Questions regarding Region and Plugin folders

[Loney 22]

Is it possible to set SC4 to read a Region folder that's kept on a different drive? Is it also possible to set SC4 to recognize multiple Plugin folders?

[tungston 19]

It will only recognize the region folder in the main documents folder. If you have pathed your document folder to a different drive, then it will read it.

The game will read the plugins folders from the Program Files, and the Documents folder.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

It will only recognize the region folder in the main documents folder. If you have pathed your document folder to a different drive, then it will read it.

The game will read the plugins folders from the Program Files, and the Documents folder.

However, if the region's "folder" is a link to such a folder in another location this will work.

The same trick will work for your plugins if you want to change folders for different regions. But you have to maintain that link yourself, or write a script to do it. If the call for SimCity 4 is also part of the script, I'm sure you can find a way to automate the whole works where an argument on the command line (you have to use a console) will select the needed plugins folder. The names in the game structure must be exactly what the game expects.

My entire game residency, including the program files/maxis section are on a free-standing disk with only two links in my main list.

  Edited September 29, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[Halen Of Dania 350]

I belive the only plugins it will recognixed is the one installed with the original disks not a windows created file from one network or PC if you prefer that. The step through windows that plugins folder took was stright to the install path and admin and to the space on your hard drive not one derived from your machine.

hope I explained that well enough ..

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I belive the only plugins it will recognixed is the one installed with the original disks not a windows created file from one network or PC if you prefer that. The step through windows that plugins folder took was stright to the install path and admin and to the space on your hard drive not one derived from your machine.

hope I explained that well enough ..

Nope. I do it all the time. Maybe it can't be done on Windows, but as I recall how links work, there is no reason for it not to do so.

Consider this structure:

C:\<user>\documents\SimCity 4[ Deluxe]

Now if the last item SimCity 4[ Deluxe] is really a link to a directory of the same name on another area of the disk or another drive, I see no reason why this won't work.

Similarly the structure C:\Program Files\Maxis can be set up so that Maxis is a link.

Now this is what I do. Here is the structure of my Verbatim1 volume:

/media/Verbatim1

├── bin.bak

├── Downloads

│ ├── C++ReferenceCard

│ ├── debian

│ ├── Dynex

│ ├── Microsoft

│ ├── muse score

│ ├── Olympus Camera

│ ├── OpenGL

│ │ └── cube

│ ├── Oracle

│ ├── SC4RelatedDownloads

│ │ ├── Andreas Roth

│ │ │ └── cityhall_fix

│ │ ├── A Nonny Moose

│ │ │ ├── Anti-Matter Power Plant

│ │ │ │ └── Anti-Matter Power Plant

│ │ │ ├── Artesian Water Collector

│ │ │ │ └── Artesian Water Collector

│ │ │ ├── CV6x6_Seminary_of_Mota [V05]

│ │ │ │ └── CV6x6_Seminary_of_Mota [V05]

│ │ │ ├── Moose Factory

│ │ │ │ └── Moose Factory

│ │ │ ├── New Harbour

│ │ │ ├── Nonnyland

│ │ │ └── Phantasmagoria

│ │ ├── Brenda_xne

│ │ │ └── Xne_ModernMonorail

│ │ ├── BSC

│ │ │ ├── Install_BSC_MEGA_PropPack_CP_Vol01

│ │ │ ├── Install_BSCMegaProps_JES_Vol01

│ │ │ ├── Install_BSC_MEGA_Props_Misc_Vol02

│ │ │ ├── Install_BSCMEGAProps_RTWFKN_Vol01

│ │ │ ├── Install_BSC_Textures_Vol03

│ │ │ ├── Sawtooth's Region Census V0.8

│ │ │ │ └── Region Census v0.8-filer

│ │ │ └── STR Freight Station

│ │ ├── Buggi

│ │ │ └── extra_cheats_plugin

│ │ ├── cowkilla

│ │ │ └── blam_highCapacity_monoStation

│ │ │ └── high capacity mono station

│ │ ├── EA Addons

│ │ ├── EA Plugins

│ │ │ └── EA Plugins

│ │ ├── EA Updates

│ │ │ └── EA Updates

│ │ ├── Equinox

│ │ │ └── SOMY Giant Consolidated Hospital

│ │ ├── frolius666

│ │ ├── goldiva

│ │ │ ├── gdv-hotel1

│ │ │ ├── GDV Mayor TropSea Set

│ │ │ │ └── GDV Mayor TropSea Set

│ │ │ ├── GDV Mayor TropTree Set

│ │ │ ├── GDVtollbooths

│ │ │ ├── GDVwatertaxi

│ │ │ └── GDVyachtclub

│ │ ├── Greyveil

│ │ ├── gshmails

│ │ │ ├── Black Hole Waste Management v2

│ │ │ │ ├── BHPROPS

│ │ │ │ └── Photos

│ │ │ └── The Holy Shmails_0cc3faf2

│ │ ├── ilive

│ │ │ ├── files2dat

│ │ │ │ └── files2dat

│ │ │ └── ilive_reader093

│ │ │ └── Template

│ │ ├── Jasoncw

│ │ │ └── Jasoncw - Train Station Set

│ │ │ ├── Jasoncw - 1x2 Small Train Station

│ │ │ ├── Jasoncw - 1x4 Medium Train Station

│ │ │ ├── Jasoncw - 2x4 Large Train Station

│ │ │ └── Screenshots

│ │ ├── JB

│ │ │ └── JB Bus Stops- SAM

│ │ ├── Maxisland

│ │ ├── Network Addon Modd

│ │ │ ├── NetworkAddonMod_Setup

│ │ │ │ └── Documentation

│ │ │ │ └── images

│ │ │ └── SAM

│ │ │ └── StreetAddonModv3_Setup

│ │ ├── nycc06

│ │ │ ├── 3 WTC

│ │ │ ├── Four World Trade Center

│ │ │ ├── New WTC Complex

│ │ │ ├── NEW WTC Essentials

│ │ │ ├── One World Trade Center

│ │ │ └── Two WTC

│ │ ├── Pegasus Productions

│ │ │ ├── CDK3

│ │ │ ├── CDKM

│ │ │ ├── MTP

│ │ │ ├── OWW2

│ │ │ └── SPAM

│ │ │ └── PEGPROD

│ │ │ └── SPAM

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Core_Lots

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Documentation

│ │ │ │ ├── css

│ │ │ │ └── img

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Mod_Main

│ │ │ └── SPAM_Super_Resource_Pack

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Crops_Resource

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Resource

│ │ │ └── SPAM_Textures

│ │ ├── qbert2

│ │ ├── RalphaelNinja

│ │ │ ├── CrimeDoesntPay

│ │ │ └── Plugin Landmark Props_a

│ │ ├── Regions

│ │ ├── rivit

│ │ ├── robinsden

│ │ │ └── robinsden bus stop

│ │ │ └── robinsden.co.cc Bus Station

│ │ │ ├── All-in-one

│ │ │ └── props

│ │ ├── RTMT

│ │ │ ├── BSC_Install_EssentialFiles

│ │ │ ├── BSC_Install_texturesVol01

│ │ │ ├── Install_BSC_MEGA_Props_Misc_Vol02

│ │ │ ├── Install_BSC_Textures_Vol03

│ │ │ ├── Install_Roadtop_Mass_Transit_V3.50

│ │ │ ├── RTMT Add-On Pack V3.602

│ │ │ ├── SG_Install_BusStops

│ │ │ └── uroncha

│ │ ├── Rybolton

│ │ ├── SilentBreaker

│ │ │ └── pol_fht

│ │ ├── SimGoober

│ │ │ ├── SG_Install_ClockTowerStation1

│ │ │ ├── SG_INSTALL_MEGAProps01

│ │ │ ├── SG_Install_PassengerDepot102

│ │ │ └── SG_Install_SimTropolis Station

│ │ ├── TheQuiltedLlama

│ │ │ └── STR Station

│ │ ├── timotheus4

│ │ │ └── auckland

│ │ ├── toroca

│ │ │ └── OperaHouse

│ │ ├── Tropod

│ │ ├── TurboSquid

│ │ ├── TWrecks

│ │ ├── uroncha

│ │ ├── Willard

│ │ │ └── Central sound1

│ │ │ ├── Central sound

│ │ │ └── __MACOSX

│ │ │ └── Central sound

│ │ └── Z1

│ └── SunMicrosystems

├── Link to Downloads -> /media/Verbatim1/Downloads

├── Link to Maxis -> /media/Verbatim1/Maxis

├── Link to SimCity 4 -> /media/Verbatim1/SimCity 4

├── lost+found [error opening dir]

├── Maxis

│ └── SimCity 4

│ ├── Apps

│ ├── English

│ ├── Fonts

│ ├── HTTPCache

│ ├── Plugins

│ ├── Radio

│ │ └── Stations

│ │ ├── Mayor

│ │ │ └── Music

│ │ └── Region

│ │ └── Music

│ ├── Regions

│ │ ├── Berlin

│ │ ├── Downloads

│ │ ├── Fairview

│ │ ├── London

│ │ ├── New York

│ │ ├── San Francisco

│ │ └── Timbuktu

│ ├── Sku_Data

│ │ └── Sku1_US

│ └── Support

├── Nam.Backup

│ └── Plugins

│ ├── Andreas Roth

│ ├── A Nonny Moose

│ │ ├── Moose Factory

│ │ ├── Temple of Mota

│ │ └── Water Plant

│ ├── Brenda_xne

│ ├── BSC

│ │ ├── BSCProps

│ │ ├── BSCTextures

│ │ └── Farms

│ │ └── SimGoober

│ │ └── Extras

│ │ └── BlackBeardsDen

│ ├── Cowkilla

│ ├── EA Plugins

│ ├── Equinox

│ ├── frolius666

│ │ └── F666 - Traffic Control addon

│ ├── Goldiva

│ │ ├── GDV_TropSeaSet

│ │ └── GDV_TropTrees

│ ├── gshmails

│ │ └── BHPROPS

│ ├── jasoncw

│ │ └── TrainStationSet

│ │ ├── Jasoncw - 1x2 Small Train Station

│ │ ├── Jasoncw - 1x4 Medium Train Station

│ │ └── Jasoncw - 2x4 Large Train Station

│ ├── JB

│ ├── Network Addon Mod

│ │ ├── Additional Bridges

│ │ ├── Network Widening Mod

│ │ ├── Plugins

│ │ └── Street Addon Mod

│ │ └── Textures

│ ├── nycc06

│ │ └── WorldTradeCentrr

│ ├── Pegasus Productions

│ │ ├── CDK3

│ │ │ ├── Blackies Boat Yard

│ │ │ ├── Capt Jacks Landing

│ │ │ ├── CDK3 SUPER PAK

│ │ │ ├── Coast Guard Station

│ │ │ ├── Marina

│ │ │ │ ├── 1x Boat Storage

│ │ │ │ ├── Boat Ramp

│ │ │ │ ├── Chandlery

│ │ │ │ ├── Dock End

│ │ │ │ ├── Dock Extension

│ │ │ │ ├── Docks

│ │ │ │ ├── Guest Services

│ │ │ │ ├── Parking Lot

│ │ │ │ ├── Sport Fishing

│ │ │ │ └── Yacht Club

│ │ │ ├── OWW2

│ │ │ │ ├── Annabellelin

│ │ │ │ ├── Beach

│ │ │ │ │ ├── Beach Hut

│ │ │ │ │ └── Restrooms

│ │ │ │ ├── Blackbeards_Den_OWW2_a

│ │ │ │ ├── Captain Nemos

│ │ │ │ ├── Ferry Landing

│ │ │ │ ├── Fishing Pier

│ │ │ │ ├── Food Court

│ │ │ │ ├── Fountain Plaza

│ │ │ │ ├── Lighthouse Museum

│ │ │ │ ├── Observation Deck

│ │ │ │ ├── OWW Transitions

│ │ │ │ ├── PierSet

│ │ │ │ │ ├── 1x Boat Dock

│ │ │ │ │ ├── Arcade

│ │ │ │ │ └── LifeGuard Tower

│ │ │ │ ├── Police Station

│ │ │ │ └── RCI

│ │ │ │ ├── Corner Lots

│ │ │ │ └── Pier Fillers

│ │ │ └── Ship Pack 1

│ │ ├── Christmas Dev Pack

│ │ ├── MTP

│ │ │ └── _MTP SUPER PACK

│ │ ├── Seasonal Woods

│ │ ├── SPAM

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_addon

│ │ │ │ └── SPAM_abcvs

│ │ │ │ └── Ploppable Fields

│ │ │ │ ├── Diagonal_Crops

│ │ │ │ ├── Diagonal_Trees

│ │ │ │ ├── Single_Crops

│ │ │ │ └── Single_Trees

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Core_Lots

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Mod_Main

│ │ │ └── SPAM_Super_Resource_Pack

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Crops_Resource

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Resource

│ │ │ └── SPAM_Textures

│ │ └── WaterMods

│ │ └── Brigantine

│ ├── qbert2

│ ├── RalphaelNinja

│ ├── robinsden

│ ├── RTMTV3

│ │ ├── El Rail over Road

│ │ ├── GLR Transitions

│ │ ├── Models

│ │ │ └── Signs

│ │ ├── Props

│ │ ├── SAM

│ │ └── z_RTMT

│ ├── rybolton

│ ├── SilentBreaker

│ ├── Simgoober

│ │ ├── Bus Stops

│ │ └── Transportation

│ │ └── Rail

│ ├── toroca

│ ├── TWrecks

│ ├── uroncha

│ │ ├── MTRT-V1

│ │ └── SAM_Stopper

│ │ └── Sidewalk_Texture

│ ├── z1

│ └── zzz_overrides

└── SimCity 4

├── Albums

│ ├── Baie dei Pescatori--1484457138

│ ├── Baletta Grande--1484458664

│ ├── Central--1545541476

│ ├── Litorale del Nord--1484457726

│ └── West Shore--1575716628

├── Exception Reports

├── HTTPCache

├── Plugins

│ ├── Andreas Roth

│ ├── A Nonny Moose

│ │ ├── Moose Factory

│ │ ├── Temple of Mota

│ │ └── Water Plant

│ ├── Brenda_xne

│ ├── BSC

│ │ ├── BSCProps

│ │ ├── BSCTextures

│ │ └── Farms

│ │ └── SimGoober

│ │ └── Extras

│ │ └── BlackBeardsDen

│ ├── Cowkilla

│ ├── EA Plugins

│ ├── Equinox

│ ├── frolius666

│ │ └── F666 - Traffic Control addon

│ ├── Goldiva

│ │ ├── GDV_TropSeaSet

│ │ └── GDV_TropTrees

│ ├── gshmails

│ │ └── BHPROPS

│ ├── jasoncw

│ │ └── TrainStationSet

│ │ ├── Jasoncw - 1x2 Small Train Station

│ │ ├── Jasoncw - 1x4 Medium Train Station

│ │ └── Jasoncw - 2x4 Large Train Station

│ ├── JB

│ ├── Network Addon Mod

│ │ ├── Additional Bridges

│ │ ├── Network Widening Mod

│ │ │ └── images

│ │ ├── Plugins

│ │ └── Street Addon Mod

│ │ └── Textures

│ ├── Pegasus Productions

│ │ ├── CDK3

│ │ │ ├── Blackies Boat Yard

│ │ │ ├── Capt Jacks Landing

│ │ │ ├── CDK3 SUPER PAK

│ │ │ ├── Coast Guard Station

│ │ │ ├── Marina

│ │ │ │ ├── 1x Boat Storage

│ │ │ │ ├── Boat Ramp

│ │ │ │ ├── Chandlery

│ │ │ │ ├── Dock End

│ │ │ │ ├── Dock Extension

│ │ │ │ ├── Docks

│ │ │ │ ├── Guest Services

│ │ │ │ ├── Parking Lot

│ │ │ │ ├── Sport Fishing

│ │ │ │ └── Yacht Club

│ │ │ ├── OWW2

│ │ │ │ ├── Annabellelin

│ │ │ │ ├── Beach

│ │ │ │ │ ├── Beach Hut

│ │ │ │ │ └── Restrooms

│ │ │ │ ├── Blackbeards_Den_OWW2_a

│ │ │ │ ├── Captain Nemos

│ │ │ │ ├── Ferry Landing

│ │ │ │ ├── Fishing Pier

│ │ │ │ ├── Food Court

│ │ │ │ ├── Fountain Plaza

│ │ │ │ ├── Lighthouse Museum

│ │ │ │ ├── Observation Deck

│ │ │ │ ├── OWW Transitions

│ │ │ │ ├── PierSet

│ │ │ │ │ ├── 1x Boat Dock

│ │ │ │ │ ├── Arcade

│ │ │ │ │ └── LifeGuard Tower

│ │ │ │ ├── Police Station

│ │ │ │ └── RCI

│ │ │ │ ├── Corner Lots

│ │ │ │ └── Pier Fillers

│ │ │ └── Ship Pack 1

│ │ ├── Christmas Dev Pack

│ │ ├── MTP

│ │ │ ├── _MTP SUPER PACK

│ │ │ ├── ZZZ-MTP

│ │ │ └── ZZZ PEG Facelift Mods

│ │ │ └── MTP

│ │ │ ├── MTP MM0 Pine Trees

│ │ │ ├── MTP MM1 Pine Trees Clusters

│ │ │ ├── MTP MM2 Scrub Brush

│ │ │ ├── MTP MM3 Forest Flora

│ │ │ ├── MTP MM4 Old Pine Trees

│ │ │ ├── MTP MM8 Forest Scenes

│ │ │ └── MTP Tree Mod

│ │ ├── Seasonal Woods

│ │ ├── SPAM

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_addon

│ │ │ │ └── SPAM_abcvs

│ │ │ │ └── Ploppable Fields

│ │ │ │ ├── Diagonal_Crops

│ │ │ │ ├── Diagonal_Trees

│ │ │ │ ├── Single_Crops

│ │ │ │ └── Single_Trees

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Core_Lots

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Mod_Main

│ │ │ └── SPAM_Super_Resource_Pack

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Crops_Resource

│ │ │ ├── SPAM_Resource

│ │ │ └── SPAM_Textures

│ │ └── WaterMods

│ │ └── Brigantine

│ ├── qbert2

│ ├── RalphaelNinja

│ ├── robinsden

│ ├── RTMTV3

│ │ ├── El Rail over Road

│ │ ├── GLR Transitions

│ │ ├── Models

│ │ │ └── Signs

│ │ ├── Props

│ │ ├── SAM

│ │ └── z_RTMT

│ ├── rybolton

│ ├── SilentBreaker

│ ├── Simgoober

│ │ ├── Bus Stops

│ │ └── Transportation

│ │ └── Rail

│ ├── toroca

│ ├── TWrecks

│ ├── uroncha

│ │ ├── MTRT-V1

│ │ └── SAM_Stopper

│ │ └── Sidewalk_Texture

│ ├── z1

│ └── zzz_overrides

├── Regions

│ ├── Berlin

│ ├── Downloads

│ ├── Fairview

│ ├── Harbour View

│ ├── InnerSea

│ ├── London

│ ├── New Harbour

│ ├── New York

│ ├── Sandbox

│ ├── San Francisco

│ └── Timbuktu

└── STEX_Downloads

├── BSC

│ └── Farms

│ └── SimGoober

│ └── Extras

│ └── BlackbeardsDen

├── Cogeo

│ └── RTMTV3

│ └── ReadMe_files

└── Simgoober

├── Bus Stops

└── Transportation

└── Rail

471 directories

This contains, mostly, my files for SimCity4. I run two different versions of Linux and all I have to do is install the shortcuts (red above) in the appropriate spots, rename them to remove the words "link to" and the system and the program cannot tell they are not on the home disk. If you do this to port the game, you should also move the appropriate registry entries if you have more than one registry.

Since this is all in one big list, you can also see that the relevant section of my Downloads is in parallel to my Plugins.

Now, if you wanted to have a Region that was not in the SimCity4/Regions directory, there is no reason why it could not be linked in a similar matter.

This is maybe pretty advanced file system usage for some users, but I assure you I use this technique all the time. Sometimes you have to understand more than the desktop to get your computer to do what you want.

[Loney 22]

I'm having a hard time understanding this. Is it possible to post screenshots showing how to create a link "folder"? I doubt SC4 will recognize a shortcut to the Region folder.

  Edited September 30, 2011 by Loney  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I'm having a hard time understanding this. Is it possible to post screenshots showing how to create a link "folder"? I doubt SC4 will recognize a shortcut to the Region folder.

Just for practice, pick any file on your desktop and right click it. Choose make a link. That's all there is to it.

Now, to make the externally placed folders work for SimCity try this:

MOVE (not copy) the C:/<user>/Documents/SimCity 4 folder to where you would like to operate from.

Navigate to this spot and the (new) SimCity 4 folder, right click it and chose make a link.

Now, copy that link to C:/<user>/Documents and rename it to be the same name as the SimCity 4 folder

Try opening your game.

When you get a chance, run the Introduction to Windows tutorial on the file system and pay careful attention to the section on links (not short cuts, which are a different thing entirely).

If this works, well and good. If not, then you are out of luck and you'll have to put your moved folder back.

The same technique can be applied to any folder, including those in the C:/<user>/Documents/Simcity 4/Regions folder.

You are about to enter the twilight zone of computer geekism, so tread carefully.

[Loney 22]

When I right click the "Region" folder, I see this: http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/6785/unledkuc.jpg

I don't see "Link" anywhere.

  Edited October 1, 2011 by Loney  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

When I right click the "Region" folder, I see this: http://img713.images...85/unledkuc.jpg

I don't see "Link" anywhere.

Did you have that open in a browser or windows explorer? Windows explorer shouldn't be giving you network references.

  Edited October 1, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[Loney 22]

I had it open in Windows Explorer. I'm using Window 7 Home Premium SP1.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, that's a new one on me. I haven't used windows since XP, when a folder was just a special kind of file. Anyone know what they've done? As far as I know, NTFS is still NTFS.

What happens if you click on that link?

[Loney 22]

What happens if you click on that link?

Which link? Could you specify?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

What happens if you click on that link?

Which link? Could you specify?

Never mind, I did. I didn't realize your reference was the snap of your problem. I am researching this further. Meanwhile, take a look at windows explorer help files and see if it is possible to make a link to a folder.

[Loney 22]

I found this article which talked about NTFS symbolic link: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link

Similar to a junction link, but it has additional functions. I'm trying to comprehend the article.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Without realization on my part, we've been batting our gums over a semantic difference created by Microsoft's attempt to make this more (less) understandable. In my terms of a link, think of a Microsoft short-cut. They are one and the same except Microsoft makes a big fuss over the simple concept of indirection. Here is a test you can make to verify this:

1. MOVE your folder C:\<user>\Documents\SimCity 4 Deluxe to the desktop. (move, not copy)
2. On the desktop, right click the folder and select make a short-cut.
3. MOVE the short-cut into C:\<user>\Documents
4. Now, rename the short-cut to have exactly the name SimCity 4 Deluxe.
5. Start your game and see if your regions turn up in it. If they do, the short-cut redirected the game to the desktop.
6. If this didn't work, put the folder back, but otherwise, put it where you like, but update the shortcut accordingly.

And by the way, one of the best ways to find something out about a computer is to ask it.

In our little example above, any folder can be set up indirectly this way to any place on your storage media.

[Loney 22]

Here's what I did: http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/561/unledyov.jpg

I ran into a lot of trouble:

Local NTFS volumes are required to complete the operation: Fixed it by reformatting the RAMDisk from exFAT to NTFS.

Cannot create a file that already exists: Fixed it by swapping the targets.

The system cannot find the target specified: Fixed it by adding a space in "SimCity4" for the SC4 folder in the C: drive.

The syntax of the command is incorrect: Haven't figured it out, what does it mean?

  Edited October 8, 2011 by Loney  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

^ You really don't have any computer skills, do you?

I suggest that you will continue to have trouble with this without the help of a personal trainer to sit beside you. One thing you didn't find out is that if a name has spaces in, it has to be enclosed in quotes ("SimCity 4") and in the case of a file string with spaces in part of it, the whole thing has to be enclosed in quotes. This requires that you understand command syntax, and I suspect that you do not really understand the Backus-Naur format in which all commands are usually described.

The syntax of the command is incorrect: Haven't figured it out, what does it mean?

This means that you have a formatting error in your command. Try typing help mklink into your console and see what comes back.

All things being equal, using the console is definitely the hard way. You should be using windows explorer, perhaps with several open windows.. I'm very much afraid you have entered some kind of swamp with that command, which is typical of Microsoft. On my machine you make a link with the command:

link name1 name2

Creates a link for name1 called name2.

Beyond that, deponent sayeth nought.

  Edited October 8, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[Loney 22]

I finally created a Junction link: http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/8625/unledshg.jpg

The main problem was that instead of typing in "Regions" for the first target, I typed in "Region". Small wonder why the OS couldn't find where to link the Region folder in the RAMDisk. Took me a little over one hour to figure it out.

  Edited October 9, 2011 by Loney  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

That's fine. Is it doing what you want now?

[Loney 22]

I've been getting annoyed by the increased shutdown and startup time. Then I noticed a 4 GB SD card.

At first I attempted to set RAMDisk to read its massive save file from the SD card, but for some reason, for every 1 GB of RAM it allocates to disk space, 2 GB of save files are created. One is a Disc Image, the other is a .BAK.

Nevertheless, I moved all of SC4's files to the SD card and reduced the RAMDisk usage to TEMP only and reduced its size to 512 MB.

Then I noticed something interesting.

Apparently a 7200 RPM hard drive can outdo a lightly used 4GB Easystore SD card in sequential write performance. That, or the hard drive's sequential read performance is worse than its write performance. Nothing was running on the computer, including anti-virus, except for other background tasks.

I wrote a massive 3.2 GB file to the SD card from the D: partition of the hard drive and the lowest speed was no less than 6.2 MB/s.

I then wrote the file back to the hard drive on the D: partition and the lowest speed was no less than 7.6 MB/s.

The SD card was formatted as exFAT and the allocation unit size was 32678 KB.

A few hours later, I ran the test again at exFAT 128 KB after the SD card was filled up too quick due to the large allocation unit size. The content being written was also different as it consisted of a few 400 MB files, a handful of 70-30 MB files and many tiny files that were less than 1 MB in size.

Write performance was even more unstable for the SD card, it varied between 6.2 MB/s to 6.8 MB/s. The HHD took a small hit but was still faster than the SD card.

Anyone know a good free hard drive benchmark tool? I'd love to expand the testing.

  Edited October 15, 2011 by Loney  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you want to get performance comparisons you should set your HD up with the same file system as your disk with the same size allocation unit. You are being bamboozled by the optimization of the disk. Disk seeks/reads/writes are optimized using a technique called the elevator algorithm that tries to make as many read/writes on the same position of the heads as possible. Many hard disk drives have multiple head combs, and some have one head per cylinder. If you are going to do this kind of testing, you need to know much more about how your disk driver optimization works including the internal seek optimization and buffering operations of the disk controller itself. Disk controllers often have very large buffers, so you are really competing with an optimized memory to memory to storage operation while the HD has only one channel and probably needs no optimization since it is addressed directly. Effectively, you are comparing apples to oranges.

I don't think any amount of fast memory storage is going to help you very much. In all my years, it never has. It is unreliable on a power fail too. I have two 7200 r.p.m. disks, one on the SATA controller in IDE format as my main disk, and one free standing with a USB 2 interface. Both have ext4 journaling file systems. My SimCity 4 user directory, my Maxis program files directory, and my Downloads directory are on the USB connected disk. The longer delay caused by the slower channel seems to be irrelevant.

I think the slow loading problem is not an I/O problem at all, but a processor problem organizing the tables and looking up the images to be displayed. Remember, once the data is in memory, it is all in memory. The only fly in this ointment would be any paging. I have 4 GB of RAM, and nothing seems to get on my swap file, but then I don't have a full GB of plugins, either.

I think it is just a matter of using up your single CPU. My system monitor shows the CPU is at 100% during city loading, and also often at 100% during processing of a city when the city has more than around 100,000 Sims. The operating system, of course, does multi-process things like page requests, but the text for the program can only use one processor. I have two Athlon X2's at 0.8GHz. I am not dissatisfied with this machine, as it does what I want in good time.

Live test:

I just loaded a city of nearly 200,000 Sims. Both of my processors went above 80% which indicates that not only is the program using a lot, but the rest of the system is being strained by the supporting requirement. The monitor reports 96% CPU, 2.7 GB of virtual (paging) space with around 550 MB memory pool for the SimCity 4 execution. The high processor for CPU-1 is due to the swapping of the CPUs by the dispatcher. The other processes account for less than 10% CPU and most are in a wait state and are probably swapped out. There was definitely a spurt of 100% CPU during the city load and set up.

I really think that your slowness problems are caused by the dearth of processor cycles. If this program could multi-thread it would have 1.6 GHz of processor to play in, but has only half of this. The scheduler algorithm does manage to time slice the program between the processors (one at a time). The real solution to this problem with this program is a much faster CPU.