Lots of Things

[thingfishs]

Hi all,

I have been doing some lotting & thought it was time to show them off. Both these lots (and probably most lots I'll make), have some new BAT content as well but are still primarily composed of other people's work and thus I have made this thread. I will use this thread to show lots made for TD as well as non-TD stuff.

One of my many ongoing "things" (projects would be too lofty a term) , is laying out most of a city street by street, with identical zoning (as best as can be achieved via the Maxis zones), and placement of civics. To do this has required using a money cheat for the initial laying out of the city (very much against my playing style). As far as the realism and scale of the city goes it's far and away the most realistic city/region I've yet had but is far too profitable. So then I looked at what could be realistically raised in my city cost wise and schools & hospitals stood out. These things cost a fortune and yet in game the per patient fee at a hospital (for e.g) is 30 cents... 


First I modded my high capacity hospital, CAL's excellent Bywater Springs. It was charging something like 0.0029 cents a patient so that a full load of 170,000 patients cost about $600 or so a month. I changed this to 50 cents-ish so that it now costs about $88,000 a month for the same number of patients. Then I figured it needed a bigger lot and more parking to deal with those numbers and so that's what I did. The hospital's increased costs have gone a long way to bringing the challenge back into the game, but not far enough...

TF Bywater Springs Hospital

It says Bywater Springs... would I lie to you?

 

The different styles of architecture reflect different phases of the hospitals existence

The "nice" area of the hospital where friends and relatives can take a load off.

The only thing I'm not 100% on is the disease research centre, I just couldn't find something more suitable... suggestions welcomed.




Next I decided to make a more realistically priced and sized high school. This one, which I have named Fleckton High School (in honour of the great Bela Fleck), will be a TD release because it contains a large Australian Rules Football oval. If anyone wants a localised version I would be happy to swap the footy ground for whatever floats your boat. I started this lot using one of Deadwoods' excellent high schools (but still not big enough and with a soccer pitch) which resulted in some confusions down the line for me (which thanks to Barby & cogeo have been resolved).

TF Fleckton High School

Making good use of space, this school has a dual purpose football/cricket pitch as well as a dual purpose tennis & netball court.

A nice pond area

A lesson in progress in the Agricultural area

One thing I've noticed is the standard Maxis playground animations that I'm using hardly seem to show up at all. I know they are timed props but even still. Other timed props (like Deadwoods' open and shut wooden gate that I'm using), come and go as you'd expect... but where are the children?

Also see how in the last photo my goal posts suddenly become fat at a certain point (seemingly when they extend beyond the bounds of the model/LOD or something). As can be clearly seen in the first large school photo the posts on one side of the oval are thin like they should be (again, because it seems like there they're only extending over part of the model that they are already a part of), whereas on the other side they become fat half way. Can anyone help me with how to make my posts all thin?

Any comments and improvements anyone can suggest would be much appreciated, though not necessarily implemented.

Thanks for having a look

[w2kpilot]

Hi,

These look quite good, is the hospital covering the parking space?

[thingfishs]

thanks and yes, that's the hospital's car park; it's all one large lot.

[Myself.or.?]

Hi thingfishs,
nice work you got going there. I like the idea of the buildings having been added to in different styles. Also the composure seems fairly RL. 
I would have just 1 or 2 suggestions, as far as possible.    First, maybe you could add a couple of cars to the Hospital car-park and second, IMO it would look much better if the access roads/parking areas of both lots were actually TEd, allowing for the street to create entrances. 

[SC4BOY]

The only suggestion I have is to avoid the "large lot crime" issue. In order to do that you will have to ensure that no lot is wider than 6 tiles without a network road or street through the lot. (or dividing it into more than one lot). "RL" medical facilities have these, usually through "controlled entry" roads (ie a guard shack or whatever)... just a thought..  Looks fine.

[thingfishs]

Thanks Myself.or.? & SC4Boy.

The only suggestion I have is to avoid the "large lot crime" issue. In order to do that you will have to ensure that no lot is wider than 6 tiles without a network road or street through the lot. (or dividing it into more than one lot). "RL" medical facilities have these, usually through "controlled entry" roads (ie a guard shack or whatever)... just a thought..  Looks fine.

I made the lots long and "thin" in an effort to combat this but wasn't really aware of the particulars. I thought it was a matter of penetration (via roads) and that by having them thinner like this that they would be OK? Do you mean no bigger than 6 tiles wide or no bigger than 6x6 tiles wide? I certainly want to avoid the crime issue and if it means splitting the lot or whatever then so be it.



I have transit enabled the lots which does look better (thanks for the suggestion Myself.or.?) but I do remember hearing that TE'd lots can cause problems with the game engine. Can anyone fill me in on the pros & cons of this?

Oh and there are cars in the car park, they're just not showing up in that shot. Actually, come to think of it, a hospital is somewhere there should be cars showing up 24/7...

[RippleJet]

Do you mean no bigger than 6 tiles wide or no bigger than 6x6 tiles wide?

"Wide but not so deep" (or "deep but not so wide") is definitely better than "deep and wide".

I certainly want to avoid the crime issue and if it means splitting the lot or whatever then so be it.

You might want to read Crime Bug in Megalots - Can we avoid them?

[biancabillins]

do you have a download for this hospital. i really want this

[TheTeaCat]

here you go 

http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1676

[thingfishs]

do you have a download for this hospital. i really want this

I happen to be around, after years of "elsewhereness", and after seeing this was your first post after five years I had to reply. I assume theteacat has sorted you out (with their link to callagrafx's original), but if for whatever reason you were after my re-lotting, I could pm it to you...

[mrbisonm]

do you have a download for this hospital. i really want this

I happen to be around, after years of "elsewhereness", and after seeing this was your first post after five years I had to reply. I assume theteacat has sorted you out (with their link to callagrafx's original), but if for whatever reason you were after my re-lotting, I could pm it to you...

If it isn't too much trouble, could you pm it to me too? (or send it to: mrbisonm@mail.com ) I like it a lot also. Thanks

Fred

[thingfishs]

Hi Fred, good to see some old familiar faces around. I honestly don't know if my hospital is still in existence, but if it is I'll happily send you one, although with two requests now, is it worth actually uploading it?

(On second thoughts, I don't think I would release it as such, but if I find it, I'll PM it to you, same goes for anyone else).

EDIT: I did find it BTW