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    Using stairs in CAW

    Bettyboop55Bettyboop55 Posts: 2,646 Member
    in The Sims 3 Game Tools
    I have been reconsidering my harbour in Fenbury. The terrain is rather steep and when I initially tested it in game the sim walked straight off the cliff rather than down the slope which is currently the only way to get to the harbour. I have seen somewhere an image of a harbour with shallow steps leading down to it and reckon that might be a better way to go. I still have the routing to sort out so now would be an ideal time to try.

    The trouble I'm having is finding some up to date instructions on how to build stairs into the terrain. I have seen pictures of it done in other custom worlds so I assume it is possible. I believe I have to create a lot and place the stairs within the lot. I understand there may be routing issues but I have those anyway. I believe it is also best to take a sidewalk as close as possible to the stairs to encourage the sim to use them.

    Any help or tips would be gratefully received.
    I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
    Wherever I am friends call me Betty

    Sim enim est vita

    Comments

    • JessabeansJessabeans Posts: 3,714 Member
      edited April 2019
      If you want to encourage sims to use the stairs you build to access the harbour; you should paint the terrain around the stair lot unroutable. It will take a little testing to find a good balance of how much to block off. It's easy to have them take a very long detour instead of using the preferred path. If you do paint non-routing in areas, try to limit how often you do and how narrow of a path. I love the look of winding staircases on a cliff, but sims routing would prefer wider steps or alternate paths.

      You can kind of see how it will work with 'show routing data' toggled on after you rebuild the routing in CAW. Once you have the major areas of your world finished, It's better to just export an alpha version of the world and test out sims running amuck with the game speed turned up in game and wait for nraas overwatch reports of stuck sims to see if your basic routing is good before going forward. It's better to find routing problems early so you won't need to redo decorations or street layouts later on.


      For building the actual stairs, holding down alt when using EIG will make the staircase exactly the height it needs to be to reach the next level, so it's easier to make terraced staircases on cliffs.


      I hope this was helpful.
    • Bettyboop55Bettyboop55 Posts: 2,646 Member
      edited April 2019
      Thank you @Jessabeans this advice is going to come in very handy :) I was going to wait until I had finished my long list list of things to still do before I put the world into testing. It makes sense to test the routing sooner than that.
      I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
      Wherever I am friends call me Betty

      Sim enim est vita
    • JessabeansJessabeans Posts: 3,714 Member
      I saw your stairs on your world page, they look nice and wide so they shouldn't cause an issue with crowding. I hope they work out for you. The beach area looks lovely.
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