Custom farms, some things I would like to know.

[RippleJet]

Do I add two values to the time of day, and set one of them to the start time and one to the end?

Yes. Note that these are decimal 24-hour clock values. Thus, e.g. 10:15 pm would be 22.25

For the random chance, the default value is 0x64. Since I don't know hexadecimal, can I change the data type to Float32 and simply enter '5' to give a 5% chance to appear?

No, never change the data type. The game always expects each property to be of one, and only one, format.
If you change the format to Float32, then the data will be saved in a different way and will not be read correctly.

For all data types, except SInt64 and UInt64, you can enter decimal values in Reader though, and they will automatically show up as hex.

You could also use the MS Calculator to convert between decimal and hexadecimal presentation.
Make sure you have it in advanced format, not standard. Then press F5 for hex and F6 for decimal.

Btw, 0x64 = 100

[joelyboy911]

Ah. Okay.

Btw, 0x64 = 100

Yeah, I kinda figured it would be.

One more thing; is it possible to somehow quickly assign the exact same .desc to multiple models. I don't know if you have examined jestarr's livestock, but there are several types of cows and one type of sheep on 6 different angles, and I just want to know if there is a quicker way.

Last thing for today; can lots have a transparent base texture (I understand this can be done in the Reader - though I haven't tried to do it yet) and a visible overlay? I plan to use semitransparent overlays with a grassy texture (I have made these already) that still show through some of the terrain.

Thank you so much RippleJet. You explain everything so well, and so quickly too. I can't thank you enough.

[RippleJet]

One more thing; is it possible to somehow quickly assign the exact same .desc to multiple models.

No, one prop exemplar cannot reference more than one model (unless it's a timed prop, which can reference two models, state 0 and state 1).
The proper way would be to create several prop exemplars (SC4Desc files) and give them all the same Prop Family ID.

Jestarr already did add his cows into families:

• 0x51500028 - Cows Straight
• 0x51500029 - Cows 11.25° Left
• 0x5150002A - Cows 11.25° Right
• 0x5150002B - Cows 22.5° Left
• 0x5150002C - Cows 22.5° Right
• 0x5150002D - Cows 45°

If you want them all to be in the same family, together with the sheep, then you would have to create your own prop exemplars for all of these.
This would also require that you reserve your own Prop Family Range.

You could of course also use the Alternative to Prop Families, as posted by smoncrie.

In your case, make the lot in LE using Jestarr's prop family 0x51500028.
Then open the LotConfiguration exemplar in Reader and add the other ID's as new reps to the end of the prop line that now has 0x51500028 as the 13th rep.
Add the following ID's as reps 14-24 (after the 13th one, which would still be 0x51500028):
0x51500029, 0x5150002A, 0x5150002B, 0x5150002C, 0x5150002D, 0x35C9A675, 0xD5C9A695, 0x35C9A6AE, 0x35C9A6C8, 0x55C9A6E8, 0x35C9A701

Last thing for today; can lots have a transparent base texture (I understand this can be done in the Reader - though I haven't tried to do it yet) and a visible overlay? I plan to use semitransparent overlays with a grassy texture (I have made these already) that still show through some of the terrain.

Yes, as long as you're aware about the fact that it will trigger the water bug.

[joelyboy911]

What I was meaning was, Is there a way to quickly assign identical properties to many models, by somehow copying and pasting the properties in reader, or otherwise. I will explore tomorrow (It is late at night here), and try to learn more about the reader in general by experimentation. You will be glad to know that your teachings have (finally - my fault) led to the creation of something worthwhile; today I created my first working farm, a forest which I programmed to grow only on hillsides, using the Pegasus pines. I am also in the process of making more types of PEG pine forests and  some with stumps which came in a pack from somewhere or other. I got the first one to grow, and it looked superb, I did it by a 1x1 lot with the same props as the field, which had an invisible building I generated using BAT. I will show pictures soon. I have also BATted some farm sheds and a rotary milking shed.

[RippleJet]

What I was meaning was, Is there a way to quickly assign identical properties to many models, by somehow copying and pasting the properties in reader, or otherwise.

You can always copy properties in Reader from one exemplar to another.
However, since the TGI would have to be manually generated for each new prop you make, I would still think it would be faster to create each prop exemplar separately in PIM.

For the hover query to function for props you should add a User Visible Name Key (with the values 0x0,0x0,0x0 if Query as Main Building is true) to the prop exemplar though, and that UVNK could easily be copied in Reader from one exemplar to all the others.

[joelyboy911]

Ah yes, I knew I would have to create the descriptors in PIM, but if I can copy the properties to each exemplar, I don't have to assign so many properties manually, if you see what I mean. It seems that very soon I will have this project in the game, my dairy farms will run smoothly and I shall look upon my creation with joy.

Again, I thank you RippleJet.

[RippleJet]

but if I can copy the properties to each exemplar, I don't have to assign so many properties manually, if you see what I mean.

Certainly!
Just be careful as Reader doesn't replace already existing properties by the new ones you copy.
In that case you will have to manually delete the old properties as well. Don't leave duplicates of the same property!

[joelyboy911]

Ok. I was testing out my forestry farms using peg's pines, and this happened:



There are 5 types of farms, and according to the reader all have the corect farm lots assigned. Over these 5 medium city tiles, I ran the simulation for a while, and these two farms grew, then development ceased. I had assigned growth stages in the reader to have one at stage 1 two at stage 2 and two at stage 3. The ones seen here are the two set at stage two. If it will help I can attach the lot files and someone can take a look at what I may have done wrong.

[RippleJet]

Ok. I was testing out my forestry farms using peg's pines, and this happened:

I think you'd better explain what happened...
Difficult to know if something is wrong in that picture, since I don't know what there is supposed to be...

There are 5 types of farms, and according to the reader all have the corect farm lots assigned. Over these 5 medium city tiles, I ran the simulation for a while, and these two farms grew, then development ceased. I had assigned growth stages in the reader to have one at stage 1 two at stage 2 and two at stage 3.

Did you want them to upgrade?
In that case you need to know that I-R is the only RCI type that does not upgrade.
A farm will stay the same till you bulldoze it. It will never upgrade by itself.

[joelyboy911]

I think I have arrived at the cause of the issue: Could this be caused by the game being ready for growth stage two, but no stage two lots being present? It seems I made an error in modifying the lots. I will go and play around some more now, and try to fix that up.

[jmyers2043]

I take it that you are simply trying to test your new timber farms to see if they grow and function properly?

BTW - Pop on over to my GRVII threads. I've done some forestry farming and my results can be seen there. 

This how I test all my farms.

I first make the farm properly by using the PIM to create a farm. Then the lot editor to create the farm lot. I'll make use of iLives reader so I can choose specific fields and and make other changes such as query sounds. I'll insure that the growth stage of my farm is set to stage 1 (use the iLives reader) then move on to phase 2 which is my test city. 

My test city is just that. A new city with bare bones plugin in a new never been played before region. I have a farm test city that is flat and another farm test city with rolling hills. The cities RCI zones are all in place, water, power etc. I'll make sure that no other farms are loaded and also make sure that the 'prevent farms mod' IS loaded so that no maxis farms will grow. In your case you will have to insure that the proper dependencies are also loaded e.g. Peg's trees etc. . . . All I need to do is click 'go'.

I will know that something is wrong if my farm does not grow by the bunches within the first year. I'll know that I've missed something if it doesn't query right, if the fields don't query right, if the fields are totally wrong etc. . . I'll snap some in game picutres for future use if every thing looks good. Exit without saving as I want my test city to be ready for my next experiment.

All that remains is to change the farms stage growth to the one you desire. End of story because if it grows correctly as a stage 1, it will grow correctly as a stage 2 - keeping in mind the probability of growth of a farm in a real game has some variables.

Hope this helps.

[joelyboy911]

Well, I sort of already did that, but they grew nicely, then stopped. I would have liked the entire city to be covered in pine forests, but that hit the above snag along the way somewhere. I will try going back and setting them all as growth stage one, but I don't think this will work since i had some stage 1,2 and 3 and none of them grew after the amount in my region view shows, everything stopped. I am running on a fairly slow computer, but in two of those tiles, residential development continued correctly, and there was plenty of I-Ag demand.

[jmyers2043]

This is the typical farm growth scenario. You'll start your first city in your first region. A good number of stage 1 farms will grow. As you add industry, commercial districts and population you will get a few stage 2 farms. As you continue to develop and almost before you know what has happened your region or city will favor stage 3 farm lots. About 80% chance that a stage 3 farm will grow and only 10% for stage 1 and 2.

Those interested in variety typically fill their plugins with stage 3 farms. The CAM modified the way farms grow. At the very beginning you'll have an equal chance that all three stages will grow from the onset plus it features other farm stages for specialty farming.

In your case, I would make the forestry lots stage 1. Remove all other farms and let your tree farms grow where you wish. Stop the game and save when you are happy with the forests. Restart the game with normal farms if that's your goal.

I caution you not to change the stage growth of the forestry lots once they've grown. A change in stage growth of a farm lot will result in a no water zot when you return to your city. It will turn crispy black and there is nothing that I've discovered I can do to bring a farm back to life in that scenario. An occupational hazard when one tinkers with farms as much as I do. . .


Good Luck.

Jim Myers

[joelyboy911]

I might just go back, obliterate those tiles and start with all the farms at stage one. I recall now, the initial problem I had which was this: No farms grew. The solution to this was that all the farms were set at stage 3 (A default value). I changed them all to 1, then this happened, so I tried changing some back to 2 and 3. I will try starting fresh. There aren't any other properties that are critical that I should know about?

[joelyboy911]

I think I may have found the cause of my woes. Whilst reading the inCAMpatible mods thread I found something about the pedriana plant killer mod. It said something about it affecting farms growth and I vaguely remembered installing it. This could perhaps have been the cause of none of my forests growing correctly. Having said that I have decided to start over on my forestry farms using peg's pines, because they were too dense and not especially aesthetically pleasing. I am also on the verge of getting the dairy farms up and running too, but I need to know how people get lots bigger than the 6x6 allowed by LE, and whether or not lots of this size will grow (I will only have my farms and a select few other custom ones available for growth). I need to know since I built a milking shed in BAT and it was too big to fit on the lot. Perhaps I should re-evaluate its size!

[RippleJet]

I need to know how people get lots bigger than the 6x6 allowed by LE

Making growable lots larger than 6x6 - Megalots by Barby

[joelyboy911]

This is how I modded a prop exemplar, for the cows I wanted to have appear on my farm fields. I wanted to have 15% of them appear. Can anyone point out anything I may have done wrong.



The problem is that all of the cows appear. The 'Random Chance' property appears to be having no effect.

[SimGoober]

Ok, this one I know (I hope!).  There is one more piece of advanced modding to make this work.  Right now the prop is set as "Resource Key Type 1". Basically means this is a "normal" prop, and should appear at all times.  Need to change it to "Resource Key Type 4", but it's not quite that simple. Resource Key Type 4 has 8 reps in it, Type 3 has three.  Make it have 8 reps : 0,0,0,0,0x27812821,0x5ad0e817,0x954d715a,0x00030000

The first rep tells it if it is on or off, 0 or 1. If the 0 doesn't work, change it to 1.  I get those backwards sometimes. The last four are the name value of the Resource Type 1, and the TGI of the prop you are using.

[RippleJet]

For more detailed information about RKT4, read smoncrie's Making Seasonal/Timed Props.

[joelyboy911]

Thanks for the help, and pointing me at the tutorials. But Goober, the tutorial says 1,0,0 etc, so I guess you got them mixed up this time.

I see now I should look for tutorials myself...

Hopefully my farms will be back on track, and I plan to use these techniques on the modding of my newest plane props, I plan on having an 80% chance so that each day 20% of the gates at the airport will be empty (this is not realistic really, but...) but they will be a different 20%. Also so that ones in prop families will change as well. I will need to learn more about RKT4 and its repercussions and interactions with prop families. I do have one specific question though: Is there a way to put 2 props in a family, and have one of them appear a specific amount more often. I have a specific scenario, where I want one of the props to appear roughly 90 percent of the time, and the other only 10.

Thanks again, Goober and Tage.