What I do is graph it on Photoshop and then color code the rooms, hallways, etc. This works perfectly for small houses. But I'm trying to build this really complicated mansion and I have no idea where to start. I figured I need the 60 x 60 lot and for the past two days all I've been doing is staring at the graph in Photoshop LOL

Any tips or techniques? This is the house plan I want to build in game http://www.architecturaldesigns.com...lan-32128aa.asp

Thanks! Looking forward to some great ideas on how to tackle this.

I think with that kind of thing you'd be best off starting with the foyer area and sort of radiating outward from that. The rest of the house is built around it, so decide how you want to do that and then the rest will tend to fall into place.

When converting from house plans, many people get stuck on the "3 feet/1 meter roughly equals 1 tile" thing and forget that what's more important is playability, and the overall look and feel. Hallways should usually be at least 2 tiles wide, leave room around doorways for sims to get in and out of rooms, and if you have to fudge the structure here and there to make it work in-game, well, that's just what ya gotta do.

Keeping in mind door/window placement and symmetry is good too. You may need to add or remove a tile from the size of a room to make the doors and windows look right. Sometimes this means you'll end up with some weird spots once you work over the whole house to grid-ify it. When I've done this, I've done each room as a new layer and a different colour, set to 50% opacity, in Photoshop. That way, if I need to move a room one tile up and to the left to make it fit, it's easy to do so.

HP, thanks so much for your reply. I like the idea of a new layer for each room. I never thought of that and it'll be easier to make changes that way. Thanks again.

What I do with houses, big or small, is look at the plan (it sounds like you have one) and count out the grid needed first, like below:



I'll look at things like windows and doors, counters, bathroom fixtures, beds, etc., and you can figure out what the room should be from there.

I generally find that if you can get two sides counted out, the rest of the house will happily fit into the grid. Like HP says, if you're building for players, you do need to adjust for nicer hallways, door areas, traffic patterns, etc.

Anyway, in the pic above, you can see that from the bottom left corner I have counted 1 square for the counter, 1 square for the walkway between the counter and table (should probably have been two there for a playable house), 1 square for the table, 1 for the hallway (again, could be two there), etc. In the top right corner, you'll see I have a 1x3 area for the bed, because that's what they take in-game.

I find this much, much more successful to work with than the approximation of actual square feet. Hope that helps!

I stick with HP's advice on this one. It's a very big house and it's very easy to get stuck in calculations. Then you very fast ends up with something that does not look good when it's finished. On a big build you have to be able to keep two thoughts at the same time. Tiny details and the overall picture.

I would also be very careful with the staircase. How do you wanna make that? The way you make the staircase will determine very much around it.

I have finished putting down the walls and stuff. I have problems with the roof as always. LOL

Volvenom, I just made the stairs straight. I am not an expert builder and I couldn't for the life of me make the CFE cheat work so I can make L-shaped stairs.

The house is HUGE but this is the kind of house my hubby and I wanna have built in the far away future as our real house so I thought it would be nice to have our simmies live our dream first LOL

I do really wish it would be possible to make rounded staircases like in your plan. That would be lovely.

Yes it would've made the foyer so much more romantic.

I've finished building the house. Just decorating it now.