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General Question Im sure has been asked.

Started by zxxyyxxz, September 25, 2014, 08:58:09 AM

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zxxyyxxz

I have been playing on and off for years and with so much content It has gotten awesome as well as annoying.  IS THERE A TOOL that goes through your plugins and checks for the missing parts of things and automatically fixes it if you have the plugin already somewhere or points you to the missing prop pack or whatever content it is that's missing on the internet somewhere.  One more ? ?   Are there any rules or or charts pdf's or something that says what things can or can't be put in the game at the same time?

joshua43214

There is no auto-tool for find and fix all plugins. It would be almost impossible to make such a tool since it would need to have an up to date library of every plugin made, and all of every plugins directories. Even doing this for the most popular plugins would be a massive undertaking.

There is the city-builders website that is still a wip, but I think Catty is making the last big push to get the STEX fully represented.
http://city-builders.info/catalog
It has an up to date link for just about everything.

There is the dependency list here
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?page=4
I think there might be a more up to date version floating about, hopefully someone will link it.

You can use either iLivesReader
http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=656
or the sc4DataNode
http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/27675-sc4datanode/
to look at bats and see what dependencies are missing. Both have a bit of a learning curve and can not do batch work. The DataNode will let you filter by missing dependencies, but almost all downloads are missing a dependencies (usually image or description files) and your filtered list will be huge.

The easiest way to figure out what it missing dependencies is to start a new region, open a large city tile, hit cntrl + x, type PlopAllBuildings into the box, hit enter, and go eat lunch.
This will plop every building you have. Just look at them for brown boxes and write down the name over everything with a brown box.
Next type PlopAllLots into the cheat window (this goes very fast), and look for lots that seem to be very sparse and note them down.
Then go track down the bat, and find the dependencies. I get the best results by using Google. I just search for "SC4 <BAT name> missing dependency." some has usually asked for it already. If that fails, you can sometimes narrow the search down by looking at the IID in the DataNode for a clue to who made the dependency file, the readmen has an example of doing exactly this.

The best thing is to just be really careful with downloading.
Get mods from the LEX when ever possible. Never download something from another website that is also available on the LEX. The LEX is the only fully curated SC4 site.
Read the comments on a bat before you download. Folks will complain if it is missing something or does not work right.
If the bat is at all questionable, load it in a sandbox region and use BuildingPlop to plop it and make sure it works.

Things that you should be very careful of:
Anything that modifies demand, transit, transport, airport and seaport controllers.
If the bat is transit enabled, and not on the LEX, be very wary. Plop it in game and use ShowPaths to make sure it has proper pathing. Open it in Reader and make sure it has adequate capacity. The great example of this is a central bus terminal on the STEX. It is a huge lot with capacity 1000 - it is just a bus stop that occupies a 9x13 lot.

Seaport controllers effect some airport controllers. If you chose a seaport controller, do not use any other lot that also has one unless the author discusses how to use it. For example, do not mix the Pegasus lots that modify the seaport controller with the AC airport mod on the LEX.

Pretty much anything that modifies how the game behaves should be looked over very closely. If no support thread exists, do not use it unless you can debug it yourself. I do not want something that modifies my game behavior if the author is not willing to take the time to address issues the mod might have.

Try to install mods from foreign language site (SimCityKurier excepted) in batches into a sub folder. We see occasional issues with mods from Asia and South America in particular where ID's are duplicated from English language mods and cause weird over rides. If you add a cool new mod, and then something grows up with a skyscraper instead of a bush, then you know where to start looking for the problem.

Terrain and tree controllers are their own little world. Just read up on them before you install them. Most of them have discussion on what they do and do not work with, and how to get them to get along with other similar mods.

Lastly, there is the cleanitol
http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=97
If the file comes with a cleanitol file, use it before you install the new mod.
There are some cleanitol files for seeing if you have all dependency packs for some teams and authors (ie the BSC file) that will look to see if you have ALL the dependencies for ALL the mods that team ever made, and give links to missing files. Most of them are out of date, but there are a good place to start.

Hope this helps

catty

#2
It won't do it for you, but as joshua43214 says there is the SC4DataNode

http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/27675-sc4datanode/

It does

QuoteThe program supports four main Tasks
1. Audit/Review of Loading Sequence, file redundancies and Overrides
2. Dependency verification (as many as possible)
3. Audit/Review of
a. SC4 file integrity (.dat etc) and
b. TGI file content integrity (Exemplars etc) to the Property Level
4. Exploration - a really good informative display of Exemplar Property Values and file contents so that one can learn something of how SC4 works.

A bit of a learning curve but well worth installing

QuoteThere is the city-builders website that is still a wip, but I think Catty is making the last big push to get the STEX fully represented.
http://city-builders.info/catalog
It has an up to date link for just about everything.

I've got about half the STEX links into the database, about half of those are now published on the Catalog (you can see them), the other half I'm trying to publish a few hundred a night but its a slow job.

The other half of the STEX is still sitting in an Excel spreadsheet and I'm hoping to maybe start uploading those soon

QuoteThere is the dependency list here
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?page=4
I think there might be a more up to date version floating about, hopefully someone will link it.

There is an up-to-date dependency list at CB, which you can find here

http://city-builders.info/component/tags/tag/38-dependency

Its a work in progress as I'm using a tagging program in the Catalog to pull this information up, so again its finding the time to tag the plugins.

-catty
I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?" DEATH thought about it. "CATS," he said eventually, "CATS ARE NICE.

zxxyyxxz

Thanks really great info and I will try some of the tips I would really like to get some tiles cleaned up.  I kind of figured it was something like as far as conflicts.  I have been playing the same region for many years and I think I just went too nuts with changes I remember an airport replacement I know I saved I cant even find anymore.  Think it was an area 5.1 that had red white and blue f-15 or 16's flying around maybe only once a year on the 4th of July but it was cool.  Cant find it but I know somewhere I still have it from 15 or so years ago. 

OFF TOPIC ??  could anyone tell me why things like the missle tests or other animations never happen anymore. Can watch things close up on slow speed that should be doing things but not anymore.

"Thanks Again"

Sim.Rico

Is there a way to get back the single-tile hd road plop option?  When I had Nam31 installed i could take a low density road and speed it up by simply plopping 1 tile hd's every other tile or so.  This way, i kept my low density surface and the single tile sort of gave it the dirty-oilspots on the roads that i liked.

Now with Nam32 i cant plop no less than two hds at a time and it looks choppy.   is there  a mod or something that i can install that will regain the 1-tile
HD ploppability?


Pic1:  nam32: attempting to plop one hd tile
Pic2:  nam32:  allows two at the minimum
Pic3:  nam31:  allowed one hd plop - giving me that used roadway look plus moderate traffic decongestion .  Theres ares i dont like totally black surfaces
                        but want that dirty look like in pic 3.


noahclem

A much easier (and I'd think nicer looking) way to relieve congestion in that type of circumstance would be to use a higher capacity traffic simulator. The nam should come with a TSCT program you can run to make a different one or you could do a new nam install and select a higher capacity one.

vortext

Sim.Rico, it never was possible to plop a single road tile in between street, the transition always was and is two tiles. The difference between pic #2 & #3 is that the road-street transition is much larger, hence more noticeable. iirc this is because of the re-textured Maxis networks. You may want to run the NAM installer again, this time opt for custom installation and specifically uncheck the option for the aesthetic Maxis re-textures.

Also, it's kinda inconsiderate to hiijack someone else's thread, i.e. change the title and pose a completely unrelated question. More so since this is a NAM related issue, for which there's a dedicated thread"$Deal"$

Quote from: zxxyyxxz on September 25, 2014, 01:04:22 PM
OFF TOPIC ??  could anyone tell me why things like the missle tests or other animations never happen anymore. Can watch things close up on slow speed that should be doing things but not anymore.

Not quite sure what you mean with missile tests but it sounds like the visual effects are on low, you can find this under graphic options.
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

Sim.Rico

Quote from: vortext on September 26, 2014, 09:18:56 AM
Sim.Rico, it never was possible to plop a single road tile in between street, the transition always was and is two tiles. The difference between pic #2 & #3 is that the road-street transition is much larger, hence more noticeable. iirc this is because of the re-textured Maxis networks. You may want to run the NAM installer again, this time opt for custom installation and specifically uncheck the option for the aesthetic Maxis re-textures.

Also, it's kinda inconsiderate to hiijack someone else's thread, i.e. change the title and pose a completely unrelated question. More so since this is a NAM related issue, for which there's a dedicated thread"$Deal"$

Quote from: zxxyyxxz on September 25, 2014, 01:04:22 PM
OFF TOPIC ??  could anyone tell me why things like the missle tests or other animations never happen anymore. Can watch things close up on slow speed that should be doing things but not anymore.

Not quite sure what you mean with missile tests but it sounds like the visual effects are on low, you can find this under graphic options.


The topic is titled "GENERAL QUESTION...NOT YET ASKED"... leading to thinkits a thread for  general questions which would appear welcomed.   With that said, i do believe my post said "forgiven if it was not the right place".... and no, the original thread's title is still un-hijacked. .thank you

vortext

Quote from: Sim.Rico on September 26, 2014, 09:45:26 AM
The topic is titled "GENERAL QUESTION...NOT YET ASKED"... leading to thinkits a thread for  general questions which would appear welcomed.   With that said, i do believe my post said "forgiven if it was not the right place".... and no, the original thread's title is still un-hijacked. .thank you

It's not a big deal, the main point was there's a specific thread for NAM questions.  :)
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

Sim.Rico

Quote from: vortext on September 26, 2014, 09:59:24 AM
Quote from: Sim.Rico on September 26, 2014, 09:45:26 AM
The topic is titled "GENERAL QUESTION...NOT YET ASKED"... leading to thinkits a thread for  general questions which would appear welcomed.   With that said, i do believe my post said "forgiven if it was not the right place".... and no, the original thread's title is still un-hijacked. .thank you

It's not a big deal, the main point was there's a specific thread for NAM questions.  :)

Hey sorry about that.  But you can see where 'general' and 'questions not yet asked' looks like 'open buffet'.  Anyway thanks for the info, and I must have read your initial reply the wrong way. 

zxxyyxxz

Hi Thanks again for the help to all.  Its quite useful but I think I am going to be stuck.  My plugin folder is about 8gb I had it working for quite a while but I overdid it, and now I think its going to be too hard to fix.  I can pull out a bunch DAT's and the game will not crash LOL.  But cant get all the props and dependencies fixed.  It would be nice if somebody could provide a complete compressed file of the plugin folder with all the content that could possibly go together that can be installed at once  :)  I KNOW JUST TOO MUCH but it would be nice.   

As for the animations I am referring to I forget what they call them (I KNOW THEY HAVE A NAME).  It's like when you use the info click and sounds play except you don't click anything you just watch and things happen.   Like the shuttle launch.   I know some things are timed to the calendar but others just seem to be random.  In particular I was referring to the gift of the missile base that pays you each month.   When I first got the game it would occasionally launch a missile.   I think there was even a chance of failure and damage to surroundings.   My GRAPHICS are all cranked to high this is the best machine I ever had to play on  "ASUS Z87 MB    4th gen  I7 3.5ghz   32gig RAM    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 384bit Vid Card    With 3 raid 1 SSDs for primary drive with another 240GB SSD for A 64GB swapfile, and temp files or whatever to reduce any swapping or need to access the primary for BS like IE files". {{{ 'AND YES I PLAY SIMCITY4 very pathetic isn't it? }}}  Anyway I Don't think the game would load with 8gig plugins if It was less.   It was working until I went on a download and install binge for new content, and I have been fighting it ever since.   THE MISSING STUFF not the animations.  They haven't worked in a long time.  Well some do but others I guess I really don't even know other than the missle base. 

This Game has so many abilities I wish I knew more and could program I really just use it like someone that builds model railroads just with a whole lot more.  I have tried a bunch of other city simulators and wasted about 120$ on the new SC not "5" and I hate it...paid for extra content when I purchased ....will not do it again!.   I would love the curved stuff in SC4 and a lot of what they did but I hate the little boxes and well a lot of it.  I tried to get into it but it just doesn't hold up.. WHY CANT THEY JUST REDO IT CORRECTLY just use the glassbox 3d abilites with the setup of SC4 it would be so awesome.

I know I have rattled on so Thanks again to those who helped.


"" PLAY ThE GAME  :-\ ""

joshua43214

The simple thing then is to copy your plugins folder onto a flash drive and do a roll back. I assume your running win8.1 since that set up is wasted on win7, so you should have plenty of roll back points. Once you find a spot where everything is happy, just start over with adding mods in. Hopefully you archived all your zip files, just sort the folder by date modified and work your down a batch at a time from when the game worked fine.

As for Glassbox and 3D. Just no. The reason SimCity 2013 had such tiny cities is because the concept of Glassbox was a fail out of the box. Accounting for each and every Sim, and each and every unit of power/water/etc is just a massive waste of resources. All those resources could be put to use getting better graphics instead if the game uses drives based on a representative sample. Skylines seems to be taking the same wrong turn with citizens and the game is honestly ugly and cartoonish, when it could be as pretty as Tomb Raider.
BTW, if you allocate 16GB of RAM to virtual hard drive, you can toss that 240GD SSD and get a decent speed performance. Last week was the first time I have ever used over 15GB of RAM, and that was running a Monte Carlo on a proteomics script that did genetic then taxonic alignment for several thousand full genome raw reads. You won't miss that 16GB of RAM unless you are doing some serious heavy lifting.