No access to "change icon" in PIM-X

[evarburg]

I have begun tinkering with various SC4 tools, in a noobie's frenzy of lotting and relotting. I am using PIM-X, among others. I wanted to put an icon on a recently relotted piece, CAL Duke Chapel, which is a Reward lot. I put the lot in the root folder, as I must with PIM-X. The lot is not in Reward, but in Building/unknown, and presents with an exclamation point within a red triangle, OMG what is going on ? I try to go through the process, but there is no "change icon" option in the relevant menu.

What Have I Done Wrong ?

[NB : the lot plops correctly and open willingly in Reader and DataNode. I just want to change the icon, for God's sake !!!]

[twalsh102]

Although it's a bit counter-intuitive, "Change icon" is only available from the Lot Exemplar right-click menu.

As far as the warning you received, a screenshot would be worth a thousand words here.

[Simmer2]

Assuming you want to create an in game menu icon here is what you need.

1) Plop the lot in game in a clean environment (nothing beside it). Take a pic in a couple of zooms and angles for more variety.
This of course is assuming you do not want to create a custom icon, if so then you would need Photoshop or GIMP in order to first create a 44x44 pixel icon.

2) Close game and go to your album folder, find the pics you have taken and drag them on a new folder on your desktop.

3) Open SC4LotIconCreator http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3092, navigate to the folder that contains your freshly taken pics and load one in the app. Use the various tools within the app to create the icon from the aforementioned pic. Once done, give it a name and save your icon in the same folder.

3) Open Reader and find the lot in question, open it. Goto the main exemplar (in the left side pane) and right click on the PNG line (the one that shows 4 pics in one, in the right panel), now pick "Copy Entry ID" from the drop down menu.

3) Click on the PNG file again and this time pick "Insert file" from the drop down menu, a window will open up, navigate to the folder where you placed the new icon, once you pick the icon and click ok a new popup window will show up, chose the type of file from the popup window (in this case PNG) pick it and click ok.

4)Right click on the new PNG file (which will show with zeros IIDs in Reader) and pick "Paste Entry ID" from the drop down menu.

5) Now click on a line above or below and then click back on the new icon file, voila, you can now see the old entry ID pasted on your new file.

6) Now it is safe to remove the old icon. Click on the old icon PNG line and pick "Remove file" from the drop down menu.

7) Click anywhere on the left Reader pane and pick "ReIndex" from the drop down menu

8) Click save and you are done.

Simmer2/Nick

[evarburg]

Thank you both for answering !:-)  I know how to change icons -- eh, I haven't been slaving with the SC4 various tools for two months totally in vain ! :-) Which is why I don't understand why, although I am following the right procedure for that specific relot, the "change icon" option has disappeared from the menu in PIM-X (in which the process is thankfully way easier than in Reader...:-)

[Andreas]

PIM-X is a superb modding tool alright, but I always use "LEProp" for changing the icon, since the process is very easy, once you've created a PNG file in the format 176x44 pixels (showing the four different icon states). Simply open the lot file (Open DAT), import the PNG file, then click "Save DAT" - done!

[evarburg]

But...but...but... it's extremely easy too with PIM-X ! Six clicks once the lot is opened. I didn't know LEProp also could help attach icons. Is it even shorter ?  :-)

[mgb204]

Again I fear there is some mix up between PIM and PIM-X going on. The Maxis PIM requires everything you are using is in the root plugins folder to be seen. PIM-X does not have this limitation, you can select which folders to load upon starting the application.

presents with an exclamation point within a red triangle, OMG what is going on ?

This usually means that whilst the building is loaded, any lots connected to it are not. Check that all files are in the same location before starting PIM-X. As previously mentioned by twalsh102, you will not see an option to change icons unless you have the Lot open. So that's basically your problem in a nutshell.

[evarburg]

And I thought I understood...)

My (version of?) PIM-Extended DOES require the lot and related stuff to be in the root folder (I just verified again). Since pictures... words... etc. here is what I see :

1) click in building>unknown :



2) After opening the relevant exemplar (the "change icon" option usually shows up then, but...) :

[Ernestmaxis]

Easy: SC4LotIconCreator and LeProp it is downloadable with Ilives ready.
LeProp is the most easiest way to change your ICON

[mgb204]

My (version of?) PIM-Extended DOES require the lot and related stuff to be in the root folder (I just verified again). Since pictures... words... etc. here is what I see :

No it doesn't, you've misunderstood something. When you first start the application, it asks you to select which folders to load:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe
  i.e. the Maxis content in the SimCity DAT files.
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\plugins
  Any and all content in the InstallDir Plugins folder (most people should not be using this)
• Users\*NAME*\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins
  The root plugins folder, no subfolders will be loaded.
• Users\*NAME*\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Subfolder 1
  Thereafter the subfolders in Plugins are listed, folders within these folders are all loaded if the listed folder is selected.
• Users\*NAME*\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Subfolder 2
• Users\*NAME*\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Subfolder 3
  And so on for all other folders in the root of plugins.

It's smart enough to remember your choices too, although it will always default the top two or three, since these are usually necessary for most tasks to be loaded.

After opening the relevant exemplar (the "change icon" option usually shows up then, but...)

No one would dispute what you are saying, this isn't a picture or it didn't happen moment. But if you simply clarified that you did have the lot open (because it's important to check first), then we know something is up. I would have said it's the reward / conditional building, but I tested one earlier and it doesn't stop me adding an icon, so that's not the problem.

The real issue here is that all modders and modding tasks lead to many different ways of doing things. So something in the way these were made, is preventing you from altering the Icon. Perhaps it's simply the way the files are made, for example, maybe the icon isn't part of the file itself? Usually the best thing to do is look at the files in Reader and try to work out what's different. However, if you attach the Lot (no dependencies please, just your lot/building etc), then I will take a look for you. Sometimes these things are a PITA to understand, but trust me over time you'll become more familiar with the inner workings. I think we all had these problems when starting out, myself notwithstanding. Modding SC4 can make you a little crazy sometimes.

[Andreas]

Uh-oh, I must be veeeery crazy by now...   

[evarburg]

OK. Plugins (my work plugins folder) is selected when I open PIM. But PIM won't read anything that is in a subfolder of that folder : stuff has to be in (what I think of as) the root folder. I think we're on the same page here ? :-)

Thank you for offering to check the lot, but I finally added the icon with LE Prop. It is less user-friendly/obvious than with PIM, but it works. Hurray !

NB : why don't the smileys work anymore, here