Either trees or claim stones need to go - Starr in the telethon was incorrect

@Hutch


So this is one of the trees that Starr said in the Telethon shouldn't be a problem.
Well it and others like it are a big problem for Dynamic placement. This since the claim stones are not within the boundary of the the lot itself. So as we can see in the pic above the claim stone of the Row lot on the right prevents placing that snuggly against the village lot border on the left. That then creates a strip of land that cannot be used but which still "saves" the tree. That tree then prevents decoration in both lots (and the row lot next to the one most affected).
Now the problem with Dynamic placement when you are trying to place tight formations of Row and Village intertwined is that it isn't even possible for me to change these lot markers. Behind the row markers are bumps which prevent moving them there, I cannot move the village border closer due to the claim stone, and I cannot move the village lot further since that goes into the next lot on the left.
This creates logistical / layout nightmares when one need to re-design ones whole layout just because of one damned tree.

To compound the issue that tree right there was completely GONE when I did the final layout. So I didn't even see it was there. This because when you place a Row marker it comes with a house, so it automagically removes any trees. But when you then move them around to twist and turn to find the edges of bumps and flats and whatnots every time you remove some tree or another. Which are then gone for that session.

Then after the session when you have finally got the whole thing fixed. Next time on reload, that tree there between the claim stone and the lot border realize its center wasn't blocked at all and then REAPPEARS there where you see it.
So now the Dynamic owner faces having to start over or let that tree ruin things. In my case I simply gave up and let that one ruin the layout.

Here is another such tree resulting from the same claim stone + border issue.




Proposed solutions:

1. Let us select specific trees and mark them for permanent deletion.
2. Let us select the claim stone/sign design. Those in the Row Marker for Dynamic towns are really far from the lot border, 1.5-2m, if it had instead snuggled right at the border it would have been easier.

Here is another one which is a bit related but more of a tangent.

When we lay down Pavers they are blocked by trees, if it was the reverse then if pavers removed and blocked trees then we could mitigate some of this ourselves.

You are most welcome to visit Lux Sanctuary and follow the streetlights to the market where you will find at least three such prime examples. You can also see how the claim stones hinder placement of lots tight to eachother and the issue with pavers not blocking terrain so things like grass and trees etc poke straight through them.


1/22/2016 7:26 PM
Title:
Reproduction Rate:
Blocker?
Details:
Steps to Reproduce:
User Specs:
OS: Windows 8.1 (6.3.0) 64bit
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4710HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz (8) System RAM: 16297
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M GPU RAM: 3987
SotA.PreAlpha.Win.64.364.Date.12.28.15
Area: POT_forest_metropolis_01_template
Loc: (-199.6, 75.0, 257.2)

 

Yes, I've reported this bug a few times -- trees block lot marker placement. For a start, that can be taken care of by just making sure lot markers / lot boundaries take down trees.

As for the problem in general, I don't like "permanent deletion" or lawnmowers as a solution, since I think you should be able to bring any tree you remove back.

I made a suggestion in this thread how to deal with trees, as well as how to add street pavers,
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/surveyors-tools.38617/

The last post in the thread, although it builds up on the ideas in the OP,

The idea in the OP was being able to place down survey plots just for spacing and design purposes.

 

@redfish

Yes I think the survey tools idea is a good one.

This post was prompted by this issue being brought up in the Telethon and @DarkStarr shrugging it off as not a big issue. @Hutch didn't react either.
So I don't think they have enough data to realize what the issue really is here.
Hence why the focus was on showing the base issue.

I was thinking that moving the claim stones to adjacent to the border would be a short term KISS/MVP solution which shouldn't take too much time and would help mitigate the issues.

While your proposal and others like it are better long term proposals.

But since there has been no reaction on this report yet I think I will have to repeat it after Thursday.

 

@Spoon,

In the meantime, something I've done is that I've moved lots over the trees blocking the claimstones. It doesn't immediately recognize that the tree is gone, so you can't move the lot back where you want to. But if you log out, and log back in sometime later, the tree is recognized as gone. Once that happens, you can move the lot in place.

Its a pain in the neck, but it seems to work.

 

Btw, I forgot to say, yes, the trees can also be halfway in to lot boundaries. R24/R25 I had to move the entire POT to the left just to avoid a tree that was at the edge of a lot boundary and eating into a fence I put there.