[2010] Lot Editor and Plug-in Manager - Forum Archive

[tjh876 31]

There IS and EDIT button, and the "::sigh::" seemed like you were unhappy with no response in 3 minutes. You can edit your posts AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. We are not mad at you, but you seem like our responses were mean. We are here to help, and again, don't post something every minute. Also, no harsh language, as that it was unnecessary because all we were trying to do was help and give advice. Again, we aren't the equivalent of the fast food industry for answers.

[usfwoody 3]

Sorry for the lame reaction. I should have heeded Blue Lightning's advice and taken a chill pill. Before I put a bullet in this thread it will help me sooth my own ruffled ego to explain that the :sigh: wasn't because of a lack of answer but merely to express exasperation to the ***** of the n e w b reference. I should have just edited the post and will do so in the future.

I am ready to admit that I was the petulant one here. Sorry to SC4Boy and Tommy7777. Thank you for answering the original question, I am excited to try it out.

[brandesm0802 11]

 

Hiding Props and Flora

How come some props and flora are partially or totally hidden when they appear in front of the building in the LE?  It only happens on certain views though.  Once the picture is rotated, the prop returns.

[Xyloxadoria 1,098]

This happens becsue the prop is inside the LOD of the wall. Remake your LODs to be closer to the wall and your problem should be fixed.

[DontCrashPlease 0]

Are there any editors?

Which are available to people without a CD key - like myself who bought Sim City 4 via Steam?

[Xyloxadoria 1,098]

You dont need keys to use the Lot Editor Plugin Manager or any of the other tools if you download them here.

[DontCrashPlease 0]

Oh, thanks for the info!

[kolnikov inc 1]

..custom lotting?

i'm looking for info, tutorials and links that deal with custom lotting. i've seen a few stunning journals (craigkingofireland and dark_jedi06 for instance) that have bewildered me by there achievements. i cant figure out how the textures fit so flawlessly together. i think their work is achieved but custom lotting each building.

if anyone can provide information about custom lot textures feel free to enlighten me.

[tkuelker 2]

You can find tutorials on the omnibus if you want to lot your own buildings also you might be able to find GMAX textures on the STEX or there are a ton or various textures at cgtextures.com (not specifically for GMAX but still look good).

[usfwoody 3]

Good way to view props in a mega pack?

I am going for a tropical look to my current city and I wish to edit some lots and replace standard maxis trees with some palms, banana trees, etc.  Problem is, I dont know where those props are.  The trial and error process I used just now made me want to jump off a cliff.  For those that are pretty familar with editing lots, or maybe those who put together those big mega packs, how can someone get a good grasp on what is offered prop wise?  I tried using ilive reader and it wasnt very user friendly.  Any insider tips that can make ffinding the right prop quicker?  Thanks!

[Andreas Roth 622]

There is a very old tool called "Prop Viewer" by ilive, which should be still available here at ST. You can load the DAT of a mega prop pack and it will create preview images of all props that are contained in it. wouanagaine's SC4PIM offers basically the same feature, put the mega pack into a subfolder inside your plugins folder, and select this folder when you start up SC4PIM.

[kolnikov inc 1]

..wow guys...i got so many replies..great.

[un1 41]

How to Create and Mod Textures

Part 1 is on lot textures. Its true that most CJ artists (or the ones that stick out) custom lot their lots to make their CJs more eye pleasing. However the art of lotting is not hard at all its just finding the perfect prop and texture match which can be easily achieved by some time and patience. Most of the time the only textures you need are the ones that come from the BSC Mega Textures packs and all the props I use usually come from BSC Mega Props so creating custom textures can be pretty pointless if you have a huge collection of dependencies.

[kolnikov inc 1]

thanks for the response...i'll be checking out the tutorials....

[usfwoody 3]

Question about Lot Editor

I want to adjust the seawalls from JayStimson, JS Seawalls, for a more tropical city.  The issue is that his lots appear to have no base texture, and when I make any kind of adjustment in Lot Editor, I get an error message that says (to the effect) All lots must have a base texture.  I cant save until I do.  I dont know what I can do to work around that, or what JayStimson did either.

[ozdaniel 4]

how do i make an existent building diagonal?

how do i make an existent building diagonal?

[hittwice99 619]

Unfortunately, the Lot Editor requires that all lots have a Base Texture assigned to each tile. The game, however, has no such requirement. If a lot has a texture, the game will display it. If it doesn't, well, then it won't.

Because the Lot Editor requires that each tile of a lot to have a texture, we are forced to remove those textures after saving the lot. That's where ILive's Reader program comes into play. The Reader program will allow us to remove the lot's references to the textures so they will not appear in the game.

The ILive Reader program is available here at Simtropolis or at SC4 Devotion (need to register first) https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=656

To do this, open your lot into the ILive Reader program and select the LOT CONFIG exemplar file by clicking on it.

Two ' Exemplar ' files should be shown. When you click on one, its properties will be shown in the pane on the right side. The LOT CONFIG exemplar is the one which lists a large number of properties with the name "LotConfigProperty".

With the LOT CONFIG exemplar selected, locate the properties in the right-side pane that have 0x00000002 as the first value. There will be one for each tile in the lot.

You want to select & highlight each property that has 0x00000002 as its first value. You can select and highlight multiple properties by holding down the CTRL key while selecting the items with you mouse.

With all the references to your textures selected, right-click anywhere in the right-side pane and a menu will pop up. Click on the Delete Properties option. The program will ask you to confirm that you want to delete them. Click on the "Yes" button and the items your selected will be deleted.

Right-click again anywhere in the right-side pane to bring up the same menu. This time, select the "Reindex LotConfig". Nothing will appear to have happened. That's okay. It did do it. The LotConfig exemplar just re-ordered it properties to ensure that it functions properly.

 

Now Save your file and exit the Reader Program. That's it!! You're done. Your lot now has transparent texturing... meaning, in reality, that it has NO texturing.

I hope this helps you out. If you need some more help, PM me and I could do it for you if you would like.

[lpfanatic2003 0]

LET help needed

Has anyone else wondered about another option for waste disposal for their cities. While all trash can be disposed of through landfill or waste to energy and some can be recycled.....i've noticed there is a lack of rendering facilities in the game and have used basic buildings within the game to form one that looks close to a facility near where i live. The only problem is that i want the building to be a plopable reward building when the I-Ag reachs a certain level within the city when it is built and make it so it can provide income becuase of the NIMBY effect most facilities like this have. Is there anyone out there that can help? I've made the lot in LET and never throught of making it in the BAT due to time restrictions and restirctions in resources. I tried to render a simple building today and my computer locked up.

[Sam 163]

You can't unfortunately. Buildings have to be made and rendered diagonally in order to appear diagonally.

If the building is one that you have batted yourself, then in BAT just group all the items and rotate the required angle. You will need to refit the LODs if you aren't using custom ones. If you are using custom ones make sure you rotate them too. Then re-export.

Edit: I re-named your thread. When you create a thread, please give it a meaningful title. That way it shows up properly for searches and people can find things. Thanks.

[robin9000 88]

Can't seem to create a new lot.

Ok I got a building designed with gmax CS4 Lot builder. Done that with out a problem and exported it as a bat file.

Next I went to SC4 plugin manager and found my file under models.

I took and draged it over to school. and modifed my stats.

I then clicked ok and it saved it.

Heres the problem after clicking ok it creates a apps file but it dose not create a .lot file.

So what am I doing wrong, how on earth do I create my .lot file from my model?

Thanks.

[joshriddle 29]

You will have to make the lot. As in add all the props, etc... all the stuff such as the trees and ground textures are in the lot file. You have to do that with a tool called the Lot Editor found here

[astondb9 7]

 

Jobs?

I don't think this is in the right place, but how do I change the amount of jobs on a lot?

I made a lot on lot editor, and I want it to have many more jobs then the original lot, so is there a tutorial or a program or something?

Thanks in advance.

[robin9000 88]

Originally posted by: joshriddle

You will have to make the lot. As in add all the props, etc... all the stuff such as the trees and ground textures are in the lot file. You have to do that with a tool called the Lot Editor found here

quote>

After messing around I have figured that I need to chose one of the lots already made and then add my building to it and do a save as. 

I have my model file but I don't seem to be able to get the building I created to show up in the list.

Why not?

I have created my model as a school and I am loading a school lot to put the building on so why dose it not show up in the list?

[DCMetro34 577]

I know you edit jobs with Ilive's reader, version 0.9.3 is found here.

However, I'm not sure of any tutorials....

I'll look for some for you, however if you want help now, feel free to PM me. A link is in my signature.

-DC

[DCMetro34 577]

Ok, number 1, make sure it is plugins.

Number 2, I don't know if you are typing the name in the search box, but it always helps. If you are still having problem, name it something weird, that no other lot is named.

Number 3, There is a slight chance it could have fallen under the props menu in Lot Editor (if you accidentally made it as a prop. Check there if you don't find it under buildings.

Hope I helped.

-DC 

[Lugnuts 3]

You aslo need to make sure that the lot is big enough for the building.

[robin9000 88]

Originally posted by: Lugnuts

You aslo need to make sure that the lot is big enough for the building.quote>

If I have unknowingly oversized the building, the file should still show up though, right?

[Jasoncw 11,949]

It will only show up in the list if it would fit on the lot. If you make the lot, like, a 6x6 or something really big (way bigger than your building), it should show up in the list.

[Sam 163]

Originally posted by: robin9000

Originally posted by: Lugnuts

You aslo need to make sure that the lot is big enough for the building.quote>

If I have unknowingly oversized the building, the file should still show up though, right?

quote>

No, it won't. The list only shows you options that can fit on the lot size, not all options.

[deanva 70]

Parking lots

Anyone have a good tutorial on designing a parking lot using GMAX? When I have tried to design one,but  the odd shape grass island I have drawn,  trying to get the grass texture to the island is my problem. Should I put a grass texture down first covering all the grassy areas, then lay down the actual parking lot over it? I want it to be transit enabled also, which I have downloaded the SC4Tool already for that part (hope I know to use it right). Thanks for any help in this matter. If the thread needs to be moved to another forum please do so.