Changing building capacity

[simnewbie 7]

Good morning. Ma goodness, it's good to be back after so many years!! I just bought the game from GOG. But I am still using my old laptop from years ago to run gmax, lot editor, iLive, and the plug in Manager, using a USB to transfer the file to the new PC.

anyways, when I was an avid fan of the simulation, I knew a descent knowledge of the game. I even figured out how to dismantle a dependency file in .DAT format using ilive and grab the ones I actually use instead of loading the whole dependency file in the plugins folder.

 

So, my question is this: Is there anyway to adjust the building capacity of the maxis buildings? for example, R$1_1X2 has like, 20 people living inside. 

I know I need the descr file in order for me to adjust the parameters. But since I am only altering in-game buildings in the lot editor, it would only generate a "custom lot" file and no descriptor file.

I tried to use iLive, but no luck.

I could have sworn there was a way.

 

Can anyone help refresh my memory please!!

[sctieba 93]

Use the DatGen

[Propfam 2,288]

You can change building capacities in Capacity Satisfied field in Reader. First, you have to know the wealth of the building you want to mod. In this case, you want to mod an R$ building. Then, head over to that field and you'll see there's a pair of values. The first one is the developer type, like R$, R$$, I-D etc, you want to modify. The second one is the capacity of the respective developer. Double-click that and you'll get a dialog asking you to enter new values. You may find those values in hexadecimal. Don't worry, there are lots of decimal to hex converter on the internet. So, convert the amount of capacity you want to hex and insert that in the second value, since you should only find a pair of values. Remember to check that only the second value is modified. Don't forget to hit OK and you should see the capacity in the list view, on the rightest column. Save the file with obviously File->Save and save it to your plugins folder. Ideally, you want the plugin to be loaded last. So, name it like zzz_SN_Res_Mod.dat, remember the z at the front. Load SC4 and you should see the capacity is modified to your heart's content. If not, either you follow the steps wrong or most likely, there are conflicting plugins. Use

to identify such plugins and remove them. Also, that's also useful to learn why you're recommended to name your plugins with such prefix.

Btw, you may also change the Demand Satisfied field if you have problems just by increasing capacities alone. That's it from me. So sorry that I can't attach any screenshots. I've been moving to Linux again yesterday. I haven't installed SC4 again. Hope it helps. Thanks.

[rsc204 21,808]

If you wish to modify the values of content included in the base game, you need to start by creating a patch file. This is because it's not a good idea to make permanent modifications to the data in SimCity_# DAT files. Using Reader and it's Navigator function it should be reasonably easy to locate the specific Buildings Exemplar you need to modify.

However I would caution you, just because 20 people may seem too many for one house, doesn't mean it's wrong. Maxis would have tweaked and altered the values for everything in order to ensure they work in harmony together as intended. So whilst they obviously aren't right from a real world perspective, there are consequences to modifying them. Not least if you use values say 4x less for every residential building, you will need to be build roughly 4 times as many houses than you would to support the same Com/Ind buildings. Be mindful that this is a complex eco-system and just changing a few values will disrupt that, in other words it's a case of edit everything or nothing.

[simnewbie 7]

Thank you guys for the advice and recommendations.

 

Happy father's to all the dads out there!!

[simnewbie 7]

Can you guys point to resources regarding building tweaker in iLive Reader?