How To - Making Sure Your Terrain is Flat. =]

Hi :mrgreen:

I'm sure a lot of people who create worlds knows this so this is more for newer CAW-ers. :)

I learned this from someone on Custom Sims 3... don't remember exactly who (blush) it can help if you want to make sure you lots are placed on a flat spot.

*I think I have this information correct. If not, please correct me and I'll delete this is shame and humiliation. :lol:

Since I'm making a mostly flat world I need to make sure it is as flat as I can make it- Right now I'm working on the hill part.

A. This part-
https://i.imgur.com/TEMYGN1.jpg

B. What you need to do now is turn on the Wire Frame. Click View and then click View Wireframe. It will look like this-
https://i.imgur.com/x2NloDA.jpg

C. I keep the brush size small so I don't flatten too much too fast. Use the Flatten- Gentle set high.
https://i.imgur.com/8nUYm2l.jpg

D. The brush is hard to see unless it crosses the wireframe lines...
https://i.imgur.com/KFj9olL.jpg

E. Since I want the lot areas to be flat and the lots will be against the roads, pick a start spot at the road~ That will be the height of your level. Keep starting from that area.
If you start leveling again from another area that hasn't been flattened from your first spot- it can be at a different level and not really flat. :)

https://i.imgur.com/ZeVCfwH.jpg

F. Slowly move the brush over the area you want flat. The view of the chunk will change when and if it hits an area that isn't level/flat with your starting point.
https://i.imgur.com/Ui5x7xQ.jpg

G. When it flattens or you slowly move the brush over a flat spot the view will change back to the wireframe.
https://i.imgur.com/d1KaYV2.jpg

H. Keep going slowly over the area you want at that level. Move it slowly and make sure you hit the areas a few times to test. :)
.
.

The larger the squares/triangles, the more continuous flat area, they get smaller as they go toward an uneven area. You don't have to make the squares large- that's only in large areas of flat land. But you can tell an area is flat by them. :)
https://i.imgur.com/A4GrruI.jpg

J. Turn the Wireframe off when you're done. :)
https://i.imgur.com/TEMYGN1.jpg

Hopefully I explained it well enough. I'm not always good with explaining. ;)
Happy CAW-ing. :mrgreen:

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22 Replies

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SilverJanSims
Seasoned Ace
11 years ago
Hi Rflong,

Hope you're feeling better, today. A cold has been threatening me, too. In addition to my above questions, I was wondering where you find the 'Reaper' statues to put in a cemetery. Found a headless statue in buydebug to use for now but was wondering where the 'Grim' one is.

Thanks for your help again and did you get my request for a thumbnail for Flatlands Cliff that I made on your homepage?

Silver
Rflong7
Legend
11 years ago
Hi :D

@Christinebremner- Oh, Cool~ a new world! Can't wait to see it. :D

SilverDaybreak wrote:
I used the river bridge which has a wide road and the road is more narrow, do you just match the road you create to the middle of the bridge or is there a way to make a wider road. Haven't quite figured out how to make dirt roads and paths down to the beach or make a walking trail. The bridges are for another world I'm working on Winding River which is a small 200 mountain with river world.

The river bridge from Pets is huge and I've never used it. I've seen it used with a single road so as long as it works.
It the Walkthrough there's a guild for the basic dirt road. You can use whichever dirt for the road and sidewalk but it shows the way to set it up. - the walkthrough is on the CAW download page. :)

Also posted a photo link of my latest world, Flatlands Cliff which is a mountain/beach. Got the roads a little better this time except for a few spots that look like grass when zoomed in.

What you can do is turn the Grid tool on then delete that road section that is showing the road through it to see if there is a little hill under it. You can hit the Undo key/tool to put the road right back.
If there is a little bump under it you can use the smooth terrain tool to smooth it out- small brush, low strength.
The Road Grading tool doesn't always smooth out the land under the road. :)

When I made Silver Mountain, I also created a small Coffehouse with stage (for Showtime) but it didn't draw a proprietor to work and I labeled the lot as 'Coffee House'. There is a stage inside. Do you know what's needed to get the venue to function as a coffee house or of a tutorial on creating Showtime venues?

Thanks again for your help.

Silver

Make sure you have the stage from buydebug in Buy mode (Not sure if you mean the stage in Build mode).
Also, you can go into an EA Showtime show lot and see how it's set up. The game will generate a square for the proprietors which aren't available for us anyway. :)
SilverJanSims
Seasoned Ace
11 years ago
Rflong,

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I'll look in buydebug next time I'm playing in Silver Mountain for the stage I need for my coffee house. The other ones I've seen it looked like the platform foundation. I made a Performance Park with the park stage so I hope it works when I play in the world.

For the graveyard, do you know where to find the Grim statue? I'll check out the road tutorial on my next World-making Monday and practice in Winding River.

I find that the grid only goes about half way in the world I'm working on. Is there a way to get it to cover the whole world, which would make getting my streets straighter, easier. How do you zoom in on the areas around the world and not just the middle section. I have to zoom out a bit to see what I'm working on. The odd time the scene has moved closer or rotated a bit but it was so quick I didn't catch how I did it.

Hope you're having a good day.

Silver
Rflong7
Legend
11 years ago
Your park stage will need the Showtime stage also. It can go on the ground or any stage foundation. It's also only one size- 8x7 (I believe). :)

Grim in in Build mode where the buildings are- either the second or all options will show it.

The grid will fade out at a certain distance per chunk. You can turn the chunk lines on in View- Show Chunk Boundaries. Then you'll know why it fades; but you need to have your view close to the road area to see why the ground is showing through your road. It might only show when you pull your view back (at a distance) but to really see Why you must pull your view back down to the ground to see the ground under the road. :)

Don't worry about making your road piece one long section, you can have it in smaller sections by clicking on the grid line you're following and continuing to place the road. It's a continuous road even if you click and drag -until you stop it by clearing the tool.

I use the mouse to move- holding down the right mouse tab and dragging the mouse will move the view. Also there arrow keys on the keyboard will move the view.
The mouse wheel can pull out the view but also when held down will allow the mouse to pivot the view when you move the mouse. :)
SilverJanSims
Seasoned Ace
11 years ago
Hi Rflong,

Hope you've had a good week, I'm still nursing a cold but I think it's finally starting to break.

I've decided to start my Flatlands world over again and was wondering how you even out the edges without having it look like there's a black hole under parts of the world so that the transition from land to water looks uniform but not have the water so high that it affects the mainland. Before there was an area that was raised by the edge and it looked hollow underneath. Kind of like a tent-shape in the ground. Using the arrow keys do help in working more closely to the terrain.

Do you scuplt and place roads as you go or get the areas you want flattened done first and then place the roads?

Thanks for you're help once again and I did find the showtime stages in buydebug. It also helps to filter the content to what you need. Less stuff to shift through that way.

Silver
Rflong7
Legend
11 years ago
Hi SilveDaybreak :)

Nilxis has some pictures on how to make a smooth beach- http://nilxisdesigns.blogspot.com.es/p/tutoriales.html

The world map edges are above the water; if you want or allow the view to see the edges then you'll have to lower all the edges of the map into the world. Make a beach or cliffs or some edge to the world. :)

I usually sculpt the land and then place the roads but there's always some sculpting and road moving later. Never have placed roads perfectly the first time. :)

Thanks~ Hope you're having a good week, too. :mrgreen:
SilverJanSims
Seasoned Ace
11 years ago
Hi Rflong,

Thanks for the link to the beach making pictures but was wondering if there is one with the English on CAW part? Is the smooth ground the same as flatten terrain?

Silver
Rflong7
Legend
11 years ago
SilverDaybreak wrote:
Hi Rflong,

Thanks for the link to the beach making pictures but was wondering if there is one with the English on CAW part? Is the smooth ground the same as flatten terrain?

Silver

No, there should be a Smooth

http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/Rflong13/Smooth4_zps1d2525b4.jpg
SilverJanSims
Seasoned Ace
11 years ago
Thanks Rflong, I did manage to figure out how to make a beach and will practice that more in my next world. Was wondering if the game tends to spawn things automatically like 'Pet EP critters, fruit seeds or things associated with other EPs even if you don't place them but they will spawn anyways if you have the EP?

Silver
SilverJanSims
Seasoned Ace
11 years ago
Hi Rflong: Hope you're having a good day. I started a thread here on my new Silver Peaks world where I have a little background story and some photos. Feedback on how it looks so far would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Silver.

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How To - Making Sure Your Terrain is Flat. =]

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