gazania, you'll notice that my two storeyed (partially three) brick building is on the lattice decking. It can't be helped for this contest, I don't think.
I'm going to change it for my own use after the contest to normal foundation.

And I think I have an idea how to give at least some semblance of a support beam or foundation underneath the decking. Like the dormers, cheaty as heck, but at this point, I am NOT in the mood to go to Revision V for now. All I would need, I think, would be the ILLUSION of a support frame beneath the lattice ... not an actual support. I've used this creator's stuff constantly for all sorts of cheaty stuff. One more to add to the list of CC, but at this point, I AM on the second page of a Word doc, I believe! It's a good thing I'm more of a niche creator at this point ... if anyone wants this lot, I'd be in deep doo-doo.

And yavannatw, my last score put me at least three or four back on the rankings. At this point, I'm trying to think of anything I overlooked to at least keep me from moving lower! Of course, I'll probably miss something anyway!

Oh, do tell!
You could also hide the lattice with plants which I tried to on some angles.

You can hide the decking easily and without CC, but you need MG or AL or whichever EP added those architecture elements.

Wow, I always forget about those architectural bits and pieces. I can see I have more work (and pics) to do. Thanks for that super handy hint!

Edit: Damn, I don't see that piece at all among the items. I only seem to have cornices and vents.

@yavannatw it’s not a single item, it’s made from two different cornices (two instances of one type, and one of the other).


Does this help?

Also @joandsarah77 the banner in the first post stopped working.

Oh, ok! Yes that helps. Is it the sort of thing that insists on being place at the top of ceilings? Is moveobjects on needed?

Gazania, my house is a two-story post foundation with 12 and 10-foot ceilings, and it's stood tall and sturdy for over a hundred years. Post is better than a slab or brick foundation, at least under local conditions, because the posts can accommodate the expansion and contraction of the soil below and the boards above without damage. Even when the posts or the beams resting on them are damaged, repair is relatively straightforward. During our frequent droughts, with temperatures up in the triple digits, people with inflexible concrete foundations have to spend precious water cooling their foundations so they don't crack, a problem which is expensive and awkward to repair if it can be done at all.

I don't believe there's such a thing as a lattice foundation in which the lattice is load-bearing. Lattice is merely a decorative element to disguise the open space underneath the building, and IRL the only place I ever see it is under a porch. All your latticed foundations are really post foundations. The primary reason not to do a lattice foundation under a two-story building is aesthetic, as the frilly delicate lattice does not have the visual weight to support a heavy-looking building, regardless of how firm and secure the posts are physically. This is why our house has skirting - the asbestos shingle siding goes all the way down to the ground on the front and sides so nobody has to look at the crawlspace. (The skirting in the rear was removed when the house was leveled and the sun porches in back were renovated.)

So you'll want to disguise your lattice, yes, but there's no structural issue involved, I promise.

Oh, and I just got back from my visit to M, and his breathing tube is out! He still can't talk or eat because of the irritation, but they'll start letting him take liquids by mouth within a few hours. So there's every possibility he'll be out tomorrow, and his girlfriend is letting herself look forward to the concert I'm taking her to on Wednesday, again. She'd about convinced herself she wouldn't be able to go.

Well I always have it on but I think it is actually needed, and you need to adjust height. The smaller one is at the bottom by default, and the more decorated one is near the ceiling.

I'm either blind or missing something. Below is a pic of what I have. I see that type of cornice in the corner pieces but where are the straight pieces?



Edit: Good news, Peni!

That is really weird, I don’t get why would you have all the corner pieces but not the base ones. Maybe try that green one instead? It has a white recolour.

Yay, M!

Sorry. My family missed me and kidnapped me for a bit o' tea and Asian food.

From my quick research, support for lattice foundations is usually a brace at the bottom. Voielle's suggestion sounds wonderful, too. And it's great to know that if worse comes to worst, according to Peni, my lattice will be fine, and really, I shouldn't worry about it.

I'll try the CC approach and Voielle's approach. Mine would be a "brace" at the bottom (it's probably going to really up the price, though), or at the very least, just around the double-storied building area. This is if I can do a move_on and snap_objects, though. Voielle's would probably be a whole lot easier, and may keep my CC list to two pages instead of three.

Someone else is on the computer, though, so I'll practice with a lattice foundation on my test machine.

@Voeille Thank you for alerting me. PB obviously had a major melt down for it's own reasons. Probably because of how much traffic this thread gets. I've moved the banner over to here, or one of them, not sure if that is the final banner but it will do.

Voeille, your approach is lovely ... exquisite. And so help me, I hope that this thread gets archived because of all the great advice here. I think I've seen more people helping each other on this thread than I've ever. ever seen in a contest. Ever. You're all a bunch of great people, and if I have to lose big-time, I'm glad to lose to such generous, talented and kind entrants. Thank you, Voeille! And thank all of you here for all the tips you've given us.

My situation, though, is that I have a very modern building, and the cornice doesn't quite flow with the style. I tried my approach as well.

Warning: It's CC. Just two pieces though, plus any recolor you use .... the master and Buggybooz' Nook Folly Flower (Garden) Border ... High Straight.

http://buggybooz.blogspot.com/2012/...lly-garden.html Don't forget the master, or this won't work: http://buggybooz.blogspot.com/2012/...and-niches.html (You might have to blow up the page a little if your eyeballs ain't what they used to be. Have I told you folks how much I love cataracts?

Enough with the organ recital. Find that piece, please. Deco - Misc. Move_objects.

Then just snap that piece on! Cheap. Easy. And if you did that before this round, you'd lose your CC bonus.

It looks like I might have to recolor my solid foundation though, so it's on to Version 5 V.

Have I thanked Buggybooz enough for how often I use these objects when I use cheats? Probably not. Thank you, BB, wherever you are.

EDIT ... I fibbed. You probably need one more piece. You might need to download the corresponding BB corner piece for the outside corners and under overhangs and bridges. Move_objects is OK by itself, but does produce the shimmery effect in a very small area. Snap_objects works better, but can be a little tricky, particularly under the bridges and overhangs. It's not difficult, though. I utilized only about three or four cuss words, as opposed to the dozen or more I use for harder efforts. So I don't think it's hard. Just annoying.

One disadvantage to both techniques is that you often can't matchy match siding to the pieces, unless you deliberately use a certain wallpaper geared to that color or texture, like you can with a traditional foundation. However, in the case of the cheap and dirty method, I counted literally 100 or more color and texture variations to the BB niches. I mean literally in the traditional dictionary sense. I just downloaded about 60 or so of them, and there were plenty more left. My good game already takes up to fifteen minutes to load, and I think I just added several more seconds. I would think there are recolors to the cornice pieces as well. I'm too lazy to Google right now.

Found them! For some bizarre reason, they were under Decorative instead of Build. I also found some brick recolours but those items you found, gazania, look great as well. I haven't got time now to see which looks best but will do one of them and update pics yet again.
Thank you Voeille and gazania
I have learned so much during this contest!

It’s convenient I went for modern mixed with Moroccan, so I could place the cornices and they don’t seem off I don’t even know how I thought about using them, I just wanted to hide the lattice somehow and plants wouldn’t work very well. The bad thing about that solution is that it contributes to lag, because each tile of decking needs 3 pieces of cornices, which probably means I used over hundred of them (especially that I also used cornices somewhere else), and that means polys. A lot.

Oh and Gazania, have you tried the quarter tile cheat on BB’s things? Maybe it’ll work (it doesn’t for all objects), it’d be easier than snapobjects.

And I hope I’ll see at least some of the contestants from here in my contest I’ll be qualified for a host after this one finishes.

It appears ... though I'm not sure ... that move_objects alone may suffice. (IEDIT ... you might need snap_objects for certain areas, but most of the time, move_objects is all you need.)

Your approach is elegant, graceful, and probably why you get top scores here ... deservedly so.

Mine is easy, dirty, cheap and probably won't get any ooohs and ahhs. But for my build, it probably works better, since my lines are more angular/straight than curved in this build. And that's a main thing ... it all depends on the style of your build and what effect you're trying to achieve.

I use BB's CC in space that you're not supposed to see through with walls down, such as ATMs. It bothers me when I make a deco ATM (or even if I use Monique's against a wall), and see nothing behind it with walls down. Money does not come out of thin air! One or two of the columns turned around and recolored to a gray or white color makes me happy.

Since I'm still not an intermediate builder, never mind an advanced one, I get the gaps with half-sunken basements. I move_objects, snap_objects with one of the tablet pieces. This one takes time to get it right and unfortunately, you have to do something to disguise the corner pieces, since they won't fit the same as the straight pieces. I then put plants or the low hedge on the tablets. You have to find the right sized plants for those, though, since they WILL sink down. The small hedge comes out level to the surface. I just pretend it's a bright green ground cover. As for the plants ... they're petite versions!

The small square ground patches in the garden set are GREAT coverings for the mini-pool squares if you're trying for the shimmering water effect. Move_objects. They're slightly off-color, but a little disguising and you barely see them.

I have a few other uses, but those are the ones I use the most often. And of course I use them for the purpose for which they're intended!

I may not be skilled, but I seem to have some proficiency at doing cheap, quick and dirty cheats.

Thank you

I was randomly thinking at some point... Maybe each contestant would list things they’ve learnt from this contest after the judging for the last round finishes? That would help people who will happen to browse the thread in the future.

And I know about the problem with pools (sorry I really didn’t have a better idea to enable pond reflections than slaving them to the pool in my water mod), I normally hide them with plants and rocks.

Hi
Since there's still so much time left... I wanted to try something better. Not that I don't like my Petty Zoo, I'll keep it and enjoy it (Thanks for the inspiration!), I just wanted to try the "Plaza" I had wanted to make. So, while this isn't the beach board walk I first wanted, it took on a life of it's own.

There's a stage for community plays and speeches and music.
Now to figure out where the kids will play.

I don't know, I guess I want to use up more time and it's fun to build in TS2.

These http://modthesims.info/d/47208

Wow all of the lots look amazing! Good luck to the judges.
I'm glad your friend is feeling better Peni Griffin. Sending fast healing thoughts over the water.
Thanks Voille for the architecture tip. I can imagine lots of places where they would look really great. Good luck with your results! I remember my last degree exams and they are not something I would like to repeat . Are you finished your course now?
gazania Thanks for the tip with the Boogybooz stuff. I love that set. I've made some formal gardens and parks using it and they look great. And there are so many recolours for it!
I especially love the Santorini ones here and here , (guess who learned how to put in links! lol)
Sweet Mystre I love your plaza! It looks fantastic.
whoward69 Just how did I miss these! Thanks for the link. Just when you think you've got everything you want from here someone shows you something new.

I can't think who it was who said about people helping others but I couldn't agree more. What a great bunch of folk.
Oh well off to Thedas I go to play multiplayer with my son again. Sometimes I really can't wait for college to start lol.
Scottiedoag

@scottiedoag I finished all my courses for this semester, and I have all the results except for the test I took on Thursday (they should be up by Wednesday), but I think it went fine enough so I doubt I’d have to take a second attempt You need 15/30 points to pass that test and I expect about 25. I might not get that, but I shouldn’t get fewer points than 15.

Well done! Fingers toes and everything else crossed for the last test. Now you can relax a bit!
Scottiedoag

Thanks! @scottiedoag :D

Thanks And yes I’m definitely glad I’m finally free and I’m not forced to do some boring projects and stuff and I can devote more time for simming

@joandsarah77 Quick question – I’m about to share my ferns and some of the pictures I have are taken on the round 5 lot, is it fine to use them? They don’t show much of the lot, just a few parts of the garden.