And the new SimPE is out ^^

Hi, i've had a major problem. I accidently expanded my lot too much is their any possible way of contracting it? Someone please help me because a house does not look good with 20 squares to many.

same problem here and also my lot expanded front right instread of just right. and what exactly does it mean by REPLACE?

I just spent what seems like hours reading every post in this thread. My brain is tired. BUT on the plus side I just had a major question answered for me. While I was waiting for Pets to be released I abandoned playing for a while and just surfed around finding new and interesting things to download. Normally, I don't download ready made lots because I have dial up and because building houses is my favorite part of the game. But whenever a new expansion comes out I want to play right away and not build so I thought I'd pick up a few houses to just pop into a neighborhood when the puppies arrived. I found some really amazing lots with waterfalls and a few that were built on both sides of the road. I can only assume that these were enabled by this amazing program. So I placed two of the fancy finished lots and an empty one in a new neighborhood then created a family (with pets). But the game froze while trying to move the family onto an empty lot (empty=free of structure). I had to ctrl+alt+del to shutdown the game, removed some recent hacks I'd acquired let it reload and went back into the neighborhood. The family now owned the lot but they were all frozen, no actions possible. I moved them, buldozed, started over (new family) same problem. I tried moving some Maxis created bin people, same problem. Chased this thing for over a week and finally got the bright idea to buldoze the fancy houses. Suddenly all was well in Wasser Qwellen (well except for the part of the road that remained underwater when I deleted The Falls lot). So to add to what's being said here, not only is the program not fully compatible with Pets, I believe lots previously created with it are also issued when placed in the Pets environment. However, I don't feel that this should detract in any way from the genius of this program. The problem is with EA, why do they have to change things from EP to EP in an inconsistent manner? This can't be easy on their own programmers even if they don't care a whit about the community of modders first sparked with the original Sims game.
Now, as for the dissappearance of the creator of the lot expander, has anyone thought to try to reach him/her through CoffeeBear's website?

I haven't done any extensive playing with this, but it appears that SOME of the issues mentioned in this thread may be fixed by installing the latest SimPE - I recall that someone mentioned that there were some dependencies between the two programs.

(1) With the latest SimPE, a lot modified by this program does NOT have the unbuildable sky-color areas.

(2) The lot is still placed erroneously across the road if you extend back from the road only. However, the road segment is in the correct place RELATIVE TO THE LOT, and when you move the lot, it snaps to the road appropriately. But see next.

(3) The lot can be moved, but the selectable 'ghost' of the lot doesn't seem to move in neighborhood mode. If you point at and select the apparent ghost, the highlight shows where you relocated the lot. The next time you start TS2, everything's in the right place.

(4) It appears that the 'unlock all tiles' function does not work - you still cannot build to the edge of the lot, as normal.

(5) I've not actually tried to PLAY (i.e., move in a family) since installing the latest SimPE.

This didn't work at all for me. Every lot I tried it on I got an unhandled exception. When I clicked on "continue" the program just sat there doing nothing. After a half hour of nothing, I chose to end the program. When I went into the neighborhood and checked the lot, there was a big black spot on the opposite side that I was trying to expand. I just bulldoxed the house. I tried the same house inseveral different lots with the same results. I won't be using this again unitl the bugs are worked out. Too bad, it has a lot of potential.

This sounds like you need to make sure you have the correct version of DirectX (9.0, I think) AND the latest (Pets-Compatible) SimPE - I seem to recall similar problems when I first tried the program, and the DirectX upgrade did for me (this was pre-Pets).

thanx, as i would say in my language: "nerealiai padaryta, labai aciu" i dunno how to translate it except for "labai aciu" that mean thank you very much.

i keep getting an unhandled exception error, and when i load the game the part that is expanded is bright blue and i cant do anything with it, i have the new SimPE for pets and direct x 9.0c does anyone have an answer to this problem?

The only other thing I can think of that might be an issue is to make sure you have the .NET 2.0 redistributable runtime libraries installed. The current SimPE requires them.

is it possible to make the lot smaller?/ back to its original size. it made my lot have a blue glow all around it and when i try to move the lot it cant be placed down anywhere.

I had a variety of lots made with this program when I installed Pets. Pets says during the install that it is changing the lot files. Since I had my lots placed in game when I installed, all those lots were 'updated' by the install. They work fine. I moved them to the bin and now can place one where ever I want -- they are fine.

I suggest, if you really want them, try re-installing, stop before loading Pets and place the sizes you want.

Remember, you need to go onto a lot after changing its size and place a wall (anyway that's waht I do--any architectural change will work) to make the lot 'right' before loading it into your bin and then placing it where ever you want. Install Pets and you will have the lot sizes you want, just move them back to the bin and they will be there for future use.

There is no need to re-install the game: the BaseGameStarter can start the game ignoring Pets (or any other EP), thus creating lots that do not contain the modifications made by the Pets installer.

PS - This suggestion doesn't concern the LotExpander only: if the creator is going to share his lots, it's advisable to create them in the Base Game, or anyway using the minimum amount of EP possible (why creating a lot that requires e.g. OFB, if it does not include any OFB element?)

The BaseGameStarter is kind of scary for me... could some kind modder just take over and fix it for Pets?

You mean "fix the BaseGameStarter for Pets"? It works perfectly with Pets... Have I misunderstood your question?

I think DMDye said that some modder should take over 'LotExpander 1.2.1', and make it work for pets. (And to be honest, I agree! this is (or was) a great and easy tool... until pets came...

Thank you, NH1, that is exactly what I meant.

Unfortunately LotExpander 1.2.1 is not working reliably for me. I have all expansion packs installed. I also have SimPE 0.60.2.20832 (the current version) as well as .NET 2.0.

When expanding a lot, LotExpander usually throws an exception due to an array not being properly sized. When entering the lot that returns the error on expansion, I find that the lot has not been resized but has instead been shifted. So, for instance, a lot that I expanded in the back (say from 3 wide and 4 deep to 3 wide and 5 deep) will be shifted back by one but will still be a 3x4 lot. The funny thing is it takes the street with it

Also, lots I've edited that did not throw an exception no longer show the building graphic in neighborhood view. I see the plot in green or blue, and can enter the lot normally and the lot functions without errors, so it's just a cosmetic glitch.

I noticed that SimPE includes lot dimension and location data and think I will experiment with those settings as a possible solution for lot size editing.

can someone please update this for pets PLEASE!!!

I wondered what was going on as I tried to make a new lot size and it didn't work, 1x6. I also would love this to be updated for Pets please, if poss thanks !!!!

Kiwianagirl, if you mean a lot that borders on the road by one tile only, then it's impossible: the max size is 6 tiles including the road.
If, on the contrary, you mean a lot that borders on the road by 6 tiles, then it is already available as both residential and community.

If the max lot size is 6x6 then can you go across one tile and back 6 or would it only go back 5?

The max lot size is 6x6 including the road. Therefore, the *real* max size is 6x5 (6 tiles along the road x 5 tiles back). Perhaps, expanding the lot across the road (so that the lot is placed on both sides of the road) you can reach the maximum of 6x6,but the lot would be split in two anyway...

That would explain why there was no 1x6 lot made, thanks for telling me Numenor.

Anyone know of a way to reset the terrain?

I like this tool and it works great! Especially for adding driveways to overbuilt, smaller lots. Thanks Andi!

However, I extended one lot that was on terrain that wasn’t flat and when the lot is repositioned to compensate for the increase in size, it takes the characteristics of the prior terrain with it. It functions ok, but visually in incompatible with the house across the street (in neighborhood mode). Anyone know of a way to reset the terrain?