Dummy buildings and empty RKT's

[Edvarz 1,984]

Hello!

I have a couple of old lot packs that use a "dummy building" tecnique: they have a small box model and the building itself is a prop.

I find this situation annoying, to be honest. The old PIM usually causes the lots that use this technique to have an incorrect stage, and the properties are harder to recompute in PIM-X. Heck, sometimes the building prop isn't even properly modded and doesn't cast shadows or work with the query. Now, i understand this is old content, and I don't want to turn this into a rant, since the question I have is simple enough, I just couldn't help it...

I read somewhere that I could change the RKT1 property of the building exemplar to make it a null RKT, thus an invisible model: if I do this, can I get rid of the original dummy building? and, do I have to set every number in the RKT to 0, or only certain set?

Thanks in advance!

[rsc204 21,817]

Yes you can alter the RTK to a null value, type in "0,0,0", Reader will expand that to it's full Hex value automatically. In these cases, you are in effect simply removing the need for any dependency model the presumably invisible prop in use as the building. More ideal would be to ditch the prop altogether and convert it to a building, thus allowing it to work properly with PIM-X in future.

If you create a new Buildings exemplar using the model, then create a new lot for it, it's possible to copy the old lot objects over, so you don't have to re-make everything. Highlight all the "LotConfigPropertyLotObject" lines from the old lot and use Copy/Paste (CTRL + C / CTRL + V) to duplicate them on your new one. Then it's a simple case of opening each to correctly place the building, using the now duplicated prop as a reference for it's placement. Done in this order, you should be able to line up the building exactly with the original prop before you remove it from the new lot.

[Edvarz 1,984]

@rsc204 Thanks!

I thought about replacing the prop for a proper building, but this particular lot uses a prop family for the buildings, and I don't really want to mod four building exemplars and take one of my prop family slots; I figured it would be easier to manually adjust the stats for the dummy building and then recompute the stage for the growable lot. Then I can alter the RKT1 to do away with the dummy building model anyway. Mind you, this is not a setup I would use for my own lotting projects, not even the ones that have multiple buildings on one lot, this is something strictly for personal use.

Another question, if I may take further advantage of your help... A while ago you told me how to alter S3D's to rescale or center a prop model without modifying the original file containing it. Can I do this for building exemplars as well? I have only tried it with props.

[rsc204 21,817]

You can alter any model you like, the game doesn't see models as buildings, props or anything, they are just models. How you link them through Prop, Building, Flora etc. Exemplars defines how they are used. You can have multiple exemplars, of different types which all link to just one model. So it will work regardless of what you decide to use the model as.