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Sim City 4 Devotion Tools => Tools - General Discussion => SC4 Tool => Topic started by: Ralfger on February 14, 2020, 06:00:56 AM

Title: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on February 14, 2020, 06:00:56 AM
Perhaps a silly question but I can't find a solution:
After finishing my lots with the LotEditor, I tried to transit enable them via LE-Tool. The result: within the tool, the single tiles coud not  be recognized and in SC the footprint doubled. A restart after placing the lots leads to an immediate CTD. How can I fix that?
Thanks a lot!
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: xxdita on February 14, 2020, 01:17:25 PM
I'm guessing you're using SC4Tool for Transit Enabling? I'll go ahead and move this thread to that section.

If you see Not Found, that seems to mean that the program hasn't loaded the base texture used on that tile. That shouldn't matter, as long as you know which way is up to start with.

(https://i.imgur.com/MygDd7P.jpg)

Check the lot file in Reader to see what sort of Network properties have been added. Double check that the lot size hasn't been changed. You should be able to remove all of these to restore the lot to its non-TE state. Make a backup copy this time before going back to SC4Tool and trying again.

But first, you may want to look at the lot within PIMX's lot editor before testing in game, as this will let you see the arrows for transit enabling.

(https://i.imgur.com/RElrvG7.jpg)

And of course as I'm moving the thread, I see Andreas online, who is much more qualified to answer. = Nate
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Andreas on February 14, 2020, 03:34:56 PM
Not sure if I'm more qualified, but I wonder how the footprint of the lot "magically" doubled while/after processing it with SC4Tool (?). Can you start over and see if this behaviour still happens? Hopefully, you have a backup of your original lot (that still works in the game); SC4Tool should have saved it as *.sav file that you simply can rename back to what it was.

If you're familiar with the Reader, you can look at the Lot Exemplar file and check what the actual footprint of the lot is, and if there's maybe something that "overlaps" the tile, or if there is some additional "ghost tile" that has a texture assigned or whatever.
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on February 16, 2020, 01:16:59 PM
Thanks a lot for redirecting me to the right place and thanks to both of you for the hints although I am not sure if LE Tool caused the problem...
One of the first things I did was removing the transit enabling that btw turned up correctly. Unfortunately, I can't find a .sav version of the file and could only restore a some days old version loosing a lot of lotting work. The LD file in Reader shows the correct lot size whereas an Exampler file indicated an "unknown" property. Deleting that didnĀ“t help... I I've only a very limited knowledge of Reader meaning I can't dig any deeper. Perhaps it's relevant to mention that the original lot was a landmark with jobs? But just before transit enabling I placed the lot in the game running it without any problem.


Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Andreas on February 16, 2020, 01:32:37 PM
It's always a good idea to make a backup before modifying your lot with a program, but please check SC4Tool's options if the backup function (it's in the third tab from the left) is activated. "Unknown" properties in the Reader usually mean just some exotic thing, but it could be a corrupted file as well. The LD file, on the other hand, doesn't mean much, it's created by the Lot Editor, but not read by the game, and it might contain false information if you edited a file with a modding tool afterwards. The actual lot size is always set in the Lot Exemplar file.
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on February 16, 2020, 02:15:01 PM
Indeed, I have to learn that the hard way... :crytissue:

The backup function is activated but I still can't find a backup file and even more irritating I can't find the program in the directory where it should be. The control panel states that the program must have been deleted but it is starting all the same  ()what()
Regarding the lot size - where can I find the values? Is it the LotConfigProtperySize? It reads as 0x0C;0x04. The actual lot size is 12x4

Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: xxdita on February 16, 2020, 02:27:53 PM
If you made the building desc using PIMX, the filling degree will show in Reader as Unknown. This property has no use in the game itself, only to PIMX, to balance the stats correctly.

0x0C in hex would be 12. 0x04 would be 4.

You could try doing a Windows search for all sav files within your Plugins folder. This may help locate the backup lot.
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on February 16, 2020, 02:36:44 PM
I am only using LotEditor; didn't manage to master PIMX. I already did the search for the sav files in the folder without success. It's already the second time I face such probelms with that specific lot and I have no clue what causes that problem. At least the lot sizes seems to be correct :-). Is there a tool to calculate hex values that I can ask less silly questions?
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: xxdita on February 16, 2020, 02:48:31 PM
https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/hex-to-decimal.html

That's the one Google always leads me to.
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on February 18, 2020, 12:33:38 PM
Thank you very much for the link. In the meantime I was able to identify the older version that should be the .sav - it's a SPSS.dat! 

I neither have any idea what is happening nor how to find out or fix it. Perhaps one of you technical experts has a hint or the time and mood to check the file? I can't estimate how work-intensive that would be. My only other option is to start over again
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Andreas on February 18, 2020, 01:55:49 PM
Apparently, your Windows doesn't show the file extensions, but just the description that either was supplied with the operating system itself, or that was written into the registry by another program. Go to the view options in Windows Explorer and find the checkmark that displays or hides file extensions. If you do that, the file in question should show up as "[your lot name].sav" instead just "[your lot name]".

Windows hides file extensions, maybe because Microsoft thought they would confuse novice users, but if there are two programs that use the same file extension, the description might be misleading, and double-clicking that file might open the wrong program. Whenever I install a new Windows, one of the first steps is to make the file extension visible again. ;)

Anyway, if you want, I can have a look at the lot in question, and add the desired modding (please provide a description how the transit enabling should be done, in case it's not visible from the textures and such). You can either attach it here, provide a link, or send me an e-mail (andreas [at] simcityplaza [dot] de).
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on February 18, 2020, 02:49:13 PM
Thank you for your quick reply and kind offer  :-)
The mentioned SPSS file is the lot.sav; making the file extension visible is one of the first steps I do as well. In most circumstances transit enabling is an easy task to do but this time something went terribly wrong.
A brief overview of the different steps that I made:
1. lotting via LotEditor using a landmark with jobs;
2. plopping in game and running it to see the seasonal trees growing
3. changing base textures in PIMX as I couldn't find the appropriate textures in LE
4. running the game with the lot plopped without any troubles
5. adjusting some minor issues in LE, running the game
6. transit enabling via LETool
7. plopping and running the game without problems
8.  renamed the lot and adjusted the wealth status in LEProp and
9.  as I have forgot to TE parts of the road I went back to LE to fix that
10. plopped the lot and restarting the region leads to ctd...

Deleting TE didn't help, neither resetting the wealth value nor your first hints. Trying to use the older save I had to find out that it is now described as SPSS file..
I send you a mail with to files - the strange save and the malfunctioning lot - as I can't attach these files here.
Thank you very much for your help! 

Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: xxdita on February 18, 2020, 07:20:27 PM
Quote from: Ralfger on February 18, 2020, 02:49:13 PM
8.  renamed the lot and adjusted the wealth status in LEProp and
9.  as I have forgot to TE parts of the road I went back to LE to fix that

Did you have an earlier version of the lot plopped in the city already? Try to make sure you're demolishing them all when you know that changes will be necessary.
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on March 30, 2020, 03:10:12 PM
Thanks for your efforts and ideas. I did everything you mentioned that's why I don't have any idea what to do... I wasn't able to solve the problem in the last couple of weeks...
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: xxdita on March 30, 2020, 03:39:15 PM
Ok, it may be quicker for me to create the base lot for you in PIMX than to try to walk you through the process.

I'll need the original model file you're using as the building, so if you have the link, or can put it on Google Drive or something, I can get started. Also, if you can send me the lot in its current state, I should be able to replicate the lotting you have done already, so you won't have to redo all of that again.

Then you'll have a backup in case transit enabling goes wrong. If you make any further lotting changes to the file I give you, you'll need to make sure to Save, not Save As. 
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Andreas on March 30, 2020, 11:34:02 PM
Ralfger kindly sent me the files some time ago, alas, RL was unusually busy for me recently. I'm still prepared to have a closer look, but if someone with more free time wants to check them, feel free to do so. Apologies to Ralfger that it's taking so long on my end...
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: xxdita on March 31, 2020, 12:16:25 AM
I can take a look if you can send me a link.
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: Ralfger on March 31, 2020, 01:00:59 AM
Hi xxdita and Andreas,
thanks a lot for your offer - your help is greatly appreciated and don't worry about the timing - it's just a game and RL matters are far more important. Nobody knows better than me...
How should I send the file, xxdita - via PM?
BTW - perhaps you have an answer to another silly question, too: What could be the reason that I am not able to post an update to my MD, I am still ahead of the 180 days limit. I already sent a message to kbieniu7.
Title: Re: Lot footprint doubled and leads to ctd??
Post by: xxdita on March 31, 2020, 01:21:36 AM
You can send me a link via PM, sure.

MD's aren't really my department, but I will see what I can find out. I don't see that the thread has been locked though.