Making Overlord Chapel and Cemetery

So I got an idea a little while ago that I wanted a little area of town to conduct weddings and funerals and I also wanted a specific cemetery for the Overlords, rather than burying them all in the graveyard (as they are now). Eventually that idea grew into a church and, after much thought and much searching for appropriate decor, I have finally built the Overlord Chapel and Cemetery. Is it ridiculously ironic that the Overlords own a church? Yes. Deliciously so.

For this area I choose a lot way bigger than I actually needed, but oh well. It's also pretty vast and very simple, i.e. doesn't have a lot of flowers or anything in it. This is because I don't have an eye for (or a brain that thinks in terms of) details; I look at the big overall picture. So if anyone has any ideas about what to add to the lot to make it look even better, please feel free to comment! I am totally open to input here.

And now to the chapel and cemetery!

Here the lot is from the front. It's a very small, one-room church. I didn't design it to be a gigantic thing, but a small building to serve the purpose of weddings, funerals, and other meetings. One thing of note: it took forever for the roofs to look completely right, and it still doesn't all the way around. There's a gap in the back between the steeple and the lower roof that I don't show. But I couldn't think of any way to fix it. The bell I used moveobjects on to get up there.

Here's a nice little pond for quiet reflection, maybe some fishing if a person so desires. Or, theoretically, it could also be used for a spiritual purpose like baptism. Anyway, just nice to have there. Adds to the calm, respectful atmosphere of the lot.

To the left of the church we have a hedged area with a statue dedicated to the great Overlord founder, Rufus. Let's take a closer look...

If you look closely, it looks like the statue is wearing Rufus' trademark outfit. So hey, it works. This is a statue honoring the Overlord founder.

And here's one more look at that little area. I would like to add flowers at some time because I feel that would look better, but I haven't decided on the details of that yet.

Behind the church we have the Overlord Cemetery, where all the Overlords can now rest together. Walking inside the gate, we find...

This first little area here belongs to Generation One. I did, admittedly, use buydebug for the tombstone changes, so technically they're not the actual graves of the Overlords (in that they can't pop out of them). But they represent them and I am okay with that, because I think it looks better this way. So the tall one is obviously Rufus, with the medium sized one being his wife Bambi. Then the small markers are for Dungeon and Maiden, the first two Overlord children to be born.

Here is Generation Two's area. The tall stone belongs to Midnight, the Generation Two heir. The medium stone belongs to Jakkson, father of Amaranth. It's a rather small area. Midnight didn't have any other children. There's only room left for one more medium-sized tombstone, which will go to Phantom when his time finally comes (he's still an Adult in the game at the time of this writing). The only other member of Generation Two is Oliver, who won't taste death at all.

Ah, Generation Three. Here we have Amaranth's grave. The other little tombstone is Soren's. He's dead already. I considered making some grand story for his early departure (and I will for the actual genealogy page), but the truth is, he became a homeless Sim and then became a zombie one night. And he wouldn't stop bothering me, so I shift-click-deleted him. I didn't think it would wipe him totally out of existence, but, eh...it did. So he's gone. Anyway, the spot to the right of Soren's grave belongs to Tobie when his time comes. The spot to the left of Soren's grave just breaks my heart to see. It, of course, is Gator's spot. I do not look forward to filling that.

And, of course, this little empty lot is for Generation Four. Severin, Katt, Banshee, and Ransom will all be buried in this area when their times arrive.

Now onto the inside of the church!

The only thing I'm dissatisfied with are the huge lamps from the ceiling. I'm thinking I'll remove those and place candle holders on the walls instead. But otherwise, here's a view of the church from the door. This is it. Just a small little chapel, but I like it. I designed it to be this way.

Here's a better view of the front. We have a lectern here for the preacher/officiant, a church piano to the right, and a table with a Bible on it to the left.

A view from the front looking to the back. Only thing really of notice are the candles in the back. I've only been in a Catholic church a couple of times, and I believe I've seen candles of that nature. But what stood out to me were the candles in the Orthodox churches I got to see in Romania when I visited last year. One side was for prayers for the living, one side was for prayers for the dead. Interesting fact: our Romanian translator told us that if you light a candle for a living person on the dead-people-candle's side, it's as if you're putting a curse on them or wishing they were dead. That could come in handy with the Overlords, I suppose. :P

Finally one last look, a bit to the side just to show the stained glass windows.

So, there's the Overlord Chapel and Cemetery. I'd love to hear feedback!

Renewing Overlord Castle - Version 2.0

Hey, everyone! Misslaheela here, ready to show you the renewed Overlord Castle. You can see the original remake (from the suburban house to the original Overlord Castle, done when Midnight took over the legacy) by clicking this link here. (It will open a new window.) That way you can compare from the original suburban house, to the castle when Midnight redid it, to the castle when Severin redid it.

Let's not waste any time. On to Severin's castle!

As you can see, the basic floor plan and the outer structure is the same as Midnight's overhaul. The moat is still there, the turrets are still there, everything basically looks the same from the front, except that I added a couple of forest-y street lamps at the bridge.

Here is something new. I added a little enclosed area for the Overlord vehicles (Severin's BathroomMobile is currently in his inventory, so it's not there at the moment). Realistically, this whole thing is really impractical because there's no way to drive the cars across the moat, but hey, it's the Sims universe, and this looks more appropriate for the castle than a garage anyway. (Not to mention I had no room to actually build a garage.)

Back in Midnight's generation, this backyard area was used for Phantom's garden and bee boxes. Now we have a sort of ominous-looking structure, with stairs that lead down to a basement/cellar-type place. Almost looks like the entrance to a tomb. One would have to be brave to dare enter.

We are going to be brave, though, so once we head down the stairs we see...

...a brief side-glance of Severin's throne room. His throne is surrounded by tables carrying all the gems that Jakkson cut back when he lived in the castle. Every overlord needs one of these. It's too bad I didn't create one until now.

Down the rest of the hallway (to the right of the picture), there is a door on the left. That door leads to...

...a lovely bedroom for a teenage Overlord. Currently it is Katt's new bedroom. Nothing super fancy, but it has a nice cushy chair and a bookcase. The modern pictures don't really fit, but you have to have something that throws it off a little. I also wish I could figure out how to tile the ceiling. Haven't figured that out yet, or otherwise it would be done too.

All the way at the end of the hallway I mentioned previously, there's one more room, which is...

...the Bedroom of Honor. This room is reserved for special guests (if it is not being resided in at the moment) or for previous Overlord heirs. The master bedroom inside the castle remains for the current Overlord heir, but Severin created a nice spacious room to give due respect to previous Overlord heirs that choose to stay in the house. As such, this is currently Gator's bedroom. He even has some wine on the dresser for him.

So that's the nice cozy addition to the castle underground. Once we go inside the castle, we can see a much more efficient design than there was before.

What used to be a largely-empty seating area has now been converted to a decent study. There is a bookcase, two nice chairs, and a desk (with the laptop computer on it) facing the window. It is still quite dark, with minimal lighting, as is appropriate for an Overlord Castle. The wallpaper has stayed the same, but I did change the wood on the floor. I like it so much better now.

Here we have an updated dining area. I kept the medieval chandelier, but the chairs, table, and rug are completely new. I also added some appropriate curtains to the window. The dining area is so much nicer than it originally was, and now there are enough seats for everyone whenever a family dinner is called.

The kitchen area hasn't changed much except I added an extra counter (the fridge is now all the way to the left, just out of screenshot) and some curtains to the window. At some point, the Overlords got a free coffee machine from somewhere, but they never used it, so I got rid of it.

The main purpose of this shot is to show the little cove I made by the stairs, which now puts the cat dish out of the way and not in the same area where the humans eat, or in Severin's bedroom. Actually, I moved all of Darth Furball's stuff out of Severin's bedroom.

Here's the master bedroom. Everything's largely the same except I did get new carpet, new end tables (the old ones didn't even make sense...I have no idea why I chose them) and I also moved the dresser. There wasn't a lot I could do with this room because, right in the spot where the camera is, there is an invisible object and I can't find it to remove it. I have tried shift-clicking everywhere, I have tried resetting the lot, I have tried looking everywhere, and I cannot build or place anything in that area because of the invisible object. Also, the door leads to the bathroom, which has not been touched so there's not a picture of it. I really, really wanted to make another bathroom so this wasn't the only one, but I couldn't figure out where to put another one. Maybe in a future revision.

Upstairs, the first door you see is the laundry room. I also moved all the cat's stuff up here so it's out of the way, and it's a sensible place for a scratching post and litter box anyway. I was tired of Darth Furball's crapped-up litter box stinking up Severin's bedroom.

I did something a little different with the nursery, converting it into a forest theme. Not elaborate, but I think it works. The changing table and the potty chair is also in here. Just for a personal touch, there is a teddy bear in each crib - a witch bear on the right for Ransom, a werewolf bear in the middle for Banshee, and a vampire bear on the left for Requiem.

The nursery from another angle, where you can see Requiem's bear and the potty chair at the other end.

Moving Gator's bedroom to the underground made plenty of room for a wonderful playroom, filled with the swings, the costume chest, and plenty of toys to keep the little ones entertained. Everything about this room is new and I love it. Severin and Gator can plop the girls down here and they can amuse themselves for hours.

And last but not least, we have a children's bedroom on the other side of the nursery. It's a small bedroom with not much in it (mainly because all the toys are in the playroom), just a bunk bed for when the toddlers get older. I also decided to put a TV and a random bean bag chair, because I always wanted a bean bag chair as a kid. Interestingly I've played several Sim days, and the TV is almost never used. I'm not that bothered about it.

And that's the renewed Overlord Castle! It's got a little more space, organized a little better, and just looks a lot more Overlordish. What do you guys think of it? :D

Making the Overlord Castle

Hey, fellow Simmers. In those post, I will be going into some details on how I remade the original house the Overlords moved into, into the Overlord Castle that 2nd-generation heir Midnight now resides in. A few things you should know about this building project from the beginning:

-I am not a building pro in the Sims. You will never find me making videos of amazing houses I've built or uploading outstanding pieces of architecture to the Exchange (unless someone actually requests it). I don't understand the cheats to constrain the floor elevation or use friezes, nor do I usually think to use "moveobjects", so this castle was built entirely without cheats. If I can do it, you can do it too.

-To my knowledge, I did not use any custom content in the building. I used items from my expansion packs, but I don't think I have anything that I downloaded from the Store in the castle.

-I did switch out furniture and other possessions, but I made this castle with roughly 40,000 Simoleons, so you don't need much to imitate it. Some of the changes I made before the big overhaul, so I tried to calculate that into the total above.

-I did a lot of stuff with the landscape and I added a second story to the house. Otherwise, the basic floor plan of the house is unchanged. I never added, removed, or tweaked the foundation or any of the lower outside walls.

Okay, that said, let's introduce the house. I don't remember the exact lot name of the house, but it's a small Victorian style house with a name like "Small Elegance." It's an inexpensive lot. Here is the before and after shot of the whole lot (one was shot at night, the other during the day, so hopefully that won't affect your viewing that much).

As I said, the basic layout of the house is unchanged - I did add a second liveable story to the castle and a third unlivable story (that is, the Sims can't access it) to create the turrets and the roof. I removed all the trees from the lot. A castle in the forest is a nice touch, but Rufus Overlord wanted a moat really badly, so I had to clear the trees to fit the moat (sorry, there's no rabid alligators in it). Over the moat is a bridge leading to the castle. There is space behind the castle for a garden (which will be required during the second generation of the Overlord legacy), but no room for a parking spot. If the Overlords ever own a car, they'll have to keep it in their inventory. I think a car sitting on the lot would detract from the medieval castle feel anyway.

This is something I added to the lot. It's got a sad, tomb-like feel to it and looks really appropriate for an evil overlord's castle. It actually leads down to a dungeon. I'd show you the inside, but that might reveal some spoilers for Chapter Twelve...

I didn't actually want the castle door on the same side as the original one (I think it would look much better just straight across from the stairs), but I'd have to alter the kitchen layout on the inside to move the door and I couldn't think of how I'd redesign the kitchen.

Here's the living area. Originally it had a bookshelf and a dorky TV, but I replaced it with a nice-looking seated area. I only had so many Simoleons to work with, so it's not as spruced up as it could be. I tried to avoid putting electronics in the living area, though - I wanted it to feel really castle-like on the first floor especially and they didn't have electronics in medieval castles. Perhaps when Midnight and whoever's in her full house start earning money, I can place some electronics on the second floor, where it's a little more relaxed.

This is the dining area. As you can see, it was pretty pathetic when the Overlords first moved in. The door on the left led to a room, which I demolished to make way for the stairs to the second floor. It really opens up the space and I think it just looks better. Minor touches include changing the door to the master bedroom and finding a medieval overhead chandelier.

The kitchen was entirely redone - with the exception of replacing the stove and a couple of counters when Bambi burned them, I never remade any aspect of the kitchen while Rufus was in charge. It desperately needed to be redone. It was much too cheery and cheap-looking to be an Overlord's kitchen, and I was getting sick of the constant "Tastes Like Fridge" moodlet. If you're wondering where the sink is in the redone kitchen, I forgot to add it. It will definitely be there by the next chapter.

The master bedroom was one of the first things I redid when I first bought the house (a good bed is the first thing I buy for my Sims - the less time they spend sleeping, the more time they spend doing other things, and it's a killer to wake up grumpy from a cheap bed when they have work in the morning). For Midnight, though, I redid the master bedroom once again. I also bought Midnight a nice wooden dresser with a mirror, which is out of sight behind the camera.

And finally the master bathroom. The redone version is the same one I showed you in one of my chapters - I didn't redo this bathroom again while I was building the castle. Still, it's a vast improvement over what it once was.

I haven't taken any pictures of the second floor largely because it is empty. Midnight doesn't really have a need for much else (plus I didn't want to leave her with less than 2,000 Simoleons), so when more money starts coming in and she can afford more luxuries, the upstairs will be filled. The second floor was mainly a necessity when Rufus and Bambi had three kids running around and there was absolutely no room on the first floor for their beds/cribs and toys.

And that's the Overlord Castle! It took me about two, two-and-a-half hours to finish it. I'm really happy about it. Finally a house I made that doesn't look completely like a box. :P

Feel free to comment! I'd love to hear if you like the design and how I might be able to improve the castle in the future.