STEX Lots Service

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Mods, please leave this thread here on the Stexforum,tnx.

I have seen all the Lots and Bats on the STEX since its birth almost 4 years ago and I have seen a lot of good BATs gone bad with terrible lots. This could be changed for your private use. Interested?

As the first and one of the very good LOTters around (Nexis Lots and BATs) and having experience with the LotEditor (LE) for the last four years, I would like to offer my services as a Lotmaker to those who do not know or do not want to work with the LE.

You like a few BATs on the STEX or anywhere else, or have a BAT or simply an idea of a lot that might be useful for you, but hate the lot and want it to change ,but can't, send me your wishes and the links and I will see what I can do. I cannot tweak the lots, make growables nor ploppables with jobs from nothing, so if the original lot is a park, it will stay a park, if it's a growable, it will stay a growable, meaning it will stay as it is, only the props and textures on the lots will be re-arranged or changed. I do not work with the PM nor other SC4tools. I only use the ilivereader and LE.

Besides this, my limit is your imagination and if you don't have any, I have a lot.....lol...Got an idea? If it's possible, I can make it....and make it well too!

Also, if You are a BATter, but cannot make decent lots or just don't like to do so, prepare an empty lot and tell me. Surely we can work out something. Only a very small credit for my work is wanted. And if you know how to lot, but have some difficulties to do so or need advice and ideas, let me know, I'll help you with advice how to make a decent looking lot.

I can use many dependendcies or the dependencies that you have or would like, or even make something wonderful with very little or only the Maxis original props and textures. I have proven it before with being nominated once having created the most beautiful lot.(See my awards) And besides, my lots (Nexis) and BATs are famous for having the minimum or no dependencies at all and still look wonderful. Whether you want them as simple as possible or fancy backyards, I can make it happen.

All the lots that I will be working will be displayed here in this thread once finished. This will help other Lotters also.These lots will be private only and send to you (the demander) by e-mail. If there's a lot of demand for one specific lot that I created, I will upload it to the STEX with the Nexis nametag, but crediting the BATter or original creator and the demander. If it's a BATter that will ask me to do his/her lot, then it will be the creator that will upload it, hopefully with a little credit note to me mrbisonm/Nexis.

I will have some time on my hands soon, in a week or so  and later on (starting November) I will be free for winter, and this is why I offer myself, so to keep me busy....lol

To show some examples of my Lots (I have 658 modified Nexis lots in my plugin) , go have a look at my CJ *NoG* (Nexis of Genesis) and I also included some below.
Be glad to help out and have fun at the same time. Any questions now?

mrbisonm

The following examples are BATs/props are from the STEX on modified lots:

a small Harborlot.....

a fishfarm......

a mansion........

a checkpoint.......

a farm.................

a motel...........

a sawmill.....

a cemetary.....

some factories...........

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Hey, nice idea! You know, as a fellow lotmaker, I also hate it when a BAT stands on a lot that looks like a necessary evil and not like a perfect complement for the building, and I've tried my best to make sure that all BATs I laid my hands on were completed and rounded off with an appropriate lot. And while the LE isn't all that difficult in technical terms, there are not that many people who have a knack for finding good prop, texture and building combinations.

Let's hope some BATters see this! Maybe your lotting magic can even inspire some people to take a closer look at the widely neglected Lot Editor and its equally widely underestimated powers. Good luck!

[patriots_1228 51]

"few good lotters"-you got that right. I love what you did to the mansion, and although i don't like smashing buildings together, i think the cemetary looks good too.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

You're right T-Wrecks, maybe this will make some Batters think twice before uploading an empty or dull lot with their BATs. And it is true that as simple as the LE is, it has powers that only a few know.

But the real reason I started this thread is  to help out those players that want a pleasable custom lot in their game, whether it is for their CJ or own private pleasure. Like I said before, if you can't handle the LE or can't make a decent lot, I'll help you or do it for you.

patriots_1228, I don't really like stacking up different bldg props either, but sometimes you can make wonders with them, when carefully planned and packed together. The cemetary lot was made before any BATting was possible and no churches were available, so I created this lot to have a church like bldg with a cemetary beside it in the game. It is still on the STEX and one of my greater creations all with Maxisprops and textures only. Do a search for Nexis cemetary if you want it.

While I am here, here are some more pictures of examples:

a slightly different Motel than the one above.........

some more farms........(chicken,cattle,Horse and veggies)

a truckstop at noon........................

All these lots are Nexislots and used in my CJ of NoG, most of them are not available anywhere, but some of them can be made for you.......

mrb

[Andreas Roth 616]

I agree with T Wrecks, the art of "lotting" somewhat stepped into the background when the BAT was released, and it was never fully recognized as a very important task to bring a building into the game again. You posted a few very nice examples of what can be done with "pushing props around", which isn't as easy as it might sound indeed. Good luck with your project, and I hope to see it bearing fruit soon!

[hawkpride147 1]

hey i would love to see kumba's 767's lotted on a lot similar to the 747 lots from the newest airport pack. if you could do this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Kumba's 767's can be found on SC4D. please PM me if you have any questions...thanks so much for this service!

[mrbisonm 1,622]

I found the 767 props from kumba, but I didn't find the other (747 lot) to see the textures. What airport kit are you using? I have four in my plugin folder all with different textures. So to be sure, I need to know the airport textures that you play with.

No problem, I can do this. Would three different lots be ok? How big a lot? 3x3's or bigger?

Let me know  hawkpride147.

mrb

[hawkpride147 1]

lot size preferably 4x4 or 5x5. i would prefer the textures from the RMIP by voltaire. this is the pack with the 747 lots.

3 lots would be fine...i would prefer American Airlines, Delta, and United...if 6 total wouldnt be hard, i would love to have Continental, US airways, and British Airways...all the lots could even look the same with different planes. if 6 is too much then the first 3 would be more than enough. thanks so much for your service

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

great work here!

[Silur 3,308]

Hi, Frederick ...

I like your objects and studing with this ....

Very attractive and optimum alternative lots are here ...

Good luck with your great work !

[JakeMD 107]

thank you!! i shall try out your service with my newest tower!!

[mrbisonm 1,622]

hawkpride147...your demand is noted. Once in the making, give a week or so, I will show some pics during creating and once finished.

Thanks for the interest. Also thanks Andreas, silur and newyorkrunaway1.

[hawkpride147 1]

awesome! thank you so much!

[Glenni 1,447]

Yeah, these are awesome, i've always admired your talent in LE.

[Crissa 1]

Hey, howcome none of your pictures include links? ^-^

-Crissa

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull idea i like the first farm and do you also make / lot  fences

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Originally posted by: Crissa

Hey, howcome none of your pictures include links? ^-^

-Crissa quote>

 

Simply because these lots are NOT available anywhere on the NET, Crissa. These pictures are just an example of lots that I have created for my CJ and personal use to give the game an extra reality as in my region of eastern Canada and I wanted for you to see what I can do for you all. I have almost 600 Nexis Lots that have never been uploaded. Most of them can be seen in my CJ NoG.

Originally posted by: jacqulina wonderfull idea i like the first farm and do you also make / lot  fencesquote>

 

I am not quite sure what you mean by lot fences, jacquelina. I have a few lots that have fences of different  types that I can use from my Parkmenu to plopp for different farmsets, like just a green pastures with a wirefence for example. Is it this you meant?

Here is an example of those below on the bottom of the picture: Green with cows, green no cows no fence, green with fence straight, green with fence corner, green with water hole, green with feeder... etc. I also have other fences and other greens.

I love farms and I have tons of them. I live in a very much farmed area in Québec /Canada with some of the most modern farms of all kinds in North-America. Some are lots and others are BATs of mine (Nexis). Here are two more pictures of farms.

These lots contain a lot of dependencies and because Nexis has a Rule that consist of uploading nothing that has more than two dependencies, I have never presented them to the Gamer but kept them for myself.

I have almost every more or less most common dependency, whether prop or texture, in my plugin folder when I create my own lots, but these are taken out of the folder when I make lots for the STEX or for you all, unless otherwise stated.

mrb

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Private message received by Hydromancerx: I brought this demand here into the forum because I would like everyone to see the demands and maybe some of you could help me with it. So please stop sending me PM's but rather post your idea or demand here. Thank you.

Mr Bison,

Here is how it would work. You would have 3 different models; Lot type A which is a side. Lot type B which is a corner. And lot type C which is the middle. <!--[endif]-->>>

Lot A = R$$$ or C$$$ or I High Tech

Lot B = Police or Fires Station or Hospital or Power Plant (Clean)

<!--[endif]-->>>

Lot C = Park or Water Pump

Thus you would have 1 R$$$ Lot A, 1 C$$$  Lot A and 1 I High Tech Lot A. Each looking identical but each functioning with a different zone. This goes for the other lots as well. The reason Lot C has a park and water and not the other types is because the others need to touch a road but they don’t. (See Image Below).

Hydro ~ 

Now wait a minute. I understand your whole concept, at least I think so, but to make such nine lots, I need to cut the BAT into nine pieces and that is impossible unless you know how to do it. Cutting a BAT model in nine different pieces is impossible in the LE.  A BAT can only be modified in the gmax, therefore I need the gmax file for this and I offered this service for LOTting only and not gmax. I don't do BATting anymore.

The only way to make such lots in the LE is to make nine different lots and the middle one with the BAT. The others will only be parklike lots ( these either function as C$$$/R$$$ etc.....) that surround the mainbuilding lot and you could plopp in the game the way you want to.

Otherwise  if you have the nine pieces of that BAT, I will be able to make such  lots, no problem. Do you?

For the hawkpride147's demand (airport lots), I will be working on them in beginning of next week. Right now RL is keeping me a little too busy.

mrb

[Crissa 1]

Well, your lots are beautiful.

Personally, I don't like plops, but love the idea of having parts that link together - for instance to separate farms and for flood-fill zoning and stuff.

I don't mind many dependencies, as long as I know what they are, and they're used repeatedly. But I have lots of memory to spare ^-^ I have as many of the prop packs as possible to get the most out of the lots I do download, including many I don't really need.

Of course, it would've been nice to have a tool that would look at a file and say what's missing - or take a batch of files and say if they're duplicating each other. Ohwell ^-^ It'd be a huge online tool, though...

Anyhow, those are beautiful farms.

-Crissa

[Hydromancerx 6]

Modular Arcology

I have been looked over the forum but i have never found a proper Arcology because you cannot give one lot all the properties of a real Arcology from Sim City 2000. But what if it was done in more than one lot?

Imagine an Arcology that was split into 9 equal parts. The top, bottom and sides would all be identical while each of the corners would be identical to each other and the center would be unique. Thus one would only need to make 3 lots that fit together like a puzzle.

Then from those lots you would give them each special attributes such as plopable R$$$, plopable C$$$ or I High-Tech. You could make one for each type such as an side, corner and middle. That way one could make an arcology with whatever they wanted such as one that had all R$$$ or maybe one that was a mix of all the different types.

Also each individual lot could be the maximum lot size so once you put them all together it would make the most massive building you will ever see.

No to mention you could make maybe an inverted corner so you could make the Arcology in any shape you wanted. As long as it all fit together like a puzzle. Super long ones or star shaped ones or even horse shoe shaped Arcologies.

The problem is I have no experience in this and am looking for someone to make it. I know it’s a good idea so I thought I would post it for anyone to do.

Apparently some BATers were confused on what i ment with he modularl Arcology. Its not a lot that can do different zone types. Its separate zoned lots that fit together, thus appear like they are a single building.

Here let me just use an example with 4 buildings. Lets say we have an Arcology shaped as a wedge. Lot #1 is a plopable R $$$, Lot #2 is a plopable C $$$, Lot #3 is a plopable I High Tech and Lot #4 is a Clean Power Plant. All of them look identical and fit together into a single mega structure when placed in the right configuration next to each other. (See Image Below)

Here is how it would work. You would have 3 different models; Lot type A which is a side. Lot type B which is a corner. And lot type C which is the middle.

Lot A = R$$$ or C$$$ or I High Tech

Lot B = Police or Fires Station or Hospital or Power Plant (Clean)

Lot C = Park or Water Pump

Thus you would have 1 R$$$ Lot A, 1 C$$$ Lot A and 1 I High Tech Lot A. Each looking identical but each functioning with a different zone. This goes for the other lots as well. The reason Lot C has a park and water and not the other types is because the others need to touch a road but they don't. (See Image Below).

[Hydromancerx 6]

Originally posted by: mrbisonm

Now wait a minute. I understand your whole concept, at least I think so, but to make such nine lots, I need to cut the BAT into nine pieces and that is impossible unless you know how to do it. Cutting a BAT model in nine different pieces is impossible in the LE.  A BAT can only be modified in the gmax, therefore I need the gmax file for this and I offered this service for LOTting only and not gmax. I don't do BATting anymore.

The only way to make such lots in the LE is to make nine different lots and the middle one with the BAT. The others will only be parklike lots ( these either function as C$$$/R$$$ etc.....) that surround the mainbuilding lot and you could plopp in the game the way you want to.

Otherwise  if you have the nine pieces of that BAT, I will be able to make such  lots, no problem. Do you?

For the hawkpride147's demand (airport lots), I will be working on them in beginning of next week. Right now RL is keeping me a little too busy.

mrbquote>

For the 2x2 Arcology all you would need was one single lot since you can roate the lot in game.

For the 3x3 Arcology you would only need 3 types of lots. A corner, a side and a middle. Since the corners and sides could re rotated. I mean they will always face one street even the corners.

You are thinking opposite. Sides and corners are all touching a road, while the middle is not. Thus it would have to be a park.

I have 3DS Max 6 but have never done stuff for Sim City 4 before. If you need help with the model itself i can help I just don't know how to get it into the game.

And i don't think your understanding how this is. Each of the surrounding lots are the ones that have R$$$, C$$$, I High Tech, etc. Thus you would need 18 lots total to make. 8 of which look the same and are the corner lot. 8 of which look the same and are of the side lot. And 2 of which look like the center lot.

1. R$$$ Corner Lot

2. C$$$ Corner Lot

3. I High Tech Corner Lot

4. Clean Power Corner Lot

5. Police Station Corner Lot

6. Fire Station Corner Lot

7. School Corner Lot

8. Hospital Corner Lot

9. R$$$ Side Lot

10. C$$$ Side Lot

11. I High Tech Side Lot

12. Clean Power Side Lot

13. Police Station Side Lot

14. Fire Station Side Lot

15. School Side Lot

16. Hospital Side Lot

17. Park Middle Lot

18. Water Pump Middle Lot

[Palpatine001 57]

mrbisonm: Nice to see a lotting service for a very experienced veteran here.

As a BLaMer ( www.simcities.com ) and experienced lotter I have noticed the Art of Lotting often is forgotten about and often a bad lot can drag down the quality of a very well done.

Will be watching here with interest

[Hydromancerx 6]

Here is a 3D example of what I mean.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Hydromancerx, I can clearly see what you would like as a lot, but I cannot split the Arcology model in different pieces. Impossible to do without the original file, even if I had the gmaxfile for this model, I wouldn't do it simply because I don't 3d model anymore, only LOTting.

So, I guess you have to BAT something for yourself, split it into nine pieces and then I will be able to make the lots you want with it. Otherwise it is impossible unless someone else has a brilliant idea how to do this. Sorry.

There is perhaps one more possibility to create this lot by making only one lot that has all the stats that you wanted. I don't know if this is possible since I don't touch the stats of the lots, nor don't know how to tweak them.

My service here is for everyone here to make better looking lots, meaning throwing around props and textures on the lots to make them more pleasable or just make a lot with props that you need or want like a filler lot or something.

Examples: Look at the pics above.

Palpatine001, yes keep an eye on me.....lol......and if I don't do things right or you have ideas , tell me so.....lol

Crissa, I don't just do ploppables, growables have lots too, therefore I do them....lol.

Thanks for the encouragements.

[Crissa 1]

I prefer growable ^-^ But things that I can use to make things grow my way, I'm all for... Anything to make zoning faster, since everything else seems to be square by square puzzle-piecing o-o

How about releasing the farm pieces you have as growables?

-Crissa

[fozzer 0]

nice work mrbisonm. any chance you can tell me where to get that check point that you showed as one of our examples cus its looks qaulity

[Hydromancerx 6]

Ok. I guess it looks like I need to look up a BAT tutorial in the tutorial section of the forum. Wish me luck!

EDIT: Just finished the LE tutorial and man that was easy compared to the other modding programs I have done for games.

Next up is the BAT tutorial!

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Crissa, I just might release some of these farms as growables later this winter.

fozzer, the checkpoint is a japanese BAT, but I cannot remember where from. You better ask this in the Japanese Thread here;  https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=153&threadid=51212&STARTPAGE=85

The lot is mine though and not available anywhere. BTW, Welcome to Simtropolis.

Hydromancerx, well ....good luck, hope you get the hang of BATting.....lol

[Hydromancerx 6]

I was able to make a BAT Launch Arcology, however I do not know how to make RCI Plopable lots. How do you make one? Am I missing some sort of button or field in the Plug-in Manager? If you don't want to explain it all can you point me to a tutorial? I do not mind reading them, I just can't find one on it.

EDIT:

I think this might help me. But i would still like to know if i am on the right track.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

I am not a specialist on RCI ploppables, but this is what I use usually.