Lot Spotlight: The Lighthouse!

The generic lighthouse object has been replaced by a working yet liveable lighthouse in Serenity Point.  The lighthouse beacon can be toggled on and off by means of a floor switch.  The home sleeps a couple although there is a single bed in the lighthouse itself.  I'm very pleased with the way it came out and think it looks better in the world than the EA lighthouse object did.  I'm so glad to have a lighthouse that people can interact with.

You can see all of the pictures over on my creation blog, but here is teaser!



From the Serenity Point news bulletin:

In the mid-1800s, the Japanese government hired a European firm to build lighthouses to make the waters around Japan safe for shipping.  The lighthouses built near the end of the 19th century were European in design while the lighthouses built in Japan before this contract tended to be traditional Japanese architecture and smaller.

Needing a lighthouse for our growing community, the Serenity Point town government has decided to pay homage to the traditional Japanese lighthouse with the unveiling of Hachimenreirou Toudai (Serenity Lighthouse).  This lighthouse has been constructed on Asian Cliff overlooking the main town.  A traditional-style yet updated home has been constructed with it so that the lighthouse keeper may live in comfort and stay rested and focused on this important job.  As a lot that will be open to tourists and a showcase to visitors, the home is larger than others in Serenity Point with room for entertaining guests and completing needed repairs.

While intended to honor the asian members of our community, delight all townspeople and to teach visitors about the history lighthouses and of Serenity Point, this lighthouse will still be fully functional and will protect both the town and passing ships by keeping us all a safe distance apart.

In Serenity Point:

:sniff: Teleportation reward area is a No Go

Well, I did some more testing with the world and it looks like keeping one section of the world separate so that one must use teleportation to reach it is not going to be playable.  Theoretically everything can be set up, the routing paint, etc., but the world experiences drastic freezes when being played in real game.  I noticed the freezes several months ago and recently narrowed it down to know that the world with routing paint blocking the campground from access has these freezes and the same world with just the routing paint deleted does not.  I even used exactly the same save file to test it in game.

I had previously added subway stations to the game to see if this would resolve the freezing issue, but without a routing path in place, sims don't seem to voluntarily use the subway.  They just indicate that there's no way to get where you want, even if a subway trip would allow them access to the other area of the world.  The freezes still occurred as well.

What does that mean for Serenity Point?  Well, I'm going to have to put in some kind of routing path.  I'm still going to have the huge cliff (and it will still have routing paint so sims can magically walk up it), but there will be a road that will give access to this area.  I don't really want a paved street cutting through the forest, so I may use the dirt road in the mystical woods area and extend it with a bridge across the river into the enlightenment campground.  A dirt road will probably look better anyway.

Now that I know the area will have a road connecting it to the main area, I need to decide if I want to go back to the idea of having a subway station so that people can bypass the incredibly long road if they want to.  *shrugs*  I don't know yet.  I'm still reeling from having to put in a road and chance my concept.  I'm sure it will be better in the long run as the people in the valley will have access to the spawners on the plateau so I won't have to put in two of everything.  <--- That was my pep talk.  :)

A Few More Additions!

EmpressPamela and Luckyheather have generously donated some lots to Serenity Point.  I was really impressed with their work in the 10x10 community lot contest and asked if they'd be interested making a starter home of a particular style.  I'm very grateful that they both did!

Here's EmpressPamela's beach starter (second from the left) right next to her awesome arcade.  She named it Tangerine Dream (so cool!).  I switched the location of the arcade because I think it gives a really nice color progression.

Luckyheather, who has shown she's so talented at industrial builds (okay, among other styles, too!), made a great industrial starter for the back street.  Here's a couple pictures to entice you into this starter home...

Luckyheather also donated a pool to the world!  I had a big empty lot downtown that I didn't know what to do with it, and she had the great suggestion of putting a pool there.  Of course, making the suggestion is offering to do it, right?  >:D  I will need to find the picture that was the inspiration and add it here, because she did a wonderful job recreating a classically inspired building.  It fits in with Cherry Lane and the historic downtown really well, and I added a couple homes to help it blend in with the industrial back street that it touches.  So glad to have a real pool!

Serenity Point Public Services

The town hall/military base/police station for Serenity Point has been in the world for about a month now, but the poor thing never got any publicity.  So here's a post full of pics!  There are rooms built onto the front of the building which are just offices for now.  There's also an archivist's office and vault in the underground walkway.  It's basically meant to be a motherlode for kleptos.  :D