New to Forum - Need advise - Thanks.

[Kam7 0]

Hi, after owning SC4 since 2003, I have found this site!  I am quite overwhelmed by the content and the advise - Good work from all those involved.

I have been looking at the customised add-ons created from the good folk on the STEX.  Some look fantastic and would certainly renew the SC4 gaming experience.  I would like to download a few of them to try out but have a couple of questions. 

• I see there are BAT files and Plot files as well?  Where are these placed in the SC3 files?

• Another thing are "dependancies".  I noticed that some files have loads and when I click on the links, they do not make much sense to me.  Do I have to install these dependancies into the game first somehow?

Any advise much appreciated.

[Sam 163]

To use BATs you will need to have either Rush Hour or SC4 Deluxe installed. BATs won't work with SC4 vanilla.

Not sure what Plot files are, never heard of them. Nor SC3 files.

Dependencies are easy enough. If a download has dependencies you must also download and install the dependencies (exactly the same way) or the file won't work properly. It may simply not appear properly, you may not see the buildings or props that should be there, or it may not actually work properly with the simulator if you don't have the dependencies or may even cause crashes. So always get the dependencies.

[Boggy1 45]

I think you mean LOT and BAT files?

Both of these work the same way; they add content to your city. The difference is, is that BAT files have been created entirely by the user in 3D Rendering software such as Sketchup, Gmax, or 3Dsmax, using the BAT tool.

LOT Files are pre-made buildings (often made by Maxis), that are placed on different ground textures. These are created in the LOTEditor.

The LOTEditor and files created in the BAT are actually closely linked. When you create a building, you need to fire up the LOTEditor so you can place the appropriate props and ground textures.

All downloads, unless stated specifically otherwise in the README or Online Description, go to My Documents/Sim City 4/Plugins folder. They download in a .zip file, which you will right click on, and select Extract All. Extract to the same directory.

I suggest organizing your folder too, so it's easier to find specific downloads.

[Kam7 0]

Thank you both and sorry for the confusion - Plot - LOT and SC3, I do mean SC4!!

[komar979 2]

Boggy 1, sam thank u. It was very usefull for me to. Boggy u suggested organizing plugins folder. Do u mean like for example: making new folder in plugins My Documents/Sim City 4/Plugins/landmarks and than put all landmarks inside? Would this even work? Maybe u can suggest something better?

Can u help me with something else? I have SC4 Rush hour. I can build all other streets,roads,highways paralel (diagonal) but not avenues. I can start building avenues paralel but when i want to conect to avenue which is streight it just dont work. I can make only 90 degries turn. I try to find and download something to fix this problem but with no success.

Thank u for your answer and sory for bad english. I hope u uderstand everything.

[Muck308 55]

MOst people organize their plugins folder based on who the BAt is from. For example, Pegasus makes excellent BATs, most of them with a nautical theme. Put all of his( or is it hers? Guy or girl?) in one folder that's inside your plugins folder, and do the same for each specific BATer. When I discovered this site in May, I got way too much custom content and it crashed my game... so I started over. If your plugins folder is nice and neat, it will make your life that much easier. Let's say you have downloaded 100 files from the STEX. You probably aren't using all 100 files in every city in your region... so you can remove some files from your plugins before you load the game as long as you only play the cities in your region that don't require the files you removed. Then you can place them back in your plugins folder when you want to play the cities that require them and you want to take pictures for Cj's and stuff. This helps the game run smoother. Like I said Pegasus makes some great nuatical BATs, but you don't need them in your plugins if you are playing a city with no water!

[Boggy1 45]

To echo Muck208s comments, it's always a great idea to organize your plugins folder. Something like this would be really good (using fictional names):

My Documents / Sim City 4 / Plugins / Boggy1 / Super Awesome Building / [super awesome building files]

that way you can very easily find something. If, say, a recent download makes your game all buggy, you can easily find the one thats causing it.

As for your second question, your right, I don't think you can connect an avenue to an avenue in a T junction. I've got a feeling you need to just make two roads going from the end of one avenue to the side of the other. That should work.

[komar979 2]

Ok. I will do that. Its good to know this things before something go wrong. I olso saved my avenue problem. Simple solution but i didnt see it. Thanks for your help to both of you.