Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 12th Aug 2010 at 4:26 PM
Default How to build a waterfall with ambitions :P
So I've been looking for one of these for a while, and not finding one gives me the chance to do it :D

So here we go:

1, Right, start off with a flat lot, like so -


2, Make a relatively big hill where you want the waterfall to be -


3, use a fence (any will do) at the edge of the hill ( where you want the water to fall, and put water at the top of the hill, and the bottom, but make sure you dont go to the edge of either the hill or the fence, as the water at the top just disappears -


4, Find the fog emitter in the buydebug category, and place it at somewhere near the back of the hill, facing the edge where the waterfall should be. Then ctrl+shft click it, click the top option, and type in 'waterfall_2_short'. For some reason, the waterfall starts a way in front of where you actually place the emitter. In the picture, I've gone into live mode and back again so the water actually starts to fall, if not you cant see if its in the right place or not!! Delete the fence now as well seeing as its not needed -



5, Put a few rocks and crap around it to give it a rough outline -



6, Now that's the actual waterfall done, but it needs some effects at the bottom, so get another fog emitter and place it at the bottom of the waterfall, but make sure it's above the water lever or you won't see the effect!! Once it's placed, ctrl+shift click on it, then choose the first option again, and change it to 'waterfall_2_shortsplash'. This'll give it the mistiness and splashes at the bottom.

If you look closely you can see I put two emitters at the bottom on either side. I did this 'cause I couldn't get it to sit right in the centre of the waterfall, so I had to make sure they faced the water and not just forwards

And there you have it, the video I've attached shows what it looks like in live mode its an AVI file... I hope that's ok!!

If something goes wrong, don't hesitate to ask me about it
Cheers :D
Craig
Attached files:
File Type: rar  Video-3.rar (928.6 KB, 233 downloads) - View custom content
Description: What the end result should look like

I'm the sexy guy with half an orange in my face ;)
Advertisement
Scholar
#2 Old 12th Aug 2010 at 5:21 PM
If you want to make the river flow, you can add rocks and add the "rapidsrock" effect to a fog emitter next to it. If you place it in the right spot, the water devides in front of the rock . Flowing on both sides.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#3 Old 12th Aug 2010 at 5:22 PM
NO WAY!!!! I didnt know this!!! rapidsrock
gonnnnna have to do this now, maybe make some sorta small house on this river...oooh i'm very exited

I'm the sexy guy with half an orange in my face ;)
Scholar
#4 Old 12th Aug 2010 at 5:39 PM

rapidsrock
rapidswaternarrow
rapidswaterwide
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#5 Old 12th Aug 2010 at 8:02 PM
im in love with you!! thankyou :D

I'm the sexy guy with half an orange in my face ;)
Test Subject
#6 Old 23rd Aug 2010 at 8:56 PM
This is great, very intriguing. I'm definitely gonna have to try this out. How do you put the water in the hill? Every time I've tried, I've ended up digging a "well" and the water is at sea level, not on the hill. Is it the whole "constrainFloorElevation" gig that I'm not doing? Now, what's this buydebug category? Is that in the testingcheatsenabled? So much to do, so little time to do it in...
Test Subject
#7 Old 11th Nov 2010 at 9:42 AM
I just came across this tutorial, so thank you! The waterfall I built following it came out very nicely.
The other one
#8 Old 11th Nov 2010 at 2:51 PM
Sal Toums, you don't need the reservior on top but it does look more realistic. You need to make the hill a lot higher than you intend your waterfall to be before using the pond tool to get the water above ground level.

I think it was Fragglerocks who first suggested it (though I could be wriong) but if you want a really short waterfall use shower fx. You'll need to use multiple emitters but it's quite effective.

Guys, rules are good! Rules help control the fun. ~ Monica E. Geller
Test Subject
#9 Old 28th Feb 2011 at 6:49 PM
Default Waterfall effects disappearing
Hi, Thanks for this tutorial. I managed to build a nice waterfall on a community lot. However, when I saved the lot to the library to place in another neighbourhood, the waterfall effect disappeared.
I have tried resetting the effect but I can't get to the fog emitter now because it is underwater.
Do you have any idea why I lost the effect when I saved it to the library?
Test Subject
#10 Old 16th Apr 2013 at 11:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Dabih
Hi, Thanks for this tutorial. I managed to build a nice waterfall on a community lot. However, when I saved the lot to the library to place in another neighbourhood, the waterfall effect disappeared.
I have tried resetting the effect but I can't get to the fog emitter now because it is underwater.
Do you have any idea why I lost the effect when I saved it to the library?


The fog emitter creates its effects by instance / object. Is like when you insert luminaries, set a colour to its light, and then makes a copy of it to place in another spot. You will have the replica of the object: if you create a new style of patterns and colours for it, it will be carried on with the new copy, but the effects you have set for it can't be copied and you will have to set the light colour again for the new luminary.

The fog emitter is the same thing. Once you saved it in library you made a copy and the effects are reseted. Have to set it again. Though I don't know why your fog is now underwater, probably a matter of terrain site level. Is very complicated to duplicate lots with altered levels of terrain or to place any lot in areas that are basically like that originally. Is a bit unpredictable how the game will rearrange the level of the ground to suite your lot. Probably the game pulled down a bit more the tile where your fog was placed and it ended underground.
Test Subject
#11 Old 2nd May 2013 at 4:32 PM
Quote: Originally posted by candlelight82

rapidsrock
rapidswaternarrow
rapidswaterwide



I know i am a fair noob when it comes to building, can you please tell me, what those things are and where i can find them? Thanks
dodgy builder
#12 Old 4th May 2013 at 8:48 AM
You have to use the cheats. You probably need testingcheatsenabled, you can enable your game for mods and download building mods by Buzzler and others. If you click in the menu at the top Help - Game Help Home - and look for cheats. Modthesims has a cheat list for you and how to make it work.

More to the point. The cheat for this perticular job is "buydebug on/off" Use off to turn it off. That means you need two cheat codes, or a mod combined with buydebug.

Buydebug opens a catalogue for you in your buy catalogue, sort by functions I think and at the top is a ? - click on it and choose the last subcatalogue, scroll through it in search for a green/blue ball. If you have TWO balls, make sure you use the basegame ball.

Put the ball on your lot and hold down ctrl+shift and click on the ball. I don't remember what it says, but you have to click at the top of the menu I think. Put in your code there. Last time someone mentioned the number or codes it was 5000 of them and that was a LONG time ago. You can search for fogemitter codes on google or something so find out what to use. You may even find someone who bothers to keep a doc updated lol. You may use google to search for a code for the effect you want.

You need to actually have a sim on the lot to see the effect. If you need to move the ball up and down, there is a mod again here on mts under mods downloads to help you do that. Usually if you move the ground up for your ball you can flatten the ground after and the ball stays.
Veteran Finn
retired moderator
#13 Old 16th May 2013 at 4:56 PM
Regarding losing the effects when saving a lot to bin - I think this is the same as with worlds using fog emitters.
Fix: Place the lot, save and reload - the effects should now work correctly. (correct me if I'm wrong and this doesn't work anymore)

Regarding fog emitter codes, there is a huge list of them linked from the stickied "Useful resources" thread on top of this forum.

Regarding volvenom's post right above me: (spoilered cause is not really about the topic)
dodgy builder
#14 Old 16th May 2013 at 9:29 PM
Still retired are you? *pun!*

Yes I know, too many things to think about at once.
Test Subject
#15 Old 14th Jul 2013 at 11:54 AM
There are nine different waterfall options, each of which has a programmable splash that goes with it for the fog emitter:


waterfall_1_med
waterfall_1_medsplash
waterfall_1_short
waterfall_1_shortsplash
waterfall_1_tall
waterfall_1_tallsplash
waterfall_2_med
waterfall_2_medsplash
waterfall_2_short
waterfall_2_shortsplash
waterfall_2_tall
waterfall_2_tallsplash
waterfall_3_med
waterfall_3_medsplash
waterfall_3_short
waterfall_3_shortsplash
waterfall_3_tall
waterfall_3_tallsplash
Test Subject
#16 Old 10th Oct 2014 at 8:20 AM
Coming very late to the party. I'm having difficulty with the early parts of the instructions. I have the hill, but how do I get water on top of the hill? When I use the water tool, it seems to want to dig all the way down to below ground level. Thanks in advance.
mature minion
retired moderator
#17 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 10:25 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Milty111
Coming very late to the party. I'm having difficulty with the early parts of the instructions. I have the hill, but how do I get water on top of the hill? When I use the water tool, it seems to want to dig all the way down to below ground level. Thanks in advance.


You've taken a look at a very old thread, terrain and water don't behave quite the same as they did when this tutorial was made and if you're game is patched and up to date it doesn't actually work as shown in the images.
Lab Assistant
#18 Old 24th Aug 2018 at 12:29 AM
This is really helpful, tysm!
Back to top