[2014] Lot Editor and Plug-in Manager - Forum Archive

[scquith 1]

Lot Editor and Plug-in Manager Forum Archive 2014

This thread contains all of the stray topics created in 2014 in the Lot Editor and Plug-in Manager forum. This thread serves to condense those topics into one topic before merging into the new SC4 BAT & Lot Workshop forum.

However, all of the posts from the original threads are merged chronologically, which means that if two threads were posted in during the same time span, their posts will be mixed together, making it harder to read. To help with this, the title of original thread has been edited into the original first post of each thread.

Remember that you can use Ctrl+F to search through your current page.

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-Jasoncw

How do I elevate Props in the Lot Editor?

Greetings fellow SC4ers:

I apologize if this question is basic, but . . .   How does one change the elevation of a prop in the Lot Editor?

For instance, the radio station that ships with the game has two animated props -- a green flashing light and a "radio broadcast" visual effect -- positioned at the top of its transmitter mast.  When I click on these props in the Lot Editor, I can see a numerical value next to them indicating their height in some specifically-placed increment.  When I select one of those exact same props from the menu, however, they appear "locked in" at ground level.

So what is the method for customizing the elevation of, say, flashing light props?  How do I get people props on top of tall buildings?  How do I put red flashing light props on my custom water towers?  WHAT'S THE PROCEDURE??   I've tried every hot-key combination I can think of within the Lot Editor, but I've had no luck.  I'm at my wit's end!

Please help if you can!  Thanks,

Scquith

[Magneto 316]

Hi Scquith,

 

Very simple just hold Ctrl key down while using up/down arrows to move props upward/downward. For each press on the key arrows you'll increase/decrease height by 0.1 meter. Note that you can't go below ground level

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

It's also possible to move a prop up/down in increments of 1 metre. This can be useful to place a prop on the rooftop level of a tall skyscraper.

To do this, just select the prop, hold down Ctrl+SHIFT together and press the ↑ or ↓ keys. Hold down the arrow key will speed this up.

 

A bit of advice about placing effects:

 

Sometimes an effect will appear offset and not connected to the building / structure. Since they're shown as green diamonds, it can be hard to judge the correct height. This is especially noticeable on pointed structures like radio mast or antennas. Therefore it's a good idea to test the lot in game, rotating and viewing it from all 4 sides. As a general rule, aim to position the centre of the diamond at the intended height. It will take a bit of trial and error, so you may need to make some minor adjustments back in the Lot Editor. The position of a prop can be fine-tuned using the keyboard arrows.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Btw, although nobody rubs it in your face very much, the Lot Editor actually comes with a manual that contains, among other stuff, a list of all hotkeys.

[hellmunkey 30]

Need help fixing GLR in Ave lot, or make a new one

Im trying to use the following GLR in Ave station

but the traffic is not working.  Ive tried using SC4tools, but i cant get it to work.  Can someone guide me on how to fix this?  I looked at the loteditor and the TE arrows point the same direction on each side, which is different from other GLR/AVe lots.  

 

Alternately, can someone show me or make for me a blank station lot?  I can add my own props and stuff.  I havent been able to figure how to do this.  Thanks.

 

[hellmunkey 30]

i need it to be 2x4

[Magneto 316]

I'm no expert in station modding but I compared Arbogli's station with the closer counterpart I could find, the RTMT GLR avenue + bus station. The transit-enabled lot seem to be correct but I noticed a different number of reps in the transit switch entry points property so I copied it from the RTMT station and pasted it in Arbogli's station. Also the transit swit switch entry cost has been changed to 0.02 and capacity raised.

 

There's no guarantee it will work (I haven't tested this myself) but you should give it a fair try.
 

 

Alternately, can someone show me or make for me a blank station lot?  I can add my own props and stuff.  I havent been able to figure how to do this.  Thanks.

 

 

If you don't mind reusing the same station, it's quite easy: delete the ResourceKeyType property that is in the building exemplar, generate a new instance ID (IID) for it (right click on the exemplar, select generate new instance) and assign the same IID to the lot config exemplar and to the PNG file. Then locate the LotConfigLotObjectData property starting by 0x00000000 in the lot config exemplar and edit the last rep: it must match with the building exemplar new instance, then click apply (1) then apply (2)  (see pic below). Then rightclick anywhere on the right pane and reindex lotconfig to make the change effective.

 

 

 

You'll also have to edit the PluginPackID, the Lot Resource Key and the Item Icon properties: those must match the new lot IID.

 

At this point you can save, although you might want to assign a different Item name, Item description and a different PNG for the icon to make things easier.

 

Arbogli's & generic stations below. Good luck

[hellmunkey 30]

Thanks for the reply.  Ill have to try that tomorrow after work.  For the time being, I did find a work around.  I made the building a prop(the ninja boulevard station)I opened one of the 2x2 glr/ave stations in the LE, made it 2x4, plopped the prop, then shrunk the lot back 2x2 and it worked. 

[iowndiscti 141]

Changing Capacity

Is there a way to change the capacity of a lot? whats the easiest way to do it? (is there a tutorial)

[Yarahi 1,823]

A pretty generic question.. what building type & what capacity? This tutorial should cover the basics though; https://www.simtropolis.com/omnibus/_/simcity-4/modding-information/modding-basic-and-advanced-tutorials-r186

[iowndiscti 141]

A pretty generic question.. what building type & what capacity? This tutorial should cover the basics though; https://www.simtropolis.com/omnibus/_/simcity-4/modding-information/modding-basic-and-advanced-tutorials-r186

 

 

sorry Yarahi.

I was trying to change the capacity of this (the regional bus terminal)(found here ). the apacity just doesnt sit right with me. can that be done in lot editor?

[Yarahi 1,823]

Sorry, but neither the maxis LotEditor, nor the Plug-in Manager seems to have that type of advanced editing skills

 

The best is to open the lot-file in ILive's Reader and edit the Transit Switch Traffic Capacity(under exemplar type)

(...remember to click both buttons that says "apply")

[JS1123 1]

Ploppable Boats and Lot Editor

Hi everyone,

 

I have recently started to try my hand at batting and one thing i thought the game was missing was cruise ships. So i set off to make a ploppable cruise ship.

 

Everything went great until lot editor. I had the model and created a water lot but the lot editor wouldn't let me save until all of the tiles had a base texture. i figured this would just go to the bottom of the water and would not be seen so i covered the tiles only to find in game that my boat not only has a concrete base (i put the base texture as concrete) but it is also about 5 to 10 feet above the water.

 

Sooooooo how do i fix this?

 

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

Best Regards,

Justin

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I've read somewhere that there is a way to edit your lot again to supress that LE limitation and remove the base textures. Someone will certainly explain you how, I'm not there yet

[SimCoug 5,976]

Sooooooo how do i fix this?

Here is a good tutorial about removing the base texture (creating transparent lots).

[pepsi38 46]

Problems with saving in Lot Editor

I couldn't find anyone else who has run into this problem but if anyone knows of a solution, it would be super helpful.   When I go into lot editor, I can open and edit everything just fine and it seems like when I click save, it saves but when I quit the lot and then reopen it, it is back to the original lot (didn't save).  Save As will work every once in a while but most of the time does not work as well.  

 

I am running lot editor 1.0.12.0 which I believe is the most recent.  sc4 I am running rush hour with the patches installed and I have a very sizable plugins folder.  Now, I originally had the majority of my plugins in the program files plugin folder.  I tried moving all the plugins into my documents folder with out resolve.  I then took all non-essential plugins out completely and still no solution.

 

 I use 64bit windows 7 8gb ram  with an I5 processor at 2.5GHz.

 

Thanks in advanced for any help

 

 

Doug

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Lot editor is known to have buffer trouble.  When you use it, move everything out of your Plugins folder you don't expect to use, and put it all back later.

 

If you try to modify a Maxis default lot, save may not work unless you have write permission on the Program Files folders where the base game is kept.  They are usually read-only. 

 

SaveAs should write a copy of the lot into the plugins folder with a new name.  Check the folder to see that it did.  Make sure you have write permissions there as well, because there is usually no reason to have them on a read-mostly file.

 

Once you start using the Lot Editor you must know the basics of the file system.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

There's two possibilities that I know of.

 

The first is that you did save but can't find the lot in your plugins or in re-opening the LE because you didn't name it properly.

 

The second is that your plugins is too big.

 

So, there is the following to do for both:

 

- Rename your plugins to  *Plugins1 * and create a new folder and name it * Plugins * (without the little asterixes)

- Put all the files that you want to alter/etc into the new Pluginsfolder, including the dependencies you want to use.

- Open LE and do your usual LOTting

- "Save" means overriding the Maxislot, some you can't. "Save as" and give it a new name, then click on save as.

- Now the lot should be under this name in your plugins.

 

Once finished put your files in the original Plugins and re-name it to what it was, simply *Plugins*

 

 

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Some good advice there.

 

When lotting, it's always a good idea to just load the models, props and textures that you intend to use. Not only will this speed up the Lot Editor's loading time, but it'll become much easier to search for specific items in the menus. Also, if intending to share the lots, another advantage is you can control the number of possible dependencies. Like instead of using 10 mega prop packs, this could be reduced as appropriate.

 

I recall there being a limit to the number of items on lots. Not sure if anyone knows the exact number, but once this limit is reached, a lot may not save correctly (items can be missing when the lot is re-opened). This is quite a high limit, so won't usually be noticeable for small / medium sized lots.

 

There's also something about textures where it's best to remove existing base and overlays, before placing new ones (i.e. don't place them over the top). Someone might have more specific details about this. But if I remember correctly, it can cause issues with saving.

[Magneto 316]

There's another possibility to consider.

 

When you modify a lot and save it, the Lot Editor creates a new file of your updated lot in the root of your plugins folder. Yet you have to take into account the loading order of your plugins folder (both in game and under the LE): files that are directly placed in your plugins are loaded first, files inside folders are loaded after.

 

If 2 files share the same instance ID, only the last to load will appear in your game; unless you used "Save As" feature your modified lot has the same IID as the original. So when you fire the LE, the lot you modified and saved is loaded first, then is overriden by the original. This gives you the illusion that the Lot Editor save didn't worked.

 

Simply remove the original from your plugins, or overwrite it with the newly created lot. This way you should be able to see the modifications done.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

^ If you modify an original maxis lot it is not in plugins.  The modified lot should be written with SaveAs to place it in your plugins.  Normally these will load after the maxis lot defaults, but the original lot will still be there.  This may cause undesirable results.

[pepsi38 46]

There's another possibility to consider.

 

When you modify a lot and save it, the Lot Editor creates a new file of your updated lot in the root of your plugins folder. Yet you have to take into account the loading order of your plugins folder (both in game and under the LE): files that are directly placed in your plugins are loaded first, files inside folders are loaded after.

 

If 2 files share the same instance ID, only the last to load will appear in your game; unless you used "Save As" feature your modified lot has the same IID as the original. So when you fire the LE, the lot you modified and saved is loaded first, then is overriden by the original. This gives you the illusion that the Lot Editor save didn't worked.

 

Simply remove the original from your plugins, or overwrite it with the newly created lot. This way you should be able to see the modifications done.

 

I am thinking that you are on point with what my issue is.  I tried moving all of the files out and it still didn't work.   It is really odd because I have been BATing for years and have never run into a problem editing those lots in LE so it must have something to do with the ID.  I will screw around with the folder orders and see if I can get some different results.  

Thanks.

[pepsi38 46]

Ok just tried it and that is exactly what the problem was: an order of load/naming ID issue.  I should have been clear in the first place that this was a BAT lot and not a maxis lot.  

 

Anyways, thanks so much for the help

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well done.  Come to the Moose Factory for a big order of patates frites to go with your pepsi.

[scquith 1]

Thanks to everyone for the very useful tips!  My lot editor doesn't have a manual, though.  I may have neglected to download that item.  But thanks again!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

You don't need to download it. The Lot Editor comes with one. It's included automatically. It's part of the installation of the Lot Editor.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

The Lot Editor's manual should be there in the game's root directory: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Lot Editor Manual.htm"
 
Or check your start menu under Maxis > SimCity 4 > Lot Editor Manual

[cbehrend17 9]

Lot Editor Issue that I can't seem to solve

Hi everyone.

 

This is probably something simple but I can't seem to find info on it so I'm posting here. I'm making a building and in gmax I have this thing to be a 4x2 building. There is 2.5-3 meters around each side of the model, so I am not up against any edges. I bring it into lot editor and while it fits onto a 4x2 lot, it over hangs the back making it appear as though it is a 4x3 lot. I can't seem to solve this. Tried moving it around in gmax but it didnt work. Below is a screenshot of what lot editor looks like when I bring in the building (building is not finished yet).

 

Appreciate any help. You can see the view on the right does not match on the left.

 

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Hi there,

 

It looks like your model has been rendered in an offset position. This means when placed on the lot, it appears in a different position than it actually is. I suggest that before exporting from the BAT, check it's positioned in the centre of the axis, not off to the side.

 

This video might help to explain what's happened:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfbRteFiFwc

 

 

P.S. I've moved the topic over to the Lot Editor forum.

[cbehrend17 9]

Thanks. So I've tried placing it on the center axis, as that is what the video seemed to suggest was the issue. You can see int he new screenshots that it fits on the lot, but is clipped. Attached are images of model placement in gmax as well.