We really need more information if you want help: pictures of the lot, or even the lot package itself.

I'm having a similar problem to a lot of folks in here with the private gardens for townhouses. I even tried using half-walls as dividers (hoping I could trick the game into thinking it was a "room"). I've used the invisible fence trick, but I'm still getting the invalid apartment error. I'm trying to make some English-style rowhouses based on a MS Live maps photo I saw of some houses in Blackpool. Here's some screenshots, can anyone see anything obviously wrong?

With apartments on foundations with a garden, you need to border the garden steps with that invisible divider thing. There's a tut on here somewhere that explains it. Will link if I remember where it is.

Nice houses, although I'd consider sacrificing some for a common area.

Edit: Well I didn't have to look far to see where I'd seen that link to the tutorials This *is* that thread

I used the invisible fence thing around the steps/porch for the tutorial, but it's still throwing the error. :/

Have you got a fence between the houses at the back? I can see the wall but there must be a solid wall on the same level as the foundation.

It's also worth removing the back doors and testing, just to be sure that's where the problem is.

I wanted to post this here because I was having problems converting my lots to apartments, it kept saying there was one had something wrong with it. Well, after what seemed like forever I found the problem, it was a custom content door IN the house. It didn't lead outside at all, it was actually an archway to the stairs. I just wanted to let everyone who's been having these problems also know this. I replaced said door with a different archway and it works absolutely fine now. I hope this helps someone out.

So, I built my apartment and furnished it and everything. The mailbox is an apartment mailbox now and so, I go to move my sims in and the furished apartment I made has missing things in it! I know what I put in it and most stuff isn't there!

Help?

Uhm, you -do- know that apartments come unfurnished unless you use a cheat or a mod? Only fixtures. That's how Apartment Life works.

..........Never mind then. Nobody has understood my problem. So I'll go through my trial and error.

Simple Star - Nothing's wrong with your game if you move sims into an apartment you built and furnished only to find there's only the basic fixtures there (toilets, counters, wall lights, etc.) - that's the way the game works. That stuff is meant to disappear, as stupid as it is. You have to use a hack or cheat to rent an apartment furnished - how to do it is explained in the tutorial.

I have built a four apts building, the apartments built as row houses on a basement with the main doors in the main building hall (common area). on the other side of the main hall, so not attached to apartments, there are four side garages, one car on each of them. each of the apartments owns a part of the terrace on the 1st floor and of balcony on the 2nd floor. I have used the sims2workshop's to rent the apartment furnished.
this is what happens (tranformation was perfect)

1. only the car nearest to the street vanished
2. you can only sit down on the cars. I tried both go round and install car alarm and sims action were blocked (but their motives decayed to death) - the car use stop pn the streen just before the driveway begins
3. when I transfer a new family into it, all the other families already moved in disappear: is it normal?

I also noticed that AL does not like building elements snapped (columns out of grid, for example) - at least during conversion AL 'ate' some and put to correct place others ....

is it possible to cheat to have things go as expected ? why can't people in apartment go anywhere by their own car? Maxis people go, I'd bet on it

P.S. in the screenie: car by Dr Pixel, sim by Vera Marina

Hey there,

I have a problem. I've download a lot with 3 apartments.
A sims moved in but his bathrooms and bedrooms are considered as common areas. The bottom floor is a garage and a stair led to the middle floor with a kitchen/salon area and a bedroom and bathroom.
Here the bedroom and the bathroom are considered as common area.
Then a stair led to the top floor into a room turned into a office, and then there is a bedroom and bathroom. They're also considered as common area.
Can someone explain to me how i can change that ?

Thanks !

it generally happens when rooms belonging to an apartment can be reached also from common areas. may you attach some screenies, please, it will be easier

Well, as Alisar said, screenshots help, but you can try removing any modular stairs and replacing with staircase - either the AL spiral or a normal stair. Apartments sometimes don't like modular stairs.

Okay
Stupid of me to not have thought about pics !
I don't know if it's allowed but here is the lot in question. The flat i'm talking about is the one on the left side, but all the flats of the lot have similar problems. I'll post pics of my game during the day but you have pics of it empty in the thread.
Thanks for your answers !


EDIT : FOUND THE PROBLEM.
The stairs were seperated by the HolySimoly Fence ! I've replaced it by hall walls and now everything works perfectly !

HELP!

My newest building has 5 apartments. There are 3 doors on the main level, one on the second, and one on the third (I have the correct door.)

3 of the apartments have balconies which are all blocked off.

I put circles on some screenshots - The green ones are apartment doors, the blue ones are balcony doors. The blue X is where there WAS a main door, but now it is completely open so they only thing seperating the apartments from the outside are the correct doors.

What do I need to fix?

The stairs inside the apartment on the left side of the first picture look like modular stairs. I believe that the game doesn't like modular stairs within an apartment, although they're fine in common areas. Try replacing those stairs with one of the one-piece stairs instead.

I played a family for a week in a apartment ive created, and i found out the hard way that at the end of every week (im assuming)the landlord throws a pizza-party, so somewhere in a common area, place a table and/or a countertop for the pizza-boy. It could work to unlock your door, i did´nt try that but thinking about it now, that would make sense. Also the game seems more or less broken after apartments really.

Edit: Okay aparently counters and tables did´nt help, i looked into it closer, and as it turns out, a pizza-boy is spawned on the lot, walks around a while, stands still, the landlord comes up to him/her, the pizza-boy hands the landlord the pizza, then freezes up, the pizza disappears from the landlords hands, and then after quite a while, the pizza-boy unfreezes and drives away. So it must be a broken behaviour, i havent tried living in a EAxis apartments because they were all ugly so i don´t know if this problem only shows up in custom lots, but im feeling confident i have´nt missed out on anything vital though. Oh and unlocking the door to my apartment obviously did´nt work.

I made some duplexes based off the Dynamite Duplexes that come with AL - I just changed the layout of the upstairs. When I changed the zoning, I got the dreaded error. I did remove the doors in the garage that go to each duplex, but left the garage doors (I know the driveways won't be usable), but I'm still getting an error. There is no custom content on the lot, there are two doors to each duplex - the apartment door, and a door that goes to the fenced in yard in the back. Each side is separated from each other.

I don't know if I forgot something, or if there's an error that I just keep missing. I've made multiple other apartments, but this is the first one with a driveway.

I've included pictures and the packaged lot if anyone is bored.

Are those modular staircases? That could be your problem, also change the garage-doors to apartments one, and restrict access with a side-door leading only to the apartment associated with the garage, havent tried that yet myself but worth a shot.

Also off topic, is there anywhere i can list the bugs in apartment? Except for the official sites bug-report.

They're just the standard cheap Maxis staircases with the rails removed. I switched out the garage doors but there's still a zoning error. I've tried it both with and without doors inside the garages going to the apartments.

I really am not sure what the problem is.

I wish you could magnify all pictures, im having trouble seeing, what about the doors leading to the backyard, are they custom? or the pillars? Or do you have a buyable mailbox in your downloads folder maybe? Otherwise im stuck.

Sorry about the tiny pictures - there is zero custom content/hacks/downloads on this lot.

ok nobody never listens to me here. but i am going to put here still. i know how to make a fully workableable aparment lot with building over the road. its pretty easy.
1: build in the "road" level a room of the size of all the lot including the road. (you must activate the boolprop locktiles off code. it will allow you tu build over the road.) and just leave 2 rows of free tiles all around that room (2 rows of free tiles on the left right front and back of the lot).
build the 3 remaining floors. (if you want to make 4 apartments. 1 per floor.)
2: put all the windows that you desire in the 2 floor over the road. basically build ALL the apartment. i recommend to add the bedrooms over the road in the 2 floor.
3: delete the 3 walls over the road (the 2 on the sides and the one in front of the road that face the front street.) except 1 tile on every side in the road. put 1 column there and put 4 walls around it.
4: put a wall on the 1 floor (the "road floor" on the first "normal" tile of the lot. (the tile after the white standard road) that will be the apartment number 1.
5: make the other apartments. i recommend using a small room on every floor to put spiral stairs and/or elevators. (since this will not be inside the apartment. it will be in a room of a size necesary to the neigboors can knock your door. or use the spiral stair. and there you put the main apartment entrance in every floor. in the 1 floor put normal doors to the elevators and/or spiral stairs. if you want to know more about that look for the modern tech apartment that come with the apartment life expansion. its near the clothes shop in the neighboorhood view.
6: when its ALL finished. put the residential mail box in front of one of the column that you leave on the road. but on the street side. also the trash can on the other column. change the lot type. if you did all ok save and thats it. i leave 2 screen shots. 1 to see how it must look finished (at least the 1 and 2 floor). and to see how much you can get in this example from a lot of the sixe of 2x2. it looks like a 3x3 lol.
bugs founded? just 2.
1: the 2 floor apartment over the road in some small areas you may need use moveobjects on since the tiles can be on an "phantom" tile. you know what i mean. the grid dissapears since there isnt anything uder that place. it should not be bigger the area of a normal bedroom. and the sims can walk and use anything placed over there.
2: a graphical bug!: when the pool shared chopper comes to get your sims to work, it will pass trough the 3 floors like if they where not placed there. ir will land over the road and everything will work normally. the sims will go get up go to work and maybe they will come in the same way. (sometimes in my game if more than 1 sim go normally to work on a chopper but other sim come early then it comes the chooper with that sim and then a cool car it brings the other or the other ones.)
anyways here are the screenshots:
how should it look the front of the lot the 2 first floors:

how it looks from topdown view. (so you can see how much space you gain doing this.).

btw the prize of this apartments arent alot. in fact, the 1 floor its the more expensive one! since those 2 tiles at the sides (2 at the right 2 at the left and 2 in the backround) as a private patio for that apartment.
the prizes where from 3.300 to 4.290 simoleons. (1 floor 4.290 and the last one 3.300).
i hope this help you. i thinked of this since when i make lots 5x6 apartments are too laggy even with the 4 apartments with my families using them. using this, i can have apartments alot more bigger in small lots.

So my apartment is on a foundation, there's 3 apartment units. To reach the first floor apartment you have to go up the front steps, through the front doors, and you enter a small hall way with the apartment door and an elevator. The only way to get to the second and third floor apartments is on the elevator. when you come out of the elevator on either the second or third floor there is a trash shout and the apartment door. The third floor apartment has a tiny balcony (its closed off by half walls), but the 1st and 2nd floor apartments share a balcony on the 2nd floor. In order for the sim that lives on the first floor apartment to get to the balcony, they have to climb the spiral staircase, and at the top of the staircase is a regular door ( leaving some walking room because you can't place a door in front of a staircase) that leads to the balcony, which is fully closed off by half walls. the second floor apartment just has a regular door leading out.
But now my apartment apparently doesn't have any apartment units, its not saying there's an error, just that there aren't any units, what's wrong!?