Madame Mayor

Hello there! I'm sure this has to have been mentioned before but I couldn't find it, so if it's redundant, I apologize. When I download a lot here, it has a name, it has a name in the Plugins file, but in the game menu it says "Type Your Name Here" or Landmark item or some such nondescript info with an empty roof that doesn't help me or some other useless icon. My fences even say "Type Your Name Here". Why would a download change names in the game? Is it something from the lot builder? And is it possible to change those descriptions to what they were originally? It's maddening knowing I downloaded a particular building but can't find it in the menu because all I see is rooftops or grass! As a matter of fact, some things in the Parks menu just say Open Grass Area instead of what I saw when downloading. That includes the gas station billboards and such that you can't read it in the menu until you drop it. And since it costs money to plop and doze just to see what it is, that's a sad option. Plop Roulette is expensive, not to mention frustrating. Anybody else wondering this? Thanks for your help!

I appreciate your patience! So, I have everything set up like yours now, even the Reader is in Program Files. When I first open I still see that I have to download the XML file. Will that just always be there? Now I just need to learn how to use the program. I'm still lost, but I'll keep reading. Also, I added this to my reply while you were replying, evidently, but if I use LEProp and write a description on a lot, will that description show up in the lot editor or on the menu? Is the LEProp something you would use a lot? Thanks again!

Yes, it's a good starting point, but I still can't seem to get it to work. I'm ready to give up. I think I've got the XML files pointing to the right places, but the first DAT file won't let me stop till I go all the way into the ilive reader folder. I don't know where to stop. My files are in Robin\Documents\SimCity\Plugins\TOOLS\ilive reader. The tutorial says just to point to the file the reader is installed in. It won't let me. Such a nitpicky thing is keeping me from understanding the workings and the guts of these tools. It seems all I'll ever be able to do is plop a few buildings and be happy with it. Can you tell I'm discouraged? I'm not a computer dummy, I just need help starting something new. Something else - one click on the exe and I get a dialog saying No Reader.ini detected. Another click goes ahead and opens it up. Mean anything? Reading your second link. Can I change names in the Plugin Manager? Another question. If I call up the file in LEProp and type in a Description, will that show up in the flyout in the menu? Like with the gasoline billboards I can't read in the menu. If I write Exxon in the Description will that come out in the menu? Thanks for your help.

Thank you, can you walk me through that? I downloaded iLive's reader and when I open it says I need to download Properties.xml file. I don't know what or where that is, but I can't open a file right now. I've never used the Reader before, and I'm reading the tutorials.

It's not just one, and it's not just buildings. I happens to about a fifth of my downloads. Opening the side menus to choose a building or park, that's what flies out as the name. Trolling through the plugin menu outside the game, there's nothing named type your name here, they are all named the way they were when I downloaded them. It's just inside the game they change. The parks say Open Grass area, and the building lots say Type YOur Name Here.

I like the way you build your own garden plazas. Download the Urban Beautification package with its plazas and fountains and greenery. It'll blow your mind (if you haven't already)!

I love your interchange, bluemoose, and I like your garden around Mickie D's. It integrates well with the lot's grasswork.  I live on a highway/road in Houston and it's restaurant row here. We never have to go anywhere else, There's everything from Cajun to Thai just down the street! Nice start!

I changed the bridges, but I kept them. I just like bridges and don't have that many, lol! This shows the northwest corner. I lost the lonely Lowe's and the Hotel Nowhere and put some offices there. Here is a niteshot of the city and the new bridges. A feeble attempt at landscaping with wildflowers and trees. Here is a shot of the lower left corner. Lost the hedges around the subdivision, didn't like them. I tried taking shots with Control/Shift/S but I just get some interesting streaks and it doesn't take the picture,, or it takes one with streaks. Let me know if this is an improvement! Thanks for looking!

This is the City...

Thanks, Rusty and Wayne! I tried taking a shot with the keyboard shortcut but it streaks across the screen in geometric patterns and the picture ends up streaky, too, so I have to settle for this.

A high view of the southern half. The northern half. northern neighborhood and some offices. I don't know what to do with those diagonals, I can't seem to plant anything on them. A different angle, look at that beautiful gazebo. A sunset shot of the gazebo (a download from here from Pooty). I built up the ground so I could use the stairs, planted some seasonal trees and crowd lots to balance out the square, and gave it some roadside parking and a bus stop. Some more closeups. Another sunset shot of a neighborhood. Looking down the other way, I filled in the blank side by moving the tracks out to make space. The red church block at sunset. Hope you like this little town. I welcome any suggestions. Thanks for browsing!

Lot Editor question Hello, all! I have a question about the Lot Editor, I don't want to dive in over my head. Is it possible to change the writing on billboards, like the Welcome To sign to the name of my city instead of Las Vegas? The Custom Lot Type Name Here, and the Parks menu Open Grass Area which is really a parking lot or a gas station sign that you can't read until you plop it to Shell sign? If you have to use Save As, do you have to delete the original so it doesn't show up twice in the menu? There are crowd lot plops with beach, plaza, and grass, but is it possible to remove the base texture and plant crowds on already existing beaches, plaza, and grass? Thanks for any help!

Those three offices together belong to one  plop, I believe it's called Suburban Office Complex. You can find it either here or at SC4 Devotion. Thanks for looking!

The northeast shopping district. The southwest corner. There are actually some office bldgs around, lol. I just like this intersection, the way it dips down. The bridges. Hope you like these shots. If you notice a difference in some of the shoreline rocks since yesterday, I downloaded one of PEGs rock mods. This one is Mossy Granite. Thanks for looking!

Djohaal, thank you! Knapp, thank you! Ditro, thank you for your comments. This is the smallest size tile, and it's packed. I knew I wouldn't be able to make a real city with a decent skyline, so I just packed it with people and buildings with a little terraforming here and there. Baaaaaby steps...

You'll notice some custom stuff right away. This section is tucked into a niche in the hillside. Part of the shopping district at night. You can see some of the retaining wall on the left. I like how it gives some distance to the road. This is on the west side closer to the southern residential district. Food and drugs, lol! This shows a closeup of the retaining wall corner. What can I put in there besides more trees? One of the fire stations on the long road linking the two sections together. Make sure the firefighters eat well! A corner of the shopping district with some actuall office buildings. This is a close up of the tiny bit of beach I have at the end of the lake. Couldn't let it go to waste. It's only a narrow strip of land connecting north and south at the edge of the city tile. Hope you enjoyed Pepper Creek. Any suggestions for tweaking and refining, please feel free to suggest. I will post the updates. Thanks for looking!

What a wonderful journal. Must be nice to have a plan, lol! I build like I type - hunt and plop! I don't know if I could destroy a labor of love like you have here. Your region looks wonderful, too. You've given me lots of ideas to try. Thanks so much for posting!!!

An overview of the center of townSome residencesSome custom content and rail lines cutting through town.A closeup detail at sunset. Hope you like my little town.

I'm having those problems with puzzle pieces, too. You're supposed to hit TAB to cycle through the different ones, but I get no previews before placing. Is that what's happening to you?

And Tolls! Great idea!

Hello, all! I am starting to see power zots over roads where half parking lots have taken over the roadways. They won't be bulldozed, rezoned, or reroaded. Cars go over them like they are still roads. They're showng up in multiple cities now. I don't want to destroy a whole region, they'll just show up later. I'm tired of starting over and over. Thanks for your help. I took a photo but I don't know how to upload it.

Link to image I think I figured this out. Yes, it works!!

Update: I copied my plugins and regions folder to desktop, then uninstalled and reinstalled the game, put everything back in place. Loaded Ginger Acres, the power zots were gone. Instead of the electric power plant there was a coal power plant. I don't remember that one - I always place the electric one because it doesn't need money. Get this - pause game, bulldoze coal, plop electric, resume game, power zots showed up again (only the pesky ones). Left city without saving. Go back in. Plop electric across the street from the coal plant and left both in the game. No zots. Now, the phantom parking lots were still showing up, some in the same place and some new ones. All of them were able to be bulldozed and roads replaced. No zots. Only one of them gave me a problem. I dozed the lot, but before I could redraw the road the No Road zot showed up. After redrawing the road it won't go away. Plopped a building right on the road, zot still there. So I've basically traded power zots for one Road zot. Trade off, but, shoot, I'll take it for now. Perhaps when the coal plant dies out and with no interruption, the power will still run with the cheaper electric plant. We'll see. Didn't put "fightthepower" in. I want to see if this works. I really don't mind cheating, though. If I'll use a zero dollar power plant, it's the same as the cheat, but I still like to go through the motions. And it keeps the advisors off my back! When you use the cheat they apparently don't realize you've got power coz they scream at you to build plants - same with the water cheat. Does anyone know how to turn the advisors off so you only see the advice down in the comm box? I promise I'll read them, lol! Well, thought you'd be interested in what happenned to me. I'm an amateur, for sure, but I've got some cool cities, and I'm learning all the time. Thanks for all the help!

Well, I'm spent. I have a well organized plugin folder and have been removing folder by folder and reloading the city. Zots are still there and there are 13 of them now. All of them are over roads, streets, and avenues. It's a rather small city but it's agricultural, and I've planned all the farms out, and,,,,,, well,,,,, shoot.

OK. I removed a recently downloaded transit enabled parking lot from my plugins folder, and then I was able to bulldoze some of them and rebuild the roads. The zots are still there, however. One of the parking lots wouldn't doze, so I plopped a building on it. It let me plop but there are now trees growing in a parking lot instead of grass. In other words, the lot shows through. Oh well. I bulldozed and rebuilt the power station. No dice. I finally resorted to "fightthepower" thinking I'd just blanket the city, and that didn't work either. Still trying to think this through.