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If the segments don’t connect, there are no foundation restrictions. If you intend to have two segments of the house connect, they’ll either both have to be on foundations, or neither. However, many foundations can ramp up the cost considerably, and a house with foundations means you’ll have to have an extra step when expanding it. Basements are finicky, as you’ll see in a moment, though foundations are not.įoundations elevate your house slightly from the ground and give it a much more realistic appearance. Neither is required in fact, most starter homes that ship with the game have no foundation, and no house at all that ships with the game has a basement. The very first thing I need to plan is whether to build a basement and/or a foundation to the house. From there, I click the “Build/Buy” button, which enters the lot and allows me to operate Build Mode and Buy Mode with an unlimited budget. To enter the lot, I click it first, and it brings up a little information on the right side of the interface. It’s 30x40, plenty of room for a decent-sized house and landscaping, allowing the two towers of Falkon Towers with room for a decent garden and more! Here, we’re going to go with an empty lot a couple streets from the Schultzes’ original house, at the address of 17 Maywood Lane. Don’t forget you can eventually build upward too, so a 20x30 lot doesn’t necessarily equate to a tiny house. That means a 20x30 lot is 20 major tiles (40 minor tiles) wide, and 30 major tiles (60 minor tiles) deep. The lot size numbers represent how many major tiles there are per side. Unlike Sims 2 (but like Sims 1), you’re stuck with these lot sizes. There are several lot sizes spread around the neighborhood. But hey, this is The Sims… who says I need to make something realistic and practical? I’ve decided to remake it for The Sims 3, and make it better. No other house I made was that cool, even if others were more practical from a realistic standpoint. My favorite one I made was Falkon Nest v4 (nicknamed Falkon Towers), which was comprised of two towers joined by a skyway that hovered over a pool.
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We’ll show you several factors of making a house here, and comment along the way about the purpose of everything we do.īack in Sims 2, the Falkons went through several house generations. Of course, if you have no qualms about cheating, or if you’re making a home for a Generation-3+ Sim, you can make it somewhat expensive and just move them in later. New families have $16,000 usually, so if you’re making a starter home, you’ll want to keep it under that price. Remember that cost is a factor, so you’ll want to keep an eye on the lot value in the top-left corner.
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You don’t necessarily have to plan out every square tile of the house ahead of time, but knowing the layout of the house will hasten what you can do.
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The first step of making a decent, functional house is to plan it out in your mind. For whatever reason, you’re not allowed to save from within Build or Buy Modes. Turns out, living in a simulation isn’t a way to avoid reality-it’s a way to cope with it.Before we get started, remember that once you’re constructing a building, the only way to save is to back up to the Edit Town screen. It turns out that the thing I’ve been avoiding for a decade because I was afraid it would ruin my life has actually made it qualitatively better. I’m enjoying it, to be sure, but it doesn’t have the compulsive hold on me it used to. I’ve played for an hour or two here and there before moving onto other things. Playing a slower-paced but more immersive game, rather than the usual action-adventure RPG-style titles I usually do, actually created space for me to think through some of my own real-life problems.Įven better, after those first marathon playing spurts, my relationship to The Sims 4 is actually-dare I say it-healthy. As my Sim navigated friendship difficulties, I thought about the friends I’d lost over the last year-something that has been weighing on me more than I’d like to admit. As I contemplated my Sim’s career, based on her interests, the quiet pace of the game gave me time to think about my own. The Sims not only helped me de-stress, it actually gave me room to think about some of the issues I’d been struggling with. Sign up for our Games newsletter and never miss our latest gaming tips, reviews, and features.
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