@kestrellyn - HERE

Good entries at the last hour everyone! looking sooooo gooood!

Yeah, mine are Inge's half landing stairs.

Edit: Though.. my garden bed on the roof of my 3rd unit does use one set of modular stairs up on to a stage. Would that be problematic? It seemed to be working correctly when I played the lot.

@kestrellyn
this one?
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=462269

I only KNOW if the modular stairs from upper level to down with stage will have this thing, I have NO idea will the simply stairs from the stage do the same as a judge I have no idea so not gonna dock point for what I do not know myself :D

Thanks guys, yeah, that looks like just what I need!

Yes they're modular stairs. I've never had a problem with them and to be fair I didn't have time to playtest.

To answer the ping, @Kukamuukaanmuka @Karen Lorraine Modular stairs that are split by using a stage can have issues, the game views the stage as another room and it can break the upstairs in an apartment. When I build my gated community apartment lot all the upstairs turned into a public area, I had to remove the stage and make the stairs straight. I don't know that all modular stairs cause the issue but certainly, at least some do.

Lot's of great entries. :D

Modular stairs routing is better than the straight stairs. Is the issue with stages on apartment lots?

Edit: Ninja'd! It makes sense to me that the issue is the stages and has nothing to do with modular stairs.

Yes, I should of been more clearer, I am sorry I did indeed ment only if staged landing, straight modular stairs have always worked fine to me too

I can't change them as it would need a complete redo so they will have to stay for now.

I haven't experienced any problems with "stage" landings... I will not take off points for it
Maybe I have a mod that fixed the issue? Dunno *shrug*

I'm too exhausted to update my post before the round ends QUQ it's okay, I'll take the point deduction hahaha I'll just try to do better next time
sleep important--er.
good luck everyone! ^^

I misread the timer and thought mine needed to be in last night!

@Karen Lorraine

Either we all misread it or the deadline was postponed I can swear it ended last night for me too.

Phew thought I was going mad!

It did end last night, the counter just starts counting up after ending and the text changes slightly. It now says "Time since Wednesday, July 4, 2018 at 1:00:00 am".

The modular stairs are NOT the issue, the issue/quirk is with a staging tool. How you can test this is after you change the lot to apartment base and move a sim in, go to build/buy mode, can you move objects around like normal? Usually the staging tool breaks up the space and whatever is on the other side is not considered 'part of the apartment.' It's not that sims can't use the stuff on the other side of the staging tool, it's that they are stuck with all the items placed there and don't have the option nor freedom to exchange items or re-arrange furniture or even place new items they have acquired in those places that are considered public. So it just depends if the judges consider the limitation of not being able to place items or move items in these spaces within the apartments a drag on playability. Kitchens especially play differently when blocked off, not unplayable just...different (as I will go into detail in my second round entry about)

For example, the staging tool I used in my apartments as 'elevated' shelves in the red and grey unit lower levels - the items on those shelves, like the plants and sports trophies cannot be moved anymore by the sims that live there when I go into buy mode. They are stuck with that deco and they cannot place anything else on there as it's not part of their apartment. Also, you can tell what specific places went public after all the neighbors are moved in and you can still see items not 'shrouded by the fog of privacy' - see example but small, limited areas like this are innocuous. IMO, it gets to be a hassle of you have a sim move in and they want to change the nursery room into an office at some point but are stuck with a bunch of unusable baby toys/furniture if stairs that lead to it go through a staging tool.

Edit: I forgot to add that if a living area ends up being a public space in the neighbor's apartment, you will see them when the enter that area and hear whatever TV music they turn on, which can be annoying. It's not the same as the sound coming through your sim has to beat on a wall to stop, it's just constant and you as a player, can't control it.

Damn, I did not know that, and I've used the staging tool in my next build. How bizarre.

I didn't know either, which is kind of lame considering I am hosting an apartment contest haha. I've got several and never noticed any issues. Need to re-visit my apartment uploads, have two with stages and modular stairs on them *runs and hides*

I'm sorry about the timer confusion, I had missed there's a box you tick to make it stop counting. I have added judging and round 2 timers now, and this time they will stay at 0 once it's counted down Very glad to see that so many completed round 1, was worried when there were 5 left with only two hours to go but you guys really pulled through! It's been really interesting to see the different takes on the concept. I look forward to taking a closer look at all of the entries now they are finished.

Sorry to hear you forgot to update pictures kanzen. Good thing it's only one point

Thanks for explaining Charmful, I didn't know that and I build loads of apartments! I've probably never used the staging in them before.

After my first one, I've always used spiral staircases in all my apartments because I saw multiple people say that modular ones break apartments and in my first apartment building I was constantly having to use the enable build tools and move_objects to delete the straight object stairs, which were constantly getting stuck in-use tags and trapping people on the upper floors. I've never used the staging tool for making landings in my life. So now I know better; but all my apartments that I'm de-customizing for the contest already have spiral stairs incorporated in the design. It'll be useful to know later, though.

This is why I started doing this - to learn stuff.

Me too!!! I've finally actually started playing the game [in earnest this time] But, I haven't tried 'living' in an apartment yet - I think I'm gonna grab one of my uploaded apts - one with a possible stair/stage problem, and see what happens beyond play-testing a few days for routing issues.

Yes. Exactly .

Thank you Charmful for explanation, would of took me days to find correct words in english to do that

Also not going to dock points from the stage thingy for now I felt sorry I even mentioned the whole thing at the first place

Please don't! I am happy to know this information as I did not before.

I will playtest my lot and see what happens.