HP, Fansee and Senate are all well-known creators, you should not get issues from them.

defaults can give issues if you accidentally add two of the same type, if an item shares a mesh or if you use a clothing hider or a mod to make adult clothes available to elders.

Once you have a working set of CC try adding only one new thing at a time and checking it out in game on load up.

Every time I've had a problem with one of those creators it's because it's a mesh recover and I'm a doofus who didn't install the mesh. So, you know, if you're like me, double check that you did download and did install the proper mesh.

Seconding Sunbee on mesh issues! Always the number one thing causing cc problems in my game. If you're downloading recolours from other creators, be sure to double check the mesh is included and not hidden in a link somewhere!

I'm a big fan of tiny lots. I think my largest in the hood at the minute is is 2x3. That would be a farm house with extensive lands or my pub/restaurant. I do struggle quite a bit on the 1x1s. I prefer my families with four or so sims and lots of knickknacks. And I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely HAVE to have a sink in my bathrooms!

Ok so I have a couple of more experimental lots here, an attempt at making a home business, and a 4 tile wide apartment building meant to be squeezed between other urban lots with the lot adjuster. The front of the home business house is kinda weird, as is the layout although it could be passed off pretty easily as a slightly ugly British Columbian suburban home built like a decade ago that's gotten the garage converted into a shop, and having an enclosed porch thing added on the back for fun. You can see its future neighbours in the background forming a 1 lane side street. As for the apartment, it's based off of small Tokyo apartments and was inspired by the large blank back wall of Zathura's Coltrane Shopping district. I need to redownload it, but I'll be using a OMSP for counter space over the kitchen sink. Near the top of the walk up the apartments also get smaller, but they're still a decent size. The first floor is common space. Technically the apartment is on a 2x2 lot, but that's just so it can sit on the 4 tiles of space that are unbuildable without the lot adjuster.

I follow a kind of formula for average, small, and large rooms that helps me build to the scale I want. I usually do the bathrooms as 3x2 (3 tiles long by 2 tiles wide - not sure if I wrote it right) because that's the smallest that a bathroom can be useable with everything I want in it (shower, sink, toilet). I almost always use the shower/tub combo since most of my sims have small children at some point and I hate that toddlers would ever not have a bath. I feel like they should be bathed at least once per day lol.

The master bedroom must be 4x4 to avoid routing issues and make room for master-bedroom type furniture suites, but lately I've been wanting to use the two tiles of dead space I normally get in a typical Master bed with bathroom next door layout to include a closet. I want to start including closets, basements, attics and other storage rooms in my building plans so that helps too.

Small or secondary bedrooms can be 2x3 at the smallest, and I've had two children in a 2x3 without a problem thanks to bunkbeds.

For tiny houses, this plan usually works well, and I'm able to build a 2 bed 1 bath successfully (sometimes even with a downstairs toilet!) without having to miss out anything logical. It also helps me scale my larger homes to actually be larger - master bedrooms can be 4x6 or 5x5, or 6x6 for a very large one, and master baths (when I do build ensuite) can be as large as 4x4 themselves.

With the big maxis lots like the 2x3 that several Maxis houses are built on, I simply build more houses. I usually open up the Townhouse - my favourite base game house - and build two more on either side, and then save it back into the lot bin. It just makes it infinitely more useable as I'm quite fond of townhouse style apartments. They work very well, and eat up those big lots so that they look nice and full in my hoods.

I do use the large and larger maxis empty lots, because those are for things like schools and shopping centers that take up a lot of land. Houses are mostly 2x3 or smaller, and I use Aelfled's mini residential and community lots.

@terula8 Actually.... you can do all of that in a 2 by 2 (4 tiles), all you need is a walkthrough block under the toilet and under the basin/sink.

I tried and failed to make it usable last night in a 1 by 3 as no matter how I shifted the basin the sim got stuck standing in the toilet.

Walk through and around blocks http://modthesims.info/d/320185 They are actually flat like an OMSP and sit under a 1 tile object. They can improve routing past other small items not just plumbing.

If one doesn't mind having a wet bathroom, the communal shower (from Uni) can be placed in front of a toilet or sink in a 4x4 room. It may not look pretty, but it's perfectly usable.

Lots of my lots have Veranka's all-in-one. I don't really need to watch Sims in the bathroom, anyway.

I use that when I have to, but I don't really like not having the dedicated items, just feels a bit cheaty to me. They are very useful on some lots though, mostly business ones where my sim barely have time to catch a bite.

I agree with the cheaty feel. I use them, like you're saying, when it seems to make some sense.

I feel that, after his latest lot price, someone should direct Zarathustra to this thread. XD

I'm probably biased because I like playing a realistic game, but for me, the fun of making a tiny lot work is kind of lost when you use too many mod loopholes. I'm ok with bunk beds and 1 tile cribs, but mods like single tile elevators so you don't have to make room for stairs, or all in one bathrooms are too cheaty for me. But some might think my bunk beds are too cheaty. We all have our own limits. "I can fit a family of 12 in a 1X1 lot...because I use max motives and no one ever needs to eat or sleep or use the bathroom!"

My thoughts are is this realistic to real life? So using a walkthrough block under a toilet and sink allowing a sim to navigate a small bathroom is a yes. because yes you can get tiny bathrooms in real life like in a caravan and those tiny apartments in Asia. Real people squeeze past, sims need help. The all in one bathroom is based on a caravan bathroom but what makes it cheaty is all hygiene and bladder needs are taken care of at once and 1 tile is unrealistic even for a caravan.
Bunk beds are frequently used in real life so nothing cheaty there. How are they cheaty? I find it odd that the game didn't include one.

It's funny what our limits are. In my small RV, irl, the bathroom is all in one and definitely "1-tile," but I don't use the bunk beds because the animations aren't right to me. I, too, think walk-through is fine.

I would want the bathroom to be 2 tiles. That would drive me mad; you must knock your elbows all the time. :/

Elbow, knees, nose...

To me, question is not only how to make 1x1 lot work. Question is how to make it work AND make it architecturally interesting. A family could probably fit in a decluttered box with basic furniture and minimalistic aesthetics, but I don't find that satisfying enough. Aesthetics is as important as functionality, so the lot must be carefully crafted. It needs to have some kind of complexity in it's design, so I could really enjoy it. Of course, we all have different preferences. Individual taste determines what we consider aesthetically pleasing or interesting, but some individual criteria must be met.

I actually never tried to fit a family in such a small lot. I almost always use it for single starter sims, because tiny lots are a great resource savers. A family could make an interesting challenge. I'm not sure I could make it work. I have a certain inclination towards cluttered, crammed aesthetics. Tiny + not boxy + cluttered + family = routing issues!

The mod Jo linked sounds extremely useful. It actually fits my playstyle perfectly, so I will definitely find a use for it in my tiny lots. Thanks for that.

About small bathrooms.. It doesn't have to be full 6 squares; I made it work with 5, or 5 and 1/2 squares. Without mods and CC I mean. Here is the example:

Without mods and the uni shower, you can have a 4 square bathroom. Mentioned above ^ by Devon Aster. But I think most of us like the look of something a bit nicer even if it's a shower on the wall (great Aussie bathroom on MTS) plus a glass fence (I like one from Simgedohns)

1 by 1 lots can be interesting. Your group of lots proves that. I am still a fan of the 1 by 2 for most growing families for more architectural design scope, more room, especially outside. Plus often road grids in hoods are too large so the longer lots fill it up more while still having the tightly packed frontage.

That... might be game changing! It's always bugged me irrationally that they can't go between the sink and toilet, hence my formula for minimizing arm-waving and frustration!

Thank you Jo!

Those are lovely. I like that diagonal door.

It's also a matter of play style. It may be a lot where the player doesn't care how their needs are met. I noticed in Honeywell's last video, even she put Veranka's All-in-one upstairs out of the way in the Corner Store lot. On most of my community lots, I use nocutaway walls so the bathrooms are never seen, anyway. I'm planning to do the same sort of thing with the ascension portal/stair thing, so that they go behind a wall and simply go up, because I don't to need to watch them go up, but I want their behavior to be autonomous and look realistic from my viewpoint. I'm doing something similar with a no maintenance dishwasher NPC who is an extra in a challenge I want to play. I make a tiny closet kind of thing where he disappears and he comes out when he's needed, because he disappears anyway when not needed but I don't want him fading in and out where I see him. Oth, I can't stand balconies that are obviously unsupported, trash chutes that go nowhere, impossible chimney placement, etc, so those I make more architecturally realistic.

My small lot preference is for 2x2 lots so I don't have any favorite tiny lot builds as I almost never use them. But my rule of thumb for cheaty mods and objects is whether it gives me an unfair advantage.

On community lots time is unlimited so I'm perfectly happy to use anything that raises motives efficiently and fits the theme -- all in one bathrooms and coffee bean trees are two sorta-kinda cheaty objects I'm using right now on community lots but I wouldn't use on residential lots. Space saving ladders and the 1 tile teleporting disk I use to make the lots comfortably playable and for aesthetics. Since I don't use 1x1 lots it's almost never a question of space -- I can always fit in a staircase if I have too (like on the apocalypse tower lot the 8x8 tile box is part of the challenge so I use full staircases there). Since there's not a gameplay advantage I'm happy to use the ladders & portals on residential and community lots. Same with walkthrough blocks; I'm happy to use those anywhere too.

Oh yeah, I forgot that I only discovered the ascension portal thingy watching your museum, and forgot the invisible stairs in the tower, too. I've learned a lot from binge watching Calamity Hills. I've never used coffee bean trees, but my hoods are littered with Sun&Moon's edible fruit trees, as much because I personally love fruit trees as to feed my sims, though.

I was thinking about this in another context today - for me, the game really isn't a game - if a game has goals and rules and such - it's a toy. I create a world and there really aren't any rules except I don't do things that ruin the story for me, they have to make sense in the story universe... so, yeah.. for me, it's a toy more than a game. I think that's an interesting distinction.

I'm a really terrible simmer in that regard Sunrader - I'm a gamer at heart with a slight bent towards min/maxing. Still, I've come a long way from when I started. Back then I'd move the outdoor trash can into the house since it's quicker to throw away dishes and there's no point in buying a trash can you have empty or an expensive trash compactor that breaks down. Instead of an end table next to a couch there'd just as likely be a toilet -- much quicker to get back to skilling you see.

Even this round of college I've ended up turning into a challenge. I'm supposed to be playing want based - and I am - except I'm really only following the letter of the law and not the spirit. I want them to pass and to skill so if you're low on fun you're jumping rope, if you catch a fish you're cooking it, if you want to invite someone over it's your professor, if you want to do research with someone you're roping your slacker room mates into your research group. I'm trying though -- and having a lot of fun playing so I guess that's all that matters.

So long as you have fun keep going. I enjoy my want based uni play and seeing sims fail out a lot more than seeing perfect grades on everyone.

I would use cheaty objects if it fits the theme. I probably wouldn't use a teleporting disc unless it fits some fantasy/sci-fi/near future/mad scientist storyline. A ladder is fine, especially if it's placed in a rustic environment, or in some specialized structures and surroundings like a treehouse, ship, old attic, work enviroment (among builder/artisan/repairman/electrician tools etc). If it's not an eyesore and it fits, I approve.

To be totally honest, I sometimes restrain from cheats and mods even if they bring an advantage to me. For example, I don't use Perfect plants mod, because I like to be able to tend the garden and have full access to most growing plants. That choice however severely limits my landscaping possibilities. I drool over gardens like Voeille used to make, but I myself usually don't incorporate the same aesthetics in my lots. I have to find a compromise between these two extremes somehow.