Method for updating lots that require "destroy and replop"

[SC4BOY]

I'm curious if there is some way to "flag" lots for replacing. This occurs now and then when certain kinds of reworks change things in a way which requires that old lots be demolished before you can install the new lot. In some cases you only have a few so its not too hard.. (ex working seaports). In the recent cases I had (Simgoober's nice "bus stations set") it involved a lot of work and not really verifiable. I had to enter each of my city tiles, turn on the "transport" overlay, and scan the map hoping to find each instance of one of the 20 lots. I did that and hope that I did it properly, but I'll never know. I use quite a few bus stations in my cities so it was quite a job. Both the old and new lots look alike and are identical on the query, so I can't tell if I have an old one somewhere that I left out.

I was thinking that it may be possible in the future to use the "brown box" thing (or some other method) to advantage somehow .. would it be possible (possibly having a prop or something identified by the lot redesigner) that would allow the old lots to show up with brown boxes, thereby making it very easy to remove the old ones?  Just thought I'd ask.

Maybe if someone comes up with ideas, they could do a tutorial for lot designers to show them how to take advantage of this in some ordered way. Maybe by making a "remove before demolish" cleanitol file that would delete only some key property, then the user would go into his cities and find the "flagged lots" and destroy them, then finish the upgrade by installing the new stuff and redeploying in their cities.

I'm amazed at the clever ideas that come up through the joint enquiries into SC4 and its inner workings.. the game is so much more than it originally was.. maybe this is one more way to make things easier?

[Andreas]

What you can do is deleting only the model file, but not the lot and/or the desc file (which contains the building exemplar file). The game will show brown boxes then. Of course, this only works if the files are separate, otherwise you might have to edit the packaged DAT file manually with the reader and only delete the FSH and S3D files. For a lot that only uses props, you'll have to delete the S3D and FSH files, but not the prop exemplar file. Personally, when I want to remove i. e. a school that I'd like to modify, or encounter a buggy lot that screws up my budget sliders, I put up signs in my city at all places where I built the affected buildings, which makes it a lot easier to replop them later.

[SC4BOY]

What you can do is deleting ...

I knew there probably were things that could be tweaked.. good points. I was hoping that this might encourage lotters to consider an approach that is "built in" to the team's release protocol. Not many lots require demolishing (at least based on my experience), but some do. Even if the lotter put a section with instructions in the install/remove documentation for such lots, that would be nice as that person is most familiar with what is possibly or advisable on his/her lots.

Personally, when I want to remove i. e. a school that I'd like to modify, or encounter a buggy lot that screws up my budget sliders, I put up signs in my city at all places where I built the affected buildings, which makes it a lot easier to replop them later.

Finding them to put the signs on them would be pretty much the same as finding them in the first place wouldn't it? Or do you mean you put all these labels in every time you build such building? Don't you have a lot of signs? This is a good idea though to help when I do need to do the search. When I'm doing it I forget if I've already done it or if I've skipped it. I forget that I can even make signs as that is not something I normally do. Wouldn't assure I got all of them, but at least would make it a bit more ordered.

[Andreas]

Finding them to put the signs on them would be pretty much the same as finding them in the first place wouldn't it?

What I meant is that if you need to bulldoze those due the the phantom slider bug, it's easier to find the empty spots in your city afterwards if you placed a sign there - speeds up the replopping process a lot.

[SC4BOY]

Oh I see.. yes good point. I just thought of another good use for signs  .. if I have to destroy before update, I could use signs to mark where to put lots back in. Never hurts to refresh the basics.. hehe.. thanks