~Photography Corner~

Reaching unreachable places

I'm sure you've noticed certain places in Edit Town or birdseye view that you can't really get to: the path doesn't allow you to go near, or the hills are too tall so they're blocking whatever you're trying to get a picture of or perhaps you just want to generally be higher up to take a better snap of a hot air balloon or a waterfall.

As I am currently playing in Twinbrook (and there's not really much in there I wanted a photo of), I've settled on the river delta.

http://imageshack.us/a/img213/9923/screenshot55y.jpg "width=640" "height=480"

Open the game menu and go into "Edit Town" mode. Find the World Editor tool (picture below) and place a random empty lot slot (size doesn't really matter, I normally stick to 10x10) as close to the area you want to photograph as the tool allows.

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/1694/editorzi.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img829/408/editor2k.png "width=640" "height=480"

Now that you've placed your lot (community or residential doesn't really matter), travel to the lot and snap a testshot or two to determine whether you're happy with the placement/height. (For fast traveling, open cheat window and type "TestingCheatsEnabled on", then shift+click anywhere on the newly placed lot and use "Teleport Here")

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/2484/twinbrookview1.png "width=640" "height=480"

While I'm happy with my placement, I'd really like to have a higher angle on the image, so I'll need to build some kind of platform on the newly placed lot.

You can do this via Edit Town, or by shift+ctrl+clicking the lot (with "TestingCheatsEnabled on" cheat active) and choosing "Build on this lot" or "Buy on this lot". Raise the terrain as high as the tool allows you, then if you want, build a 1-5 story structure on top of it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img248/2339/editor3.jpg

You shouldn't worry about the overall ugliness of the whole structure and don't bother adding a lift or any stairs, simply shift+click the top of the platform and teleport. The view from the top is much more to my liking.

http://imageshack.us/a/img811/7523/twinbrookview3.png

And while looking around, I also snapped a photo of the nearby abandoned railroad tracks:

http://imageshack.us/a/img811/5994/twinbrookview4.png

In addition, you don't necessarily need to add a new lot if there's a nearby community/residential lot that you can edit.

I'm trying to take a photograph of the railroad in France here. I'll be editing the Lake in the Hills community park.

http://imageshack.us/a/img823/2416/franceview1.png "width=640" "height=480"

Happy with the height and the composition, I took two photos:

http://imageshack.us/a/img594/3285/franceview2.png "width=640" "height=480"

http://imageshack.us/a/img831/1278/franceview4.png

While up there, I also snapped this beautiful view of the mountains and the river@

http://imageshack.us/a/img442/3734/franceview3.png

One thing to worry about when being so "unnaturally" high up is that you may end up seeing things you wouldn't otherwise see from the ground, such as lazy-modeled trees and other world objects. For example these black stencils with dark trees on them in France:

http://imageshack.us/a/img17/5982/screenshot59lz.jpg "width=640" "height=480"

~

http://imageshack.us/a/img13/6295/screenshot58qe.jpg "width=640" "height=480"

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/1917/screenshot60h.jpg "width=640" "height=480"