Weird issue with custom transportation lots

[mike3411 0]

Hello, I am using several custom transportation lots downloaded from the STEX, including custom bus stops, custom train stations, el train, etc. The problem is that they all seem to be creating additional jobs, in an excessive & weird way. The default bus station has 2 jobs, and they can be seen as people additional to the ones using the station for transportation to another job. When I use the default bus stop I have no problems, and every person is accounted for. Additionally, when I use a custom bus station lot that i made in the lot editor (just taking the default bus station & modifying the props some) I also have no problems. When I use any downloaded lots, however, a great deal more people can be seen driving/walking to the bus station than are commuting, about 30 or 40 people when i was testing it. Since they are not commuting to another job, as shown by the route query tool, I wasn't sure where they were working. Using the mysims tool I was able to confirm that at least several of them working at the bus station, and I assume the others were too. This is very weird because it seems to apply to any custom transport lots. I have had to stop using any custom transport lots becuase of their weirdness, at first I thought it was a bug in the number of people it was displaying, and how the transportation was being handled (in fact this is still possible, but would be very wierd) but I think that the bus/train/subway/whatever stations are actually housing more jobs than they are supposed to. I've looked through the exemplar files in Ilive's reader, but I did not find a job field, and I doubt that the lot creators intentionally added 50 jobs to a bus station : /
Anyone have any ideas? This is kind of a strange problem and I'm really not sure what to do to fix it, i'd like to be able to use custom transport lots again.
I'm running a patched Simcity deluxe, with Tropod's transportation addon mod (which i took out to see if it were the problem, with no changes), graph mod, realistic roadway slope mod, and bridge height mod.
any help would be appreciated!

[mike3411 0]

*bump*
Anyone have _any_ ideas/suggestions? I still havent been able to resolve this...

[Tropod 144]

Typically, I would think any Custom Lots these days would have a Job Property; this can be either the Capacity Satisfied [0x27812834] or Demand Created [0x27812841] Property [either one has a different, yet very similar purpose].

How the Numbers displayed would be different from the amounts in these properties, well that's not likely to happen really I would think; not unless the creator of the lot used another Property to display the amounts [it wouldn't make much sense doing such a thing really].

To be honest; I've read the post a few times, & I'm still trying to figure out what the problem is you're describing exactly; more Sims are working there than [you think] should be?

[Equinox 1,209]

Somebody asked me to help with this issue a while back but I wasn't very familiar with the Capacity Satisfied property ... if I understand correctly, then yeah, Tropod, that's exactly what he's asking.

[Tropod 144]

I have seen some occassions where the Simulator will show Sims commuting to a place in excess of the amount that should be when using the Route Query Tool. I tend to think sometimes it groups some Lots' jobs [in an immediate area where a lot of jobs might be] for display purposes for the Route Query Tool. I've always just taken this as some kind of [minor] memory leak with the tool though &/or a timing issue with the Simulator.

But as for the problem above; well, by all rights, the number of workers shouldn't exceed the numbers in the Property really. It'd be a bit odd if it did; if this were to continue over a prolonged period of time [like game years]. I could see it happening in the short-term, but long-term it shouldn't be happening really. Not sure if much could be done about it though really [i'd probably have to see the files &/or a pic really].

[ray666 0]

What the heck is the stex. It sounds cool. I would like to download some train stations. Is it like thestex.com or .net? What is it? And whats so wrong with people working at bus stops?

[Boris225 1]

I'll post before DT gets to you first...don't ask...

 

The STEX is the Simtropolis Exchange

 

As for the people working in the bus stop...we wish they would leave and let us sit down...

[ray666 0]

Oh i did not know. I'm not that familiar with this site. But Thanx anyway. Thanks alot for clearing that up for me. Thankyou.

[GrampaAl 76]

How about posting the name(s) of the lots which show this ?problem?

Some of the transportation lots may have been modded for capacity meaning the amount of Sims they can carry, but I am not aware of any modded for number of workers.

If we knew the lot name we could easily download and have a look.

[mike3411 0]

Here are some screenshots that should clarify the problem:

this is a normal bus stop, which has two jobs. the proper number of people commute, and everyone else cannot find jobs.


custom bus station, as you can see way too many people are commuting to work at the bus stop. i don't remember the name of this lot, but it came in a set with a modern, NYC, and rural style bus stop if anyone else remembers the name. i don't think the problem has to do with the specific lot, the same problem occurs with all custom transportation lots.


this is the ninja boulevard kiosk, again way too many people working there


i moved in a bunch of sims to see where they said they worked, every one said that they worked at the ninja boulevard kiosk


same problem with a custom train station, i think this is marrast's. 96 people went to work there, i'm not sure what the maximum workers would be, it seemed to max at around 100 but this may have been due to commute time or other issues.

I'm still not sure why this is happening, I have a handful of mods, and a number of custoom lots installed but i didn't notice when exactly this problem cropped up, so its difficult to tell which if any of these caused this. I guess the next step would be start removing the custom stuff and see what fixes this, but I'm pretty unsure as to what might cause this problem. Interestingly, a custom bus station that I made (custom in that I loaded the default bus station, changed a few props, and saved it as a new station) has no problems.
Thanks for the help tropod, grandpa_al & all, I hope i've explained the issue well.

Any ideas?

[DuskTrooper 314]

Date:7/6/2004 6:01:25 PM
Author:ray666

What the heck is 'the stex.' It sounds cool. I would like to download some train stations. Is it like 'thestex.com' or '.net?' What is it? And whats so wrong with people working at bus stops?

quote>

Obviously, the STEX is the exchange.  HOW can one not know this?

[Lessa10 0]

I'm not sure about the other custom lots you have listed, but I do know that the Ninja Boulevard Kiosk is for buses, parking, trains, subway and freight. It's only logical that it would create more jobs.

[Boris225 1]

Date:7/6/2004 10:24:19 PM
Author:DuskTrooper

Obviously, the STEX is the exchange.  HOW can one not know this?

quote>

Hehehe

And THAT'S why I decided to beat you to it. Best give the $%&^! his answer before you found out....

[ray666 0]

Okay people! Calm ya nerves! I did not know STEX meant Simtropolis Exchange. I did not put two and two together at first ok! Now I know!...So don't [expletive deleted] yourselves. Syke... I'm just playing with you guys...even though you don't know me that well...
Masking spelling in flannel mouth stuff is just asking to be suspended. Beware. N_O_Body

[Tropod 144]

mike3411

You need to Query the Lot themself [using both normal Query & Route Query-hove the Route Query over it though], and look at the Actual Usage. That should be the same [well not quite exactly the same; it'll be double give or take a bit-depends on which Query tool you use too] as the number of commuters for it.

Custom Lots though [in general]; Lots can come in all shapes and sizes really, so I wouldn't be comparing them to the ones in the game. If someone has made a lot a particular way, then generally I would suggest that people PM the creator or the Lot/Bat in the first instance.

[mummyjohn 0]

Does anyone here know how to make custom transportation lots? Like with train tracks that you can connect to, subway stations, etc...?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Date: 2/7/2006 7:35:15 PM
Author: mummyjohn
Does anyone here know how to make custom transportation lots? Like with train tracks that you can connect to, subway stations, etc...?

quote>

I think you should take this to the modding discussion threads.

[mike3411 0]

I'm not sure how this thread got bumped but as I recall the issue was just that some custom lots employed more people than I expected. So if you're having the same problem, check out the lot's Capacity Satisfied [0x27812834] or Demand Created [0x27812841] Property (see Tropod's post for details) and adjust the number of employees when needed.

[NetPCDoc 1]

Yep, Old issue - lots that come (more or less) directly from Maxis's Plug-In-Manager (i.e. the ones that use the PIM's default values) have unrealistic numbers on them (like 95, 96 or 97 jobs for a one-tile lot).

MOD-ders and BAT-ters, especially the new ones that haven't yet stumbled onto this, need to know to tweak the lot numbers (including, but not limited to, power/water-consumed, garbage-produced, jobs and demand) - after the Plug-In-Manager puts in default values.

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

That's one of the points that are on my schedule for the modding school - most default transportation lots have e.g. 3/0/0 jobs (§/§§/§§§, whereas the Plugin Manager sets 95/5/0 by default for custom lots. As with garbage generated, you just can't leave the PM alone and trust what it suggests. This was one of the issues I fixed with the re-release of caribou's EL and monorail stations. It's very common, and I guess you can find it in at least 80% of all transportation lots published on the STEX and elsewhere.

'nough said.  If more discussion needed, please make a new thread.  NOB