Screw Pile Developments

[abcvs]

*Presented in proud association with PEGPROD, and the World Famous in New Zealand Bean Rock City Journal.  (...and other various rip rap.)

In other words I have decided not to clutter up my main Bean Rock CJ with my feeble attempts to learn how to lot, change menu icons and descriptions, blah blah blah...

So now with great boldness I am about to start...  (I think) my second ever thread on Simpeg...

[abcvs]

Table of Contents

Well yeah there will be a table of contents once there are some contents, but at the moment well there isn't much content, so we will just have to be content with that for now.

Page 1
MTP - Narrow Pine Trails
Useful Linkys
Changing Query Screen Names in Reader  (Paeng)
Secret Subway... 
Setting up SC4Tool for Vista 
Changing the Query Screen Name

Page 2
Progress:  Narrow Trails

[abcvs]

Place holder...

[clearlypowa]

In other words I have decided not to clutter up my main Bean Rock CJ with my feeble attempts to learn how to lot, change menu icons and descriptions, blah blah blah...
So now with great boldness I am about to start...  (I think) my second ever thread on Simpeg...

Quite a very helpfull decision u have taken to open a thread like this one.  :thumbup:

[abcvs]

MTP - Narrow Pine Trails

This is my current project...  a set of narrow pine trails to compliment the exisitng pine / mountain trail set.

Progress to date...

November 29, 2009
Just whipped these up in LE...  So far I have just got a basic set of four...   straight, tee, cross and corner.



I have made a few more pieces...  got the originals to compare...   bonus ranger station, camp office.


Narrow trails look good with the sway bridge.


Wide to narrow transition.








November 30, 2009
Just one further image,  the sims were complaining (what else is new...   ) that their feet were getting wet in the ford...

So I listened... and gave them some stepping stones.   I kind of pimped out this lot a bit more... and it was a good excuse to use some of the PEG-TP stuff (terrain props).

[abcvs]

Useful Linkys...

iLive Reader

LE Prop

SC4 Tool English Version Here

[abcvs]

Well I now have LEProp, Reader, and SC4Tools...    (I have had Gmax for some time but never used them)

LEProp:   Yup straight forward simple program...  was able to change the menu title and description of a lot...  haven't tried changing a menu icon yet.

Reader:   Well yeah..  OK ...  it was a bit of a mystery and couldn't really get it to do anything useful...   like change the name of the lot in the popup screen ...

SC4Lot Tools:   Downloaded it fine...  it seemed to install fine, but it kept going 'not responding' every time I tried to do something with it...  atm I have uninstalled it but still have the install folder...     is it something to do with Vista?   I saw something in the readme that said it has to run in XP compatablility mode...  but I have no idea how to activate that.

*What I am hoping in this thread, is not only that I might learn how to make something useful for the game, but that other people might be able to read this thread and learn along with me...    in other words...   I get to make the dumb ass mistakes publicly and you can learn from them!

**I appreciate that a lot of the stuff I will be doing here will be pretty much kindergarten level when it comes to the dizzy world of Sim City custom content...   but maybe just maybe I might actually learn how to do something other than move rocks and bushes around in lot editor.

***The story so far...   I pretty much have the basics of Lot Editor sorted...   what I need to do now is work out how to change the title on the lot pop up window and make custom lot icons.

[Paeng]

what I need to do now is work out how to change the title on the lot pop up window [1] and make custom lot icons[2].

[1] You need to create 'LTEXT's ... for starters it's probably easiest to create them with LE Prop ... than you can refine them easily in Reader (or LE Prop).

 [2] You may want to start with this Tutorial ... it just shows the tip of the iceberg, ultimately you'll want to make real templates (with all kinds of recurring elements) that can be used again and again... but for starters it's fine.

[Krio]

Nice to see "new" old timers to start up a custom content-theard 

[Pegasus]

SC4Lot Tools:   Downloaded it fine...  it seemed to install fine, but it kept going 'not responding' every time I tried to do something with it...  atm I have uninstalled it but still have the install folder...     is it something to do with Vista?   I saw something in the readme that said it has to run in XP compatablility mode...  but I have no idea how to activate that.

Right click on the desktop icon and select Properties. Click on the Compatibility tab in the dialog box that pops up... then select XP (Service Pack 2) in the drop down box.

That's how mine is set up and it works. But keep in mind that its a slow beast for most things as its always pre-loading all the material or scanning directories, etc. The more content you have installed the slower it will be, I think.

[Paeng]

Oh, I think I misunderstood you - you mean the little thingy that pops up when you query a lot?

okay, it looks more complicated than it is :-)

Open the lot in Reader, fill the list, then look for the proper 'exemplar' (the one that says 'Building').
Search for the Property 'Item Name'.



Right click the property and choose 'edit property' to get this dialog:



Double click in the Value field (the blue one) and edit the string.
Then click apply until the dialog closes (usually twice).

Last - save the file. You will be asked if Reader should overwrite the existing file, just say yes.

Check ingame ... :-)

[abcvs]

Oh, I think I misunderstood you - you mean the little thingy that pops up when you query a lot?

[snip]

Great!   That is exactly what I want to do next...     

I really appreciate the time you took to post a mini tutorial...   cos I reckon if I can work this out...  then anyone can!

What he said...

Thanks J-Peg...   (Heh...  I just thought of that...)   I will give that a whirl...   yup I am familar with the slow load thing in LE...   but I have my plugins pretty well sorted into about 5 main sub folders...   so I can easily take out the "Developers" folder and the "Bats" folder ...  and leave them on the desktop...  which then pretty much only leaves just the "Pegprod" one to load...   

Nice to see "new" old timers to start up a custom content-theard 

Well thanks for the welcome to the custom content club..   but it will be a while before I can take my training wheels off just yet...  however I will be pleased to have your feedback and input.

[abcvs]

Secret Subway...   

Sssssshh...  don't tell anyone...  but if you ever need to find your isolated Sims a way to get to work... like when they live on an island...










*The one with the green pine is my creation...  the one with the dead pine was made by someone else... that well... who apparently likes dead pines... but now wants snow on them...

[abcvs]

Setting up SC4Tool for Vista

Right click on the desktop icon and select Properties. Click on the Compatibility tab in the dialog box that pops up... then select XP (Service Pack 2) in the drop down box.

That's how mine is set up and it works. But keep in mind that its a slow beast for most things as its always pre-loading all the material or scanning directories, etc. The more content you have installed the slower it will be, I think.

Right...  reinstalled it again... and then I made a shortcut for the desktop...


Right clicked on the shortcut and then clicked the compatibility tab...   set to XP service pack 2 mode and checked the 'disable visual themes' box...   

(I tried to get a screenie of the compatability tab but the screen grab was not cooperating for some reason..  )

Sweet it is now working...   just have to figure out how the program works...   


Anyway that is sorted for now...    on to the next lesson...

[abcvs]

Changing the Query Screen Name

Oh yeah...  this folks is another major step forward in my secret plan to gain global custom content dominance...

Now I had already managed to change the menu name and description... using LE Prop.


But I still needed to change the main query screen, from the originial "PEG Pine Trail Ranger Station" that I had used to make the lot...

Following Paeng's fine instructions...  I switched back to reader...   


...and then oh baby yeah...  that is what I am talking about!




My sc4 lot now has a custom name...