Gnna be actually attending again tonite ^^ As will Kevin. Just hope my game doesnt act up, had to go through some trouble to get it running after installing Master Suite this morning..
If you haven't done the previous lessons (especially Lesson 2) you will need to do that before starting with this lesson. The good thing is that all the step by step lessons are available. See the first post in this thread for direct links to those lessons.
1. You must have done Lesson 2 before you can do Lesson 3 since we are modifying and decorating the farmhouse we built in Lesson 2. If you have not done the previous lessons, you will find links for them in the first post of this thread.
2. Boot up your game.
3. In the Main Menu, open the cheat box and type in “TestingCheatsEnabled true” without quotes
4. Open the cheat box and type in “buyDebug on” without quotes
5. Open your saved game from your farmhouse build.
We are going to modify and decorate this house, but this lesson is not intended to tell all the details for interior decorating. It is intended to be more a general building lesson. The interior decoration and design part of the lesson isn’t as step-by-step as the rest of the lesson.
10. This attic room could be a lot of things but ours is going to be a really nice art studio. Decorate it and furnish it as such. Tiled floors are a good idea so that artistic messes can be easily cleaned. Good lighting, storage for supplies (so we might put cabinets or chests), a sink should be handy for clean ups, and artistic equipment of all kinds should provided. A bathroom is a good idea and lots of nice light colored walls for display of artwork would be good, too. A desk with computer (for Internet research and for digital artwork) is a good item for the art studio. Here are photos of my version of this space (yours doesn’t have to look like mine).
12. The second floor is going to be bedrooms, bathrooms, and a music room. I made a master bedroom suite and it has a tiny private balcony. The attic could have been made private if we put the stairs inside a bedroom, but this time I chose to make it accessible to the whole family so I put the stairs in the music room. I like to put Sim-painted work all over my lots and I don’t like huge expanses of empty walls. Remember: Do NOT frame your Sim-painted works or they won’t upload. You can frame if you never plan to upload. I have a LOT of second floor photos, so they will continue into the next post.
Notice how I put stuff sitting on most horizontal surfaces? I want it to look like someone really lives here. I like to put books on bedside tables, perfume bottles on dressers, things that you would actually see in someone's home.
Also, let's talk for a second about color. I like to take one or two colors (here that would be green and yellow since many of my rooms have those doors with the green and yellow stained glass in them) and use them in a harmonious way throughout all the rooms in a home. I don't ALWAYS do that, and certainly having a room or two with very little of those colors will make that room pop out and get noticed, but it is a good way to have a house without glaring, screaming color clashes.
For brand new decorators it isn't a bad idea to try this.
14. The first floor has an entryway, kitchen, dining room, and stairs to the basement recreation room. My version is here.
On this floor I still used shades of yellow and green (on the second floor green is predominant and here yellow is) but the living room with the red walls doesn't look out of place because the yellow and green are still used (the green as a secondary accent color).
Even with the same colors used, making the patterns interesting should keep the interiors from getting visually boring (and if they are boring, introduce more accent colors or deeper shades of one of your main theme colors). I really like making new rugs by layering one rug on top of another (my photos of this aren't great, but look at the entryway rugs, including the one right in front of the front door). That is one of my favorite decorating tips.
15. Cover the ground with red tiles of 27 across the front and 35 along the right side of the lot in the front right corner. This is just to make placement of the driveway easier. We’ll delete it later.
16. Create a driveway by changing the style of the tiles along the edge of the property. Driveway is along the right edge and size is 4 X 35.
44. Add wall coverings inside and lights and workshop items (or bike racks or storage, whatever would look good in a garage). Make a space so you can add stairs and upstairs flooring (do whatever you would like with the extra room, storage is always good and so is any sort of hobby or collector room).
45. Lay out 10 or more sprinklers and have your Sim upgrade them all to auto-water. We’ll put them in the garden later.
46. Got to back of lot
47. Add fencing (deleting and replacing as usual to make it look like this)
48. I don’t like this bit of fencing as I can’t gate it. I’m going to delete it.
49. Put squares of floor tile around the fenced area behind the garage and use the dirt and dark dirt terrain paints to get it to look like nice fertile ground. Remove the squares of floor tile as that was just a mask for your painting so it doesn’t put dirt spots in your yard.
50. Go into buyDebug and get plants for the garden. The orchard and garden are actually huge here. Later if you want to cut it in half and put a play yard for children in there that would be okay. Move the sprinklers into place. If more sprinklers are needed upgrade them first and then install them (make sure every single square of harvestable plants is within the range of one of your sprinklers.
51. Never put in a garden or a laundry room on a lot until the very end of a build. Otherwise you’ll have a Tester Sim who will get to do nothing but tend the garden and you will run the risk of leaving dirty clothes (or a washer full of clothes) on a lot if you upload it.
52. Reorient
53. This next part is more of an art than a science. Make a pool as shown (the shape does NOT have to be exactly like mine, but make sure it is an irregular shape with lots of rounded edges).
54.
55. Make sure one side of the pool has a ladder and that the Sims can get to it. Around the edges of the pool, use the pond tool to sink the ground under water. Recolor the pool sides and bottom to match the pond. Use terrain paints (river rocks, dirt, and shale are good choices) to edge the pond. Use MOO to add rocks and foliage and to disguise the pool edges. TURN OFF YOUR MOO AFTER USING!
56. Use the fish spawners in buyDebug to stock your pond. Notice how you can see the spawners in Buy or Build Mode, but they are invisible in Live Mode when you are playing your game. Warning: spawners add to the size of the lot so if you plan to upload your farm, don’t put twenty of these. Five or Six at the very MOST should be plenty. Since we hid our pool inside our pond we have a "swimmable pond" and your Sims can swim and fish right on their own lot!
57. Here are some lovely farm views!
58. Thank you so much for participating in ZooProfessor’s Beginning Builder’s University! This was our first course, but there are more to come if people are interested.
Please post in this thread with your completed farm pictures and please let me know any comments that you have about Zoo U.
Our next class will likely be in a few weeks and we will have a Guest Lecturer! The lesson is on the Constrain Floor Elevation Off cheat and Svlyn, who is a FABULOUS builder (and a really great person) will be teaching us all about that very useful building cheat. I’m really looking forward to it.
I will post a link for that lesson in THIS THREAD, so be on the lookout for it!
CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING YOUR FARM!
That is quite an accomplishment and you all should be suitably proud!
Comments
LOL! Thanks, Mariska!
Done! Welcome to Zoo U!
If you haven't done the previous lessons (especially Lesson 2) you will need to do that before starting with this lesson. The good thing is that all the step by step lessons are available. See the first post in this thread for direct links to those lessons.
No problem, SpudKing! I'm just happy to have you back! Consider yourself registered.
2. Boot up your game.
3. In the Main Menu, open the cheat box and type in “TestingCheatsEnabled true” without quotes
4. Open the cheat box and type in “buyDebug on” without quotes
5. Open your saved game from your farmhouse build.
We are going to modify and decorate this house, but this lesson is not intended to tell all the details for interior decorating. It is intended to be more a general building lesson. The interior decoration and design part of the lesson isn’t as step-by-step as the rest of the lesson.
6. Go to the attic just under the roof.
7. Add walls as shown
8. Cover walls to match other attic walls
10. This attic room could be a lot of things but ours is going to be a really nice art studio. Decorate it and furnish it as such. Tiled floors are a good idea so that artistic messes can be easily cleaned. Good lighting, storage for supplies (so we might put cabinets or chests), a sink should be handy for clean ups, and artistic equipment of all kinds should provided. A bathroom is a good idea and lots of nice light colored walls for display of artwork would be good, too. A desk with computer (for Internet research and for digital artwork) is a good item for the art studio. Here are photos of my version of this space (yours doesn’t have to look like mine).
12. The second floor is going to be bedrooms, bathrooms, and a music room. I made a master bedroom suite and it has a tiny private balcony. The attic could have been made private if we put the stairs inside a bedroom, but this time I chose to make it accessible to the whole family so I put the stairs in the music room. I like to put Sim-painted work all over my lots and I don’t like huge expanses of empty walls. Remember: Do NOT frame your Sim-painted works or they won’t upload. You can frame if you never plan to upload. I have a LOT of second floor photos, so they will continue into the next post.
Notice how I put stuff sitting on most horizontal surfaces? I want it to look like someone really lives here. I like to put books on bedside tables, perfume bottles on dressers, things that you would actually see in someone's home.
Also, let's talk for a second about color. I like to take one or two colors (here that would be green and yellow since many of my rooms have those doors with the green and yellow stained glass in them) and use them in a harmonious way throughout all the rooms in a home. I don't ALWAYS do that, and certainly having a room or two with very little of those colors will make that room pop out and get noticed, but it is a good way to have a house without glaring, screaming color clashes.
For brand new decorators it isn't a bad idea to try this.
On this floor I still used shades of yellow and green (on the second floor green is predominant and here yellow is) but the living room with the red walls doesn't look out of place because the yellow and green are still used (the green as a secondary accent color).
Even with the same colors used, making the patterns interesting should keep the interiors from getting visually boring (and if they are boring, introduce more accent colors or deeper shades of one of your main theme colors). I really like making new rugs by layering one rug on top of another (my photos of this aren't great, but look at the entryway rugs, including the one right in front of the front door). That is one of my favorite decorating tips.
15. Cover the ground with red tiles of 27 across the front and 35 along the right side of the lot in the front right corner. This is just to make placement of the driveway easier. We’ll delete it later.
16. Create a driveway by changing the style of the tiles along the edge of the property. Driveway is along the right edge and size is 4 X 35.
17. Add Fence
18. Delete pieces
19. Add pieces back
21. Add fencing along right edge of lot
22. Delete fence pieces
23. Add fence pieces back in
24. Reorient
25. Extend drive to left edge of property
26. Reorient and add fencing (deleting pieces and adding pieces back in) so it looks as shown
28. Delete red spacing tiles
29. Add 10X2 piece of driveway (leave 2 spaces between left edge of lot and new driveway tiles)
30. Build a 10 X 10 square of walled garage.
31. Build a 6 X 10 second floor
33. Add gable roof.
34. Adjust individual roof heights (lower to get them to look as shown)
35. I used Survival Windows under gable roof on the upper story
36. Add Garage Doors
38. Add Gate
39. Add driveway pieces as shown
40. Side the garage with whatever siding you wish.
41. I like these windows better for front and back of the garage.
42. Add back patio and lights
43. Go inside the garage and add parking spots for cars
45. Lay out 10 or more sprinklers and have your Sim upgrade them all to auto-water. We’ll put them in the garden later.
46. Got to back of lot
47. Add fencing (deleting and replacing as usual to make it look like this)
48. I don’t like this bit of fencing as I can’t gate it. I’m going to delete it.
49. Put squares of floor tile around the fenced area behind the garage and use the dirt and dark dirt terrain paints to get it to look like nice fertile ground. Remove the squares of floor tile as that was just a mask for your painting so it doesn’t put dirt spots in your yard.
50. Go into buyDebug and get plants for the garden. The orchard and garden are actually huge here. Later if you want to cut it in half and put a play yard for children in there that would be okay. Move the sprinklers into place. If more sprinklers are needed upgrade them first and then install them (make sure every single square of harvestable plants is within the range of one of your sprinklers.
52. Reorient
53. This next part is more of an art than a science. Make a pool as shown (the shape does NOT have to be exactly like mine, but make sure it is an irregular shape with lots of rounded edges).
54.
55. Make sure one side of the pool has a ladder and that the Sims can get to it. Around the edges of the pool, use the pond tool to sink the ground under water. Recolor the pool sides and bottom to match the pond. Use terrain paints (river rocks, dirt, and shale are good choices) to edge the pond. Use MOO to add rocks and foliage and to disguise the pool edges. TURN OFF YOUR MOO AFTER USING!
57. Here are some lovely farm views!
58. Thank you so much for participating in ZooProfessor’s Beginning Builder’s University! This was our first course, but there are more to come if people are interested.
Please post in this thread with your completed farm pictures and please let me know any comments that you have about Zoo U.
Our next class will likely be in a few weeks and we will have a Guest Lecturer! The lesson is on the Constrain Floor Elevation Off cheat and Svlyn, who is a FABULOUS builder (and a really great person) will be teaching us all about that very useful building cheat. I’m really looking forward to it.
I will post a link for that lesson in THIS THREAD, so be on the lookout for it!
CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING YOUR FARM!
That is quite an accomplishment and you all should be suitably proud!
Thanks, GG! It has been a lot of work (but fun) and I really hope people feel as if their time has been well spent!
Thanks again, Team Mate!