I've been working on editing and creating new Effects. Things are pretty copy/paste right now, but as I learn more perhaps the effects can get more complicated (attractors/repulsors).
This is a test of how the SimCity EffectDir can be overridden. I've made the Robot's smoke purple by editing the color levels of the smoke effect (from within the directory, not editing FSH). What makes this interesting is that I copy/pasted the smoke effect out of SimCity_1.dat and then gave it a new instance. Meaning, we can make mods on SimCity effects without needing to copy/paste the whole thing.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg824.imageshack.us%2Fimg824%2F9552%2Frobott.jpg&hash=f5624cf8fb6edd9f43a5bcdf991a33b1ff021894)
I copy/pasted the rain effect, changed the FSH it points to and some other parameters, and snow is created. The effect is put on a lot: (This picture seems to be having troubles)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg141.imageshack.us%2Fimg141%2F5602%2Ffrostyj.jpg&hash=3df3d4844912242eacaf82ed27dd36c971216bd3)
Here's a video that NCGAIO made for me: YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RyAj2iBYQw&)
I've also been making mayor-mode-plop-effects. This was done by copy/pasting the pigeon effect, then adding a Section14 with a new Group/Instance. A quick copy/paste of the horse brush exemplar, and there we go. The pigeons are 16 meters off the ground, higher than the house you see on the right, but lower that the hawk effect.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg690.imageshack.us%2Fimg690%2F5726%2Fpidgeons.jpg&hash=ace0c276994985480964416aaee16b0bc6ac5518)
For the menu, I've added the Fauna tool to the mayor menu, and switched the image with that fancy one.
They are all pretty beta right now. Snow is pretty heavy on the computer processing. By increasing the duration of the pigeon effect, it makes them much more likely to flock together (turn at the same time). However, this also means they will fly pretty far away from where one plopped them.
This is pretty neat stuff! Effects have traditionally been an area that hasn't been terribly well explored, so this is definitely going to be a leap forward. I'll have to keep a close eye on your efforts. :thumbsup:
-Alex
Wow that is impressive work Lowkee
Fantastic! I have been looking into this some time ago myself, but decided to stick to creating buildings, bridges and minor modding... Glad you picked this up!
&apls &apls
This is really interesting mooding! The snow is impressive :)
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 08, 2012, 04:09:43 PM
...I copy/pasted the rain effect, changed the FSH it points to and some other parameters, and snow is created. The effect is put on a lot:
Its not very visible in these pictures (look for white specks) as I didn't want to crash my computer having too many of the snow lots, I also added a snow mod to the city
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5275%2F7164074826_d134dea353_o.jpg&hash=694fa536be9131851113a599f3010919f2e4ba5f) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/26230041@N06/7164074826/)
MAY120003 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/26230041@N06/7164074826/) by SC4D_CATTY (http://www.flickr.com/people/26230041@N06/), on Flickr
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5271%2F7164075972_99a77ec0ee_o.jpg&hash=6f5f2cfce43bd81fa24c7d8b16253af69cae62cf) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/26230041@N06/7164075972/)
MAY120006 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/26230041@N06/7164075972/) by SC4D_CATTY (http://www.flickr.com/people/26230041@N06/), on Flickr
it looks ()stsfd() and I find myself just watching the snow falling ;D
I have to admit that better weather animations like you showed us could be awesome additions to the game.
Glad you are digging this domain :)
Thanks Alex. I've got some NAM-esque mods in the brain factory. I've got to study some Swampper works to really get into it though.
Hi Catty, thanks for the pics (seems like mine is broken?). Yeah, the snow is horrible for the computer, each snowflake being another position to calculate. But I do think it looks like a realistic snow flurry, anything I do will compromise that. However, I did make that snow a while ago and have better methods. To my defence, NCGAIO's video is a little choppy (look at the way the mouse moves).
I'm considering the Pigeons done, now just making the packaging. Look like pigeons, sound like pigeons (except when plopped). I know how to change the sound, I just don't know what the sound will be until I enter the game (effects point to TRKs that point to LEVs). Pigeons plopped in this method will never go away, but they don't survive the save game. They don't work as props, but neither do the other "herds" and there is already a pigeon prop that Maxis made for us.
http://www.youtube.com/v/8RyAj2iBYQw
The video was recorded on the computer that was available at that time (on-board graphics) but it is an indication of what occurs in small machines. (That's why Maxis did not rain in SC.)
Taking advantage of this posting I comment the other matter.
The movement of automata that run along the path is not controlled by EffectDir
They travel routes (Eg: Road. Rail ...) by means of instruction placed on Lua Script that generate them, as in the example below.
(Creation of automata in Simgoober Channel)
Quote
Lua Script:
automata_group.canalferry =
{
_parent = automata_group.monorail,
group_id = "0xCA1A1000"
class_id = "0x4c22ae53"
source_building = "0xCA1A100A"
csi_image = "0xca1a1000"
}
generator.canalferry_generator =
{
automata = {"canalferry"},
count = 1,
rate = 1,
rate_scale = RateScale.PER_WEEK,
max_count = 1,
ground_only = true,
use_lot_facing = true,
radius = {1, 5},
follow_rail = true,
follow_road = true,
}
In the same way that Swampper, Mikeseth etc. .. also created new scripts to introduce new automata in the game
For those who travel randomly across the screen are controlled by EffectDir as those who are called by Prop Effect such as Effect_seaport_forklit; Effect_WillioBimpio; Effect_HotAirBallonFlight: etc. ..
Or the special generators as Tag 1x1x3_Ruway - Airplane;
Tag 1x1x3_Helicopter_2B6000 - Helicopter;
Tag 1x1x3_SeaportSpawnPoint - Ships ... etc..
Quote
All can see them on screen with the cheat "Effect" ( Crlt-X )
Synthase: effect <nome_effect>!
Very interesting. Thanks for the link to this disscussion Lowkee. I'm new at Ilives reader. I'm in the proccess of learning how to navigate. How do you find the animals that appear in God mode? I'm looking for the buzzard so I can change the texture. As you know from my thread on ST I am very interested in making custom wildlife if we find it's possible. It makes sense for me to start with something simple like changing textures of existing models before I dive into completely new creations.
@NCGAIO: I'm interested in increasing the amount of time that automata are displayed (perhaps they actually go somewhere). It may also be possible that an effect could do something like raise a tile by 15 meters.
@Mr_Maison: It is pretty tough to go from effect to FSH. Open the EffectDir and go to Section13. Select the columns and copy/paste them into excel. The use excel to find the word "buzzard". You will find four of them, but one named "Buzzards". Note the IndexKey of Buzzards (which is 262). This is hexadeciamal, but you need to know it in decimal (610). Then go to Section12 and click the "show list" check box. Find Entry 610 in Section12, and see that there are 3 Primary Index Flags. Chances are, they will point to the same model eventually. The Flags point to section01, and the key is the entry in section01. So then, go to Section01, show the list, and find entry 725. One of those columns is "Resource Key" and the value happens to be 0xca0e264f. That is the instance of an S3D, which is your buzzard model. Click on the MAT tab, and note the instance of the FSH (4a0e2626). The FSh is found in SimCity_2.dat. However, this seems to be a special FSH that I can't edit, so there you go :).
This is wonderful :o :o great progress :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
All the attempts I'm aware of that increase automata visibility time rely on the Automata Simulator (e.g. Vehicle Lifespan Range). The unit given is "cells", which I would presume to equate to tiles. 0xFF for both values should theoretically keep them from disappearing (Blue Lightning's Radical Plugin does change the second number to 0xFF). That covers a full large city tile straight across--if they took a more circuitous route from one end to the other, they could still disappear.
I'm guessing you're going to try to play with the actual disappearance effect on the EffDir end?
-Alex
Quote from: Tarkus on May 09, 2012, 01:17:56 PM
All the attempts I'm aware of that increase automata visibility time rely on the Automata Simulator (e.g. Vehicle Lifespan Range). The unit given is "cells", which I would presume to equate to tiles. 0xFF for both values should theoretically keep them from disappearing (Blue Lightning's Radical Plugin does change the second number to 0xFF). That covers a full large city tile straight across--if they took a more circuitous route from one end to the other, they could still disappear.
I'm guessing you're going to try to play with the actual disappearance effect on the EffDir end?
-Alex
Well, not anymore :) I think I confused myself as to what radical meant.
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 09, 2012, 01:06:42 PM
I'm interested in increasing the amount of time that automata are displayed...
Following the response from Alex note that models of automata have in your animation something like 100 frames, while all have the same vertices. To offset the Effect may not be possible to overcome this sampling, without introducing further frames ...
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 09, 2012, 01:06:42 PM
@Mr_Maison: I... However, this seems to be a special FSH that I can't edit, so there you go :).
If I am not mistaken is a mipmap texture ... search on Null45 Tools ..
Quote
You surely already know .. but if anyone else is interested here is the link to the structure of EffDir although still incomplete behind him important information such as the definition of sections, etc ...
FILE STRUCTURE EFFDIR (http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=EFFDIR)
Quote from: NCGAIO on May 09, 2012, 02:32:20 PM
If I am not mistaken is a mipmap texture ... search on Null45 Tools ..
You are correct that file uses embedded mipmaps (as do most automata), they can be loaded but currently only my Paint.NET FSH plugin supports saving them.
I will probably add the ability to save embedded mipmaps in the next version of my other tools.
The Reader scrambles most images with embedded mipmaps because it loads the mipmaps over the main image.
Those images load fine when a one line fix to the Reader's fsh handling code tells it to ignore all embedded mipmaps. :thumbsup:
Quote from: null45 on May 09, 2012, 03:56:11 PM
I will probably add the ability to save embedded mipmaps in the next version of my other tools.
Very good to know ... until they come, one could also directly use the
FSHed or
EAgrafh EA tools for editing. Both can be found in below links
FSHed - Vs 0.0.5 (http://forums.nba-live.com/downloads.php?view=detail&df_id=66)EA Graphics Editor - Vs 1.0.4b (http://forums.nba-live.com/downloads.php?view=detail&df_id=3)
Thanks Null45, maybe I'll have to fix that line. For the example I posted, Multi-FSH saved it as a .fsh.png, which I opened in GIMP. Then I edited the png and then deleted the .png extention. Reader crashed upon load, is this the same reason, or did I really mess up the FSH?
The Effect Structure link was very helpful for me. There are a couple places that I'm not sure are correct, and a few others where Reader would disagree (output to screen wise). I would have to check the code I wrote to know exactly where. There is also a DWORD described as a rep, but that rep is always zero in SimCity Dat. Don't think I'm going to argue though.
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 09, 2012, 01:24:34 PM
Well, not anymore
Maybe not, thinking about SC4 after class is a pass-time I have.
Quote
Lua Script:
automata_group.canalferry =
{
_parent = automata_group.monorail,
group_id = "0xCA1A1000"
class_id = "0x4c22ae53"
source_building = "0xCA1A100A"
csi_image = "0xca1a1000"
}
group_id and class_id are interesting there, it is possible that those are values in Section 14 (in which case they are arbitrary). Maybe class_id points to Section15, which I'm not too sure about.
We also have a _parent of automata_group.monorail. Moving to the parent, it's parent is automata_group.train. From there we move right to automata_group.vehicle (off the top of my head, no reader here). Vehicle has a "final group" (or something like it) of 0x4002. 0x4002 appears a lot in the EffectDir, in Section01 variable U1. Every puzzle-piece preview has a U1 of 0x4002, as well as various other automata related effects.
The U1 variable seems to create a category of effect, all effects with identical U1s are similar in nature.
Quote
For those who travel randomly across the screen are controlled by EffectDir as those who are called by Prop Effect such as Effect_seaport_forklit; Effect_WillioBimpio; Effect_HotAirBallonFlight: etc. ..
Or the special generators as Tag 1x1x3_Ruway - Airplane;
Tag 1x1x3_Helicopter_2B6000 - Helicopter;
Tag 1x1x3_SeaportSpawnPoint - Ships ... etc..
I'll have to look at these in detail. Perhaps if I can get a link between an LUA and the EffectDir then something interesting might pop up.
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 09, 2012, 04:56:14 PM
Thanks Null45, maybe I'll have to fix that line. For the example I posted, Multi-FSH saved it as a .fsh.png, which I opened in GIMP. Then I edited the png and then deleted the .png extention. Reader crashed upon load, is this the same reason, or did I really mess up the FSH?
No, the Reader is crashing because it tries to read a PNG file as a FSH, I might change that so it does not use a double extension (e.g.
_fsh.png) which should prevent confusion in the future.
The line of code to fix is line 503 in fshtool.cpp changing:
l=numscales; to
l=0;
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 09, 2012, 04:56:14 PM
The Effect Structure link was very helpful for me. ...
Thanks for the thanks .. !! :(
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 09, 2012, 04:56:14 PM
Perhaps if I can get a link between an LUA and the EffectDir then something interesting might pop up.
Section #6
Quote from: NCGAIO on May 09, 2012, 07:50:21 PM
Section #6
&apls Nice knowledge there NCGAIO. Certainly getting into the mechanics of the game with that one.
By the way, do you have any requests/ideas about things to do with this?
Pigeons don't appear IG &Thk/(
I know it's not a solution, but try re-loading the city a couple times.
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 09, 2012, 04:56:14 PM
The Effect Structure link was very helpful for me. There are a couple places that I'm not sure are correct, and a few others where Reader would disagree (output to screen wise). I would have to check the code I wrote to know exactly where. There is also a DWORD described as a rep, but that rep is always zero in SimCity Dat. Don't think I'm going to argue though.
I would encourage argument in this case ;D
The EFFDIR is one of the sections that never was fully decoded (or at least if it was, I haven't found the results yet) - so I would say that if you find things that don't seem right as you go along, it would be helpful to point them out. I have a (very) long-term project to transfer all the old SC4 articles from the ModTheSims2 Wiki (most of which are now on the Sims2Wiki) over to the SC4D Wiki, and I'm trying to cleanup and crosscheck and update the articles as I go. Mostly cleanup, little bit of checking, with the ideal goal of getting them all up to date and easy to find/read/understand.
I haven't gotten to the EFFDIR page yet, and lately the real world has put the entire project on hold, but if it would be helpful, I can rush that page through, and get it on the SC4D Wiki, possibly this weekend. Then at least it would be in a more accessible location, and if you do find errors in the description, it can be updated to reflect them. Let me know.
On a more general note, a lot of the info in the file formats articles is ancient, and hasn't been updated in years - so there's a good chance that they don't reflect the latest understandings of what the files contain and how they work. The NAM team oversees a lot of the transportation items to some degree, but much of the rest hasn't been touched since the days of Karybdis & Co. Since you're one of the few people in a position to be looking at these files, understand them, and be able to test them, I'd encourage you to point out any errors/discrepancies you encounter along the way, so they can be further researched, and corrected if necessary.
Real life that is the problem ... I think it would be a great benefit to get put back the link in Wiki to the tables
"SC4 InfoPages (Such as occupants, etc.)" essential to certain modifications, and that today can only be accessed in several separate posts here on the forum.
Lowkee33 ... many ideas of what to do, what they lack is time!
It may be more informative to the wiki page of the relationships between files
Quote
This file contains a list of all the relations of the SC4 Filetypes as currently known. This will exclude the Savegame formats as their parents are the exe, and their children are any number of files that it decides to pull in as it wants to. Building exemplars for the building file and so forth. It shows the parents of each file, IE the file which is responsible for the filetype opening, and the children, which are things it causes to open.
Format for FileType Relations:
Format -- 0xGID - Groupid 0xAAAABBBB (optional) - For GroupIDs with multiple section types, the format for that group type
Children - Things loaded as a result of this file.
Relations (name, kind,propertyidifavailable) Parent - Things that caused this file to be loaded Relations (name, kind,propertyidifavailable) Dependant (optional) - Dependant relations. A file contains details that are carried out by another file Relations (name, kind, propertyidifavailable) 0xGID -Group IDs for this format, next group. etc.
End of Sample
To show different variations of Instances inside a GID that may have different children and parents, instance format codes like used in the GIID spec may be seen in the usual 0xAAAABBBB type format.
Spec Follows
Effect Dir -- ea5118b1 - Effect Resource Tree Children FSH, ResourceKey, In section 1 the effect may call itself a texture by instance S3D, ResourceKeys, In section 1 a list of resource keys may call random S3D files FSH, Resourcekey, In Section 2 terrain dependant FSH file Exemplar, ResourceKey, In section 5 terrain brush exemplar LUA, String, Section 6 string links to a representative string in LUA generators/attractors/repulsors by var. EXE, CID, Section 7 U4 property almost certainly links to the exe by classid TRK, ResourceKey, Section 9 resource Key links to a track def for sounds. EXE, String, Section 10 strings almost certainly link to the EXE for train vars EXE, CID, U4 in section 12 probably links to the exe by classid Parent EXE, CID, the exe may call an effect in 13,14,15 by instance or CID EXE, String, the exe may call a string in the effdir directories 13,14,15 by name Exemplar, property, 0x4a08c700 property calls an effect name for use by exemplars (often disasters) Exemplar, property, 0xc98204b8 property calls an effect name for use in an effect exemplar by string Exemplar, property, 0xc98204b9 property calls an effect name for use in an effect exemplar by string Exemplar, property, in absence of the 0xc98204b8/9 property Exemplar name of gid 0xc977c536 calls an effect by string S3D, name, the effect name in the REGP section of an S3d May spawn an effect by directory name in the Effdir LUA, , fx, the fx command allows to reference an effect inside the effect dir from an LUA[/b]
Source: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Relations (http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Relations)
Quote from: whatevermind on May 11, 2012, 10:42:11 PM
I would encourage argument in this case ;D
I dug into it a little bit. In section 12, when the link (LINK (http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=EFFDIR)) has the 2x 2 bytes, I read this as 2x 4 Bytes (two unsigned integers rather than two unsigned shorts). I can't really test the rep thing a) because I have no idea what the heck it would do anyway, and b) the only way I can get it into the game is through Reader (I can't to DBPF compression). If Reader is looking for a rep that isn't a rep, then changing the amount of rep is going to cause a Reader crash. Whether or not that would crash SC4 is another thing.
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 12, 2012, 12:30:49 PM
...and b) the only way I can get it into the game is through Reader (I can't to DBPF compression)...
I use two other programs to open up SC4 files the first is game extractor which is a commercial product
http://www.watto.org/extract/games.html
it can only read SC4 files, and the other is DatGen4 which was created by DarkMatter and is on the STEX
http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/21341-datgen-v0-6-0b-complete/
:)
There is one last update to version 0.7.13 DatGen available on the link below ... (Version 0.60b in stex)
Datgen 0.7.13 (Last Alpha Release) (http://kabuto.sims2.free.fr/DatGen/DatGen%%20200.7.13.rar)
Many information and tutorials on the use can still be found on the Wayback Machine web archive on the link
Datgen.info (http://web.archive.org/web/20060824034404/www.datgen.info/default.aspx)
Pigeons work fine now, have you a weather effect ready for test, I am curious to see this ::)
Thanks for the links :thumbsup:
Quote from: Girafe on May 12, 2012, 02:31:40 PM
Pigeons work fine now, have you a weather effect ready for test, I am curious to see this ::)
Antoine, you've had access to the snow for months, enter the dark world ;)
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 12, 2012, 12:30:49 PM
the only way I can get it into the game is through Reader (I can't to DBPF compression).
The QFS compression used by SC4 is documented on the wiki (http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=DBPF_Compression) (including example decompression code). :)
Hi
I have a request. I wanted to use some water effects (foams, wakes, wash..) to givensome additional realism to the animated water mill I am making. Turns out that if I add effects to a lot and set the lotconfigwatercompatibility to 1 ( ie it can be plopped on water) some effects (e.g bridge wakes, heliwake) show up on the water surface, but fountains do not show up when plopped on water, but only when plopped on land ( and vice versa).
Is there any way you could reproduce new instances of the land effects so they will show up when plopped on water? i'm particularly interested in the smallfountainC effect....
I'd like to try myself, but I,m affraid this is beyond mybcurrent modding skills.
Whatever you decide working on.. I,m sure it'll be great again :-)
Cheers!
Sorry about that locked file everyone. There are some issues with the sound not working correctly, and the thing that should have fixed it didn't. Girafe and others also pointed out that it wasn't working at all. I did something that shouldn't have fixed it and it did, so there might be something strange going on here. &mmm.
@Null45: I've been to that page, and also download some code from the first post here:LINK (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=8279.0). It is a little beyond me at this point. But that's just decompression anyway, right? I need to compress...
@Xannepan: I'll have a look at that, seems like something that would just be the flip of a switch. Warm weather has come here, so I haven't been at the computer much these days.
Quote from: xannepan on May 24, 2012, 11:17:02 AM
Hi
I have a request. I wanted to use some water effects (foams, wakes, wash..) to givensome additional realism to the animated water mill I am making. Turns out that if I add effects to a lot and set the lotconfigwatercompatibility to 1 ( ie it can be plopped on water) some effects (e.g bridge wakes, heliwake) show up on the water surface, but fountains do not show up when plopped on water, but only when plopped on land ( and vice versa).
Is there any way you could reproduce new instances of the land effects so they will show up when plopped on water? i'm particularly interested in the smallfountainC effect....
I don't know if this will help you, but I made the fountains so I can plop them on water for my MD.
Open the PIM and search for the fountain model, make a LM with it and put it on a 1x1 lot, then remove the textures and voila, a fountain in the water. The reason you cannot see it without making a LM with it, is because it is a prop and props sink in water when you plop them. ;)
Fred
Quote from: Lowkee33 on May 24, 2012, 04:45:40 PM
I've been to that page, and also download some code from the first post here:LINK (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=8279.0). It is a little beyond me at this point. But that's just decompression anyway, right? I need to compress...
What language are you using?
I have some QFS decompression / compression code written in C# that I could PM you.
&idea Maybe it was easier and faster to use what is already contained in Ilive-Reder
All code can be found on Sourceforge.net
SCM Repositories - iLive-reader-code
:thumbsup: - http://ilive-reader.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ilive-reader/branches/v1.4/ (http://ilive-reader.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ilive-reader/branches/v1.4/)
Quote from: null45 on May 25, 2012, 01:33:54 PM
What language are you using?
I have some QFS decompression / compression code written in C# that I could PM you.
Could I be superduper rude and possibly ask for that code for reference too? :D
Quote from: null45 on May 25, 2012, 01:33:54 PM
What language are you using?
I have some QFS decompression / compression code written in C# that I could PM you.
I'm using c++, but I would be very happy to see what you've done. It would probably be a useful exercise for me for real life in general.
Reader is very complicated for me. I've got it compiling, but passed that I am not sure.
The Pigeon Brush has been updated and unlocked! LINK (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2798). Thanks for the patience everyone.
I've been working on editing and creating new Effects with the Hurricane Modding but I made the Effects with the reader is goes to crashing on it.
How did you made the Robot's smoke purple with the Effect Dir and some other parameters, and snow was so created on it?
So I cannot be able to saving the Effect Dir with the reader is crashing it, so please help me to supporting the problems with the reader is crashing it.
The EffectDir follows a strict format. You need to edit them by hex and then pray that Reader doesn't crash. As a start, don't change anything marked as a "rep". You can figure out which byte to change via the file position that Reader gives.
To make the smoke purple I think I increased the Green color adjustment. The tough part was separating the smoke effect from SimCity Dat.
But I'm working on it:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg155.imageshack.us%2Fimg155%2F2466%2F67054215.jpg&hash=50bd737b04745cfd262b7e41693009e81994cb25)
The general idea of this program is that the right side will be a tab view (going to try to replicate the way Reader displays them). Clicking on something in the left-side tree view will populate the tab with the values of that entry, plus the entries in all of the different sections that that original entry links to.
Then to try to put another tree on the right (though trying not to use too much horizontal space). A button "Add-To-Patch" that takes the data from the tab view (the separated effect), and creates a new EffectDir from that. Of course, every value would be editable.
I already have this in a console program, but the GUI is something I've never done before so it's a slow process. Right now I can open a .eff, have it populate the tree-view, and then save an identical file. (You can forget about resizing for now :P )
Brilliant, thanks.
So what programs did you get a working on the Ilive Reader with the version? So can I save my work with a new EffectDir? Of course, every value would be editable, if yes? I will looked forward to get a working on it.
Hey Lowkee I had a revelation. So I've always been bothered by the stagnant, lifeless water in SimCity. Well, you know the sparkling effect that occurs on the water? Could that be replaced with a wave-like effect?
The point is that there are several mods with different textures for channels
An effect that would serve all of them would have to be plop in the game and here comes the problem is how to save it with the city
Below is a effect that I put over the channel mod SimGobber
Could do the same thing in the mod that you choose for your city.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-opGvLF5-xMY/T-9EeKO3eiI/AAAAAAAABUE/BzYbSNKLHGg/s640/MOD%2520AGUA%2520MOV.gif)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F%5Bsize%3D78%25%5Dhttps%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-opGvLF5-xMY%2FT-9EeKO3eiI%2FAAAAAAAABUE%2FBzYbSNKLHGg%2Fs640%2FMOD%252520AGUA%252520MOV.gif%255B%2Fsize%255D&hash=6d0c75a8af21bcb0e54d5d0ff3563e4456bea29f)
NcGaio.
I don't know where did you make the snow I think I increased the effects adjustment with the terraform on and off but I'm working on it and making new hurricane force winds, flash flood, storm damage like a shingle blown off etc. I think I increased the effects adjustment with a frame per second that it can causes problems with the animation.
Hello. I know this topic hasn't been posted in for a while, but I hope Lowkee will return now the days are getting colder again :). Much like myself I know he doesn't spend much time on his computer during summer. I already send a PM to lowkee and I hope he will respond some day. If not perhaps there are some other modders that can help me get started.
I am looking for some help on how to isolate an existing effect from the effect dir, and give it a new instance, and make a prop out of it. FYI: I want to try mod the fast blinking white light and make it blink faster with longer pause (in an attempt to create a flash light effect)
I have some experience wit hex editing from creating custom ambient sounds, but these files are much shorter and therefor easier to edit). Off course the best thing that can happen is of Lowkee will finish his works in progress some day ;D
Another, project I could use some help on is my custom animal project. Basically I have a 3d model of a pig, with uvw unwrapped texture and multiple motion frames. I am trying to replace a horse with my pig model (lowkee has isolated the horse effect for me and given it a new instance). This works fine expect for importing multiple frames via the reader (exporting the multiple frames from the horse via reader works fine, by the way). The result is a static pig that moves similar as a horse would do, as you can see in the in game pcitures I posted before in this topic: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=12565.msg425004#msg425004
I am really keen on seeing this finished, as I believes it opens up a whole new set of possibilities for the game :)
-alex
The last visit of Lowkee was on August 14 but before this he had stopped posting maybe due to RL very busy.
The effect Flash as the game could be achieved by a simple plane changing its texture during animation to match the number of frames as the flash range, similar to the helicopter light that you can find in the directory effects.
It is not necessary to export each frame to replace the horse in order to get your animation. You can export the entire animation at once and just delete unnecessary frames in Reader ....... continues
Quote from: NCGAIO on October 26, 2012, 12:46:31 PM
The effect Flash as the game could be achieved by a simple plane changing its texture during animation to match the number of frames as the flash range, similar to the helicopter light that you can find in the directory effects.
It is not necessary to export each frame to replace the horse in order to get your animation. You can export the entire animation at once and just delete unnecessary frames in Reader ....... continues
I will try to use the helicopter light... However my real question is how I can copy and paste that effect from the original effect dir, similar to how lowkee did it for his pigeons and horses. I have no clue where to start...
As for the animals I know I can export the entire animation at once... But importing an animation doesn,t seem to work :( (i will post some screenshots later on to show the issue)
-alex
I thought it might be useful to upload my matlab (R2011a) script for reading the effect dir.
The input for the script is the effectdir, saved as decoded file in the reader. Rename the file as "eff.eff" and put it in c:\ (either that or tweak the script a bit).
Matlab now allows you to explore the effdir structure, and what's more edit it.
I have used a labeling of fields similar to ilive reader.
Now all of this doesn't make sence with an export script, which I am currently working on. What I actually hope to achieve is to be able to save only one isolated effect with a new instance_ID, in the same way as the tool Lowkee is working on (Sorry... couldn't wait for his return :S)
Nevertheless the script is already usefull because if contains some corrections wrt the effectdir structure posted on the simswiki (some nasty errors in there).
Edit: my file also contains some bugs.. will post a new one once done. In the mean time I did manage to write the effectdir and import it succesfully into the reader. I'm also making good progress in isolating a single effect.
Allright I have managed to create working scripts for matlab to import the effectdir, isolate a single effect from it (which can than easily be edited in the standard matlab editors) and save the effect. I have managed to import the effect back into ilive reader, create a prop from it and put it on a lot in the game.
I am sure by the way that the scripts will fail for the more complex effects, e.g. with redirection indices in section 12 to section 13. But for animals, smoke, foam, fountains, lights, even the helicopter take off it all seems to work fine.
The picture shows a few edited versions of the white blinking light. It was fairly easy to edit the color (orange) and intitial size, and blinking speed (obviously cannot be seen in a still frame :P).
I have attached the three matlab script to this post. I will create a readme in due time. for the more advanced modders with a bit of matlab knowledge these are fairly easy to understand. By the way: your starting point is the effectdir saved as decoded file in Ilive reader. Similarly the file created by the write script needs to be imported in the reader.
I am fairly sure that this will allow me to create additional animals, but also additional airplanes (so far I believe no new airplanes - except for props - have ever been added to the game, pls correct me if I am wrong).
-Alex
If you wanted to point out what parts of the EFFDIR spec you fixed, I'd be happy to update the Wiki article, it is definitely a bit of a mess. I looked through your files, but other than adding variable names to the sections of spec I didn't see any obvious additions to the chunks of format you commented into the script. I might go through again more carefully, but if you could write something up on what you found that would be even better.
Quote from: whatevermind on November 10, 2012, 08:22:37 PM
If you wanted to point out what parts of the EFFDIR spec you fixed, I'd be happy to update the Wiki article, it is definitely a bit of a mess. I looked through your files, but other than adding variable names to the sections of spec I didn't see any obvious additions to the chunks of format you commented into the script. I might go through again more carefully, but if you could write something up on what you found that would be even better.
Actually in the mean time i have found some errors in my scripts too. So let me explore a bit more first.
I did find out the meaning of a few more parameters.I'll post in due time.
Nice work figuring that stuff out Alex.
Yep, summer was nice and warm, fall busy. Hopefully things slow down a little for the winter. I've been doing a little work on the Effect Editor, but making a program that allows someone to edit many, many variables takes a long time.
Right now I have something which I imgaine is similar to your program. It finds an effect's name from Section 13, figures out all of the connections, and then makes a new .eff. I can add new sections, and edit any variable, but such things have to be hardcoded into the program right now.
Welcome back, Carl!
Cheers
Willy
Thanks, good to be back :)
I'll be trying to catch up with you all (and the way the board looks now). I had forgotten how to import a file in Reader, so that's the state of things now.
Good to see him back ... with all stakeholders on board it looks like a real editor for effectDir is on the way to becoming a reality.
I was just download to get the file with that Effect Edit Script Jenx.zip and is log onto http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2466/67054215.jpg like this one but I can't be able to open the program with Ilive should be work as well. Please help me out, thanks.
I notice that you did not understand the post where the image removed, it is not part of the iLive reader but a tool in developing by Lowkee33 and as far as I know she is not yet available.
The script that you mentioned is not for the iLive Reader is only for MatLab then it will not work, just re-read the post to find the words of the author.
Ah, thank you very much for letting me know about this is offer to me for MatLab only. So where can i get a download from it?
Quote from: NCGAIO on January 29, 2013, 12:54:39 PM
I notice that you did not understand the post where the image removed, it is not part of the iLive reader but a tool in developing by Lowkee33 and as far as I know she is not yet available.
The script that you mentioned is not for the iLive Reader is only for MatLab then it will not work, just re-read the post to find the words of the author.
Quote from: HurricaneMod10 on January 29, 2013, 05:59:29 PM
So where can i get a download from it?
Here. (http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/) I'd try for getting a student version if you can, or if you have access to a university, they may have it on their computers that you can use. Otherwise if you have to buy it full price, it can be very expensive.
Thank you! but I can't be able to get a afford it. Anyway I need to get a help with this problem.
Quote from: whatevermind on January 29, 2013, 07:13:17 PM
Quote from: HurricaneMod10 on January 29, 2013, 05:59:29 PM
So where can i get a download from it?
Here. (http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/) I'd try for getting a student version if you can, or if you have access to a university, they may have it on their computers that you can use. Otherwise if you have to buy it full price, it can be very expensive.
Quote from: Lowkee33 on June 08, 2012, 09:00:17 AM
The EffectDir follows a strict format. You need to edit them by hex and then pray that Reader doesn't crash. As a start, don't change anything marked as a "rep". You can figure out which byte to change via the file position that Reader gives.
To make the smoke purple I think I increased the Green color adjustment. The tough part was separating the smoke effect from SimCity Dat.
But I'm working on it:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg155.imageshack.us%2Fimg155%2F2466%2F67054215.jpg&hash=50bd737b04745cfd262b7e41693009e81994cb25)
The general idea of this program is that the right side will be a tab view (going to try to replicate the way Reader displays them). Clicking on something in the left-side tree view will populate the tab with the values of that entry, plus the entries in all of the different sections that that original entry links to.
Then to try to put another tree on the right (though trying not to use too much horizontal space). A button "Add-To-Patch" that takes the data from the tab view (the separated effect), and creates a new EffectDir from that. Of course, every value would be editable.
I already have this in a console program, but the GUI is something I've never done before so it's a slow process. Right now I can open a .eff, have it populate the tree-view, and then save an identical file. (You can forget about resizing for now :P )
I would like to get a Effect Editor with your image is on the top, but I cannot be able to find a search engine on the google with the software in Effect Editor is not there. What program did you use it the name of the software in Effect Editor? Please help me to get the name of the software, thank you.
Effect Edit Script Jenx.zip doesn't work it but just failed with the ilive reader or could be work it with DenGen I think so.
So please letting me know about these folders so where did I get it to put the folders with the Effect Edit Script Jenx.zip, thank you. :(
They're Matlab scripts, so you'll need Matlab to run them.
Looks like you did not quite understand the answer since repeated the same question. %confuso msg447722 (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14724.msg447722#msg447722)
So to get a little more clear: Not exist editor available for working with the Eff Dir :(
The image of editor is just a picture of Carl project.
Jenx scripts will not help you unless you are interested in learning how to use Matlab to data analyze - Link to (http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/description3.html?s_iid=ML2012_desc_data_analysis)
I suggest you read this "$Deal"$ Link (http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/228-discovery-file-formats-the-unknown-formats-edirabae-etc/) and ask in the forum if anyone still has available the RedLotus tutorial and files (http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/228-discovery-file-formats-the-unknown-formats-edirabae-etc/#entry22814) :thumbsup:
I can't be able to get it a download with Matlab due to the problems with payable in Matlab site, how much did I get a buy it then with Matlab only. Matlab can be able to help me with script could be save the file with EffDir format yes or no.
Quote from: NCGAIO on August 18, 2013, 06:00:40 PM
Looks like you did not quite understand the answer since repeated the same question. %confuso msg447722 (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14724.msg447722#msg447722)
So to get a little more clear: Not exist editor available for working with the Eff Dir :(
The image of editor is just a picture of Carl project.
Jenx scripts will not help you unless you are interested in learning how to use Matlab to data analyze - Link to (http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/description3.html?s_iid=ML2012_desc_data_analysis)
I suggest you read this "$Deal"$ Link (http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/228-discovery-file-formats-the-unknown-formats-edirabae-etc/) and ask in the forum if anyone still has available the RedLotus tutorial and files (http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/228-discovery-file-formats-the-unknown-formats-edirabae-etc/#entry22814) :thumbsup: