CHAPTER SEVEN: EDIT IN GAME

Congratulations! you have made it this far. This is the end of Part One of World Building I believe. The next part we are about to enter can be easy or hard depending on your choices. But first let's run down our to-do list. Below is a cut out of Port Jones with all the necessaries in place.

TO-DO LIST

1. Roads, Lots and Terrain Sculpting - Check
2. Trees, Lights, and Deco - Check
3. Plants, Spawners and Effects - Check
4. Terrain Painting - Check
5. Lot addresses and particulars - Check
6. Routing - Check

On the menu bar, you will find the Edit in Game (EIG) icon as below. DO NOT USE yet. Although you are free to jump into EIG mode if you want. I advice that you be patient and follow the next few steps.

First, Right-click on the world name, and select Add/Edit description

This pop-up window will open. Fill in the necessary details. You can just write test, test , test if you want. You can change it later. If you are inserting an image, make sure it is 256x256 png. SAVE your world.

Under the File tab, click Select World to Export, a window will open. Choose your world file and click OK. Wait a few moments then another pop-up window will open, World Export was successful. Click OK.

Go to "C:\Users\...\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Exports" where your export files are saved. Your world will now be a sims 3 package file. Double click it to install. (Please if for some reason you already have a previous installation of the world in your game already, uninstall it FIRST before installing a new copy)

Start a new game and select your world.

Now there are two things to do here. One you can select Move in Household and place a sim in your world. WHY?? For the purpose of testing. Just use the sim to drive around the map, check out your spots and pay close attention to roads and views and terrain paints. Note down areas that may need editing. I usually leave CAW running in the background and I switch between the game and CAW, making any changes I need.

Second thing you can do is go to Options and select Edit Town. With this you can start fixing in your lots. After each lot you have edited, make sure you save a copy to the bin. Do this until you have put in all  your community lots and some residential lots. Always remember to save each lot in the bin as you go. You can also use the sim you put to test your lots so that everything is in good working order as you save.

Most importantly, take your time. Sunset Valley was not built in a day. Do some editing, save, come back another day. You'll get better quality. You may build from scratch or just download ready made lots.

When you are satisfied with the way the world looks and works, Exit from the game. Open up CAW, if you haven't already, then finally you may now click the EIG icon. This is similar to being in the real game but the spawners are visible as you can see below.

Go to Options and select Edit Town, and start placing all those lots you have been saving in their places. Easy, right? When your done, Save and Exit.

You should have something like this below. You may make last minute adjustments, but avoid tampering with the lots or you may cause errors. If your satisfied, Export your world and PLAY. But remember to uninstall all previous versions BEFORE installing your finished product.