Arden Tree Controller Help Desk

[Diggis]

Will changing it mess up any of the areas I've already... treed?  Treeed... treeeeeed...

Planted is the word you're looking for maybe?!   

Anyhow, it will not mess things up (i.e. no ctds). It might look a little strange though for instance when after changing it you get deciduous trees above already existing subalpine firs.

I prefer treee-eee-eeeed I think.    And yeah, I figured that would be an issue, but I don't have to many areas where it's high so I can just fix those.

[Rayden]

One question, does the mod spread between specific heights or spread over the the height of any terrain being played? Also, if the highest point of the region it's say for instance, 1000 mts, and the terrain mod is set for max 2500 mts, how that influences the tree spread of your mod, and if I set max terrain height for a lower number how it will improve or not?
About the trees in summer, I'll do it, just have to open, let it run for 6 months and save, that 61 times 

[vortext]

What the Flora: elevation scale range basically does is divide the given value into 16 equal parts, which correspond to the rows from the Preference Table. If I remember correctly it's independent from either terrein mod height or the highest point in the region. That is to say, if you had the terrain mod set for max 2500 mts and the elevation scale range at, say 40000 mts (16 times 2500), you would only get flora from the lowest row in the Preference Table throughout the region.

Also, it should be noted my tree controllers do not set or change elevation scale range in any way. As said before this is either done with the Seasonal Flora Patch or in the main controllers files for Lowkee's and Gobias' terrain mods. 

[Rayden]

I'm using Lowkee's Terrain mod that has the elevation scale range set at 500 mts. So, that means no trees grow over that height and all 16 rows are spread over those 500 meters, isn't that so? Shall I change that value, say, to 1000 or even 1500 meters. I go often to the Alps and I can see trees growing at heights of 1600/1800 mts.

[vortext]

I'm using Lowkee's Terrain mod that has the elevation scale range set at 500 mts. So, that means no trees grow over that height and all 16 rows are spread over those 500 meters, isn't that so?

For all intents and purposes this is correct, yes. (After giving it some more thought I realised it's a little more complicated but that doesn't matter really)

Also, Lowkee did a pretty good job matching the tree and snowline. Seeing the elevation scale range is at 500 mts makes me think you use the low altitude version. You might want to do a reinstall and opt for high altitude instead.

[Rayden]

I'm not sure what version I have, I think it's a custom one he made for me, but probably based on a lower version of his mod. The name of the file is LK_AppalachianTerrain_Snow_Jagged_Magic_2500mt.dat.
I've checked and his version of the high altitude has elevation scale range set at 1250 mts, so, I'm going to set my file to that number, perhaps 1500 mts and check other values as well against the high altitude version.
Thanks for the help

[epicblunder]

Howdy vortext,

Good news regarding that reported bug where the game crashes when god-mode planting and the edge of the tool hits the city boundary:  I've been contacted by a simtrop user who had this problem, and after some testing he contacted me again and said his previous .exe wasn't updated fully, and updating to 1.1.638 fixed the problem.  I haven't been able to test it myself yet but hopefully that's all that particular bug is.

[Diggis]

Howdy vortext,

Good news regarding that reported bug where the game crashes when god-mode planting and the edge of the tool hits the city boundary:  I've been contacted by a simtrop user who had this problem, and after some testing he contacted me again and said his previous .exe wasn't updated fully, and updating to 1.1.638 fixed the problem.  I haven't been able to test it myself yet but hopefully that's all that particular bug is.

I fixed this problem by adding -CPUCount:1 to my shortcut.

[gn_leugim]

Howdy vortext,

Good news regarding that reported bug where the game crashes when god-mode planting and the edge of the tool hits the city boundary:  I've been contacted by a simtrop user who had this problem, and after some testing he contacted me again and said his previous .exe wasn't updated fully, and updating to 1.1.638 fixed the problem.  I haven't been able to test it myself yet but hopefully that's all that particular bug is.

I fixed this problem by adding -CPUCount:1 to my shortcut.

that is a must to anyone who has a multicore pc

[epicblunder]

...

I fixed this problem by adding -CPUCount:1 to my shortcut.

that is a must to anyone who has a multicore pc

I've used tree controllers extensively while running the .exe without that switch on my AMD dual core and never once experienced that specific bug, so although that may indeed help the problem in some cases, I believe having an un-updated .exe is at the root of that specific bug, but whatever (not saying i recommend dual-coring the game, just that i've done it enough i should have experienced it if that was the sole cause).  I'm just listing it so vortext has an answer when a user inevitably lists that specific complaint.

[Diggis]

...

I fixed this problem by adding -CPUCount:1 to my shortcut.

that is a must to anyone who has a multicore pc

I've used tree controllers extensively while running the .exe without that switch on my AMD dual core and never once experienced that specific bug, so although that may indeed help the problem in some cases, I believe having an un-updated .exe is at the root of that specific bug, but whatever (not saying i recommend dual-coring the game, just that i've done it enough i should have experienced it if that was the sole cause).  I'm just listing it so vortext has an answer when a user inevitably lists that specific complaint.

It's not the ONLY cause, as I had an updated EXE.     But definitely something worth noting.

[vortext]

Good to know there're at least two known fixes for this issue, I'll add it to the read-me!

Thank you gentlemen! 

Funny how easily one gets used to using certain emoticons.

[gn_leugim]

For what I know, the dual cores dont handle well the game, and if it pushed to a point, where both cores are used (as zoming out, rotating, where I experienced most issues) it's likely to crash. from the moment I started to use that little piece of code never again I had crashes

[vortext]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If I please may have your attention for a moment. . It's with distinct pleasure I'm here to tell you that, in case you hadn't noticed already (I hadn't  ), the Seasonal Tree Controllers are available for download!!! 

Get it here and please report any problems you may encounter. The tree controller help desk is now open for business! 

[gn_leugim]

here I go ^^

[Swordmaster]

I've finally (whew) tested you controller. I'm quite impressed. In fact very much so. The clustering and parameters are perfect, if there is such a thing. Knowing first hand what it takes, you deserve a lot of praise for this. Now of course I don't agree with every flora selection - those PEG weeds are quite out of place I think - but there's nothing some tweaking can't fix. Not too much is necessary, though. Great work!

(Some pics in the Noro thread.)


Cheers
Willy

[Diggis]

One good tip for anyone wanting to swap controllers; the cheat code Flora off (or Floraoff) will destroy all Flora in a city tile without destroying the buildings. This allows you to load and old controller, destroy the Flora, load new controller, win! It's also useful when you've planted in the wrong season, as I did on every second tile. Also, to use it a second time you have to use Flora on before using Flora off again.

[vortext]

@ Willy, thanks for your kind words! Glad to hear you're enjoying them!

@ Diggis, that's a nifty tip for sure! Thanks!

~

Well, the release seems to go pretty smooth so far, much to my relieve.

There was one lady in distress over at SimPeg and though she got it working eventually it left me wondering about a weird bug she reported. Playing SimCity on a mac, it seems like tree controllers won't allow for dense forests as it would on a pc, which is a shame really. Are there any mac users here that have similar experiences? Or any mac users who can do a little investigation into it? Any feedback on the subject is appreciated.

[Jack_wilds]

will the 'flora on-off' thing also stop 'ctds'... as I swap-out CP-Columbus No-7 tree controllers [does that include the enn variations, the jagged edge mods by enn, cp and also the JR snow low-lower configs  ]... but it ctd's  when I go to terrain modify...

what items do I need for the columbus terrain mod + the arden tree controller, and then how do I modify the snow level...

where do I find the current version needed to stop edge crashes and then where to I state the core number... should I put it one as I have a dual pent t4300

[Diggis]

will the 'flora on-off' thing also stop 'ctds'... as I swap-out CP-Columbus No-7 tree controllers [does that include the enn variations, the jagged edge mods by enn, cp and also the JR snow low-lower configs  ]... but it ctd's  when I go to terrain modify...

It did for me. I used it on 2 developed tiles with CP tree controllers and managed to swap it out. You can't swap controllers if there are still flora in the city. But if you clear it before removing the old controller using the method above, it should be OK.

where do I find the current version needed to stop edge crashes and then where to I state the core number... should I put it one as I have a dual pent t4300

To stop the edge crash I added the -CPUCount:1 to my shortcut.  I don't believe it's the core number as much as the number of cores it'll utilise.