Guide to Houseboats in game & in CAW

JudySims wrote:
Can we hope for a guide to putting the ports and houseboats into CAW soon? :) I tried it in EIG and made the port fine, but can't get the houseboat lot to work. I just get an empty hull that I can't build on. :( I noticed there is an icon to place a boat lot in CAW, but haven't tried it yet. Thanks

I'm going to try and get it done sometime this upcoming week - depends when I can find the time to squeeze it in.

Wreck_Diver wrote:

Will it eventually be possible to purchase ports so that we can add gates to the dock and set access permissions to allow only family members onto the dock and the houseboat?

That's a nice idea, but at this point it'd be a feature request that'd be unlikely to happen for a game we've already shipped. As it currently stands, a docked houseboat shouldn't attract any more Sims than any other normal home lot, and when out at the ocean the only Sims that should visit (unless you call them to come over) are service NPC Sims that have to be there.

YellowJane wrote:
I have a few Q's: :)

Can Sims dive directly off a housboat?
Can Sim go diving in worlds other than Islo Paradiso?
Other than Twinbrook, is there any other worlds you cannot have houseboats in?
And if a Sim expires on a houseboat that's driving out in open water, will the Grim Reeper arrive as normal? Because I once had a Sim expire on the pavement, not on a Community or Home lot, and the Grim Reeper couldn't get to them.

Thanks for putting this guide together! I have just ordered Island Paradise now... ;) I'd really appreciate answers :)

Most of your houseboat questions should be answered elsewhere in this guide, but a quick note about death... yes, if you die on a houseboat the Grim Reaper will show up there!

ClairkP wrote:
Thankyou for your tutorial, absolutely marvellous. Built a houseboat at the island and everything worked beautifully. However, went to the world I am playing, (one of my own creations) build a Port, following your instructions exactly. Put the houseboat I had built on it. my Sims couldn't get off the boat, they just stand there, stamping feet waving arms and yelling. So, I deleted the houseboat, and (again using your instructions) built a houseboat. Same thing happened, tried to get my Sims to go to town and they couldn't get off the boat. Any suggestions?

Sorry to hear about the difficulty, it'd be really difficult for me to diagnose the issue on a case by case basis like that though. My best suggestion would be to ensure that there is plenty of room for the Sims to route on each side of the gangway, that the gangway/dock were built at the proper height, and that the ocean depth is deep enough in that section of the port to not cause any interference.

The other thing you may want to check is if you have a basement or hot tub on the deck of your boat, players have had problems with route fails when fishing off the side of the boat. I don't explicitly know if it may cause issues with routing off the gangway as well, but it's something to potentially consider.