Tandini's Treasure Box

[Tandini]

Hi,


until short, I didn't want to LOT my own, but because of more and more ideas and a lack of custom contet to somehow realize them, I gave up to obstain from LE ...
So I installed the Maxis Lot Editor, ILives Reader, SC4Pim and SC4Tool.


1st question: Do I need something else?




The first project I started to work on are 'Hillside Plazas'.


In my RP "A Journey Through Finland" I placed Kazuki's Red Brick Plaza's and Buddybud's Sunken Rural Highway Walls:






- but I would like a more Mediterranean flair.




So, this is what I managed so far using xannepan's Quais de Seine walls (to whom I want to direkt my special credits).


The walls will come in two base flavours:


TD_MED_Walls ...





(from left to right: 2x1_Lamp_2xCypress, 1x1_Cypress, 1x1_Lamp, 1x1_Cypress, 2x1_Lamp_2xCypress, 1x3_Dirt_Lamp_2xCypress_Ladder)


... and TD_Walls





(from left to right: 2x1_Lamp_2xCypress, 1x1_Lamp, 3x1_Lamp_2xCypress_Vines, 1x1_Lamp, 1x1_Cypress, 2x1_Lamp_2xCypress)


So far only straight walls exist, but I want to extend the plazas with left & right corners, smooth corners and diagonals. I'm also thinking of pieces with stairs.


2nd question: I would like to make the base texture kompatible to Paeng's Texture Mod. How do I do that? Is there a suitable tutorial?


3rd question: As you see in the center of the lower picture, the overlaying vines prop interferes ugly (I understand, that it is made for another purpose).
I thought of two possible solutions:
1st the rapid (but maybe dirt one) lowering the vertical position of the prop - but in Maxis LE I couldn't lower it below the base texture   Any idea how to do that?
2nd to extract the corresponding FSH's, edit them leaving only the vines on transparent background and make new props, having to learn how to do that...
Of course I would prefer using vines props, thinking of a prop family.


Any help very much appreciated! And of course any suggestions for improvement...