GC's CFE Tutorials *Moved*

Split Level Stairs: Lower Ceiling Method

Introduction




You may remember my previous split level stairs tutorial, in which I taught you my 'stacking method'. If not, don't worry! The tutorial I'm sharing with you today describes a completely different method you can use to achieve similar effects. I call this my 'lower ceiling method', and it is my personal favourite way of creating split level stairs.

While this method does create a fair bit of dead space around the stairwell, it has several big benefits: firstly, that you do not need to use up one of your five buildable levels just to create a landing; secondly, that not quite so much forward planning is required; and thirdly, that you can use it to create almost any combination of stair heights.

Once you've mastered the 'lower ceiling method', you'll have a very flexible tool for creating a wide variety of staircases. To get you started, in this tutorial I'm going to be walking you through the steps to creating a simple L-shaped staircase comprised of two 1/2 height stairs.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Finished-1.png

If you are new to working with CFE turned off, I recommend first reading my Learning the Basics and Tips and Common Problems sections.


The Tutorial

Start by getting the basic structure of your build in place. I've gone for a simple colonial home.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Starting.png

First we need to prepare the structure that will support our staircase. I've placed some buydebug lights so that my room isn't too dark for you to see. I've also coloured they key areas to make things easier to explain - you do not need to do this, unless it makes it easier for you to keep track of what you're doing.

The blue area is where the lower stairs will be.

The green area is where we'll be creating our landing.

The yellow area is where the upper stairs will be.

The red area will be dead space with slanted ceilings, created as a side effects of lowering the ceiling in the green and yellow areas.

The green, yellow, and red areas all need to have walls around them, at least for now.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Colours.png

The dead space doesn't have to be entirely useless. If you like to have nooks and crannies in your homes, creating cupboards and such like it can actually be quite fun. We're going to add walls to every square now, so that we don't have to plan ahead of time exactly how we want to use this space. It is much easier to delete a wall you don't need than to add one to an area where the ceiling has already been lowered.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/RedWalls.png

I've used the same colours on the floor above to make things clearer. I've also introduced a new colour - pink, to designate the area that I will open up to create an atrium.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/UpstairsColours.png

Now we clear away the tiles I've coloured pink and blue. Below you should be able to see the place where the lower stairs will be, the tiles I've coloured blue.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/ClearPinkBlue.png

As downstairs, the we'll need walls enclosing the red area. It's important to get these in now; trying to create them later will mean needing to do the cfe work all over again.

The smaller dividing walls in between the individual red squares aren't really necessary upstairs, as it's the floor (not the ceiling) that will be sloped here, so you are unlikely to be able to use any of the dead space. Still, no harm in putting them in, in case you think of something super creative later on.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/UpstairsRed.png

Now it's time to open the cheat box and type testingcheatsenabled on, then open it again and type constrainfloorelevation off.

For the type of staircase we'll making, we need to lower the landing to 1/2 the height of a regular wall. We start by using the stair tool to create an area 3/4 the height of a regular wall. It doesn't really matter where we do this, just somewhere near the stair area.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Lower1.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Lowering1.png

Next, we use the stairs again to create an area at 1/2 the height of a regular wall. However, make sure to keep some tiles at 3/4 height, as we'll need to refer to them again in a minute.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Lower2.png

We need to find one of our 1/2 height tiles, select the Level Terrain tool, and drag across to the landing. (If you've coloured your tiles like mine, it's the green one, though obviously the highlight colour in my picture prevents you from seeing it.)

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Drag1.png

Next, we find a 3/4 height tile and drag across to the outermost upper stair (outermost yellow) tile. (Unfortunately, it's covered up by the highlighting colour in my picture).

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Drag2.png

The stairway should now look like this. The landing (green) is at 1/2 height, the outermost upper stair (outermost yellow) is at 3/4 height, and the innermost upper stair (innermost yellow) is slanted to form a transition between the two of them.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Dragged.png

We have almost created a smooth slant for our upper stairs to sit upon, but not quite. The last step is to find a tile that is at regular wall height and drag across any areas that are not landing, stairs, or dead space.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/FlattenUpperLanding.png

At last, we should have a nice slope.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/NiceSlope.png

However, you may notice an unattractive gap where the levels join.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Seam.png

If you want to try to fix this, select Level Terrain, first dragging from the landing across the atrium for a couple of squares, and then from a full height area to fix the dent you've made, as shown below.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/FixSeam.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/FixSeam2.png

The seam joining the levels together should have moved one square further away from the landing. For some reason, this usually fixes gapping issues.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/FixedSeam.png

If you go up a layer, the roof will probably have a big dent in it, but I'm sure you know how to fix that by now.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/CeilingFixed.png

Your stairway should now look something like this.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Progress.png

It's now very important that we open the cheat box and type constrainfloorelevation on.

After that, we can start to jazz up our stairway.

Fences make a nice banister. Try to chose one that will look good with whatever handrail you will eventually be using on your stairs.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Bannister.png

If you want to use a wall instead, the gapping issue may return. If this happens and you have the space, try enlarging the atrium by one row of tiles.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Wall1.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Wall2.png

I went for a combination of both.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/BanisterWall.png

Finally, we can place our stairs! You do not need to turn constrainfloorelevation back off for this - in fact, it probably won't work if you do. The stairs should just slot nicely into place.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/UpperStairs.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/LowerStairs.png

Handrails are probably a good idea.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Handrail.png


Finishing Off

It is possible to layer these kinds of stairs one of top of one another, but unless you are very very lucky you will encounter all kinds of silliness. I did manage it after a couple of scrapped attempts (thanks to inexplicable 'cannot intersect wall' and 'cannot intersect object' and 'cannot do that' messages), but I really wouldn't recommend it until you are very, very comfortable with these techniques, and able to tell what is you making a mistake and what is just the game being really stupid.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Double.png

Anyway, back to our easier, two-story project. Buydebug lights are good for evening out lighting between the levels. Dark, horizontal patterns are the best for concealing the areas where they join. If you want to use white like I've done, you'll just have to be very patient with setting up the lighting just right.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Finished-1.png

As to that dead space, I find it can actually add a lot of character. I don't usually open them up to include them in a main room, because they're a weird array of shapes, but add an archway and they make an excellent little cubbyhole. My new favourite thing to do with them is to add closets, which sims seem to be able to access with no issues. Just be sure to playtest thoroughly.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Wardrobe.png

Bookcases are also routable. Laundry baskets, annoyingly, are not.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/Bookcase.png

You can even clear out the supporting wall under the upper stairs to create more living space. I'm not a fan of this setup myself, but it's not a bad solution for smaller homes.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/UnderStairs2.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/GreenCats1/CFE%20Tutorials/LShapedStairs/UnderStairs.png

As always, if you have any questions, problems, suggestions, or success stories, please do feel free to share them here, and I'll respond as quickly as I can. Happy Building!