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

[Daws007 0]

Looking for a Prop

Does anyone know where I can find a prop of a Cooling Tower? I need a better one than the one that comes with the game for a mod I'm making.

[His Divine Hand 244]

Do a search of the STEX for the name "El burro". He made a pretty nifty nuke plant props set a while ago, assuming that is the sort of cooling tower you are looking for.

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

I need some help with making Custom Lighting Props

To put it simply short, I've made some cutsom lamp posts and I wanted to make them be able to work during the night using just the basic Maxis light cones, however, the tutorial on the Omnibus section is incredibly hard to follow, let alone, I'm not all that slick with the Reader. Could some one give me a bit of help here? I've already built the lights, I just need to figure out how to make them work...

[tungston 19]

Moving to the Lot Editor and Plugings forum.

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

Okay, thanks... *nod*

[rhenry 1]

I have a similar issue (and I have noticed the changes show when I re-enter the editor) but when I go to the actual game I can't find the new lot whe nI use the "save as" option. Shouldn't it be in the same menu as the lot I altered?

[Steeler07 5]

Replacing Aircraft Props

I know there's a way you can replace the default aircraft with aircraft downloaded from sites such as flightsim.com, but I'm not familiar with the process. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

[SLagonia 71]

Lots Not Showing Up in Game

Hello all. 

I used to be on this website a lot and did my share of modding back in the day, but it has been so long that I've forgotten most of the steps involved.

I was playing around, making a few composite lots on the Lot Editor.  I went to open them in LeProp, and while they opened, none of the fields were able to be edited.  They just came up as non-existent.

Dejected, I went into the game to put my blank lots down, and they weren't there either!  The lots are sitting there in my plug-in folder waiting to be played, but the game won't let me use them.  I wonder if I missed a step somewhere or forgot something.  Please, let me know.

[Sam 163]

It sounds like something has gone wrong.

Firstly, what kind of lots did you start with and what kind of changes were you doing with them?

The best way to do your lot making is to move all your plugins out of your plugins folder (except the buildings as props vol 1 and 2), and then start your lot on a Maxis lot similar to what you want your lot to be. Eg if you want R$ then start with an R$ maxis lot. If you find you need some prop packs, then select only a small number and use only the packs you really need.

This tends to avoid most problems. Altering other people's lots tends to be more troublesome, as you never really know what kind of modding they have already done, nor how it will affect what you are doing. For that reason it is best to start with Maxis lots as a base.

Depending on how long ago you were modding, you may have previously been using the Blank Lot base set that used to be available in the Modds and Downloads section. We don't recommend using those any more, we've found better ways to make lots since those early days.

Also check that you have up to date versions of all your lot making software (there are at least two different versions of Lot Editor floating around) and that you have applied all the official patches.

[SLagonia 71]

Thanks, Sam. I'll try those theories and report back.

[SLagonia 71]

It worked. Thank you.

[kccl35 83]

Airport queries

 I've seen some good stuff on the internet on airports. They can put 767s an military aircraft ont lot. I managed to find these props and download them.

The question: how do i get them onto lots?

[kingdiz_55 12]

Use the lot editor.

[kccl35 83]

Where do i put the dat file in the download. It doesn't show up in the lot editor.

[Biriali 58]

If you have an airplane as a prop, then it's probably too big for the lot, you're editing. Enlarge the lot and then try again. You can make the lot smaller again, when you have the prop on it.

[kingdiz_55 12]

Exactly what Biriali said.

[kccl35 83]

how do i make a lot that will end up in the airport tool?

[Biriali 58]

Originally posted by: kccl35

how do i make a lot that will end up in the airport tool?quote>

Well, there's two ways to do this. One is by using ilives reader (that is quite complicated, if you ask me, though), and then there's the easier way with ilive's LEprop. This is a very handy tool. It allow you to change menu location for your lots very easily. Just play around with it, it's really quite easy to use.

[Evillions 552]

Props into growable lots

I need some help since looking through LBT building props.  I want to make those props into growable buildings.  When I checked the plugin manger just to see that I can do it.  It's not there, so the question is: How do I turn a prop into a growable building?

Thanks

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well, the reason why you might not see any of the buildings in the plug in manager is becuase the building props are in a separate folder in the plugins folder. Try taking them out of that separate folder, and place them in the plugins folder.

[Brows 0]

it would be interesting to create a mansion(maybe the mayors new house) that has a helipad with operational helicopter. with missions of pick up the mayor and get him to this spot for a big meeting or a series of meetings, pick ups drop offs and such. know of any mansons with helipads that are operational?

[Jasoncw 11,940]

Getting Maxis Base and Overlay Textures into Photoshop

I'm making a set of new base and overlay textures which I'd like to act as an extension of some of the Maxis ones (for example, more paver overlay textures), and it's important that they seamlessly integrate with the existing Maxis textures.

I'm trying to get the maxis textures as .PNGs or .BMPs or something, so that I can bring them into photoshop to make new textures out of them.

I was wondering how to do that, or if there's a tutorial around, or maybe if someone even already has a .zip with them already converted.  Any help would really be appreciated. 

I was also wondering, if I make everything at 128x128, and then let SC4Tool scale them down into the other versions, will they still perfectly line up (be totally seamless) with the maxis textures at the smaller sizes?  Or should I manually make the different versions to ensure consistency? 

Thanks a bunch! 

[Gogman 1]

Lot wont appear on game menu

I am trying to make simple reward lot on town hall base. I want to place simple Maxis building as main building

but Lot Editor only allows to replace with existing reward lot. But there is three invisible buildings, gnomes I think,

so I place it and put the main building as prop. But it wont appear on game menu and I cant place it on city ground.

What do I doing wrong? I need help because need that lot for my game project. I will be thankful for advises.

[petitecherie 0]

Hi there

Can someone help me?

I downloaded tabi's planes on the LEX site, and now I don't get them in the game, Can someone explain me what to do step by step?

[Sam 163]

Sorry for lack of reply.

I tend to use DarkMatter's FiSHman program for that kind of thing. I know SC4Tool can do it, but I've never used it for that. DarkMatter used to have a tutorial on how to use the program.

You can use Ilive's Reader to extract the fsh files from the SimCity_2.dat file. Each texture comes in sets of 5 with sequential iids, one for each zoom. You can extract the biggest one (128x128) as Fishman can create the sequences from the largest zoom when you re-import. To extract from Ilive's Reader do the usual right click and save decoded file  thing. You will get a fsh file and a tgi file for each.

For your own textures you will need a texture iid range from Geoffhaw in the BSC Texture Index thread. Make sure you read the post on the first page so you know how the iids work.

You can open the fsh files in FiSHman and convert them to bmp files. Edit in your graphics editor. You only need to do the 128x128 image, FiSHman can create the other zooms for you.

Use fishman's batch processor to create the fsh sequences,if you have a lot of images, and setting the initial TGI to the appropriate number in your range (I can't remember I think you start at the _s4 zoom). Fishman creates a fsh and tgi file for each zoom per texture.

Import each of the fsh files into into a dat file.

I'm sure SC4 tool has a simpler way of doing it and probably has a tutorial, I've always used FiSHman.

When you make your graphics you will need to make your new textures seamless with the Maxis ones yourself with your graphics editor (take out the textures you want it seamless with, enlarge your graphic so you can fit 3x3 base textures. Put yours in the centre, and the maxis one at each edge and make seamless).

Also some maxis fsh files have multiple image files and one is picked at random from the selection by the game. You can do the same thing, you just need a selection of suitable textures as bmp files and make them all into one fsh. You may have to do that manually by opening up the first fsh, and importing each aditional texture using FiSHman.

[Jasoncw 11,940]

Thanks!!! 

It took a while to go through SimCity_2.dat, but I was able to turn some .FSH files into .PNG, and I got them into Photoshop. 

At first I was having trouble with SC4Tool and FiSHMan because I didn't have this (here it is for anyone else who runs into this problem):  https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2250

[michael_nz40 1]

Diagonal Lots

I'm making a waterfront sea wall set at the moment. All of the lots so far look good:

I've run into a problem with the diagonal lots though. This is how they look in the lot editor:

But this is how they look when plopped in the game:

The rail and lamp post props have sunk down below ground level. Only the props in the middle of the tile are affected. The props on the edge are in the right place.

Does anyone know why this happens? And what can be done to stop it happening?

Thanks guys!

[erjolog 75]

wow something quite similar happen to me a while ago with the difference it was a big lot ( 12 * 3) and it bent the way the terrain did but in the middle part all props sunk and sunk the terrain with it

[vetram 221]

Jobs in custom lots

Please remind me how do we change the number of jobs that  a custom lot offer? ( Is it with iLive's Reader i think , but i dont remember how..)
Thanx

[Bluntking 0]

Editing Multiple Lots At Once

I am working on a desert region, and the backyards of my single family houses are all grass. I have been editing them one by one, and what I never realized was how many different lots there were. All the lots I am Editing are Maxis building and all I want to change is the base textures, if anyone knows of a shortcut to editing large groups of them or all of them at once any tricks would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!