Guide: how to change menu icon orders

[0rion79 1]

Hi all.

Since many of you feel my same problem with many different game icons, I want to share what I've done in the last 2 days.

First of all, you need to download 3 programs that are all available on Simtropolis:

SC4 tools

Ilive LEProp

Dark Matter's DatGen

Now do as follows.

Part 1

- Go into your plug-in directory and start organizing the lots and dats into different subfolders for an easier browsing. This won't affect how the game deals with icons. Make a back-up copy of the whole folder.

- Use LEProp to edit custom lot proprieties (only the ones that are in your plug-in folder). In fact, in the right part of the editor, the last low-right icon allows you to edit a lot sound and even GROUP position. Eg, moving an icon from landmarks to airport.

Do all the changes that you want, then play Simcity 4 and start a new game: use cheats or whatever and place all the buildings that you have placed.

If the game quits to desktop, it means that it is not possible to move that specific file (but it has happened only few times to me, with airport+landmark lots).

In some cases, instead, like for the harbor pieces, they may not apprear. So you need to open an already working lot, check what are the proprieties using the "advanced button" in LEProp and add them manually to the lots that are not appearing anymore in the menu.

Part 2: open at the same time SC4 tools and DatGen. Open the wanted file with SC4 tools with the exemplars editor tool. You will see a folders tree: open the one named "building" and seek for the characteristic "Icon order". Change the number to change the order in your menu. If some icons are part of the same thing (EG, swamp pieces, Oppie's canals, bus stop sets & stuff) you may even want to give them the same number because they will still be grouped together.

Part 3: in many cases, it is possible that the dat or lot file that you want to edit just DOES NOT have any "item order" slot. So, use DatGen to open a lot or dat that has it, copy it and paste it into the lot that is missing it. Save all, *CLOSE* all open files with DatGen, then go back to SC4 Tool and fill the Item Order slot with the number that you want.

It may take a long time, but it is really worthy of because it will save you a lot of time later when playing and will make more accessibile the plopable buildings where at the bottom of yout menu, and so often unseen and unused.

Still, you have to know what are the ones alreaddy used in the game:

Building name        position

    EDUCATON

Small Elementary S.    1

Large Elementary S.    2

Small Library        3

Small High Sschool    4

Large High Sschool    5

Museum            6

City College        7

    REWARDS

Toxic Dump        10

Missile Range        20

Airforce/Army Base    30

Area 51            31

State Prison        40

Casinò            50

Mayor House        60

Church 1        70

Cemetery 3        80

Private School 1    90

F Statue med-L        100

M Statue med-L        110

Marina            117

State Fair        120

Lighthouse        128

Church 2        130

F Statue med        140

M Statue med        150

Country Club        160

Private School 2    170

Farmer's Market        180

University        190

M. Art Museum        200

Radio Station        210

Cemetery 2        220

Little Stadium        230

Private School 3    240

Main Library        250

Church 3        260

F Statue med-H        270

M Statue med-H        280

Disease C. Cent.    290

Opera House        300

Tourist Trap        310

Convention Center.    320

Tv studio        330

Cemetery 1        340

Zoo            350

City Hall        360

Resort Hotel        370

Courthouse        380

Cruise Port        382

Bureau of Bureaucr.    390

Mayor Stadium        400

Movie Studio        410

Church 4        420

F Statue H        430

M Statue H        440

Advanced Researc C.    450

Shuttle            451

Stock Exchange        460

City Hall 3 (?)        470

    GENERIC MASS TRANSIT

Buss Station        0

Light Rail        2

light rail 2 subway    3

Subway station        5

parking garage        6

toll both        7

monorail station    1880166677

    TRAINS

passenger rail station    17

Freight Station        274

Grand Rail Station    531

    WATER

Pipes            1

Water Tower        2

Pump Station        3

Large Pump        4

Purification plant    5

       

    GARBAGE

Landfill        1

Recycling Center    2

Waste to Energy        3

I've took them with SC4 tool viewer and other buildings, as landmarks, protection & health do not have any order, that means = 0. Since it is not possible to edit SC4 files to me, in this case I've found that using " -1 " to mark the icon order was ok to have a specific building to appear at the TOP of the menu. Else, any number that is greater and different from 0 will make new buildings to appear at the BOTTOM of the menu.

The only troubles come with the bus & subway station, because they have very close Order numbers and it is difficult to place many new stops or facilities without order conflicts.

In my game, I did several changes. I've moved all Industrial and commercial plopable buildings to my reward slot. I've moved all water pump and decorative-only irrigation canals to the Water menu, the huge Oil refinery complex to the harbour menu and changed order of oppie canals, road signs and walking areas to better fit my needs. I've also moved the airport icons from landmarks to airport set. Then, I've given a better order to all of the rail stations, fixing their cost and upkeep with LEProp, since some of them were just too cheap.

Still, there are some things that I would like to do and I need advice for this: I would like to move pedestrian functional walking areas to the street menu insteas than in the bus + gardens menu; I would like to move all farm decorations, vineyard, PEG Skyfarms industrial buildings from where they are, to the industrial zoning menu. As well for commercial buildings. To move all ponds together with trees in the terrain menu in mayor mode (not in God mode!!) Sadly, I have no idea about how to do so. If somebody may give me more hints... I think I did already what I could by intuition and experimenting.

[usfwoody 3]

Fantastic guide 0rion79, I have already done this on a few occasions and its worked brilliantly so far. I unfortunately I cannot help you with your questions towards the end, but perhaps you can help me (please forgive the one-way street, I would like to provide a hint or tip to you if I can . I have Windows 7, and fortunately I can use SC4Tool (albeit very slowly). Is there a way to group bats/lots and move their menu order all at once? Some of my downloads contain a set of 20+ lots and if I have to move each one individually I will die before I'm done. Hopefully someone knows a trick or two.

[z1 566]

A few tips:

Rather than use SC4Tool and DatGen, it's easier to use Ilive's Reader, which can do everything required.  (The old version works just fine.)  Properties can be copied, and new properties can be added via a drop-down list.

You can keep a number of items together by giving them all the same menu number.  They will be listed in the order that they're loaded.

Finally, if you want a flexible, hierarchical menu structure, try DAMN (Daeley's Advanced Menu Navigator).  The menus are displayed as advisor popups, though they can be restriced to the news window (which in turn can be enlarged).  By far the easiest way to access DAMN is with the SSPTool.  Although the current version is locked, a much more powerful version is in the final stages of beta testing; you can find it here.  I have successfully used the beta version to convert my 4+ GB of plugins to hierarchical menus in a very short amount of time.  To address one concern that was raised, it's very easy to change the order of DAMN menu items via the up and down arrows in the menu manger.  You also have the option of removing some or all of the items in DAMN menus from the standard SC4 menus (which I did), leaving these original menus free for the built-in SC4 items.

Since DAMN allows the creation of an arbitrary menu structure, it can be used to place your menu items wherever you want.  You can even place them in multiple menus, if you like.

[0rion79 1]

Sorry guys: I'm out of the game from a lot of time and I've forgot much about modding, so I can't answer any question. I'm glad I'm working, but at the same time I would still have the time to relax and chill down with SC4

Have fun for me too!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Originally posted by: usfwoody

Is there a way to group bats/lots and move their menu order all at once? Some of my downloads contain a set of 20+ lots and if I have to move each one individually I will die before I'm done. Hopefully someone knows a trick or two.quote>

Not that I know of. Over at the German exchange simcitykurier.de, we have organized a menu position index, and every ploppable item that's published is wedged into a slot where it won't disrupt other groups of lots. However, if the creator leaves you standing in the rain, it's down to a brute-force job, I'm afraid.

This DAMN thingy sounds interesting, though. I should give it a spin, I guess.

One remark about sorting lots inside a menu: Item order has priority, i.e. a lot with item order 3 will always appear above a lot with item order 4 or higher.

Inside one and the same item order, plop cost is the second decisive factor. This knowledge comes very handy when you want to use several sets of multiple lots each. Instead of assigning very many item order numbers to them, you can have the entire set share one and the same item order number, and you sort the individual lots by adjusting their plop cost.

This method is also useful e.g. in case of a park trail set where the right-hand corner comes as first of 20 lots, and the left-hand corner last. That's a lot of scrolling...

In order to avoid this, simply assign identical item order numbers to all lots that compose the set, and then assign plop costs according to your preference, e.g. $5 for the straight piece, $6 for left and right corner, $7 for the 3-way intersection, $8 for the 4-way intersection... you get the idea.