Organizing Your STEX Downloads

[otodom 0]

Hi

On my old computer I downloaded a lot from the STEX but with no method or order and  I remember it got a little messy. Not only in my plugins folder but also in the game. I couldn't remember which building did what and if it was plottable or growable or what. It was also rather chaotic with all the texture packs and stuff.

So now I have a new computer and will be downloading everything again fresh but this time I want to be a little bit more organized. So I was curious what methods others have used to keep their files organized and keep track of what is what. 

Thanks!

[Rymac91 15]

well...one thing I know is...when you have a sorting method...stick to it! I changed my system at least 4 times and it's a mess(yet I can still clean it pretty well...go figure).

The best way I think is to organize it like so...

B.A.T. group

>B.A.T.group member

Individual B.A.T.er

Dependanceys that need to stay in the main area

Trainsit Mods

Terrain Mods

Automata Mods

General Mods

btw...when I use > i mean a folder in the folder above it...if I use >> I mean a folder in the folder in the folder above it...and so on.

I do know that there are ways to clean your plugins folder afterwards if you need to...I may be resorting my plugins folder in the near future to correct the mash up I currently use(my plugins folder is clean, just not orderly).

I wish you luck in repopulating your plugins folder...and if you can't find a file here...try asking for it here...

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=42&threadid=86575&enterthread=y&STARTPAGE=1

[Romaq 18]

One method I've been using is to have a 'Downloads Directory' just of the plugins, and I make a text file with a link of where the thing is done, along with what settings I'm using. Thus, 'mynewbat.zip' would have a file 'mynewbat.txt' with the URL and what choices I made on the install.

Another thing I'm doing is using CVS (http://www.wincvs.org/) which helps me link specific files to the module I'm adding in. I'm also using CVS as a means to roll back changes I make to my cities, if I decide I want to go back to a certain point in time.

There is also BSC Cleanitol TM which will help with keeping dependencies up to date, at least for BSC stuff.

[DFire870 2]

I usually just organize it by the author (or the team in some cases), although it's getting a bit messy so I might organize it some more.

The BSC Cleanitol is great for cleaning out files SC4 doesn't need such as text and image files, as well as keeping dependencies up to date. There's also the SC4DATPacker, which compresses your plugins so SC4 loads faster.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

First, you need a place away from the game for your downloads.  I download stuff from a lot of places for a lot of different reasons, so I have a desktop folder named My Downloads.

Inside that, I have a folder for each site I use, so there is one named Simtropolis.

This folder is organized in sub-folders by author.

My My Documents\Simcity 4\Plugins folder is organized the same as the Simtropolis subforder in My Downloads with a few exceptions where items have to be in a different place, like the root of the plugins.

All items from the Maxis site are in my Program Files\Maxis\Simcity 4\Plugins folder.

[flame1396 9]

i use 5 folders.

Buildings and Building Mods

Mods

Slope Decor and Eye Candy (build sets)

Dependencies

Transit Systems

chaotic but it works very well

[jmjselect 0]

I have 3 main folders inside my plugins folder; bats, textures, mods.

under bats I have a series of folders; transportation, industry commercial residential(with their own folders low/med/high), parks, government(with fire/medical/education/police folders inside that),...... I don't have any folders to divide up textures or mods but i'm sure that'll be more helpful.

I also have a 'downloads' folder in the sc4 folder that has the same exact folder structure and I dl the file to that folder and extract the folder to the plugins folder(I don't delete all the extra stuff because it hasn't caused a problem for me and it's also easier to find something later on if I want to delete)