SC4Terraformer, a tool for regional handterraforming

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Let me apologize first if this has been covered, but this thread is 27 pages long right now.

I downloaded your tool, made sure I had the requirements. But each time I try to open the terraformer, I get redirected the the read me file. It always shows an error stating there is something running DirectX. Even though I have nothing on but the terraformer. What's wrong?

Edit: I've renamed the read me file.

[wouanagaine 86]

you don't have the corect DX version or your graphic card can't run in windowed mode

check to see if you have c:\windows\system32\d3dx9_30.dll,

if you don't have, then please update Directx

if you have, run dxdiag.exe to see if every tests are ok

if ok, then your card can't run in windowed mode

As a side note, use the 'SC4Terraformer support' thread for that kind of question it less than 27 pages

Take care

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

I again apologize. I followed the link in the read me & it sent me here. I downloaded the latest Directx & extracted the files into c:\windows\system32. But I can't find d3dx9_30.dll anywhere.

[wouanagaine 86]

no, no don't extract anything in c:\windows\system32 !!!!!!!!!!!

it is not your fault but MS guys who did not show a big warning

extract to c:\dx

go in c:\dx

run dxsetup.exe

then after reboot you'll have a d3dx9_30.dll

Ps : no need to apologize. the readme was made before the other thread exist

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Uh-oh. I didn't do any damage did I?

[wouanagaine 86]

well, a safe move will be to remove any files the selfextractor has extracted, but if you're not sure of what you need to delete don't delete anything

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Would any winzip files be in that folder?

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

I get rid of everything from 06. Nothing went wrong. But I still can't use the tool. Might as well give up.

[wouanagaine 86]

have you the d3dx9_30.dll now ?

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

No. I've run setup & it still isn't there.

[wouanagaine 86]

try again, I have no other clue. But if you don't have that dll, SC4TF won't run

[cammo2003 20]

JohnD0ugh: what version of DirectX do you have? SC4Terraformer requires DX9.0c if I recall correctly.

Sorry, I gaffed, hit the wrong number on the keyboard. GAAAH!

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

I have the 9.0. I just can't get it loaded properly.

[wouanagaine 86]

which version of 9.0 ???? the are tons of DX9 , one every 2 months

run dxdiag and tell us what it says regarding the dll numbering & date

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Okay. I googled "d3dx9_30.dll" & downloaded that dll specifically. Unzipped the file & installed it directly into windows32. Now it'll work......

Except I don't have enough memory.

D'oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Originally posted by: wouanagaine which version of 9.0 ???? the are tons of DX9 , one every 2 months

run dxdiag and tell us what it says regarding the dll numbering & datequote>

 

One other thing. Thanks for your help.

[wouanagaine 86]

Okay. I googled "d3dx9_30.dll" & downloaded that dll specifically. Unzipped the file & installed it directly into windows32. Now it'll work......quote>

Try with a smaller region, but I'm not for putting dlls that normally come with an installer, directly in the windows systems, it is not a safe operation. anyway you have not break your system

One other thing. Thanks for your help.quote>

You're welcome

Take care

[wouanagaine 86]

The new version of SC4Terraformer v1.1 NHP is available for public testing

Before downloading please read the following information:

This version has been beta tested, but a wider test session is needed, you are the testers

Compatibility - Sc4Terrafomer only works with Rush Hour and the Deluxe Edition

DirectX - Microsoft directx team releases a new version about every two months so you should be sure you have the latest version. At the moment you need the april 2006 version of directx 9.0c

You can download directx from the following locations:

http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/directx.html

or

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.mspx

By downloading DX, you will have an exe in your HD, run it, it will ask you for a destination folder, enter c:\dx You will need to run the DXSetup.exe from c:\dx

MSCVP71.DLL - Some users may need this file. It can be found here:

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcp71

This is an external program and does not change anything within simcity.

Please note you use this program on your own risk, you should make a backup of your region and read the included readme.html

it can be downloaded here

unzip in a new folder keeping the folder structure, and run SC4Terraformer.exe

v1.1

Compressor tool, that will allow you to stretch/shrink the elevation of the whole region ( credit to beskhu3epnm ) when the dialog shows up, the min and max value of the actual terrain are shown in the edit box enter your new numbers ( min < max ) if you leave the 'unchanged value' to 0 then the full range will be mapped to the new one using the same scaling factor if you use another value ( should be between min & max ) the [min-pivot] will be map to [newmin-pivot] and [pivot-max] will be map to [ pivot-newmax] this create some nice feature if you want to scale only above water terran ( enter 250 in the 'unchanged value, leave the min, just change your max ) New vertex shader that will display contour lines, only work for those who have a Vertex Shader 1.1 compatible GFX card RGB colored scheme import/export ( credit to Moganite ) A raise & lower zone tool in Brush tools ( credit to JPlumbley )

If you find crashing bug, please report them here. I will only make fix for crashing bugs.  Minor bugs don't get a high chance to be fix

Enhancement and/or new features can still be post but will not be coded before the official release of this version.

Please take a look at the new SC4Mapper in the NHP Tools suite thread

Take care !

[dedgren 830]

Wouanagaine-

Hi- this is a really great day for us terraformfreaks!

New vertex shader that will display contour lines, only work for those who have a Vertex Shader 1.1 compatible GFX cardquote>

Some questions-

1.  Is there a list of cards out there that do this (I'm not at home and it's not convenient at my office to take the time to do an internet search- if you have this info at hand or can refer me to it great, don't spend your time though if not).

2.  (I'm going to sound like a complete igmo here)  Is Vertex Shader 1.1 a program or utility that is necessary in order to do the contour lines and, if so, where can it be obtained (see parenthetical at the end of 1. above).

I am so excited about this!  The ability to create contour maps is huge.

Thanks again ever so much for this wonderful contribution to the community.  And thank you JPlumbley and moganite, too.

David

[wouanagaine 86]

Hi david

Well You won't be able to produce contour maps, you just can see the contour in 3D, you can see one in the pic on my previous post.

I still have to come across a good way to do it in 2D

And if I come to do it, it will be made available under SC4Mapper tool [ click here ]

Vertex Shader 1.1 is a spefication for graphic cards, so you won't need something special but a Graphic card that can handle it.

I don't have a list, but if I recall correctly Geforce4 is  VS 1.1 compliant, not sure about GeForce3. But your Graphic card manufacter website should have the info.

Just for your interest, before Vertex Shader, we ( as 3D programmers ) had only one way to access the graphic pipeline that is frozen  in the way it handle vertices and display them on your screen, in those prehistorics days ( 4 years back ), we can't do fancy 3D effects.. Vertex shader ( and pixel shader ) are a way to access the pipeline so we can program it to suits the effect we want. I think the actual specification is Vertex Shader 3, and with Vista and directX10 we will get a new one

I think the shader term comes from Renderman [ click here ], the tool that Pixar use to make animated movies

Take care.

[NetPCDoc 1]

Usage note for a possible tutorial:

One should be abe to configure and re-configure any region, changing only the Config.bmp and an .SC4M image as many times as one wants to - as long as one does not "save" any actual "City" files; normally (pre-SC4Terraformer) once a city file is "saved" it's position (and size) can NOT be changed - without losing (having it kicked over to the "Regional Downloads" folder) said city - when SimCity4 next looks at this region.

Requests for future version(s):

1) Set Water Level - in "Global Tools" (say somewhere near Raise/Lower Terrain).

To allow one to put more or less terrain under water (a - here come the "region-wide" floods - option);

or - just as a way to drain the sea / rivers - while the sea-floor / river-bed is being terraformed - and then to re-flood them.

2) A menu option - to snap the main window into a "direct down" view; maybe remembering what the view was prior to this snap-to and allow a snap-back as well.

3) Have save / export functions check for city-borders=on (grid = on?) and NOT save / export these as part of the image.

4) Wish List item - Main Window "Windows Maximize Button" enabled - maybe treat the region view the way some photo editors do photos - if less than window size - display on background - if any dimension greater than window - then enable side scroll bar(s)?

5) Wish List item - tools on "menus" or an in-window tool bar snapped-to-edge (in stead of in seperate-windows / undocked-tool-bars); if not too much trouble - with a hide/unhide option?

6) Wish List item - multi-undo / Autosave function (maybe with on/off in configuration settings) : have the tools save a ###.SC4Mtemp image just prior to any change by tools - that could be stepped through in reverse for multi-undo's; said temps would (by default) be deleted on a normal exit of the program (and maybe by a normal save - that saves to city files? and maybe exports to SC4M/grayscale files?); if program finds any of these SC4Mtemp's on starting-up - might pop-up to user to ask if it is desired to recover some one or more of these?

7) Wish List item - undo / redo function - (maybe with on/off option in configuration settings) : take a pre-partial-SC4M / Tool Name / post-partial-SC4M "snap-shot" of affected SC4M area (include boundaries of affected area - put this in temp file) - use "Tool Name" on "Undo" and "Redo" buttons to specify what is to be undone or redone by pressing these buttons, pre-partial-SC4M is for "undo" funciton, while post-partial-SC4M is for "redo" function; this the user may step back and forth between these "snap-shots"; these "snap-shots" should be cleaned up (deleted) upon normal exit - or (if found) when starting up.

Wish List item - Cut/Paste / Copy/Paste / Swap functions - ability to select a portion of a SC4M image - and cut/copy/swap this into another equal size area of the same SC4M image. Basically - pick up the SC4M values within range of this tool - with/without removing said values from the pick-up-area - and over-write (or swap with) another area (after moving the tool over it) of the SC4M map, with these values.

9) Wish List item - ability to specify expanded area - when loading a too small SC4M file for the current config.bmp - should be filled with default values (maybe a way to "paste" said SC4M file on top of a defaulted value map?).  Maybe a trim option - when loading too large a SC4M file for the current config.bmp.

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

[wouanagaine 86]

Wow what a list ! Thx for the input

My quick review ( my opinion may change over time )

For the tutorial, I think I included this information in the SC4Mapper readme ( not sure )

Never save a region you have change the config.bmp while editing in SC4TF

1) Water level per see is not related to SC4TF, you will have to change the Terrain examplar in SC4 to change the water level

2) Yes

3 ) Can't be done, because the texture has the line on it. And rebuilding the texture can be time consuming on large region. Maybe just a popup that tell you to uncheck the city border

4 ) Can't be done due to DirectX, each time you will change the size of the window, DirectX need to be reinitialized, and this will make the code even more hard to read and maintain ( it is already )

5 ) ??? The left tool bar is docked to the main window - the slider tool bar is not because in 1024x768 screen res it does not show completly

6 ) Unfortunatly the RAM used for such feature will explode .

7 ) Big wish But seems a bit to hard to code

8 ) Yes I want thoses tools from the start. Maybe SC4Mapper is more suitable for that kind of operations

Again, Thx for that long post full of great ideas and suggestion

Take care

[NetPCDoc 1]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Just ran across (the first I've Seen) reference to your SC4Mapper tool this afternoon - definitely something I will have to check out.

1) I was hoping this was a value that you were setting in the saved city files - as it is not - OK.

3) For an easy (to the users) fix - how about a configuration option - where we may specify it is ok to turn-off city-borders/grid, upon/while saving? (as orignally specified - it may have taken a bit longer to save - but I prefer that to saving an incorrect image.)

For 6-8 I had presumed that you would already have the SC4M values in RAM, if not - then you are probably correct - these may be too memory intensive. Else:

6) the basic idea was to use disk space (not RAM) to allow for multi-copies of approximately the same thing;

7) if SC4M values are in RAM - grabbing the ones under the current tools effect - just prior to applying tool & just after applying tool shouldn't be that hard; tossing these out to a temp-file along with the tool's name (example - "Raise Terrain") maybe a little harder; storing the last temp-file name - and the current one (as one moves back and forth) - at worst a link-list function; deleting a group of temp-files (with names based on a root + variable-number form) - hard part here is handling error if none found. OK - if SC4M values need to be generated - as per above - I agree this could be more than a bit hard to code.

It would be nice to have these HERE - if for no other reason than just being too lazy to use two programs when one should be able to do the job. Also as support for 7 (above).

Thanks yet again - to wouanagaine - for all the hard work and effort he put into this tool, and to the those that have helped in the testing stages.

Horrible Question: Does anyone know - did Maxis fully emplace a (regional and/or city) transit map (a tile by tile one - like the elevation maps) in the save-game files (CITY - cityname.SC4)? I know there was one in earlier versions - but I'm not sure if it made it all the way to SimCity4.

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

[moganite 4]

I am working on a tute and a technical information sheet for the RGB import scale. It should be available in the mapping forum when complete in the next few days.

[dedgren 830]

Wouanagaine, this is simply unreal.

There's more over at my CJ.  I would love to be able to take these from directly overhead- instant contour map!

Thanks for your hard work on this wonderful tool.

[wouanagaine 86]

Hi david thx

Unfortunatly this can't be done in the overview

If you want to play a little with the distance between 2 contour lines, you can edit the file land.fx located in the datas subfolder of SC4TF

you will find the distance in the CombineVS3 function

VS_COMBINE3 CombineVS3( float4 Pos : POSITION, float2 texColor : TEXCOORD0, float4 color : COLOR0 )

{

VS_COMBINE3 output = (VS_COMBINE3)0;

output.Pos = mul(Pos, WorldViewProj); // position (view space)

output.diffuse = color;

output.texDetColor = float2( .5, Pos.y/5 );

return output;

}

quote>

here it means there is a contour line every 5m, if you want a contour line every 15m, just divide by 15 instead of 5

Take care!

[4RS3N10 0]

How do you instal this thing?

[wouanagaine 86]

Well, as it come as a zip, it sounds quite natural to unzip it ( keeping folder structure ), isn't it ?

Then check the readme.html as with any other download you find here, it contains important information on how to run it, and what exactly you need to run it

If you get any problem, read and post in the SC4Terraformer support thread

BTW : Welcome to Simtropolis !

[Grneyes78 0]

the river tutorial says to zoom out to see the entire region. how do you do that?

[wouanagaine 86]

Use the mouse wheel or +/- on the numpad. It is not zooming by itself, but more the fact you get higher so you see more of the region