CAMifying re-lotted Maxis lots

[jodonnell]

So, PaulSawyer on the STEX put up this awesome mod for replacing trees on Maxis lots with custom seasonals. Unfortunately, however, this relotting was not done via PIM-X, so the stages of the lots are the same as the Maxis defaults, not CAMpatible. The mod itself is just a zip of a ton of lot files.

I'd really like to use this mod without abandoning the CAM, so I'm looking at modifying the lots to be CAMpatible. Before I commit to doing a ton of work though, can someone sanity check this workflow to see if it's correct?

1.) DatPack the seasonal trees mod and its dependencies into a single .dat.
2.) Back up my Simcity1.dat (which has been DatPacked with CAM per the instructions.)
3.) DatPack Simcity1.dat with the seasonal tree dat I made in step one, renamed zzz_something so it overwrites anything. This will ensure I have a dat to work with that contains both the buildings, lots, and the required dependencies. Also ensures that I won't hit the duplicate workforce bug.
4.) Open the newly repacked Simcity1.dat in PIM-X.
5.) Go through all of the re-lotted Buildings (for R and C) and use recompute with an appropriate filling degree to CAMify the properities of the lot.
6.) Repeat x a lot.
7.) In theory, all of the updated lots will now have the prettier lotting but with CAM-appropriate occupancy properties.

Is that roughly correct? Also, is there a way I can see the filling degree for the original CAM'd Maxis lots? That would take out any guesswork on my part by using known good values. I didn't see a listing in the properties list for the building exemplars when I checked in PIM-X but I could have just missed it. Or if there is a spreadsheet with that data, that would be swell too Lastly, assuming I do finish all of this work and I get permission from the original author, I'd probably want to share this. Is there a way I could re-split out the modified lots to do so? Thanks for any advice!

[vortext]

iirc there was a similar question sometime ago, seems like PaulSawyer has made quite a popular mod. And rightly so because seasonal flora is the way to go. 

Anyhow, I just had a look at the mod and it only contains lots. In other words, it doesn't override the DESC files which hold the occupant size property and all the important statistics. Since you've already datpacked the CAM with simcity1.dat, I'd say you could actually just put the mod in your plugins folder and it'd be good to go.

Please note I'm not entirely sure of this so please do a few test runs. If it doesn't work you could also try to datpack the CAMified simcity1.dat with this mod. The reasoning again is PaulSawyer's mod doesn't contain DESC files so those in the CAMified simcity1.dat should remain unchanged.

Good luck and keep us posted how it works out! 

[jodonnell]

When I open the seasonal lots in PIM-X, the lots themselves appear to be of the original Maxis stage levels, however. Is that data also controlled by the DESC? Or is there some way I can change that by itself?

[vortext]

You can adjust growth stages using the Reader.

However, afaik the CAM doesn't change the growth stages for Maxis' lots. Then again, I might be wrong. You could compare growth stages in the CAMified simcity1.dat with the seasonal lots though.

Maybe someone with more knowledge regarding the CAM could weigh in on the subject?

[jodonnell]

So, the CAM lots do have different growth stages, but that mostly manifests only in Maxis lots at growth stages 7 and 8. Also, I noticed the CAM versions of the lots have parent cohort values set, but the seasonal mod lots do not. I am not sure what effect that has here.

EDIT: Aha, so the parent cohort on the CAM lots appears to be just for setting the slope and retaining wall properties, which the seasonal lots have on each lot individually. I guess it's more performant to have the cohort but I can probably get by without setting that.

Does anyone know if there are any base Maxis residential/commercial lots that were changed to a growth stage *other than* 9-15? A bunch of random samples seems to imply that those are the only changes, but I've by no means done an exhaustive comparison.

[jodonnell]

So it does seem to work and it is quite lovely. I've only played my new city a little bit so it probably isn't past stage 2, but the seasonal Maxis lots show up. I think I can look at my old backed-up simcity_1.dat in PIM-X and compare it against the PIM-X listing for my CAM-packed simciy_1.dat and get a diff of the changed stages. I used the exemplar analyzer in ILives Reader to see all of the lots in CAM that were stage 9+ (and the original hex ID so I could edit the appropriate seasonal lot,) but a random sample of some CO lots indicated that some stage 5-7 Maxis lots had been set to a different stage in CAM. Diffing the two versions of the simcity_1.dat ought to get me quick listing of what groups are affected though so will keep you posted.

[jodonnell]

OK, so I finished porting the buildings and checking all the growth stages and it looks good. I guess at this point I apply for LEX candidacy? I'm really just porting someone else's work though, not making my own. The original creator PaulSawyer is ok with my uploading this elsewhere, though.

Edit: For the moment, though, you can play with it from here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26358127/MaxisSeasonalLots.dat

[vortext]

Good job! 

You have tested it too, I presume? And if you have permission from PaulSawyer to do so you can apply for LEX candidacy indeed.