Supported
About This File
Bugs Noticed:
** After deeper investigation by Pheonix Rising it appears the mod does not work if you start up the game with a shortcut you have created yourself. So if this mod doesn't work for you, try starting the game with the Maxis default desktop shortcut, or (if you deleted this shortcut or didn't make one) start the game though "Start > all programs > Maxis > SimCity 4" from the start menu. (Big thank you to Pheonix Rising)
** This mod write to savefiles to backup the information gathers. Unfortunately, it seems this mod will occasionally be closed off in the middle of writing to a file, causing the file to be corrupt. When this happens, this can cause the game to freeze. If you are experiencing this, please look for two files called "BSCfields.dat" and "popfile.dat" in your Apps folder and delete these files. This will fix the problem but will also reset tracking. If you do not wish to lose tracking, make a backup of these files once in a while. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Daeley presents:
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the BSC Regional Tracking Mod
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features:
The BSC Regional tracking mod is a mod designed to store specific data from your cities and make them available for the entire region to enhance regional play.
Whenever you enter a city, you will receive a popup message asking you to track the city. With the data tracked by the mod, you can also have a look at a detailed regional population report and, for the farming lovers out there, you can look at the number of BTE fields in your region.
Several upcoming releases from the BSC will also use this data to enhance queries or reward requirements.
a word of caution:
The regional tracking mod saves data dependant on the *NAME OF THE CITY. This means there are two limitations you should keep in mind during gameplay:
1. Deleting or renaming a city confuses this mod. I advise against renaming, but if you want to delete a city, it's best to just start a new city with the same name. If you wish to just create a test city you plan on quickly deleting, you always choose *NOT TO TRACK THE CITY.
2. Similarly, two cities with the same name in the same region (different region is ok) will result in only the data from the last one visited being saved.
Note that cities are not tracked by default. This means when applying this mod to an old region, you need to visit each untracked city and track it, much like when you use a watermod to change the color of the water.
dependencies:
BSC_essential_OG.dat (Now a part of BSC Essentials (v1.0) available on SC4 Devotions's LEX.)
If you have any other downloads by the BSC you should already have this file.
have fun,
Daeley.
if any problems should exist, please do not hesitate to post them on the appropriate thread in the BSC forum at simtropolis.
26.05.05 : A bug caused the mod not to track cities with single 'quotes' or double "quotes" in their names. A fix has been made for single quotes, but double quotes are still not possible. Thanks to Guinessmonkey for tracking and reporting this bug.
-Cori Note: Updated dependency linky and added the following tip:
In order for the popup dialogs shown in the above pictures to actually pop up when entering a city the Urgent Advice Dialogs must be turned on in the Play Options. (Otherwise you can watch for when the message appears in the news.)
-Additional Cori Note:
This mod was originally written when there were no digital versions of the game. The default output folder for a digital version is different from what @Daeley's mod expects. The easy workaround is to create an Apps subfolder of:
C:\Gog Games\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Apps
So it'll then be here where the two reports are stored:
C:\Gog Games\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Apps\Apps
Optionally, one can edit the 0x0000dae1 LUA script in the mod changing these two lines:
BSCfieldsfile = [[Apps\BSCfields.dat]] to BSCfieldsfile = [[BSCfields.dat]]
BSCpopfile = [[Apps\popfile.dat]] to BSCpopfile = [[BSCpopfile.dat]]
If doing this, one doesn't need to create a new shortcut, but to just change the "Start in" to a location of your choice. For example, by setting to:
"C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\SimCity 4"
(Replace <USER> with your user account name.)
Then both BSCfields.dat and popfile.dat report files will be saved to the root of your \Documents\SimCity 4 folder. This then gives SC4 access to save in there instead of being forced to use Apps where the game's executable is located. This workaround has been tested on Windows 7.
Otherwise be certain to read the first paragraph above (highlighted in orange) about it only working from an original Maxis style shortcut and not any custom ones. What does work is to navigate to where SimCity 4.exe is located, right click on it, send to desktop as shortcut, then edit the "Target" line there adding only:
-Intro:off -CPUCount:1
Also depending on your system you may need to have Administrator rights when running the game so it can access the Apps folder it wants to write the two files to unless editing the above path lines.
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