First Lot

[gannman]

Need a little guidance.

I've created a 10x10 lot file mimicking a neighborhood of Terraced homes with streets.  I think I've properly transit enabled them, but beyond that I have no idea how to change it from being a garage (the file I opened to base this on) or how to get it into the game.

This is my very first attempt at doing this, so please feel free to provide comments, suggestions, etc...and feel free to study it if need be.

Thanks.

[j-dub]

Hi gannman, unfortanetly your lot causes the LotEditor to crash. Based on that, I doubt the game can handle it. There is limitations to this game. Whatever it is, sadly it doesn't work, and a garage file? -the only garage files I know of are the band files from the program Garage, but thats a music program. Do you have any pictures?

[Pat]

Gannman I would suggest trying again and this time dont use an airport lot or even parking garage lot (as further investigation lead me to find that) to base off the terrance neighborhood...  Doing stuff like that will cause conflicts with the game and also LE as both me and J-dub have found so far... It looks nice in Reader but I too experienced a crash when trying to open it up in LE...

I did try to get this lot to work using Reader but something just wont give so I would suggest using a residental lot if you want it to grow... or if you want it to be purely eye candy use a landmark lot... Dont get discouraged there is a great talent pool here to get help from...  I do look forward to seeing you continue on!!! 

[sam]

Its best not to try to change a lot from one kind to another, but to always start in the Lot Editor with the kind of lot that you want it to end up as. Its far too tedious to hand code all the functions in the Reader later if you find you want it to be another type, as there are so many different properties that would have to be changed. For example, if you want it to be growable residential, then you need to start with a growable residential in the Lot Editor. What type do you want it to be anyway?

How did you make this lot? If its a parking garage it seems to be missing a few bits, like the bit that puts it in one of the game menus. Currently its not appearing in any menu. It also doesn't have a suitable zone type set for a growable, so it can't grow either. It can neither be plopped or grown by the looks, which is probably why you are having trouble getting it to appear in the game.

[RippleJet]

As your first project, I would recommend not to try to create a growable lot larger than 6×6 tiles.

Growable megalots require some extensive modding in Reader:
Making growable lots larger than 6x6 - Megalots

Otherwise, I'd recommend that you read threestooges' tutorial:
Lot Editor: For Beginners-Making a Lot From Model to Game

[gannman]

Wow - thanks for all the quick & helpful replies.

My idea was to create a "ploppable neighborhood" with transit-enabled roadways and would act as a residential zoned area (beyond just being eye-candy), which would be surrounded by streets.  It seems that maybe I got a little ambitious the first go-round and give a smaller, simpler lot a go first.

[Diggis]

Unfortunatly ploppable residential does not work.  You can only have ploppable Industry and Commercial buildings. 

[j-dub]

Let me further explain what Diggis said. The reason why ploppable residential doesn't work, is there is some sort of error that the game cannot pick up on it. After an amount of time these ploppable residentials get beat up, and then usually it will say abandoned due to commute time, even though you may have a road in front that hardly has any traffic. I found that out after plopping some Maxis RCI buildings, which are growable. However, when I plopped the growable commercial, and industrial buildings, the game was able to pick up on it, so long as demands are meant, they didn't abandon.

[Diggis]

Close Jdub, very close.  The game can't start commutes from a plopped building.  This means that residents won't find jobs, no matter how many there are.  The also applies to commercial and Industrial, meaning that they will always have long freight trips, and low customers I believe it is.  They won't abandon because of this however, and will still function.  A residential building will abbandon if the sims can't find a job.

Sorry I didn't fully explain myself last night, I was a little tired.

[RippleJet]

Sorry I didn't fully explain myself last night, I was a little tired.

Last night? Kiwi time?

Your post was made this morning at 9:18 UK time...