Author Topic: Building Contest Rules (Read 4857 times)

Twinmum · « **Reply #50 on:** August 02, 2010, 12:24:18 AM »

Yes, the price thing is strange. I've noticed it just a couple of times, mainly when I have been very conscious of the price. For example, for this latest contest, I started building a house last night before bed and I got seriously close to the price limit. I saved it and turned in, then when I reloaded it this morning it was down about 1500 - not nearly as much as I need to shave off but it's a start. The price change does seem to be a one off thing for each lot though, it won't come down again next time you go back to it.

Norma

Pam · « **Reply #51 on:** August 02, 2010, 12:46:25 AM »

Now that I think about it, this might be associated with depreciation. It happens when you buy a house in-game, but I didn't think it would happen to a house under construction. I'm going to ask AriaGirl and Metro to stop by this thread and give their suggestions.

LenaLJ · « **Reply #52 on:** August 02, 2010, 07:51:03 AM »

I saw that too last time - but I just thought that I had deleted some items. But the more I think about it, I can't remember that I deleted something before saving and exiting.

MomOfMany · « **Reply #53 on:** August 02, 2010, 12:17:15 PM »

Quote from: Pam on August 02, 2010, 12:46:25 AM

Now that I think about it, this might be associated with depreciation. It happens when you buy a house in-game, but I didn't think it would happen to a house under construction. I'm going to ask AriaGirl and Metro to stop by this thread and give their suggestions.

That is what I assumed it was but then I wasn't sure which price was the correct one to use to I will hold off on posting anything till you let me know for sure.
I don't know if this is to much to ask here if so I will move it but for August they want a garden is it possible to put in vegetables from build mode or is there a different way to do that?

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #54 on:** August 02, 2010, 01:03:30 PM »

Quote from: momofmany on August 02, 2010, 12:17:15 PM

That is what I assumed it was but then I wasn't sure which price was the correct one to use to I will hold off on posting anything till you let me know for sure.
I don't know if this is to much to ask here if so I will move it but for August they want a garden is it possible to put in vegetables from build mode or is there a different way to do that?

My recommendation last night to Pam and Aria was for participants to ignore the deflation that occurs after leaving Edit Town. Everyone has x simoleans to work with per contest and that's all that's important.

MomOfMany · « **Reply #55 on:** August 02, 2010, 01:15:40 PM »

The deflation takes place in the edit town mode when you finished building. So the price that should be used is the price before you finish building? Correct? But then I have an additional question what about those who build part of the house then save and come back to it later. Then get deflation from leaving the build mode? Does it then need to be built in one sitting?

AriaGirl77 · « **Reply #56 on:** August 02, 2010, 03:13:17 PM »

As long as no one is living in the house it shouldn't depreciate in value. I will do some testing to make sure that this is true, but I'm nearly certain that you have to have a sim living there to get depreciation.

For the August contest the only thing that is expected in the garden is a place for one, you do not have to plant any plants in order to meet the requirement of having a gardening space.

To make things more clear I have amended the rules to say that your value should be what you see in the window in Edit Town mode before you exit.

MomOfMany · « **Reply #57 on:** August 02, 2010, 06:20:14 PM »

I saw the amendment for the rules and wanted to clarify that I never left edit town mode. And I haven't saved my file it is still open on the computer. What I did was complete the house then click the edit town button that takes the place of the original live mode and that is when it depreciated.

AriaGirl77 · « **Reply #58 on:** August 02, 2010, 10:05:05 PM »

I didn't know that you could choose Edit Town as an option when you were already in Edit town mode. That's so odd. I say as long as you met the price points before you did whatever it was that caused the depreciation then that's fine. Just include the amount pre-depreciation (if you remember it) and call it good. The exact numbers aren't that important anyway, the important part is that you didn't exceed the amount given in the rules. If it depreciates AFTER that, then so be it.

MomOfMany · « **Reply #59 on:** August 03, 2010, 12:51:02 AM »

I do remember it but people who don't finish all at once will have an advantage as far as money goes. Because when you build the house it says the value in the top and when you save the house the value will depreciate.
When you finish the home do you just hit the save while still on the lot then? I am confused as to what I might have did differently if no one else is seeing this depreciation. When I finished with the house and lot I went back to the edit town screen (you know where it zooms out and you can see the whole town). There is a button where the live mode normally is in game play and if you hoover over it it says edit town mode and that is what I click on when I finished with the lot. Is that not the correct way of doing it?
Also have you had the chance to test out the depreciation yet? Because I am wondering if maybe I did something wrong.
Sorry if I am being a pain just trying to figure out what I have done so differently.

Pam · « **Reply #60 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:05:25 AM »

I've asked moderator TommyT to come by and see if he knows anything more about this. He's got a great deal of advanced building experience and may have some thoughts to add.

Twinmum · « **Reply #61 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:12:38 AM »

Quote from: AriaGirl77 on August 02, 2010, 03:13:17 PM

As long as no one is living in the house it shouldn't depreciate in value. I will do some testing to make sure that this is true, but I'm nearly certain that you have to have a sim living there to get depreciation.

No, it can depreciate without sims living there. I don't mean to drag this out, but just wanted to clear a few things up, so I've just been building and I thought I would test a few things. To start I began a new game and instead of selecting a household to move in, I went straight to Edit Town, selected a block and started building (no sims living there). When you are building, you have to select edit town again to save, which I did a few times and the value stayed the same. I went back in and did some more building, decorating and furnishing and while still in build mode the value of the lot was 26,747 furnished and 24,102 unfurnished. Then I went back to edit town and saved. At that screen then, if I hovered over the house it said the value was 25, 487. So to further test, I selected a household to move in and hovered over the house and it said the value was 25,487 furnished and 22,842 unfurnished.
I would hazard a guess and say everyone that builds would have this depreciation on completion, but might not realise it. So I would take the post depreciation price as the final price, as this is the one important to somebody buying the house. Of course that call is not up to me for the purpose of the contest, just my opinion.

Pam · « **Reply #62 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:18:10 AM »

@Twinmum: After seeing the depreciated price from the map view, did you go back to that lot as if you were going to build on it some more? If so, did the depreciated price show up in the upper left corner?

Twinmum · « **Reply #63 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:23:41 AM »

Yes, I then canceled the family without moving them in and returned to edit town and selected it to continue building and the prices now showing in build mode are the lower ones.

Norma

Saltypaws · « **Reply #64 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:28:40 AM »

I am going to throw my two cents worth in. I just built my little house and the price stayed the same no matter what I did. I stopped building and took note of the price, unfurnished and furnished and both stayed the same when I went out of it and then when I moused over the house icon, still the same. I went back in finished up, saved, took note of the amount, went back out and it is still the same, no change. So not quite sure what the difference is. I also started building without a sim in the house.

Pam · « **Reply #65 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:31:21 AM »

Well, this is a weird situation. Let's see if anyone else has anything to add and see how Aria wants to handle it.

Twinmum · « **Reply #66 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:39:07 AM »

Salty, did you add anything from buy mode? I just went back added a few items from buy mode and I had the depreciation happen again on saving. Then tried again but just added things from build mode, fireplace and a huge pool to really up the price and it stayed at 34,890.

I don't understand it, but it seems to be furnishings that depreciate, but not all. But then, when you buy a house and select unfurnished, you still get things like counters and major appliances and plumbing so maybe somethings have a builtin code to depreciate straight away while others take a bit of time with sims in the house. Just a thought - shoot me now if I'm rambling lol

Norma

Saltypaws · « **Reply #67 on:** August 03, 2010, 02:06:26 AM »

I added some furniture and some counters, but nothing still changed after that. I tend to agree, that it might be furnishings, I just don't know why one would depreciate and not another. There is probably a good explanation to this, but my brain is screaming at me that it needs to sleep. I have been building and writing all day, I need a nap. lol.

Well, hope it gets figured out. I am sure it will eventually. Night all.

AriaGirl77 · « **Reply #68 on:** August 03, 2010, 02:13:25 AM »

Off to test and see if I can replicate what you did. Thanks for the additional info, it helps.

AriaGirl77 · « **Reply #69 on:** August 03, 2010, 02:36:57 AM »

This is so strange, I don't know how you're having this problem Norma. I just went into a new game, new lot, built a tiny house, and then went into buy mode and bought the most expensive items I could, including paintings and appliances. And then I clicked edit town, and the value was unchanged. And then I went into play a sim and have them call to "move" and see if the value would be different that way, and it wasn't.

If anyone else has any idea why this is happening I'm all ears!

The whole point of the rule though is to limit the amount that people can spend on their house. I want to put everyone on the same playing field as far as budget is concerned, so if you are getting a cheaper value, and then able to go back in and spend more money than everyone else, then that's a problem. Although at this point, I'm not sure how to fix it. I hate to make you re-do your work, so hopefully someone will have a smart idea on how to fix it.

Twinmum · « **Reply #70 on:** August 03, 2010, 04:01:10 AM »

I can understand the need for everyone to be on a level playing field, but I really did think everyone's game behaved the same, it is mentioned in TommyT's home building guide -

Build Mode Discount?: I'm not sure on the specifics of this, but if I enter Edit Town mode and choose the Build/Buy option, click on an empty lot and build a house, then return to Edit Town and then choose Build/Buy on the same house - its final price is lower (that's a lot of commas!). Perhaps the game considers the house 'used' like in The Sims 2? Regardless, its a good way to save a few simoleons.

I might do some more testing and start a thread on the building board (so as not to clutter up this one) I thought if I could get a few people to build basically the same thing, use the same furnishings etc. and see then if there is a difference between results.

Norma

Pam · « **Reply #71 on:** August 03, 2010, 05:46:28 AM »

Quote from: Twinmum on August 03, 2010, 04:01:10 AM

I might do some more testing and start a thread on the building board (so as not to clutter up this one) I thought if I could get a few people to build basically the same thing, use the same furnishings etc. and see then if there is a difference between results.

Norma

That's a very good idea. Go ahead and start a new thread about this issue, if you haven't done so already.

TommyT · « **Reply #72 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:42:41 PM »

I've had the same results as Twinmum and momofmany, I always experience depreciation in both build and buy mode objects - even before Sims move in. Even if I build a house in one sitting it depreciates as soon as I hit edit town mode to save. This is with me building through the construction option when you click on a lot, not with an active household Sim building on their own lot.

samoht04 · « **Reply #73 on:** August 03, 2010, 01:51:56 PM »

Post results in this thread - http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,1669.0.html

There isn't much we can do about the Differences in Building costs apart from warn people or suggest a certain lot to build on.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #74 on:** August 03, 2010, 02:01:08 PM »

Perhaps the simplest way to handle this dilemma for future building contests is this:

Aria creates a stock character(s) and loads them via cheats with the exact amount of money each participant is allowed and puts them on an empty lot of her choosing. Then, she uploads the saved file to the Exchange for everyone to grab and build the house. I don't know enough about building/depreciation and all the Edit Town stuff to know if this would be better or not. But, instead of working in Edit Town, this way, everyone would be playing the same saved file.