NHP Tools suite

[wouanagaine 83]

NHP is proud to present you a tools suite for SC4

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SC4Mapper [information in next post]

SC4Mapper can be found here unzip and run SC4Mapper.exe

you may need :

MSCVP71.DLL - It can be found here:

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

[ EDIT - Vandy 17 SEPT 2008 ]

SC4Mapper can also be found on the LEX at SC4Devotion.  Registration is required in order to access the LEX.

[ END EDIT ]

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Clip2Pic [information in next post]

clip2pic  is available here unzip and run clip2pic.exe

[ EDIT - Vandy 17 SEPT 2008 ]

Clip2Pic is no longer available from the above link.  It can now be found on the LEX at SC4Devotion.  Registration is required in order to access the LEX.

[ END EDIT ]

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SC4LotInfosGenerator [information in next post]

Updated on 12/09 v6P1

SC4LotInfosGenerator is available here unzip it keeping the folders structure

Run SC4LotInfosGenerator.exe

[ EDIT - Vandy 17 SEPT 2008 ]

SC4LotInfoGenerator is no longer available from the above link.  I would suggest you check the NHP Team Thread at SC4Devotion in order to get more information.

[ END EDIT ]

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On every zip you will find another included zip named library.zip, don't try to open unzip it, it is for internal use only

Take care !

[wouanagaine 83]

NHP member Moganite has made an excellent tool for the RGB color scheme of SC4Mapper and SC4TF, be sure to download it if you plan to work with RGB :  

SCTF RGB Importer Tool

Be sure to read Technical data Sheet for SCTF RGB Importer Tool

and TUTORIAL: How to Configure Global Mapper for Importing to SCTF

[wouanagaine 83]

NHP is proud to present you a tools suite for SC4

SC4Mapper

SC4Mapper is a tool that you will definitly need if you want to import/export SC4M files. It does not require SC4Terraformer to run. It is basically SC4Terraformer without the terraforming tools and without 3D, so DirectX is not required

A readme is included, teaching you how to use the tool

Clip2Pic

Clip2Pic small utility I made some time ago that I use to take ingame pictures, because most of the time the camera in SC4 does not work

and more than usefull it will create jpg instead of png

You just have to run the program, fill the required fields, hit the start button, then whenever you will hit the printscreen key or alt-printscreen, the image will be copied from the clipboard and saved. This can also be usefull for anything else than SC4.

The tool will check if an image is present in the clipboard every second, the rest of the time, the program do not use CPU if not in foreground. so it won't hurt SC4 performance

You have to specify :

-the destination folder,

-a base name for the picture, each time a picture will be saved, the tool will increment a number - ex if basename is img you will have img0000.jpg, img0001.jpg etc.. - the counter will be computed each time, so if you already have an img0015.jpg before running the tool, the first pic will be saved as img0016.jpg

-the jpeg quality

[

SC4LotInfosGenerator

It is a small tool that search for all growable lots you have in your plugins folder and will generate a html file for you to browse your collection

A small sample generated file can be browsed here

Not all tools have a readme, the Leg'r us service will make them available soon

Take care !

[Lord Kronos 0]

wouanagaine, you have out done yourself again with the creation of SC4LIG. I just ran it and whilst I don't have a huge plugin directory (only 807MB) it had the info in no time flat.

However, I must ask, would it be possible to create another program which will pull out a list of ploppables and categorise them the same way?

One last question, I have not yet looked at the html code, but I'm assuming it could be easily converted into data readable for a database, or for a spread sheet, as well as what other information you would be able to include (I'm thinking location of the lot, DAT file and location etc.)

Once again, Great work here.

LK

[Andreas Roth 604]

Wow, the LotInfosGenerator will be incredible useful for me! I always wanted a list with lot sizes, growth stage and zoning information. I also like the selection of lots in your sample HTML file...

[T Wrecks 10,209]

The one thing that would make it perfect would be an icon for the corner orientation in case of corner lots. I could live without the picture, but it's important for me to know whether I am dealing with e.g. a 2x3 straight, 2x3 left corner, or 2x3 right corner lot. Since the PNG file can display various angles, it is often not helpful in that respect...

You are really one heck of a programmer, wouanagaine.

[freedo50 1]

omg wow again wouanagaine, i cant believe how usefult his will be, i am forever wondering waht lot sizes i need for what building and such and such, this will be so useful, as will clip2 pics! thanks a lot!

[bat 6]

Thanks for making all these programms! They help me a lot!

bat

[blade2k5 1,523]

SC4Mapper is going to save us a lot of time converting SC4 maps to regular maps for those who can't run SC4TF on their systems. You're a master programmer Wou, keep the ideas and tools a-coming.

[wouanagaine 83]

Thx everyone for your support, I'm very glad you like thoses tools

I'm also positivly surprised by how you like the SC4LotInfosGenerator, I thought it won't be usefull for a lot of people. It seems I was wrong

Lord Kronos

The html can easily be parsed, but I have the idea make the next version with xslt / xml, so it will be even easier

Now I have a question, why do you want a plopable list ? I just ask, because I'm not fan of plopable so I don't have much, and every that I have are on the Landmark menu. Or do you ask for a list of all lots not just RCI plopables ?

Andreas

That is exactly why I did it, before I never knew why I can't get CO to grow in the beginning of my cities, now I know it was because I have only one stage 3 CO that fit a 3x3, and I've always 2x3 or 2x2

About the selection, well it is sure a good one

T Wrecks

Never thougth of that, I thought the LE pic was right, I will add that in next version

freedo50 & bat Thx, I'm glad that you find usefulness in them !

blade I made it so everyone can enjoy the NHP SC4M maps, how can someone get back to 8 bit map once he met the 16 bits world

As there is no bugs or problems reported up to now ( bat does my reply to PM make sense ? ), and everyone seems to like the SC4LotInfosGenerator, I'd like to have suggestions about what infos you'd like to be added for a lot

[freedo50 1]

hey wou, youre program really got me going on SC4 again so thanks! one slight problem though, i just ran it on my huge plugins folder (~3gb) and it stopped about 1/4 way through with the following error popup:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "SC4LotInfosGenerator.py", line 848, in OnStart

File "SC4LotInfosGenerator.py", line 502, in GenerateLotInfos

File "SC4LotInfosGenerator.py", line 415, in __init__

File "SC4LotInfosGenerator.py", line 758, in Set1stTitle

File "wx\_core.pyo", line 11074, in SetLabel

File "encodings\cp1252.pyo", line 22, in decode

UnicodeDecodeError: 'charmap' codec can't decode byte 0x8d in position 120: character maps to

what does this mean and is it a problem with the prgram or the files in question? also it would be nice to be able to skip files that the program couldnt read like this beacuase now i have to start again with the file removed

[wouanagaine 83]

hi freedo50, the tool already skip a lot of files, you can't imagine how much .dat files I have that it can't read and any other tools also ( SC4Tools, reader, datgen )

but that problem is caused by a non standard ascii character in the file name, can you please tell me what exactly was the file name ?

and what is your windows langage settings ?

edit : I tried with french specific characters and it seems to work, so I need to know what character can cause the problem

edit 2 : I can still make a version that will read the file but not display the name. so the bug won't happen, but I prefer to find the bug instead of get around it

[freedo50 1]

im using english(UK) as my language, but i think its hitting those files in the japanese BATs section of my plugins folder which would make sense i suppose if its a non-standard ACSII character. the file name is: "crane-0x6534284a-0xad368f9c-0x4db234db.SC4Desc"

EDIT: this has happened with quite a few of my japanese files now, i think they may have some different system for plugin manager or sumthing because i have had to remove about 5/6 files from my plugins folder.

EDIT 2: If im being honest wou, i cant read the whole file name anyway beacue the window is too small, i had to do it by process of emlimination, so that change would make little difference to me.

[wouanagaine 83]

Strange, the file name has no special character, and the error really mean something is weird in the file name, not the datas in that file

Well I think I'll go for option 2, get around the bug

[metasmurf 705]

Here's a proposition for SC4LotInfosGenerator. It would be very usefull if tileset information was included aswell

[Vandy 110]

  Announcement from Legs-R-Us

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Hi, All.

Legs-R-Us, in partnership with New Horizons Publiications, will be producing documentation for all of the tools in the NHP Tools Suite.  This includes User Manuals for the following products:

SC4Terraformer
SC4Mapper
Clip2Pic
SC4LotInfosGenerator

This documentation won't be some dry, boring technical manual.  On the contrary, our intent is to completely document all features and functions of each application as an HTML library fully linked within each library.  The User Manuals will be filled with graphical explanations as well as tips and hints sprinkled throughout.  Legs-R-Us intends to include examples output from the various features and functions of the applications in order to provide the reader with an idea of what the feature and function does -- not just explain it with words.

As more applications are added to the NHP Tool Suite, they will be documented as well.

Stay tuned to this thread for updates on the documentation progress.

Regards,

Vandy
Proud Member of the NHP Team
Owner-Operator of Legs-R-Us

[Andreas Roth 604]

Ah yes, the tileset information would be very nice, and I also like T Wrecks' idea about the lot orientation. I believe that the orientation of the preview pic is determined on how the lot is rotated when you save it in LE, so if your tool gains success, it might be useful that developers take care of that. For generating the HTML file, it would also be nice to set some filters before scanning the plugins folder, so we won't get a huge list with everything, but maybe individual lists with only the RES/COM/IND stuff, or only the stage 8 lots.

[Lord Kronos 0]

wouanagaine

I think I can speak for every one by saying the more options for the data we're able to retrieve the better. I personally would like to be able to use the information you extract to for a database of all my Lots, both RCI growable, and RCI plopable (not that I have many), but also Parks, various wall sets, Civic Building (schools, fire/police statins), stations (Rail, E-Rail, GLR, Sub, Mono) and  Bus stops, including things like capacity and what transit switch options the lots have (for example can it act as a bus stop as well as a rail station).

Ultimately I'd like to be able to when I have to plop a rail station, be able to open the database, select my options, for example the amount of room I have available, whether or not I need it transit enabled (and maybe along which grid squares if it's going to be at all possible, I'm just dreaming out loud here) and to know exactly what it operates, so I don't have to scroll through the list in game, trying to remember the stats from  when I downloaded or having to plop and query the Lot.

As I said, I don't know what's doable and what isn't. But you are the master programmer on this site, and if you can't do it I don't think anyone can.

Congrats on a programme that's definitely going to be the next big thing since the NAM

LK

[jplumbley 5]

Holy cow WOU!!! You have been working hard lately buddy! Nice work and keep it up!

[vab423 8]

wouanagaine, these are terrific but the one i think is the greatest is the lot info generator.  i, like andreas, have been wanting something like this forever. i tried creating my own access database but got too overwhelmed to finish the project.  thank you thank you thank you!

[wouanagaine 83]

thx everyone !

I made a small patch for SC4LotInfosGenerator that hopefully fix freedo50 bug, I also added the tileset and road requirements infos as they are quite straightforward to add.

The patch is available in the first post. I don't want to add long to code features until there is annoying  bugs in the current version

I'll post all downloads link in the first post, as you may have seen I rearrange the beginning of this topic

The second post will be reserved for Vandy documentation links and various tutorials that maybe usefull

Take care

[BarbyW 40]

I patched the SC4LotsInfoGenerator but am still getting the same error:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "SC4LotInfosGenerator.py", line 892, in OnStart

File "SC4LotInfosGenerator.py", line 724, in GenerateLotInfos

IndexError: list index out of range

I removed all prop and texture packs and a z_ folder with special programs in but still got the above error.

[wouanagaine 83]

weird, it seems that error means you have a growable lot with a zoning value I don't know ( lot property 0x88EDC793 )

what I know of zoning value is

1 = Low res

2 = Med res

3 = High res

4 = Low com

5 = Med com

6 = High com

7 = Agricultural

8 = Med industry

9 = High industry

Is there any other values that can be put in that property ?

[Evil_Someone 1]

DUDE!!!!!!!!!

amazing extremely useful thank you, thank you a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you are doing great job(again ) if you wont win trixies this year than noone will

[meldolion 1]

WOW Awesome tools!!!

Thanks again Wouanagaine!!!

[wouanagaine 83]

Thx Evil & meldolion

The patch for SC4LotInfosGenerator has been patched to fix the bug Barbyw has reported.

The fix will not trying to display anything else than the 'growable' zoning density.

Link is in first post, redownload the patch if you have previously done.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: Andreas Roth Ah yes, the tileset information would be very nice, and I also like T Wrecks' idea about the lot orientation. I believe that the orientation of the preview pic is determined on how the lot is rotated when you save it in LE, so if your tool gains success, it might be useful that developers take care of that.quote>

Well, that was the reason behind my point: If the corner orientation is read out as well, nobody needs that PNG. It would make the list more robust because it would totally eliminate the need to coclude on lot orientation by means of a tiny pic. You don't actually believe that you will ever get all lot creators to stick to a standard rotation for that picture?

I reckon for most things I'm doing these days, I will stick to removing the PNG altogether. In case of smaller houses, it often blows up lot file size from ~6-8 kB to over 40 kB, which is rather ridiculuous, especially since everything I'm doing nowadays is thoroughly documented by means of screenshots. And for tall towers, the camera zooms out to depict the entire building so that you end up with a vertical greyish/blueish bar and some messy pixels at its lower end. Since most of the PNG surface is covered by the default background in such a case, the file size is rather small, but the picture is totally useless as well, so I get rid of it.

Well, back to topic: I only mentioned all this to illustrate why a corner orientation entry makes sense IMHO.

Andreas' filter idea is a great one as well - say I want to make a Chicago-styled city and I'm wondering "What else could get built in that tileset? Which of my BATs can grow in the Chicago set? And what do I need to zone to get them?" It could also help to find BATs that were not correctly assigned to suitable tilesets.

As for the error BarbyW reported, is it possible that it's caused by a lot that has been modded incorrectly? I mean, some of the older "growable" lots don't work at all because back then the knowledge of converting between plop and grow wasn't that widespread and many BATters just gave their best and released without testing.

I am no programmer at all and don't have any idea of solid and useful programming techniques, but I'm wondering whether it would be a feasible approach to instruct the program to read either 1 to 9 and report it, or to skip the file in question and issue a warning message if the value is found to be beyond the determined range of 1 to 9... of course this won't be possible for all properties, but in some cases it might actually direct the users to faulty desc or lot files - e.g. a growable lot that has its zone type erroneously set to "F", like a ploppable item. Just to throw in an idea... I hope it helps, otherwise please ignore my n00bish thoughts.

EDIT

Argh... serious case of cross-posting.

[wouanagaine 83]

I reckon for most things I'm doing these days, I will stick to removing the PNG altogetherquote>

Noooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!

what the heck of knowing the name + stats if I don't know how the lot is looking, if it will fit the city I'm buidling etc..?

That's only my opinion, and I really like you continue to include png inside of your lots. or else I will have to decipher the s3d to make a lot viewer

Filter can be done quite easily, the difficult thing is to make a proper userinterface so you can pick what you want

Reporting error can be also done in another html file, maybe.

I included the corner orientation in the patch, or more exactly I take the Road Required porperty in the Lot to make it. Is it the correct one to pick ?

[BarbyW 40]

Thank you, wouanagaine. The SC4LIG now works perfectly. I made no changes to the plugins set up I tried it with before as a control and it is now fine. Thank you once again.

[Andreas Roth 604]

For the preview pic issue, I guess some will love it, while others would like to disable it in order to get a more compact list, so I'd say this should be one of the filter options. Since the output is a regular HTML file, it's also easy to change the pics with a HTML editor afterwards, i. e. by using the STEX preview pic. I figure that it might be interesting to update such a customized list with a second run of SC4LIG - although that might cause troubles if someone does more than just changing the pics. Anyway, GREAT work with the current version so far, I might come up with some more ideas later.