Apartment Living

[Metropolis Man]

I haven't got the game yet but after reading your post I was wondering. Are those appartments really that hard than? How can living in a apartment makes the game more difficult than it hast to used to be?
Okey, you will have space limitation and you can say goodbuy to gardening (balcony fruit won't work right?) but that can't be the only things that makes it more difficult?

It's the time, Leto. There's essentially fewer hours in the day for an apartment Sim to get stuff done. It takes far longer to get to and from work, so that means less skilling time, less time to build relationships, etc. And it's kind of a double whammy. It's easy enough to simply get up earlier to compensate, but those key pre-work moodlets will also wear off sooner in Bridgeport, than in a non-apartment situation because of the added commute time. If the mood isn't as good, that translates to more work stress and the performance meter taking a hit. Trust me, it's harder.

[MomOfMany]

I personally like the apartments. Yeah they are small but very realistic if you ask me. I don't live in the city but I travel to the city for my sons doctor and even in the doctor offices you have to catch the elevator granted they usually have like 3 elevators next to each other but at the same time they have more people coming and going so makes since to me. Besides in my opinion it takes Sims longer to do everything. It takes them longer to cook, shower and use the bathroom. Well I always thought so. So it fits if you ask me.
And for the burglars just make your Sim go straight to the doorway and block it while calling the police and keep your Sim there until the police arrive. Works for me. And since there is only one way in and out in the apartments I have seen I can't imagine that it wouldn't. But burglars coming in through the windows I doubt it in the high apartments how in the world would that work? But for the buzzing in and such it makes since. A visitor would have no problem buzzing in but a burglar would just wait till someone was leaving and go in then before the door closes. Just thinking logically and I think it completely makes sense. I mean in real life just because you live in a high rise apartment doesn't mean you can't get robbed.  

Edited to say I play like Metro in the sense that I am in no hurry to max things I play for fun!

[LlamaMama]

And for the burglars just make your Sim go straight to the doorway and block it while calling the police and keep your Sim there until the police arrive.

Yeah, right. Keeping a sim in one place is like herding cats!

[MomOfMany]

Yeah, right. Keeping a sim in one place is like herding cats!

Indeed a pain but still possible. I have successfully caught a burglar that way so I know it can be done.

[Leto85]

It's the time, Leto. There's essentially fewer hours in the day for an apartment Sim to get stuff done. It takes far longer to get to and from work, so that means less skilling time, less time to build relationships, etc. And it's kind of a double whammy. It's easy enough to simply get up earlier to compensate, but those key pre-work moodlets will also wear off sooner in Bridgeport, than in a non-apartment situation because of the added commute time. If the mood isn't as good, that translates to more work stress and the performance meter taking a hit. Trust me, it's harder.

Travel time, if I understand you well. So I can assume that the Margaret Vaguester is finally something more than just a status symbol. You need a car with speed.

[LlamaMama]

Oh you're right!  Thanks for the tip, I never knew that! (You can just click on the tiny magnifying glass icon)

Dang! Now I can't find the tiny magnifying glass icon. I created a household and trying to choose an apartment I can afford, but no icon. I can still do buy/build in Edit Town, but in Game Setup, no icon for viewing. How'd I do that before?

Edit: D'oh! The icon is there, but the drawing of tall building covers it up.

[Glic2000]

Hehe, yes and sometimes the icon is the same colour as the background.

[ladylaw1978]

I’m the kind of player that likes variety. I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. This is why I like LN and apartment living. Oh sure, I hated LN at first but that was mostly due to the patch creaming my game and everything in it.

My biggest pet peeve was the apartment size. But I came up with a work around. First of all, you can make custom apartments but it will take a mod. The reason for this is because the apartment mailbox is not made available even in buydebug and neither is the trash chute. I won’t discuss it here, but there is a mod for that. Having the mailbox and trash chute enables NPCs to move in (along with the hidden room marker [CNTL+ALT in build/buy mode to set ambient noise] and apartment door [CNTL+ALT in build/buy mode to set door as NPC apt.]. Otherwise, you’ll just have a big empty shell of a house rather than an apartment.

If you’re opposed to the mod, then you can’t have the apartment. You can also ‘trick-out’ a community skyscraper. For my Sim, I chose to takeover Aquarius pool side club. I finally found a spot to plop down a 50x50 lot to relocate Aquarius. I wanted the downtown one because I wanted my Sim to be able to experience the nightlife in close contact.

After zoning Aquarius residential a couple things happen. Firstly, you lose anything that’s strictly a community object. Secondly, you pay for the whole building which is pricier than a regular apartment. You have to turn off the RBBB (restrictBuildBuyInBuildings off) cheat to change the lobby and public areas. I cloned apartment doors. You can’t just use any door though. Adding an apartment mailbox and trash chute and call box is what makes the apartment an apartment. Using public room markers, according to a SimGuru is what flags the game as an apartment also. I nixed all the hidden room markers on the penthouse floor then added a floor to those dark spaces to give ultimate square footage. For the pool area on the rooftop I got rid of the elevator to ensure the space remains NPC free and accessible only through my apartment. I added a call box and trash chute. I replaced the hot tub with the more expensive one (12,000) with moveobjects on and then went down a floor level and deleted the box thingy (I guess it’s the motor for the tub). This is my result…








Apartment living in LN is so much fun once you fiddle around a bit!! Oh yeah, with RBBB cheat, I added a few parking spots so getting around Bridgeport is no longer a problem. Just remember to turn RBBB back on when you’re done!

P.S. Changing the windows in the apartment does not alter the look of the shell on the outside

[LlamaMama]

I can't seem to get the hang of visitors to apartments. When I started a game in one, I got a message that some neighbors wanted to welcome us. There was no one outside our door, but later I saw 3 people in the lobby and out in front, playing instruments. I'm guessing they must have rung the buzzer to come up, but I couldn't find a way to let them come up. How does this work?

[Pam]

You get a notice in the upper right corner that your visitor is at the call box and asking you to buzz up.  You just click the button on the notice and they'll come up the elevator to your apartment.

[Bellalupa]

Dang! Now I can't find the tiny magnifying glass icon. I created a household and trying to choose an apartment I can afford, but no icon. I can still do buy/build in Edit Town, but in Game Setup, no icon for viewing. How'd I do that before?

Edit: D'oh! The icon is there, but the drawing of tall building covers it up.

Amazing apartment LlamaMama! Could you upload it too the exchange_

[Pam]

Amazing apartment LlamaMama! Could you upload it too the exchange_

Do you mean Ladylaw1978's apartment?  If so, she won't be able to put a link here because, if I understand it correctly, it requires a mod to play it.  Our stand on mods doesn't allow links to anything mod related.

[ladylaw1978]

Do you mean Ladylaw1978's apartment?  If so, she won't be able to put a link here because, if I understand it correctly, it requires a mod to play it.  Our stand on mods doesn't allow links to anything mod related.

Sorry Bellalupa. If you PM me and really want the lot I can download to my Media Fire account. I only used EA store and original items to decorate the lot. *Its also got plenty plasma nectar on hand for vamp friends . The mod was only used to make mailbox and trash chute accessible, but they are EA content. We can't really discuss mods here so just pm me.

[LlamaMama]

@ladylaw: great job on the apartment! Joria's mentioned the unsightliness of the spa motor below. When you deleted that, the spa remained? Is it still functional?

@Pam: thanks for the info, which clears up my confusion. This time I got a button to push in the message, but then my sim automatically went downstairs to greet him, so I wasn't really sure the visitor would come up on his own. To make it stickier, I couldn't find the "invite sim inside" action, only to realize much later that that seems to be accomplished by [paraphrased] "take the elevator with...".

[Glic2000]

...
This time I got a button to push in the message, but then my sim automatically went downstairs to greet him, so I wasn't really sure the visitor would come up on his own. To make it stickier, I couldn't find the "invite sim inside" action, only to realize much later that that seems to be accomplished by [paraphrased] "take the elevator with...".

One thing that confused me:  sometimes a Sim will be "visiting" you, but they won't actually come up to the apartment.  In other words, Sims that just hang out in the lobby, or get stuck there, are still considered "visitors".