House 005 Chapter 5 < | > House 006 Chapter 1

I’m just going to go ahead and post the pictures all in a row.

The first “house” shown is the Sherwood’s (Lacee and family)

Front Entrance

Living room

Living Room

Kitchen

Dining Room

Upstairs hall

Kid’s room

Kid’s room

Teen room

Teen room

Master bedroom

Master bath

Ignore the puddles.. lol.. upstairs full bathroom

Next House is Kayla’s house.

Front Entrance

living room

living room

kitchen

dining room

downstairs bathroom

kid’s room

kid’s room

teen room

teen room

master bedroom

master bathroom

upstairs hallway

upstairs bathroom (again, don’t mind the puddles)

studio floor 1 (painting)

painting studio towards the door

photography studio

photography studio

And, last but not least, the house is uploaded under #thrallsdrifter and #drifterchallenge. I uploaded two versions.. this one with the photographs (which makes it flagged for CC), and one without so it’s not flagged CC.

House 005 Chapter 5 < | > House 006 Chapter 1

Today, I have every intention of getting the first wave of lots uploaded.

As mentioned in an earlier post, this will include the updated Library, Gym, School, City Hall, Community Pool, and Main Street shopping.

Updated Sunset Valley Library, includes Vault of Antiquity.

Updated Sunset Valley Gym – full-service gym – many more pictures to come!

School Playground 1

The updated school playground from the front

The updated city hall

Community Pool, updated and beautiful!

ballooning area on main street (although during debugging, it changed looks ever so slightly..

Fruit Stand added on main street, another great addition. in the update

If all goes well, you may very well see the second Wave posted today, or tomorrow, as well – which will include an updated Art Gallery, Science Complex, Two updated fishing holes, a new exclusively beach fun lot (non showtime) and the Community Church (for weddings, parties, and meetings.)

Weddings, parties, meetings.. it’s the place to be!

Wave three (based mostly on ambitions and premium content) will then include a Laundromat, Fire Station, Junkyard (Recycling Center), Nectary (Garden Center), Salon, tattoo and spa center, as well as a really cool mini-shopping mall with multiple stores for one stop shopping. (It will include a Pawn Shop (consignment), Toy store, Book store with coffee shoppe/cafe, a robot / electronics shoppe (with future portal), an elixir and alchemy shoppe, a Pet store, a comic book store with some arcade games, and a village wine tasting nectary cellar. The build is a new idea I had in the last couple days, and is coming along very nicely. Should be a lot that can be easily added into most worlds.)

In case you’re curious, the next “waves” are planned as well. Four is based on the Late Night pack, and includes the Film Studio, Diner with Local Watering Hole (50’s style with live band, bar, and rollarena), A Tiki-themed beach bar/casino for the gambling types, a Sports bar by the stadium with live music and plenty of pool tables, a SkyDiving center/ extreme sports entertainment area, and last but not least, a nice poolside dance club.

Hogan’s Bar and Diner

Wave five is based on the pets expansion pack, and includes the equestrian center, a show grounds (as well as possibly some other horsey related lots like a racetrack, dressage arena, and cross-country course), the dog and cat park, and three more fishing hole upgrades.

Wave six is based on Showtime, and includes and upgrade to Old pier beach, adding more activities for folks, and a showtime stage. I’m also building “coffeeshop” venue (read more cafe than coffee – using the open for business stuff, with a showtime stage. There will also be a live show venue with karaoke and bull riding and bars to get up your nerve. Then, I have a Fusion lounge with a private showtime stage mixed with a lovely sushi restaurant and Chinese garden for ambiance. Lastly, but definitely not least, the “Alto Concert Hall” big stage venue.

Wave seven is based on the Supernatural pack and includes a fabulous Supernatural Hangout venue with a dart tournament section, all themed as a “small” cabin on a hill (but is much larger under the hill, like a wolf den.) Was definitely one of my more ambitiously difficult builds, but has performed fabulously in testing, and it looks really nice! I also have a Gypsy Caravan/ Fortune teller zone with miscellaneously magical stuff and a broom practicing course. Another ambitious remodel, taking the store Gothic Library and turning it into a Vampire Lounge with secret coven/clan hall, bars, elixir shoppe, dance area, spooky graves, a live music stage, and even a private show stage for the Gothic set. Last but not least, I’ve built a fairy garden/Arboretum park for the fairies to play at as well.

Wolff’s Den Supernatural Hangout

Wave eight is one of the smaller waves in some ways, based on a combination of University and Island Paradise. I’ll be building a “Smugglers Hideout” rebel hideout building with a distinctly pirate theme on the beach (near where I’m hoping to add a “Smugglers Rest” shipwreck/dive site if all goes will in the next wave). I’ve also got a boardwalk/pier arcade and game “fair” – hoping to include the new rollercoasters coming out in December, and it will also have a nice bowling alley, as well. The other main thing I’ll be doing this wave, is creating various port facilities around the beaches for houseboats. After I’m satisfied with those, I will be building two commercial boats – one a disco club, the other an exclusive lounge / cruise ship.

Wave Nine is devoted to Island Paradise- hopefully including the four dive spots, as well as a “sunset valley scuba school” lot with a nice water sports shoppe, and that sort of stuff. I also have two resorts to add – one based on a fishing hole/cabin and tent backwoods type thing, the other a lovely beach eco resort for the well to do sims. Finally, I’ll also be adding a “sunset valley marina” lot more for looks than anything else, but I’m also hoping I can set it up for boat sales as well.. we’ll see.

The final wave, ten, will be basically a clean-up wave. building some empty houseboats, trying to set up the “hidden islands” features, and adding some more pet-friendly homes, including a few horse farms. Also, will be trying to make sure all homes have a crib and pet bowls to care for any additions.

Comments welcome! … <whew> now that I have all that written down, time to go get to work!

Thrall

Ok, so I ran into some major issues with two of the lots, the main one being the City Hall – who would have thought a simple podium addition would cause so many problems! I spend three hours building, saving, testing, reloading, rebuilding, saving again, retesting.. rinse repeat.  .. UGH. Truly no fun. I’m trying to keep the protesters off the lawn, but still allow collectors to get to the spawn points that are built on the lawn.. so far, it’s not working – but I think my newest idea might work. Out of frustration, I did some planning and brain-storming for a couple hours, and I have a pretty good plan for getting Sunset Valley made-over and uploaded. Split it down into 9, maybe 10 waves, adding all expansion pack features, and most premium (store) content features. Island Paradise adding water and partial water lots definitely threw a bit of a monkey wrench into my existing plans, but it definitely opened up some more options and abilities. Beyond all that, things went pretty well, and I’m heading back in-game in a moment to get back to work on fixing those lots. I just have to keep myself from working on the new ideas before getting the first wave finished and uploaded – or I’m going to end up back in the same old cycle of building, building, building, and never uploading a finished product.

As a “teaser” for the next wave, here’s what I’m working on after this: The Art Gallery (adding the ability for townies and playable characters to “donate” stuff, so it will look more like a gallery!! – of course, that means testing it, which should be interesting.. lol!); The Science Building (adding university science objects for the poor Sims who can’t afford the big ticket items!); Two of the fishing holes (very minor updates – Summer Hill gets the Lucky Palms wishing well, Crystal Springs gets the Fountain of Youth from Hidden Springs – the challenge was making it look like they belonged there…); Sunset Valley Community Church (a build done completely by me, set as a small park, works as a meeting/party/wedding venue… really, very pretty, and has been awesome in all the games I’ve used it in – had a few grooms abducted by aliens in the backyard, but really.. it should be safe.. *wink* .. I think.. haha!); and adding a community beach (my own build, will have instructions on where to place the lot, etc – used to replace the beach I sort of shang-hai’ed for my “Park” performance venue – figure having a non-showtime beach might be useful!). After that, I’ll be adding all the Ambitions lots – which are mostly custom builds by me designed to fit with Sunset Valley (suburban) theme.

Today, I’m getting started on uploading my Sunset Valley builds – which is the main thing I promised myself to get done before getting back to my challenges. I keep puttering around with them, improving, testing, building more, etc.. and procrastinating on actually uploading them. So, it’s way past time to get to work on it. My goal today is five uploads. More would be great, but I’m not stopping until I have at least five ready to go – and preferably the seven listed below. *determined face* .. lol. I’m going to start with some of my base game lot updates (the lots that are in the town center, mostly) – which are pretty much done anyway. I’ll do a listing below of the lots I have slated for this first wave of published lots with descriptions of some of the features I added or changed. (I will update with the exchange links and full descriptions when I have them completed)

• The library – “Papyrus Memorial Library”-  updated with more chess sets and computers, added the vault of antiquity (supernatural), a LLAMA “phone booth” (also supernatural), and an upgrade to the kid’s playroom. (includes items from the store learning center) Completed and uploaded! http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=7826498 
• The Gym – “28 Hour Wellness Gym” – this is a major update. I kept the architecture as close to the original as I could, but there are some major changes. The pool is intact, but has diving boards and a better decor to the pool area (mostly from seasons). I added an indoor basketball court (store content), indoor soccer arena (seasons), and a rock climbing room (store content). There’s also a cafe by the pool area (university item), and some updates to the locker rooms/bathrooms – partially to make room for a “babysitting” room (updates use island paradise, kids room uses store content). Upstairs, I have three small Martial Arts (world adventures) practice rooms, a weights and treadmill area, a workout “classroom”, as well as a ballet (store content) and “yoga” classroom. Lastly, there’s a small juice deck off the weights room. It’s been extensively tested, and seems to work really well, but I’m putting it through it’s paces one last time before upload. Completed and uploaded! http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=7826863    
• 
• The school – mostly, this is upgrading the playground. I’ve added stuff from Generations, Seasons, and the basketball hoop (store content). Also added some more bike racks, and a “phone booth” (LLAMA from supernatural). Status as of 7/8/13 – Built, tested, and retested, pics taken, ready for final upload and image work.
• The Community Pool – “Le Petit Shark Pool Center” (the other pool is updated into a club, wait for later post) – I added a hot tub, water slide, diving boards, pool slide, juice bar, snow cone machine.. basically updated it with the new patch options and Seasons. Status as of 7/8/13 – Built, tested, and retested, pics taken, ready for final upload and image work.
• The business office (very minor update) – basically, I added a coffee cafe (University) behind the building for the office workers on their “breaks”. My townies seem to like it – changing the lot to “visitors allowed” helps.
• The City Hall (also minor update) – updated for University. Without the podium placed for protests, the townies always seemed to randomly wander around the lawn area. Status as of 7/8/13 – Built, tested, and retested, pics taken, ready for final upload and image work.
• The main street (multi-rabbit hole area) – this is a slightly bigger update – mostly to add premium features. Aurora Skies’ hot air balloon has a lift-off area behind the book store, a LLAMA (supernatural) is by the theatre, and the vegetable selling and lemonade stands are near the grocery. Also, some minor landscaping and parking lot shaping, as well as bike racks added. Status as of 7/8/13 – Built, tested, and retested, pics taken, ready for final upload and image work.
• Lots in town center I’m NOT publishing an update for: The Hospital and Police Station, in my opinion, don’t need updates, there’s plenty of updates around them, so they will work fine. I also have no plans to change the Bistro (or Day Spa, forgot about that one, added 7/7).
• Town Center Lots waiting for the later “waves” – the Art Gallery, the second community pool (referenced above) and Hogan’s Diner (which I’ve added a really cool bar to). Central park is updated with the festival lot, but after some thought, I’m going to add to it with some other premium content (added 11/29). I also have four lots I placed in town center area that will be added with later waves- a laundromat, dog park, and cat park, and a newly conceptualized Java Hut (added 7/7).

After this wave, I’ll start working my way through each major expansion pack in each wave – I have not added every lot type to Sunset Valley, and each of the ones I DID add are specialized for something or other… for example, the bars are each designed for something – like a casino, a darts bar, pool bar, live music, or dancing.. or following a specific theme (based around which sims are attracted to that sort of bar or venue.) I wanted a town that had a bit of everything, and that I could go a certain place to do certain actions.. if that makes any sense. Anyway, time to head in game!

The tiny pictures I posted really didn’t do these lots justice, so I took a few extra pictures.

Download links and lot info can be found in this blog post.

Edits: As you know, the actual file for this was lost.. however, based on the pictures I took, I really think I can rebuild it, and will be trying to while I’m doing lot testing this week. (12/3)

Well, I spent a couple days building this. I’m not sure exactly where the idea came from, but I started building a coffeehouse from scratch to see if it 1, worked and 2, could be done easily… and somehow it morphed into one of my most ambitious builds ever. I ended up including a “frieze” – a quarter-level floor in-between the first and second floor .. which I’d never attempted before, but had been reading about in advanced build tutorials. Also, I installed a split-level “half grand” (my definition.. lol.. is a grand staircase that doesn’t “split” into two..) staircase that didn’t interfere with the outside walls – something the perfectionist in me is glad to see works. .. and also, something I’d only read about recently. That being said, I’m running through some final tests today, and with any luck, I’ll be uploading it for those who would like to download it. Meantime, however, I’d like to show it off! 🙂

Front lot view

Right side view

The back view

First floor walls-up overall view

Second floor walls-up overall view

Upstairs walls down view one – this shows bathroom layout

Walls-down view of upstairs again.. this shows the little sitting area outside the bathrooms.

Upstairs sitting area close-up

Upstairs balcony outside the bathrooms – note even the ceiling has been matched – perfectionism = attention to detail!

The upstairs balcony looking down at the “half-grand” staircase and the stage below.

I’m really not sure why the stairs are showing so dark.. I do have light squares there – but they didn’t seem to turn on.. will be investigating that before uploading.  🙁  grrr.

The downstairs “reading area” – including the ubiquitous and annoying spawned proprietor – proving the place works. 🙂

Most of the furniture is from the “Regal” set from the store.  I used NO CC in building.  Overall, I think it turned out extremely nice.  My initial plan was for a small rural – style coffee house, and I ended up with a fancy Victorian Tea House … *shrug*  will have to try again for the rural idea.  (chuckles).  The floor tile and pattern were hubby’s idea – I think he had a good call there.  I didn’t get the rest of the downstairs pictures yet, will post those later.  I also have to test that the stage is actually work-able.  The sim I had visiting to test  isn’t  a performer, so I couldn’t test that part yet.  I did make sure that all five of the stage floor seating area and the stage have NOTHING blocking them – I’ve read that can be a major (even game-breaking) issue when performing/simporting with custom venues.  I’m positive the venue will require the regal set, pets, and world adventures.. but a couple of the wall hangings may have been from generations.  I tried to be very specific on what I was using to decorate, to allow for the fewest requirements possible.  Anyway.. more to come! Tell me what you think!

These are the first lots in my new project, the Rural Small Town / Farm Community lots.   Basically, the idea is to make a set of “matching” community lots for town builders (and me) to use in small-town worlds.  Themed to be very rural/farm oriented, they’re mostly put on the smallest lot possible for venue size (or at least lots that are easily place-able in game) to adapt to small-town community size.

The Old Smithson’s place (Criminal Warehouse)

Strangely enough, lately there has been some activity spotted near here. It’s been abandoned for years, condemned and infested with junk and bugs. Occasionally picked over by collectors of metal and gems, but otherwise.. why else would people be seen near this filthy place? .. Could something foul be afoot?? (Criminal lot with low-end bug, gem, and metal spawners, including some late night ones. Designed for small rural town builders.)

(More pictures here)

Small(ish) Public Services Office (City Hall/Military/Police Dept.)

Military, City Hall, and Police Services. Designed and landscaped on the smallest lot possible for small rural town builders.

(More pictures here)

Lunar Lakes Horse Ranch / Training Grounds:

Designed for Lunar Lakes as a companion for my Equestrian Center. Full jumping and racing training, as well as water, tie rack, and hay. Benches for spectators or grooms. Graded and fully fenced sand arena to keep the equestrian athlete in fighting form. Not lighted (the EC practice arena is lighted, btw), designed for day-time training. By IllusoryThrall NO CC

Lunar Lakes Dog Park:

Designed especially for Lunar Lakes by IllusoryThrall No CC. Plenty of toys, bone-shaped fountains to swim in. Biscuit balls, and chew toys… plenty of space to run in. Dry grass to roll in (and dig up).. and a couple benches for humanoid companions. Even some beds for the lazy pup, and a house in case you meet your perfect mate!

Lunar Lakes Cat Jungle:

Blast off for cats! Toys and platforms galore, and an enclosed bathroom for the finicky feline. Even a couple benches for the humanoid companion. Between the boxes of toys, jungle gyms, scratching posts, and places to Survey your world, this is the place every cat must go! Designed by IllusoryThrall. No CC

(Published 2/18/2012 on the Sims 3 website)

I spent a couple hours.. well.. ok, more than that.. on doing a “quick” upgrade to the EA Lunar Lakes “The Warrens” lot.  Of all the existing lots I looked at, it seemed the most likely to be able to house a couple of horses.  I didn’t touch the house itself, other than to lessen width of one stairs, move a few walls and doors, and put some flooring in for the barn roof.  It’s designed to be a two-stall barn with tack area, grooming rack, and covered hay storage.  There is no race training posts included, but there’s full jump training available.  Full amenities for the horses, NO CC.  Should work just fine – although I have not play tested it yet.  PLEASE let me know if you find any problems with it.  – I uploaded some actual screenies from while I was building it if you want a closer look – should be under my studio ..