My Studio «1234...Next Go

Lexers615

I aim at getting got the "1500 Recommendations" badge, and, should it be fixed, aim at getting the "Featured" badge. However, I lack visibility at the moment, so I thought about starting a thread to advertise my "My Studio":

thesims3.com/mypage/Lexers615/mystudio

Lexers615

Okay, so, first, here are two of my longer lasting pet projects:
The Pomegranate Library and The Excavation Site/Underground Reservoir.

The Pomegranate Library
The first time I had my sims travel abroad, I sent a duo, and they went to China and kinda fooled around for three days. Second time, I sent the whole household (7), half of them with the "Prepared Traveler" perk, so I played it more efficiently, having brought plenty skillbooks and such, but quickly realized the absence of a "Library" lot in Al Simahara, so I converted one of the empty house in one. Later, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to mess with Tomb Building, so I gave it a try. The active "Mummy", and the "Island Paradise" chest are the most recent addition.



The Excavation Site/Underground Reservoir
I quickly realized that something else was missing: a pool, as my sim almost always have a wish to "Go to the Pool". I decided to give him a treat and set one in Al Simahra. It is meant to be an ancient Egyptian reservoir recently excavated and turned into a pool. Again, it's a very basic tomb, with a rather generous amount of Ancient coins hidden inside. There is some issue about the "Mummy", as the room is too small, so I might fix when my sims travel back home.



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

rosemow

It is great that you have created a library and a pool for Al Simhara! They are great builds for simmers to enjoy downloading, placing into the world adventure world, then have their sims visit them. It is nice that you made tombs in the bulld.
Happy simming and building!

Lexers615

rosemow wrote: »

It is great that you have created a library and a pool for Al Simhara! They are great builds for simmers to enjoy downloading, placing into the world adventure world, then have their sims visit them. It is nice that you made tombs in the bulld.
Happy simming and building!

Thanks! You too!

Lexers615

Skunks Haven Plaza
I feel I need to justify the name of my next lot. If was not named that way because I missed the "Skunks" from the Original The Sims *. It was named that way because I first built it on the "Skunk Heaven" lot in "Riverview", as my sim lived close to it, but far away from the rest of the town. (That's the reason why I set a subway system in the first place.)

I added most rabithole shops on a single lot, and organized it "Downtown Style".

Recently, I also added some seasonal foodstands.



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!


* This said, I think I liked most the evil "Skunks" from TS1 than the cute "Racoons" from TS3.

Lexers615

Jolly Roger's Deep Sea Diner
I never could properly play in the "Barnacle Bay" neighborhood. Every single time, I faced bizzarre bugs, like, once, every single sims was a "Five Star" celebrity, which made socializing, and getting promoted, impossible. However, this neighborhood looks great, so I decided to take the dinner/restaurant lot, for latter use.

First problem is that it was built on the "olde skool" red brick foundation pilotis, so I had to scrap it all to set "true" pilotis. Second, I felt this lot would look better near the sea, so that's why I've installed it on a beach. I then finally reworked a little the bar-like terrace, added a ruined boat and some seashell spawners.



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

Up next:

• The Emperor Plaza
• The Chinese Basecamp
• The Roadside Tree
• The Abandoned Mine
• The Performance Park

To be announced:

• The Nomad Camp
• The French Basecamp
• The French Bookstore
• The French Café
• The French General Store & Youth Hostel
• The French Relic
• An Upgraded Consignment store

In progress Postponed:

• Mayan Travel Neighborhood

rosemow

It is great that you have put a number of rabbitholes buildings together on the one lot in the Skunk Haven Plaza build. It will be helpful for sims to enjoy visiting the various places all on the one lot.
The Jolly Roger's Deep Sea Diner is a very nice place for sims to enjoy dining at! The ship there looks great! It is nice that you have designed the restaurant to be on a beach. Having seashell spawners in the build is a nice touch.
The two builds are great!

Lexers615

rosemow wrote: »

It is great that you have put a number of rabbitholes buildings together on the one lot in the Skunk Haven Plaza build. It will be helpful for sims to enjoy visiting the various places all on the one lot.
The Jolly Roger's Deep Sea Diner is a very nice place for sims to enjoy dining at! The ship there looks great! It is nice that you have designed the restaurant to be on a beach. Having seashell spawners in the build is a nice touch.
The two builds are great!

Thanks! The main problem with the lot being assigned as a "Beach" is that "drowning sims" will spawn at odd place, it's better to set it to "Visitors Allowed" if you plan on having a sim in working as a "Lifeguard".

absin0901

Good post

Lexers615

Emperor's Plaza
Ever since my sims started to travel, nearly three years ago, I started working on this lot. I made numerous small upgrades to this otherwise uneventful lot of Shang Simla. First of all, I added more restroom, a restaurant, a teppanyaki grill (though I have yet to have it to work properly). Also, I changed it from "Small Park" to "Chinese Park", as it is literally one.

I may post an updated version next week, next time my sims travel to China.



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

Shang Simla Base Camp
As I wrote in the lot description, the main change I did was adding vending machines, as any such facility that want westerners as guests get those!

Again, my sims return to China in a couple more days, so I may update this lot next week...



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

Roadside Tree
Okay, that one was born out of necessity, and ultimately turned out to be mostly aesthetic. In Egypt, my sim was collecting the various gems and dig sites that had spawned very far away from the base camp, and I noticed rather late that he was falling asleep, yet there was no lots nearby, so I just created one beside a nearby road. It felt kind of empty, so I just added a desert themed tree. I randomly set the lot to "Wasteland", as, back then I didn't know it was a lot specific to ITF.



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

Abandonned Mining Project
A failed project, both according to the storytelling and RL conclusion. I wanted a metals/gems spawners lot, however, not only did I have trouble setting up the spawners, but also, when I turned on my "Collection Helper", it turned out Egypt is already full of those, and very good ones. So the lot reverted back to a purely aesthetic lot.



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

Up next:

• The Performance Park;
• The French Basecamp;
• The French Bookstore;
• The French Café;
• The French General Store & Youth Hostel (a reference to a deleted scene off Eurotrip);
• The French Relic Shop;
• A fixed version of "Little Woods";
• The Nomad Camp of Unknown Origins(TBA);
• An Upgraded Consignment store (TBA).

Eventual updates:

• Emperor Plaza;
• Shang Simla Basecamp;
• The French General Store & Youth Hostel;
• The Excavation Site/Underground Reservoir.

Postponed:

• Mayan Travel Neighborhood

Lexers615

Just a reminder, I've also uploaded quite a lot of stylized items I used for the Egyptian lots... I'm not going to post their individual links, but feel free to browse around:
My Studio

Lexers615

Performance Park
Not too long ago, I intensively worked the SimPort stamps with couple friends. So I needed the required venues to be available in all neighborhood. That's why I created this compact lot, that can be switched at will between a "Small Park", "Coffee House", "Live Show Venue", and "Private Venue". I advise against setting it as a "Big Show Venue", as I ran into bugs trying so, which lead me to believe that "Big Show Venues" require one of the three special shell buildings on it. This said, one still can host 80% of all shows at this single venue just by reassigning it's type...

I ultimately fixed some seasonal items I previously added, and the lot can now also be used just about anyway...



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

rosemow

It is very nice reading the background details of each of your builds and how or why you designed and created the builds,
I hope that your sims enjoy their time back in China next week

Lexers615

rosemow wrote: »

It is very nice reading the background details of each of your builds and how or why you designed and created the builds,
I hope that your sims enjoy their time back in China next week

Hope they will! Game just bugged on my, and the consignment store lot just reset itself while it had over §200k worth of French wine! I had saved couple minutes before, so, tomorrow I'll crash send a sim to Cancel all consignments, in the hope to save something ... Have to say that a 4 hours game session do not mix well with various lot editing... I really need to get to bed, and maybe it's a good omen or something like this? Still, I had planned to edit France and upload the French lots before going to bed

rosemow

I am sorry that you had the game issues! I hope that you didn't lose too much progress.
Goodnight. I hope that you have a restful sleep.

Lexers615

rosemow wrote: »

I am sorry that you had the game issues! I hope that you didn't lose too much progress.
Goodnight. I hope that you have a restful sleep.

Thanks! I'm about to find out...

Edit: Turns out this time the bug did not occur, and a large quantity of my wine bottle got sold as intended. Just in case, though, I've canceled all remaining consignments, and, at 7:00pm, Sim time, I'll edit the lot to reset it.

Lexers615

Champs Les Sims Base Camp
Of all lots in Champs Les Sims, this hostel type base camp is not that bad ... until all guests urge to the same bathrooms all at once. Increasing bathroom capability seemed crucial, as was adding a computer. I mean, I know those "Smartphones" are handy, but for various reasons, a real computer is a must ("Writing", to begin with...). Now, in all my mature games, half of my sims have laptops, but int a new game, traveling abroad is expansive, so not all household getting in France can afford 3-4 laptops.

Another thing I added was "Level Skip" markers. I mean, it's pointless to be able to see in the inaccessible attic and ceiling of a lot you can't edit.

Also, I added vending machines.



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

The Catania Café
Some backstory is required here. Ever since I started playing World Adventure, I've learned some stuff about the behind the scene. The EP was not to be ready in time, so they chunked out significant portions of the game to meet deadlines. As a results, several lots in France and Egypt are blatantly incomplete (in France: most notably the extra rooms of the Relic Shops, Café and General Store (compare them to the top floor rooms of the Nectary); Egypt, the worst part: several tombs lots, but the most obvious: Karnak, and the Oasis hidden tomb; and some items are not exactly working as intended: the "Sands of Understandings", various "Keys" and crucial items that won't spawn when supposed to; etc...). This is also why some "Town Objects" in the "BuyDebug" menu that do exist are not used at all, like (The Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe). My guess is that there was supposed to be a fourth travel location: Paris, France, and that Champs Les Sims would have actually been the country side of ANOTHER nation. Let's close the parenthesis for now, but I'll get back to it in another post.

So, back at the Café. Like I said, the second floor and the two adjacent buildings were so empty that it was an eyesore. So I locked the doors to those areas, chained the stairway access, spammed some "Hidden Room" and "Level Skip" markers, and I'm kinda pleased with the result. This said, according to the item description, both markers were part of the basegame, so why didn't the devs use them to restrict access to those locations? Would have been a lot better...



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

The Circle of Knowledge Bookstore
Same problem as the previous lot, though not as bad. I actually left the two adjacent warehouses accessible, but locked away the fire tower.

Now that I've uploaded this, I'm having second thoughts on two things. First: changing the lot category to "Library". Would make sense, and be VERY useful, and I don't think it would prevent the cashier to work properly. Second: adding stairways in the fire tower. The view on the top floor must be quite something, if not breathtaking (for a sim's eye).



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

Lexers615

The Little Woods (hidden tomb)
Okay, I'm not sure if replacing it will cause the link to the island "exit" to stop working properly. However, now, with the added aquatic access to the island (swimming or boating, depending on your expansions), the "Divewell" access is now a lot more time consuming if you just want to have access to the spawners and grapevines on the island.

Basically, due to posterior updates, a key floor switch was now inaccessible, so I removed the wall. To compensate, I added a cave-in to be cleared. I also added a nice treasure chest somewhere deep in!



Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are always welcome!

rosemow

It is great that you have uploaded your French themed builds to the Exchange It is good that the game problem that you had didn't cause too many issues with the consignments at the consignment store.