Things you can do

[ladyskye]

I was unsure whether to put this under gameplay or information. I chose information to keep it safe. A little while ago we had a thread discussing kitchens and what not.

There's quite a bit you can do in the game. I made the two gardens on each side of the castle. One is a meditation garden and the other is a chess garden. With buydebug on I was able to use the herb spawners to pseudo landscape with. And it gives my Master Spy plenty of places to gather herbs that are quite close buy without having to take days to travel the kingdom. These also regenerate faster, than if you use the ones that come in the game. I was able to use the Jacoban cathedral windows in the throne room and in my spy's private quarters. No other windows are available in buydebug on which is odd since the Peteran windows and the plain windows should show up but don't You will have to use your ?key to lower the windows as they start out quite high.

I used mineral spawners and herb spawners around the blacksmith shop and the merchants yard. If you use wildflowers to landscape the merchant yard she/he will not have to wander from literally one end of the kingdom to the other gathering them. I also added an extra mail drop. It is usable but the Sims will walk right through it so it's a little freaky.

But a word of warning using the buydebug on. Whatever you put in the game will stay in the game. You have to use the undo function to get rid of whatever you placed, so choose wisely. If you have saved, have auto save, or have gone on to another piece of property, you're stuck with what you did. You will still be able to move whatever it is, but you can't sell/delete it.

The fountain in the meditation garden was created with the move objects on and I added the two statues on each side of the fountain.
I found that with the tavern I could sink the corner fireplace well into the wall thus saving space and still retaining function. If you do this in a room that has another room directly to the side, it will cut through the wall and show on the other side. The wine casks can be sunk into the wall by quite a bit as well and still function creating much more room upstairs for the Bard.

There are a number of rabbit warren hallways that are behind walls and rooms that you can accidentally get into when trying to deal with camera views when decorating. Should you find yourself in one of these, add a wall lamp and a chamber pot. I think the Sims are programmed with certain functions and will use your personal quarters less when they have these stupid chamber pots left randomly in these empty hallways. At least I've had fewer staff wandering into the Queen's private chamber since I started doing that.

Anybody else got any creative uses for stuff someone hasn't shared yet? I'd sure like to hear it. It keeps the game from getting boring.

[Moraelin]

Personally I've misused the merchant's place for such extra items, since he has a lot of buildable place outside there.

So I've placed for a start a tactical map in the middle of his "garden", so he can check what each province buys and sells right there. Makes sense, I think, since sailing and trading IS his primary occupation. Yeah, I could just exit to kingdom and check the map there, but this seemed more in-character that he'd buy and check his own physical, in-game map.

Then I've placed a second mailbox right outside his fence, on the right side as he exits (or your left as you look at his house), towards the smiths hut. The congestion at the lone post box in the town square got on my nerves at times, especially as some sims seem to hog it for an hour in a row. So the good merchant now sponsored a second pigeon nest, and everyone living around that market rejoiced. Plus, it seemed sorta in-character, as a merchant would do a lot of business correspondence. And since it's placed against the fence, nobody walks through it either.

Third, he's also invested in a card game table and chess table placed in front of the house, inside his market's fence, to draw in the customers. Seems to actually work pretty well too, as between the tactical map and those, quite a few people seem to wander in from the town square to play. Then they can be persuaded to buy a brand new map to Effenmont or Gastrobury or other such vital items that no peasant should be without ;)

Fourth, as a devout Peteran, he's provided an evangelism podium right in front of his gate. Helps a lot with the evangelism, because between the people in the town square and those at the market, it provides quite the audience. Besides, it's a Peteran kingdom with a Peteran king, so who's gonna complain to whom about evangelizing in the town square? :p

Well, that's about it for the merchant.

Windows... yeah, I've added a few windows to some of the taller buildings too, because honestly, it looks silly to live in a room with torches and without fresh air. Sounds like a recipe to, you know, wake up dead. I'll concur that more windows available would be very nice.

Another thing I found very useful is the chandelier on a short beam and short chain, as seen in the doctor's clinic. It's quite bright and it's high up, so it doesn't block my view, nor does it make me desperately turn the camera to click on a sim behind the chandelier. The normal ones tend to be either too low or have a too long chain, so if placed higher, the chain pokes through the roof. This one is perfect for a bunch of buidlings, including the smithy, barracks, etc, even without adjusting the height. (But not so much for places with a one-tile wall height.)

[ladyskye]

Cool. Love the ideas. I've got an herb garden and some gambling tables and an evangelism podium in my practice grounds. Another great place to find wholly usable wasted space.

(Sigh) I guess I lived in too many basement apartments. I love windows.

I would absolutely love it if there was a way to put huge rocks over all the broken up stuff in my kingdom but the game doesn't let me into buy mode unless I'm furnishing a property. I wonder if there's a way to overcome that. Ah well.

[Moraelin]

Ah, right. Great idea. I should definitely have a look at those training grounds.

Edit: Also, good thinking with those drapes at the windows. I'll definitely have to do that for my added windows too.

[GayleForceM]

Oh wow - what wonderful suggestions! I've got most of the mods in my game, but please tell me what the herb and mineral spawners are and how to place windows. Thanks so much!

[DarthKitsune]

you need to enable buy debug.

[ladyskye]

Oh wow - what wonderful suggestions! I've got most of the mods in my game, but please tell me what the herb and mineral spawners are and how to place windows. Thanks so much!

You need to open your cheat bar, and type in buydebug on.
This will open up a number of things that are used in the game and make them available to be gotten in buy mode. The herb spawners are labeled as such and shouldn't be confused with the graphic of the plant as it appears in your inventory. You can see both with buydebug on. Herb spawners are the things that are placed around your kingdom where the various herb plants are. They allow you to harvest the herbs over and over again in a specific place. There are also fish and mineral spawners. Before I closed the last time I was going to see if you could put a fish spawner on dry land, but my brain blew it off.

The windows are in buy debug on. You can use those big cathedral windows on walls that span two stories. Not so much in say the upstairs room of the bard or the doctor. You will have to use your ?key to lower the windows to the place you want them on your wall. They start out quite high. These are the blue stained glass Jacoban Cathedral windows. They are the only ones available.

There are also several buildings in it. You can put any of the buildings on your practice ground, but you can't use them. They just sit there like big useless statues taking up space.

You have to use your undo button to remove things you've placed but don't like, when you put them there. You can neither sell them or delete them, you must undo them. DO NOT save until you have what you want. If you have gone into Kingdom mode and gone to another piece of property, you will have to exit the game without saving to get rid of what you did if you don't like it. IF YOU SAVE YOU ARE REALLY, REALLY STUCK WITH WHAT YOU DID. You will have to delete your Kingdom if you save something you did in buydebug on and don't want to keep it. So be cautious when you use it.

[lirien]

This thread really inspired me to get into the world of building "outside the box," so thank you for that! I'll get more into depth later, but one thing that made me pretty excited was that I found out I could make a little drinking/resting spot at the water mill in my kingdom of Rivens Rook (using shift-click and then "Buy on this lot").

Bigger pics and more to come on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivens_rook

[ladyskye]

Wow, that's really cool! I'll have to do something there.

[Outfit_Planner]

To the training grounds I added a public screened bath complete with tub and chamber pot. I also did the same in the town square. That seems to keep non hero sims happy and not so much underfoot.

[Outfit_Planner]

This thread really inspired me to get into the world of building "outside the box," so thank you for that! I'll get more into depth later, but one thing that made me pretty excited was that I found out I could make a little drinking/resting spot at the water mill in my kingdom of Rivens Rook (using shift-click and then "Buy on this lot").

Bigger pics and more to come on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivens_rook

Yes, I will have to steal this idea. :beer:

[ladyskye]

Thanks to lirien I thought of something else. I remodeled the watcher's pavilion.

I deleted the fountain. I then used moveobjects on to back up the watcher ladies into the columns after aligning them. I aligned the couches and butted them up against the stone as far as I could without the stone showing through. I sank the candlesticks of the floorlamps into the stone. I added the circular carpet and did the 3 center channels in the same star pattern. I added the planters at the 2 entries and added the Peteran and Jacoban (watcher doesn't play favorites here) vow palls. Finally at the center of the round rug, I added a fish spawner.

So you can sit, relax, sleep on the couches, meditate or pray at the stones, and fish if you so desire. I will probably develop the rest of the property later, but for now I have to get some sleep.

Thank you again, lirien for the idea.

[lirien]

Aw, I'm glad people are getting inspired! And that use of fish spawners is brilliant, LadySkye - I'm stealing that next ;)

Here are a few more ideas that may help get that creativity going (get comfortable, because this is a long one):

1. 30% less useless Kingball Court: I used moveobjects on to stack one of the two dirt-and-stone courts into the other, and then moved the fancy one over, creating an open space in the back. It's now a medieval gym of sorts :p Which is helpful because my training grounds no longer resembles anything close to a training grounds. (The seats are there for Sims to ostensibly watch Kingball matches, but they can actually only watch standing up...)

2 and 3. The Lighthouse: Again, I made a little area for Sims to drink, relax, and enjoy an amazing view of the docks. Popular with courting Sims.

4. The Training Grounds: Very much a work in progress, but I added a Watcher's Pavilion (with buydebug), as an outdoor library (in my head, it's called the "Royal Pavilion"). Sims WILL walk through it, so I buried vases along the perimeter to help with routing. Also, as you see, there is nary a training dummy in sight - I buried the one required one in the fountain.

5 and 6. Reception Hall: I began to notice that dignitaries were always loitering OUTSIDE the reception hall, where there was nothing, so I built them a courtyard! Now at least they look like they have a purpose. After building this courtyard, I got a little obsessed and built everyone courtyards. Also, as you can see, you can lower one of the wall lights to make makeshift fence lights, but the bracket part will still peek out at the bottom. You can determine how much that bugs you.

WORD OF WARNING: Those venturing for the first time into the world of "illegal building" need to do so with caution. Building too far past the boundaries will make the game recognize what you put there as part of the world, which means it will be permanent, irremovable, and will often toggle weirdly between invisibility and visibility (learned a lot the hard way...). What I do is take a piece of fencing and use it to determine the very edges of the lot (just how far it takes before the green becomes red), and then take care to only build ONE HALF TILE behind it.

[ladyskye]

These are really, really great ideas! Somehow we have managed building on a limited basis even when no build function has been allowed. Awesome.

[ripple]

Thanks for starting this thread ladyskye, I've finally gotten around to playing with buydebug and moveobjects. :)

I've always found the blacksmith's stall to be an eyesore and a camera annoyance, so here's what I have attempted to do:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a152/hurting29/Sims%20Medieval/th_smithy.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a152/hurting29/Sims%20Medieval/smithy.jpg)

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a152/hurting29/Sims%20Medieval/th_Screenshot.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a152/hurting29/Sims%20Medieval/Screenshot.jpg)

I've moved the stall into the building and covered the wooden walls on the side of the building with stone ones where the stall use to be (and placed a bench there). No longer do I need to angle the camera to get a better view of the stall nor does it zoom out automatically when I rotate it a certain way. This is still a 'work in progress.' Initially I was just trying to find a 'work around' for non-paying customers standing in front of the stall, blocking paying ones. It didn't help so much with that, but it did help to raise my blacksmith's focus when she is hustling customers after the interior of the blacksmithy was decorated, and she no longer has to walk outside to 'open shop' but can forge and sell at the same time.

I did find that if you put an obstacle in front of the stall where the purchase transactions take place, and move it just after your blacksmith succeeds in 'asking a customer to buy', it does help to address the issue of 'stall blocking sims', until we come up with a TSM hack that allows the blacksmith and the merchant to forgo walking to the stall to complete transactions. I am entertaining screenshot suggestions on how the smithy can be better decorated. While the high 'room environment' rating is there to generated the 'beautifully decorated' moodlet, it still looks kind of sparse right now.

Also, has anyone experimented with 'tinting' from Grim's Core mod?

Also, does anyone mind posting caps of their clinics? I've moved the operating table to the entrance room and expedite patient care, but I don't know what to do with the other first floor room now.

[ladyskye]

Great idea for the blacksmith stall. I'm going to have to give that one a go. I have used the tinting for quite a number of things but mainly the fireplaces and the cask. I also tinted the Jacoban cathedral a slightly darker gray and the Peteran church a brighter white since most of that kingdom has turned out to be Peteran. Sometimes the tinting works very well, but if you try tinting the tavern wood then it turns the entire tavern brown and looks a little wierd.

I'm not sure what I would do with the doctors second room other than put the archive and the crafting table there. Of course if your doctor is married and has kids I guess you could put a sitting room and dining room downstairs and put the bedrooms upstairs. That way you could make it private to the household. But since children aren't involved in any of my games, that's one thing I don't have to make space for. But it's my best idea for what to do with the doctor's second room.

I do have some pics of my clinic in my albums listed on the page set aside for our pics, but my operating table is in that second room, so I don't know how helpful that will be. The link to the album is here if you want to look. I think there are 3 of them having to do with the doctor.
https://picasaweb.google.com/111279352182722303141/AlbumOfQueenIsabeauOfNavaronne?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Any thoughts, anybody? Need pics of unique Clinics. Ripple's looking for ideas...

[ladyskye]

Ripple; I threw this together just to give you an idea of what I was talking about. It isn't decorated very well, but I hope it gives you an idea or two of what to do with that second room. My doctor is earthy and scholarly so doing the outdoor garden he has a place to read and still get the great outdoors buff. He can collect the herbs he needs without wandering all over the kingdom. I added two leech spawners over by the message box so he doesn't have to walk half a day to get leeches.

[Impatiens]

These are all awesome suggestions! I'm going to have to play around some with making courtyards and gardens especially! I'd love to see more screenshots of fun things people have done.

[ShadowTek]

I used all the ideas here thanks and nice work :) How did you modify the game lot?

[DarthKitsune]

I've had so much fun modifying my kingdom, thanks for the awesome ideas. anyone recreated the Watcher's Pavilion from the dream demon quest?

[ladyskye]

I used all the ideas here thanks and nice work :) How did you modify the game lot?

I did it when playing my Monarch. I used shift+click and then chose buy on this lot. I imagine you can do it with any Hero, but in my experimental Kingdom (in the Eternal Kingdom) that I only use for playing with lots and whatnot, there is only a monarch. The money for the modifications come out of the money of the Hero you're playing when you do it. So far my Monarch in my other games has had the biggest pot. Otherwise you can use a 'motherlode' or two to do it.

[Outfit_Planner]

In the spaces behind the lower level of the castle I added wall lights, 2 pistores, 2 back room beds and 2 bath tubs.
To do this you need buydebug on and moveobjects on. The back room bed is a grey cube. Since I now have 4 advisors, this keeps them from filling all the benches up when they need a nap. It also keeps traffic down outside the monarch's bathroom.
Since I now have 4x the guards, I also bought some more guard positions for the castle. In buydebug this is the shield icon which becomes a red cube in furnish mode. It is invisible in play mode.

By the by, has anyone figured out what the green cube is?

[ladyskye]

In the spaces behind the lower level of the castle I added wall lights, 2 pistores, 2 back room beds and 2 bath tubs.
To do this you need buydebug on and moveobjects on. The back room bed is a grey cube. Since I now have 4 advisors, this keeps them from filling all the benches up when they need a nap. It also keeps traffic down outside the monarch's bathroom.
Since I now have 4x the guards, I also bought some more guard positions for the castle. In buydebug this is the shield icon which becomes a red cube in furnish mode. It is invisible in play mode.

By the by, has anyone figured out what the green cube is?

Not sure what the green cube does. You can add guard posts anywhere when you use the shield icon, but when I tried cloning the red cubes themselves I had to use ctrl+alt+delete to shut my game down because it froze. I'll fool with the green cube tomorrow. I have to work tonight but have tomorrow and friday off.

[venusdemilosimmer]

One thing I've done (very minor) is I've put a bard's stage in the reception hall. Now my bard spends more time at the castle than at the tavern. Makes sense, I suppose.

[ladyskye]

One thing I've done (very minor) is I've put a bard's stage in the reception hall. Now my bard spends more time at the castle than at the tavern. Makes sense, I suppose.

I guess if it gets really busy there you can get more inspiration and make more money that way. If you were able to hide an archive there somewhere you could write there as well. I guess you could put one outside or something. Can a bard use a scribe's desk to write or just an archive? Never tried the scribes desk.

[ladyskye]

In the spaces behind the lower level of the castle I added wall lights, 2 pistores, 2 back room beds and 2 bath tubs.
To do this you need buydebug on and moveobjects on. The back room bed is a grey cube. Since I now have 4 advisors, this keeps them from filling all the benches up when they need a nap. It also keeps traffic down outside the monarch's bathroom.
Since I now have 4x the guards, I also bought some more guard positions for the castle. In buydebug this is the shield icon which becomes a red cube in furnish mode. It is invisible in play mode.

By the by, has anyone figured out what the green cube is?

I'm still not all that sure what the green cube does for sure. Can someone with some time do an experiment for me? Could you pick out a spot that you can remember, like right at the end of a railing. Dig for treasure. Then fill in the hole and place the green cube there in the same spot and dig for treasure again. I think it might be a treasure spawner, but I'm not really sure. (And unlike most stuff in buydebug on, this can be deleted.) Post if you find out anything. I'm not sure because all the stuff that came with Pirates is marked as such.

[venusdemilosimmer]

I guess if it gets really busy there you can get more inspiration and make more money that way. If you were able to hide an archive there somewhere you could write there as well. I guess you could put one outside or something. Can a bard use a scribe's desk to write or just an archive? Never tried the scribes desk.

This happens even when I'm NOT playing the bard, she is more often at the court than at the tavern. It makes sense, I suppose, in medieval times a lot of bards were also entertainment for the king/queen and their court. You'd be surprised how busy the reception hall gets, so does the throne room. I sometimes wish the clubs in Sims 3 Late Night would be that packed.

So far I haven't tried the scribe's desk either. I have had other heroes use the scribe's desk in quests -- even the merchant had to use it.

[ShadowTek]

I did it when playing my Monarch. I used shift+click and then chose buy on this lot. I imagine you can do it with any Hero, but in my experimental Kingdom (in the Eternal Kingdom) that I only use for playing with lots and whatnot, there is only a monarch. The money for the modifications come out of the money of the Hero you're playing when you do it. So far my Monarch in my other games has had the biggest pot. Otherwise you can use a 'motherlode' or two to do it.

Thanks that worked :)

[ShadowTek]

Thanks for the tip off of the grey cube, I use a mod that also doubles the staff, also I added one to places like the tavern as the bar maid has nowhere to sleep.

I also added a bunch of bathtubs in the hallway in castle so the npcs would not always use my familys bathtub.. it would be cool if there was a mod so that only family members of that building could enter a room, like my royal bed chambers, and kids room, if only my family could enter these rooms, I know theres a lock door mod in grimms core, but that doesn't help as if locked, nobody can enter. mabey a mod that does what grimms mod does but family members can pass.. now that would be cool :)

Also I moved a door to another room, will that work? the side door on the wall in upper castle room, I moved from the left/center room to the right/center room.. is that ok?

[DarthKitsune]

I deleted all that extra stuff from the docks, it was just clutter that you couldn't interact with. My docks are nice and clean now!

[happyopi]

it would be cool if there was a mod so that only family members of that building could enter a room, like my royal bed chambers, and kids room, if only my family could enter these rooms

I'm fairly certain that is an option shipped with the current patch, you have to click on the floor of whatever room you want to lock and set the privacy.
It is kind of working ok for me, I guess.



And thank you people for the grey cube tip ! Will try it asap
I grew tired of seeing my barman's wife (rightclicked him to woo her) attempting to sleep in my bard's bed. And failing because it was assigned to the bard.

[TotallyNewHere]

well i'm kinda' finished with p&n. any chances tsm will get another adventure pack?

if i see a stuff pack for it i'll kill myself

[Outfit_Planner]

Thanks for the tip off of the grey cube, I use a mod that also doubles the staff, also I added one to places like the tavern as the bar maid has nowhere to sleep.

I also added a bunch of bathtubs in the hallway in castle so the npcs would not always use my familys bathtub.. it would be cool if there was a mod so that only family members of that building could enter a room, like my royal bed chambers, and kids room, if only my family could enter these rooms, I know theres a lock door mod in grimms core, but that doesn't help as if locked, nobody can enter. mabey a mod that does what grimms mod does but family members can pass.. now that would be cool :)

Also I moved a door to another room, will that work? the side door on the wall in upper castle room, I moved from the left/center room to the right/center room.. is that ok?
I think if you move the doors, they just walk through the walls, IDK. If you click on the floor during live play the 'privacy' option comes up and you can select for family only.

[ShadowTek]

I'm fairly certain that is an option shipped with the current patch, you have to click on the floor of whatever room you want to lock and set the privacy.
It is kind of working ok for me, I guess.



And thank you people for the grey cube tip ! Will try it asap
I grew tired of seeing my barman's wife (rightclicked him to woo her) attempting to sleep in my bard's bed. And failing because it was assigned to the bard.

Well I'll be damned, why on earth did I not see that before, it has four options.. Great post!!! Thank you for pointing that out!! It seems to work as they will walk to enter, then turn around and leave, very cool!! Thanks big time for that.

You can assign beds to people?

[almir_game]

Wow, I love all the ideas I see here. But I have one question. Does putting extra furniture in these zones have any possibility of interfering with quests. For example: I'm planing on making hunting camp in front of forest, but in one of the quests that free space is used to place stuff that are used in quest (another hunting camp - that's where I got my idea from).

So have any of you had any problems with this?

[DarthKitsune]

The game will remove you add-ons and put the presets there instead. I wait until I'm done questing to decorate the non-housing lots.

[FireBendess]

I need to remodel my stuff... question. How do I lower the window height?

Edit: Never mind, found it :D

[ChickieTeeta]

But a word of warning using the buydebug on. Whatever you put in the game will stay in the game. You have to use the undo function to get rid of whatever you placed, so choose wisely. If you have saved, have auto save, or have gone on to another piece of property, you're stuck with what you did. You will still be able to move whatever it is, but you can't sell/delete it.

Thanks for posting this, thought I was going insane trying to get back in to change something I'd done to the castle garden lol.
I found though that I was unable to move the object I picked up and could only sell/delete it.
I think you started this thread a while ago, so don't know if something has changed since you posted this, although I'm using shift-click 'buy on this lot', which I think is not the same as 'buydebug on' since I don't have access to the spawners (not that I've noticed anyway)
I've found that my camera won't autotrack a sim now if they're up the stair, it will swing to the correct spot but on the lower level. Just in this one kingdom, the rest of my kingdom castles still work fine, (even the other one I re-did the garden in.) The camera worked ok before I altered the castle garden, so thought it probably has something to do with this.
You seem to have played around a lot with decorating the no-go areas, is this something you've experienced before?
It's a brand new kingdom so haven't done anything else to it that I shouldn't have. Would be nice to know if you've found a specific area that shouldn't have an object placed on it so I can avoid it in future kingdoms.

[ladyskye]

Thanks for posting this, thought I was going insane trying to get back in to change something I'd done to the castle garden lol.
I found though that I was unable to move the object I picked up and could only sell/delete it.
I think you started this thread a while ago, so don't know if something has changed since you posted this, although I'm using shift-click 'buy on this lot', which I think is not the same as 'buydebug on' since I don't have access to the spawners (not that I've noticed anyway)
I've found that my camera won't autotrack a sim now if they're up the stair, it will swing to the correct spot but on the lower level. Just in this one kingdom, the rest of my kingdom castles still work fine, (even the other one I re-did the garden in.) The camera worked ok before I altered the castle garden, so thought it probably has something to do with this.
You seem to have played around a lot with decorating the no-go areas, is this something you've experienced before?
It's a brand new kingdom so haven't done anything else to it that I shouldn't have. Would be nice to know if you've found a specific area that shouldn't have an object placed on it so I can avoid it in future kingdoms.

Not sure what caused the camera tracking problem. Can't say as I've had that problem. When you use the buydebug on there is a plethora of stuff available to you. You will find the wizards tower and all sorts of things. But you can't use the extra buildings they're just big space takers. Someone did a post on the castle gardens they had buily to the side of the castle. Be careful not to move anything too close to the property boundries. Otherwise, I didn't find any spot that I wanted to steer clear of because it caused problems with the camera view or with game play. You will notice little red cubes if you use buydebug on. These little red cubes are your sentry stations. If you put furniture too close to them you will end up with route fail problems. Also I did run into the problem of not being able to delete certain things that I picked up with buydebug on if I had already saved or left the property. But other than that, I haven't found too many problems. If you read through the thread you will see some of the things that people have created and also a couple of the problems they ran into.

But I don't know what's causing your camera problem or why it would stop tracking your active Sim correctly. I've now made well over 70 Kingdoms and haven't had camera tracking problems with any of the 'wow,-I-didn't-know-I-could-put-stuff-here' areas. It's just been a trial and error crapshoot since nobody realized you could do some of this stuff until some of us got bored without our Sims build function and started to experiment. I found out I could make the Jacoban Cathedral more interesting by adding a fish spawner and letting people fish there.

If anybody has had this problem please let ChickieTeeta know and also what you did to correct it and if you know what caused it.

[ChickieTeeta]

Not sure what caused the camera tracking problem. Can't say as I've had that problem. When you use the buydebug on there is a plethora of stuff available to you. You will find the wizards tower and all sorts of things. But you can't use the extra buildings they're just big space takers. Someone did a post on the castle gardens they had buily to the side of the castle. Be careful not to move anything too close to the property boundries. Otherwise, I didn't find any spot that I wanted to steer clear of because it caused problems with the camera view or with game play. You will notice little red cubes if you use buydebug on. These little red cubes are your sentry stations. If you put furniture too close to them you will end up with route fail problems. Also I did run into the problem of not being able to delete certain things that I picked up with buydebug on if I had already saved or left the property. But other than that, I haven't found too many problems. If you read through the thread you will see some of the things that people have created and also a couple of the problems they ran into.

But I don't know what's causing your camera problem or why it would stop tracking your active Sim correctly. I've now made well over 70 Kingdoms and haven't had camera tracking problems with any of the 'wow,-I-didn't-know-I-could-put-stuff-here' areas. It's just been a trial and error crapshoot since nobody realized you could do some of this stuff until some of us got bored without our Sims build function and started to experiment. I found out I could make the Jacoban Cathedral more interesting by adding a fish spawner and letting people fish there.

If anybody has had this problem please let ChickieTeeta know and also what you did to correct it and if you know what caused it.

'Buy on this lot' is different then, I don't see the cubes. I only gingerly redecorate 'no-go' areas, I've only done the side gardens at the castle so far, moved the messenger post, put things either side of the stairs and on the part overlooking the stream outside the castle walkway object where no sim goes anyway. I'm always afraid I'll mess something up badly and not be able to fix it, I'm normally really careful where I put forbidden items.
The camera thing isn't a big deal, it's only the tracking, I can still get to the monarch by clicking the button to view up the stairs, and the tracking on every other lot is still fine.
Was just curious. Thank you for your reply :)

I looked at this thread a while back, I recall you renovating the pavilion with spawners and a mystical look. I really liked that, if I ever get the nerve to use buydebug I'll probably try doing that first.

[ChickieTeeta]

I started the game to test my stand alone no jealousy mod and ended up building uber fountains, adds a whole new level of fun =D
I put in the lion head fountain with the waterfall, and the 'small waterfall' sound file, it sounds excellent, definitely what the ones in the reception halls are missing. Tried out the fish spawners too.

Do you know what the various balls are for? There's no description only a string of numbers, and I'm not brave enough to throw one in.
I assume the backroom bed square works? I threw a few beds from buy mode into a corridor in one of my castles a while back, can't say I noticed it making a huge difference. If these squares work (and I assume they do) is it one square per bedless sim, or does it just direct all bedless sims to the corridor it's in? Just curious I'll check that out at some point , but if you know the answer I'd be glad to hear it.

[ladyskye]

I started the game to test my stand alone no jealousy mod and ended up building uber fountains, adds a whole new level of fun =D
I put in the lion head fountain with the waterfall, and the 'small waterfall' sound file, it sounds excellent, definitely what the ones in the reception halls are missing. Tried out the fish spawners too.

Do you know what the various balls are for? There's no description only a string of numbers, and I'm not brave enough to throw one in.
I assume the backroom bed square works? I threw a few beds from buy mode into a corridor in one of my castles a while back, can't say I noticed it making a huge difference. If these squares work (and I assume they do) is it one square per bedless sim, or does it just direct all bedless sims to the corridor it's in? Just curious I'll check that out at some point , but if you know the answer I'd be glad to hear it.

I started fooling with the balls and almost immediately stopped. Whenever I added one and then tried to save, I ended up having an endless save loop that I had to use C+Alt+Delete to shut the game down. It crashed the game every time I used one. So I never figured out what they were. I think they are some kind of coding for particular actions or things.

If there is a search function on the coding tool you use for mods then try copy and paste the number string into the search function and you may get an answer. They may be coding markers used with the different building and place functions in the game. I don't know what the green cube is for either. If you are able to find out, let me know because I'm curious.

[ChickieTeeta]

I started fooling with the balls and almost immediately stopped. Whenever I added one and then tried to save, I ended up having an endless save loop that I had to use C+Alt+Delete to shut the game down. It crashed the game every time I used one. So I never figured out what they were. I think they are some kind of coding for particular actions or things.

If there is a search function on the coding tool you use for mods then try copy and paste the number string into the search function and you may get an answer. They may be coding markers used with the different building and place functions in the game. I don't know what the green cube is for either. If you are able to find out, let me know because I'm curious.

Oh I came across a few of those balls that were social jigs, don't know if they all are though and it didn't say which was which.
I saw the green cube while I was looking for the red one, and wondered what that was for too. I couldn't find the red one though, and didn't want to try and clone the ones that were there, incase that caused problems.

*EDIT* Meant to say that I fixed the problem with the camera tracking. I'd put a spit in the castle garden forgetting that it's used from the side and not the front. I had to move it inside the castle and the camera worked again.
Don't really see why this would have caused a problem since I have items in the exact same place in other kingdoms and never had a problem with that.

[ladyskye]

Oh I came across a few of those balls that were social jigs, don't know if they all are though and it didn't say which was which.
I saw the green cube while I was looking for the red one, and wondered what that was for too. I couldn't find the red one though, and didn't want to try and clone the ones that were there, incase that caused problems.

*EDIT* Meant to say that I fixed the problem with the camera tracking. I'd put a spit in the castle garden forgetting that it's used from the side and not the front. I had to move it inside the castle and the camera worked again.
Don't really see why this would have caused a problem since I have items in the exact same place in other kingdoms and never had a problem with that.

I tried cloning the red ones and had the same freeze/crash problems. (Now this may be something that my computer does and that yours will not. I play on a laptop and the game does have some issues with laptops.) But I was never able to establish what the green cube does. There is a white ball called magic that I tried placing and again had the freeze/crash every time I used it.

[ChickieTeeta]

I tried cloning the red ones and had the same freeze/crash problems. (Now this may be something that my computer does and that yours will not. I play on a laptop and the game does have some issues with laptops.) But I was never able to establish what the green cube does. There is a white ball called magic that I tried placing and again had the freeze/crash every time I used it.

I saw the white one too, again not really brave enough to place it. I wonder if it has something to do with placing the wizards tower building into the game when you buy it?
Yeah I figured if the red cubes weren't even available in buydebug mode then placing more might not be such a good idea and again my bravery problems lol. Have you tried moving the ones already placed to different places? If you have, does it object to that too? I assume there's been no sign of a green cube anywhere that's already been placed by the game? I also have to assume that with 70 or so kingdoms you must have redecorated absolutely every part by now, so would have come across the green cube somewhere by now if it were there.

[ladyskye]

I saw the white one too, again not really brave enough to place it. I wonder if it has something to do with placing the wizards tower building into the game when you buy it?
Yeah I figured if the red cubes weren't even available in buydebug mode then placing more might not be such a good idea and again my bravery problems lol. Have you tried moving the ones already placed to different places? If you have, does it object to that too? I assume there's been no sign of a green cube anywhere that's already been placed by the game? I also have to assume that with 70 or so kingdoms you must have redecorated absolutely every part by now, so would have come across the green cube somewhere by now if it were there.

I have not, as yet encountered the green cube. Do not place the white pearl marble ball in the extra wizards tower. It will freeze and crash. Tried that.

You can move the red ones around. Just remember that a person will be standing there and make sure you have enough room around the furniture and doorways or you'll have a routefail and your guards will have tantrums.

I noticed that with the Populous Mod the red cube popped up in the buydebug. Now it could also be that I started a new kingdom at the time. If you just started using the buydebug in an already established kingdom it may be that you need to start a new kingdom to have them show up. Could also be that you need to have your security at a certain level. I'm not sure why they suddenly became available in buydebug, experiment a little. As for many, many Kingdoms; every time I picked up a new mod or started experimenting with new places to put stuff, I started a new kingdom so I wouldn't screw up any of the ones I was questing or decorating in until I was sure what I was doing would work. (They're easy enough to delete when I'm done. That's how I dealt with the ones that I put buydebug stuff in that I couldn't delete.) But I also like to decorate. I really miss my build function and my building save function. And again, thus far, never once have I seen the green cube.

Be brave and start a new kingdom in the Eternal Kingdom Ambition where you can experiment at will. You can always Ctrl+Alt+Delete out if you have to and all the mistakes you made will go away. You can delete the Kingdom without much guilt if you have to. If you have your testing cheats enabled set KP 9999 and you can put all your buildings in at once. Then motherlode up your funds and start experimenting with what you can and can't do. Since you can't fulfill any watcher levels and whatnot in Eternal Kingdom mode, you aren't messing with any of your questing story games. And I have done it often enough to safely say that I haven't had to remove the games and start over (yet,knock on wood).

[Outfit_Planner]

Even in existing kingdoms; you can turn on buydebug and get more guard stations (red cubes/shield symbols) However, the guards will ignore red cubes you place anywhere besides the throne room, reception hall, path to the village and path to the forest.

[l8nytsimmer]

I was unsure whether to put this under gameplay or information. I chose information to keep it safe. A little while ago we had a thread discussing kitchens and what not.

There's quite a bit you can do in the game. I made the two gardens on each side of the castle. One is a meditation garden and the other is a chess garden. With buydebug on I was able to use the herb spawners to pseudo landscape with. And it gives my Master Spy plenty of places to gather herbs that are quite close buy without having to take days to travel the kingdom. These also regenerate faster, than if you use the ones that come in the game. I was able to use the Jacoban cathedral windows in the throne room and in my spy's private quarters. No other windows are available in buydebug on which is odd since the Peteran windows and the plain windows should show up but don't You will have to use your ?key to lower the windows as they start out quite high.

I used mineral spawners and herb spawners around the blacksmith shop and the merchants yard. If you use wildflowers to landscape the merchant yard she/he will not have to wander from literally one end of the kingdom to the other gathering them. I also added an extra mail drop. It is usable but the Sims will walk right through it so it's a little freaky.

But a word of warning using the buydebug on. Whatever you put in the game will stay in the game. You have to use the undo function to get rid of whatever you placed, so choose wisely. If you have saved, have auto save, or have gone on to another piece of property, you're stuck with what you did. You will still be able to move whatever it is, but you can't sell/delete it.

The fountain in the meditation garden was created with the move objects on and I added the two statues on each side of the fountain.
I found that with the tavern I could sink the corner fireplace well into the wall thus saving space and still retaining function. If you do this in a room that has another room directly to the side, it will cut through the wall and show on the other side. The wine casks can be sunk into the wall by quite a bit as well and still function creating much more room upstairs for the Bard.

There are a number of rabbit warren hallways that are behind walls and rooms that you can accidentally get into when trying to deal with camera views when decorating. Should you find yourself in one of these, add a wall lamp and a chamber pot. I think the Sims are programmed with certain functions and will use your personal quarters less when they have these stupid chamber pots left randomly in these empty hallways. At least I've had fewer staff wandering into the Queen's private chamber since I started doing that.

Anybody else got any creative uses for stuff someone hasn't shared yet? I'd sure like to hear it. It keeps the game from getting boring.


Wow! How did you manage this? I've never been able to do ANYTHING outside the buildings. There is so much wasted space in this game, that could be made useful. I haven't tried adding any Mods to the game yet. I'm terrible when it comes to doing this stuff, and I'd need some step by step help from some very patient soul who knows what he or she is doing. I have got a lot of Mods and CC in my Sims 3 game, tho. I know I'll need that resource.cfg file to add to my Mods folder. Can I find that here at MTS? Secondly, I've tried over, and over, and over again to get the Testingcheatsenabled thing to work, and have no luck at all. Is there anyone willing to help an old dummy with this project?

[Shimrod101]

The stickied thread at the top of the forum titled How To Mod Your Game For Beginners describes how to set up Mods\Packages and has the Resource.cfg file and the d3dx9_31.dll file which you need.

[ChickieTeeta]

Wow! How did you manage this? I've never been able to do ANYTHING outside the buildings. There is so much wasted space in this game, that could be made useful. I haven't tried adding any Mods to the game yet. I'm terrible when it comes to doing this stuff, and I'd need some step by step help from some very patient soul who knows what he or she is doing. I have got a lot of Mods and CC in my Sims 3 game, tho. I know I'll need that resource.cfg file to add to my Mods folder. Can I find that here at MTS? Secondly, I've tried over, and over, and over again to get the Testingcheatsenabled thing to work, and have no luck at all. Is there anyone willing to help an old dummy with this project?

First, do as Shimrod said in the post above to get your downloads folder set up, and then check this post for getting testing cheats enabled to work.

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=437986

You can't get 'testing cheats' to work in the same way as in sims 3, you need to modify the commands.ini file yourself. There's a download for it at the bottom of the post if you're not comfortable editing the file yourself.

[nataliecv]

A lot of this stuff is really neat! I'm going to start experimenting with adding to those unused areas! Thanks to all for the ideas.

I haven't played nearly as long as most here, but one thing I can suggest; everyone keeps talking about "motherlode" and using it a bunch of times.... well, all you have to do is type "money [amount]" in for whatever Sim is active if you have testing cheats enabled. So rather than typing in ctrl-shift-c motherlode three or four times, just ctrl-shift-c money 200000. (No commas)

[Kalar Norween]

Thanks for the info.

[Kalar Norween]

I don't have buydebug on my list. Is this an update or a mod that I need to look into?

[~aureza]

@Kalar Norween
I had this problem just now too and looked around. I found the solution by downloading Grim's Medieval Core Mode (here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3589194#post3589194). I have the latest game patch and downloaded "GrimsMedievalCore_V_2_0_13_beta.zip" which works great but different versions might work differently.

To install it, you need to follow the instructions at Rockerduck's tutorial (here:http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3484855#post3484855) and put in the "Resource.cfg" and "d3dx9_31.dll" files (you need both) if you haven't already. The downloads and specific directories where these files go are in the tutorial.

After successfully installing the mod you can now enter the "buydebug on" command in the console (ctrl+shift-c). In the Furniture Mode of the game there now will be a "?" question mark icon which is where you can buy the shiny new stuff. Some are valued at §0 while some will have prices. The buydebug menu and buy menu in combination with the "moveobjects on" and "motherlode" or "money [amount]" cheats will grant you decorating powers you've never known before. I am currently going crazy with it myself.

Lastly, be careful of the things you can't delete. You'll know which if you select one item from the menu hover it in the game and press "Delete" on your keyboard. Sometimes there also be a message in the "Sell" area saying you cannot delete that item.

Hope this helps!

@ladyskye

Another thing I'm going crazy over is how to recreate the carpet you put in the Watcher's Pavilion. I bought the big circular one but am having trouble getting the star patterns to work. Which swatch did you use in the Create-A-Style menu? I've experimented with most of the swatches available but can't seem to find the specific pattern you used.

Also, safe to say I'm stealing some ideas from here! I can feel the creative juices flowing.

[ladyskye]

@Kalar Norween
@ladyskye

Another thing I'm going crazy over is how to recreate the carpet you put in the Watcher's Pavilion. I bought the big circular one but am having trouble getting the star patterns to work. Which swatch did you use in the Create-A-Style menu? I've experimented with most of the swatches available but can't seem to find the specific pattern you used.

Also, safe to say I'm stealing some ideas from here! I can feel the creative juices flowing.

You can get the star pattern from Mod The Sims 3. Many of the patterns will interchange with Sims Medieval. But they must be for a category the is in both games. Such as fabric, stone, and Misc. There are several categories available in the Sims 3 that are not available in the Sims Medieval, so only choose pattern styles that are listed in TSM categories. I haven't played the game in so very long that I have forgotten if I needed to do anything to modify them, but I think they will exchange if you just put them in your package file. (Seriously, I don't remember how I did it or if I had to do anything special to get them to show up.) I think the star pattern is listed as a fabric. I don't remember the name of the creator. Also, I picked up a set of international camo patterns there that I used quite a lot as the background for rugs and some of the tapestries. Sorry I don't remember more, but it's been quite a while since I played the game.

Hope this helps.

[~aureza]

You can get the star pattern from Mod The Sims 3. Many of the patterns will interchange with Sims Medieval. But they must be for a category the is in both games. Such as fabric, stone, and Misc. There are several categories available in the Sims 3 that are not available in the Sims Medieval, so only choose pattern styles that are listed in TSM categories. I haven't played the game in so very long that I have forgotten if I needed to do anything to modify them, but I think they will exchange if you just put them in your package file. (Seriously, I don't remember how I did it or if I had to do anything special to get them to show up.) I think the star pattern is listed as a fabric. I don't remember the name of the creator. Also, I picked up a set of international camo patterns there that I used quite a lot as the background for rugs and some of the tapestries. Sorry I don't remember more, but it's been quite a while since I played the game.

Hope this helps.

Oh, it helps very much! Thank you! I looked around and found out how to make patterns in Create-A-Pattern before you posted and how to port them to TSM but it's good to know I can use some of the TS3 ones after porting them. Thanks very much!

[Cassial]

I've seen several people mention a mod that adds 4x guards and staff, but I can't find it anywhere. Where is this mod?

[ChickieTeeta]

I've seen several people mention a mod that adds 4x guards and staff, but I can't find it anywhere. Where is this mod?

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=446037

Check out his other mods too, if you haven't seen the thread before, there's a lot of nice stuff here.
Also there's 2 populous mods, the first one adds the extra staff, the second one does everything the first one does but also changes the creepy squires and a couple of other things. You can't load both at the same time.

[Cassial]

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=446037

Check out his other mods too, if you haven't seen the thread before, there's a lot of nice stuff here.
Also there's 2 populous mods, the first one adds the extra staff, the second one does everything the first one does but also changes the creepy squires and a couple of other things. You can't load both at the same time.

Thank you! One quick question. Do I HAVE to create a new knight or monarch for the mod to take effect, or does Populous 2 work automatically?

[ChickieTeeta]

Thank you! One quick question. Do I HAVE to create a new knight or monarch for the mod to take effect, or does Populous 2 work automatically?

Do you mean you already have a knight and a monarch?
I know the castle staff are created when you first drop your monarch in and the squires appear with the knight. It worked automatically for me, but I really don't recall if I added this mod during a kingdom or if I waited till I started a new one till I added it. I can go back to one of my earlier kingdoms and see if any get generated for you.
If it needs it to be shiny and new I don't think replacing an existing monarch or knight will generate the extras as I think they spawn with the building. I don't know though.

Actually....I added the updated version during a kingdom and had to wait till a new kingdom for the changes to take effect, but that wasn't adding extras that was randomizing the creepy squires and the extra squires were already there from the first version.

I'm going to go before I confuse myself lol. I'll check an early kingdom for you, be back later.

[ChickieTeeta]

Nah, they're generated when the buildings are placed. I even tried killing the royal advisor to see if it would create the extras when the advisor got respawned...it doesn't. So you can't force your kingdom to recognize the mod is there.
If you already have the required buildings in place, you'll just have to wait till you start a new kingdom to use this brilliant mod. It's well worth starting another kingdom for IMO.

[Cassial]

Nah, they're generated when the buildings are placed. I even tried killing the royal advisor to see if it would create the extras when the advisor got respawned...it doesn't. So you can't force your kingdom to recognize the mod is there.
If you already have the required buildings in place, you'll just have to wait till you start a new kingdom to use this brilliant mod. It's well worth starting another kingdom for IMO.

Thank you for testing that for me. I'll have to start another kingdom but it's not that big a deal.

[kawaiipd]

Wait, I only find about neat decorating ideas from by buydebug now? How old is this thread? Man, I'm a slacker. Good stuff.

[Cuniculosa]

Since this seems to be the decorating ideas thread, I hope this isn't the wrong place to ask but... how do you rotate the floor patterns? So the floorboards go horizontally instead of vertically,corner pieces are angled right, that sort of thing. The pre-decorated buildings have it, but I haven't figured out how to do it myself.

[~aureza]

Since this seems to be the decorating ideas thread, I hope this isn't the wrong place to ask but... how do you rotate the floor patterns? So the floorboards go horizontally instead of vertically,corner pieces are angled right, that sort of thing. The pre-decorated buildings have it, but I haven't figured out how to do it myself.

The horizontal/vertical floor patterns can be rotated using the < and > keys, that you normally rotate the camera with (if you use the keyboard to do so). When you press these keys while holding a floor pattern in your hand tool, a horizontal floor pattern will rotate to be a vertical one and vice versa. It's the same with the corner floor patterns, just use the < and > keys to change the angle.

[Cuniculosa]

The horizontal/vertical floor patterns can be rotated using the < and > keys, that you normally rotate the camera with (if you use the keyboard to do so). When you press these keys while holding a floor pattern in your hand tool, a horizontal floor pattern will rotate to be a vertical one and vice versa. It's the same with the corner floor patterns, just use the < and > keys to change the angle.
Ah, it works perfectly! Thank you.

[Xeny]

ladyskye, hi. You have some really fancy pics from your game. I see that in the first two pics I looked at of yours, the chess garden, and one with a sim in a room that you placed a chair rather close to the fountain, in the chess garden, and an object also close to another thing in pic 2, my question is have you had any difficulty with any of the sims being unable to get around these areas when furniture is placed closely to anything else, even a wall? I do all the time, and sometimes excessively, an example is when I try and place a cask in my physician's upstairs bedroom, the game wants way more room than seems logical for the end of the cask to the wall, there is a large unused area in-between the cask and the wall which is wasted space, completely ridiculous that any object would need to take up space that it isn't even using. Can you understand what I mean, its as if the cask needs a gigantic space beyond what it would fill in real life. I think it is an error in my game, have always thought so, but when I noticed your pics, I figured it was a perfect time to ask another. It seems my buildings are just a hair off their default positions, like sometimes I notice the castle, its especially noticeable in the Reception Hall, is not online as if the building is about a 1/2 a foot in game time, not a foot in real time over placed, or in the grass off the setting line. Its easily seen when I want to place a standing lamp or other object in the entrance path into the castle, if I look down exactly right to the right as a sim is entering the castle through the large front doors, the item I want to place will go halfway into the brick, and on the left side of the entrance just the opposite side when I place another of the same item, lets say the same lamp, the lamp on that side will not go close enough to the upper brick. So the whole placement of the castle building is off by just a hair, and trying to reset it, or place it right, does nothing, as the game in the moveobjects on mode makes it so buildings can only be replaced in a way that is controlled, I don't know the words to explain, but surely you know when needing to move the building in furnish mode, it is like placed an object, it snaps to areas and snaps out, no completely free placement of any opject. Does anyone who might read this response have such an issue with their game? Or might I be the only one? I have seen a lot of other people's pics of their kingdoms but have yet to notice any that appear to have an offset castle, or what appear to be rips in the walls or the floor that are otherwise natural, in my game, but in truth look like a ripped screen image, more than a natural defective wall or floor which may have been intentionally added to the game in design very much like the moss on the outside of the buildings, or holes, which I know a mod has been made to remove those. I am not supposing that anything can be done about what I mention above, but truly I am curious to know if anyone else has the castle trouble I do. Man has it ever played a role in some of my frustration in furnishing! LOL Thanks for any responses if there are any beforehand.