Offset a building

[Jonathan]

Which Exemplar property, and Rep do you change to move a building? And is it possible to move a buildng outside a lot or does it have to be a prop?
Thanks,
Jonathan

[BarbyW]

You cannot move a building outside a lot without changing its Occupant Size and making one that way can cause immortal lots. It is never wise to put a building on a lot with the exactly the same size as the Occupant Size either for the same reason - ie a 16x16 building on a 1 tile lot.

[Jonathan]

Ok, thanks Barby,

Sorry this is a probably really basci question, how do I make a building into a prop so that it can overhang?

Jonathan

[Blue Lightning]

Use the PIM and drag the model (or I think possibly the DESC) into the Prop section. Then apply the changes.

Vince

[sithlrd98]

Have you tried Coegos new tool? http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7553.msg249742#msg249742 It will allow you to "move" a S3D to make it centered/offset/whatever. Of course you still would need to change the IIDs to prevent conflicts with the existing building/prop. Then you can then change it to a prop.

Jayson

[RippleJet]

I'm going to take a chance on claiming the opposite here...
properly made, it is advisable to make the building overhang, and not make it a prop first...

The reason for this is above all one important thing...
when bulldozing a building in the game, you cannot select it by pointing your mouse on a prop.

Thus, in order to bulldoze a lot where the building itself is a prop, you'd have to find the lot on street level
(which might be difficult among a forest of skyscrapers), and bulldoze the lot, instead of the building.

This was also how I made all diagonal, overhanging buildings that Prepo has batted:

1. Find the model of the building and place it in your plugins folder.
2. If you want the building to be offset, use Cogeo's program to offset the model first.
3. Open Maxis PluginManager (or Wouanagaine's PIM-X) and drag that model to whatever building descriptor you want it to be.
4. Close Maxis PIM and open the building descriptor (SC4Desc file) in Reader (or keep editing it in PIM-X).
5. If you've got PIM-X, make all filling degree changes now, before continuing.
6. Change the Occupant Size property so that the width (X) and depth (Z) are small values, e.g. 1 m × 1 m and save the building exemplar.
7. Now, use this building in LotEditor (or create a new lot with it in PIM-X).
8. The bounding box in LE will now be created based on the smaller Occupant Size values, and you can safely move the building to the edge of the lot, and thus have it visually overhanging the lot.

The important thing here is the order you're doing things...
Never change the Occupant Size of a building that has already been used on a lot.
Only change the Occupant Size of a newly created, unused SC4Desc file.

Above all, never, ever increase the Occupant Size of any building exemplar already in use.
That would certainly trigger the Immortal Lot Syndrome.

[sithlrd98]

Here's a totally related/non related question:
If I wanted to create an offset building/prop , and still want to keep the original , how can I correctly(not the way I keep doing ) change the IIDs so that I can make a .desc to get it in-game? I have made a plane in G-max/BAT , then I have changed the Group and instance IDs of the model that I tweaked in SC4MDT to what the plane I created. I can check the S3Ds in reader and Datgen with everything looking fine. Plugin manager can't see it, but PIM-X can.Problem is , now it is untextured and won't allow me to create a .desc to actually lot it. What am I doing wrong?

Jayson

[RippleJet]

When assigning a new TGI address to a copied model,
I'd recommend only to give new Group ID's to all S3D and FSH files included.
Normally I would just add a digit or two to the new model.

When changing the address of the FSH file, the model in Reader won't display them until you've saved the file, closed Reader and reopened it.

[sithlrd98]

OK , I was kinda afraid to mess with the FSH files as I know how fussy reader can be if it thinks it is missing them! Thanks yet again!

Jayson

[Swamper77]

When changing the address of the FSH file, the model in Reader won't display them until you've saved the file, closed Reader and reopened it.

You don't need to close the whole program. You just need to close the file you're working with and then reopen it.

-Jan