Bird Pesticide (and Mutation)

[RippleJet]

This is the support thread for the Bird Pesticide (and Mutation) mod.


There are two kinds of bird effects in the game:

0x1DEB1000 - Effect_Seagulls_1DEB1000
The seagulls appear between 04:00 and 21:00 around the lighthouse and above the beach.

0x2A820BBA - Effect_pigeons
The pigeons appear between 05:00 and 09:00 around the 1×1 statues: Mayor's Statue and Magnificient Mayor's Statue.


All effects require the City Detail Settings to be on high level to appear.

• The pigeons are smaller, and visible only on zooms 3, 4 and 5
• The seagulls are bigger, and thus visible on zoom 2, 3, 4 and 5

All effects, and especially the seagulls are processor intensive, and do lead to lagging in the game.


The main purpose with this mod is to disable all birds, but it does provide several alternatives...

Seagull Pesticide

• Filename: RJ - Seagull Pesticide 1.0.dat
• This mod exterminates all seagulls above beaches and around lighthouses.
• It does not affect the seagulls that appear above landfills.

Seagull Mutation into Pigeon

• Filename: RJ - Seagull Mutation into Pigeon 1.0.dat
• This mod replaces all seagulls above beaches and around lighthouses with pigeons.
• The pigeons will still appear from dawn till dusk, between 04:00 and 21:00.
• It does not affect the seagulls that appear above landfills.

Pigeon Pesticide

• Filename: RJ - Pigeon Pesticide 1.0.dat
• This mod exterminates all pigeons around statues.
• If loaded after PEG_CDK-OWW_Ferry_RESOURCE1.dat, it also exterminates pigeons that appear on lots using that package.

Pigeon Mutation into Seagull

• Filename: RJ - Pigeon Mutation into Seagull 1.0.dat
• This mod replaces all pigeons around statues with seagulls.
• The seagulls will still appear only in the morning, between 05:00 and 09:00.
• Note that this mod actually increases the processor crunching.

The zip file doesn't include an installer, as you will have to decide yourself whether you want to use pesticide or mutations.
For the sake of your own convenience, I would recommend to place the file(s) you use in a folder called RJ Mods.
Whenever you want birds to reappear in their original shape, just remove the appropriate Pesticide or Mutation from your plugins.

The only readme is this post. However, a picture tells more than 1000 words:

     

[Pat]

Hey Tage congrats on this new mod here and I will most defintlay have to check it out for sure!!!! 

[thingfishs]

All effects, and especially the seagulls are processor intensive, and do lead to lagging in the game.

Hi,
I know it's been ages since anyone's posted here, but I figure you're the guy that will be moving elsewhere anyway so half the jobs done... Something I've been wondering about is the animal automata (woodland animals etc) It's just that in my newish region I have a lot more animals in the forest than I've ever seen. Could this be causing unnecessary lagging, and could it likewise be prevented? Are the animals spawned by the tree controller? Can it just be lowered so that I would only have an occasional animal and not herds?
cheers

[imperialmog]

Is there something similar for the landfill birds or does this mod cover that as well? I am thinking it is responsible for a lot of slowdown since I have seen cities lacking landfills go faster all else being equal.

[RippleJet]

Something I've been wondering about is the animal automata (woodland animals etc) It's just that in my newish region I have a lot more animals in the forest than I've ever seen. Could this be causing unnecessary lagging, and could it likewise be prevented? Are the animals spawned by the tree controller? Can it just be lowered so that I would only have an occasional animal and not herds?

Sorry for not responding to this earlier...
Sure, animals (which are automata, not effects) can be blocked as well...
However, I think you can also control them by the # of Cars/Sims in the Graphic Settings.

Is there something similar for the landfill birds or does this mod cover that as well?

No, I haven't been able to kill those birds...
As far as I know, they are controlled from within the exe.

[thingfishs]

However, I think you can also control them by the # of Cars/Sims in the Graphic Settings.

Good info, thanks. FWIW it would still be nice to be able to control these independently as often the lag of car automata is a price I am willing to pay.

[RippleJet]

FWIW it would still be nice to be able to control these independently as often the lag of car automata is a price I am willing to pay.

Okiedokie... then try the blocker attached to this post.
It will block all 23 types of ingame fauna:

• Rhinos
• Giraffes
• Llamas (3 different kinds)
• Does
• Bucks
• Elephants
• Polar Beers
• Brown Bears
• Chimps (3 different kinds)
• Lions
• Dogs
• Cows (3 different kinds)
• Mooses
• Horses (3 different kinds)
• Kangaroos

I believe most of them only appear in the zoo, so please tell me if you want them separated...

[thingfishs]

thanks a lot

and yes, if it's possible I would like the zoo fauna separated from the wild stuff; most cities of mine don't/won't have a zoo but the wild animals are everywhere. I gather this is on or off type situation? (i.e no way of merely thinning the numbers)

[RippleJet]

Just took a look at the zoo, and no, this blocker does not affect the zoo.
The animals in the zoo are animated props, not automata.

Not sure if kangaroo automata would appear anywhere in the game at all...
Several of the automata mentioned above may actually never have been used by Maxis.

I gather this is on or off type situation? (i.e no way of merely thinning the numbers)

Yes, just on/off.

[thingfishs]

OK, great. And as an Australian I am keen to see that Kangaroo...  (I assume they are all accessible in the simcity.dat(s) somewhere?)

[sim-al2]

Is there a way to add some of those animals to say, a custom lot (like giving Llama Ag a field of llamas )?

[RippleJet]

And as an Australian I am keen to see that Kangaroo...  (I assume they are all accessible in the simcity.dat(s) somewhere?)

Bah
Maxis never finished the Kangaroo automata.
The animation only includes the shadow, but no animal...

There are other modfications that can be done though...
Enclosed are a number of mods for you to try out:

RJ - African Wildlife
Replaces all default wildlife (deers, bears, horses, mooses and llamas) with African wildlife (elephants, giraffes, lions, rhinos and chimps).

RJ - Arctic Wildlife
Replaces all default wildlife with polar bears.

RJ - Block Maxis Llamas
Removes only the llamas, which (if you ask me) dont belong with deers, bears, horses and mooses.

RJ - Block Maxis Wildlife
Blocks most animals that can appear in the wildlife: deers, bears, horses, mooses, llamas, elephants, giraffes, lions, rhinos and polar bears.
This will not block dogs, which normally appear in streets, or chimps, which may escape from the zoo or the laboratory.

Note!
The blockers may be used concurrently with the African/Arctic Wildlife mods...

[RippleJet]

Is there a way to add some of those animals to say, a custom lot (like giving Llama Ag a field of llamas )?

The automata wouldn't stick to the fields...
if spawned from a farmhouse, the llamas would appear as pedestrians on the roads surrounding it.

However, you could domesticate the wildlife...
The enclosed mod replaces all wildlife by horses and cows.

It also adds a new Automata Occupant Group, 0x413A, for the cows (3 kinds of them).
As far as I know, cows have never been animated in the game before...

Note also that in all case above, you need to run the game one full day/night cycle for the existing animals to diappear.

[RippleJet]

I have updated the African Wildlife to version 0.2 above.
For some strange reason Maxis has modded the incomplete kangaroo to appear as a giraffe...

Thus, if you've got my previous version 0.1 of African Wildlife,
you would occasionally see a ghost image of a kangaroo, and their shadows moving around the terrain.
Version 0.2 removes the kangaroo.


Below are some quick images...


Arctic Wildlife:

Hmmm... we need snow out there...


Domestic Wildlife:



African Wildlife:

Welcome to Serengeti... another terrain and other trees would defintely be needed here...

[thingfishs]

very cool

These would be really handy for African/Arctic themed regions. Can I push my luck and ask you to take this one step further and make an enabler for the wild animals? (What I mean is, if I can't thin the numbers of the automata then perhaps just having deer enabled (for eg) would allow me still to have the occasional animal sighting without overloading the system...)

[imperialmog]

Sorry for not responding to this earlier...
Sure, animals (which are automata, not effects) can be blocked as well...
However, I think you can also control them by the # of Cars/Sims in the Graphic Settings.


No, I haven't been able to kill those birds...
As far as I know, they are controlled from within the exe.

So the landfill birds are connected to the cars/sims? That seems a bit odd. I was thinking it was connected to lighthouse/statue birds.

[RippleJet]

Can I push my luck and ask you to take this one step further and make an enabler for the wild animals?

All animals that appear in the wild need to be in Wildlife Generator LUA script.
Since you can have only one copy of a script, enablers aren't feasible.

What I could do is create a Wildlife Generator that spawns all available animals:

• Elephants
• Rhinos
• Giraffes
• Chimps
• Lions
• Llamas
• Does
• Bucks
• Mooses
• Brown Bears
• Polar Beers
• Horses
• Cows

...and then create individual blockers for all those animals.

So the landfill birds are connected to the cars/sims? That seems a bit odd. I was thinking it was connected to lighthouse/statue birds.

Ehm, no... that was a respons to an earlier question by thingfishs...

[thingfishs]

well that would be ideal.... I wish there was something I could do in return....

[RippleJet]

I wish there was something I could do in return....

Test the enclosed mod thoroughly.

Unzip all files in the same subfolder, and delete those blockers (eradicators) that you do not want...
In other words, if you only want does and bucks, delete only the Deer Eradicator.

I'd also appreciate if you could test what happens if you've allowed cows and apes to appear, save the city, and then uninstall the whole mod.
There is a slight chance of a CTD, since cows and apes are behind new Automata Occupant Groups.
If you uninstall the whole mod, there wouldn't be any automata within those groups anymore.

The reason for also the apes having a new occupant group,
is to ensure that the Ape Eradicator doesn't remove the chimps escaping from the zoo.

[j-dub]

Uh yeah, about the cows, before your mod RJ, I downloaded a 1x1 generator that had cows walk around (and eat) for a good amount of blocks in my city. So rather then replacing other stuff, is the same possible for like a polar bear generating lot, instead of doing a replacement? Just think about the modular zoos that could be built with the option to spawn every animal group in any place you want and have control where you don't want.

As for testing a city without the mod it once had, I would back the save file of that city up.