How are sidewalks formed and how can we control it?

[Frolius666 0]

Hi,

Sidewalks can be a real pain in the *** sometimes.

Swampers unidensity mods clean up a lot of the mess... but still...

I have a No Trucks transit enabled lot (based on BRF's textures) with no wealth.

When I plop it on a farm road, several meters below, but only 3 tiles away from a high wealth res zone, the street tiles around it form sidewalks, even though they only directly touch unzoned or farm land.

I made the lot with a dirt base texture to fit in my farmland, so it's messed up.

Can anybody tell me more about how sidewalks are formed and how to manipulate them (Swamper??)?

Maybe it would be a good idea to include all sidewalks in a mod, making one universal sidewalk texture, or a few groups that blend easier than the original ones.

All input very welcome.

 

greetz,

Frolius

[Swamper77 90]

Frolius,

This is something that is controlled by the EXE. We can switch the sidewalk textures for other images, but this usually affects things globally. The no wealth sidewalk texture is actually the medium wealth sidewalk texture. So if I replace it with an invisible texture, the sidewalks in medium wealth and industrial areas will be missing.

Pegasus' MTP roadways mod replaces many of the game's roadway network textures with dirt lined roadways (the dirt is part of the roadway texture) which hides the sidewalks. His mod also makes the sidewalks invisible.

-Swamper77

[Frolius666 0]

Thanx for the response Swamper.

Sidewalks are controlled by the exe, but... after some trying and some searching for sidewalk-logic, I managed to help the exe choose the sidewalks I want.

It's actually quite simple...

All RCI (excluding farms) wage their own little sidewalk-war which basically can be stopped by Swampers unidensity sidewalks mod.

RCI sidewalks will form 1 tile beyond RCI zoning.

This only leaves unzoned land, with no sidewalks, farms and landfill with dirt sidewalks, and other (like between 2 powerplants) with the same sidewalks as the medium wealth RCI.

It is this last one that is a real bummer.

They form around any lot I've tried when plopped on a street or road in unzoned area.

But in farmland the dirt sidewalks stay... so... dirt sidewalks form as long as at least one side of the road tile is touching farmland.

When you don't want farms to develop you can use Ctrl-zone.

Make sure you drag over the road, in that case no development will form but you'll have dirt sidewalks.

Ctrl-zone will not zone land that is too steep, if it won't normal zone, it won't ctrl-zone also.

But unlike normal zone, once ctrl-zoned, it will stay ctrl-zoned even if terraformed.

So you can temporary level, then zone, and then restore.

All pretty time consuming, and then there's the minimum zoning area for farmland which can make it pretty difficult and costly to get it all just right... but hey... it's a hobby, and those dirt sidewalks look so much better near that lonely waterpump, roadside diner or pine trail entry.

If there's a gap somewhere in my logic, please tell me, if not... enjoy...

 

greetz,

Frolius

 

[calibanX 1]

Here's a question on the same topic.

I've noticed in many of your CJ's that you city designers have narrow sidewalks along your streets. That is, there is a narrow strip of grass along the street between the sidewalk and the pavement. I have wide sidewalks that extend all the way to the street. How can I get these nice looking sidewalks? I've looked at all the mods and don't see anything that would do it.

 

Thanks in advance for any help guys.