What causes Prop Pox (and how to avoid it)

[z]

Well, not so fast.  Not all poxed cities have Pegasus' plugin.  For example, I have one poxed city that doesn't.  Other sources of the pox do exist; they just haven't been identified.

Nevertheless, your chances of getting the pox in a big city are extremely small, and I wouldn't worry about it.  Only a relatively small number of truly poxed cities have ever surfaced.

[CahosRahneVeloza]

Well, not so fast.  Not all poxed cities have Pegasus' plugin.  For example, I have one poxed city that doesn't.  Other sources of the pox do exist; they just haven't been identified.

Hope you guys will eventually narrow down which other mods causes Prop Pox so Pegasus will no longer feel singled out.

[cogeo]

Tropod is currently making a tool that scans plugins and reports conflicts (and I hope overrides as well). It wouldn't be a big deal to add a check for the prop-pox condition. The check is simple, find simple props overridden as timed or vice versa. As props are referenced by the Instance ID only, the Group ID should be ignored, ie two pop exemplars that have the same IID but different GID should be considered conflicting/overriding, not unrelated. I was planning to make such a tool myself, but then Tropod started making his own, so I backed out. Maybe someone could just tell him.

Another setting that could cause prop-pox is uninstalling a timed prop (custom content) for which there is at least one reference (instance) in the city file (eg a prop instance in a grown or plopped lot). Making a tool that can detect this is much harder though, as it requires checking both the plugins and the city files.

[CahosRahneVeloza]

Speaking of Timed Props as the real culprit, could you guys check if this "Game Clock" Park lot from Rivit is safe to have or not?

http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/29328-game-clock/

[APSMS]

Rivit is one of the safest developers in the community. His experience in computers and extensive examination of the SC4 Data files leads one to consider his files as usually on the level provided you follow the directions.

That being said, the clock should be safe as it uses new props and new exemplars. Prop Pox is typically caused by replacing non-timed props with rotating/timed ones. Since the clock doesn't replace any, it should be fine. Also, it should be noted that the plagued files by PEG can be used if one installs them before any other development, or if you use a Maxis blocker to prevent the non-timed instances from appearing.

[CahosRahneVeloza]

Also, it should be noted that the plagued files by PEG can be used if one installs them before any other development, or if you use a Maxis blocker to prevent the non-timed instances from appearing.

About the part I highlighted, is that true? If so then that truly is some great news as I do have Maxis Blockers in my Plugins folder 

[APSMS]

Well, I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it to be so.

If I were you I'd read up through this forum thread and elsewhere to verify, though I did read it somewhere reliable. The main issue with that sort of fix is that you can't have any Maxis buildings built that have this modified prop instance anywhere in your cities (if you plan on adapting it to existing cities). The other catch, of course, is that you have to have enough plugins to compensate. The Maxis stuff may not be the world's greatest, but it is plentiful and varied, so be prepared to deal with the medicine required for the cure.

I think the problem may also be rectified if Maxis buildings are only built after the replacement is installed so that they only reference the timed instance, but I think that is a more risky solution. A lot of this stuff has been tested by others more patient and knowledgeable than me, so some searching of the forums seems like a good use of your time if you're experiencing problems. I think I've experienced mild prop pox before, but haven't ever had anything quite as severe and some of the painful examples mentioned in this thread; I've had PEG's seaports and CDK installed ever since I discovered CC, so that might have something to do with it. I can't really be sure, though.

[vortext]

Hm, I'm not quite sure if a Maxis blocker would suffice to prevent the pox from surfacing since there'd still be duplicate exemplar files with the same IID floating around. So the game would still read/write both exemplars one after another and as they differ in size, the savegame could still become corrupted after a while. That's what I understand to be the main issue at least.

That said, Rivits clock is safe to use. As APSMS said, Rivit is an incredibly knowledgeable member of the community. If there was any problem with the clock to begin with (which I highly doubt anyway) it would've been corrected by now.

[z]

The problem with the prop pox happens only when the conflicting props are deleted.  This, of course, happens automatically as new buildings grow and replace older ones.  If done correctly, a prop blocker would work, because there would not be multiple IIDs of the prop in the game - there would only be the IID of the prop blocker.  However, such a prop blocker would have to be in your Plugins folder before you started building your city, as the first time a conflicting plugin was deleted, the groundwork for the later appearance of the Prop Pox would be set.

[Rady]

Hi Sim-Folks,

I've been away for soooooome time now but decided to return to SC4. Unfortunately I discovered a problem with my last city I develeoped. I do have several zoned areas where the buidlings decided to disappear:



As you can see, there are some things on this residential zone like cars, .. but the building itself is missing. I also can bulldog the zone, then a new building will appear - so the zone clearly isn't empty itself. My question now is: is this what is called prop pox? Or am I encountering a different problem here?

[vortext]

It appears to be a different issue as the lot is also missing textures, which are unaffected by the pox. My best guess is you're simply missing some dependencies.

[Rady]

Well the funny thing is I cannot bring up the descriptopn of the lot/building, so I cannot find out what might be missing. 

[dyoungyn]

Well the funny thing is I cannot bring up the descriptopn of the lot/building, so I cannot find out what might be missing. 

I have had this problem before to.  I agree this is not Prop Pox.  The way I fixed this was to either delete the building again or use the unzone and unzone the lot.  Also, as much as you don't want to, sometimes using the Tera Form tools and try lowering that lot down to sea and leveling it back up.  If the dependency (cies) are still there, it may be possible to plop a new building right on top to hide them.  FINALLY, one last ditch effort is to prop a single street in each square may also get rid of the cies that are there.

dyoungyn

[mgb204]

Well the funny thing is I cannot bring up the descriptopn of the lot/building, so I cannot find out what might be missing. 

This is either caused by an "immortal lot" or the information needed for the game to reference it (especially in the case of Custom UIs) is part of a dependency that you are missing, probably the same one containing the building. This is in no way indicative of prop pox.

Try removing it with this tool.

If things grow like that then you simply need to know what you installed, check the readme and then install whatever dependenc(y/ies) you are missing.

Installing content without checking you've the right dependencies installed first leads to these problems. So unless you test content as you go, if you've no idea what this is it's probably going to take you a while to go through your plug-ins and find it, there is no quicker solution, sorry.

[Rady]

Well the funny thing is I cannot bring up the descriptopn of the lot/building, so I cannot find out what might be missing. 

This is either caused by an "immortal lot" or the information needed for the game to reference it (especially in the case of Custom UIs) is part of a dependency that you are missing, probably the same one containing the building. This is in no way indicative of prop pox.

Try removing it with this tool.

If things grow like that then you simply need to know what you installed, check the readme and then install whatever dependenc(y/ies) you are missing.

Installing content without checking you've the right dependencies installed first leads to these problems. So unless you test content as you go, if you've no idea what this is it's probably going to take you a while to go through your plug-ins and find it, there is no quicker solution, sorry.

Well, first, I'm happy to hear tthat this is not the Prop Pox As for the missing dependencies, the main problem is that I bought a new PC a year ago and transferred SC to this one one, ans that I paused SC4 for some years. Both facts add - well, let's say ... some difficulty to the situation
I already spent some months cleaning up & checking the plugins folder, re-creating the DAMN menue and so on.

o, it seems some works lies ahead still

Thank you folks!

[Turjan]

So I finally managed to get my own poxed city. I did something stupid though, so not too much of a loss, as I backed up everything before I did it. Removing SPAM screwed up the overall industrial and commercial demand anyway, so it was a failed experiment all over. But that's a given for demand mods.

I should probably have removed all farms and let the cities run for a while before removing the mod. So, as I said, my own fault.

[cirocirociro]

Hi guys... i didn't write so often here but i'm a SC4 devotion friend since 2008
I was affected few years ago by prop pox and rage quit with simcity 4 for a while...now i'm back and have a question about p.pox:

I started a new region, with only NAM and few girafe's trees..i just have built highways and rails and developed a tiny village of 3k people

Now..my question is...if i install custom content(except the PEG's one with timed props) they will conflict with maxis's one and start the pox?

[dyoungyn]

What I have discovered by experiment after experiment, is that when one starts a map (Large map), develop then use many lots.  As one is backing up and loses the lot files for some reason and re-downloads and the the creator changed something, then go back into the map and presto, prop plox.  Lesson learned is that I deal with what I have and hope and pray that I do not have to re-download the same lots risking prop plox or just not re-download.

dyoungyn

[APSMS]

Ciro,
in my experience simply replacing maxis props with other static props is fine. In fact, though I use the timed PEG props I've yet to see a serious case of the pox in any of my cities, in part because I'm probably not 100% aware of how it looks, but also because it's just never been that bad (knock on wood).

I believe that even the timed replacement props won't cause prop pox as long as you install the props before you begin building, so that you aren't replacing the instance improperly and causing a read error in the file sizes.

[cirocirociro]

Ciro,
in my experience simply replacing maxis props with other static props is fine. In fact, though I use the timed PEG props I've yet to see a serious case of the pox in any of my cities, in part because I'm probably not 100% aware of how it looks, but also because it's just never been that bad (knock on wood).

I believe that even the timed replacement props won't cause prop pox as long as you install the props before you begin building, so that you aren't replacing the instance improperly and causing a read error in the file sizes.

So it should be ok if I install custom contents over Maxis's one,even if i already begin with few contents...If i get it correctly,the prop pox will  occurs if you modify those maxis timed props...So if i install and then uninstall custom content with maxis timed props p.pox will occur..thank you