MOD's, BAT's etc..

[Burndawg 3]

I need help! A lot ofhelp.

Let me apologize up frontif this is the wrong place to post this. And to tell you I’m sorry about thebarge of questions. I’ll try to keep the number of questions to less than 50.

I’ve been playing SimCitysince it was first available. I’m not talking about SC4 or 3, I’m talking aboutthe first (original) one that was released back in the late 80’s (yes I’m thatold). So I’m not a newbie at the concept of the game, I am however new to thiswhole idea of BAT’s, MOD’s, plug-ins etc. I never knew they existed, I neverknew about Simtropolis until about 2 weeks ago when I ran across this site onaccident.

On to the questions, I’llnumber them for easier reference.

1) From what I’veread here, hours upon hours of reading, I understand that some of the MOD’srequire dependencies and that some of the dependencies will work with severaldifferent MOD’s, plug-in’s etc. When I download these dependencies and placethem in my plug-ins file (documents), do I need to place them in the same filefolder as the MOD they are supposed to help? I’ll give you an example of myquestion. I downloaded SPAM and the required dependency MTP Super Pack andplaced them both in the Doc plug-ins file separately. Do I need to combine theminto one folder and then put that folder into my Doc plug-ins? If I do then doI need to copy MTP Super Pack and do the same thing for each Mod that requiresit.

2) All of my MOD’s,dependencies, BAT’s etc. are just in my Doc plug-in file helter skelter. Dothey need to be placed in there in a specific order or is just being in theregood enough?

3) It seems that allof my major MOD’s want to be the last one loaded by placing zzz’s in there.Well there can only be one first place and therefore only one last. My questionis how do I know which one should be last? NAM?

4) If I remembercorrectly, I’ve read so much that I’m starting to confuse two or threedifferent articles, somebody was talking about putting certain downloads in Docplug-ins and certain ones in Program plug-ins. If this is correct, which onesgo where and how will I know in the future what goes where. I believe the Moosewas in on that conversation. Please keep in mind that I do NOT speak computer,I speak English (and I struggle with that). I do NOT understand computers at all.Most of what I wrote above are just phrases I copied from other texts inSimtropolis, I’m not really sure what I’m saying. So please keep answers on akindergarten level (or lower). When I install a download and it asks whether torun or save, I swear I have a half hour debate with myself on the pros and consof each, lol.

5) Plopables andgrowables. We are talking about buildings, trees and such right? Plopables arebasically like landmarks, correct? They don’t have to be earned just bought andplaced. They don’t really do much but look pretty. Or are they more like gov’t buildings;they aren’t abandoned and accomplish a task? Are growables like normalbuildings, you zone for them and they will grow and change as the populationand circumstances dictates?

6) When I use SPAMdo I need to still put in buildings (barns, house, etc) or is it like when Izone for residential and the house will appear eventually? Mine aren’t doinganything so I’m curious about it.

7) I’m trying torethink how I play a region. One big city instead of a bunch of small cities.With that said, there are not 20 univercities in a city. If I only place oneuniversity in my region will it work for other “cities”? Example if I have four“cities” in my region in a line, all connected, running north to south. We’llname them A-B-C-D. With city “A” in the north and city “D” in the south. If Iplace a university in “A” will it serve “D”? If no, are there any MOD’s thatcan make this possible? Are there anystructures that have this ability?

Any feedback and help Ican get will be greatly appreciated.

[jacksunny 741]

1. No, you do not. Chances are, more than one plugin, will require the same dependency anyway. Once you have downloaded that dependency, you don't have to download it again.

2. It's up to you. Some players organize their plugins in to folders based on the plugin's function, other by the creator. It's always a good idea to organize them though, it makes it easier to find things. Also ensure that you take out any read-mes and images and place them in separate folders outside your plugins folder.

3. It will state in the read-me if a file has to load after something else.

4. Don't put anything in your program files plugins, they should all work if you would them in my documents. Some downloads will not load if they're in folders though, such as the extra cheats .dll.

5. That's correct. Some landmarks are functional however, and can provide jobs. Residential landmarks must be placed on residential zoned land though, or else they won't work.

6. You have to zone agriculture. It is in the industry menu.

7. No, and no unfortunately. Services in one city cannot serve another city as well.

Hope this helps,

Jack

[Burndawg 3]

thanks Jacksunny that helps alot.

[CaptCity 4,752]

3) It seems that allof my major MOD’s want to be the last one loaded by placing zzz’s in there.Well there can only be one first place and therefore only one last. My questionis how do I know which one should be last? NAM?

Placing the ZZZ in the folder name does insure that it will be loaded after something else, and having multiple ZZZ folders will not usually be an issue since they probably alter different things. There could be an issue if you happen to come upon downloads that do alter the same thing in the game. Many times these types of folders will just be changing the textures (appearance) of something and the last one loaded (alphabetically) will be the one to take affect. Reading the instructions and understanding what is being altered will more than likely prevent any problems related to this.

Hope you enjoy your time here...

[MandelSoft 2,769]

3) I have a few mods that have "zz_" in front of their file names and that's because they need a specific order. Often it's because they require to load after another mod, lik the NAM. For instance, the Highway Re-Styling Mod (HRS) has to be loaded after the NAM, since it overrides some NAM items. What's for sure is that the NAM shouldn't have to be loaded last.

5) Not entierely true. There are some functional ploppable buildings, like functional landmarks with jobs. Basically, everything you plop instead of zone is a ploppable item. This means that parks, civic buildings and stations are also ploppable buildings.

Best,

Maarten

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

As everyone has implied, you need to keep a downloads structure separate from your SimCity 4 structure. It should be structured in a way that you find convenient for maintenance as some plugins go though updates to newer versions, especially those dependent on large packages such as the NAM. I keep a separate Downloads folder that looks like this:

Downloads

├── BoomtownDesign

├── C++ReferenceCard

├── debian

├── Dynex

├── Microsoft

├── muse score

├── Olympus Camera

├── OpenGL

├── Oracle

├── SC4RelatedDownloads

└── SunMicrosystems

11 directories, 0 files

This may look simple, but the high lighted folder is the true meat of things with respect to SimCity 4. It has a substructure that is mostly by author with some exceptions. If you want to see this and the related plugin folder, send me a PM, or look for some of my other posts that contain these layouts.

You can see that I download stuff from many sources, and keep them in topics that make sense to me. By the way, I happen to be on Linux, but it doesn't matter what system you run, you need to keep organized.

Your plugins structure should be totally contained in the user structure provided by the game when you start it. Nothing should be added to the Program Files structure because it will be replaced by a reinstall if you do one.

There are only a few files that need to be in your plugins structure. The rest should simply be left in your downloads structure unless you choose to create a documentation structure. Plugin files are:

.SC4LOT

.SC4DESC

.SC4MODEL

.DAT

.DLL

there are no others. If these show up in an unpacked download, all of them need to go to plugins unless there are instructions that say otherwise. Read the download pages carefully, and if there is a readme or instruction page read it carefully too.

  Edited January 29, 2012 by A Nonny Moose