Porky, welcome! You can hop in now, we still have 1 week left to get the church shells done.

Good morning everyone! I did go straight to bed, and while I'm super sore, I'm awake bright and early on this cloudy rainy day. Who's ready to get started on their second shell?


Much of the city's industrial sector has fallen into disrepair. A few buildings are much older and are a rich part of the city's past. In an effort to revitalize the neighborhood, some of the buildings will be renovated and others will be demolished to make way for newer buildings. The old factory you are representing is on a 5x3 lot (wide not deep, lots of street tiles), has a main work floor with tall ceilings, a balcony with a manager's office, loading dock w/service entrance (usually this means the entire factory is on a foundation), stockroom, two unisex single room bathrooms on opposite ends of the building, parking for 8+ on either a side or the back, and of course, a fantastic roof line. Warehouses of this era didn't usually have electric lighting, so the windows and rooflines were designed to bring in as much natural light as possible. See the included images for basic styling.

I hope there it not too much pictures. I paid attention to so much details that it's hard to only take 4 detail screenshots. It's really not enough for such a big place... But I did my best to only take pictures of the most important parts.

Those are some great grungy walls, xmathyx! Good design layout.

Phae..... I don't understand Protestant church layouts because I was dragged to Catholic school when I was a kid so I am making a Catholic church campus. Church - priest's house, nun's house and school. I hope that's ok.

Now.. I haven't been to church since Vatican II so things have changed. lol When I was a kid there was not a nursery. However, there was an enclosed area off the alter area for mom's with small babies to attend mass, so the crying babies didn't drown out the mass. The social things were in other buildings. Catechism was in the school on weeknights for kids who didn't go to Catholic school. There was no 'Sunday school'. Kids went to mass along with the adults and few understood latin anyway. Priests and nuns lived is separate houses but the offices were in the entries of their housing.

Okey-dokey then... I need a progress check. Does this pass the City's inspection? Can I start grungifying? Thanks!

St. William's Church
In 1863, Loch Namara was a newly founded village, the first in the country. Naturally, our town forefathers wanted a central location for parishioners from all over the region to gather and worship. They decided to name it St. William's, after the patron saint of adopted children, because in a way, they had become adopted children of this new land.

For many years, the church flourished. But soon, finances became tight, leaving little room for the maintenance of the building, and in 1943, the building was finally vacated due to concerns about safety. Former parishioners continued to attempt the upkeep in its most basic form for the next 10 or so years, but there has been little positive presence since then. The building has become home to a small group of transient people, and youth have been known to use it as a meeting place for weekend parties.

We, the members of Loch Namara Restoration Council, hope that you'll consider granting a building permit to this fine, once-beautiful establishment, so that we can restore her to her former glory.

Now, onto Round 2!

(Can I just say that I was all "YAAASSSSSSS!", when you announced the round 2? Finally, I can put all those AL windows and architecture bits to good use!!)

xmathyx, your photos are lovely, my photo requirement was meant more as a min than a max, but it's always good to be choosy about your photos.

porkypine, I've been pretty particular about what style the churches are supposed to be, so you might want to read through the thread and see all the examples I've given. Your idea doesn't sound like the style described, but I could be wrong. A few contestants can count the number of times they've been in any sort of church on one hand, so they were at an even stronger disadvantage and they've managed it. I'm sure you'll figure something out.

Catherine, your church looks lovely, but still seems rather small and you appear to be missing the required balcony. I'm going to pass you anyways, and let you decide if you want to figure out how to include the balcony or take the point hit. However, the bigger problem might actually be that you are still on the small side compared to all the other churches. This could affect the judges decision on whether or not to give you a building permit. Adding another level to just the sanctuary area would help with your size problem, the missing balcony problem, and maybe even fix your window CFE issue. Decide how you'd like to proceed, and start grungifying.

A-Ha! The balcony! That's what I was missing
Prolly 'cuz the RL church didn't have one...
I'll see if I can figure how to add another level in there. Thanks for the stamp of approval - grungification is now under way

Far from complete - but I also want to make sure I am going in the right direction now (sorry for not marking the rooms, but I think there is enough space for everything now)

Thank you

(I have no idea what to put inside - here, everything will be stolen if a building is abandoned - and it does not even have to be. Everything. And some squatters will go and live in the shell. A person came back from vacation to find his house was perfect on the outside. Everything inside was stolen - including the toilets, kitchen counters, lights, etc - all that was left was the roof and the walls! No inside doors left either).

(History regarding the church is fiction, history regarding the War is fact, apart from the church part!)
St. Marys was first erected in the early 1800's, and thrived as the main parish for Walthamstow in England. Once WWI begun there was not enough hospitals to send the wounded, so the people of Walthamstow opened up the Church to act as an interim hospital. Sadly a four-Zeppelin raid tried to reach London on 17–18 August; two turned back with mechanical problems, one bombed Ashford, Kent in the belief it was Woolwich, but L 10 became the first Navy airship to reach London. L 10 was also misnavigated, mistaking the reservoirs of the Lea Valley for the Thames, and consequently dropped its bombs on Walthamstow and Leytonstone, and in the process it decimated the little Church. With the tragedy of losing Soliders who were on the mend, and the good people that cared for them the folk of Walthamstow quit St Marys and its been left to rot ever since. In its prime it was an amazing tranquil building and on days when the sun is shining through the great windows and the birds are singing it still feels like a very tranquil peaceful spot. All it needs is some TLC, some elbow grease and a hefty wallet!

ekrubynaffit : Wow, this is a real shell ! I LOVE it !!

Phaenoh : Thank you ! And if this is only a min, not a max, then I'll probably edit my post later with some interesting detail pictures :-)

porkypine : Thank you ! They're from themedievalsmithysims2 and you can find them here if you like them.

Justpetro, your church is looking good. I noticed that your parking spaces are too small (and the road too), they need to be at least as big as a car, so min 3x5 (but 3x6 is better), and we still need 4 of them. Suggestions: These churches don't generally have wrap around porch/decks either, I'd restrict those spots to just where the entrances are instead of all the way around. This should free up some space to address your parking issue. Also, these balconies almost never wrapped all the way around, usually the side up at the alter was open for a large window or a large cross on a wall.

ekrubynaffit, your parking spots also look too short, but I'm not sure. Put some cars in the spaces to test for yourself, a car needs to be able to drive between your parked cars with the way you have it arranged now and I'm not sure that's doable. Suggestion: I know they are a big part of your theme, but your church would actually be closer to the style we are going for if you ditched the vaulted columns and just went with the natural vault of the roof. You could put some decrepit looking beams across the span. Your bible verse graffiti is very fitting.

ForeverCamp, don't sneak stuff into old posts, I almost missed your entry! Also, I can't find your parking spaces, and without an overview of the full lot, I can't see if you are on the correct lot size.

Your churches are all gorgeous - I am getting a whole new appreciation for people who build churches in real life too!

Thank you, Phaenoh - no problem. I saved the shell before I added anything outside, so the parking will be no problem. (The church is actually still looking a bit horrible to me, but I will get there, I should have some time to sit down tomorrow night, suddenly find myself running around today with all kinds of stuff). I appreciate the advice

Thanks, Phae! Sorry about that - I was intending to get the pictures put in within five minutes of the initial post, so didn't want to double-post (then the game started acting up and I guess I got sniped/side-tracked...). Won't happen again. Parking spaces are at the front - I can either adjust the existing post or edit to remove the entry and start a fresh one with the newer photos included.

Justpetro, if you are looking for more suggestions on your church, I've got more. The balconies should not be the way of getting to your other upstairs rooms. If there were people walking back and forth during service, that would be very distracting. You only need on set of stairs to get up to the balcony, and I'd recommend a regular staircase to get to the basement. Little old church ladies can't do ladders, and they are usually the ones doing all the cooking. Ladders are ok in the bell tower, but no where else; spiral stairs are recommend for the balcony stairs only, and regular stairs for all other locations. Also, like the balcony can't be the connecting hallways to the upstairs, there shouldn't be any other doors into the sanctuary except from the vestibule, and perhaps one side door for the pastor to enter from. Make sure all other rooms have regular ways of entering them that won't disrupt service. As for the outside, I think the biggest thing throwing me off is that roof parallel to the road is so large, the sanctuary roof should be the biggest, and the only the bell tower should be taller. Figure out a way of either making that roof smaller, or turn it 90.

ForeverCamp, now that I've found your entry post, keep using that one. Next time, if you plan on making a post your entry post and its not quite ready yet, get the words 'entry' on it somewhere at least. As for the parking, draw us some lines to show off the parking spaces, either use flooring with an edge, or use those CC spaces I linked to, or use that thin flooring border fence, something.

Okay, all updated, Phae! As a bonus, now you get to see the cemetery lot next door in the street view!

So I was sleeping and got woken up by the door bell around 10 AM this morning, I opened the door to be greeted by a Dhl guy with a package for me.

Turns out to be my new laptop from my insurance . Am just speechless. I thought it might take time for them to get me a new one. And they got me the same laptop model that was stolen. Brand I have been charging it and will soon start installing my games.

Thank you to all those who felt my loss and pain. Now I need to take some palmwine to clear my eyes to make sure am not dreaming

Okay I have taken a glass and my eyes are open and am not dreaming.I feel like a

Thank you, Phaenoh - sorry, that roof isn't done yet, I should have mentioned it.
I have been in some churches here built in that style - but they are enormous. Really enormous. Rich folks' churches.
Then some poor folks also have built their churches in the style and a friend of mine who is a photographer has send me some pics of insides, so that may help.
And then she sent me this one, which may be the smallest one for one of the poorest (and tiniest) communities ever - in our country, in the Northern Cape. Apparently just around 30 people live there, but the church is very active. So I wanted to share this with you just for - well - general knowledge?

I am having so much fun with the factory/warehouse build, it's a little pathetic... I think I've roughed out the footprint, but I want to experiment with a couple of other things first. The loading bay is giving me the headache this round.

/me cries over the window cutout for the chruch that @CatherineTCJD posted

IKR! I've tried everything I know of to fix it too
Numenor's walls usually fix it - but not this time. I tried Moo's Wall Converter, and futzed with the roof too. I don't know what to do to fix it. Help! Anybody?
Although, it IS supposed to be grungified, so maybe it's OK?
I haven't tried Lunie's new window yet, maybe that will work better *sigh*

@Phae - Does the balcony need to be a certain size? Or, can it be, like, 10X3 tiles?

@Petro - that church looks kinda familiar

@AdonisPluto that's great news! :D

@CatherineTCJD Explain, what is happening?

Oh, I see it now. The wall cut-out above the stained glass window. I'd say try turning CFE off, deleting the affected walls (without touching the window), and then ctrl-z everything back into place. That usually fixes all my CFE distortions (unless it doesn't - sometimes, things just don't work). But I've done it....five times already on my front steps after fiddling around with the elevation on other spots of the building. Parts that should never have affected the steps.

I love CFE. And I hate it so much. It's a love-hate relationship.

I had lots of the same issues with mine. Try fiddling with the CFE level below the foundation. I nudged it higher a couple of clicks at a time to see if it fixed the cut-out issue, until there was no more!

So, I'm a keener. I had time today since I didn't manage to snag a sub job, and I've got the initial footprint of my warehouse/factory done up.

Welcome to Touchstone Manufacturing!

HERE Jo.
Thanks for the suggestions - I think the problem stems from it being a 2-story window... still futzing...