Custom Content Part Deux

[Alek King of SC4]

disclaimer: again this is an advanced how to meant for people
familiar with all things SC4 related already, do not ask where can i
find, unless someone else is willing to answer.

The problem i have with much of the maxis content is that it  looks cartoonish
too bright and looks downright ugly, so i try and use all the custom content i canto try and get a realistic look.





DTs no maxis mod gives u options which wealth level and zone type to prevent
from growing maxis content, I prevent all except I-M and CO-$$.

Big tip: if you prevent maxis lets say R$ and you have no custom content R$ buildings
in that tileset, then nothing will grow, you can use this when zoning for a particular type
of building.

Thing to remember in my experience making large cities, SC$ is not friendly to cities with
large R$$$ populations.  Buidings dilatpidate, even with jobs next door, and even with NAM.

You must zone with realism, with the largest group being sims in the R$toR$$ group and with
only a few small R$$$ enclaves, i promise you will not have any dilapidation issues.here you can see a large R$ base but some R$$ developing further from the factories and closer to the CBD.




here in this pic are the only R$$ buildings in this city close to the neighbor city which
has the CO$$ jobs, heading away from city center the land values go down and housing
loses value as the sims down here commute only to the industrial jobs within the city.






Zoning on diagonals there is little to be done about the step effect however if the base
textures of the steps and the surrouding lot are the same or real close the effect is a lot less
noticeable steps. this can be done with NOBs grass rail mod and FF's rail lots for grassy diagonals and with parking lots and med dense zoning for concrete diagonals.








The SC4 game engine will upgrade your buildings, i start a city with only R$ taxes low enough to grow then jack those up and lower $$ and make a smaller $$ neighborhood, but
you have to make the R$ buildings historic first or they too will upgrade no matter what,
and you would have ritzy apartments in a smoggy industrial city.







ALek

[bat]

Fantastic tutorial (btw: great pics!)

[TheTeaCat]

Nice work Alek 

Fantastic pics too. 

[jeronij]

Excellent tutorial and wonderful pics my frined  !!!
Thanks for sharing it with us 

[Alfred.Jones]

Thanks for the tutorial AK. Beautiful pictures

[tkirch]

I never thought of this.  You hit yourself in the forehead, Why didn't I think of that.  Thanks for sharing.

The tutorials on this site have been amazing and thank you.

[metasmurf]

Two questions

1. When you raise the r$ taxes, how much do you raise it? I wonder if setting the tax to high might upset them?

2. When you´ve used the buildings you want to and made them historic, do you delete/move the lot file out of the plugins directory to prevent the same building from growing again?

[TheTeaCat]

2. When you´ve used the buildings you want to and made them historic, do you delete/move the lot file out of the plugins directory to prevent the same building from growing again?

Good question.

I have found that if I've used buildings, made historic, and moved the files out of my plugins that when I next enter the city those building (if they are custom stuff not using any maxis stuff) usually do not appear in the game. 

If I save the game after been in there, then move the file back into plugin folder, restart the game that I usually have to replop or regrow them for them to appear.

If I exit without saving and then move the file back in the buildings appear as if nothing was wrong.

If therre is a way around this I would love to know, but I hope this has helped you in some way
This can be very frustrating and I usually go make some tea at that point


TTC

[metasmurf]

Well from my experience, if you keep the model file the building will still show up.

[TheTeaCat]

thanks for that tip 

[NikNik]

Thank you alek for this great tutorial.
I have one question is there a way to prevent the growth of different models without removing them from a directory?

I mean I want to grow the Mietshaus ala Wandsbekstil Hamburg 3x2. Now 3x2 is a popular size so I get all kind of other buildings.
Probably have to bulldoze a lot?

Nik-Nik

[Alek King of SC4]

yeah i have that isssue too that is why so many buildings have multiple lot sizes, some 2,3, or 4


now lets lets say that you have 4 that gow on a lot sized 3x2 (also remember some only grow in certain tile sets-you can control that, at certain densities-you can control that, and at certain wealth levels-easily controlled with taxes). then simply go into your plugins delete the .lot files of the ones you don't want to a spare parts folder (add back later when u want)

but really using these simple tricks it should be really easy to control exactly what you want.

One issue i have with some BATs is that they grow on more than one tile set (though usually houston and euro and new york + Chicago).  If each only grew on one ikt would give us more options for each.
I am thinking about doing a tutorial on how to change the tile set occupant group so that real custom
tile sets can be made and how to maximize the possible number of growables.

[sebes]

I am thinking about doing a tutorial on how to change the tile set occupant group so that real custom tile sets can be made and how to maximize the possible number of growables.

That would be awesome AK! 

[KooriSim123]

Great tutorial Alek.  I was able to follow it quite easily as i hate to say it but im a 37 yr old  and all the help likethese sort of tutorials are a real bonus and much appreiciated mate cheers
catch ya

[rooker1]

Awesome pics once again...........oh yah and great tutorial, I almost forgot it was a tutorial.

[Silur]

Absolutely Fantastic Work !
Thanks !