How does the game decide what buildings to build on newly zoned land

[doug_wesson]

Does the game randomly choose what buildings to build on newly zoned land or does it just build multiples of he same buildings.

I have also noticed that even though i have numerous industrial, commercial and residential lots in my plugins folder from matt325b, simgoober, sm2 to name just a few, i hardly ever see any of them get build.

Is the a specific directory in which these lost should be in.


Many thanks in advance

[Andreas]

The game is more or less choosing at random, but there are several factors that determine which building will grow. First of all, there's the current demand (R$, R$$, R$$$, CS$, etc.) that needs to be filled, so the game will look for lots that will fill the current demand. It also checks the current growth stage, which means that in small towns, only the lower growth stages will show up.

Sometimes, you can "force" a certain lot to show up if you zone a specific size. Some lots have a somewhat unique size, such as 3x5 or 7x6, which can trigger a certain building to show up there if you know the lot sizes, but quite often, the game divides the zones as needed and places other lots if the conditions aren't met.

Esp. in the early days, some lots often grew like weed, this is usually the result of unbalanced settings, such as a wrong growth stage, or the number of residents/jobs was either too high or too low in comparison to similar buildings. If you have, say, a number of row houses, and one of them holds twice as many residents as other, similar buildings of the same lot size and growth stage, that one will soon overgrow all the others, since it fills the current demand a lot easier.

On the other hand, if some lots hardly ever show up, they might need some tweaking as well, maybe there's just too much competition with other lots of the same size and stage. Try to find the ones that grow too often and compare the stats, adjusting them a little, if necessary. Also, check the building style property (Chicago/New York/Houston/Euro) and edit that one. A lot of CS buildings grow in all building styles, some only in one, so you need to pick the proper style (if you don't let them switch automatically).

This can be used to trigger certain buildings more easily, too. Say, you want a specific CO$$$ Euro skyscraper on a 5x5 high density lot, then switch the game to the Euro style and zone a 5x5 high density lot. With some luck, you get the desired building, an you might want to mark it historical right away, so it won't disappear again. If you'd like to have a nice Houston-style mega mall, zone a medium density 8x8 commercial zone, and pretty sure one will appear if you have a lot that meet the requirements (Houston style, grows only on medium density etc.).