I'm trying to build this house. Cake, right? I thought so...but that roof is giving me fits! It looks to me like a simple shed gable plus long gable, blended, but when I line the angles up I keep getting "can't support the weight" errors. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I had this same problem while recently building a home. I was able to get around it by turning moveobjects on

Unless you've already tried doing that, then I don't know what could help you.

I have tried that with no success. Thanks, though.

you need the "half" gable, with a regular gable on the second floor. if you dont get this, i cant help you, since i am clueless if that doesnt work.

What kind of stairs do you have? If just reg maxis straight stairs, I dunno why it won't work; BUT BUT BUT!!! *IF* you did all the boolprop fiddly bits to get the angled stairs, it won't work because the "real" tops of the walls don't line up as far as the roof is concearned (sp?). Therefore, no support for the roof. You might be able to fix it by adding in a "false" floor level and then placing the roof on that

Heureka, I often wondered about my difficulties with roofs the last weeks. Now I know why. . .

I thought it might have been the angled stairs, so I started over (bulldozed and rebuilt, lest there be residual elevation issues to interfere) and used straight stairs...and it STILL didn't work. Is there a span limit? And if so, WHY???

If the stairway were a problem you'd get a different error (depending on whether you had insufficient clearance or were intersecting the stairway object).

You use 2 points to define a roof, start and end. Both need to be on the same level. Not just the same "floor" of the house, but also the same physical height above the sidewalk (I think in terms of the sidewalk being the reference level).

I've only gotten the can't support weight error for one of those 2 reasons.

I'd try to do the roof first and then build the 2nd floor inside - perhaps that would work.
Roofs are somewhat difficult (imo). Sometimes - after a long while trying - they suddenly do what I want. And I don't know why or why not before. . .

you have to do the roofing first, then place the stairs. if the stairs can't be placed, use moveobjects on

Do you mean something like this?

Yeah, unfortunately...the bay window is the problem. As your house illustrates, it has to be roofed separately, which, for me spoils the whole look of the house. Ah, well...maybe some future expansion will give us realistic roofs.

@ croiduire - when I want something roofed, I first build walls the roof needs. Then I delete the walls - the roof stays. You can do this by using columns / pillars too and then delete them. It works.

Be careful to not change the level height on the anchoring corner of the roof (the first corner selected). If you change that level height (rendered or not) your roof level will change.

Place columns, on foundation if necessary, then place the roof.

When the roof is in place, use 'moveobjects on' to delete the columns.