Building... So much building!

My first impression of this EP after exploring what's new, was that this pack is going to be particularly appealing to those players who love to build. Sure, other packs have added things like half height walls and floor edgings, but this pack adds more than any other.

First up is that long awaiting and much begged for return to Simsville of spiral staircases. And they look fantastic! Fully functional for Sims, Pets and the Supernatural, spiral staircases are more compact than standard types. This build had 3 styles, each with 3 color variants. These were Glass, Wooden and Marble. They take just 2x2 tiles and can be stacked directly above each other to span several floors. This screenshot shows some examples but sadly does the animation no justice, so I will post some video soon.

Wardrobes!

Next up on the satisfied wish list were real built in wardrobes! These can be built into a 2x1 space and come complete with sliding glass mirrored doors. All the functions of a standard armoire with far more satisfaction! There is one for male one for female clothes and come in a variety of wood frames. Sims can also Gussy Up here thanks to the mirror, so space saving and cost effective!

Also included for those lower level Lots in their trailers, there are some new floor standing 'open' clothes racks. Both can be seen here, placed by the way, next to a new four poster bed!

Exteriors

Lets move outside now and take a sniff at some new exterior features. In this picture you can see some of the new doors and windows but more importantly, the new decorative roof. I used the green leaded effect here but you can place them with a variety of styles including tiles and slate. Inward and outward corners allow you to use them on any house shape.

I also added some of the new Cornice around the top of the wall. These come in several styles and colors and can be used around the outside of a building like this, or (as explained next) indoors as coving around the walls.

Excuse the lack of imagination in this shot. It would look great with the stone edged walls that came with another EP, but right now I'm playing without them installed and with without the luxury of time :-(
Still, you will have time and the tools to make a much better job soon!

Things are looking up!

So you probably heard already that Ceilings are included in this pack. If not, you know now! Screenshot and video makers have been complaining for years that the lack of interior ceilings in their game make camera positioning very restrictive if you don't want to see content from floors above, or a vast blue sky. Their prayers have been answered here, as you can now place a ceiling on any area that you have floor tiles above. You can even place any floor tile on the ceilings to decorate them!

In this current build of the game you can only choose 1 pattern for an entire roof, but the plan is to allow you (like with floors) to have a different pattern in each room. It should be in the final release. They also plan to use multiple tiles so that you can use Homecrafter to create things like roof art to make your very own Sistine Chapel!

Ducting, Venting, Heating, Cooling

A totally new set of objects come from EA to fill a void of detail that has, to date, been covered by the custom content community only. Something every budding conversion/renovation Sim has been crying out for! As well as those mentioned in the header above we also have some groovy transversal support beams to add a real industrial feel to things.

Another cross EP feature is heating and cooling, and the vents and radiator that you see in this image will actually provide benefits to Sims if you have the Seasons EP installed. For example, cold Sims will warm themselves on the radiators.

There is a huge range of straight, curved, T and cross junctions for the venting to run them any way you like. The pipe work has a good mix of choices too, and of course, low level, high level and even floor mounted vents.

So that's covers some build mode stuff. Now, on to something I don't think many have been expecting from this pack, but has been in much demand since Sims 1...