Creating an Airport using LEProp

[Rott 2,351]

Can it be done? I've created custom civic buildings using LEProp before but I cannot seem to figure it out when trying to make a custom airport from an existing lot, theres a tab that leads to 'Occupant Group' but when I change that to Airport it didn't function as an airport when it was built.

[rsc204 21,806]

If you are trying to make/copy a functional airport, this is pretty far from simple, it certainly can not be achieved in LEProp alone. If all you want is to get an item into the Airport Menu, that should be possible, just by changing the Occupant Group.

[Rott 2,351]

Yeah I can get it into the occupant group but it is not a functional airport, the other option I was thinking was just editing the lot size in Lot Editor but it wouldn't let me alter the dimensions either. All I'm trying to do is get a heliport I made to be a functional airport because I don't have the space for a full size runway etc. im my city. Any way I can do this?

[rsc204 21,806]

Technically yes, but all functional airports must have very specific modding/ID groupings, along with being noted in the single Airport Controller File. This is extremely specific modding and i know of no step by step instructions for creating this. 

The simplest option would be to reuse a pre-existing (Maxis) airport, then alter the lotting as desired. This is far more easily achieved using PIM-X than LE, since it’s a protected game file in the later. 

[Rott 2,351]

 

1 hour ago, rsc204 said:

Technically yes, but all functional airports must have very specific modding/ID groupings, along with being noted in the single Airport Controller File. This is extremely specific modding and i know of no step by step instructions for creating this. 

The simplest option would be to reuse a pre-existing (Maxis) airport, then alter the lotting as desired. This is far more easily achieved using PIM-X than LE, since it’s a protected game file in the later. 

So I found the 'create a plopable lot' in PIM, I can make the lot dimensions what I want but do I need to assign the lot characteristics to make it a functioning airport?

[rsc204 21,806]

18 hours ago, Rott said:

'create a plopable lot' in PIM

That won’t cut it here. You need to open Simcity_1.dat in reader and make a copy of both an existing LotConfig and ideally, also it’s related Buildings Exemplars. The easiest method when you’ve got them is to use the “add to patch” function to make a new dat. Now open this copy/override in PIM-X and remove all textures and props from it. Save that and open the dat in Reader. Now you can set the lot dimensions manually in the LotConfig. Open it once more in PIM-X and you can create the lot as desired. In-game this lot will replace whichever lot you used as the template. Only with this method will you keep all the otherwise complex modding at bay. 

[Rott 2,351]

Sounds like an adventure, I'll see what I can do, thanks for the help

[rsc204 21,806]

Now I'm not tethered from a mobile, I can be a little more helpful.

I've found the three Building Exemplars for the Maxis Airports and 9 associated lots and attached them in a .dat, which should make the rest easier. It would seem each airport has three lots that appear, the additional ones get used as they upgrade after being plopped. Each lot shows a Growth Stage of 1, 2 or 3, i.e. the order it upgrades into. Ideally if you are making one custom airport override, you should make all three from the set, I suspect it's important all should be the same (lot) size. The big problem with Airports being that there exist a lot of other connected properties (Airport Controller) that must match up correctly. At the very least, if you tried to edit only one lot in each "set", you may get a lot size mismatch. Can't say for sure, but I know if you make mistakes, you can really screw up save files.

Another word of caution, you really don't want to edit anything inside the main SimCity_dat files. Make sure when you look for the lot in PIM-X, the file location is this DAT. Otherwise you risk needing to re-install your game.

Maxis Airports.dat

[Rott 2,351]

So is that what PIM does, edit the actual in game lot data?

[rsc204 21,806]

The Plug-In Manager (PIM) was a tool released by Maxis, along with the Lot Editor (LE) and Building Architect Tool (BAT). Combined these three allow for the creation of totally new game assets (models). The specific role of PIM is to create Prop/Building Exemplars for user-created models made in BAT. Note that such Exemplars just contain all the properties/settings that will apply to a given object. As such, it's rarely useful in lotting, except for creating custom Buildings/Props using existing models, something I cover the benefits of here:

However, PIM should not be confused with PIM-X, which is a third party tool designed to do all the functions of PIM and LE in one single application. Because it was designed by modders, it makes things that were not possible or clunky to do with the Maxis tools, very easy. One such benefit is that you can both edit these special lots, which are locked from doing so in the LE, along with saving them such that they will just work as overrides. Pretty much any other method comes with much more complex editing in Reader to get a functioning airport.

[Rott 2,351]

Ah my terminology was off, but yes I was using PIM Extended, I will do some studying of your guide now, thanks again