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Theorist
Original Poster
#1 Old 4th Jan 2015 at 6:31 AM Last edited by ScaryRob : 4th Jan 2015 at 6:49 AM.
Default Suggestions for Apartment Complex Common Area?
Hey folks, I'm making a 24-unit apartment complex and was looking for suggestions on what to put in the common area. I've had this on the back burner for a few months, mainly because I'm somewhat dreading making the club house. The apartment units were fun to build, but the club house will be more of a chore, I suspect, so I've been avoiding it.
This is kind of an experiment to see how small an apartment can be made, while still keeping it fairly livable and realistic.

Now, the apartments are tiny, made for single Sims and only 3x9, but they will have a full kitchen, a 3/4 bath (toilet, sink and shower), a single bed and a dresser. I'm debating whether to put the wall-mounted TV into each apartment, because I want the NPC's to use the common areas - it will depend on how it playtests, because I've got Pescado's apartment hack installed that changes NPC behaviors according to what's in the apartment.
Here's a pic of the place so far:

The apartments are grouped into three buildings, each housing eight apartments on two floors. The obligatory swimming pool is there.
The large empty area at the front of this pic is where the club house (common area) will go. I'm willing to include a basement and build as high as 3 stories, although staying with 2 would be nicer.
I think there will be plenty of space for outdoor activities too.

Here's a pic of the second story of one of the buildings, showing 4 apartments:


So, my main question is, what to put in the clubhouse and the outside areas around it. Considering the apartments obviously have very little room for objects (maybe only a desk and one other item), tenants will have to use the common area amenities for most of their skilling needs, but also some necessities, such as bathrooms that allow bathing of dogs.
There will be the obvious things, like card tables, billiard tables and darts, but give me some other ideas. Remember, the building will be fairly big, with a basement, so things like a bowling alley would not be out of the question. What about some of the funkier objects, like that sand sculpture thing that lets Sims meditate, is that worthwhile? I've only tried that a couple of times.

Give me your suggestions. Think about apartments you've played in the past and what you wished had been included in the common areas.
Oh, one condition - keep it realistic. Don't bother telling me to remove the sink from the apartment bathrooms to make room for something else because it ain't gonna happen. Likewise for mods, I try to avoid them, if possible, so I'm not interested in some funky shit that allows Sims to live off eating shrubs and drinking out of rain puddles, etc. Thanks.

Also, would something like this make a good university dorm? I've never made one.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 4th Jan 2015 at 4:29 PM
First, I think this thing is going to lag all to hell, but you know your computer's capacity best.

The only club room I've made so far was simple enough - kitchen, bathroom and shower, couches, bookcase, dart game, table, fish tank. The fish have to be maintained separately by each different tenant you play, but everybody loves the fish. In the central courtyard of that complex are a pool (which nobody uses autonomously, alas, because I didn't add a slide or diving board to save space, and the pool ladders don't advertise), hot tub, chess game, and play equipment. In retrospect I should have put the chess game inside to make room for the diving board.

Kids, including visitors, will come outside to use play equipment. If you put swings out the adults will use them, too. Everybody uses the dart game, chess, fish tank, and hot tub. If the club room sink is closer to the place where someone is eating (for instance, if it backs up onto someone's living room, and the server winds up eating on the couch) the dishes will be washed in the club room sink. The refrigerator runs out at the same rate as the one in the active apartment, sorry! If you want single parents in these buildings, I suspect you could put toddler toys in the common area and they'd get used. If you put a bar in there, people will mix drinks day and night.

I have never put instruments in the common area, but I once stayed at the hotel in Three Lakes with the piano in the foyer and tourists with no creativity drove me wiggy. If you must have a stereo in the common area, at least put it someplace where dancers won't be blocking stairs.

If you leave any empty surfaces in the common area suitable for setting groceries on, there is a good chance that sims who bring home groceries will set them there and you'll never be able to pick them up again.

I haven't tried an easel or bird cage in common area, but it seems likely that they'd work like the fish.

I once placed a bonfire in a run-down apartment's common area, in an alley out back. But I was always too chicken to light it.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Constant Contestant
retired moderator
#3 Old 4th Jan 2015 at 9:22 PM
My ideas:

Cinema room, gym, bar, coffee area, library, dance studio, crafting area.

Want a specific style of house or community building? Why not take a look at my profile and see what I build and then come ask me to make it!
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#4 Old 4th Jan 2015 at 10:15 PM
24 apartments = 20-23 townies moving in unless someone uses the mod no townie neighbours. As Peni said that would lag like anything, but then so does the large apartment I uploaded a couple of months back simply due to the size of the lot. I would put a note on it saying only for good computers only.

Why on earth would we tell you to remove the sink. It's both large and for upload.

I was thinking it would make a better dorm actually.

Since this is for single adult sims I think Karen's suggestion are good, I rather like the idea of a gym and a coffee shop. If it was a dorm you might want a study area as well.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Theorist
Original Poster
#5 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 1:02 AM Last edited by ScaryRob : 5th Jan 2015 at 1:43 AM.
The lag issue is something I'll find out during playtest. I do expect this place to be quite busy.
As an aside, speaking of lag, I recently made a 7-story Brooklyn apartment house that also has 23 apartments - full size, ranging from 1 to 4 bedroom units. Haven't playtested it yet. That's be something to see. Maybe my video card will melt.

As for this place, forget children's toys, these are apartments for single Sims. I don't expect to see any rugrats anywhere. Maybe a swing set, but that's it.

So far, the suggestions I like, besides the usual dart games, etc:
Music Room
Cinema (which means I'd remove the TV's from the apts.)
Gym
Library
Crafting Room
Bonfire/BBQ Pit

Some of my own thoughts:
1 parking space
Smallish greenhouse
Hookah bar (or whatever that thing is called)
Sauna

As far as coffee bars are concerned, is there a way to have a genuine coffee shop, with an attendant and maybe a cook for a grill? Or would it be strictly self-serve? Is everything pretty much self-serve, where all I have to do is place the appliances and let the tenants help themselves?
How does a dance studio work? I know there's that ballerina bar that goes on the wall, is that all I need?
Theorist
Original Poster
#6 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 1:11 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Why on earth would we tell you to remove the sink. It's both large and for upload.

Haven't you become aware of the sink haters around here lately?

Quote:
I was thinking it would make a better dorm actually.

Since this is for single adult sims I think Karen's suggestion are good, I rather like the idea of a gym and a coffee shop. If it was a dorm you might want a study area as well.

I've never sent a Sim to University, so I'm totally lost on that aspect of the game. Looking at the pre-made Maxis campuses though, the rooms seem very simple, no more than a plain motel room.
There's no reason this Lot couldn't have two versions - one apartments, the other dorms, but I'd hate to upload something like a dorm without knowing much about what's required or desired. A dormitory is a separate Lot zoning, right?
Mad Poster
#7 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 1:14 AM
Speaking as someone who regularly makes massive lots, both for upload and for my own entertainment, I shudder to think of how slow this one will be to play, particularly if there's many objects that'll need to be animated in their own right...

As far as allowing the tenants to interact fully with a public area, this mod is designed to do just that- http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=352602

And as far as ideas for that space go, in the community I live in, tiny apartments like that are almost exclusively the domain of either university students or recent graduates, so I would say think about what you'd find in the areas just off campus, and use that for your inspirations. Bars, pool halls, gyms, coffee shops, and bookstores would all be a pretty good fit, as far as I can see it.

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Theorist
Original Poster
#8 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 1:25 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Zarathustra
As far as allowing the tenants to interact fully with a public area, this mod is designed to do just that- http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=352602

Ok, I've seen this mod previously and it's something I will definitely consider.

Quote:
And as far as ideas for that space go, in the community I live in, tiny apartments like that are almost exclusively the domain of either university students or recent graduates, so I would say think about what you'd find in the areas just off campus, and use that for your inspirations. Bars, pool halls, gyms, coffee shops, and bookstores would all be a pretty good fit, as far as I can see it.

OK, so again, it sounds like you'd think this would fit best in a university 'hood. Thanks for the suggestions.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#9 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 1:28 AM
That would be me saying if you are using a tiny 1 by 1 lot and squeezing in a family and need space than things like a sink can go. This is for single sims and has plenty of space. There is a difference.

Never, not even to test it out? You should go do that. You can make dorm rooms however you like, they are lot more forgiving than apartments. A large expensive dorm for rich kids could be far different from a regular dorm.

A dorm needs a cafeteria with the uni cook top and benches for the cook to serve the food on and some seating for students to eat. Also a water sprinkler as the uni cook is known for setting fire plus it needs to be there for the cow mascot. They make the sprinklers go off by lighting a flame under them.
You would also want some kind of study area or since this would be a rather prestigious dorm, desks and computers in each room and a library in another building. You also need a dorm room door on each unit.

I actually play uni in the main hood with Squinges mods and I turned a high school into a dorm, so it has a couple of classrooms, a science lab, a library with dorm rooms on the top floor, a crafting room and a glass house area for plants.

Boring maxis dorms tend to have tiny rooms, maybe a small TV and study area, a cafeteria and communal showers, but they don't have to be.

Another thought, you could have less dorm rooms and turn one or two buildings into learning areas, say for example a science building, and an arts building.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Theorist
Original Poster
#10 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 1:35 AM
I have a related question about apartments.
Isn't it true that no matter how large an apartment is, even if it had, say, 4 bedrooms, only a single townie will ever move into it, right? In other words, there is no such thing as townie couples, let alone townie families, that ever move into apartments, right?
Also, is there a difference between a "Townie" and an "NPC"?
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 1:46 AM
You can only move 4 playable 'families' into an apartment, but if you don't use a mod to stop them an AL townie will spawn until every unit is taken, which is why I said in my first post that is 20-23 AL townies. That was why I suggested less units because that will be a lot of uncontrolled sims bringing down the playablity of the lot. It's the apartment door that makes them spawn I think. Use regular doors on some units and they won't gain a townie dweller. If it's a uni then a dormie will show up for every dorm room door.

Yes townies are different to NPC's. The maid is an NPC, they have jobs such a maid, waiter etc. Townies just wonder around and if you move them in they often have a regular job. If you have sims in careers the game will randomly assign or promote a townie in the same job line if they come home with your sim. Move in an NPC and they come without a job.

Apartments only use AL social townies unless you use a mod. There is a mod that allows normal townies.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#12 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 5:46 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ScaryRob
Isn't it true that no matter how large an apartment is, even if it had, say, 4 bedrooms, only a single townie will ever move into it, right? In other words, there is no such thing as townie couples, let alone townie families, that ever move into apartments, right?


Yes, each individual apartment (that's not occupied by one of the four playable families that you're allowed per lot) will be occupied by a single Sim. This makes sense, since each apartment might not be designed for a whole family, but logically, it'll have been designed for at least one Sim to live comfortably. It also helps keep the lot from being overrun with AL townies... though with more than 20 individual apartment units, you're still gonna run into that problem. (Think about how many other Sims show up if you send a Sim to a community lot- unless you have a reallllly high-end computer, it's probably not that many- that's because Sims are more intensive to generate... as a rule of thumb, don't create more apartments than you see Sims on a lot, [just to spare your computer the strain])

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Theorist
Original Poster
#13 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 6:16 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Zarathustra
as a rule of thumb, don't create more apartments than you see Sims on a lot, [just to spare your computer the strain])

You mean the number of Sims on a community Lot?
In any case, I'll find out how much this Lot lags when I playtest, which I'm nowhere near doing yet.
I made considerable progress last night on the cluhouse. Gave it a basement and put an indoor pool in it. The outdoor pool will be removed and the space used for something else.
Mad Poster
#14 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 6:33 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ScaryRob
You mean the number of Sims on a community Lot?


Yeah, the number of Sims on a community lot gets determined by how good a computer you have, and how many Sims the game judges it can handle without damaging performance (unless you've changed it, which you can do, it just slows things down). It's not a perfect parallel to apartment lots, but still, a decent rule of thumb.

And as far as what to turn the former outdoor pool area into... I think 4 or 6 outdoor basketball courts would be a perfect fit for this lot, if you have FT!

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Theorist
Original Poster
#15 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 6:38 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Zarathustra
And as far as what to turn the former outdoor pool area into... I think 4 or 6 outdoor basketball courts would be a perfect fit for this lot, if you have FT!

I have all EPs and SPs, but I hate basketball, so that ain't gonna happen. I was thinking Zen Garden and/or bonfire. Anyway, that area is not so important yet, as the clubhouse is the first priority right now. I have a feeling I'll end up changing things around several times anyway before everything's all said and done.
Theorist
Original Poster
#16 Old 5th Jan 2015 at 11:19 PM
I changed the Lot over to Apartmentbase a while ago and played a couple of Simdays with 1 TestSim.
It took a while for all the apartments to rent out, but once they were I actually noticed no major lag, once I had panned around the Lot a few times. There was considerable lag at first, before all the apts were full, but once that was done there was almost no noticeable lag at all. I suspect this was because of all the townies moving about as they first arrived on the Lot.
Of course, the only common area amenity that was useable was the pool in the basement of the clubhouse and the Lot hasn't been landscaped yet either.

(My computer isn't new by any means, although it was pretty close to state of the art 6 years ago: 32-bit Quad CPU @ 2.5GHz, 4 GB RAM, Radeon 4850 video card w. 1GB, running Win7)

I noticed that after the townies first moved in, a few of them used the pool, but after that none of them did anymore.
I kept my test Sim on free will and he did use the sauna once. I also found out I have to rearrange the kitchen counters and appliances in the apts, but I did get everything to work nicely with a new layout. I even decided to get rid of one of the kitchen counters, which now allows 2 Sims to eat at the table. So now the apts could probably accommodate 2 Sims, although I won't put 2 beds in them. I'll let players do that if they want.
The apt prices were just over $1,000 to rent, way more than I thought they would be. Since I have Pescado's apthack, a furnished apt cost somewhere over $14k, in addition to the rent. Hmm, actually I'm not sure how that works, but those were the numbers I saw.

So, I'll keep working on this and keep y'all updated and probably post some pics once I get something worthwhile to show.
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