How Can I Be A Better Builder?

mysterionz

I want to build better.. and I haven't built in a long time. All the rooms I make are too plum big. How can I fix this?

EmCross96

Hello! I am terrible builder and have the worst time even following floor plans. I can try and try but I always hate how it looks and always come out differently than my imagination. Imma share some tips that have made it easier for me and that I've gotten from other simmers.

~Pay attention to houses when you out. Whenever I go out anywhere I always check out some of the houses in the area and they can be inspiring and get the wheels turning. Maybe try and use the shell of a house you've seen or try to build one similar.

~ Use a large, square rug, to size rooms. I don't remember exactly what rug I use since I change it up depending on what room I want. But take a large and square rug then build a box around it. If I am doing a small bedroom, I will make sure there is 1 empty tile outside the rug on all sides.(Some times half a tile if I want the room to be a bit smaller). For a living room I usually make sure there's 1 empty tile on 2 sides facing each other and 2 empty tiles on the other 2 facing sides. I hope this makes sense, I'd share a pic if I knew how.

~ Always go smaller than you think and if it turns out too small make it bigger as you go. Don't make drastic changes cuz it can really throw you off. Go little by little until you reach the size you want.

I got more tips but those are some of the biggest ones that have helped me out. Good luck! hope this helped a little at least!

x4m1r4

I am still learning too.. So, I'm not sure if I'm qualified to give you some tips... But, I can share with you, how I normally build a room & houses. For room, I will place the furniture to estimate the space, not only for the Sims to pass by, but also if you want to decorate the room.. It also depends on what type of room that you want to build too.. If you want to build a house, some prefer to use a floor plan.. some will use Google/Pinterest images.. I opt to Google/Pinterest images because I'm not good at following the floor plan..

Perhaps, you might want to check out this challenge too (One Room, One Week, One Theme & Sims 4 Build-n-Share Challenge)

It's a good thread & challenges if you want to start building.. The community is very nice & will always give a constructive feedback

Tiarella

It takes awhile to get comfortable reading and following floor plans, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. One thing that can help is to look at apartment complex websites that have virtual tours as well as floor plans, so you can look at the floor plan and a video of the same set of rooms, and see how they fit together. You'll probably also get to see how they've furnished and decorated the model apartments.

If you live in an area that doesn't have any such things, google for new apartments for rent & add the name of an area that has a lot of new growth (see this article for a list of the hottest rental markets in 2017). I googled for "video tours and floor plans for new apartments in dallas tx" and found this website, which has both a virtual 3D tour and floor plan for a couple different units.

I hope that's useful! I've had to stop building due to injuries, but my last (unfinished) project was based on floorplans, 3D images, & photos I found on google. I needed all the images/photos because I've never been inside the specific kind of house I was trying to build.

Kathykins

I'm also getting into building more in TS4, instead of just downloading from the Gallery. I find I actually have a lot of fun building again, but of course, I also have much to learn. I'm quite often using real floorplans when I'm building, and it can really be a challenge to get everything to fit together in the sim world. I need to do a lot of adjustments.

It might be easier to start off "training" on modern house builds, because they are generally more simple to build, often with big, open rooms. Stand-alone walls, half walls and columns can be used to divide different areas. I've found they are easier to expand also, if needed.

Small starter houses could also be good for learning, though you'll have a tight budget as well. Might be good for a challenge (one I've failed a few times )

MDianaSims

The key to becoming a better builder us to keep practicing, you never stop learning new things.

Also, draw your own floor plans on squared paper and do the same for real life floor plans you want to translate to the Sims. It makes it a lot easier than trying to figure out while in game.

Read and watch tutorials by other simmers, they can be real helpful. And download and place builds from others in your game and deconstruct them in build mode, it'll help you discover how they were built.

As for room sizes, I always work based on the following basic sizes:
Kitchen: 4x5
Kitchen+dining: 5x7
Dining: 5x6
Living: 5x6
Small bathroom: 2x3
Medium bathroom: 3x4
Simple bedroom:4x5
Of course you can vary, but these are fairly averagely sized rooms.

As for furnishing and decorating, the colour filter can be very helpful to get things to match. Also working with a budget can be inspiring.

I suppose it's easier to avoid the move objects cheat when you're still learning to build. But definitely give it a try once you feel more at home in build mode. Same goes for other more advanced tools.
For placement, F5 is a pretty essential cheat though, it allows more placement options but rarely causes routing issues or disappearing items.

Ask others for honest feedback, it's a difficult one, but can be very helpful. It's nice if someone tells you they like your build, but it's far more educative if they tell what could be improved and how it can be improved.

That's all I can think of right now.

Edit: I see commenting from mobile late a night is not a good idea, so many auto-correct errors...

GalacticGal

EmCross96 wrote: »

Hello! I am terrible builder and have the worst time even following floor plans. I can try and try but I always hate how it looks and always come out differently than my imagination. Imma share some tips that have made it easier for me and that I've gotten from other simmers.

~Pay attention to houses when you out. Whenever I go out anywhere I always check out some of the houses in the area and they can be inspiring and get the wheels turning. Maybe try and use the shell of a house you've seen or try to build one similar.

~ Use a large, square rug, to size rooms. I don't remember exactly what rug I use since I change it up depending on what room I want. But take a large and square rug then build a box around it. If I am doing a small bedroom, I will make sure there is 1 empty tile outside the rug on all sides.(Some times half a tile if I want the room to be a bit smaller). For a living room I usually make sure there's 1 empty tile on 2 sides facing each other and 2 empty tiles on the other 2 facing sides. I hope this makes sense, I'd share a pic if I knew how.

~ Always go smaller than you think and if it turns out too small make it bigger as you go. Don't make drastic changes cuz it can really throw you off. Go little by little until you reach the size you want.

I got more tips but those are some of the biggest ones that have helped me out. Good luck! hope this helped a little at least!

I like the idea of using a rug. In previous builds, I find myself using a bed (or couch depending on which room it is) to see how large or small the room is. I may go ahead and use a rug, instead.

I have to agree with MDianaSanders. Use graph paper. You know, the kind with the grid on it they make you use in Geometry class. I translate 1 panel of wall = 1 square on the graph paper. That way, you can count panels. Sometimes, to make it even easier on myself, I'll count the squares beforehand, and make note on the graph paper as to how many squares are on a side.

PeculiarPlumbob

I have a very weird style of building... Usually, I begin by making one wall (the front of the house) and just build around it :''D
I only start making rooms once the outside is finished (which is not a good way to do it btw because it's can get tricky to fir enough rooms and the rooms can end up being pretty small etc)

RedDestiny92

Yeah definitely good to practice with or without floor plans it's one of those things where a few builds might make you crazy then there is that one that you're really proud of and you start getting better from there. At least it seems like that, this one build here I tried building basically backward, furniture first then structure to get a feel for where walls should be when I continuously made the rooms too big. Try different things and you'll find what works for you.

That was fun in it's own way.

musteni

I usually decorate as I build or at least plan where to place the main objects (kitchen counters, beds etc). I have tried to copy some real houses, but never used an actual floorplan. I think it's important to think in "sim terms", consider the object size and how much room they need to get around. My problem is that I sometimes end up making too many nooks and corners with weird diagonal walls that may fit the decorations, but are way too complex when taking another look. If you ever end up in a situation like that then my advice is to simplify. Let go of that special decoration thingy that makes the whole floorplan funky, just forget it and put the wall straight.

happyopi

Don't simply put furniture on the grid, that takes up space for nothing.
Move furniture around while holding Alt to get them closer to each other without blocking the path (unlike moveobjects)

When you stop thinking in grid and see exploitable space instead, your builds get reasonably sized.
The dimensions given by @MDianaSanders are really good starting points too. I use a similar scale.

I realized I've never used F5, I'm used to off grid placement, but it might be more convenient sometimes. Will give it a try !