Build-n-Share #189 **Icy Connections** Due 28th February 2025

Thank you very much 🙂

Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! 🙂 I am sure that many simmers will also enjoy doing your build challenges on this new forums also. 

The benefits
First place will be awarded at all levels. If there are at least eight entries in a category, up to four places will also be announced. Challenges also create an opportunity for community on the forum site. We get to know one another's names, share news, builds, and positive words. This is a chance to get your name out there, and hopefully make a few friends along the way.

What makes this challenge different from all the other ones I've seen?
We have been hosting this challenge since the first week the game was released. We have many levels of builders in our community and welcome them all. This group is truly a product of all its great members!

Within the first few challenges, our group was recognized by the gurus that be, who have helped the weekly challenges gain even more popularity be stickying both BuildnShare threads. Since then, we have had at least one featured creation almost every week, and our list of featured members continues to grow.

With 7 successful collaborative neighborhoods (Gnomelandia, Summer of Love, NYC, Sanshi Sumei, Olde Fairy Tale Village, Whimsyville Winter Market and Village) completed, BuildnShare hopes to bring more creative challenges and new neighborhood ideas to the community with the help of our dedicated participants who willingly contribute and help each week to make sure each challenge runs smoothly.

Big thanks to @masajo for keeping this up to date!

Looking for more challenges? Check out the  Build Challenges thread created by @rosemow

@Masajo - Admin, TS4 judge, Entry Organizer and Archivist
@KittKat7147 - On hiatus
@SimTresa - TS4 Judge, Challenge Creator & Challenge Organizer
@SheriGR - TS4 Judge, Chief Organizer & Fearless Facebooker
@AliSim19 - On hiatus
@Allears - TS4 Judge, Image Wrangler & Thread Guru
@JojoMOMSTER - Hawthorne Project Organizer
@Clousinators - TS4 Judge
@_Princess_Natasha_ - TS4 Judge
@pammiechick - TS4 Judge

Screenshots: Tips and Tricks

1. Judging is based solely on the screenshots you provide in your showcase, so, we figured this would be a good time to go over some tips and tricks in taking good screenshots to help showcase your lovely builds.
2. Camera Man Mode - This is a must in taking good shots! You will have to be in live mode to do this, but just hit "TAB" to enter this mode. Once you are in this mode, you can use the mouse to freely control the angles and use "W, A, S, D" buttons to move forward, backwards, and side to side. "Z" zooms in, "X" zooms out. "Q" moves up and "E" moves down. "C" to capture the shot.
3. Find the perfect angle - With photography, it is all about finding the right angle. Spend some time in camera man mode to find the perfect angle. Get down to a sim's point of view to take the best shots of rooms.
4. Walls up - Most people play with walls cut away, but when you are taking pictures of your lot, try to keep your walls up to make your shots look more realistic.
5. No grids - Unless you need to show the grid for a specific purpose, make sure no build/buy grid is visible when you take your pictures. You can avoid this by taking pictures in live mode or by hitting 'G' button in build mode.
6. More is better—Weird, huh? But in this case, we want to make sure judges have enough shots to fairly judge your lot. Be sure to show off each room with at least one picture. Also, please include an overhead shot of the floorplan for each level.
7. Ensure that the majority of your exterior pictures are taken in Summer so that the judges can accurately judge your landscaping. You are also free to show pictures of your builds in different seasons as well, but that these should be clearly labelled with the season.
8. To change the season, you can use this cheat (first as with all cheats you must bring up the console using "CTRL + Shift + C" then type in the box that appears "testingcheats true" If it worked, the phrase "Cheats Enabled" should appear below the console. Next type "seasons.set_season X" - change X to 0 for summer, 1 for fall, 2 for winter, or 3 for spring.

Ok, those are the basics! If you want to further your simatography skills, we highly recommend you take a look at our showcase guide here.

Please try to keep this thread as photo free as possible and create a showcase to illustrate your lots.

The Build-n-Share challenges will be posted at the start of each month and will run until the end of that month. Results will be posted in the Winner's Circle thread. Look for results after the deadline.

And you can keep up to date with challenge details and winners on our social media:

All entries must provide a media showcase for BuildnShare to use when judging your entries. We feel that it is unfair to expect our judges to have every SP, GP and EP in order to judge from a download. Please ensure that any features you wish the judges to see are shown in your media showcase. your media showcase should consist of still images of your build and be uploaded to an image hosting website such as picasa, imgur, a blog or even a thread here on the forums. If you choose to use flickr, make sure your slideshow is public viewable. Please note that we will not judge any entry hosted on Photobucket, tinypics. bannersnack, or post image.

• Please ensure that you check that your links work. Any link found to be not working will result in your entry not being judged.
• All entries must be original and previously unpublished work. Avoid using "styled looks" from Sims 4, or any Sim, challenge or room that you have already uplaoded and showcased. Any competitor who submits another builder’s work will be disqualified and banned from any future Build-n-Share challenge.
• Using 'low value/high quality' CC is a no-no (beds and sofas that cost $1, etc.).
• You can use the bb.moveobjects on and bb.showhiddenobjects game cheats without penalty.
• You can use harvestable plants and custom photos and / or paintings (either created by you or downloaded from the Gallery) without penalty. [These items add to the decor of your build but don't add to the Gallery cost - they're essentially "freebies" like many items from the Debug catalog!]
• The cost of the lot that you are building on in is ALWAYS to be included in your total cost unless it is expressly stated otherwise.
• You must upload your entry to the gallery for it to count as an official entry, this is due it being the only way that judges can confirm the Gallery cost of your builds.
• To find your Gallery cost, you need to follow these instructions:
  
• Your gallery build description must include the relevant challenge hashtag, this way, we can let you know should your build be favourited by Maxis!
• By entering, you agree to allow your lot to be showcased on any of the BuildnShare social media outlets.
• Please announce your official lot posting using the entry form below. Make sure to leave the "Official Entry" label notable. If you need to reformat it, you can do this by highlighting the desired text and then selecting "B" in the options above. This will help us see the entries in a sea of posts with no pics to guide us.
• Entries must be submitted by the deadline, no later than 23:59:59 on the last day of the month (EST/New York, USA).
• Your media should include a variety of screenshots to best showcase your entry. Please include at least one clear shot of the main floorplan of the build. If your build has multiple floors, please take a screenshot of each floor. Your media must be in the format of a slideshow, no videos, please. We have a guide to what we look for in a showcase here.
• We will not judge any entry hosted on Photobucket, tinypics, bannersnack or post image.
• Season's Update - Ensure that the majority of your exterior pictures are taken in Summer so that the judges can accurately judge your landscaping. You are also free to show pictures of your builds in different seasons as well, but that these should be clearly labelled with the season. To change the season you can use this cheat (first as with all cheats you must bring up the console using "CTRL + Shift + C" then type in the box that appears "testingcheats true" If it worked, the phrase "Cheats Enabled" should appear below the console. Next type "seasons.set_season X" - change X to 0 for summer, 1 for fall, 2 for winter, or 3 for spring.
• All new members please enter your links as needed, but if you pop a space in like this h ttps: it will not register as a live link, this will allow us to easily make your links live.
• Another aside for new members these are a couple of threads that will help you get up to full membership: @Rosemow’s Introduce Yourself Thread and Member vs New Member Thread.

In all categories, we put an equal value on landscaping, aesthetics, architecture and interior design, with a nod toward playability.

If you are new to BuildnShare, we recommend that you leave your entry category empty this way the BnS team can take a look at your entry and place you in a category appropriate to your skills.

Starting Out - if you are new to building in TS4, this is where you should enter. Things we look for at this level are appropriate room sizes, cohesive exterior style, use of plants that reflect the style of the build and complimentary colours. Pictures should be well organize and provide a complete overview of the build.

Established - we recommend entering at this level if you have been promoted from Starting Out. Things looked for over and above Starting Out are, thought as to how the build will ultimately play, good roof lines, use of terrain paints, cohesive interiors and good object choice and placement. Pictures should be well organised, well lit and labelled.

Expert - we recommend entering at this level if you have been promoted from Established. Things we look for at this level, over and above Established are interesting architecture, thought given to interior and exterior decorative details, creation of livable outdoor spaces. Pictures should have good angles, making good use of camera control options.

Master - Expert category judges and any entrants who have won 1st Place multiple times at the Expert level should enter in this category.

A note of caution, just because you have used something mentioned in a category, does not necessarily mean that you automatically fit in that category. If you are unsure, please tag us and ask for our advice as to where we would place you. Also, we do not advise that you bump yourself up in levels, especially if you are new and we have placed you in a category. We will always promote when we feel you are ready and have no more left to learn in your current category.