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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 4th Jun 2010 at 7:11 PM
Default Staircase to bassement under foundation
since I have installed the sims 3 ambitions, I can't make a staircase under an house with foundation to the bassement.
You have to make the staircase first and then make the foundation or it doensn't work? Sims 3 says Can't build staircase under foundation. When I want to build a bassement under an existing house with foundation, than i can't because of this. Is this a bug or something:S

I am sorry for my bad english

NL:
Sinds ik the sims 3 ambities heb geinstalleerd kan ik geen trap meer maken onder een bestaand huis met fundering naar de kelder toe. Je moet nu eerst de kelder maken met trap en daarna de fundering maken. Dit is erg irritant als je een kelder onder een bestaand huis wil makenWeet iemand een oplossing of is dit gewoon een bug?
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Banned
#2 Old 5th Jun 2010 at 4:51 PM
It can be done. Look at the tatoo parlour in Twin Brooks. You have to build two staircases. One from the top of the foundation to the ground level, and a second from the ground level to the basement. There has to be a landing between the two. Sometimes the placement can be tricky for reasons unknown to me. So you may have to experiment.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 6th Jun 2010 at 10:43 AM
Thanks, but that is not what I mean, I don't know how to explane so I have made a movie from it. You can see in the movie also that I can't delete the foundation when there is a door 2 titels next from it very strange:S

I have uploaded the movie here http://cid-b632bac710f5deaa.skydriv...nbaar/Video.avi
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#4 Old 6th Jun 2010 at 2:33 PM
Something must have gotten broke with either the Ambitions patch or with Ambitions because I was able to place a staircase inside a foundation for my Williams Cottage and I cannot now.

What does work is building the basement first then the foundation around it, making sure to place your stairs to the basement before laying foundation.

The caveat of this I found is that your stairs can appear as one long flight, but note I didn't test if sims could use them and it is possible they are unroutable.

Check out my lousy recording.
Field Researcher
#5 Old 9th Jun 2010 at 8:52 PM
I can't see your recording (missing stupid pluggin -___-) but I've noticed the problem too.
The thing is, when you already built a house on a foundation, played it and want to add a basement, it's really a pain in the ass to not be able to do it the usual way. Are we supposed to destroy the foundation first (which means moving everything out), then build the basement, place the basement stairs, then build the foundation, then place the stairs going down the foundation ? That's nuts.
Why oh why, for every bonus that's added (like the individual roof slopes or the ability to colour floor sides - has anybody tried that yet, by the way ,-) do we get one borked ?
I'm not really building anything serious yet, but while playing, I just needed a basement for the game play, and I can't simply have it, because I need to research how to build those all over again. Bah.

Yes, I feel frustrated. I suppose you can tell. :p
Veteran Finn
retired moderator
#6 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 8:06 AM
I have this problem too, with the house I'm making.
I made a huge manor, and at some point decided I want a basement to it... And it just cannot be done. I tried everything, deleted foundations and walls on the point and few squares further, tried cheats... Everytime same error "can't mess with foundations" (What foundations, there isn't any??)
I guess it works the way HL said, to build basement and stairs to it first.. But for my house that is a bit late, I'm definatelly not rebuilding it all. So I lost my nerves and made the basement entrance outside the house. Not as pretty, but works, and I now have a basement.

Also, I want to say, though it's not the subject (but hazuitokage mentioned them)... The individual roof height adjustment sucks It breaks the shadows and colors on the walls, also, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but when choosing many roofs to adjust at the same, it always leaves the last selected untouched. I really much liked the old way of doing them, though it was slower. (yes i know, not the thread for this complain, it just wanted out)

Sooooooo frustrated. Grr.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 8:47 PM Last edited by BeechWell2 : 10th Jun 2010 at 8:57 PM. Reason: update
I have the same issue, but think I found the problem and a possible solution to it.
Note when you build a foundation and paint it, that the floor never matches with the bottom end of the wall paint/tapestry. It is always 1/2 click off. I assume that all foundations are 1/2 click too high and thus 1/2 click out of sync with the basement.

What I did to get around this was to first build a basement that also covered some grounds outside the foundation. Now I placed a staircase on the ground outside the house (but still above the basement) to the basement (which can take a few tries until the game lets you). Note that the upper stairs entrance is a little bit lower than the surrounding ground. Now use "constrainfloorelevation false" to flatten all ground above the basement to the level at the top of the stairs. Turn constrainfloor... off again and you now should be able to build a staircase to the basement from any point (provided you deleted the foundation directly above it of course).
At the end you'll probably need to clean up the mess "constrainfloorelevation false" made with the hights of the foundations, of course .

I hope this helps. If it doesn't work, or my writing is incomprehensible, or this is already known please tell me.

EDIT: Ok, I just found a problem with my method: All objects in the house are now sunken in (by that ominous 1/2 click). You can easily reposition them, but of course it is a major pain to click on every household object to reposition it. I'll see if I can find a solution to that.
Field Researcher
#8 Old 11th Jun 2010 at 12:49 AM
I think I get the idea… I'll try it tomorrow Thank you !

… It's weird that the objects sank. That means they moved in correlation to the ground instead of the floor of the foundation they are on… Right ? Weird.

edit : By the way, I tried to recolour floor edges, and it works ! Can't recolour singular pieces though, just the whole edge, but it's great ! No more sore floor bits sticking out. Well they still stick out, but now, they blend !
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 11th Jun 2010 at 1:26 AM
Quote: Originally posted by hazuitokage
I think I get the idea… I'll try it tomorrow Thank you !

… It's weird that the objects sank. That means they moved in correlation to the ground instead of the floor of the foundation they are on… Right ? Weird.

I think that's because the floor sank by 1/2 click, which they couldn't cope with.
Anyway, I think the problem only occured because I realigned the whole ground floor with a newly built foundation (which again ws 1/2 click lower than before). Realigning the floor to the old height seems to work perfectly. I can't really explain it very well. Just try it out. It still takes some fiddling, at some points I could place the stairs, at other I couldn't. But at least now I have fitted my old house with a basement underneath the foundation
dodgy builder
#10 Old 16th Jun 2010 at 12:52 AM
Last time I tried using cfe I just couldn't do it. The levels didn't move above and not belowe as usual. When I used the cheat all moved above and belowe where I wanted to change things. Made it impossible, I had to leave my plan. It's not such a long time ago, on a laptop with no internett connection. Must have been ambitions then. Anyone else seen that?
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 16th Jun 2010 at 12:06 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Volvenom
Last time I tried using cfe I just couldn't do it. The levels didn't move above and not belowe as usual. When I used the cheat all moved above and belowe where I wanted to change things. Made it impossible, I had to leave my plan. It's not such a long time ago, on a laptop with no internett connection. Must have been ambitions then. Anyone else seen that?

I've had the problem with CFE that it apparently snaps all foundations and friezes to full wall height. But that shouldn't interfere with the stairs placement.
dodgy builder
#12 Old 17th Jun 2010 at 11:21 PM
I don't know, it just didn't behave as usual. When I'm thinking of it, can't be Ambitions either. Hadn't installed it to that pc. Some CC then perhaps. Need to check it out on my new pc.
Test Subject
#13 Old 25th Jun 2010 at 3:28 PM
Having the same problem, can't get staircases to place anywhere a foundation was or is around. I even tried breaking off part of my foundation so it wasn't completely closed in to see if that would help. No luck, so I had to delete all my work and start over and work my way from the basement up. It seems there are a ton of issues with the new patch considering I don't have ambitions and seem to be having all the same problems as those who do.
Scholar
#14 Old 25th Jun 2010 at 8:04 PM
I don't have the new patch on this pc and I sometimes have trouble with stairs inside foundations. I just keep plugging away till it works and sometimes it never does and you need a design rethink. I do find that sometimes if I place them without the railings it can help but not always
Test Subject
#15 Old 26th Jun 2010 at 2:30 AM
See I was trying to place them without railings, and I carved out my entire foundation leaving only one row of foundation all the way around. When this didn't work I tried removing a few of them so that the area I was trying to place my steps were technically not closed into the foundation and it still would not work. Once again had to start working from the basement up. Either I'm going to get ambitions and this will be somewhat worth the crap because I'll have the new jobs, or I'll have to wait for EA to fix it. Either way this is way more trouble than we needed.
Lab Assistant
#16 Old 29th Jun 2010 at 1:08 PM Last edited by simsjeanie : 29th Jun 2010 at 6:54 PM.
This morning I had some time to try and went to Twinbrook.
First I lowered the ground (with the stairs) so I could place walls for a room beneath the foundations - the way we used to build "basements" before we got the basement-tool with WA. (I found out by doing this that now it is possible to place the stairs with 2 steps intervals instead of 4 only - this feature I really love! )
Delete foundation with the hammer tool inside this created room and put tiles on the floor, (use the moveObjects on cheat) and place a stair from the floor of this pre-WA-basement to the next floor up. That's easy.
Next you create a basement with the basement-tool beneath the pre-WA-basement. Have a look where the stairs would fit best. Go ahead and remove the foundation right there. If necessary you have to move furniture, windows, doors and objects that are placed on walls above. If there is a wall you have to delete it temporarily. Now you can place the stairs leading from -2 floor to -1 floor.
After that put floor tiles where you have deleted the foundation (build a new wall if necessary) and replace furniture, windows, doors and so on.
I've tried this way with three houses I found in Twinbrook which had no basement and tested all the three of them with a sim.
It was no problem - they walked up and down without any problems.
So it is possible to build basements afterwards if you can live with that pre-WA-basement level between your first floor and the WA basement. I know it's not perfect but much better than rebuilding the whole house - imho ...

@ beechwell (help - can't see the other threads now, hope I spelled your name right, sorry)
The best way to handle this issue is to place 4-steps-stairs from the foundation to the ground. Then go to the tile where the stairs have their "foot" and use this to level the ground around - you'll find it will be slightly raised. After that you can place another 12-steps-stairs on this levelled ground. Take their "foot" to level the ground beneath the foundation. Now you can place your walls inside the foundation without any issues. This way always worked for me (I think it began with WA) and so did today with my first try with Ambitions. (I don't know why EA crashed the levelling tool we had before - I think they want to challenge the community )



This afternoon I tried to add a basement with the WA-basement tool to a house with a foundation. And after some trying now I think I found a rather easy way how to do that.
1st - raise the ground under the foundation as high as possible.
2nd - chose the place where to put the stairs to the ground and mark three tiles. I tried the way hl showed in his video but my test sims couldn't use the stairs without a landing between the stairs to the ground and the stairs from the ground to the basement.
3rd - mark another six tiles in row. You can do that in one line or with an angle - as you like.
4th - place the basement in a fitting way.
All that you know already. I think the point is the following step:
5th - turn on the cheat with constrainFloorElevation false and place walls around the tiles you've marked. Of course they will raise the foundation but that doesn't matter. Turn off the cheat to constrainFloorElevation true. (Don't forget this or step 6 will screw up your house!)
6th - delete the foundation blocks inside the walls you've build. (Turn on the cheat moveObjects on - I don't know, perhaps it will work without that, too??? I forgot to try that, sorry.) Go down to the basement and place the stairs. They will will take place without any problems if the walls above are of usual height.
7th - turn on the cheat: constrainFloorElevation false and flatten the first floor again. (Have a look to the floors above, if necessary, flatten them, too. Sometimes the cfe acts weird ...) Turn off the cheat: constrainFloorElevation true
8th - place the 4-step-stairs from the first floor to the ground.
Ready.
Once you know it's really easy. It seems the stairs want to be surrounded by walls and the stairs of the basement want to have walls of full height above while being placed. If you do step 7 before having placed the basement stairs they won't take place.
I've tried it three times and tested it three times in three different houses. It works!
For sure there is an easier way to do that - but for the moment it may help all the builders who are going nuts because they face a total rebuilding of a house when they want to add a basement.

PS: good to place a light under the 4-steps-stair and on the tiles above the basement stairs if there is enough room or these places will be very dark. Hope I could help someone. If I didn't get the question right, please dear admins, just delete this ... (the screenies show that house called "beautiful windows" or something like that at Twinbrook - it was easy there because in the kitchen had enough room to add the stairs )
Test Subject
#17 Old 30th Jun 2010 at 1:39 PM
Default Ahhh!
Good god, Jeanie! I could kiss you!

Your second guide with the basement tool works perfect. I shan't have to destroy half of my legacy house to get my basement.

Kudos to you.
Test Subject
#18 Old 20th Jul 2010 at 1:20 AM
i once managed to make stairs directly from foundation to basement, whitout the landing
Test Subject
#19 Old 14th Sep 2010 at 3:02 PM
Thanks you so much simsjeanie. I read and tried this out in my game yesterday and it works like a charm. No more putting stairs in my sims backyards Yay!!
Test Subject
#20 Old 25th Sep 2010 at 11:57 PM
Default Possible Solution to add basement stairs bug.
Quote: Originally posted by BramDaMan
since I have installed the sims 3 ambitions, I can't make a staircase under an house with foundation to the bassement.
You have to make the staircase first and then make the foundation or it doensn't work? Sims 3 says Can't build staircase under foundation. When I want to build a bassement under an existing house with foundation, than i can't because of this. Is this a bug or something:S


I think that there is a possible way to add the stairs without using the old basement design.
Playing with the deleted foundation and basement stairs I noticed that there is a 2 space requirement on both sides of the stairs.

I also noticed that the foundations needs to be cleared all the way out on one deletion in order for it to register as open.

Therefore:
1) you need to have a space 5 squares wide for the stairs.
2) the foundation must be removed all the way outside.

When you finish there will be no tile grid showing over the 3 squares where the stairs will go. (one on each side)

Then you can place the stairs, then add the foundation back in.

Hope that helps, give it a try.
Test Subject
#21 Old 21st Jan 2011 at 4:28 AM
Thank you SO MUCH simsjeanie!
I've been trying to find a fix for this for hours and this worked perfectly =D

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.
-Dr. Seuss
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 21st Jan 2011 at 5:36 PM
I'm so glad that I could help. I remember I was so frustrated myself. And it turned out to be so easy! Many happy hours to all of you with building stairs -stairs - stairs ...
Test Subject
#23 Old 26th Jan 2011 at 8:25 PM
Default Covering underground stairwells
Sort of related and apols if covered elsewhere - I've built an (emergency) staircase to connect to my cellar swimming pool (normal access by lift). Trouble is because of the layout of the plot, an enormous trench (i.e stairwell) has now appeared across my ground floor corridor, exposing the length of the underground staicase. I've tried flooring over it but it won't accept this. Is there a way I can solve this (to just leave the head of the staircase exposed, not the whole bloomin' lot ! I'm sure there's an obvious answer, but still struggling with transitions from Sims 2
Thanks all

Squid
Eminence Grise
#24 Old 6th Feb 2011 at 12:45 AM
rug works or outdoors... plants. With Moveobjects On, of course.
Test Subject
#25 Old 14th Feb 2011 at 11:01 PM
....Yeah, I kind of want to slap the game developers upside their heads for not using common sense and thinking 'Oh, making stairs to a basement with a house that has a foundation, which are nearly all of the in-game houses, is very hard. Perhaps we should fix this.'

I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to get the stairs from ground level to the basement. Getting the staircase from the first floor to the ground level is easy. Getting the second staircase is what I cannot accomplish. Even when I clear out a LARGE space of the foundation so there is absolutely NO foundation near where I want my stairs, they just will not go into place. It keeps telling me the same thing; I cannot build inside a foundation. And to that, I promptly yell "I CLEARED OUT A HUGE SPACE, THERE'S NO FOUNDATION ****** NEAR THE STAIRS" into my computer screen.
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