Next up is my new steampunk community lot known as
The Brass Extravaganza!Ugh, just realized I forgot the exclamation point in this photo. Just to be clear, it's The Brass Extravaganza! with the exclamation point at the end, ok?
As you can tell, this lot makes use of the beautiful observatory from Midnight Hollow. I couldn't resist. Unfortunately, placing it on a lot like this overrides the lot type. :s At least, sort of. When you're sims go there, they'll get the beautiful park moodlet. The only sims on it will be those working at the cash registers and those working in the observatory. I tried multiple times trying to come up with a solution. I actually only changed it to a Big Park last minute because the live show venue won't allow sims to throw parties there and that is my solution... Select "throw party at..." to get other sims to use the lot. You could also have your sim hop into the hot tub and invite people to join from the surrounding community lots. This process is sort of a bugger, but it will make the lot a lot more fun. It's just a shame I couldn't get it to work as I intended because there are so many things for sims to do there. :( One of those includes the showtime stage. There are proprietors that will be around a lot. I tried to see if it was working correctly, so I could take a picture, but I honestly don't know. Before I was done finishing the lot, there was one sim that
did give a show, but she was AWFUL. Assuming the stage still works, I kept it there and I would think it would, if it worked before. The observatory was the very first thing I placed, so there shouldn't be a conflict there, I don't think. :neutral:
Another issue I faced was placing the lot in a neighborhood. It will look just like the image above, unless you need to rotate it, in which case the roof will go out of place. I suggest placing it in the lot as you wish and then redo the roof. Here are my steps to get it looking good as new:
Delete the roof
Move the Victorian roof to a different location, temporarily
Place the Octagonal Mansard roof
Open cheat window
"moveobjects on"
Hover the Victorian Roof on the floor below (that's the black section, so the Victorian Roof doesn't stick out as tall)
Press the alt key to place the Victorian Roof in the correct location
"Moveobjects off"
Done!
And that's it with the issues I had. I just want to be forthcoming about it, so everyone knows what their getting into, first.
So, onto my pictures and usual chitter chatter. ;)
The lot has two points of entry. One of which (this is the main one btw) is right in front of the stores you see in the second photo below. The other point of entry or exit is in the right hand corner way behind the pond and next to the spring riders. If you want, you can delete the second entry and close it with the fence. This way, you don't have to find a specific lot for it to work in, if you know what I mean.
The Brass Extravaganza! is home to several different stores to visit including a bakery, restaurant, toy store, an elixir shop and a clothing "store" (I put this in quotes because I'm not using the display pedestals from ITF. You can only change them, if you own the lot. Why did EA decide this? I don't know, but it put a damper on my building process. There is, however, a work around with a mod).
So that the clothing store isn't just for decoration, I placed an easel on the second floor, so sims can practice designing. You can also see that this lot is for the whole family. In addition to the toy store and in many cases the sims can "test" an object in it, there's a toddler playpen, a syfi treehouse, a teeter totter, spring riders, games, and a place to play in the sand. Kids cannot order from the restaurant or bakery, so I placed a small fridge to meet their needs. :)
There's different amusements for sims to participate in throughout the lot.
]
...And a fake place to take pictures, behind the haunted house.
Just some additional shots...
It took me several hours to figure out how to do this roller coaster. I had already placed the observatory and built the shell of the bakery/restaurant and really wanted to get the roller coaster loop over the building. I had used place friezes to get the middle section, so trying to place the loop was especially difficult. The stilts weren't tall enough to reach the top of the building and, when I tried to place some stilts on top of the roof, the placement of loop wouldn't connect to my already placed track pieces. Somehow or another, I got it to work, building intact, but just barely. The final problem was to connect the beginning and end pieces together. I started from the end of the track and started making my way to the front, but stopped doing that to begin at the starting point, hoping to connect the pieces somewhere in the middle. There is no way I would have succeeded without getting rid of the stilts. I tried and tried, so that's why the track is floating with absolutely no support. At least it allowed me to come up with a story for the upload. Haha. :D
Well, I hope you all enjoy. I've been working on this one on and off for a couple weeks. I finally decided to go through with my idea to gut Aurora Skies and make it a steampunk themed world. I downloaded a few lots from the exchange and am excited to make the town feel alive. This is just the start of that goal.
