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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 6th May 2014 at 1:27 PM
Coney Island Community Lot (BETA)
Hey there! This is my first post in the forums and since I've seen some threads on Works In Progress, I was hoping I could get some feedback on my project too

Basically, a few months ago I stumbled upon some 1900s photos of Coney Island landmaks, mainly this pic of Dreamland and it inspired me to make a big Sims 2 community lot which would have lots of little shops and entertainment and food and of course, the water and tower. The tower building was a great location for a restaurant and a few hotel rooms* but, all in all, I knew that if I was gonna build this on the biggest lot that comes with the game and then fill it with lots and lots of CC, it was never gonna run more than a few minutes on my PC before it crashed

SO I DECIDED TO CHALLENGE MYSELF TO MAKE THIS LOT WITHOUT CC! :D

After about a month of constantly working on this, and I've gotta say, making lots of differently-themed shops really helped me not get sick of it, I can say that I have used and mastered the "moveobjects on" and "snapobjectstogrid false" cheats beyond what I would have thought possible. Because NO CC meant that I couldn't use mods or OMSPs to place objects in interesting places, BUT THAT DID NOT STOP ME, OH GOD AM I RIDICULOUSLY PROUD OF MY JEWELRY STORE DISPLAY!

The lot does have its issues, if not I'd be posting it directly to my downloads, mostly, it's pretty heavy, graphics wise. Additionally, I mentioned it had some hotel rooms. I would have liked them to have been functional within the community lot, not for vacation, but for your sims to have some privacy and play around. I tried making this lot a resort/hotel but I found that there were too few townies spawned because of this and this is a place that thrives with lots of simmies around. And visiting it would have meant using vacation days, and I just wanted my sims to be able to pass the afternoon by the "pier"

I included some screenshots of the lot in the daytime, but I want to focus on the nighttime pics because this lot's built to be better appreciated at night with all the twinkling outdoor lights. If someone's interested in giving me some feedback, I'll add pictures of the details (closeups of the shops and interiors), so let me know because I really want to put this out there! :lovestruc



*More outdoor pics ATTACHED!
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 6th May 2014 at 4:57 PM
I love the idea for this lot! For as awesome as amusement parks are IRL, it seems like there's not many lots designed towards that aesthetic for the Sims... A few things I see that you may or may not want to consider:
-First, it looks like you may have forgotten to put a floor tile/roof on the taller, red-brick building on the left edge of the lot.
-Also on the storefronts along both sides (though more-so on the left), it looks like you've done a good job making the facade of each individual shop look distinct from the ones next door, but the roofline is still kind of flat... What I'd suggest would be either using higher fencing for the edges, or putting stages on the roof over one shop or another, so it sits just a bit higher above its neighbors- adds a bit more visual interest!
-The tower is certainly a good landmark feature for this lot (and I think it would look fun in neighborhood view too!), but it seems quite a bit darker than I would expect the one from your real-world photo to look... I might suggest using lighter brick or masonry for accents, so that they'll seem to be lit up more at night. Also, just using the bricks with corners can add a lot of visual *pop* to a structure (if you have the patience to go through and place wallpaper segments one-by-one! )
Finally, (and this might be more complicated than you'd want to try for at this stage in the creation process, I wouldn't blame you!), it looks like the promenade/bridge/walkway towards the front of the lot is more of an archway IRL... if you've enjoyed mastering cheats like "snapobjectstogrid false," I think you might be able to get a lot of use out of "constrainfloorelevation false" It's certainly one of the harder design cheats to handle though... but there are some great guides on it in the tutorials section! (or you could leave it as-is... it would be quite a project to redo the promenade, and it looks pretty good the way you have it now!)

Overall though, this is a fun lot! I can easily see it fitting in with the rest of a oceanside boardwalk, or even in the middle of a downtown, and being very popular with everyone's little pixel-people! Good job!

Welcome to the Dark Side...
We lied about having cookies.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 6th May 2014 at 9:36 PM
Wow you guys are fast on the feedback, awesome!

I would love it if there were functioning rides in this lot and if I weren't so hell bent on not using CC, I'd be all over that, but I'll look into the party/entertainment section to see if I can make something work, if only just to increase the good-time-vibes for my simmes

Alright, Zarathustra, on the issues you mentioned:

-I didn't actually forget the roof tiles for the 'Goth Memorial Library' building, I'm using the roof that comes with the M&G expansion, and you can't place tiles on top, so the roof has a hollow look to it. [EDIT: USED COLUMS, FIXED THAT!]

-Really good tips on altering the roof-line, because Originally I was going to include more roof styles from the expansions, but apparently you can only use ONE ROOF TEXTURE for the whole lot If anyone knows how to bypass this without mods or CC, let me know!

-Good call on the tower coloring too, I do have the patience to add the individual brick lining, and I'll try with a light shade of blue or green or even pink a la Disney's pink castle I does look nice in the neighborhood view, even if not very detailed, I imagine a pastel colored tower will really pop!

-THE BRIDGE, OH BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. I actually spent most of the first week trying to make it arched. I found some really good tutorials on the subject and I tried them out on other lots until I got the hang of it. BUT DID IT TRANSLATE TO THIS LOT? NO, IT DID NOT. Thing is, while making arches out of shorter bridges is relatively easy, one as long as this one would not cooperate with the constrainfloorelevation cheet. Basically, all the lifting and shaping the terrain ruined the grid level of the rest of the lot, so I couldn't construct nearby it, that is to say, most of the main tower and the parking lot. I even went as far as starting over and constructing the bridge first, but I still couldn't make it work well with the rest of the construction on the lot IF ANYBODY CAN HELP WITH THIS, I WILL BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL! This is one of my main issues. I was not happy with having to settle for a 2-level walkway, but I tried to make the best of it.

I WILL BE ADDING PICTURES IN A BIT!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 7th May 2014 at 1:34 AM
Default New Pics!
Alright, made some minor edits to the shops, mostly changed a bit their rooftops to get more diversity since the roof tool is basically a no-go for this lot.
Have some pictures :D

>NEXT UP: REPAINTING THE TOWER
Mad Poster
#5 Old 7th May 2014 at 2:11 AM
The rooflines definitely have more visual interest this way, and all the stores look good up close too! The only roofing thing I still might change are the dormers above the Library- I think it would help the building's overall "curb appeal" if they were each moved one tile closer to the center... but that's a purely stylistic choice, so I certainly won't tell you what to do there. I love the aesthetic for the Cafe and the Jewelry Store especially though, and these stores in general might be the best use of the neon lighting strips I've ever seen! I do see a few spots that you'll want to be sure to playtest before uploading though, just to be sure Sims aren't going to spend all their time stomping their feet and waving their arms because they can't get to something Foolish Sims... The Travel Agency and the upstairs of places like the gym or the cafe look like they might be a problem for routing though... but it's hard to tell without sending a Sim through the lot. (love the idea of a travel agency though... no mall or boardwalk is complete without storefronts bursting with brochures advertising beautiful, faraway places! ) I still say what I said before, too... this looks like a brilliant boardwalk!

Welcome to the Dark Side...
We lied about having cookies.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 9th May 2014 at 12:19 AM
Default MOVING THE DANCE FLOOR TO THE BOARDWALK & A SHINY RETRO CINEMA...
The tower's still frustrating, but it's getting worked on

In the mean time, I removed the dance studio, moved the party outside (and added a spanking new DJ booth!) and made space for my lovely gaudy ART DECO CINEMA!
It's a tiny two-screen affair (the screens aren't even big, since I'm not using CC) that I like to think as a converted speakeasy/bar

I Spent about 15min choosing the floor/wall combination, so... yeah, mi nights are long.
BUT WHO NEEDS SLEEP? SLEEP IS FOR SIMS WHO DON'T HAVE A BOARDWALK NEARBY!
Link Ninja
#7 Old 2nd Apr 2015 at 11:39 PM
Holy Wow, thank you so much for pointing this out to me on your island terrain download. This looks fan-friggen-tastic! If I could get a link I would totally beta test this for you, it may take a week or so and hopefully my computer can handle it but I'd love to try it out and give you some feedback

Some things I am curious about off the bat:
-Is the Daycare for children or toddlers or both? In a vanilla game you wouldn't be able to bring toddlers to lots. Or is this lot with no CC meant to be usable by those who have that mod?
-I see a toy store and a bakery/pie shop - is this community lot meant for someone to buy and then use all the stores to make revenue at once? Otherwise if it is an unowned community lot, how would sims be able to buy toys and cakes?

BTW, responding to this isn't threadcromancy is it? It says it's been 10 months, but seeing as how it's still being tested and not available for download yet and the OP is still active and gave me a link to it TODAY, I wouldn't want it to be forgotten just because no one has responded to it for quite awhile.

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 3rd Apr 2015 at 4:05 AM
HOLY WOW, BATMAN, THIS IS THREADCROMANCY
Gotta say, I've been simming on and off this year cause I started studying and it's very time consuming, so since this thread had winded down I put it on the back burner.
I've been simming for yeaaaaars, but I'm a total forum n00b, so I kinda wanted some feedback before posting a file to beta, and Zarathustra has been wonderful and I've since made some of the improvements they mentioned, but yeah... when you mentioned boardwalks in your comment on my terrain my brain went OH, YEAH, THAT LOT! IT CAN STILL HAPPEN, MAYBE!

Apparently, I like to get myself into these huge lot affairs and then they sit there cause Now What? As witnessed again, HERE

So, yeah, thanks

Alright, about your questions: Although it's a no-cc deal, I do still play with gaming-related mods. I want it to be a challenge, not suicide But mostly, the reasoning with a lot of the mini stores I made was "Yes, this looks nice and I can make it without CC", so I didn't take in the functionality of it all, mostly just the aesthetic. That's why I needed betas, cause I spend too much time building and I forget IT HAS TO WORK, THOUGH So, the toy store looked nice and the bakery and daycare were mostly fillers, but everything's furnished, so it might work someway? I'll review it a bit tomorrow cause I haven't opened it for a while and attach a file
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 4th Apr 2015 at 2:00 AM
Default Download Lot Here
Here is the file for download, to everyone who would like to beta
It's still set to residential mode, but I'd like you guys to try it either as a community lot and a vacation lot to see how the townies behave here

Also, some pics of the interiors and the I gave the tower a more cheerful paint job!

Keep me posted and have fun!
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: rar  Stellmaria - The Coney [BETA].rar (2.43 MB, 20 downloads) - View custom content
Link Ninja
#10 Old 6th Apr 2015 at 1:48 AM Last edited by Charmful : 6th Apr 2015 at 2:41 AM.
okie dokie I will give it a go!

*Edit

I installed it and got to be able to go in at build mode and it was just jaw-droppingly stunning and detailed. It's gorgeous as all hell from the library, to the theater, to the stunning multi-story hotel - just gorgeous.

I did have note on the gym though, I didn't see any place for a quick rinse off which would be helpful if they were going to get sweaty working out. Maybe a one-stall shower or something but not sure how you would fit that in,.

Okay now for my issue - I tried taking four college students to spend some time and explore, as soon as they hit the lot their want scroll noises got looped, everything on the east side of the boardwalk turned white and the game crashed.

I loaded a second time and tried taking one sim over there to check it out, figuring it would be less hard on the lot but lo and behold after a few seconds from getting out of the taxi the game crashed. My computer isn't faint of heart - it has 931 GB of hard disk space, over half still free and my graphics card is beyond what sims 2 could have imagined running with at the last EP release, but I fear your lot just may have too much going on to be able to be sim-playable

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 8th Apr 2015 at 2:15 AM
How did I miss this post? Love the idea and the lot pictures look great.

I don't think it has any more then one of Zarathustra's lots. I'll try it out later in my AGS, I already have my other game running.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
Original Poster
#12 Old 26th Apr 2015 at 1:14 AM
Yeah, thought as much.

This is basically what happened to me, only everything went blue instead of white

The whole reason I made this with absolutely no CC was because I knew there'd be a lot going on. And by the sounds if it it's not just computer-power you need to play this.
Could it be that in making so many little stores with their respective cash registers in addition to the restaurant staff makes the game overload while trying to generate too many NPCs? Because I know there are a lot of objects (the toy store display is a testament to that), but I'm pretty sure my favorite interior-decorating simmers pack waaaaaay more into their artful houses than what I have here. So as soon as I have a moment, I'm gonna duplicate the lot and remove as many NPC-creating objects as I can, see if that helps. Now that I think about it, you mentioned that having one sim visit made the trial last a bit longer, so I'll definitely go this route!

Thanks for keeping up with this and joandsarah77, welcome to this mad lot! :D
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