Lot Editor problem

[eugenelavery]

I am trying to place some offset CAL yacht on my lot so that they will appear in the sea, instead they are still appearing on land. In LE they appear to be placed exactly where the sea is, yet in game they appear somewhere different.  Can someone explain this discrepancy, I have seen plenty of other lots with offset props placed in the sea, why is it not working in this instance?

[FrankU]

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right answer but here I go:

You might take a look if these yachts are rendered offset, or that the props that you use are made offset by changing the poperties in the RKT4 entry.
Let me explain.

It is possible to render a model in such a way that the actual yacht is not there where the rectangle is. If you make a prop out of this model you see the yacht placed aside from the prop rectangle.
It is also possible to render the model in place, like almost all models are made. If you make a simple prop out of this model you will see the yacht there where the rectangle of the prop is. But you can make changes to the prop. If you change the prop into a RKT4 type you can offset the yacht by editing the RKT values in the entry.

I have started this thread about this possibility. Please read it.
There you will also read that LE does not show the offset props correctly. SC4-Pim does it correct, so you better use that.

I hope this is of any use to you.

[eugenelavery]

These props are already offset in LE.  The strange thing is that they are used in the Benoit's Mediterranean Marina lots and they appear in the right place in LE with those lots. Perhaps he used another program to place them on the lot?

I am not sure I have enough expertise in SC4PIM yet, I only use it to convert buildings to props at this stage.

[FrankU]

Maybe you have more than one instance of the props in your plugins? Differently modded props with identical IID's? In that case I advise you to throw out all except one version, because it might lead to Prop Pox or other disasters.

[eugenelavery]

Ok, so I did some more testing.  Using one of Benoit's Mediterranean Marina lots, which use these offset boats, I duplicated one of the CAL yacht props and placed it on the lot.  Yet again it appeared in a different place in-game.  Yet all the other versions of the prop on the lot appeared in exactly the same place. Very confusing.

[eugenelavery]

So I guess my next question is how do I make an offset prop?

[Agathorn]

Hello,
I didn't know if i started an other topic but i have also a problem with the LE

Whene i opend a lot, say Pz 1x1 Plaza1 and want to replace the building i got a list of everything exept buildings. I downloaded this file
Using the Rush Hour Buildings and Props from this page: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?page=9 and unzipt it into the plugin folder.
This is what i get:










As you can see there is no building at all.

Can someone tell me what i did wrong?

Greeting Agathorn

[NCGAIO]

So I guess my next question is how do I make an offset prop?

Where is this Benoit's Mediterranean Marina lots?


Either way you are assuming that these prop's are "off set" or are you sure? They may simply have been moved on the shaft and appear outside the bounding box.


The prop moved on the shaft will stop hanging over the water








Agathorn - 


The lot is very small 1x1, increase the lot and you will see the options!

[Sunset_baby]

Where is this Benoit's Mediterranean Marina lots?

Check here 

[eugenelavery]

The lots are labeled as offset, and are offset by varying amounts. The problem is not that they aren't offsetting, it is that they are offsetting in a completely different direction from what they appear in LE.

[FrankU]

So I pointed you to the thread where I wrote about stupid LE behaviour on offset props. Might this be the clue to your problem? Or did you find something different?

[eugenelavery]

That thread certainly might explain what is happening. I don't have the knowledge to fix the situation however, or to create a new offset prop from the original that offsets correctly.

[vortext]

That thread certainly might explain what is happening. I don't have the knowledge to fix the situation however, or to create a new offset prop from the original that offsets correctly.

Did you already check the lot in the SC4PIM to see if it displays the offset props correctly? If not, I'd certainly do so. And it's better than Maxis' LE anyway.   

Otherwise, you may want to look into Cogeo's model tweaker to offset the original models yourself which sounds like a hassle but actually is quite easy to do.

[eugenelavery]

What exactly do I do in SC4PIM to check if it is offset correctly? My only now how with that program is how to change buildings into props.

[vortext]

Erm, what about opening it in LE and see where the boats are?!   

The lot is located under the 'lots' tree in the left hand panel so go there first of all: select the lot in the upper right panel. Finally in the panel below, right-click and choose 'Lot Editor'. Two new windows come to the front: the LotPreview and the LE tools.

Also, upon start-up make sure to check the appropriate folders and more importantly, uncheck the default program file folders. By the looks of it you don't have any Maxis' stuff on this lot and unchecking those folders makes quite the difference in loading time.

[NCGAIO]

So I pointed you to the thread where I wrote about stupid LE behaviour on offset props. Might this be the clue to your problem? Or did you find something different?

In fact there is an explanation for what happens with the use of batch editor for "offsetting props" using RKT4 in this case but I think it would be better put it in his thread already open than open another with the same topic...  If you have no objection of course!   (Since the thread is 2011)

[eugenelavery]

Ok, so I have been fiddling around with the model tweaker.  What value do I change to get the yachts to be offset.  I altered one value and found the yacht to be floating in mid-air. I have been using the 'Move' tool, is that correct?

[eugenelavery]

Problem solved I think.  I have offset the yachts myself and achieved the following:




The placement isn't perfect but that is easy to fix.

[NCGAIO]

Maybe this will help....





note: axes valid only for model tweaker.

[eugenelavery]

This is what I have achieved so far