how to grow anything over 3X2 lots....

[Thjern]

Hello this is my first time writing on the forums.  I was wondering if there is a bug,  that won't let you grow anything over a 3x2 lot?
I have tried to use the Ctrl key when placing my RCI lots,  and they stay green, blue, and yellow....  my one city had over 90k ppl and still nothing.. but I had lots of 3x2 developments.....    just wondering if im doing something wrong.   I have made sure I have all dependencies for all the CAM starter kits.  <dang that was a lot> ,  and im using nothing else.  no plops no nothing just growables..   could anyone maybe give me an insight on what i'm doing wrong please,

[rooker1]

How old is your city?  There is a chance that you have not made it to that stage for those LOTs to grow.I have been using CAM for some time now and have no problems getting that LOT size to grow.

Robin 

[Thjern]

Well i tested it out last night...  made a new region.   had a huge RCI with all the necessities,  lots of parks ect.     had 90k residents at year 1950,  kept going on the building, It was looking good...  then nothing.   all my commercial was 3x2 lots, same with the industrial, and some residential.  kept it going for a very long time.  I did it also with another city to connect to it.. same thing happened there.... even did the ctrl key thing so maybe i could develop some huge buildings... yep nothing... even tried to reinstall the game .. same thing... so im not sure   

[Indisguise]

Well I'll assuming you have proper emenities in the city of a 90K, schools, fire protection police coverage, water etc etc.

I uusually have most of my city zoned 3 deep for res til above 125K more often than not til above 200K, and leave an open spot to zone deeper later on, but thats more just my style of play,  Before I start zoning 4 or more deep a little at a time.  

Just have to be at high population to get the deeper RES buildings which are ussually higher stage high capasity or R$$$ lots, or the simulator just busts them up into smaller lots anyways.

  Mainly the larger lots require higher landvalue for them to appear. Parks or some sort of reward is needed to raise the land value high enough for them to appear.

I start putting in green or flower parks 1 spot shy of the road, uusually behind a MT bus stop or leave a 1x1 Com lot to grow in the place, on either side of the zone I'm trying to grow. Say a 4x4 area is desired I'll have a small flower park, 4x4 zoned area and another park. this ussually raises the landvalue high enough for larger lots to grow, low city populations most likely get a 4x4 R$$$ single dwelling. Another trick is to have a strip where the lots are back to back, 3x2 or 2x2 with roads on either side, plop in a park or two in the area, more if your trying to raise the value of a large area.

Com is easier as there are more large lots at lower levels,. I'll make a large zone 4 deep say 12-18 wide, most of the 4 deep buildings are 2x4 or 3x4, and the simulator will brek it up itself as long as it's total widith is a multple of 3 or 2, both if possible gives you a better change of sucess.

This uusually results in low level CS type building fleemarkets and small shops, which will grow even without water as long as theres enough CS demand.

I find that plazas are more helpful as per parks or  a landmark building or a reward is needed in the area to growing higher stage CO buildings, but once again you have to have a fairly decently high population and demand for the simulator to make it grow which I will help stimulate by bulldozing a CS building , sometimes a few times over and over again, til a CO grows in it's place. Once you find that it's a CO building not a Cs type, just have to sit back and wait til demand in the city is high enough and the simulator to pick the building

IND well I myself zone large areas and wait for the buildings to appear, find that it's not really worth the time to zone individual IND lots and let the simulator and time and demand grow large lots.

[Thjern]

Alright I see what you are saying...  I'll try the more parks and keep going as normal...   also is it work just playing on slow mode, or am i kicking myself going cheetah.  And Thank you for the quick replies and the advice. 

[cogeo]

Try zoning 2x3 (2-wide by 3-deep), preferably in pairs. Many medium-stage lots are 2x3 and 4x3 (two adjacent 2x3 lots can aggregate to form 4x3, which are mid-to-high stage). If your zones are high-density, you can also get highrises. You may use the historical tool to keep the game from performing unwanted subdivisions and aggregations. Particularly you should seek to avoid 3x3, as the remaining 1x3 will hardly get any high-stage development (that Freytag building popping up everywhere). So if a 2x3 lot is subdivided, immediately mark the adjacent 2x3 one as historical. Also try to avoid the formation of a 2x3 lot in the middle of the 4x3 zone. If both 2x3 lots are subdivided, make hiistorical one of the middle 1x3 ones, until the other two aggregate again; then unmark it and make the 2x3 one historical. If you have two adjacent 2x3 lots, unmark them both, waiting to aggregate to 4x3 (of course you should make sure that they won't aggregate with another neighbour).

Don't zone many 3x3 zones.

If you are at stage 7 or 8, and demand is still high, you can try zoning 4-deep, ie 3x4 but preferably 4x4 (these lots have the largest buildings).

If you have dl'ed custom lots (with unusual sizes) you shoukd zone specifically for them - they will grow if the conditions (stage, demand, desirablity and land value) are favourable.

And last but not least, desirablity as well as land value should be high, to get highrises.

[jmyers2043]

my one city had over 90k ppl and still nothing.. but I had lots of 3x2 developments.....

Indisguise gives good advise. I can only add that 90,000 Sims is certainly enough population to have at least a few larger lots. I wonder if education has caught up with the growth curve? Higher educated Sims tend to like working in bigger/taller buildings which are often the larger lots.

[Thjern]

last time i checked my education in the big city was about 140 roughly somewhere there  is 200 max?   Also i have started a new neighbor city for farming and high industrial see if that works also...