Lot Editor - Help

[bixel 1,223]

hrmmm OK so I made some Lots for my HK Public Housing blocks, but they look fine and dandy in the LOT editor, but in game they are missing all the props, what gives?

The buildings have custom LODs, and I moved the trees further away from the building but still...

[bixel 1,223]

hrmm if I didn't double post, it would not have been shown. Sorry

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Hm, that's odd. For the cars, it's perfectly normal to appear and disappear in order to simulate activity. Without energy supply, they won't appear at all. People props also take quite a while before they appear at all. But trees? They should be visible, and if the LODs were the problem, the dirt circles wouldn't appear, either. This one beats me,a nd I've never seen that error.

[Andreas Roth 607]

By any chance, have you set your graphics setting to "minimum" accidentally? This could happen if you're using the Startup Manager - it saves a copy of the "SimCity 4.cfg" file for every profile, so if you're in a test city now, you've probably not noticed it before.

[bixel 1,223]

Hrmmm....I'm not using Startup Manager, though I recently changed my settings, I will try high city detail and see a difference, though the other lots do not seem affected.

[PG 0]

Hullo,

I am trying to figure out how I can make my own custom fields for farms, but I cannot find any sort of guide in the forums on how I would do it.

I have read Simgoober's ace tutorial on how to make a functional landmark and from that I have been able to make growable lots by using the ones that come with the game as "templates". However, when I find an existing *field* lot in the LE to use as a template, it does not allow me use the "save as" button.

Does this mean there is no way to use the existing field lots as templates? Would I have to make one completely from scratch instead? If so, how would I do this?

If someone could walk me through the process, or maybe point me in the direction of a relevant thread that would be a great help.

Cheers,

Peej

(With any luck, this is the correct thread to post this question...)

[Swamper77 90]

[Edited out. Didn't read the above posts carefully before posting.]

-Swamper77

[PG 0]

Nae bother. Divvint fret. I've worked it out meself.

Peej

[spa 968]

Hello everyone. I had a question about the foundation threshold. What's a realistic setting. I have noticed that one of my recently released BATs does some strange things when it grows on a slope and I suspect it's related to this setting. Could someone tell me what the typical number there should be.

[Sam 163]

Hello spa, for the foundation threshold it depends on what effect you are wanting, in order to decide what a realistic value is. The Lot Editor Manual has an explanation of this property's behaviour.

If the lot slope (when placed on sloping terrain) is less than the foundation threshold then a building foundation is used. If the lot slope is greater than the foundation threshold then a lot foundation is used. So if you have your foundation threshold set at say, 10 metres, and the slope (difference between the highest and lowest point of the lot) of the terrain it was placed on was say 20m, then your lot would appear with a lot foundation. If the slope in terrain was only 5m, then your lot would conform to the terrain slope but the building would have a building foundation.

You can force only a lot foundation or only a building foundation to appear if needed:

- if you want your lot to always have a building foundation, set your foundation threshold higher than the Maximum Elevation Change property (Lot Max)

- if you want your lot to always have a lot foundation, set your foundation threshold less than the Minumum Elevation Change property (Lot Min)

- if you want your lot to vary whether a lot or a building foundation is used, then set the foundation threshold between the Lot Min and Lot Max values. A lot foundation will then be used if the slope is greater than the foundation threshold you set.

[TimVet4thID 0]

I had a question on how to use the prop files that I have downloaded in my lot editor tool. Im new here and this is porb not the right place. but any help would be nice.

[spa 968]

Thanks Sam for the info. Quite helpful.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

@TimVet4thID: Simply unzip the prop file (or use the installer) to get the DAT inside into your plugins folder. Then, when you start the LOt Editor the next time, you will see the props in the list.

[kristinaswan 2]

Originally posted by: jeronij

 

Date: 5/29/2005 6:24:07 PM Author: 6459978. Hey jeronji! I've experienced that same problem in the past also when working with large lot sizes, and from what I hear, its a bug in the lot editor: if the lot is too large, then it won't save correctly after the first time you save it. I believe there is a way to get around this problem, though. If you delete the lot file that is created in your plugin folders before trying to save it should work fine. Also another solution may be to use the save as button instead of save.

 

 

Hi 6459978, thanks for the info. I´ll try this !!!. I hope it works.... Unfortunately, as mentioned in my post, I can not Save as.... The button is de-activated . I think because it is an airport?¿?

 

deadwoods, thanks also for your suggestion. but I have seen lots in the STEX that for sure have more props and textures than mine, so I dont think I am arrived to the limit , but if the system that 6459978 proposed dont work, I´ll post the number of LotConfigProperty lines that the lot has.

 

Thanks for the help !!!

quote>

 

Am also having this problem.  "Save As" didn't work, and it cannot be deleted while I am editing it, "An application is currently using the file.  Please exit all programs and try your action again."

Any other suggestions? I know I am nowhere near the limit as I only used about 15 hedges on a 3x4 lot.

TIA,

Kristi

[jglei701 8]

I've got a question regarding the "save" vs. "save as" feature. Say I take SG's original trail park lots (complete with a custom menu icon). If I edit the lot (say I take off some props) and save as, then it will create a new instance in the root folder, with whatever name I give it, and it WON'T have the custom menu icon. If I edit the lot (same thing, taking off props) and just save, it will STILL create a new instance in the root folder.

... if I just replace the old lot with the new one (in the second case) will it still have the custom icon, or will it be just like the "save as" case?

Thanks!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

The custom icon gets lost WHENEVER you save something with the Lot Editor. This is beacuse Maxis programmed the LE in a way that it could be used with the official exchange with the least possible brainpower. They made it include a snapshot of the entire lot (the PNG file) and automatically create an icon based on that very snapshot (the next PNG file).

Simple solution: When you edit something, ALWAYS do so in a plugins folder that's empty except for the files you absolutely need (i.e. the lot to be modified and its dependencies), and ALWAYS do so in the root folder. Likewise, ALWAYS reserve implementing custom features like icons and the final naming scheme to the very end, after all tests have been made.

Whether or not a new instance of the file is created depends on the name of the original file. By default, edited lot files have a name scheme like this: [Lot Name given in LE]_0x00000000.SC4Lot, where 0x00000000 can be any ID the lot is given automatically by the LE.

So when you take a lot called GooberLot5.SC4Lot and modify it, icon etc will be lost, and you will find your modded lot under a name like e.g. GooberLot 5_0x640ce5f1.SC4Lot. If you rename it now, add the new icon and then edit again, the same game will repeat. That's why you should keep the name for the time being. If you edit again and select "save", the file will be overwritten and no new instance will appear. Then edit as often as you need, make some in-game tests, and when you are finally sure that everything's ok, you can add the icon and give the file its final name like e.g. GooberLot5_jglei701_Mod.SC4Lot.

You know that you can extract the icon of any given plop lot with LEProp and re-introduce it into another file the same way, right?

[jglei701 8]

Well, no, I don't. I haven't ever done anything with the icons. I assumed that it was something a bit more advanced than I was going to be able to do or learn!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Well, actually only the photo-editing part can be tricky, depending on how skilled with resizing, text, cutting & pasting, and (effect) layers you are. The rest is knowing the dimensions of an icon ( 4*(44x44) = 176x44 pixels) and the graphics format (PNG with transparent background), then you can make icons like I do for the MAPP etc.

http://www.simszone.de/Files/simcity4/tutorials/loteditor_icons.zip

The files included in this ZIP are very helpful. In one of them (the one with the red corners), you can copy any existing 44x44 graphics (obtained e.g. by taking an in-game screenshot and resizing as required; sharpening helps) over the base layer and use the red corners to determine how much of your graphics layer you need to delete in order to get rounded corners.

The other one has the correct size and the default frames for a regular in-game icon. Once you have your 44x44 image with rounded corners, you can paste it as a new layer into that image four times. Then, you simply arrange these 4 little graphics next to another and move layers in a way that the one with the frames is the topmost layer.

Finally, you collapse all visible content into a single layer, save as PNG, and use LEProp to import the icon (a simple browse and select process). The internals are done automatically for you by LEProp.

This is a very rough outline, but I don't have the time to translate the entire text from Andreas Roth's tutorial from German into English.

Anyway, if you want to keep the existinmg icons, you can export them from the original lots and later re-import them into your modded lots with two clicks using LEProp.

[jglei701 8]

Is the LEProp available here or simszone? I wasn't even aware that this existed!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

It should be... wait a sec.

Found it. Here:

A VERY useful program for some tasks like importing menu icons, changing plop and query sound, and adding name and description by means of automatically generated LTEXT files. This way, you can give a ploppable lot a cryptic exemplar name that's good for internal use, but still add an "official" name visible to players that's much more reader-friendly.

[asmcrazy 1]

I'm having trouble downloading the Lot Editor. I have tried over and over, but it always stops downloading at 64%. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you fix it?

[Sam 163]

I think when I downloaded it (quite a long time ago now) I had to use a download manager that had a resume capability to get the full download. It is quite a big file to download especially if you are using dialup, so you may want to try at a quiet time.

[IGGYMAN 101 1]

Where the site will you should download a lot editor which you cannot enable to registered that.

[Sam 163]

You can only download the Lot Editor at the official SimCity 4 website: simcity.ea.com

You will need to be registered and logged in before you can download the program.

[exodus 10]

hi. Im trying to create a boardwalk that will fit under a bridge. i thought the easy way woulds be to simply take an exsisting 3x1 lot and turn it into a 1x1 with the props and textures left on the building. wut i mean is that the game would think its only taking up one space (say the one beside the bridge) but i would get the image of it continuing on under. Of couse the lot editor would have nothing of it and wont let me save. 

Im sure ive seen this before. is there away to overide the error message or something. or is there another way entirly? 

also if there are any such buildings out there already could u give me a link...i would like it to match CDK style (the commercial type)

thanks 

[-SA- 0]

no worries now. Found an excellent tutorial by SimGoober for my initial question, so huge thanks to him.

[deckone 1]

Just now starting to make my own lots, but have run into a problem.. To have a lot connect to a road/street/etc.. for example a parking lot, instead of having the road make a dead end where it touches the lot, how do I get it to connect to the lot itself? Is it as simple as adding an overlay texture of a road, and the game will recognize it? Or does it have to do with transit enabling it?

Thanks for the help.

[BarbyW 40]

It is to do with transit enabling the lot. The easiest way to do that is in SC4Tool. Look at Andreas Roth's post towards the top of the page and there is a link for downloading it in his signature.

[deckone 1]

thats what i was thinking, havent messed with t e tool yet.. BarbyW thank you very much!!

[callagrafx 3]

fraid that's a breach of copyright and illegal, sorry. You will need to contact EA to ask them to fix the registration problem.