Angled roof leaving my top floors open to seasons.

[Serrinatta]

So, I"m trying to build a "Book Nook" for use as a shop (I've got all the expansions). The main part of the building is three stories tall while it's wing is one story tall. I thought it'd be nice to use the angled roof tool (hope this is the right term) to make an angled roof meet up to the top of the 3 story from the bottom of the 1 story and then it would be a nice open area for people to peer down from floors 2 and 3.

Here's the outside:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/Talciant/Sims/snapshot_00000004_f9806611.jpg

I really like the look a lot! Especially the open-ness of the inside! Here's a 'roof off' view:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/Talciant/Sims/snapshot_00000004_598066a2.jpg

But, my second and third floors are considered 'outside' according to the game. Despite it being enclosed as far as I can tell. I guess I'm still extremely new to the whole building thing despite loving to do it. I dug around in the tutorials and the wikki but I couldn't seem to find what I was looking for. Either I'm searching the wrong words, or it's something else, I don't know. the only thing I can possibly think of is to find and download a 'clear' wall paint and place a wall where my indoor 'fence' is as a banister. Absolutely no idea if that works or not as I've not used any cheats or tricks or whatever much at all. I've got a half baked idea how to use "MoveObjects" but that's it. :(

Can anyone explain to me how to solve my building issue? Preferably in "building for idiots" terminology. :turtle:

I had originally put this on the 'playing sims' forum as I thought the 'create' forums were for things like "here's a new hairdo to use!" or "here's a new wardrobe to use!" or other things that need a 3Dmodeler to create and then people download it and add it to their game. I didn't know regular old building was part of 'create' as it's about 60-70% of my 'playing'. after all, you can play the same family forever, but you'll probably remodel the home at least three times!

[Mootilda]

To be weather-proof, a room must be completely surrounded by normal walls which are exactly 16 clicks high. Nothing else will work.

From your picture, it looks like your room is enclosed by a fence and beyond the fence by the roof and attic walls. Neither fences or attic walls are weather-proof.

[Serrinatta]

So, short of walling off the nice balconies, I cannot 'weather-proof' the 2nd and 3rd floors? Would the fireplace be of any help (such as keeping an area of the floor warm)? or no?

If I moved this building to a new neighborhood and set the seasons to, say, all spring or all fall or all summer... would the build still be useful? or would people still get sunburns and cold and such even though it's roofed and has a fireplace?

Can "MoveObjects" be made to put wall and fence on the same line? And if so, is there any 'clear' or 'see-though' wall paint I could download? Admittedly, that was the 'combo' I figured would be the 'solution' to my problem, but if that isn't, then... is there no solution?

[Mootilda]

Unfortunately, EA's concept of weather-proof is sorely lacking. With your house, the rooms upstairs are considered to be outside, regardless of the attic walls and roof.

I don't believe that a fireplace will help, since the area will still be considered to be outside.

Changing the seasons will also not change whether the area is outside, so your sims will still be affected by the weather, although they will probably not freeze to death if you have no winter.

You cannot place a wall and fence in the same location. There is no cheat which will allow this to occur, although I have seen someone mod a fence so that it is displayed 1-tile away from it's actual location. Here's a link; it's obviously not what you want, but you might be able to create something similar:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=289804

Alternatively, you could possibly have a glass wall 1-tile in from the fence... this might allow you to keep the basic concept without losing too much space in the upstairs rooms. You might also be able to move the fence out 1 tile, so that the room size would remain the same:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=70222

I do not believe that clear wall paints are possible; basically, a clear paint would just show the wall underneath. Instead, you need something which creates a (weather-proof) cut-out in the wall... basically a window or door.

You might also be able to experiment with modded walls, creating an invisible wall which is weather-proof. Numenor has an invisible wall available, although I'm not sure that it's weather-proof:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=59793

I wouldn't say that there is no solution. Instead, I'd say that you may have to do some modding to get what you want. If you're lucky, one of the existing mods that I've mentioned will suffice.

[Serrinatta]

Hmmm, so, if I put an invisible wall where my fence is currently (providing it turns out to be weatherproof)... and use the altered fence tool one line -out- from where the wall will be (easy enough I think if I put up some tiles and place fence on the edge (but it shows up where the invisible wall is instead) then delete the floor tiles that held it up at the extended location..... hmmm... would that work? Does this 'altered fence' thing work with regular fencing? Or just his specialized fencing?

I can understand the concept of maybe a window that is truly the full size of the wall. That might suffice if it doesn't have too much 'glare' on it. If some wall core showed at the very edges of each panel, maybe I could find some 'black wall core' somewhere and disguse it to look like wrought-iron posts for the fence as opposed to "Hey look! wall bits!"

Bleh, Sorry for sounding picky, I just want to know what I'm doing and what the results would be before I did it. I messed up a whole castle the size of the biggest lot because I thought I knew the dimensions correctly. :(

[Mootilda]

The altered fence is something that someone created and only comes in that one height and style. However, you could presumably use the same technique to create your own altered fence which is the style that you want. You'd have to either 1) do the modding yourself or 2) find someone who could do it for you. If you want to request such a fence, be sure to check out this post:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=392615

I believe that there are a number of recolors available for Numenor's wall windows. There may be something available with less glare; there may even be something available which looks more fence-like. For example, this:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=70132

Check out known recolors in the wall window thread under the "Related Pages" tab. You might be able to create a reasonable recolor yourself. You could also ask whether anyone knows of recolors in the WCIF forum:
http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=557

[Serrinatta]

Okay! That Wall-Windows item really helped a lot! Though it still feels like my sims will just walk right off the edge without a railing/fence, but this'll do fairly well! I'd rather have it weatherproof than railed if I have to choose between the two! Thanks a ton!

Here's a pic of the new interior:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/Talciant/Sims/snapshot_00000004_7986b1c1.jpg

I'll snoop out the recolors now and see if anyone recolored it with fence styles. If I can find something in wrought iron I'll be ecstatic! :anime: