Modding school - from the raw model to the complete package

[jplumbley 5]

Hi Twrecks,

Your first question of this modding school.  I have downloaded Plug-in Manager and have never used it.  On the right hand side of Plug-in Manager I get the model I am using and on the left there is a list of 3 folders,  Models, Descriptors, and Lots.  I may be looking in the wrong place but I dont know where to drag the model file when you say there should be list of growable RCI, plop landmarks, etc...  Where is this list? Is there a setting I missed? or am I looking in the wrong place?

I tried draging the model to the descriptors folder, since that is what it is going to create and it came up with a pop-up screen with 4 tabs values for the footprint, name and ID tags were on the 4th tab but the other tabs were blank with space to put information in but it was not asking for any specific information so I pushed ok and it came up with an error saying it couldnt write the XML file.

Fortunately, I have done alot of playing around with the exemplars that I understand enough to get by with them.  Though I still would like to learn how to create these desc files from scratch.

JPlumbley

[hamsterTK 93]

alright. Ive got all the programs needed and im using the credit union building. And ive read the thing and i pretty much got it. Thanks. Something i noticed thats got me curious is how you can set the size of the model footprint in the XML file...i wonder what stuff you can do with that..

[Andreas Roth 616]

Originally posted by: jplumbley Hi Twrecks,

Your first question of this modding school.  I have downloaded Plug-in Manager and have never used it.  On the right hand side of Plug-in Manager I get the model I am using and on the left there is a list of 3 folders,  Models, Descriptors, and Lots.  I may be looking in the wrong place but I dont know where to drag the model file when you say there should be list of growable RCI, plop landmarks, etc...  Where is this list? Is there a setting I missed? or am I looking in the wrong place?quote>

 

There should be a small "+" sign next to the "Descriptors" icon - when you click on it, it'll expand to a tree with all those entries T Wrecks described.

[jplumbley 5]

Ohhhhhh your a lifesaver Andreas!!! Thank you very much.

Figures... I just opened the program and there is NO "+"   I guess Im not so lucky.

Hmmmmm?

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Well, first of all, I did mess up and forgot to correct a link after copying and pasting. I accidentally showed the desc file twice instead of the desc file once and the lot file once.

Here's the screenshot that's missing:

@ georgec5614: That's correct - I packaged lot and building exemplar into the lot file for the LM version, and I kept both exemplars in separate files for the growable version. The model file remained separate in all cases.

@ jplumbley: That's an odd bug with the PM you got there... I don't know what's wrong right now, but I'm gonna try finding it out before the next lesson. We will probably need the PM then...

[tchaos713 5]

I was wondering if either the NDEX Sun Bank Building or the NDEX 7Fifty7 South would be acceptable. If neither of those, then perhaps the HK Arch 1.

[freedo50 1]

ive decided to use the jin guang center by skyscraper, thanks for the tut, its really easy now

[moganite 4]

For the James Morgenncenter it is packaged in 3 files Llot expemlar and building exemplar/descriptions are in 1 pack for growable , 1 for plopable and one for landmark.

The pic illustrating the links is thusCrude but its different pic.

DusktroopersCorporate structure is the a prop exemplar from the looks of it got that wrong. at first correction.

Also the plopable is a landmark as far as the game is concerned. from what i can tell in the reader

[Rayden 7]

Darn, only saw that now. Is it too late to start?

[SC4BOY 21]

I've done all the steps but haven't had time to prepare a post.. nice walkthru T and good discussion people..

[T Wrecks 10,210]

@ SC4BOY: Glad you like it so far! ATM I'm preparing the second part.

@ Rayden: No, you can still join. I'll PM the link to the first lesson to you - I hope it's still alive on the server. Otherwise, I'll upload it again. @ everybody who's reading:

It looks like we have some new participants. Beside Rayden, Fantail and busjim2000 would like to hop on board, and I think aldara6166 was interested as well.

Ok, I'm off to prepare the next chapter. I hope I'll have time to write and upload it by next weekend.

[moganite 4]

Cool i was wondering what was going on was thinking about dropping you a line

[Rayden 7]

OK, thx a lot TW, I'll be waiting for that.

[georgec5614 0]

Sounds good, Thanks TW for taking the time to do this!

[Rayden 7]

I hope I had understand it well. This is what I came up with

Model

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Well, you got the basic structure sorted out well, but you didn't get it 100% correct, I fear.

I'm not quite sure how to interpret your diagram, but I'll try. Forgive me if I misunderstood it...

First of all, I think you got that thing with the exemplar files and the container files confused.

- The container files are the files you see in the Explorer. (.sc4lot, .sc4desc, .sc4model, .dat)

- The exemplar files are the internal sets of parameters which are read by SC4, regardless of how the container files are organized. No matter how many container files, there must always be at least 2 exemplar files: One for the building version, one for the corresponding lot. For example, if you want a landmark, you need a building exemplar file that associates the model with a set of landmark properties, and then you need a lot exemplar file which contains a lot design and an association with the landmark building exemplar, which in turn tells the game which building mode to display.

For example, you don't have a landmark exemplar file which contains an .sc4lot and an .sc4desc file in the Explorer. Instead, you have an .sc4desc file and an .sc4lot file in the Explorer, so these are the packages, and they contain the exemplar files.

Besides, you got the landmark lot file (LM3x5_KG_CreditUnionPlaza_f090525c.sc4lot) twice in your diagram, but it exists only once. The question is what's inside. I think you meant the correct thing on the left, where you have Lot and desc sorted under "Landmark Exemplar" - actually there's the lot file, and this file contains the building exemplar and the lot exemplar for the landmark version. I think your diagram is meant to say "the exemplar files for the landmark version are to be found in the listed container files" - I had expected to see the diagram the other way around, i.e. a diagram that tells me "this container file contains the following exemplar". I guess I didn't do a good job at explaining this clearly enough in the lesson.

What I intended is that you draw a box (your "container") for the Explorer file and list the contained exemplars (building and lot exemplar for growable and landmark versions) in the box into which they are packaged.

I leave it up to you if you want to try again or if you'd prefer taking a peek at the attached diagram which I just made up - I hope the diagram is understandable.

[cammo2003 20]

Originally posted by: jplumbley Ohhhhhh your a lifesaver Andreas!!! Thank you very much.

Figures... I just opened the program and there is NO "+"   I guess Im not so lucky.

Hmmmmm?quote>

For the Plugin Manager to work correctly you'll also need gMax and the BAT. I learned this the HARD way. This "bug" occurred to me when I downloaded the PM but hadn't downloaded the BAT and gMax.

Downloading the said items should fix your problem.

T Wrecks - I suggest you add gMax and the BAT to your list of required programs.

I also have a few suggestions:

If anybody doesn't have Excel, I'd suggest downloading OpenOffice if you've got a fast connection. It's a nifty set of progs, and there's a spreadsheet program which will open and also save out Excel files. It's a full office suite BTW, and very nice. A bit different to MS Office, but it works. - Found at OpenOffice.org (It also has the nifty feature of being able to export to PDF format). It's not exactly a small download though...

I'd suggest the GIMP to people who don't have anything other than paint. It's a top notch program and has many of the bells and whistles of many payware image editors. You should find it fairly quickly by searching "GIMP" in your preferred search engine.

[jplumbley 5]

Hey everyone,

Thankyou for the, information Cammo.... I will try that, my hard drive crashed and i have been busy redownloading my plugins.... Almost done reinstalling them. Anyways I was wondering how work on Lesson 2 is coming? Can we expect it to come soon?

As for my Building...

There are 2 files and 2 prop files included. The first file is the Model file which contains no Exemplars, the other is the .sc4lot file which contains the Building Exemplar(Description) and then Lot Configuration Exemplar(Lot).

EDIT:

I have been playing around and modding some of my other buildings... I plan to revamp my entire plugins folder to become much more of a realistic nature.  I was wondering which exemplar the name in the query comes from....  Sometimes the name in the query when I am looking at a building in game is a little funny and I know there are name exemplars in the different files and I would like to know which one affects the query so I can fix this.

JPlumbley

[georgec5614 0]

During this weeks lesson TWrecks mentioned that the ILive viewer has trouble saving files with extensions other than *.dat, and *.SC4Lot.  You can save the files directly to *.SC4Desc and *.SC4Model, in ILive reader  by enclosing the entire name in quotes in the file save as dialog.

 

You can see in this image the quotes around the file name and ILive reader very happily saves it with that name!

Just thought you might like to know.  This works with almost all Windows programs that have a save as dialog.

[owenluby 1]

noooo.... is it too late to join?

I didnt see this thread until i read your signature, Trex....

I hope it's Ok...

[T Wrecks 10,210]

You are the second today, owen. Looks like I'll have to upload a package with the first two lessons for you and the other newcomer, Yogiya.

A question to the other guys here... are you getting along? Did you have problems? Are you ready for the 3rd chapter?

[owenluby 1]

Thanks so much T wrecks! I hope it wont be too much of a hassle...

[jplumbley 5]

Im ready for the 3rd Chapter!! I've been learning alot on my own from asking many questions from other people too.

[SC4BOY 21]

I'm here Boss (rattles leggings) ... and I've been a total BUM for 2 1/2 weeks.. But I'm still tagging along and spending more time playing for a change.. I'm not ready for #3 yet, but if others are, bring it on..

[georgec5614 0]

I'm here and ready for chapter 3

[GDB500 0]

I'm ready for chapter 3 too, bring it on

[bat 6]

I'm also ready for chapter 3!

bat

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Oh dear... they want more! Well, looks like I'll have to do some more writing, then...

[dedgren 830]

T Wrecks-

You are THE MAN!

This has to be about the most selfless thing I've ever seen anyone do in a cyber-community.  There just has to be another Trixie with your name on it.

Way to go!  (and way to go too for the folks who are participating- thanks for devoting the time and effort to make SC4 and ST better and better)

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Whoa... hey... hold it... this must be a misunderstanding of some kind. I'm just a guy who takes ages to write some stupid little HTML lessons for some good folk from around the globe and tries to give them that little nudge that it takes to get into the matter. You know, it's just easier if someone shows it to you step by step.

And it's absolutely NOT selfless in a way: I admit that I do carry the silent hope that once, when I see a nice building that's modded horribly or only as a landmark, someone else will say "I'm gonna make it growable", and I'll be able to post "You do that, buddy! Great job!", sit back and rest assured that someone will do a good job on it - someone who's not me, lol.

Apart from that, jasoncw was first with a BAT school, so I gotta hand at least 60% of the credit over to him immediately - he has had some influence in this thing, I can assure you.

Not to mention those geniuses like iLive, who developed the tools I use, and all the other modders who discovered those things I merely take and apply. Without them, nothing of this would be possible, so I thank them.

Jeez, now I have a bad conscience not only because I keep lagging behind with the lessons, but also because I feel that I get more credit than I actually deserve...

Nonetheless, I'd like to thank you very much, dedgren! Your comment is overwhelmingly friendly, and it means a lot to me.