Transparent Props on Lots

[Robstar]

Hi all.
   Well I've been creating my own custom lots for some time now using the Lot Editor, but there is one thing that I haven't been able to do.
I want to be able to see the props as semi-transparent when I plop the lot in my cities.  This way, when I rotate the lot, the orientation is correct.
For example, I created a lot with a fence prop on one side. This fence must be adjacent to the sidewalks created by the in-game roads. How
can I create the lot so that I can see the fence when I plop it.
 
I actually want to be able to create something similar to Jeroni's park fences. When I use his lots in my game, I can see the fence on the lot,
which makes rotating and plopping a lot easier.

I have the following tools available for SimCity4:

Lot Editor
iLive's Reader
LeProp
SC4 Tool


Thanks

[Diggis]

Are you putting the fences in a prop family?  If so they won't show up.  I think their also might be a preview option in the properties too.

[Gwail]

Be sure there is a "previewable" property set to true in the prop exemplar. You can do this using PM, when you create a sc4desc file from the sc4model file or later, using Reader.

[Robstar]

Well, I opened up Reader and found the Exemplar files for one of my lots. However, when I attempt to change the value for the Previewable property to True, nothing happens. Is there a hex value that I need to manipulate? I've tried typing in the word "True" as a string in the property editor but the value does not change.

Also, there are two Exemplar files that show up in the menu.  Which one should I edit?

[Andreas]

The hex value for "True" is "0x01" (and "0x00" would be "False").

[Robstar]

I was able to get the Boolean value set to "True" in the Reader's properties editor, thanks to Andreas, but the lot props are still transparent in the game.  I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.   Now, Diggis mentioned that if the props are part of a family, then they won't show up in the building plop preview.  That makes sense, but the props that I am using are not part of a family (at least I dont' think so), so there must be something else that is preventing the prop from becoming visible.  You can probably already tell that I am a novice when it comes to the Reader, but there must be a way to get this to work.

If it's of any importance,all of my custom lots are actually "edited" maxis lots. I don't know to use the B.A.T, or Gmax. In the example I gave earlier with the fence lot, I took the Maxis small plaza, deleted the existing props, and added a custom fence which was part of a downloaded prop pack.  I then saved the lot in the Lot Editor, closed the program and opened up the LEProp program.  I changed the settings to my liking, and exited. Then I opened up iLive's Reader, set the lot previewable property to "True", and saved. I started SC4, went into one of my cities, and tried to plop the lot.  The fence prop was not visible.


Sorry for this rambling reply, but I'm not giving up on this. The fence prop that I am using is part of a Mega Prop Pack by JES.  It is available here on the LEX.

[wouanagaine]

Did you modified the fence prop examplar to have its previewable property set to true ?

From your description, I understand you set it in the lot examplar ?

[Robstar]

I didn't realize there were prop exemplars that could be modified.  If that's the case, then I don't even know where to start.
I said I wasn't going to give up on this, but I may change my mind.  This is starting to get complicated. I have the Reader guide for reference, but that's just an overview of the program.  There are no specifics on how to modifiy individual lots.  Maybe someone could create a tutorial for my specific situation.  In the meantime, thanks for the help.

[Andreas]

So the problem is that those fences from jestarr's Mega Prop Pack don't show up as preview when you place the lots? Don't worry, it's not that complicated to fix it. You can use either the Reader or SC4PIM for this procedure. Ideally, you should open the lot in the Lot Editor, click on the fence prop, and write down its ID that is shown in the lower left corner of the editor window.

- Start the Reader, open the prop pack and click on the "Filter" button, select "Exemplar files" only. Now click on the "Instance" column header in order to sort the exemplar files by instance ID, search for the ID that you found in the Lot Editor. Select the prop exemplar in question and see if it has a "Previewable" property. It should have one, and usually, it's set to "True" (0x01 in hex code). If it's "False" (0x00), simply double-click it and change the value to 0x01, clicking the "Apply" buttons and then save the DAT.

- If you want to use SC4PIM, place jestarr's prop pack(s) in a separate folder inside your plugins folder, start SC4PIM and pick just this folder in the folder selection window. SC4PIM will scan all files inside this folder and create preview pics, which make it easier to identify the prop in question. If the process is completed, click on the "Descriptors/All" entry in the tree on the left. Search for the prop in the list above, double-click the "Previewable" property and change the value to "1" (you can also enter "True", or "0x01"). Then click the "Save" button below.

[Robstar]

Success!! 

Thanks Andreas for the mini-tutorial, and for all the other posters who replied to my original question and gave valuable advice. I appreciate the wealth of knowledge on this site, and I have learned not to give up on the solution so quickly.       Thanks again.