The Stair Problem The regular stairs are a pain. The Sims won't share them . In the Gym at Le Tour University my students wasted a lot of time complaining and waiting for someone to get off the stairs. So I replaced the regular stairs with Connecting Stairs. In fact, I use connecting stairs in all my houses to prevent that annoying inability to share the steps. Don't know why it makes a difference to these little guys--which stairs you use--but it does. For those of you new to the game you might note that the Connecting Stairs require an extra open tile on the upper floor, and you might not be able to put a banister around the opening on the upper floor until after you've put the stairs in. Sorry, but I didn't make note of the difference in cost between the two types of stairs. Maybe someone else has done the calculations. I've attached a demonstration. The whole reason for this post is that I noticed a side comment in another thread (unrelated topic or I'd have responded there) complaining about the stairs. I've also see some newcomers here and thought this suggestion about the stairs would be useful.
I think I mentioned stairs the other day. I think you're right about the connecting stairs, Lynet (Oh dear that sound patronising ... ). It never stops puzzling me the weird way some objects in the Sim universe operate (like floors that are like one-way glass ....) and does anyone else get confused by mirrors that reflect stuff in other rooms when the walls are down ...
How do you make the connecting stairs in the house? I have tried and tried, but it's not working. I'm so lost!!
make sure the upper floor has an open tile available and the floor below has an open tile available in the appropriate spot for the stairs. just select the connecting stairs tool and hover over the tile on the upper floor. should work fine. nice part about connecting stairs is that it doesnt matter the distance between the 2 floors. i created a "bunker" apartment building for strangetown recently where i had a 3 floor building underground. had 2 sets of stairs going from ground level to the 3 floors below.
Another way that might work. Put the regular stairs in first. If they work, then delete them and put in the connecting stairs. The connecting stairs require a little more space, though; four spaces upstairs instead of three for the opening. The bottom probably requires an extra space, too, if the top does. By the way, Lindsey, in case you hadn't tried this yet, you can build on lots before moving any family in first. No worries about costs. Experiment all over the place. Of course, when your gorgeous mansion is done it might require more simoleans for a Sim family to buy than even Bill Gates has got. So bulldoze and practice some more.
Just to clarify. Connecting stairs are always placed from the top downward. To be sure of successful planting of the connecting stairs you need to have an opening at least 4 floor tiles long and connecting stairs will not tolerate a wall (or fence/railing crossing or enclosing the space ... this includes the end of the fourth open square. Below the stairs will fail to connect if they intersect and doorways (inclduing the floor tile at the bottom of the stairs. Basically connecting stairs need a 6 by 1 tile rectangle to connect two floors, exactly the same as normal stairs.
How did you build underground VChat? I have managed to dig down and level the floor but I can't seem to find a way of putting another floor above the basement. And the walls can't be decorated - they just stay grass coloured. I tried putting columns in but that didn't work either. The only stairs I could put in were connecting stairs. Should I be using a download?
it wqasnt technically underground. the way i did it left an open space around the house. but basically i just dug down 3 floors, placed stairs as needed, and built the house around them.
OK. I decided to use my eyes and found a link on the Sims web pages with full instructions on building basements. Had a go last night and managed it successfully on a new house. Have to try building a basement in an existing house next. Must remember to search before I ask any more "How do I" questions. Just toooooo lazyyyyyy! :tired:
It's actually a pain when trying to take photos, I had a really nice bathroom that I wanted to show off, but because the room was small, I had to have the half wall thingy, then I had to position the image just so, or else you could see the reflection in the mirror of the uncompleted wall in the next room, yes, there's probably a lot of things I could have done to stop that from happening, but I'm lazy and didn't want to .
just a quick question. and im sure its gonna get shot down REAL quick. has anyone managed to get connecting stairs to run one under another such as whats depicted in my following masterpeice?
LOL Vchat. No cheats are needed to do that. All the connecting stairs will cover each other in straight flights. Only the open steel stairs look faintly realistic because all the other types are blocked in beneath with a rhomboid solido that sims can walk thru so even though you cannot see the stairs below your sims can still use 'em.
A little off topic but since Lynet mentioned it I do have a question on this. How is the final price of a home determined when building on an unoccupied lot? I've never known if I can just slap up numerous wallpapers and flooring or if I have to remove them.
I get what you mean. The final price is the new value of all that has been installed in the house as far as I am aware. No time elapses without a family so no depreciation occurs but you certainly don't run a tab on stuff that you put up and then take down again. The game just measures what's there when you hit the save button.
I'm a little late weighing in on this. (All that cabin time.) I was into cliffs and hill-building for a while - see old thread on the topic - but I got frustrated and gave up for a couple of reasons that seem relevant here. When you point - for a 'go to' - if you're the least bit off it doesn't work. The program thinks you're pointing at the cliff wall - or basement wall. Second, you only see one level at a time. I tried building houses with each room on a different bluff, and connecting bridges, but unless everything was on a level, people were always disappearing up and down. My idealized image of a house filled with a hundred stairways was disappointing. You who are working with underground houses, haven't you had similar problems?
Connecting stairs I want to know why the "European Townhouse" that came in the houses bin in the original "The Sims 2" game only has 3 squares above their connecting stairs instead of the 4 squares that they currently allow us. I've been trying like mad to figure out how to do that, and I just don't get it. There has to be a way, because they were able to do that in that house, why not in other houses? Also, if you delete the stairs to change them in anyway, you cannot re-add connecting stairs in that same space. This is making me mad.
Odd. I never much bothered with Maxis designed houses because they are so badly designed (for sims to live in: means they are designed to make playing as difficult as possible). I imagine they achieved the stairs trick with one of the boolprop cheats. Don't ask me which one though, I'm all out of ideas.
Tell me about it. I usually end up tearing out the inner walls and completely rebuilding. My least favorite is the ranch house, where you have to walk through one room to get to another. Oh, I take that back. I hate the bathroom in the middle of the bungalow. That's the worst. I expanded the European Townhouse into quite a nice estate, but it's much changed from the original. I don't mind that house, though it's a bit crowded if there's more than one sim living there.
