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CAM 2.1.0 Uploaded and ready

Started by InvisiChem, January 28, 2016, 02:06:53 PM

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Kitsune

Is there a change log of stuff changed from 1.0 to 2.1 or 1.0 to 2.0 ? I currently use 1.0 and manually modify demand.
~ NAM Team Member

twalsh102

If there was an "official" one (i.e. one created by the author), I would think it would have been included in the manual, or a read me file.  There isn't anything there.  Since Cam1, and Cam2 were created by two different authors, I seriously doubt such a log exists.  Probably the best you can do to get an idea of differences between the two (if you haven't done so already) is read through the Cam 2.0 Restart topic <http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=17239.0>

Kitsune

I did just find the change log for major changes by pure luck at the cam thread on simtrop. Now I'm debating to upgrade or not. I dont "play" the game per se... I start with 1 billion in money, manually change the demand and have parks with jobs and massive cap relief. Result is you can get more organic looking cities, but can be a struggle to get any midrises. The play styles would seemingly fix this. Hmm...
~ NAM Team Member

shawnthrawn

Dude, you are a damn genius! You have managed to fix so many of the balance issues that have been plaguing maxis arithmetic miscalculations and oversights for years when it comes to growth and development on every level. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. I look forward to the more streamline version 2.1.1. I know you're a very busy man but I was wondering if you had a time in mind for release? And, of course, I must give kudos to RippleJet for the initial work that he started. I'm using Win 10 and have many of the same issues as others with a modern OS. I was wondering if 2.1.1 will address these problems? (ie: needing to manually use a datpacker because the sc4dapacker included in the 2.1.0. release wont run during the installation process) Again, thank you for all your hard work, I just hope you know how much it means to all us old Sim City gamers.

shawnthrawn

For those having issues running the win installer because the Dat Packer will not run during the install process here are the following steps that made it work for me (keep in mind that this is for win 7 and above and was also posted by CT14 in an earlier post. I'm running win 10):

1) Download SC4DatPack: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26 (Make sure to save it to a location you will be able to find it again ie: Desktop)

2) As mentioned by CT14 you will need to download the missing DLL's and copy and paste them into your "C: / Windows / System" sub folder. Simply copy and paste the 3 DLL's (no need to install or register as was mentioned by CT14) After you have copy and pasted the 3 DLL's you can close the "System" sub folder (You will not have to go back in there after this step)

The DLL's download links are here:
https://www.dll-files.com/mfc71.dll.html
https://www.dll-files.com/gdiplus.dll.html
https://www.dll-files.com/mvcp71.dll.html

3) Now run the SC4DatPack installer (If you have tried installing SC4DatPack before and received errors then adding the 3 missing DLL's to the "System" sub folder from step 2 should have resolved this) After the SC4DatPack install has completed you can close the program and the read me that comes up for it as you wont need to use it.

4) Now download CAM 2.1.0, if you haven't already done so, and go ahead and run it.

CAM 2.1.0 can be found here:
http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3335

Following these steps should have resolved the dat packer not running during the CAM 2.1.0 install process on modern Windows OS's (Win 7, Win 8, Win 8.1, Win 10) Hope this helps. Happy gamming!

Mikey Knox

Quote from: mgb204 on November 07, 2016, 03:13:51 PM


Not by default. But a special CAM compatible version of IRM was released not too long ago which will.

Can you tell me where i can get this?

APSMS

#186
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

My Mayor Diary San Diego: A Reinterpretation

Giovanne Lima

Hello everyone!


I need some help with my SC4. I recently installed the CAM on my game and something happened to the income of the taxes of my cities: they plummeted to very low levels!

Now all my cities don't make profit, one of my major cities had 500k of profit before the mod, now it's only 50k. I tried uninstalling the mod but the income still keeps low.


What's going on?

Tarkus

#188
First off, welcome to the SC4D forums!

I've not heard of this particular issue, and unfortunately, can only make educated guesses as to what might be happening here at this juncture.  The CAM does alter the growth stages and stats for lots/buildings included in the base game, as well as the demand simulation, and it's possible that the new stats may have changed your income stream.  Its rebalancing also makes the upper levels of difficulty more difficult.

I'm not sure how you tried uninstalling the mod, but it does alter files within the SimCity_1.dat file, and if you just deleted the files out of plugins instead of running the uninstaller, it would not have actually changed much in the grand scheme of things.  It's also worth noting that the simulator also takes some time to process major changes in parameters, so it may require running the game for some time in order for it to reacclimate to the old stats.

Additionally, CAM 2.1 also alters the stats on the Medical Clinic, Nuclear Power Plant, and Solar Power Plant, to address some issues with them.  Per the section of the CAM 2.1.0 Manual that deals with running the CAM on existing cities (pages 5 and 6), it is advised that one should bulldoze any instances of those lots and re-build them after installing the mod, in order to prevent the Phantom Slider Bug from occurring.  The Phantom Slider Bug effectively breaks the funding slider on various utility and governmental lots in the game, and this can also have a pretty negative impact on funding--and one which (IIRC) would not be fixed by uninstalling the mod.

If you were also using any sort of "cheat" or "radical" mods prior to running the CAM, there's also the possibility that their presence might be causing some issues.

-Alex

Edit: More on the Phantom Slider Bug.

Giovanne Lima

#189
Thanks for the reply, Tarkus!

I used the uninstaller to remove it and restored the SimCity_1.dat to a version before the mod was installed, unfortunatelly the taxes income continued low after this. I used a funding mod but removed it before installing CAM too.

But once again, thanks for the help!

EDIT: I got another problem now. The commercial zones don't develop.

bombardiere

CAM 2.1 affects to the taxes. It cuts income and makes game harder. There are a few options in CAM 2.1. and these affect on how big the cuts are. However I do not remember the details. Read me files have more information.

Cam 2.1. has also effect on growth. Again it depends which install option you have choosed.

I like these changes as it makes the game more challenging. In my opinion the Vanilla SC4 is too easy on money. After about 100 years money keep flooding in, which makes game play boring. Altough I could sink money into Landmarks.

I find it is best to start a new region with CAM 2.1. You can play from Vanilla regions, but because of the changes in game balance, you may find it hard to get old cities back in black.  You may need to cut utilities and services to counter smaller income.

With CAM 2.1. you need to be more careful with the utilities and services in early game. I keep those bare minimum and introduce the police and fire service only later in the game. The growth may also be slower depending which option you choosed. (I think there are an accelerated growth option.)  So you may need to plan what you zone more carefully.

Giovanne Lima

Well, I didn't found any options regarding the taxes during the instalation. And well, the taxes became way too low to have some kind of progress. I already uninstalled the CAM, yet my taxes income is still very very low. I wonder if this all caused some sort of damage to the game files, weird...

And about the commercial zones development: it returned back to normal.

bombardiere

oh I need to specify. CAM 2.1. does not have a tax level option as such, but it contains different play styles. I can't remember the exact names, but something like rural, skyscrapers or original 1.0.

As far as I know, that the SimCity_1.dat modification contains only IHT fix. The rest are in separate Dats and folder. As far as I know these can removed or switched without any ill effect. Install is really needed for the IHT fix, which is hard to implement.

I am not sure, but if you keep playing your taxes might recover. However it may take time because CAM 2.1. has a huge impact on the demand. I have lost one or two cities when I have tried introduce too radical changes in midway. (One went irrevocable in red when I tested NIMBY effect and made a modding error in iLives editor. I used a wrong type of string and my slight negative effect to mayoral rating turned in  to a overall hatred on my mayor.  ::) )

Kolossi

Decided to return to SC4 after a long while and went on to get CAM. The three dll files that I need to get though: the link provided in this thread, the website wants a 15 dollar fee to get them. Is this the only way or are there free versions somewhere?

mgb204

The fee is a scam, it's not authorised to release those .DLL files separately by third parties.

Most likely you already have them on your machine, but they need to be copied into the correct location, do a search in Windows to locate them. Frankly though, I don't understand why you need .dll files for CAM, it's a mod for the game? Usually it's the third party SC4 tools that rely on such .dll files. From a recent similar discussion over on ST:

Quote
dll files should NEVER cost you money. A DLL or Dynamic Linked Library contains the necessary code to allow programs written in a given language to work. Scammers have been taking advantage of people's lack of understanding about how they are distributed, to con people into paying for them. But this act is simply illegal, since those selling them don't even have the rights to do so. Google doesn't help either, since it will link you to the dodgy sites first (i.e. they are paying advertising to Google who look the other way and take the money).

The real problem is that often the creators of the DLLs don't release them as separate files. For example you might need a suite for C++ or Visual Basic, which will contain amongst the install the .dlls you need. However, it's often not as transparent what files are contained within a package as it might be.

For example: Microsoft don't sell MSVCP71.dll, it's free, but you can't install that file on it's own, you need the entire C++ runtime library package. Anyone not Microsoft trying to sell it (who wouldn't charge), are simply breaking the law, which should tell you why you want to avoid the site like the plague entirely.

eagle74

Back when I installed DatPacker I got the DLL's for free off of one of those sites.  They offered "support" for a fee, but if you just click on the specific DLL link on the same site you can still download it at no cost. 

Kolossi

#196
Okay, I had them in my machine indeed, but just in the wrong places. After copying them about I got DatPacker working and the installation finished. Was there anything else that needed to be done afterwards? Gah, been so long...

mgb204

When you say "Move", note I said "Copy. This is an important distinction, if you moved them, you may mess up other installed applications.

Provided the installer correctly updated the SimCity_1.dat file, you should be good to go.

Kolossi

Yes, copied, fix'd that in my previous reply. ;D

Alright then, I'll start moving my old plugins folder I had on one of my externals. It's gonna be good, hopefully... And no need to download a crapton of stuff again.

eagle74

#199
A question about taxes.  I noticed in the main controller DAT file that the neutral tax rates have been lowered vs RH, but there appears to be an error for the rates intended above a population of 6.0 MM.  Starting at 6.15 & for subsequent entries they are off by a decimal place making it 615,000 etc.  Since this range is already indexed much earlier in the table with much higher tax rates, is this going to cause issues (perhaps severe dips in demand around these population levels)?