SAM street addon has glitch over rail

[mikeld 4]

Thankyou Capt City you inspired me to challenge my removing that patch rail textures & then got me to thinking about plugin conflicts. I soon realised it must be something to do with textures and rail and or roads. So I removed the closest one I could think of .. to remove things like the BSC DAE dirt track textures in my bsc file maybe that's conflicting. ie there must be certain conflicts of dependencies of textures I'm using that's conflicting with rail. Anyway since I removed the BSC DAE dirt track textures, the train does indeed go over the tracks like your picture now! J

As far as the startup manager goes I can see now its purpose is to or for the person I should say to manually assign his preferential plugins to each particular city ion his region. I was thinking startup manager could automatically tell you or report to you what plugins it uses simply by pointing to the city in the region ie stats pop 48000 plugins: streetaddon mod trocas dirt street the seti planetarium etc Raphael ninjas power ionizer 1V Aliens are us .. error you seem to have some dependencies missing like a bld prop etc" no it doesn't say that but I wish it did. What about plugins manager? Is there anything I can download which will tell me automatically what plugins I'm using and also like a anti virus defender ie SimCity region defended when you try and install or even use a dependency or lot plugin etc it will warn you straight away "this will conflict with your other one" ie just like the previous case with our street addon mystery. So it would tell me automatically " if you install this plugin of rail textures it will conflict with your other one BSC DAE dirt track textures in your bsc folder!" But I guess there is no smart program like that.

At least startup manager got me to change my config.bmp to bigger tile squares to play with rather than the annoying many small squares which is disastrous if you are running a ground or above ground highway across dead centre middle in med tile square & you try to connect to one of the small squares next to it & it won't and then you realise it's because the highway is sharing 2 cities on either side so it won't connect & you get yellow road dead ends on your highway.

Also I'm wary of mega dats from people but I guess they have all be tried and tested so I should remove things that clenitol says like bsc farm essentials and the flora pack 1 & 2 I removed bldg prop 1 & 2 because I had something else that conflicted and it also told me to remove the raphaels landmark plugins that maxis forgot. Well I never downloaded that because I already loaded all the ones here in my maxis programs simcity plugins.

I wrote something else where besides here much to your pleasure and peace of mind on your education sliders link and I'm so motivated now to write a whole article on the error no name associated with the sliders bug that nobody besides me has noticed or had that problem only my entries show up on google when I type error no name SimCity 4 on google. IS nobody but me having this sad problem? Have you Capt City ever had 'building' as a word when it doesn't know what the Plugin is anymore and worse still when you go into funding sliders it says for that building ... 'Error: no name'. ?? You never got this?.. how lucky of you. I guess you don't move much around in your plugins folder then.

Anyway since I wont be able to fix education sliders I need as many cheat buildings as possible or at least download education buildings without sliders. The only ones that come to mind are private schools. Ironically I saw pepl trying to modd the private school to have sliders & I thought oh no that's the only things that can't be affected by slider bugs cause they have no sliders to be ruined by. So are there highschools and elementary school w/o sliders? Links please? I suppose I will still have that bitter education woman fuming at me though because of the main education sliding down to zero even though many individual buildings could stay well funded or no sliding problems at all.

The slider bug does not work if you have the building missing ie it comes up as Error: No name. in your education sliders bar. E.g. I had the SETI planetarium research museum centre & I've found that to be unstable to the point where now I'm very wary of downloading or installing anything in my plugins that only uses a lot with no model, dat, or desc, to go with it. In fact, most of the slider bugs I've had are with 'lot only' files, that have been moved from plugins whilst reinstalling or refilling, making things neater or dat packing. Now I'm so scared even to move that lot file in a sub folder in my plugins marked education buildings for fear it will read as error no name in the funding sliders section. Once you get the error no name you can't fix the slider bug at all because you can even delete it even if now you have the lot put back in you plugins folder! Even if you put another SETI lot exactly the same next to it or even on top of the space where it once was & still is reading as that location when you click "error: no name" you still can't get rid of the error no name building. You will have to search for a previous version of the city region you used before you deleted the lot or before you moved it from plugins.

I did 3 years ago have the super ordinance or radical one by Raphael ninja but that was just too unrealistic cheat for me & I removed it & I was also sick and tired of unckecking the ordinances of crime doesn't pay & neighbourhood watch as even he said he has failed to fix the maxis bug for the police crime data. So I removed those ordinances but I having trouble with new city after that ordinance has been removed from other cities that were affected. So it can't be that according to your theory. For me it is mainly moving lot only buildings around in my plugins that causes panic & slider bugs & something which is so stupid that with all the modding of Raphael peg & others nobody has fixed a simple mathematical equation that "if a doesn't = b then just override it ie dont worry or change anything as a default to keep the slider as it is because obviously the person knows what he's doing by moving lots around his Plugin folder". but no we haven't had anyone smart enough to fix that simple maxis equation stuffup yet so we have to endure the constant advice of "delete all type buildings affected & don't delete the ones b4 the ordinance etc etc s that will worsen it even worse etc etc blah blah" just fix the damn equation & stop putting game players through these ridiculous hoops.!

Anyway Capt City thanks for some useful help.

& thankyou Cathy for showing me that the left hand is the Australian version which i reinstalled with every left hand version there was. Do you know about the error no name slider bug & how to fix it ?

I would love a copy of that lex disc but I've heard people have been paying their $30 donations and being ripped off ie they aren't getting the goods the disc is failing to arrive. I'm in Australia & EB games computer stores dont stock lex disc or even heard of it so at the mercy of whoever is shipping it out maybe if i could do it through you like do you have a business to pay into etc?

[catty-cb 4,412]

Originally posted by: mikeld

& thankyou Cathy for showing me that the left hand is the Australian version which i reinstalled with every left hand version there was. Do you know about the error no name slider bug & how to fix it ?

I would love a copy of that lex disc but I've heard people have been paying their $30 donations and being ripped off ie they aren't getting the goods the disc is failing to arrive. I'm in Australia & EB games computer stores dont stock lex disc or even heard of it so at the mercy of whoever is shipping it out maybe if i could do it through you like do you have a business to pay into etc?

quote>

Hi mikeld

Glad you have sorted out what version of the game you have, as to your other problems ... as I said yesterday I don't think you will sort out your problems until you start off with a new city and plugin folder that doesn't have cheat or sliding bug plugins installed in it, getting rid of essential and required plugins like the bldgprop_vol1.dat and bldgprop_vol2.dat or the Plugin_landmarks_and_other_missing_Props.dat is just going to cause you more problems in the end.

As to the LEX DVD and CD it is only available at the SC4 Devotion site when you donate and is posted from France by BarbyW, it has been out of stock a couple of times or BarbyW has had problems getting to the Post Office, but as far as I know its always arrived at its destination.

hope you sort out your problems and can enjoy playing the game

Cathy

[mikeld 4]

 Ok Cathy I will look into that. I took out bldg prop 1 and 2 because I downloaded All maxis building props with proper names dat and it said that it would double up on these bldg prop dependencies along with maxis landmarks that maxis forgot by Raphaelninja. But I put the bldg 1 and 2 back but I think I’m doubling up on these dependencies and cleanitol says that’s bad. Btw maybe the ‘maxis building props with proper names dat’ is not necessary if I have the others but it seemed like a good modd /dat etc. 

Another thing: Radiation: I saw this cleaner years ago and dl a mini rad cleaner but never installed it cause it looked like a beta version & the guy has gone so I hope it’s not dangerous. But it could be as there seems to be no list for any radiation cleaner that vacuums up radiation left behind from toxic waste dump Area 51 Army Base or research centres. 

Here is the read me:

 

“Welcome to another lot(s) brought to you by Imperial Prouducts and Services; a commercial division of The Empire

 

Right in the zip folder are 2 lot files and 2 dat files; install the lot files as per normal and install the dat files in folder shown in the jpeg in this folder.

 

Right the purpose of these lots is to clean up the radiation left bya nuclear accident by silly mayors. Tests have shown while these lots carry out their tasks two bugs have arisen;

One: the game will crash if you querry the lot so please DO NOT for now

Two: The mini rad cleaner will produce the radation effect on the ground: DO NOT PANIC; the lot is getting rid of the radiation and it should disappear after you move the lot.

 

Updates will be posted ASAP

Enjoy and don't forget to comment and check out other lots by Palpatine001 in LEX”.

Palpatine has gone maybe fled in a radiated vacuum or something. Maybe he left because this lot was a bug etc. I wrote another thread reply on radiation ...

 

Obliterating the city will get rid of radiation & indeed slider bugs and error no names for buildings unknown causing slider bugs and/ or immortal lots from overhanging into other lots. There is also (what i saw) a radiation remover! ie a vacuum like device from stex & lex that sucks up radiation from your city. I've also heard at first it worsens it just like a real vacuum by shaking the dust around before it sucks it up but then the green goo goes & you don't have to wait 700 or 10000 years. 

Also if you did have to wait 700 yrs say why destroy the city or obliterate it if you can keep your income over debt & run that on cheatar then overnight your same city should have no more green goo by that theory. 

I have also observed another thing: the no radiation rewards you can install for the 5 rewards advanced & medical research centres Area 51 Army base & toxic waste dump can also cause problems I thinks its if you had the no radiation mod before eg on area 51 then removed that mod from plugins then delete the clean area 51 it will then leave sparkles of radiation glistering like green snowflakes & causing high pollution to read on any building you zone there now even if the green goo is gone & your desirability and demand rises it will cause say health problems. Which is why I'm surprised your Sims health is ok with all that radiation floating around. Even if they say there hospital grade is high that doesn't mean their health is high. Check the brown to green health readings on data view. If they are saying or showing green & your buildings aren't developing into high density residential then check if it says pollution is high & if you see the green snowflakes {not unlike the green goo}. I have also made studies when I've done dirty deeds with Dr Vu & spilt toxic waste goo on some rich Sims homes for $70000. As Vu says watch over time the interesting mutated developments take place. I have labeled radiation on those labels where I spilt the goo & watched in awe as those areas have never really flourished no matter how many parks I put around them after wards. Once you chop off a persons fingers, there's no point in giving that person a diamond ring.

Btw this is my shortcut to playing simcity 4 as I have a screen resolution of 1600 by 900.

 

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START "SimCity 4" /high /affinity 1 "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off -customresolution:enabed -r:1600x900x32

 

 I really don’t know if I needed to * /multiply/ times it by 32 at the end since I already have it on 32 bit color on custom resolution by default in visual settings on my simcity. By default it also has the highest setting 1200* etc anyway this one seems to work well for me far less CTDs and I’ve gotten used to the skewed stretched landscape. What it does is that on zoom 1 I feel like I’m right up with the action as the buildings seem to life t off the ground & like a google earth they are 3d buildings coming off the ground like I’m not looking down like God but rather horizontally as a person. Cool.  Btw what does the custom resolution part mean? I take it to mean that whatever I’ve selected on my visual display as I said will be the first default & this modded shortcut will just change whatever’s different about the default like the actual resolution but will leave building texture on high along with cars etc except for shadows which is on low & no clouds. No music only Sfx. The original shortcut had maxis * 86 which wasn’t a folder for me I checked that my computer does say * 86 for some aspect or hardware that I have but I didn’t have an * 86 folder with C/ programs/ maxis and it didn’t work with 86 link anyway so I removed 86 and then it worked. However I also put * 32 which is what I saw some others do. Others didn’t have * 32 color maybe that’s just doubling up on the custom resolution or default visual settings etc. To get high priority you seem to need that cmd preface. I notice this one doesn’t say W for windowed . As far as I know windowed just means having the intro shown on a smaller window than full screen which I think it did when I had another shortcut 1440* 900*32  which many had but then I thought my wide screen is 1600 length not 1440 so I changed that & it seems to perform better for me w/o the CTDs or cut them down 80%. Maybe because it also had the affinity with 1 core processor and high priority. I also have dat packed many lots etc. Btw what is the difference between a lot (the building a dat a desc (description?) a model (also a building )etc. Is a ‘desc.’ really necessary or was that only used on SC4 and not the deluxe version. Does Deluxe version use desc I think so. I’m really guessing alot of stuff as I’m generation X and I am not tech savvy albeit intelligent. When Datpacking I have to be very careful as I don’t want to dat pack it all together. For example I dat packed my castle sets with ‘Longfellow castle’ & ‘the castle of Olaf’ and ‘keep within walls’ etc with the set and when I saw it displayed on my game it had broken the castle parts up that weren’t meant to and looked disjointed like a bad back with subluxations requiring chiropractic treatment. One Longfellow castle tower was mispriced as 110000 just as much as the whole castle itself!  Btw what’s the point in the castles as it seems that Residentials dislike them especially rich ones. They are just eyecandy with no jobs. Anyway I dat packed the castle set separately to the actual castles and this is how I will have to dat pack  otherwise I can see the prices for some things getting confused with slightly similar other things.


C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START "SimCity 4" /high /affinity 1 "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off -customresolution:enabed -r:1600x900x32

 

[CaptCity 4,893]

Originally posted by: mikeld

I notice this one doesn’t say W for windowed . As far as I know windowed just means having the intro shown on a smaller window than full screen quote>

Window mode allows the game to run in a "window" as other programs do. This allows the user to switch between windows when running other programs at the same time. However, this is not recommended when saving games because issues may arise that cause game files to become corrupt.

Btw what is the difference between a lot (the building a dat a desc (description?) a model (also a building )etc. Is a ‘desc.’ really necessary or was that only used on SC4 and not the deluxe version. Does Deluxe version use desc I think so.quote>

In general terms, a Model file is the building itself that appears on the lot in the game. Without a model file, lots will appear with a "brown box" on them.

Desc files are description files for the model files.  There are two types of description files, prop and building descriptions.  This file makes a description of the building or prop properties, such as building capacity. A prop is essentially a fence, car, etc and a building is the actual building you see on the lot.  Every model requires one of these to be used in a lot.

Lot files hold the location of all the Models and some other variables.  Without this file the lot will never build in game.

[mikeld 4]

Thanks CaptCity well I will try not to use any window version. My shortcut is ok don't you think CaptCity?

You say every model requires a desc to be in it. That can't be true, or if it is then there are some serious issues and problems with people like Raphael ninja who releases a lot and model with no desc and then releases a desc in other ionizers. Let's take his power ionizers which are an absolute disgrace. (Ninja created some wonderful train bus and subway stations all in one which work so I'm not totally bagging him out. However as Ninjas nature seems to always put everything in together including water and air purifications along with suppling water with his power ionizers there seems to be problems. ) His worst one is his 'ionizer hydro power system' of a small 27 kb that just comes as a lot file on the Stex. What's worse is that he also has another ionizer with exactly the same name lot but this time 58kb. This one is different as it has a blue top and is distinct because he has a model to go with it IV03 with no desc. Yet in another SC4 download of his same model they pack a desc with it. I've noticed that the Sc4 is a better place to download than from the Stex because they only seem to approve of the good ones. I could see they didn't approve of his 'lot only' ionizer. This started causing me the dreaded 'slider bug'.

Sometimes Ninja created the lots for gmax and people to build on but I dont believe I downloaded a gmax model. If I ever did put a gmax model into the game instead of the finished version what would I see in the game: A non functioning building or a lot with no building?

In fact the 'lot only' lots do usually cause slider bugs, especially if they have a slider to go with it. I can use the mayor's home which is bigger than the original maxis mayors home and is 4 times as large and is only a lot file but because it doesn't have a slider to go with it, it is ok to have as it just replaces the original one.

Ninja has Trinity hospital which holds an enormous amount of patients but I'm wary of using that as it's a 'lot only' file again with a slider no doubt.

I stopped trying to use 'lot only' files when the Hogwarts School was created again a lot only file and this creates strikes. It instantly makes the whole area educated but the stats are terrible. I mean they have more students in the school then the current population I have. So that's a terrible 'lot only' file & should be removed for bugs. It was a lovely idea with those black batty creatures but functionality is more important than aesthetics.

Speaking of schools I'm going to try to get more private schools as the 3 I have are maxed out and also because they have no sliders with them. I used the 'MTP School of the air' which gives Sims all the education they need from the radio waves I believe so their EQ is very high but when querying their school grade it always says low or med never high now. That could account for the minus demand for commercial offices.

Although I believe the minus demand for commercial offices is from taking out the super demand ordinance that boosted demand 500 % like steroids so I now have a lot of big office buildings abandoned or lowered wealth looking. Maybe they will grow again when I finish doing all my squares in my region I don't know. Does an abandoned building ever get redusted by a rich sim and used again or do I need to destroy or set fire to abandoned buildings? Will time fast forwarding change anything?

Speaking of time will RADIATION left over by a toxic waste dump or AREA51 ever go away in the proposed 50 to 100 yrs as some say or will it never get cleaned up? & are they talking about the radiation left behind from the nuclear power plant blow up rather than the rewards buildings of Area 51 toxic waste dump army base and research centers? Whatever happened to the radiation cleaner that I saw a few years ago that was supposed to clean up radiation. It seems to be removed from downloading along with its creator. Has anyone ever tried the 'mini RAD cleaner' to see if it was a bug?

Thanks for reading. I know I'm probably taxing your brain with varied issues here and i did what you said go to to other sites to ask but then i got bagged out by the 'drunk bird icon guy with purple slippers' for rehashing old threads on radiation that were either dealt with or the person lost interest in the thread. SO again I will double up here so the smart people will all get directed to my threads like a one way street. Have a good day mate.

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hi mikeld

I'd recommend reading this

http://www.simcitycentral.net/knowledge/simcity4/installing-custom-content/

it may answer some of your questions regarding the SC4desc and other SimCity files, as to the radiation if its as a result of your Nuclear Power plants exploding then you have a 10,000 year wait before the radiation will finally disappear from your city, but if it was from the Toxic Waste Dump then it should disappear in a couple of months

catty

[CaptCity 4,893]

Originally posted by: mikeld

My shortcut is ok don't you think CaptCity? quote>

If you mean the one in your previous post, then from what I see, it looks good.

You say every model requires a desc to be in it. That can't be true..quote>

Well, perhaps a better way to explain it would be to say the information usually found in a desc file is needed. As the article Catty linked to mentions, the information is sometimes included in other files, so an actual desc file may not be included in a download.

with people like Raphael ninja who releases a lot and model with no desc...quote>

If you noticed, most of Ninja's material was created early in the life of SC4. Many creators at the time were making lots since the BAT was fairly new. These lot files were not made with models created by the BAT, but by using Maxis props, so there could very well be only a lot file.

I've noticed that the Sc4 is a better place to download than from the Stex because they only seem to approve of the good ones. I could see they didn't approve of his 'lot only' ionizer.quote>

This has nothing to do with SC4D and STEX operating procedures since SC4D wasn't even around when the early creators were releasing their material. Much has been learned since the days of 2003 and 2004, so care should always be taken when using the earlier items from the STEX. If the early items are causing problem then just don't use them.

This started causing me the dreaded 'slider bug'... In fact the 'lot only' lots do usually cause slider bugs, especially if they have a slider to go with it...quote>

As far as I know from what I've experienced and read, the 'slider bug' has nothing to do with whether the lot is made using a model or is just a lot. It is caused by installing more than one of the same type of slider lot at different times.

If I ever did put a gmax model into the game instead of the finished version what would I see in the game: A non functioning building or a lot with no building? quote>

With a model file by itself, you would see nothing unless there was a lot that used the model.

Does an abandoned building ever get redusted by a rich sim and used again or do I need to destroy or set fire to abandoned buildings? Will time fast forwarding change anything? quote>

Abandonded buildings will become reoccupied when the need for such a building returns. It could be a short period or a long one depending on what you do in the game. Changing game speed will have no effect if nothing is done to improve the chances of the building being reoccupied.

[mikeld 4]

Hey Cathy thanks for the info regarding lots dats models and descs. I'd love to see an example in visual form. I imagine the model as they say is nothing more than a picture so it must be either a bmp or something that has a 3d effect to it to flesh it out. The lot says what type of thing it is ie power or education and apparently where to put it but so does the desc and the dats seems to as well. Dats have it all it seems. (MAYBE THAT'S WHY THERE IS A DAT PACKER & NOT A LOT OR MODEL OR DESC PACKER!) So Naturally I suspect that the more things you have i.e. the lot, model, dat and desc you can't go wrong with slider bugs because the game won't confuse it or merge with any other type building of that nature. Thus my theory stands. E.g. if you look at 'the fountain of youth' there are 2 of those on Stex. I have the one with the 'lot only' file i.e. the green base with a sprinkler pushing upwards. There is also another 'fountain of youth' I haven't tried which has a desc and model with it so I suspect I won't run into the problems I've currently been having with this FOY as its been causing strikes with the hospitals competing. When I look at it or hover over it, it always now shows only 2 to 3 heads of hospital staff pics not the full 5. I don't remember it doing that before but maybe over time with modding changes in my plugins folder & / even using a newer same model type 'FOY' it is causing protests etc and doesn't seem as effecting as it once was. It looks nice & I usually stick it near the landing strips cause I figure the planes don't want a huge commercial building in the way when they are trying to land or take off on their landing strip so parks or flat surfaces are probably ok. But it probably doesn't really matter a damn for the actual usage of people using it or cause traffic blockages and only the automata and your missions are affected.

PLANES & LANDING STRIPS: what good are they? I mean they won't tell you a plane is coming in from say 'industrial wasteland' to your 'Atlantis' city etc so you don't know who these tourists are which city they are from etc whether the poor areas or rich ones industrialists or corporates or tourists. because you can't right click it & tell you where the passengers are from because that involves the other cities & that's something that's always upset me about SimCity is that you can't go in and out of cities without saving and loading a new one. It would be nice to get into a jet from Area 51 and fly all around every city in your region to see how all the neighbourly deals are working out & how one city is instantly getting affected by changes in your current city you're working in. As my gf said these planes are just flying around aimlessly anywhere for a joyride just like the cars & freight trucks that go to empty cities in great numbers for a joyride to the twilight zone so you can't say that sim city has 100% logic. Speaking of missions if you have a train going underground in the NEDEX transitions your mission automata will fail in a mission as it won't seem to take you on the ride in a subway from the tracks even though it will in reality. Apparently. These are all the bugs maxis should fix so automata is matching what is actually there i.e. if trains are allowed to go down to tunnels then we should see it in automata as you can when you go through a tunnel through a mountain. Maybe the NAM couldn't fix this or work this out with maxis, after all they are probably getting no helpful advice from maxis who tell them we aren't interested in helping our customers anymore we've got their $ so if you guys want to make things for free go right ahead cause we won't unless we get paid etc.

The RADIATION left over from the rewards buildings like Toxic waste dump, Area 51 etc does not disappear in a couple of months. The problem is I believe, when I put in the 'no radiation rewards' in plugins folder, saved the game and then took them out again when it was too easy. Unfortunately it seems and correct me if I'm wrong but modding things is bad because if you decide to take it out later there will be problems including slider bugs etc. This must acct for many things. Also the super demand ordinance I had before that created 500% according to modder to steroid up the commercial offices buildings with High tech had a bug after I took that out. It was reading low commercial offices bother CO$$ and CO$$$ they actually were stuck because when I went onto the census repository vault to check my stats it was minus - 3400 Co$$ & $$$ jobs and stayed stuck on that figure i mean it didn't seem to budge an inch even when I shoved in every reward possible like convention centre, the resort hotel, the spit dummy tourist trap, zoos, stadiums, you name it, not a dickybird. SO I thought damn this, I wonder whether that's the lowest it can go but it didn't seem to be completely at the bottom according to my demand values so I thought there must be a bug. Anyway I put back my 'super demand ordinance' & low & behold the commercials were up demanding 5900 + not the stuck - 3400. SO I will have to live with that cheat now. I thought that I could ride it out by rushing to create as many other cities in my region as possible but I guess if it really was 500% steroid up I would need about 500 cities to get the level I was at the cheat in the first place so stuff that. This is all assuming SimCity has 100% logic without bugs which I suspect it doesn't knowing how lazy those greedy maxis people were in rushing their product with bugs out on rush hour in 2003 & haven't cleaned it up since let alone ever make a SimCity 5. Gripe ?

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hi mikeld

Unfortunately Maxis as a company does not exist anymore, SimCity 4 is now owned by EA Games and they put out SimCity Societies as a replacement for SimCity 4, so have no intention of doing a SimCity replacement as far as anyone is aware.

Please remember that before removing any SC4DESC, SC4DESC, SC4MODEL or DAT files from your plugins folder, you must find and delete all the buildings, schools, parks etc using those plugin files, taking as an example the NDEX transitions you referred to in your post, you must delete all NDEX transitions from all of your cities before you can delete them from your plugins folder, if you leave any of them behind then you will have some or all of the problems you have being having, and as I said before the cheat plugins you are using are making things worse.

If I download plugins, then I stick to creators I trust like SimGoober, you can find all of SimGoobers LOTs here

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?page=1&Keyword=simgoober&view=all

and more recent and updated ones here

https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_lotsearch_lview.php?UPLOADER=SimGoober&UPSEARCH=Creator

SimGoobers LOTs cover most aspects of your city, they are well made and do not cause problems in your cities, I'd recommend them to anyone.

catty

[mikeld 4]

 

I just tried downloading simgoobers updated canals urban one and it says I need to update with ep1 /sku1 which I'm afraid I can’t do.

 

Just letting you know I can’t seem to ever update my SimCity 4 with the sku1 North America/Australia. Maybe I did the sku 2 by mistake years ago but even if I did those should over ride it.

 

PATCH WARNING:  OLD FILE NOT FOUND. However a file of the same name was found. No update was done since file contents do not match. Patch Version 6.50 RT patch professional. 1991-2002. Processing SimCity overall 43%.   144 547 650 bytes is size in disk of Sku1 which is not the updated version. SO I can never get the proper night-lighting which is why many of my buildings are dark at night with no lights on. I can’t even get the riddle me this nightclub to glow green in the dark! I can’t upload or install the patch what’s stopping me my AVG antivirus a windows 7 firewall? Registry booster? Spyware remover? or is this patch for SimCity vanilla but I thought I clicked on deluxe rush hour version & it says that but maybe I remember I did dl months ago the vanilla version & have never been able to update it since. I'm now using a new SimCity disc and it’s still not updating the patch? The other patch being about 14mbs is the sc4 night-lighting which won’t work either. I even took out the previous ep1 in my maxis plugins programs and it’s still saying the same thing so help please I can’t update my patch & my size on Sim city 1 to 4 dats are not the correct calculations. I presume SimCity dat 5 doesn't need updating.

 

Help please.

These 2 SC 1 and 2 dats are not updated and neither is the SC4 exe . Why didn't maxis just update this in their new disc we bought 7 years later.

Sim City_1 .dat =  137 MB (144,547,650 bytes)

SimCity_2.dat  =    161 MB (169,268,568 bytes)

 

Step 2) Locate and run the update file. You do not have to have the update file in your SimCity directory in order for the update to function.

Step 3) After installing EP1 Update 1, the following files should be checked to see it they have been updated properly.  The timestamps on these files will be updated when the update runs.  All other files should not change:

SKU 1, 3, 4 & 5 updated files:

·    SimCity 4.exe should be updated to version 1.1.638.0. File size should be 8,407,514 (Deluxe) or 8,407,542 (Rush Hour)  NO!  SimCity 4 Version 1.1613.0  8.01 MB (8,407,511 bytes)   (4 bytes missing not much but could mean everything including immortal lots and slider problems!)

·    Graphics Rules.sgr should be updated to 20,171 bytes  CORRECT

·   

 

SimCity 1.dat should be updated to 144,596,245 bytes  { WRONG!}   Sim City_1 .dat =  137 MB (144,547,650 bytes)

·   

 

SimCity 2.dat should be updated to 168,588,181 bytes   SimCity_2.dat  =    161 MB (169,268,568 bytes)

·   

 

·    SimCity 3.dat should be updated to 115,117,583 bytes  CORRECT

·    SimCity 4.dat should be updated to 125,624,858 bytes  CORRECT

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REPLY TO CATHYS LAST MESSAGE AFTER THIS ONE. 

CATHY I went into my windows 7 properties for the SC4 1 & 2 Dat & simcity.exe in apps in my programs plugins and low & behold I found a few previous entires for all of these with exactly the same amounts of byte size and file versions! So I replaced the ones i had with these ones that were saying older versions and started the game again using the same high priority affinity 1 core processor & it functioned! then i tried to check if the night lighting was different but alas it was exactly the same even with the correct so called updating. Maybe night;lighting only works on new cities i start with new mayor name etc not working on old cities so i will try that if it still doesn't work i give up cause I've been more than lucky to find these right files as updates and yet the game, still doesn't light up properly! wtf. Also as you indeed say erase things before i erase them in plugins. What a shame the game works like that. It doesn't create a problem for things like parks though. You take a particular park out whether it be the chess game park or oasis park etc & going into game it will just say building with transparency but no slider problems simply because they had no sliders so therefore i can delete those even after their dats lots models and descs  been taken away in the plugins. Big problems if i remove say any hospitals like Raphaels trinity hospital or very large medical center or the national disaster relief emergency service thats half a hospital and half a fire house. That one causes big problems which in the game & worse if you take it out of plugins before you've deleted it as you say.  Just reporting my updates. Have a good one. 

 

 

 

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hello mikeld

I thought we had agreed that you had a left-hand version of the game so need to install the SKU2 update.

 

But to recheck what version you have look in your /Program Files/Maxis/... installation folder and let us know what language folders you have in there.

My Left-hand version of the game requires the SKU2 update and has 12 Language folders ranging from Danish thru to UKEnglsh

catty

[mikeld 4]

Hi Mikel  I've just ready your last post edit and am still not clear on what you are doing, your game was made for a particular country, when you pick the update (SKU) file, its not where you live that you are picking, but where the game was meant to be sold, if you have a left-hand version of the game then you need to pick the SKU2 update found here

https://www.sc4devotion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=

and install that update, copying the files will not update your computer correctly, you must run the update program on a clean install of the game (copy your plugins and region to a safe place while you re-install the game you can copy them back afterwards), once that has been done correctly you can then install this

https://www.sc4devotion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=

this will give you nightlighting on your buildings and other custom content items you have downloaded into your plugins folder.

hope that helps, as it would be nice to see your game working correctly.

Cathy

Dear Cathy thank you for your very clear instruction. Just a couple of things before i do this its not that i bought a left hand version of the game but when the NAM asked me to choose between left or right hand i always picked left hand so i could drive on te left hand side. SO just looking at the game it doesnt say. However what have i got to lose to do the sku2 well maybe i get missing road textures etc when i copy back my saved plugins and regions & this is all to do with nightlighting only is that right both these updates are for nightlighting only not to make say certain farms to e seen. For example that cheat dll you or somebody mentioned to me is invaluable about plop a building or lot because I've manages to find things like farms and their corn and lemon pastures that weren't coming up in the game. I also installed no pedrina with the lessening pedrina farms and thats seemed to make them more available too. However certain csx farms fields make ctds like some red chili pastures etc that i tried to put in from cheats dll i found but those ones ctd. 

I'm putting this one as public because my friend may try and install these updates you suggest too. I dont know why this update for nightlighting on some peoples buildings is needed since i've seen other modders have made buildings maybe from maxis ones but they share the maxis lighting effects so they light up. Also why hasn't maxis ever put these updates in their new discs. We bought these new ones recently after 6 yrs i bought mine and maxis still have failed to put these updates in when they know they are needed. Unbelievable. Anyway is there anyway on my cd case i can tell which version etc i'm using. i'm looking at it now and it doesn't say. I just presumed Australia's version, that was logical thinking but maxis distributers probably aren't that logical. 

[CaptCity 4,893]

Originally posted by: Cathy

I thought we had agreed that you had a left-hand version of the game...quote>

Originally posted by: mikeld

...its not that i bought a left hand version of the game but when the NAM asked me to choose between left or right hand i always picked left hand so i could drive on te left hand side.quote>

Sounds like there's still some confusion on the game version. The selections in the NAM setup will not determine driving side - only the game will do that. If you do have a left-hand game version, then you must select the left-hand NAM option. If you have a right-hand game version, then you must select the right-hand NAM option. Doing anything else while installing NAM (and any other transit mod) will lead to problems in playing the game - some of which you may to be experiencing. An added note, looking at some of the images you have posted in this thread, it appears that you, in fact, have a right-hand game version (unless you've changed it), so all transit mods need to be installed with the right-hand drive options.

[mikeld 4]

To illustrate that I can still change a default right hand version to left is now apparent. I am left hand side with cars & trains now and this may have been how it was to start with before I put NAM in or it really may have been right hand side and I changed it. So now I'm really confused. I suppose if i reinstall it and play it straight away on a new city to see just what side i'm driving on would tell me and then I could install the appropriate update straight away.

This picture shows all cars now driving on left hand path incl train which is exiting I believe.

---------------------------------------- 

LATEST UPDATE I can see in fine print on by my discs it says made in Eu ie Europe I presume thus SKU2 I install, is that correct?

"violation of applicable laws. Made in EU.

And my first 2 discs I bought 5 yrs ago says"violation of applicable laws. Manufactured in Singapore. Btw if I use the old serial number on my old 2 discs with my 2 new discs will that matter being different countries too or is that irrelevant? 

Anyway If using any serial number that works on these EU europe discs then its still sku 2. ?.

[mikeld 4]

Now heres another problem that occurred to me. Since Ive made cities with a Singapore Deluxe (and also vanilla Simcity 4 without deluxe version in early 2005 now with the Singapore deluxe in 2006 and now with EU deluxe in 2010 maybe no update will work on me because I'm a mixture of Singapore and Europe and vanilla thrown in the milkshake thus being a compile mix hybrid, I'm not pure and thus no pure update will work on my mixed hybrid cities? Is this so? If so I wont bother updating but if you say whatever the latest discs i'm using ie Europe and so i update it with sku2 then it should work regardless if i have cities made with Singapore deluxe and god knows what country in Simcity 4 vanilla.

[CaptCity 4,893]

Originally posted by: mikeld

To illustrate that I can still change a default right hand version to left is now apparent. quote>

It is possible to change the drive-side of the game. Perhaps you've done that?

I am left hand side with cars & trains now and this may have been how it was to start with before I put NAM in or it really may have been right hand side and I changed it.quote>

If the vehicles now drive on the left, then the left-hand NAM option would be the one to go with.

So now I'm really confused. I suppose if i reinstall it and play it straight away on a new city to see just what side i'm driving on would tell me and then I could install the appropriate update straight away.quote>

Might be the best way to go. Although,

LATEST UPDATE I can see in fine print on by my discs it says made in Eu ie Europe I presume thus SKU2 I install, is that correct?quote>

I would think so, yes.

Originally posted by: mikeld

Now heres another problem that occurred to me. Since Ive made cities with a Singapore Deluxe (and also vanilla Simcity 4 without deluxe version in early 2005 now with the Singapore deluxe in 2006 and now with EU deluxe in 2010 maybe no update will work on me because I'm a mixture of Singapore and Europe...quote>

If you mean your concerned that you've made cities with different ganes, then that should not affect the update process as only game files are altered, not city/region files. Given what you stated above, it sounds like you might go with the SKU2 update.

[mikeld 4]

Hi Capt City hope you having a nice day. 

CAPT CITY WHY DO YOU KEEP CHANGING THE THREADS? or do you like to have your name credited for help so you can get another medal with a smiley face? I don’t mind, you've helped me b4 so I can give you a reference for another medal if you like but it just gets confusing of who's saying what, anyway. I'm about to follow Cathy's instructions to the letter: remember if this doesn't work & has your name on it then I’d blame you.. ..haha lol.. No that’s a joke, but this installation is of great concern because the updates never seem to work. As far as I know I'm reinstalling my sc4 deluxe new Europe made discs and installing the sku2 which looks exactly the same as sku 1 with the same final files sizes for the sim city dats in the programs folders except that it also contains other country locales or locations do I need those or can I just delete anything that doesn't say English? Like I wouldn't need all those other locales of china or Sweden, Hungary etc.? Would I? Also whenever I see that upload for the night-lighting I always shake my head because there are 5 downloads on that page with the 3d model house picture. Not just the 14 mb night-lighting 14mbs which i presume is the only thing that should be downloaded so why isn't that one up in great highlighted bold letters instead of being small print camouflaged in the other 5 downloads. It’s not even the first download. The first on is The Building Architect Tool (BAT)   10.2 MB DO I NEED TO DOWNLOAD THIS ONE??? if not why is that first on the list if it’s just for game modders? why the hell doesn't it have the night-lighting download first since that’s on practically every download from LEX dls that says “to make it work you need this download.”.. Christ talk about confusing downloads for gen x.}

 

So I don’t download the BAT 10 mb one ???Just the second download night-lighting 14 mbs of the bat 10mbs its referring to in the first upload !?! I don’t think I've seen anyone on these message boards as specific as me. They all seem to have a private Morse code together. I don’t. grrr. Anyway I'm now only doing the 2 update sku2 and the 14 mb night-lighting so it better work!.  Have a good day.

---------------------------

NB now I also realise there are more issues. Its not that simple of just reinstalling the simcity deluxe. On control panel programs there is NAM SAM RAM installed!!!! Do I also have to uninstall those too & reinstall them after the Sim City game discs install?? or can I just leave them there. I bet I cant I bet its not that simple. I bet I have to uninstall those dont I and then have to reinstall those afterwards.. dont I??

I also notice I have Microsoft visual C++ redistributable 2005 and 2008 what is that for? as Ive seen that interfere with things.. maybe i should delete those too.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

----------

 

The Building Architect Tool (BAT)   10.2 MB   is actually a suite of tools. It includes the Building Architect gamepack for gmax™, the Plug-in Manager, and an updated version of the Lot Editor.

The roles of the three separate tools can be summed up as follows: The Building Architect enables you to create models in a 3D environment and export SimCity 4 Deluxe game ready content. The Plug-in Manager enables you to create plug-ins for the game and modify the simulation properties for those plug-ins. It is with this tool that you can define a model as a house, a prop or even (but not limited to) a landmark. The Lot Editor enables you to place your new plug-ins on lots and get them into the game.

This suite of tools acts as a complete pipeline that is based on the same tools Maxis used to create the SimCity 4 games. Each tool is a stand alone application and each can be enjoyed on it's own merits. If you find that 3D modeling is not your forte perhaps modifying simulation properties and tuning data in the Plug-in Manager better suits you. If creating and arranging lots is your passion, B.A.T. just made that even more fun by enabling an entire community to create custom content for all or your lot creation needs.

And, if you just enjoy playing the game, the amount of custom content that's out there for you to enjoy is about to explode.

THE FILES

By clicking this link:

Building Architect tool ( BAT ) 10.2 MB

I agree with Maxis /EA End User License Agreement (EULA)

The Building Architect Too (BAT)l is actually a suite of tools. It includes the Building Architect gamepack for gmax™, the Plug-in Manager, and an updated version of the Lot Editor.

This suite of tools acts as a complete pipeline that is based on the same tools Maxis used to create the SimCity 4 games. Each tool is a stand alone application and each can be enjoyed on it's own merits. If you find that 3D modeling is not your forte perhaps modifying simulation properties and tuning data in the Plug-in Manager better suits you. If creating and arranging lots is your passion, B.A.T. just made that even more fun by enabling an entire community to create custom content for all or your lot creation needs.

What is gmax™?

gmax is a free 3D modeling tool based on Discreet's award winning 3ds max. This powerful tool enables you to create models at the same level of quality and better as the models created by artists at Maxis.

You can download this Discreet's tool for free from Turbosquid at:

Turbosquid- Gmax

How to install the Building Architect Tool

To install the Building Architect Tools, download the installer (10.2 MB). From your local machine double-click on the SC4 B.A.T. installer.

Note: The Building Architect Tool is a gamepack for gmax. You must have gmax installed prior to installing B.A.T.

The B.A.T. installer will install to your gmax gamepacks directory all the files you need to run B.A.T.. A Plug-in Manager is also installed as part of the B.A.T. suite. The Plug-in Manager will be placed into your \program files\maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps directory.

To launch the B.A.T. gamepack for gmax you will need to double-click the program found in \gmax\gamepacks\BAT\SC4BATLauncher.exe

Note:You must run gmax through the SC4BATLauncher in order to access the Building Architect Tools.

To launch the Plug-in Manager you will need to double-click the program found in \program files\maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SC4PluginMan.exe

Note: B.A.T. is supported by SimCity 4 Deluxe (or SimCity + Rush Hour) only. You will need to have a copy of SimCity 4 Deluxe to install the B.A.T. tools and use B.A.T. buildings in game.

New Lot Editor

To fully appreciate all that B.A.T. has to offer you will need to update your Lot Editor program. The update version enables you to replace buildings on lots. This is an important feature to have if you want to fully enjoy working with custom buildings. You can get the latest copy of the Lot Editor by following the "Lot Editor" link here.

Recommended Downloads

NOTE: In order to ensure full functionality, download of the SimCity 4 Update and the Lot Editor are recommended.

By clicking this link:

Sim City 4 Buildings Update 14.4 MB

I agree with Maxis /EA End User License Agreement (EULA)

How to get the most out of your B.A.T. experience

Update 1.1.640.0

B.A.T. has opened up possibilities with custom buildings in SimCity 4 Deluxe like no other tool before it. To get the most out of your B.A.T. when you play SimCity 4 Deluxe you will want to apply this new update to your game. The update will enable those custom buildings that have night time effects to display properly in the game.

To get this update click on the "SimCity 4 Update" link found to the left..

Note: This update is only needed if you want to see the night effects of custom buildings that were exported from the Building Architect gamepack. If this is a feature that does not interest you than it is not necessary to apply this update.

Your game must be updated to EP1Update1 (1.1.638.0) before installing this file

Additional Downloads

NOTE: These files should only be downloaded if you encounter the problems detailed in the two page updates dated 02/05 and 02/24. .

By clicking this link:

Texture Problem Fix 31 KB

I agree with Maxis /EA End User License Agreement (EULA)

Updated 02/24/04: Texture Fix

A few users have noticed problems with building textures in the game after utilizing the B.A.T. or downloading new lots with B.A.T.-created content. This problem is especially apparent on larger buildings. If you have noticed something like this, please download this very small (31KB) script file. Place the file into your GMAX scripts directory (typically located in C:\\gmax\gamepack\bat\scripts\ where C: is the drive letter containing software applications), overwriting the old version of the file already in that directory.

By clicking this link:

Plug-In Manager With Unicode Fix (1.1MB)

I agree with Maxis /EA End User License Agreement (EULA)

Updated 02/05/04: Plug-In Manager Unicode Run-Time Error Fixed

Some people have been reporting an error when running the Plug-in Manager that came with B.A.T. The "RunTime" error problem has been fixed with the following file.

Note: The problem was a result of us building the Plug-in Manager with Unicode. People with Windows 98 and some people with XP were not able to run the application for this reason. The unicode enabled the application to accept double-byte languages and other non-standard English characters. With the fix above that capability is lost. However, if you can not run the Plug-in Manager now try the file above and things should be better for you.

BAT Official Tips

BAT Official Tutorials

Official Tips and Tutorials

Tricks and Tips

The Building Architect Tool and gmax™ both have hefty learning curves that may cause a certain degree of confusion for some users. In an effort to make it easier for our community to release high-quality buildings created with the BAT, we have a couple of useful tips to help you out.

Tutorials

The Building Architect Tool, in combination with gmax, is a powerful one-two punch for custom content creation in SimCity 4, but let's face it - this stuff ain't easy. The gmax download comes bundled with a very helpful set of tutorials, which we encourage everyone to read in order to get their head around the basic interface and some of the fundamentals of 3D modeling. Still, in order to take your building creations to the next level, you might want to check out these fine tutorials available on other websites.

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hello mikeld

Like I wouldn't need all those other locales of china or Sweden, Hungary etc.?quote>

Can you confirm that you have China, as the only reason to have the China language folder would be if you had bought a Chinese version of the game in which case you would need to install the SKU4 update.

Carrying on from my PM to you, after you have installed the game and then updated it to the latest SKU version, you need to install the programs found here

https://www.sc4devotion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=

1.  You need to install gmax first

You can download this Discreet's tool for free from Turbosquid at: Turbosquid- Gmax

2.  You then need to install the Building Architect Tool (BAT) 10.2 MB

3.  Lastly you need to install the Sim City 4 Buildings Update 14.4 MB

The other two files on this page are for if you have problems with either textures or get a runtime error otherwise you don't need them, the message about updating to EP1Update1 are the SKU updates which hopefully you have already done.

I'll check back later, but most importantly let us know what language files you had before you installed the SKU update as this will tell us what version of the game you have, also I would not worry about installing plugins like the NAM, etc at this point until you get the game working

I also would not delete the MS Visual C++ as something you have installed on your computer needs it to work

@catty

[mikeld 4]

Hi Cathy hope you had a nice day today.

Ok firstly I had no idea you needed to download that BAT 10 mbs  or some captain Nemo's giant squid turbo.. Where on God's green earth does anyone on Simtropolis tell you to do that all they say is install 2 items the sku either 1 2 3 4 5 and the 14 mbs night lighting on the same page. So I thought damnit, I will just install it now as I realised this is definitely a missing link and just as well I was so pedantic in asking about it because I noticed many others were complaining their updates didn't work either so why this important point is not stressed is beyond my scope of understanding. Anyway glad I looked foolish and asked and I'm glad you told me about it even though when you said it, it was like oh didn't you know this fine print download in brackets? ? LOL Anyway I seem to have night lighting now on my buildings that aren't maxis as well as the default maxis ones. And I've noticed some more depth of lighting even with the maxis ones like reflections on glass etc. . I show you one particular picture that's my yards stick of the 'riddle me nightclub' iridescent green and the 'angel statue' both weren't glowing in the dark before. Now my Q is: if my night lighting is working now is it also safe to say my sku is too? I mean aren't they both to get the nightlighting? Funny how I didn't need to uninstall everything prior to installing these but I could just install it on top of it which was not in the download order and the lighting works. However what does the sku do? The ep1 update before the sc4 update 14mbs nightlighting?

I am now checking things like farms and their fields like why i was always getting the maxis farms so I put in the no pedrina and that's taken care of the farms buildings variety but the fields are still the boring maxis ones or were. I haven't checked yet whether the lovely fields I found from 'plop your building' on the cheats dll will now be a growable item as well as plopable. I previously got a ctd from placing a csx farm field of a red chilli pepper field on a maxis farm field. .. ctd. Shemails farm plopers are no problem to place lemons and limes and pineapples on the farm but some csx farm fields cause ctds or did so I  hope that's now fixed too. 

Some huge commercial buildings are almost impossible to grow the biggest ones I usually get are 4 times 4. I did manage to grow the 'stratton apartments' that grew into the 'Arbor's' then to the 'evergreens' ...they are always 5 times 5 medium density residential. There is a 4 times 4 Stratton lots as well but the maxis buildings always seem to take precedence when something decides to grow of the same size. I wish I could stop alot of maxis buildings growing and get all the others like farm fields to start growing.

Some other things are working better now like the 3 industrial lot props of dirty industries I installed which look fantastic little burners pumping out all sorts of filth into the atmosphere but they always displayed a no water when you queiried their stats. Now after that install order you gave me (w/o the uninstall first) the lots now say they are watered if they are; ergo they are now displaying their stats correctly. 

Maybe when I did shove in the 2 sc4 dat 1 and 2 into maxis program plugins to replace my incorrect old version file sizes that was all i needed to do for the sku update and I was just there waiting for your lovely bat install instructions. 

Anyway thanks Cathy for being the first person on these boards to tell me about the 10 mb bat to install first as nobody ever did before all those years ago! Just one little fundamental thing can make or break you. One thing can change everything. All from not being clearly explained and people just assume you will download something like a bat 10mb prior to the nightlight dl 14mbs they are referring to. Who would have guessed that? We all should be so cautious and precise about the fundamentals in our lives. Cheers Cathy.

 Mike.

[mikeld 4]

Hi Cathy hope you had a nice day today.

Ok firstly I had no idea you needed to download that BAT 10 mbs  or some captain Nemo's giant squid turbo.. Where on God's green earth does anyone on Simtropolis tell you to do that all they say is install 2 items the sku either 1 2 3 4 5 and the 14 mbs night lighting on the same page. So I thought damnit, I will just install it now as I realised this is definitely a missing link and just as well I was so pedantic in asking about it because I noticed many others were complaining their updates didn't work either so why this important point is not stressed is beyond my scope of understanding. Anyway glad I looked foolish and asked and I'm glad you told me about it even though when you said it, it was like oh didn't you know this fine print download in brackets? ? LOL Anyway I seem to have night lighting now on my buildings that aren't maxis as well as the default maxis ones. And I've noticed some more depth of lighting even with the maxis ones like reflections on glass etc. . I show you one particular picture that's my yards stick of the 'riddle me nightclub' iridescent green and the 'angel statue' both weren't glowing in the dark before. Now my Q is: if my night lighting is working now is it also safe to say my sku is too? I mean aren't they both to get the nightlighting? Funny how I didn't need to uninstall everything prior to installing these but I could just install it on top of it which was not in the download order and the lighting works. However what does the sku do? The ep1 update before the sc4 update 14mbs nightlighting?

I am now checking things like farms and their fields like why i was always getting the maxis farms so I put in the no pedrina and that's taken care of the farms buildings variety but the fields are still the boring maxis ones or were. I haven't checked yet whether the lovely fields I found from 'plop your building' on the cheats dll will now be a growable item as well as plopable. I previously got a ctd from placing a csx farm field of a red chilli pepper field on a maxis farm field. .. ctd. Shemails farm plopers are no problem to place lemons and limes and pineapples on the farm but some csx farm fields cause ctds or did so I  hope that's now fixed too. 

Some huge commercial buildings are almost impossible to grow the biggest ones I usually get are 4 times 4. I did manage to grow the 'stratton apartments' that grew into the 'Arbor's' then to the 'evergreens' ...they are always 5 times 5 medium density residential. There is a 4 times 4 Stratton lots as well but the maxis buildings always seem to take precedence when something decides to grow of the same size. I wish I could stop alot of maxis buildings growing and get all the others like farm fields to start growing.

Some other things are working better now like the 3 industrial lot props of dirty industries I installed which look fantastic little burners pumping out all sorts of filth into the atmosphere but they always displayed a no water when you queiried their stats. Now after that install order you gave me (w/o the uninstall first) the lots now say they are watered if they are; ergo they are now displaying their stats correctly. 

Maybe when I did shove in the 2 sc4 dat 1 and 2 into maxis program plugins to replace my incorrect old version file sizes that was all i needed to do for the sku update and I was just there waiting for your lovely bat install instructions. 

Anyway thanks Cathy for being the first person on these boards to tell me about the 10 mb bat to install first as nobody ever did before all those years ago! Just one little fundamental thing can make or break you. One thing can change everything. All from not being clearly explained and people just assume you will download something like a bat 10mb prior to the nightlight dl 14mbs they are referring to. Who would have guessed that? We all should be so cautious and precise about the fundamentals in our lives. Cheers Cathy.

 Mike.

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hello mikeld

Now my Q is: if my night lighting is working now is it also safe to say my sku is too? quote>

Its difficult to tell from this side of your computer, but the attached picture looks good, and you say that other things are now working correctly so hopefully you have now matched the bug fix (SKU update) to the correct version of the game.

Happy Playing and enjoy the nightlights

Cathy

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hello mikeld

Now my Q is: if my night lighting is working now is it also safe to say my sku is too? quote>

Its difficult to tell from this side of your computer, but the attached picture looks good, and you say that other things are now working correctly so hopefully you have now matched the bug fix (SKU update) to the correct version of the game.

Happy Playing and enjoy the nightlights

Cathy

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hi mikeld

Looking at the contents of your folder, the good news it definitely the UK or European version and SKU2 was the right update to install, the SIMTANIC Port ver1.10(E) shouldn't be there, if its a plugin then you need to move it to either the plugin folder in the same location or the one in your documents area, as to the textures, the files for fixing  problems are only if you are creating a new building or LOT for the game, if you are having problems with textures being missing (a picture would help) its because you are missing a dependency in the game.

Go here for a list and links to all the common dependencies in SimCity

https://www.sc4devotion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=

Some of them point to the same dependency as seperate small files have been merged into one large file

If your buildings are not getting enough water, do you have plenty of water for them?

[mikeld 4]

Yes I agree it is the European. What I did before is do what my friend does. She deletes things she thinks she doesn't need but they are important windows programs./ I also thought I didn't need any other language locale except English so I deleted all the other locales like Norwegian Swedish Spanish, polish, finnish, whatever looked foreign...> that was erased because I thought they were just foreign languages the computer didn't need to waddle through to get to the real English language. I have kept all those locales in now I presume I do right?

As far as the industrial buildings not displaying they have water, I can assure u this is on city squares where every square inch has water covering the tiles in the light blue. What happens is that when a building manifests if you are in the water plumbing underground at the time you will see that size building whether its 4 * 4 or 2 * 2 etc become dark blue; meaning that building is now registered as watered. These industrial lots now don't display that even though the light blue for water is completely covering them even pedantically putting a bunch of unnecessary water pipes right under the little bastards.. They still won't become dark blue! Also when I query them they only say powered yes/ watered no. I've read previously that if a building isn't watered there's some fault with a setting so it's nothing about the fact that I haven't been a diligent mayor. Forget that! That's the easy part. The hard part is always (90%) in my case technically fixing all the problems maxis or in this case a modder has made. Now I've noticed I'm the only one whose complained about the industrial lots not displaying water now. They did display them briefly when I did that previous cowboy fast install but then the next day they were back to their usual tricks. They could still have full employment sitting in heavy high industrial squares so there was just something wrong with their display. They weren't displaying the tear drop above them which is the basic sign we all know means the building needs water so it's not crying out for water or being abandoned because of it. It's just not registering that it has water, get it, comprende. ? If you can find the issue with unregistered watered buildings settings I'd ne most grateful. I may try and use the un dat packed ones again but they were also doing the same thing so I just kept the compressed dat packed ones.. and they were fixed remember briefly for 1 day with cowboy fast install. .

btw does it really matter the order of the turbo squid after the 10 mb dat bat and then the 14mb nightlighting. Do I need to do the whole thing again? I mean those industrial lots are now lit up in the dark so that's working. However is that all the ep sku 2 does is just help night-lighting as well as 14 mbs nightlight. I don't think so as I've read all the other little fixes it does like supposedly stoping the fire plane taxiing and hovering around for ages after you've called it. Actually I will check that fire plane because that was really annoying so much so that I don't bother calling for it in emergencies because it arrives too slow and late, after the building has collapsed with fire and then stays hovering around the devastation it failed to put out forever after like a sad ghost incomplete in its mission.

The textures I will provide a picture as you will see the white commercial building above teh incoming neighbour rail is crooked here compared to the other white commercial twin and I've noticed that with some buildings even the large mayors office I down loaded at zoom 1 there is a pronounced spike of visual glitch and I was thinking maybe it's a resolution problem as I've got the shortcut of 1600 * 900 which is what my monitor is but by default in the game it reads 1200 times 1024 ? Whatever the largest resolution on the basic maxis res there is.

Cathy why dont you download these and try them they will probably display water for you with your lovely settings let me know so I work out what dependency or conflict i'm having or needing.

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=24181

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=24805

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=24072

What does bld prop 1 and 2 do? When i looked at bld prop 1 it said things like flamability & heat and im wondering if this has something to do with displaying water . I have 1 and 2 but do i need lot editor to go with it or "all maxis building props with proper names"?

Also if they do display the water sign I would love a list of what's in your BSC folder please.

Maybe I should just place anything not displaying correctly in the maxis plugins instead of my docs plugins?

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hi mikeld

Unless you are uninstalling the game there is no need to delete anything, and no, now you have everything working correctly there is no need to reload any of the update files or change the order of the updates.

There is nothing wrong with your textures and would suggest that you visit the Simtropolis Omnibus and have a read of this topic "Getting SC4 Rush Hour to run on a custom resolution"

https://www.simtropolis.com/omnibus/index.cfm/Main.SimCity_4.Getting_SC4_Rush_Hour_to_run_on_a_custom_resolution

As for your water situation I have downloaded the buildings, but belong to the RTMT team and we are currently beta testing a new version so it will be some time before I can install these buildings, I would suggest you visit hittwice99's Lot Thread here

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=121&threadid=113314

and bring your concerns regarding these buildings to the creator, I can't see any problems with these buildings looking at the picture you supplied.

What does bld prop 1 and 2 do?

They are dependencies and you will get brown boxes without them.

As for the contents of my plugins folder ... I donated money to SC4 Devotion and got the SC4D DVD and CD so pretty much have the contents of the LEX as my plugins folder, I don't have the last couple of months of uploads, but they are updating the DVD so will get a new copy when they do.

so my plugins folder is 3.73GB in size has 71 folders and 7218 plugins in it

@catty

[mikeld 4]

 When do they update their discs cause I will buy the updated one then without the bugs or the previous version discs. Also I dont delete the other country locales in my programs plugins do i?

[catty-cb 4,412]

Hi mikeld

As each language folder only uses 1.7mb on your computer I would leave them, it also a good reminder of what version of SimCity 4 you have installed.

As for the SC4D DVD and CD, unless the donation costs have changed its

Minimum 10€ - CD

Minimum 25€ - DVD

Minimum 35€ - DVD and CD

See here for details

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?board=276.0

As to when they are being updated, thats something I can't answer ... remember people do these things in their spare time, but if you send a PM to BarbyW she should be able to give you a timescale for the DVD update.

See the SC4D staff list (must be logged on to SC4D to see this list)

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?action=staff

@catty