No one ever said that it would be this hard...

[WoohooAndTheCity]

After giving up on yet another failed neighborhood I have decided to start over with a clean slate. I am thinking of building everything from the ground up and dividing the hood in three parts: a seedy warehouse district, "downtown" and the suburbs. :) I prefer not to use sub-hoods because I like having just one to play with.

My problem is trying to get each part of town to look right and since they are all located in the same hood I can only choose one terrain type. Grass would be the perfect choice for my suburban homes but it's going to make building downtown such a pain, especially when I start placing the skyscrapers and other city deco. They just don't look right.

If I choose concrete I'd be able to get the look I want for my downtown area and warehouse district but my suburb would suffer. *sigh* I guess it just isn't possible to get the best of both worlds. :cry:

I even tried visiting blogs for inspiration and was blown away by other people's towns. So blown away that I feel even more inadequate as a player...lol. It's like penis envy except with Sims 2 neighborhoods!

http://lakesideheights.blogspot.com/
http://pennysims.livejournal.com/67037.html

Anyone else having problems keeping up with the Jade Eliotts of the Sims 2 community?

Care to share?

[Peni Griffin]

First, stop comparing yourself to other people.

Second, see what you can learn from them. I bet they'll tell you their tricks if you ask them.

Third, this is easy for me to say as I'm interested in playing, not in building a good-looking neighborhood, and don't in the least mind sub-hoods.

For the terrain problem - if you change the terrain paint on the individual lot it will change in the neighborhood view. So, use a concrete base in order to place all your skyscrapers, and then use the terrain paint to green your suburban landscapes.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

First, stop comparing yourself to other people.

Second, see what you can learn from them. I bet they'll tell you their tricks if you ask them.

Third, this is easy for me to say as I'm interested in playing, not in building a good-looking neighborhood, and don't in the least mind sub-hoods.

For the terrain problem - if you change the terrain paint on the individual lot it will change in the neighborhood view. So, use a concrete base in order to place all your skyscrapers, and then use the terrain paint to green your suburban landscapes.

But for me having a good-looking neighborhood is what makes it fun. When I first began playing I didn't mind playing just one household and not bothering to decorate the rest of the hood. Now I prefer playing every single household in rotation and paying attention to the little things, like getting a sidewalk replacement to change the look of an entire district and placing hood deco strategically to make the lot come to life.

I like your terrain paint idea. The only problem is even if I placed my suburban homes next to each other, the grass wouldn't be seamless and the surrounding area would be covered in concrete.

It just wouldn't have that 'feel', you know?

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Perhaps, you can use the green grass terrain for your neighborhood and try to imagine this neighborhood as if it were a small, close-knit suburban downtown community, filled with tiny shops and community lots. Take ideas from premade neighborhoods and see how Maxis does it. I really like the layout of Bluewater Village. There is a small "downtown" area nearby the water, and the inhabitants of the district live somewhere in the central part of the terrain. Perhaps, you can use Bluewater Village as a loose guideline for your neighborhood.

I am playing a Build-A-City Challenge neighborhood right now, following Nepheris' alternative rules, because it offers a storytelling component. I have not unlocked the community lot and townie restriction, but if I did, I would build two starter community lots:

-church (a small area for congregation and conversation that would be helpful for sims to catch up with friends on the latest gossip, bringing up social levels, possibly getting married or even engaged, and unite to form the laws of the town)
-general store (a shop that sells food, magazines, games, and possibly clothing)


A close-knit community would be a good alternative. If I can't have both concrete and grass I guess I'll have to give up the city atmosphere altogether. Either that or the suburb. I'd rather keep the suburb since that's where most of my sims will be living anyway.

Bluewater Village does have a good layout but I'm not a fan of the lots themselves. Now that I think about it, I've never really enjoyed the premade hoods. They always seem to be missing something. Maybe hood deco?

I haven't tried the Build-a-City Challenge but I'd like to know more about the way you set up your hood. The idea of not having too many buildings made at once is refreshing. Maybe that will keep me from losing interest in my current project.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Thanks for the link, Extensa. I Googled Nepheris and went through her rules. Now I'm going to go check yours out to see the changes you've made. I don't have all the expansion packs either so no farming or gardening for me. It would probably take forever to get an entire hood up and running...lol. We'll see.

[punkrockgoth1988]

A close-knit community would be a good alternative. If I can't have both concrete and grass I guess I'll have to give up the city atmosphere altogether. Either that or the suburb. I'd rather keep the suburb since that's where most of my sims will be living anyway.

Bluewater Village does have a good layout but I'm not a fan of the lots themselves.

Doesn't the game have overlaying concrete/grass bits you can put on top of a hood template as neighborhood deco? I am pretty sure it does though I cannot recall which expansion it came with.

Anyway, I agree that the Bluewater Village template is nice. I personally use it for a subsection of Huzat Village, although the slight hills give me some trouble. EAxis hoods also bug me very much. Not because of how they look but I like telling my own story with Sims that I make.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Actually, my BACC neighborhood will have farming without Seasons EP. I am just going to harvest a lot of money trees, instead of fruits and vegetables. :)

Nice. :) I'll probably do the same if I decide to start a BACC hood since I don't have the Seasons EP either. You can also use the Science career reward that lets you grow plants although I'm not sure if you can make money out of it.

Doesn't the game have overlaying concrete/grass bits you can put on top of a hood template as neighborhood deco? I am pretty sure it does though I cannot recall which expansion it came with.

Anyway, I agree that the Bluewater Village template is nice. I personally use it for a subsection of Huzat Village, although the slight hills give me some trouble. EAxis hoods also bug me very much. Not because of how they look but I like telling my own story with Sims that I make.

Yes, we do have grass and concrete overlays. I think they came with Nightlife or OFB. They look alright in neighborhood view but they don't show up when you enter a lot (even with neighborhood deco turned on) so if you place the concrete overlay underneath a skyscraper in neighborhood view, it'll disappear in lot view.

I used Bluewater Village for my last hood and I barely touched the hills. The center is the best place to build since it's mostly flat and you don't have to worry about bumpy roads.

There's something rewarding about watching your own characters grow, isn't it? I feel the same way about my own sims and their stories and I want the setting to be a separate character. I like having houses that reflect the sims living in them and community lots that create the right atmosphere instead of just being there for convenience. I want to breathe life into my town.

[maxon]

Doesn't the game have overlaying concrete/grass bits you can put on top of a hood template as neighborhood deco? I am pretty sure it does though I cannot recall which expansion it came with.

I was going to post that information too - yes, it does. It came with Nightlife I believe.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Actually, my BACC neighborhood will have farming without Seasons EP. I am just going to harvest a lot of money trees, instead of fruits and vegetables. :)

Look what I found while browsing the downloads section: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=124003

Farming with harvestable crops! :) No EP required.

[AlexandraSpears]

Lots of times I'll even terrain with the modifyneighborhoodterrain on cheat. (I think it came with FreeTime.)

Just be careful with it.

I managed to plunk down more houses in Bluewater Village thanks to that cheat.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Lots of times I'll even terrain with the modifyneighborhoodterrain on cheat. (I think it came with FreeTime.)

Just be careful with it.

I managed to plunk down more houses in Bluewater Village thanks to that cheat.

Does it let you paint the neighborhood terrain?

[Nissun]

I personally don't see a problem with having a grass terrain and creating an urban look. My neighborhood Sinanda for example, is a city with tall buildings, and a even a side with a more gritty, industrial feel to it. And it has grass terrain.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

I personally don't see a problem with having a grass terrain and creating an urban look. My neighborhood Sinanda for example, is a city with tall buildings, and a even a side with a more gritty, industrial feel to it. And it has grass terrain.

Do you have a blog by any chance? I would love to see pictures. :)

I find it hard to create the look I want because with the grass terrain the skyscrapers don't seem to blend in. Even when I place them really close to the streets, there's still an inch of grass peeking through.

Houses are fine though. They look great side by side or far apart. I can always surround them with trees to make them look like they belong together.

[Josepina]

Everyone loves pictures. Some people are holding out :p

I had a thought. I know there is a cheat that will allow you to build up to 15 stories - boolprop level something or other. You can also place lots right next to each other. So with a little tinkering perhaps you could make your own decorative buildings sans grass terrain. There is a wall limit so they would probably need to be empty. Then you could duplicate them. Might be a strain to build something that large if you computer is not that fancy.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Everyone loves pictures. Some people are holding out :p

I had a thought. I know there is a cheat that will allow you to build up to 15 stories - boolprop level something or other. You can also place lots right next to each other. So with a little tinkering perhaps you could make your own decorative buildings sans grass terrain. There is a wall limit so they would probably need to be empty. Then you could duplicate them. Might be a strain to build something that large if you computer is not that fancy.

Yeah, that could work too. I've seen it done by others but I haven't tried it myself. I don't think the buildings would be as detailed as the hood deco skyscrapers though, especially in lot view.

[Josepina]

Maybe not quite like the round apartment deco building. You could make something just as nice though. The other two wouldn't be difficult to duplicate. They are boxes without windows. You could make a sky scraper wallpaper and roofs the same or come up with your own style easily enough. There are roof decorations you can use to make them look authentic. Plus you'd get to place embellishments at the base.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

I'll try that. :)

[Nissun]

Do you have a blog by any chance? I would love to see pictures. :)


It never occurred to me that I could make a blog to document my custom neighborhhods. I may do it now... Anyway, let me look for pictures of it on my photobucket album...

Here are some of the neighborhood, as it looked like when I first made it, in 2008 I think:

Picture01 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_d4f7e5e0.jpg)
Picture02 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_75151bfc.jpg)
Picture03 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_95151b93.jpg)
Picture04 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_95151bbb.jpg)
Picture05 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_3534c5b0_5551c35e.jpg)
Picture06 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_15698dfd_356c35d6.jpg)

Since then it has changed a lot. It suffered a very very bad custom content crisis, two different terrain changes, and finally a complete remake because the excessive number of characters was kinda killing it (among other things). Nowadays it looks more like this:

Picture07 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_7abc4475.jpg)
Picture08 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_9abc43a7.jpg)
Picture09 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_fabc4377.jpg)
Picture10 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_7abc44d2.jpg)
Picture11 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_f9ca4e1e.jpg)
Picture12 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_19ca4fca.jpg)
Picture13 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_99ca4fa1.jpg)
Picture14 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_3ad6ae6b_dad8a207.jpg)

Sorry for the huge link wall. I'm very fond of this neighborhood.

[Josepina]

Now that's impressive. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind. What are your system specs? How big is your dl folder? And.. how long does all that take to load?

[Nissun]

Not at all. Well, my computer was average even when I bought it, back in 2007. I can't tell you much about the technicalities, but it has 2gb of RAM memory, and my graphics card is an Nvidia 7300LE card I think. And if I'm looking at the right information, it's an... "AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core processor". My dowloads folder is 4gb. It takes about 7 minutes to load, I would say. It could be more, or less, honesly I prefer not to know exactly how much it is.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Your city looks amazing, Nissun. :) I love how everything's larger than life. I'm going to have to get myself some of those hood deco skyscrapers for my town. I've only got the ones from NL right now and one other building deco from this site. Do you use GunMod Lighting? That last picture is beautiful. I'm guessing it was taken during dawn/sunset.

[Josepina]

Thanks. I was just interested as a mental guide for what is possible. Your ram is much too low for that processor though. You could speed things up by doubling or tripling your ram. Otherwise it's a decent computer.

[WooHoo31]

I've tried making my own neighborhood from scratch, but it's just so frustrating. :faceslap:

[WoohooAndTheCity]

I've tried making my own neighborhood from scratch, but it's just so frustrating. :faceslap:

I know the feeling. Sometimes I get all these ideas and then I realize it's going to take too much work just to get things done right.

[Josepina]

Alley I discovered another way. Do you have alleys as a hood deco? You can place them at the base of your buildings and they do show in lot view. You can just use a blank alley. Not sure if they are base game, night life or apartment life.

Amazing coincidence the answer is in your moniker.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Alley I discovered another way. Do you have alleys as a hood deco? You can place them at the base of your buildings and they do show in lot view. You can just use a blank alley. Not sure if they are base game, night life or apartment life.

Amazing coincidence the answer is in your moniker.

lol...it sure is. And oddly enough I don't have any alleys as hood deco. At least not yet. I have Nightlife so maybe they come with Apartment Life?

[Josepina]

It doesnt say anything about alleys in the AL manual. I don't think it would be university and I'm sure I had alleys before OFB. They are the first group of objects in the landmarks category. If not someone else will have to volunteer that info on how to get alleys.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

I have University and OFB too. I'll check to see if I have alleys in my game. I probably just overlooked them.

[dwn2ridehtchck1]

It never occurred to me that I could make a blog to document my custom neighborhhods. I may do it now... Anyway, let me look for pictures of it on my photobucket album...

Here are some of the neighborhood, as it looked like when I first made it, in 2008 I think:

Picture01 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_d4f7e5e0.jpg)
Picture02 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_75151bfc.jpg)
Picture03 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_95151b93.jpg)
Picture04 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_95151bbb.jpg)
Picture05 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_3534c5b0_5551c35e.jpg)
Picture06 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_15698dfd_356c35d6.jpg)

Since then it has changed a lot. It suffered a very very bad custom content crisis, two different terrain changes, and finally a complete remake because the excessive number of characters was kinda killing it (among other things). Nowadays it looks more like this:

Picture07 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_7abc4475.jpg)
Picture08 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_9abc43a7.jpg)
Picture09 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_fabc4377.jpg)
Picture10 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_7abc44d2.jpg)
Picture11 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_f9ca4e1e.jpg)
Picture12 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_19ca4fca.jpg)
Picture13 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_99ca4fa1.jpg)
Picture14 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_3ad6ae6b_dad8a207.jpg)

Sorry for the huge link wall. I'm very fond of this neighborhood.

How did you get your lots so close together and I love the look of your neighborhood i wish i could download it! It is amazing!!!

[Tempscire]

It doesnt say anything about alleys in the AL manual. I don't think it would be university and I'm sure I had alleys before OFB. They are the first group of objects in the landmarks category. If not someone else will have to volunteer that info on how to get alleys.
The alleys came in AL, regardless of what the manual says (or doesn't say, I suppose). That's why Belladonna Cove (the hood that came with AL) is littered with them.

[Josepina]

Thanks Tempscire. That's explains why you don't have them Alley. Well.. if you were willing to buy AL you could have side walks under building. You can place the alley right next to the road and sit the building over the top. It only works on flat terrain otherwse part of the alley is submerged. So no hillside cities. There is 3 different blank alley styles. Plus loads of other cool stuff.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Thanks for the info, guys. I have been looking for a reason to get AL (other than apartments, of course) and now I have one. :)

[Josepina]

You're welcome. I learnt something from your thread too.

Here is a quick example (I did a poor job of placement) from hood view and lot view. In hood view the sidewalk is always visible but in lot view you can cover them up with alleys. I remember you said you didn't like the sidewalks. That half takes care of it. It would be a real easy to recolor the alleys too.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Are those the alleys from AL? They look nice. I already have sidewalk and road replacements from evanesco but I can see how the alleys can be used to cover up some grass.

I took some screenshots in case you wanted to see evanesco's road/sidewalk defaults. I didn't include his grass terrain because it was post apocalyptic and I'm playing a regular hood so I got someone else's terrain replacement. I know it's a little too bright. I might have to find a replacement for this replacement...lol.

[Josepina]

Yeah. The alleys have dumpsters with other alley-esque accessories and 3 are blank concrete. I like the random tone tiled alley.

I love the evanesco sidewalk. That will be a refreshing change.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Now I really want to get AL just for the hood deco. I think they can really make buildings appear more cohesive. Here's the link to evanseco's terrain and road replacements if you want to try them out: http://ocsenave.dreamwidth.org/20427.html?#cutid1

Each folder comes with 2 packages (road and terrain). You can have one or the other or both.

[punkrockgoth1988]

Picture02 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/snapshot_00000015_75151bfc.jpg)


I'm trying to figure out why that photo right there reminds me of a city in California by the name of Fresno.

Your city does look marvelous. Further proof it can be done. Not every city needs to be entirely nitty and gritty. In fact, I believe it is better to have green spaces within the "City" part.

[Liv Lukas]

I'm trying to figure out why that photo right there reminds me of a city in California by the name of Fresno.

Your city does look marvelous. Further proof it can be done. Not every city needs to be entirely nitty and gritty. In fact, I believe it is better to have green spaces within the "City" part.

I agree - this post apocalyptic/dirty/gritty trend is not my thing. I am starting on building the downtown for my hood and it will be charming brownstone type of place with tightly packed warehouses in the dock district.

[Josepina]

Thanks for the link Alley. I was wondering why the roads didn't change automatically lol but I found them in lot buy mode. Then they won't sit over roads because it is out of bounds of the lot. Might need a little help working it out. Confused!

I like this because you could make a cul de sac on a large lot. And with AL you could have multiple families with their own homes. I haven't made my own apartment yet so it's all theoretical thus far.

I'm going to change the road end piece so it's not square. Today I got freetime, glamour life and family fun. So lots of new toys to play with.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

Thanks for the link Alley. I was wondering why the roads didn't change automatically lol but I found them in lot buy mode. Then they won't sit over roads because it is out of bounds of the lot. Might need a little help working it out. Confused!

I like this because you could make a cul de sac on a large lot. And with AL you could have multiple families with their own homes. I haven't made my own apartment yet so it's all theoretical thus far.

I'm going to change the road end piece so it's not square. Today I got freetime, glamour life and family fun. So lots of new toys to play with.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that you need to enable the move_objects cheat to place the road overlays. I like the idea of having multiple houses on one lot. You could have neighbors visit each other and not have to worry about teleport mods or loading screens.

Have fun with your new expansion and stuff packs. :)

[Josepina]

I started developing a cul de sac. They won't be cheap to rent but i'm sensing regular block parties. The next one I make I might add a small cafe, general store and boutique on the main road. Then you really wouldn't need to leave home very often.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

That's a lovely suburb. I can already picture your sims walking across the street to borrow sugar or catch up on the latest gossip. I don't know if you decided to choose that particular color for your driveway but you can change it to make it look like it's connected to the street. No downloads necessary.

Have you tried using the move_objects cheat to place the road overlays by evanesco? I think you might have only downloaded the overlays which is why the off-lot streets haven't changed.

[Josepina]

Yes please I would like to make it connected to the street. That would be cohesive.

Because this suburban I thought the original sidewalks would work best. The evanesco roads will be put to good use when I make a Nissun-inspired cityscape. I got a little sidetracked.

I'm now thinking I could place two large lots and extend my cul de sac.

edit: I split a block into four large lots and added roads (image top right). There is a small gap. Would be an idea when making a city to subdivide large lots like this.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

I'm pretty sure you already have the driveway recolors. When I got Nightlife the driveway came with 3 recolors. Brick, concrete and one that matches the street. You don't have to buy new ones. Just click on the driveways you have now and use the design tool to recolor them. I agree that the original roads are more suburban. If evanesco had made a default replacement without yellow lines I would have gotten that instead. It would be like the neighborhood on Desperate Housewives.

I think it's good that you're dividing the large lots. I rarely use them myself because I never know what to do with all that space.

[Josepina]

No, I've only ever had the concrete and brick. I looked in the collections and build and it's definitely not there. Nghtlife came with double delux. Maybe it's not the full version. A few recolors missing to fit it all on the disk.

Edit: nevermind I found it. I needed to click the concrete and change to road. Silly me. Thank you that looks so much better. And I learnt with moveobjects on cheat you change the sidewalk to match the road.

[WoohooAndTheCity]

I'm glad you found it. My Nightlife came with Double Deluxe too.