a fourth res. zone option?

[mthdscrd]

I do not know if it is even possible, but if it was...  you see, i live in a very rural area, and the light res. zone is just too dense for me.  I live in a home that is 1x2, or maybe 2x2-but we own around 10 acres.  So maybe if there were r$ and r$$s that took up a 6x6 plot, or new farms (IA) that look like developments, taking up farm sized plots (as in 12x12 areas) but subdivided into 5 or 6 properties...
Does this make any sense?

[RippleJet]

Unfortunately the zones are fixed in the exe file. None can be added.

There's only one unused zone that Maxis made, for spaceports.
However, since there are no developer files available for it, there is no way to make use of it.

[mightygoose]

what exactly does a developer file mean?

[mthdscrd]

kool-i'll move this to the new creations thread then.  thanx.

And spaceports?  weird...lol

[RippleJet]

First of all, there are 16 predifined zone type in the Zone Manager exemplar:

- None
- R, low density
- R, medium density
- R, high density
- C, low density
- C, medium density
- C, high density
- I, low density
- I, medium density
- I, high density
- Military
- Airport
- Seaport
- Spaceport
- Landfill
- Ploppable

They have certain textures and colours associated with them (in city and regional view).
Hovering with the mouse over a lot you will see the zone type (try to hover over the army base).

What happens on these zones is largely controlled by developer exemplars.
There are several different kinds of developer exemplars:

- There's one each for each type of RCI (12 in total, these are all modfified in the CAM)
- There's one main airports developer exemplar and one developer exemplar for each separate airport
- There's one main seaports developer exemplar and one developer exemplar for each separate seaport
- There's one landfill developer exemplar
- There's one parks manager (which only determines the distress vs. funding threshold and the escape chance of animals from the zoo)

You cannot add new developer exemplars though.
E.g. there is no way to add a developer exemplar for spaceports or military
(seems like Maxis' original intention was to have them develop, but left that uncoded).

[Swamper77]

Actually, the Spaceport zone is used, by the Space Shuttle reward

-Swamper

[RippleJet]

Actually, the Spaceport zone is used, by the Space Shuttle reward

Actually, both the Spaceport and Area 5.1 are set to zone type 0x0F = Ploppable.

[j-dub]

The space zone is a problem for me, the hex decimals Area 5.1 uses, because I had accidentally made a giant commercial lot, which had 0x0F in it, and so with out realizing when I clicked on the aircrafts that were from Area 5.1 in UDI, they get stuck in that commercial lot, because of how they spawn, and will not dissapear afterwards, even after demolishing the lot. Maybe thats why they decided the spaceport zone can't be drawn due to finding that glitch.

[RippleJet]

Not sure which property you are referring to, j-dub.

The Zone Type is set in the LotConfig Exemplar's property LotConfigPropertyZoneTypes:

   0x00   None
   0x01   R Low Density
   0x02   R Medium Density
   0x03   R High Density
   0x04   C Low Density
   0x05   C Medium Density
   0x06   C High Density
   0x07   I Low Density (agriculture)
   0x08   I Medium Density
   0x09   I High Density
   0x0A   Military
   0x0B   Airport
   0x0C   Seaport
   0x0D   Spaceport
   0x0E   Landfill
   0x0F   Ploppable (all other)

A lot can have more than one of these zones set.
E.g. a residential lot growing on all densities would have 0x01, 0x02, 0x03

All ploppables (civic buildings, rewards, utilities, etc.) have the property set to 0x0F.
The army base is the only exception, having both 0x0A and 0x0F.

Using the cheat code PlaceZone you can actually zone all types, including spaceports.
However, without a developer exemplar nothing could develop on that zone...

[j-dub]

My mistake, it was a plopable building, if I recall, did have more than one of those hexs, like your talking about, but it had some sort of thing area 5.1 had, because when you placed it, vehicles like the bomberjet were availble after you placed the lot, because they spawned in UDI from that lot, not what I intended. It wouldn't be the first time though, I tried doing something with having two animated Airport tiles next to each other, and I it so happens the entire city stopped working entirely and was no longer playable anymore. All I know is something was screwed up, I got fed up, and canned it.