well, matching it against a wall height was a good idea... but I'm still having problems.
I'm getting two different error messages- something along the lines of "level cannot be placed" and "under-stair break/distribution cannot be straightened" (sometimes placed).

Have a look to the upper level non buits grids, they must be "over warped" (flatten them).It is for the 2nd msg.
The first must be something like "lower level cannot be placed" (I am french so I havent exactly the same ...I must translate ) try to place a tile, it may be better an you will see more easily. Could you provide pics ?
I hope I help you a littl bit

Hallo Ellatrue,

As patul, suggested, you may flatten the level-grid layers first for the stair regions.

Yet, you may try to use the cheat "moveobjects on" to further increase your chance of getting the connecting/modular stair to work out.

N if either doesn't work, use both.

Ellatrue,

I can't answer all of your queastions, especially the one in part 1.

But, for the question in part 4, the error message is refering to the invisible walls of the column deck, especially the normal one. A normal column deck is consisted of a floor tile at the top, a siding for the thickness of the floor tile, 4 surrounding pieces of in-game invisible walls, a central column, the column support and probably more... Sims can pass through the diagonal ones though!

As for the question in part 6, may read part 3 from this thread.
Tutorial more property-infos for connecting/modular stairs updated 1st May,06.
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=151575
So, in this case, I'm afriad you've to add at least one or 2 extra levels for the house before the stair can be built from the house down to the deck.

I'm going to start a new thread; I don't want to clutter the tutorial anymore.

***EDIT*** here it is:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...004#post1446004

Small question... do I have to do the whole platform part because I don't wan't my lot to look too 'unatural' with all the stairs, and I'd hate to use that cheat so much.
Will the green transparent flooring (from RGiles) look ok too?

Hi,
You must have sufficient length to place the modular stairs, the sloped part (with stairs it you want to avoid the stairs to the lake) the divingboard and the ladder. But you must work on this deck, you can cut it later
Otherwise http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=171505 is a tuto for the fake lakes, perhaps more realistic.
For the tiles Rgile's green may give a "swampy" look, if it is your choice why not Perhaps can you use the niol's one more "coloured"

You do need to use the stairs (one way or another) to connect the diving platform with the the rest of the lot, otherwise the sims won't be able to reach it.

Hi, I was having trouble placing the stairs from the deck to the land too and I was wondering if it had anything to do with the original height of the lot when you first placed the pool... would that change anything? I've been working with a completely flat lot and still can't place down any stairs, but I'm going to keep trying.

Do you use the constr... cheat in this area ? may be weird grid lines on the first level. Try to flatten the area at the deck level.

ULilsquirt,

may try to do it wit the "moveobjects on" cheat.

Oddly, this thread is saved from being locked just a few days before the locking process because of your question post :D

allo patul,
that's why I chose the acronym short-hands.

I really liked the idea mentioned here of having a little lake house with the steps leading down. So, I made one following this tutorial. I can't take credit for the idea or anything, but I thought I'd share so you all can see the results. Thanks everyone for your help!

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=221608

Hard work,but it might pay off, once I tried a different tuorial, and my swim fell into the diving board, jumped out of the lake to get to the ladder, and swam wherever she went, even in the house.

Great job! I actually got it to work! It stinks that we have no thanks button.....

I don't know if anyone is still having trouble with connecting the stairs to land using this method, but after spending most of this last weekend trying to get it to work, I think I finally found something.

Instead of dropping the first level to below the water and then placing the second platform I placed both platforms (making sure they were both connected to the land), then deleted the lower level that touched the land, and then lowered the remaining portion of the lower platform as instructed in the tutorial. This brought the upper platform down with the first, and then I continued through the remaining steps, leveling the portion of the deck that touched land as the higher elevation with the portions over the water.

I found doing it this way that I was able to keep the "pool" connected to the land but I didn't have to worry about the lower level taking my water level down with it. The height of the second level was about half again the height of a regular deck (about six or eight clicks?) and it was no problem to connect my stairs from there.

I hope this helps somebody. I have put a couple of Sims to the test and they did great. I want to thank the originator of this tutorial, I wanted a lot that my Sims could swim in without having a pool, and also still be able to fish now that Seasons allows that (I'm going for a deserted island thing). This is great. Now if I could just get happy with my house.

May try to use the cheat "moveobjects on" to help build the stairs.

Great tutorial! Even I understood it, and my lake turned out perfect =)

I am having the same problem L2Mast had - connecting the dock to the land using stairs. I tried the method L2Mast suggested, but I'm *still* not having any luck. If I use the method in the tutorial, when I try and add the stairs to connect the upper platform to the land, they simply won't place (even with *moveobjects on* cheat). Unlike when trying to put modular stairs in other locations where they won't fit, I don't even get an error message - the frame doesn't turn green *at all*. I finally figured out the game wants to connect the *lower* platform to the land..in order to connect the higher platform, one has to stack two platforms on land and use the stairs to connect the higher of the two land platforms to the dock. The end result is sims must first walk up 10-11 steps to a very high platform, walk across the platform, then down another 10-11 steps from the higher platform to the diving board/dock platform. That looks awful!

When I attempted L2Mast's method, building the two platforms one atop the other and connecting both to the land, then deleting the lower platform between the land and the "dock area", then following the tutorial to put in the floor tiles, lowering them, then lowering the two platforms to 2 separate levels - when I lower the upper platform to the higher height, it *does* screw up the land for me and lowers the water level!!! (It doesn't seem to matter how far away from the bank of the lake I place the dock - as soon as I get within one square of the bank when lowering the upper platform to the higher level, the land lowers and takes the water with it - exposing the floor tiles again).

Honestly, I am just about going nuts over this...do you have any suggestions? Or, could someone send me a finished lot using the method in the tutorial to make a swimmable lake, so I can see what I am doing wrong? I must have spent 20+ hours thus far fiddling with this! I can't understand how the member who wrote the tutorial did the connection so easily - my lot is perfectly flat (as was the lot he was using), yet, it doesn't work!!!

Any help you might be able to give me would be very much appreciated!!

BTW, I should mention that the lake itself works fine - if I pick up a sim and place them on the "dock", they dive into the lake, swim around, and get out using the ladder - just as they should. So, I know I'm doing the lake building fine - I just can't connect the higher end of the upper platform to the land the way I should.

If you want a lot using this tut, try one of these :
- http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=198916
- http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=192596

Patul -

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the tutorial. According to the way I'm reading it, and in following the steps *exactly* as laid out in the tutorial, I should be able to connect the upper platform directly to the land using steps (4-click) *and still keep the "swim" floor tiles submerged*.

The Pirate's Cove lot you referenced does *not* do that - there is a flight of steps up from the upper platform, then another flight down to the land.

The Gardenia (second lot referenced) does connect the upper platform to the land, however, in doing so the "swim" floor tiles are exposed! While this still "works" (in that the sims can swim even with the floor tiles sitting on the surface of the water, instead of 1-click below - *as long as* the floor tiles immediately surrounding the dock are submerged), it does look odd to have the edges of those floor tiles sitting on the surface of the water. I suspect the individual who created the lot had the same problem I had - when trying to connect the upper platform to the land, the water level went down, exposing the floor tiles.

So - am I misunderstanding the tutorial? Or, is there a way to connect the upper platform directly to the land with a 4-click stair *without* lowering the water level and exposing the floor tiles???

In the photos accompanying the tutorial, is does not appear as if the floor tiles are exposed when the connection from the upper platform to the land is made with the 4-click stair.

TwirlyGirly

That I did one time is to place the stairs BEFORE lowering tle deck, I use OFB to build (with the BGS) may be important ?

For stairs, one may get some ideas here
http://www.modthesims2.com/member/s...ad.php?t=151575
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?...fts%26Elevators

I had the same problem. I tried and tried - and all of a sudden it worked. But I can't tell you, what was the point.
I have good results by using the following cheats:
moveObjects on
boolProp constrainFloorElevation false
then use the view from top
place a floortile on the spot where the stairs should end
then I fiddle around to place the upper square of the mod-stairs on the upper deck and the lower square on the floortile placed on the ground - and then patience . . . and fiddling.
And I remember I had the lower deck far enough and without connection to the ground.
Also, I have the area where the mod-stairs should "land" absolutely flat - minimum 3 to 3 tiles. You can lower or rise that area again after having placed the stairs.
And: as soon as you have managed to place the stairs turn off the cheats. Once I forgot it and everything was screwing up and I had to begin once more.
Hope this helps.
Sometimes the game does things you (or I) can't explain.
If nothing seems to work, I get good results by using the flattening tool over the ground. Sometimes there are areas absolutely screwed - a thing you don't "see" by just looking at it. After doing that everything works much better.
But be careful, not to use that flattening tool too near at your swimmable-lake-construction.
(Usually I save, place the lot in the lotbin, take it again and try then. Then you're much more relaxed. If you've ruined your lot just throw it away and get it again from the lotbin.)
good luck!

Hi

I just wanted to say thanks for the great tute and to let you know, that if you combine this tutorial with Eedgan's fantastic How to make an Island tutorial, you can more or less get a swimmable sea

I tried it out, and even though I couldn't follow this particular tute exactly, the basic principles of it helped create a really good swimmable sea

Cheers,
nina

When you place the stairs, it deforms the land tiles connecting to the stairs, which could cause screwiness if it is next to the water. Try moving the edge of the lake away from the edge of the platform, or deepening the water. Fiddling with the lake itself might help (but remember to save first- it's hard to get the water level to come back once it has gone down already).

In regards to the "How to make an Island" tutorial, the sea is only decorative, and not swimmable--sims will continue to walk along the land underneath the water, but they will not swim.

And now for MY question- A few people who have downloaded my houses with swimmable lakes are complaining about not being able to get the sim to exit from the water. It doesn't sound as if they messed with the water level or moved the pool objects. Is there anything that could be causing this, or a way to get around the problem? I have also had the sims ignore the command to use the pool later sometimes with this method, but they have always gotten out eventually or when I gave them a command to do something inside the house.