Welcome to the small town of Crowborough! For the past year I've been working on building an empty hood, ready for your sims to move into. I wanted a hood with as little EPs/SPs and CC as possible. Since I'm not a big fan of using a downtown subhood, I wanted as many playable community lots as possible. Crowborough contains a total of fifty lots, 30 residential and 20 community lots. Four of the 30 residential lots are home businesses.

EPs/SPs required: NL, OFB, IKEA
CC required:

• HugeLunatic's OFB windows add-on part 1 and part 2.
• HugeLunatic's IKEA sofa repository from this set.
• Midcentury modern wallset created especially for Crowborough.

Download a tester-version of Crowborough here.
I would love to hear your feedback, opinions, thoughts, anything

I will be playing. Not sure if I am more excited about the hood or the whole new set of walls! The hood looks stunning in the pics.

Ooh! This looks amazing! I can't wait to download it and playtest it!

Do you plan to include an occupied version as well? Or just an empty version?

UPDATE: Okay! I've downloaded the hood and the required CC.
My sim moved into Lot 9 (17 Fairview Lane). I played there for one week and I haven't found any issues here.
It's a nice starter lot, btw.

My sim also visited some community lots. (31-37). They're quite nice!

Here are my notes that I took while playing this neighborhood:

- Reception Hall: The inner half-wall on the roof hasn't been painted yet. (Look at the screenshot)
- Bovary's Boudoir: The door to the changing room doesn't appear properly in my game. But the sims can use it. Maybe picking it up and placing it back will fix this. (Look at the screenshot)
- Neighborhood: At the other side of the sea/lake, there are plenty of empty roads. Is this intended? Or do you plan to add some more lots there?
- Neighborhood: The neighborhood has no description, nor have the community lots descriptions. They all have creative names but I didn't know what type of lot it was. I was searching for a boutique but I could only find it by visiting and seeing if I picked the right one.

Thanks for the kind words Justpetro , I hope you enjoy playing it And wow, thanks for the detailed feeback Jawusa! I will fix the missing paint and door. Good point about the lot descriptions, I hadn't done them yet because I considered them 'bonus', now I realize they are quite important.

You've raised some other good points that I would actually like some feedback on, because I'm undecided:
1. The empty roads on the other side of the river are on purpose. I don't plan to add anything there. I wanted some extra space for downloaders who would like more lots. Does that make sense or should I remove the roads and fill with hood deco?
2. Occupied or not: I'm not a very good simmaker. I think they look a bit too plain/ugly so I wasn't planning on sharing an occupied hood. But if I look at the occupied hoods others have made, I do like the idea of sharing a hood with a background story. I suppose I could practice my simmaking skills.

Thanks again for the feedback, very much appreciated

Oh, I'd leave it empty then. I wouldn't need that extra space but other simmers may do.


Oh, you're hard to yourself. Your sim in your avatar doesn't look ugly. And even if you create ugly sims, I'd rather have ugly sims than pretty sims in the neighborhood. I, myself, enjoy playing ugly sims (not exaggerated but yet unique).

By the way, I've played Crowborough a little more and found some more issues. I'll let you know soon. I forgot to take screenshots so I'll take them now.

Oh, and are you going to include a subhood version of this neighborhood?
Crowborough would be a great shopping district subhood; there are plenty of shops and it looks way better than Bluewater Village!

Excuse me, have you looked at the sims in Widespot? Though some people eventually decide some of them are good looking, that's not the first reaction most people have! Yet it hasn't stopped people from downloading. Give them strong characters and good backstories, nobody (who matters) will care what they look like. If you have a premise, go for it. If it doesn't work out, you don't have to upload it.

Remember to keep backups of every phase.

I will be playing the hood over the weekend. Looked at some of the lots last night - they are great.

I agree with Peni - pretty Sims are not a rare thing; I myself prefer the interesting variety

Ok, you guys have convinced me I will upload a occupied version as well The whole process looks a bit daunting to me, I will delve into the Hood Building threads for tips and tricks on how to set it all up. I mean, making sure the memories are correct, the relationships, aging etc...

In the meantime, I've discovered the beacharea isn't beachlotcompatible anymore, somehow that got messed up in one of the many versions of the terrain I've made.
Thanks for the reminder to keep back-ups Peni, I've learned that the hard way sadly...

Subhood version can be done too, whilst I'm at it

If you have any questions, just ask - I can help with stuff like memories, relationships and aging since Polgannon required that sort of editing with SimPE in spades.

Some feedback: Moved my Sim into 8 Holmberry Square - lovely starter!
He went on a outing and visited almost all the community lots. He bought some groceries at The Flying Pig (Hope I remember all the names, I forgot to write it down); then went to fish in the Will Wright Memorial park - could not play chess, the chess table don't have chairs. So he went fishing.
He had lunch at Gracys - he ate chef salad, but he could not order a drink from the bar, so the bar probably needs to be replaced.
He did have a drink at Puzzles then.
He went to the Cemetry of Forgotten Books at night - it was on the one side, some lights needed (where the tills are). A ceiling light or two - the other side has lights.
He went to the nightclub (Inferno - forgot that name now) - and enjoyed very much, but could not roast marshmallows when he rolled the want!
He bought a magazine, and visited the other shops (he could buy clothes, but he could not buy cake at the bakery or furniture at the furniture shop - I am not sure why).
He chatted up a cashier during the day and was stalked by Unsavory, who he managed to avoid.

I did not send him to the reception hall, since Maxon had sent her Sim there - I did send him to Bovary's Boudoir and could see the door to the changing room in my game.

All over it is really a lovely hood!

I opened it up in my full game for a little while last night and poked around a bit. I didn't have the CC walls to go with it so some of the lots looked kind of unfinished, but that's easily dealt with by including the CC with the upload.

The Square needs something on it besides flowers and the phone and wastebasket, or it's just hood deco. It's huge and vaguely pretty and boring and there's no reason to go there. At minimum, benches to make out on.

If it were me, it'd probably have a fountain, a picnic area, chess games, a restroom, streetlights, and maybe some nice statues and shrubs or a newsstand or a little deco bus stop or.... But that's me. I send sims walking from lot to lot to lot as if they were walking around town and I don't want to wind up someplace where there's nothing to do but go on to the next place; and overall aesthetics are less important to me than they obviously are to you. But even when considering the aesthetics of the neighborhood view, each lot needs a justification for existing, for sitting through the loading screen to get there. (This is a big weakness of a lot of Maxis lots.)

So when designing lots, some additional questions to ask yourself when choosing a lot are: Why should this lot exists? What will players want to do there in the game? Why does a space like this exist in a real city? What would real people do here? What benefits does this lot provide, to whom, and what does it cost to build, maintain, and keep it in preference to other forms of development? How has its use changed over time?

Big squares like that are crossroads, and crossroads draw traffic, and traffic draws business - not just to the areas around it, but to the space itself. This is where buskers hang out and people set up food and drink stands and office workers take their lunches. How do you represent all that with the objects and mechanics available to you?

Maybe it's there because it's public green space mandated by zoning codes - in which case it should be greener. Maybe it's there because some tycoon donated a piece of land to the city dedicated to the memory of his wife, in which case there should be a memorial to her of some kind, anything from a statue to a rose garden. Maybe it's the site of a major historical event, ditto. Maybe it's a public traffic hub and all the buses line up here at night.

It's your hood and you should do it your way. But these are things to think about.

Okay! I've playtested all of the community lots. Now, I'll have a look at the residential lots.
Here are some notes that I took while playtesting the community lots:

36 - Gracy's: Three barstools are facing to the wrong side. They need to be rotated, so they face to the counter/bar.

38 - Cemetary of Forgotten Books: There's a room with no lights and some bookshelves cannot be used. (The sims can read books but they cannot put the books back to the bookshelves. That's probably because of the small statue between each bookshelf that blocks the sim in putting the books back.

39 - Small Park: This isn't really a park; it's more a garden than a park. That being said, I'd add restrooms, maybe some chess tables, swing sets, street lights, and a grill. But of course, it's your neighborhood and you decide what you do with your lots.

41 - Playground: This lot looks nice but there is a floating floor(platform?) over the swing sets and the sand - is that intended?

42 - The Hive: Two chairs cannot be used, the wall probably blocks the two chairs. I'd replace the big tables with smaller ones. Then this wouldn't happen. Oh, and I'd love to have some music here. That would be great.

46 - (Forgot the name of the lot but it was a gym lot with pool): This lot looks good but there are no lights here. I'd place some.

47 - Disco Inferno: The lot looks nice too but that heavy metal music gets mixed with DJ's music and it gets noisy if it's played along with DJ's slow music. So I'd either remove the two wall speakers or the DJ booth.

48 - (Also forgot the name of the lot but it was a bowling alley with a restaurant): I'd love to have some music here as well, so I'd place some wall speakers here.

50 - Will Wright Memorial Park: Almost all benches cannot be used here. But if you moved them one tile, the sims would be able to use the benches. One bench can be used but it's floating... And the gazebo is empty. There's one chess table that cannot be used. I'd move it first (because it's blocking the stairs) and then add chairs to it. It would be better if there were some more chess tables as well. Oh, and there are no lights here, so I'd add some street lights here. It looks so dark at night.
(Look at the screenshots)

I hope I could help.

That gazebo's also big enough for a bandstand!

I sent said Sim (poor thing is getting lonely) to some of the other lots, but Jawusa has covered them.
The walls are totally beautiful, by the way - Peni, you should really download them and have a look.
The lack of lights bothers me the most - I am not too worried about empty spaces, I will simply add to the various lots what I want to add there, like a BBQ area here or a public toilet there (or that toilet bush ) I love Peni's suggestion about the bandstand for the gazebo, though!
Have to admit that I had my sound off this side, so I cannot comment on the music being present or not, but my Sim did not seem to be bothered, he danced for hours at the DJ booth

Okay! I've playtested all of the lots in Crowborough. The "bug hunting" is over, I guess.
I can't wait to test the inhabited version. I hope you'll also convert the inhabited version into a subhood.

Here are some notes on the residential lots:

2 - 3 Fairview Lane: The two diagonal lounge chairs cannot be used. Some objects cannot be used if they're placed diagonally. (Unfortunately, lounge chairs are one of those objects)

4 - 7 Fairview Lane: Diagonal lounge chairs... (Same as 2 - 3 Fairview Lane)

6 - 11 Fairview Lane: Diagonal lounge chairs... (Same as 2 - 3 Fairview Lane)

7 - 13 Fairview Lane: One room has no lights.

8 - 15 Fairview Lane: This lot has no lights. It's completely dark here. I'd add some lights here. I've also tested the little hairdresser's shop. My sim was able to do her job as a hairdresser but the customers had some problems. I'd move the chair one tile to the back, so the customers can "queue" with no problems.

10 - 2 Fairview Lane: Missing floor tiles under the mailbox and the trashcan.

13 - 1 Winmeade Grove: The upper bathroom cannot be used. It's because of the roof that goes into the room. Removing the roof fixed the issue but that would look odd.

14 - 3 Winmeade Grove: Diagonal lounge chairs... (Same as 2 - 3 Fairview Lane). Oh, and I think the area that I've highlighted in this screenshot needs to be filled. Or the inner walls need to be painted.

15 - 5 Winmeade Grove: The dining table can't be used. Try moving the table and its chairs to one tile. (Look at the screenshot)

17 - 2 Winmeade Grove: The toilet needs to be moved to it's actual place. At the moment, it's in front of the door and blocks the door, and can't be used.

19 - 1 Hazell Close: The roof wall at the back of the house needs to be painted.

20 - 2 Stoneybrooke Avenue: One bookshelf cannot be used. Well, there are plenty of other bookshelves which could be used without any issues. But the armchair is blocking one of the bookshelves.

21 - 4 Stoneybrooke Avenue: Diagonal chairs... (Same as 2 - 3 Fairview Lane).

22 - 6 Stoneybrooke Avenue: The toilet on the ground floor has no wallpapers and no lights.

24 - 2 Holmbury Square: Between the two row houses, there're unnecessary floor tiles. If they're removed, the lot value goes a bit down and it makes the lot even cheaper and more affordable.

27 - 5 Holmbury Square: The sofa is blocking two of the bookshelves, so those bookshelves cannot be used. But the other two can be used with no issues.

28 - 6 Holmbury Square: Unnecessary floor tiles... (Same as 24 - 2 Holmbury Square)

30 - 8 Holmbury Square: The bookshelves cannot be used. Suggestion for this would be to move the armchair one tile and rotate it to the other side.

The diagonal chairs - it seems to me as if one has to leave more space around them than normal in order for them to work.

I tried that, but that doesn't work. The sims can't use it in my game, even if there's enough space in between. They could be used after I made them straight.

Sims - full of nonsense

Diagonal lounge chairs would look awesome, though.

I do have some lounge chairs and sofas in my game that work, so I guess it is on of those things.

I made a test. It looks like only certain lounge chairs cannot be put diagonal. There are lounge chairs that would work if they're put diagonal.
These include all recliners. They are like armchairs but once the sims nap on them, it becomes a lounge chair. All of the recliners can be put diagonal with no issues.

But none of the actual lounge chairs work, there are only two lounge chairs in the game that can be put diagonal.
- ?=(C^11)?
- Chez Chaise

Both came with the base game and yes, EA really called one of their lounge chairs "?=(C^11)?"

As you see in the picture, the green ones can be used if they're put diagonally, the red ones cannot be used if they're put diagonally.

You guys are awesome Thank you so much for the detailed feedback I will get to fixing these mistakes this afternoon or this weekend. I'm very curious why those particular lounge chairs won't work, I think I might go do some digging in SimPE.
Some of the larger issues mentioned:
- Townsquare: I will rebuild it. I wasn't happy with it in the first place and it could be done a lot better. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions Peni
- Occupied downtown: Oh dear, another version to add to my list Is it safe to convert it to downtown after I've added all the sims?

To Do List
- Fix minor bugs mentioned in thread
- Add lot descriptions
- Add hood description
- Rework the terrain so beach is BV-compatible again
- Rebuild Town Square
- Make an outline of sims stories/family trees etc.

Versions
- Main hood, unoccupied
- Main hood, occupied
- Downtown, unoccupied
- Downtown, occupied
? Beachlots, unoccupied
? Beachlots, occupied

I found with Polgannon that diagonal lounge chairs were a no-go. I changed them all.

For the beach lot version, you could expand each of the Fairview Lane lot series to 10 squares (backyard) and tick the 'Is Beach Lot' option in LotAdjuster. Then, you'd already have beach lots. No need to redo the terrain. But the lots would need to be picked up and placed back into the neighborhood.

As for the Downtown subhood, it's safe to add sims while it is a stand-alone Downtown, just make sure that you disabled the NeighborhoodTemplate folder. Then, nothing can go wrong.
But I wouldn't do that. Since you intend to offer multiple versions, not just only one. So I'd finish the main hood first, copy it, rename it and then convert it into a Downtown. That would make more sense.

Oh, and why do you want to convert it into Downtown? It would be easier for the players if it was a shopping district subhood. Because there's a strange glitch in the game that only allows the first Downtown subhood to have sims, while multiple shopping districts can have sims. There IS a way to have multiple custom Downtowns with sims but the method is a bit time consuming. The shopping district subhood wouldn't need this procedure and would be much simpler to add to a neighborhood as well, especially a neighborhood that already has subhoods.

I think it will be great as a shopping hood, with all the small business lots already in - and it is already a place to visit for Sims in the main hood, so I do not really see why you want to make it into a Downtown. I once had a hood with 7 or 8 shopping hoods attached to it