The Sims 3 Home Building Tutorials
Roofs: Building a Better Roof
By Norma Blackburn
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I thought I would do a tutorial for using the roof tool when building. Sometimes this aspect of building is overlooked, often maybe from lack of knowledge on using the tools to their best advantage.
Before we begin, we should get to know a little about the various roofing tools available. Later on we'll have a look at building certain roof types.
The first thing we need to do is open up the roof tool and disable auto roofs. Auto roofs being on by default, in my opinion, is a bit of a nuisance. I have often forgotten to disable it, then had problems with not being able to do something while building, only to go up a level and find that there is a piece of roof that is preventing what I want to do.
Roof Types
Let's have a play with the different roof types and see what they do. We don't need walls to simply look, as you can build a roof on the ground. You will get a better idea of the pagoda roofs if they are off the ground.
Gable and Tall Gable:
These two tools do much the same thing except that the tall gable is, um, taller! Regardless, the pitch of any roof can be made taller or shorter using the pitch tool (more on that later) The tall gable will not come down quite as low as the normal gable and it will be taller when pulled up to its maximum height. There is one difference that I have noticed that can be used to a builder's advantage. The normal gable tool will take the longer side of the area and always make this the side of the roof. The tall gable will always make the shorter wall the side. In the case of the area being a square, you will find that one will always have the gable ends to the sides and the other will always have the ends facing the front and back. Which roof faces which way, seems to be random, so if you have a square area you want a gable roof on and you want the ends facing a particular way, you will need to just try them out to see which one works that way for that block.
Here is an example of the normal gable and the tall gable. Both were built on identical rooms.
This is a normal gable (on the left) and a tall gable, both built on identical square rooms.
Hipped roof:
The hipped roof doesn't need a lot of explanation, except to say that placed on a square build, the four sides will meet in a point and on a rectangular build, there will be a ridge along the length.
Mansard roof:
The roof will only be a mansard roof if the area to cover is at least 7 x 7. Anything smaller than that size and it will act the same as a hipped roof. We'll have a look at how to create a mansard roof on smaller areas a little later on.
Half Gable and Half Hipped roof:
These tools create roof sections that look like they have been cut in half. They are useful for adding a roof to an outcrop of building. When using these tools, start at one front corner and drag the tool to the opposite back corner.
Flat Roof:
The flat roof is as the name suggests, flat. The tool itself acts just the same as using the flooring tool, except that the roof tool is available in only one colour and cannot be changed. For this reason, if you want a flat roof that is anything but the light brown/beige colour of the roof tool, you could just as easily use flooring. Using flooring as a roof, could however cause problems later on if EA ever introduce weather to the game. In that case, the game would possibly not recognise the floor being a roof and sims will most likely get a negative moodlet for having weather in their house. (this is based on how things worked in Sims 2)
Conical and Dome roofs:
These two roofs add a bit of variety by adding circular roofs. They look good over garden pergolas or on towers. They are usually placed over square or octagonal builds, but can also be placed over small outcrops of building. They are quite easy to place, just start in one corner and drag across to the opposite corner.
Note that dome roofs are a fixed height and are not affected by height controls.
Octagonal roof:
The octagonal roof is perfect for octagonal builds and is placed like the conical and dome roofs, just start in one corner and drag across to the opposite corner. Unlike the round roofs, the octagonal roof can also be made so it has no overhang when placed on an octagonal build. To do this, just start the roof inside the line of the walls.
Octagonal Mansard roof:
This is a combination of the mansard and the octagonal roofs. Where the standard mansard roof needs to be at least 7 x 7 in size, the octagonal one has to be at least 9 x 9, otherwise it is just an octagonal roof.
Pagoda roofs:
The pagoda roof was introduced to the game in World Adventures. It was also included in game updates, so even if you don't have World Adventures, you should still have access to these roofs. The pagoda roof pieces work in the same way as the normal roofs work with the exception that the edges of the roof can be turned up or down to create Asian style roofs. Use the Pagoda Curvature slider to change the way the roof curves.
This picture shows the same roof with different degrees of curvature added.
Diagonal Roof Tools
The diagonal roof tools offer the same roof sections as the normal selection, but on the diagonal. This is good for builds that are on an angle.
Example of a normal roof (left) and a diagonal roof.
Pagoda Curvature Slider
This controls the way pagoda roofs curve. I can't say I've had very much experience using pagoda roofs, so I won't be going into detail about using them, but while you are playing with the various tools, try out the pagoda roofs (they are best viewed on top of walls and not on the ground) and experiment with the slider to see how it effects the roof. Note that the curvature slider is a global tool and will affect all pagoda roofs on the lot.
Roof Height and Pitch Tools
This tool is often overlooked by people, yet can have a huge impact on how a roof looks. The 'Adjust Roof Height' slider controls all sections of roof on the lot and is useful if you want to change all in one hit. However if you are happy with most of your roof height and just want to alter one or two pieces, or you want several different heights, then you need to use the 'Roof Section Pitch Control' button. To use the section control, click the button, the curser will become an up and down pointing arrow. Now mouse over the roof. When a section can be selected, it will be highlighted. Left click and drag that section of roof up or down to the desired height. When you are happy, just release the button and mouse over the next section you want to change.
You can't see the cursor in this photo, but it is over the lighter piece of roof which can now be lowered or heightened.
Roof Pattern tab and Remove All Roofs button
These are the last tools to look at before we move on. They are pretty much self explanatory so don't really need going into. Note though, that both of these tools control all the roofs on your lot, you cannot colour different roof sections in different patterns and colours and if you hit the remove button, it will remove ALL the roofs. Of course if you hit it in error after working on your roof for hours, just hit the undo button. If you want to remove odd sections of roof, just use the sledgehammer tool (just make sure you have the correct piece highlighted)
Common Problems with Placing Roof Pieces
There are at least two problems that often crop up when you are trying to place a roof. The first is a message that says 'Location Out of Bounds' This is usually because there is nothing to support all four corners of the roof. Just add a piece of wall or a column where each corner will be and you should then be able to place the roof. Once the roof is in place, you can remove the support.
The other problem is a message that says 'Can't intersect other objects' This one is because something is getting in the way. It could be a dormer window that is the problem, note though that only the window in that case should be a problem, the walls shouldn't give that message. The problem could be stairs – if you have built your stairs and now want to add the roof to the upper level, you could get this problem. The solution is simple, remove the stairs, add the roof, then place the stairs. Other things that can cause this problem are pieces of furniture or items on walls. Have a look on the inside of walls that you may be working near and remove anything that is against or on the wall.
So there you have it, an introduction to the roof tools. Next, I'll give you some tips to better looking roofs and show you how to combine different roof pieces to get a certain look.
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