[2009] Lot Editor and Plug-in Manager - Forum Archive

[tvguy 0]

Lot Editor and Plug-in Manager Forum Archive 2009

This thread contains all of the stray topics created in 2009 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

Lot editor?

Where can I find the lot editor, not on ea's site. Whenever i try to use my serial code to download it there, it never works. I've never given my serial code to anyone. Can someone upload it for me? Or is there any other place I can get it?

Thanks

[Goggles 1]

Open Paved Area - random textures

Hi all,

I'm pretty much a newbie with the Lot Editor. I want to make a series of Plaza lots that are all based on one of the textures in the Open Paved Area. So, questions:

1. In the Lot Editor, the standard Maxis Open Paved Area has a single texture with the ID 0x258e3000, the generic plaza texture. However when you place the lot in the game, one of 5 random textures appear. How is this made possible?

2. Can the 5 random textures from Q1 be extracted somehow? Is the answer somewhere in the simcity dat files?

3. If so, is there a simple way to determine which entries in the dat files correspond to the textures in the Lot, to avoid searching through a ton of dat entries?

Sorry for all the questions, but I couldn't find the answers in any of the tutorials

EDIT: Ok, I figured most of it out. The texture is stored with the same instance ID as the Texture ID in the Lot Editor - just had to trawl through each Simcity dat file to find it. The texture itself is an FSH file, with 4 different textures inside - presumably the game chooses which one to display as it is placed.

[jon7985 3]

Prop Preview

Is there a program, or Modd available to preview all of the Props in the LE without placing them one by one? Thanks ahead of time.

[I9113N 4]

 

Transit Enabling Problems

Ya I know this is the lot editor, and I'm using the SC4 Tool, but I didn't know where to ask questions about that. So if you know where it's supposed to be, I don't mind if it's moved. Anyways, I have created a nice fake street, 1x1 straight, and transit enabled it with the SC4 tool, having it as a street, only going north and south. When in game, it is transit enabled and works exactly like I wanted it to, except for the fact that when I go to place another one next to it (forming a line of them, like a street) the lot turns the other way. Any solutions?

-Ian

[north country dude 205]

There is no solution, as Transit Enabled Lots cannot be placed next to each other, at least the TE'd parts need two tiles between them.

More detailed explanations and discussions about Transit Enabling can be found here:

TE Lots, Transit Switches, and You

You might need to register at the site,...or not, but the thread is very detailed and informative.

[Evillions 552]

Lots don't show

I'll restate the topic title, my BATs are not showing up in-game. Is there anyway to make it pop up more. Like more frequnet, more times it pops up. Can someone help?

[Sam 163]

Well frequency depends on what your city needs (it won't pop up if its type or stage is not something your city needs right now), what your city has space for (no point zoning 2x3 if your lot is 3x4), what is in competition with it (if you have lots of 3x3 of the same type then it won't appear very often) and how well it satisfies the demand requirements (eg you probably won't see a 2000 resident building show up if your city only has demand for 100).

So to make your lots show up more, make it an unusual size so there's not much in competition with it, tweak its stage by no more than a third of a band, or change the capacity by a very small amount (if you tweak stage or capacity too far, your lot won't grow at all).

[Evillions 552]

I'm getting what you're saying. But my demand for my lot is a medium wealth or $$ Residential. The lot size is a 3x3 or 3x5. The growth stage is 7. The oppucpants in the lot is about 1,900. I met all conditions. But it doesn't appear still.

[Sam 163]

3x3 is a very common size for a lot. What other 3x3 lots have you got in competition with it?

I assume if you are testing its growth you've got other things growing in your city. What are they? Are they the same type and stage (ie other medium wealth stage 7 on 3x3 lot)? The same size? If so you might have too many other 3x3 lots in competition with it. If they are not the same then perhaps your city just isn't in the mood to grow it right now. Have a very close look at what your city is growing right now, especially the resident numbers. It will probably tell you what's going wrong.

What happens if you use a No Maxis mod and an empty plugins folder? ie no competition. Does it grow then?

[fallen09 0]

Where can I find Lot Editor?

Where can I find the lot editor w/o going to the SC4 site?  I've bought 2 copies of SC4 just to register my code with maxis, but everytime it never works.  EA will not help me find out if i'm puting in something wrong or tell me what S/N i've registered it to and just forgot the info.  please help.

[tadej 0]

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=121&threadid=80032&enterthread=y

[Sam 163]

Originally posted by: fallen09 Where can I find the lot editor w/o going to the SC4 site?  I've bought 2 copies of SC4 just to register my code with maxis, but everytime it never works.  EA will not help me find out if i'm puting in something wrong or tell me what S/N i've registered it to and just forgot the info.  please help.quote>

Welcome to Simtropolis.

However, in order to keep the forum a friendly and usable place, please don't post your topic headings in CAPS. Its not polite and is the same as shouting. There's no need for that.

Also, if you have a question it is best to search the forums first, as most questions have already been asked and answered. This stops the forums getting clogged with posts that are all the same, and helps people find what they need faster. It also means you don't have to wait until someone else replies to your post.

In this case, there was a topic asking exactly the same question two posts down in this forum.  Try Zelgadis' site here: Get your Maxis Files Here

I'll be closing this thread shortly and merging it with the other.

[tcx 170]

I use ILive's PropViewer

Download it here:

https://www.simtropolis.com/modding/index.cfm?p=details&id=367

[sqiddster 1]

Changing plop cost, monthly cost, etc

I don't know how to change plop costs, monthly costs, etc using the Lot Editor - is it even possible?

[Sam 163]

Not with Lot Editor, no. If the item is a custom BAT you might be able to do it with the PIM if you have the model and descriptor file in your root plugins folder. Otherwise if they've been merged you'll need to use Ilive's Reader (available on the Modds and Downloads page). However its not easy to do, and needs a bit of knowledge about the properties and what to change.

Once you've decided what you want to alter and what program you will use, you could post a screenshot of the first one you want to do (ie the data in the file, not a picture of the BAT) and people can show you where to find the bits you need. Plug In Manager should be pretty self explanatory but if its Ilive's Reader you will probably need a bit of help, so just post some more details on it when you're ready to go.

[Tropicana 0]

Lot Editor

How do you use it?

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Look in the tutorials section of the omnibus, there are plenty of things there to help.

Try this to get you started, https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=140&threadid=76187&enterthread=y

[Lord Volker 0]

Lot Editor trouble

Well, i'm pretty sure that this is the right place to post this but i'm having problems with the lot editor. I've looked around and i cant find anything that really helps. The site is running a little slow for me and I'm still not completely familiar with this site and where everything is as well as these type of programs where one thing can make a big difference.

To get to my point, i'm having problems with the lot editor. I've already went through the lot editor beginners tutorial and i've got it down pretty good. I know where everything is ect. Well, i'm trying to make a lot for a city of mine and in the future i'll be doing the same thing for my city. I'm trying to make a large airforce base for a city of mine and in the future i'm going to make another one. I open the lot editor and i pick the army base, i delete all the props and textures. Then i put a new base texture all over, the lot is 43x33. Yes i know its quite large but it'll be more realistic that way instead of that small army base. I've also tried moving all the props around but the textures i deleted becuase i want something different. I save the lot (save as) and then when i come back to work on it i see that about 20 base textures are missing throughout the lot. The reason why i had to come back was because i was having problems making the diagonal runway.

I think that the problem may be in the overall size of the lot but the max is 64x64 i belive. But more likely the problem is in the rewards, i used the army base which is an award and that may be why its not saving properly. I want to use the army base because it acts like an army base instead of a park like with what i did with the tutorial.


Heres what i'm trying to make. Its from the game Ace Combat 6. Blue is the administration area, green the barracks and red the runway and the hangers ect. If all else fails could someone please make this for me. I would like it to act like an airforce base with drivable jets and tanks.

[Sam 163]

I think you have three problems here.

Firstly, what you are trying to do is not really a beginner project. Dealing with rewards requires quite a bit of advanced modding, and you don't normally start with reward lots for that process. Normally you would start with a simple landmark.

The general rule is, don't try to make lots using reward lots as a base. It will give you no end of trouble and generally isn't worth it in the long run. You spend more time fixing stuff than if you'd coded it by hand into a landmark lot in the first place.

If you do want to make rewards eventually, I recommend reading Daeley's tutorial Make Your Own Reward Lots. I think its on the STEX, and if not it will be over at SC4 Devotion (www.sc4devotion.com)

The size is also a problem. Every tile, every item on every tile requires a line of code in the Lot Exemplar. There is a limit to the number of lines it can have (although it does take quite a bit of effort to exceed that). So even if your lot is under the 64x64 limit, you may still have too many props and other objects on it, so it can't save them all.

What I'd suggest you do for your project is break your base down into several smaller lots (eg runway strip, barracks, hangars). You can see an example of this done in the BSC SNM lots. This also has the advantage that you don't have only one possible layout for you base, you can lay out bases in many different configurations and sizes.

You could start with landmark lots and if necessary, convert them to landmarks with jobs (probably industrial). You won't be able to make ploppable functional residential though.

Once you've got those right you could then use Daeley's tutorial to turn some of them into rewards if you want.

However I'd seriously suggest you take a good look at the BSC SNM lots for ideas.

Remember always start with a Maxis lot as a base, one without any fancy modding or special functionality required.

You should also realise that some functionality on the Maxis lots is not realistically acheivable in custom lots. Some aspects of airforce base functionality may come under this category, although the BSC seemed to manage to replicate it closely enough for most purposes. Its certainly true in airport and seaport lots (although these are possible it requires co-operation from the lot making and modding community to adhere to and maintain common files, standards and registries).

Also, don't plop your textures straight over the top of existing ones, otherwise it will have two on the one tile. Remove the existing ones first, then put your new texture on the empty tile. If you don't, the game will get confused and pick a random one out of the two on the tile. This gets messy.

[megaplex4 0]

Abandoned due to lack of water on Simgoober's functional landmark lot

I used Simgoober's tutorial entitled "Making a Functional Landmark Lot" to make a ploppable commercial lot. I plopped the lot and soon there was a 'no water' sign above the lot. I put in a water tower right next to the lot but then it comes up with jobs 0/0 and adbandoned due to lack of water. And it stays that way.

I've looked through the tutorial but I can't find anything that suggests why this is happening. I have all the parameters reltaing to the welath level set to "Low wealth" or "CS$1" etc etc.

[Livin in Sim 83]

Hi, megaplex4,

I have never had a lot repopulate after once abandoning due to lack of water. It always needs to be demolished and replopped. Then it is OK. I hope this is the case with the lot that you created, and that it will be all right after replopping. Please let me know if it works.

Enjoy the game.

--Liv

[megaplex4 0]

Huh. You're right. I bulldozed it, re-plopped and next thing you know people are going in there to buy groceries and pick up their mail. Heaps of water and no abandonment. Thanks for the advice!

[kathrynlacey 36]

Changing lots to conform to slopes/hills.

I would like to know the best combination of numbers to use in the Lot Editor (or in DATGEN, or the reader) to prevent the retaining walls and/or foundations from rising up under buildings on slopes. 

I've searched and so far have found that there is a lot foundation and a building foundation.  The lot foundation property is in the SC4Lot file and the building foundation is in the SC4Desc file.

What is the way to do this so that you can have your lots conform to a slope without raising or showing the foundation?  Preferably I would like the whole lot to conform to the slope.  I have seen very little posted on this topic and the lot editor manual is vague, though it does touch on the topic somewhat.  As an example, see Glenni Gasshou-Zurri lots, which are exactly set on the slopes no matter how steep the hill without carving those un-natural Boxy Hills..

NOTES: , I've found that some lots have foundations set 90 and 40, some 90 and 50, some 16 and 30, and 90 and 90.  Some lots like the ones that start with PZ (PZ1x1 Grass) don't have foundations at all.  In LE you can change farm fields to be 0, 999, and 999 for minimal slope, maximum slope before foundation, and maximum slope and your farms look a whole lot more natural with these settings.

Please help!. 

[Sam 163]

Actually the Lot Editor Manual has an excellent answer for this question:

Foundation Threshold

SimCity 4 makes a distinction between a Lot Foundation and a Building Foundation.  When a lot foundation is used, the entire lot is leveled and a retaining wall is created.  Here’s an example of a Lot Foundation:

With Building Foundations, however, the foundation is placed underneath the building only, allowing for the lot to be bent to the shape of the terrain.

Foundation Threshold can be used to determine whether a Building Foundation is used or a Lot Foundation.  If the slope of the lot is greater than the Foundation Threshold, then a Lot Foundation is used.  If it is less than the Foundation Threshold, then a Building Foundation is used.

This property can be used in conjunction with the Max and Min Slope properties to enforce either a Lot Foundation or a Building foundation at all times.  If you exclusively want a Lot Foundation, then your Foundation Threshold should be less than or equal to you Min Slope.  If you exclusively want a Building Foundation then your Foundation Threshold should be greater than or equal to you Max Slope.  If you want the use of Building And Lot Foundations to vary based on slope, then your Foundation Threshold should be somewhere in between your Min and Max Slope.

quote>

There's really not much else to know. Except that your building should have a decent foundation if its always going to be showing. If it has none, then it will look like it is floating in mid-air. Also you can get strange effects like garages opening straight out onto a 5 metre drop, or stairs running out in mid-air.

[kathrynlacey 36]

Thanks for the reply!  I changed most of the lots to minimum slope required = 0, slope to where foundation starts at 1.0, and maximum slope allowed 777.  That prevents the

What if you delete the foundation property from the exemplar, what would happen then?

What if you delete retaining walls, that is, change it to none?

[Sam 163]

Originally posted by: kathrynlacey

Thanks for the reply!  I changed most of the lots to minimum slope required = 0, slope to where foundation starts at 1.0, and maximum slope allowed 777.  That prevents the

What if you delete the foundation property from the exemplar, what would happen then?

What if you delete retaining walls, that is, change it to none?

quote>

Deleting does not remove the foundations. It sets them to the default which is not what you want. If you've set the retaining walls to never appear using the foundation threshold then you don't need to delete them either.

Personally I wouldn't use numbers as excessive as 777. I'd keep it always within the limits observed on Maxis lots. I've not seen anything higher than 90 for the max slope.

[littlewhitebutterfly 18]

Diagonal transit-enabled lot

Hi, I've made several transit-enabled lots that work all right, but I don't know how to make one with a diagonal path on it. -I downloaded Path Creator, which however I can't use.
There should be also a tutorial somewhere, but I can't find it. Could somebody please give me a hand... or the link for such tutorial? Thankxxx!

[KingofYoutube 0]

Help with docks.

Hi everyone. I would like to build a dock right here:

And I would like to put docks here. But, I don't wanna put the standard dock. Any way I could build my own?

Thanks,

KOYT

[MCO1254 2]

Building Models to Props

Hello, I've been working on a few new lots for my cities and I'd like to take a few buildings that I have an make them props so that I can put them on the same lot. I tried searching and couldn't find a clear answer. So can somebody please explain to me how I would go about changing the files?

I appreciate your help on this.

[His Divine Hand 244]

You need to run the building models through the Plugin Manager. In the plugin manager you can make the model into a prop. If the Plugin Manager (PIM) has you stumped, there is a tutorial on the PIM in the omnibus, if I recall correctly.