BSC Re-Creations - Dita's Repair Shop

[HandsOn]

Unfortunately xxdita is not a miracle worker ...

All that can be done is to report any incidences as they crop up and they can then be dealt with.

Well, from what I've seen thus far (and all the answers I got from xx), "Miracle Worker" seems to be about the right appelation.

As for the reporting, makes sense to me. Maybe a simple, no-response threat could be set up to simply list all these. Then the miracles can happen as and when they do..  

[xxdita]

Actually, the thread's already been created, and includes a tutorial on how to fix them, as well as a Cleanitol to get rid of the originals. linkie

I need to take a look at the bats and lots themselves to see which ones are even worth saving. I know that NOB's lots are already in the process of being fixed, and some others have been redone and made into CAMelots already.
But like I said, if there are any specific lots anyone wants fixed, I can put those at the front of the list. Just find me a link.

Of course, even with a tutorial handy, I plan on cheating a little anyway. 

[Shadow Assassin]

Good to hear you'll be getting rid of the most commonly used blank lots.

I really should get around to re-modding some of those Japanese BATs.

[Krio]

I almost already thought he was!

Maybe he isn't, but you are  but its great to see that there is more good modders around who just don't sit and wait someone to send stuff to be modded to them.

[mightygoose]

this little industrial piece by bripizza is a scurge.... 4000 jobs.... gah....



[linkie]

[HandsOn]

[linkie]

Maybe irreverent question here: but what language is BriPizza's site in - IE/Firefox only show up high-ASCII characters and symbols..?

[snorrelli]

It's Japanese - check your encoding...

[HandsOn]

It's Japanese - check your encoding...

Thanks - that explains it..

[Glenni]

Could you take a look at this one?



Breidablikk School

It's of course modded in BLaM quality modding, which is about as good as British Leyland's cars (hint hint, it's not very good)

The main problem is that when you raise the elevation arround it, you can't destroy the lot..

EDIT: To be honest, just re mod all the ones i've released a BLaM

[jplumbley]

Could you take a look at this one?



Breidablikk School

It's of course modded in BLaM quality modding, which is about as good as British Leyland's cars (hint hint, it's not very good)

The main problem is that when you raise the elevation arround it, you can't destroy the lot..

Hmmm... agreed, but I think we should keep that on the quiet side.  Dont want to upset certain people.

[Glenni]

Why not, it's my own BAT and the modding for it is rubbish, if anything i would offend meself.. 

[callagrafx]

Some of the finest cars came out of British Leyland...The Rover SD1, the Princess, the Allegro, the Maxi.........er yeah, OK, I see your point 

[xxdita]

OK, BriPizza's Industrial for mightygoose, and Glenni's BLaM catalog.

Personally, I'm not worried about a few bruised egos, though that's not my goal. I'm not looking to ridicule any specific creator or team, just trying to show them how simple it is to mod their lots properly, with the wealth of knowledge available, and all of the people in the community that are all-to willing to help, and guide them. I know that the same lots that don't work for me, aren't working for anyone else either.
What amazes me is that with all of the files I've checked out so far, in the comments you see

This crashed my computer 10/10   .

Glenni, since you're already on the LEX, you may want to think about putting some prop packs together for the models. I can help you with updating the lots, but it would make things easier if we didn't have to send people to download the old ones just for the models. I'll talk to Barby about it in the morning.

There also seems to be an issue with AVG reporting that my installers have some sort of a virus. I can assure you, they have all been Cloroxed, Lysolled, Purelled, and Febreezed, so this is simply a false positive. Ironic, none the less.

[JoeST]

Thats unlucky, that silly AVG...

and once again, WOOOO @ you... sorry lost my train of thought... woops

Joe

[Pat]

Lets continue on here what a great job Nate is doing here 



NB: removed a post after a chat with a friend and edited this post - pat

[RebaLynnTS]

In order to keep the load on Dita, down, as much as possible, please let me know if any of my creations need to be fixed, and I will gladly see to it, asap. I already know, I still have a lot to learn, so I am not offended when I am told I did something wrong.

[xxdita]

It's good to see so many of my friends hanging out here with me, and hopefully some new ones.

MightyGoose - I'm on it.

Joe - Yeah AVG sucks.

Lee - Thanks for keeping the peace.

Reba - Don't worry, I'd let you know if I ran into a problem before unleashing my monkeys.  

Pat - No worries, I know where you're coming from.   

The good news... AVG has updated.  
The bad news... I've run into a snag with the installer. So, I need a Guinea Pig. Someone with Vista, as it doesn't seem to be an issue on XP.
It seems that for some reason, the new folders created by my installer are Read Only, meaning that neither my folders, or the parent folders (SimCity 4/Plugins/BSC) can be moved or deleted unless the folder properties are manually corrected for each of the new folders installed. So, anyone with Vista, please PM me if you have time to do a little testing. Shouldn't take long.

Now on to the weird news... Glenni, I had to call in some reinforcements. Was your school lotted backwards?  

Let's take a look at it in LE.


A lot of overhanging props, but that's not the reason the lot becomes immortal.

But what's really weird... see the tiny white box in the center?


That's supposed to be the main building. The dimensions in the desc are totally off. I'll need to take a look at the file in PIMX to see what's going on there. The Occupant Size of the building is set at 56x29x28,  as opposed to PIMX's 46.7x35x26.22. This is probably why the lot becomes immortal.

To be continued...

[HandsOn]

... I've run into a snag with the installer. So, I need a Guinea Pig. Someone with Vista, as it doesn't seem to be an issue on XP.
It seems that for some reason, the new folders created by my installer are Read Only, meaning that neither my folders, or the parent folders (SimCity 4/Plugins/BSC) can be moved or deleted unless the folder properties are manually corrected for each of the new folders installed. So, anyone with Vista, please PM me if you have time to do a little testing. Shouldn't take long.

To be continued...

If it's done within the next 12 hours (anyone's time zone - I'm disappearing on a vaction for two weeks in 18 hours), I've got Vista, am programming and - as stated earlier - am used to testing all kinds of IT stuff (and if this ain't IT, then I don't know what is). So, PM or better yet email me

[RippleJet]

To be continued...

...let me fill you in...

The small box you see on the right in LotEditor comes from the LotConfigPropertyLotObject line in the lotconfig exemplar that is for the building.
This property contains no less than 13 reps:

0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x0017f2c9,0x00000000,0x00109157,0x001772c9,0x00101157,0x001872c9,0x00111157,0x00000000,0xca7a5a50,0x50dbf898

Let's explain these one-by-one:

 1. 0x00000000 : tells this is a building. Every lot must have exactly one building.
 2. 0x00000000 : Level of detail modifier, 0x0 = all levels (should be this for buildings).
 3. 0x00000000 : Orientation, 0x0 = South. This can easily be changed by rotating the building in LE.
 4. 0x0017f2c9 : X Location of the centre of the building. To get this into metres, divide it by 0x10000 = 23.948 m
 5. 0x00000000 : Z Location of the centre of the building. Should always be 0 for buildings
 6. 0x00109157 : Y Location of the centre of the building. To get this into metres, divide it by 0x10000 = 16.568 m
 7. 0x001772c9 : Xmin of the bounding box. To get this into metres, divide it by 0x10000 = 23.448 m
 8. 0x00101157 : Ymin of the bounding box. To get this into metres, divide it by 0x10000 = 16.068 m
 9. 0x001872c9 : Xmax of the bounding box. To get this into metres, divide it by 0x10000 = 24.448 m
10. 0x00111157 : Ymax of the bounding box. To get this into metres, divide it by 0x10000 = 17.068 m
11. 0x00000000 : Unused
12: 0xca7a5a50 : Object ID
13: 0x50dbf898 : Instance ID of the building exemplar

The last number points to the building exemplar and that's where the Occupant Size property is found.
The Occupant Size should match the Xmax-Xmin and Ymax-Ymin values above.

As we can see Xmax-Xmin = Ymax-Ymin = 1.000 m above. In other words, a very small box.
However, the Occupant Size has, for some obscure reasons, manually been given a lot larger values.

We can now easily see why this building is overhanging and causing the Immortal Lot Syndrome.
Placing a building 56 m wide and 29 m deep on the centre point 23.948 m and 16.568 m gives us:

Xmin = 23.948 m - 56 m / 2 = -4.052 m
Xmax = 23.948 m + 56 m / 2 = 51.948 m

Ymin = 16.568 m - 28 m / 2 = 2.568 m
Ymax = 16.568 m + 28 m / 2 = 30.568 m

If any of these min/max values ends up being beyond or very close to the edges of the lot, then we've encountered an immortal lot syndrome.
Did anyone notice the Xmin = -4.052 m ?  

The Occupant Size should tell us the size of the LOD box.
In PIM_X we recompute these values from the real deimensions of the LOD box, as xxdita explained above.
With these recomputed values we would get:

Xmin = 23.948 m - 46.7 m / 2 = 0.598 m
Xmax = 23.948 m + 46.7 m / 2 = 47.298 m

Ymin = 16.568 m - 26.22 m / 2 = 3.458 m
Ymax = 16.568 m + 26.22 m / 2 = 29.678 m

In other words, with a recomputed Occupant Size, the lot wouldn't suffer from the Immortal Lot Syndrome anymore.

Now, it is important that the Xmin/Xmax and Ymin/Ymax values match the Occupant Size.
If the extensions given in Xmin/Xmax and Ymin/Ymax are a lot smaller that the Occupant Size,
we will be able to place the building closer to the edges of the lot in LotEditor.
But that will also most certainly lead to the Occupant Size overhanging the edges of the lot.

If the min/max values match the Occupant Size exactly, then we can easily see in LotEditor if the building is coming too close to the edge.
And LotEditor won't allow you to place the building overhanging the edges.

The old custom of using invisible buildings or small specially rendered boxes as the main building,
hidden in a large prop, has lead to numerous occasions of immortal lot syndromes.
And for absolutely no apparent reason...

Why create a small box and hide it in the prop, when the building model can be used the way it should,
used in the PluginManager to create a building exemplar with correct Occupant Size?

[Diggis]

Yeah, what he said.