So, I have quite an ambitious desire to build a castle, but I have no idea where to start..

I've been playing Sims 3 for a very long time (in an on-and-off kind a manner), but I've never really paid much attention to house building. :/ Usually I just used ready houses, mostly small ones that I expanded in a very terrible looking way.
I tried a little to do some building on my own, but that doesn't work since I have no idea what I am doing, and what I should do. Building a house from scratch - deciding upon the exterior seems very complicated.

About this castle that I want to make - I know that it should have towers (I love towers), and that I want it to be in a semi-modern style, if that makes sense.
Basically, modern, but not overly so.

I have 64x64 lot for the castle (includes space for a garage and a garden), where I've done some terrain raising, and placed steps up to the foundation where the castle's entrance should be.
What I want to know is how should I start the building process? Right now, the castle is supposed to start in the middle of the lot, but I was also thinking about making it more to one side of the lot.
Okay, this post is terrible and so is my building skills, apparantely, but I hope that someone can help me with.

Do you have the castle building set from the Store?

I have it, I just haven't had the chance to try it out really, since I have nothing built yet.

There is 2 ways to start really.

1. Just have fun with it, make a complete mess you can improve on the next time.
2. Plan it to destruction and still don't like the end result.

That's how it is for me usually when I do something I haven't done before.

... so basically, just get on with it and be prepared for a complete disaster. It might be good to have some idea of what rooms you want and where you want them.

I don't really know where I want the rooms, but I've been in the game for some time now, and I think that some ideas are finally coming to me. I was taking this too seriously, but really it is kinda supposed to be fun.

Exactly!
I would recommend going through some pictures on google to get some inspiration and gain more ideas
You can post the pictures you like here too and we can give advice on how to make certain features in Sims if you are not sure how to build it

What I've done making castles is to google for floorplans. What I was most focused on was the entrance and the main staircase.

Looks like we go about much the same way Crowkeeper.

Okay, so I've been working all day, and basically I did have fun and liked where I was going with my building.. and I also got mad and started hating the whole thing.

Just, tell me how much you do or don't hate all this crap...

P.S. I tried to put pictures under that spoilers thingy, but I failed..

i think you are off to a great start! The entrance and exterior walls already suggest something grand. I think you will discover that builds sometimes take on lives of their own, evolving in ways we didn't plan on when we began. I once asked a group of builders if they build the interior (rooms) or the exterior (shell) first, and it turns out the answer was YES- sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes a bit of both.

FYI- you don't really need inline pictures for this thread. The way you have it, with attached screenshots, works just fine. For reference, to get inline pics behind a spoiler tag, post the img info surrounded by the spoiler code: (spoiler) (img)........(/img)(/spoiler) except replace ( and ) with [ and ].

I think you need a larger lot or a smaller castle idea. You have started off very grand but I don't think that lot has the space to pull it off.

I would pull the walls a bit away from the road and use the space for a mout, or what it's called. It will give it some air around.

Thank you for the info about the pictures.

The building is truly going to be grand, if I can pull it off.

I actually had a similar thought about the lot being to small, but that's the biggest lot there is, so I will just have to try and find a way to make this work.

I don't really know what you mean.

Perhaps make your formal garden in the front smaller and the castle slightly larger. I ran into the same thing with a large castle I was building a couple of years ago. It looked okay but it ended up being a bit skinny, another 5 tiles would have made all the difference.

She means put water around the edge of the lot to make a moat.

Quick question, does the pictured exterior looks better than the ones I posted before? (I mean the idea of the exterior, not the whole spaceship themed monstrosity)
This was my first idea, with those two towers being the entrance in to the castle, but I couldn't make that diagonal part work in a satisfying manner (as I said above, looks like a spaceship) so I ditched the idea and moved on to making the entrance up to the second floor from the outside.
How about making this diagonal entrance up to the second floor, and move the entrance to the left corner? Too weird?

The thing about me and towers - I like them, but every time I try to build a house with them, all that I come up with is a spaceship shaped house.

That hedge lined spot is meant to be a kind of circular driveway with a fountain in the middle, but I could make it smaller.
Oh, okay, that also sounds like a good idea.

I love the idea of the terraces and stairs leading up to the castle! As mentioned by others, castles tended to be built with the castle "keep" in the most secure / highest location. Here are some reference pictures of more modern looking castles, castle elements, and simple castles. This is a good article to help explain the concepts behind medieval castle building: http://medievalcastles.stormthecast...floor-plans.htm. Hope this helps!

I will try to make the stairs happen, and I guess I will be going for the diagonal idea after all. I love the third picture, it even gives me an inspiration for my own building, hopefully I can make that work.

Thank you for the article, it does help, as the castle is to be for a city mayor's family. Safety is important.

P.S. I'll head over to my build now to use the suggestions I've got from all of you, and see what I can manage to do today, what I'll do tomorrow, and then post updates on what I came up with.

The third picture, you mean the one with the blue "castle in the sky" kind of look? Could I then point you in the direction of Cyclonesues Castle Lore sets? She has 4 of them. This is the more special one: http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/1008271

So, I just quit the game for a quick question post.

Building went well today: moved the outer walls farther away from the edge and made the moat, made the second floor for the wall, put a fence around the top that I think looks really cute, put the store decor towers thingy's up there, made a new exterior for the castle itself, which I surprisingly really like, and I also made outer entrance (through the wall) and.. then in the battle with the stairs I lost.

Basically, picture one and two are what I am talking about. I am kind of obsessed with everything being symmetrical, and having exact middle entrances and stuff, and I would reaaaaaally love for the castle stairs to the second floor to match with the gates, but! (That's the left stair case in the picture 1 and 2) That doesn't not look that good, because that's not the middle anymore and I'd probably have to make some changes to the building to make these stairs look good there, but the second stair case is again too close to the part of the castle that hasn't been built yet, so also not exactly a middle.. (I changed my mind about the diagonal stairs after all)

Anyway, kind a silly struggle perhaps, but I really want this to look amazing so any suggestions would be great!

Also, third picture. Which of both stair placements do you think is better? I kind of like the second version better with two small stairs leading up to the big ones, that will in return lead up to the castles first main floor.

Alright, that's it for now. Heading back to do few more things, and will see if I'll post updates tonight or in the morning.

I do know this set, but this time I think it won't fit with my build. Though I took inspiration from that picture I mentioned and made more towers for my castle's outer wall. Like three per side.

Stairs with a 'landing' going up a bit more gradually always look better I think. The top area seems a bit too steep though.

I could raise the terrain a little bit more and have the top stairs smaller. Should I split them in half or in three parts? Which would look better?

I could then have less small stairs downwards, perhaps.

Sooo, it's very very late, but I want to put up the update on what I've done so far.. so here it is!

I really like the towers from some store (castle stuff?) set, but I'd like them in gold, as I have plans to have lots of gold details in the castle.
But the roof still kind a looks like it's missing something, I just can't figure out what it is
The stairs leading up to second floor look better now, I think, plus I solved my issue with entrance and made one small stairs to the side.
Then there's my grand staircase on the second floor.

Pic 5 - there's gonna be actually a small family graveyard. (Or a creepy garden ) and there's stairs there leading down into the basement, and there's gonna be some dark, supernatural stuff, and I just came up with an idea to make dungeons there! Also, that graveyard garden is going to be hidden from view with bushes and trees, as to not see anything there, including the dark fencing there. And there will only be one entrance into that garden, as well as that part of the basement.. probably.

Pic 6 - is there such thing as real (or decorative) windows that I could put in the foundation? In pic 6 there's that spot between the two stairs that lead down from the foundation and I saw it and thought about such windows, cause in real life that would be basement.
Also, pic 6 and 7 - those are both sides of the castle and they are identical. I was wondering which terrace thingy is better there? (see-2nd,3rd,4th floors)

Pic 10 - Then that happened.. What shall I do about that non-bridge nonsense? I tried to build a foundation in level with a street to make it like bridge, but no. He had different idea, which I do not like. Help please! That bridge needs to be tamed somehow.

Alright, lemme know whatcha think about all this, but I'm finally off to bed.