Old newbie

[epicsam 0]

 My name is Sam, SAM I AM  I have been playing SC4 Deluxe since 2004. Ive been out of the game, sporadically playing every now & then for the past 3 years. Ive seen the infancies of the NAM, Mods, Bats & Lots, and am astonished by the progression of them.  I recently acquired much more time to play, and cant wait to start building new cities. I had a little incident on my computer, requiring me to wipe & partition my drives which of course resulted in everything erased. Computer was cluttered with junk so it needed to be done. After all my upgrades and essential program installs, I'm proud to say SC4 is the 1st and only game Ive installed. After installing, I installed the new & improved NAM and other supporting programs. I kind of got overzealous and went on a download spree, trying to get all the new Bats & Lots, while at the same time trying to get all the dependencies. So currently I'm trying to organize my folders. I'm eager to get all the essential programs, mods, bats, lots, and anything that supports SC4 complete so I can play the game with style. Ive been reading around the forums, and already caught some of my mistakes I made during my download spree. At least it was caught early. Well... looking forward to forum talk and playing the game with all its potential.

[epicsam 0]

 My name is Sam, SAM I AM  I have been playing SC4 Deluxe since 2004. Ive been out of the game, sporadically playing every now & then for the past 3 years. Ive seen the infancies of the NAM, Mods, Bats & Lots, and am astonished by the progression of them.  I recently acquired much more time to play, and cant wait to start building new cities. I had a little incident on my computer, requiring me to wipe & partition my drives which of course resulted in everything erased. Computer was cluttered with junk so it needed to be done. After all my upgrades and essential program installs, I'm proud to say SC4 is the 1st and only game Ive installed. After installing, I installed the new & improved NAM and other supporting programs. I kind of got overzealous and went on a download spree, trying to get all the new Bats & Lots, while at the same time trying to get all the dependencies. So currently I'm trying to organize my folders. I'm eager to get all the essential programs, mods, bats, lots, and anything that supports SC4 complete so I can play the game with style. Ive been reading around the forums, and already caught some of my mistakes I made during my download spree. At least it was caught early. Well... looking forward to forum talk and playing the game with all its potential.

[joshriddle 29]

Well, have fun. You may also take a look on the stex for some maps you might download. Most mappers take their scale accuracy very seriously and some use SRTM and DEM to make SC4 maps.

[joshriddle 29]

Well, have fun. You may also take a look on the stex for some maps you might download. Most mappers take their scale accuracy very seriously and some use SRTM and DEM to make SC4 maps.

[x493x 446]

Wow, this must've taken you a while downloading all of these things. Keep at it though because it definetally adds to the game.

[x493x 446]

Wow, this must've taken you a while downloading all of these things. Keep at it though because it definetally adds to the game.

[madhatter106 3,903]

Going in with some form of gameplan for organization of your plugins at the start is a good idea - if you create a system and adhere by it, you can be on top of the organization when something goes haywire (a stray plugin or dependency wreaking havoc). For me, it's also a good way of not having to remember - if I see something on one of the exchanges, I can always check to see if I already have it and have just forgotten about it...

[madhatter106 3,903]

Going in with some form of gameplan for organization of your plugins at the start is a good idea - if you create a system and adhere by it, you can be on top of the organization when something goes haywire (a stray plugin or dependency wreaking havoc). For me, it's also a good way of not having to remember - if I see something on one of the exchanges, I can always check to see if I already have it and have just forgotten about it...

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Madhatter makes a good point.

I recently had a system wipe out through being too tired when I was doing something and I managed to wipe out even my archives so I had to start over.  Let me pass on one thing that is important.  Don't go on a download spree.  If you have already done that, Isolate your downloads in a separate folder away from the game, empty out your plugins folder, and start putting things back in an organized manner.

With the exception of the "Extra cheats dll", all of your plugins can be organized into directories (folders) inside your plugins folder.  You must have noticed when you installed the NAM that it makde a folder for itself.  When the game is loading plugins it ignores the structure and goes only for the files it is concerned with (.SC4LOT, .SC4DESC, .SC4MODEL, .dat).  Everything else is just skipped.  For sanity's sake, I keep all my unzipped stuff in a separate folder on my home directory called Downloads, organized by folders as to source or author whichever is most suitable.  I can always use this folder to reconstruct my plugins if anything should happen.  I duplicate the basic structure of Downloads in my Plugins folder.

You should never put anything in the plugins without a test.  Create a sandbox region by simply using the create region capability of the game.  I actually call that regtion Sandbod, and I have no compunctions about dropping it and recreating it at need.  I use the cities in my sandbox to test new plugins.  If they don't work or don't do what I want, I simply delete them.

I don't have a great many plugins, but only those I thoroughly understand.  (And some I haven't finished understanding).  I have the latest NAM, RTMT with all its dependencies, some lots that re fixes, like the Opera House, some I like including four I constructed using the BAT, and others.  Here is a screenshot of my Plugins folder structure.

If this looks a little odd to you, it is because I am not running Windows.  This layout is from Linux (UBUNTU).  The file system is a little different.  I do have the Extra Cheats dll, but it is not in this folder.  It is in C:/Program Files/Maxis/Simcity 4/Plugins along with the sky textures.  I want this to load absolutely ffirst, before any other plugins.  This means that, should I need to reload the game, I have to put this one back manually because that folder will be replaced.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Madhatter makes a good point.

I recently had a system wipe out through being too tired when I was doing something and I managed to wipe out even my archives so I had to start over.  Let me pass on one thing that is important.  Don't go on a download spree.  If you have already done that, Isolate your downloads in a separate folder away from the game, empty out your plugins folder, and start putting things back in an organized manner.

With the exception of the "Extra cheats dll", all of your plugins can be organized into directories (folders) inside your plugins folder.  You must have noticed when you installed the NAM that it makde a folder for itself.  When the game is loading plugins it ignores the structure and goes only for the files it is concerned with (.SC4LOT, .SC4DESC, .SC4MODEL, .dat).  Everything else is just skipped.  For sanity's sake, I keep all my unzipped stuff in a separate folder on my home directory called Downloads, organized by folders as to source or author whichever is most suitable.  I can always use this folder to reconstruct my plugins if anything should happen.  I duplicate the basic structure of Downloads in my Plugins folder.

You should never put anything in the plugins without a test.  Create a sandbox region by simply using the create region capability of the game.  I actually call that regtion Sandbod, and I have no compunctions about dropping it and recreating it at need.  I use the cities in my sandbox to test new plugins.  If they don't work or don't do what I want, I simply delete them.

I don't have a great many plugins, but only those I thoroughly understand.  (And some I haven't finished understanding).  I have the latest NAM, RTMT with all its dependencies, some lots that re fixes, like the Opera House, some I like including four I constructed using the BAT, and others.  Here is a screenshot of my Plugins folder structure.

If this looks a little odd to you, it is because I am not running Windows.  This layout is from Linux (UBUNTU).  The file system is a little different.  I do have the Extra Cheats dll, but it is not in this folder.  It is in C:/Program Files/Maxis/Simcity 4/Plugins along with the sky textures.  I want this to load absolutely ffirst, before any other plugins.  This means that, should I need to reload the game, I have to put this one back manually because that folder will be replaced.

[joshriddle 29]

Well, when it comes to organization, you're right. And since I don't use as much plugins as I used to.

I made the mistake of going on a download spree and just threw everything in there. I still am going to have to organize my BATs folder. Everything else is good. I took a shot with Windows Explorer sidebar open. I can't find a thing in my bats folder....

And if I need to poke inside my NAM folder for something, I can find it with ease. I also keep all my side components inside the NAM folder (RTMT, HSRP, NWM, RHW, SAM, and similar)

I still need to finish up cleaning out my mods folder.

And for the sake of speed and space, delete every image that comes with your downloads. Next read the readme, be sure to remember what to do in the case that X does X, and then trash that too. If I really feel like I need to keep a readme after reading it, I bookmark it in my browser, and move it out of my plugins folder.

[joshriddle 29]

Well, when it comes to organization, you're right. And since I don't use as much plugins as I used to.

I made the mistake of going on a download spree and just threw everything in there. I still am going to have to organize my BATs folder. Everything else is good. I took a shot with Windows Explorer sidebar open. I can't find a thing in my bats folder....

And if I need to poke inside my NAM folder for something, I can find it with ease. I also keep all my side components inside the NAM folder (RTMT, HSRP, NWM, RHW, SAM, and similar)

I still need to finish up cleaning out my mods folder.

And for the sake of speed and space, delete every image that comes with your downloads. Next read the readme, be sure to remember what to do in the case that X does X, and then trash that too. If I really feel like I need to keep a readme after reading it, I bookmark it in my browser, and move it out of my plugins folder.