Supported
About This File
This is a seasonal tree controller designed to give trees generated by your god-mode flora brush the appearance of a mix of flora from across the pacific northwest. It features a large selection of flora, including deciduous mixed with conifers, evergreen forests, scrubby slopes, meadows, alpine wildflowers, etc. There are 2 versions of this file; one with MMPs and one without MMPs. Also included are uninstall support files, so that it is possible to switch away from this controller without removing all flora in your cities first. Tree controllers are advanced game mods with many issues if you're not careful. Because of that it is VERY IMPORTANT to read the documentation first! Failure to do so before posting issues/complaints may lead to 'RTFM'-isms.
For more screen shots please see this entry of my CJ.
Contents:
There are 4 files with this controller-
Cascadia_TreeController_WithMMPs.dat
Cascadia_TreeController_noMMPs.dat
CTC_uninstallsupport_WithMMPs.dat
CTC_uninstallsupoort_noMMPs.dat
The first 2 are the tree controller. Choose only ONE. As the name states, the first also has MMPs while the other one doesn't. As this controller is made up of a whopping 38 brushes you might not want to clog your MMP menu with the MMP controller. The other two files are only for uninstall support so that you don't have to bulldoze all the flora planted with with this controller if you ever desire to switch tree controllers. Do not have one of the bottom two files in your plugins if you want to use the controller. If you only wish to use the MMPs but not this god-mode controller, choose the file CTC_uninstallsupport_withMMPs.dat. All 4 files are fully interchangeable.
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 Vortext's, CP's, Heblem's, my old one, or a God Mode patch like for the PEG pines). BUT FIRST you must remove 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.
Alternatively, instead of manually bulldozing your flora, you can use the extra cheat 'flora off' followed by 'flora on' to remove all flora from your city tile before installation. Note that this removes ALL flora on the tile and not just what was planted with the god-mode controller
(requires extracheats.dll addon)
2. Place this tree controller file in your /Plugins directory.
3. Install all of the dependencies in your /Plugins directory too.
4. Plant those trees!
Uninstallation:
If you ever wish to remove this tree controller, you do not have to bulldoze all your existing flora. Instead simply place one of the CTC_uninstallsupport_**MMPs.dat files in your /Plugins directory and remove the Casacadia_TreeController_**.dat file. This will allow your already planted flora to continue to exist without brown boxes or crashing to desktop.
Known Issues:
Tree Controllers are advanced mods and you should not underestimate their capacity to Make Things Go Wrong.
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.
1b. Sometimes a crash occurs when the tool hits the edge of a city tile. This can have two possible causes:
1- It's a multicore issue, so set your -CPUcount:1 tag in your desktop shortcut.
2- Your game is not updated to at least version 1.6.38. Go update it. Getting it to version 1.6.40 would be ideal.
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. To make matters worse, this controller contains a large number of small and HD items placed closely together. These factors mean that this tree controller will likely completely destroy your game's performance. You can mitigate this somewhat by turning shadows to 'low' in your graphic settings while planting trees, and only turning the shadows back up to 'high' when you're done.
I HIGHLY recommend turning shadows to 'low' while planting, then turning them back up to 'high' later.
Recommended minimum PC specs:
2.5GHz or greater CPU cores, 64-bit OS with the 4Gb address patch applied to the simcity4.exe file and at least 4Gb RAM.
Tree controllers also usually behave oddly on multicore processors. Try setting your -CPUCount:1 tag in your desktop shortcut if you experience graphic 'jumping' while planting or other issues. Note that this is not a universal rule, and some multicores actually handle the game quite well, so test as you will because your mileage will vary.
3. Terrain Controllers- These mods of visual goodness interplay with Tree Controllers in a number of ways.
a- Cliffs. If you use a 15m Diagonal Jagged Edges mod (DJEM) you will have trees landing on your cliffs. This is because the variable that controls where cliffs appear on your landscape is found in your Terrain Exemplar and is called MaxNormalYForCliff (MNYFC). A DJEM sets MNYFC to .77. However I have calibrated this tree controller for my own personal use to work with a MNYFC of .65, because mountains look much better with a lower MNYFC. So have your bulldozers ready if you tree around cliffs.
b- Snowline. Both the snowline on your terrain mod and the treeline of a tree controller are modifiable variables, and if you have modified your own snowline or are using a terrain mod other than Lowkee's or Gobias' then you will have to adjust this manually to your own settings.
Advanced users only: To customize your treeline, open the ilive's Reader tool. If you are using Lowkee's or Gobias' terrain mods, then open the file **Properties_**.dat. If you use any other terrain mod, open the file zLK_FloraTuningParameters.dat (see dependencies). Which ever you opened, look for the exemplar file that is named Flora Tuning Parameters. The variable you want to alter is called Flora: Elevation Scale Range. It will take trial and error on your part to determine what value of this property works best for you.
A note on useage:
Often I see people using my PNW tree controller to just lay down a bare minimum amount of trees that comes from quickly swiping the tool over the terrain. This is not how a tree controller is meant to function. It takes time moving the tool over an area to apply the full range of flora; so be sure to take your time planting trees!
You will notice a large difference in the time it takes to cover an area between the lower elevation and higher elevation trees. The lower stuff takes up a much larger space and hence is placed quicker. The tool works very quickly on the lower elevation stuff.
However the subalpine and meadow content is very, very small, and likewise requires a significantly longer amount of time to completely cover in trees. You might want to use the alpine stuff sparingly as much of it is not visible from region view and because it’s HD it will bloat your filesize. (For those of you who worry obsessively about prop pox and filesizes: don’t. Flora does not write to the network subfile and hence does not contribute to prop pox).
Because it’s seasonal, you need to plant trees about September 1. Anything planted between Aug 5 and Sept 4 will change seasons at the same time, so you have some leeway as to when to plant.
Dependencies:
There are several dependencies for this tree controller. If you use flora MMPs at all you likely have all of these already. Yes there are a lot. No I don't care, because there isn't some magic alternative where they're bundled together; it's this or nothing. Make darn sure you have the latest update of these files; many have been updated since their initial release.
Flora by CP:
VIP flora:
Flora by Giraffe:
Flora Tuning Parameters by Lowkee. As mentioned, if you already use Lowkee's or Gobias' terrain mods you DO NOT NEED THIS because it comes bundled within their terrain mods.
Credits:
First, a great big old THANK YOU!!! goes to CP and Girafe for BATing all this excellent flora that we get to work with. I also have to give a big shout out to Lowkee for documenting much of the current knowledge about modding flora and tree controllers and for all his contributions to the community.
Mad props go to my testing crew, including but not limited to Paeng, Simcoug, Vortext, Tariel, Shroud, Nos17. Also big thanks to the whole simpeg crew who offerend their thoughts, constructive criticisms, and support on this project.
And last but certainly not least, a big thanks to you for downloading.
Feel free to drop any and all thought in my BAT thread; Blundered BATs over at simpeg.com
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