Forum Discussion

gamertherapy's avatar
4 years ago

About Basements and Foundations:

Posting this as a new thread because the other one discussing solutions to this problem was closed due to its age. Yet there is current interest in finding solutions, so...new thread.

I think I have an easy working example of how this is done (and the verbal instructions make more sense to me now) so in case it helps others, look at the Goth family mansion, in the building adjacent to the pool where there are a lot of windows and steps leading down into a sunken area with a palm tree and some ferns. You can place a basement from the level with the ferns, then go down a level into the basement and add a spiral staircase next to the steps leading down to the fern level.

Then you can make the basement a lot larger without disrupting anything, from inside the basement.

But it does demonstrated the "walls within a foundation" effect that allows for two sets of stairs: steps from main house level into room-within-the-foundation, then stairs or ladder from there, down into a basement, to make this work.
  • karritz's avatar
    karritz
    Seasoned Rookie
    I've got some tutorials on this topic. I use basements and foundations a lot in my games and got tired of typing out big explanations so made some YouTube videos that people seem to find useful.

    Quick intro to CFE cheat which will be needed if putting stairs inside an existing basement
    https://youtu.be/QjR0bROi7EY

    Adding stairs inside an existing foundation (down to basement)
    https://youtu.be/FbtfU3G6-lw

    Place a spiral staircase inside a basement
    https://youtu.be/Fqev_qxvkTY

    Place a staircase down to a basement
    https://youtu.be/3z7xnOL7xJY

    A couple of other related but not specifically on topic tutorials

    This is one of my most popular tutorials - doesn't cover basements specifically
    Building a house inside the side of a hill
    https://youtu.be/63vBxqAFxrI

    This might be useful too but not specifically on this topic
    https://youtu.be/t_KU70FCUGg
  • Damienf519's avatar
    Damienf519
    Seasoned Rookie
    @Karritz

    Cool!

    Thanks for sharing you're youtube channel. It looks like you made a lot of interesting tutorials. I knew about stairs and the constrain floor elevation cheat, but I don't know if I would have been able to explain it as well as you did.
  • karritz's avatar
    karritz
    Seasoned Rookie
    "Damienf519;c-17917784" wrote:
    @Karritz

    Cool!

    Thanks for sharing you're youtube channel. It looks like you made a lot of interesting tutorials. I knew about stairs and the constrain floor elevation cheat, but I don't know if I would have been able to explain it as well as you did.


    Thank you. I'm glad you found them useful. I've got a Tutorials playlist on my channel with a few other build tutorials in it. The Dormer windows tutorial seems to be popular too.
  • "Karritz;c-17917778" wrote:
    I've got some tutorials on this topic. I use basements and foundations a lot in my games and got tired of typing out big explanations so made some YouTube videos that people seem to find useful.

    Quick intro to CFE cheat which will be needed if putting stairs inside an existing basement
    https://youtu.be/QjR0bROi7EY

    Adding stairs inside an existing foundation (down to basement)
    https://youtu.be/FbtfU3G6-lw

    Place a spiral staircase inside a basement
    https://youtu.be/Fqev_qxvkTY

    Place a staircase down to a basement
    https://youtu.be/3z7xnOL7xJY

    A couple of other related but not specifically on topic tutorials

    This is one of my most popular tutorials - doesn't cover basements specifically
    Building a house inside the side of a hill
    https://youtu.be/63vBxqAFxrI

    This might be useful too but not specifically on this topic
    https://youtu.be/t_KU70FCUGg


    Oh I will try this today. Thanks. I prefer to place a ladder than spiral staircase though. :)

  • anthonydyer's avatar
    anthonydyer
    Seasoned Traveler
    My favorite method of creating a (in my view, a real) basement is to use the foundation tool and hollow out the inside area. My method even allows you to add in a walk-out door or full sized windows and doesn't require going overboard with cheats or complicated procedures. Let me elaborate.


  • If your lot slopes, you will need to consider height carefully. Find an area along the lot that you want your foundation (1st floor) to have a height at. Click and drag to create your entire 1st floor.
  • Hollow out all foundation squares except for the perimeter of what you created.
  • Use the stairs tool. Place a stairs fixture from the perimeter foundation to the ground on the inside of the foundation. Your stair fixture should exactly cover a 1x1 area. Do not click and drag.
  • Repeat until you have 4 1x1 stair fixtures. (If you click once, the game will automatically generate a 1x1 stair case.)
  • Remove all stairs fixtures with the sledgehammer tool. Use the leveling tool to flatten all land within the foundation to the height of the lowest staircase.
  • You may now place a full length staircase from the foundation top to the floor of your basement.
  • You may delete some perimeter foundation segments and replace it with an ordinary wall. It should be the same height. You may need to use the leveling tool to create flat area adjacent to the wall.