reader question

[tf923 0]

Just learning to use Reader today, I figured out how to fix driveable vehicles messing up UDI menus, yay!

However, two questions I can't figure out.

1) How do you set compression for a file? I can see the reader tells me whether a file is compressed or not, but there is no way to specify whether I want it to be compressed or not.

2) The directory file seems to show an index of TGIs for every file in the dat, in index order. However, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it only shows some files but not others. Does this indicate a problem with the dat file?

[prince_of_sims 0]

as far as i know compression can only be set by exporting the file (Save Selected File) and then reimporting it into the dat (Insert & compress file).... a right click on any entry in the Reader gives you those options... i know in DarkMatter's DatGen, compression can be set via a right-click

the DIR file only contains TGI values of compressed files. a non-compressed file doesn't need a DIR entry

[tf923 0]

Is DatGen better than Reader? I just figured out how to do some things in Reader recently, and it's kinda tough to navigate around. I've never tried DatGen before.

[prince_of_sims 0]

DatGen is better in the sense it's plugin compatible, and the plugins are easy to design. The Reader is not plugin compatible. there are some other benefits of DatGen over the Reader, but i can't remember them

i prefer the Reader over DatGen, but it's all about what seems comfortable to you.

[builderman 3]

DatGen was designed to be easier to use than the reader, but a lot of people here prefer the reader since it's been around so long. It's a matter of personal choice really.

[tf923 0]

Ok one more question. Is it possible to search for all exemplar files containing property 0xE90E25A1? Seems I can search for all files by TGI, but not by any specific property they contain.

oops nevermind, figured it out

Well I tried out DatGen--actually several different versions of it. Apparently the main difference between DatGen and Reader is that the Reader actually works. DatGen promises a lot of neat things, but when you go to actually use them they don't work. I mean, 80% of the buttons in DatGen don't do anything at all. You push them and they do nothing. Of the remainder, half work and half just produce errors, corrupted files or other less-than-useful results. With the Reader, every single button does something useful when you click on it. I like that.

[Hilton 0]

For SimCity 4, you want to use DatGen 0.6.x, not the new 0.7.x versions which are being written primarily for The Sims 2 at the moment. It is SC4 compatible, but very little of it works right now. 0.6.x, on the other hand, works quite well.

[tf923 0]

Yeah I did that and it doesn't work very well either. Mostly the buttons either do nothing, or generate various unhandled exception errors.