this thread is to be about what we do with the lots that start in the lot bin.


me; in past times playing, placed them in one custom neighborhood and some copies of them in Strangetown.

I usually just ignore them. Sometimes I put one down and massively renovate it. Maxis wasn't very good at building lots.

The Ranch Retreat has saved me quite often when I really needed a cheap house that works I am very fond of that one.

Delete them mostly.

I use them: most of my Sims live in Maxis houses. Usually I modify them: sometimes to make them more playable; often just to make look different -- so they don't look straight-out-of-the-box Maxis. I have now used all the base game lot houses, and the Celebration SP houses. I think I've used most o the Nightlife houses now, except for the biggest "Town House", though I do have Sims living in one of the ones that Maxis placed in Downtown (35 King Street is used as a hostel for teenage townies who have become playable, but haven't yet found a place of their own; Craig Royce [aka The Slob] is the warden). I haven't yet used the OFB community lots or the lot-bin University dorms, but I still regard both OFB and University as new to my game. I've had OFB for about two and a half years, and had University installed since the end of January!) At the moment, the only university I'm playing is Peni's Land Grant University (LGU). I'm likely to add one of the Maxis ones to LGU, as I think dorms are the best place to introduce new students to university life, but I'll modify it to try to bring it up to the standard of Peni's dorms, and keep the common "look and feel" of the LGU dorms. That's all my EPs/SPs, so that's all, the Maxis lot bin buildings I have.

I'm primarily a player rather than a builder, and I don't want to build everything from scratch.

I'm quite fond of the value Victorian and the large townhouse that came with nightlife.
A lot of them are too small I don't like putting anything less than 3br really.

I use them all the time

Delete them, and put into the game far, far better created lots that actually play easily and without all the problems attached to them: House of the Fallen Trees is the most infamous example..
The smaller the better, I've found. EA/Maxis believed in the 'California Cool' thing mostly in designing them. Not everyone lives on the beach.

Ages ago, I plopped a couple of them down and did some remodeling of them. However, after realizing that 'remodeling' really just meant practically re-building, I stopped even thinking about ever using the bin lots again. Some of those lots require so much tweaking, that it is almost easier and faster to start from scratch.

There are some that I use a lot, like the Just Right bungalow and modified versions of the Ranch Retreat, the Bonny Bungalow and the Downtown bungalows. I like the Sporty Shack and the Bohemian Bungalow (perfect for the Ottomai), which are much bigger and surprisingly inexpensive once all the furniture is deleted. The Craftsman is okay, and so is the Grand Estate Manor. For the most part, though, it's the cheaper lots I use; Maxis didn't seem to have much of a handle on playability when designing the more expensive houses.

I put all of them in my "House Holding Hood" then delete them from the bin.

I have used every one of them in one way or another.

I am embarrassed to admit that I use most of the cheaper ones on a regular basis. Install before last, I gutted my favorite houses (no furniture, no hot tubs, minimal landscape, minimal exterior walls, patios, etc. ) and kept copies of them in my bin as my go-to houses. Most of the time, I'd start with an inexpensive house and add on rooms or plop in a staircase and add an upstairs. Depending on the size of the family, I think the ones I used the most were Ranch Retreat, Sporty Shack, European Townhouse, Craftsman's Pride and the tiny house built over a pond.

The reason I use a lot of the Maxis homes is that I stink (big time) at making my own houses, and I was always afraid to download custom houses (all that talk about the hug bug virus). I've since installed BO's NoSimLoaded, and have downloaded two custom homes--but still have not installed them in my game. I guess I'm just a big chicken. Also, my Sims rarely sell and upgrade to a better house because of the depreciation of everything. In most markets, homes go up in value (well, except for the mid-2000s here in the US). I think I saw some sort of mod (a for sale sign, maybe) that is supposed to fix this. I'll have to take a look.

One day I will learn how to make a decent house. Hopefully, I'll have learned by the time my next generation of Sims are ready to live in something beside a tiny bamboo hut!

The Victorian Value is a miracle. If I've got a large household and I don't know what to do? VICTORIAN VALUE. The Subjects live in one. Faith, Herb, and their foster kids (the Newson bunch) live in one. I used one as a student house in Widespot's college. And the Ottomai were thisclose to living in one, except that the farmhouse looked tailor-made for them.

Here's what I did with the floorplan for the Subject house: http://aegagropilon.tumblr.com/post...any-sims-into-a

I just ignore them for the most part. The way they're made just bothers me because they're usually so big but I'm also usually griping at the idea of making houses myself so I'll either bite the bullet and make a few houses I can quickly turn into other things, or everyone moves into the Derelict Dreamhouse.

I make my own, and never use the bin ones.

@SIMelissa
The Hug Bug isn't a virus it's just maxis code that has become active and it isn't only lots that can make it active. Mods that add options to your sim pie menu once pulled can as well if they don't have a fall back GUID. It's really nothing to worry about. Sims having been on a lot that you install is of far more concern.

I already mentioned the Ranch Retreat.

Yet some of the houses in the bin are very playable; I think I have used most of them over time. (Some are not). I have changed some of them to my liking, but since those in the lot bin are still cheaper than my makeovers, I still use them. The cozy co-op (I think) is a very nice little house. I also like the sporty shack, the bohemian bungalow (yes, it's ugly, but is comes with a computer and a dishwasher and has lots of space); the Hearty Home and a number of others. Doc Alan's Hangout and the FreeTime Recreation Center (or something) almost always will be found somewhere in a subhood - because they work - I place a very high premium on working; changing some wall paints, floors and lowering the roof pitch are sometimes all that is needed.

Interesting, the Victorian Value. I have used it, more than once, but it is not one that works for my playing style, I guess. I stick big families, if needed, into the Hearty Home.

I love the look of the Victorian Value from the outside, but I find the upstairs portion to be a bit annoying. I always cut down a bedroom and turn it into a bathroom. Then, it works for me -- except when they are all at the stop of the stairs and can't figure out how to move out of each other's way.

I like to take the European Townhouse and add a big rectangle room downstairs (family room) and a couple bedrooms upstairs, making it a nice roomy house. Of course, that's after my Sims have scrimped and saved and had a kid or two.

It is nice outside I remember finding it hard to decorate and furnish that one and I ended up knocking down walls and adding stairs and ruining the look in general - maybe I should try again some day.

I love Craftsman's Pride and the Family Farmhouse. They are perfect for large families. Apart from those, I usually build my own. I made an alternative to these two houses just so I would have some more variation in my hood!

https://scibirg.tumblr.com/post/159...hs-lots-of-room

I've deleted them to save space. I think I have a copy of the files somewhere though.

Also, if you're really concerned and nervous (I admit I am), you can try using the Orb. You should have NSL in your game in the first place as well.



HOWEVER ... I would do this only if you're really worried or if you plan to upload a lot. Most of these are just extra, above-and-beyond steps. 98% of the Sims players out there who don't want to upload a lot simply go the NSL route alone, don't see anything wrong, and play their merry way without any problems for years and years. SDHB is not a virus. It doesn't harm your hood or your game. It's a nuisance. A pest. It's a gnat. NSL (and the Orb, if you plan to upload a lot at some point) helps keep that gnat outside, where it belongs!

I know a lot of people hate them, but the lot bin houses will always hold a special place in my heart. They're kinda part of my cherished earliest memories of the game (which, presumably, doubles as the reason I'm largely indifferent towards the lot bin houses that came with later expansions and stuff packs). Ranch Retreat, Victorian Value, and Cape Cod Classic are my favorites.

After a decade of playing the game, I'm still hilariously bad at building, which means I still use bin houses a lot. I'm not a big fan of using uploaded lots; not because I don't think they're not good -- honestly, an overwhelming amount of creations are utterly fantastic -- but because they are so good, and the essence of the Sims 2 to me is forever cemented in the boxy, EAxian creations with 434 doors leading to a bathroom and that one lamp in every room. Something about the clunky awkwardness of the earliest bin houses is so utterly endearing to me, that I can't bring myself to expand or remodel any of them beyond changing the wallpapers and the color of the exterior walls and roof to add a sense of diversity to my neighborhoods.

The only lot bin house I sometimes get rid of is that really huge one, and I haven't even done this in my current incarnation of my hoods. I am no fan of huge houses.

I love to build lots. They might not be the best lots, doggone it, but what I might lack in skill, I more than make up for in proliferation.

Even so, I still keep my Maxis lots in the bin. Sometimes, I just don't feel like using my lots or building or downloading new ones, and they are my go-to resource. And sometimes, it's fun to use one of these and get a wee bit of nostalgia before I tear out the insides and re-do them to my specs.

I sometimes use a lot bin house, but only when I'm feeling inclined to gut it and fix the interior layout. I really hate bathrooms with three doors, object staircases in the middle of the house (modular all the way, baby) and kitchen at the front of the house. I think I use them most when I want something small for a single sim. I tend to overbuild when creating a house for a single, so constraining myself to the foundation of a small EAxis house helps prevent a single dude or a retiree living in a place big enough for a family of five.