Organizing STEX downloads

[Thatt1guyy 0]

Hi all I have been a SC4 fanatic since the day it came out and have spent all this time with just original content so you can amagine how big of a SC4 nut I must be to go all this time on original content without getting bored. =)

I have recently discovered all the cool custom content people make for the game and upon finding out about the STEX I registered and made the (presumably common...) newb mistake of downloading anything and everything in site. I was trying to keep an eye on the dependencies and read most of the user comments but after 275 downloads I went to see what was working and how it worked only to find about half the stuff worked the way it was supposed to and a bunch of stuff wasnt even in game. I assume this is because certain files clash with eachother ?

Most downloads say to unzip them directly to your plugins file....I am wondering if it is acceptable to make them their own seperate file within your plugin file for better organization?

Some things you download do this anyway so I assume it is okay to make an individual folder for a download as long as that folder is inside the plugin folder?

Thank you in advance for your help on this matter  =]

EDIT: I tried browsing through this thread and it only managed to confuse me more, at one point somone is suggesting some files go into your mydocuments plugin file and others into your main plugin file?

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=42&threadid=51424&highlight_key=y&keyword1=organizing

[qurlix 20]

Hi, and welcome to Simtropolis!

To answer your first question...yes, when people are making custom content they can cause conflicts with other people's work especially given how much stuff is out there. However this problem isn't nearly as widespread as you would expect because most uploaders take great care in ensuring their work doesn't conflict with anyone else's. And most people will make changes if they are notified about conflicts. In addition, conflicts will generally not cause things to disappear completely, so it is hard to say why things aren't showing up. (I assume you are aware many buildings are uploaded as "growable" meaning they appear in zones like natural Maxis buildings) I would double-check that there are no comments about problems with it, double-check you have followed installation exactly, and if nothing works move on. If it is something you just *need* to have, try running the game with solely that in your plugins, and if it works slowly add plugins back until you can find the point where something starts conflicting.

Yes, it is considered okay to put the plugins in their own subfolders, however the more individual files and folders you have within your plugins folder, the slower (and sometimes less reliable) the game will run. If you are not experiencing much sluggishness or crashes though, then this shouldn't be a problem. If you are looking for a folder organization method, there exist several third party programs to help you track downloads, move nonessential files out of the folder, and even merge your plugins into one large DAT file (which may or may not speed up loading/gameplay). These may even solve your missing items...you never know. I would not know which programs to recommend however, as I've only recently returned to the SC4 community.

[i am aware of the BSC Cleanitol program as well as DocRorlach's tools. Anyone have reviews on the matter?]

On the subject of separate plugin folders, SC4 reads plugins from both of those folders, however I would recommend using only one of them until you know you won't confuse yourself if you want to remove things. I think the standard nowadays is to use just the MyDocuments one...though I am not particularly sure why.

Lastly, I would start practicing making decisions not to download some things. There are over 13,000 files on the STEX and numerous more on other websites that aren't available here (I would recommend looking at sc4devotion.com especially... also threads here about Japanese creations are quite impressive) so downloading them *all* is essentially out of the question. And while the average quality is quite impressive, I am sure you will find things you will decide after using don't meet your standards or your tastes.

That all having been said I hope you have a wonderful time here (it is an addicting place...I always seem to come back), and I apologize if anything is horribly horribly wrong.

qurlix

[Thatt1guyy 0]

thank you very much =]

I put everything in its seperate file and things are running much smoother.

I know some of the buldings are growable, but they often require odd plot sizes and when I make plots that size they dont grow and nothing else wants to develope on the odd sized lots either =(