Egyptian Neighborhood - Small update!

[JCity]

Since the start of the easter holiday I have picked up the CAW tool and seriously started making my own neighborhood. The first things I wanted to make was a desert world close to the coast.
The town was going to be placed at the top of a high cliff overlooking the sea, but since I found the WA textures, they didnt fit the world at all so I desided to make a new one. ;)
(This is not the WA textures on the picture. This is the original textures I used for the world.)
The pictures may be abit big.
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9020/coastworld1.png
(I may revisit this world later in the future or maybe give it away so other people can have fun with it.)

In this new world I wanted to make use of the terrainmodels so the world didnt look so small even with the biggest map.
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/6238/kehpri1.png
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/567/kehpri2.png
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1105/kehpri3.png
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8353/kehpri4.png

I got lots of things planned for this neighborhood. I know mostly what kind of layout the town will have and what story the world will have but I need some suggestions what everyone wants to have in this kind of world. :help:
I want it be be perfect and have the same standards and maybe better than the worlds you get from both the basegame and WA. :D

Edit: Right now I'm trying to figure out how the village should look like. I know what kind of architecture the buildings should have but the problem is to make the alleys narrow enough. I want the feeling that you can jump from rooftop to rooftop... :|

[sleepalldaypartyallnight]

This looks really good. Especially the terrain painting, I find that one of the hardest bits. Narrow alleys shouldn't be too difficult - you can place lots of small lots which only have to be 1 square apart, on the lots you can build walls right up to 1 square away from the edge (can't you?) so that means you could make alleys that are 3 tiles wide, and paths are 2 tiles, so I think they would look narrow enough. I like the thought of that, like in the Mummy or Indiana Jones.

Are you planning on using EA rabbit holes? Because I don't think they are going to fit, well the Egyptian Mausoleum would. You could use Jynx's rugs here (http://www.customsims3.com/smf/index.php/topic,1931.0.html) or use this (http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=162034) technique.

The river on the cliff in the very first picture looks so realistic (although it should have a waterfall - I can't tell if it does) so you should use that as a base for another world IMO.

[JCity]

This looks really good. Especially the terrain painting, I find that one of the hardest bits. Narrow alleys shouldn't be too difficult - you can place lots of small lots which only have to be 1 square apart, on the lots you can build walls right up to 1 square away from the edge (can't you?) so that means you could make alleys that are 3 tiles wide, and paths are 2 tiles, so I think they would look narrow enough. I like the thought of that, like in the Mummy or Indiana Jones.

Are you planning on using EA rabbit holes? Because I don't think they are going to fit, well the Egyptian Mausoleum would. You could use Jynx's rugs here (http://www.customsims3.com/smf/index.php/topic,1931.0.html) or use this (http://www.thesims3.com/contentDetail.html?contentId=162034) technique.

The river on the cliff in the very first picture looks so realistic (although it should have a waterfall - I can't tell if it does) so you should use that as a base for another world IMO.

I invested alot of time "painting" the whole world and I'm still not happy because some parts are still blurry or do not have "personality" xD So it wont look the same everywhere.

Also I may start building the village later because its the hardest part (exept the tombs) but well see how it will turn out :p

I found those rugs yesterday and I'm totally going to use them! No need to cover up buildings :D

The first pic with the river will actually have a big waterfall.I experimented with it but It didnt turn out like I expected. After I have finished this world I may keep going with the first one. :)

[JCity]

Ive been googeling around for reference material for ordinairy buildings lately, but only found the more famous temples and tombs that exist in egypt. But that gave me an idea; why not make a larger temple with some tombs instead of using the pyramids? What do you guys think of that? I really need some more ideas what to add to the world...

[sleepalldaypartyallnight]

That sounds good, something that had occurred to me was to say you should make it noticeably different from the WA Egypt (or at least I would . . .) because then when you take the sims on holiday it's like going to a completely different part of the country . . . can't explain it well, d'ya get what I mean?

You said you had a story line in mind, can you use that to create lots/tombs/temples? In the WA Egypt there was a Queen's temple (which I think is based on a real one) and there was a story behind it. In the first world I was working on I had an idea of the group of people who had founded the town, and so had a cottage named after another, and a big mansion/estate named after the main family. That sort of thing? I'm drawing a blank right now, sorry! If I think of something, I'll post. My knowledge of Egypt is really limited to what I've seen in films like the Mummy and Indiana Jones.

[JCity]

That sounds good, something that had occurred to me was to say you should make it noticeably different from the WA Egypt (or at least I would . . .) because then when you take the sims on holiday it's like going to a completely different part of the country . . . can't explain it well, d'ya get what I mean?
I think you need to explain abit more what you ment xD But one thing I'm trying to do while placing all the lots and such is to add small details to the world (points of interest) but since the whole world isnt completly done yet in landscaping I will be adding those later. :)

You said you had a story line in mind, can you use that to create lots/tombs/temples? In the WA Egypt there was a Queen's temple (which I think is based on a real one) and there was a story behind it. In the first world I was working on I had an idea of the group of people who had founded the town, and so had a cottage named after another, and a big mansion/estate named after the main family. That sort of thing? I'm drawing a blank right now, sorry! If I think of something, I'll post. My knowledge of Egypt is really limited to what I've seen in films like the Mummy and Indiana Jones.
Thats some good ideas you got there but my towns history got alot of things involved with the tombs. In ancient egypt when they created the tombs and temples to the different gods and pharaos, they made small temporary workshop cities for the workers and slaves. When the tomb/temple was done they usually abandoned the town. That is where my town will get into the picture. It was one of the few towns that got abandoned because of various reasons (Got to make up some reasons tho xP), and the temples purpose became forgotten while the town still were alive. :p
What do you think of that?

Also I have started making some parts of the town too! Ill post some screens soon... :]

[JCity]

:new: Ok here is the screenshots I promised:

This is how my world looks like right now. :bunny:
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5608/kehpri15.png

How the town looks like right now. Ignore that the buildings are pretty much alike and some are not even colored right. I have been messing with how to place the buildings to get those special narrow alleys :)
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2325/kehpri14.png

A little winegarden I made. It's not complete yet tho. Still need to color it and add some details to make it look nice.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/4582/kehpri13.png

Another riverpic. I love to watch how it looks like from the ground :D
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1753/kehpri12.png

Here is the area I have planned for the temple with the tombs to be placed. I have still not figured out the area around it should look like so it wont destroy the whole landscape :P
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/489/kehpri11.png

Riverview from the winegarden. ;) I hate those yellow lines sometimes :faceslap:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6302/kehpri10.png

This was the first building I placed on the world just to get a feeling how small the sims was in comparission to the world. It is just a basic shape right now and I will add more to it later on...
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8783/kehpri8.png

And another overview how much have changed. No massive changes have been made but atleast I'm getting somewhere :D
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7333/kehpri7.png

[sleepalldaypartyallnight]

What I meant was that if you didn't use the pyramids, then your world will be different to the WA location so it wouldn't be like going on holiday to the same place that you live. Hope I made sense that time.

I really like the wine garden, but I'm not sure that you need quite that many plants on the lot next to it (the ones that will grow fruit and veg.) Also, on the wine garden walls you could use some of the other WA wallpaper that matches the one you've already used, but has the bricks in a slightly different order, so that the tilling isn't as obvious.

The building in the town that has a courtyard looks good so far. Is that the closest together you can build the houses? If it is, you could try building more than one on each lot so that you can make them closer together, might help to get the over cramped feeling.

I like the sound of an abandoned town, maybe you could get a curse/plague thing in there as a reason it was abandoned? Dunno . . . thinking out loud. Maybe part of the temple could be starting to turn to ruins?

[JCity]

What I meant was that if you didn't use the pyramids, then your world will be different to the WA location so it wouldn't be like going on holiday to the same place that you live. Hope I made sense that time.
Oh it makes sense now! Didnt think of that in that way but yea it would give abit of more variety :)

I really like the wine garden, but I'm not sure that you need quite that many plants on the lot next to it (the ones that will grow fruit and veg.) Also, on the wine garden walls you could use some of the other WA wallpaper that matches the one you've already used, but has the bricks in a slightly different order, so that the tilling isn't as obvious. As I wrote before I'm going to repaint most of the walls into something different so every building doesnt look like every other house on the map.

The building in the town that has a courtyard looks good so far. Is that the closest together you can build the houses? If it is, you could try building more than one on each lot so that you can make them closer together, might help to get the over cramped feeling.
I was just thinking and begun testing that method but as you can see I have copied alot of the same building. Thats because I want some kind of grid that easy to follow but also be able to delete some of the generic houses and cover the ground with bigger lots. :) But if you want and are able to, you could make some other combinations that I could add to the world, or atleast find some pictures of houses because I have not been able to find that many to copy from :S

I like the sound of an abandoned town, maybe you could get a curse/plague thing in there as a reason it was abandoned? Dunno . . . thinking out loud. Maybe part of the temple could be starting to turn to ruins?
Well see about the story.. I havent desided so much about the temple but you gave me alot of ideas to what to add to it! When they made the temples and tombs many people died under the process because of different reasons so why not add some ghosts and extra mummies that could add to the feeling of both an ancient, haunted tomb? :D
What do you think?

[I'mSimalicious!]

This is beautiful! I'm definitely going to be following this. The way there's so much foliage around the river and then just desert is not only realistic but beautiful!

And those river shots make excellent desktop wallpapers! :P Stunning

I don't know if sleepalldaypartyallnight was talking about this:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1753/kehpri12.png

but I think the amount of plants is perfect!

You should add some cataracts. :)

[sleepalldaypartyallnight]

Actually, this was the picture I was talking about:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6302/kehpri10.png

I think there are too many harvestable plants.

I can't really offer any help right now with regards to building for you, since I'm working on a world of my own, sorry. What I would say is to try just playing around with the shape of you current houses - that is to maybe make some L shaped, some T shaped etc. I don't mean make them obviously that shape, but have some rooms sticking out of the side a bit. Hope I'm making sense, because I couldn't find any good pictures of houses either.

[JCity]

This is beautiful! I'm definitely going to be following this. The way there's so much foliage around the river and then just desert is not only realistic but beautiful!

And those river shots make excellent desktop wallpapers! Stunning

but I think the amount of plants is perfect!

You should add some cataracts.
I'm glad that you like it! :D It almost feels like everyone is more intressted in medival themed things right now that almost noone wants to reply xD

Anyway ill keep in mind to add cataracts while building the rest of the river because its not 100% done yet :)

Actually, this was the picture I was talking about:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6302/kehpri10.png

I think there are too many harvestable plants.

I can't really offer any help right now with regards to building for you, since I'm working on a world of my own, sorry. What I would say is to try just playing around with the shape of you current houses - that is to maybe make some L shaped, some T shaped etc. I don't mean make them obviously that shape, but have some rooms sticking out of the side a bit. Hope I'm making sense, because I couldn't find any good pictures of houses either.

Yea there is abit too many plants xD Ill fix it sooner or later when remaking most of the buildings :p Even if you cannot help in that way, your feedback and ideas is alot of help to me :)

Edit: Today is my littlebrothers birthday so I wont be able to build so much today. One thing tho is that he got the Indiana Jones Lego Game as present and while helping him play the game I'm getting more ideas of traps and such to the tombs xD

[I'mSimalicious!]

The medieval thing is cool and all, and that one medieval world is AMAZING, but we need some other things too! Medieval has always been the popular thing in the Sims from what I've seen. Let's mix it up!

So right now you're working on different houses?

http://www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/ancient-egyptian-houses.html

You can use that basic idea to come up with a variety of unique houses. :P

[JCity]

The medieval thing is cool and all, and that one medieval world is AMAZING, but we need some other things too! Medieval has always been the popular thing in the Sims from what I've seen. Let's mix it up!

So right now you're working on different houses?

http://www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/ancient-egyptian-houses.html

You can use that basic idea to come up with a variety of unique houses. :P
... and it gets more popular with medieval themed stuff when the competision is around. xD

About the link about the house was really useful! It gave my houses more personality and functionality because I usually just added one box, added roof and stairs, doors and windows then it was done but that made the houses abit dull and boring.
Usually in ancient egypt the poorest constructed houses with only one room that was almost empty and sleeped on the roofs under the night. The ones that got the money to afford bigger houses usually had more rooms and the richest decorated their homes in exotic patterns and furniture. But anyway I will make an exeption because gameplay and looks comes first before facts how the houses looked like.

Anyway now its starting to look like a town even if I havent added so many buildings and most of them will get replaced later. xD

Suggest as many features and suggestions as you want! I'm pretty open for all ideas just to make the world look nice and will be fun to play :)

...also if anyone wants better or more detailed pictures of an area/house...whatever in the world just ask! :P

Little update: Ive been working the rest of the day making houses to the town better.
Ive added some new houses, some are smaller for single sims and some are bigger for bigger families or for richer sims.
I have also added a building for courtesans just for fun xD
One thing tho is that the town will have a big market but I have no idea how It should look like... so I need some assistance...
But anyway all feedback are like "shinies" for me 8D....... so keep it comming! :D

[I'mSimalicious!]

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

[JCity]

I havent been able to work so much on the world this week. Mostly because of school but anyway, I have been working abit on the layout of the city. I felt that bigger and more open alleys and roads inside the city was more fitting. I'm getting alot of inspiration from the Assassins Creed games so I may copy abit from it. Another thing that I have found out with the egyptian villages is that they are often built on a slope. But I think I will still go With the more flat look, but I not the ground entirely flat because it look boring. I have also gotten inspiration from Age Of Conan but the towns in that game that are stygian (egyptian) are often very small and the buildings are built into eachother which is abit impossible to do right in The Sims 3. :p

Anyway I will try build abit more today if ai got time ;)

Note: Wrote this reply on my iPhone so I may have spelled some sentences wrong because of the small keyboard xD

[sleepalldaypartyallnight]

Another thing that I have found out with the egyptian villages is that they are often built on a slope. But I think I will still go With the more flat look, but I not the ground entirely flat because it look boring.

Could you maybe try to incorporate the slope thing by doing something like this:

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/7/5/9/3/7/MTS2_sleepalldaypartyallnight_1083305_HillsHouseeg.jpg

That's a very rough drawing, but hopefully you get the idea. I wasn't sure how to explain it!

[JCity]

Could you maybe try to incorporate the slope thing by doing something like this:

(Picture on the above post).

That's a very rough drawing, but hopefully you get the idea. I wasn't sure how to explain it!

Thats a good idea. First I need to test if I can build the houses on slopes without spaces between the ground and the house. If I manage to make it look good I may add "slopehouses" to the town! :)

[sleepalldaypartyallnight]

Thats a good idea. First I need to test if I can build the houses on slopes without spaces between the ground and the house. If I manage to make it look good I may add "slopehouses" to the town! :)

If you're talking about the red house you can do that using a foundation and then use the CFE cheat to level 'proper' walls to the same height as the foundation, or use moveobjects to place the doors and windows. This Tutorial (http://modthesims.info/article.php?t=365964) should help if you don't know what I'm talking about, the walkout basement bit.

[d_are]

This is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen, that is the first thought that came into my head. Its sad that nothing has been posted here for 18 days. :(

[NickelNicole12]

JCity, i would be more than happy to help you in any way at all. Currently im working on a modern world, but i have plenty of time in my days to help you. I really hope you haven't given up on this project. I really like the slope house idea too :)

[JCity]

Its been awhile since I was here. Many things have happened but I havent giving up this project. I will continue making this world when the summer vacation starts because I got alot of things left to do before I can relax and enjoy my summer. ;)

Update!: Since the latest patch I cannot even open CAW, so I hope EA releases a fix very soon or I will not be able to continue...

[NickelNicole12]

Yes, i have been busy too with school work. Luckily, ill be done in a week and a half :)

[JCity]

A little update!
I have been away abit and now have come back to pick up my project. Now I have upgraded my OS to Windows 7 so now maybe things will work better, hopefully... Anyway If the reinstalling and everything works well (and no patches destroys my work) I will continue making this world pretty soon! ;)

[JCity]

Okey! It has been awhile since I worked on this project but since I have got Late Night now I desided to continue on it. Unfortunately I am pretty interested at making a city instead of a old egyptian village (which is also little hard to make :| ). I really want to use the new shiny skyscrapers but I dont think they will fit... So, any ideas?

[Robodl95]

This is a great world, if you don't plan on continuing (I know it's hard to continue with a project that you don't have the heart for...) would you consider making the CAW files public? Then someone might be able to finish it. It's better then all your work going down the tubes.

[JCity]

This is a great world, if you don't plan on continuing (I know it's hard to continue with a project that you don't have the heart for...) would you consider making the CAW files public? Then someone might be able to finish it. It's better then all your work going down the tubes.

Thanks :)

I'm checking the map right now and trying to figure out how to continue. Its only the town I am abit worried about. If I continue like before on it, there will almost be no rabbitholes and such.

Anyway If I stop continuing making this world I consider sharing it.

[jje1000]

You can do a modern-day city set in the desert, i.e. Cairo, Alexandria, Dubai. Something fictionalized, with a greater ancient Egyptian influence.

It would be pretty interesting to see the ruins and city mingle together.

[JCity]

You can do a modern-day city set in the desert, i.e. Cairo, Alexandria, Dubai. Something fictionalized, with a greater ancient Egyptian influence.

It would be pretty interesting to see the ruins and city mingle together.

Good idea!
I have actually tested making some modern buildings in the town using reference pictures from Cairo. I will check the rest of the towns you mentioned so I can get more ideas how the buildings should look like. Right now I think I'm going for a richer tourist and shopping district close to the sea and a more ghettolike district with older buildings. :D



Small update:

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/6702/screenshotnz.jpg
Minor changes to the river.
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9644/screenshot3ki.jpg
Overview. Note that the old houses has been removed since I am working on the town layout. Also the small house Ive placed are just to know how big the area is.
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/2844/screenshot4rd.jpg
My new background :lol: Ahem! Anyway Ive tested adding terrain outside of the map for some mixed results. Its not visible here but It still needs some tweaking to make it look right.
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3282/screenshot2cq.jpg
New area I'm working on. I will make sure that the edge of the map is hidden and unoticable later. But I think I have to remake it to be able to hide the edge.
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9194/screenshot5kr.jpg
Some minor changes here too. Changed the bridge and testing roads. I am still not sure if I should add modern roads since they dont fit at all.

[JCity]

Ok another update!

Not a major one tho xD


http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1643/screenshot6gd.jpg

I will change some roads into dirt ones soon but I'm having a hard time to deside if I should add pathways or more roads because right now they are pretty much spread apart from eachother.

Any suggestions?

[I'mSimalicious!]

I love the foliage! <3

[TenderWolf]

I'm so glad someone is making an Egyptian world! I've been wanting one of those for so long! I do hope you finish it, as it's looking incredible! But if you don't, I do hope you link the files here so that I may be able to finish it; I won't upload it to the Exchange though, I just want it to play in. :) Keep up the good work!

[jje1000]

For the area near the distant terrain object, I'd suggest making the area across the water from the object more rugged and less green. Nice terrain painting, by the way :)

A few pictures of possible reference:

Giza/Cairo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abufaiqa/4530240969/sizes/l/in/photostream/
You can probably dig up quite a lot of pictures from here
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2102

Dubai (some pictures around here)
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=448
Abu Dhabi- Masdar City (Some nice renders on the first page)
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1023149

[happyjme]

Ive always loved how the rich green grass looked against the sand in WA Egypt. This looks just as beautiful and I love the idea of a modern city in the desert. Keep up the good work! Also google pictures of "Egyptian revival architecture" and see what comes up. Most are actually victorian or art deco period buildings and houses that were build in urban citys.

[wormwoodz]

Wow... oh my, I'd be reallly interested in play testing this hood when it's finished. When WA came out and I saw the egypt world, I wish I had a liveable world in that theme (but was always too lazy to try to make it myself). So far is looking very good, and has a lot of potential for greatness.

Please keep it up! I'll keep an eye on this thread ;)

[TenderWolf]

How goes the world? Still working on it? :) I love seeing it every time I come here!

[qpldmff]

Cool. What will you call it?

[aaron2140p]

I really want this! D: Please post the files?

[armiel]

The last activity of the original poster has been 18th Nov 2010, so please do not post to this thread until the OP posts first. :)