Can you build your own appartment on The Sims 2 Apartment Life?

Question

I just got the Apartment Life extension pack for The Sims 2 and cannot seem to figure out how to build my own appartment. Is it simply not an option to build a custom appartment building and you HAVE to use a pre-made one, or am I missing something?

Answer 1

You have to use a cheat to do it.  The cheats are listed in the readme that came with the game.  You will find the shortcut to the readme next to the shortcut to the game in the Start Menu.  It's the changelotzoning cheat you need.

You need to build the apartments as a residential lot first - make sure you include all the furniture you want.  And you have to use the apartment doors for the apartments themselves - and have only ONE door leading into each SELF-CONTAINED apartment (no back doors - or at least no backdoors leading to gardens that are not enclosed by walls or fences).  I think the doors need to be facing inwards with the door mat on the inside.