Problem with those really transparent lots

[SáT]

It's massively embarassing, but, apparently, I'm the only one to have problems when trying to use Jeronij's elegant technique of creating really transparent base textures.

Now, while the technique works quite perfectly for ploppable items, I ran into trouble when attempting to apply it to a growable residental lot:



As you can see, the lot retains the construction textures, i.e. the base texture it got when being constructed, and that's not the desired effect, of course. A save&reload doesn't solve the problem. The lot is stuck with the "construction underway" textures, which surprised me a bit, but gave me some insight into the workings of the game, i.e that it never touches a texture unless a new texture is called. I figured I'd put an overlay texture on a tile, which would wake the game up when the construction is done. It worked!



Well, not really. While I successfully got rid of the construction textures, the lot suffers from the black hole bug, which kind of defeats the purpose  .



Note that only the tile with the overlay is bugged. the other tile is perfect. Still, it doesn't work. Why does a lot require a base texture anyway? It's so very inane  .

Anyhow, I'm relatively positive I followed the instructions quite closely; while the thing MAY be specific to my installation/configurations/computer/plugins/whatnot (as I've seen nobody else commenting on the issue), I kind of doubt it (still, it'd be great if someone would confirm this). At the moment I'm kind of stuck; I'm vaguely thinking of fiddling with the construction base texture, but that seems kind of drastic.

Could a more experienced modder, perhaps, give me some ideas for a solution? Or confirm that it's just me? (it's about time I do a reinstall anyway.)


Thanks in advance,

SáT

[Badsim]

Hi Sat,

I never tried still a growing Lot without base textures ... so I can't explain the construction textures . Anyway , If you have solved this with overlays , you must know that any Lot without base textures has , early or later , this visual bug ... So , when that happens , just go to the Zoning or underground view and go back to the normal one .

Picture N°2 with motorcycle is really interesting & unusual (for me )...

[sam]

I tried transparent base textures on growables once but mine just showed the zoning colours under the lots. I haven't tried it again.

[SáT]

Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to bite the bullet and live with the black hole bug. It won't kill me, after all.

That said, it appears to me that as soon as a single tile of the lot has a base texture, the rest of the tiles will be transparent all right, without displaying any odd behaviour (at least not after a simple switch to underground or zoning wiew and back). The result is quite cute, actually:



Pictured is a 3x3 lot next to a retextured street, two tiles with base textures, the rest without any textures. Yes, applying an overlay on the transparent tiles would indeed spoil the fun, but if I really badly needed a path or something, I could make it a prop, I guess. And even if it develops problems later, it's still much less obstrusive than the troubles with the previous experiments. Actually, I kind of like it, despite the limitations. So, thanks for the support, I think I get the idea now .


Cheers,

SáT

[jeronij]

Just wondering... did you try to change to another view and come back, or save the game, exit and enter again?. Sometimes the textures do have some unexpected behaviours...
I have to admit that I never tried that with growables...

[SáT]

Just wondering... did you try to change to another view and come back, or save the game, exit and enter again?

Rotating and zooming around madly - check.
Save&exit - check.
Zone view, underground view - check.

Destroying the lot - Uh-oh. Quirks. If you destroy the lot, the two existing base textures stay, even when new houses are built there (I think there are two base textures assaigned to the tile in this case, which is not healthy). Even with a save&reload and everything. They stay even if you bulldoze the lot and dezone the thing. If you build a ploppable on one of the textured tiles, BOTH textures vanish and everything's back to normal. The textures stayed even when I put streets on them, though this may very well be because I use pavements that are in reality transparent overlays (a park without base textures, however, made the textures vanish all right).

The quirk left me somewhat puzzled. I don't really get what happens within the game. Well, sure, I don't really understand why this, uh, half-basetextured lot (I really should find a catchy name, such as "semitextured growable" ) works at all. And I still don't get why a lot needs to have a base texture; I mean, roads work fine without one.

Bottom line: great for personal use, but I wouldn't distribute the product with a clear conscience, even if the quirk is easy to avoid (to destroy the lot: bulldoze, dezone, rezone; if this doesn't help, plop a park&demolish), and even if it's still much less obtrusive than the black hole bug. ...Some actual playtesting wouldn't be amiss, though.

Anyhow, thanks for reminding me to do my homework .

I have to admit that I never tried that with growables...

Time to expand that tutorial, maybe?