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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th Oct 2012 at 2:35 PM
Default Is there a way to have an apartment and a shop on the same lot?
Sorry if this is in the wrong spot - it's my first time posting. I've been searching for awhile, and can only find similar questions for Sims 2, not Sims 3.

I'm wondering if there is a way to have a shop or bar on the same lot as an apartment, with the functionality of both. I want to build apartments on top of shops and bars on my Main St. and have NPCs be able to man the registers or bars, have some NPCs living in apartments, while allowing sims to visit the public areas.

I've already tried to build a public bar in an apartment building with no luck.

Is this something that can be done using the public/private room makers, or is there currently a mod available?
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Scholar
#2 Old 17th Oct 2012 at 2:35 PM Last edited by Periandre : 17th Oct 2012 at 2:48 PM. Reason: Couple of additional mods added
I have tried this, with mixed results. You can, for instance, put a public room marker on the ground floor and then build a pseudo community lot of sorts. The problem, I think, is that it is the lot type that calls sims. In order to have an apartment, it has to be zoned residential, so if you're trying to put a bar in the public room, the call to come to the bar is never made and the sims won't really show up.

The best luck I have had with this is when I made a little ice cream parlour and put the PC ice cream machine and fryer in. This worked best, obviously, in my test world. But as I put more and more properly zoned com lots into the tester world, their "call" began to override the fun and hunger calls of the ice cream parlour.

One thing you might try, particularly if this shop is to be owned/on the same lot as your active sim is this mod, by Inge: http://www.den.simlogical.com/denfo...hp?topic=1078.0

As I understand it, it will work on a different lot, provided your active sim is there, but turns itself off soon after your sims departure to avoid having too many calls out at the same time.

Also, if you want to create a bar on the apartment lot where your active sim lives, you might try either of these two mods in combination with Inge's OFB for TS3 mod linked above

Home Bar Business at Virtual Artisan
and Inge's Pay Buffet with choice of food
Instructor
#3 Old 17th Oct 2012 at 6:27 PM
I frequently put common areas on the ground floor of apartment buildings I make. While you can't "zone" them as such, you can kind of coerce Sims into going there. For instance, on one of my lots I put a laundromat on the ground floor. On another there's a coffee shop. I frequently see Sims in there who don't live on the lot. You can also add rabbit holes to any lot using this mod:

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=411270

If you place the diner rabbit hole rug on the ground floor, Sims will treat that room as a diner even if there's an apartment above it. I've done this in a few buildings, and Sims tend to linger and hang out in the public room after they teleport into and out of the rabbit hole. The trick is that you have to give them something to do, socialize, and have fun. Having music is always a plus, and probably food too.

So technically you can't "dual zone", but you can more or less work around it using mods and a bit of trickery.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 20th Oct 2012 at 12:20 AM
Thanks a lot, guys! I'll try these suggestions.
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