The Query Doctoring Thread

[Daeley 46]

After recieving some PM's lately about people asking me what's wrong with their Query, I thought about opening this thread. So if you have any problems or general questions that are not covered by the tutorial you can ask them here (but please check first to see if your question isn't already answered). Also make sure your question is not covered by the tutorial.

 

Please make sure you have something useful to say... I do not want this thread cluttering up! 

 

Question n

[SimGoober 2,353]

Daeley, here is a quick one for you.  I have created a custom query for some park lots i am playinh with.  I made the PNG file using Paint, with a border all the way around.  When I use it, some of the border is getting trimmed.  The center of the query is getting tiled, so I don't think the query is bigger than the PNG file.

Any quick ideas on what could be causing this?

 

Another question; I know that certain parts of the PNG get tiled to make it big enough for the UI.  Can we define where the border ends and the middle starts?  I'd like to put a picture in the background, with a large box for readable text. 

 

Thanks!

[Daeley 46]

I suppose the green line disappearing at the edge is what you mean with the edge getting trimmed? My first guess would be that your window is 1 pixel too large in x and y direction, so I would try to trim it down 1 and see what that gives.

 

As for your second question, I don't know exactly how the process of tiling works, and I don't really know how and where it is defined, but I belive it is not defined in the UI files.

The easiest way around this would be to set the background of the IGZWinGen lines to a blank (255,0,255) PNG file and add your Query to the first line of the inner Query as a custom IGZWinBMP. This has the advantage that you can choose the size of this image with the property imagerect.

 

as mentioned above, inserting custom non-essential pictures to your query, shouldn't give you any trouble of tling, as you can choose the picture size just as large as the imagerect.

[Arthurovitz 4]

Daeley, could you, please, help me to put things in order with a query of a transit lot I made?

 

    I built a custom passenger ferry terminal, and made it transit enabeled also for bus & pedestians.(Its Transit Swich Point property is the same as default bus stop: pedestrians can enter & exit while remainind pedestrians, bus passengers can enter only if converted to ped-ans, ped-ans can also exit and be converted to bus passengers).

    But when I open the custom query (that I made in iLive's UI-Editor with the help of your tutorial), the Actual usage value do not make any sence. I performed an experiment, by replacing my Lot with the ferry terminal with default transit functions & query and the bus stop that were plopped side by side. Let me show you some screenshots, that compare regular & route queries in this two cases:

 

Ferry terminal + bus stop:

(Tropod, I'm really sorry that the image is a little bit wide, I couldn't shrink it any more )

 

 

 And my custom Ferry&Bus station:

 

 

 

Where the heck did simulator get the number of 1.5K in default terminal usage?

And why all this ferry-using sims dissapear from the query, when the ferry terminal is enabled for bus? As you can see from the route query, the regular query shows only bus usage.

    The Transportation Dep. income shows that total usage of mass transit only increased.

    When I checked the default ferry and bus UI files, I found out, that they use the same ID for their Actual usage values - 0x00001044.  How can it be?!  What does this value detect anyway?

In the case of bus stop it would be logical to think, that it detects number of pedestrians converted to bus passengers during the day. Regarding to ferry terminal, as far as I understand, it works like a wormhole, so the pedestrians that enter it are instantly teleportated to another terminal of the same type, so its usage is supposed to be calculated by some different way.

    I really can't figure it out.

Another thing concerning the custom UI itself.  As you can see, two of the anchors are missing from the picture. In UI-Editor it looks like this:    

 What am I doing wrong?

 

If you could clarify these issues, it wold really mean a grate deal for me!

 

Thank you very much for support.

[Thalassicus 33]

Some mods (and even the game might) cause both the inbound and outbout traffic from a transit-enabled lot to be counted, doubling the usage statistics. Maybe someone else can give you the details, I don't remember the specifics of this problem.

[Arthurovitz 4]

Hi, Thal !

You are here, you are there, you are everywhere...

Thank you for reply, you reminded me, that I forgott to post one important pic that shows the change in Traffic volume, if we're talking about usage statistics:

 

 

What we can conclude from that? It is still the query issue, because if the game, as you said, combine inbound and outbout traffic from a Lot, my query should show at least 1,600 usage.

[Daeley 46]

as your qeury shows 1.5-1.6K with two means of transport (bus+ferry) and only 700-800 with only one, it seems ovbious to me some/all traffic is getting double counts... as you say yourself the peds can go ferry-ped and then ped-bus, or reverse. I do not really know of a way to stop this.

secondly, ALL traffic is handled through the same property (as you found out yourself) so there is no way to separate traffic counts in a Query that I know of. The best way to make it visible is just say something in the lines of total passenger count bus+ferry.
As for the icons, just as above there is no way to separate them so you can only use one (you can however create a custom ferry-bus icon and use that, just make sure it is in the same format as the standard Maxis PNG's) so in your example, pick the one you prefer and set that one to the original area - about 5 icons wide.

feel free to ask further questions if thqt doesn't clear it out enough...

[Arthurovitz 4]

Hi, Daeley!

I'm really glad you replied to my call!  Thank you a lot for your very helpful answer!

I tried to follow your advice and do something about that query, and finally came to something, that, I think, looks OK. This is my first custom UI, and I learned everithing in process, so it took me a lot of time:

 

 

What do you think about it, honestly? Your hardest criticism would be highly appreciated.

Allow me to ask you another thing - what do you know about Goofy Stat Response Curve property? I would like to insert something like Cups of capuccino spilled and I want the number to be at range of  ~20-60.

 

Thank you again for the help!

[Daeley 46]

actually, for a first query that's some pretty excellent work you have there! good job, especially on the backgrounds, they look really sweet and blend in nicely with the lot and the UI.

as for some comments...

-why did you add a x3 to the transit usage? shouldn't that number be already correct?

-the standard Maxis Queries use a text size of 18 pixels per line (in the y direction). It seem you used slightly more, but it still looks quite good. Icons use a little more than 18 pixels... not really a standard on that

-your text on the right is leaving a huge space with the border... I'd move it closer to the side. I believe the standard Maxis spacing is about 8-12 pixels between the border and the text.

-don't really know how the goofy stat property works... just set all the numbers around 20-60 and see what happens... it should be quite all right

 

btw... If I say standard Maxis this doesn't mean you have to follow it... heck I don't even follow it! It's just a little something to start from If you use bigger fonts or UI backgrounds with bigger borders it's pretty natural you'll have to divert a little from the standards

Secondly, while using that UI editor is good, I'd advise you to use the reader for final finetuning (I don't even use the UI editor at all lol ).

[Arthurovitz 4]

      OK, I couldn't stop playing with it. Making UI became an excuse to fool around with Photoshop, but at the end this query of mine started to get some shape. The advantage of making custom queries is that, unlike BAT, the picture you see in the game is exactly as the picture in the Photoshop window. Let me present you the strike 2:

 

 

 

I hope, anyone can see that I had a good teacher.

 

Concerning your comments:

    I don't know why you thought that I use bigger font size. The size is the same, just the line spacing is little wider.

    Of course, I use the Reader - there are some things which can be done only there - changing line order, for example. But since I'm far from being a programmer and don't use to looong lines with text code, it's much easier to do the most work in UI-editor (merci bien, iLive!).

    About this darn passenger count. I still think the actual usage sould be higher, according to Transportation income & the Volume graf (see my previous posts ^^). I'll leave it as it is...

 

    So, the bottom line, I couldn't do any of it without your grate tutorial and tips.  Special thanks for that info about tpansparent purple color - it opens an ocean of possibilities!

 

  Sencirely yours,   Arthurovitz

[Daeley 46]

want to play around with photoshop huh? how about a custom button then?

 

Just create a button and copy/paste it three times horizontally so each copy is exactly 1/4 of the width of the picture. Each of these will be used ingame according to the state of the button - not available, idle, clicked, highlighted (not sure it's in that order though) - so edit them a bit accordingly.

Now, insert you button pic into your lot file and chance the picture line in the close button to reference your inserted PNG's group and instance id et voil

[Andreas Roth 616]

@Arthurovitz: Wow, this looks awesome! However, I'd suggest to check the captions in the lower part of the query, some of them seem to be a bit misaligned (the 12/12 is too high and some other minor glitches).

[Thalassicus 33]

That looks awesome!

[edit] hmm echo in here

[Arthurovitz 4]

Hi, guys!

 

I'm really flattered that you like what I've done!

 

 

Date:10/22/2004 1:39:45 PM
Author:Daeley
want to play around with photoshop huh? how about a custom button then?...have fun!

quote>

 

   Daeley, thank you very much for sharing your knowlege with me, but I've already been making custom menu buttons for some time now. Recently I'm trying to complete an original coastal development Lot-pack, and it concludes about15 puzzle pieces, every one of them needs a unique custom button. I even made a template for them. To be honest with you, I do not find much fun in drowing, copying and pasting square images with the size of 40x40 pixels. There is no place for fantasy here.

    Custom UI is an absolutely different story.  If we're talking about buttons, I would like to ask you about the Close button in UI.  Here is my 3rd attempt on making a query:

 

 

(As you can see, I'm pointing at Mass transit usage because I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT the friggin thing shows !!)

     It is obviously, that the only item on that picture that doesn't blend in, is a Close button. I tried to make it transparent, but nothing helped. Is there any way to make it unvisible, or on the contrary, create a custom one? I'm almost sure that I sow somewhere custom Close button made by you.

     I'm really grateful to you for support !

[Daeley 46]

actually, my explanation above was about making custom UI buttons. They can be basically any size and/or shape, just as long as you put 4 copies with the exact same size in one PNG. (so you're not limited to 40x40 pixels). You'll need to adapt the button size in your UI for best performance, but I see you're quite familiar with it .

I'd also leave the transit property as it is... it should be representative of something

 

great query so far btw... looking awesome!

 

to everyone else: please have something useful to say in this thread instead of just ooooh's and aaaah's... it makes the helpful comments harder to find.

[Arthurovitz 4]

Stupid me... Daeley, thanks for clarifying this for the second time. I'm little slow this days due to the terrible cold I cought...  Ill try it now.

[iMacWin95 0]

This may sound stupid but here goes:

 

How do I add a set of properties (like adding # of teachers to a hospital...), so that it links up properly?

[Daeley 46]

Well I'm assuming you have a lot which has an amount of teachers and you want the Query to show this, and that you have read my Query tutorial. The easiest way to accomplsih this is simply to look for any of the standard Maxis Queries and copy/paste it (or them) into your UI file.

[Thalassicus 33]

I like the second-to-last query you made, it captures the roadside bar feeling

To include transparency in a PNG, if you're using Photoshop, the easiest way is to use Save for Web command under the File menu. Select PNG - 24 with Transparency checked.

An alternative method is to add an alpha map channel to the image and designate transparency there (more useful for some applications, but probably not for a UI)

[nosoupforyou 9]

i cant even get the query tutorial to work...

any advice?

[Daeley 46]

ahem...no offense but... it's a tutorial, you're just supposed to read it.

[nosoupforyou 9]

it won't open...

i'll try it again so that i can get a more specific question...

[Arthurovitz 4]

Date:10/23/2004 2:45:34 PM
Author:Thalassicus
...To include transparency in a PNG, if you're using Photoshop, the easiest way is to use 'Save for Web' command under the File menu. Select PNG - 24 with Transparency checked.

An alternative method is to add an alpha map channel to the image and designate transparency there (more useful for some applications, but probably not for a UI)

quote>

     I found out for myself, that in the case of  UI Close button, the property winflag_alphablend=yes should be present to allow tpansparency. You don't have to save yor PNG by no special way.  (BTW,  could someone explane to me what is the meaning of interlaced in the PNG save options?[EDIT: Somebody already explaned it to me])

Anyway here is my very first custom button:

 

                  idle                            highlighted                             clicked

 

You woudn't believe it, but I actually drew everything in BAT, and than exported to Photoshop by PrintScreen.  Only thing I need now is a sound of flushing toilet for a click sound.   Daeley, do you, by occasion, have any experience with TRK and WAV? My personal knowlege in this field is one big zero.

 

  To the nosoupforyou  - help me to understand you - What do you mean by tutorial?

- Daeley's Word document,   Daeley's example Lot  or  iLive's UI-editor?

[Arthurovitz 4]

This post is a request to admins/tecnicians of the site.

It is not a first time I see that the name of a last poster on a thread on the general page of the discussion is incorrect (replaced by a name of another poster) You could check  this thread for example. Please, take care of it, it can be very confusing.

 

Thank you for support.

[Daeley 46]

Arthurovitz, for that matter I suggest you send a PM to Dirk or some of the other admins... I'd really like to keep this thread as close to the original topic as possible...

 

Your button is awesome... you really made a 3D button and exported it? impressive!

as for sounds, I'm not too familiar with TRK files and all their properties but I have used some in the past. Just copy an existing TRK file to your lot and set the UI button property btnclicksnd to it's group and instance ID (after you've edited the instance of course). Then, insert a custom .wav sound as XA and set the property XA instance of the TRK file to this sound.

So far I've only seen compatibility between XA and WAV... I'm afraid MP3 will not work.

 

[iMacWin95 0]

Erm... Would anything bad happen if I had three IGZWinGens? (The outer one and two inner ones)

[builderman 3]

Date: 10/24/2004 1:54:44 AM
Author: Arthurovitz

This post is a request to admins/tecnicians of the site.

It is not a first time I see that the name of a last poster on a thread on the general page of the discussion is incorrect (replaced by a name of another poster) You could check this thread for example. Please, take care of it, it can be very confusing.

Thank you for support.

quote>


Its an IdealBB bug, there's not much dirk can do about it.

I LOVE your queries.

[Daeley 46]

Date:10/24/2004 9:15:25 AM
Author:iMacWin95

Erm... Would anything bad happen if I had three IGZWinGens? (The outer one and two inner ones)

quote>

I have never used this before, but in theory I think there should be no problem as long as you keep the areas in proportion.

[Arthurovitz 4]

Hi, Daeley!

Here   is a small present for you!

Read The readme and have fun!

 

[EDIT: finally I got this link right! Sorry for inconvinience ]

[Arthurovitz 4]

Here is the same Idealbb bug again! I'm NOT Daeley, I'm A-R-T-H-U-R-O-V-I-T-Z !