[2007] Lot Editor and Plug-in Manager - Forum Archive

[Mrqs 33]

Doubled icons in menu

Hi,

I've downloaded some stuff from stex for my SC4. After installig them into my plugin folder I started the game.

One of the downloaded stuff is the seaport. The icon of  that seaport is in the "seaport" menu - and it is ok. But the same icon is in the "train" menu. It makes the mess in the menu and I want to throw it out but don't know how to do it. Help me, please.

And other thing with the menu - the new icons appears in the menu at random places. I'd like to place icons in the right way - the logical way (ok. my way). How can I do this?

Is it possible?

[Lf751 0]

My building won't show up on lot editor

I've bean reading the tutorial that came with lot editor to make my custom building, I put it in land mark setion and I can't find it!

[Mr. Glamazon 9]

Plug-in Manager and Civic Buildings?

Good Morning! 

So, I'm *this* close to in-game testing, right?  And what to my surprise, the only civic lots I can find in the plug-in manager are educational buildings, health related buildings, and emergency services related buildings.   Well, I've made a City Hall!  (Because the vanilla one is just dreadful....) 

So, how do I get my building to ACT like a city hall, if you can't drag and drop it into a civic section that doesn't exist?  Is there a rewards section?  Do I have to make a dummy city hall? (NO!  *le sob)  I'd love some help with my conundrum.

[Sam 163]

Unfortunately rewards are special and much harder to make than ordinary lots. They require LUA scripting to make them act as rewards. There is a tutorial on how to do it, written by Daeley, over at SC4 Devotion - www.sc4devotion.com. Its in the Tutorials>Modding Tutorials>Modding General Tutorials section.

[Mr. Glamazon 9]

Thank you!  I'm going to get right over there and check it out!  (no really, I'd like to sleep sometime soon!)

[SimRabbit 48]

Building Causing Game Crash?

It might be a faulty propierty in the exemplar files. Make sure Wealth propierty matches with other propierties like Capacity Satisfies and such.

[Mr. Glamazon 9]

I forgot to mention that it's a landmark.  Landmarks don't have wealth, do they?

[tungston 19]

It is quite possible the lot is conflicting with another lot in your tester's plugins. You might try puting it on another lot with the "save-as" function, see if it still causes the crash.

[Sam 163]

We need a much better description of the problem. What kind of crash is it (I assume Crash To Desktop, or does it freeze) and exactly when is it crashing (on plop, on zoom/rotate or on query or something else?). Can you re-enter the city once it has crashed? Has the tester tried without any other plugins except for required dependencies?

Have you used a custom building on the lot? Is it Maxis only building and props? Cusom textures? Transparent textures? Did you modify anything in the building or lot exemplar? Does it have a custom query? Custom sounds.

Have you tried sending the tester a remade lot with just the building on it (ie minus any other props or modding)

Any extra information may help isolate the problem.

If you are worried about dependencies I would suggest check using SC4Tool the dependencies the item is using. (You will need to do this before uploading anyway)

[rockraider 0]

Huh? Sorry, but I don't understand that...

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: rockraider Huh? Sorry, but I don't understand that...quote>

 

Make a new shortcut from the "SC4pluginman.exe", that is found in the [?]:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps folder.  

Edit:  There is a SC4pluginman.exe that is the "Unicode Fix", it opens what looks like the Plugin Manager but it is just the interface, and not the program.

[rockraider 0]

Still Clueless. I'm in the Apps folder, but there is just a GTML help file, and the plugin manager itself. That's all that's named SC4PluginMain.

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: rockraider Still Clueless. I'm in the Apps folder, but there is just a GTML help file, and the plugin manager itself. That's all that's named SC4PluginMain.quote>

 

You may not have installed the fix I mentioned, but some do, and mistake that exe for the program.  If you don't have it then it's not a problem.

If the model file is in the plugins folder, it will also be in the Models folder in the Plugin Manager. 

[rockraider 0]

In My Documents/SimCity4/Plugins the model is there, but the Plugin Manager still dosen't see it...

[slydarkwolf 0]

Hmm.. I can't find a copy at all...

[dolsson 0]

Precisely Placing Props

I am working on some marina lots.  Some have sections of dock that must line up just right.  I am producing BATs with the docks in the same place, but I think they are just a bit misaligned after I place them in LotEditor.  I other words, a horizontally aligned dock on one lot does not line up with a similar horizontally aligned dock in another lot for the set.  Any suggestions?

I notice that when I choose a 2x2 prop to add to a 2x2 lot in LotEditor, it appears perfectly aligned over my lot, but once I move the mouse pointer to click it in place, it shifts over to the pointer--so it's no longer perfectly aligned on the lot.  I have tried to use the enter key instead of a mouse click, but no effect.  So I have done my best to put the prop back in the right spot, but I am getting just a bit of misalignment when I place lots next to each other in the game.  Specifically, walls and docks that should move smoothly across lot transitions have a bit of a jog.

Help, please?

[scba 180]

Re-Installation of basic programs?

Where can I re-download the Lot Editor/PlugIn Manager, as well as the BAT creator? I'm on the SimCity and GMax websites, but I don't see a place to download anywhere. Are they gone?

[Silur 3,308]

Please look at the main page on simcity.ea.com. One minute ago all were here ...

[Sam 163]

You need to be logged in to the official site before you can see the links to the Lot Editor and PIM. Make sure you are logged in properly.

[Sam 163]

I don't know what you are meaning when you say they don't align. Maybe a picture of the problem would help.

Who made the props, did you make them yourself? If so you may need to make them slightly bigger than the lot and then modify the occupant size property to a slightly smaller value. This is what simgoober had to do with his canal models to get them with no visible joins.

Other than that its probably just a matter of nudging the props around with the arrow key until they are exactly right. You will need to keep previewing them in the game and then adjusting them in LE until they are exactly right.

But if the props aren't the correct size to begin with then you may not be able to line them up properly.

[Cleaner475 150]

yeah need a pic - i have no clue what you mean - sorry

[RippleJet 36]

You should be able to place the prop in one of the corners of your lot, so that the centre of the prop is just at the corner (as far out as possible). After this you can use the arrow keys to move the prop around, exactly 1 m per click, or exactly 10 m if you keep the shift key pressed while clicking.

Knowing that each tile is exactly 16×16 m, you should be able to align the prop in exactly the same place on different lots by counting the number of clicks needed.

[dolsson 0]

Yeah, I was afraid this was unclear without a pic. I've placed one at the end. Also, I wonder if you can expand on:

"Who made the props, did you make them yourself? If so you may need to make them slightly bigger than the lot and then modify the occupant size property to a slightly smaller value. This is what simgoober had to do with his canal models to get them with no visible joins. "

Yes, I made the props, based on SG's gmax model of the canal. But I didn't know about making them bigger. I don't think SG's model is oversized, although it uses modified LODs that are smaller than the model (that feature has been driving me crazy as I create models for my larger lots). Take a look if you're interested: Canal Model

In his description of the model, SG says:

"The model is bigger than the LODs so BAT "sees" beyond it, which helps minimize seams."

That much I understand, but I didn't anticipate resizing anything later on.

Anyway, I'd really like to hear more about any part of the process for SG's canal lots, like this "occupnant size property." I am a real newbie when it comes to GMAX, PropMGR, LE, iLive Reader, etc. I've been using them all, but clumsily.

As you can see, the dock and wall show where the adjacent props are not quite aligned.  (You can't see it on the near side of the dock because--as I've just realized--the LODs of the adjacent water lot overlap the edge of the dock; there's the next item on the To Do list. 

Thanks for any additional advice.  At this point, the arrow keys seem to be the tool that I need to use, and just go through a bit of trial and error, on each and every new lot....

[Jimmy 'the Simmy' Ravioli 0]

Editing the Stock Exchange Lot

Hi peeps,

I don't know about you guys, but I dislike EA's Stock Exchange lot, the building is fine but I would rather the lot look more like Wall Street's Stock Exchange. The problem i'm having is when reducing the lot size to a 2 tile width and then trying to centre the building, it seems the building is actually wider than 2 tiles even though it seems to sit nicely on them, thus placing the building to the very edge as I would like.. I also do not like the props in front of the building and wanted to move the building near the edge with just a small pavement (sidewalk) like Wall Street's, but the building is out of the boundry even though it looks fine? If this makes sense to you peeps, do you have any idea of what I could do? In a nutshell I want to have a Stock Exchange building with just a small pavement in front, nothing around the sides and maybe a small parking 'bit' at the back.

Many, many thanks!

Cheers

Darren

[Chris M 406]

Hey,

Have you tried making a new lot over something else and using the Stock Exchange as a prop instead of a building?

[Lextar 0]

 

Weird Description

I downloaded a lot called the LLama Community College (sorry, not got the link)...

And I'm not sure why, but its a College lot/building, but for some reason, the desciption text (multi-lined) has somehow made it's way into other working lot descriptions in the game.

So what appears is the LLama Community Name and Desc in bold followed by the desc of the invaded lot file.

Any ideas?

[Andreas Roth 629]

Apparently, the creator copied a text label from another building, but didn't changed the IDs for his building. You should edit the ID of the description in the Llama Community College lot file to a unique one, then the issue should disappear.

[Lextar 0]

I guessed it may have been something like that. But not at home to try it, although i'm not sure if that is the problem as the invading text appears in multiple icons.

So how do I create a unique ID?

[Sam 163]

You will need Ilive's Reader. Load the Llama Community College lot file. In the middle pane you will see a number of files within the lot file:

1 LD file,

2 exemplar files - 1 building exemplar and 1 lot exemplar

2 png files - 1 icon png and 1 lot image png

1 DIR file

1 file listed as unknown

Note to the right of the file types there are three sets of 8 digit numbers. This is the Type, Group and Instance number of each file (TGI). This is how the game uniquely identifies each file and knows which is which. The instance id (iid) of each file is the third set of eight (or under the instance column if you have re-arranted the columns).

To fix the problem you will most likely need to change the iid of the unknown file. (Click on it and you should see the same text you are having problems with, in the right pane).

To change the iid, in the middle pane, click on the unknown file to select it. (Notice its iid is 00b9baaf, whereas the iid of most of teh other files is ec3973ca.) Now click on the File Info button on the toolbar. A grey info box will appear. Click on the Edit button in the box. You will now be able to change the TGI of teh file. In the bottom white box labelled Instance, change the number (iid) to ec3973ca. Click ok, then close the info box.

Now you have to point the building exemplar to the new iid. Click on teh building exemplar. In the list of properties on teh right, you should see one called Item Description Key. Notice it has three numbers listed against it, which are the same as the old value for the unknown file. Double click teh Item Description Key property to edit it. Change the last number to ec3973ca. The three numbers should now read the same as the three numbers against the unknown file. Your building exemplar should now be pointed to the "unknown" file.

Go to the file menu and Save.

This should fix the problem.

Note there is nothing magic about the iid ec3973ca. It just helps avoid conflicts with other files if the unknown file has the same iid as the building exemplar it belongs to (the T and G numbers need to be different so that the TGI is unique for every file in the game.)

Personally, rather than going through the above, I think I'd just delete the unknown file from the lot file, save, then go into LEProp and give it a description that way. The unknown file is an XA file, and this is the old way and not really the best way. LText files like the LEProp makes are probably better, and LEProp should automatically give it a suitable iid and link the building exemplar to the LText file.

[Lextar 0]

Thanks, I learn something new everyday. I deleted the file and everything works