Benevolent Asylum - Updated 30 March 2013

[mattb325]

Back in January 2006, I batted a little piece of Sydney called the Benevolent Asylum, which Barby turned into a reward/retirement home.

I have used this little reward in almost every city I ever play; it gives a quick mayor boost when you need it early on in game play as well providing a handful of very desirable civic jobs. All in all, it is extremely handy, but because I use it so often, I am therefore conscious of how dated both the BAT and LOT has become.

During the last few weeks, I have moved over to a new computer and I found a USB stick that had a back-up of this original GMAX file (I thought I had lost it a few computer moves ago), so, I opened it up and re-worked the initial model and textures to bring it up to date. Even though I would have loved to do so, I didn't make massive changes to the model file itself as I needed to keep the dimensions and file size reasonably similar for what I had in mind.

Once I exported the new model, I opened the reader and replaced the TGI values, as well as doing the same on all of the many S3D material settings (this model was quite old and the usual TGI replacement didn't work for some reason). At any rate, the new model now assumed the exact values as the old model.

What this means, is that you can download and update the new model without bulldozing any instances in your plugins. The game will automatically show the new model, all the stats are identical to the old one: all you have to do is to over-write the files when you download them. It was a bit of extra work for me, but given that this was a reward, I decided not to run the risk of having it missing from a users' plugins.

If you are re-downloading this file, here's what you do:

* Click on the updated Benevolent Asylum file: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=251
* Download the updated package (disregard the fact that it says *Ínstall Mattb325 Benevolent Asylum* - it is no longer in an installer file)
* Unzip the file
* Locate the original file (If you left it where the installer originally put it all those years ago, it will be in .....\plugins\BSC\Mattb325\Benevolent Asylum
* Delete/over-write the original Model (Benevolent Asylum-0x5ad0e817_0xb0b0bdaf_0x3b0000.SC4Model) file at 154Kb modified in 2006 AND
* Delete/over-write the original Lot (Mattb325_Benevolent_Asylum_BSC_30d44e19.SC4Lot) file at 59KB modified in 2006

Then

* Replace the original Lot and Model files and you are good to go. Once finished, you should have (Benevolent Asylum-0x5ad0e817_0xb0b0bdaf_0x3b0000.SC4Model) file at 173KB modified in 2013 and (Mattb325_Benevolent_Asylum_BSC_30d44e19.SC4Lot) file at 61KB modified in 2013.

When you fire up the game, this is what will happen.

OLD Benevolent Asylum before the update:



Immediately after the update:


(See how the lotwork is still the same...the game just swapped out the building automatically...it also swapped out the lot textures too )

THEN, if you wish:
AFTER bulldozing and re-plopping the lot from the rewards menu



You now get the end result of the new lot and the new BAT, all without any pesky brown boxes or blank lots.

ENJOY....go get the update here:

http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=251

[sandrasim1]

I actually installed the old version yesterday only to find a new version today.      I had to laugh but thanks for the makeover.  It looks much better now.   

[BarbyW]

Nice one, Matt. I have used the original extensively too and like the new look.

[Turjan]

Oh, that's great news. I have this building in all my cities, and the replacement looks really nice. Thanks a lot!

[Jack_wilds]

THX Matt for the refresher; in time to act as a 'found' Easter egg... 

[Swordmaster]

Perfect. I already loved the previous version.


Cheers
Willy