Trees returning to their seedling forms - bug or not?

[TheMurderousCricket 5,045]

Some parts of my cities are plagued with a strange problem - the vanilla trees planted in various spots seem to randomly return to their basic, undeveloped seedling forms, despite having been fully-grown.

This is absolutely annoying. Especially in the areas where tree placement has been carefully planned for and the trees are expected to remain there for good. I noticed this is more frequent near (mind you, near not "on") residential zones. Also, once, I definitely noticed some trees degrade upon zooming out. 

But maybe this is not a bug, but the tree's life cycle simulation? Any advice?

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

This is indeed either a bug, or a growth cycle limitation. The trees (flora) ploppable from Mayor Mode are planted as seedlings and grow to full size. This is all well and good, but they do mysteriously (and infuriatingly) shrink back down to their original planted size after a while.

Now this is something which @CorinaMarie and I have previously talked about, and believe it would be possible to prevent it from happening. The likely drawback though is the trees would have to be planted initially in full size, instead of being seedlings which grow. Or alternatively as a separate instance or version, there might be a way to have them all planted in their smallest size to remain as such. Then they'd be static in the same way the God Mode brush plants flora.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

10 minutes ago, Cyclone Boom said:

or a growth cycle limitation

If these are the Maxis default trees you're talking about, I think they react to age, pollution, seasons, other external situations. I wish I could get rid of them(at least from my menu) as I never use them. Besides, I use mostly Girafe and other MMPs so who needs these menu cloggers.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,045]

1 hour ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Now this is something which @CorinaMarie and I have previously talked about, and believe it would be possible to prevent it from happening. The likely drawback though is the trees would have to be planted initially in full size, instead of being seedlings which grow.

That would be super and not a problem for me. I got used to planting "pret-a-porter", full sized trees in SC3000 so I don't consider it a serious drawback. Just tell me what to do. 

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

I've had a search around and come across this file:

Plopable Maxis Flora Pack

Testing in game and this appears like it'll do the job for planting the Maxis flora to their full size variations. It prevents them shrinking back down again to seedlings, and there's also a few bonus items for rocks and flowers too. It would need some deeper investigation for whether a mod can be made to alter the behaviour in existing tiles, since this set has all new instances in the menu. Perhaps this might be a suitable alternative at least in the meantime though?

Here's a quick sample I made using them in a rural scene:

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

Maxis mayor trees take 3 to 5 years to fully grow and will over time die and return to a sapling and repeat cycle. That's from Prima guide

[TheMurderousCricket 5,045]

29 minutes ago, Kloudkicker said:

Maxis mayor trees take 3 to 5 years to fully grow and will over time die and return to a sapling and repeat cycle. That's from Prima guide

I suspected this all the way.  Thanks for browsing the guide for me!

[TheMurderousCricket 5,045]

On 17/12/2020 at 3:46 PM, Cyclone Boom said:

Testing in game and this appears like it'll do the job for planting the Maxis flora to their full size variations. It prevents them shrinking back down again to seedlings, and there's also a few bonus items for rocks and flowers too. It would need some deeper investigation for whether a mod can be made to alter the behaviour in existing tiles, since this set has all new instances in the menu. Perhaps this might be a suitable alternative at least in the meantime though?

So I tested this mod and the trees do indeed seem to stay grown. Luckily, it also seems to affect the trees planted prior to the mod's installation too!

This set includes some other interesting trees but... they are exactly like vannila ones - grow and then die.  Pity, because these are really nice models.

What is more - there doesn't seem to be any trace of the shrubs, rocks or flowers you mention. And yes - I did install all dependencies. Looks like something is broken here. 

 

Although, I can see a merit of this solution... If planted well, this set may simulate the natural growth of the forest.

This requires some planning though - one could perhaps plant a cluster of trees and wait 10 to 20 in-game years so that they grow a little. Then, plant outlaying "rings".

Once the whole area juggles up (trees have different lifetimes) the wooded area may look very diverse. Interesting...