Custom Pagoda in the Shadows Secret Vacation Lot
#1
This was originally posted at MTS.

This was my submission for the July 2015 Monthly Around the World theme at MTS: a custom made Pagoda in the Shadows lot which is intended to be for use in a custom eastern vacation neighbourhood. It’s meant to be a prettier alternative to the standard EAxis Pagoda in the Shadows.  In addition to the regular installation of this lot, there are a couple of steps to make to turn it into a proper vacation secret destination - please see the instructions given below.

   

The legendary Pagoda in the Shadows is said to be found far from the town of Takemizu on the edge of the mountains and forests, but is hidden in the mists. If your sims can find it, they will come into a small clearing amongst the lush vegetation where there is a tea house is set beside a beautiful pond. Your sims can perform a tea ceremony there and perhaps a mysterious Wise Old Man will join them as they sip their fragrant jasmine tea. Who knows, maybe he will reveal the secret of the Dragon Legend.

The lot is mostly CC free except for the lovely Japanese fences, columns and bench by TheJim07 (links below) and thanks must go to him for his liberal sharing policy and, not least, his lovely stuff!


.zip   max_PagodaInTheShadows_VacationSecretLot.zip (Size: 1.13 MB / Downloads: 390)

More information and pictures below:
Installation and Warning
The lot is currently just a regular community lot and can be installed in the usual way. I left it like this because I thought downloaders might like to edit the lot before it takes its final form in your game. There are a couple of extra steps to make this into a secret vacation lot which you need to follow (given below). Also a warning – please take heed. The lot was made in an otherwise empty AGS slot and is clean and healthy. You will require both BV (obviously) and OFB for the lot to appear as intended. OFB because the custom CC by TheJim07 was cloned from OFB originals so won’t appear unless you have OFB.

WARNING
This is intended to become a custom secret vacation lot – the Pagoda in the Shadows for the Eastern BV holiday destination. However, downloaders should remember that there can be only ONE secret vacation lot in each vacation destination. Thus, there is No Point trying to install this lot as a secret destination lot in the default Maxis Takemizu eastern vacation destination as Maxis destinations come preloaded with the original versions of the lots. So:

THIS LOT CAN ONLY BE USED IN A CUSTOM VACATION DESTINATION

Luckily, the game will not allow you to install it if you already have a Pagoda in the Shadows in your Eastern vacation location since you cannot have two lots with the same name. Thus, when you try to place the lot, the game will suggest a modified name to you (e.g. Pagoda in the Shadows 001).

INSTALLATION
To install this lot, follow these steps:

1. Install the lot normally:

   

Go to your custom Eastern Vacation neighbourhood (it doesn’t have to be called Takemizu village by the way) and find a place where you want to put the lot. Choose carefully and make sure you will remember where it is because the lot will become invisible at the end of the installation process. The lot looks better, btw, if surrounded by trees so you might want to place some neighbourhood trees (the ones that don’t disappear when you play) around the lot which will help you mark the spot where the lot is located. Most of the pictures here are without surrounding trees so you can see clearly what the lot is like.

2. At the moment, it is just a regular community lot (and you can use it like that if you want). If you want to change anything about the lot, this is the moment to do it. Go in, fiddle about as normal, save and then exit the lot. You might want to pack it at this stage so you have a copy for later. You might also want to delete the copy left behind in the lot bin from the installation because of what happens next. Skip this step if you don’t want to change anything

3. Go back into the lot once you are happy, get the cheat box up (press Ctrl-Shift-C together). In the box, type:

changelotzoning secretvacationlot

just like that.

DO NOT SAVE AT THIS POINT - the save option should be greyed out now but even if it isn’t DON’T press it.

4. Exit the lot and return to neighbourhood view

5. Pick up the lot and put it into the lot bin using the lot-binning tool

6. Replace the lot in the spot you have chosen once again – it should disappear once you have placed it (if it doesn’t, you missed something or spelt the cheat wrong). Or if you can’t see what the issue might be you can try the alternative SimPE method (given below)

7. The lot is now ready to use. Once your sims have found the map, they should be able to visit the lot as normal. You should find the Wise Old Man hovering on lot when you arrive (he’s usually over by the tea table). Do the usual things: get a sim to make tea, talk to him, do tai chi with him, fish etc. etc. If he seems a bit reluctant to come out into the open to fish or do tai chi, move your sim over to the open space, click on him and call him over. The one tile bridge can restrict movement a bit (it looks better aesthetically which is why it’s narrow). Once you build up enough relationship points with him, he will tell your sims the Dragon Legend (see pics)

Alternative SimPE method
1. Once the lot is in place in your neighbourhood, exit the game and load up SimPE 

2. Load your neighbourhood and sub-hood – that is (see picture), choose your neighbourhood in the neighbourhood browser but use the drop down box on the dialogue box to get the right sub-hood. I called my test custom BV location for this example New Eastern Place but you can call it whatever you want

   

3. Once the hood has loaded, go to
- Lot Description (top left hand box – see picture 1*)
- Find your lot and click on it (top right hand box – 2*). You should get the lot details in the bottom box as shown

   

4. Find the Lot Type drop down menu – choose VacationHidden – 3*. This makes the lot into a vacation secret lot

5. Find the U01 number and add 0x00000010 to it – 4*. In that case the number would become 0x00002041 (instead of 0x00002031). This hides the lot from view. Commit and save.

6. You’re done, close SimPE 

Lot Size: 2x2

Custom Content Included:
- [/url][url=http://modthesims.info/d/328227/stone-park-bench.html]Stone Bench 
- Asiatic Balustrade 
- Rocks Fence
- Japanese Red Column for decks 
All by TheJim07 at MTS


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