Lot Editor - Help

[gannman 0]

Need a little guidance. 

I've created a 10x10 lot file mimicking a neighborhood of Terraced homes with streets.  I think I've properly transit enabled them, but beyond that I have no idea how to change it from being a garage (the file I opened to base this on) or how to get it into the game.

This is my very first attempt at doing this, so please feel free to provide comments, suggestions, etc...and feel free to study it if need be.

Thanks.

TerracedNeighborhood_15b8ba4b.zip

[Sam 163]

Its best not to try to change a lot from one kind to another, but to always start in the Lot Editor with the kind of lot that you want it to end up as. Its far too tedious to hand code all the functions in the Reader later if you find you want it to be another type, as there are so many different properties that would have to be changed. For example, if you want it to be growable residential, then you need to start with a growable residential in the Lot Editor. What type do you want it to be anyway?

How did you make this lot? If its a parking garage it seems to be missing a few bits, like the bit that puts it in one of the game menus. Currently its not appearing in any menu. It also doesn't have a suitable zone type set for a growable, so it can't grow either. It can neither be plopped or grown by the looks, which is why you are having trouble getting it to appear in the game.

If you can give a bit more explanation of what you want the final version to do then we can probably help more.

[gannman 0]

My idea was to create a "ploppable neighborhood" with transit-enabled roadways and would act as a residential zoned area (beyond just being eye-candy), which would be surrounded by streets.  Could this be a bit too ambitious for a beginner lot editor?

[Sam 163]

You do understand that ploppable residentials don't work at all? Some people here say they have got them to work, but have never come up with a method that others can use and also get it to work. Ploppable residentials abandon very quickly because the residents in them are trapped in their building and can't get to work, so they don't contribute to the workforce of the city at all.

Any residential-like lots would have to be either growable, or pure eye-candy. If you are satisfied with eye candy then I'd suggest you start with a park as a base lot. They are fairly easy to handle in both the lot editor and modding-wise. They also have an invisible building, so you can just place your props how you like without having to worry about making a building to replace the original. They are not neutral though, so if you are planning to have more than the occasional one in your city, I'd recommend neutralising the park, landmark and mayor rating effects using the Reader after you have created them. Otherwise it will drive your land values too high too early and you won't get a good balanced population in your city.

I'd also suggest you leave out the transit enabling to start with. You can always add it later, but its not strictly necessary. And I don't think that even with transit enabling the cars will drive around within your lot (you would need custom pathing for this, which is not really a beginner's project). They will just go in one side and come out the other. Transit enabling also increases the number of intersections (each entry or exit to a transit enabled lot counts as an intersection) and this affects the traffic and commute times accordingly.

But why would you not make this a growable? (You'd have to leave out the transit enabling in that case though, as transit enabling prevents a lot from upgrading).

[gannman 0]

I really need to research more before putting something together.  For some reasons, I had gotten the idea that just transit-enabling a lot would do the trick...but making it work (if even possible) is well beyond my expertise.  I'll most certainly make future experiments growable.  I definately appreciate the feedback, it has been useful and clears a lot to things up.

[vetram 221]

more questions about L.E always....

-Lets' say we want to make a pier .. Can i make the pier in one only lot , or it is preferrable to make it piece by piece? and why?......is it possible to add road in a custom lot?  ..how many props are available in a custom lot? Does the size of the lot affects game to become too slow?... and generally , can i create a city with big lots ( like a puzzle) or is it better to create single small lots with few props?...that's enough for the moment..thanx

[Sam 163]

Originally posted by: vetram more questions about L.E always....

-Lets' say we want to make a pier .. Can i make the pier in one only lot , or it is preferrable to make it piece by piece? and why?......is it possible to add road in a custom lot?  ..how many props are available in a custom lot? Does the size of the lot affects game to become too slow?... and generally , can i create a city with big lots ( like a puzzle) or is it better to create single small lots with few props?...that's enough for the moment..thanxquote>

How big is the pier that you are wanting? And how do you want to be able to use it in your city?

In the early days of SC4 there were some modular Harbor Village piers made by Cobb. Each piece was single building on a lot (no props) that could be placed separately so you could assemble different piers however you liked. The principle is the same as my boat tutorial on SC4D. So if you turn each part of the pier into a building and place it on a lot with the correct settings it should float to sea-level, no matter how deep the water is. I'd suggest finding Cobb's old lots if they are still available, and studying how they work.

Otherwise you would need to BAT your pier as a single prop or several overhanging props that are placed on land and overhang in to water, as it is not otherwise possible to make props that will float on the water.

There is a limit to the number of items you can put on a lot (I can't remember what the exact number is though). The number of items includes things such as textures, transit enabling (per tile enabled), land or water constraints, effects etc, ie anything that is added to a lot counts towards the limit. The limit is not usually a problem on small lots, but the larger the lot, the easier it is to hit the limit.

[Sky Guy 163]

Hi I need help. in lot editor , i am trying to put tabis props on the 747 lots but It doesn't let me "save as" It shades in the button so I can't click it. Please help- Most of the other time, It won't let me even resize lots- and ALL these problems ONLY happen on AIRPLANE LOTS! I don't know what to do. also, the whole program's graphics are messed up. please help- thanks

[buckbeach 8]

Sorry if this has been explained before but there are so many pages here to read and never can seem to find anything using the search function. Here is one of my questions/problems with the Editor.

I am trying a simple deletion of a prop from a lot. The lot is a reward and is in a data file. I can remove the prop but when I go to save it I get an error message that the Lot Editor can not open the file.

[Francis90b 748]

I have some troubles in making a prop with PM.

I would like to make a prop of a model i have succesfully exported,i' ve opened the plugin manager, linked the model with the new prop file that the pm says has been succesfully saved, but when i open the Lot editor nothing shows up.Wjat the problem is?

Thank you

[Sam 163]

first try making your lot much bigger. If the prop is too small for the lot then you won't even see the prop in the list at all. If that doesn't help then let us know. But if you do, please tell us the occupant size of the prop in the PIM and the size of the lot you are trying to put it on. Thanks.

[Francis90b 748]

Thank you, things work now.If this isd the right place to ask, how can i transit-enable a lot?

[C4B0S3 0]

Hey everyone

I'm new to SC4 modding and want to make a cool building.

How do I change the effects a building has in the lo editor?

Like make a building that boosts demand or desirability?

[Sam 163]

You can't use Lot Editor for that, it can only arrange models on a lot, it can't change their properties. You will need to use Ilive's Reader to do what you want to do. You can download it in the Modds and Downloads section.

[kant01 5]

Sorry if this question has already been posted. I have looked around and cannot find the answer. LE will not let me do a normal save on certain lots. This is NOT the "Save as" problem that every else is asking about. When I try to save, I get the error "Cannot open file" or something like that. If I try to "Save as" it will let me create a new version of that lot with a different name, but it won't let me save over the old ones.

I have been using LE a long time, but I recent got a new pc and reinstalled everything and now I am having this problem that I never had before. Advice?

[madhatter106 3,931]

Quick question - I have BATed, plugged-in, lotted, tested and grown a building, but want to change some of that building's physical (non-lot) textures, which would require a re-rendering. Is there a way of doing the re-render, and then pointing the other files to the new .lot file, so I don't have to go through all the same work again of pluggin, lotting, and testing?

[Vahr 343]

@joint1: You can't do it in LE, but you can in SC4TOOL, but I can't remember where to get it.

Where are the lightcone models in Lot Editor? Like the Hex ID, name, etc. I tried searching it, but the search function on LE is very bad.

[mnmsimmer 0]

I know how to remove all textures on a lot using the iLiveReader - I have done this to make realistic forests. How does one remove only a select group of textured tiles (i.e. a lot partially in water, partially on land). Thanks, msimmer

[Sam 163]

Originally posted by: mnmsimmer I know how to remove all textures on a lot using the iLiveReader - I have done this to make realistic forests. How does one remove only a select group of textured tiles (i.e. a lot partially in water, partially on land). Thanks, msimmerquote>

The same way you remove all of them, just remove the only ones you want gone though. There should be one base texture line per tile in the lot exemplar. It can help in identifying the ones you want to remove by putting a distinctly different base texture on the ones you want to have no base texture, write down the iid of that texture, then in Ilive's Reader remove only the texture lines with that iid.

[mnmsimmer 0]

thanks!

[delija21 295]

hi guys,could someone help me with this....the problem is that i can't re-lot anything that i've downloaded from the stex or any other site.  i've tryed both save and save as,re install LE but nothing works???

[mnmsimmer 0]

^^^^^^ I was just about to post something very similar. For my Florida CJ, I need to customize many SimGoober lots. Some of them I could actually change, others nothing happens. This is very frustrating seeing as I made the SimGoober mall all perfect and Florida-ish and saved it then when I went to the game, it was the crappy lot with all identical cars and boring flora from before. Please help me fix this!!!

[Sam 163]

Delija21 and mnmsimmer, it would help if you let us know exactly which lots you have tried to alter. Some types lots can't be altered and if you've picked these ones there may be a reason that we can see if you let us know what they are. But its really hard to even guess what might be going on without that information. I wouldn't suggest attempting to alter any that Simgoober made as rewards though. You may need to make a landmark lot using Equinox's Copying Lot Config Properties tutorial here: https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=121&threadid=62705&enterthread=y (sorry for no hyperlink, Firefox 3 doesn't seem to like embedding links in posts properly)

mnmsimmer, do you have all the dependencies that Simgoober's original lots required?

[mnmsimmer 0]

-RLS mall plop

-all of the plop-a-shops (2x4, 3x4, 4x4)

-Red Robin plop

-Panera plop

-low-end retail plop C$ strip-mall, anchored by ACE hardware

-another plop C$$ strip mall, can't remember any stores

-the plop department stores, i.e. nordstrom

-Food Lion plop

I think I have all dependencies, the lots look like it visually... sometimes the query menu wont pop up though like on panera and on one of the supermarkets (kroger?).

[Raysfan16 5]

I'm trying to make a lot which is a large manufacturing shipping area, but I have run into two problems.

First of all, I can't get the maximum lot size above 6x6! Is that avoidable?

And I downloaded the Buildings As Props .dat from Simcity.com, and while the Residential and Commercial buildings work fine, there aren't any industrial buildings!

Any help would be appreciated.

[Tropicana 0]

I am new here. How do you get to lot builder?

[HunD88 146]

Hi all! Can someone please help me, In lot-editor, how the farm-fields work, in general?

I want to make a bigger variety of farm fields, but it dosent allow me to "save as"...

how can i make more farm fields? besides the origionals?

[ArchangelMichael 51]

Making farms that work like the in-game farms is more complicated than just building a lot in LE.  It requires some modding skills.  You can learn more about it here, or you can download and study the farm fields by SimGoober, then mod your farms in a similar way.  The only other option that I know of is to make ploppable farm fields. 

[HunD88 146]

Wow, thanks for the quick answer!

Yes, i had a feeling it's complicated...    Hmm, maybe i will learn how to make plopable RCI..

Thanks, and i will see the links right away..

2 more Q.: I modified these two fields in Lot editor. And uploaded it now.

Will this work without errors for other people?

It worked for me, but i dont want to mess up these farmfield-stuffs if its that complicated...

 

As i understand, i shouldn't upload more farm lots, because it will replace the originals?

[ArchangelMichael 51]

Will this work without errors for other people?quote>

I have not tested your fields in-game, so I don't know.  You'll have to wait and see if people experience issues and contact you for tech support.  See below...

As i understand, i shouldn't upload more farm lots, because it will replace the originals?quote>

Yes, your grain and sunflower fields do replace two of the game's original farm fields.  Since it appears that the biggest change you made was to add your props to them (which are quite nice, BTW) the usual behavior of other lots should also apply to fields: those that already exist in people's cities will maintain their default status, and ones that grow anew will show your props.  In other words, if you change the props on a lot that already exists in a city, you usually will not see the changes until you demolish the old one and plop (or grow) the new version.  So, in theory, this should not cause any problems unless people really want the old default farm fields back.  The best thing to do for future fields is to study the work done by BSC.  Follow the same path they took and you should be able to produce your own unique fields that do not override the game's default fields.  Why is this important?  Because those of us who really like the custom agriculture use a Maxis blocker that prevents default Maxis farms from growing.  This, in effect, would also prevent us from seeing your efforts spring to life in our rural communities.

One thing I did notice on the grain field is that you forgot to delete the default base texture before applying your own.  This probably cannot be noticed in-game because the barley props completely cover the field, but it's something to remember for the future.  If a lot has two different base or overlay textures assigned to the same tile, the game will randomly select one or the other when the lot grows or gets plopped, and will occasionally flip-flop between the two at different zoom levels or rotations.  Also, make sure that if that texture is one of your own that you have had a texture iid range allocated to you by Geoffhaw or it may conflict with someone else's and cause problems for users with both textures in the same city.  The same thing applies to prop families.

I hope this has been helpful.  I'm looking forward to seeing some more of your work in my cities!  I really like your IM and IHT stuff

Mike