When you download a residential lot...

[CrimsonRaeden]

I apologize in advance if this is the incorrect place for this post. Anyway, when you download a residential lot how decorated do you prefer it be? Would you prefer most of the decoration be left up to you, the downloader, or do you like it fully decorated with paintings, sculptures, etc?

[Zokugai]

Fully decorated houses can jack up the price quite a bit, but imo if the house is empty I might as well build it myself. Since I tend to download starter or near-starter houses, I prefer decorated but not over the top.

[candesco]

I prefer empty ones or at least ones which uses stuff from the game and expansions/stuffpacks. Often the problem with those furnished residential lots is that it contains CC. And some CC can break your game. I don't mind some minor CC, like windows or some plants, but i do mind if people start to furnish it with custom beds, decorative things and such. Some time ago i downloaded a residential lot which was full of CC and also some CC which i don't like to have. I don't like such surprises, so now i'm only downloading empty ones or ones where the maker says it uses just the basic EA stuff. I like to decorate a house myself and next to that i don't want to break my game.

[catnipeverdeen]

I'm ridiculously lazy and absolutely hate building houses, so I DL fully furnished ones. And that's part of the reason I have all of the have all of the EPs/SPs and I usually stick to ones that use those + store content.

[random.person]

I suck at decorating so I like to get ones other people have decorated so my sims can have a nice looking house.

[eskie227]

I don't mind redecorating the homes of my active families, but I do like to have a selection of furnished and decorated houses to expand my towns with to make room for growth. For me, at least, decorating townie homes feels like a waste of my time.

[Howabominable]

I prefer decorated ones, for the simple reason that it forces builders to consider how the houses will be decorated. I remember downloading unfurnished houses in ts2 that had these huge rooms that were impossible to furnish attractively. If a creator furnishes it themselves they know if the room is adequate or not. I can go back and change the furnishings later myself.

[Zokugai]

Oh yeah, it's been so long since I downloaded a lot with CC that it slipped my mind. I always have zero interest in lots with non-Store CC. And even then, if I didn't already have most of the Store stuff I certainly wouldn't buy it just for a lot.

[chyrun]

I prefer fully furnished ones since I cannot build nor decorate myself. The only thing that keeps me from downloading however is CC. Puts me off instantly.

[DuskTrooper]

I prefer homes that have some furnishings but not a tremendous amount. I just see no need to have a large amount of decorations.

[CrimsonRaeden]

Thanks for all the input, guys. I really appreciate it.

[heaven]

I don't mind homes on MTS or such with CC: it's not included and, if you don't get/have it, the game replaces it anyway. I don't download houses that don't credit cc and/or use sims3pack CC in the upload so everything in included. Occasionaly, if the house is amazing, I do download it and then empty all those packs with CUSTARD. It's sad because BPS has some really gorgeous houses but the crediting policy is rather lax so you can't find half the stuff and it's just included in the house and installed when you install the lot.

[Srikandi]

The new "blueprint" system that's coming with... was it Seasons or Supernatural? Now I'm confusing them! lol... will be good, I guess, for people who don't like to build but do like to decorate :)

I can't imagine it can produce anything but sprawling autoroof ranch homes, though.

[Chocklitkiss]

I have learned, the hard way, NOT to download a furnished lot....not even from my beloved MTS.

That cute little plant, on the table you just LOVE, but that you never removed...will totally DESTROY your game.

[bl00raspbery]

I prefer them not to be furnished, or to be furnished with only EA furniture for obvious reasons. But I actually do enjoy decorating the houses. I make each one different, keen to the particular Sims personality, and spend quite a bit of time on it. :).

[TheLB]

I prefer them undecorated, and if they have to be decorated, especially without CC. I find I like my sims homes less cluttered and more open, and a lot of home designers disagree with me. They'd rather cram furniture into every available square. I've also noticed that a lot of decorators will go for the most expensive furniture without paying attention to the clashing styles.

[High Plains Gamer]

I don't download houses anymore. There are over 500,000 of them here, there and on the exchange. A neighborhood really does not need more than 50. I downloaded a number of very nice homes several years ago, which suit me just fine. A house has to be really really overwhelmingly excellent for me even to look at it. Ordinary does not cut it. Above average does not cut it. It has to be extraordinarily fine.

Most uploaded homes are not very well done. They tend to have oversized rooms, crazy floorplans, and look ugly. Usually I end up making significant modifications.

I think homes can be broken down into two categories: homes for sims one cares about, and homes for sims one does not care about. The former category consists of your active family and perhaps a few close friends -- maybe a half dozen families at most. The second group consists of everyone else.

For the sims I care about, I want a home which looks nice inside and out. It also has to be affordable. A home which costs over 30,000 simoleans probably is not going to be a home for my active family, at least until the adults reach the top of their professions, just before or after they retire. Sims need someplace to live before Grimmy arrives. (It would be nice to have mortgages in the game just so otherwise unaffordable homes become affordable.) A designer has to be really good to deliver an attractive home without jacking up the price to the point where the home becomes unaffordable.

Usually, my active family starts with a starter home. I do not use money cheats - it takes the challenge out of the game. That means that a starter home for a single sim has to cost 16,500 or less. At 16,501, it is useless to me and might just as well be tossed. Of course, I want the home to cost considerably less, so my sim has money for things like food. My own starter homes for single sims tend to be in the 12,000 simoleon range. That gives me some blow money.

As for the sims I don't care about, those homes need to be attractive shells. The inside can be empty for all I care. It just needs a refrigerator. No rooms, just the refrigerator. By not building inside the home and just having a refrigerator, the costs are kept down, so NPC sims can afford the home. If it is not affordable, NPCs won't move in. (At least with Twallan's mods.) An expensive home just becomes a deco home which uses up a valuable lot. Since I don't care about these sims, I have no reason to visit their homes. (Well, maybe if they have a party -- maybe the home should have a party room inside.

As far as cc, keep in mind that custom homes are cc. Custom homes are more likely to cause problems than other forms of cc. If the home designer uses cheats like the move objects cheat or the CFE cheat, he may very well create serious routing problems.

Of course, if the home designer actually PLAYS his home, it should not have any problems. A home should be playtested for at least one generation and perhaps two or three. If the home builder does not believe his home his good enough for him to play with, why should anyone else? Homes that have been thoroughly play tested don't have problems. Homes which have not been play tested ALWAYS have problems.

[Ranissa]

I think homes can be broken down into two categories: homes for sims one cares about, and homes for sims one does not care about. The former category consists of your active family and perhaps a few close friends -- maybe a half dozen families at most.

For me, that's upwards of 20ish families, not half a dozen. So I download a lot of houses. I prefer:

1) No non-store CC. I don't build very often so a lot of unnecessary CC just slows down my game.

2) Properly credited SPs, EPs, and store CC. This can cause some issues if not properly marked.

3) A beautifully landscaped lot.*

*I am a terrible landscape designer. No, I mean it, TERRIBLE. That sort of designing makes no sense to me. Decorate a house, plan a room design, yes. Landscaping? HAH!

[High Plains Gamer]

For me, that's upwards of 20ish families, not half a dozen. So I download a lot of houses.

Twenty seems very high. I suspect you are just a house collector.

The problem with too many lots is that it invites problems in the game. So the number of lots has to be watched carefully. If your town becomes overpopulated, you will experience serious problems with the game. Been there, done that.

Generally, the design philosophy of the sims is the only family you reallly should care about is your active family. The more you deviate from that philosophy, the more likely it is you will experience problems. Unless you use mods.

Whenever someone boasts that their house is cc free, I think two things: (1) LIAR!, and (2) it's a garbage house. First of all, houses are cc, so by definition, they are not cc free. Second, all of the real nice homes make use of cc.

CC should not cause problems with a house which has been properly playtested. That's because any problem cc should be caught during play testing. If a house has not been play tested, the lack of cc will not save it.

[lewisb40]

When I upload a lot, I will fully furnish with the essentials and do a little decor to give the downloader an idea of what I was trying to do with that room. For example, I may put the shelves up, but put few decorations on it, that way the downloader can have room for or replace with their own decorations. I will fully landscape a lot as I think it's my responsibility to show the style of the home, it's up to the downloader to remove what they don't want, IMHO. That is what I do when I download a lot.

I am still trying to curb my obsession with plants and trees outside. I tend to over do it. :)

[olomaya]

Whenever someone boasts that their house is cc free, I think two things: (1) LIAR!, and (2) it's a garbage house. First of all, houses are cc, so by definition, they are not cc free. Second, all of the real nice homes make use of cc.


Okay, well your first point is just semantics. We all know what people mean when they say "cc free" and your second point is totally subjective since what you think is a nice house, to me, could be crap. So really, all you're saying is "all the houses that I like have custom build/buy mode content", which is a valid statement to make though I disagree since all of my favorite residential lots are cc-free.

As for furnished vs. unfurnished, I used to be in the latter camp back in TS2 and early into this game but it got tiring. The lack of collection folders and the fact that I didn't play as many different families as in TS2 made decorating not as fun as it used to be. Now I download furnished homes and then will maybe switch out some items (usually removing the crap beds for high quality beds) or recolor some things when I happen to drop by that house. My neighborhood's been pretty static for a while so I do more redesign in my current playable household than design, usually updating rooms as older kids move out to their own place and another sibling takes over or upgrading furniture/appliances as the family acquires more money.

[simsample]

Generally, the design philosophy of the sims is the only family you reallly should care about is your active family.
Many people like to switch active families from time to time- the game was designed to accomodate this, after all. And, many people also like to visit neighbours, so decorated townie lots are a good thing.

The more you deviate from that philosophy, the more likely it is you will experience problems. Unless you use mods.
I've managed to play high population neighbourhoods where I've switched families for many generations, both with and wthout mods. Most of your comments seem to be particular to you- you have an opinion on what you like and you expect others to like the same things. The same with your experiences- you've had a glitch in your game so you assume everyone else must have, too.

Twenty seems very high. I suspect you are just a house collector.
I have 51 households in my current world, so I really do need a lot of houses. Perhaps you just have a low spec computer?

Second, all of the real nice homes make use of cc.
I can think of many nice homes that do not have CC. There are many here on this site. You are entitled to your opinion, but until you show us some of your creations, we are not going to take you seriously.

CC should not cause problems with a house which has been properly playtested. That's because any problem cc should be caught during play testing. If a house has not been play tested, the lack of cc will not save it.
In case you haven't noticed, all of the lots uploaded to this site are playtested. So are the worlds. If you go to the Creator feedback forum, you'll see a whole bunch of them being tested. Again, show us your creations and then we'll believe that you're qualified to judge! Most of your statements are vague- 'cause problems', 'it's a garbage house'. Why? Tell us particulars. From what you've said most of the lots in your world only have a fridge, so it sounds like you don't like to decorate. Perhaps if you could show some of the problems you've seen and explain how to fix them, people would understand what you mean.

[JustTheDoll]

For me it depends on the size of the house.
If it's a cozy cottage or a small-ish house I'd be happy to furnish it myself, however if it was a huge giant celebrity mansion, I would rather it to be furnished :3

[High Plains Gamer]

Okay, well your first point is just semantics.

Actually, it isn't. What these creators are saying is: "CC by other people is bad and will bork you game. But the cc I make is good,so use it."

You really cannot have it both ways, saying that people should use your cc, but not someone else's.

Simsample:

I am not going to do a point by point response, or engage in a discussion about who is qualified to express an opinion on the Sims (which would really be off topic.) Suffice it to say that I don't give much credence to self appointed experts unless they have a long and demonstrated track record of getting things right.

I do think you are missing the fundamental point of my post: with over a half a million houses available on the web, why is there a need for any more? With 500.000 homes available for download, what could one possibly upload that already does not exist?

While I build homes, I don't upload any of them. While I am quite satisfied with my homes, I don't kid myself into believing that there are not thousands of homes which are better done. But then again, I build for myself, usually with a specific sim in a specific community in mind.

And for your 51 active families, don't you think a selection of 500.000 homes is overkill? Just a little?

I am sure your would agree that some homes are better done than others. For example, wouldn't you agree that the typical home found on this site is of a much higher quality than the typical home found on the exchange? For one thing, everything which appears on this site is peer reviewed. I really don't know how carefully the moderators look at the submissions -- I really do believe it is unreasonable to expect a moderator to play a given home for several generations to see if it works as advertised.

[Eeria]

i like downloading houses that are simply furnished, not to many objects and decorations. i don't like them unfurnished cuz say i put an inactive family in the house, then id have to go and furnish it for them, and i just dont feel like doing that.

[lewisb40]

Because I play with Twallan's SP mod, I tend to make sure the cheapest house in my towns have all essentials, a crib and enough stuff for a party because my sims in town throw parties. Also I love visiting sims in their homes, don't want things to be thrown together and unmatched in color or decor, it can still be nice if the furnishing is depreciated. That is just what I keep in mind when I upload lots.

Most of my uploads are on the exchange, and made with EA's objects and patterns. I only upload if someone ask me to, they seen it in some of my screens or memories. I am not saying I am a master builder, I am not but most say they like them because they are playable. I don't think my sims 3 lots would qualify here, I am too afraid to be shamed with a reject.

[kiatyn]

I prefer to download houses that are CC free and are furnished, because I cannot build a house in the sims that is not a square or rectangle mobile home. :P I have several favorite houses that I have downloaded from MTS and GOS that fit this category. However, since I do like to collect worlds, I like to have many styles of houses that can fit into a variety of worlds.

[fairycake89]

I am sure your would agree that some homes are better done than others. For example, wouldn't you agree that the typical home found on this site is of a much higher quality than the typical home found on the exchange? For one thing, everything which appears on this site is peer reviewed. I really don't know how carefully the moderators look at the submissions -- I really do believe it is unreasonable to expect a moderator to play a given home for several generations to see if it works as advertised.

Mmm let me tell you how tough the review process is to get a lot up here on MTS. Truth be told, the reviewers are mean, picky, pedantic, sticklers and fucking hard taskmasters. They make you re-do things, re-roof things, re-colour things, move things. You resubmit it. NO! Do it again! ... You do it again. You resubmit it .. NO! Do it again! ... You do it again until you are sick to death of the sight of your build. You dont just have to re-do it again you have to re photograph the entire thing again 'cos it's changed so much. You have to recheck it for CC or whatever .. MTS is a success because they do not just accept any old crap. They are tough, mean and dedicated. And not for the faint hearted (when it comes to submitting uploads) and ya know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

The result of having your lots put through the wringer in order to get them up here at MTS is pride. I am proud that my handful of lots are here at MTS and because I know they have to be damn good or at least slightly above the average build to be here.

[babele44]

This is one of my favourite threads: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=442296
It's old and hasn't had any replies for more than a year, but I think it is still helpful in finding what users like and dislike about cc houses.

[High Plains Gamer]

Mmm let me tell you how tough the review process is to get a lot up here on MTS.

The only reason I question this is because I have seen some pretty strange stuff on some of the lots I have downloaded from here. I won't name names, to protect the guilty, but I have seen stuff like chairs flying in the air, bushes growing out of toilets, and double beds being placed in a three square wide room. Plus occasionally, once in a blue moon, we will see a creator post that he uploaded the wrong file.

Now, none of this would happen on a thoroughly play tested lot. It took me, like 2 minutes, to spot the chairs flying in the air (a product of the move objects cheat). I just had to use the toilet, to notice that a plant was growing out of it. (The move objects cheat strikes again!) And I spent a lot of time redesigning an apartment so the double bed was located on a four square wide room rather than a three square wide room.

So I wondered how a moderator could miss such obvious flaws. The only thing that occurred to me was the moderator(s) in question only looked at the screen shots, and did not actually play with the lots in game. Now, I suspect the moderators who allowed this to go through are long gone, because these were lots I downloaded a couple of years ago.

I don't know what the current practice is, because as I posted, I really don't download lots anymore. Moreover, given the number of submissions, I really don't think it is reasonable to expect a moderator to download a file, install it into the game, and play it for several generations. That really is the responsibility of the lot designer.

However, with respect to the instances I referred to, I would expect a lot designer to notice chairs flying in the air, that plants are growing out of the toilets or that a bed was too large for the bedroom. The failure to notice and/or fix these obvious problems tells me the lot builder never actually spent any time playing his lot. Since they did not play it, there were unaware of the problems with it.

[babele44]

Some of these flying chairs I've seen too, but sometimes I think they were used by the creator to denote the direction of the lot.
The other things you describe are also sometimes the result of the replacement mechanism for custom content you don't have. I know a lot here, where the creator forgot to mention that she had used the Complete Castle set in it and I hadn't noticed either and so was quite surprised to find the most unfitting columns in weird places and several stacked into each other, because these were the base the round castle walls were cloned from.

[simsample]

Suffice it to say that I don't give much credence to self appointed experts unless they have a long and demonstrated track record of getting things right.
Nor do I, which is why I am asking you for your track record of getting things right.

I do think you are missing the fundamental point of my post: with over a half a million houses available on the web, why is there a need for any more? With 500.000 homes available for download, what could one possibly upload that already does not exist?
Well, you obviously think that there is a need for more, as you are in another thread lamenting about how there is a lack of 'houses like I find in the real world'.


To answer the original post, I like the lower priced lots to be basically furnished, so that my sims can decorate as they earn money. But for the lots for my rich sims, I always enjoy having a fully decorated lot- it's nice to see how another creator has chosen to place decor items, and often I want to play the lot for a while until I decide what my sims would want changed.

[calisims]

Actually, it isn't. What these creators are saying is: "CC by other people is bad and will bork you game. But the cc I make is good,so use it."

You really cannot have it both ways, saying that people should use your cc, but not someone else's.



I've seen you say this many times, and you are making an assumption that is just wrong.
When someone uploads a house that doesn't include other CC, they aren't implying that other CC is bad or will cause problems in the game, they are just offering a house that does not require the downloader to go download more items to complete the house.
Some people actually prefer that, because they plan to redecorate with the CC they've already got in their game. And it can be quite a pain to go down a long shopping list of items from several sites to collect everything used in a house.
In some cases people are downloading houses to be used by townies, and would prefer not to have download some furniture sets they don't necessarily like or want in their game along with a house.
When I offer a 'CC free' house, that's my philosophy, anyway. I also have plenty of houses that do use CC, so you can't really accuse me of saying that I think other people's CC is bad and shouldn't be used just because a few of my houses use only EA furnishings.

[Srikandi]

Simsample:

I am not going to do a point by point response, or engage in a discussion about who is qualified to express an opinion on the Sims (which would really be off topic.) Suffice it to say that I don't give much credence to self appointed experts unless they have a long and demonstrated track record of getting things right.

I'd just like to point out (in addition to the points that Simsample raised), that she is hardly a "self-appointed" expert, since she was appointed to her mod position here by the site admins... on the basis, precisely, of a long and demonstrated track record of getting things right ;) If you want to verify that, you can look at her contributions on the CAW forum especially.

Of all the people to be dismissive and condescending to, that was an ironic choice ><

[simsample]

:lol: Well I do get things wrong quite a lot too, but my point was that High Plains Gamer spends a lot of time being very critical about others' work without showing any indication that (s)he can do any better.

I'm mostly curious about why a residential lot needs to be tested for 'several generations' in order to determine whether it works or not. Exactly what is going to change over time in that lot? Surely after several generations a player would most likely have redecorated and upgraded the lot according to the needs of the household, anyway? I don't understand why 'several generations' of testing is necessary to tell whether the lot works or not.

And for the record, the houses I built in my worlds are still working- several generations later- as they were on the day I finished building them. Nothing has magically changed about them unless I chose to change it.

[Zokugai]

Exactly. The most problematic issue with a downloaded house would be routing problems. You can find pretty much all of those in maybe ten to thirty minutes of gameplay. Not only is that not several generations, it's not even several age stages.

I think we left this subject behind on the previous page, but I don't avoid houses with CC out of any concerns about having the CC, anyway. I don't download houses with CC because I'm not going to go get the needed CC and I can't be bothered to go through the house rebuilding it to replace all the things that have disappeared (windows, for instance) because they were CC items I didn't have installed.

So for me at least, it has nothing to do with omg your cc is bad but my cc is good or whatever. I'm just too lazy to bother with build mode. Because seriously, screw buildmode. I hate that music.

[Srikandi]

I'm just too lazy to bother with build mode. Because seriously, screw buildmode. I hate that music.

You are going to LOVE the blueprint feature coming with... was it SN or Seasons? I've lost track :)

Unless, of course, the music for that is even worse!

[Zokugai]

:| Oh, I can tell right now I won't. Because something that practically mandates a patch or ten. And the only thing worse than build mode is patching.