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How to make a lot really transparent.

Started by jeronij, November 07, 2006, 02:08:55 PM

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Diggis

It is exactly the same as the process above.  You must also be deleting the overlay item as well.

Lilojame

Thank you very very much for this tutorial!

Visit my MD Rainbow Falls or check Rainbow Falls Out of the Box or maybe check on my bats&lots visiting Lilojame´s Corner or if you wish go to Lilojame´s Candidacies.

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Leodido

thanks for this, just one thing.
I did what is described and it works fine, but when I try to open it again in the lot editor it crashes, any way around that ?

Omnia, my first MD. Check it out!

Andreas

It shouldn't crash the LE, but merely show a white area instead of the "blank" texture. Maybe you forgot to ReIndex the LotConfig while editing the file in the Reader? Also, LE can't save the file without base texture, so you'll have to add one again before saving the lot. Therefore, you should do the modding as the final step, after all the lot work has been done.
Andreas

RebaLynnTS

I just tried something new, and it worked great. Instead of deleting the lotconfig line, just change the texture IID to 0x00000000. You can plop this on land or in the water, with no water bug (Unless you use the water pollution view, in which case save and exit to region, then come back into the city to reset it all).

As long as there is no texture with this IID it will always be invisible.
Becca

Look for me at ... Becca At Bat

wes.janson

Quote from: RebaLynnTS on August 02, 2009, 12:31:57 PM
I just tried something new, and it worked great. Instead of deleting the lotconfig line, just change the texture IID to 0x00000000. You can plop this on land or in the water, with no water bug (Unless you use the water pollution view, in which case save and exit to region, then come back into the city to reset it all).

As long as there is no texture with this IID it will always be invisible.

You don't have to save and exit Reba, just goto the 'Zone' view and then go back out of it.


Henrik Sedin: 82gp 29g 83a 112p - 2009/2010 Art Ross/Hart Trophy winner!

RebaLynnTS

Quote from: wes.janson on August 02, 2009, 01:20:55 PM
You don't have to save and exit Reba, just goto the 'Zone' view and then go back out of it.

Thank you. That will save some time.
Becca

Look for me at ... Becca At Bat

sithlrd98

Somewhere I think I remember seeing some negative effects from this technique. Although , I have not tried it myself , I wonder how it handles on slopes and does it actually not exhibit the "black hole" bug?

Jayson

RebaLynnTS

The only time I have seen the black hole, so far, is when I switch to water pollution view. It is not permanent, however.
Becca

Look for me at ... Becca At Bat

sithlrd98

I'm sorry , but I have to dis-agree with you on this one. I made 2 lots...1x1 and 2x2 , then I changed out the value .Not only do you get the "black hole" but once it goes black and you switch views , you get your sky .PNG showing through. I purposely turned the grid on for these...










I think that by switching out the values , it only gave the lot/game a value to satisfy the simulator/.exe

Jayson

But I could be wrong...it has happened before ;D

Andreas

If you use 0x00000000, the game will try to load this texture - which is obviously not there, and this will lead to the problems that Jayson showed. This is essentially the same as the approach that someone proposed years ago (using a "dummy" texture that is deleted later). Switching to the zone view and back has always been the workaround that was proposed to fix the problem temporarily, but needless to say, it gets more and more annoying while you develop your city, as switching back to the regular view takes a lot of time.
Andreas

sithlrd98

Quote from: Andreas on August 02, 2009, 04:23:23 PM
(using a "dummy" texture that is deleted later).

That was exactly what I was remembering! Glad to know I'm not completely crazy :)

Jayson

RebaLynnTS

I just realized something, that maybe why it is working for me. I made a copy of the lot exemplar with the texture zeroed out, and did not do it on the lot its self.

All I know is I am not having any trouble with it.

As you can see here.

Textures on the lot.


Texture patch installed.



And I can plop them with no problems, already tried.

Now then, when I changed the original lot (Just tried it) they do not work.
Becca

Look for me at ... Becca At Bat

superhands

Another method that i don't think has been mentioned is to have a chosen base texture in LE, then just create a fully transparent texture with the same ID and delete the base texture from your plugins. or use the zzz file path trick.

also, you could create double overlay textures this way.

-dave

Fabian93

Sorry, I feel quite dumb myself now...
But I recently tried to make a Lot with transparent textures and the result was, that the textures still stayed the same.
I followed every single point in the initial post but it doesn't seem to work.

I made a Lot in the LE... then I saved it and opened the Reader... whereupon I searched for the textures I wanted to be transparent. Hereafter I opened the game and well... it doesn't seem to work.
Can somebody help?

Any help would be appreciated  :)
Fabian

dsrwhat316

Fabian,

I think I see your problem. After you delete the textures you want to become transparent, right-click the same menu again (the right half of the Reader). Click the option Reindex Lot Config and save. Let us know if this solved the problem.

~ Dan
Custom Lotting at its Finest:

Last updated: 2/9- I'm Back! +  A Teaser (of course...)

Fabian93

#36
Thanks a lot for your quick reply, Dan :).
Well I tried to do that, but it still doesn't work &mmm.

Maybe I just understood something wrong?
I think I will just explain it with screenshots :thumbsup:.


So I start the Reader...


Hereafter I opened my Lot


Now I clicked on Exemplar file and and a new windows was opened


The mentioned window


I searched for the textures, I wanted to delete (0x1DA440A0)... Not visible in this picture: I right clicked on the list and selected "Delete Properties"


Since the textures have been deleted by now, I selected a random item in the list and did what you said: Reindex Lot Config.

Thereupon I started the game and plopped my building with "LotPlop"... but I was still able to see those blue textures (0x1DA440A0)
It was the first time I did something with the Reader...

Thanks for your help so far :thumbsup:
Fabian

dsrwhat316

Hmmm... everything so far looks right to me. I even use the same texture as you in my lots so I can remember which ones to delete.

The only thing I don't see in your screen shots is you clicking the save button. Do you just exit after select Reindex Lot Config? If so, that's why the texture isn't transparent.

~ Dan
Custom Lotting at its Finest:

Last updated: 2/9- I'm Back! +  A Teaser (of course...)

hooha47

There is a much easier way to do this now with PIM-X.  You can just open your lots in the PIM-X lot editor, delete the textures, and save.  That's one of the great features of PIM-X, it doesn't force you to have textures like the Maxis LE.
"If you want to have cities, you've got to build roads." - Cake


See all my lots on the STEX
And see my parking lot projects thread here and my mayor mode ploppables thread here

Fabian93

Thanks a lot, Dan &apls.
You were right: I forgot to save (though I didn't even knew that I had to save).
It's working fine now :thumbsup:

hooha47: Well... before trying to use the Reader I actually tried to do that with PIM-X. But I was not sure how to do this exactly... (yes I have read the readme ;)).
Thanks for your reply, though :).

Fabian