Need your input and feedback: With that hood deco should I decorate it and how? Where should I place specific lots? How to arrange them, in what particular scheme or order? I need an inspiration for the these particular hood.
Hint/Theme: It's a fantasy type of hood, filled with diversive life states and hybrids.

Above picture is the piece of the south part of the land in the bottom picture.

Hm...I would do a "normal town" on the big part and something special on that Island thing. Like a magical forest or a castle. Or you could do community lots on one part and residential on the other. Or you could make different districts for every life state and the island is for the hybrids or something.

Hmm... I could place witches palace and forthress with each alignment

You also might wanna look at this guide in relation to the way your neighbourhood terrain looks:

http://modthesims.info/t/479610

It sucks having an integrated graphics card. But I've learned ways around that. Default replaced neighborhood grass and some neighborhood deco with wave effects along the water's edges make a huge difference!

Indeed it sucks.


Thans, I look into it.

I came up with a list which I think is pretty fun, based on what amenities I expect the town to have and hence what buildings need to be placed. In my mind, if these things don't exist, sims have to live without those services! I'll C+P it here under a spoiler because it's long. I also made one for careers, which is even longer.



It can help to think about how the hood might have grown and how old you think it might be now. If it's a supernatural/fantasy hood, is there a story? Which groups settled here first and why? When did other groups arrive, or did they all mutually decide to come here together?

There is often a central meeting point in a town where other things radiate out from that centre. This could have various forms - a park, a monument, a government type building/town hall, a former (or current!) marketplace. As your main town is a square, you could have a piece of hood deco in the centre with lots on both the insides and outsides of that square road. I think I'd have a large lot on the centre of the four inside lines which comes up to meet the centrepiece, perhaps four community lots. Then the inside corners and the outsides of that square are free to add what you like.

I do plan on all/some of these, though the main issue I see coming across is deciding on a main/common architectual spread style through the town (more harder when I'm not really a type of builder guy) and what way to arrange/position these lots.

I guess I could browse through the downloaded section under towns to find some sort of inspiration/ideas for this kind of stuff.

It does depend on how you want to play the hood, though. For me, personally, I like every lot to be a fun visit for sims. So I would go for:

Public park with pond (and there is a witch in my game who loves to join my Sims fishing) and a playground for kids
Swimming Pool
Gaming Arcade
Music venue
Town Hall (mine is also a mostly unused wedding venue)
Cafe with coffee and chess or music or both
And small shops that can be used as owned businesses, like a grocery and bakery.

As for building style - keep the "official buildings" similar by using the same wall covering on them, and the same tiles in the bathrooms/kitchens. Houses - well, I think every Sim has the right to his or her own style (says the person who builds one house and paints them different colours at times ). You will develop your way of building lots to suit your playing style over time, and it is always possible to do a remake on something later.

The point of making a hood is to enjoy doing it - so don't fret, just have fun!

Would you like to have a cohesive look to the hood? Or a mix of styles perhaps?

Again, it's helpful to think of the history and who might have settled here, or perhaps it was colonised? What would have been the first things built, and who built them? What kinds of materials would they have available? It's on an island - so perhaps getting materials here would have been difficult. Are the buildings made from mined stone, prefabricated concrete slabs, bricks, or from wood? If you want it to be local, then I'd stick to one or two colours of wood or stone (or both), plus any recolours for wood which look painted. Concrete or brick walls can be painted too. Bricks may be a certain shade when natural because they are made from local clay. If they are fantastic and magical then perhaps they would build out of different materials - some kind of cloth with protective enchantments on it, meaning the buildings are far more colourful than we're used to? Or a space age plastic or metal sort of material? Maybe plantsims would build into and out of plants, or greenhouses?

Perhaps think about the climate when deciding on building materials? If it's a very hot place then the buildings ought to be built to stay cool inside, which means stilts, shutters on windows, flattish rooves. If it's a damp place then you'll want to avoid wood (it might rot) and make sure your rooves are all graded to cope with rainfall - flat rooves tend to leak. Cold places tend to have stone, which insulates well, and fireplaces built into older homes to keep warm. Look at coastal houses, to see what kinds of materials are used to protect from salt spray and erosion.

You can reflect the climate with the vegetation used in your hood which gives a fantastic integrated feeling. Google for a list of climates and you'll find suggestions of what kinds of trees and bushes grow there. And although it's not necessary, it can be an artistic choice to tie building colours to the setting as well. Along with the local wood, stone, or clay bricks (if you choose one of these options), some people will have painted their homes, so try and pick a palette which gives the feel that you want. Drab greys, blues, slate, white can give a rainy, cold feeling. Utilitarian greens and greys can give the impression of a no-frills-allowed sort of a place. Sleek black, white, metal, glass and bold bright colours give a futuristic look. Bright pastels dotted around give the cheerful impression of a seaside town; a kind of childish holiday feeling. Mustard yellow, orange and brown with the odd hint of green or muted blue give across the impression of a hot, dry place like a desert. One or two buildings which don't fit the overall theme will stand out, perhaps there's a story reason for that? Is this character especially evil and needs a dwelling which casts a shadow over the rest of the town? Or does everyone in this town conform except for one eccentric character who paints their house a neon colour you can't miss? Maybe everything is new except this one dilapidated house - why is it abandoned, is it even abandoned? Perhaps different "clans" could have different building styles - one style for each corner of the map and where they meet in the centre they blend or the lots just peter out leaving an empty stretch of road.

Where to position: Do you want the hood to be finished or would you prefer to start small and expand as you go? I would recommend placing placemarker lots down. You'll see from whether they are blue or green blueprints if they are community or residential, don't build on them yet, just decide what's going where, that way you can move things. Or play with some squared paper. Do not underestimate hood deco, and the value of empty space! How do they get off this island, or are they intentionally isolated? Usually, you end up with building clusters and roads connecting each cluster. I've attached a few very rough suggestions for layouts. Decide if you prefer European style (residential and community/business all mixed together because the place grew up organically) or American style - with separate residential and business areas, because somebody sat in an office and planned the city logically. Look on google maps for examples of town layouts in countries you've never visited.

If it's a magic/fantasy style hood, you absolutely need a shop that caters to witches/magic cast spellers!

I mean, where else are you going to find buyable "Eye of newt"?

@simsfreq I appreciate and thank you so much for taking the time to writing that long insightful comment. Can't find better words than to just "thank you".


Haven’t really decided on that. I would answer these questions with a “yes”. Cohesive look, but I wouldn’t If there’s a mixture of two/three but not in a way that makes a lot or enviroment look out of touch or misplaced.



Well, since I started with a household of witch and possiblity of an off-spring witches (not sure If the father's wiccan genes were passed to them), I might as well make it witch-y-theme builds. Yeah, actually, witches are the first to found this land and establish a town/civilization. I might need to search up on a web on how the architect of witch towns or their resided mansions look like and inspired by what. I will be making greenhouses builds instead of actual concreate walls for any future plantsims I have planned to reside in a property. I might just make districts that splits life state nations into clans or just simply not and forget that concept.




I have yet no plants to what weather cycle/atmoshpere I should adjust the town and right now it's on the typical four seasons orientated. Though If you guys have idea for what weather/season(s) best suits and looks great on that terrain map, let me know by suggesting it so I just make it accordingly to those settings.


That’s a great idea, I might look it up




- Yeah, I wanna start small. Placing lot makers? I haven't though of this stradegy and I'm gonna out it right now. I'm thinking of making an even amount of lots that are equivalent to the number of their counterpart (community/residential). I had worry though that improper unorganize lot with different sizes might just mess up and waste up precious spaces, but I don't think that gonna be a problem since you reminded I can check it and plan all out in advance by marketing the island with empty new temporarel lots. Yeah I wasn't thinking of underestimating the hood deco, and I was just thinking at school today perhaps If possible to add a volcano of some sort, though it might be impossible to plot down one through vanilla means. If I do place one, the inner lots (that are inside the square) could have build non-square fence row edging outward, a.k.a opposite side of the road), that would go across through all lots’ territories, just to give that look that the barrials are blocking residents from going towards the center of the square (goverment invested for the citizens safety to keep them away from the volcano and for the lava to be halt when it erupts from the volcano so that it doesn’t destroy the village. And I'm obviously not gonna forget/discard the naturistic geography of the land: It will be filled with trees, fiona and alike nature stuff. Regarding beaches, I have no concern overthem since I don't have BV EP installed.

Not sure what main means of transportation I’m gonna make for this city. I can just pretend there are busses in the game or trains. Also, you gave me an idea ~ an isolated island could be a thing though. Through out history, nobody-- or at least what the locals believe of a legend, it is said that nobody set a foot on and off the island because forwhatever reason (could be like strict goverment ruling under dictiatorship that nobody can leave or it’s just simply to leave it and that the island/continent is so mystical nobody have yet discover it as it’s in alternative dimension/planet/world or whatever)



These scheme might come in handy as I can see it from a glance while reading this post. Thanks, again, for helping me. What are the “main building” should represent? What you mean by those? The Smaller island will have witch castles (of both agendas/alightments or maybe even three) established on. Haven’t though of these people could get to the boat, but I can imagine them taking ferryboats to get to the island.


P.S. Sorry for my english.

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I actually would like to get my hands on those two premade secret witch lots in a bin and place them down on that small island that's dedicated for those lots. I haven't yet figure out how to obtain those lots through third-party means as unhidden lots (either as community or home type of lot, which I'm gonna run them as business with the respective allightment high witch purchasing first hand).

a suggestion:: probably do neighborhood decorations after placing all wanted lots.

by the way, from where does the neighborhood template come from?

Can't remember from top of my head, but it's something called by "Moon" or whatever. It has a logo of a mountain.

and that I will do. I can't place them as I don't know where lots will occopy in what size. Though I can just simply place them, than shift it to another spot with the hand tool to plot down the lots. I can imagine terrains overgrowing with trees before are taken down for the properties to be build on.

Okay, clarification: the template is called MoonIslands.sc4

Your English? I am an English teacher and I didn't even notice you're not a native speaker.

By "Main lot" I was referring to my concept earlier of a town focal point or central point. This might be something such as a town hall, church, marketplace, decorative square, park, statue, tower of some kind? Perhaps you can think of something witchy.

You can create beaches without BV - look at the hood Elsewhere by Plasticbox. But it was more of an idea than a must do

I usually create empty lots as markers. I just name them things like "Library" or "Eating place" or "Park, maybe?" or "House for small family" etc. Then later I'll delete those placeholders and add actual lots or just change the name.

So here's what I got inspired with by your share ideas (let me If anything lives up to what you suggested:


As you can see, you probably already assume the name of the island from our the nature layed out the threes, in which you are completely right. It ain't affliated with TS3 Supernatural predate timeline of Moonlight Falls, but-- Or Is It?

Right, or shall I say Left-on the side, of the M, we got a maxis prebuild mall. On the upper row we got the following houses: (from down to up) A Vampire mansion, a starter house with a to-be warlock&plantsm couple (will be redesigning it slowly with darker/gray-ish looking outer walls as I obtain the sufficient amount of simoleans), another starter house with two evil witches living, and an another mansion but for witches (who will have witches that are from next door move in when they can afford it). And at the end of it, that big empty lot is a graveyard. Right in front of it (the picture is a little bit outdated before I added a more lots), there's a hut looking lots. At the whole leftside of the left road (where the autumn leaves grow), werewolves and servos will be resided in there, and a few lots in there.

Back to square, next to on the right side land of the graveyard, there is a public transportation (like a ferry type of thing) that will transporting citizens/locals through a helicopter to that small island, which will be inhabited with plantsim-farmers. Then you got a ufo crash-site deco (you can't see it since the cloud is obscuring it) and a apartment continue on the land. The upper Seaside is blocked by a bunch of huges rocks/stones. Those 5 empty lots in that smaller square will be dorms for each individual occult-academy (biggest for witches/wizards, medium for vampires, small - plantsims, and the two tiny rest ones are for zombies and werewolfes).

I somehow managed to build a volcano out of vanilla deco stuff, and put some random farm-stuff and that bella momentum next to it on the right area. That side of the back of the apartment will be empty of lots.