Any way to create a flat spot?

Forester1

Well-known member
I am trying to create flat spots in uneven ground to place buildings. If I try to just put the buildings down, I have corners buried and corners in the air. If I try to use the height adjustment tool, I end up with hills or pits, I can't seem to get an even flat spot. Is there a tool I am not noticing that will flatten ordinary ground similar to "smooth spline" for tracks? Thanks!
 
I don't have the game open just now, so my recollection of the tool names might be a bit off. But, I will place buildings on undulating terrain, and then use the "Get Terrain Height" tool on a spot around the center of my building. I then switch to "Use This Height" and apply the height of the central spot to the other terrain squares under my building. If needed, I will then tweak the elevation of additional squares surrounding my building to give a suitably smooth slope leading to and away from the structure. I have placed a lot of barns and farm houses this way.
 
I don't have the game open just now, so my recollection of the tool names might be a bit off. But, I will place buildings on undulating terrain, and then use the "Get Terrain Height" tool on a spot around the center of my building. I then switch to "Use This Height" and apply the height of the central spot to the other terrain squares under my building. If needed, I will then tweak the elevation of additional squares surrounding my building to give a suitably smooth slope leading to and away from the structure. I have placed a lot of barns and farm houses this way.

I do the same here, just keep the radius of the tool on minimum, getting the height at the highest or lowest point of where the building touches the ground or in some cases the centre of the building usually works out OK and as said use the height up or down settings, again on minimum settings to tweak the surrounding terrain.
 
That works too, and is probably the best if all heights need to be the same, but the plateau mode might be better if each spot needs a different height. It auto-flattens the ground within its brush radius to whatever height is at the centre of the circle, no need to measure it. I mention it in the context of saving as many steps as possible when you need to flatten lots of different spots.
 
Look at the real World: A house sits at a slope. You may flatten the hill slope (costly), or you may built on pillars, or the way I do it, I use one of these square thick bases 20X20 or larger. Sit the house on top and let the thickness of the base to compensate for the slope so you don't see a void gap. Basically there is a maximum slope you can have for this to work, and if it is a very steep, you'll have to use pillars, like in the real World, or don't built anything on steep hills, like in the reality.
 
There are some houses built for slopes with a full foundation.
Here in PA coal country everything is on hills. So front steps are an issue. Sometimes solved with side steps to a front porch. There are others who take the steps to a side door with a small roof over the entrance.

Setting a house in a flat area on a hillside is always an issue with water from the the hillside. Be sure you install a sump pump.:hehe:
 
LOL! Reminds me of a house we had when we were first married. An old house built in the 30's, there was a garage converted into bedrooms on one end, and a utility room added to the other end. The problem was they were both on the uphill side, which caused problems with leakage into the basement when it rained/snowed. We ended up redoing the roof and making it a ranch-style roof from one end to the other, with the center of the "U" being a sheltered cove. worked pretty well, and I think we carted off a couple of three-ton truckloads of old wood and asphalt shingles and wood shakes from off of that old roof. No one had ever started over until then.... :)
 
I use the same method that Malc does. I flatten the highest point and settle the house into place, or I use buildings with basements underneath. Where I live there are no flat spots anywhere no matter where we go.

My house is built on a slope. We are located in a valley below the road so the street is level with the bedrooms on the second floor as it climbs to the top of the 329 ft hill. We had a moisture issue with the basement until we insulated the walls when we did some renovating.

With the street going up, and our driveway going down into the valley, we get some really slippery conditions in the winter making it impossible at times to get out of the bowl we're in. The driveway is at what I think is a 15-20% grade and when that gets ever so slightly frozen, or covered with leaves, no one can get out even with 4WD vehicles. When my mom fell and broke her hip a number of years ago, the ambulance had to park up on the street and the EMTs had to come in on foot rather than risk getting stuck at the bottom of the slope.
 
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