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Inventor
Original Poster
#1 Old 18th Dec 2009 at 1:57 AM
Default Building Basements in Sims 3 WA
I have searched throughout this site and wowwiki. I cannot find any information on how to use the basement tool available with WA EP.

I found a tutorial download on making a swimming pool into a basement, but that's not what I'm looking for.

I want to know how to build a basement extension on a pre-existing house.

If I follow the instructions in the EP manual, and start from the floor of the house, it tells me I cannot build a basement through a foundation. This house has a foundation and porch so the main floor is slightly above ground.

The only thing I've figured out on my own is how to create the basement from ground level, but then I cannot figure out how to add stairs to get down to the basement from the main house floor.
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Instructor
#2 Old 18th Dec 2009 at 2:08 AM
Delete at least 4 tiles in a row/column and add the stairs. Think about it like you placed flooring over the entire second floor and had to remove some tiles to place the stairs. Hope this helps.
Eminence Grise
#3 Old 18th Dec 2009 at 2:26 AM
You'll need to cut a "well" in the foundation above where the basement stairs go, and then place stairs from the ground floor down to ground level, as well as stairs from ground level down to the basement. You can cover part of your foundation well with floor tiles or rug.
Inventor
Original Poster
#4 Old 18th Dec 2009 at 5:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Sookielee
Delete at least 4 tiles in a row/column and add the stairs. Think about it like you placed flooring over the entire second floor and had to remove some tiles to place the stairs. Hope this helps.


Thank you, I figured out I had to remove the floor tiles. I thought for some reason they'd automatically delete upon placing stairs, alas, but they did not.

Quote: Originally posted by Srikandi
You'll need to cut a "well" in the foundation above where the basement stairs go, and then place stairs from the ground floor down to ground level, as well as stairs from ground level down to the basement. You can cover part of your foundation well with floor tiles or rug.


By 'well' you mean remove a section of foundation where I want to place steps? So I will end up with two sets of stairs, but they can be contigous. Thank you for this tip. I'll try it out next time I'm in game.
Eminence Grise
#5 Old 18th Dec 2009 at 11:16 PM
Right, exactly. I haven't figured out a way to make the two sets of steps exactly contiguous... there's a tile between the bottom of the foundation steps and the top of the cellar steps. But I think it's possible, because I could swear I saw that in a tomb in-game. Perhaps somebody in the Building forum knows the trick
Test Subject
#6 Old 19th Dec 2009 at 12:31 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Srikandi
Right, exactly. I haven't figured out a way to make the two sets of steps exactly contiguous... there's a tile between the bottom of the foundation steps and the top of the cellar steps. But I think it's possible, because I could swear I saw that in a tomb in-game. Perhaps somebody in the Building forum knows the trick


The Forbidden Palace tomb has it. I'll check it out in build mode.
Field Researcher
#7 Old 19th Dec 2009 at 1:03 PM
Not entirely sure, but I think I remember being able to do that with "moveobjects on".
Test Subject
#8 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 12:06 AM
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm having this same problem (wanting to add a basement to an existing house).

I've tried creating the "well" in the basement (6 units long), but I'm not able to place the stairs from the ground to the basement. I have no problems adding the stairs from the ground level to the ground, but I can't create the stairs below that. When I try, it says either, "Can't be placed inside a foundation" or "Terrain too high to place stairs on basement." I've even found a tutorial on the Sims 3 site on how to do it, and it keeps giving me this error.

I do have Ambitions installed, so that may be a factor in my difficulties. Have they changed the way that basement stairs are made with this new expansion?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Banned
#9 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 11:19 AM
Retrofitting a basement to a house which does not have one can be a major pain. Sometimes it just does not work right. Or it works only after a lot of fiddling. Sometimes the stairs have to go someplace where you really don't want them.

Of course, any house which is uploaded without a basement is substandard. There are many houses which already have basements. It is just far easier to download the houses which already have basements as opposed to trying to retrofit a basement to a house without one.
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#10 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 2:39 PM
There appears to be a bug introduced with either Ambitions or the patch in which stairs can no longer be placed inside a foundation in the basement. Please see the days old thread right at the top hard to miss first thread of the building forum discussing this ... aptly named Staircase to basement under foundation.
mature minion
retired moderator
#11 Old 14th Jun 2010 at 3:24 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
There appears to be a bug introduced with either Ambitions or the patch in which stairs can no longer be placed inside a foundation in the basement. Please see the days old thread right at the top hard to miss first thread of the building forum discussing this ... aptly named Staircase to basement under foundation.


I think the problem is that stairs going down to a basement now require a full ceiling height above them. If you use CFE to return the area immediately above where you want the stairs to be to full room height it lets you place them...or at least so I've found
Test Subject
#12 Old 25th Jun 2010 at 3:03 PM
Simple solution to the issue:

Cut a hole in your foundation one tile larger in each direction than the size of your stairs, example 6 long and 3 wide for a 1x4 stairwell. Build walls *exactly* the size of the stairwell on the ground inside the foundation hole, away from the foundation edges. Place your stairs (should go in fine). Delete walls, and fill foundation back in except for one row at the start of the stair well. Finally, place a set of stars from the floor to the ground in that remaining open spot in the foundation. Wala, continuous stairs from the floor to the basement through the foundation in Ambitions.
Test Subject
#13 Old 25th Jun 2010 at 3:17 PM
I actually had a problem doing this. I've built many houses with foundations and basements did exactly what everyone is suggesting, cutting out a part and placing the stairs. Now after a little while of not playing I come back to find that for whatever the reason, my stairs will not place. No matter how big the hole in the foundation, the staircase says " Cannot be placed inside a foundation". Thankfully my process of building includes working from the ground up, so when I emptied my lot, I instead placed my basement where I had built it previously, placed my stairs, then built the foundation over top. Created a cut out, and now I have a foundation basement. It is still annoying to have to go through this process because if you don't know how you want your house to look or where you want anything, building from "Under" the ground up makes it a lot harder to design your house the way you want considering the stair case would be ruined if I tried to move it.
Test Subject
#14 Old 25th Jun 2010 at 3:19 PM
I take it back. Sim won't use the stairs created with the above method, does the blocked fit.
Test Subject
#15 Old 25th Jun 2010 at 3:38 PM
I hope it's the patch, I'm pretty sure it is. I know for a 100% fact that I did it that way before and for whatever reason it will not work now. Wish EA would hurry up already with a fix, it's really not worth it to people who don't actually have ambitions and have a huge urge to finish building one of the many worlds I started lol
Duck Defender
#16 Old 27th Jun 2010 at 7:03 PM
Oh man, this is killing me. I can't do it either.
Test Subject
#17 Old 28th Jun 2010 at 1:11 AM
The more people say they can't do it either the more I say it's the new patch. >=(
Scholar
#18 Old 28th Jun 2010 at 8:50 AM
Heather I don't have the patch on this pc, yet I had trouble with a lot doing this. It's the weirdest thing. I suspect this problem arose earlier, perhaps with the CAW patch, and we're just starting to notice it now
Lab Assistant
#19 Old 28th Jun 2010 at 1:44 PM
Just a thought - did you think of putting a floor on the ground? I only can place stairs in a foundation when I put tiles there before ... But I have to look myself, didn't built yet with Ambitions ... *sigh* - thought the behaviour of stairs would have been improved by EA with the new EP ...
Usually I help myself by creating a "basement" (foundation basement) like we did it before WA and then place the cellar with the basement tool EA gave to us underneath that ...
Lab Assistant
#20 Old 29th Jun 2010 at 11:31 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Tee Hee Hee
I think the problem is that stairs going down to a basement now require a full ceiling height above them. If you use CFE to return the area immediately above where you want the stairs to be to full room height it lets you place them...or at least so I've found


I'm so dull! After fiddling around this afternoon I "discovered" exactly this and posted it here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=3225814#post3225814 - should have read your answer better before! Thank you Tee Hee Hee!
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