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[24/10] AMB Community Lots Auto Placement Fix + Add Other Lots (Compatible with Patch 1.63-1.67)

by anak_ponti Posted 5th Nov 2010 at 3:11 PM - Updated 13th Apr 2014 at 8:25 AM by anak_ponti
 
84 Comments / Replies (Who?) - 64 Feedback Posts, 19 Thanks Posts
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Lab Assistant
THANKS POST
#2 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 3:44 PM
I'm very thankful to you for this mod. Previously, I had NEVER allowed the game to automatically add in the new lots on its own. I actually created new lots in world editor and placed the lots I wanted and left out the few I didn't. I rebuilt some of them. Now, of course, with the patch the game automatically adds in all these lots, some of which are horribly designed and of course, your mod addresses this. Since you have already spent hours on this project, I ask you? Is there a way to TURN OFF the automatic setting, i.e., give us a choice like we used to have?

In the meantime, I will use your mod and thank you for saving me some time.
Inventor
#3 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 4:30 PM
Yes, I already made a mod with this exact file that takes out Auto Placement totally. All you have to do, if you want to do it yourself is to take out the code entirely for the lots you don't want added to the game, in all the towns that you don't want this done in. Then you are free to add the lots wherever you want in each new game. This even fixes the bug in Bridgeport where the game will CTD because of the placement of the Fire Station. I have been able to play new games in Bridgeport without any CTD happening.

You can even edit the file to add your own created or those created by others, community lots wherever you want them to be, for each world. The code can be changed for that and even new code added, as long as all the info is in it, like in the other sections of that file. You need to know the Lot ID number and the address and angle position that you want the lot in.

If you are registered at Crazy Town, you can download my No Auto Placement of Ambitions Community Lots in other EA Worlds mod there (link in my sig) or just edit the file yourself.

You can find my Sims 3 Mods at TFM's Sims Asylum .
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 5:24 PM
I love it thank you! It always bothered me to see this.
Field Researcher
THANKS POST
#5 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 5:46 PM
I was just struggling with this issue while playing my game last night! I started a new Riverview hood & noticed where the game auto-placed the Ambitions lots & had to adjust them to make sense, (like the Consignment shop was turned around backwards so the main entrance was at the back instead of on the street as it should be). And the Junk yard (which is 30x20 size) was auto placed on a 60x60 lot! That's so like EA to NOT think things through & make stupid mistakes. Lucky for us that we have players like you that dig around in the files & find a fix! Thank you very much for your hours of testing & coming up with this fix! Great Job!
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#6 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 7:02 PM Last edited by Hazelrah : 5th Nov 2010 at 7:30 PM.
I hadn't played the original cities since I got Ambitions so I hadn't notice the problem until you posted this mod. Gave it a try and I really love the difference. Thanks!

I checked out Bridgeport. There is only one minor problem I saw. The fire department is not pushed up to the edge of the street, so the fire truck would have to drive over lawn to get to the street. I wonder if I can't figure out how to hack your file to fix it.

Edit: Just downloaded the S3PE and looked at the XML.
Doesn't look like you can set coordinates of the building on the lot here.
Field Researcher
THANKS POST
#7 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 7:25 PM
Thanks for this,Ea always rush stuff out, making money, they seem to take no pride in what they make.
Inventor
#8 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 7:39 PM
@Hazelrah, anak_ponti said that they don't have Late Night installed yet, so they didn't change any settings for Bridgeport in it.

You can find my Sims 3 Mods at TFM's Sims Asylum .
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#9 Old 5th Nov 2010 at 11:36 PM
Not bad, but the bridgeport town is the one that needs this. And only Bridgeport NEEDS this. The entire neighbourhood crashes because they were not placed correctly. So please fix THAT one........
Field Researcher
#10 Old 6th Nov 2010 at 12:36 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ChrisOldfield
Not bad, but the bridgeport town is the one that needs this. And only Bridgeport NEEDS this. The entire neighbourhood crashes because they were not placed correctly. So please fix THAT one........


You must not have read the author's opening post. He doesn't have LN yet! It's rather rude of you to ask him to "fix THAT one", when you didn't read.

I'm sorry your Bridgeport crashes but you must have other mods/custom content or corrupt game files in your game that are causing this. And I suppose you haven't played Sunset Valley or Riverview since EA started the auto-placement of Ambitions lots. If you had, then you would know & understand exactly what inspired the author to make this fix.

Not having a sig IS my sig. Oh wait, this is a sig, isn't it? Nevermind...
Forum Resident
#11 Old 6th Nov 2010 at 1:44 AM
I don't get it. Is the game supposed to automatically place the Ambitions lots in the neighborhoods besides Twinbrook? My game didn't place any of those lots in Bridgeport or in Barnacle Bay. I had to place them all myself.
Test Subject
#12 Old 6th Nov 2010 at 1:45 AM
"Barnacle Bay:
Nothing changed because it looks perfect to me.

Bridgeport:
I haven't looked it because I haven't got Late Night EP3 (maybe later)."

btw thanks for the fix! cheers! :D
Eminence Grise
THANKS POST
#13 Old 6th Nov 2010 at 3:23 AM
Thank you! I had no idea this would be a simple tuning fix.

As for Bridgeport, IMO there really are no problems with the auto lot placement there. ChrisOldfield is incorrect about this (by itself) causing a crash... there must be some other factor in its game.
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#14 Old 6th Nov 2010 at 3:27 AM
@Reachsims, Kokoschlade, Mimi52861, rorsdors, syazwan3214: You're welcome.

@bluegenjutsu: I am planning to auto place the Plumpuddle Park (included in Library), the laundromat and the hangout from Twinbrook too, but the only problem is I don't how to find the venue's name (at least not yet). Do you know how to find it? (eg. Consignment Store's venue name is "kEP2_ConsignmentStore" in XML file). Thank you.

@Hazelrah: That means the lot is too big for the fire station, needs to find new lot to place. Thank you.

@ChrisOldfield: in the meantime, you can use bluegenjutsu's mod first. Thank you.

@Mimi52861: Thank you for your reply.

@ShortyBoo: Yes. Since Ambitions, the game auto places four comm lots (in Sunset Valley and Riverview only) each time you start a new game. But if you have installed latest patches / LN, the game will also auto place for Barnacle Bay and Bridgeport too. Thank you.

@Srikandi: You're welcome. I didn't have LN yet, so I can't look to this Bridgeport crash issue yet.
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#15 Old 6th Nov 2010 at 12:45 PM
I managed to auto place a laundromat type lot (in my game, I used Cleanesque Laundromat from Twinbrook) into Sunset Valley (haven't try on other neighborhood yet), but no luck so far with my attempt to auto place a hangout type lot too (I used The Red Rendezvous from Twinbrook).
Inventor
#16 Old 6th Nov 2010 at 6:33 PM Last edited by bluegenjutsu : 7th Nov 2010 at 12:33 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by anak_ponti
@bluegenjutsu: I am planning to auto place the Plumpuddle Park (included in Library), the laundromat and the hangout from Twinbrook too, but the only problem is I don't how to find the venue's name (at least not yet). Do you know how to find it? (eg. Consignment Store's venue name is "kEP2_ConsignmentStore" in XML file). Thank you.


You're welcome! I haven't tested placing any new lots or changing the info for current lots, just taking all lots out of the code. But have you tried just using the actual name of the community lot that you named it when you first created it? For example, you saved your club as "Sue's Dive Club" or maybe you put the the words together like "SuesDiveClub" and that is what you would place as the name of the venue. EA has it coded a certain way for their own lots, like putting the EP version to the name, but for custom community lots, a person saves the lot a different way. Make sure to put the "k" before your lot's name though. The "k" is part of the code. Unless you already tried it this way and it failed?

Did you ever succeed with the Plumpuddle Park lot? I just noticed that you didn't mention it and that is why I'm editing my post. For Base game lots, for example, Plumpuddle Park that you named, then "kBaseGame_PlumpuddlePark" should work. Did you test that?

You can find my Sims 3 Mods at TFM's Sims Asylum .
Inventor
#17 Old 7th Nov 2010 at 12:38 AM Last edited by bluegenjutsu : 7th Nov 2010 at 12:50 AM.
Hmm, tried to edit my post above and it didn't take. So I'll post it in a new comment.

I saw that you said you were going to try to place the Plumpuddle Park that is a community lot that comes with the Base Game. Did you succeed? I didn't see you post that you did, so I wanted to help with showing you what code you can test for it, in that file. Try "kBaseGame_PlumpuddlePark" as the lot's name. I don't have my game open to check on how the Park is really spelled in the Library bin panel, but you posted it as Plumpuddle and not Plum Puddle, so I'm just assuming you got that written correctly and that is how you should have it for that file then.

For custom lots, if "kNameOfPark" (replacing Name of Park with the name of the custom lot, for those reading this and confused by the wording) doesn't work for the custom lots to be placed, then try "kUserCreated_NameOfPark" instead. Shimrod101 is the guy who helped me with knowing that UserCreated is a term that EA will use for custom made Worlds that people make in CAW and it could be that it would work for lots, too, but I have no clue since I haven't tried to add any custom lots to the AutoVenuePlacement file to see if it would work. I leave that testing for you and anyone else that wants to set up a world to be able to have auto placement of lots from a player's library bin.

You can find my Sims 3 Mods at TFM's Sims Asylum .
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#18 Old 7th Nov 2010 at 1:10 AM Last edited by anak_ponti : 7th Nov 2010 at 3:55 AM.
OK, I'll try it later. Thank you.

UPDATE:
bluegenjutsu, I tried all the names you suggested and nothing work for the park. And I found out how to write the lot name in AutoVenuePlacement XML file. There is a hint in that file: "<Venu_Name>CommercialLotSubType</Venu_Name>". See that "CommercialLotSubType" text? Yesterday I opened the Venues XML file and I accidentially pressed Ctrl+End, then I see
something like these "<CommercialLotSubType>kEP3_DanceClubRave</CommercialLotSubType>", then I looked up to find entries for EP2 lots (Laundromat) and I found it. Then I write it in the AutoVenuePlacement XML file and it works for Laundromat, but it doesn't work for Hangout.

After two hours of testing, I finally can confirm that the lots type that can be auto placed are only the lots type from EP2 (like Consignment Store, Fire Station, Salon, Junkyard & Laundromat. The Hangout is from BaseGame) and you have to place the lots in this folder "C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Ambitions\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Library". I think this works for EP3 lot too, since I haven't got LN yet, I couldn't try it.
Inventor
#19 Old 7th Nov 2010 at 1:52 PM
@anak_ponti, that's too bad about non-Ambitions lots causing trouble to add. There is probably a way, but it will require being lucky to find it. :D

You can find my Sims 3 Mods at TFM's Sims Asylum .
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#20 Old 19th Nov 2010 at 10:54 AM
This has been going on long enough! THANK YOU!
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#21 Old 28th Jul 2011 at 3:55 AM
This mod is updated to work with patch 1.24 / TLS, because EA adds new town, Hidden Springs (maybe from EP5 Pets).
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#22 Old 1st Aug 2011 at 4:59 AM
Thanks for this i dont know why Ea did not fix this right away
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#23 Old 6th Aug 2011 at 4:15 AM
New Version, adds SP4 TLS Laundromat to auto place in Sunset Valley, Riverview, Barnacle Bay, and Bridgeport.
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#24 Old 29th Aug 2011 at 1:07 AM
Will You Be Updating This Mod For Hidden Springs?
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#25 Old 29th Aug 2011 at 5:27 PM
@wellcam884: I haven't got Hidden Springs yet, maybe later I take a look if I have it.
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