Apartment Life - A question about Buy Mode and apartments

[strangetomato]

I'm back with another issue and question. It's about the buy mode with apartments. I know you can't normally place items in the common areas of an apartment complex, but is there a way to access this area so you can select and delete items? I looked up cheat codes, but I don't think any of the ones I found enable this (I thought boolProp AptBaseLotSpecificToolsDisabled true/false would do it, but I still couldn't delete anything in the common areas).






As you ACR fans will notice right away, my problem is the adjuster. Not thinking, I spawned it from a sim that was standing there by the garbage can, and now I can't select it to delete it. Is there anything I can do? I really don't want this stack of phonebooks in my shot, even though it could probably just pass for recycling (but people will KNOW it's the ACR adjuster - it's the principle of the thing).

I switched out the old plasticbox apartment complex I was using in Strangetown for this new seedy one that comes in the apartment bin. I think it works pretty well for Strangetown - having it up on supports like that fits in with all the other unusual architectural details in the town. It's a continuity error, but I'm not overly worried. At least I didn't switch out the sim actor who plays Ripp and not even mention it. :P Wouldn't it be funny if it was suddenly just some face template one guy with the same colouring. Man, that would have been a funny gag if I didn't just blow it.

The spoiler here is minimal... or is it? You can pick up a lot of info in this pic if you approach it like a Where's Waldo page.




 

Comments

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

It's the following:

changelotzoning [residential | community | apartmentbase]

What you have to do is change the lot zoning to residential,

changelotzoning residential

Leave the lot and re-enter, then delete/build anything you want built, and then enter the cheat again as:

changelotzoning apartmentbase

Exit the lot and reenter again.

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

This is also good for making your own apartment buildings

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

It seems like that's the only way to make your own apartment buildings. I don't know why they have to make it so difficult for builders that way. It's the same way with dorms and hotels, right?

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

Pretty much yeah...

I'll be adding apartment buildings to my realty section in the near future. I've already built a "villa" style apartment block for singles and young couples without children in my game.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's very cool. I didn't even know you were a builder. Do you use much cc, or is it mostly/all Maxis?

I've made a few attempts at building, but it takes so much time, and I need to use that for storytelling. It's fun, though.

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

Check out my page, I use all maxis content in the decorating, and I offer unfurnished versions as well.

I've been a builder for a while, thanks to a friend who hates building her own houses, but I have only recently started posting them.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I just went to take a look. They're really nice. I'll have to keep you in mind if I ever need a new house for the story. I've mostly been using urban stuff, though, since most of my new residents end up in Sim City (aka Downtown). Strangetown already has a lot of houses, and a couple of extras too.

I really like The Dollhouse, and I was surprised to see diagonal counters. They work like that too? I had no idea. I never put furniture at an angle in the game (very rarely in real life too). I sort of like the grid-ness of sim reality.

Do you use house plans or do you work from scratch?

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

A little of both. The ones I have posted so far are based on houseplans to varying degrees. The dollhouse I followed pretty faithfully, aside from adding the bonus room in place of a laundry area, etc.

The Dollhouse is my personal favorite, closely followed by the DeSito and Country Club Drive.

If you find any houseplan that you want built in game, I'd be more than willing to put it at the top of my list. Requests are fun (which is why my friend got me into it)

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

I'll be editing the posts with links to the houseplans that I referenced while building as well.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Cool. Where do you find houseplans to use? I guess there are probably piles of them if google it.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oooh, a custom house would be very cool. I just might take you up on that offer one day.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

So that's the only way? It was my understanding that you had to move all the sims out of the apartment before you changed the lot zoning. If that's the case, I have to move out four families, after spending a significant about of time setting them up and decorating (well, mostly just one of them).

*sigh*

Maybe I'll just pick a different shot or angle it to hide the objects.

[catladymeow.livejournal.com]

I think you just need one empty apartment, then just select it and enter the lot that way. You should be able to add/delete items not in the occupied apartments in the build mode. It is limited, but try that before you move everyone out and change the lot zoning. You are just trying to delete one item from the game, not change the walls of the building.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I was actually able to delete the adjuster in the ACR menu, but thank you for this advice. I'll remember it (but also avoid placing items in common areas in the first place).

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

I think there is a cheat to be able to mess around in the communal area on an apartment lot, but I haven't had a chance to play and need it yet. Snooty Sims has an apartment building tutorial that might include it. They're pretty good about posting all the major cheats pretty quickly.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I really do hope there's one that enables it, so I don't have to rezone the whole lot. I'll take a look at Snooty Sims. Thanks for mentioning that.

[music-simbol.livejournal.com]

With the ACR adjuster, I think you can just click it again, go thru the menu and delete it that way. I've never had to delete it by actually selecting it in buy mode. I think it's under the "Adjuster" menu. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! :D I didn't know. Now I just need to find that option. Maybe it's in the same part of the sim menu where you spawn it.

Thank you!

[music-simbol.livejournal.com]

When you click the actual adjuster, it should show up somewhere. I think. Hope you figure it out! :D

[cambritariatale.livejournal.com]

After clicking the adjuster, it's in 'misc' --> 'adjuster'--> 'Delete adjuster.' It is also in the same menu from which you spawn it, too.

... But you've probably already figured that out by now. -_-'

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's where I went to check for it, and sure enough: delete adjuster.

Who knew it could be so easy? :D

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

If all you're needing to do is delete one item, you can enable boolprop testincheats, shift-click on it, select "force error" and then "delete." This will work for any object (I got rid of a lot of annoying shrubs in the Maxis apartments this way!)

But the adjuster has an option on it to delete it if you just click on it, I think, like music_simbol already said. :P

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I think you can also edit apartments from the bin by entering them before anyone moves in.

I get a little freaked out by forcing errors, but I'll keep that in mind. Can you use the lot debugger for that task too?

Yeah, I found it pretty quickly, once I knew where to look.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the lot debugger... but I force errors and delete stuff all the time, lol. Including Mrs. Crumplebottom if I don't want her messing up a screenshot or something. *blushes*

[abbycat900.livejournal.com]

That sounds evil! Forcing an error with Mrs. Crumplebottom...

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I delete sims from shots too, but it's usually only on residential lots. On a community lot, I'd probably just call the sim out of the shot using another sim.

[franwi.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that will work with those apartment closets. I'll give that a try. I really hate those things.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

You don't like them? I like them for some variety from the wardrobes, though I didn't realize you couldn't remove them. I want there to be a metal clothing rack, or just a rod in the closet area, with a curtain instead of a door. I've had both of those set-ups in different apartments over the years. Not everyone is classy enough to have a closet door, EAxis! *snicker*

[franwi.livejournal.com]

My beef with those closets is that they're usually in the way of other things, so when I go to click on the toilet, I get: "plan outfit..." The clickable space around the closet is a bit too big. Usually I use InSim for clothing changes anyway, so the fact that those big closets are in every bedroom and you can't delete them is a pain. But I do like the option. For me I think a big pile of clothing on the floor that they can pick and choose from would be even better. Maybe with a new action where they grab the clothing, smell it first, then change into it. ;)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they do take up a lot of space, and you end up having to rotate the camera to see things, don't you? That's pretty annoying.

That would be a great object and animation to have in the game. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I'm mostly a clothes pile user myself.

[themhooligans.livejournal.com]

I think I may have seen a Pile 'O Clothes hack somewhere at some point, but my memory is a little fuzzy. Just one more thing to make my selfsim a little more realistic.

Well, OK, it's not a pile. It's a stack in a clothes basket. They're all clean tho!

[showercapfrog.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... why would Patrick be visiting Bella Goth? I wonder...

*scans picture for more spoilers*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Is Patrick his name in a different version of the game?

Nah, I think you found 'em all. It's really not that much of a spoiler.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

I've barely begun playing with apartments, so I still don't know how they work. Though I wish it'd be possible to delete stuff in the common area with moveobjects on.

*Scans picture* Hmmm... the only spoiler I could see there is the garden on the left. Is Ophelia moving to the apartment complex in the near future? Other than that there's Bella, but she's been Pascal's patient for a long time.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

The inability to modify the apartment lots during play is a little annoying. I wish they were more like dorms that way. Perhaps this is part of the process of preparing us for Sims 3, where we explore a neighbourhood that isn't under our own control.

No, it's just Bella. It was more the context that's a spoiler. Pascal doesn't usually do house calls. His patients come to him.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

Well well WELL... a house call, eh? :P

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, now don't let your randy little mind run away with you. ;)

[franwi.livejournal.com]

I glitched an apartment by trying to add a room when the family got bigger. When I went back in after saving the changes, most of their furniture was gone and I got a popup from the landlord telling them to have a look around, like they were just moving in. I ended up moving the family out and into a new place instead. Kind of sucks that you can't easily rennovate the apartments.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, it does make sense. Landlords will very rarely allow you to make major renovations like moving the walls (most don't even allow pets or painting the walls, so sims are actually pretty lucky, I think). If the family doesn't fit, your only option would be finding a bigger apartment, I'm afraid.

It sucks that you messed it up, though. You'd think they'd warn against it somehow.

[franwi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really liked the building, though. It was the one with Timothy Riley, Sally, Vivian, and Etsu. I had Tim marry Viv and they moved in together. Then I moved in those six kids whose adoptive parents just died (cheerful tale there, Maxis.) But it was a fun place with all the kids and the playground. I suppose moving them into a house was best, since Viv's a family sim with a 10-kid-want.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That family of orphans is interesting. Do they need a babysitter, or did AL make it's acceptable for a teen to raise a child on their own?

Are you going for the ten kids? I did that once. It's pretty tough.

[franwi.livejournal.com]

The orphans are playable as they are. The older boy is able to teach the toddlers, for some reason the older girl isn't - unless she needs to befriend them more before she gets that option. They have enough simoleans to hire a nanny while they're all at school. I suppose you could keep one of the teens home all day as well and let their grades drop. I had the boy get a part time job as well. It's a cute family. I wouldn't mind seeing a sim story about them.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's good to know. I wouldn't want to mess anything up.

Thanks for the advice!

[abbycat900.livejournal.com]

WALDO IS ON THE LEFT, IN A SKUNK COSTUME.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Bingo! You win. :P

[lovelysims.livejournal.com]

I like the stack of phonebooks there. It feels like when I was younger and they used to just drop a stack of phonebooks on my front porch all the time.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it wouldn't be too unrealistic for them to be there, would it? Maybe I should have let them.

[lovelysims.livejournal.com]

Not too unrealistic at all. At least you can keep them in mind for a future photo set. =D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I could probably do so much more with random clutter in rooms and such too, but it would take so long to do every scene. I do try to decorate the walls as much as possible, since it's a good opportunity to add little character details.