Seasonal trees into one season trees

[evarburg]

To Andreas : those specific CP trees are not available in a non-seasonal version, which is why I wish I could extract them from their seasonal state...

Add yes, it's still about having eternal spring trees !

[Andreas]

Which specific ones are those? Can you tell the file, and some exemplar names?

[mgb204]

Just to clarify, do you mean this file?

If so, every single exemplar in there, (all of which are Flora, not Props, because that's how MMPs work), are of the type RKT4.

Once again I will state, in order for props to change, which is simply a trick where you turn props on and off at the desired dates, they MUST be RKT4. RKT1 props can never be changed, in other words switched between on and off. So it is literally impossible for RKT1 props to be seasonal. Therefore if you are looking at RKT1 props, they are not the props you are looking for.

Flora Props work differently to regular Props, see Exemplar Type, which will tell you if you are looking at a Prop or Flora exemplar. From the linked download, here is the RKT4 value of the first such exemplar:

0x00000002,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x27812821,0x5AD0E817,0x0E274FB2,0x68680000,0x00000001,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x27812821,0x5AD0E817,0x0E274FB2,0x686A0000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x27812821,0x5AD0E817,0x0E274FB2,0x68690000

I have marked the three model IDs in bold, the remaining Reps, (a rep is one field of data), are needed for things to work. You must find which of these three Type, Group and Instance ID combinations matches the tree you want to always appear. Then simply overwrite the two TGIs you don't want with the one you do. Be careful to change the correct fields though or you'll quickly run into trouble. It's actually simpler for this particular example as the TG (Type/Group IDs) are identical for all three. In other words, you only need change the third number/ID, the Instance or IID.

Note that the actual models for this MMP are inside the CP Megapack Vol.2, which is where you are probably finding the RKT1 props. Since they DO exist as non-seasonal props, but this MMP has been designed to use the seasonal models. You should NOT be copying/editing or in any way using the exemplars from the CP Megapack file. You must modify the MMP file instead. Lastly, you can't override MMP flora, if you try, you'll end up with duplicate menu entries, even if the IDs are the same. So in such cases don't make copies or overrides, but instead modify the file directly. Although I would keep a copy of the unmodified file, outside of your plugins, as a backup.

[evarburg]

Yes, going through CP vol2 again I realized I had been mistaken and that the MMPs were present with the tinkerable  RTL4. I'm gonna do them too.

The first batch went well (except the ShrubRound that is missing its summer version -- what do you in that case ?) I'll post pictures of the whole thing when it's finished. I'm pretty happy with the generally lighter greens. 

Next thing I'll wish to learn is how to make plops out of only the spring versions of those seasonals (so as not to have to stack them anymore...) ; is that what Dedgren's tutorial is teaching ? I am not sure...

[mgb204]

If a particular season for a given model exists, there is probably a reason for its omission. Just pick another seasons model. If I recall correctly, I don't think you can have more than 3 seasons for an MMP tree as Flora only allows for switching between three models.

There is no real benefit from making new MMPs just to have non-seasonal variants. It's much quicker and less complicated to simply switch those few seasonal only MMPs to one model. Since most such MMPs usually have the option for both Seasonal/Non Seasonal, you shouldn't need to change that many. Not to mention, because the ID of the MMP remains the same, everything already planted will auto-adjust. The tutorial shows how to make a multi-stage MMP, i.e. one where each subsequent click switches to the next prop in a sequence. It doesn't really cover timed/seasonal props, although setup correctly, you could use the same implementation for the MMPs. Some things will need to be different if following that tutorial for use with single-stage MMPs, but it's a big barrel of worms to open if you don't otherwise intend to get into making MMPs. If on the other hand this is something you plan to delve into, starting with multi-stage MMPs IMO is best, because once you've an understanding of the basic MMP layout, tweaking that to single-stage isn't so difficult. My #1 tip on that is have a good template MMP to use when modding, Girafe or Badsims MMPs are a very good place to look for such.

[Andreas]

My #1 tip on that is have a good template MMP to use when modding

Agreed. Tutorials are a good way to get a basic understanding of modding, providing hints where to look, and how to use the modding tools. However, they can never cover every aspect, so after making yourself familiar with the general layout of SC4 files (exemplar files consist of a bunch of properties, ID numbers that reference other files, etc.), the best way to learn more is looking at existing files and comparing them with others.

Compare exemplar files of growables with those from plopplables, compare prop exemplar files with building exemplar files, etc. Have a good look at existing mods that do the same as your planned one. Sometimes, you have to guess what a certain property does, but the name should give you a general idea. Experiment yourself, and always have a backup ready, in case something goes wrong. Eventually, you'll get the hang of it.

[evarburg]

I'm not going to make MMP -- yet, at least . I just want to be able to plop a spring only version of those CP seasonals, 'cause the stacking gets a bit of a drag...

er, girl...  That IS a MMP ! OK, so I will follow your and Andreas' wise advice.

Anyhow, I hit a snag with a few trees ; most have been corrected ; but the one that keeps obdurately resisting me is the StreetValleyOak. It insists on having an inalterable Winter exemplar (see pict.). I redid the .dat three times very carefully ; I also checked the Simulator Whatever (as I noticed they were wrong for a few trees ; it's supposed to be the same suffix for each seasonal, right ? 3D-Fall / 5C-Spring/ 7A-Summer and 5A-Winter ?). Nothing changes. I just want someone to tell me it's not me and that somehow something is wrong with that seasonal tree set, and then I will just scrape it --I can do without some trees (the Wide Oak eclipses in one season -- though it has its four exemplars ; redid the .dat ; redid the 4plop, same difference ; ah well...)

[Andreas]

If the Lot Editor is showing the original ID of the prop exemplar of that model, the winter one ends with 7A, and not 5A. There is no rule whatsoever that a certain ID indicates a certain season; maybe Cycledogg exported most models in a specific order, so it appears that there is a certain pattern, but that's not the case. So what you need to do is finding the CP_StreetValleyOak_Spring exemplar file, and just copy the ID that shows up there, and paste it into the other three exemplar files. If that doesn't work, then there's probably an error in the prop pack somehow, but the preview in the Lot Editor should show if the exemplar names are correct.

One little thing, though: Cycledogg added some "Semi Seasonal" trees into some of the prop packs that have just two states, summer and winter. There is only ONE exemplar file for this, and it is set up in a certain way, so the prop switches between the summer and winter model automatically, so you don't need to stack props on top of each other. The Lot Editor will always display the winter state, but in the game, it switches to the summer model at a certain time that is determined in the properties. You have to find out which modei ID links to the summer and the winter versions, and then change the winter ID to a copy of the summer ID.

[evarburg]

I didn't use semi-seasonals, only four seasons seasonals 

[evarburg]

I am more and more confuzzled. I try to do what Andreas advised, i.e. copy the ID of the spring version onto the other exemplars. I've never done anything like that and I didn,t know how to proceed. I found the ID (in the L.E.. OK. Now in the Reader, I opened the editor and clicked TGI :



I copied the spring version ID into the other exemplar, using the window with ### on the right (not the blue one) It changed all Instances to the spring version one. I reindexed, rebuild the directory (don't know if the latter is necessary but it can't hurt), saved and reopened the L.E. The result ? All trees have reverted to their seasonal version.

Er.... I don't think that was the expected result. So what did I do wrong, sigh, again ?

[Andreas]

After editing the IDs, they did show up properly in the Reader, I hope? Usually, you have to click every "Apply" button that you can see in order to apply (duh!) the changes. In any case, there might be some kind of bug in the "new" Reader; if everything fails, thy the good old 0.9.x version of the original iLive Reader. That one never failed for me.

[evarburg]

I did "Apply" each time I changed the ID, and finally reindexed and saved.

What if I add the spring Exemplar ID property in the exemplars  ?

.....

I did that + redid the I in TGI :-) but the L.E. still only shows the original IDs ; AND they have reverted to their original seasonal aspects...

I think I can live with one less tree...

....................... EDIT.....................EDIT.......................EDIT................

Well, colour me flabbergasted (the colour of flabbergasted is blue). The two trees that insisted on having a winter season, and that I re-re-re-redid just-in-case, now both work perfectly.

I will NOT try to understand.... I will NOT try to understand... I will NOT....

[Andreas]

I like blue! Well, glad it worked out eventually, no idea what could have been wrong, but it's the result that counts.

[evarburg]

Hear, hear !

Well, I will have learned a few new tricks, though ! Thank you, everybody, and until next time (the "But, really, how the heck do I make plops out of the spring version only ? phase, after trying to find my way around dedgren's tutorial