World Size and Why It Matters

Today I officially started my world save, which I have yet to give a real name to outside of "Workinprogress.world", but I figure a name will come in time. Today, I chose the size and height maps for my world, which is important because all decisions made from here on out will be affected (and even restricted) by the dimensions chosen. The basic gist of the options available in Create a World are as follows:

Map Size
This is the horizontal plane on which all features will be built and it comes in several sizes.

• Tiny( 256x256)
• Small(512x512)
• Medium(1024x1024)
• Large(2048x2048)

The scale can be hard to grasp when starting out (because of how blank the world is at first), so I thought a frame of reference might be helpful.

This is a small world with a 64x64 square block, which is the largest lot that can be built.

Initially, I intended to build on a small map to help accommodate my PC( I'm doing this whole project on a 16" laptop), but after some consideration I decided on a medium map. I plan to do a quaint town with surrounding farmland, so a small map would really cramp the layout of my world and I wouldn't get the end result I wanted.  If you are torn between choosing a world size, try to lay out what you generally want in your head; a secluded island obviously needs less space(and is less demanding on your computer) than a city like Bridgeport, which was built on a large map.

Something else to consider with map size is that the large it is, the more time it will take to complete it. Unless you are Maxis and have a small army of people terrain sculpting, painting, placing decorations, and whole lot else, every step will be done singularly. This lengthens the process and you may lose interest much sooner as the tedium sets in and haven't even finished terrain painting yet. This is why I failed in my first world and it has taken me over a year to find the desire to try again, just a word of warning.

Map Height

The second option after world size pertains to the maximum height allowed within a world. This time there are three options:

• 100
• 200
• 300

Obviously, a world with a max height of 300 allows for taller mountains to be built. However, before just picking 300, a consideration at this stage should be: do I really need all the extra height? My world for example, only has a height of 100 because it's going to be a cluster of flat farmland that has little elevations change.

*Note: If you pick a map, let's say a TinyFlatMap300, your maximum height should also be set to 300.

Default Terrain Paint

The final option given a this stage is what type of terrain paint you want to start with. The two choices are:

• Lush- Green grass(think Shang Simla, Sunset Valley, etc)
• Desert- Sand(think Al Simhara)

I picked Lush for the obvious reason that my world is loosely based on the English countryside, which is the polar opposite of a desert. 

That's it for now! Next I plan to start on the topography of the world, so lots of fun to come terrain sculpting!

My final setup

The Beginning of the Beginning

Hello, my name is Jennifer and welcome to the beginning of my blog! If it's not obvious already, what I hope to accomplish in the next few months is a documentation of the huge process that is creating a world in the Sims 3, which I figured someone might be interested in if they too are considering doing the same. Because this undertaking is a process(huge emphasis here) that requires a large amount of time and planning, I have decided to start from the beginning,which is my background with the game and what sparked my interest in this project.

Background with the game:
I have played the Sims series of games on and off for the past seven years and I feel that in this time I've gotten a pretty good feel for how the mechanics of the game work and the types of game components that I have really liked and disliked. As far as the create-a-world tool goes, I have attempted building in it a few times, though with limited success and never actually to completion. Because of this, I know how to use the basic tools of the program(add lots, move trees, simple terrain paint, etc), but that doesn't put me very far ahead of a beginner and I still anticipate making rookie mistakes. Though, I suppose that that will be part of the fun, won't it?

Where this idea began:
This whole project is the brainchild of my desire to travel internationally and my general interest in real estate. As a lifelong resident of the southwestern United States, I've seen snow maybe six times total and in my area the idea of a green lawn is more of a local joke than an attainable desire. At some point, I was chatting with an UK resident online and they joked about how their summer had started and ended last Thursday, after a blissful day of absent overcast. I laughed because of how comical this seemed, I mean, a single day of cloudless sky is a cause for celebration? We get over 300 sunny days a year with a rainy day being a blessing from on high! This geographical (and cultural) difference really sparked my interest in international geography and lifestyles. Soon, I was looking up real estate in England and was enthralled by how different the living spaces were. A tiny flat in London costs as much as a 7 or 8 bedroom house does in the southwest!

For the curious, I pulled two homes (one from Zoopla, the other from Zillow) from my searches to show you an idea of my culture shock.

An end terrace house in London. 942 sqr ft.

A detached house in Phoenix, AZ. 4,796 sqr ft.

Each is listed around the same price point, but location differences caused the amount you get for your money to vary incredibly! This idea of different locations, different lifestyles is really what sparked my interest in creating  a world that would be fundamentally different than the familiar desert landscape I've grown accustomed to. In this project, I really get to explore by creating, which is one of the things Sims games are great for. Also, as a bonus, I now can warrant spending more time looking at lovely landscapes on the internet(for inspirational use, of course).

That's it for now! Next up will be my pre-planning stage in which I'll go over the topics of world size and topography.