Question: Basements

[naughtydolphin]

Newbie builder here wants to know: Is it possible to build and conceal a basement that has a larger footprint than the structure above it? The basement tutorials I've seen require the use of foundation, so the ground-floor structure must be at least the same size as the basement.

Comments

[nameless_cricke]

In the sims 2, to my knowledge, it is sadly not possible to build a larger basement than structure. Well, you kinda can if you get creative with move objects and various items and try to disguise the foundation but I assume that is not the way you want to go, as it still looks kinda funny.

[goodliest]

After playing around in build mode some more, I can answer my own question: Technically, yes. There are actually two ways to do this (so far), with and without foundation:

[1] Lower the terrain and enclose the space. There will be a tile-wide gap between the basement and ground-level flat terrain. The ground-floor must extend over the gap; adding flooring to this level will lowers the flat terrain slightly one tile over. Connect the ground to ground-floor with modular stairs, then use the constrainfloorelevation cheat around the stairs to level the terrain again. Use the moveobjects cheat to place retaining walls to cover the gap, add a flat roof or flooring over exposed basement sections, and the whole thing should be completely hidden. Floor tile recolors or landscaping would help this effect. Sims will clip into the ground to access the stairs, but everything is accessible.

[2] Build a basement as you normally would, and delete the foundation walls on one side, replacing with a regular wall. You may need to use the