After downloading some lot files from say matt325b. to which dirctory does one copy these files to under the Plugins dirctory
If there wasn't any pre-set folder, I would recommend you to create a Mattb325 parent folder into your Plugins and then copy the Mattb325 Whatever The Name of the Upload folders from each ZIP into this folder.
His earlier contents under the BSC (up until 2013) used to be coming with an *.exe installer which would set up a default BSC/Mattb325/"Whatever The Name of the Upload" folder structure, but when he replaced the installers, he also ditched the original folder structure and kept only the "Whatever The Name of the Upload" folder with the files. So the best would be if you create a Mattb325 folder and from the ZIPs you copy the files and folder into this parent folder.
His later uploads however a bit more complicated because he started making his models in two versions. One version with Maxis Night/MN (that's the default game night view) and one version with Dark Night/DN to support the dark/true night mods which were created by different modders.
In this case it's still worth to use the Mattb325 folder as parent folder within the Plugins, but make sure that you only copy/install one of the versions, either Maxis Night OR Dark Night.
I hope this helps.
- Tyberius
Many thanks for your prompt reply, I will take your advice onboard and do that.
One other question is with these lots not only from matt325b but others, how long into playing the game do these lots take to come up ? Is there a particular year that they start to be used ? Apologies for my ignorance.
Many thanks
There are generally two types of downloaded content, Growables and Ploppables, the former will grow when the conditions are right, the latter can be found in the in-game menu system, selected and plopped.
There are many different factors that affect when a growable lot appears, for starters there must be demand for the type of lot, space for it to grow and for any other conditions to be met, in-short this is quite complex. A simple example, say you download a 5x5 R$$$ Stage 8 skyscraper, for that to build you would need a pretty large city already, demand and desirability in a suitably sized zone. But this is really no different from all the other growable items in-game, you can't grow I-HT or CO$$$ buildings right away either.
The more custom content you install, the more likely it will appear over the Maxis default content. But say for example you never downloaded any R$ custom content, in such a scenario unless you had demand for R$$/R$$$, any custom residential would never appear. It sounds like you just need to be patient as the conditions just aren't right yet for your new content to grow.
Thanks for that info much appreciated