Downloading\Editing Growables

[local_authority01 3]

I have been back into SC4 for about 3 months now, but most of that time has been spent downloading a ton of ploppables that are power, transport , garbage, and landmark related.  After more then 1,000 downloads and dependancies I am now almost finished with downloading ploppables, and would like to start downloading some growables.

I have been afraid to download growables in the past because I didnt want them to clash with the maxis buildings and sprout like weeds in my cities.  Is there a way to control the frequency of growable buildings?

If I open each growable building that I download using iLive, what should I look for to make sure that the buildings function properly and grow correctly?    I am somewhat concerned about realisim but I dont know what particular files to edit for things like the stages a building will grow at and the people it will house\employ?

To SC4 Veterans:  What do you do when you add a growable to your collection, what do you check and mod?

Also on a side note:  I downloaded some Oil Wells, Oil Derricks, and Oil Rigs to add to my rural cities.  I want them to provide the city with $1,000 each but I am unsure how to change their cost into income.  I think that I have to change the bottom 4 lines in the reader to relate to bussiness deal income.  I dont know if I have to change the original occupant group of the building to get it to work.  I guess I will try to keep the oil buildings as lanmarks,industry anchors and see if it works.  I will post back if it works or not.

[Andreas Roth 605]

The only way to avoid buildings that grow like weed is to mod them properly, which is obviously something the creator should do, or ask someone to do the modding for him. From a technical point of view, the game creates a certain demand for R, C and I, and then tries to fill the demand with suitable buildings, depending on the tileset that is selected, the current growth stage of the city, the available zone sizes and densities, the local desirability and a couple of other factors.

If there are certain growables that are suitable for a certain location in the city, the game usually picks the one that fills the demand best from those that meet the aforementioned conditions. So say you downloaded a couple of rowhouses which are all equal in lot size, stage, tileset and such, but one offers 70 instead of usual 55 occupants, the game usually picks only the one with 70, and this building will grow like weed if there's not another one with comparable stats.

So if you want to be sure that your game will work perfectly, you'll basically have to check every single download and study the readme file, not only for dependencies, but also for finding out if the building stats are in line with the rest of the game. This is something you'll have to learn over the years, but if you are patient, you should get the hang of it. Many popular BATters and BAT teams have established this kind of quality control, so you're somewhat safe to use their stuff without prior checking, but it can never hurt to have a look here and there anyway.

As for creating a lot that produces an income: This works exactly as you described; just change the budget properties to a business deal and change the costs to an income. You can do that with LEProp very easily, as it offers those options from a convenient drop-down list. There's no need to change the occupant group, but you might want to make your lot a reward, so it's placed in the proper menu for those kinds of lots.

[local_authority01 3]

Ok Thanks. If I download growables I should make sure that same stage buildings have the same occupancies. I was worried that it might be more work, but I am already going through all of my ploppable downloads and doing some editing. Lol, when I took SC4 off the shelf a few months ago, I didn't realize how much work it would be. I am finally getting a hang of the iLive reader but I have a few questions:

I am still editing my plopp downloads and am confused on why some buildings have Demand Created, while others have Demand Satisfied, or Capacity Satisfied. Is there a reason why some buildings have this difference and how does Demand Created vs Demand and Capacity Satisfied work in game?

(I am guessing that Demand Created creates jobs at the buildings while Demand and Capacity Satisfied either lower the workforce demand for the number of jobs, or lower the RCI demand of that type of building. I think the reason why some plopps use different values may be because of game limitations on how plopps can employ workers. I will assign all my buildings Demand Created and test if they work in game. I will post back the results.)

Another question I have about jobs is that they can be divided between jobs and amenities. Is there a difference between the types? When I assign jobs to my buildings should I fill out the 1810,1820,1830 #s as well?

Thanks

EDIT: I Forgot to ask if I download a plopp with a custom query, can I use that query in other lots using the same Query Exempler GUID?

[RippleJet 36]

You might be interested in reading Demand Simulator: Demand, Supply and CAPs.

Originally posted by: local_authority01

EDIT: I Forgot to ask if I download a plopp with a custom query, can I use that query in other lots using the same Query Exempler GUID?

quote>

Yes, if the buildings are of the same type.

In other words, do not use a commercial query in a residential or civic building...

[local_authority01 3]

Thanks for the tip and the link. I have been using the info from it all week and editing the jobs for all my downloads. For the most part I have finished editing plopps and am now working on menu placement in game. Lol it might still be a week before I can actually play.

Is it possible to place any buildings in the road menu? What occupant group do I use? I have a ped mall connector that would go well there next to the ped pieces.

I am also thinking of moving elevated rail from the rail menu to the misc. transport menu. I cant find a road or el-rail track in the navigator to copy and switch the occupant group of. Is it possible to move the el-rail pieces to misc transport and how do I do it?

EDIT:  Ah Ha, I found the el-rail and road pieces under UI for simcity1.dat using the reader.  I think I can place things in their menu by adding Submenu Key: Networks: Road, etc.   I will post back if it works or not.

[local_authority01 3]

Srry to double post, didnt know if its worse then starting a new thread.

I was unable to place my ped mall connector in the road menu. Does anyone know how I could place it there?

I would also like to say that I have been doing some reading on the ploppable buildings problem and I may have a solution:

A residential ploppable will soon abandon because its occupants cant leave the building. What if you removed the occupants and created demand for jobs instead to simulate the people living in the building. You might be able to do this in iLive removing the occupants and adding demand created: 4300, 10 and 4400, 10. etc. (kind of like how the casino creates demand for commercial jobs) The building would just serve as a blank plopp then, but it would at least create some demand and may function better then how residentials work now. (the query might need to be changed too)

I am wondering if this will work for plopp residentials and I am thinking of similarly creating residential demand at my plopp commercials and industrials. I think for this though I might need to create demand for amenities instead of jobs?

The only other question I have is how do I make sure that these plopps then wont visually dillapidate and abandon? I can change dilapidation through occupant types, but how do I prevent a building from becoming abandoned?

Thanks

[Andreas Roth 605]

I don't think that the Road menu can be used for lots. Since the Ped Mall connector is basically a "station" type lot, the "Misc. Transportation" menu should befine. And regarding those "ploppable residentials", what you are suggesting is basically a functional landmark, and that should work (not sure about the demand properties, it's been a while since I toyed with those).

[local_authority01 3]

I wonder why there are not more ploppable residentials on the stex that use this method? I suppose I could convert some commercial towers into residential plopps or even make ploppable versions of my growables to see if it works. It might be a while before I test it though because I am just finishing up 3 months worth of work and downloads by editing item orders. When I do get around to it I'll post back the results. Thanks for all your help!!!

[Andreas Roth 605]

Well, personally, I don't use RCI ploppables at all, and only a very small selection of landmarks in the shape of well-known RL RCI buildings. I guess developers often include a commercial or industrial ploppable along with their growables because many people like them, but at least they want to release something that's functional in the game. Since ploppable residentials don't work, they simply skip the step of making a landmark version entirely - and after all, there are not that many RL residentials that are actually landmarks in real life.

[local_authority01 3]

I don't know if ploppable commercial and industrial buildings work that well either. I've read the thread by raphealninja over at sc4devotion and the thread makes it sound like they can severely unbalance the game creating ghost workers and eternal commuters. Any landmarks that I edit I will remove the worker/resident occupancy and instead use them to create demand or raise caps.

I am thinking about converting some maxis landmarks into usable buildings. I might turn the Tower of London, Palico Real, Rotes Rathuas, and Alcatraz into functioning prisons. I am wondering if you know of a workaround to the inmate capacity bug? The #s I put into the reader don't show up the same for the maxis Police Stations, Jail, and Federal Prison Inmate Capacity. (If there's no workaround, I'll just set the capacities high and then change the descriptions later)

One more qq: Do Hospitals\Clinics need the property: 0xA92AE3BD Hospital Effectiveness vs Average Age? (Maps average age of a tract to the %HQ boost the hospital gives the tract) I have know idea how to tell how old a tract is or what to set this # to when editing. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks again for your help and patience!!!

EdIt 1 and 2: Had a question but deleted because I found the file I was looking for.

[iuri99 48]

Already exist a mod to change the maxis grow buildings to popplable?

[local_authority01 3]

Yes there is a mod that makes all maxis RCI buildings ploppable. It should be in one of the modds sections on the stex. I should warn you though that RCI buildings that you zone were not originally intended to be plopped. For residential ploppables, occupants get stuck in their homes and the buildings will soon dilapidate and become abandoned. Industrial and Commercial buildings work better for plopping but they can also create problems like I explained above.

Does anyone know how I can remove the ability for houses to dilapidate and abandon? I think if I remove the lower level occupant types from higher wealth homes, they wont distress to a lower class. I still don't know how to keep Residential Ploppables from becoming abandoned other then removing the occupants altogether.