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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 2nd May 2016 at 2:05 AM Last edited by cheezypuff121P : 2nd May 2016 at 4:32 AM. Reason: to add that the aquarium was cc-free in the title
Default Feedback on my CC-free aquarium?
I've never tried to publicly share my creations on a forum before, so I was wondering if I could get some feedback from you lovely people on a CC-free aquarium I started working on yesterday. Building isn't my greatest strength, so I want to make sure that it's something that can appeal to many simmers before I attempt to upload it here.



This is my WIP, currently named "Belladonna Public Aquarium" after the neighborhood I'm testing it in. The current lot value is $305,710, and it is zoned as a community lot. The goal is/was to design an aquarium that players could download and dump in whatever aquarium CC they wish to add to their neighborhood/lots without needing to build from the bottom up, so I tried to make the lot a semi-blank slate while still drawing upon its two biggest inspirations: chickadeelee's "Little Hollywick Aquarium" and the Alaska SeaLife Center (thank you google).

The floorplan and details as to which rooms are on each floor are beneath the cut.


This imgur album has additional pictures of the lot -- http://imgur.com/a/1PFbv.

What I'm primarily looking for is suggestions on what to do with a bit of the space that seems repetitive. For example, after breaking down the current layout of the building in the spoiler tag above, I noticed that I could probably expand the gift store and move the public library up to the third floor...but I really do like that tiny little library. Or maybe I could turn it into a "cafe" of sorts? But then it would be in direct competition with the restaurant across the way, which might not have the best effect as an owned business. Setting up the executive office for the lead scientists was difficult, too. I probably could have worked the space on the third floor more constructively, but I'm out of ideas currently.

I am currently playtesting the lot. If anyone else is open to playtesting it and checking to make sure no nasties are included in the .sims2pack (I already checked it with CleanInstaller, but I am a n00b), then I can attach the current WIP I'm working on. Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you!

Lurking since 10/2/07 ~ Call me Cheezy. ;)
Tumblr: http://mmmcheezy.tumblr.com/
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Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#2 Old 2nd May 2016 at 5:40 AM
I commented earlier and our internet went down hard.

If I can remember what I said...

Remove the fence on the grass near the footpath/sidewalk.

I would use some more colour, the front is very drab except for the yellow doors which kind of hits you in the eye. I would have some more yellow and possibly blue. It's a place of entertainment and learning, schools would be coming for field trips.

I would add more large 'tank' areas. walls with glass so people can place sea life.

A touch pool. I added one to the lot I am tweaking. Stage tool, low fence for things like coral and small turtles. Sims can't touch them so it's only for looks.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#3 Old 2nd May 2016 at 10:27 AM
Also make sure you only test a copy of the lot, not the version you want to upload. You seem to be building it in an existing hood. If you can't use AGS, it's better to build in an empty hood.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Mad Poster
#4 Old 2nd May 2016 at 3:43 PM
The koi pond career reward. You can download buyable career ponds by Sophie David here at MTS, and they appear normally whether the downloader has them in buyable form or not, and don't count as CC.

You don't, at the moment, have a place to put them, but unless someone happens to have a mod the parking lot is waste space anyway - you could easily use half of it to create some outdoor space with fountains and koi ponds. I don't think I've ever been to an aquarium that didn't have fountains - which can also be placed indoors. Would placing the big round fountain, or a fishpond, with lawn flamingos and water weeds in it be too tacky? Don't overlook the joys of move_objects! With SnapObjectsToGrid False you may be surprised at the effects you can achieve. Hm, I wonder if you can make a plausible waterfall with the Florid Font?

Another thing you can do without custom content is color-theme the spaces for a more underwater feel. I can see you did some of that with the wavy blue panels and mermaid-theme wallpaper, but the green and blue textured poured floorings could also be used to good effect. Consider using different shades of blue and green stucco instead of gray brick on the exterior.

Another thing aquariums like to do is emphasize vertical space - since underwater denizens move in three dimensions instead of the two us landbeasts are generally limited to - and though it may not be practical to do anything as extreme as the underwater tunnels of, say, the Atlanta Aquarium, or floors that slope from one story to the next, it should be possible to do a little of that by opening up the floors a bit more. Is it practical to have a two-story atrium and a mezzanine at the entrance, instead of a full second story? That's fairly easy to do and can be an attractive effect in itself, especially since you seem to be using all EPs and SPs, which means you'll have ceilings to play with. Definitely experiment with using the textured poured floorings as ceilings! I bet you could do something clever with mirror walls and/or the half-walls with wavy glass on top in some of the spaces, too.

In addition to fish, aquaria deal in aquatic mammals and birds. It would take CC to get gulls or pelicans into birdcages, but go through the deco category carefully - perhaps there's some stuff you hadn't considered because it wasn't specifically fish-themed, that could be used to suggest this broad ecological coverage. If nothing else, there's a small plesiosaur statue.

This is a bit vague because it's just me brainstorming without the game open. If you take one or two of these ideas as a starting point you'll probably see much Better Ideas starting to leap out at you as work.

And if you package each phase at the end of each session, you can always do reckless experimentation that involves tearing half the place down, change your mind, and revert.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 2nd May 2016 at 4:36 PM Last edited by cheezypuff121P : 2nd May 2016 at 7:48 PM.
Thank you all for the constructive criticism.

joandsarah77: There's actually four vertical tanks as you described in the building -- not sure if you noticed those and thought there should be more anyway, but I can indeed add more if that is the case. In fact, I'll probably add more anyway since there is quite a bit of space I can work with. A touch pool is a good idea -- I forgot to add that one. I'll try using the stage or something similar.
Edit: I ended up adding more tanks, so thank you for your suggestion!

maxon -- I was testing a copy, but I was doing it in a populated neighborhood. Should I start over then? Is there any way to save the existing project? Thank you for letting me know. Told ya I was a n00b. :P

PeniGriffin -- Thank you for all of the feedback!! I really appreciate the color suggestions. The parking lots are a bit of a waste...I was hoping they would look "classy" like the one at the Little Hollywick Aquarium did, but I should just uproot it since it's not giving that effect. Umm...aquatic tunnels and a "mezzanine" you say? That sounds right out of my very limited wheelhouse, lol! But I will try it. Thank you again.

I walked in here thinking that my building was pretty rad, but now I've been sufficiently talked down. Now that I have everyone's suggestions, I'm sure it'll turn out 1000x better! I have a little bit of time before class, so I'll make some minor changes and update if I can.

Lurking since 10/2/07 ~ Call me Cheezy. ;)
Tumblr: http://mmmcheezy.tumblr.com/
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#6 Old 2nd May 2016 at 7:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by cheezypuff121P
maxon -- I was testing a copy, but I was doing it in a populated neighborhood. Should I start over then? Is there any way to save the existing project? Thank you for letting me know. Told ya I was a n00b. :P

I think you can clean it if necessary - don't play the version you intend to upload though. As far as cleaning the lot is concerned, @Jawusa is the one to give you all the details on that. Hopefully she'll pop by.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#7 Old 2nd May 2016 at 7:35 PM Last edited by cheezypuff121P : 2nd May 2016 at 7:56 PM. Reason: needed to fix a picture
Copy that, maxon. Thank you! I'll continue playtesting clones. As for the populated neighborhood dilemma, maybe I can delete sim references and that'll fix it up? I can probably find some information on it later when I have time to search the forum. I started working on the lot in an empty neighborhood just in case.

I have tried to implement everyone's suggestions, and hopefully it will reflect in the updates I have made (the aquatic birdies will be added in another update hopefully, since the mezzanine/atrium took up more time than I expected). I'm still trying to think of how I want to implement waterfalls. This is a very rough draft, but hopefully it'll still give a good picture of what is happening in the building.

Changes are under the spoiler tag.


Additional pictures are here: http://imgur.com/a/Gp4cX

Once again, thank you so much for your feedback. There's a lot of work to be done, but I do feel like this aquarium is starting to surpass all of my initial plans for it, and it's subsequently starting to look a lot more "official". Building isn't really my strength, so I appreciate everyone's patience.

Lurking since 10/2/07 ~ Call me Cheezy. ;)
Tumblr: http://mmmcheezy.tumblr.com/
Trainee Moderator
staff: trainee moderator
#8 Old 2nd May 2016 at 9:04 PM
If you want to make sure that your lot really is clean, then open your lot package in SimPE and delete these things
- Sim Information
- Sim Relationships (SREL)
- SimDNA
- Sim Wants and Fears
- Sim Scores
- Family Tree

(SimDNA, Wants and Fears and Family Tree may not be present in your case, though).
After deleting these things, load the lot one more time and make one structural change. (Rotating a tree should be enough).
Save the lot and you're good to go!

It's a really nice lot, by the way!

Catalogue of Custom Neighborhoods for TS2
All Hood Building Group neighborhoods are available here
Want to get rid of EA's sims in neighborhoods? Check out my Clean and Empty Steatlh Hoods and Clean and Empty Neighborhood Templates
My Simblr
Mad Poster
#9 Old 2nd May 2016 at 9:58 PM
A mezzanine is just a balcony indoors - an open floor that doesn't extend across the entire building, leaving a portion of the floor beneath two (or more) stories high. You almost have to have one in order to use the Maxis two-story windows, or for the potted palms or that huge circular fountain (with the high jets) to look good inside. Your skills are perfectly well up to it - just don't fill in the entire floor, and place some strategic columns or load-bearing walls on the floor beneath to make it look as though the mezzanine is structurally supported rather than floating in the air; and of course some half-walls or fences on the edges so nobody falls off. I'm sure you can think of lots of public buildings that you've seen this done in.

Aquatic tunnels, on the other hand, would probably be a bear to do, and not very rewarding in the medium, either, given that you can't see an upper floor from a lower floor in the game. I suppose some CFE expert might be able to manage it.

The point is that aquaria generally have a lot of visual flow between vertical spaces (think of all the tanks where you can see the animals underwater at one level, and at the surface on another) and indoor/outdoor spaces. You've got some of that with all the glass; but you could ramp it up more.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#10 Old 2nd May 2016 at 10:49 PM
That looks good. Not sure just which part I am seeing in the last couple of photos, up close somewhere I guess. I'm not sure why you took away all the nice glass at the front? I do think it's a nice building with a lot of potential though.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#11 Old 3rd May 2016 at 6:07 AM
@Jawusa -- Thank you! I'll be sure to do that. I'm glad to hear that the project isn't broken beyond repair. Now I'll just have to keep it that way.

@Peni Griffin -- Ah, okay. That makes sense. I've done plenty of those before, I just didn't know it had such a lovely name! You learn something new everyday.

@joandsarah77 -- The last two photos are of the entrance ceiling -- basically, the second floor in the entrance is see-through to give the illusion of looking up at the fish (not sure if the layout conveys that properly or not). It doesn't look too terribly impressive without CC (and I'm wondering if it would look impressive even with CC), so I'm considering not keeping it. I added the multi-level aquarium because I mistakenly thought that's what Peni Griffin was suggesting, and I had to get rid of the glass roof to make that happen. Honestly, I do like these current changes better, even though I do indeed miss my glass roof as well. Hopefully my adjustments to the exterior made the absence of the roof more palatable!

Changes below the cut.


A bit of scenery:


Thanks to everyone again for your input. As a long-time lurker, I truly do appreciate you guys and your suggestions on how to make things better.

Lurking since 10/2/07 ~ Call me Cheezy. ;)
Tumblr: http://mmmcheezy.tumblr.com/
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#12 Old 3rd May 2016 at 7:42 AM
Those pictures are a lot better, now I get what I am seeing. I like it even without cc, people can place their own. One way of doing a cc sea life tank is use CC, take pictures then give a link and say this is what it will look like with this set in. I actually prefer links to cc rather than it coming with the lot. It keeps my download folder better organized.Also if you place the cc, but remove it in CI you can tell people to install the cc first and it should show up in the lot even though you unticked it in CI. I like cc free lots and this way people can have both. It also means those who don't want cc don't end up with a lot full of lady in grey statues that they have to delete.

For the pond I would use slightly less flamingos and add some rocks around the edge.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 3rd May 2016 at 3:03 PM
Thank you Jo, I'll try your suggestions. I'll save it for last so I can make sure everything is perfect (or at least, as perfect as I can make it) so that the CC-free and the CC versions of the building are virtually identical. I was thinking about trying to find the extracted treasure chest from the game so I can include it in the lot as well.

edit: Question -- a lot of the stuff that I used was from windkeeper's aquarium set that was linked to in your thread...MTS frowns upon booty links in uploads, yes? No? Is it okay for me to do that?

Lurking since 10/2/07 ~ Call me Cheezy. ;)
Tumblr: http://mmmcheezy.tumblr.com/
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#14 Old 3rd May 2016 at 11:28 PM
You can't upload Windkeepers items from any place because her TOU disallows it. I was told to remove plastic hedge from a lot once by a mod here because it was Windkeepers, so a link to the TSR download would be needed. Most people know it's on the Booty.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 4th May 2016 at 12:52 AM
Oh right, I just meant linking/referencing to the content in the download for others to download themselves -- not including it in the uploaded lot itself. I can just link to the set on TSR and make it simpler.

Lurking since 10/2/07 ~ Call me Cheezy. ;)
Tumblr: http://mmmcheezy.tumblr.com/
Constant Contestant
retired moderator
#16 Old 5th May 2016 at 4:25 PM
Just link to direct to her TSR upload.

It's looking great and I'm looking forward to seeing it offered for upload

Want a specific style of house or community building? Why not take a look at my profile and see what I build and then come ask me to make it!
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