Making some progress on my second attempt here Far from being ready post!

I've decided the time has come to put out a twin version and give it a spin. It's hit me that if this thing won't get off the ground, I might have to not go to the 3x3 ... I might have to do a whole new lot. Fingers crossed. Will this be the end of big and gaudy?

EDIT ... It works! There is a lag when the witch appears, but that's in all my games, even though I've used the appropriate fixes to make the game run smoother. The lag isn't for long, though ... only about five or ten seconds ... and it works fine after that. It might help if I put a door on the room with the food stand, though. Just sayin'.

I really like what I had when I went to bed last night, so playtesting today! I'm a little concerned that the little deco birds will create difficulties using the picnic table or the pet-and-toddler-enabled fountain. I'm more concerned that a lot directly across the street from the beach only has field and woodland birds on it. I couldn't have my heron pond, but the place should be swarming with gulls. So I'm off to WCIF.

And ... I FINALLY, finally, finally got the stained glass ceiling effect to work with the dummy roof and the two-sided tile! Crap, that's pretty. No, not my building efforts. Those aren't pretty at all. I mean the pretty tiles. Cyclonesue made such nice shiny ones. But until now, I never could use them correctly. While it's fairly easy to put the tiles on the ceiling from the ceiling view, I couldn't get the edging on the tiles that way. Some of my buildings probably won't have the edging since there is no dummy ceiling, and I have no way to put one in there. But I still think the tiles are pretty, so I kept them in there. (Visualizes red marks all over the scoring sheet.)

(Plays Hallelujah Chorus)

Of course, now the wallpaper looks crappy, and I'll have to go with a solid or monochrome wall. Maybe I'll do one CC wall to try to bring out the blue in the tiles. But ... stained glass on the ceiling!

(OK, most of you advanced builders can probably do a 13th-century stained glass effect that would make my efforts look like a two-year-old's. And it's not hard, I know. I just kept having a mental block when it came to using the invisible tiles.)

Unfortunately, I had to take down the fourth story on my main building because ... for lack of a better term ... the camera kept skating when I got to that floor. I couldn't fix the ceilings, and had a little trouble when my Sims went up to that level. So I moved the classroom to a vacant area on another floor. Might disturb the flow and the effect a little, but darn it ... I'm still too practical for my own good. My lot was making me dizzy whenever my Sims went to hear the lecture. (Imagines judges running out of ink at this point and going for a second red pen.)

I'm a little stuck with one area. There is a huge space right before the parent center. My first thought was to put a small stage for a single player or duet to play music, but it occurred to me that if I was trying to get my toddler to sleep, the last thing I would need is someone playing rock or country right outside the door! I've got water up the ying-yang, and statues all over the grounds (Good for covering up the squares for the water mod). Off to find an idea or a clue.

Did I mention that I’m weird?

Strangely, it works.

I did my first toddler test with the Lamberts. Trying to get even a few people WITH at least ONE toddler ready for a taxi while family members and a nanny are constantly trying to bathe and feed these little tykes, even with max motives ... the first time, the taxi left without half the party and I wound up with a strange glitch. About the only thing I can think is, "This isn't your real game. If it cooked the hood, you'll be rid of it soon!" I don't think it corrupted it. When the taxi returned, the driver was standing outside without the taxi, turned, and walked off without a word. Then another taxi pulled up and left. It's probably some glitch related to the mod and leaving two people behind, I hope. It did not happen the second time. So HELP me, though, if I found still another way to corrupt a hood ...

I can see why Pescado came up with the no-harassment mod.

However, after a few tries and constantly trying to stop two adults, two teens and a nanny (i thought she left ... ) to keep their mitts off at least one toddler so I could get her to the lot (poor twin who stayed home ... he was probably bathed and fed repeatedly until he was ready to scream), I tested the lot with a toddler. (Sorry. I gave up on getting both of them there.) Except for putting Phaenoh's mats way too close together (apparently, putting them mat-to-mat against a wall is a no-no), the room worked! Wowsers!

But yes. Once this contest is over, I will never use that toddler mod again. And I'm probably going to play test the lot only a couple more times with the toddlers, focusing mainly on children and up. It's just way too stressful, and I'd rather not encounter a taxi-less driver again.

Freewill = Off

Yeah, yeah. I keep forgetting. I'll have to remember next time.

You prolly had the mat turned the wrong way round. They were cloned from the dog beds, and those are directional. Try rotating it around and see if that helps. I put them up against walls all the time in my nurseries.

Well, it worked fine with one mat in a corner, so I'm guessing that there might have been a directional problem. I can try it with the two mats head to head again.

Even with free will off, those Sims simply won't leave the toddlers alone. Quite annoying!

Maybe put nobabyharrassment in? I don’t have much trouble with sims bothering toddlers even with free will on (I keep them busy most of the time though), the only annoyance I noticed is that when I direct a toddler to sleep on HL’s toddler mat, anoher sim sometimes gets an interaction to put the toddler into a crib and that wakes them up, even if I cancel it when they’re far away Very annoying.

Because the todds are cute, that's why they are not left alone
I am happy with the new attempt. Will hopefully be completed and tested after the weekend, and will think about placing things at an angle or off grid or whatever (if I think it is necessary, often I do not).

They do this if the toddler has reached a critical energy level, the trick is to send the tot for a nap sooner.

About going to your community lot with toddlers who have not done this before.
1.I would never use a taxi, always owned car or walk to.
2.Maxmotives during testing and drop individual needs to half with the sim blender. Feel free to play for real if you want to, but for testing purposes this is easier.
3.Direct your toddler to play, do not let them get too tired before a nap (see above) If they are really tired direct teen and above to an activity that they can't just up and leave and bother the toddler.

I'd like to use MsBarrows's formula fridge from TSR in my "parenting room", but it only shows up on residential lots. It would mean the fridge could only be used for babies' milk, and Sims couldn't carry pans of mac and cheese round to the restaurant kitchen to cook them themselves like they used to do in our Veronaville Swim Centre! I believe it's only a very simple edit in SimPE to enable items for community lots, but I can't remember what it is. Can anyone else remember?

Yep Open the package and choose object data (OBJD).
Click on it in the right panel to open the plugin view them click the raw data tab. Choose decimal and find community sort in the list. If 0 change to 128. Commit then save package. Should have said to make a backup of your package in case of explosions!
Scottiedoag

Andrew it's even simpler to change lot zoning tor residential, place what you want and change it back to community-unless you don't have the cheat?

Well, I've taken photos, and ended up with 33. Oh dear. Somehow have to whittle that down to 23 (required includes 3 floors). Fun!

@joandsarah77 I know you let us have more pictures for this round (and I appreciate that), but would it be possible to get even more? 23 (well 22 for me as I don’t have a third floor) is a tiny amount for such a large lot. I’d say at least 32-40 should be allowed.

Hi
Just checking in on the time and skipping to the bottom so I can't see what everyone is doing yet. :coverseyes:
We take our granddaughter home tomorrow so I should have time to start Saturday. It's a full day round trip.
It's been a Full 2 weeks but I still hope to get something done.

I've been thinking about either doing an Aspiration park for all the Aspirations or a community lot for the Sim families I made for the Contest or just toss it all to the wind and just make something. The hot air balloon did okay but it didn't look great in neighborhood view so I tossed that one.

This is where we up our picture-taking game.

Although I'd still like more different kinds of birds, I have playtested and tweaked a little (the sparrows blocked two of the chairs but not the picnic table as a whole or the grill) and am ready for a playtest in which I take pictures that might be usable.I thought I could make things go faster by taking the Newmans to playtest the pet items and teleporting in some Lamberts and making them selectable to test the parenting setup. Instead I got spammed with taxi messages and dragged back to the Lambert house, so - lesson learned, and a warning for you all.

@Voeille and anyone else who really wants more pictures, sorry but restricted photo limits are part and parcel of contests. If you look over the closed contests you will see this contest has a much higher picture limit then normal. Some only allowed for 4 extra shots. Remember to get in as close as you can with your floor plan shot/s and use lots of lighting. Then make each additional shot count by showcasing the best parts of your lot.

Ok, I managed to weed ruthlessly and get it down to 23. Other features will have to be noticed (or not) in the top down floor plan shots. Is the price shot still required? I know it would be a nice to have although you could just mention how much it is, but then that just cuts down on the required photos not the optional ones. Oh well.

I just went through the posts and cringed at the mention of the stalls in the toilets. I have four toilets. They are simply a room with a toilet, sink, mirror. No stalls. One is the shared parent/toddler one in the parenting center. That one includes the toddler potty. There is another parent/toddler one in the children's building. The other two are simply toilet, sink. mirror. Even with a little cantilevering, the building on the main foundation is kind of small. I'm not sure if I'd even have room for a stall.

Sometimes I'll put a men's/women's room on my community lots, but generally, I'll just go with a single room. I figure if it's good enough for McDonald's and Starbucks, it's good enough for me! Is the lack of a stall going to be a problem? (Thank you for reminding me, however, that I do need to get a proper unisex door. Even McDonald's and Starbucks have doors with "restroom" or like term on them!)

Also, with the shots, I have to include at least five non-foundationed buildings. I might actually have to break the foundation shots and level shots into parts to get them all in. The non-foundationed buildings are the food stand (that is in a building ... I know I like to eat indoors when it rains! ) , the parent room, a coffee shop, the children's building and a one-storied workshop building. I know you want the entire lot for the foundation, and if I get close enough to get the floor level pictures of just the the building with the foundation, you won't see the other buildings. Is breaking up the overall lot foundation shot and the level shots going to be a problem?

EDIT ... Apparently, I can't seem to locate any single restroom door sign. Sigh. I don't think I'd want a swing door for a single bathroom!

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=565785
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=592426

I will refer you back to my post http://modthesims.info/showthread.p...205#post5225205