How can I build a basement under an existing foundation? I have a house that I've self-built from the scratch and added things on it during all these years and it's quite massive (not in size necessarily, but in detail). Yet, what my dream house is missing is the basement. And I have a great need for it as the family has grown and the space is getting cramped. 

I tried this tutorial: https://www.reddit.com/r/thesims/commen ... undations/ but it doesn't work for me. It says: "Can't reach ground" and "Terrain too high to place stairs on the basement" and "Can't be placed inside a foundation". So. What am I doing wrong or why doesn't this work when it has apparently worked for others? 

Thanks for any tips!

Update on my unsuccessful attempt to really make this work: Following this tutorial's steps, I tried another way around the problem. Isn't working either, this time the game cried "Covered by floor tile" when trying to add walls inside the foundation?! There are no floor tiles! I made a hole in the floor, big enough for sure, and no tiles. Did I make the hole in a wrong way since in the tutorial video the basement was already done? I just deleted a part of the foundation, which automatically got rid of the floor tiles. How else are you supposed to do it? =/

Why the basement? I like rooms that don't have bright sunlight. But I'd feel uncomfortable in the basement. I wonder who you will be punished in your basement?
But if be serious, I can offer you this. I hope the translator doesn't distort the description too much. But there are pictures - everything is shown clearly.
http://beton-stroyka.ru/fundament/kak-v ... entom.html
Or you can think of an alternative. How about you build a next floor or a tower?

(edited a bit by Wiki Organizer)

No matter how we do it, I have to agree that building a basement through an existing foundation although usually quite possible is a huge pain in the sim. I've spent actual real life days in the past getting that to work right and now always have to stop and think if going through such efforts on any particular lot is really worth it or if it's time to tear down and practically rebuild from the beginning when basements are required.

Sara_Darkees - While your post looks helpful and it will stand as adjusted, if we could let's please try to be a bit more gentle when inserting humor into our replies and perhaps be a bit more obvious when we are joking vs. being serious. We are not here to "embarrass" our fellow members. If we have had a close working relationship with them for a very long time and are 100% certain that such a relationship can withstand the humor, then that does make things a bit easier to take; it's admittedly a subtle difference but one worth thinking about before posting. 

Thanks.

Sara_Darkees, yeah, actually I thought you were being serious at first and angered, since I really don't appreciate criticism on my way of playing (I've had it before). Just FYI, the basement is for my sims' band where they can practice, no one is going to sleep there. Any more floors or towers is not an option. Not a fan of basements either. They are too gloomy for my taste with all the blackness around... Thanks for the tutorial, although, with only photos I hardly make any sense of it. I shall try, nevertheless. 

igazor, you tell me about it. Too bad I didn't think of the basement before building the house but that was like years ago. It's no use crying over spilled milk... I need to think and try something else. 

Kukko69 wrote: ↑

December 12th, 2018, 7:11 am

Update on my unsuccessful attempt to really make this work: Following this tutorial's steps, I tried another way around the problem. Isn't working either, this time the game cried "Covered by floor tile" when trying to add walls inside the foundation?! There are no floor tiles! I made a hole in the floor, big enough for sure, and no tiles. Did I make the hole in a wrong way since in the tutorial video the basement was already done? I just deleted a part of the foundation, which automatically got rid of the floor tiles. How else are you supposed to do it? =/

I skimmed that video.  Try using the constrainfloorelevation cheat before adding the walls on the ground floor.  I'm surprised the creator of that video didn't use that cheat (but maybe I missed it). 

What I usually do cut out the foundation 1 tile around wthere I want to place the stairs as done in that video.   Then place columns on the ground in the corners of the cut out area of the foundation.  That usually works to place the stairts.  Then I delete the columns, rebuild the foundation around the stairs (as done in that video), etc.  I speculate that the problem is that the invisible level grid is at foundation level over the area you want the stairs and that causes problems.  You can see where the level grid is by using the CFE cheat and the level tool to highlight the level grid (and use ESC key to abort the command to actually level anything).  Placing walls or columns at the ground level inside the cut out in the foundation distorts the level grid to wall-height above the ground and the game then seems to think those non-exiting floor tiles are high enough for stairts to be placed.

Another method I've seen is to turn CFE on, then delete the foundation, which will cause the foundation to jump up to wall height.  Add the stairs to the basement you've already built, then use CFE to level the distorted fountation.

Or just cut out the foundation, add stairs to the ground level and use an ITF tube elevator to the basement level, if you have ITF.  You may need to moveobjects on to place the elevator and sometimes I have to route a sim manually through the elevator once before they'll route automatically.

Kukko69, well, I've dealt with people in my life who used to joke with a serious face. And we weren't friends. Yeah, maybe it's not the best way to keep you from building a basement. I think everyone had a problem with that. But sometimes finding the path of least resistance is better than solving the problem. I don't know what your house looks like, but I was actually thinking about a place like this for my sims too. Unfortunately, in my case, the backyard is not suitable for this, but the neighbors have a scene in the backyard and it looks good. Some players know how to build an attic, which will be used as a normal room. By the way, this is also not a painless process. But if you need a basement and only a basement, then good luck and patience to you.

I learned not soon enough that it's best to not have a foundation. (I've build many too before realizing this...grrr!)  Not only does it make basements a pain in the backside, but you can run into issues on the outside of the house just getting steps up from the ground if it's not perfectly level. IDK what the heck the dev's were thinking when putting that whole thing together? pffft! I also hate those homes that have those half wall inserts between floors! It's impossible to deal with them and you can't even make that happen when building houses yourself.

Anyway, per the original question: Kukko69, the only thing I have found that works is to be sure to completely clear off a huge section of floor/foundation and then build in the basement and steps. The link provided by Sara_Darkees seems to show the same thing I'm speaking about. IDK what to tell you if you can't get it work after that, but every time I did it I basically had to wipe out a 6x6 (or sometimes larger) tile area of the foundation/floor! I'd have to even before spiral steps would work! and I would still have to have the shorter steps leading to the actual steps whenever I have been successful at this. Best of luck and I hope some of this helps.

JohnL83 wrote: ↑

December 12th, 2018, 5:55 pm

I also hate those homes that have those half wall inserts between floors! It's impossible to deal with them and you can't even make that happen when building houses yourself

Do you mean friezes?  There's a cheat for that.

Yeah, I tried that cheat and it's a pain in the butt. I just avoid remodeling those buildings and figured I don't need that extra bit of nothing on my new buildings anyway.