Problem:
I've built a very nice building which I want to turn into a University but I don't know how! I would consult the handbook except I installed a version my friend lent me as I wouldn't need the disk and she's moved to America! Can anyone help?

You don't have to cheat to make a new University. And by University I mean the whole University campus sub-neighborhood attached to the main neighborhood. To create a new campus there's a button at the top of the Neighborhood view for University, you can either go to an existing campus, make a new campus, or delete an old campus - what you want to do is create on. Then you can choose the map layout and terrain you want to use and from there you can start building up your whole campus. If you already have buildings you've built and just want to move them into the campus, just put them in the lots & houses bin (being sure there's no people in them) and you can pick it up and place it where ever you want in the campus.

I thought you had to change the lot zoning in order to make a dorm...?

.......Uh.....

A university is not a lot. It's kind of like making a new neighborhood. But you attach it to an existing one. (I'm trying my best not to be too confusing, or condescending)

For an example, let's use Pleasantview.

Load Pleasantview, and go up to the top where it says Pleasantview. Now click on the button that has a plus on it on top of a symbol. (I don't recall ecactly what this symbol is, I'm thinking it's a graduation cap, but I'm not sure) What the symbol is won't matter if University is your only expansion pack.

Now, you can choose an existing college. (Generally Sim State University is chosen for Pleasantview, but it's your game, do whatever you want)

Or you can choose a bare terrain to build with. THAT is a college.

Unless you mean you built a dorm, in which case the only way to make it a dorm is to cheat. (changeLotZoning Dorm) is the cheat IIRC....

Well, a dorm isn't a university.

But she said she built a building and wanted to turn it into a University? I'm a little confused now...I thought buildings were considered dorms in University neighborhoods..



Yeah that's what I was saying. I'm pretty sure she meant to say dorm and not university.

A dorm is a specific kind of building in a University neighborhood; a special kind of residence. You can also have normal residences in a University subhood, and of course community lots.

Miss Lizzy, being new here, is not surprisingly having a little trouble phrasing her question. I trust there's enough information in these responses to allow her to restate it so we don't make fools of ourselves guessing.

I am no fool. *Puts on clown shoes*

No what I keen is how can a normal lot be a university? I've built this building but it's a community lot and I'get got no idea how you get teachers and that lunch bar and that stuff!

A normal lot cannot be a university because a university is not a lot. It is a subneighbourhood (well, campus) with lots in in. Once you have your university campus, you can plonk your lot in in and make it a dorm, a community lot, a residential lot, a greek house, possibly even a secret society.

From the words 'lunch bar', I'm assuming you want to make a dorm. In which case you need to go to an existing university, place your lot and then use the cheat 'changelotzonging' to turn it into a dorm. But it will not be a university. It will be a dorm on a university campus. Hope that helps!

Yeah I'm pretty sure that's what she meant. I can't think of anything else.
To the OP make sure you use the right stove so it will generate a cook for the dorm. I've made that mistake before lol

*Head-Desk*

...That's not even possible in the game, I'm sorry to say.

There are no teachers. (Well at least not the way you mean)

You see college students leave the lot when they go to class. They can only live in dorms. However if you cheat to make a dorm, you will get lunch ladies.

while you're on your community lot:
type ctrl/shift/c
type changelotzoning dorm
save
go into the neighborhood
it should now be a dormitory

It will only work right in a university sub-neighborhood

You need to have the cafeteria stove and island counters for the cook to put food on or you won't have a cafeteria.
You also need to use the "myne doors" doors for the dorm rooms or the students can't move in

Isn't there an issue with changing a community lot to a dorm? Something in the back of my mind is saying the lot needs to be residential before you change it. Maybe for the mailbox?

When I've built dorms for my University, I built them as a residential lot, then changed the zoning to a community lot (check that everything is order) and then I change the zoning to a dorm. This may be the long way but it works for me, especially since sometimes I may want to make changes to structure, walls, etc, that cannot be done once the lot is changed to a dorm. I also package the lot to file as community lot just in case I want to use it later in my main hood.

Yes, if you do it that way you should still have the mailbox which is what I'm thinking of.

So there are NO university lots just residential and that I've built this university for nothing! AAAAGGGGRRRRHHHH! CONFUSED!!!!

What is in this building you made? A University by definition is a subhood; your building may well serve a purpose in a University subhood, but you still haven't explained yourself well enough for us understand you well enough to clear up your confusion.

I suggest that before you go building anything you load and play around with existing game items of that type. Attach Sim State, La Fiesta Tech, or Academie La Tour to one of the neighborhoods - since you'll be experimenting, I recommend that it be one you don't currently play in - and explore the campus, walking some of the existing pre-mades through a few days of University life. Then you'll have a better grasp of what Universities do (and do not) do in the game and that will give you a firm starting place.

It is possible that you want to do something that isn't normally possible, but for which there is an existing mod or hack; but before you use the mod or hack, you need to understand what's normally possible and how that differs from what you want to do.

If you try to run before you can walk you're going to fall and poke your eye out. It's just the nature of things.

You can buy a used copy of the Prima Guide here: http://www.amazon.com/Sims-Universi...21316644&sr=1-1

I suggest you either do that, or buy your own copy of UNI and read the guide with that.

There is no single university lot. A university is a collection of lots.
Some may be residential. Some may not. You can tun your lot into a dorm, or a Greek house, or a community lot. But not a university lot.

As other people have suggested, go and actually play a university for a while and work out how the various lots work. It'll then be much easier to build whatever it is you want to build.

There are a couple 'college campus' lots in the downloads here. Basically, they're very large lots made for use in a university sub-neighborhood and either resemble a campus with multiple buildings or they are a single 'university-looking building.

For your lot - If the students are to sleep on the lot, you will want to make it a dorm lot. As others have said, this will need to be placed in a University sub-neighborhood. Post 13 covers the cheat to make a dorm lot and what items you will need in order to have a cafeteria and townie students. Teachers, as well as cheerleaders and mascots, visit dorm lots. If the students aren't to sleep on the lots, they are community lots and work the same as any other community lot.

Last edited by esmesqualor : 15th Nov 2011 at 01:29 PM. Reason: clarity (at least I hope I made it clearer)

There is indeed; well, it would require several actually. For any who might be interested:

A semi-tutorial from Lakeside Heights
I'm certain I've seen at least one other example of this (more recent than Isle of Thyme, and not Pine Hollow/Arcadia, either), but I can't for the life of me remember where.

Necessary mod:
Lion's Uni gold record from MATY
Useful mods:
Squinge's Mega College Pack
TwoJeffs's College Adjuster, Sim Blender

To the OP:
Peni is right, and you should thoroughly acquaint yourself with the workings of University before trying to do anything special with it. If you do eventually decide to try integrate a university campus, you may want to try it out in a test hood first, as well (you know, create a whole new neighborhood and some random Sims for it that you wouldn't care about being messed up). And of course, always back up your game.

For what it's worth, it's not like all your efforts on the lot you built have to go to waste... you could turn it into a community lot (maybe get rid of or change the dorm parts first) for your university subhood, or keep it in the normal hood (still as a community lot-- the important thing is to add a pay phone) for other Sims to visit. Your Young Adult Sims actually enrolled in uni could still visit it. If you installed a mod to allow for skill building on all community lots (comm-skilling, for whatever your latest EP is, from MATY; if you aren't familiar with CC at all, MTS has a very good tutorial), it can even be functional for all visiting Sims. Hey, leave the dorm bits and install a sleep on community lot mod. There are even a couple ("Shiny Tyme NPC Everywhere Patch") of mods that can enable the dorm cook on non-dorm lots.

See? Lots of options. (But the safest and easiest is playing it how the game was designed to play it!)

It's just a building! Anyway the lunch bar thing doesn't look anything like the pictures in the guide!

I'm sorry, but if you want help, you need to explain yourself better than that. None of us can see what you're looking at and nobody here knows what you've put into the building or what you expected of it. Use the names in the pop-up descriptions from Buy Mode to tell us what you've put into it and for heaven's sake, tell us specifically what you wanted it to do. "To be a University" doesn't tell us anything. Even IRL, universities consist of more than one building.

I think I'd give it up Peni.