I started building my own houses. There is very few houses in the gallery that matched what I needed during game play.
Plus I find the build option more fun when you get to play around.
Now that we have the gallery I build a lot less than I did when we only had the exchange. It's just so much easier to download a house that is close to what I want and fix it up to my liking.
I am super, super picky and a perfectionist. I like the house to be open, airy, no squishy tiny rooms. Everything has to go together, the style, colors, so I use a lot of CC. I don't want to use the same things over and over.
I always grab a house plan off the internet... I particularly look for historical homes and recreate them to my liking. Victorian mansions or plantation houses with winding stairs and rounded rooms are difficult to recreate in ts4. I don't really play ts4 because I find it so lacking and shallow, but I still occasionally use it to design or recreate houses.
It depends, really. I enjoy building and I do use many of the things that I build but there are home styles that I am just not up to building (like complex Victorians). In that case I download a house shell in the style I want and use that. I download a lot of shells anyway (never furnished homes anymore) because I enjoy decorating them for fun.
It depends on what type of house. I enjoy building UK Tudor houses (windenburg style) and sulani builds myself but I can’t build any decent mansions, Spanish or southern USA (gone with the wind) type homes which are ones I will download off the gallery. I am getting better at modern builds and will attempt them myself.
If the house if for sims I'm going to play, I almost always build. But if it's just a house I want to fill a vacant lot for some NPCs, I usually grab one from the gallery.
"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live." - Oscar Wilde
I wish I could build, but to learn I would have to take time away from playing the game. So I really appreciate the gallery. I do wish there were not so many duplicate items though. I usually type in the name of the lot I'm replacing which often brings up homes in a similar style to the surrounding neighborhood. I also look under the most popular heading since, for some reason, I am more likely to find homes that don't use every pack in existence. I am still far from completing the collection.
It does take a bit to learn how to build a house, but it is worth the effort. Watch a few videos, and though your first couple houses may not be perfect, you will get better before you know it.
Im decent with building. However, its boring and not my passion.
The gallery is an innovative and amazing feauture and there is a lot of talent in the sims build community. I would be lost without them and wouldn't even play! It's not even just the houses. The restaurants and neat little hangouts are awesome and I need them!
Building is optional for those who want to do that and not necessary or required if you dont care for it and just want to create sims and play
"Let Our Hearts And Hands Be Streched Out In Compassion Toward Others."
I adore decorating, but I'm not great at building. Love the ones that explicitly are listed as shells or unfurnished, they give you a lot of freedom with decorating!
I think the answer is more complicated then 1 or the other. I build about 60 to 70 percent of the time. The gallery houses are often built for looks and not for play and I want something practical and without moo etc
However if I am enjoying live mode and don't want to break away from my immersion I may grab something quickly off the gallery. It usually ends up personalised as time goes by.
Sometimes I download houses to get a feel for how to build in an architectural style I am unfamiliar with or to see what build item prior used to get the finished product.
I often download mansions because they take me away from play for too long. But my legacy families start with a starter that grows into a mansion that is all my work.
I think the answer is more complicated then 1 or the other. I build about 60 to 70 percent of the time. The gallery houses are often built for looks and not for play and I want something practical and without moo etc
However if I am enjoying live mode and don't want to break away from my immersion I may grab something quickly off the gallery. It usually ends up personalised as time goes by.
Sometimes I download houses to get a feel for how to build in an architectural style I am unfamiliar with or to see what build item prior used to get the finished product.
I often download mansions because they take me away from play for too long. But my legacy families start with a starter that grows into a mansion that is all my work.
Just because a house is pretty, doesnt mean it can't be played in. Thats like people who think beautiful women are less smart There are a lot of builders who know how to do the look aesthetically and make it functional as well.
I think it's fine if you like to build, i just think there is no shortage of functional, beautiful homes on the gallery.
"Let Our Hearts And Hands Be Streched Out In Compassion Toward Others."
I think the answer is more complicated then 1 or the other. I build about 60 to 70 percent of the time. The gallery houses are often built for looks and not for play and I want something practical and without moo etc
However if I am enjoying live mode and don't want to break away from my immersion I may grab something quickly off the gallery. It usually ends up personalised as time goes by.
Sometimes I download houses to get a feel for how to build in an architectural style I am unfamiliar with or to see what build item prior used to get the finished product.
I often download mansions because they take me away from play for too long. But my legacy families start with a starter that grows into a mansion that is all my work.
Just because a house is pretty, doesnt mean it can't be played in. Thats like people who think beautiful women are less smart There are a lot of builders who know how to do the look aesthetically and make it functional as well.
I think it's fine if you like to build, i just think there is no shortage of functional, beautiful homes on the gallery.
i mean surely there is some but most builds being made solely based on aesthetics just don't work so well in gameplay
there is always at least one or 2 of those
"ah this would be beautiful but itd take so long navigating this castle and 90% of it is decorative i wish there was smaller more gameplay friendly version because it looks stunning though"
I think the answer is more complicated then 1 or the other. I build about 60 to 70 percent of the time. The gallery houses are often built for looks and not for play and I want something practical and without moo etc
However if I am enjoying live mode and don't want to break away from my immersion I may grab something quickly off the gallery. It usually ends up personalised as time goes by.
Sometimes I download houses to get a feel for how to build in an architectural style I am unfamiliar with or to see what build item prior used to get the finished product.
I often download mansions because they take me away from play for too long. But my legacy families start with a starter that grows into a mansion that is all my work.
Just because a house is pretty, doesnt mean it can't be played in. Thats like people who think beautiful women are less smart There are a lot of builders who know how to do the look aesthetically and make it functional as well.
I think it's fine if you like to build, i just think there is no shortage of functional, beautiful homes on the gallery.
i mean surely there is some but most builds being made solely based on aesthetics just don't work so well in gameplay
there is always at least one or 2 of those
"ah this would be beautiful but itd take so long navigating this castle and 90% of it is decorative i wish there was smaller more gameplay friendly version because it looks stunning though"
There's tons! Of course a mansion lot with a ton of moveobjects and debug items used might be overly complicated. But for the most part the medium sized homes are definitely functional and look good as well. I personally dont have any interest in castles , because I dont like that type of home and find it unrealistic. Some homes are made solely for aesthetics I guess, but not most. I follow a bunch of builders and most of the houses are nice but fairly normal.
"Let Our Hearts And Hands Be Streched Out In Compassion Toward Others."
I think the answer is more complicated then 1 or the other. I build about 60 to 70 percent of the time. The gallery houses are often built for looks and not for play and I want something practical and without moo etc
However if I am enjoying live mode and don't want to break away from my immersion I may grab something quickly off the gallery. It usually ends up personalised as time goes by.
Sometimes I download houses to get a feel for how to build in an architectural style I am unfamiliar with or to see what build item prior used to get the finished product.
I often download mansions because they take me away from play for too long. But my legacy families start with a starter that grows into a mansion that is all my work.
Just because a house is pretty, doesnt mean it can't be played in. Thats like people who think beautiful women are less smart There are a lot of builders who know how to do the look aesthetically and make it functional as well.
I think it's fine if you like to build, i just think there is no shortage of functional, beautiful homes on the gallery.
i mean surely there is some but most builds being made solely based on aesthetics just don't work so well in gameplay
there is always at least one or 2 of those
"ah this would be beautiful but itd take so long navigating this castle and 90% of it is decorative i wish there was smaller more gameplay friendly version because it looks stunning though"
There's tons! Of course a mansion lot with a ton of moveobjects and debug items used might be overly complicated. But for the most part the medium sized homes are definitely functional and look good as well. I personally dont have any interest in castles , because I dont like that type of home and find it unrealistic. Some homes are made solely for aesthetics I guess, but not most. I follow a bunch of builders and most of the houses are nice but fairly normal.
yeah I mean there is loads of good pretty family homes not saying that there isn't
and obviously loads of good builders
but what I mean is especially with castle/mansion look houses to go with the bigger lots
(with fancy entrances and all outside of lot so I can't pretend its not mansion lot)
its often very hard to find house that is playable size on gallery even when they all look beautiful
and I myself am bad at doing outsides of such houses so it really frustrates me
maybe more of a problem of tagging though since having specific tag for smaller mansions vs megasized ones would help loads
The best thing to do when looking for any furnished lot is to see if the creator has play tested it. Anything favored by Maxis is also good because they play test things before favoring them. Play testing is really important because even without using MOO, a home can still have problems. I have been putting my own lots up on the gallery lately because I want to transfer them to a different computer (and I only want to move them). I don't use MOO often anyway and I have been redoing them so they don't use alt and don't use resize much either (I want clean copies of each thing in both libraries and some things needed update with new content). Even so, when play testing I have found small problems that needed addressing. There are some items you can place near each other in build mode that still don't work with game play even without using MOO or alt. Everything else is personal preference. Some players like highly detailed lots and some don't. There is no one right way to play your game.
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Plus I find the build option more fun when you get to play around.
Click to visit my Household Showcase
It does take a bit to learn how to build a house, but it is worth the effort. Watch a few videos, and though your first couple houses may not be perfect, you will get better before you know it.
The gallery is an innovative and amazing feauture and there is a lot of talent in the sims build community. I would be lost without them and wouldn't even play! It's not even just the houses. The restaurants and neat little hangouts are awesome and I need them!
Building is optional for those who want to do that and not necessary or required if you dont care for it and just want to create sims and play
I love the gallery so much! I wouldn't play any sims game that doesnt have a gallery (from now on)
However if I am enjoying live mode and don't want to break away from my immersion I may grab something quickly off the gallery. It usually ends up personalised as time goes by.
Sometimes I download houses to get a feel for how to build in an architectural style I am unfamiliar with or to see what build item prior used to get the finished product.
I often download mansions because they take me away from play for too long. But my legacy families start with a starter that grows into a mansion that is all my work.
Just because a house is pretty, doesnt mean it can't be played in. Thats like people who think beautiful women are less smart
I think it's fine if you like to build, i just think there is no shortage of functional, beautiful homes on the gallery.
i mean surely there is some but most builds being made solely based on aesthetics just don't work so well in gameplay
there is always at least one or 2 of those
"ah this would be beautiful but itd take so long navigating this castle and 90% of it is decorative i wish there was smaller more gameplay friendly version because it looks stunning though"
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
There's tons! Of course a mansion lot with a ton of moveobjects and debug items used might be overly complicated. But for the most part the medium sized homes are definitely functional and look good as well. I personally dont have any interest in castles , because I dont like that type of home and find it unrealistic. Some homes are made solely for aesthetics I guess, but not most. I follow a bunch of builders and most of the houses are nice but fairly normal.
yeah I mean there is loads of good pretty family homes not saying that there isn't
and obviously loads of good builders
but what I mean is especially with castle/mansion look houses to go with the bigger lots
(with fancy entrances and all outside of lot so I can't pretend its not mansion lot)
its often very hard to find house that is playable size on gallery even when they all look beautiful
and I myself am bad at doing outsides of such houses so it really frustrates me
maybe more of a problem of tagging though since having specific tag for smaller mansions vs megasized ones would help loads
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free