My newest Lot:

Nice! Did you G-A or 'stage' the roof?

BTW - I did a new G-A tutorial - it's similar, but a different approach to Shasta's tute.

Man it already seemed quite complicated, it being this complicated.. props to you I'd say

I also have to add that it does look like some sort of Moon or Mars base

Thank you! I want to have it ready to upload for my 10 year Builder's Anniv. (which is April 23)
I finished the build today; tested, and converted it successfully into apartments...
And took pictures *sigh* Now I have to clean/collage/make sense of 86 pictures - so the lot seems appealing to downloaders (I really HATE that part!)

Ah, well Happy Easter all ya'll!

The taller part of the roof is 6-click CFE, the lower part is stage tool. I haven't tackled GA yet - when I do, it will be a much smaller and simpler house and will be just a 2-click foundation.
That picture I posted a few days ago uptopic (previous page) of the modern with the big glass box will require GA, so it'll be a while before that sees the light of day. It's a very complicated build, I've already rebuilt it three times from scratch, and I need to get every part of the floorplan on every level correct before I even attempt the final build(s) that will include GA.


I'll check it out.

When will you share at least one of those houses, Ferg? Am I missed anythin, aren't those already shared?

For those of you still building for TS2, I'm curious about something. This doesn't apply to TS3 (or TS4, I think).

Lets say you decide to build a medium-sized house which should fit on a, say, 20x20 Lot, or whatever size you think you need or want. Do you actually use a that size Lot right from the start during your initial build?

I don't, and that's pretty much regardless of what size house I intend to build. I always make my "preliminary" build(s) on considerably larger Lots than what the house will eventually sit on - usually I just use the maximum sized Maxis Lot, the 50x60. Why not, since it makes no difference.
I usually start building near the middle of the huge Lot, which allows me to expand in any direction as needed, without having to worry about hitting one of the Lot edges. One of the worst things that can happen when you're building is to simply run out of space and just be 1 or 2 squares short of what you need. A lot of times your only option at that point is to shift every single thing in the direction you need it to go. If you have to do this to an entire house, well, that's a rebuild that sucks.
A rebuild that doesn't suck, on the other hand, is quick and can actually be quite fun, is rebuilding something that you know will fit perfectly on the Lot size you intended to use, once you've carefully laid it out on a bigger Lot.

Here's an example of this, which is a large house that I've been "working" on for about the past week:

This is about the 4th or 5th build of it, and it sits on the huge Maxis 50x60 Lot, although the final build will probably be on a 30x40 Lot.
Notice the location of the streets, mailbox and trashcan of the Maxis Lot, as well as the actual Lot edges.
When I first started building this, I didn't even know where the front of the house was going to be, and as it turns out it's different from the actual front of the Maxis Lot, which doesn't matter one bit.
Note the current (temporary) location of the driveways and "sidewalk", which tells me where the front of the Lot will eventually be.
Notice also the low, white fencing around the house, which represents the current plan to use a 30x40 Lot size for the final build. If I have to shift the "Lot" in any direction, I can do so simply by shifting the fencing, which is how I keep track of where the Lot edges will be for the final build.
Another considerable advantage to prebuilding on a larger Lot is that it lets you decide what will be the best direction of the sun for the final build.

One drawback to using this method of Lot making is that you end up building a Lot a minimum of two times - once as a preliminary build on an oversized Lot, and then again as final build on the proper sized Lot. But as I said earlier, that final build is easy and fun, at least for me.
For any lurkers that might be reading this, yeah, you kind of have to like to build houses, and I would very highly recommend either using a Sims2UserStartupCheatFile or the Lucas Easy Sims 2 Cheats program to easily use the building cheats, because typing out the boolprop commands constantly would simply be insane.

I know what some of you might ask. You might ask: Okay, why not build on a big Lot and then just chop off the edges using Mootilda's Lot Adjuster?
The answer to that pretty much comes down to - that's not how I roll. My personal policy is to use the various game cheats, and especially third-party programs like the Lot Adjuster, only when absolutely necessary. I know the Lot Adjuster has now been used for many years by countless people, and I trust it entirely, it's just not something I prefer to use if I can avoid it.
One problem that does exist with the Lot Adjuster, for those readers who may not be aware of it, is that it messes up terrain paints (grass, dirt, gravel, etc.). You don't want to use any terrain paints prior to adjusting the dimensions of a Lot, because those paints will get messed up, and they don't appear to be fixable by erasing them or painting over them! If you're going to use the Lot Adjuster, always make sure you wait until after the adjustment to do any terrain painting.
The other drawback, at least for me, is that if I use the Lot Adjuster I have to make note of it in my Lot description, just for the record.

Comments, opinions? Anyone else use this method of TS2 Lot building?

I usually build on a bigger lot too - for all the reasons you mentioned. But, I don't rebuild - I just use the L-A
And TP (terrain paint) is never an issue for me, cuz it's the very last thing I do.
...though I have had to rebuild - it happens sometimes (even with using the L-A!) The last one I had to 'move over' was This One - it needed some other adjusting too to make it fit on the lot. I didn't want excessive space on the sides, it is meant to be in a housing tract...
It was not a fun one to rebuild!

I don't understand why you had to "move it over" because to the best of my knowledge the L-A let's you adjust minutely, square by square. If you need to shift everything over a couple of squares, you simply chop off those squares on one side and add them to the other side in the L-A. As long as everything remains in multiples of 10 squares, the L-A should be able to do this.
That said, it's been a while since I've used the L-A, but I seem to remember that's how it works, if you need it to.

Yes... that ^ is how it works, but - I had to do some adjusting to the plan (it was, like 1T wider than would fit, and I didn't want 4 yard squares on each side.) I was also in-game and trying to figure out the basement area... so I "moved it" instead of using the G-A.
It was a PITA - that whole house! I ended up using the G-A 21 times on that one

Every time you give me an answer, it leaves me with more questions.
How on earth did you count 21 reloads of the game?
The only time I can count to 21 is when I'm naked.

Hey, Cat. How is your neighborhood going? I just was crushed by idea that lot built by ScaryRob would look nice in your neighborhood. I thought you both are creating project, but after read your dialogue, found myself wrong. That brutalist thugs I called luxury prisons could look nice in the desert. I feel like such houses that has hard outdoor materials could fit desert climate that also hard. I would like to see more WIP pics of your neighborhood!
Regards Vic ^_^

Some houses made by Johnny leave me puzzling and I usually fail to release how it's done. Now I am on the journey to guess how this house was done, but probably the only way is just to marry him. Johnny, marry me! I want you... to share me your building secrets.
WIth love. Vic ^_^

Oh you don't want to marry me, trust me. I can share my building 'secrets', though.

I'm assuming you're wondering about how I did the upper floor?

Neither me. Why should I marry you. I don't even know you. I was just kidding.
I found that you made there roof first, And then you had used CFE cheat.
However side addition to this house is still leave me puzzling.

Started this French country manor and im liking how its turning out!

Lol, I know
Almost, I made the upper floor (including bedrooms) lowered the walls to half-height and then put the roof. Then CFE it back to fit.

The floating dormer is a combination of CFE stairs and attic and rather hard to explain in words. I'll might fire up my game later and see if I can recreate it.
(And if that cottage still exists, damn I wanted to finish that one)

How do I get rid of these dang floating tiles without messing up my house???

Welll..... If it wasTS2, I'd say:
The white tiles look like they are the same flooring - so, if you use the same floor and act like you are going to place another tile of floor adjoining one that's already there, but alt/click instead - it should grab ALL of that type of floor, and you can hit delete. It will ALL be gone (even the angled bits).
Buuut... It's not TS2, so I dunno if that will help?

Good luck though!

My newest upload:

Fergus is the expert for this. AFAIK it's a somewhat lengthy annoying process of removing and replacing floors and saving and loading. Other times however, it's as simple as recoloring the ceiling. Depends on how much and how complex the CFE is.

I'm curious, is that Sims 3 or Sims 4?

well this is The Sims 3

and there is no CFE used in this build UGH

Try removing them and check if ceilings are/go missing anywhere, or try placing some floors on the floaties and then remove the floor again.