SSPTool

[ScottFTL]

I downloaded the new version 2.0.2, but I still have the same problem.  When I launch the SSPTool.bat file using Run as Administrator, the program fails to launch.  It launches fine when I simply double-click the SSPTool.bat file to launch it.  I tried running it without administrator rights, but the DAMN Installer fails as before.  I can launch the DAMN Manager now, but I simply receive an error that DAMN is not installed.

[Stefan79]

I downloaded the new version 2.0.2, but I still have the same problem.  When I launch the SSPTool.bat file using Run as Administrator, the program fails to launch.  It launches fine when I simply double-click the SSPTool.bat file to launch it.  I tried running it without administrator rights, but the DAMN Installer fails as before.  I can launch the DAMN Manager now, but I simply receive an error that DAMN is not installed.

Hi ScottFTL,

I have no Windows Vista/7 to test/check this.
Perhaps you can give your DAMN folder (SimCity 4/Plugins) and SSPTool rights for Users and try again?

Stefan

[z]

I downloaded the new version 2.0.2, but I still have the same problem.  When I launch the SSPTool.bat file using Run as Administrator, the program fails to launch.  It launches fine when I simply double-click the SSPTool.bat file to launch it.  I tried running it without administrator rights, but the DAMN Installer fails as before.  I can launch the DAMN Manager now, but I simply receive an error that DAMN is not installed.

Works fine for me under Windows 7 x64.  Are you running with an account that has administrative rights?  If so, did you try turning off UAC?

@Stefan:  I like the way you redid the configuration box.  But it doesn't look like you're getting the installation folder properly from the registry for the default; mine shows up simply as "C:\Program Files (x86)".  Do you know about this?

Also, as a minor point, the '/' characters in your text should be '\'.  Haven't gotten to testing the main program yet... 

[Stefan79]

@z:
The program doesn't use the registry to determine the folders of SimCity 4 and Users Plugin. Instead it trys to find it with some default names and finally ends up in your standard %programs% and %users% folders. This is because the registry would only works under Windows and so Java doesn't support this. (Btw I have installed SimCity in c:\Spiele\SimCity 4 Deluxe.)

Corrected the '/' to '\'

[z]

Why not have the best of both worlds?  The vast majority of people are playing SC4 on PCs, and even many Mac users are using a Windows emulation.  You can try to get the information out of the registry; if there is no registry, you can do what you're currently doing.

[Stefan79]

Why not have the best of both worlds?  The vast majority of people are playing SC4 on PCs, and even many Mac users are using a Windows emulation.  You can try to get the information out of the registry; if there is no registry, you can do what you're currently doing.

You are right. Next version will use jRegistryKey to search in the registry, if OS is Windows, else it searchs as I mentioned or finally shows a dialog to let the user choose.

[MOREOPTIONS]

Greetings,  Looks like it will be good.  I oppen without Admin ok, but it's not able to do anything.  and in admin. all I get is the Dos Flash screene and than it's off.  i have been checking settings.. but nothing as of yet,. am using Vista Ultimate 32.   will try my 64 and see if it changes anything.

[ScottFTL]

Hi Stefan,

Perhaps you can give your DAMN folder (SimCity 4/Plugins) and SSPTool rights for Users and try again?

Just to answer Z's questions... I am running Windows 7 Pro x64 with an administrator account and UAC set to Default.

I granted the Users group Full Control for the C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Plugins folder, then I was able to run the DAMN Installer.  I did not have to grant any additional permission to the C:\Program Files (x86)\SSPTool folder where I have your program installed, and I did not have to use the Run as Administrator option to launch SSP Tool.

I'm sure you will see this problem again after release, so I wanted to let you know exactly how it was fixed.  Thank you for your help!

Now that I can properly install DAMN, I'll move on to testing the DAMN Manager. 

[Stefan79]

Hi together,

before I create an installer and upload the SSPTool to LEX, I have finish a new version of the program to sourceforge:
SSPTool 2.1.0 (include DAMN Plugin 2.0.4)

I have fixed some errors, improve the clipboard, the search for SimCity folder (registry) and some more things.
Yesterday I manage the DAMN of my cousin and I can say it works without any problem. Hope you will have the
same fun with it. If you have any ideas, found bugs or what else don't be hesitate to tell me. I'll see what I can do.

Regards,
Stefan

P.S.: Some special things to modify lots will be in another plugin Editor, which I'm currently working on.

[z]

It's looking great, Stefan!  I think it's a vast improvement over the original SSPTool.    Not only is it much easier to use, but I also notice that it has many capabilities that simply weren't present in the original.

I have a few suggestions before final release, though.  First, in the smaller window view, the right hand border of the Plugins folder is very much to the left, much more so than the DAMN Menu folder.  I think it would be helpful if it were moved to the right in alignment with the folder below.

Second, I really like the way you've been able to get rid of the path configuration dialog in most circumstances!  However, many people don't keep their original plugin files in the Plugins folder.  I think the biggest example of this is the users of DatPacker, who are recommended to put their plugins in a folder such as Plugins Disabled after they have been DatPacked.  (I am one of those people, and that's what I do; I think that DatPacker is incredibly useful for anyone with more than just a few plugins.)  Unfortunately, right now the only way to change the Plugins folder is the undocumented method of editing the configuration file.  I would suggest adding the Plugins folder path to the "DAMN Options", along with a means of editing it.  And in order to make a temporary change to the Plugins folder, it would be nice to have a dropdown box right underneath the Plugins Folder heading, which would be the same type of dropdown box that you have in file dialog boxes.

Third, it's really nice that you can resize the internal frame boundaries, but it would be even nicer if the program remembered the resizing the next time you used it.  Along similar lines, it would be nice if at least the frame containing the larger picture under "DAMN Menu Lot Detail" could be resized vertically; having a resizing bar in addition between that column and the DAMN Menu Lots column to the left would be even better.

Finally, having a Help file would be really useful; actually, I think it's a necessity.  I stumbled across some really useful features by accident, and I still don't know what everything does.

But as I indicated in the beginning, this is a fantastic program.  I think it's finally at the level where I can efficiently DAMN all my plugins to... menus.  But they're so much more than the built-in SC4 menus; I think they deserve a better name.  How about Hierarchically Enabled Layered Levels?  I think that conveys the functionality!  Yes, now I can DAMN all my plugins to Hierarchically Enabled Layered Levels!  But that last phrase is so long; it needs an abbreviation or something... 

[Stefan79]

@z:
I'm afraid you haven't had the last version 2.1.0 of SSPTool, because some of your suggestions are already done:
- the Plugin and DAMN folder should now have the same width
- you can change the folder of Plugins and SimCity in the Main menubar under Extras - Options
- for resizing it is not finish yet, but you easily switch to 1200 x 1000 size under DAMN-Options

Other things will be added in next versions, especially a Help file.

And for the name, it is a honor to Daeley, which invented the menus and I think it sounds better to "damn" lots than to "hell" lots 

[buncheesy]

Hi Stefan,

Since I posted here I have been downloading like crazy, DAMNing with your tool, DATPACKing, and oh.....occasionally playing (which I hope to do more of !) all in the few spare moments RL leaves.

I have been checking in on this thread with great anticipation and ofter reading your and Zs posts I am wondering whether you are happy with the version posted to sourceforge for general play yet or are still just testing??

I am not very computer literate but dont need things perfect.  the DAMN tab of your previous release to the LEX has been of fantastic use to me an I am happy to stick with it.  All I would like to do is hide the lots from the game menu but can survive without.

Thanks again and I am sorry that my lack of game knowledge, computing skills and time has meant I havent yet tested previous beta's.

PS a help file would be very usefully for a computer dummy noob like me.
PPS I like the phrase DAMN despite Zs more accurate alternative, for all the reasons you mention.

[thingfishs]

Hi stefan,
I had a quick play with the first of the new releases but couldn't get it to work (I forget the reason now). I've now had a go with the latest version (which for me didn't contain the start.dat, I grabbed that from the earlier version), and I mostly love it. 

A couple of things... One, I had a few issues getting DAMN to install. The dialog mentions checking permissions but I think this needs to be spelled out a bit more (in the readme...).
Also this is probably mentioned somewhere, but I'm getting a lot of "this is not a valid DBPF file"

Great work

[z]

I'm afraid you haven't had the last version 2.1.0 of SSPTool, because some of your suggestions are already done:
- the Plugin and DAMN folder should now have the same width
- you can change the folder of Plugins and SimCity in the Main menubar under Extras - Options
- for resizing it is not finish yet, but you easily switch to 1200 x 1000 size under DAMN-Options

I have the only version of 2.1.0 that was on SourceForge; it contains DAMN Plugin 2.0.4.  Was there someplace else I was supposed to get the newer version?

I'm glad you already implemented those suggestions!  In the mean time, I've been using the 1200 x 1000 size.  And I like the option to have different sized windows.

And for the name, it is a honor to Daeley, which invented the menus and I think it sounds better to "damn" lots than to "hell" lots 

I think there's a little misunderstanding here.    If you look at my original message, you'll see that I wasn't suggesting replacing DAMN, but merely the word for "menus".  The idea was to allow me to DAMN all my plugins to HELL...     It was really just a joke, though, and not a serious suggestion. 

[ScottFTL]

I think I've found a bug in version 2.1.0.  I selected "Use ONE Dat file for hiding each menu" under DAMN Options.  I didn't care for this option so I changed it back, but the DAMN Manager continues to create single menu dat files in the zzz_DAMN Remove folder rather than reverting to the default behavior.  I even removed and reinstalled SSPTool, but the option is apparently hidden somewhere that I cannot find.  It seems to let you activate this option, but it cannot be deactivated.

I'm not sure if this is a program issue or something that I did, but I've had problems with all my DAMN menus since I upgraded to version 2.1.0.  I wasn't able to see anything except the menu header with the News Ticker installation, so I changed it to Urgent Advice Dialog and the menus started working again.  However, the menu items are no longer hidden as they should be.  I'm really not sure what's going on, but I have a feeling that I will have to start fresh and redo all my menus.  This is the first problem I've had in over a week of solid DAMN-ing.

It would be nice to have an option to regenerate all the files in the zzz_DAMN Remove folder.  If this were accidentally deleted and could not be recovered, it seems like the only recourse is to recreate all menus.

UPDATE:
I was finally able to restore normal behavior by deleting the DAMN folder in \Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Plugins then reinstalling through SSP Tool.  I tried to reuse my previous menus - they still work, but lots are only properly hidden when I create a new menu.  Still not sure what happened there, but glad to have things working again.  It's amazing how addicted you get to uncluttered menus! 

[z]

I notice that no menu changes are finalized until you hit the "Next" button in the DAMN Manager.  At this point, the new entries are made, the index is generated, and the DAMN Manager closes.  I think that a lot of people, like me, will be using this to make large batches of entries.  From time to time, we'll want to hit "Next" to make sure we don't lose huge amounts of work.  But once the DAMN Manager closes, if we reopen it, our places in the Plugins Folder and the DAMN Menu Folder are lost.  Could you make it so that hitting the "Next" button doesn't cause the DAMN Manager to close, or at least have that as an option?  As many menus go many levels deep, this would save a bit of work when we just want to continue on from where we left off.

EDIT:  One way in which this could be accomplished would be to replace the "Next" button with two buttons - "Save" and "Finish".  The "Save" button would save the new menus and rebuild the index, but leave the DAMN Manager open.  The "Finish" button would do what the "Next" button currently does.  The "Cancel" button would still be present for when people would want to back out of their work.

[buncheesy]

I downloaded the SSPTool 2.1.0 from Source forge and successfully created DAMN menus and hid them (all except some RTMT stops for some reason ) from the main menu.

However when I datpacked they were no longer hidden.  AS I have stated before my computer knowledge is rudimentray.  I read this thread and afterwards changed the plugins destination folder to the "plugins_uncompressed" where I store my pre datpacked files....to no avail

I would really really really love to remove the DAMNed lots from the normal menu if possible but dont want to lose the ability to datpack as it has made the game playable with a huge plugins folder.

I would love a simple stepwise explanation of how to create hidden DAMN menus and still use datpacker if possible.

Thanks again to Stephan for the SSPTool (DAMN plugin)

[TiFlo]

Hi buncheesy,

Did you also datpack the "zzz_DAMN Remove" folder that holds all the modified files the SSPTool creates to hide your DAMNed files? Unless you chose another method (direct replacement of the original file I think) this is by default. I always keep that one unpacked, and have never had any problem.

Also, you want to make sure that folder is loaded after all your lots (hence the "zzz_" at the beginning of the folder's name).

[shanghai kid]

How is it going with a finished version on LEX?
been a long time sins i've heard any news.

[Stefan79]

Hi together,

a short lifesign from me. Sorry I didn't tell earlier anything but RL has catched my time a lot.

I'll try to those things since 14. June and upload a version to LEX in the next few days.

Regards,
Stefan