Hello! Just joining the conversation here, with a question for Numenor...

Background: I have a house that I downloaded that is really fabulous, but I want to make the lot for this house a little bit larger. I downloaded the new SimPE and NET.2.0 and then tried using the lot expander. To make a long story short, it didn't work correctly; my experiences are similar to some written here and I am guessing the problem stems from Pets, which I have installed.

Question: Based on what you are saying above, could I use the Base Game Starter to start a game in, say, Nightlife, then expand the lot using Lot Expander, and then load my full game and have access to the now expanded lot to place in my full (Pets) game? Sort of bypassing the whole Pets conflict issue...? It seems to me that this wouldn't work for some reason (or multiple reasons) but as I am no modder, I thought it was worth checking.

Thanks for all that you do!

No, sorry, this can't be done. Once a house has been loaded into Pets, it is permanently altered. What I suggested to do earlier was to create from scratch a house with the BGS and then moving it to the full game.

The only thing you can do is to re-downloading the lot and importing it into a "Up-to-NL" game, editing it and then moving it to the full game. But it's tricky...

Hi

is it possible to undo a expansion?
I used the prog to upgrad a Lot 3 steps to the left. The Prog didn´t expand the Lot I asked for, rater the Lot left of it.
There was an empty house which is gone now. It looks realy terrible and I can´t delete the area or put a nother house on it.

THX 4 HLP

RM

As far as I know, no, you can't "undo" the enlargement of the lot. But you can move the lot to better fit the surrounding lots, thus getting rid of empty spaces between two adjacent lots.

i have a problem - i had error with lot expander - when i try expand any my houses - i get a big error

ee the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: Source array was not long enough. Check srcIndex and length, and the array's lower bounds.
at System.Array.Copy(Array sourceArray, Int32 sourceIndex, Array destinationArray, Int32 destinationIndex, Int32 length, Boolean reliable)
at LotExpander.R_3ARY.set_Width(Int32 value)
at LotExpander.LotExpander.ZuScreen4()
at LotExpander.LotExpander.WeiterButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
LotExpander
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/LotExpander/LotExpander.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
simpe.package
Assembly Version: 1.0.2370.36226
Win32 Version: 1.0.2370.36226
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/LotExpander/simpe.package.DLL
----------------------------------------
simpe.interfaces
Assembly Version: 1.0.2370.36224
Win32 Version: 1.0.2370.36224
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/LotExpander/simpe.interfaces.DLL
----------------------------------------
simpe.helper
Assembly Version: 0.59.10.36224
Win32 Version: 0.59.10.36224
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/LotExpander/simpe.helper.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
simpe.clst
Assembly Version: 1.0.2370.36225
Win32 Version: 1.0.2370.36225
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/LotExpander/simpe.clst.DLL
----------------------------------------
simpe.commonhandler
Assembly Version: 1.0.2370.36224
Win32 Version: 1.0.2370.36224
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/LotExpander/simpe.commonhandler.DLL
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.


what wrong?

Aha. Well, that makes sense to me. Thank you for the clarification! The latter was sort of what I was contemplating, but, considering the 'tricky' aspect of this maneuver, I think I will just make do with the nifty house on it's itty bitty lot.

Thanks again and happy Simming!

Hey Folks, just a quick question about lot resized...

I expanded my lot to something a little more workable. Upon expanding it dumped itself across the road. To move it I then Lot Binned it and tried to move it back to it's original place but to no avail. Any time I try it's giving me a nice big red shading under the lot. Has anybody got any ideas as to what the problem with this is?

Rodg3 - When you extend a lot over the road, this message appears:


Lots extended over the road can't be moved: if you pick them up, you won't be able to place it down any more.

i wonder if the pets patch will fix the errors we had with this program, has anyone tried to do it since installing the pets patch?

Sorry...
but where the heck do I put it, the downloads folder? Does it need to be on your desktop, or in your programs folder? The Q-installer put it in my download folder, but if its a program...

Thanks!

Andi should have removed the QX icon for this tool, but obviously she forgot to do that.
This tool should be placed in any folder you like (including the desktop or the Programs folder), but NOT in the Downloads

Double click on the program icon to start the tool and use it.

After install the pets patch, the LotExpander works fine in my game.

Um...how do I "delarge" (heh) a lot that I've expanded? Somehow the house was placed across the road, as opposed to where it was in the first place and I can't turn it etc. Bleh, help, please

The LotExpander only expands the lots; shrinking them back to the original size is not possible (unless you have a backup, of course).

I am not trying to hijack anyones work if I was I would of totally redid the look and feel of it and not gave them Credit. The Source code was released for anyone who could fix it to.

The code is great and Andi8104 did some great work, I just tried to run the code and got errors so I fixed them. I also added a few idea's I had to the code anyone who wants the updated code can have it.

If you don't know what the meaning of Open Source is then your not a Programmer. And to those who are not it means the Source Code is open to whoever wants to use it as Long as they keep it Open and give credit where credit is do.

If Andi8104 has a Problem with me fixing the bugs I found and re-releasing it please let me know and I will not release it.

Anyways for now anyone who wants the code PM me and I will send it once I can find it again

Sorcerer! I was afraid you abandoned this project after what Zach said, and I was sorry for that.

The LotExpander is a very interesting interesting tool, and it has great potentialities; but Andi8104 seems to have "abandoned the building" (just to quote again Zach).

I don't know if this phrase was put in the front thread since the beginning, but anyway now I read clearly:

Therefore, I don't see anything bad if you fix, change or improve the original code of the LotExpander. On the contrary, I'm be very glad to see that this tool is somehow updated.

If you are in search of suggestions and request, definitely the most requested feature is the ability to shrink the lots. Of course, I foresee many problems in doing this (mostly because it's easy to add empty tiles, but it's hard to remove non-empty tiles: the tool should check if the tiles are not empty and stop).

If you produce a new version of the Lot Expander, that has new and/or improved features compared to this one, I suggest to post it in a separate thread, providing a link to this one (as credits and reference).

Is there any chance this program might get done for us mac users? I have a huge mansion that I need to have on a bigger lot and can think of lots of other uses for this program, but I can't use an .exe file on a mac and it would have to be recoded. Has anyone already done this?

Thanks in advance!

an improved and pets workin versin would be golden ...

elmcnamara - the programme is built on the Microsoft .NET 2.0 framework - like SimPE - because it uses SimPE files as dependencies, and therefore will likely never be compatible with the MacOS platform as a native appliclation. if a fully-functional Mac-friendly version of Wine or Crossover Desktop becomes available this may present a solution. As of my latest review (some months ago) .NET 2.0 failed to install properly on both WINE and Crossover Desktop for LINUX & MacOS. .NET 1.1 does install, but this limits the potential use of SimPE and the Lot Expander to pre-Pets versions of the game. I have not tried to use this approach as it seemed prone to too many errors. I did find it to my advantage to have a PC for this sort of thing, then copy the neighbourhoods folders across the network to the Mac. Not a perfect solution, but it at least allows me the benefit of these tools in a very Mac un-friendly community.

Numenor - I would very much appreciate hearing your thoughts on the matter of the corner lot I described (Pleasantview - 55 Woodland Drive - Uni EP). I have tried just about every combination of expanding the lot, and it never expands as expected. I suspect that this is a 3x3 lot by definition since the roadway is along two edges of the lot with only 2 neighbourhood grids (100 buildmode grids) being buildable. As I remarked in my former post this is the only "proper" corner lot in the game I have seen to date, and from my estimation offers considerable potential for interesting parks and community/commercial lots with skywalks over the road as one sometimes sees in major urban centres.

I must admit, I feel a bit thick when using this software and think that even manually editing the lot file might be easier but because of the cryptic nature of the file, I hesistate to manually edit the files because of the rotating axis-centre for different layers mentioned in a post by Andi above.

Any thoughts you have will be greatly appreciated.

Beosboxboy, you overestimate my knowledge - I barely know how to use the lot expander, and I can answer to the common questions about its usage; but I ignore completely the internal structure of the lot files; sorry for not being able to help you...
If I remember well, Max3D had a similar problem with a corner lot (search for posts by Max3D in the first pages of this thread).

Numenor - it is hard to believe that you don't know EVERYTHING but I understand, there is just too much to know all about this game

I will keep trying, eventually it will work - I just have to curse more

The Pleasantview - 55 Woodland Drive corner lot is actually a 30x30 lot.
I used it in this way
Yet, the last grid row is not buildable for walls or alike that MUST activate the upper level grid layer.
Columns can be placed there well coz they CAN but not MUST do so as walls do.
Fences are fine. But, fences of the same guid as wall1 walls can be built there, but without the replacement fences, lots built with such replacement fences will crash the game.

I had installed .net2 but failed to run the programme, so I relied on SimPE when this thread was first posted.

I'll see if this will work in my new OS with .net from 1 to 3


collector9,
May use Numenor's BGS for the present time being if not.


Besides Max3D, I guess Inge had/has been playing around with it, too. Probably, she may dump out some of her experiences..

Thank you niol! - now I must learn the mysterious art of hex-editing a lot file

Mine broke =( I was making my lot a 6x6 from a 4x5 and the program stopped working, but now in game I have a big blue spot that I can't cover.

Incera,

a golden rule of thumb:
try in a testing neighbourhood before the actual application.