I'm the creator of SSPTool-DAMN and glad to see, my tool is using by a huge community. First of all, I want to thank Paeng for his tutorial using SSPTool-DAMN. Second I can give you some important informations which will simplify the installation of SSPTool-DAMN (since 2.2.0): - Download and install (unzip) the SSPTool_Complete.zip to your wish folder - Download SSPTool-DAMN Plugin, you don't need to unzip or something else, just remember where you download it - Start SSPTool (SSPTool.bat inside the installed folder) - Select Tool - Install Plugin; choose the SSPTool-DAMN Plugin ZIP file and press OK; this will install the plugin to the correct folder - Restart SSPTool to take the install effect, no a menu called Plugins and the DAMN plugin itself should appear - Press Install DAMN in the lower left corner of the DAMN plugin to install DAMN; choose the options to your needs - Now you can start the DAMN Manager and manages your DAMN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [justify][color=teal][size=14pt][b]A Guide to DAMN[/b][/size][/color] The DAMN (Daeleys Advanced Menu Navigator) is a mod that will hook into the advisor / news window and enable you to create your own custom menus for your plugins. The SSPTool is an additional program (Java) giving you a comfortable GUI (Interface) to help you setting up and configuring those menus. Before we start - some links to all the packages that are needed - you should download and keep them handy in order to follow this tutorial. [url=http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1775][u]DAMN[/u][/url] | [url=http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2191][u]SSPTool[/u][/url] | [url=http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2450][u]SSPTool - DAMN (Plugin)[/u][/url] [url=http://www.simpeg.com/forum/index.php?topic=8895.0][u]For Questions, Discussion, Tips and Tricks please go here[/u][/url] [hr] [b]Step 1[/b] [color=teal][size=12pt][b]Installing DAMN[/b][/size][/color] This should be pretty straight forward as it comes with an installer. Watch for the install path - it is important that DAMN is installed into the proper place! Normally, SC4 is installed into [code]c:\programs\Maxis\SimCity 4\[/code] When you open that folder, you see a subfolder 'Plugins' - that's the one we're after. So when you have run the installer, open [code]c:\programs\Maxis\SimCity 4\Plugins\[/code] and you should see a new subfolder '[i]DAMN[/i]' - open this and see two further subfolders '[i]Root[/i]' and '[i]Support[/i]'. [b]Root [/b]- is the place where all your custom menu definitions will be stored. Some samples are already there (e.g. SG Canals) - we'll deal with that later. [b]Support [/b]- there are a number of files in there as well... leave them alone for the moment. So if we're in tune up to here, you could start the game now for a little test. Open the 'News PopUp' by clicking the blue link at the bottom or by clicking the button at bottom right. [img width=800 height=410]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn01.jpg[/img] In the popup, click the blue link to open the menu. This is what the menu window looks like - just disregard the listing in the lower window - those are my menu definitions, so you'll see something different and much less (e.g. you'd see again those SG Canals). Clicking on them will probably not work (yet) - unless you have those canals installed. [img width=474 height=462]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn02.jpg[/img] Anyway - all we wanted to check is if the menu system is properly installed and visible... so you can close the game again. [hr] Part 2 will deal with installing SSP Tool and the SSP Tool DAMN Plugin. [/justify] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [justify][b]Step 2[/b] [color=teal][size=12pt][b]Installing SSP Tool and the SSP Tool DAMN Plugin[/b][/size][/color] Updated: After I wrote this tutorial, Stefan (the tool's developer) joined the forum and gave us some more information on the process. [box title=Quick guide] - Download and install (unzip) the '[i]SSPTool_Complete.zip[/i]' to your desired folder. - Download '[i]SSPTool-DAMN Plugin[/i]' - no need to unzip, just remember the location where you saved it. - Start SSPTool (double click the '[b]SSPTool.bat[/b]' inside the installed folder). - Select 'Tool | Install Plugin', then select the '[i]SSPTool-DAMN Plugin[/i]' ZIP archive (hopefully you do remember where you saved it to) and press 'OK'. This will install the plugin to the correct folder. - Restart SSPTool so it can complete the install - now a menu called 'Plugins' and the 'DAMN' plugin itself should appear. - Press 'Install DAMN' in the lower left corner of the DAMN plugin to install DAMN; select the options to your needs. - Now you can start the DAMN Manager and manage your DAMN menus. [/box] If for some reason this didn't work out for you, ride through the following explanations - everything is done 'by hand', which takes a little longer but should also leave you with a solid understanding of what goes where :-) [hr] [b]A)[/b] SSP Tool ([i]Version: 2.2.0[/i]) Okay, after unzipping the archive you'll have a folder [code]SSPTool_Complete[/code] which contains all program files. It doesn't really matter where you put it - for me, I got all my SC4 related tools (like [i]LE[/i], [i]Reader[/i] etc.) at [code]c:\programs\SC4_utilities\[/code] so this one goes there as well. Now when you open this folder, you'll see a file called '[b]SSPTool.bat[/b]' - that's for starting the program (I put a shortcut to this *.bat file on my desktop). Run the program once to set your preferred language, verify some install paths and let it do some self-configuration, then close it again. Notice that now there is also a new subfolder '[i]plugins[/i]' - keep that in mind, because we'll want to go there in a mo. [box][b]From the readme[/b] [i]The tool is implemented in JAVA, so you need the JAVA Runtime Environment (JRE Version 6), which can be downloaded from Sun: http://java.sun.com[/i] Most probably you got all that and won't have to fiddle around with it...[/box] [b]B[/b]) SSP Tool DAMN Plugin Again, unpack the downloaded archive and you should have a folder [code]SSPTool-Plugin-DAMN[/code] with lots of stuff inside that does not really need to concern you - just take the complete content from this folder and move it into the plugins folder mentioned in the previous step (the subfolder 'plugins' inside 'SSPTool_Complete'). > SSP Tool_Complete > plugins damn (folder) SSPTool-Plugin-DAMN.jar (java file) That's it. We're now ready to configure this thing and then start setting up our menus. I'm gonna show some screenshots with that... [hr] Part 3 will deal with setting up your own menus. [/justify] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [justify][b]Step 3[/b] [size=12pt][color=teal][b]Setting up your own menus[/b][/color][/size] In order to start with a clean slate, here is my suggestion: Go back to the Root folder of the DAMN - [code]c:\programs\Maxis\SimCity 4\Plugins\DAMN\Root\[/code] and clean it out... throw away those sample definitions or move them out for safekeeping - just make sure the folder is empty. Okay, now fire her up... remember how? Yes, doubleclick that '[b]SSPTool.bat[/b]' (easy if you prepared the suggested shortcut ;-). It may take a little moment to start up, then comes a welcome screen, click 'Ok' and finally the tool is open. If you followed the steps, the current screen should show the readme for using the DAMN plugin. [img width=800 height=132]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn11.jpg[/img] Before anything else, lets check a few things - from the menubar at top open the menu 'Tools' and go into the 'Options'. For the moment just check the paths - one is the install path for SC4, the other one for your Plugins (the one in 'MyDocuments'). Check that both are correct. Leave the other options alone until you are familiar with the basic functions of the program. Click 'Ok' to leave this dialog. At the bottom of the main window you see four large buttons. We don't need the 'Installer' anymore, we're done with that. The 'Options' and 'Extras' - again, leave them alone until you are familiar with the program and its basic funtions. So that leaves the 'Manager' - hit it. Lets look at the mainscreen: [img width=800 height=584]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn03.jpg[/img] On top left (1) you see your current plugins (in 'My_Documents'). Bottom left (2) shows your 'DAMN\Root' (which should be empty now). Now it's time to choose the first plugin to turn into a DAMN menu. For this demo I decided to use the SPAR set (because it is big and organized in several subfolders). If you are a SPAM BetaTester, you might even have that set in your Plugins as well and can follow my steps exactly. So I click my way through the tree - [img width=229 height=305]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn04.jpg[/img] Now you should do some thinking - how do you want to organize your menus? Remember - whatever you set up in the folder 'Root' is the hierarchy for your custom menus. It is completely independent from your plugins, which will not be changed or influenced by the way you set up your menus! So you have all freedom to arrange things in a logical way that makes things easy to find. Back to the SPAR - it is dependent of the SPAM (as will be other sets), so I want to start with a folder SPAM. Hit the + button in the Root window (2), enter SPAM, hit Ok. [img width=305 height=326]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn05.jpg[/img] Since the SPAR set is nicely organized in subsets, I want to keep that - so I copy the hierarchy (keep on adding subfolders as described). When done, it should look like this: [img width=249 height=782]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn06.jpg[/img] Now you can fill those menus. In window 1, select 'SPAR_Candy'. You'll see the details of all associated lots in the window beside it (1a). * Note: [i]Normally you'd also see a preview of the currently selected lot in the last window (1b) - here you don't, because I have removed the preview PNG from the lots to keep the filesize down.[/i] [img width=659 height=358]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn07.jpg[/img] Okay, the first lot is already highlighted - press SHIFT and click on the last lot, so all of them are now selected. Make sure that in window 2 the folder 'Candy' is selected as well! [img width=666 height=362]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn08.jpg[/img] Finally click on the 'Dice' button to add the selected lots to the menu. The result should look like this: [img width=666 height=764]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn09.jpg[/img] That's it... repeat these steps for each subset, always making sure that you have highlighted the corresponding folders in window 1 and window 2. Note that with the arrows on the right side you can change the order of appearance - but you can also do that any time later on, at your leisure... When everything is done, hit the button 'Apply' at the bottom of the window. The prog will shake, rattle and hum for a while and finally alert you that everything is done: "Index successfully generated!" You can now take a peek at the DAMN\Root\ folder - you'll see there exactly the folders that you have set up for your menu (in window 2). At this point some words about this Root folder - you should not try to add things there directly. However, you can tweak things like changing the name of a folder or rearranging them. Keep in mind though - if ever you decide to do this, you need to re-index the whole thing (that's what the prog did automatically during the shake, rattle and hum). So how do you re-index manually? Look at the DAMN folder's second subfolder - 'Support'. In there you'll find a file called 'DAMN-Indexer.cmd' - double click that to re-index manually (might as well prepare a second shortcut on your desktop). So whenever you change things around outside the program (not using the 'Apply' button), hit that 'DAMN-Indexer.cmd'! [hr] In the last part of this demo we will look at the DAMN menus ingame - and some pretty clean default menus... :wink: [/justify] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [justify][b]Step4[/b] [size=12pt][color=teal][b]DAMN Menus ingame[/b][/color][/size] So now you're ingame - you've already learned how to open the menu in step 1 of this demo... So just do it. Then locate your entry SPAM and click through to the SPAR subset you want to plop... Fiddle around with the menu system for a while - it'll take you about 10 minutes to get the hang of it, so I'm not gonna bore you with more screenshots and stuff. But there is one open question - if you are familiar with the (huge) SPAR set, you'll know that it is located in the 'Transport | Miscellaneous' menu - with a whopping 70 icons (assuming you have installed each and every subset). So check out that transport-menu to look at the SPAR icons... can't find them? DAMN... Well, that's the whole point of this exercise, isn't it? If those 70 icons were still clogging up the transport menu, this would all be kinda pointless, right? So what happend to these icons (lots)? Nothing - they're just hidden. Or rather - they are now accessible via the newly set up DAMN menu only. Leave the game for now. Open your Plugins (in My_Documents). There you should see a new folder named '[b]zzz_DAMN Remove[/b]'. In there is a whole load of small sized definition files that keep your default menus clean. From the prefix 'zzz_' you know that these definitions should load last - after everything else. Now this is a technique used by other mods as well... If you have any other 'zzz_' folders, you may need to add a couple of 'z' to the 'DAMN_Remove' folder to make sure it really is the last one... Now if you change the name to let's say 'zzzzz_DAMN_Remove', make sure the program knows about it. Open the SSP Tool again and find the 'DAMN Options'. Select the tab 'Hide Configuration' and adjust the folder name accordingly. [img width=429 height=283]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn10.jpg[/img] After hitting OK it might be a good idea to manually re-index everything as described in Step 3 (not sure if it is really necessary in this case - but might as well make it a habit). So - basically that's it. What at first sight looked like a complicated and hard to understand process turns out to be a pretty easy operation. Surely there will be differences on how to use this system - but those are more 'philosophical' questions and up to individual preferences. Fact is that we now have a way to effectively slim down our default in-game menus and do not have to worry about large sets anymore. Nor do we need to care if the creator of a set put the pieces in the feared parks menu... we'll just make our own. :yahoo: [url=http://www.simpeg.com/forum/index.php?topic=8895.0][u]For Questions and Discussion please go here[/u][/url] There are numerous other options - any findings and discoveries will be added to this thread as we deem necessary or important. [/justify] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ADDED USER COMMENTS --------------------------------------------------------- I've now successfully (using this great guide) installed the DAMN and made some of my own lots work in the new menu system. I had a problem on my way, though, the program gave me this error message: Index can't be generated. Check your permissions! I fixed this by giving giving all users full permissions for the DAMN folder (with subfolders) in the program files folder. Just thought I'd mention it, in case anyone else has the same issue. +++ I have mine set up so that I don't have to open the message window to get to the DAMN window. In the DAMN installer option from the SSPTool, "Urgent advice dialog" is checked. When in game, I open the advisors panel at the bottom of my screen, click on the 1st one on the left (I think, it's that guy from your screenshots above), and from there get that same link to open the DAMN menu. Which once clicked, opens directly the DAMN window. One less window on screen, one less click. + [quote author=TiFlo link=topic=8895.msg177695#msg177695 date=1281929421]I don't have to open the message window to get to the DAMN window. [...] One less window on screen, one less click.[/quote] Oh yes, sweet - that's even better! :eusa_clap: Here again the illustration :lol Open the advisor panel and call on the first guy - [img width=432 height=131]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn17.jpg[/img] As you can see, the famous blue link is right there... Proceed as described previously. [img width=574 height=133]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn18.jpg[/img] Now if you don't return to the main advisor panel (red 'x'), the panel with this guy sticks... so later on you can just click on the advisor button (green circle) and have straight access to your menu. btw: [quote]In the DAMN installer option from the SSPTool, "Urgent advice dialog" is checked.[/quote] This is the default setting, so ya all should be set to go... The options dialog TiFlo referred to can be reached by starting the SSP and clicking on the button 'DAMN Installer' [img width=800 height=132]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn11.jpg[/img] The other settings there are for the adventurous... + Actually, being adventurous can be rewarding. Next tip: in the DAMN installer menu, you can choose the number of column you want the in game DAMN window to display, as well as the width of each column. The size of the window will automatically change and grow accordingly to the amount and size of columns you chose. You can safely go with at least 2 columns, but depending on your screen size, you can go wild and pick up to six columns. The more columns and the bigger the window, the less scrolling through that window you have to do each time you're looking at a big menu. You'll probably have to try a few different combinations of columns and width, as the resulting window size seems to be bound to your screen resolution and you may get some glitch in the window display (with a 1280x800 screen resolution and 2 columns of 400px of width, the right end side of my second column is cut off from the DAMN window; nothing game braking though). Lastly, you can adjust the number of items you want every single DAMN menu folder to hold. Some sets of lots can be quite big (the SPIC, and the upcoming SPAM are good example), and depending on how you like your DAMN menus, you might want a single menu to hold more than the default 50 items. That can be changed as well, in the DAMN installer menu of the SSPTool. Combined with a multi-columns menu and a bigger DAMN window, you get a really powerful and fast toy to dig through your -ultimately, you'll be there- thousands of DAMNed lots. + yeah, that multi-column thing is a matter of preference :wink: My style is rather to make more submenues... I set it at 1 column and a width of 300, unfortunately the smallest possible. Good tip on the No of items, I set that up to 75... because - here is another one *grin* I described that for the SPAR set I maintained their subfolder order, so I got the same number of submenus... Now I can of course call the search - [img width=336 height=252]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn20.jpg[/img] Type in SPAR - [img width=316 height=232]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn21.jpg[/img] And get them all at once... [img width=306 height=258]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5012419/forum/damn22.jpg[/img] * [i]And here I don't mind the scrolling, as this thing has a scrollbar - so it's a lot faster than the defaults 1x1 tickering...[/i] This is fun... :lol +++ Sorry fellas for being late to the party. Fire drill at work (literally, a bunson burner caught fire), packing for a trip and had to wear down the kids for bed. So now that I'm here, my two cents on the matter: After the pain and experimentation I went through with re-DAMNing the RTMT set and then the CPT Trees the conclusion to make is that with the default settings it is making a copy of the exemplar and modifying it to hide the lot. The original is left untouched. As long as the modified duplicate in the ZZZZ_DAMN Remove folder loads last the icon should be hidden. If you remove /delete the file from the ZZZ_DAMN Remove folder it will appear in the SC Menus as well as in the DAMN menu (until you delete it from the DAMN using the SSP and re-indexing, or deleting it from the DAMN's Root folder). Now I think that the default method which is to hide lots using the DAMN Remove folder only copies the original exemplar and then puts the modified exemplar file in the DAMN Remove folder. You also have hte option to use one Dat file vice multiple exemplar files as it does with the default settings. I pulled up one of the lots using SC4Tools, I'm still not sure I know all the specific mumbo jumbo of the modification, but from what I see this method does not appear to use the LTEXT modifiaction to the exemplar there. More on this after. [img width=336 height=286]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/CPT%20Trees/3-DAMNOptionsforHideConfiguration.jpg[/img] The other option I see is to forego the ZZZ DAMN Folder and modify the original exemplar which I am left to believe is using LTEXT. After the discussions we had with those CPT trees, I think this should be avoided since this would mess with the original file. However, there is an option to convert from that method of hiding the file in the DAMN Extras button of the SSPTool. [img width=214 height=279]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/CPT%20Trees/DAMNExtras.jpg[/img] In the precursor version of DAMN there must have been a third way (i guess to say the original way) to hide the lot that was abandoned with the last release of DAMN as there is an option to convert the hidden lot from that 'old' method to the new hide method in the DAMN Extras button of the SSPTool. OK with all that being said, remember that issue I had with the CPT Trees in that I ended up with a second set of icons in my SC Menus. After my discovery (and [b]Master Paeng's [/b] re-enforcement) with precluding the original folder structure with "_" the underscore character. What I think was happening was that it was loading the ZZZ_DAMN REmove version of that exemplar first, then loading my "_Props" folder where the original file was located thus causing the hidden version to unhide, load both files and causing me to have double set of icons in my SC Menus (as well as a single set in the DAMN menu). This was also happening when I would test lots using that I placed in a folder named "_Test". I would still get the icons in both SC menus and in the DAMN menus. When I would rename that folder or move the lots into folders that were not precluded with the underscore, DAMN worked fine and I the icons were hidden properly. Thanks to the help from you all in realizing my folly as this solved a lot of my hair pulling. I apologize if I may have just :beathorse: -pezz +++ I discovered today a potential issue for some when DAMNing multiple lots within a single dat. For example I was setting up a DAMN menu for JRJ ConcreteWalls V2 where there are multiple versions in the same pack. I merged all of these into a single dat and then created a DAMN folder for each one. Problem is after each folder creation I reindexed and when done all of the 5 versions displayed in DAMN, but only the last one was hidden. This happened because whenever I would reindex instead of adding exemplars to the hidden list, it would overwrite the previous ones because they are part of the same dat file. The way around this I found was to either a) wait to index until every lot within the dat was damned, or under the DAMN options check the box "Use ONE dat file for hiding each menu". Just a little FYI. +++ I have come up with a situation which doesn't work as I would have guessed... I made a DAMN set and decide to move a menu entry. I opened the SSPTool and entered "Damn Manager" and went to the "wrong" entry in the lower menu, and said "move to clipboard" and went to where I wanted it and selected "copy from clipboard". This did succeed in putting the lot entry into the proper "new" slot, but it also left the menu entry where it had been previously in the "old" spot. I had to highlight it and select "delete" using the "red x". The issue of course results from the "move to clipboard" step. When that is done from the lower window, it SHOULD also automatically delete that menu entry (otherwise I would have selected "copy to clipboard") +++ A few things to check would be to ensure that you have checked the box marked "Set hidden for lots which are damned" in the DAMN Options. [img width=336 height=286]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/CPT%20Trees/3-DAMNOptionsforHideConfiguration.jpg[/img] Also a couple of things to note would be if you have checked or unchecked the box for "Use one dat file for hiding for each menu". I personnaly have found from experiance and preference to leave this box unchecked. When hiding lots a copy of the sc4lot or dat file gets copied to your zzzz_DAMN Folder and the coding to hide the lot icon is added to that file. DAMN will not automatically unhide a lot for you if you change your mind about hiding it or if in the future you want to have it appear in the game menus again. To unhide a lot you go into the ZZZZZ_DAMN FOlder and delete the file that corresponds to the lot. Make sure not to delete the originally which would appear elsewhere in your plugins folders. When adding lots to existing or new menu folders that you create, only the newly added lots will get hidden when you hit the Apply or Next button to index the new items. Existing items already in the folder will not get rehidden (for example if you deleted any files in the ZZZZ_DAMN Folder and wanted to reindex your DAMN Folder you would need to recreate it to hide the lots, I have a work around this see below) Also, before you index you should check the items to make sure that when an item selected for the menu, the DAMN Menu Lot details in the lower right show the checkbox for "hidden" to be checked as shown here below. [img width=749 height=364]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/CPT%20Trees/2-DAMNMenuLotDetail.jpg[/img] I said earlier that there is a work around. For example if you have the lots but were provided a pre-exisisting DAMN folder (for example RTMT and some of the examples muen folders that came with DAMN are like this). Or if during the index process it locks up, still creating the items in the DAMN menu, but failing to hide them. Or if you have accidently deleted files in the zzzz_DAMN FOlder or the whole folder here is what you can do. You do not need to recreate the DAMN menu that you have already created. 1) create a dummy menu item in your DAMN Folders calling it something like "Hide Lots". Then select the lots that did not hide properly or lots you want to rehide. 2) Add the items to this folder. 3) hit apply. Lots should hide themselves again (since they are newly added to that menu, DAMN will create the hidden file in the ZZZZ_DAMN Folder during the indexing process) 4) afterwards you can delete the items from the "Hide Lots" DAMN menu They should stay hidden and you will still have your menu items in the other DAMN Menu folders that you have already setup. See if that works. There is also another possibilty that you are attempting to hide only a partial number of lots from a single .dat file. There are some known issues with this separate from that described above. If you have selected lots to DAMN/hide from a single dat file that has multiple lots and you have unchecked the box for "Use one dat file for hiding for each menu" in the DAMN Options, I've found that you need to hide all the lots at the same time when indexing to hide all the lots at the same time. If you only select a few of the lots to hide and hit apply it will hide those lots, then the next time you select other lots in the file to hide (say during a separate session) only the newly selected lots of that dat file will hide while all other lots (such as those previously hidden) will unhide themselves. I had this problem occur when I wanted some of the lot items in the .dat file to appear in one menu while other lots to be in another menu. I kept going back and forth with hiding and unhiding the lots until I figured it out. My work around was to create the two menus with lots i wanted in each then in a separate session with DAM create a dummy folder that I added all the lots from the dat file and hit apply to run the index thus hiding them all in one shot. Afterwards you can delete/remove the dummy folder from the DAMN Root menu. +++ YESSSSS!! Turned out my "zzzzzz_DAMN Remove" folder was being loaded before my "zz_Organized" folder for some reason. Go figure why :shrug: Wonderful to hear you have sorted most of it out! :jump4joy: Yes that darn underscore is quite a perplexing character. That drove me nuts for a good month's time. There were some postings we had before at Simpeg about the file & folder order and the characters used by SC4. I believe that it was concluded it must follow ASCII character order, which is different than what is used by windows. A more in-depth file/folder discussion and a table of ASCII character order can be found in this thread. There are many good tips around Simpeg from the members about folder naming convention and structure. The most popular I have run across is a convention to prelude the folder name with "a01", "a02", ... "z01", "z02",..."z99" that forces the order of the folders. I myself have been using this form and seems to have solved lots of my problems from early on. ++ Tried to re-install SSP from scratch, but it always quits with the error message that the command "java" is mis-spelled or can't be found. Solved - I hope... As I mentioned, I had installed the latest JRE (64bit) recently... after some reading I decided to install the 32bit version as well - and now SSP runs. I'll need to test in-depth to see if all functions work as expected ++ I might have a problem. In the screenshots, the news window size is unchanged but in mine, they are enlarged. I can't seem to find any way to fix this. Any help? Perhaps this may help... You can change the size of the window as well as the number of columns of DAMN items. To do so first open up the SSPTool and select "[b]DAMN Installer[/b]" button as shown in the pic below. [img width=300 height=209]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/SC4%20Forum%20Discussions/01ClickDAMNInstaller.jpg[/img] The following popup appears. [img width=426 height=452]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/SC4%20Forum%20Discussions/02DAMNInstallerWindow.jpg[/img] Recommend for the "[b]Type[/b]" you select "[b]News Ticker[/b]", the default is Advise Dialog, which I find to be a pain to use. Then in the boxes for "[b]Columns (Quantity and Width)[/b]" you can select 1 column, you can change the width per column. Mine is set for two columns at 400. The next selection "[b]Size (width and Height)[/b]" can be used to change the size of the news ticker window. You'll note that the number of columns selected in the previous step will control the allowable width. Example in mine is 1 column, 400 width, the width of my New ticker will be 800. You can specify any height. I usually have just kept it with the default. Then click the Yes button to update the DAMN. If you chose 1 column, now when you run game the DAMN should now appear more like the box shown in your earlier post. You can always repeat this process to make future changes. Some options to note in this window are that you can increase the number of items that the program will allow in each DAMN Menu, I set mine to 100. You can also reduce (or not reduce) the number of news messages. <<< EDIT to add some examples >>> Columns = 2, Width = 300, Size Width = 600, Height = 450 [img width=400 height=266]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/SC4%20Forum%20Discussions/Ex01_2Col_W300_Size600x450.jpg[/img] Columns = 1, Width = 300, Size Width = 300, Height = 700 [img width=200 height=370]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/SC4%20Forum%20Discussions/Ex02_1Col_W300_Size300x700.jpg[/img] Columns = 1, Width = 300, Size Width = 300, Height = 1000 [img width=300 height=239]http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k595/pezzajn/SC4%20Forum%20Discussions/Ex03_1Col_W300_Size300x1000-1.jpg[/img]