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new theme and downloads page

This is way overdue, as I haven’t updated my theme in forever and my old downloads page had been broken for quite a while. I’m aware that photosets on some download posts look really shitty; I finally figured out that it’s the ones made with Tumblr’s new beta post editor that look like that. So I guess I need to figure that out at some point (but not today...). Thanks to ____, the filters on the new downloads page are now working as they should and the whole thing looks much snazzier. Yay.

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NO BETA Hagebak

Lot 

price

room

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The Hagebak

lot

price

room

description goes here

DOWNLOAD HERE

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This is the Eltham's Drift makeover Anon was asking about. I just started up my build save to dig this one up, and realized that I had already started giving this one a little facelift from my previous version. It's not that far off from the original house in this world (which you can see here). I had just changed the windows, tweaked the roofing, added a porch, and spruced up the exterior treatment. But I think my original makeover looked a bit washed out. I'm just refreshing it slightly, while keeping the same color palette and overall vibe.

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Another work in progress for Saaqartoq.

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Sed euismod dapibus neque, varius elementum dui lobortis et. Duis non efficitur lorem. Morbi tristique dictum arcu, et tincidunt justo facilisis ut. Nunc pretium enim a tortor tincidunt consectetur. Duis pretium laoreet varius. Nulla et lorem lorem. Vestibulum euismod convallis pretium. Cras condimentum felis sed rhoncus sollicitudin. Duis eget nulla non eros lobortis aliquet id eu mi. Morbi in augue fermentum, molestie metus vitae, dapibus orci. Pellentesque porta finibus sapien. Ut tincidunt justo id erat maximus, vitae pretium nisl congue. Donec congue, leo at consequat ultrices, urna sem volutpat odio, id fringilla dui tellus ut est.

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The Lyberth

25x20 lot

§56,091 | §39,066

4 bd/2 ba

Several people have been requesting this lot from my new Saaqartoq game, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to sit down and finish it until now. I hope it’s still useful! Since this was built for my own game and I wasn’t expecting people to want these builds, I ended up using a lot more CC than I normally would. I’m pretty sure I’ve spotted everything, but let me know if you’re having any issues.

This lot may use items from any/all EPs. I used the following custom content:

Blue vertical boards by Simlicious 

Wood pattern collection 2 by Simlicious

Small wooden tiles (pic #2, row #3)

Vertical streaky wood (pic #3, row #2)

Vertical planks (pic #1, row #3)

Carpet by Simlicious (pic #1, second in the last row)

Grey brick tiles by Simlicious

Siding by plasticbox

Shingles by PharaohHound

Build set by armiel (fence 2, column 2, column 4)

Barn walls by armiel

Nordic windows by Lisen801 (standard, maxi)

Window by Mutske

Roof by Amarysauce (mono light)

DOWNLOAD HERE

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Okay oh my gosh I'm sorry if this is awkward or whatever, but wow can I just say that I absolutely adore your Sims 3 builds? I can only dream of being able to build like you do; but would you happen to have any tips? The only houses I'm able to build are boxes. 🥺💗

Hi there. Thanks very much!

First of all, if you can build a box, you are set. I mean that sincerely. I went through my Downloads page and found all these houses that are either a single box or two boxes smushed together. Have a look; there is nothing complicated about these shapes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11. I have an idea about the “boxy” sort of houses you probably have in mind, and to me, there are only a few things keeping a box from looking pretty: (1) proportions, (2) roofing, and (3) landscaping.

1. I think that proportion is the single most important element for making Sim houses that look realistic. In my opinion, a lot of people make houses way too big. I feel that Sim doors, windows, and furniture are scaled correctly, and you ought to be building to that scale. Whenever people ask me for building help, my top tip is always to look at real houses and houseplans and get a sense of realistic proportions: Consider how many evenly spaced windows you see on any single section of wall, or how wide the space on either side of the front door is compared to the width of the door itself, or how long each roof section is in relation to the others. On floor plans, use things like toilets, bath tubs, doors, windows, and counters as landmarks to gauge how big rooms should be. I have a little bit more about that in this post. 

2. Roofing can totally transform a box, and you have more options than you might think: A box is exactly what you need for a mansard roof (#3 and #8 above), for example. You could also slap another narrower box on top of your boxy house and make it into a gambrel roof (#1 and #6 above). Or you can angle two or more long half gable pieces against each other on top of a rectangular house to create a rather modern look (#2 above). And when it comes to roofing non-boxy houses, this post has some tips about how I approach roofing. In general, similar to the first point, I feel that many people make their roofs too steep, which makes them look outsized as compared to the rest of the house. I always err on the side of a lower roof pitch. Also, I’m including dormers in this category; they’re an easy way to add interest to a boxy house. 

3. I always have a pretty heavy hand with landscaping, and I feel it makes a huge difference. I won’t say too much about this point because I’ve already covered this extensively in my landscaping tutorial. Landscaping can fill in awkward empty areas of the lot, frame features like bay windows or doors, and generally soften and balance an exterior that would otherwise look too stark and bland. Believe me, so many of my lots would look ass-ugly if they weren’t insanely laden with shrubs, hedges, trees, and terrain paint (#4 above is a great example). 

That turned out long, but hopefully it was helpful! I also have a few pages of building resources, which you may not see on mobile. They have links to some helpful tutorials and past posts where I answered building related questions:

Build Tutorials

Asks & Answers

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Do you have an updated version of your "Using Sims 3 Utilities on a Mac: extracting, cleaning, organizing and merging custom content" post. I have tried it recently and it doesn't work for me.

The latest update I have is in this post from February 2019. I used WineBottler to make Multi Extractor, Dashboard, and s3pe into apps that would run natively on Mac. However, that was back in Mojave. I have no idea if they work on Catalina or Big Sur, but there's a good chance they won't. As Mac OS has progressed and TS3 has stayed the same, it has been increasingly difficult to make the two play nicely together. At this point I just have my old 2015 MBP with a clean install of High Sierra for the sole purpose of playing TS3, and I don't attempt anything with my newer Mac. Good luck to you!

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Katrin

While I'm on a roll here, I thought I'd share another finished build that's been hanging around my game while I've been too busy to play or post on Simblr. This is another house for Saaqartoq by @nilxis. It features a split-level master suite upstairs.

30x20 lot (Sisimiut Street 4 in Saaqartoq)

§57,041 | §43,032

3 bd/3 ba

This lot may use items from any/all EPs. Custom content used:

Siding pattern by @simlicious (pic 1, row 3, thumbnail 2)

Wood patterns by armiel

Barn walls by armiel

Horizontal fence 1 by armiel

Nordic windows by Lisen801

Fana door 1x1 by Mutske

Roof by tammy_trauma

DOWNLOAD HERE

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Tutorial: Basics of Landscaping

You asked for it, so here it is. This was really difficult because I don’t actually have a deliberate method of landscaping—when I build, I just place trees, shrubs and flowers wherever I think they look nice, and I choose which plants to use as I go, not beforehand. When I was asked to do a landscaping tutorial, I tried to pick apart those things I do mindlessly and rearrange them as a step-by-step guide. When I landscaped the demo house I actually followed my own steps to make sure they made sense (which was awkward, but I think it works). So if you’re one of the ones who asked for this tutorial I hope it doesn’t disappoint, and that it makes sense to you. Let me know if you’d like to know about anything else I didn’t include.

I used TS4 to illustrate this, but I’m not tagging it as such because the principles are applicable regardless of which game you’re playing.

This thing is really long with a lot of pictures, so consider this your fair warning before you click through to see everything. I’ve also uploaded the in-game pictures to an Imgur album so you can see them at original size; click here to see it. 

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