Ceilings

Ceilings

It's so late I'm hardly awake (about 12:34 a.m. or so), but I found ceiling tiles over at Mod the Sims 2. Apparently the ceiling can be seen from below. Before I experiment with this has anyone else tried it out? They talk as if this has been around for awhile but there's a new version which, perhaps, works better. jgwhiteus is the creator
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=42789&page=1&pp=25

 

I saw those a goodly while back. I imagine they would be a real 'mare to move around if you ever wanted a change.

I still don't understand why Maxis didn't start out by making the floor tiles opaque from below and giving them a simple white colour.

 

So I downloaded the (.rar) files and unpacked them this morning. I stole a few minutes to play with them in my test neighborhood. Actually, I think version 3 may not be so bad. There's a controller that looks like a little CD that sits on the floor (I'll probably store it in the attic when I'm done) which allows for a lot of control of the ceiling --visible, not visible, fade out, even delete. Anyway, when I get home from work later I'm going to play around with a bigger house with more rooms and floors. I'm just checking in here on my lunch break which is now over.

 

I haven't gotten to the bigger house yet but played with the ceilings some more. The "controller" allows you to delete the ceiling tiles easily if you're doing reconstruction on the house--one tile, one room, or the whole house all at once. Also, while playing with your family, you can make the ceiling completely invisible along with the ceiling lamps, or only invisible from above while still visible from below.

It seems fairly easy to work with. So far, in my simple test neighborhood, I've only noticed one drawback and that is, the ceiling tiles have to be placed over floor tiles. The effect of this is that you can have a ceiling over the stairs on the first level (your sims will walk up through the ceiling to the second floor) but you can't place tiles over the stairs on the second level since there is no floor where the stairs come up. It's the exact opposite of the way it should be (as in the real world.) And where there's a gap, the sky is visible. (4th picture)

I tried the "elevator" pad. No problem. Since no open space in the floor is required for the elevator, you can place floor tiles and therefore ceiling tiles--no gaps.

I attach (of course ) some pictures. I took them at night because I was curious about how lamps reflected off the ceiling. Floor and table lamps look best in my 'umble opinion. The effect is actually rather nice even for this plain, undecorated, sparsely furnished house (Amy has only just moved in and hasn't much money.)

The controller looks like a CD. There are several colors available for the ceiling but, strangely, some are brick and stone. Otherwise, it's pretty limited. And the white doesn't look very white.

 

LOL Kat. I never got around to trying these. It has been a source of annoyance (or maybe just frustration) that the roofs are opaque from below but not floor tiles.

For movie making and screenshot purposes I treat the open skies as a movie-maker's challenge (in olde hollywoode the cameraman had to frame the shots to avoid the lighting rig that served as a ceiling).

That said ... even the Maxoids left a "blue sky" blooper in the game's opening movie! So my view is the problem was never considered important at Maxis Towers, when it so obviously is important. I prefer to continue with trying to avoid camera positions that expose the missing ceiling because the buyable ceilings options I have seen have too many limitations (eg this one requires that Object Hiding be set to off and it won't cover stair wells -- as Lynet observed).

And all that was needed was to code the floor tiles to be opaque on both sides ... the roofs are grey from below, who could possibly complain if ceilings were only available in one colour? (Even battleship grey would be acceptable ) Maybe the spring "in business" EP will address this issue because ....

 

I've placed the ceiling tiles in a couple of the houses that I play in regularly. One of them is a house my Uni students rent. Once I've got the tiles placed and the setting adjusted to what I want (which is to have them visible only from below and to have the front edge fade as you move in closer so it doesn't block your view) I forget about them.

I think that once you get past the learning curve they're easier to work with then some of the other stuff--the roof, for instance. The roof can be a real pain on an oddly shaped house. I'm always cussin' and swearing when I go to put the roof on a house because it starts out looking like something Elmer Fud would live in.