New Discoveries, Great Potential

[builderman 3]

[builderman 3]

Anyone?

[SkyTearer 10]

... umm, did you sucessfully create an executable plugin for sc4?

[Duane 0]

Well, I for 1 think it is cool.

An installable plugin as an .exe, just like the landmarks downloaded from Maxis, right?

 

How?

[Tropod 144]

LOL Builderman.........I'd say you've done something with (related to) the UI files, as the "BM" in the top left corner, to me, is a bit of a give away or indication of this, though I could be wrong.

[DarkMatter 21]

I don't get it...

[+Guest]

Me too

[+Guest]

I am reading your message, but I'm almost certain I have not successfully created an executable plugin for SC4

 

[Karybdis 34]

Looks interesting...though I gotta agree with tropod

The way you have that saying BM in the top left has it looking like it was made in a UI file or in Photoshop

[Buggi 684]

I'm thinking it's an exe that automatically installs in the proper directory... like my seattle region.

[DarkMatter 21]

Wouldn't making an exe that installs a plugin be REALLY simple? I mean, we could easily write our own installation framework in under 1000 lines of code. I think there is more to it than that....maybe its just a qirky little joke BM's playing on us all.

[Ron Swanson 1]

It's looks like the backround is a moon..... geez I dunno.....????

 

-Cewl

[builderman 3]

The Moon is my desktop background.  Radiance in Windows XP.

 

And, you're all wrong.  This isn't photoshopped.  It's not a plugin installer.  It's a DLL that SC4 loads on startup.  With this, we can add all sorts of things to SC4.

[+Guest]

ummm wow

[builderman 3]

This is the DLL I used.  Place it in \SimCity 4\Plugins\.  It should work, unless I screwed something up (It's only 20 lines of code.)

[jimb 0]

So what does it do?

[builderman 3]

Place it in the folder, start SC4, then quit SC4.  You should see two message boxes, 1 at startup, 1 at quitting.

[fmorel90 3]

When I open, I get a message saying:

This is the DLL plugin for SimCity 4. This will cause amazing things in the future. Be Amazed.

Then I get "Noooo! Don't kill me, please noooo!" twice. Then it starts.

[Buggi 684]

[DARKO 3]

how did u stumble across this msy i ask?

[The Milkman 1]

Whats this supposed to do 'in the future'?

[joerg 280]

Hmm so a quick little test for this would be to remove the blank lots by Ralph before the game starts and add them back when the game exits? Is this possible or am i on the wrong track.

[Tropod 144]

I get 3 boxes, all when I start the game, though 2 boxes are the same. There's nothing when I exiting the game though.

[The Milkman 1]

Heh. Everyone seems to have different number of boxes.

[builderman 3]

Hmm.  You're supposed to get 1 box when SimCity starts and one when it exits.  If you guys don't get one when it exits, it means SC4 unloads the DLL.  Why it kept the debug version in memory, who knows.

 

And I fixed the three dialog thing.   Told you I would screw something up.

 

PS. You don't have to remove the lots either.

[builderman 3]

Here are my complete findings so far. The first two sections are programming theory, and the last is for real-world useage of this.

 

SimCity 4: DLL Plugins, Architecture, and Practical use

 

Plugin DLL's: 

Plugin DLL's are normal Win32 DLL's, and can be made in any IDE that supports making Win32 DLL's.  The standard process events for a DLL apply, including DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH and DLL_PROCESS_DETACH.  The standard thread events(DLL_THREAD_ATTACH and DLL_THREAD_DETACH) don't seem to be used, suggesting that only one thread attaches to the DLL.  The DLL is unloaded immediately, probably because it doesn't contain the plugin architecture.  The sample DLL that I have provided you with launches a message box when the DLL is loaded and unloaded.  It is very simple, but is a good start.

 

Architecture:

Maxis appears to have used some sort of plugin architecture for their DLL's.  Basically, the architecture is a framework for SimCity to use when it wants to access the plugin.  DLL's without the correct architecture are loaded and immediately unloaded.  Unfortunately, without a working DLL plugin, or direct assistance from Maxis, we cannot know what the architecture is.

 

Practical use:

The DLL plugin, if we can figure out how to make it properly, provides all sorts of avenues into the heart of SC4.  A menu in game could be linked to a function in a plugin DLL.  The DLL could manipulate the memory and data of the game.  All sorts of new functionality could be added to SimCity.

 

[Meatbomb 8]

----------------

Practical use:

The DLL plugin, if we can figure out how to make it properly, provides all sorts of avenues into the heart of

SC4

.  A menu in game could be linked to a function in a plugin DLL.  The DLL could manipulate the memory and data of the game.  All sorts of new functionality could be added to SimCity.

----------------

Ohh lala.

 

Examples: 

What trees do you want in God mode?

What building sets do you want, for how long?

Which directory should SC4 look at for new lots...

 

The possibilities are mind boggling...

[builderman 3]

----------------

On 7/12/2003 4:27:10 PM Meatbomb wrote:

----------------

Practical use:

The DLL plugin, if we can figure out how to make it properly, provides all sorts of avenues into the heart of

SC4

.  A menu in game could be linked to a function in a plugin DLL.  The DLL could manipulate the memory and data of the game.  All sorts of new functionality could be added to SimCity.

----------------

Ohh lala.

 

Examples: 

What trees do you want in God mode?

What building sets do you want, for how long?

Which directory should SC4 look at for new lots...

 

The possibilities are mind boggling...

----------------He gets it!

[Teirusu 38]

Dig dig dig...

With the increasing number of Mods available there is definitely a real need for something like this in the form of a plugin manager. A program could be designed to let the user select which mods are used acording to which region or maybe even city the user selects. Then, the plugin.dll loads the correct .dats upon startup.

Also, BM also talks about how functions can be linked to menus. Is it possible that new menus could be created to link to lots? I've seen screenshots of the Extra Cheats Plugin.dll and this seems to be the case.

[mrbisonm 1,620]

Now, the way I understand it, is that it will..........Oh my god.......hope you're not serious there?

 

Lots and Lots of possibilities in all directions. I guess, Simcity won't be the same anymore.

Now we will be able to make new folders??