Two taps here is the norm rather than the exception; and, yes, interesting subject Maybe we need to have a party.

Blame me for the topic about showers and taps, I started it complaining about them It’s interesting to know the origin of the two taps idea though.

Forgot to mention ... Thank you for the option of letting us expand our lots. One feature of one of my inspiration lots is a sculpture garden. (I have three inspiration lots ... One for the main building, which houses the adult classrooms/workshops and lecture room, one where kids and toddlers can try their hand at stuff, and two real-life inspirations for the theme, which apparently isn't as common as I thought. I used to take my kids to a real-life smaller version of this theme, and they loved the classes. I still have some of their projects today! Class size is really small on my lot, though, but really ... how many Sims even go on these lots? ! )

I'm not sure I can convey all properly, but I wanted to give it a shot. Right now sans the garden, I have what I consider a working lot. Usually, before I lot-expand, I package the lot before, so I can put them side by side and see what I like better. I might have to put a prototype of my lot here, though, before I go too crazy to make sure I didn't break any rules. Lots and lots of expanding over foundations and three extra buildings. None of the three have foundations, though, so I should be OK with that.

If I have time and something else doesn't come up, for giggles, I might try my second theme, which I discarded because I realized that I would have a really long CC list and almost no room. At that point, the CC list would be irrelevant.

For those who are still stuck ... there is a thread somewhere with ideas for community lots. Maybe that can create a spark.

(Looking at Affinity Sims for some inspiration ... egads, there is so much cool stuff there. While I like hair and clothes and all that, the stuff that is my greatest weakness are mods giving my Sims more stuff to do. I already downloaded the butter churn and candle maker there for my historic hood, but haven't been there for a while. Oh, poo ... my Downloads folder in my real game is going to hate me. Thanks to the creators on that site for all the nifty stuff there!)

If the water were hot enough to melt lead you'd scald yourself. Lead leaches into both hot and cold water by chemical processes; if you have lead pipes, the cold water isn't safe to drink, either.

I've been in a lot of old houses that had two separate faucets for hot and cold at the sink, and the way you get the right temperature is, you plug the sink, turn both faucets on, let them mix, and wash in the basin. Washing under hot and cold running water is a fairly modern concept. Back when indoor plumbing was first a thing, the only running water you could wash under was the pump, which was cold by default (though it could get pretty hot on a hot day in some climates, depending on the water source).

I can see the intersex flag file in the downloads folder, but be damn if I can find it in the catalog! Razzer-frazzer-schnazzer-frazzer...

Searching for the sculpting mod I really thought I saw somewhere, but just can't find now (maybe because there were some problems ... yes, I posted the question on WCIF). Decides to look on Affinity Sims. Trying not to make my Downloads folder a whole lot larger, and knowing I'm going to fail at that bigtime in about an hour. So many pretties there!

I can pass up many decor, clothes, etc. items, but stuff where I can have my Sims DO things ... ? Between Plumbbob Keep and Affinity, I can have my Sims craft things for hours! (They already make butter, soap, foodstuffs, etc. thanks to those two sites .... great for my historic vacation hood! Interactivity is a must on most of my community lots. Almost all of them have something.) Even if I don't find a sculpture mod there, I am going to wind up with a whole bunch of other goodies shortly! (And yes, I know about custom NPCs ... there is more than enough non-NPC stuff on Affinity and Plumbbob to keep me entranced for a while. Oooh ... that toddler TV is so cute, gayars! Crap ... do I see the PIZZA OVEN? That would be great in my good game. Wait ... what was I looking for again?) I have visited Affinity many times in the past and still see stuff I've missed. Ditto for Plumbbob Keep.

Lot size.
I followed the instructions and the info button says the lot is now 50X40.
Since I lost points for a wrong lot size in another competition ( to be fair, I started on the wrong size and shrunk it then) - I do want to be sure if this is correct? Anybody else made the lot larger yet?

No ... it should have been 4x4. (Or ... see whoward's reply below)

If I can kick someone off the computer again (that computer is way too popular in my house), I do intend to package the lot as a 3x3. I always do that before lot expanding in case something goes very, very wrong. I can try lot expanding it and put it next to an empty 4x4 if no one is able to do this for a few hours or so. Right now, something ELSE just cropped up, and I have to get off any computing device for at least an hour or two. And I thought I would have plenty of time to work on this lot ... the good news is that I feel a little less like a stuffed-up zombie for the first time in almost a week.

The info button includes the 10 tiles that form the road - so what most of us call a "40x40" (or a 4x4) lot is reported as 50x40 by the info button

That is indeed helpful. Thank you, whoward! If I could hit that "helpful" button twice, I would. I hope this contest is eventually archived somewhere if only for the trove of great info here.

Thank you, William Think we need to drink to you!

I did package the lot, @gazania, just for insurance!

I've lot expanded a copy of the lot, but keep getting "can't place object on slope" errors on the new part of the lot, as well as being unable to place floor tiles on top of columns in the new area (plenty far enough away from the lot edges) Any ideas?

Pick it up in the hood and re-place it. You may need to move it elsewhere and flatten the terrain first.

For anyone who hasn't started building yet, it's safest and easiest to just start with a real 4x4 lot and carefully count where Jo put the foundations and place them yourself. She gave us a grid pic, so just add 5 to each side, and keep the amount from the front the same. Has no one made a new template yet? I'm sure not everyone is comfortable with the LotAdjuster, nor confident in their counting abilities.

Tried that and it didn't work. I think I'm just going to start again on a 4x4 lot, like Phae's suggested. There's nothing on there that will take too long to reconstruct.

No, don’t do that, just flatten the area with the flattening tool in build mode. I had that issue on a different lot I expanded and it worked. Even if it looks flat the game might think it isn’t, but using the tool on that area will fix it.

I've done that several times and it still didn't work...

Maybe try with CFE on?

In lot adjuster, there are options to "smooth" and to "flatten" lot edges. Make sure you flatten them.

Thanks for all the advice, but I got carried away on the new 4x4 lot before I looked back here, so I think I'm basically finished. I don't want to be the first to post, though, but here's a lot overview whilst I mull over if there's anything essential I've forgotten...

I am so confused. Now reading so many will do the 4x4 lot, I have the feeling I may regret if I will not do it also.

I did expand a copy of the lot, makes much more needed space yes but I have hard time to fill the lot. (I play personally only small lots, or minilots if possible).

So my dilemma is if I use the lot (3x3) I allready build it may be too small and depends of peoples settings/mods how many people to send to the communitylot. The other hand, if I use the 4x4 lot , it may seem too "spacy" , too much empty space.

If you normally play on small and minilots, I'd suggest leaving it at a 3x3. 4x4 are good if you are looking to do something that needs outdoor space (like an amusement park). If you are unaccustomed to big spaces (and would prefer not to step outside your comfort zone), stick with the 3x3 and show all us space hogs what you can do with just a 3x3. I'd suggest figure out what kind of lot you want to make first, that should help inform your decision. Btw, you can also eat up a lot of space with a parking lot, so that's helpful if you need to shrink the lot without actually going for the smaller size.

I will remind everybody again-please do what you want. If you like the 3 by 3 use that, if you want to use the 4 by 4 use that. If you want it fancy do fancy and if you want it simple do simple. I know it's hard but try and forget what everybody else is doing.

@Phaenoh , THANK YOU!! I totally forgot the car parking ! That will eat space And yes, the challenge of showing how to fit all the needs for smaller space sounds better to me. I personally never play a lot over 3x3 , I hate lag, even a tiny lag is too much. (that only is about communitylots, as at residential lots the size is not so important, I play small families)


needs thinking... both lots are ready.

@joandsarah77 , I know, but it is not so easy to to forget what everyone else are doing

By the time the option for the 4x4 came up I'd basically completed my lot and am fairly happy with it, tweaking it every now and then when I think of something. I think the 3x3 is big enough, unless you want a lot of outdoor area such as a big park. I did have plans for a park initially but it turned into a small playground for kids and a small area for seating, along with two fairly substantial buildings (and an outdoor stage), so it's certainly not too small.

That is one advantage to packaging the lot before you lower the foundation, CFE the crap out of it, change the zoning/try a new mod on it/flatten for a flat beach lot/enlarge or shrink it/etc. There have been a few occasions when I thought one of those actions would work really well with that lot, only to find out that the result was awful. If the 4x4 isn't working, you still have the 3x3. I might find out my 4x4 isn't working at all, and that's fine with me, and apparently the judges as well. Also, many people don't like playing larger lots.

EDIT ... Well, after looking at more doors than I would possibly want to look at, I'm going back to my good game, seeing if there is anything there, and if there isn't, then seeing if a recolor might suffice. I'd rather not waste two days simply looking for doors! I might see if I can find lots with the Metro windows and see what the uploader used. (And while looking, I did find a door that so many of us use! I can't believe I didn't think of this one ... the WallWindow door! I believe there is a white glass version and it works with modern windows and architecture. Oops.)

And it looks like I found my sculpting mod, but there is apparently a problem or two with it. I've worked with Plan B before, and know that works, so I'll see if I'll include sculpting or go with Plan B or a small gallery.

As for my CC list, let me just put it this way: As far as I know, there is only one thing that if you don't download, it could cause an annoying problem ... blue flashy stuff (one of the Metro windows) ... and that's fixable. My list is longer than I'd like, but there is plenty of leeway to remove the stuff and except for that flashy problem, which is fixable, you can still have a lot ready to use without weird issues. If you don't like the walls, you get bare walls, that's all. And my packaged lot size is smaller than almost all of my lots with CC, so I guess I behaved a little. At least I behaved more than usual!