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I think I found the cure to lot tears.

Pyronium3Pyronium3 Posts: 443 New Member
Just discovered something:

When you edit your heightmap and import it into your world, be sure to reconnect your bridges to the roads. For some reason this causes them to disconnect.

EDIT: Just realized something.. I was plagued by lot tears before, but in the current version of the world there don't seem to be ANY lots tears at all. Maybe when you export your heightmap, then import it (Keep in mind the above warning), save and never edit the terrain again, lot tears disappear.

If this is true (Can people test it?), it's a step we should all follow at the very end of the development of our worlds.

Comments

  • Sneakfeline0Sneakfeline0 Posts: 1,235 Member
    edited November 2011
    Are you talking about just custom height maps from Google Earth, for example? BTW, Setra looks beautiful, wish I could test it but I don't have Pets :(
  • Rflong13Rflong13 Posts: 682 Member
    edited November 2011
    Hi, :)

    I don't know what version of CAW you've been using but each new version seems be more stable in world making. Can't say more stable in the crashing department. :)
  • james20150james20150 Posts: 53
    edited November 2011
    anybody having problems with waterfalls and effects? non of mine are working now. seemed to happen after that last store content update and i have re-downloaded everything and re-installed everything and still no effects. also i have updtated all my drivers etc and all the rest of the software required to make all this stuff work... so again is anyone having any difficulty getting waterfalls and other effects to show up with CAW? ie do they work? as well as the in-game worlds ie riverview hidden springs barnacle bay, etc.
    if i have to re-download those i will, but really this is getting a bit ridiculous... lol
  • Pyronium3Pyronium3 Posts: 443 New Member
    edited November 2011
    Are you talking about just custom height maps from Google Earth, for example? BTW, Setra looks beautiful, wish I could test it but I don't have Pets :(

    No, what I mean is exporting your world's own heightmap with this button:

    61556635.jpg

    Then importing it again with this button:

    51435566.jpg

    If you make no further adjustments to the terrain from that point on, it seems this simple step fixes ALL your lot tears.

    I just need some people to confirm or deny it. Maybe I've just been lucky, but maybe this really is the cure to all lot tears.

    (and thank you ^^)
    Hi,

    I don't know what version of CAW you've been using but each new version seems be more stable in world making. Can't say more stable in the crashing department.

    Hai! The newest one, but it doesn't seem to make much difference in the department of lot tears either. They either appear or they do not. Even if they are reduced, I still noticed quite a lot of them before I used this trick.


  • LeeMortisLeeMortis Posts: 557 Member
    edited November 2011
    Very interesting indeed. I'll definitely try this out when I've completed all the sculpting for my world.

    However, I recommend people make a backup save of your towns before attempting this. Not only do bridges become disconnected, but when I tried it a while back, I had to replace a lot of world objects as well. They were floating in the air, and some seemed to have relocated themselves entirely.

    Of course, I had done some minor changes to the heightmap in photoshop that time, so that could very well have been the cause.

    If this works, though, it will certainly be faster than my method of deleting and replacing each and every lot and road at the very end.

    Which reminds me... Pyronium... did this also fix road tears for you?
  • Pyronium3Pyronium3 Posts: 443 New Member
    edited November 2011
    Which reminds me... Pyronium... did this also fix road tears for you?

    Well, during the entire development of Setra I only noticed one road tear, once. So I can't really say if it has the same effect. I think CAW causes them less these days. I do remember Neverglade had quite a few of them.

    I'm not even sure what causes road tears. If it's the same deal with terrain not adjusting right, then I assume this could have the same effect on road tears as it potentially has on lot tears.

    I think the terrain seems to automatically 'warp' a little to fit lots. Maybe this method fixes lot tears because it forces your terrain back into the position it is supposed to be. If your lot had no tears when you placed it, and you didn't edit the terrain underneath it, forcing the terrain back into it's original state might explain why lot tears disappear.

  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    edited November 2011
    I wish I could find a fix for lots we users - not creators make and add to our libraries for other worlds. The majority of my lots i have no problem with as I tend to build lots in an actual flat build world, but I have had a lot of problems from adding lots to my library that sink out of sight just about or that cause the lot edges to look like crap. So I end up removing the houses, but it seems once that happens in edit town, any lot i try to place there causes the lot tears. I have gotten where I make a new back up before every single lot I add, just in case this happens and I don't have to start totally over. This is a real problem if we download empty worlds with just lots placed and nothing seems to fix a lot when we mess it up except bulldozing the lot itself and adding a new one in this place. Which would be great if we had all the standard lot sizes in the world editor. And of course it seems it's always like a 30 x 40 or some size we don't have that gets broke. So now like I said I have to just stop back it up, and try. If it breaks go back to the back up.


    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.

    In dreams - I LIVE!
    In REALITY, I simply exist.....

  • Sneakfeline0Sneakfeline0 Posts: 1,235 Member
    edited November 2011
    So that's what that button is for! :D I'll give it a whirl, I am working on a medium-sized map that does have a couple of lot tears I haven't fixed and let you know asap
  • Sneakfeline0Sneakfeline0 Posts: 1,235 Member
    edited November 2011
    james20150 wrote:
    anybody having problems with waterfalls and effects? non of mine are working now. seemed to happen after that last store content update and i have re-downloaded everything and re-installed everything and still no effects. also i have updtated all my drivers etc and all the rest of the software required to make all this stuff work... so again is anyone having any difficulty getting waterfalls and other effects to show up with CAW? ie do they work? as well as the in-game worlds ie riverview hidden springs barnacle bay, etc.
    if i have to re-download those i will, but really this is getting a bit ridiculous... lol

    Are you seeing the effects working in CAW? What about EIG? I remember the time I thought mine were not working in EIG, and Rflong7 had to remind me to hit "play" while in EIG and lo & behold the effects reappeared like magic :oops:
  • Sneakfeline0Sneakfeline0 Posts: 1,235 Member
    edited August 2012
    Just wanted to tell you I think it does indeed work Pyronium3, I deliberately left a couple of lot tears, and lo & behold, they are gone.....yipee!!!!
  • thetideschangingthetideschanging Posts: 250 New Member
    edited August 2012
    Interesting. I encountered small lots tears on the two beach lots in my world. I believe I got rid of them by just deleting the lots and then clicking undo. I'm assuming their gone because I didn't see them in EIG :lol:. Hopefully they won't show up when I export the world to the game. I'm guessing they showed up because I tweaked the terrain around the lots a bit after placing them.

    No lots tears in EIG means no lots tears in the actual game right?
  • LeeMortisLeeMortis Posts: 557 Member
    edited August 2012
    No lots tears in EIG means no lots tears in the actual game right?

    That's correct.

    And, yes - deleting the lot and then clicking undo generally works a charm as well. However, there are two problems I've noticed with that method (as it used to be the way I did it).

    One. If you have 200 lots or so in your world, it becomes mighty tedious to do them all, and have to re-add Vista Buffs, Price Adjustments and Street Names and such.

    Two. Sometimes, it causes another lot to tear instead... and not necessarily an adjacent one. Could well be one on the other side of the world.

    I'm yet to fully try this new method out, though, but I'll definitely be using this once I've completed all my sculpting and such.
  • thetideschangingthetideschanging Posts: 250 New Member
    edited August 2012
    Eeek... For me it was only 3 lots. Most are on flat terrain. I guess I'll have to look at all the lots. So far my world only has 60 lots though.
  • Sneakfeline0Sneakfeline0 Posts: 1,235 Member
    edited August 2012
    I came across a good tutorial from Rflong7 the other day. It was on how to make sure your lots are really flat. View the wireframe! Although not really related to lot tears, it sure comes in handy. I'll look for a link for you!
  • SimLibbySimLibby Posts: 668 Member
    edited September 2012
    I came across a good tutorial from Rflong7 the other day. It was on how to make sure your lots are really flat. View the wireframe! Although not really related to lot tears, it sure comes in handy. I'll look for a link for you!

    How To - Making Sure Your Terrain is Flat
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