Props/LE

[annabellelin]

I have waded through reams of LE posts on ST and either I am not searching right or the Q&A is too technical, so since you have been so kind to answer before I thought I would try again.  I have learned from here to change in the SCTool the ability of rewards to be reused, (My God, the power!), but now I would like to do something else.  This is for my own sandbox use, not for anyone else.  When I put props in my LE lots, such as CP Valley Oak Evergreen, or Peg's Sidewalk Fall Tree, they look wonderful.  I save them as Save As, and they dutifully show up in the game with most of the props I've used, but not all of them.  I realize that they are probably made to show up as the game runs, but since I very seldom get as far as making the game run because I like to make the scenery and villages, I would like to know how to change the props so they would show up without the game running.  Specifically it seems to be the trees and bushes from certain creators that don't show up.  I've looked in the reader and tried changing a few values, but nothing happened so I changed them back again.  Is there any value I could change that would make the props show up on my lots when I just plop them in the game in the beginning without it running?

Thanks.

[BarbyW]

Some of the trees are seasonal so if you only place the fall version it will only show up in the fall. Also some of them dont' show up as soon as you plop them and have to wait for the correct season before they start to show.

[annabellelin]

I guessed that, but I don't want to run the game, I just want to design.  In other words I want to keep cheating.     Any way to change the time thingy in the reader so it will show fall all the time?

[BarbyW]

Hmmm you would need to look for the properties that define when it shows. It is late here so I can't go and look but there are Simulator Date Start, Simulator Date Duration and Simulator Date Interval, I think.

[jeronij]

It would be easier to make a new prop from the seasonal model, if it is posible 

[annabellelin]

Jeronij & Barby, (I love your props by the way, and use them often).  But make a prop?     I can barely turn on the computer, even with my little pink pills.  I have been using the reader about a week, only because of help I received here.  My posts must seem like I know what I'm talking about but I really don't.  All I can do is use other people's wonderful creations to make lots.  Then I can pretend I made them!  Hence the need for cheating trees. 

[annabellelin]

Guess what I did!?!  I went into the reader and changed the CP_Seas_WideOak_Fall Simulator Date Interval to the Max Value: 0x21474836, the same max value in the Simulator Date Interval Duration, and in the Simulator Date Start to the Max Value 127, aka BarbyW's advice.  It came up in the game, and the game was not running.  Now, can you tell me what I did?  Will it work for everybody's trees and bushes?  Do I have to change all three values?  Or was it just dumb luck & too many pills? 

[Pat]

ooooh Annabell you are such a riot and its great to see you over here too... my guess even though i dont know to much but i think you hit it right on the head you would have to repeat the process for each and every item you want to change for your personal use - pat

[jeronij]

  , so you can deal with the reader and change properties, and you can not create a prop from an existing model    ?¿   ... 

Move the file containing the model ( usually a .SC4Model or a .dat file) to your plugins folder (not in a subfolder). Start the Plugin Manager. Select the model from the models list and move it to the prop option in the list on the left. Change (or not) the properties in the window that shows up, and accept. You have a new standard prop for this model ( and you still keep the original, just in case it is used in other lots..).

However, I am glad to see that you got this matter solved 

[annabellelin]

Ok.  You want to know for sure how dumb I am.  Is the Plugin Manager a separate program?  Where? 

[vester]

You find it at simcity.com

If I remember right, this one comes in a packages together with the BAT.

[jeronij]

Ok.  You want to know for sure how dumb I am.  

Oh, no please  ¡¡¡, it is only that the Reader is a really complex tool, compared to the Plugin Manager that Maxis released, and if you are able to deal with Reader, for sure you can deal with the Plugin Manager 

[annabellelin]

I looked at SimCity.  Under Plug-in Manager.  Then I read some posts that seemed to call it PIM so I tried that.  It gave me a bus stop with no link.  And I have no idea what the BAT is.  I have been very ill for months and am only now becoming better.  And a lot of things do not 'take' as well as they should, though the pills make me not care at all!     I'm just learning the difference between LEX, PLEX, & STEX.  Because I have it written down.  So maybe it's best that I just stick with changing numbers.  That seems easier somehow.

[annabellelin]

   I just happened to  read what was on the screen when I logged on this time  and guess what?  There was a lovely sticky note from BarbyW about lots and making your own with other's props, where to find prop manager, and all sorts of things that made no sense at all.  But enough to know that if I ever progress beyond the sandbox/changing numbers level, RDM & Sticky Notes will help!  I am dutifully printing them out and putting them in my new big notebook, which is growing fatter and fatter and fatter.  I ripped out all the important stuff I had written down from years ago before I was ill and put that in pockets, and am collecting all new info. for when I get better.  And I have all my discs of neat stuff too, and my family says it's a good thing that all of the machines are gone from around the bed now because there's no room for them!  They ask, "How does one little game generate so much information?"  I just smile and say it's all dependencies.  They think I'm mad anyway.   

[Pat]

  Hehehehehe annabell you are we are allllllllll mad lol
im glad that you are making progress at least to say as getting
all your ducks in a row - pat

[annabellelin]

I have now learned LE to a degree, have changed the value of hundreds of trees and bushes, and have changed the Conditional Value of Rewards, and have learned how to put multiple buildings on a lot.  (Don't anybody ask about that.)  I know I have read somewhere in my journeys about the base values of things, for instance the value that would make a building R$ or R$$ or whatever, but I can't seem to find it now.  I want to change the status of some buildings, for instance residence value and how quickly it becomes derelict.  What I would really like to do is make the building not need people at all, just sit there and look pretty.     But I would imagine the game wouldn't allow me to do that, so I would like it to last, in game time, forever.  Does anyone know where I would find the base values of things?

[Pat]

Hey Annabellelin,
 
  well actualy you can make it just be a pretty building by working with landmark lots only and changing them with the props and what nots... But far as with properties im still learning that myself soo i would love to see what someone else comes up with...

[xxdita]

I've found that the best way to figure out the info you are looking for in Reader is to open up a lot that has the values you want for your lot. I think you would need to change the wealth of the lot, 0x01 for low wealth, 0x02 for mid, and 0x03 for high wealth. But then you would also need to change the value for Capacity Satisfied. R$ is 0x00001010 R$$ is 0x00001020 and R$$$ is 0x00001030. CO$$ is 0x00003320 CO$$$ is 0x00003330. CS$ is 0x00003110 CS$$ is 0x00003120 CS$$$ is 0x00003130. IR is 0x00004100 ID is 0x00004200 IM is 0x00004300 and IHT is 0x00004400.
Hope these help you.