CoriBoom (WSSNCOPFL) - Working Simulated Street Neighbor Connection Overhanging Prop Filler Lots - Beta in Progress!

[CaptCity 4,940]

Since we were discussing Menu placement a while back, I finally got around to DAMNifying the WSSNFOPFL sets. I don't remember anyone involved with the testing saying they used DAMN, but I thought I would offer it up just in case. 

Here's some images of the files in action:

 

If anyone does use DAMN and tries it out, let me know if something doesn't work right. It's been a while since I've DAMNed anything myself. 

Of course, this won't be for anyone that does not have the Beta test files.

 

WSSNCOPFL - DAMN.zip

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

11 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

That's a cool use for the naming ability. Ofc, clicking the connection arrow also tells what the neighbor tile is

I 99.5% of the time forget about this. TY for the reminder. I didn't check to see if this was editable, but probably.

When things are new and small, its easy to remember what I have built. As time passes on, or the region gets denser, its difficult to remember without bouncing around city tiles to check on what is there. I tend to build the networks first and I can label these to keep track what the master plan is. 

(A demo of the idea in action. Below; One street goes directly to the neighbors dump and the other to the industrial area)

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

5 minutes ago, Kloudkicker said:

(A demo of the idea in action. Below; One street goes directly to the neighbors dump and the other to the industrial area)

Brilliant! I'm liking this idea more and more.

[CaptCity 4,940]

16 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Brilliant! I'm liking this idea more and more.

Agreed! 

I can definitely use this concept on new region I just started where I am divvying up the services amongst various cities. The Neighbor Deals list can get confusing after a while. 

  Edited December 28, 2020 by CaptCity  

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

Very ingenious use indeed with the naming ability. It's one of those things which can come about through testing and exploring as you've all done. I like the idea as well to use these to denote what a particular neighbour connection is, or even just add any random text. Perhaps one thing which we can look at is making these names hover over. I believe this would depend on the "building" of the lot being configured in a certain way for how it can be recognised by the query tool.

Also @CaptCity thanks for the DAMN files, and this could be something to include in the description to download for people who'd find it useful.

Thanks again beta testers for your continued help and wide-ranging input.

[CaptCity 4,940]

3 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

...I like the idea as well to use these to denote what a particular neighbour connection is, or even just add any random text...

Random text? How about for those 'edge of region' city edges..

 

Just playing around... 

[CaptCity 4,940]

Listening to the Beatles earlier reminded me of an old effects plugin by @xannepan. Just had to try it out again with some 'random text' for random thoughts...

 

Anyone know the song reference? (we could turn this into a game... )

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

Monthly (Sun) Maintenance Cost §0

Thank goodness for that.

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

I have tried to put these lots through the ringer. I can not find any faults with them. I went back through a test city and demolished all the neighbor road and rail connections utilizing the WSSNCOPFL (I'm finally remembering it ) lots. I redrew all the rail and 2 stub road connections, deleting one of them and redrawing the street to finish up. This test never affected the WSSNCOPFL lots, and the traffic flow was restored afterwards (see pic below). Saved, exited and returned and still working.

I have been the Cori's preferred  FSH, which I also prefer ironically . The above test, I stitched to the US low density SWN E Textures, I think I prefer the med/high density. Controller back on top with adding the "z"(scroll wheel finger was hurting ).

Can CB n Cori think of anything else they would like to see? This well is running dry!

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

3 hours ago, Kloudkicker said:

Can CB n Cori think of anything else they would like to see?

Seems to me y'all have tested these every which way possible. All y'all's efforts are very much appreciated and the additional ideas for using them are more than we could've hoped for when this first started.

I believe it's now to the point CB and I need to put together the STEX Description as well as a ReadMe file to get them ready for release. That's a bunch of work which we need to find time to do.

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

Just another usage of the lots. They are very adaptable and useful in endless ways.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

6 minutes ago, Kloudkicker said:

Just another usage of the lots.

That's a cool way to use them. Did you use Lot Editor or something to get the parked cars on the edges like that?

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

thats the taxi stand with the WSSNCOPFL covering it. Used SAM 11 since it had no grass

  Edited December 30, 2020 by Kloudkicker  

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

Oh! Ofc, the road one that I didn't test at all.

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

Yes the one in the set,

 

discussed in this cool tread.

 

[CaptCity 4,940]

Been working on this idea. (Took a bit because I stupidly, accidently deleted the custom lots I had made, so I had to make more...  )

Similar to @Kloudkicker's taxi stand idea of plopping these pieces over things to change their appearance..

We know that plopping RTMT lots 'traps' residents inside their homes:

 

Well, we could leave empty spaces or use the road ramp piece 'fix' to let them out... Or we could plop a customized lot over the RTMT lot giving the appearance that someone actually 'lives' there:

 

Could also be used to cover lots that may not come with matching SAM street textures...

 

To this...

 

Yes, in both cases, the RTMT lots' street paint labels are covered, but thought it would be a worthwhile option.

  Edited December 30, 2020 by CaptCity  

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

10 minutes ago, CaptCity said:

Well, we could leave empty spaces or use the road ramp piece 'fix' to let them out... Or we could plop a customized lot over the RTMT lot giving the appearance that someone actually 'lives' there:

Nice, I like that idea. What do you mean "the road ramp piece 'fix' to let them out", do you have a link?

[CaptCity 4,940]

Sure. The one I'm familiar with is on SC4D I believe. I'll copy it in a few minutes.

 

EDIT: This is the post I made there: RTMT Access

Memo's post is linked, but with the images missing, it wasn't clear... There's also a copy of Memo's original tutorial attached. Again, credit goes to Memo.

  Edited December 30, 2020 by CaptCity  

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

@CaptCity

By the way, congrats on reaching 10k posts!

[CaptCity 4,940]

3 minutes ago, Cyclone Boom said:

@CaptCity

By the way, congrats on reaching 10k posts!

Thanks. I knew it was coming, but it had slipped my mind... Time flies as you're having fun! 

Also, @Kloudkicker, I added the link to the post about the 'road ramp trick' in the post above.

[Propfam 2,315]

Congrats, @CaptCity!

Speaking of the pieces, does the mod follow the LTEXT rule for item name and description? I think this is a good practice to do since lots of mods for weird reason doesn't have them.

Thanks.

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

23 minutes ago, chfzdn said:

Speaking of the pieces, does the mod follow the LTEXT rule for item name and description?

Yes, our lots will use LTEXT file entries to set the name and description, including in the Cohort Controller file.

This is what allows custom names to be set too and saved when plopped. We're also currently investigating whether it's possible to make the hover over text appear for the lots, which might be beneficial for the naming idea as Capt and Kloud posted about above. This should be doable based on how it works for the Maxis parks with an invisible "building" of the lot. We do need to make sure that this still lets trees and MMPs be filled on each of the WSSNCOPFL lots though.

Also it will need to be on the actual 1x1 lot area and not the offset part, because testing shows how it prevents the neighbour connection being queried That would be a disadvantage, because that's something which otherwise couldn't be accessed (even if clicking the yellow arrow).

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

3 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

We're also currently investigating whether it's possible to make the hover over text appear for the lots, ...

And the results of said investigation:

 

The caveat being that the hover over will be the transit themed one. We tossed in the cars instead of buses or trains (or anchors), but they mean nothing at all with regard to these lots. They are just there so the goofy white squares don't show up in the text bubble.

When actually clicking the lot, the popup Query UI is the same park style y'all have seen all along. One thing to note is if there are oodles of trees planted on the invisible part of the plopped lot, it can be difficult to actually get the hover over to show as the trees want to highlight instead. (I turn the trees off in that case.)

We've added this feature now and it takes effect on any already plopped lots so nothing to worry about with established pieces in your cities.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

So, there's a spanner in the works with the hover over.

I used the additional 0x00001006 OG because that has a sub-property of allowing hover over even when the building is so tiny it cannot be found. What I didn't notice till later is that means these lots show up in both the Transit menu and the Parks menu.

At this point we are back to no hover over just like v0.45 already is.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

CB and I are working on the final tweaks to the data files and one thing we noticed is we still have these two properties set from the initial draft:

Budget Item: Department = Parks and Rec
Budget Item: Purpose    = Park Effect

Yet, we moved these to the Transportation menu.

So the question is: Should we change those?

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

9 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

CB and I are working on the final tweaks to the data files and one thing we noticed is we still have these two properties set from the initial draft:

Budget Item: Department = Parks and Rec
Budget Item: Purpose    = Park Effect

Yet, we moved these to the Transportation menu.

So the question is: Should we change those?

What is it hurting? What will change if its changed? Why didn't it change when you changed it? Someone else ask a question for a change.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

It doesn't hurt anything. It simply controls where the zero costs would be displayed in which sub-budget window. Nothing will change afaik if it is changed. We are asking just for when peeps go peeking at the files in Reader. It didn't change when we moved the lots to the Transportation menu because that's set in the OccupantGroups property and these two are other properties we didn't change. (This stuff is done manually in Reader.)

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

5 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

(This stuff is done manually in Reader.)

I have to do WHAT? Kidding I say this is up to others, but it's ok with me thou

[CaptCity 4,940]

Sorry I didn't catch this... Been a little busier than usual the past couple days...

I agree... No harm in keeping those settings. It actually explains some of the impact to the surrounding area I saw when used near other zones. It looked like a 'park effect' so I just assumed it was. Kind of a reward for using them. 

  Edited January 8, 2021 by CaptCity  

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

16 hours ago, CaptCity said:

It looked like a 'park effect' so I just assumed it was.

They are completely neutral as far as park and landmark auras are concerned as well as no amenities or cap relief. Perhaps, you mean how when placed adjacent to a network they cause sidewalks just like anything from the park menu does?

Here I've plopped a bunch of them, ran time, and they show no park aura at all.