Hello, this is the first thread I've opened on SC4Devotion. I'm not new to creating lots, and I have a few skills in using the Reader, SC4Tool, and Lot Editor. I haven't found a tutorial or satisfying explanations to my problem so far, neither here nor on the STEX, so I thought I might open a thread here.
I'm working on a mod that overrides the SAM 8 Cobblestone Street textures. I'm mostly done changing the textures themselves; to me, next up is adding a little street lighting. You may want to visit this thread for further information and screenshots on this topic:
http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/64388-sam-8-override-full-cobblestone-street/ (http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/64388-sam-8-override-full-cobblestone-street/)
My main issue: I don't know exactly what to do to add props (like planters and street lights) on the SAM 8 street. I particular, I want to replace the default street lights by another one that looks imo more appropriate in an old city district (I've already found one). I've already looked into the T21 file of the SAM 8 Street that comes with the NAM. I believe I can figure out how to make sure that certain props only appear along certain zoning or wealth types, but I can't figure out the following:
* How can I place props on a network in the first place?
* How can I make sure that for instance a street light only appears, let's say, on straight routes?
* How can I make sure that they stand at a certain location (not just in the center of the street)? Is it as easy as creating a lot in Lot Editor with a prop at the necessary position and then transferring the prop via Copy&Paste in the iLive Reader?
* If possible, how can I make sure that a prop only appears every 2nd street tile (as it is frequently the case on SAM 8 streets)?
* Can I put props on diagonal streets?
I'd highly appreciate if someone could leave me an explanation or tutorial on how to do this.
I believe that I can help here and welcome ;D
First of all you need to set up your exemplars to match the ones in the original T21 files that come with the NAM. You can find this information with the reader in the T21 dat file and that file can be found in plugins/NetworkAddonMod/Street Addon Mod/ Textures/ and in that folder you will find a specific T21 dat for the SAM 8, (the files are separate)
If you need any information on the specifics than you feel free to ask but here are some links that may give you a fair understanding of what property does what for a T21 exemplar:
http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=Tutorial:How_to_Create_T21_Exemplars_%28Swamper77s_way%29
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7049.0
For making a custom T21 exemplar I would copy the current T21 exemplar and change the prop lines that are the LotConfigPropertyLotObject lines in the exemplar. Than I would put a "z_" comment in front of the edited file to make sure It loads last.
You can copy the prop lines which start with a 0x00000001 at the start of the line which indicates a prop line from your Lots.
T21s have a steep learning curve but once you get the hang of them there pretty straight forward.
Feel free to ask questions if you get stuck or don't understand any part of what I have tried to explain that I am more than happy to help out.
-eggman121
Thank you very much for your help so far! :) I've looked into the topics you've linked, and I will try to modify the T21 files. This will take me a while, because it looks as if I need a good concept lest I will mess everything up. But at least I do have a better idea of what to do.
OK, after some days of trying, I found something I need a little help with.
On the attached screenshot, you see a case where the game needs to mirror one of the network textures (the Street Roundabout and a street dragged into the roundabout, to be exact). I would like to place a birch by Girafe in the center of the roundabout. On the left side, the textures do not need to be flipped, and so there's a birch there. On the right side, the textures are flipped, and there's no birch. This happens with several other props (but not any), too.
Does anyone know how to solve or how to get around this problem? Is this something I can do or do I need to ask the author of the affected props?
There could be a couple of thing affecting the flipping.
1) The problem may be that there is no Resource Key Type 1 xm in the SC4 DESC file. Basically that allows for the prop to appear on mirrored T21 files
2) The kPropertyID_FlipsAllowed value may be set to 0x02 (no flip) or 0x01 (only flip) If you want your props to appear on all flips set the value to 0x00.
As for the extra props you may need to check that the edited DAT is overriding the original DAT.
Can you provide a screenshot of your exemplar if you can't get any of those things to work.
-eggman121
Thank you very much. It turned out that 1) was the case, and I was able to get it to work.