The apartmentbase zone type really hates a second external door in a unit.

I tried converting a duplex lot that I downloaded here into apartments and it balked at the changelotzoning cheat saying there was something wrong with one of the apartments.

Well, it was both, because when I remove the door to the completely fenced in backyards I can change the zone without a problem. My mailbox didn't change though I did register as having 2 apartments. If I try to sneak the doors back in, once I get to the neighborhood screen the lot indicates "0 Apartments".

Yet, there is a pre-built apartment in Belladonna Cove which has decks and a door. Perhaps like greenhouse enclosures, some benefit is lost if a certain percentage of the enclosure is fencing and not wall?

I'm going to fiddle with it more tonight. So irritating that EA couldn't program in a check box or button or something that did this instead of making players guess about the cheats.

And that apartmentsublot fail of the disappearing lot happened to me too.

I am trying this in a new custom shopping neighborhood I created for Belladonna Cove. My downloads directory is currently empty and custom content is disabled.

Just inserting a little tidbit I picked up: The downloadable mailbox replacements -may- cause the mailbox borkage some are experience. Remove them if you have them in your DL folder. If you don't ...carry on then.

Thanks for the info.. I will try those steps..I don't know what I done. I just gave up for now and moved the family I created into some pre-built apartments.

My beautiful apartment has dissapeared
I really don't understand the cheat "changeLotZoning apartmentsublot".
My advise: DON'T EVER USE IT!!!
I can start all over... Yesterday (when it happened) I ruined my room and almost killed my boyfriend. Today is a new day, I'm going to start anew

Ok,as i see it,it is perfectly normal to forget some things while building.So there must be something to do when that happens and changing the lotzoning back to residential indeed doesn't work when families have moved in.It makes the already occupied lots unaccessible.It is really furstrating and i can't come up with any idea!

tiduskeegan, you can do that by changing the height of the ground when you place the foundations.

I know this is a pain but, move all of your sims out of the lot and then go back and edit it if some of the rooms are inaccessable...What is really annoying about making apartments is that you have to create the whole thing without making mistake as you will have all kinds of annoying problems if you move in a family and realise you forget to build a roof lol...

Hopefully there will be an update or Maxis will shed some light on this whole apartment building situation so we can have fun instead of getting frustrated lol...

Good Luck to everyone...

Is it the 1212 and 1212 1/2 East Boulevard Duplex? If so i think I know the reason for it not working with the fenced in back yards. If you have a fenced in backyard you have to remove any gates into the yard in order for your backdoor to be okay. Take a look at the Dynamite Duplex that comes with the game in the lots and houses bin. In order for apartments to function properly, the apartment door must be the only way into the apartment. If you want to have another door make sure to surround the area with a wall/fence. Apartment doors should always face out from the suite. And there should only be one apartment door per suite.

So a duplex with a fenced in backyard and back door should work if there is no gate on the fence, otherwise if there is a gate then you could enter through the gate and go in the back door thus breaking the rule of the only way into the apartment being the front apartment door.

Got a question or some input about furnishing.


Now I tested building an apartment building and moving two families in. Made 5 units, put some chairs in all of them. Also tested a small courtyard for one apartment and a balcony for another. All that worked. Sims could move in with no problem, the zoning got recognized, the mailbox changed, roomate/tenant-Sims started moving in.

However, I'm confused about furnishing. I put some chairs in all of the apartments. When I moved in the first Sim, before choosing an apartment, all the apartments were empty. Checking an apartment out makes it appear empty too. Then I rented one apartment and it was completely empty. Same thing for the second Sim who chose another apartment. The price of an apartment seems to be determined by the simple size of it.

Then I went to see if the uncontrolable Sims who started moving in furnished their apartments. Went to visit some and I realised that they had those chairs I placed in their apartments, but did nothing else, as in placing no other objects, only having those chairs.

The chairs I placed outside of apartments stayed and were always there.


This is confusing me since when I moved a Sim into an apartment building made by EA/Maxis/whoever, basic furnishing was already in the apartment and I think the other Sims that started moving in furnished some more, if I recall correctly.



My guess: Basically, every object you place when creating the apartment lot the first time, before zoning it, is an object that will be there for non-controllable Sims that move in. They won't add or remove anything. So if you furnish a unit with 3 chairs and a TV placed in a corner, that's what the non-controllable tenants will have as furnishing.
But there must be some way to mark certain objects as being basic furnishing that controllable Sims possess too once they move into an apartment. I also think that those objects do not influence the rent.

Does anyone else have any input to furnishing?





So, after I wrote this up, I had a few ideas and thoughts which were followed by the following experiment:

* Made a residential lot and built a small building (without a roof...) that had 4 apartment units. These were identical, all of them being 4x4, 2 windows, same floor.

* Placed a plant, a painting and the most expensive TV set in 2 of them. Left the other 2 empty.

* Used the "changelotzoning" cheat.

* Placed a bookshelf in the two empty apartments (those without the expensive TV sets) after using the cheat, not having saved before.

* Made a Sim and let him move to the building.

* All the apartments were empty for him. There were no objects whatsoever in any apartment. However, the two with the bookshelf cost 172 while the two with the expensive TV (that wasn't there as stated before) cost LESS (160).
** Meaning that everything that is placed after using the cheat adds to the rent, but isn't there for playable Sims.

*Checked out the apartments of non-playable Sims and saw the TV in the two cheaper apartments and the bookshelf in the other expensive one.

* Placed some stuff with my Sims money in his apartment: A computer, a TV and 3 paintings.

* Moved the Sim out.

* Checked the apartment building in build mode with no Sims there.
** All the objects being placed before the Sim moved in (the TVs, the bookshelves, the plants and the paintings) were there again as I placed them before the Sim moved in.

* Placed toilets in the two apartments with the bookshelves (those that cost 172).

* Moved the Sim back in.
** Tada! The toilets were there as standard outfitting of the two apartments and they also increased the rent!

* Placed a sink in the Sims newly chosen apartment.

* Moved the Sim out.

* Checked the apartment building in build mode.
** Voila! The sink was there, wasn't taken with the move-out.

* Moved the Sim back in.

* Sink along with toilet were there as standard outfitting.



My guess is that certain objects like sinks, toilets, showers, stoves, refridgerators, counters and closets stay in any case, except if you sell or delete them probably, while other objects like TVs, bookshelves, tables, couches, plants, paintings, etc. are sole property of Sims. And whatever you place in build mode will appear for the non-playable Sims, though things you add before using the zoning-cheat don't add to the rent.




I really hoped that helped some people! It helped me understand how apartment building works.

Still working on my first apt. lot.. My problem is that whenever I try to put the special entry doors on a second floor landing it will tell me it's either an invalid or they just won't appear.

I have 3 buildings. One by itself and two connected common stairwell. Sometimes it will accept the lot zone change but when I get back to n'hood view it only shows as having one apartment on the lot.

If I move the doors down to the first floor, it's fine... then it sees multiple apartments. I've tried taking out the common landing. There are not fences anywhere on the lot, just 3 plain buildings.

may back-up a lot before testing instead. moving out a sims family can corrupt the neighbourhood when done improperly.

may use only a back-up copy to test, and use a new copy for a new test or further usages.

A note:

Apartments will be unfurnished when you move playable sims in except for basic furnishings: counters, fridges, wall and ceiling lights, plumbing, etc.

HOWEVER

You can use boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true and shift-click on an apartment door and choose Rent Furnished and get a fully-furnished apartment for your playable sims. You must do it with no actions in the queue, and your sim must be standing right next to the door.

Thank you...could not find the apartmentbase listed anywhere in the guide provided with the game! Thanks so much.

If we accidently change the lot to "apartmentsublot" (as we notice the lot disappear) how can we recover the apartment? "/

lisbeth, it's one of the Backalley duplex lots. I did indeed fence in the entirety of the back yards, and separate them with fencing from each other, and didn't place any gates. I suspect it's the fact that there are steps down from the back door that are causing the problem.

The duplex is on a foundation. If I place a deck outside the back door, completely fenced off, this works.

I see a prepackaged duplex with fenced back yards and walk out basements, so in general a walk out backyard works. The moment I pop an opening in the deck railing and place stairs, it stops working.

I may give up converting and just build from scratch tonight to see what I can figure out. There was another issue with the Backalley duplex that was worse. After I settled for a fenced deck outside the back door, I moved a family in and found that the areas above the landing between the first and second floors (which was most of the apartment unit) were labeled as "Location out of bounds". The units do contain custom split level staircases.

I have played this lot once as a regular residence, half occupied, and not encountered this problem.

*sigh*

I'm not sure if someone asked this yet but everytime I make apartments and enter the cheat, it works and everything changes and I can move in more than one family but it always says there's "one invalid apartment" does anyone know what the problem could be???

something you guys might want to check is the side the mat is on for the apartment doors. make sure the little black mat is on the outside of the door..it sounds silly but with one of my apartments that was the problem

EA has posted a little apartment building guide in pdf format, it's very simple but tells you exactly what you need to create a working apartment building

Find it here:
http://thesims2.ea.com/getcoolstuff...ng_tutorial.pdf

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...367048.html#new Interesting post about apartment rent and buy mode items by Zazazu. Post #43. I'm sure most of you go there, but for those of you who don't, in a nutshell:
I wasn't sure where exactly to post this, but this seems as good a place as any. I was creating a apartment lot (you can has) and tested different things to see what could affect price:

1. An unit in this building, unhacked and furnished, cost $2,226. They are small 2 bed, 2 bath units with two separate porches each. The common areas include a vending machine and a playground for the kiddies.
2. Magic wand applied, furnished units cost $1,644.
3. Magic wand applied, all furnishings but closet, bath items, and kitchen counters/appliances removed...still $1,644.
4. Magic wand applied, completely unfurnished excepting the closet, price went down to $1,296.

So we can conclude that all furnishings except kitchen and bath items (those that stick on move-in) do not count towards rent price. So decorate those apartments for your NPCs to the hilt if you want, if a playable rents it later they won't pay for it.

I'm going to go ahead and close this as we have building threads all over the place, and I've done up a basic tutorial on the known concepts, linked in a new sticky. I've linked to this thread for previous info that can be incorporated as it's fully verified.

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=299623