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

[Prophet42 1,503]

Do you have iLive's Reader?.  You can use the reader to open up the exemplar file and look for 'OccupantGroups'.  This will tell you under what menu your lot will appear.

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,838]

Sorry to bump an old topic but I'm having this exact same problem. I've tried all variations of files in the lotting plugins folder but I still can't save my lot. I'm not familar with the "IDs" mentioned in this thread, are they something with can be changed in iReader?

[rsc204 21,869]

The most important factor here is from where did the lot originate? You can't create a new lot using the LE, there is simply no option to do so. Therefore you must take an existing lot as a copy and modify it for your own purposes. This is problematic and leads to all sorts of errors and misunderstandings. Two solutions really, the first use better tools, SC4-PIM or PIM-X is vastly superior in every way to the Maxis LE and PIM. Secondly, learn how everything works so you can create your own descriptors (buildings exemplars) to use with your lots and avoid the problem. If you must stick with the Maxis tools, I'd recommend taking a look at my tutorial, here, it also contains a blank model you can use and explains the concepts I'm describing.

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,838]

I think my problem was the lot was too big (40x16) for the amount of props I wanted to put on it. I noticed that Loteditor was missing out base textures (see the image attached) when it saved, which shouldn't be possible. So I've split the lot (26x16 and 14x16) and it's working now.

[rsc204 21,869]

I always thought the limit was 16x16 for lots in SC4? Anything bigger needs to be broken down into lots that can be combined.

There is a limit to the number of props/textures on a lot too, something around 1,200-1,500 I think.

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,838]

I've split them up further (11x16, 14x16 and 15x16) but I'm still getting save issues. Is there a way to total the number of props?

[rsc204 21,869]

I don't know of an easy way to check the number of props textures. Nos 17 is probably a good guy to ask, I remember him running into that problem.

As for the lots, it would really be helpful if you could outline how you split the lots up, that may be the source of your problems. If you have a clear list of any dependencies for the lot, I would be happy to take a look at the lots for you.

[nos.17 5,265]

I've split them up further (11x16, 14x16 and 15x16) but I'm still getting save issues. Is there a way to total the number of props?

Indeed...there is a way to count the number of textures/props on a lot; it really isn't too hard either . Open the lot with either the Reader or PIM-X (and look at the Exemplar file if you are in the Reader). You will see that each LotConfigPropertyLotObject (aka texture or prop) will have an associated "Name Value," which is a hexadecimal identifier. Write down both the first and last values in the list of LotObjects. To find the total, subtract the two, using the default windows calculator or this website here. The result is a hex equivalent of the number of objects you have. Convert that to decimal (with programmer mode on the windows calc), and you're golden.

Oh, and I believe the max amount of objects (including all base & overlay textures & props) to be 1,280. I do not know if lot size is a factor(it might be), but the max prop count definitely is a hard-coded ceiling that you cannot exceed.

  Edited October 26, 2015 by nos.17  

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,838]

Thanks guys, it's all been a good learning experience. I finally split the Lot into 3 and they are behaving. I did notice some saving problems with the central lot (which contained the original building I started with.) Perhaps it was a problem with the building IDs or something like that?

I am not a coder so I'm afraid the mere mention of the word "hexadecimal" give me a headache! I'll just stick to splitting my lots to avoid that prop limit.

Anyway, here is the finished product, Dr Anders San University.

I've since created residential lots that compliment the main University complex.

 

[Compdude787 916]

That looks pretty nice!

[Jasoncw 12,060]

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.

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