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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th Mar 2016 at 1:14 AM
Default A working, habitable lighthouse: is it possible?
I have recently replaced the lighthouse in one of my towns with a habitable one. I am quite pleased with it, but the problem is I would like it to be also a working lighthouse with a revolving beam of light visible at night. Does anybody have any ideas how I could make that work? I had thought of using one of the big search lights, but they only seem to shine upwards, I need a horizontal beam, is that possible?

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
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dodgy builder
#2 Old 16th Mar 2016 at 6:22 PM Last edited by Volvenom : 16th Mar 2016 at 8:29 PM.
I used that for my world. It was a hassle to put it right. It's just an effect, but I can't remember the name of it and I'm on phone. You can try googling for it.

Back on my desktop and I believe this ancient thing will work for you. It looks very much like the effect I used: http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...d=1#post3410500

I probably had SuperCAW at the time and that's where I got it. You have to follow the first link Simsample links to if you want that extension.
Scholar
Original Poster
#3 Old 17th Mar 2016 at 12:16 AM
Thankyou, that's very interesting and useful. So, now I know it is possible, I have a little project on my hands. Nice! Once again, thanks.

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#4 Old 17th Mar 2016 at 11:43 PM
Is your lighthouse on a lot? If so, you could just place a fog emitter there with the right code to make the lighthouse beam. The solutions that Volvenom mentioned are excellent for if you want your lighthouse off-lot (in the world itself), but not entirely necessary if you're just creating a lot.
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/po...05.page#2650056
Top Secret Researcher
#5 Old 18th Mar 2016 at 3:30 AM
I was going to suggest fog emitters also. The following codes deal with the lighthouse effects, so experiment a bit:
lighthousebeam
lighthousefx
lighthouseglow
lighthouselensflarefx
If you need some help in working with the fog emitters (found in buydebug) post again.
Scholar
Original Poster
#6 Old 18th Mar 2016 at 5:36 AM
simsimple: Yes, it is on a lot (residential), and I was rather hoping there would be a simpler approach I could take: its all rather complicated for a relative beginner like me. I ought to be able to place my building on Builder's Island to try all this out. Thats a useful link, too. Thanks.

attuned Thanks for the info, and for your interest. When I first posted I thought I was going to get told that the thing just wasn't possible. Its certainly going to take some experimenting, but that's half the fun isn't it?

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
Scholar
Original Poster
#7 Old 18th Mar 2016 at 6:32 AM Last edited by Elynda : 18th Mar 2016 at 9:03 AM.
attuned: Hm... all those codes create a beam shining straight up, at least while I'm in Edit Town mode. Haven't tested it in live mode yet. I'm obviously missing something.

EDIT: just tried it again in the actual world I'm using and this time I managed to get a horizontal beam in build mode (not sure what I did differently), but as soon as I went 'live' it disappeared. Is it because I have placed it inside the tower lamp room and the effect won't show through windows?

EDIT 2: No, that wasn't it. I tried it in Sunset Valley, and there I could see the effect as a regular pulse of light, but no revolving beam. From what I have read elsewhere that would seem to be the best I can expect. I think it needs to off lot for the beam to be visible from a distance. Disappointing.

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
dodgy builder
#8 Old 18th Mar 2016 at 10:47 AM
It can be a hassle to get them right sometimes. It worked as expected in my world. I think there is a lot there, but I have to check that some more to be sure.
Scholar
Original Poster
#9 Old 18th Mar 2016 at 11:07 AM Last edited by Elynda : 2nd Sep 2019 at 1:24 PM.
You have to twist and turn the thing about to get it pointing the right way - trial and error really. I'd planned on elavating it with an OMSP but it just kept pointing upwards, so in the end I just plonked it on the floor. Then I had to wait for sunset:



Looks okay from this distance but you can't see it from across town, which is disappointing. I might be wrong, but I have a feeling that you need to to have a 'keeper' in residence, because that first time I tried it and couldn't see anything, the house was unoccupied.

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#10 Old 19th Mar 2016 at 6:50 PM
@Elynda
Quote: Originally posted by Elynda
You have to twist and turn the thing about to get it pointing the right way - trial and error really. I'd planned on elavating it with an OMSP but it just kept pointing upwards, so in the end I just plonked it on the floor. Then I had to wait for sunset:

That looks great!

Quote: Originally posted by Elynda
Looks okay from this distance but you can't see it from across town, which is disappointing. I might be wrong, but I have a feeling that you need to to have a 'keeper' in residence, because that first time I tried it and couldn't see anything, the house was unoccupied.

You could try combining a world effect with your lot. To do that, you would use SuperCAW to find the lighthouse beam effect, and place it on the same coordinates as your lot to line up with your lighthouse tower. EA did this in some of their worlds, and I used it in Jericho. The birds are a world effect-



And so is this chimney smoke effect-

The advantage to doing this is that the effect is visible across the world, and loops persistently (except for when they are affected by time of day). The disadvantages are that you have to build them into the world (so that's tricky if you are already playing the world), and that the effect will still be present when you demolish or rebuild the lot.
Scholar
Original Poster
#11 Old 19th Mar 2016 at 9:50 PM
That's an interesting suggestion, something for me to look into sometime, the smoke effect particularly. As it stands I am still very much a beginner with CAW, and it doesn't run terribly well on my present computer. Anyhow, thanks to you and to everybody else for their help and suggestions.

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
Top Secret Researcher
#12 Old 21st Mar 2016 at 10:11 PM Last edited by attuned : 22nd Mar 2016 at 6:26 AM.
@Elynda I think your lighthouse looks great!

If you are still up for experimenting, I had another thought. You can try using the search lights from the buy section. These lights can definitely be seen around town. If your lot is zoned residential, I believe you will need Buzzler's Build/Buy Restriction Choker, to allow community items on a residential lot. Also, see this MTS thread, posts #4 and #5 for info on Decorator's Best Friend by Virtual Artisan. DBF allows objects to move up and down, and also be rotated. Good luck!

EDIT The search lights are available for residential lots, so Buzzler's mod isn't needed.
Scholar
Original Poster
#13 Old 22nd Mar 2016 at 1:34 PM
Those are some very useful links, thankyou. And yes, I still am still experimenting, and I would like to find out if there is any way I could use those search lights, which was my original idea. Decorators Best Friend sounds useful.

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 29th Apr 2016 at 8:09 PM
Looked for a solution and was easier to find than I thought when started->
http://modthesims.info/d/539898
Enable testing cheat and restrictbuilding off and you can remove all objects EXCEPT the fogg emitter and the focus point on the same level and use them in your own (yet to build) lighthouse. Somewhere else I found out you can do this with a superCAW without EA restrictions, not found out how to exact for now but think this will give you at least the opportunity to try (& let us know how it works out

If I find the "superCAW" I'll let it know and I'm thinking about making a lighthouse build set lot for downloading if it works (just the vital elements on a small lot so you can import it wherever you want). Maybe the solution is to contact the poster of the lot itself (Who deserves all credits, I only used the means he/she gave me = don't thank me here but him/her on the donwload page!)
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#15 Old 29th Apr 2016 at 8:38 PM
@Anno2015 The link for SuperCAW at Simlogical is here:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=468279
You could then use the world based Lighthousefx object on the same coordinates as a lot, as in post #10 above.

The solution in the post you linked to is the same as Elynda achieved in post #9, and as noted the effect is not visible from a distance. That would be the best solution for a lot you wish to put for upload, though, as the SuperCAW effects are world based, not lot based.
Scholar
Original Poster
#16 Old 1st May 2016 at 12:39 PM
Only just checked back here, having been busy with my story telling (on the 'Scumthorpe Files' thread), so thanks Anno2015 & Simsample for your continued interest and suggestions. A lighthouse build set sounds like a good idea, I'd certainly be interested, like I said, I'm still experimenting. And thanks too for the links: to tell the truth I wasn't quite sure what 'SuperCAW' actually was when you mentioned it before, but I'm clear on that now, and will certainly be looking into it,

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

Simblr: Elyndaworld *** Wordpress: Tales of Nantrelor
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 1st May 2016 at 1:34 PM
hhmm so as I understand the only true solution is to make a world with fixed lighthouse spots with effect but without actual lighthouse (so we can build it).. Do I understand that correct?

If the effect won't cross the lots borders (however we try) that sounds like the only possible way

@simsample: thanks for the link and comment, I'll go and try
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#18 Old 1st May 2016 at 11:26 PM
@Anno2015 Yes, the two options open to you are:
1) Place a fog emitter on the lot you build, and use the lighthousefx code to make a lighthouse beam. You can either build a lighthouse and place the fog emitter in the building, or if you wish you could change the height of the fog emitter by using this mod:
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=448593
The advantage of this is that the effect would be there for anyone who downloads your lot, but the disadvantage is that the effect is only visible for a short distance across your world.

2) Place a lighthouse beam effect in the world that you are building, by placing it on the same coordinates as your lot. You can either do this by using the version of CAW known as 'SuperCAW' (in which all game objects and hidden CAW objects are available), or you could splice a world layer containing the lighthouse beam effect from an EA world to your world as I did here:
http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=429946
The advantage of this method is that the lighthouse beam is visible right across the world; the disadvantage is that it is not part of the lot and so is not shareable, and also the effect is still present in the world even if the lot is deleted.

I use the second method when I build my own worlds- I have chimney smoke and bird effects and lighthouse beams that you can see from all parts of the world. But if I am building a lot to share then I would use the fog emitter on a lot, as this will give people who download your lot the same experience.
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