Probably a Dumb Question, But here goes :)

[doug_w]

The BSC No Maxis Files http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=897

I presume that when installed in the Plugins folder excludes all lots etc from the game and you will only get those from the other plugins you have.

[matias93]

Is exactly that: blocks all Maxis growables so everything that grows is custom content. You should only use it if you have enough growables for every stage, density and type, or tool find your growth stalled by the lack of adequate lots.

[mrbisonm]

Just make sure that you really have enough growables in every stage, otherwise you will get either a lot repetitions (the same lot over and over again), or blank lots.
I tried it once, never again, didn't like the repetition although I had over 90 different lots. The best is to keep Maxis and add many customs growables.

Fred

[Kitsune]

I actually found these are used best when using custom content for large suburbs - where you want repetition.

[Tyberius06]

Since 2013/2014, when  I came back to SC4 I've been using the Maxis Blocker and I love it! I think there are enough custom content around the exchanges in better quality to replace the maxis ones. The only disadvantage of using such a tool, that you easily exclude those Maxis Lots either which could be useful anyway, or nice enough, or in my case, I discovered a coulpe of nice Maxis building which would be worth to relot...

- Tyberius

[mgb204]

Whether you use such a mod is really down to your preferences, it can be used in many ways.

But do remember the base game comes with perhaps more lots that you might think. As such if you only have 90 custom lots, it might seem a lot, but that's much less variety than the Maxis lots. Not to mention, Maxis used many clever tricks to make the most of those models included with the game. So almost every building can spawn on multiple lot sizes/designs. Some even have modular components like shop fronts which can be randomly positioned. Sadly, far too few of the content creators either realised or bothered to take this approach. So the reality is that most custom content is far more repetitive when grown than the original lots. Add those together and I'd say you'd need a good 500 lots to get a nice spread of custom buildings that don't look too similar. More is always better of course.

All R/C lots are split between Density, Wealth and Growth Stages. As has been pointed out, if you don't have custom content to cover all permutations of those values, then block the Maxis files which do, it can stall development. Because the game will usually be looking for a building with a specific set of these values, to grow in a given spot. When it finds none, it could actually prevent further development altogether. Because it's not always possible to skip to building something with other values. Growth Stages are probably the most important factor here, because at all times there will be a minimum percentage of certain stages needed before higher ones can exist. So you really need a good set of varied custom content before using this type of mod. It would be no good having 500 lots, if none were growth stages 4 & 5 for example.

[Tyberius06]

Because the game will usually be looking for a building with a specific set of these values, to grow in a given spot. When it finds none, it could actually prevent further development altogether. Because it's not always possible to skip to building something with other values.

Well, it's kind of funny. In one of my cities, there is a spot, where I want to grow a 10x2 residental lot (there is 2 other in the block), and the game always split the 10x2 zone into 5 part and grows 5 Parisian Corner building next to each other, and only corner buildings can be grown on that 10x2 spot, whether there is actual corner or not. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do... On the attached picture It's on the upper right corner (black circle), where the two 10x2 residental block can be found and instead of a third one, I always get those corner buildings...

- Tyberius

[twalsh102]

The game is so dynamic and the environment is so ever changing that there are several possibilities.  Three immediately come to mind:

Desirability:  What are the wealth levels of the building you want to grow vs. the buildings that are growing?  We know that different wealth levels can have different desirability factors.  It's possible that at present that desirability makes the game want to grow a lower wealth building.

Demand:  What is your demand for whatever wealth level your desired 10x2 building is?  If demand for that wealth level is close to the capacity of your desired building, the game may decide it's more reasonable to grow smaller several smaller capacity buildings, than one building with a larger capacity.

Growth Stage:  What is the growth stage of the smaller 2x2 buildings vs. your desired 10x2 building.  It's possible that if the larger building is a later growth stage, that the game has hit limit for growing buildings of that growth stage, and won't grow any more until the the lower-growth stage buildings reach the proper ratio.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if you tried to zone for a 10x2 lot elsewhere in your city.  If your demand for that wealth-level exceeds the capacity of the 10x2 building by a good deal, that should rule out demand as a factor.  If it does grow the desired building, that would certainly rule out Demand and Growth Stage as factors. 

If it's more an issue of wanting a specific look, rather than needing the building for its residential capacity, I would just create a landmark version of the lot and plop it.  Otherwise, if the test to try growing the building elsewhere is unsuccessful, you may be left with just dezoning that area for the time being, and then going back occasionally as the environment changes (demand for that particular wealth-level moves upward, or your population growth moves you to the next growth stage) and trying to zone the 10x2 lot again.

[mgb204]

A lot of sound advice there.

Bear in mind too, the simulator wants to create as many jobs/residents as possible. So if it sees that by breaking the zone up, that will be achieved, it will do so.

Generally speaking lots outside of the regular Maxis Footprints, anything over 6x6 may be difficult to grow. The whole simulation is based on growing out, then growing up. So a high growth stage large lot is going to struggle, because it's very unlikely a lower stage lot of the same size is there to be upgraded. This is even more of a problem for higher density lots. Once the smaller buildings are there, it's technically possible that it could still upgrade to the large lot. But it would have to be an option which provided the most sims/jobs, otherwise it's unlikely to happen. Creating a series of lots with the same footprint and similar properties, but covering most of the growth stages, would really help to make their appearance far more likely. In effect you are giving the eventual lot you want an upgrade path, which it doesn't have currently.

[doug_w]

Thanks for all the great replies, much appreciated.

Lots of good advice and food for thought.

Think I will have to build up the number of plugins first before I give it a go.