Maxis Lot Editing

[Lowkee33]

I am using Lot Editor and ILivesReader to edit Maxis Buildings.  I also have a Maxis Blocker Mod.  In a trial run I noticed that the blocker was blocking my Maxis edits.  What is the line of modding that will make these buildings lose there "Maxis" status?

[Andreas]

There are two types of Maxis blockers around, one that includes a copy of the lot exemplar files with the stage set to zero (or some other invalid value), and one that includes modified building exemplar files which removes the tileset association (or maybe some other method). If you want to edit the Maxis lots, the LE basically creates just another copy of the lots, and depending of what file is loaded last, either the blocker or your new lots are being used in the game. If you want to make your lots completely independent of a Maxis blocker, you need to save them via "Save as..." and give them a new name. They will get a new ID that isn't covered by a blocker that is lot exemplar file-based. For the building exemplar-file based blockers, you will have to replace the building on the lot with a non-Maxis one (or a copy of a Maxis building that was given a new ID).

[Lowkee33]

Thanks.  I have followed your directions with giving them a new Save As... name.  That did not work, so I guess I have a building exemplar blocker.  It is the BSC Blocker.  I will look into changing the ID.  I know that the deadwood oil field has a maxis building that gets passed this blocker.

[Lowkee33]

Well, I did some exploring and found that the BSC Blocker works by making the maxis buildings stage 255.  It appears that they have added a bunch of new configurations of buildings too (A post-ID1-blocker shows more possible buildings in the Lot Editor than a pre-blocker LE).  Now I use the LE to find models that I want to grow, and then set them to a proper stage in the Reader.  Thanks to the BSC team for making this mod.

[Lowkee33]

More tinkering has led me down this path.  The first thing I was doing was making new plugins that would overide the bsc blocker by making certain buildings the proper stage.  I would then use the pluin manager to use/not use those buildings depending on what I wanted.  At first this seemed okay, because I did not mind giving things thewater and fire protection they would need once the game thought they were stage 255 again.
    When I started doing this to residential I decided there needed to be a better way.  I demand control, and therefore block every maxis building (not because I dont like some of them).  To control the custom buildings I change their zoning type.  For instance, a pesky 1x1 ID is set to high density, so that if I do want it I will just zone high density.  This may cause problems later, and so I have started to change things to military zone.  Does doing this have any adverse effects on the game?   

[Indisguise]

another thing you can do to control what other custom lots will grow, is to assign them to tile sets when playing. This if you choose the proper tile set and only play on it, only the buildings set to the tileset your using will grow.


Also another way is to have the all the custom lots drag and drop file tree, when playing mark the cities by name with the custom tile set your using for the city, eg NA file folder would be North American only put in buildings you would consider NA types. EU would be european. You can make up any sort of tree to your own liking.  Doing this you can make allsorts of custom tile sets for different types of setting, depending on the region or city your playing. With the added benifet of splitiing up you custom content so you have less in your plugins folder, which would speed up your game and also stop buiklding growing beside each other that would just look odd in the same city. eg pokies W2W building growing next to a Walmart.

If you do go the later idea make sure you set up your plugins folder correctly so the dependancies are with the correct tile set or better, have the dependicies elsewhere in your plugins fiolder and never move them out.

[MOREOPTIONS]

have any of you had trouble using the lot edit.   I open my lot edit and it hangs..  I tryed the -f thing and also tryed the -d:soft  but to no avail. have you any idea what i must do?  my sc4d+ is in foloder C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe uk.  I don't know if that would make any diff or not.  but this program will simply not go... i have money other programs that work with sc4d but nothing is stable enough to use...  I don't know why....  if any one has answer's am up for ideas and suggestions.  thank you!  God Bless


Am trying to import new objects into lot edit.. has anyone been able to do that?  if so, what's the trick?

[catty]

have any of you had trouble using the lot edit.   I open my lot edit and it hangs..  I tryed the -f thing and also tryed the -d:soft  but to no avail. ...

that happens to me if I forget and try opening the LOT editor with all my plugins, I've learnt to have a separate plugin folder (with only a few things in it) that I swop over whenever I want to use the LOT editor, also if you just leave it it will eventually open, it just takes it a very long time with the more plugins you have in your plugins folder

[WC_EEND]

Yeah, I know that from experience. I always load it with all the plugins

[Lowkee33]

LE does take a while to open.  If open it, then go to the store and it is still loading, then I would suggest finding help in other threads.  You cant make a fresh lot in the LE.  You can "save as" and get something new, but it will still have the traits of what you first loaded.  I recently found the Blam Blank  on the STEX and wonders are beginning to take shape.

http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=17996

They included a good readme with the file.  You will want The Maxis LE and PIM as well as Ilives Reader and the BSC PIM to make a fresh lot.  (That may not be the most effective use of programs, but it makes the things I want happen)   

[BarbyW]

You would be much better using SC4PIM to make proper buildings from modela you wish to use. the BLAM blank will give you skewed statistics that could imbalance your cities.

[Lowkee33]

Well, I dont know much about lot creation/editing.  I will look into using the PIM better.  My problem has been that I have had trouble getting lots to grow after I have moved the building in the lot editor.  I dont like the sound of skewed statistics though.  How does the Blank do that?  It seems to me that a problem like that would start when I use the Maxis PluginManager to give traits to a .SC4Desc

Maybe my frustration lies in the fact that my plugins are from 2007?  Would I have more freedom editing downloads if they were more recent?  BTW, after using a flower bed that fit oh so nicely around a house I almost put a specifically named human prop in there too.

[MOREOPTIONS]

as this is my 1st attempting of BAT-ing, i will try all options and see what works good for me as i have so many programs to try from...  so well see what happens. God Bless. and thank you for all your help

[threestooges]

I've never used the BLAM blank before, so this is mostly speculation on my part, but there are many properties to a given lot. The Maxis PIM will make a building for a given lot, but it will only apply certain properties. If a lot has properties associated with it that aren't changed by the new building, they will remain as they were before, which can create unintended side effects. Thus, if you try to make an industrial lot with a residential base, there will be stats in there that aren't needed, wanted, or are just off from where they should be by default. Additionally, as you've noticed, for a building to appear as an option in the LE it needs to be associated with that particular lot type. So in order to get buildings to show up for that lot, it will have to be of that lot type. In such a case, one size does not fit all.

You can change things later in the Reader, but sometimes it's a case of knowing what you're looking for and what to make of it. I'll second Barby's recommendation to look into the SC4PIM. While it's not recommended in the least to start it with a full plugin folder (like you can get away with on the Maxis PIM or LE) it's a powerful and intuitive system that has produced some good results for me when I have used it.

Basically, if you're going to edit lots in the LE, start with a lot type you want to end up with (Want a R$ house? Start with an R$ lot.). Recency of downloads shouldn't matter much, but the important thing to remember is that each lot is different and one size does not fit all when starting out, which is why the BLAM blank is discouraged.

The SC4PIM and related programs are worth looking into. Best of luck with your lotting.

[Lowkee33]

This skewed statistics thing has me worried, but I don't quite understand how the BB would do this.  I opened it with the reader (something I should have done before now) and I don't see anything there.  I would like to explain my process for a Library and a residence that I made

   -Library
-Made a folder (not in plugins) called library, then copy/paste the blank into that folder, and rename it Library
-After copy/pasting that file in the mydocs/plugin I opened Maxis PIM and dragged the blank on to the library section
-This is when statistics can go wrong.  I used the maxis library as a template to make the .desc
-I then opened this .desc in the BSC (?) PIM and made a plopable lot.
-Proceded to maxis lot editor to make it pretty.
-It is there in game at the cost I made, but I changed the EQ boost to something that very slowly increases EQ (.9 I believe)

   -Residence
-Same as before except I called the BB LKR$$1 and dragged it to the R$$ part of Maxis PIM
-I was a little quick with the stats, but 12$$ live there or 15$, and I changed the fire stage up a notch (I also changed the exemplar name to 1LKR$$1 so I can remember the stats easier)
-Opening it in BSC PIM I made a growable lot 3x3 at stage one
-LE = Pretty, grows proper, proper amount of residence/commuters

The problems that I can think of is the file names, which have similar numbers.  Or that soon I will be making duplicate IDs.

Also, I noticed a thread about CAM lots and crime.  The thread was old...,  I am planning large lots (3x15, 10x10) and am wondering if they will have the same problem.  Was this problem solved?  What if one of the properties of these lots was that, although a R, it has its own policing?

Thanks again.  If there are other threads that relate to this I would love to know.