more terrain, like so. This should cover the area you want to convert into the walk-out basement.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-46.jpg

Step 7:

Add more walls which will serve as the border walls of the walk-out basement.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-47.jpg

Steps 8 & 9:

Add more foundation, like so.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-48.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-49.jpg

Steps 10 & 11:

Remove the extra foundation block.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-50.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-51.jpg

Step 12:

Prior to this, disable auto roofs. If you don't, you'll end up with a roof that's in an awkward place. You can enable them later if you want, but if you use auto roofs, you should learn to place roofs manually since it can make the house look better. Anyway, I digress.

So, add the wall which will serve as the indoor/outdoor border and will hold the door for the walk-out basement.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-52.jpg

Step 13:

Place the floor of the basement. Feel free to use a different floor texture if something else will fit your intended theme better.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-53.jpg

Step 14:

Place the floor texture on the ground floor.

[spoiler]http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-54.jpg

Step 15:

Add as many stairs or elevators as you like.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-55.jpg

Step 16:

Because of the foundation, you will need a porch of some sort. I used a deck for this, but you can use foundation if you like.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-56.jpg

Step 17:

Place some stairs on the porch.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/IamAbbott/Sims%203%20Building%20a%20House%20with%20a%20Walkout%20Basement/Screenshot-57.jpg

Step 18:

Build your house the way you want, because congratulations, you just built a walk-out basement!

Here's a couple of notes with regard to this step by step process.

1. Unfortunately, the terrain will likely be slightly depressed or raised at the base of the foundation and deck. I don't know of any way around this.

2. If you find that your basement is too small, you should be able to expand it. However, add the border wall before you add the bordering foundation. Why? Because TS3 won't let you place a wall next to a pre-existing foundation. So why not just use foundation in place of the wall? You don't want to do that, and here's why.

First, I'm not certain if the game considers that to be outside or inside. That matters if you're playing Vampires, if they visit your house, or if you play Sims with the "Hates the Outdoors" or "Loves the Outdoors" traits.

Second, you will find that you aren't able to place wall objects on the sides of foundations without using the moveobjects on code. Aside from being a pain in the rear, it's something you want to use very sparingly unless you know exactly what you're doing. It allows for very dangerous actions, such as deleting Sims or deleting the mailbox (which WON'T show up again). If you delete the mailbox, you will have to bulldoze the lot from "Edit in Town" mode and start all over.

[Llihnae]

An other way to do it without CFE is the pool. I think the LN patch gave the ability to create a pool on a foundation. (unless it's a bug in my game).

I apologize for my very bad english and hope you won't mind.



Step 1:

place a foundation and build a 1x1 pool on it then delete the pool
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/Llihnae/tuto1/Screenshot-5.jpg?t=1300788995

Step 2:

go down and see, the pool did all the work for you.
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/Llihnae/tuto1/Screenshot-6.jpg?t=1300788995

Step 3:

use the leveling tool an level the floor in the basement. You have to let a 1 square border.
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/Llihnae/tuto1/Screenshot-7.jpg?t=1300788995

Step 4:

border the inside of the basement with walls
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/Llihnae/tuto1/Screenshot-8.jpg?t=1300788995

Step 5:

go up and delete the foundation letting a 1 square border. Before that desactivate the roof tool.
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/Llihnae/tuto1/Screenshot-10.jpg?t=1300788995

Step 6:

put floor on the foundation and inside the basement.
now you can place stairs and objects in the basement without moveobjects
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/Llihnae/tuto1/Screenshot-13.jpg?t=1300788995

So far neither myself nor my sims have had any problem with this method. If it doesn't work, please tell me.

[parasitegod]

Hi guys.
I originally used steps to lower my terrain. I was usingthis (http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=141485) tutorial.
So... yeah half my basement doesn't have any actual walls, just foundation. I guess I'll start over and try BenC0722's instructions first.
Everyone's post has been super helpful, though. Thanks guys :D

[Volvenom]

There's nothing wrong with the tutorial you used, but I suspect it's made for sims2? I haven't been able to drag an inside level through the foundation walls like that in sims3 as far as I remember.

You guys talks like cfe is a dreaded thing you only use when you have too, I find that rather odd. I wouldn't be able to build anything good without it.

I have heard about people having troubles with levels on the lot, even though it looks flat. Since you know that already you might just level the ground or the lot before starting over again.

[parasitegod]

Alrighty. I flattened the lot back out and started my house over, this time using BenC0722's tutorial. Everything was going great, but part of my floor is warping again. I know for sure the ground in the basement is flat, but the flooring above a certain spot is slightly warped. It's not as bad this time, and I can still place flooring on those particular squares, so I guess it isn't a big deal (yet). It is a little irritating though, and I can't figure out what's wrong with it. Ideas, anyone?
Otherwise, BenC0722, your tutorial was awesome :D
Thanks guys

[BenC0722]

Alrighty. I flattened the lot back out and started my house over, this time using BenC0722's tutorial. Everything was going great, but part of my floor is warping again. I know for sure the ground in the basement is flat, but the flooring above a certain spot is slightly warped. It's not as bad this time, and I can still place flooring on those particular squares, so I guess it isn't a big deal (yet). It is a little irritating though, and I can't figure out what's wrong with it. Ideas, anyone?
Otherwise, BenC0722, your tutorial was awesome :D
Thanks guys

Which spot? Could you post a picture of it? When making the tutorial, I didn't encounter any warped spots at all.

Depending on how bad it is, I might be able to tell you how to fix it.

[parasitegod]

I thought I took some screenshots, but I guess not. It's pretty much the same thing that was going on in my original screenshots, though. It's not so severe as to keep me from putting floor on those tiles, but I can't place objects on them. The floor slightly raises up in some places, even though the terrain below is flat. I went ahead and finished this house, since it was just in one or two places, and everything else has been fine, but itd be good to know how to fix it in the future.

[BenC0722]

I guess it's up to you at this point, but you might want to experiment with CFE. However, if used improperly it does have the potential to really mess up the house. So make sure you save before trying that, and use Undo (Ctrl-Z or the Undo button) if it doesn't come out the way you want.

It does seem weird, since I didn't end up with any warped tiles with that tutorial.

I don't know how many lots you've built up, but I've built up quite a few and I find that CFE is the single most useful command. Even more so than buydebug. Then again, I like to use foundations with attached garages, and CFE is the only way to achieve this.