Adjusting the Occupancy on a lot

[homefryes]

I have lots with multiple buildings (they're variations of the main building) -- essentially I've created condominium communities.  The occupancy of these lots is basing itself on the main anchor building, but I need to adjust it based on the number of buildings, and I just can't find where to do that.  I don't want to adjust the occupancy level on the main building, as I have varying-sized lots with different numbers of buildings...one with 2, one with 6, and one with 7...and I plan to create other variants (once I get through the testing phase).

- D.

[Rayden]

I believe you do that on the lot exemplar. As for the final occupancy number, if you know the occupancy of the original building you just have to multiply by the number of buildings, if they are different, just add those figures. I've made a spreadsheet for my own use to calculate those numbers along with other details like water and power consumes, stage, etc..., while I'm waiting for Woua's new tool.

[BarbyW]

To do this I always add the building exemplar to the lot file, change the IID to match and also change the building reference in the lot file - see my Tidy Files tutorial here: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=11.0 for detailed instructions. That way you can change the occupancy for each exemplar to reflect the different number of houses on a lot.

[homefryes]

Excellent, thank you both!  I'll let you know if I run into trouble.

- D.

[cogeo]

There is only one "Building" (exemplar) on each Lot (marked gray in the LE). All others are props (blue). Only the building exemplar has adjustable occupancy properties. The occupancy of the lot is the occupancy of the "main" building. Props are rather decorative. Please note also that for growables you can have a building family (set property Building/Prop Family). That is you can group several similar building exemplars into a building familly. The game will select amongst the buildings randomly (it is strongly suggested that they all have exactly the same stats).
The "Building" (gray rectangle) is not necessary to have a model, ie it may not actually be displayed in the game. Just delete property "Resource Key Type 1" (it's the model ID). Props can be set to be queried as the main building of the lot (hover query). Just set property "Query as main building" to true (1). The "User Visible Name Key" property (TGI IDs of the query string) must also be set. The value in this case is not important, it can be anything, even zeros (0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000), but for some weird reason the presence of this property is necessary.
When setting the stat values, be careful to be in accordance to the growth stage and lot size. If you have too many occupants for the growth stage, the lot will tend to grow easily and everywhere, if you have too little the lot will be hard to grow. Also set all other stats (Building Value, Worth, Power, Water, Garbage etc) preferably in accordance to the ingame ones.
And try not to make your lots very large, large lots suffer from rampant crime (this is a game feature and cannot be fixed), possibly resulting in abandonment or dilapidation.

[homefryes]

So far I haven't created anything above a 6x6 sized lot.  I understand the "only one building" concept.  Help me understand this:  do I need to change the occupancy on the main building (in it's descr or model file) to achieve the desired result?  So I may need to create a "phantom building" (a building with no model) to do this properly?

Currently the lots shown below are showing a max. occupancy of 40 each (which is really high even for 1 building, as it would be 10 people per unit, with 4 units per building!).  I would like to have it be 18 per building, so 108 for the top one, and 126 for the bottom one:

This is the 6x4 lot.


This is the 6x6 lot.


- D.

[cogeo]

40 people for a 6x6 lots means quite low density, so the growth stage and zone density should be set to low. Your lots will only be built during the early stages of development and soon replaced by more dense lots (if you have installed custom content only, as there are no ingame 6x6 lots, except for some few RSSS stage-1 and -2 buildings (check the lot list in LE). 108 or 126 are quite better - forget realism, you need to make lots and buildings that are on par with the ingame ones, and the ingame ones accomodate really large numbers of residents.
As said above, the only way to set lot's occupancy is to set the occupancy of the main building.
I would suggest that you make your lots as following:
- Remove the model for the main building (see my previous post).
- For all of the buildings you have made, create prop exemplars (use the PM) and set the "Query as main building" property as mentioned above. All these props will display the main building's name, and this is OK, otherwise you would have to be really creative with names or live with silly names like "House #1" or "House with brown roof" and the like.
- You can also use prop families. You need two prop families (one for the orthogonal houses and one for the diagonals) - contact Barby to reserve a prop-family range for you if you haven't already got a range. Then use prop-families in the LE instead of specific props. The game will select the props randomly every time your lot is grown (or plopped, for ploppables), increasing variety. To understand how prop families work, check the ingame subway station. The vending machines are a prop-family, and you get a different effect every time you plop one.

[homefryes]

I think I understand.  These will definitely need to be medium density to give them some realism.  I will use 40 per building as the base-level, since that is what was given as the default for one building; and I will remove the model as described.  I can just use any model file, right...and then just remove the model?  I have already contacted Barby about the need for family ranges...but I haven't zipped up the files for her yet.

I appreciate the help. 

- D.

[cogeo]

Please note that the "default" values suggested by the PM are based on the size of the model (the LODshell) AND the wealth. These are often quite screwed, better check the values in SC4Tool (building database) and make something consistent. Building Value relates to the taxes paid, and you should be careful with such stats (and all others)
Yep, you can use any model (in PM) so as to get a unique prop ID, and then remove the model.
But why zip and send files to Barby, just send her a PM and you will get a prop-family ID range (for use in your lots).
Better post the stats of your lots/buildings after making them and ask from other members to review them.