Arden Tree Controller Help Desk

[Swordmaster]

Clear for sure. Good idea and added to my (monstrous) to-do list


Cheers
Willy

[vortext]

Thanks Simcoug, I'm looking forward to using it too.

Glad I could provided some ideas Willy. Curious to learn what is and what is not possible!

Smeel, first of all thanks you for the kind words! Much appreciated! 

I'm using the coast controller to fill spaces where I've want forest that the Inland controller doesn't fill.

Hehe, what you've done is almost the same as I did, i.e. using controllers one after another to fill in blank spots. I went Inland -> River -> Coast, in addition to some tweaks in between each session, and I was very pleased with the results. For instance;


The careful observer might notice Girafe's Larches, which are frigging awesome! And alright, I'll admit I just wanted to show of a bit!


The variety which comes from using all tree controllers after another hasn't seized to amaze me and in fact gave me the idea to make a new controller 'simply' by superimposing the current controllers onto each other, in order to create a new, super varied controller! (please note the idea still solely exists in my mind so don't get your hopes up for a release any time soon). Now, onto the question.

This made me thinking about the possibility to have more controllers for specific purposes. I have no idea if this is possible, but would it for example be possible to create a controller that is more conifer heavy, be compatible with your other controllers and would fill the map the same way the coast controller do?

Why yes, that's certainly possible. The easiest would be to take the existing fir & conifers brushes and play around with their Preference Table. This is the basic mechanism which determines where flora is planted, so you could make them appear wherever you'd like. However, as simple as it sounds, getting it right (i.e. going back-and-forth in various tiles to see how it looks) would still take quite some time, which I don't have much atm. Besides, there's other stuff I'd like to spend it on instead. 

That said, it's entirely feasible to create another tree controller simply by rearranging flora from mine. If you or anyone else reading along is genuinely interested in doing so, you can send me a PM and I'll happily provide you with the single brushes to play around with and help understanding the basics, if necessary.

[Indiana Joe]

I've already taught myself enough, while playing around with your controller, to replace those (IMHO) oversized PEG weeds of the Coast controller with some more elegant Giraffe cattails.  I very much like the resulting riversides:

[vortext]

Hehe, yes, PEGs weed are big indeed. At the time I'd intended the Coast controller to be more rugged than the River controller so I'd figured they'd be a good fit, besides providing some variety.

Anyhow, are you saying you'd like to tinker some more?!

[Indiana Joe]

One thing I've considered is decreasing the cluster space of all of the trees to provide a denser forest on flat land.  But I don't know any way other than editing each exemplar one by one, which would be awfully cumbersome, so I'm putting it off for now.  I really don't have the patience for this stuff 

[vortext]

Yep, the only way to address spacing is to edit each exemplar by hand . . awfully cumbersome indeed. . not to mention you can screw up the entire brush while doing so forcing you back to start. . 

On the flip side, it did actually teach me to be more patient! 

[vortext]

Double post because of a somewhat sad announcement. . .

Exactly two years after the inception of Street Geekery, I'm sorry to say this post will be the very last from me.

Yes my friends, my time on this board has come to an end. It still feels kinda unreal but it was bound to happen sooner or later. It's time for me to move on. . .








































. . . to the Recently Published MD board!!!!


 

Okay, that probably wasn't near as funny for you as it was for me. 

Still, I haven't lied a bit though as Street Geekery will no longer be updated. From now on you can instead follow my shenanigans in my brand-new Mayor Diary Ærden. So hop on over and say something nice, I've a little stage fright.

[fe_lipe]

Hello! 

After quite a while testing my SC4D with Arden Tree Controller I'm still not able to play it... I'm also having the edge crash while planting trees. Right now there are only two files on my plugin folder: the tree controller itself and Sudden Valley terrain (I tested both separated also: Sudden Valley does not crash, not by itself nor along with my whole plugin folder). The tree controller crashes no matter what.

I'm running SC4D on hardware; I've got all dependencies ok; there's no possibility of conflicts as my folder is empty; my PC has enough RAM and HD memory (game run smoothly with a 2GB plugin folder). I'm just a bit afraid about my graphics card - it's an onboard Intel GMA 3100

(Yeah, I know I should change it just asap hehe  ) 

Well, I've been considering reporting it here for a while now, as I wasn't able to solve my issue. Any ideas? Any help?

[vortext]

Sorry to hear about the crashes. Couple of questions.

- which controller are you using exactly? 
- does it occur in a new or an established city (or both)?
- does it occur on software rendering too? (you'll probably need to temporarily remove the SV mod to try this)
- have you used either the 'flora:off' or 'flora:on' cheat? If so, could you try switching it on/off/on before planting trees? If not, try the same anyway. Dunno if it'll do anything but can't hurt to try, right?!

On a sidenote, I've re-dubbed the thread to the official Arden Tree Controller Help Desk. Also open for any other tree controller related troubles for that matter. 

[epicblunder]

I'm also having the edge crash while planting trees

One of the causes for this is playing a game that isn't fully updated, and updating your game version to at lest 1.1.6.38 (1.6.40 is preferable) can fix it.

edit:  and i forgot, also Diggis said adding the CPU tag when using a multicore is another possible fix, if your game is already updated.

[vortext]

One of the causes for this is playing a game that isn't fully updated, and updating your game version to at lest 1.1.6.38 (1.6.40 is preferable) can fix it.

edit:  and i forgot, also Diggis said adding the CPU tag when using a multicore is another possible fix, if your game is already updated.

Thanks I forgot about that and most likely either one of those issues is the real culprit.

[fe_lipe]

One of the causes for this is playing a game that isn't fully updated, and updating your game version to at lest 1.1.6.38 (1.6.40 is preferable) can fix it.

Sorry to hear about the crashes.

Yay! As epicblunder said, my .exe wasn't updated. I tested it now and bah-dah: works fine! 

Thank you guys for the attention! Vortext, congrats for this wonderful work you made, you rock.

[vortext]

Thanks! And glad to hear the crashes are resolved! 

[Jack_wilds]

One of the causes for this is playing a game that isn't fully updated, and updating your game version to at lest 1.1.6.38 (1.6.40 is preferable) can fix it.

where can the update  1.6.40 be found  and is it worth adding... 

[vortext]

One of the causes for this is playing a game that isn't fully updated, and updating your game version to at lest 1.1.6.38 (1.6.40 is preferable) can fix it.

where can the update  1.6.40 be found  and is it worth adding... 

iirc the digital copy via Steam is version 1.6.40. Not sure though.

[standop]

Once more: Thanks for the great work in your tree controller! Yet, autumn tree models do not appear in seasonal change on my setup. You were talking about a winter patch which might cause this problem?! What is this? Never heard of this before :-(
Thanks for your help!

[Indiana Joe]

Among the optional files of the Aerden mod is a Winter Patch which fixes the shadows of winter tree models.  It is not intended to be kept in your plugins folder, as it messes up the rest of the mod.  You should only have the winter patch file in your Plugins when you want to take a screenshot of winter trees with shadows.  It should be removed immediately after using.

[standop]

That's it! Thanks for your help! What I like to add is the following: To me it seems, that the Winter Patch persists to affect all trees which were planted while the patch was in the plugin folder. Removing the patch alone does not help - I had to plant all woods anew.

One more question: All over this thread, you were talking about different brushes for each controller. What do you mean by that? Is it just that different trees are planted depending on the terrain? Or are there really different brushes with certain groups of flora which I can choose in the Mayor menu for example?!

Sorry for bothering. I am just a bit confues ;-)

[Indiana Joe]

There are several different files that come with the controller.  They each plant different flora in different patterns via the God Mode tree brush.  I think the choices are Coastal, River, or Inland.  You can switch between them for different flora patterns; just make sure you only have one in your plugins folder at a time.

It kind of sounds like you just put the whole mod folder in your Plugins without checking the readme.  You can't do this with this mod; you have to choose certain files to put in.   

[standop]

No no no no. Of course I had a careful look at the read-me file (so no missing dependencies and PEG MMP problems) and use only one controller at a time. Thus, I strongly protest against these allegations! 

Unfortunately the descriptions in the read-me file are not that comprehensive w.r.t. the winter patch and the behaviour of the controllers. So I looked at this thread to get a feeling for the different options. Looking for inspiration, you know... ;-) However, at some points I stumpled across these "brushes". An example can be found in vortext's reply #222: "Started working on auxiliaries; made an outline for the read-me; [...] and lastly made two new brushes for the River controller." Or in reply #250: "There're a few transitions and brushes I'm not quite satisfied with yet but [...]"

So my question remains: What does he mean by different brushes within each controller?
(1) Is it that different trees are planted depending on the terrain (slope, height, etc.)? I.e. that the game automatically varies the collection of trees (aka "the brush") while using the one flora tool in god mode? This is how I observe it ingame.
(2) Or are there additionally different tools in e.g. mayor mode to plop trees independently from the terrain?! I know about planting individual trees. But I am hoping for wider "brushes" to plop certain groups of flora at once. E.g. one brush including different grasses, one for river banks, one with mostly firs, one with leaf-trees... It would be awesome to also have this ability!!!

I hope, my concerns are easier to understand now?!

And thanks in advance