Creating Ploppable Residential Buildings

[bsteckler]

I'm getting back into the game and the community after a few years, and I've started working on a region that I eventually hope to showcase. I've recently downloaded Marcszar's Baltimore Rowhouses, and I'm finding that they are very difficult to grow and keep around in areas large enough to make realistic rowhouse neighborhoods. I want to make a mod that allows me to plop these buildings as well as grow them.

Before anyone says anything, I know that there are issues with creating and caring for ploppable residential lots. However, I have three of them that I've managed to keep going for at least five game years in testing, so I feel that my cities have the demand and employment base to support them. One of these is Andisart's One21 Apartment Tower, the other is Skyscraper's The Palm Building, which seems to be perfectly fine even if plopped on bare, unzoned land and left to its own devices (Both found on Simtropolis).

I tried to clone the One21 Tower and edit the exemplar files so that they match those of the rowhouses, but after saving it and opening it in Lot Editor, I find that I cannot replace the building with one of Marcszar's rowhouses. Even though I have the rowhouses installed, the buildings just aren't in the menu.

I've downloaded and explored the PIM, but (of course) there's no option to create ploppable residential structures. Will I have to make these first as landmarks and then insert the residential capabilities via Ilives' Reader? What's the best method to go about doing this?

[M4346]

I've downloaded and explored the PIM, but (of course) there's no option to create ploppable residential structures. Will I have to make these first as landmarks and then insert the residential capabilities via Ilives' Reader? What's the best method to go about doing this?

In short, this cannot be done. Functional residential ploppables cannot be made.

See this thread: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=9806.0

[Andreas]

Well, even if they seem to work, they might fail eventually, but then again, it's your game, and naturally, you can do whatever you like. Making them a landmark and then insert/change the properties with the Reader would be the way that I'd have picked myself; just have a good look at an existing building exemplar and lot exemplar file, then you should see what needs to be changed. Maybe it would be best to have a look at the growable exemplar file of those row houses, and match the properties accordingly.

However, when you have a good look at those, you should compare them with other row houses that you might have installed, and see what's different in them. Personally, I had to adjust quite a few rowhouses that I downloaded myself, and give them similar occupant numbers and the like. This should ensure proper growth, as the game would pick among them with equal chance compared to the others (including the Maxis ones, unless you use some blocker).

[Ernestmaxis]

Andreas is diffenetly right and maybe a little bit not right.

Landmark are buildings with no sims living in it. Like M4346 say you can make the lot ploppable and copy all exemplar files on to the plop lot with the reader. But to prefend having no zot signs on your buildings first place residentials as big as the plop lot itself then let something grow on it then place your plop lot on it.
Simcity now knows the building is next to a street so no signs will come on.
The building is more a eye candy then as it is functional ingame.