Do you make basements?

[mozgun]

I became REALLY excited this morning when I discovered that you can make basements in the Sims 2. I found a tutorial so I could make one. So do any of you make basements for your houses? Why do you/don't you like them?

[M.M.A.A.]

The reason why I don't bother my self with basements is the camera view, since basements lining cannot be cut-away like walls do, which means you have to tilt the camera to get something like a plan view, which I hate in live mode, since, usually, my camera view is at something like 35-40 degrees from the ground.

On the other hand, they serve as a great storage area.

There is a hack that allows to place doors and windows on foundation linings, without having to remove the foundation and leaving behind a border, however, your foundation needs to be raised to an appropriate level, to allow to place doors and tall windows correctly, i.e. the height must equivalent to that of a wall. I think the mod is here on MTS.

[rogue_55]

So far I have made 2 houses with basements. I don't normally make them ,because I don't like to build houses on foundations. I like having attached garages on my houses. I haven't found any tutorials that explain how to attach a garage to a house on a foundation without using any cheats. I'm just not good at building with cheats. I have tried it and it didn't work well. When I built one of the houses, I was trying to learn how to build it with an underground garage. I thought I followed the tutorial properly. I got the garage to look good, but the level above the garage was messed up, so I couldn't get the roof to look right. I didn't have the patience to try to figure out where I messed up, so I just rebuilt it with a ground level, unattached garage. Other than that, the house turned out looking good.

I also agree with M.M.A.A. about the camera view. I don't make movies, but I can imagine that it wouldn't be easy to get good camera angles for movies in the basements.

[mozgun]

I just made a nightclub for a neighborhood that I'm making that has a basement. The nightclub itself is in the basement (it's a nightclub so underground that it's literally underground), and I had an awkward patio on top when I finished the club... So I put a greenhouse roof in. It actually looks kinda cool/modern, but it is hideous from neighborhood view... oh well!

[Peni Griffin]

I've never made a basement and hardly use houses that have them, because of not being able to see into them. I really suck at manipulating camera angles, and I like to know what's going on! I understand there's a keystroke that fixes this, or alleviates it anyway, but I've never found it.

Also, not very good at dealing with terrain changes. A lot of that is patience and practice. When I first got the game, I spent a lot of time trying to recreate a common architectural feature in real life hilly areas, the half-basement. If you build on a lot with drastic elevation changes, you might have a main level with an entrance, and a lower story that, though below ground level in the front of the lot, in the back of the lot is level with the ground and can be accessed through an ordinary door. Your backyard could have a deck on top of a patio. I could never make it work, though, and then I stopped playing around with building and settled in to play with the dolls, and since then I've hardly worked on my building skills at all.

[maxon]

I've made a lot of basements in my time. Recently, I've made quite a few for apartment blocks, especially seedy ones with a pool room or boxing gym in the basement. Or a social room with beers and a cheap telly. I quite like foundations with houses (which is fortunate) because I tend to like steps up to the entrance.

[mozgun]

Maxon, your pool room/gym in the basement is a wonderful idea that I never thought of! The pool would work great due to the terrain in the basement. I guess I could make a garden there, too, but I'm not sure that I'd want plants grown underground. Does anyone know any way to make a rooftop garden? Garden soil stuff from Seasons can only be put on terrain and regular plants need terrain.

[StrangeTownChick]

Unless I specifically design or want a house to have a basement, I never use basements or foundation. To me it just wastes time and drives up the cost of the house. A few times I've done basements for one reason or another (like when designing a house for Sa Lin the Psycho, who traps men in her basement and kills them) but mostly no.
EDIT: mozgun, with the moveobjects_on cheat, plants can be placed on foundation to make tall planters. I believe that it would do the same for a flat roof.

[manonwelvaarts]

I never make basements. I have tried once before but if I make a basement, I never use it. I hate I have to change the camera view in order to see what my sims are doing in the basement lol.

Nothing for me.

[julmoo]

I usually only build basements when I plan to play with vampires. Mine never stay in their coffins and the motive decay is not THAT bad when they're above ground.
It still sucks.

[Mootilda]

I like to have basements when I have fortune sims, since they want so much junk. Otherwise, I rarely use them.

[Lady Scarlet]

I think I have tried once, but without watching a tutorial and, after 20 minutes or so of trying I gave up XD Too complicated for me and I think they are a little useless ^^" I don't like big homes and I don't like dark rooms XD And basements are very dark >.>
Maybe if I would play with a vampire or if I would need them for taking pictures.But I think I would download a lot that has one ^^" I am toooo much of a twiddler XD

[Phoeberg]

It depends on the style of the house I'm building. I like to have foundations for the steps up to the house, like maxon, and I tend to build more houses in styles that look better with foundations. If I have a foundation I always build a basement into it but I don't always necessarily have it linked to the house by steps, I just keep the space there in case I ever want to add a functioning basement that sims can access and use. I try not to put any of the main living space in the basement (bedrooms, living rooms etc.), I use it more for things that sims don't use daily such as gyms, art studios, music rooms because, like M.M.A.A said, the camera angle needed to actually see what's going on is extremely irritating. I wish the walls would cut away like ordinary walls; I'd probably use basements far more if they did.

[nikel23]

I only make basements in premade dormitories (I'm a lazy builder and CC hater :s) to store a lot of stuff with boolprop dormspecifictoolsdisabled false cheat. I also planned to make an underground fishing spot for my Nature Sims, until I found out that I can't fish in underground pond.

[DigitalSympathies]

I build them, yes! I have a great camera hack that lets me play with them just fine. :)

[lil_princess_of_evil]

I used to make basements. They give a slight realism to the house, but I never ended up using them so I dont even bother.

[julmoo]

Actually I build basements too when I plan on a Sim having a business with crafted items.
All the robot/toy/flower stations, pottery wheels and sewing machine that look really ugly and don't really fit into their normal house go in there.

[frankokomando]

The only time I made a basement is when I had this evil genius sim who liked to experiment on people and needed a place for the bodies. :)

[Sunbee]

Basements are much cheaper than second stories, so for my poorer families they're a must. Maybe an old cellar that's been fixed up enough that a kid can sleep there. They're also good for family rooms and all. Some of my wealthier sims need their own safe room down in the basement. Maybe with a separate outside exit, with the interior entrance hidden by the bookcase door. House of Fallen Trees and the Veronaville houses demand secret rooms, entrances, and escapes. Some houses have garages in their basements, too, especially tiny urban lots.

[d_dgjdhh]

I too have a basement for an evil genius under his mansion. Robotnik's personal laboratory, with all the goodies you'd find in hobbies and aspiration rewards. His robots especially like the DJ booth and the karaoke machine. 2 floor basement, as seen here (along with a map of Scrap Brain Zone 1 from Sonic The Hedgehog):
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/4/3/1/2/8/9/5/MTS_d_dgjdhh-1301802-robotlab1.jpg
And then I have this brown sand pyramid, with a few layers under the pyramid too. Here's what it looks like. And there's a library below that meeting chamber:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/4/3/1/2/8/9/5/MTS_d_dgjdhh-1301800-pyramid1.jpghttp://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/4/3/1/2/8/9/5/MTS_d_dgjdhh-1301801-pyramid2.jpg
As for making basements in general, it's a no for me. I prefer to just build upwards, like a tower.

[mozgun]

All of your feedback is great!
@ d_dgjdhh: Your pictures are fantastic! Those basement rooms blow my mind!

[zumppe]

I've never made a basement, since I have no use for one (I don't allow my sims to accumulate ridiculous amounts of stuff) and can't be bothered to learn how to make one. I also never use foundations, I used to in the beginning, but they annoyed me to no end with stupid sims taking ages to walk up or down the stairs, creating traffic jams, and being unable to deliver date gifts etc., if the landing/deck/porch/whateverit'scalled was too small. First I started building huge landings instead, but soon realized that I can just as well live without the annoying foundations. With entry at ground level, using mostly double doors, my "sim traffic" runs smoothly.

[el_flel]

Same as the others, I rarely use basements because you can't cut the walls away or place windows etc.

I've only got a basement in one house in my NH at the moment. I have a family of plantsims and their entire house is a greenhouse, but they had a teenaged daughter so I built a basement for her bedroom and bathroom.

[dieKristina]

I sometimes make basements since I like the idea of having it. But unfortunately the game doesn´t completely support them - I would like to be able to put down the camera one more level to get an optimal view of the basement. If I could do that I would probably build more basements.

[maxon]

Maxon, your pool room/gym in the basement is a wonderful idea that I never thought of! The pool would work great due to the terrain in the basement. I guess I could make a garden there, too, but I'm not sure that I'd want plants grown underground. Does anyone know any way to make a rooftop garden? Garden soil stuff from Seasons can only be put on terrain and regular plants need terrain.
Ah - ha ha, nice crossed-wires there. I was talking about a pool table room, not a room with a pool. Though you can put pools in basements. But I'm building skeezy apartment blocks. They don't get anything so classy.

[Darby]

If you build on a lot with drastic elevation changes, you might have a main level with an entrance, and a lower story that, though below ground level in the front of the lot, in the back of the lot is level with the ground and can be accessed through an ordinary door. Your backyard could have a deck on top of a patio. I could never make it work, though, and then I stopped playing around with building and settled in to play with the dolls, and since then I've hardly worked on my building skills at all.

I was visualizing just exactly this, before I got to your post, wondering if I could swing it. I'm not much of a builder, so it would probably be more hassle than I'm willing to put up with, but I LOVE the concept.

I've made basements before, but like nearly everyone else in the thread, I hate the limited visibility. Plus, as I said, I'm not much of a builder, and basements aren't fun to make.

For storage space, I prefer attics and/or a room above the garage, if there is one.

This topic has me thinking about the premade townhouses Downtown that have steps leading up to a second story entrance. Y'all know which one I'm talking about? The ground floor has always had basement-y feel to me. Another thing I like about it is the attached garage. I assume the ground floor is not on a foundation. ? This enhances the appeal of the style for me, because while I like foundations, I also like attached garages, but I've never learned how to attach a garage to a house on a foundation.


d_dgjdhh, those lots are amazing! Much larger than I prefer to actually play, but quite impressive to look at.



ETA:
I usually only build basements when I plan to play with vampires. Mine never stay in their coffins and the motive decay is not THAT bad when they're above ground. It still sucks.

Julmoo, vampire motive decay is no slower in a windowless basement than it would be in an above-ground room made entirely of windows, as long as they're not greenhouse windows. The notion that vampires are safer in dark rooms seems logical, but the fact is that the game recognizes only "inside" and "outside" with regard to the rate of motive decay.

To keep vampires safer during the day, you might consider having them Meditate rather than try to keep them in coffins. They're less likely to break meditation than they are to leave a coffin. Low motives and possibly someone dying are the only things I can think of that will make a meditating vampire come out of it.

[maxon]

12 careful clicks down under the foundation, use the ground level tool to level out. Remove the foundation above the hole (replace with flooring in the level above). If you are careful with the measurement, you can take out the basement walls (or more likely one side or parts of the walls) and replace them with actual walls. Hence you can place doors and windows and hang stuff up.

[Darby]

That to me? I'll give it a shot!

Got any tips on specific locations in particular neighborhood terrains that are suited to this?

ETA: I suppose even on a level lot this would work okay. The patio off the basement would be "sunken", but that could be pretty cool. Well, except then we're back to viewing issues. Maybe on larger lots...

[Honeywell]

Does anyone know any way to make a rooftop garden? Garden soil stuff from Seasons can only be put on terrain and regular plants need terrain.mozgun, there's a garden plot in this set (http://www.modthesims.info/d/470191) you can use with planters to create container gardens--they work the same way the regular Season's garden plots work and you can put them on the roof.

I made the plot for planters but you can probably use the a railroad tie fence and the garden soil floor tile to create a garden bed for your roof top if you didn't want container gardens. I've only used them in the planters though so can't say for sure that that would work. Live shrubs can go in the planters too and look really nice when you group them together with the garden plants, imo, so that's my preference. I'm definitely biased but they're worth checking out. :)

As for the OP, I do make basements occasionally but because of the weird camera angles and the possibility of flooding most of the time I avoid them.

[sweetbaby160]

alomst every house I build has a basement, mainly like Mootilda & a few others have said, great spot for storage! One or two houses even have attics (an entire family of greedy, greedy fortune sims, one of whom is a total klepto who manages to pinch something from every lot he visits) there are quite a few houses I've built thou that do not have functioning basement, like Maxon said earlier, I love a house with stairs!

[lazzybum]

I dont use basements at all, mainly cause of the camera view as mentioned earlier. My neighborhoods in RL never had basements as a norm, so I've never experienced or cared for basements. Therefore I can live without basements in the game! I also dont like seeing the land around it, where its a steep sharp hill in the game.

[iCad]

Nah, don't like 'em much because they can't be seen into easily. I can see their use for storing stuff...but that's what I use the space above the top floor's ceiling and below the roof for. I don't often build actual attics with walls, mind you. I just sticking a batbox up in that space so that it's there to use but isn't taking up living space and is generally not visible. It's a lot easier than going to the effort of building a basement. :)

For the person who wanted garages attached to houses without building cheats: AFAIK, that's impossible. It's just the way the game is coded or whatever. You have to use CFE to do it because otherwise walls won't "attach" to a piece of foundation next door. But it really isn't that hard to do. I tend like my garages attached, too, but I build 'em both ways. Building without foundation is, of course, cheaper.

[maxon]

That to me? I'll give it a shot!
Not necessarily - I just don't think basements are particularly difficult, as many complain, and that set of instructions is why. The fiddliest part is the down-clicking - you have to watch for the double-clicks which happen even with the steadiest hand - otherwise I think it's easy.

Got any tips on specific locations in particular neighborhood terrains that are suited to this?
Not particularly - 1. I don't play EAxis neighbourhoods and 2. I have not been able to get a lot to follow the terrain since one of the later EPs. Moo, I think, told me why and how at one point but I've forgotten why this is. Unless I place a lot next to an existing lot(s) (to tie down the edges so to speak), I get flat lots. Beach lots work though. You can have a walk out kitchen/dining room onto the beach (or a bedroom, if you prefer).

[fruitsymphony]

I edited the basement in that house in Strangetown. Because the ceiling was too high or too low so could not place extra toilets there which the sims needed.
It was very time consuming. Then of course the game crashed when I was done.
So, I appreciate when downloaded houses have basements.

[gazania]

I do basements quite a bit. They're a good place to stow away live-in help or kids in a large family. :) I guess the visibility is a problem, but most of the time, the kids/help just use the basement for sleeping. They do most of their "living" upstairs.

I have tried to put basements in already-made houses without basements. I don't do it too often, though. I don't usually like the finished result.

As for rooftop gardens, I cheat. There are dirt-colored tiles available, and Parsimonious has plants that don't need watering, can be layered, and you can put them anywhere. Those and the move_objects cheat ....

[Saturnfly]

My camera view is usually up at a high angle anyway, since it lags less, usually if I'm making a basement I make them rather spaciously, so I'm usually not bothered by the walls that don't cutaway.

Having said that, no I rarely do make basements, lol.

[rogue_55]

Nah, don't like 'em much because they can't be seen into easily. I can see their use for storing stuff...but that's what I use the space above the top floor's ceiling and below the roof for. I don't often build actual attics with walls, mind you. I just sticking a batbox up in that space so that it's there to use but isn't taking up living space and is generally not visible. It's a lot easier than going to the effort of building a basement. :)

For the person who wanted garages attached to houses without building cheats: AFAIK, that's impossible. It's just the way the game is coded or whatever. You have to use CFE to do it because otherwise walls won't "attach" to a piece of foundation next door. But it really isn't that hard to do. I tend like my garages attached, too, but I build 'em both ways. Building without foundation is, of course, cheaper.

I kind of figured there wasn't a way to attach garages to foundations without cheats, but thanks for letting me know anyway. Maybe one of these days I'll have the patience to teach myself how to build them. For now, I don't need any more houses with basements so I can build my houses with attached garages the easy way. I also wanted to mention that I have seen pictures of some of your houses and they are really nice.

[Simsica]

Without basements my Sims would have no place to rest their heads, I'm afraid. All my houses are squezzed into a 1x1 lots, and if the lots are any bigger it's because I decided to give them a garden or a pool, not more buliding space.

Luckily for my Sims though, Mootilda has made some tools that enable us to build *real* basements: Level Adder and Grid Adjuster. Admitedly, the building process is a chore, especially if you're like me and still haven't set up Any Game Starter to make the loading and testing easier. But .... with those tools you can make basements that don't leave those ugly holes under your houses seen from hood view, that usually turn up (or should I say down? hm...) when you build the basement the usual way. And you have proper walls, i.e. no more 1-tile wide foundation acting as the basement wall with this techique.

Anyway, for anyone still building it in the usual way, you don't need to count any clicks to reach wall heights in your basements.
Do this. First build a desired foundation. Turn moveobjects on and go down a level (to the ground) then use any modular stair and place it three times - each subsequent time starting at the previous stair landing. You'll end up with a 16 clicks deep stair landing when you place your third set of stairs. It will be 16 clicks from the floor level of your foundation, making for a usable basemnt room.
Delete the stairs and use floor tiles or leveling tool to level the basement with the third stair landing, then connect the basement level with the 1 floor level in any of the usual ways - with a staircase or the modular stairs with the OFB stage landing, etc.
ETA: Of course, you'll need to delete the foundation where the room will be, and cover it with floor tiles on the 1.floor level. Be careful to leave one square wide foundation around your basement for its walls.

[Issie]

I build them, yes! I have a great camera hack that lets me play with them just fine. :)

Which one do you use, if you don't mind me asking?

[kjd73170]

I have built nothing but basement houses in the last year.... This mod http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=97642 is great for camera angles in basements. I build them on all houses (not commercial lots) because:
1. I grew up in a house with a basement.
2. Basements are great for adding square footage to your house without increasing the footprint.
3. 2 words - basement pools.
4. Since adopting the smaller lot/smaller house playability rules I have set foe me, this is the only way to get in all of the items my sims want.
5. Please attempt a basement, it's worth it and so much fun. Especially if you wish to have an evil scientist/Dr. Frankenstein kinda sim.

[mozgun]

@ maxon: Hooray, skeezy apartments!
@ peni griffin: My real life house is that style.The first floor is at ground level in the front but has a deck and basement on ground level in the back.

And thank you to everyone who is giving feedback! It is quite useful!
And just so you guys know, I have a slight fear of moveobjects because I may have corrupted my hood by using it (whoops!). :lol:

[M.M.A.A.]

d_dgjdhh, your basements are truly/too Tomb Raider-ish! I love the one with library.

[Peni Griffin]

It's not nearly as easy to corrupt your lot with move objects as it was in Sims1, mozgun; and I don't know how you could have corrupted your entire neighborhood with it. Tell us what happened and maybe we can relieve your anxiety.

[mozgun]

Well the day before, I used Mootilda's hoodchecker. Everything was fine and dandy, and I got rid of all the corruption. The next day, my stupid sim was too neat to do what I wanted. I wanted them to study one of the other subjects (like couples counciling, fire safety, etc.) but they would put the book away! It wouldn't let me study those unless a book was already out of the bookshelf. So
I used moveobjects and intelligently stole the book from her. I put it on the ground, but my sim kept on reading. I cancelled the action, and my sim put back the nonexistent book in her hand. I made her study lifelong happiness from the book on the ground, but the action automatically cancelled. Then, my sim teleported back to the bookshelf and put away the invisible book again. Then she teleported back like nothing happened. She continued her day but repeatedly did the teleport thingy. At one point I deleted the book, but it didn't fix it. I thought that the glitch would go away the next time I played, so I saved and quit. I used the hoodchecker and a lot of new corruption appeared. I backed up my neighborhood and did the removal feature. It removed most of the corruption. What it left was:

-stuff about some memories from Mortimer Goth: Stuff like big bonus, retired, etc.
-stuff about some memory from Cassandra Goth: I think it was only Fire!
-a lot of stuff about some stupid memories from the Tricous of all of them dying.

So, how do I fix it? Tell me if it requires SimPE, which I don't have (would it be worth getting for creating characters in my new neighborhood? Just wondering.) Thank you ahead of time if you know a solution, Peni! Also thank you ahead of time for looking even if you can't find a solution.

[Peni Griffin]

I don't know what happened, but that's gotta be a coincidence. The book had nothing to do with Mortimer's memories and certainly shouldn't have affected anything outside the lot.

Read the documentation on the hoodchecker carefully. It doesn't promise to fix all the corruption in your neighborhood, just to find and, if authorized, remove certain things that can cause corruption. She's warned us repeatedly that there are files it doesn't check. If you "removed" all the stuff it detected the first time around, and a bunch of similar stuff reappeared, that's a warning; however, that stuff about the Tricous? It's in every Downtown, so unless you attached Downtown after running the hoodchecker, it should have been removed the first time. It's possible that you thought you'd used "remove" and hadn't, or something happened to interrupt the process, or that there's a normal game process that tends to regenerate it. If it regenerated, that's something you need to understand.

And it's way outside of my comfort zone giving advice on. Make sure you understand what the hood checker does and doesn't do, and then maybe you'll know the right place to look for your answer.

And don't spoil the game for yourself obsessively tracking down corruption and worrying over every little thing that borks up. All you can do is the best you can do, and then let it go and have your fun.

[Mootilda]

It's not at all clear that moveobjects caused corruption in your neighborhood. Instead, it sounds like your neighborhood was corrupted and moveobjects didn't fix the corruption. That's to be expected; moveobjects doesn't fix corruption.

As Peni explained, the HoodChecker cannot fix all forms of corruption in a neighborhood. Your neighborhood may be corrupted in a way that the HoodChecker cannot fix. You might want to look at this thread to see whether you've done anything which is known to cause corruption:
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Avoiding_Hood_Corruption

This is an inappropriate thread for this discussion. The discussion forum is not the place to ask for help with your game. Hijacking a thread on basements is unlikely to get you the help that you need.

If you are concerned that the HoodChecker has caused problems, just restore from the backup that you made before using the HoodChecker. I really doubt that it caused your current problems, but you can reassure yourself by playing with the original neighborhood, before the HoodChecker made any changes. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to go back to your backup anyway.

I would suggest that you backup your save game and then try to narrow down your problem. First, try moving your family into another lot, to see whether that fixes the problem. If so, then your lot is probably corrupt. If not, try removing all of your CC and all of the other steps in the Game_Help:Game_Problem FAQ. If that doesn't solve your problem, you should really be posting in the Sims 2 Help forum.

[mozgun]

Anyways, back to basements (btw thank you both), I want to create a vault for my super rich sims. I'd put fancy statues and paintings and etc. in it. I'd also put columns and stuff to make it fancier. Has anyone here made a vault before?

[Sunbee]

Well the day before, I used Mootilda's hoodchecker. Everything was fine and dandy, and I got rid of all the corruption. The next day, my stupid sim was too neat to do what I wanted. I wanted them to study one of the other subjects (like couples counciling, fire safety, etc.) but they would put the book away! It wouldn't let me study those unless a book was already out of the bookshelf. So
I used moveobjects and intelligently stole the book from her. I put it on the ground, but my sim kept on reading. I cancelled the action, and my sim put back the nonexistent book in her hand. I made her study lifelong happiness from the book on the ground, but the action automatically cancelled. Then, my sim teleported back to the bookshelf and put away the invisible book again. Then she teleported back like nothing happened. She continued her day but repeatedly did the teleport thingy. At one point I deleted the book, but it didn't fix it. I thought that the glitch would go away the next time I played, so I saved and quit. I used the hoodchecker and a lot of new corruption appeared. I backed up my neighborhood and did the removal feature. It removed most of the corruption. What it left was:

-stuff about some memories from Mortimer Goth: Stuff like big bonus, retired, etc.
-stuff about some memory from Cassandra Goth: I think it was only Fire!
-a lot of stuff about some stupid memories from the Tricous of all of them dying.

So, how do I fix it? Tell me if it requires SimPE, which I don't have (would it be worth getting for creating characters in my new neighborhood? Just wondering.) Thank you ahead of time if you know a solution, Peni! Also thank you ahead of time for looking even if you can't find a solution.
The reason why your sim can't study those skills straight from the bookcase is that you have a custom bookcase that isn't FT/AL updated. I have a couple like that. Change your bookcase.
If you have the batbox you can wipe the corrupted memories when you have the sim that has them selected. They will be removed, not fixed. Fixing can be done, I guess, with SimPE, but I don't know how.

[mozgun]

@ Sunbee: I have zero custom content.

Now, as Mootilda said, let's get back to basements. If you have solutions for my issues, feel free to PM me.

[Mootilda]

We prefer to keep problem reports in the public domain, so that other people can research (and find) the answers.

[iCad]

I kind of figured there wasn't a way to attach garages to foundations without cheats, but thanks for letting me know anyway. Maybe one of these days I'll have the patience to teach myself how to build them. For now, I don't need any more houses with basements so I can build my houses with attached garages the easy way. I also wanted to mention that I have seen pictures of some of your houses and they are really nice.

Aw, thank you. :)

If you ever decide that you want to attempt to attach a garage to a house on foundation, here's the tutorial I used to learn how to do it, way, way, way back when: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=178018

I liked it because it was simple, easy to follow, and had good pictures of everything. I never figured out why the author recommends the use of floor tiles as "guides" on the top corners of garage walls, as I never found them necessary and only found them difficult to delete once no longer needed because of the way they get warped, but other than that, I think it's wonderful. Nice and easy to follow for those who've never used/are afraid of CFE, as I was when I built my first attached-garage house of that kind. And the same technique can be used to create buildings with "sunken" rooms, and such, if you're into that.

Now, back to topic: I should add that I've done "Walk-out" or "daylight" basements from time to time, on heavily sloped lots where such a thing makes sense. But then, there aren't any issues with seeing into that sort of basement.

As for the other kind of basement... Unfortunately, I already have a camera mod that I really like but that doesn't make seeing into basements easier, as that's not a priority to me. And I don't think you can have more than one camera mod? Plus, most of my neighborhoods are mostly low-lying, as I like beach lots, so I'm afraid I'd probably end up with a bunch of flooded basements. :) I remember what those are like in real life. (I grew up in Indiana; pretty much every house, at least at the time, had a basement/root cellar simply for tornado survival purposes. But our house was also on a floodplain and the house was old, built in 1835, and its basement was a bit on the leaky side. :lol: ) So, I wouldn't want to subject my Sims to that.

[zumppe]

however, that stuff about the Tricous? It's in every Downtown, so unless you attached Downtown after running the hoodchecker, it should have been removed the first time.

The HoodChecker doesn't remove those Tricou memories, at least not in my game. There are a few memories that the HoodChecker seems not to touch, for some reason; I have one about Jason Greenman, and then a whole bunch of those Tricou memories. No matter how many times I use "remove", they are always left behind. I guess they could be removed/fixed using SimPE, but I can't be bothered/don't want to risk messing something up. I've just decided to ignore them.

All this talk about basements has made me curious; now I have to fire up the game and build one. :p

[d_dgjdhh]

Thanks mozgun, Darby, & M.M.A.A. for the compliments. The hyroglyphs in the pyramid basement are custom made. I was aiming for mystery chambers underneath the pyramid community lot, and it resulted in that.

As for vaults, yes, tried a community vault tower. Has 3 levels beneath the tower for storage. Hasn't been used yet, don't think it's gonna be used at all. Too bad you can't rent storage on a community lot.

[mozgun]

After the unfortunate death of my plantsim Gertie today, I'm thinking of maybe making a creepy underground crypt in the new house I plan on making for the family. I might even add a coffin for decoration.

[AlexandraSpears]

I make basements every once in a while, and typically they're recreation rooms. I've put in indoor pools and the like. Also a great place for crafting stations.

Here's one I'd made in Pleasantview, for a pair of siblings I'd created. Mortimer Goth, Darren Dreamer, and Nina Caliente approve:

http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af292/alexandrasims2/snapshot_b8b2c53d_78b2ca16.jpg

[rogue_55]

Icad, thanks for the link to that tutorial. It's interesting that you mentioned sunken rooms, because I was just thinking about that earlier. I have some books with floor plans that I use when I build my houses. A couple of the floor plans in it have sunken rooms. There's one with a sunken solarium. I think I might try building it.

Mozgun, an underground crypt seems like an interesting idea. I'm sorry about Gertie though. I'm glad you made this thread. There's some helpful information here.

d dgjdhh, I like your lots too. They are so detailed. How do you come up with your ideas? Do you draw them up first, or just build them from your mind?

[iCad]

Icad, thanks for the link to that tutorial. It's interesting that you mentioned sunken rooms, because I was just thinking about that earlier. I have some books with floor plans that I use when I build my houses. A couple of the floor plans in it have sunken rooms. There's one with a sunken solarium. I think I might try building it.

You're welcome. :)

The only problem with sunken rooms is that the walls light sort of weirdly. The game is coded such that light won't travel between floors of a building. (So, if you have a two-story foyer with windows in the upper floor, the light won't travel down to the first floor, like it would in real life. With sunken rooms, the game apparently considers the four-click-tall "sink" as a separate floor from the rest of the room. So, the walls around that four-click-tall part will be darker than the rest because it has no windows lighting it. This can be a problem, depending on what you do with it. Perhaps, you can cover up most of that part of the wall with furniture or deco, depending on the room. (Unfortunately, you can't place windows in the "sawed-off" wall.) Or, the effect can be made less glaring by using a different kind of wall covering at the bottom, one that makes it less obvious that the lighting is weird. Or maybe you'll find it not bothersome at all. (Unfortunately, I usually do, so I don't do a lot of sunken rooms other than garages.) But, it's definitely worth experimenting with, and I encourage you to do so.

Have fun. :)

[mozgun]

Mozgun, an underground crypt seems like an interesting idea. I'm sorry about Gertie though.

Umm... Thanks for your sympathy? I think that I'm going to look up floor plans for my houses. I usually make them up as I go. My houses are ugly.

[katalina522]

... am I the only one who uses modded wall scripts? They make building basements *so* much easier. You can build windows/hang objects directly on the foundation, and you don't have to mess with CFE to adjust wall heights for attached garages. (And, as a bonus, the paint on the walls doesn't get all screwed up!)

EDIT: also, to get terrain the right height for a basement without all the clicking, just build a modular staircase going into the ground. You need three pieces. Then delete them and level the terrain.

[rogue_55]

Umm... Thanks for your sympathy? I think that I'm going to look up floor plans for my houses. I usually make them up as I go. My houses are ugly.


You should be able to find some good floor plans online. I don't think you'll find one with an underground crypt though. :lol: Sorry for being silly. I think it's time for me to go to bed.

Icad, thanks for the encouragement. Even if it doesn't work out, it's still good practice for me to try to build it.

[Liv Lukas]

... am I the only one who uses modded wall scripts? They make building basements *so* much easier. You can build windows/hang objects directly on the foundation, and you don't have to mess with CFE to adjust wall heights for attached garages. (And, as a bonus, the paint on the walls doesn't get all screwed up!)

EDIT: also, to get terrain the right height for a basement without all the clicking, just build a modular staircase going into the ground. You need three pieces. Then delete them and level the terrain.

Katalina, can you share how you get these modded wall scripts?

[katalina522]

Katalina, can you share how you get these modded wall scripts?
You mod them yourself, just like you do if you set up a lighting mod.

I'm not sure where to tell you to find the folder because I have a Mac, but on my computer you go to Applications > The Sims 2 > Res > Catalog > Scripts > walls.txt

So as not to completely screw up your game, copy/duplicate this file and change the title of one copy to walls-bak.txt

Go to #normal walls

where it says requiresFlatBottom & requiresFlatTop, change the true to false

Launch your game and experiment away ... this will enable you to build unlevel walls that don't distort wallpapers when you cover them. (Similar to attic walls.)

If you find that you don't need/want one of these options, quit your game and change "false" back to "true" in the walls file.

To put objects & windows on foundations, go to #foundation walls and where it says mayAttachObjects, change false to true. (this does not always stick every time you launch the game, but when it works, windows place normally without moveObjects and let light in correctly.)

I believe the original place I got this suggestion from was a tutorial by frillen, but I don't have the link... it might be in the wiki someplace though. :)

[maxon]

Anyway, for anyone still building it in the usual way, you don't need to count any clicks to reach wall heights in your basements.
Do this. First build a desired foundation. Turn moveobjects on and go down a level (to the ground) then use any modular stair and place it three times - each subsequent time starting at the previous stair landing. You'll end up with a 16 clicks deep stair landing when you place your third set of stairs. It will be 16 clicks from the floor level of your foundation, making for a usable basemnt room.
I always forget this - I've got so used to the clicking that I never remember the alternative. Personally I prefer the control of the clicking, partly because I also make a lot of shaped roofs and stuff with the floorelevation control cheat but if you're not doing that the stairs trick is quicker. Thanks for the reminder.

[HillBillyNerd]

I love basements, but I'm terrible at making them. Too bad for my creepy hermit sims.
They never get their stereotypical underground layers.

[mozgun]

@ HillBillyNerd (great name by the way): I like your idea of creepy hermit sims. That would definitely be fun to play!

[rhaven_moon]

I loveeeeee basements...i use them on most of my houses...i think im obsessed lol

[d_dgjdhh]

(...) d dgjdhh, I like your lots too. They are so detailed. How do you come up with your ideas? Do you draw them up first, or just build them from your mind?Well, I have the unhealthy habit of making shell houses first, then trying to fill in the shell with rooms. Sometimes the homes look good on the outside, but then the inspiration for the interior gets lost. But usually I just make the lot from my head as I go alone playing.

[rogue_55]

Well, I have the unhealthy habit of making shell houses first, then trying to fill in the shell with rooms. Sometimes the homes look good on the outside, but then the inspiration for the interior gets lost. But usually I just make the lot from my head as I go alone playing.

My houses normally look better on the inside than they do on the outside. I think your houses turn out great considering you usually build them as you go. I can't do that. I need some sort of plan or my houses turn out kind of boring.

I think the next time I build a house with a basement I will try that trick with the stair cases that someone mentioned. I always counted clicks, because I was never brave enough to use the building cheats. The very first time I built a basement it took me forever, because I didn't know how to use that tool to level huge sections at one time. I have learned so much since then. I appreciate all of the tips everyone here has given.

[Simsica]

Anywho, any good advice on how to evade those ugly holes under the houses that can be seen in hood view when you build basements with the in-game tools?
They don't always appear, or such was my experience. But I've never been able to determine why and when they do appear.
Help, anyone?

[Mootilda]

... am I the only one who uses modded wall scripts?No, you're not the only one. I use modded wall scripts, too. However, I don't like to require my uploads to use modded wall scripts, so I tend to mod the wall scripts in a way that they will not be necessary for downloaded lots.

Anywho, any good advice on how to evade those ugly holes under the houses that can be seen in hood view when you build basements with the in-game tools?Those holes appear because the game extrapolates the terrain between major vertices in the lot imposter.

OK, I know that didn't make much sense, so I'll try to explain it more simply:

When the game is creating the view of the lot that you see in the neighborhood view, it uses neighborhood-sized tiles for the view, rather than lot-sized tiles. Neighborhood-sized tiles are 10 times the size of the lot-sized tile. So, any decrease in the elevation of the lot (such as that which occurs underneath a basement) is assumed to slope evenly between the depression in the ground and the next neighborhood-sized tile in every direction (10 away from the depression in the terrain).

This can sometimes be solved by adding "columns" to your basement by raising the terrain back to the standard ground level at every 10th major tile.

Here's what my basement looks like:
http://www.modthesims.info/showpost.php?p=3579840&postcount=2418

And here's an example of the difference in the lot imposter (ie, the view of the lot in the neighborhood:
http://www.modthesims.info/showpost.php?p=3579844&postcount=2419

[Simsica]

Thanks, Mootilda. That actually made a lot of sense. My lots are mostly 1x1, and when I built a basement that remained within that lot size I had no holes, but when I added a couple of tiles to its size on a larger lot it would create those holes.
You have no idea how long I've been searching for info regarding this.

[LaurellKH]

Every 100 house I make 1 basement. I get good at it but boring now I no longer play with vampires.

[Selly_2009]

I've used basements in my tiny one-bedroom "council houses" - the living space is on the ground floor (I'm British and therefore using the British terms for which storey is which), and the bedroom and bathroom are in the basement. There's enough space to incorporate a small single bedroom for one child, but any more and the family have to move as soon as pysically possible!

I've also done a "secret lab" in one house - that's in a basement too :)

[katalina522]

No, you're not the only one. I use modded wall scripts, too. However, I don't like to require my uploads to use modded wall scripts, so I tend to mod the wall scripts in a way that they will not be necessary for downloaded lots.[/url]
Howso? Is that with the ConvertiWall?

[Mootilda]

No. I mod the normal wall to make it easier to use, but don't change it in any way that is incompatible with the wall that most people have. I allow the top and bottom to float to fit my already-adjusted grid.