Tutorial: Apartment Building

[Andrew]

Scroll down for the Tutorial or use this link.

Sims 3 - How To: Create Apartments (Tips)
https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=31745.msg505891#msg505891


How would one go about building apartments? I have I feeling it is a very complicated process. I imagine you would need to use buydebug to define certain rooms. Any ideas?

[TGBlank]

Apartments are like normal lots, with some extra bits. If you've ever built a WA tomb, it's similar.

There's a few things that are special: the public room marker is used on parts like the lobby so everything in that area doesn't count for lot price (and can't be edited normally on build/buy mode), the hidden room marker  is used to make rooms black and hide them, the doors of your neighboors have been set as "NPC" doors through testingcheatsenabled and shift-clicking. Finally, there's the call-box and the trash chute, they're not available even with buydebug, so you have to either use a mod or start from an existing apartment and avoid deleting those.

For doors to be set as npc doors, they need to lead to an enclosed public area btw. You can also set neighboor sound to them (pick the nearest to the playable apartment and set it in that one). The call-box needs to be in a public area or outside to work as intended.

As for the shell buildings themselves, they're not directly available, so you'll have to start from an existing building or use a mod.

EDIT: forgot to add, you may find the "rbbb off" cheat useful for editing public areas.

[MLBerry]

What is the "rbbb off" cheat?  And I am sure I have seen the laundry chute somewhere.  Also is there a tutorial anywhere that will walk us through this step by step?

[Joria]

Apartments are like normal lots, with some extra bits. If you've ever built a WA tomb, it's similar.

As for the shell buildings themselves, they're not directly available, so you'll have to start from an existing building or use a mod.

EDIT: forgot to add, you may find the "rbbb off" cheat useful for editing public areas.

1.  Sounds like somebody, (you), need to write a tutorial on apartment building.  (please?)

2. Shell buildings can be obtained in buydebug in the miscellaneous section.

rbbb off is restrictbuildbuyinbuilding on/off   This is case sensitive and I'm not sure I have it typed correctly but by playing with caps for first letters of words and adding spaces you'd soon figure it out.

[Jonna]

I made one apartment a few weeks ago, it was easier than I'd anticipated.  The idea was that the bottom floor is a "store" (I made a laundromat and placed a Public Space marker in it at the end) and that there are apartments available on the upper floors.  So I made a rear entrance to the bottom floor, a little room that I designated the lobby, with a callbox and elevator.  The elevator goes up a floor, to a hallway with two doors, one to the real apt, and one to the hidden apt.  You could always create more apartments to be hidden, just depends on how you want to design the building.  So anyway.  Place the walls you want first, then add the markers at the very end.  My building had the hidden apt at the very front of the building (so theoretically, the NPC who "lives" there would have windows facing the street), whereas the real apt, the one that sims can actually move into, has windows facing the ocean.  I made the apt three stories tall, and made a flat roof so I could have a "common" area.  I threw up a fence around the roof for safety (not that sims would actually fall off, thankfully), and added a hot tub, dance floor, buffet, etc until I was finished and I added a public space marker to the area.  Oh, to the ground floor, I added some dirt so that the sims could garden.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to alter the area because it was "outside my unit" but thankfully, when I play-tested, the game let me garden there.

You'll have to play a little bit with the cheats (I only needed to use testingcheatsenabled and rbbb which stands for something like restrictbuildbuyinbuildings - I never get it right, I always have to check the cheats window - type in Help), but it's not hard to get the hang of.

[Jonna]

Here we go.  Hope this helps those who are interested in building apartments...:

First pick a lot.  I've chosen the lot in Sunset Valley next to Jared and Connor Frio.  You need to decide pretty early on how many stories you want your apartment, how nice you want it to be, and how many amenities you wish to offer the residents.



So the first thing I decide is that I want my building to have a garage, so that's what I build first, although that's really not necessary.  I also build the ground floor of the building.  It's not necessary to do it like I did, you can make the lobby area as big or as small as you'd like.  You can certainly decorate it, add a restroom, laundromat, etc.  The elevator is important, though!  Your sims need to be able to go upstairs to reach their home.  I also left space in the back for a yard.



So now I'm going to figure out how tall I want my building, how big I want the actual apartment vs. how much space the NPC apartment (or apartments) gets.  I decide that the apartment itself will cover two stories, and the roof will be a common area.  So I put down floors, then put up walls and figure out where the inside walls go.  I decide on a small hallway by the elevator on the second floor and then add two doors, one for my apartment, and one for the NPC apartment (shift+click on the NPC door, then click on Set as NPC to make an NPC live there).



Add the third story, put in some walls, windows, and doors (doors not shown), along with elevator shaft:


Then I'm ready for the rooftop area.  I put down the floor, add the walls for the elevator, add the elevator, fence it in, and voila!  Ready for Buy Mode.


Well, except for things like paint on the walls and different types of flooring.  Right now, everything is white tile!

Also, please note that at this time, I haven't used a single cheat.

[Jonna]

So now we have the basic outline of our new apartment.  Time to make it become functional!  And look pretty, except I'm not much of a decorator (or even builder, as far as that goes), so you'll just have to suffer with some boring screen shots.

Here I've thrown some items on the roof, you can choose whatever items you'd like.  Later we will make this a public space.  You can even add a hot tub, just make sure that you place it over your NPC neighbor's apartment, so your sims don't have to suffer with the bottom of it protruding on their living quarters!  NPCs don't complain about things like that.



So here we've got the third floor of the building.  I've added some furniture.



And then the second floor, where I've added very little and you're just going to have to use your imagination.



So then let's go ahead and add the backyard to the ground floor.  I've dedicated a patch of it to a garden.



Once you've placed everything you want your building to have (don't forget lights!), you're ready to start using building cheats.  Ctrl+Shift+C > testingcheatsenabled true and buydebug.

I want to place some plants in the garden, so I'll go ahead and do so:


Next we shall cover placing Room Markers!

[Jonna]

We're at the point where we've almost finished our apartment and we just need to add our room markers!  (Have I mentioned that you need to be finished making your building look how you want?  That includes adding windows to the NPC's apartment so that the building doesn't look strange with only half of it being windowed!)  It's fun to watch the price of your apartment go down with every marker you place.  Let's go to buydebug, which is in Buy Mode > Sort by Function > ?.  Go to the last tab called Misc. Objects, and scroll down until you see the orb called Hidden Room Marker.  Place this marker in every room that your sims will not be using - basically, the places where the NPC will be "living."

So I'm adding the marker to the second and third floors.  Once we get into Live Mode, these rooms will be blacked out.  I try to add the marker to the part of the room that is farthest away from the real apartment, because I've had trouble earlier with the marker affecting Buy and Build modes (that is to say, if it's too close, it might tell you that you can't change something in your apartment because it's outside your unit, even though it's really not).





Now it's time for the Public Space Marker.  This orb is in the same tab as the Hidden Room Marker, keep scrolling down until you find it.  This marker is for all the rooms that you want your sims to be able to use, but not own any of the objects.  For this particular building, this means the lobby, the second floor hallway by the elevator, the garage, the roof, and the yard.







So that's pretty much it!  If you realize that you've forgotten to do something once you've got your markers placed, input restrictbuildbuyinbuildings off into your cheats window, and fix what you need to, then you can turn it back on when you've finished.

Stay tuned for a couple more screen shots of the apartment in action.

[Jonna]

Now we're living!  Here you can see that the garden is fully functional (meaning you can plant on the ground!  No getting denied because it's outside your unit!).



We can also place a car down in the garage, in case you were worried.  Also, you can find either callbox in Buy Mode > Sort by Function > Electronics > Miscellaneous Electronics:



And here you can see that our Hidden Room Marker worked (not that you had doubts!):



So there you go!  Now have some fun making much nicer apartments than I!  This one only costs its inhabitants a cool $15,697 furnished (if you can even consider this furnished! lol), and $11,521 unfurnished.

[folcon]

Not bad.  I'm impressed.

[CharlotteDaBookworm]

The callboxes can also be found in the alarms section.

[RubyLovesSims]

That was really usful! I couldn't find  photos anywhere!

[MasterSiwel]

@Jonna The thing I like about those apartments is the spaciousness. Really I've had space issues with my last apartments. But for that one its big enough for changing around furniture.

[gerrr00]

Thank you Jonna, I love your tutorial.  I can't wait to try and build one now.  I didn't want to take the time to figure it out, so thank you, again, for all your work.    Maybe Carl can try to add this information to the guide in the building area.

[MasterSiwel]

Thank you Jonna, I love your tutorial.  I can't wait to try and build one now.  I didn't want to take the time to figure it out, so thank you, again, for all your work.    Maybe Carl can try to add this information to the guide in the building area.

I think we should have that as a tutorial. It was actually quite helpful!

[Jonna]

I'm glad you all liked it and found it helpful.  As for putting it up on Carl's Guide, it should probably be done by someone who can actually build a nice looking apartment, and then the tutorial apartment could be available to download from the Swap Shop!  

@Jonna The thing I like about those apartments is the spaciousness. Really I've had space issues with my last apartments. But for that one its big enough for changing around furniture.

For many of the apartments that came with LN, you can use the cheat restrictbuildbuyinbuildings off to move walls and give yourself more space.  Just try to move the Hidden Room Markers farther away from your own apartment.  I believe there are a couple apartments that take up the entire floor, so using that cheat won't get you any extra space, although you could use it to add items to other areas of the building.  For example, there is at least one apartment building that has a public space with a pool table and some other things I can't remember offhand.

[lyst83]

I'm trying to build a duplex apartment, looking like a regular house, but I'm having problems.

I mostly figured out what to do on my own, then came here for what I didn't know. I can't get the other apartment's door to activate as a NPC door. Shift+clicking does nothing, testingcheatsenabled true is already on, RestrictBuildBuy is already off. No matter what I've tried to do, it won't recognize it as an apartment for a NPC. It just says that my sim is not allowed to go through the door.

I took all my  markers out, tried to change the door and didn't have that option, put all my markers back and tried to do it and didn't have that option. Shift+clicked on the call box. My door, the main door, the other door of the apartment. I got nothing. What am I doing wrong??

[Jonna]

Hi lyst83 and welcome to the forum! =)  I don't have my game up right now but the next time I do, I'll make sure to check out how to build a duplex.  Right now my idea is to make an enclosed lobby/entryway and to have the two doors to each side, then try to change the other door to NPC.  I know it's not like a real duplex (with the front doors leading straight into the front yard), but I'm sure with a little creativity, you could make it look okay.

[Hosfac]

I just posted a similar question in the LN forum, so since you appear to be "in the know" somewhat, I'll pose it to you:

The high rises don't fit well into the other towns at all.  As I now know that you can change the interiors, I wonder if it's possible to change their position on the lots as well.  Many of them are extremely odd sized lots, so you'd be required to put them in an oversized lot, so is it possible to put them into a more reasonable position after they've been placed?

[Jonna]

@lyst83: I tried making a regular duplex and it won't work for me either.  Looks like you're going to have to make a lobby or enclosed porch of some sort, mark it as Public, and then set the door as NPC.  The enclosed part is very important!  You can use an archway, but it does have to be walled in.  

If that does not work for you (aesthetically I mean), you'll just have to mark the other side of your house as hidden and pretend an NPC lives there.

@Hosfac: The high rise shells are available in buydebug.  There are several that fit very comfortably in 30x30 lots.  Once you set them down, however, you cannot move them again so make sure you put them in the right place (like, if you want to have parking spaces, make sure you place them or leave enough room before you put down the building).  I suggest looking at the buildings in BP before you start messing with creating one of your own.  They're pretty tricky, especially the walls and windows.  You'll notice on the EA high rises, the "outside" walls and windows don't actually show when you have the roof up (or are on a higher floor) -- you only see the shell building.  Pay attention to how they do the lobbies as well.  There is the outside shell building door, and then they use a walkway to get to the actual in-game lobby doors.  That is to say, there are two sets of "main" doors: one to get inside the shell, and another to get to the actual playable lobby.  

So to answer your question, yes you can move the high rises around, but not after they've been placed.  

[Hosfac]

So to answer your question, yes you can move the high rises around, but not after they've been placed.  

That is precisely what I wanted to know.  Thanks!

[lyst83]

@Jonna, Thank you for your help. I did make a little lobby and placed a public marker down, but I'm still not able to make the other apartment an NPC apartment. It's just hidden and for some reason that really bothers me. I simply do not have the option of Make NPC door. Do I have to do this before I place the hidden marker down? I will double check, but I think I've tried that and still don't have that option. Do you think that [mod name removed - ds] could be the problem?

[Jonna]

I know nothing about mods, I'm sorry.  We're not even really permitted to talk about them on the forum.

I'm not sure why you're having your problem.  I would start over on a fresh lot to see if you can do it, instead of messing around again with the one you already have.  If you can do it on the fresh lot, I'd suggest deleting all your markers on the real house, replacing them, and then try to mark the door as NPC.  If you're still having trouble, though, I can take some more screen shots and try to do a step-by-step for you.

[Joria]

Jonna your posts are fabulously informative and very clear and easy to follow.  So here is what I wanted to do.  I don't want high rises.  I want to take an existing building that is more "houselike", like the large laundromat that has two or three floors above it with stairs leading up.  My thoughts were, forget the stairs, replace with elevators to save space, but now how do we get those floors to be apartments?  Sure you can divide the floors up into rooms to make huge apartments, or even into two apartments, but how do you get them to be usable, purchasable by Sims, separate living quarters?  First start by putting public markers in the laundromat itself?  But then what?  I don't necessarily want npc apartments in the building, just places other Sims can buy/live and call home.

[Hosfac]

Once I place the building, it won't let me build anything else on the lot.  It says that I can't alter anything outside my living area (or something to that extent), so I think I'm missing a step somewhere along the lines.

Obviously, I have to use "testingCheatsEnabled true" and "buyDebug" to get access to the shell, and I need "moveObjects on" to place the shell on the lot.  What else do I need to do?  Do I need to place a marker or something to build?

[Ausette]

After activating 'testingcheatsenabled true', make sure you put in the cheat "RestrcitBuildBuyInBuildings False". You should be able to edit the rest of the lot after that.

[Jonna]

@Hosfac: You need to input restrictbuildbuyinbuildings off into the cheats console in order to continue modifying the lot.  [Edit: Ausette beat me to it! Thank you much.]

@Joria: Thank you!  You are very kind.  What you're asking for is pretty simple (at least to me! Lol).  Build your laundromat/apt the way you want it to look, and when you've got everything complete, then place your markers.  Placing markers should probably always be just about the last thing you do.  Add a Public Space Marker to any room you want to be accessed by any sim (so the laundromat; the lawn - actually not sure if you have to put one there, but I do; the lobby/hallway; etc.), then any space you don't want to be your sims living quarters and you don't want to be accessed by the public, you can mark as hidden.  If you want normal non-NPC sims to live in the other apartments, unfortunately you're going to be disappointed, because the only sims who will live on a lot are the sims you control, and NPCs.  But if that's not what you want, and you just don't care about NPCs living next door, you can simply skip marking the other doors as NPC.  If you'd like, I can post some screenshots of the first lot I made into an apartment - it's actually what you describe (laundromat on the bottom floor, apartments above).

Anyway, another way of looking at it - in the little tutorial I made, the lobby area could have just as easily been a laundromat - all I'd have to have done was add washers and dryers.

[Hosfac]

After activating 'testingcheatsenabled true', make sure you put in the cheat "RestrcitBuildBuyInBuildings False". You should be able to edit the rest of the lot after that.

@Hosfac: You need to input restrictbuildbuyinbuildings off into the cheats console in order to continue modifying the lot.  [Edit: Ausette beat me to it! Thank you much.]

Aha!  Yeah, I remember reading that somewhere, now.  I knew I was forgetting something.

Thanks!  You two have redefined awesome!

[Jonna]

@Joria: Wow, I just re-read your post and realized I completely skipped over the "existing building" part of your question.  Sorry!!  So to answer: Change the lot type to Residential in Edit Town to make it livable.  You'll want to fix up the building however you'd like it to look, then place your markers like you would as if you'd created the building from scratch (and how I described above).  So public markers in public areas, hidden markers in the extra apartment(s) that you won't be playing in.

[Hosfac]

Do you need to furnish the hidden apartments for NPC's to live in them?

[Jonna]

Do you need to furnish the hidden apartments for NPC's to live in them?

Nope!  Just place the hidden marker.

[Joria]

@Joria: Wow, I just re-read your post and realized I completely skipped over the "existing building" part of your question.  Sorry!!  So to answer: Change the lot type to Residential in Edit Town to make it livable.  You'll want to fix up the building however you'd like it to look, then place your markers like you would as if you'd created the building from scratch (and how I described above).  So public markers in public areas, hidden markers in the extra apartment(s) that you won't be playing in.

Thank you.  I think the bottom line is I can only have ONE liveable apartment though, right?  Can't just let it be two apartments that random Sims could move into, right?  I hadn't planned on one of my families moving in there but I guess I could do that, only if I put two households in they would probably wind up wandering from apartment to apartment as they wished since it would more function like a house.  It bothers my logical mind to know you have this ginormous building, (high rises), but only ONE apartment a townie or one of your SIms can use and the rest has to be npc black out.

Now, what about the case of using a large building, (Waylon's Haunt which is actually two buildings on the same lot and not conjoined inside), with several stories available that COULD become an apartment, or apartmentS, on top of a bar or perhaps some sort of store?  I was thinking of using the second building as boutique type stores, or maybe executive lounge type building, with "hotel rooms" above. 

[Jonna]

Right, only one livable apartment per lot.

You can make any building look like both a home and a store/club, but the lot will only function like what you have it set up as in Edit Town.  So if it's a residential lot, then you can have sims living in it, and they can use the areas you designate as public (and so can other sims) but you'll never get notified, for example, that your venue is bumping tonight because the game doesn't see it as a venue.  Likewise, if the lot is designated as a club, your sims will be able to sleep in the beds like they can do at any other commercial lot, but they won't actually be able to live there.  You cannot mix lot types.

[Joria]

Stomps foot in frustration!    So, if I have an apartment over my laundromat, the laundromat will not attract townies to use it as a laundromat?  I don't care about it being a venue, I just want it to be useful but have the "owner", live upstairs.

Ok, 'nother question or three. (lol)  Does an apartment built over a place like a laundromat, if the lot is designated a residence, would that count as living in an apartment or do you HAVE to have one of the high rises from BP?  I dislike most of BP buildings as they are a waste of space since you can only have one apartment per building.

Next question:  Suppose you have a spot like Waylon's Haunt.  It is a Dive bar but it is in one of two buildings on the lot.  The second building is all blacked out, (except I removed the markers so I could see if I could work something in it).  If you designate the lot as Visitors Allowed, will the game accept whatever you put on that lot as being what you intended it to be?  In other words, would Waylon's still be considered a Dive bar and if I put shops or a different lounge in the other building would that building also be accepted as that lounge.  Does the lot name have to be specific to the type of lounge or can it just be visitors allowed and still work?  Lounges aren't considered the same way as venues are but are considered more like fishing holes are, in other words, they are property, (or maybe it's real estate).  To collect funds from a venue you just go to that venue and get your money.  To collect funds from places like a lounge you have to click on the building, select real estate, and then select get simoleons.  So potentially having more than one lounge on a lot could increase the value of the real estate unless it doesn't count if you use visitors allowed. 

[Hosfac]

There are a couple of apartments in Bridgeport that have used a standard build style and not one of those massive shells, so yes:  It would count.

From what I understand, the designation of the lot will determine how the townies will interact with it.  For example:  if you designate Waylon's Haunt as a gym, when sims go there they will want to work out, and they'll have that moodlet you get from being in a gym.  While I'm not entirely sure what all the Dive Bar designation does for a lot, I'm guessing it has something to do with a mixologist showing up to tend the bar, fulfilling mixology based opportunities and whether or not it becomes a hotspot.  I also know that you can't apply two different designations to a lot, regardless of how many buildings there are.

[Hosfac]

Ok, I've built my first apartment building.  I did it the same way Joria did in her example (meaning I didn't use a shell, but built it like a regular house).  I'm almost ready to start placing the markers.  I didn't bother to use elevators.  It's a 3 floor structure with 4 apartments, and so it wouldn't take a lot of time to leave for work/school I put the livable apartment on the 2nd floor.  I'm almost ready to start placing the room markers, but before I do, I have a couple of questions:

Since I didn't use an elevator, where do I place the call box?  Can I set it up so that the front door of the building is only accessible to people who live there or are buzzed in?  Or does it have to go in the lobby?

Also, I think the regular residential mailbox looks silly on an apartment building.  Is there any way to get one of the mailboxes from the skyscraper apartments?  And if the front door is inaccessible, would it have to go on the outside of the building?

[Jonna]

Since I didn't use an elevator, where do I place the call box?  Can I set it up so that the front door of the building is only accessible to people who live there or are buzzed in?  Or does it have to go in the lobby?

Also, I think the regular residential mailbox looks silly on an apartment building.  Is there any way to get one of the mailboxes from the skyscraper apartments?  And if the front door is inaccessible, would it have to go on the outside of the building?

I don't know about the call box.  Place it where ever you like.  I would imagine that anyone can come into the lobby regardless of call box location, but if not then let us know.  I'm not even sure that you'd need it if you don't have an elevator.

There is no way that I know of to get the apartment mailbox.  Even with all the cheats on, you cannot clone them (so that means they aren't in buydebug).  Sorry!  You'll just have to make do with a silly looking mailbox.

[Hosfac]

I did some experimentation with the two different call boxes and the testingCheatsEnabled true code.

First, I placed the wall mounted box in the lobby.  Then I made some friends with the mailbox, and invited a couple over, one at a time.  Without exception, they all came into the lobby to buzz the box, but wouldn't come into the apartment unless I buzzed them up.

Then, after exiting to the main menu and starting fresh, I deleted the first call box and placed the pedestal style call box outside the building.  Again, I made some friends and invited a few over.  Unless I buzzed them up, they wouldn't come inside the building at all.  And the building has some very enticing amenities in the lobby.

Now while testing this apartment complex I built, I noticed something weird.  With the apartments in Bridgeport, you get the option to "Ring Bell" on the other apartments, and when there's nobody living there, it's grayed out like it is on an unoccupied house.  But with the apartments in my complex, the only option that comes up is to lock it.  The sims can't enter the doors like they can in tombs with hidden areas, but it doesn't seem to be set up for other residents.  Did I forget to do something?

Edit:  I even went into Bridgeport and looked at how the apartments were set up there, and really I don't see anything different.  Could it be because I still have the cheats activated?

[Jonna]

Hmm.. I suppose my first question would be: Did you mark the doors as NPC?

[Hosfac]

I guess I did forget something.

How do I go about doing that?

Edit:  I figured it out.  While I looked through the entire thread, I didn't see that information, but it's possible that I missed it.  So just in case you forgot to mention it:

While in Build Mode, hold CTRL+Shift and click on the door.  It will bring up the options to set the door as an NPC door.  I the codes I have active are testingCheatsEnabled true, BuyDebug, and RestrictBuildBuyInBuildings off.  While I'm not 100% sure, I believe it's testingCheatsEnabled true that activates it.

[Jonna]

it's possible that I missed it.

Lol, you did!  It was in the first post I made with the pictures.  You actually don't need any cheats activated, as long as you do it before you place your markers.  It should work with just shift+click, but holding ctrl doesn't hurt anything.

[Hosfac]

With just shift held down, the only option that came up was to clone it.  Which brings me to another thing I'm wondering about...

I was just messing around with an apartment in Bridgeport, and I was actually able to clone the apartment mailbox (I did it by accident).  However, I'm not sure if that helps me at all, because I still don't know how to get it to where I need it.  

Edit:  My apartment complex is fully tested and completely functional, even if it is rather ugly lol.  The only thing that bugs me about it is that I don't have the apartment style mailbox...but it doesn't bug me enough to want to use mods to get them.  It is currently one of those things I can't change, but I'm working on an idea to possibly change it (it won't be for this one, but possibly for a future building).  In order to satisfy my sense of style, I merely hid the mailbox behind the hedges near the front door.

Just to show you what I came up with, I present the Whitemore Apartments!  

Why "Whitemore?"  Because the building is mostly white, and it's more than you typically get from Late Night apartments lol.



It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment than can accommodate 4 people as easily as it can 1...



And it has a 4 car garage...



A laundry room...



A game room right across the hall to entertain you while you wait for your clothes to get done (with free internet!)...



And in the enclosed back yard is a playground with a picnic area...



And a pool with a hot tub!  



There's also an area set aside for a small garden between the pool and the playground.

How much does this apartment cost?  $10,997 fully furnished, and $7,225 unfurnished.

And I discovered as I was taking the screen shots that visitors will make their way to the back yard and game room if they're ignored.

[RubyLovesSims]

That is one cool apartment, Hosfac!
Can you actually plant things in the garden? If so, how?

[Hosfac]

Yes you can!  The whole back yard is designated as a public area.  In a public area, you don't own anything (which is why it's so cheap with 3 arcade games, 3 high end washers, 3 high end dryers, a hot tub and a full playground), so you can't alter it at all unless you put the cheat codes in.  Likewise, when you move, you can't take any of that stuff with you, even if you "pack furniture."  But other than that, you can do whatever you want in it.

One thing I noticed about Bridgeport is that if you had any intention on raising a family, you weren't going to be doing it comfortably in an apartment.  There is one really good one, but it starts out occupied by the "Art Central" crew.  There are some larger, more expensive apartments available, but they're all 1 bedroom, and even with the expansive size, when your family grows from 2 to 3, things start getting cramped.

This was an experiment for the most part.  I wanted to see if it was possible to make a family oriented apartment, and to see how much it would cost in the end.  And it was a lot cheaper than I expected it to be.  I went bare minimum on the furnishings, but I could upgrade a lot of the appliances and the furniture and it would still be affordable by a single sim fresh out of CAS.  But most of all, I wanted to familiarize myself with the process.  And I learned something very important:  once you actually try and do it, you find out it's easy as pie.  Really, anybody who has ever built a house and has even a minimal knowledge on using cheats could do it.  It's literally that easy.

While I was just messing around, I actually made a very workable apartment.  Plus, it gave me dozens of ideas for my next one.

Also, I was careful not to use anything that didn't come from the base game or the 3 expansion packs (no store downloads or stuff pack items), and it was done on a 40x30 lot.  The landscaping is terrible, but if anyone wants it, I'll upload it to the exchange or submit it to the swap shop.  And you don't even have to feel guilty about altering it.

[mtglady]

Hosfac, I would be interested in downloading your apartment.  I think Carl could use an apartment or two at the Swap Shop and I'm sure many others will appreciate your hard work too.

You did an excellent job creating it and I know it would look better in SV or RV than the huge ones LN gave us. My 'money-challenged' Sims will really appreciate having a nice place to live while they struggle to keep up with the 'Jones' - lol!  
 

[Asleep]

Yes you can!  The whole back yard is designated as a public area.  In a public area, you don't own anything (which is why it's so cheap with 3 arcade games, 3 high end washers, 3 high end dryers, a hot tub and a full playground), so you can't alter it at all unless you put the cheat codes in.  Likewise, when you move, you can't take any of that stuff with you, even if you "pack furniture."  But other than that, you can do whatever you want in it.

One thing I noticed about Bridgeport is that if you had any intention on raising a family, you weren't going to be doing it comfortably in an apartment.  There is one really good one, but it starts out occupied by the "Art Central" crew.  There are some larger, more expensive apartments available, but they're all 1 bedroom, and even with the expansive size, when your family grows from 2 to 3, things start getting cramped.

This was an experiment for the most part.  I wanted to see if it was possible to make a family oriented apartment, and to see how much it would cost in the end.  And it was a lot cheaper than I expected it to be.  I went bare minimum on the furnishings, but I could upgrade a lot of the appliances and the furniture and it would still be affordable by a single sim fresh out of CAS.  But most of all, I wanted to familiarize myself with the process.  And I learned something very important:  once you actually try and do it, you find out it's easy as pie.  Really, anybody who has ever built a house and has even a minimal knowledge on using cheats could do it.  It's literally that easy.

While I was just messing around, I actually made a very workable apartment.  Plus, it gave me dozens of ideas for my next one.

Also, I was careful not to use anything that didn't come from the base game or the 3 expansion packs (no store downloads or stuff pack items), and it was done on a 40x30 lot.  The landscaping is terrible, but if anyone wants it, I'll upload it to the exchange or submit it to the swap shop.  And you don't even have to feel guilty about altering it.

Please put it on the Swap Shop, Hosfac! I really want it!

[Hosfac]

Ok, after I make a quick run through it to make sure I haven't used anything the store or from the stuff packs, I'll e-mail it to Carl so he can post it.  I was pretty careful the first time through, but I want to make very sure I don't accidentally cause problems for someone.

I'm relatively good with interior design, but I still struggle with the yard for some reason.  The landscaping is very basic.  But really, sometimes basic is just what a Sim needs. 

[Leto85]

Ok, after I make a quick run through it to make sure I haven't used anything the store or from the stuff packs, I'll e-mail it to Carl so he can post it.  I was pretty careful the first time through, but I want to make very sure I don't accidentally cause problems for someone.

I'm relatively good with interior design, but I still struggle with the yard for some reason.  The landscaping is very basic.  But really, sometimes basic is just what a Sim needs. 

That's just a good thing in this case. This way, another member can place multiple apartments side by side to match a sort of neighbourhood feeling and create different yards on each lot. That way it gives some variation while staying in the same style.

[Hosfac]

Well, I've gone through literally everything I used in building the apartment, and replaced anything that didn't come with the base game, WA, Ambitions and LN.  The problem I have now is that I can't find it to send it anywhere.  Can anyone tell me how to prepare it for the swap shop, and where to find it once I do?

Edit:  Scratch that.  Carl was kind enough to point me to the information I needed.  It's been e-mailed, along with the screen shots and the information so I would imagine it would be available in the swap shop as soon as he gets a chance to put it up!

And it only contains items from Ambitions and Late Night.  No WA content at all.

[Pam]

@Hosfac:

I'm either confused or a little slow, but how is this an apartment?  It really seems like just a 2 bedroom house with lots of washers and dryers.  It's not a high rise like we see in Late Night, nor is it something for multiple families to have their own unit.  What am I missing here?

[mtglady]

Pam, I believe this is a four-unit apartment complex with four enclosed parking spots, a public laundry, a public game room and a public back yard.  It was designed for use in SV, RV and other worlds where you want apartment living that doesn't look out of place (or tower over the rest of your buildings).

It has one usable unit on the second floor and three 'hidden' units for NPC's.  If you look at the second picture, you can see a door on the left side of the hall for the hidden unit.  This unit is across from the playable unit.  Then there are stairs to the third floor with two more hidden units.

Hosfac, please correct me if I am wrong .

[Pam]

Thank you, mtglady!  Does that mean your Sim cannot plant a garden in the back yard or build a pool like you can do in a regular house?

[Asleep]

@Pam: You can, Hosfac mentioned it a few posts back.

Yes you can!  The whole back yard is designated as a public area.  In a public area, you don't own anything (which is why it's so cheap with 3 arcade games, 3 high end washers, 3 high end dryers, a hot tub and a full playground), so you can't alter it at all unless you put the cheat codes in.  Likewise, when you move, you can't take any of that stuff with you, even if you "pack furniture."  But other than that, you can do whatever you want in it.

[mtglady]

He said it is a public backyard and that planting is allowable.  I'm not sure about the pool part, but if it is marked as public then pool building should be allowed.  

 

[Hosfac]

Thank you, mtglady!  Does that mean your Sim cannot plant a garden in the back yard or build a pool like you can do in a regular house?

Your sim can't alter public areas unless you use "testingCheatsEnabled true" and "restrictBuildBuyInBuildings false."  If there's a sim living in the building in question, however, the cost for any and all upgrades to public areas come out of their household funds, but doesn't add to their "net value" like it would if you added a pool to a regular house. 

But if the back yard is designated a public area, they can plant freely.

[Hosfac]

The apartment building is up.

http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,3639.msg72033.html#msg72033

[mtglady]

Yea!  *** running off to download now edit - (running off to download now) .
Asterisk's in front of a comment is often used to express a thought.  I changed it to make you happy Simstar - lol!  Better now?

[Asleep]

Yea!  *** running off to download now  .

What's with those asterisks?

[PolarBair]

Okay I got a little ambitious and started building a huge mansion at 15 Summer Hill court in Sunset Valley (The 60X60 lot in the rich area) and after designing and furnishing the plethora of gust rooms I thought any good mansion should have I thought, "These are starting to look more like luxury suites in a fancy hotel." so then I thought "I might as well make this into an apartment building but I'm having some trouble.

Reading this thread I saw that in build mode you Shift-Click or Shift-Control-Click n a door to a unit to mark it as an NPC door but do so before placing any room markers.

Well, I had already placed public room markers but not the private ones so I deleted the public room markers and then saved a copy of the house to the library and then started a new game and placed the building on the lot in the new game with no markers and if I shift click on a door it just grabs the door and if I Control-Shift-Click on it the options I get are (Lock, Delete it, Reset, Clone, Add the ability to add triggers and activated behaviors)

Tesingcheatsenabled is on
buydebug is on
restrictbuildbuyinbuildings is off

What else do I need to do to be able to set the doors to the other units as NPC doors?

Might the fact that I already furnished these units be a problem? That was before I found out what a waste of time that is. The furnished price for this lot is currently 1.3 million.

[Swirl-Girl]

You mark the doors as NPC after placing markers. You don't get the option unless the door leads to a public area and a hidden area, I believe so at least.

[PolarBair]

Cool, Thanks I'll try that.

I've kept on working while waiting for a reply and it's at 20 units and counting. lol ...and I'm still not finished with it.

I am however really happy with how the roof came out. It was an awful lot of work but worth it. I so can't wait to finish it and post some screenshots.

[PolarBair]

Yup that worked. Thanks again.

I did notice a couple odd things though...

First, When I moved in a couple sims to test they just walked to the front door of the building and stood there for a while and then started wandering around all the public areas until they got tired enough to pass out and then started napping on benches. It was like they had no idea that they even had an apartment to go to until I sent them there manually.

Also, there was no "set as front door" option when clicking on the apartment door. Just lock.

Also, also, everything other sim that was coming or going was triggering the little message flag in the upper right corner saying, "Looks like it's time for me to go no. Bye." What do I care? you weren't visiting my sims. That's just annoying message clutter. I wish it didn't do that.

So, any one have any ideas? Is "Set as front door" not suppose to show up or did I maybe do something wrong?

P.S. I just registered for the gallery so I'll have some screenshots up soon.

[Primadagoddess]

Is there a game pack that you need to add to get the call box?

[Twinmum]

Is there a game pack that you need to add to get the call box?

@Primadagoddess  I think appartments were added with the Late Night expansion pack, so you may need that for the call box, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Vleonard517]

I've done everything listed here and I still can't change the other apartments so that NPC's can move in. The only options I have under shift+click are "object...delete it." I have testingcheatsenabled true active.