Hey ya'll!(:
I decided I wanted to see everyones ideas or tips on sims 2 house architecture.(:
Actually, 1001 ideas or tips!(:
If you could, number your entry. Thanks guyss(:
And please DO comment

Tip #1: I think this thread would be better served in the Create -> Sims 2 Building Forums.

(Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

Tip #2: Find your style. Do you like modern houses? Old Victorian mansions? Quiet little bungalows on suburban streets? Gritty downtown crash pads? It's much more fun to build at first when you're building what you like.

Tip #3: Always have a back-up plan, especially if you're like me and prefer to convert real-life house plans to the Sims. Sometimes what works in the real world just doesn't in the Sims world. What are you going to do if you discover that you can't make a basement beneath a sunken living room? Are you going to raise the sunken portion of the house? Are you going to eliminate your basement? What about doors that face onto the same square?

Tip #4: Playability, playability, playability. I can't stress it enough if you're planning on ever actually using that house or community lot - and especially if you want to upload it. Narrow hallways might be a neat ambiance in an old, rotted mansion, but your Sims are going to spend half their time stomping their feet and complaining about blocked paths.

Tip #5: HAVE FUN. This is a game, and it's all about the fun factor. Step away from the project if it's getting tedious or frustrating. Take a breather. Play a bit. Go read, or do homework, or laundry, or something. It's just a game.

Tip #6: Not so much a tip as a bit of practical knowledge-2 tiles diagonal is almost precisely the same linear distance as 3 tiles horizontally or vertically. This helps when designing gazebos, or other octagonal structures.

Tip #7: Use the setHighestAllowedLevel cheat before placing your first wall or foundation...and sometimes the game will count a basement as 1 level.

Tip #8: Do not be afraid of CC...just remember to either include it in any uploads if the creator permits it, or enclose a link or links to the items you used.

Tip #9: Try to keep fences to a minimum if you are using an older computer. They seem to play hell with the CPU.

Tip #10: Decide early on what the basic function of the home is-is it a family dwelling, a run-down flat, a corner convenience store or a reclusive millionare's mansion? Plan space accordingly, and choose decorations and fixtures based on the ultimate purpose.

Tip #11: Don't overbuild, especially if you are not using the familyFunds or motherlode cheat. Sometimes, less really is more.

Tip #12: If at all possible, try to place an exit very near to any source of flame, such as stoves or fireplaces. Fire alarms are a must, and sprinklers, though ugly, can save a sim's life.

Tip #13: Try to have hallways at least 2 tiles wide; and go for 3 if you can. Traffic jams annoy both your sims and you.

Tip #14: Stairs should also allow access for sims heading in opposite directions, so two sets side by side are usually a must, not to mention more aesthetically pleasing.

Tip #15: Move your sims in before adding flowers, shrubs, or other outdoor decorations (Trees exempted) and then add them one at a time to gauge your sims' reaction. No sense putting in a rose garden if all the residents are going to be gagging all over it.

Tip #16: Architectural interest is nice, but only if it dos not interfere with the ordinary business of living. Along with this, try using ordinary things in unusual ways. A 1 tile square column with plate glass windows from floor to ceiling and an interior light adds glamor to a modern building without significant cost, for example.

Tip #17: Don't waste attic or basement space! Usually, these are left as empty, large rooms. Perfect for a pool table, model railroad, home gym, art studio, or huge rumpus room.

Tip #18: Try to avoid weird sizes and shapes in your rooms. Some creators seem to have built from the outside in (*cough* EAxis*cough*) giving more attention to outward appearance rather than interior functionality. This is not to say that you must build a crackerbox, but size and shape the room to fit its potential use. Remember the bit about diagonal tiles in tip #6? An octagonal room 7 tiles wide is perfect for a gazebo, hot tub, grand piano or pool table, with a bit of room to spare for decorative plants or seating. This is the sort of room you would find in turrets/towers like you see in those grand old Victorian houses.

More later, as I think of them.


edit: afterthought

I don't upload houses, so these ideas are mostly about playability.

*19 Build starter homes with the cheapest windows, doors, flooring and wallpapers, and one tree or a couple bushes for landscaping. Later, when the moved-in family has earned enough money, these things can be upgraded to fancier and more expensive types, which gives you something to look forward to as you start the family in their careers ("Hey, cool, a promotion. Now they can afford new tile for the bathroom!")

*20 Use a double-door for the main entrance into the house. Traffic jams on the front porch when four kids have just gotten off the school bus together are a pain in the tuchus.

*21 On any building on a foundation, make no porch smaller than 2x2, though 3x3 is an even better minimum.

*22 On a similar note: It's either a deck or it's not. If it's not big enough for activities (game of darts, or barbecue plus table and chairs, etc.), delete it and go back to yer basic porch.

*23 Make every stairway landing at least two tiles 'long'. Leaving one tile between the top (or bottom) of the stairs and the wall is asking for traffic problems.

*24 For playability, forget reality and put the nursery next to the kitchen and a bathroom (especially in a multi-story house.) Sim babies do not have to be upstairs next to the parents room; putting them next to the kitchen saves a lot of dragging baby up and down stairs for a bottle. I usually put a 2x2 room next to the nursery containing nothing but a bathtub to make scrubbing toddlers easier.

*25 Put the back door in or very near the kitchen. Make sure the back porch is big enough for compost bins. Easy garbage carryout, no disposal to breakdown, fewer children taking off for the sidewalk in the middle of the night clutching a bag of trash.

*26 Always use lockable doors on the kitchen, so it can be locked to 'household members only'. Prevents guests from eating all your food or setting your kitchen on fire.

*27 If you're including a garage, build it with a little extra space for the more unsightly Aspiration Rewards. Keeps them clashing with the interior decor and some of them look right at home in the garage anyway.

*28 my tip is not really building but more decorative in build mode go to night time then in buy mode place the lights all lights will be on so much better when you can see how much light is needed for a room.

#29. Never Use Autoroof!

#30 Build room by room. Don't build the outside of the house and then try and cram all the rooms inside.
#31 Don't revolve all your building around functionallity alone. You can still have enough room to move around without traffic jams and still have nice houses

Thanks everyone for your inputs!!(:

*ForeverCamp- Great tips.(: I suppose it would fit in that category a little more...

*Kneon Knight- I TOTALLY agree with your 18th tip. EAxis doesn't have the best decorators.

*wthrwthoutyu- I love the playability tips. They help SO much!!(:

*agon999- I use that one ALL the time!!(:

*Zandvoort- Ahhh, autoroof. When don't you fail me?

*Aserette- #30 is a wonderful tip, it works great!!(:

Thanks for all ya'lls inputs.(again)

#32 Treat pool ladders like stairs in that you should be aware of potential traffic jams with Sims trying to get out of the pool.

#33 I don't know if this counts as building per se*. (If not, the next person can have a #33.) Place the water sprinkler directly over the stove (and any other appliance or flammable item). The sprinkler will still put out any fire, but being directly over the stove or counter, there are additional benefits. Puddles do not form under stoves or counters so that is one less grid square to mop up and no one (I'm looking at you Evil Cow Mascot) can prank it. They will stamp their feet about not being able to prank it, but that's just tough.

*I try to have the sprinkler no more than a few squares away from a sink. I know the game has no real notion of plumbing and pipes, but it's like having the nursery next to the parents' bedroom. It's just a mental notion.

#34 Place ceiling lights 2 tiles away from the front of any door. If you don't the open door will stay stuck open since the light fixture blocks it.

#35 If you want to build a 2nd story but don't have the room for a regular staircase use the CC "simple spiral stairs" by Marvine. Love them!

#36 Build a fence around your beautiful flower beds with a gate locked to not allow pets...keeps them from rolling in them and killing your flowers.

Funny to see all the comments about building from the inside-out - I never do. The point of my neighbourhood is for me to create a believable place - somewhere that looks like a town. As a consequence, what the outside of the buildings looks like is important. As with anything to do with this game, there are no hard and fast rules.

#37 always use different shapes, never do square houses because iff you want auto roof then L shape for example looks much better with auto roof.

This is because most people worry about playability/not having traffic jams. I agree though, the outside of the house is just as important and with building you will make alot of mistakes and corrections to eventually have built something worth while.

#38 Take your time. We all know a rush job doesn't look any good :P
#39 Realistic, realistic, realistic! If you wouldn't live in the house, why should your sims?! (With the exception of fairytale homes and such)

#40 When building apartments, make sure all flower beds and bushes are accessible to the landlords. (I'm playing on a beautiful downloaded apartment, but I noticed the landlady didn't leave until 7pm. Sure enough, she spends her days in the backyard of one of the neighbors trying to trim bushes that are behind fences.)

#41 When building apartments, try to keep the bedrooms away from walls shared with neighbors - or make the bedrooms large enough that you can put furniture against the wall to block the noise. And don't waste those well-lighted exterior walls on bathrooms and stairs!

#4 can't be stressed too much. It's not so bad making corrections on residential lots because you don't have to exit the lot or move out your Sims in order to fix things, but apartments, dorms and community lots are a pain to correct. Maxis is terrible for this - there's a shower on one of the hobby lots that can't be used because it's facing the wrong way, there's a jewelry display in BV that can't be accessed because they faced the counter towards the wall...

Make larger rooms , one thing I hate when my Sims go on Vacation is the lack of rooms......
Everything seem so stuffed in there

#42 Never use the octagon shape for the click and drag rooms. It's impossible to fit things in unless you make it huge. Plus building around it is nearly impossible.

#43 When roofing, you don't want to put an octagonal-type roof with a square wall under it. The shape looks funny. If you want to have a tall 'tower' roof in your lot, just make the angling higher. I usually have 4-sided roofs anyway on my lots because I don't like diagonal walls. Which brings me to #44.

#44 If you have a door or window at the exact corner of your house:

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It will show up in-game and interfere with playability. [b]Make sure all your doors and windows are at least 1 tile away from corners![b]

#45 Columns may look nice, but they don't 'hide' when you start playing. If the camera faces the side of the house where the columns are, you'll see a lot of problems with accessing the important items around the house.

#46 Another thing about columns - there can be elevation glitches with floor tiles if you're placing the columns "outdoors" (i.e. to hold up a tree-house that's hidden in the forest -- note: this interferes with playability a lot because of the tree-blockage). Be prepared to also have glitches if you delete columns that are holding up part of the second or higher floor of a house. It's weird, but that happens often.

#47 Along with columns, most kinds of landscaping in-game can block things. You may like to have trees in the front of your house, but then you won't see things behind them and can't access those items unless you zoom in - a problem if you have a large lot. Tree leaves can also show through the wall, so check for 'tree-tips' when you're placing trees.

48: I know this is like the base rule for house building, but it hasn't been said yet in this thread (unless I missed it): Don't just build a shoebox!
49: This one is pretty common too, but I didn't see it yet either: if you are building a house special for a family, always make sure every Sim will have at least one toilet AND one shower accessible at all times. Another good idea would be to separate the shower with an arch so Sims won't whine about privacy.

50: If you have rich Sims and want a lavish bathroom: One thing I do, for the master bathroom, put in two toilets, with a wall segment in between them, and two counters with two sinks. Showers and a tub are in an adjoining room separated by an arch. Why? If they are in the same room, then when a Sim flushes, it might cause a Sim in the shower to storm out and yell at the flusher (in real life, you do that, and suddenly the shower goes hot, so it's understandable why the showering Sim would have their knickers in a twist).

When I build, I tend to plan ahead. Sure, I might want a couple to have one child, but what if it's twins?

BTW I noticed that in the Twikkii Island neighborhood, South End Beach--the bathrooms have the wrong doors. How do I know this? There's a urinal in the women's bathroom!

51. Another reason to put the shower in its own room. In the case of Don Lothario and other messy sims who flood the room with puddles while showering it'll only lower that room score and then you can clean it when you feel like it.

52. for roofs on the second floor (these would be the ones that are covering the first floor but on ground level with the second floor, meaning not covering) If you have m&G use the lowest angle available so windows will actually show. Functionality isnt an issue game play wise for angles roof like that but aesthetically it's an annoyance.

53: Hilly terrains might look pretty in game but anyone who has played a family on 105 Will Wright Way in Pleasantview knows that hilly terrains sucks for Sim navigation. They do the same thing for hilly terrain that they do with halls stairs and doorways that are not wide enough- whine and bitch.

54: While you should not be afraid to use CC on your lost make sure to look out for high poly objects meshes (Low= under 2500, Med=2500-4999. High= anything over 5000) to many high poly objects can cause game crashes on lower end computers.

55. When using CC check whether items from sets (like the Ophelia Bathroom by Adele, or Buggybooz Kitchen Basic ) are repository (they all share the same texture which is linked to one specific object mesh). Sets that are repository will flash blue and may crash the lot if they are missing the master mesh. Always either include the master mesh with the lot, or link to it and make sure that you tell people it is needed for a lot.

56: Curved pools are also one of those things that look great but aren't very functional since you may not be able to place pool ladders or pool wall lights on curved walls, no ladder means Sims can't get out of the pool , and if they have rolled the afraid of the dark fear, they may lose aspiration points if there are not lights

57. After following all of these good tips from everyone here step by step on building, there is still one last thing to do. That maybe know one have ever thought of yet, Just Bulldoze the whole project and be done with it.

58- If you do have to resort to Auto roof because building your roof by hand isn't working and you have a porch; Enclose your porch with walls so it will get covered. Columns are not enough to for the game to recognize that that area needs covered. Once the roof is on remove the walls and hope you have enough columns in place to keep it up.

Tip #59: The Simonut fix (your post reminded me of this, hun). GRAPH PAPER! Sketch out your floorplan on graph paper before committing yourself to ANYthing. I have been doing this since I first started playing Sims 1, and it is just habit. And if you find a design that works and just really is great, you can keep it in a notebook. (Let's see you do that with yer harddrives when an EMP strikes out of the blue, ya bunch of wise-ass kids.)

You can sketch and erase and remodel to your heart's content without wasting hours on the computer building/deleting. 1 square on graph paper=1 tile, and away you go.

Tip #60. Place your front door last, or the paper carrier will think it's your back door.
Tip #61. When building community lots, the view when you last saved will be the view when your sims visit, so save when centered on the phone booth and with the wall view in the state you prefer.
Tip #62. When building community lots, the last item placed will be the one that sims have the "what's this?" impulse toward, so make sure it's something in a convenient area. That way, when the last member of your all-male outing gets out of the taxi, the first ones won't be bunched up at the ladies' room door complaining because they can't see the sink.