Moving items on the menu?

[Gaston]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this but here it goes.

Is there a way to edit the properties of a lot to have it appear in a different menu?     Like say in the water transport menu for the canals that currently appear in parks?   I'd love to have some of my lots available in a different menu.


---Gaston

pls feel free to move this if needed.

[M4346]

Well I believe that you can do that with the SC4Tool by editing the BAT (insert correct reference here ) properties.

[Gaston]

Thanks M my friend.    I know there has to be a way.    Maybe this question will inspire a tool to be created.


---Gaston

[M4346]

Okay, I got a short tutorial here for you.

I don't have much time, so I'll keep this sweet and short (if possible).

Let me start of by pointing you to the link for the SC4 Tool (in English), if you don't have it already. It can be found here -> Click! [Size: 3.56MB]

First open the SC4 Tool:
Start > All Programs > SC4 Tool > SC4 Tool

Then, at the opening screen choose the Exemplar Editor (pictured)


Open the file that you want to edit (in this case it's a .desc file for the Arch of Severus), and scroll down.


Click on the highlighted area and choose the department that you want the lot to be placed in.


Save the edited file and viola! (I think... lol)

I think that's it... if I missed anything (this is a call to the experts out there! ) please fill in the gaps!

[Now I NEED to do my assignment... lol]

PS. Sorry this took a while, Photobucket was incredibly slow!!! 

[Gaston]

Wow M that looked easy.    Thanks so much my friend.    Maybe that should be in the tutorials section.    I'll have to let the administration know it is here.


---Gaston

[wouanagaine]

I think it is better to use the Occupant Groups property, ( you can see it in -M- screenshot ), you'll be able to specify the menu also

[Gaston]

Thanks wouanagaine.    I might give it a try later today.   


---Gaston

[jplumbley]

I would have to agree with wouanagaine on this one using the Occupant Group would be just as easy and a better practice IMO.

Also, there is a property called Item Order, the higher the number in this property the lower on the list the item is placed.  So, if you use something alot you can change this value to 0 or be a negative by using 0xFFFFFFxx.  This will put your most used items near the top and if you make you least use items with higher numbers you can arrage everything where and what order you want them in.  Maxis default I believe is 1, it might be 0.  But in some other menus like Education there might be other values used in the Item Order.

Hope this helped a bit too.

[M4346]

Uhm... thanks Wouanagaine and Jplumbley... lol. I am clearly not the expert,  so thanks for your input!

I hope that helps Gaston! 

[Gaston]

jplumbey,
  You just said:

So, if you use something alot you can change this value to 0 or be a negative by using 0xFFFFFFxx

Can you explain this a bit ?   I don't think I quite understand.


---Gaston

[wouanagaine]

Items are sorted by the Item Order value, so as 0xFFFFFFFF represent -1, it will be before Item Order 0 ( ie before Maxis items )
to be sure your item is the first : use 0x80000000 as it is the biggest negative number possible. However it is not a good practice for sharing CC. if everyone use 0x80000000, the items will be sorted by size or by plop cost( don't remember which one came first as sorting key).

[jplumbley]

Thanks for explaining better wou... as for sorting, I think it is Lot Size that is used first.  As with all my golf lots they are all sorted by the smallest ones first.

[Gaston]

LOL  That explains why I haven't ever done this.   LOL   I didn't realize I needed to know how to read HEX numbers.  LOL    I learned programming computers back in the mid-80's.    And we did everything on punch cards back then.   LOL     Okay so I am still a bit behind the times.     Thanks so much for the information everyone is giving me.    Maybe someone could build a tool to do this, wouanagaine.   Say someone who is a god at making these sorts of things.   


---Gaston

[jeronij]

Correct Item Order Range:  -65536 to +65536  ( it must be translated to Hex)   

[wouanagaine]

ah, my bad and your bad JR
the ItemOrder use an int16  so the range is 0x8000 to 0x7FFF which means -32768 to 32767 in base 10

Side node: there is 10 kind of people, those who understand binary and those who don't

[jeronij]

I dont understand binary indeed  , and you are right. I checked my IO list and the first number is -32668 ....
But then is your bad when you say there are 10 kinds of people and not 2  ( Oh, dont tell me is binary    !!!!)