Supported
About This File
Pacific Northwest Tree Controller
by: Blunder
This is a seasonal tree controller designed to give trees generated by your god-mode flora brush the appearance of flora from the Pacific Northwest. The lower elevation features maples intersperced among large conifers, the middle elevation transitions from large to small conifers, and the upper elevation consists of shrubby meadows and small firs. (see pics) It also includes MMPs for each of the brushes used by the God-Mode tool and then some. This tree controller has been optimized to be placed on Lowkee's excellent Appalacian Terrain, and has been calibrated to avoid cliffs generated by using a 15m DJEM.
For further previews, see this entry of my CJ.
UPDATE: 17 dec. 2012. File updated. Turns out i missed a value in the flora-table that was allowing forest scenes to show up in rare instances. Also i forgot to merge the blocker's blank model into the dat, both of these have been fixed. Please redownload and overwrite the old file.
Compatibility:
Due to game mechanics there are no such thing as compatible tree controllers. Therefore you must remove whatever existing tree controller you are using (such as CP's, Heblem's, or a God Mode patch like for the PEG pines). BUT FIRST you must bulldoze all flora planted with that tree-controller. For this reason it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you switch tree controllers only when starting new cities; new regions would be even better. Loading a city tile that has trees on it from a tree controller that no longer exists in your plugins will result in a Crash To Desktop.
Installation:
1. Do what it says under Compatibility; bulldoze all trees from your previous controller on tiles you will play on, then remove the old controller file from your plugins.
2. Place this tree controller file in your /Plugins directory.
3. Install all of the dependencies in your /Plugins directory too.
4. If you have the Pacific Northwest MMP Flora package installed, remove it. It merely duplicates the MMP files in this controller and will create 11 redundant MMPs in your mayor menu.
Uninstallation:
If you wish to switch to a different tree controller you must follow the same steps as when you installed this one. However with this controller there is a difference. If you wish to keep the flora planted with this controller simply install the alternate Pacific Northwest MMP Flora package and the old trees can stay: no bulldozing.
Known Issues:
1. CTD- As mentioned above, any flora from an old tree controller must be removed before the old tree controller file is deleted from your Plugins or a crash will occur. A lesser known issue is that if the file with the old MMP brush is gone but the model file still exists in the plugins, the tree will still show up and the game will be playable. However if that tree gets destroyed (either by bulldozing or by changing the elevation of the terrain underneath it) this will also cause a crash.
2. Performance- All tree controllers have a significant detrimental effect on your game's speed because of the large number of items they place in your city. Testing indicated that this controller only had a slightly more detrimental impact than CP's tree controllers, so if you can run one of his, you should be able to run this one without much hassle. However if game performance becomes an issue for you, try disabbling your shadows and dialing down your graphics settings during tree planting.
3. Terrain Mods- This tree controller was optimized for use with Lowkee's Appalacian Terrain Mod. If you use another terrain mod the placement of flora can be less than ideal. For instance, on many of CP's terrain mods the middle elevation trees will land on snow, and the subalpine meadows won't show up until you get very high above the snowline.
For average users:
I believe Lowkee is in the process of updating his seasonal flora patches. When/If a new version of these becomes available, update it.
For advanced users only, Optional:
If you use reader, the value to change this can be found in the file z_LK_FloraTuningParameters_Seasonal_#TerrainName#.dat. To change it, open the file using reader. The value you want to change is the last one: Flora: elevation scale range. Experiment to find what value works for your terrain mod. The best result will be an elevation close to that of your snowline (hint: the extra cheat "terrainquery" is useful). Do this at your own risk.
Dependencies:
Now that I've made you read about those issues, it's time to download the deps.
Yes there are several. No i don't care, because if you use custom flora at all you probably have most if not all of these.
BSC MEGA PROPS CP01 - earth day 2012 update (be darn sure you have the updated version)
http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=1180
BSC MEGA PROPS CP02
http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=2790
CPT No. 8&9 Tree Models
http://sc4devotion.c....php?lotGET=631
giraffe's parasol pines (only used in the Coastal Fir MMP, not a requirement for god-mode)
http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=2758
giraffe's norweigian maples
http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=2740
giraffe's subalpine firs
http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=2770
giraffe's bushes
http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=2711
Lowkee's seasonal flora patch (only necessary if you DO NOT use Lowkee's terrain mod)
http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=2612
Credits:
First off, a huge THANK YOU!!! goes to CP and Giraffe for making the flora models used in this controller. The second Thanks goes to Vortext for letting me use the terrain brush and maxis blocking exemplars that he already whipped up for his own controller, as well as letting me peek under the hood of how his worked. Mad Kudos go to Lowkee, both for creating the Appalacian Terrain Mod that this was designed to work with and for his driblets of knowledge on the inner workings of flora that are left on various webpages. This controller absolutely would not be possible without these guys.
Also props to my testing crew; Vortext, simcoug, 7238320, tariel, and reform. I also owe thanks to all the people who commented and offered their input during this project. And, of course, a big thanks to YOU for using this mod.
FAQs:
Q: I installed your mod and now i can't play because i get a CTD! Help!
A: go up and read Issue 1.
Q: I did that and now there's brown boxes!
A: You missed a dependency.
Q: Ok i got all the dependencies but it looks like there are trees missing in some areas.
A: Your version of CP01 is old. Make sure you have the updated version and delete the old one.
Q: I like your tree controller but i don't want to give up using CP's. What should i do?
A: I am working on a set of MMPs that cover the core of CP's controller. Look for these soon. In the meantime some of his stuff is availible from other MMP files (Lowkee has made a couple)
Q: I like that swap out idea but want to keep all my old CP flora. Can't you just modify CP's controller so we can keep both?
A: Regretably NO because 1- that's plagiarism, and 2- his file has over 500 exemplars in it so that's a lot of work.
Q: Do i really have to plant stuff on Sept. 1 for it to align with the seasons?
A: Not quite. If you plant your items anytime from Aug. 5 to Sept. 4 it will change at the same time, so don't sweat it too much, you just have to get the calendar close. Also, having stuff change at different times can produce some nice effects; don't be affraid to experiment.
Q: Why am i getting trees showing up on cliffs?
A: These brushes are calibrated to stay off of the cliffs generated by a 15m DJEM. All 15m DJEMs set the cliff value in your terrain mod to a specific value. If you have trees showing up on large amounts of rocky areas, it means you are not using a 15m DJEM. Because of game mechanics and rounding, it is possible that you may have an occasional tree showing up on the shallowest parts of cliff-faces.
Q: Nice! Will you make X now?
A: I have two other controllers planned, although it will likely take me a long time to finish them. I also have a small palm controller requested by someone to finish. So no, i am not taking requests, sorry. However i welcome all input and suggestions, so head over to my production thread, Blundered BATs, at simpeg.com.
What's New 1.01 View Changelog
Released
No changelog available for this version.
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