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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 2:34 AM
Default A residential beach lot?
I'm not familiar with how beach lots work, so my question is is it possible for a residential lot to also be a beach lot? If so, how?
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Undead Molten Llama
#2 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 2:37 AM
Yes. Beach lots work like any other lot. You choose them out of the empty lot catalog (They're in their own category), then place them. When you do, the little dialogue comes up where you choose whether it's a community lot or a residential lot. They are long lots, 3x5, 4x5, or 5x5, and will only place where such lots extend into water, of course.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
#3 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 3:07 AM
simlogical has beach lot markers for shorter lots that may appeal to you if you don't like playing with large lots.

http://www.simlogical.com/sl/Sims2P...s2_Voyaging.htm

I've never actually used them though I have them around somewhere in a folder for things i wanted to test ages ago.
Undead Molten Llama
#4 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 3:10 AM
Yeah, I have those, too, and have never tested/used them, either. Thanks for the reminder! I've got a neighborhood the coastline of which I need to build, and those might come in handy, since the roads are quite close to the shoreline...

To the OP, I should also mention that when building residential beach lots, I often make use of Mootilda's Lot Adjuster. I build them on a 3x5 beach lot and then use the adjuster to shrink them down sometimes as narrow as 1x5. That way, you can have long, narrow beach houses butting up right next to each other (which is really more realistic...as I sit here looking around at where I'm currently living on a beach in SoCal ) instead of having a bunch of large lots. Sometimes this makes them a bit difficult to place. I find I have to fiddle around with the modifyNeighborhoodTerrain cheat turned on to get them to place. Beach lots are fussy that way.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Scholar
Original Poster
#5 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 3:21 AM
So, I'd actually have to build the house then?
Undead Molten Llama
#6 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 3:26 AM
Well, unless you've downloaded one, yes. There are some very nice beach lots available here at MTS. I like the ones build by keef1973, myself: http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=223325 Like all beach lots, they can be fussy about placement, though. Sometimes it's easier to build your own.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
#7 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 3:31 AM
Probably, unless you search for beach lot homes specifically. Most of the beach lots I use are either on twikki island so i don't have to build myself; or just a very sparse work in progress public beach somewhere on the main hood.

I've found that with residential beach lots the amount of build-able home surface is cut off as the lot will most always slope downwards and terrain smoothing for more build-able surface creates a headache for a path down to the playable beach part. That and sims are almost one minded when it comes to living on a beach lot. You'll always find them trying to do beach related things.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 7:52 AM
Some of the beach lots, depending, I guess, on your hood and where you place them - are easier to build on than others. I don't do it too often, but I have done it quite successfully (and I am not a good builder, more of a architectually unfortunate one) - but I did get all of them working - and I think it is worth trying! I, of course, leave them as big as they are because there are plenty of big beach lots around the world, mostly owned by millionaires, and these lots will only belong to my richest Sims.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 8:05 AM
Just be forewarned, depending on what you want to do with your lot- residential and community lots are fine, but there are all manner of horror stories about trying to make apartment lots on beachfront property. Never having done it myself (all those stories worked to scare me away from trying) I can't speak for what kind of problems this will cause you (though I'm sure there are other members who can), but it's unquestionably wiser to just steer clear of altogether.

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Field Researcher
#10 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 10:32 PM
@iCad
You're saying that there are beach lots like 2x5?

@Zarathustra
I'd love to see what you can do with a beach lot, I just know it would be amazing.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 27th Feb 2015 at 10:35 PM
I believe iCad shrunk them with the Lot Adjuster. Must admit I would be scared to shrink or expand a beach lot for fear of making it a glitchy crashing mess. I downlaoded a really nice pier from here the other day and it won't place in my little shopping hood. Such is my luck with beach lots, if I don't build them myself they normally wont place.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Undead Molten Llama
#12 Old 28th Feb 2015 at 12:30 AM
@PanAm103

Yes, like Jo said, use the Lot Adjuster to shrink down beach lots. I build them on the smallest beach lot, which is 3x5, making sure only to use 10 or 20 of the tiles (depending on whether I'll eventually shrink the lot to 1x5 or 2x5). I've never had an issue with the lot being glitchy afterwards at all. The main issue is that it can often be subsequently difficult to place another lot right next to one that had been shrunk. But I find if I fiddle around with raising/lowering the neighborhood terrain with the modifyNeighborhoodTerrain cheat turned on, I eventually get them to place. Because yes, beach lots are notoriously finicky about placement, will often only place in the exact same place on the exact same neighborhood map that they were built on. For that reason, I tend to build them when/where I want/need them and never reuse them. So, I don't build them often, but I enjoy doing so when I DO build them. They do have some limitations. like @SingleClawDesigns pointed out, but I find that they're fun to work around when I'm in the right mood. I like building giant decks/piers that stretch out over the ocean, for instance, though their "engineering" can be a bit tricky.

@Zarathustra

I've had beach apartment lots that worked just fine, and I've had some that haven't worked, and I can't figure out the whys and wherefores as to whether one will work or not. I tend to avoid building them for that reason because it's a lot of engineering and furnishing for something that might turn out not to work once you actually try to play it. Plus, a large beach apartment complex would probably eat older/weaker graphics cards/computers alive. But I did once build a small lot with completely separate units, no shared walls, kind of like a small RV park on a beach. That one worked OK. It was on a different computer, though, which I subsequently wiped all Sims stuff from. Wish I'd saved that lot. Maybe I'll try to reconstruct it and see what happens....

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Scholar
#13 Old 28th Feb 2015 at 2:58 AM
I tried using the pre-shrunk beach lots but alas I can no longer get any of them to place. I do have two regular beach lots I downloaded from here that I use a lot because they do place well. Otherwise I build them myself.

The only actual problem with beach apartment lots I ever ran into (aside from the failing to place issue I have with most beach lots other people made)is that they flood. If you have a flooded beach apartment lot, pick it up in neighborhood view, wiggle it around in the air, and plop it rigjht back where you had it and it will most likely be fine. Sometimes you have to do it more than once. It's only a graphical issue, anyhow.

I make a lot of apartment beach lots. They're fun to play.

Thanks for the reminder about Inge's portal! I've meant to try them so as to get small lots like ICad describes, but I never remember them.
Theorist
#14 Old 3rd Mar 2015 at 10:55 PM
iCad, any more detailed hints about placing Beach Lots onto a hood?
I have a nice one I made a couple of years ago in a custom hood which I've since deleted, and now I can't place the Lot into any other hoods no matter what I do. I've tried 3 or 4 different Maxis hoods to no avail. Tried adjusting the terrain in multiple ways - no joy.
What do you think is more critical when trying to place a Beach Lot, the elevation of the land/road or the elevation/depth of the water?
Undead Molten Llama
#15 Old 3rd Mar 2015 at 11:33 PM
The issue with placing pre-built beach lots is that the slope from the road to the start of the beach (The last 10 or so tiles of the lot, before it drops into the water) on the pre-built lot must match the area on the neighborhood you're intending to place the pre-built lot on. So, if it won't place, you need to fiddle with the slope in neighborhood view with the modifyNeighborhoodTerrain cheat turned on (Which comes with Freetime; if you don't have that, you're outta luck.) until you get it to match the slope in the pre-built lot. In my experience, sometimes it doesn't work no matter what you do, or maybe I'm just not good enough at it. This is especially so if the pre-built lot has a really drastic or strangely-angled slope (Like if it slopes from left to right instead of just front to back), which can be difficult to create in the new neighborhood terrain without it making the surrounding area funky. But sometimes, if it's just a click or two up or down that's needed I can get them to place.

There are probably tutorials for using the cheat around, if you're not already familiar with it. It's best to screw around with it in a neighborhood you don't care about first, since you can't really undo whatever you do. Or at least do a backup right before you start playing around with it, in case you really screw up the terrain.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Theorist
#16 Old 4th Mar 2015 at 12:18 AM
That's pretty much what I thought. There seems to be what looks like a gap in the terrain at both edges of the Lot, after I snap it into place.
The thing is, the Lot will snap into place, but the game crashes when I try to enter it.
Is there something else that might be causing that, other than mismatched terrain? There's no CC on the Lot.
Undead Molten Llama
#17 Old 4th Mar 2015 at 12:32 AM
From what I've read on the subject, some people experience beach lot crashing if they have to turn the lot in order to place it. I can't say I've experienced it myself, but I've read about other people experiencing it. Also, I've read that it can crash if the height of the beach (The part that is auto-flattened) on the prebuilt lot doesn't match the height on the terrain. I would have thought that, in that case, the lot simply wouldn't place, but perhaps if you can get it to place and the beach part still isn't right, the game doesn't know what to do with it, so it crashes when you're trying to load the lot.

All in all, prebuilt beach lots are kind of a pain. Really, the only way they're guaranteed to place/work is if you use the same terrain the creator used to build them and you place them in the same spot the creator used. It has to do with how the game saves a beach lot and what it has to do, coding-wise, to create the surf animations. I have had relatively good luck with keef1973's lots, which I linked to upthread, and I've used them both to play and to dissect to figure out how they built certain features they built on them. They will sometimes not place but often will, and I've never had a problem with them crashing once placed. I think it's because the lots are fairly flat with not much in the way of slope. It makes them more flexible, more likely to match up with areas on other terrains that support beach lots.

But generally? Sometimes it really is better to build them yourself. And if you share them, you should probably let potential downloaders know what terrain they were built on (And stick to building on Maxis terrains, so all potential downloaders will have the same one) and what spot on the terrain they were built on. Especially if you built it on a spot with a funky slope...in which case I'd say they're not good candidates for sharing, anyway. For beach lots you intend to share, I think the KISS principle really applies, at least in terms of the lot's terrain.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Theorist
#18 Old 4th Mar 2015 at 12:42 AM
Thanks, I'll take a look at keef1973's Lots and maybe download some and try to see what makes them tick, like you did.
Good point about flatter Beach Lots perhaps being more flexible.

The one I'm messing with is one I actually had uploaded here for some time, a couple of years ago, and it seemed pretty popular, compared to my other uploads. I remember there was one player who asked me a few things about its architecture, since I had CFE'd a couple of things, so I got the impression he/she was rebuilding it, which of course is perfectly OK.
Mad Poster
#19 Old 4th Mar 2015 at 1:01 AM Last edited by gazania : 4th Mar 2015 at 1:21 AM.
I've downloaded a few beach lots I've liked, and I've tried in different hoods with fairly good results. Most are NOT small ... they're Maxis-sized, so be warned.

Also be warned that as others wrote, beach lots can be ultra-picky. What works great in one hood terrain won't work in another. I know there are ways around that, but I confess to being a little lazy.

First of all, a quick summary of what I like in any lot: Minimal CC, easy to expand/adapt, generally not more than 70,000 Simoleons (though I have made an exception or two). I will go for boxy over a house that has numerous routing issues. I often favor open-concept ... not usually into ultra-cozy,

Now the links:

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=342261 (Kind of small, but with a little tweaking, I added a second story)
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=295998 (LOTS of room. One of my favorites.)
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=249257 (Kind of smallish, and I've had trouble placing this at times, but when it does place, it's very nice!)

There is another beach house that's a little boxy, but I like it for that reason. It's very open-concept, and so easy to carve bedrooms if needed. I'm about 60% sure I downloaded it from MTS. I'll have to peek into my game.

Before downloading lots, if you don't have this already, get ye to this site and download this, please. I don't think any of these lots had the Super Duper Hug Bug, but cannot vouch 100% of all of them: http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/thread-1665.html. Yes ... you'll need the Cyjon mod in the description as well. The Bug can be peculiar.

Back up your game and test in a junk hood first; preferably one that resembles the hood you're using. In rare instances, I've seen perfectly good beach lots crash in certain hoods after I've placed them, but not in others. Yup. Beach lots can be tricky, but if you get or make some houses you like, they're keepers. I have about four houses that I pretty much consistently use, plus one house I made off a beach house plan that again, is boxy as anything, but easy to adapt.

Hmmm ... I'll have to get some smaller beach plans and see if I can't fiddle around with the Lot Adjuster. It might be fun to make less-expensive beach houses. Thanks for the tip! (Hmmm ... some of the keef1973 houses seem to meet my preferences, too. And I just happen to use that Twikii Expanded terrain. )

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Undead Molten Llama
#20 Old 4th Mar 2015 at 1:52 AM
@gazania

I like making narrow beach lots. They tend to be more realistic. Real-world beach parcels tend to be long and narrow, so that buildings can be packed in there, so I make lots of use of the Lot Adjuster with them. And, like I said, I've never had any issue with shrunken beach lots, either ones I've made myself or the ones that that keef1973 made, aside from sometimes having to fiddle with the neighborhood terrain a bit to get another lot to place right next to one I've shrunk. But I sometimes have to do that with non-beach lots, too. Just a Lot Adjuster artifact, I think.

Also, the houses from keef1973's Pirripirri beach neighborhood, which was built on a custom terrain, are quite nice. I've never actually played that neighborhood, but I've used the lots in other neighborhoods and have had a good success percentage with placing them even though they were originally built on a custom terrain. That creator just seems to have a knack for building beach lots that work fairly well outside of their "natural habitat," as it were. I've kind of studied them for my own beach-lot building purposes, since I tend to like to reuse lots I've already built. It's nice not to always have to build beach lots from scratch when I want one.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Theorist
#21 Old 4th Mar 2015 at 2:31 AM
@keef1973

You're being mentioned here quite a bit.
Care to share some secrets about making versatile beach Lots?
Instructor
#22 Old 4th Mar 2015 at 2:05 PM
Hi all, I'm a little tight on time at the moment but I will come back and add my two penneth if that's ok
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