jmelvin

Mary, I downloaded your KCP_wethy Freight Station file after seeing it referenced in this thread. I tend to take a look at most of the SC4 items I download with ilive Reader before trying to use them in a city. One thing I noticed is that your original DESC file (KCP_wethy Freight Station-0x6534284a-0x44928eb4-0x250ea6d4.SC4Desc) is still part of the download after your transit switch properties were corrected. That file is unnecessary since your file Utils5x5_KCP_wethyFreightStation_c50eadfc.SC4Lot contains the building exemplar you want to use. You should probably delete the original DESC file since the properties have been corrected. I don't think that DESC will ever be used in game since we are dealing with a ploppable lot instead of a growable one. If I remember correctly the Building exemplar is used when plopping a lot. The building exemplar has the information that is used to tie a ploppable buuilding/lot combo to an in-game menu and then reference a given lot exemplar when someone decides to plop the item. I think I have read that the game uses the a LotConfigPropertyLotObject within a lot exemplar to find the right building for growable lots (i.e. the one whose first rep is #0.0 to get the IID of the building exemplar (i.e., the value found in the last rep)). When your lot was corrected, new TGIs got used for the the new building exemplar and the new lot exemplar that is contained in your Utils5x5_KCP_wethyFreightStation_c50eadfc.SC4Lot file. Your original lot exemplar with the TGI that is referenced by building exemplar in your old DESC file basically disappeared in the process. I didn't look yet but I think leaving the old DESC file in place may end up showing two separate entries in the transportation area. I can't remember if one item shows up in the rail menu but won't work because the building exemplar tries to link to a non-existent lot exemplar because your old DESC no longer has a corresponding lot exemplar. But, as you have already noticed, there will be an entry in the rail menu that will work for selecting your corrected building/lot pair. In a nutshell, it would be best to remove the old DESC file from your upload. I was unaware that saving a ploppable lot that has been changed with PIM combines building and lot exemplars like this.

I am new to trying to creating models with the BAT. I have downloaded version 1.12 of GMAX and the Building Architect Tool. I found out how to get a registration code for GMAX and have set that up. My GMAX files are loaded into a subdirectory of SimCity4 for the convenience of knowing where everything is and BAT is loaded into the GAMEPACKS subfolder. When I try to launch the BAT using the BAT Launcher within that folder I get an error that states : No plug-in directory was found:3DSMAX. I found the plugins.ini file has the following entries: [Directories] Standard gmax plug-ins=StdPlugs\ Additional gmax plug-ins=plugins\ BAT=gamepacks\BAT\plugins\ [Help] BAT=gamepacks\BAT\help\BATHelp.chm Do I need to add something to this file so the BAT can look in the proper location? I should probably mention I am trying to run this on a Windows7 (x64) system. Never Mind: I found out what was causing my trouble. - There was already a version of GMAX loaded on my system in my windows7 ProgramFiles (x86) directory. I copied the new BAT folder over to that version's GAMEPACKS folder and I can now open the BAT.

I had a possibly related trouble with a brown box on the city hall reward lot. I found that I had the PEG Mayor Mode Pine Trees Mod loaded. I fixed my problem by deleting the PEG Mayor Mode Pine Trees Mod and replaced it with the updated PEG MTP Mayor Mode Pine Trees Mod. I've provided more info on what I found in a reply to the topic Brown Boxes with Trees in the Bugs and Technical Issues forum.

I had the same trouble with the City Hall reward. I traced my trouble to the 1st release of the PEG Mayor Mode Pine Trees mod (file PEG_MMTrees_Pines_205a.dat with a date of 10/22/2005). PEG updated this mod iand released a later version n October 2005 compatible with the PEG Mountain Theme Pack. I fixed my problem with the brown boxes on the City Hall reward when I deleted the older version of the Mayor Mode Pine Trees mod and installed the updated version. (The updated mod is titled PEG MTP Mayor Mode Pine Tree Mod (I'm sorry, but I don't know how to provide a link as part of this message) and will install a file called PEG_MMTrees_Pines_206.dat dated 10/22/2005 and Requires installation of the PEG Mountain Theme Pack. You will need to delete the PEG_MMTrees_Pines_205a.dat file and a file named BSC_PropPack_Pegasus_Vol01a.dat While I was researching this issue, I also discovered that I would plop brown boxes whenever I tried to plop the very-large, large, or medium pines in the Mayor Mode. The short pines worked fine. After deleting the older version and installing the updated version of the PEG MTP Mayor Mode Pine Tree Mod, my plopped City Hall reward looks fine and I can plop all of PEG's pine trees in the MAYOR Mode. After correcting my problem I did a little follow-up digging using the ilive reader. I found that the flora exemplars in the newer version of the Mayor Mode Pine Trees Mod have a Resource Key Type 1 that contains a TGI where the Type and GroupID and left 4 characters of the InstanceID match S3D files in the Mountain Theme Pack dat file (PEG_MTP_RESOURCE_vol1.dat). In the older version of the Mayor Mode Pine Trees Mod, the GroupIDs of the Resource Key Type 1 entries don't match up with any S3D files. The GroupID mismatch was also there for the "short pine" flora exemplar even though this item seemed to plop with no problems. I'm providing this last bit of info as a possible help for people researching other problem lots. From what little experience I have with modding, I have noted that the Resource Key Type 1 entries of building, prop, and flora exemplars should have a Type and GroupID and 1st 4 characters of the InstanceID match with the appropriate S3D files for the building, prop, or flora item. I have noticed that there are some lots that seem to function OK even where the GroupID shown in the Resource Key Type 1 does not match up with and S3D files (e.g., the short pine flora exemplar as noted above). I hope I haven't mangled my use of terminology too badly or provided erroneous information.