mrb forgot how to play

[mrbisonm]

Need some help with this. I have been modding and 3dmaxing and whatever for the last 4 years, but I really haven't played the game and I forgot a lot of things that I will ask here with time. Nothing to do with Alzheimer, ya hear! 
It's just that I have been playing a lot more other games lately. Now I got back playing my regions, preparing the landscaping and really playing and testing my MFP1 Batlots before releasing them.

So, I need some help to be able to play.....proper and efficiently. That's where you guys come in......

1. How in the world do I find a lot, which I want to delete in a 7Gb Pluginsfolder and the name is not findable by Search? I lately found about 70 lots ingame that I want to delete, wrote down their names and searched the by Explorer Search in the plugins. Out of 70 I only found 9......What?
There are those people that give their same file a name for the zipfile, then another one for the document and another for the model and lotfile and finally a freaking other one in the game desc...Geeeez, organized I must say.  Is there another way to find lots easier, either by name or pictures? Another mod or Program?...and of course delete them?

2. How do I go into Godmode from mayormode? Sorry, totally forgot this one.....

3. How do I stop the dust, smoke or whatever from bulldozing the lot, or plopping it with a big cloud which temorarily freezes my game with 7 Gb plugins everytime? Forgot that one too.
4. Have forgotten how to turn off the helicopter and Driving mission icons. Please remind me?

That's it for now, I'll be back for sure.

Thanks folks, much appreciated, but those 12 years of playing everyday did not bring me back all the shortcuts, tricks and treats/cheats.

mrb (Fred for those who remember me)

EDIT:

Thought of another question...

5. How do I get rid of the yellow contourline when I set the game on Pause? Can't remember this one neither.......
Thanks

[Getron]

2. How do I go into Godmode from mayormode? Sorry, totally forgot this one.....

Wasn't that CONTROL+ALT+Shift and cursor on Sun icon?

[mrbisonm]

2. How do I go into Godmode from mayormode? Sorry, totally forgot this one.....

Wasn't that CONTROL+ALT+Shift and cursor on Sun icon?

Have to try that tomorrow, will come back. Thanks.
Fred

[Wiimeiser]

1. Ignoring the NAM and terrain mods: Remove half your plugins and see if it goes away. If it does, put half of those plugins back and see if it comes back. And so on. Do this to narrow down what folder it's in. I've done this a few times myself.
3. That bugs me too. I don't know if it's possible, given the dust is a particle effect...
4. There's an option in the Sim menu somewhere.
5. I don't exactly remember where, but there's a mod that does just that somewhere.

[CasperVg]

3.

Actually, there is one. Look for the "Graphics Rules.sgr" file in your SimCity installation folder an make a backup of that file first. Then open it with Notepad and scroll down a bit until you find the line "optionGroup $VisualEffects". The following lines contain the basic settings for the low, medium and high detail settings. The dust cloud is defined by the "property demolishModelThreshold" - assuming you play with the detail settings on "high", try to change the value to the one that is shown at the "low" settings. This should make the dust cloud vanishing very quickly. Feel free to experiment with the values in order to find an even better one. Personally, I also set "property useScreenShake" to "false", since the shaking screen annoys me whenever I bulldoze even the tiniest lot.

5. https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/18680-smp-yellow-pause-thingy-remover/

[Andreas]

1.) I would assume you might find the lots in question with the SC4 Data Node tool. I haven't tinkered with it for a long time, but since file names are completely ignored by the game, and it reads exemplar names and LTEXT files instead, you might have some luck with that.

2.) As Getron mentioned, press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and click on the Mayor Mode (sun) icon. There's a mod called "God Mode in Mayor Mode" by warrior that gives you access to the God Mode tools in mayor mode without that key combination: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1711

3.) IIRC, you can minimize the dust and shake effect by editing the Graphic Rules.sgr file in the SC4 installation folder. Make a backup of the file, then open it in Notepad, and look for a line "optionGroup $VisualEffects". It has settings for low/medium/high graphic settings, such as "screen shake" when bulldozing etc. Try to set "screen shake" to "false" for the "high" settings, and tinker with some other properties. I don't know the meaning for all those, but it might fix your problem.

4.) As Wiimeiser stated, click on the "My Sim" menu, select the U-Drive-It button and then use the last button in the submenu for disabling those icons.

5.) Here's the mod that removes the yellow frame: http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/18680-smp-yellow-pause-thingy-remover/ (might or might not work, depending if Simtropolis is back again or not). You can even remove the minimize button in the lower left corner of your screen: https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/28243-minimize-button-remover/

EDIT: Casper was faster than me, and even remembered my research about the Graphic Rules.sgr...

[Getron]

I love this site  Everybody is willing to help.

[mrbisonm]

I love this site  Everybody is willing to help.

We're Simcity people, that's why. I am a memeber of sooo many gamesites of different games and they're different there, colder and less respectful.

The ctrl/shift/alt and the sun icon worked perfectly, exactly what I remember now, the mod that Andreas mentioned, I didn't know yet, will try it, but not sure if I will need it though, remembering how to get originally into the godmode from mayor's play now. Let's see if it offers anything better, if not I will keep my hands off because it will surely add to the loading "weight".

I can't understand why I didn't find or see the U-Drive it icon, thanks for directing me to it, sometime we have to put our nose right onto it to see it........my case.lol

Thanks for the dusty plop-effect info, I will have a look at it later this weekend, but wasn't there a file that did the change somwehere? I remember not having that dust particle effect without having to mod the "Graphics Rules.sgr" file.

I must have lost the yellow frame mod, thanks for the linkie.

I will also have a serious look at the SC4 Data Node tool and see if I can find those lots in my massive Plugins mess. Thanks Andreas! All new lots that I download now will be modded so that the exampler name is the same as the file name before they go into my Plugins.



Thanks to Getron, Wiimeiser, Casper and Andreas for the help sofar, much easier now to play...appreciated!

I have more questions (if you don't mind)

6. How do I name a street/road/avenue, tried to find it ingame, but can't remember at all.

7. There was a way to reduce and enlarge the pointer circle when landscaping by holding some key and click on a number, how exactly was this done? I remember reducing it to a size that you could alter only one grid or enlarge it so a small citytile was completely covered.


Probably find some more forgotten "tricks" with playing the game the next time. Thank You all.

Fred

[Simmer2]

"7. There was a way to reduce and enlarge the pointer circle when landscaping by holding some key and click on a number, how exactly was this done?"

Shift+desired number (smallest 1 largest 9)

Nick

[mrbisonm]

"7. There was a way to reduce and enlarge the pointer circle when landscaping by holding some key and click on a number, how exactly was this done?"

Shift+desired number (smallest 1 largest 9)

Nick

Wow, that was a Quickie, didn't even have the time to finish my post.....almost. Thanks Nick, for bringing back my memories....

[fantozzi]

Mr. Fred, thank you Sir, for asking those questions I was to shy to ask them again.

May I add another one after 6 and 7, I always tend to forget or I tend always to forget or something like this ...


8 ... the shortcut to access extra cheats plugin?

[McDuell]

3.)
If you don't want to meddle with the Graphic Rules.sgr file, you can also get rid of the dust by going to Options - Graphic Options, and set Visual Effects to low. Changes are instant after pressing accept, so you can switch this option ingame.

6.)
In mayor mode, go to Landscape Tools - Signs & Label Tools - Place Label. Click where you want the label to be on your network. You can also drag the labels around and snap/de-snap it to/from networks.

7.)
Additionally to Nick's solution, you can use Shift+0 to reset the size back to default.
7a.)
Shift+F1 to Shift+F10 also lets you adjust the strength of the active tool

8.)
CTRL+X opens a command line in the top left position. Right-click into the field to show a menu of available commands (or write them by hand). Case is ignored btw., so HelloMyNameIs == hellomynameis.


M.

[paddy0174]

CTRL + X and then right click in the text field.

[Andreas]

IIRC, right-clicking for the cheats menu only works with the Extra Cheats Plugin installed, but I'd assume you do have such a little gem already.

[mrbisonm]

Mr. Fred, thank you Sir, for asking those questions I was to shy to ask them again.

May I add another one after 6 and 7, I always tend to forget or I tend always to forget or something like this ...


8 ... the shortcut to access extra cheats plugin?

Ha, I remembered this one, but too late to answer it....
----------------------------------------------------------------------

3.)
If you don't want to meddle with the Graphic Rules.sgr file, you can also get rid of the dust by going to Options - Graphic Options, and set Visual Effects to low. Changes are instant after pressing accept, so you can switch this option ingame.

6.)
In mayor mode, go to Landscape Tools - Signs & Label Tools - Place Label. Click where you want the label to be on your network. You can also drag the labels around and snap/de-snap it to/from networks.

7.)
Additionally to Nick's solution, you can use Shift+0 to reset the size back to default.
7a.)
Shift+F1 to Shift+F10 also lets you adjust the strength of the active tool

8.)
CTRL+X opens a command line in the top left position. Right-click into the field to show a menu of available commands (or write them by hand). Case is ignored btw., so HelloMyNameIs == hellomynameis.


M.

Hery thanks, a lot of useful hints that I have forgotten! Much appreciated

Fred

.....more to come.....(I'm certain)

[metarvo]

I'll definitely try out the solution to 3 myself.  Though the dust could be cool for a demolition pic or something, usually I find it annoying because I have to wait for the dust to clear before I can see to do anything in the area.