A Rally fan in troubles

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

1 minute ago, CorinaMarie said:

Keep in mind if you re-open it in LE

And I found it removes the LTEXT description any time resaving in LE, and the LTEXT name sometimes. Errrr!!! Things I am trying to learn to do last.

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

29 minutes ago, Kloudkicker said:

And I found it removes the LTEXT description any time resaving in LE, and the LTEXT name sometimes. Errrr!!! Things I am trying to learn to do last.

One tip for this I recommend is to rename the lot's file name to something else.

For instance:
R$$4_1x1_R$$12x10_123ChiStdHouse4_0074_bd84e14a.SC4Lot

Could be:
R$$4_1x1_ChicagoHouse4.SC4Lot

Then if opening and saving with the LE again, it'll make a new file with the standard naming scheme it uses. The LE always saves to the root of Plugins as well, so another idea is to place your other lot inside a subfolder. Upon opening and saving this, the LE will make a new file straight in Plugins (no subfolders).

To merge over new lot edits, the next step would be to copy over all the LotConfig data from the LE saved lot, then go over to your other lot with LTEXT and anything else. At this point, delete (yes, delete) the existing LotConfig data, and paste in the new LotConfig data from the LE lot. Finally perform the Reindex as Cori explained earlier, and save the file. This then allows a lot to be updated, while preserving any of the other file entries and tweaks one makes in Reader for polishing up a lot for release.

Making frequent backups along the way is always a (very (very)) wise move too.

This can be done by copying a lot into a subfolder, and let Windows rename them with an incremental number at the end.

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

18 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Making frequent backups along the way is always a (very (very)) wise move too

I totally agree. This can never be said enough! Trust me, I am making full use of my 2TB SSD. Got a back up of ever save point ,with its own rev #. Over kill for now, until I get these processes memorized.

18 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Reindex

This is something I tend to forget to do. But I'm trying! Thank you for the tips CB.

I had success with removing the ground texture. Thank you Cori. 
Now I have a copy of either way. Any takers?

I have been wanting to do this for a little while. This will be pay off for a separate and different unrelated project I am working on! It's top secret thought, so I can't tell what it is. 

  Edited May 12, 2021 by Kloudkicker  
wrong word

[Raymond7cn 6,776]

@Kloudkicker Nice going, Nick,  Can't wait to see what happens next, Beep me at then. 

Sincerely,

-- Raymond

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

On 5/2/2021 at 4:32 AM, kih3n said:

I made a ¨park¨in Lot editor... with animated audience with a road-barrier, I have problems with it...
I saved it in a new 1x1 grass park, but when I open the park section appears like BSD park 1x1 ( I have that collection, but why appears with a new project?

I had forgot you were attempting these. Are you referring to how yours shows up mixed in with the BSD park icons?

[rsc204 21,869]

On 12/05/2021 at 6:11 AM, CorinaMarie said:

(I believe PIM-X is ok with no base textures.)

Better still you can just remove the textures from a lot and save it normally, rather than having to go through Reader.

On 13/05/2021 at 5:15 AM, Kloudkicker said:

On 02/05/2021 at 10:32 AM, kih3n said:

I saved it in a new 1x1 grass park, but when I open the park section appears like BSD park 1x1 ( I have that collection, but why appears with a new project?)

I had forgot you were attempting these. Are you referring to how yours shows up mixed in with the BSD park icons?

I really can't recommend using PIM-X enough for most lotting related tasks. One of the biggest flaws with the Maxis tools is the idea that every new item must be a derivative of an existing one. When you change the Building on a lot, you are essentially committing your lot to use the exact same Properties. There is a method, involving the use of the Maxis PIM utility, where you first create your own, unique Buildings Exemplar for use with new lots, a process I've documented step by step in this tutorial.

PIM-X on the other hand, invites you to just make a new item, by asking you which "template" Building to use as it's basis, yet it remains flexible to adjust Properties along the way for the resulting Building/Lot combination. From there you can start using a properly blank lot, rather than mess around deleting everything from an existing one. But the most important point about this is that using only the Maxis LE, makes it highly likely your lots are erroneously linked to other content, something quite undesirable. Using the method from the tutorial I linked will allow you to use the Maxis tools and have unique lots (Buildings Exemplar's Properties), but it requires more knowledge/effort and isn't dynamic.

Frankly speaking, the Maxis tools are a bit pants, almost everything works smoother and more intuitively in PIM-X. A comprehensive step-by-step walk-through of almost every type of modding task it can do exists too. For the sake of a little bit of learning/adjusting, plus accepting you can't load entire Plugins suites, edit Land/Water constraints and lot sizes, you'll find it saves you time and makes life easier. Put simply this was a tool made by modders for modders, designed to improve upon what were the basic and needlessly restrictive tools that Maxis gave us. In fairness, Maxis never intended us to do half the stuff that's going on, but that's just another example of why not considering the use of updated/improved tools is IMHO short-sighted.