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How to Build Subtopias & Cave Complexes: Lost Worlds to your Tombs!

bunbunnynybunbunnyny Posts: 3,678 Member
edited March 8 in Nominated Threads
A subtopia is what I call a "lost world" that is underground, much like those in the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth or in the Tomb Raider game series.

Read this post to learn how to create a subtopia!
Read the second post to learn how to turn your subtopia into a cave complex!

Here's what you're gonna be building:

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"

This is inside a basement!


NOTE: Be warned-this is a tedious and extremely time-consuming activity. It has taken me a total of 2 hours and ten minutes to create the subtopia used in the pictures.


You will need:
•The ability to construct basements
•The [constrainfloorelevation false] cheat activated
•The [moveobjects on] cheat activated
•The [testingcheatsenabled true] cheat activated
•The [buydebug on] cheat activated


Here's what you do:
(MAKE SURE THE PROPER CHEATS ARE ACTIVATED FIRST!)


1)First, create hills on the surface of the lot you're using. This terrain will be the shape of your underground subtopia! You can create cliffs, or hills, or valleys! As long as it is not massively huge, as in taller than 2-3 stories. Having it this tall will have the construction tools not always behaving as intended if it is larger than 2-3 stories, although you may certainly do this if you wish to.

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"



2)Now, outline the area where you will be creating your subtopia with floor tiles. Basically, outline the terrain you just sculpted.

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"



3)Take the Basement tool. Rotate the camera so you're looking straight down, and the grid is rotated 45 degrees. Similar to an isometric view.
So instead of having the grid look like:

[][][][][][]
[][][][][][]
[][][][][][]

It should look like:

XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX

Go to any corner that you just outlined. Make sure that the world is rotated so that the corner you're using appears to be at the top of the outlined area, but keep it in isometric view.

Take the Basement tool, and dragging from the bottom of the grid to the top of the grid, create a single grid underneath the corner.


4)Using the Basement tool again, move down the row of grids beneath the corner. Drag from the bottom corner to the top corner of the grid, and create 1 square of basement. Do this to the other grid.

DO NOT CREATE MORE THAN 1 SQUARE OF BASEMENT AT A TIME, AND DO NOT CREATE THE BASEMENT IN ANY OTHER DIRECTION!
This means creating the basement grid from the left corner to the right corner, the right corner to the left corner, or the top corner to the bottom corner.


You should have what looks like an upside-down V of basement squares, with a total of 3 squares.


5)Move down to the next row, and repeat the same process of creating basement grids.

DO NOT SKIP SQUARES-CREATE THEM ALL SIDE BY SIDE! DO NOT CREATE THE BY EVERY OTHER SQUARE OR LEAVE A GAP IN BETWEEN 2 SQUARES IN A ROW!
This means you need to start creating each row starting from one of the two ends.


This can be a tedious process, as it can and it will take a long time to create each single individual square of basement from the same exact direction, side-by-side without skipping a space and coming back to it later.

Keep repeating this until you have filled the entire outlined area with basements.

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"



6)Go down to the basement you have just created. It should look rough looking, and slightly disfigured from the terrain above, but if done correctly, I assure you, it would be almost completely not unnoticeable!

Since the hills in the basement would, in reality, be sticking through the roof, you will need to go down at least one more floor.

Repeat the processes in steps 4-5 in this basement floor until you reach the desired number of basement floors.
It is highly suggested that you make it 3 levels deep, since you can still create pools, and have enough room to create 2-story underground houses inside the subtopia!

After this step, you should have 2-4 basement floors.

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"



IF YOU ARE CREATING A CAVE COMPLEX, STOP AND SKIP DOWN TO THE SECOND POST RIGHT NOW!


7)Use the ceiling lights to illuminate the bottom floor, and on the above floors, illuminate the walls. This gives the illusion that there is underground daylight.

Then, paint the ground. Use a floor tile that looks like grass, and hold down the Shift button while you paint so that you paint the entire room with one click. MAKE SURE THAT THE CHEATS ARE ALL STILL IN USE!!!

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"

If you have trouble creating your own fake floor grass, try using something like these, and try any of the other floor and wall paints:

original.jpg"width=250"

original.jpg"width=250"

original.jpg"width=250"

original.jpg"width=250"


8)Once you have painted the ground with grass, move up to all of the above basement floors with the floor paint tool selected, and Ctrl+Shift+Click the floor so that the entire basement level's floor is deleted. Do this to each floor.

http://llnw.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/652/394/009/00/screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"



9)Keeping the cheats on, paint any individual tile that you want to be different on the bottom floor. You may use triangular floor tiles to paint, too. You can paint beaches, cliffs, dirt, and so on.

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"



10)If you have a cliff or a really steep hill, this step will be a little more time-consuming than creating the basement, since your Sim is allowed to just walk up a floor tile no matter how steep it is.

Make sure the [moveobjects on] cheat is enabled, and go into Build Mode, and place rocks or large flowers on your cliff or hill, so that they block your way if you tried to travel up or down them.

If you're using rocks on a cliff, I'd suggest that you'd densely pack the rocks together, as a small line across the top and bottom would look strange, although if you want to do that, that's your choice.

screenshot_original.jpg"width=650"

Do more of that photo. What's in that photo isn't complete yet.


11)If you have a cliff that is inaccessible, here's what you should do:
Use the flatten terrain tool to flatten a single square on the top side of the cliff.
Then, estimate where stairs would land going down to the ground below, and flatten 1 or two tiles there.
Place some stairs, and paint them to look whatever you want them to look like. Part of the cliff, wood, whatever!


12)Now, place down a trees, shrubs, rocks, and flowers wherever you'd like to. Make sure that the trees don't stick too far above the first basement level, as it would look slightly strange, although you may if you want to.


13)Finally, place down any bug or insect spawners that you want to, if you want to add some effect to your subtopia of being in a nature-like lost world!


Now, you're done creating a subtopia! You can do many things in a subtopia. You can create hut houses, tree houses, temples, and more inside of subtopias, and make them look more like a lost world! For effect, you can use the fog emitter from Ambitions to create a more mysterious or mystical setting, and hide things behind trees underneath the misty fog!

Feel free to ask any questions that you may have!
Post edited by EA_Solaire on

Comments

  • bunbunnynybunbunnyny Posts: 3,678 Member
    edited August 2011
    How to Build a Cave Complex:
    First, if you want to build a Cave Complex, you will need to follow the directions in the first post until it says to skip here. Then, you may begin!


    7)Complete step 7 in the first post, however, do not illuminate the place. And instead of using paint that looks like grass, use paint that looks like rock or stone!


    8)Now, you need to create walls that you want to be the walls of your cave complex. Once again, create one wall at a time, and only create them without drawing the wall from where the other wall ends.


    9)Build cave hallways on different floors. Have them overlap, or twist in circles, or whatever you want them to do!


    10)Connect the floors with stairs. You will need to first use the Flatten Terrain tool to flatten where the stair's top and stair's bottom will reach each other.


    You're done! You can connect subtopias with cave complexes, or create a maze with these complexes! Do whatever you want to create the cave complex that you want! Cave complexes are considerably less complex than subtopias... (That was a bas pun.)

    Feel free to ask any questions that you have about subtopias or cave complexes!
  • WombasticWombastic Posts: 116
    edited August 2011
    Could we get a screenshot of step 4 in action? I'm having a little trouble visualizing selecting the correct square.
  • bunbunnynybunbunnyny Posts: 3,678 Member
    edited August 2011
    Sorry, I knew I was forgetting something! I forgot to include the pictures I uploaded :P
  • bunbunnynybunbunnyny Posts: 3,678 Member
    edited August 2011
    Ok, the pictures are now uploaded! I hope that the pictures help!
  • njiava32njiava32 Posts: 343
    edited August 2011
    how interesting
  • auntielyndsauntielynds Posts: 3,071 Member
    edited August 2011
    Hey Bunbun :D

    This is very cool too!

    I'll get it in the FAQ.

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