Lot - Resources / Help

[rsc204 21,808]

3 hours ago, justforfun said:

Do I need custom paths? 

Yes, you'll need to enter the ID for the equivalent path from the Game or NAM, the TE editor can only add basic Ortho or Diagonal ones automatically for you. But adding a custom path isn't going to fix the problem as in the second image with the TE settings. Honestly I don't believe I've ever seen someone try to TE from Ortho to Diag inside a lot like this before, do you really need such TEing?, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with your lot, unless it's a curved station, there is probably an easier way.

However, I don't believe you can use 01 or 03 types, they all need to be 02 since your lot is rail based, which might explain why you can't drag the rail where you wish. 

[justforfun 7,807]

2 hours ago, rsc204 said:

Yes, you'll need to enter the ID for the equivalent path from the Game or NAM, the TE editor can only add basic Ortho or Diagonal ones automatically for you. But adding a custom path isn't going to fix the problem as in the second image with the TE settings. Honestly I don't believe I've ever seen someone try to TE from Ortho to Diag inside a lot like this before, do you really need such TEing?, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with your lot, unless it's a curved station, there is probably an easier way.

However, I don't believe you can use 01 or 03 types, they all need to be 02 since your lot is rail based, which might explain why you can't drag the rail where you wish. 

Thank you, where in the NAM do I find the path ID for ortho-to-diagonal rail? I might still try to add that and see what happens.

It's strange though that no custom TEing has been done before on any train spurs, for example. 

01 and 03 reps are the only ones working for the diagonal rail that comes afterwards to the right of the picture. I plopped the lot, dragged the rail through it, and also a train automata which obviously disappeared upon entering the transition to ortho. It's really only the transition that I don't know how to tackle. I've tried several rep combinations and none works. 

Just to make sure I understand correctly: a custom path would not replace the TE Editor settings? In other words, would that simply add further reps in the lot configuration properties?

[rsc204 21,808]

Regarding paths, you will need two as the transition incorporates two textures:

Note these are the default rotations, which is going to make lining up the paths a bit tricky, since the second (right) will need to be rotated 180 degrees from the first. Given the orientation of the textures on your lot, they'll need to be mirrored/flipped too. Note that you should use 0 not 4 as shown for the 5th digit, since these are the z5/6 textures, but the paths will correspond to the z1 versions. These paths actually come from the base game, since they already existed they wouldn't likely be in the NAM also, these days only RRW paths exist in the NAM anyhow.

As for the 03/01 entries, indeed you are correct they are what is used for diagonal lots, apologies I checked an ortho station as an example before realising my mistake. I think the 01 flag is needed where the two pieces of the transition meet, plus where the end of the transition meets diagonal, since 03 should be exiting the lot. That said, the ortho side of the transition would normally be an 02 flag. Frankly I feel this is uncharted territory however, so I can't say any of this with any certainty.

Why has no one TEd spurs like this, honestly it's generally not necessary to TE most lots for through transit in this manner. Unless trains are required to go through the entire lot from one side to the other, I certainly wouldn't TE one myself. Even the WRC based stations only sit trackside and use overhanging parts to sit alongside the rails, I don't think I've ever seen anything other than Ortho or Diagonal TE lots ever. I'm not even sure it's possible, these flags tie in to the RUL system of code that tells the game what networks can be dragged where. I can't even say for sure such TEing is possible, since the system lots use is rather rudimentary. Although the Automata disappearing would be completely explained by the lack of valid paths, which without custom paths you won't have. So once you get those into place (Rep16), alter the Rep3 values to rotate the path as needed and account for that with the flags (Rep15), it may work. However none of that is either easy to explain or to realise in practise.

Here the actual diagonal tracks run along the 00 Flags, but as you can see in Rep3 the path has been rotated 180 degrees. Therefore it is necessary to do the same with the flags in Rep15, so whilst the 'arrows' will still show the actual path, the values will not, however that is the correct setup. Adding a mirrored path into that mix will complicate things further.

[justforfun 7,807]

Thanks so much for taking the time to delve into this, @rsc204 I got the gist of how it works and will certainly experiment as it is quite interesting. Let's see if I can drag the path through the transition, once the proper custom paths are added and some combination of flags found. It looks like this may take some trial and error, though, so I will leave it for later as I really need to resume work on my row houses. But I will let you know the results. 

Perhaps you can explain something odd I have found when making el-rail go through a lot: despite the fact that the lot building is a plain landmark in every respect, and without any transit properties, the el-rail automata stop-and-go every time when crossing it, as if it was a station. Does the game interpret every el-rail-network-enabled lot like a station?

Thinking about it, I don't remember seeing el-rail automata stop on the BSC canal bridges, but I will have to check. If they do keep going that might be due to the BSC building having the cohort value of Maxis parks?

 

[Gwyain 95]

I suspect this is a relatively simple question, but I'm not terribly experienced with the Lot Editor or PIM-X. I'm trying to swap out some textures on a (ploppable) lot. The texture swap itself isn't the problem, but every time I save the lot it saves as a new lot rather than overwriting the existing lot. On its own that would be fine, I could just use the re-lot, but I'm unfortunately not able to query the new lot and can't tell if the new one is functional or not.

 

Any advise would be appreciated!

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

4 hours ago, Gwyain said:

I suspect this is a relatively simple question, but I'm not terribly experienced with the Lot Editor or PIM-X. I'm trying to swap out some textures on a (ploppable) lot. The texture swap itself isn't the problem, but every time I save the lot it saves as a new lot rather than overwriting the existing lot. On its own that would be fine, I could just use the re-lot, but I'm unfortunately not able to query the new lot and can't tell if the new one is functional or not.

 

Any advise would be appreciated!

If you are using Maxis Lot editor this problem is common. If you use PIM-X you don't have to have this problem

[Gwyain 95]

22 minutes ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

If you are using Maxis Lot editor this problem is common. If you use PIM-X you don't have to have this problem

How would I avoid this in PIM-X? I seem to be getting the same lack of overwriting and lack of query using the PIM-X Lot Editor the same as the Maxis Lot Editor.

[Tyberius06 12,189]

11 hours ago, Gwyain said:

I suspect this is a relatively simple question, but I'm not terribly experienced with the Lot Editor or PIM-X. I'm trying to swap out some textures on a (ploppable) lot. The texture swap itself isn't the problem, but every time I save the lot it saves as a new lot rather than overwriting the existing lot. On its own that would be fine, I could just use the re-lot, but I'm unfortunately not able to query the new lot and can't tell if the new one is functional or not.

 

Any advise would be appreciated!

6 hours ago, Gwyain said:

How would I avoid this in PIM-X? I seem to be getting the same lack of overwriting and lack of query using the PIM-X Lot Editor the same as the Maxis Lot Editor.

Hi,

Maxis LE can read a full plugin folder and can read DATs, but can not edit into DATs and whenever you edit and save a lot which is NOT in the root of the plugins (and we are strictly speaking about the files which ends as *.sc4lot), it will make a copy of this lot into the root of the plugins. The problem with this copy, that it is not able to carry over the original additional properties like LTEXTs and UI and LUA files from the original lot file. So if you remove the original files to replace them with your edited lots, these queries and other additional properties will be lost and missing. Maxis LE also will re-do the image icon which shows up in the ingame menus.

Your options and steps with Maxis LE are limited to the following:

• MOVE the original file into the root of the plugins, but make sure you have a back-up copy of this original lot somewhere outside of your plugins (if it is ending as *.sc4lot that's the easier part in theory). Before you open the LE and start your editing work, check the file (in iLive Reader) if it has any other properties in the lot file. Also there is a difference how it handles growable and ploppable lots, but to be fair I have very limited experience with LE and growable lots, because I'm using almost exclusively PIM-X. If it has additional stuffs like UI and LTexts, LUA etc properties besides the exemplar and PNG files, then you need to pay attention to these after you finished your editing work in LE.
• So do the editing on this file which is in the root of the plugins and simply "SAVE" it, that should override the lot file which is in the Plugins and still keeping the original stuffs, but this is only working if this lot is NOT in a DAT.
  If you use the "SAVE AS..." option then it will create a second lot with a different ID, however it will reference some of the internal parts like Item Description Key and Item Name Key (these IDs are referencing the LText properties to a lot) to the original file and original IDs and that's true for the Query exemplar GUID (UI) as well, BUT the new lot file will not have these properties carried over.
• IF the original lot file is in a DAT, then LE will read this file and will make a copy of the lot file, but won't carry over the additional parts. Also with DATpacked files there is the risk, that the original creator bundled the LOT and model files together into the DAT, in which case your edited lot will be still dependent on the original DAT file. 
• IF I recall correctly the growable file editing is adding an other layer to this mess. If the original lot file has the growable Building Exemplar and the Lot Config Exemplar (lot file itself) bundled together and you try to edit this lot either from a DAT file or in a subfolder, then the edited copy (whether it was simply "save" or "save as...") of this lot will only carry over the Lot Config Exemplar and will not carry over the building examplar into the new lot which will be saved into the root of the plugins. Again this new lot will be dependent on the original because of the building exemplar. So if you just saved it, your new lot needs to be in a folder which loads after the original to apply the override. 
• Or what you can do, that you open the original and the new lot in Reader and copy the relevant parts from the original into the new lot (apart from the lot config exemplar, that you just edited). In this case you can remove the original lot file and use only the edited version. Bear in mind, if you work with Reader, before you hit the save, you need to do a right mouse click in the middle pannel and choose the "Reindex" then again right click and choose the "Rebuild Directory File" options from the pop up menu. And after this you can save it.

In theory your options with PIM-X are much better: 

It can read and edit files IN DATs. It won't save an extra copy to anywhere (also it doesn't have "save as..." option, so you will edit the original file). In theory it should not remove any of the LTEXT and UI files when you save it. I'm not sure, but is it possible that you tried to use the PIM-X on one of your edited files (which already did not have the original query and additional properties) and that's why you had the same bad luck?
What you should try, that make sure to remove all these extra edited versions, work with the original file. Do the editing and check if it still lacks the query. 

Could you please tell us which lot(s) you do wish to edit. It could help me to narrow down why is the query getting lost if the above mentioned option would not work as intended. 

[EffTheGrid 3,671]

NOOB CORNER:

Why is my file not working? Supposed to be 7 houses, on a 4x2 lot. Did I make the props wrong, or something? It's a custom prop family (houses) and an invisible building exemplar, like I always do. I've just been out of practice for so long. Where did I go wrong??

ZIP attached FTG North Bergen Narrow Lots.zip

[justforfun 7,807]

1 hour ago, EffTheGrid said:

NOOB CORNER:

Why is my file not working? Supposed to be 7 houses, on a 4x2 lot. Did I make the props wrong, or something? It's a custom prop family (houses) and an invisible building exemplar, like I always do. I've just been out of practice for so long. Where did I go wrong??

ZIP attached FTG North Bergen Narrow Lots.zip

 

I opened your lot in the Reader and couldn't find any exemplar of your props. Are you sure that when you lotted you used the same Desc files included in the download? 

[EffTheGrid 3,671]

On 9/23/2023 at 5:47 PM, justforfun said:

 

I opened your lot in the Reader and couldn't find any exemplar of your props. Are you sure that when you lotted you used the same Desc files included in the download? 

Thanks---the simple fix was, I forgot to save after creating the prop family! 

I got them up and running. Sorry for the drama. 

Coming soon!

Any ideas for more lotting configurations? 

I think they'll be fun on the low end of medium density. Softens the transition from city to suburb.

[justforfun 7,807]

On 9/25/2023 at 11:26 PM, EffTheGrid said:

Any ideas for more lotting configurations?

The only suggestion is to keep making more building props 

[vxt22 8]

Warning: I'm a truly greenhorn NOOB. Right off the proverbial bus.

I'm trying to learn PIM-X and trying to load a custom lot (in this case JBSimio's Chalfonte Apartments) so I can play around with looking at all the props and textures placed on that lot.

The problem is that PIM-X throws many errors upon start after I point it to the BSC Common Dependencies Pack that I think might have the props I need to load in order to view Chalfonte properly.

The errors look like this:

And the result is the lot editor shows the building floating on an invisible base texture, and none of the props are visible.

Thoughts?

Thank you very, very much.

[rsc204 21,808]

PIM-X has to do a lot more work than the LE to load everything you tell it too. That’s why you have the option of only loading selected folders upon startup. Generally speaking there is a hard limit on how many Plugins you can load before the App runs out of resources, hence the errors.

This might be tricky with the way the common BSC dependencies are now packaged. You need to split the files you need into another folder temporarily. Since loading the entire BSC dependencies is probably too much for PIM-X to do.  

[vxt22 8]

Hi guys,

The LE is well known for making possible the combination of multiple buildings in to one. Let's imagine I aim to create a stair-stepping terraced roof out of a modular-ish looking building. Any suggestions as to a good fit?

The main question: I wish to make these stair-stepping roofs green, with some props on the roofs as well. The props seem easy enough, but does anybody know of a prop that's basically a concrete or grass "platform" used to cover a roof surface? Sort of like a base texture, but meant to hover above the ground so it can be placed over roofs.

Thanks!

[kaimai 1,042]

Very dumb question and I will completely understand if no one answers but:

I installed PIM-X (under Wine) just to check it out and see if I could edit lots myself etc. Turns out I can create and edit growable lots, but trying to create any ploppable lot (landmarks, parks, civics, transport) immediately results in an "unhandled exception" as soon as the lot editor opens and the ".LooseDesc" file is generated. No information is provided in the log file to explain what this exception is. 

I believe I followed the installation instructions correctly, all the necessary DLLs seem to be in the correct places, etc, and the lot editor works completely fine when editing any growable lot, or opening a ploppable lot created by someone else.

[rsc204 21,808]

9 hours ago, kaimai said:

I believe I followed the installation instructions correctly, all the necessary DLLs seem to be in the correct places, etc, and the lot editor works completely fine when editing any growable lot, or opening a ploppable lot created by someone else.

If you focus on this, you loose sight of the fact that things are not working, which suggests that indeed something is not correctly configured. When running Applications or any code, there are 'branches' that are taken depending on the circumstances. So for example it could be that a certain section of code, the one triggering the error, is only run in a limited set of circumstances. This could explain how you can open Ploppable Lots but not create new ones.

Without knowing enough about how PIM-X works and there certainly isn't any source code around to check, it's impossible to give a specific answer as to exactly what might be wrong. So all I can do is go with the generic, check, double check and triple check every setting is correct, because something isn't right.

Have you considered running Windows in a Virtual Machine under Linux?, this is how I get access to modding tools under MacOS, it's just easier than messing about with WINE and other such solutions frankly. I run Windows XP under VirtualBox, which is perfect for most tools, since that's the native environment they were designed for. Plus it's pretty efficient to run as a second OS, because XP is light on resource usage, I obviously don't allow the VM Internet access for security reasons.

On 06/01/2024 at 11:40 PM, vxt22 said:

The LE is well known for making possible the combination of multiple buildings in to one. Let's imagine I aim to create a stair-stepping terraced roof out of a modular-ish looking building. Any suggestions as to a good fit?

The main question: I wish to make these stair-stepping roofs green, with some props on the roofs as well. The props seem easy enough, but does anybody know of a prop that's basically a concrete or grass "platform" used to cover a roof surface? Sort of like a base texture, but meant to hover above the ground so it can be placed over roofs.

I have some S3D props that are basically flat Pavement/Grass/Concrete planes, which can of course be raised in the LE. I could perhaps even offer some custom sizes if an entire tile were too large for example. However, for something like this to look right, I would recommend considering walls/railings and the like that can sit on the edges. You can find my S3D fillers as part of this set and they are highly customisable, for example you can easily replace the textures used on them.

[vxt22 8]

What incredibly useful things you have made, rsc204! Thank you very much!

[vxt22 8]

Sorry for the double-post.

If I make a lot with, say, 7 houses on it, and I want all those houses to be the same but I also want to select which house it will be from a family... can I do this? Is there a tool to mirror/repeat an engine-selected family object?

[rsc204 21,808]

If the idea is to use a Prop Family then no, each individual instance will produce a random selection from the family, there isn’t a way to control what is selected based on a ‘main’ Prop.

I have two ways that might work to do the same thing however.

1. Don’t put the houses into Prop Families, instead create a Building Family for each model. When the Family is chosen to develop, one of the 7 Buildings Exemplars will be used, i.e. this is the part that selects which house appears. Then each of the Buildings is paired with a unique LotConfig, just add 6 regular Props to match the main Building on the lot. Remember to ensure that you account for 7 buildings not one with the Stats, this will need some manual input. If using PIM-X, you can copy the data from one lot and paste it into another. Using this ability you can make 7 identical lots with a minimum of work.
2. Option B is probably less preferable, but essentially means combining 7 copies of the same model together into one. SC4 ModelTweaker can do this. Then you add these new Props into a Prop Family.

1 is the far better solution here though. Before I typed everything out something was nagging at me that it might not work. But having gone through the process, I am very confident that a Buildings family is the way to go here.

[EffTheGrid 3,671]

On 1/6/2024 at 5:40 PM, vxt22 said:

Hi guys,

The LE is well known for making possible the combination of multiple buildings in to one. Let's imagine I aim to create a stair-stepping terraced roof out of a modular-ish looking building. Any suggestions as to a good fit?

The main question: I wish to make these stair-stepping roofs green, with some props on the roofs as well. The props seem easy enough, but does anybody know of a prop that's basically a concrete or grass "platform" used to cover a roof surface? Sort of like a base texture, but meant to hover above the ground so it can be placed over roofs.

Thanks!

I can help you model it in sketchup, if you want. 

[kaimai 1,042]

On 1/9/2024 at 4:24 AM, rsc204 said:

If you focus on this, you loose sight of the fact that things are not working, which suggests that indeed something is not correctly configured. When running Applications or any code, there are 'branches' that are taken depending on the circumstances. So for example it could be that a certain section of code, the one triggering the error, is only run in a limited set of circumstances. This could explain how you can open Ploppable Lots but not create new ones.

Without knowing enough about how PIM-X works and there certainly isn't any source code around to check, it's impossible to give a specific answer as to exactly what might be wrong. So all I can do is go with the generic, check, double check and triple check every setting is correct, because something isn't right.

Thank you for the advice—I know I didn't respond at the time (and, honestly, didn't think much about it for a while) but following a fresh install I was able to work out the problem. Apparently, for Mac users (at least with my specific processor and graphics card etc), the OpenGL framework does not like the glut32.dll file that you download as part of PIM-X, and the correct way to enable it is to remove that file and instead run winetricks glut. That seems to have solved the problem. It was, however, legitimately helpful for you to remind me that instead of focusing on whether I was doing things "right" I should actually look at the problem as it exists and find out where it's coming from.

Of course I have also discovered that lotting gives me a migraine (why is everything so tiny???) which may be a more difficult problem to solve.

 

[rsc204 21,808]

Both PIM-X and the regular LE have zoom functions if that helps. In PIM-X it should be Shift and Plus/Minus too zoom in/out. Although the assets are pretty small and higher screen resolutions don’t help since there is no scaling involved. Which is more likely to be an issue on a Mac with higher than typical resolutions. Anything 4K 9or above leads to a tiny UI in game for example. 

[albireo38 340]

On 23/12/2023 at 12:16 PM, rsc204 said:

PIM-X has to do a lot more work than the LE to load everything you tell it too. That’s why you have the option of only loading selected folders upon startup. Generally speaking there is a hard limit on how many Plugins you can load before the App runs out of resources, hence the errors.

This might be tricky with the way the common BSC dependencies are now packaged. You need to split the files you need into another folder temporarily. Since loading the entire BSC dependencies is probably too much for PIM-X to do.  

Hello,

good to know... I tried several time with the full package BSC v8. It blocked. I have divided the package and it is now better. 

But since the repacking of the BSC props (huge work) some of props have disappeared. And I need to find out them again. So it is becoming an "ant's work"...

If you have any idea to make it effcient ???!!!!

[Tyberius06 12,189]

20 minutes ago, albireo38 said:

Hello,

good to know... I tried several time with the full package BSC v8. It blocked. I have divided the package and it is now better. 

But since the repacking of the BSC props (huge work) some of props have disappeared. And I need to find out them again. So it is becoming an "ant's work"...

If you have any idea to make it effcient ???!!!!

Which props are you refering to being disappeared?

The prop packs generally now have more contents than before as many smaller packs and single models got consolidated.

[albireo38 340]

On 25/02/2024 at 6:44 PM, Tyberius06 said:

Which props are you refering to being disappeared?

The prop packs generally now have more contents than before as many smaller packs and single models got consolidated.

It seems by reworking the lot on PIM-X the missing prop comes back on his place. So I guess it is solved. The prop was initially in the BSC BAT Props - T1 Vol3.dat it is a sort of warehouse.

[kaimai 1,042]

Probably a dumb question but: how do you create overhanging buildings in PIM-X? Specifically for if I wanted to relot an existing building to fit along a diagonal or fractional angle road, but also potentially for other applications (e.g. the people who lotted various Barocco Hispano DLCs on 1x1 footprints with no base textures).

I assume that if I want to turn a prop into an overhanging building on a 1x1 footprint I need to first define a new blank 1x1 "building" and then add the real building in as a prop, but a lot of building models don't seem to show up in the prop menu. (and this method might require a separate blank to be created for each building you want to add—otherwise they show up in the buildingplop menu as "box" or "PZ1x1 Grass" or something equally nonindicative and you have to go into the lotplop menu to find out what they really are)

[Tyberius06 12,189]

1 hour ago, kaimai said:

I assume that if I want to turn a prop into an overhanging building on a 1x1 footprint I need to first define a new blank 1x1 "building" and then add the real building in as a prop

Yes. Basically you need to create a new building examplar (you can name it whatever you want) using PIM-X's own blank building (which is a blank maxis model). 

You drag the blank model onto the chosen descriptor category, then it will request you to give it a name. You can change this name later if you double click onto the Exemplar Name property. Then to make a lot out of it, you just right click and "create a growable/ploppable (based on which category you dropped the blank) lot using this building". That's gonna give you a lotconfig examplar (it will ask you to set-up the size of the lot). These are very similar how you see things in Reader, but you can not edit as much stuffs as in Reader. 

1 hour ago, kaimai said:

Specifically for if I wanted to relot an existing building to fit along a diagonal or fractional angle road, but also potentially for other applications

Relotting existing lots/buildings with PIM-X is really not advised, as it doesn't have "save as" option like Maxis LE. It will directly edit the original lot, which can lead to all sort of issues. Rather create a brand new building and lotconfig examplar and use the main model as prop on this new lot. The only way you can relot with PIM-X, if you loaded the original lot with PIM-X, create a new building examplar, then a new lot config examplar, but make sure that the size is matching with the original one. Then you remove the LotConfigPropertyLotObject lines (except the one which says Building) from the new lot (right click delete properties) then copy/paste the LotConfigPropertyLotObject lines from the original to the new lot (except the building, it won't allow you to copy the building, so if you want to relot a lot based on a real model, then you need to create your new building examplar based on that model). Then you can edit the lot with the PIM-X's own LE. If you wanted to change the size of the LOT, then it becomes a multi tool process, as you need to use the reader to resize your lot (or maxis LE). It's a bunch of experimentation, tirals and errors...

1 hour ago, kaimai said:

people who lotted various Barocco Hispano DLCs on 1x1 footprints with no base textures

Yeah, I made some of them for SIM-ple Jack. The method was the same as I described above. When I did not get the lot to just patch up a bit, I used the PIM-X blank building, created a neutral park lot, went into PIM-X LE, picked and dropped the chosen prop and then removed/deleted the base texture and then saved the lot config and bulding examplar.

[kaimai 1,042]

1 hour ago, Tyberius06 said:

Yes. Basically you need to create a new building examplar (you can name it whatever you want) using PIM-X's own blank building (which is a blank maxis model). 

You drag the blank model onto the chosen descriptor category, then it will request you to give it a name. You can change this name later if you double click onto the Exemplar Name property. Then to make a lot out of it, you just right click and "create a growable/ploppable (based on which category you dropped the blank) lot using this building". That's gonna give you a lotconfig examplar (it will ask you to set-up the size of the lot). These are very similar how you see things in Reader, but you can not edit as much stuffs as in Reader. 

Relotting existing lots/buildings with PIM-X is really not advised, as it doesn't have "save as" option like Maxis LE. It will directly edit the original lot, which can lead to all sort of issues. Rather create a brand new building and lotconfig examplar and use the main model as prop on this new lot.

That makes sense, thanks! So if I want to turn, say, this very nice building by Ct1999 into an overhanging lot—not that it necessarily fits along a FA road but whatever—all I have to do is define it as a prop in PIMX (which I assume can be done just by dragging the building from "Standard Models" to the "Prop" section and giving it an appropriate name), create a new building exemplar using the blank, and attach it as a prop in the lot editor?

[Tyberius06 12,189]

8 hours ago, kaimai said:

That makes sense, thanks! So if I want to turn, say, this very nice building by Ct1999 into an overhanging lot—not that it necessarily fits along a FA road but whatever—all I have to do is define it as a prop in PIMX (which I assume can be done just by dragging the building from "Standard Models" to the "Prop" section and giving it an appropriate name), create a new building exemplar using the blank, and attach it as a prop in the lot editor?

Yes, exactly. That 's the way I would do as well.