Can you help me figure out how to build this house?

[jealousghost]

I've been trying to build a house with a garage on the bottom level and then goes up a slope to the first floor. For the life of my I can't get the stairs or anything else to work. Can someone help me with this? (I'm not asking someone to make the house but to describe what would do or link to a tutorial etc).

Here's what I'm trying to build, specifically: http://i51.tinypic.com/141jort.jpg

Similar examples: http://www.eplans.com/craftsman_house-plans/HWEPL75120.hwx
http://www.eplans.com/craftsman_house-plans/HWEPL75126.hwx

[crocobaura]

You need to build the basement with the foundation tool. Just lay out the outline of the house with foundation walls, then replace the foundation walls with normal walls where you want the garage doors to go. The stairs are a bit tricky to place, not sure why it's so difficult to place stairs in TS3. I built a similar house, but I need to go in my game to take picture of it.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f134/crocobaura/Screenshot-119.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f134/crocobaura/Screenshot-120.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f134/crocobaura/Screenshot-122.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f134/crocobaura/Screenshot-124.jpg

[jealousghost]

On a similar note: How do you connect a garage to a house that's on a foundation? I've tried making stairs into a garage and I keep getting the "cannot build below a floor tile" or something error when I try to put up walls.

[jealousghost]

You need to build the basement with the foundation tool. Just lay out the outline of the house with foundation walls, then replace the foundation walls with normal walls where you want the garage doors to go. The stairs are a bit tricky to place, not sure why it's so difficult to place stairs in TS3. I built a similar house, but I need to go in my game to take picture of it.*nervous* Ok I'll try this.

[crocobaura]

On a similar note: How do you connect a garage to a house that's on a foundation? I've tried making stairs into a garage and I keep getting the "cannot build below a floor tile" or something error when I try to put up walls.

Not sure why you get that, you may need to use constrainfloorelevation cheat to make some things work. So, as you can see, my basement has foundation walls everywhere, except where the windows are and in the places where I put the garage doors and double doors. In those places I used normal walls. The basement is build exactly the height of a normal wall, but if you make it a bit deeper, then you can use constrainfloorelevation cheat to adjust the walls to the desired height.

[tomomi1922]

On a similar note: How do you connect a garage to a house that's on a foundation? I've tried making stairs into a garage and I keep getting the "cannot build below a floor tile" or something error when I try to put up walls.

You know, as far as TS3 concerns, they don't give you enough tools. And even with all the cheats around, you need to have extensive knowledge and experience to even tackles something like that. At TS3 basegame, there was no garage tool, no foundation beyond the base level. So in order to build something like you want, which I did try a couple times in the past, it requires a lot of pre-planning as making this possible is .... you can say, a work-around, an exploit, of the original TS3 engine.

My projects did have basements below ground and slope connecting to the surface, among other things. It took so long to make, and once I make them, I cannot move them if I thought I would extend this wall a bit farther or whatnot: it would means building from scratch or having to delete 80% of the house structure to fix.

Having said that, your best bet would be to google up building tutorials. By further reviewing your pictures, I think it is ... not too hard. Take a look at : http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=351130 , scroll down 1-2 pages where this person shows some screenshots with a downloadable tutorial. Just be warned: the approach won't be as straight forward as you may think, and you probably need to build the stair (and that connection to the garage and the house's door) before you tackle the house.

If you have this done, please show some screenshots, the house looks yummy. :Pint:

You need to build the basement with the foundation tool. Just lay out the outline of the house with foundation walls, then replace the foundation walls with normal walls where you want the garage doors to go. The stairs are a bit tricky to place, not sure why it's so difficult to place stairs in TS3. I built a similar house, but I need to go in my game to take picture of it.

I love how you make the drive way running up soooo smooth and awesome. Did you start with the flat ground and push the ground under for garage, or with raising the ground for the house?

[crocobaura]

Did you start with the flat ground and push the ground under for garage, or with raising the ground for the house?

There was already a bit of a slope on the lot, but there was also some flat area in the front yard connecting to the road. I started the foundation from the flat area and build towards the slope. For the garage I just lowered the ground in the basement area and levelled it.

[Volvenom]

It's not that difficult really. You just need some practice. If you want your entrance to the garage at groundlevel, just put up a regular wall and build foundations from the top of the wall. You might wanna build your stairs first though. Use just a regular wall and your eyesight to get the right hight. Then you can start your garage and the stairs from the same level. Just use the ground to lay your stairs on. If you have foundations beside the stairs you can have the ground close up to it.

Just play around with it. Nothing to get nervous about :)