Using Reader to modify buildings to grow more or less commonly

[noahclem]

My searches on this have not been fruitful and I was hoping I could get some direct support from the community. Is it safe to change the properties of buildings in the reader or can it cause damage to your cities? I know it's a powerful tool so I try to use caution with it. Can I at least use it to change tilesets?

PIM-X is not an option for me at the moment because the process of it initially going through my plugins will overheat my computer.

Thanks for you time 

[SeanSC4]

I've used Reader on hundreds of occasions to change tilesets with no issues whatsoever. I also use it to change the density groups the bldg will grow in, wealth type and occupancy size. From my experience, it is mainly an issue of making sure you simply change the correct properties as a whole and make sure the properties match across the .sc4lot and .sc4desc files so that the altered bldg will grow in the city.

Your results may vary but I've found the Reader to be a very safe way to alter building properties.

[jmyers2043]

Hi Noahclem

There are a couple of ways to do this. You can change the Sim workers or residents of your building to match more closely the other buildings growing at the time or reduce that number. That is what I did to the SimGoober Steve's XXX Theater because it grew like crazy in my cities. My favorite way though is to raise the growth stage of the offending building to the next highest stage. Both of these can be changed safely using the iLive Reader.

Here's a quote from a similar question about growing frequency.

This is a quote from Prima's Strategy Guide, which usually isn't worth the paper it's written on.
However, the chapter about building development may give some additional information...





On any given day, the simulation follows a series of steps to determine where and what to develop.

1. Choose Developer Type
The simulation begins by choosing a developer type. The process is not random, as developer types with high demand are more likely to be chosen. To be eligible for selection, the developer type must have positive demand.

2. Rank by Desirability
The simulation ranks appropriately zoned tracts (R, C, or I) in order of desirability to the chosen developer type. If the chosen developer type was Cs§§, all C-zoned tracts would be ranked by their desirability to Cs§§. To qualify, a tract must have a desirability of at least 50. (My note: the size of a tract is 4×4 tiles).

3. Try to Build
When a tract is chosen, several issues arise, any of which could cause the simulator to give up on the chosen tract and try the next one on its list. These include:

Zone Compatibility
You can't build a Residential building on a Commercial lot, but a chosen tract could have among its 16 tiles more than one zone type. If nothing can be built on the tiles of the correct zone type, the tract is not developed.

Displacement of Current Residents
In SimCity 4, the development system is geared around maximizing usage of existing structures. This can mean looking to move the chosen developer type into already inhabited buildings on the selected tract before building new ones.
If a chosen tract contains an occupant of a given wealth level, the current occupants can be supplanted only if the chosen developer type is wealthier.

Road and Job Access
Every lot must have access to a Road or Street before it can be developed. Residential Sims have an additional requirement, they must be able to use those Roads to get to a job.

Reoccupy Vacated Buildings
The simulator tries to re-inhibit abandoned buildings rather than demolishing them and building something new or starting fresh in an empty lot.

Choose an Appropriately Sized Lot
Within a tract, the simulator chooses the best lot for the chosen developer type. If necessary, it will redraw the dimensions of the lot to be larger (aggregation) or smaller (subdivision). In some cases, a superceded house (or houses) will be demolished to make way for larger or smaller lots.

Choose the Building Size - Stage Limits
In this phase the stage limits come into play.
The current population dictates which building stage will be constructed. The simulator selects the largest size (ie. growth stage, my note) permitted under the stage limit. This choice is guided by the stage proportions, as the correct balance between sizes must be maintained. For example, if there are already the maximum percentage of Stage 3 houses and not enough Stage 2, a Stage 2 building will be developed.
In the case of redevelopment, an existing structure won't be demolished unless it can be replaced by a higher stage building. You cannot change a building to another building of the same stage. There is one exception, however: If the new building is to be a wealthier developer type, then demolition can occur.

Stage Caps
We have a location selected and we have a building. The only thing standing between us and development are the stage caps. If one of them trumps the selected building, a lower stage alternative must be found or the tract will be rejeceted.
Slope issues and the water and power supply are considered at this point. If the tract is permitted by the stage caps to build at the chosen stage, construction can begin.
If for example, the chosen building is a Stage 4 Residential building, the tract must have water service. If any of the applicable stage caps prevent development, the simulator moves on to the next tract on its list and we begin again.





There are a couple of open questions though...

Choose an Appropriately Sized Lot
How is this chosen? Obviously buildings larger than the tract size can grow.
Are the desirability factors in that case only checked for the selected tract (4×4)?

Choose the Building Size - Stage Limits
What determines which building is chosen that fits into the chosen lot size? Is occupancy a criterion?
If all buildings within the same stage and same lot size have roughly the same occupancy, we know that they have the same chance of growing.
Experience also shows that buildings with higher occupancies are preferred and may become weeds...

Hope this helps

- Jim

[noahclem]

Thanks a lot guys! And Jim, that quote on the inner workings of growth is very helpful--takes a lot of guess work out of editing these values.

Stupid question: where is the value for growth stage in the reader?

EDIT: Thanks SeanSC4!

[SeanSC4]

Growth Stage is in the .sc4lot file.