I recently posted some screenshots on my tumblr that showed my sim sitting on the end of a dock. The lot is a beach lot and it was mentioned a time or two that someone would like to learn how to do that. So, here's how I do it. There might be other ways, but I do think that my way is pretty easy and everyone should be able to do it.

First you need to build a little foundation. This will be used to flatten the dock to foundation height later on. Beach lots are different than non-beach lots. You can't build a foundation too close to the water. Enter the cheat "boolprop constrainfloorelevation false" then try to build a few squares of foundation. If it's red, move back a square until it's green. Once you find the correct spot, build your foundation. I suggest at least 3 squares. (2 just seems kind of narrow.)




ABOVE 2 SCREENSHOTS- Screenshot 1, I couldn’t place the foundation. Screenshot 2, 1 square back I could. So I placed my 3-square foundation, starting 4 squares away from the edge of the lot.

Second- using any 1 story column- starting on the 3rd square away from your foundation, place columns in pairs of two going all the way into the water as in the following screenshot. You don’t need to put any columns on the angled part of the terrain going into the water. Just the flat areas.



After you’ve gotten your foundation and columns placed, it’s time to lay down the flooring you want to use for your dock. After you’ve chosen the flooring, place it on top of the columns. NOTE: You can start at the end of the columns closest to the foundation and just drag the flooring out to the end of both sets of columns. You should end up with something like this:



OR this:



If you ended up with something like the first screenshot- use the level terrain tool to flatten the dock starting on your foundation and dragging to the end of the dock.
If you ended up with something like the second screenshot- don’t freak out. This is easily fixed. UNDO what you just did using CTRL+Z. Then redo it- starting at the BEGINNING of the columns closest to the foundation. DO NOT drag the flooring starting from the foundation. You’ll then end up with this:



THEN, using that same flooring flatten the deck area, starting from the top of the foundation and dragging out to the end of the dock. (Alternatively, you could use the flatten terrain tool- starting from the foundation and dragging out to the end of the dock.)

You should then end up with this:



Turn off “boolprop constrainfloorelevation false” by typing in “boolprop constrainfloorelevation true”. Delete all of the columns and the foundation. If you want your dock to start closer to the water, delete the floor tiles until you’re as close to the water as you want to get. (You don’t have to delete the columns that are under water if you don’t want to. I do because I like the way it looks with no columns.) After you've deleted the foundation squares, the ground will still be lowered where the foundation was. You can leave it like that since your sims will be able to walk up the little slope. Or, you can use the raise foundation tool to even it back out- all it will take is 2 or 3 clicks. At this point, you can add stairs, railings, fences, lights- decorate your dock however you’d like it to look.



NOTE: If you want to add the tile of flooring on the side, like I have in the above screenshot, you can do that before you flatten the whole dock. If you add it later, you’ll have to put ONE column back into the water to be able to add that tile. Then you’ll have to enter “boolprop constrainfloorelevation false” again to flatten that area back out then enter “boolprop constrainfloorelevation true” when you’re done.

Why did I add that little square of flooring? So I could put one of Fresh Prince's boats next to the dock! Not that I couldn't do that without that extra tile there, because I could. I just like to be a little bit different and do things my way, lol.



Here’s how it looks on another lot. The same technique was used to build it, along with some of the same content. So it looks similar to the above screenshot, but it IS on another lot.



Your sims won’t be able to get on the boat at all, but I think it looks pretty authentic. Even without anything actually supporting the dock!

I think that’s it. Hopefully I haven’t missed a step anywhere. It’s pretty easy to do- I know I’ve been adding docks to all of my beach lots!

Any questions, please post them! I’ll try to answer them quickly. Please note one other thing- your sims can’t use the dock to get in or out of the water. You CAN add a pool ladder to the side of the dock if you like that look and your sims will be able to use it to get out of the water (although not to get in the water). BUT- they’ll walk in the air afterwards and you’ll have to exit and re-enter the lot to get them to stop walking on air.

You can also use this technique to add a dock that’s connected to a house or a restaurant. There are a few differences though- so I may add a tutorial on how to do that later on.

Oh, one other thing. I already mentioned that I suggest placing the dock close to the side of the lot but I think that bears repeating: I suggest building the dock close to the edge of the lot. I’m not sure if placing one in the middle will mess with the beach portals or not. I DO know that placing a dock towards the edge won’t. My sims have been able to swim in the water and any ocean surf effects/boats/deco I’ve placed work like they should.

Awesome tutorial. Thank you very much MLC :D

/hurries off to make beachlots

I never thought doing something like this, looks simple, I hope to get a dock good as this one! Thank you for the tutorial n.n

You're welcome!

Fantastic tutorial. Thankies.

Wonderful! I can't wait to try this out.

I'm gonna try this! Thanks so much for this tutorial.

Thank you SOOOOOO much MLC! I've fiddled and fiddle with this concept, but haven't been able to work it out to my liking. Now you've gone and spelled it out for me *sheepish grin*. Some times I'm a little slow...lol. Thanks again!

Thankyou for this, just tried, had to tweak it a bit for some reason to get the middle flooring down, but managed to work it, fantastic tute and very effective!

Excellent idea, MLC, thank you very much for this tutorial. I'm going to give it a try this very evening.
<3

Hi
I have been trying to do this and have run into an issue. I got the foundation in, the dock itself but am stuck at the point of leveling it. It looks just like the fourth picture. I have tried the terrain leveling tool and using the floor tiles. Every time I try to level it the foundation is green but the dock turns red and won't let me level it.
Help, I really want this to work.

Do you still have boolprop constrainfloorelevation false on? It needs to be on while you're leveling the dock. Other than that, the only advice I can give you is to try dragging from different directions. It can take a little bit of fiddling but the dock should level out for you.

Thanks, I am going to mess around with it this evening.
I have the code set, I just need to fiddle with it. I'll let you know how it goes.

It looks so neat! I'm totally gonna try this one out

OMG! This is amazing! I have GOT to try this! Thank you, Maria.
YOU ROCK!!!

Thank you for this tutorial, I had fun trying it and it worked. Where can I find the marina rope fence that goes on the dock? (Never mind, found it in my old Sims Connection files.)

The fence is by BeosBoxBoy - you might be interested in this download by Shastakiss because she did some recolors of that set (including the fence) and some of his other sets.

Thank you, Mustlovcats. I just built my second beach with a pier, and this time I made the pier five tiles wide. I also discovered I can build a wall on it - which means I can make one much wider and build a house, or better yet, a seafood restaurant on a pier.

For those who don't know, http://simwardrobe.com/ has a Fish Packing Station. You'd find it under Sims 2/ Sims 2 Objects / Business Facilitators. I like his Produce Packing Station too. I was thinking that having a Pier Restaurant, with a small fishing lake on the land and some fruit trees and veggie garden will be neat, and then my sim can sell real fish and fruit by the crate. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again for the tutorial.

Where did you get that beach sign on the pier fence & those hanging towels on the White fence?

Sorry! @suzanne70
I did get your message asking me about those and meant to reply. I get carried away with other stuff and forget what i should be doing. The beach sign is mine and you can get that HERE. The towels are also mine but they were just something I was playing around with and never uploaded them anywhere. I don't even have them anymore, otherwise I would've sent them to you.

Thanks Maria. And also where did you get the dock deck flooring? (sorry I know I ask a lot but it's really cool stuff lol)

I'm not sure about the flooring, sorry. I know there's something similar here at MTS - if you search "transparent". (But I'm pretty sure it's not the one I used because it's not in my downloads folder.)

mustluvcatz,

Thanks for this tutorial. The download link to your HS recolors and signs isn't working for me. Could I get a new link?

Yay! I can't believe I just now found this tutorial and I am quite thankful for it!! I FINALLY have a boat dock on my beach for my ships that my Sims can actually step up on. Thank you so much!

Very helpful! I'll try that when I attempt to make a dock for at least one of my Sims' houses. Thanks!