How to Build a Pool Window in Sims 3

This tutorial will show you, in basic steps, how to create a window looking into the swimming pool in The Sims 3.

Step 1: Create a Basement

If you know how to make a basement, feel free to skip ahead to Step 2. Meanwhile, if you find yourself saying, “Basement? I can have a Basement???” Read on…

Open the building tools menu. Select a set of stairs, any set will do, one wide is best. Drop one set of stairs three steps down.

Lay a second set of stairs just like the first, coming off at a right angle from the bottom “landing” of the first set of stairs…

Build the third and final set of stairs like the second, at a right angle from the bottom of the second set of stairs…

Now that you’ve gotten the stairs in place, it’s time to get rid of them! Hehehe… Use the hammer tool to delete the stairs.

Open the level terrain tool and place your cursor over the deepest square.

Use the cursor to encompass the area where your basement will be located.

Let the terrain drop, and…a basement begins to take shape!

A few more adjustments to level the basement into a nice, usable space.

Ok, this looks good to me…

Now that you’ve got a lovely square pit on your property, it’s time to turn it into a basement. Open your foundation tool and place a foundation wall along one edge of your pit.

Since one wall isn’t going to be enough to classify this hole in the ground as a basement, keep going…

Ok, that’s starting to look less like a strip mine…how about adding the rest of the foundation?

Hmmm…yes, I think we needed that last section.

Wow! Look! You have a bare-bones basement! Hurray!

Step 2: Creating your Pool and Window

Now that you’ve got the basement, it’s time to figure out your swimming pool. After all, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Ok, click on your hammer tool and delete the section of your foundation where your pool windows will eventually be…

I know, all that work, and now it’s gone. Don’t cry. It’s for a good cause! Open your pool tool and place your swimming pool up against the foundation walls.

A nifty trick to this is to make sure that your foundation stretches at least one square past the sides of the pool. After all, you wouldn’t want something like this, would you? It doesn’t look too bad from this angle, but wait.

Notice how the pool wall sharply falls away? Looks a little weird, huh?

That won’t go away, and after the wall and windows are in place… Look! A weird waterfall! While it doesn’t affect the gameplay or the way your Sims will use the pool, it does look odd in motion.

So, now that you’ve seen what not to do….back to our awesome pool… You’ve deleted the foundation wall and it should look something like this…

Now it’s time to do a little cheating. Simultaneously press and hold the Control, Shift and C keys. When the cheat bar appears, type:

constrainfloorelevation false

Hit the enter key.

Open your terrain tool and select Level Terrain. Highlight the little hill separating your basement from your pool.

With the level terrain tool active, drop the hill down to the level of the basement. Not Up! Open the cheat menu again, and type: constrainfloorelevation true Hit enter.

A few lights… It would be nice to see them swimming, even at night, right?

If you like it and/or want it, add the decoration for the bottom of the pool. If the game tells you “Cannot place on a slope,” you’ve got the décor too close to the dropped edge. Try moving it a little.

See? You did it! It wasn’t that hard, huh? As you pan around the pool, you’ll notice that because the foundation wall stretches past the pool a bit, it creates a cleaner look.