Project Blue Hope - The Multiplayer Region.

[Need4Camaro 50]

Project Blue Hope

The Massive Multiplayer Project for SimCity 4

By

Need4Camaro

Current Members

Need4Camaro – Mayor of the Capital BluePort

JeeKTaN – Mayor of NorthPort

GodRocks24 – Mayor of Roma

Other Cities

Strathpine

Dabbersburgh

Arka

What IS Project BlueHope?

Originally, Blue Hope was an interactive City Journal for Sim City 4 which allowed players to plot their development upon the ever growing metropolis of Newark. They could build highways, toll roads, buildings, developments, anything they wanted and accrued points. With their points they would be allowed to develop even more down the road. Blue Hope however was run by only one member and that was myself where as I was taking request from up to 15 members at any given time. This became extremely clutter some especially on top of my already packed college schedule and real life an although it held of for quite some time, BlueHope eventually met its demise when the project grew too large for one individual to handle.

Blue Hope II was constructed a year later and involved a far more sophisticated system. This time, instead of myself alone managing the development, each member was responsible for their own development. In addition to this, members could also construct their own development independently through what’s called file-syncing software which enabled every member to share the same city / plugin in the region and use a shortcut to separate the “multiplayer region” for their own content.

While the city journal itself did not last very long due to lack of response plus my dedication to the real world, it actually did pull off success with as little as 5 members, 3 of which (including myself) are still active to this date with 3 metropolis’s within the region. However as urban expansion occurred, we were still faced with the difficulties of managing the megalopolis and so through time I decided to compile a different approach toward developing the region.

Project Blue Hope is an effort to develop the nation of BluePort by colonization of civil engineers. Originally Blue Hope was a city journal that focused on multiple mayors and their experience in one region, but I have decided to take that a step further. BluePort is seeking civil engineers of which can develop un-colonized land into sprawling suburbs around the metropolises as well as efficiently construct mass transportation systems within suburban communities geared toward inter-city connection. We are also looking for rural and industrial developers such as farms and industry outside of the city limits. So to state, you have the option of becoming a Mayor of which you will be confined to only your own land, or a civil engineer who will have access to develop low and medium density developments around the metropolis communities as suburbs or rural farmland in the country side. Civil engineers will also have access to constructing power plants, water utilities, and transportation networks (or modify existing networks such as adding exits to highways). There is also a need for engineers to construct signage for highways and custom bats for special areas.

There is no longer a score system. You do not need points to develop in BlueHope. I have lifted the limits of your city size. So you can develop as much as you want or as little as you want with the exception that ATLEAST 50% of your current city tile be occupied (by bats, population, ect) before moving on to the next tile so that we don’t have the populous land grabbing and hogging up map space.

I DO ASK THAT YOU REMAIN REASONABLE HOWEVER AS THIS IS A SHARED REGION.

How it works

Project Blue Hope uses a special shortcut command which will allow users to load a region and plugins from an alternate folder. By this logic this folder is not the same as the My Documents\Sim City 4 folder and this means it will not interfere with the players existing regions or plugins. So you can play Blue Hope independently from your own region and plugins. This means you will not clutter your plugins with redundant or unusable plugins. Blue Hopes plugins will be independent of yours. Since we are loading from an alternate location, we have the ability to “Synchronize” this location between multiple computers using whats called a Live Synchronization Tool. What this does is synchronizes files between your computer and a server. When the server receives the updated file, it sends it instantaneously to every participating PC. This means whenever you build or make a change to a city and save it, your changes are applied and sent to each member participating without any action on your part aside from having an active internet connection. The same goes for receiving cities. You will not notice any difference between this and running a standard Sim City 4 game aside from the growing of other cities.

The same goes for plugins. You can add whatever plugins you desire to and everyone will have access to them. There is a Menu Management Utility that is called “DAMN” that comes with the SSPTool that I ask that you use for your plugins before implementing them into the City Journal as not to clutter the in-game menu’s. I will go into further detail with that later.

Roles in Project Blue Hope

You can choose to play up to two roles in Project Blue Hope simultaneously. The reason I limit it is to optimize efficiency in each category so one member won’t be overburdened in a specific area.

1. Mayor - You begin with two large city tiles, you qualify to earn an additional tile after at least 50% of your land is in use.
   
2. Civil Engineer – You are not bound by the city limits. You are able to develop Light and Medium dense suburban or rural developments within the region. You may even be requested to develop suburban schemes around existing metropolis’s. You may not alter existing infrastructure such as highways or roadways aside from adding capacity or access methods.
   

Civil Engineers can also develop utilities to empower existing metropolises with power, water or a dumping area for trash and setup neighbor deals between empty tiles and offer them to existing mayors.

1. Department of Transportation – You are eligible to setup railroads, state routes, toll roads, or any method of inter-regional transportation outside of city limits and propose your plans and projects to mayors to win bids and process your plans in their city. You may NOT alter existing infrastructure without proposal first however.
   

DOT is ALSO responsible for making Highway Signs. Not only for the suburban and rural areas, but also for Mayor owned city limits as well. Mayors have the option to vote upon which posts or style they would like to use but DOT will perform all creation and placement.

1. Regional Coordinators – You are responsible for watching over regional conditions and propositions of upgrades. You will be responsible for expanding the regional map should we approach our limits.
   
2. City Journalism – You will be responsible for maintaining and updating the Project Blue Hope city journal by collecting information from updates and expansion across the region that each team has performed and collect it into a news update on the city journal itself.
   
3. Investors – You are still able to act as companies or corporations in project Blue Hope. You can propose to build certain buildings in a specific area. For example you can build oil rigs and refineries in the rural areas if you’re an oil company and propose to build your headquarters tower in a city owned by a mayor or a large plaza in a unincorporated suburb.
   

How to join

• Contact me on MSN Live Messenger at Christforbluehopecj@live.com requesting to join Project BlueHope and tell me what role(s) you wish to partake.
  
• Download Windows Live Mesh on a Machine running Windows Vista or 7.
  
• Follow the Installation instructions below
  
• Play your role.
  

Installation

Requirements

To Run Project Blue Hope, you will need the following

• A PC with Windows Vista or 7 (XP will not work)
  
• Minimum of 5 Gigabytes Free on a Hard-drive & Recommended 2 Gigabytes of RAM
  
• An active Simtropolis Account
  
• An active Windows Live Account
  
• Windows Live Mesh from here
  
• Use of the Short Cut represented below.
  

Windows Live Mesh

1. Download and Install Windows Live Mesh
   
2. Upon Acceptance into the City Journal, you will receive a request by email to share a folder via Windows Live Mesh. Accept this and choose to store it locally on your PC
   
3. A shortcut to the FileShare folder will be placed either on your desktop or in your personal user folder (Click your name on the start menu)
   
4. Open the shortcut…You will be asked where you want the folder to be downloaded to. I highly suggest the My Documents folder, however; you can select anyplace of your desire. I HIGHLY SUGGEST NOT INSTALLING IT ON REMOVABLE STORAGE DEVICES SUCH AS FLASH DRIVES OR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES AS THESE DRIVE PATHS CAN CHANGE AND THEY WILL NOT BE UPDATED IN WINDOWS LIVE MESH OR YOUR SHORTCUT COMMAND.
   
5. Blue Hope’s folder will download to your PC. After it is complete, use the shortcut command to access it. DO NOT ACCESS PROJECT BLUE HOPE VIA SC4 BEFORE ITS INSTALLATION IS COMPLETE AS IT WILL RESULT IN MISSING FILES FOR ALL USERS ON THE PROJECT.
   

Shortcut Command

1. Make a Copy of your current SC4 Shortcut, this shortcut is advised to only be used on your desktop. Any other shortcut programs you might have might not work correctly.
   
2. In this Copy of your SC4 Shortcut, rename it to Project BlueHope so you will know the difference
   
3. Right click the shortcut and select “Properties” – you will enter a new window with the Shortcut’s Properties and we will be modifying the Target: and Start in: fields.
   
4. On the Target: field, you’re going to extend it. The first part of it is already correct, but after it, OUTSIDE of the quotation marks you’re going to input –UserDir: and then quotations and the location of the installation of your BlueHope folder which is located inside the FileShare folder, and if you installed the FileShare folder in My Documents then the shortcut command would look just like this –UserDir:” C:\Users\(YourUserFolder)\Documents\FileShare\BlueHope/” – you need the forward slash at the end of BlueHope. And the quotations exactly where specified or it won’t work. So the syntax of this entire field would look like this… "Directory to SimCity 4.exe" -UserDir:"Directory to BlueHope Folder located in Fileshare/"
   
5. On the Start in: field, you’re going to have to erase the \Apps from the end of the string. This is for the purpose of the “DAMN” menu’s.
   
6. Example below …
   
7. Make SURE before launching BlueHope that this shortcut is correct because if it isn’t, SC4 will automatically delete the contents of the folder you specified and install the default maxis regions there instead… which could also result in the complete loss of the BlueHope region – I fortunately do retain backups just in case something like this should incur.
   

DAMN Menu’s

The “DAMN” Menu’s enable users to input custom content without cluttering the default maxis menus. This is imperative for organization and retaining ease of access to the default maxis content. The DAMN folder will be sync’d separately from the FileShare folder as it is to be downloaded into a separate location. The location will be your installation directory of the SC4 Game’s Plugins directory, NOT the BlueHope or My Documents Plugins directory. For those of you who will be importing BAT’s, you will also need the SSP Tool so you will be able to modify the DAMN Menu’s and add a menu for your BAT.

The SSP Tool can be downloaded here. The DAMN plugin can be downloaded here.

Install the SSP Tool first and then the DAMN plugin afterward.

Note: By default, the DAMN Plugin is going to look for plugins in your default My Documents\Plugins directory so if you’re going to make or add to a menu, you will have to input the plugin FIRST into your default My Documents\Plugins directory, make the menu, then move it to BlueHope’s plugins.

Note: You MUST remove /apps from the Start in: field of your Blue Hope shortcut for the DAMN menu to function, otherwise you will not see the menu’s

IMPORTANT: You will need to access the installation directory of Sim City 4, right click it and select properties, and then select the Security Tab. Select Administrator and make sure that “Full Control” is checked, if not then check it. The same goes for Users and Trusted Installers.

1. Sync the “DAMN” folder to your PC via Windows Live Mesh
   
2. When the shortcut appears on your desktop or user directory, open and apply it to your C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Plugins directory and NOT your My Documents or Blue Hope plugins folder.
   
3. Access the “Support” folder in the DAMN folder then open and run the “DAMN-Indexer.exe” file.
   
4. The Menu’s will appear inside your news ticker.
   

With these steps performed, you will have full access to Blue Hope.

Instructions

Mayors

1. You begin with 2 Large City Tiles of which you MUST use the mayor name of your Simtropolis username.
   
2. After ATLEAST 50% of your land is filled up, you can take another tile adjacent to an already occupied tile.
   
3. There are no limits to how large your city can grow, but I do ask that you please remain realistic with your development. Major cities don’t grow masses of skyscrapers until they have the population to sustain them.
   
4. You can claim suburban districts as well so long as they are adjacent to your tile and more than 50% of your land is in use.
   

Civil Engineers

1. All empty tiles adjacent to active city tiles are at your disposal for designing suburban districts.
   
2. You may use BATS and other options to create malls or other suburban entities.
   
3. You can even design and present projects to the City Journal or to mayors and see them through
   
4. You may NOT alter existing infrastructure with the exception of adding access methods to them
   
5. You MAY add utilities such as Power Plants, Water Plants and Trash Disposal and offer their services to Mayors or other suburban cities.
   
6. You may also design rural infrastructure such as agriculture in distant areas.
   

Department of Transportation

1. You are to design and connect State Routes, Railroads, Interstates, Toll Roads, and other means of transportation between cities.
   
2. Provide interstate-grade signage for all access-controlled roadways throughout the region, both inside and outside Mayors city limits. Please consult with Mayors regarding what style signs they would like in their city.
   
3. You may propose inner-city projects within a Mayor’s city but you may not alter anything without their permission first.
   
4. Exit number schemes are as follows – The Southernmost end for North/South highways starts at 0 and counts up. The Western most end for East/West highways starts at 0 and counts up.
   

Regional Coordinators

1. You are to overlook the region and design future expansion projects such as adding more available land to develop upon. It will be much like creating a region only you are adding to it.
   

City Journalism

1. You are to collect the most recent updates from members who have either made changes to the region, or their cities and post them onto the City Journal.
   
2. You can implement fancy ways of updating such as News Papers filled with public opinion on the changes.
   
3. You have the option to feature tours of the region in UDI mode and compiling them into videos.
   

Investors

1. You may use BATs or Maxis Content to represent your development.
   
2. You may propose to build anything of your desire, regardless of its function. That includes tollroads, rail systems, oil rigs, refineries, banks, bridges, anything.
   
3. If this occurs on mayor owned land, you MUST receive their approval first.
   

With that stated, Project Blue Hope is designed to be a fun environment. No score system or limits but the product of the SimTropolis community designing one massive region to see what we might be able to create. Play fair!

  Edited April 9, 2012 by Need4Camaro  

[Need4Camaro 50]

How To Guide

Blue Hope is a mostly flexible City Journal but there are a few regulations I would like to keep abroad mostly in the Department of Transportation field. Mayors also need to follow this when creating Interstates. First I would like to state that Mayors and Investors can also create Highway Signs for their own projects and do not need to rely on the DOT to create them, but they WILL need to consult with DOT for exit numbering schemes. If this becomes complicated then it would probably be best to provide DOT with your preferred sign post and let them do the job.

Plugins

You may install plugins for Blue Hope such as BAT’s and buildings or parks or anything you like with the exception of mods that will change the game play for EVERYONE. If you have a plugin that changes game play and you want to run it for yourself then do so by importing it into your personal C:\Program Files\ Sim City 4\Plugins folder. Also, if you see a NAM update or NWM or RHW update and believe we are currently out of date, you ARE allowed to update these entities.

All plugins are to be placed in the Blue Hope Plugins folder unless otherwise noted as I stated above. This will enable all users to see them. Before you place them in the Blue Hope folder, I require them to be DAMN’d. You will HAVE to place them in your My Documents\Sim City 4\Plugins folder temporarily and then begin the DAMN process. (read the final step below regarding DAMN’ing lots to find out how.)

Mayors & DOT: on slope foundations & Interstate-Grade

While this does not apply to state routes, ALL elevated section of interstates MUST use on-slopes for ground to elevated conversations, likewise for roads and avenues overpassing these corridors. Do NOT use the standard transitions.

As far as the actual on-slopes go, the on slope transition from the elevated section to surface level should be smooth; this applies for use with all on slopes, not just interstates. It should not be an abrupt one / two tile drop. Use the Avenue tool to drag from the highest point of the on slope to the base of it and the Avenue will create a smooth transition. (You don’t have to do this with road bridges, just drag the road where you want it to go, this is just for RHW.) – Also for exit ramps, use the road tool to create a smooth transition.

• Interstate Grade sections of roadway must also have a minimum of a 1 tile median in Rural Areas (2 preferred) and a Jersey Barrier in Urban Areas where a empty median is not possible.
  
• Interstates MUST offer interchanges with other Interstates.
  
• Interstates CANNOT be tolled
  
• Interstates and Toll Controlled Highways cannot be altered with the exception of increasing capacity and access and exit efficiency unless permission has been granted to do so.
  
• Interstates MUST use smooth curve pieces whenever changing directions
  

Highway Signs

I will be providing Standard Sign Posts for your use, you have the option of using custom posts but you will need to design them to fit the specifications of the road section you’ll be using them on.

IMPORTANT: When designing Highway Signs, you need to make note that the conditions of one sign might be entirely different for the conditions of a VERY similar sign. Such as offset for example. Some RHW puzzle pieces take up two tiles so you will need to compensate by offsetting the model by 16 meters. It’s a VERY WISE IDEA that you know EXACTLY where you’re going to be placing each sign before you go BATTING away, that way you’ll know how to offset them, if necessary, and where to place them given the road conditions or even what model you need to use.

Sign Standards

Sign Standards for State, Toll and Turnpikes are loosely applicable but strict for Interstates. It is required that drivers receive at minimum 3 warnings as they approach an interchange. Also, signing can share the same gantry for different interchanges. Example: Martha Rd Exit 1 mile | Vineland Ave Exit ½ mile. Read below for more information.

• Interstate Grade Road Junctions (Requires a minimum of 3)
  
  • Exit 1 Mile
    
  • Exit ½ Mile (With Lane Configurations if applicable)
    
  • Exit (With Lane Configurations if applicable)
    

  [*]Interstate Grade Junctions with limited access highways (Requires a minimum of 4)

  • Exit 2 Miles
    
  • Exit 1 Mile
    
  • Exit ½ Mile (With Lane Configuration if applicable)
    
  • Exit (With Lane Configuration if applicable)
    

Responsibility

Things I’m responsible for:

• Providing Standard Overhead Sign Posts
  
  • RHW4 & GHW
    
  • RHW6 & 6C
    
  • RHW8 & 8C
    
  • RHW10
    
  • Elevated RHW4 & GHW
    
  • Elevated RHW6 & 6C
    

  [*]Providing Rural Gantries

  [*]Providing Single Gantries & Next 3 Exit offsets

  [*]Providing the state herald

Things YOU’RE responsible for:

• Rotating ALL provided Sign Posts for Diagonal or “FAR” pieces in sections applicable.
  
  • Diagonal is 45 Degrees
    
  • “FAR” is 15 Degrees
    

  [*]Offset Sign Posts for conditions (by 1 tile, 2 tiles, ect)

  [*]Providing Custom Posts if using them.

  [*]Placing the route number on the herald

  [*]Placement of actual signage.

Requirements

All of the following requirements are MANDATORY to make Highway Signs in Project Blue Hope. You CANNOT omit a single one of these files. PLEASE READ THE LIST CAREFULLY AS IT CONTAINS FILES FOR BOTH GMAX AND 3DSMAX AND YOU WILL NEED TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THEM!

1. Gmax or 3DSMax – Gmax is free and can be had here.
   

2a. The BAT tool for Gmax (Not Applicable for 3DSMax) here.

2b. BAT4Max for 3DSMax (Not Applicable for GMax) here.

1. SC4 Update for Night Lighting here.
   
2. Texture Scripts for High Definition Textures (GMax only) here.
   
3. The SC4Tool which allows File Merging and Exemplar Editing here.
   
4. SSP Tool here. And the DAMN plugin here.
   
5. My Updated Highway Sign Posts here.
   

Instructions

Install Gmax and then Install the BAT. If you have 3DSMax, then instead just install BAT4Max and ignore all Gmax instructions. Install the Night Lighting update. This is necessary so that you will be able to create night emitting signs in game. You will also install the High Definitions Texture Mod (already comes with BAT4Max) in the scripts folder for the BAT NOT Gmax. This is necessary so that signs are readable in the 5^th and 6^th zoom level. (Your BAT folder is located in your GMax gamepacks folder)

Making Signs with the

BAT

First, we need to build the sign template, the images we will be using to render or the actual signs themselves. I use kurumi’s sign maker which can be found here. All interstates must follow the standards presented there, however; I am okay with custom signage on state or city routes.

• Go to the Kurumi Website.
  
• Familiarize yourself with the controls if you haven’t already, and then begin making your sign. Example Below.
  

• After creating your sign, press the “Print Screen” button on the top right corner of your keyboard. This will copy everything on your visible window onto your clipboard. Then open up MS Paint and press Ctrl+V or right click anywhere and select “Paste” and this will paste the image you copied from Sign Maker.
  

• Now import all content you want on the signs, including custom heralds or alternate text or modifications.
  

• Using the select tool, select and copy each sign and make a new BMP file. Paste the sign and make sure there is absolutely NO empty white space after pasting it. Save the new sign. Do this for each sign. Name them in the order of their location as seen below.
  

• Now, load the BAT tool and open a Sign Post. For this tutorial I’m going to be adding signage and exporting the RHW6SignPost.
  

• You won’t always have to perform this step, depending on how many signs you’re placing, but in this case, you notice we have two signs, but only one support. Here’s how to remedy that. With the front view, use the select tool (the arrows pointing four directions on the top left area of the screen.) to select the Sign Support and the lights like this…
  

Now select Edit from the menu bar and then select clone and then make sure Copy Instance is bubbled in and press OK. At first it will look like nothing changed, but take the select tool to the “X” axis on the front view and click and hold it… while holding the left mouse button down, drag it to the left and you will see that it is now a copy of the original Sign Support. Now we can place two signs.

• Now to make the actual sign itself. We do this by creating a box. Use the Front view to design the width and length, relative to the sign you created on sign maker. You will design it at the height of the actual support. Now use the top and left view to design the thickness. You don’t want it to be very thick. Just enough to be present. After which, use the left view and drag the X-Axis toward the sign support. When the sign is just over the support, you can release it and leave it.
  

The end result should look similar to the image below…

• Now we want to apply the BASE texture, not the sign texture yet, but they grey texture of which the actual board is made of. So now we need to select the board and then enter the Material Editor.
  

• Upon entering the editor, you will see a window much like below. This part is easy, all you need to do is just select Apply as the default texture that loads is sufficient for the sign board.
  

• Now we need to convert our box into a poly so we can modify the textures on a specific face. To do this, click the blue rainbow button toward the right side of the screen. Now select Box and then right click and select Editable Poly.
  

• After it has been converted into a Poly, we want to be able to select the face of the sign that’s facing us so we can apply the sign’s image onto it as a texture. To do this, select the Red Box that represents Poly.
  

• From the perspective view, click the FRONT of the sign so that it is now selected.
  

• Go back into the Material Editor as we did to apply the grey texture before, and this time select the empty button just to the right of the Diffuse color
  

• Select Bitmap, then select the image and in this case I will be using leftpanel.png Afterward click the Blue and White checkered box as depicted below…
  

• Now select Apply. – You will notice that you cannot yet see the sign. At best you will get a blank white board. Don’t freak out, this is normal.
  
• Repeat steps 8 - 16 to create additional signs.
  

(Note: You might have to select “Reset lights and camera” in the BAT menu to view the textures of the signposts and signs.)

• With the sign selected and the menu with the blue rainbow open, click the drop down arrow and under the subcategory for UV Coordinate Modifiers, select UVW Map.
  

• Select Face. By now, if you have Reset the lights and camera in my signposts, you should be able to see the signs. They should look like this…
  

• Now it’s time to export the models so we can import them into SC4. To do this, select the hammer at the right side of the screen and then select BAT.
  

• Before you go BATting away, make SURE that the High Definition Output is activated. To do this, select the Preview tab and the select HDoutput.
  

• Now you’re clear to BAT the model. Do this by clicking the Export tab. Make sure Quality is on High and then click Export. The process takes a few minutes and you should see an image like this during the process
  

This concludes our BAT tutorial. Now we will focus on the SC4Tool, Plugin Manager, and Lot Editor. While we design the signs through these steps, we want to keep in mind that they need to have the general properties. #1 The ability to illuminate at night, #2 The ability to conform to just about any terrain. With that said, our Highway signs will NOT be placed as props, they will be placed as buildings.

Working with the Plugin Manager

Our goal with the Plugin Manager is to take the model we just created and give it properties. It is absolutely

IMPERATIVE

that you know that our Highway signs are

NOT

props!!! They are to be placed as

Buildings

. The reason this is, is because props cannot conform to terrain and buildings can.

• Start the Plugin Manager. You will immediately notice your model in the list of models after it initiates. Left click your model and hold, drag it to the Parks category on the left side of your window. Upon doing this, you will receive a window with the building statistics.
  

• Refer to the image below for the next step. Then select Apply and OK
  

NOTE: It is HIGHLY recommended that you BAT all of your signs and import them into the Plugin Manager then proceed to the next steps as most of them from here one will contain actions that can be performed in bulk

ALSO: You can now make a sub-directory INSIDE your plugins folder for your signs to organize them.

Working with the

SC4

Tool – Part A: Modifying Building Size

You’re probably wondering why we need the SC4Tool this early in the process, as we don’t have a complete BAT. If you noticed, the RHW6 Sign is slightly larger than 1 tile and this is necessary to fit it over the entire RHW6 section. For whatever reason props can be the size of the lot plus half and still fit, but buildings MUST fit within the tile, but you don’t want to create 2x2 tiles for large Highway Signs as this will quickly clutter space. What we have to do is trick the game into believing that our 24 Meter long Highway sign is only 16 meters so the game will accept it as a building, to do that we’re going to have to modify it with the SC4Tool.

IMPORTANT: The SC4Tool has compatibility problems with Windows 7. Running Compatibility Mode for Windows XP will not be enough. If you have a Windows XP Emulator then it is highly advised, if NOT then you will need to stop your themes from running temporarily. This Tutorial will show you how. After you’re done using the SC4Tool you can easily reactive the themes as well. The Program will still OPEN without disabling themes, however you will not be able to access the file hierarchy.

• Select the bottom right option to edit bats and their properties as displayed in the image below upon the launch of the SC4Tool.
  

• Select the Directory of which your signs are stored, as I mentioned earlier it is recommended to place all of the models and .desc files into a new sub directory so it is easy to navigate.
  

• Select the Sign we just made (DemoSign in this case) and then expand the tree. After which, find and select the Occupant Size option.
  

• Select the Width field and if the number is GREATER than 16, then erase the contents and type 16 in its place.
  

• If you have more models, then decompress the tree and then expand the tree on the next model and repeat steps 3 and 4.
  
• Select the Save Option. You can select Current File, if this is the only file you modified or All Modified to save all the files you’ve modified to this point.
  

And that’s it for the SC4 Tool, but we will be coming back to it later to compile all of our signs into a single .dat file.

Working with the Lot Editor

You’re almost done at this point. The Lot Editor is pretty straight forward. Let’s begin.

• Open the Lot Editor. You will immediately be prompted to open a file. We will select the Grass field for our sign. Type Grass in the search field and it should come right up.
  

• Select the Building Tab and then select Replace Item and search for your sign. In my case it was DemoSign.
  

• Place the sign so that the Sign’s arrow is facing the edge of the lot and not empty space within the tile. It should always be in the corner and every sign should be made to fit in the same corner. Select Save As and save it with the same name as you originally gave the sign.
  

• Adjust the Lot Maximum to be 999 – This will enable the lot to conform to any slope you put it upon. Now select Save again and this concludes the Lot Editor instructions.
  

Return to the SC4Tool – Part B: DAT packing multiple signs

This is necessary so that we can compress the hundreds of files we would have after completion of a signing project into one DAT file. Afterward we can apply a “DAMN” menu in which would complete the process.

IMPORTANT:

IT IS

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THAT YOU BACK UP ALL OF YOUR SIGN FILES, (.SC4LOT, .SC4MODEL, AND .SC4DESC) BEFORE CONTINUEING AS THIS PROCESS IS IRREVERSABLE AND YOU WILL LOSE THESE FILES AFTER THE PROCESS IS COMPLETE. ALSO YOU MAY NEED THEM SHOULD A CHANGE OCCUR IN THE BLUE HOPE INFASTRUCTURE.

• Launch the File Merger by entering the SC4 Tool and then selecting Editors in the menu bar and then File Merger.
  

• Select the file path of the signs you wish to merge. Select all of the files, including ALL of the .SC4Lot, .SC4Model, and .SC4DESC files related to your signing project. In the upper portion of the window you will see Target File. Press the folder button there and select the name of your new Sign Pack and the location of which you want these files to be exported to. The same goes for Save Folder, only you will be selecting the folder you want to save it and not a file name. THE SAVE FOLDER AND TARGET FILE FOLDER MUST BE THE SAME! Don’t worry about xml file.
  
• Press the Green Arrow pointing to the right and begin the process. When its complete, all of the files you created earlier will be gone and merged into a single file.
  

The DAMN Menu’s

ALL IMPORTED PLUGINS FOR BLUEHOPE MUST BE DAMN’D OR THEY WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE SYSTEM. The reason is because with several members playing and each running several plugins, imagine the clutter and confusion of HUNDREDS of plugins cluttering the in-game menu’s making it impossible to navigate.

1. If you haven’t already done so, Install the SSP Tool. Then use the Tools from the menu bar and select Install Plugin and navigate to the DAMN zip file. This will automatically install DAMN. When it is complete, DO NOT CLICK INSTALL DAMN – It has already come pre-installed for you under the File Share folder.
   
2. Now click DAMN Manager and then use the Plugin Folder section to navigate to your Highway Signs Dat file you have just packed (or any lot you may have downloaded for that matter) and select it. You will see a list of contents of everything inside that file displayed on the Plugin Lots section.
   
3. You can select them all, or select however many you like, after you select them, click the blue button directly underneath the Plugin Lots section of which says “Add selected lots to DAMN menu” when you hold your mouse over it. Afterward they will appear below in the DAMN menu lots section. From here you can order and arrange them as you like.
   

NOTE: You can only have up to 50 plugins per menu, HOWEVER; not per folder. So if you run out of space then just start a new menu and save it in the same location.

1. Use the DAMN Menu Folder section to select where you want the signs to appear in the DAMN Menu. In this case, Highway Signs should be located in Roads_Props/Highway Signs/Blue Hope Signs
   
2. Click Apply, and then Next, and the DAMN will make menu’s for your signs or lots.
   

Afterward your signs will be available in the News Ticker. They will not appear in the in-game menu’s as they will be hidden from them. This makes it possible to make indefinite amounts of signs without cluttering the menu’s. I know this process is rather long and tedious but it gets a lot simpler after doing this once or twice. I made over 150 highway signs in the period of about 3 months while being stooped down with college.

Route Heralds

  Edited April 9, 2012 by Need4Camaro  

[HookerHeels 309]

Be glad to join

[Need4Camaro 50]

Sweet, Just tell me what roles you would like to take and add me on christforbluehopecj@live.com

[nathanthemayor 1,262]

Hey!Glad to see you back!let's see how this goes!

[godrock24 12]

Thanks Need4camaro

[Jazzmaster 716]

Welcome back my friend!

[Need4Camaro 50]

Hey!Glad to see you back!let's see how this goes!

It's going to go awsome. And thanks.

Thanks Need4camaro

Any time. I noticed I didnt get your name right but I will correct that soon.

Welcome back my friend!

Thank you.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Project Briefing

• The Story of Project Blue Hope.
  

The year is 2032. The world has subcumbed to an economical crash due to a theory and now reality called the peak-oil crisis. This means it is costed the world more energy and more money to drill oil than oil is providing in divedends, with all except the Middle East and Alaskan oil wells being profitable. The Middle East however, in effort to regain control over their lands and re-take the holy lands used the opportunity of America's thirst for oil to cut supply and diverge their supply into a power hungry China whom made an alliance and formed and stale mate with the United Nations of whom opposed the middle east. While no violant war has broken out, a silent economical struggle ensued between the nations with the United Nations threatening to lose a very large chunk of their energy and petrol chemicals of which would ultimately leave the powerful nation in starvation.

The story ultimately begins with Soni Shuensha in the first Blue Hope City Journal whom was an undercover soldier sent to an island in the middle Atlantic which was found to be reaping of resources, including oil. It was unclaimed and the United States found this island to be inhabited by renegades. They needed a peaceful and silent way to take the island, but this didn't come easy. Soni quickly found his identity had been exploited purposely by his own agency to start a war because things were moving to slowly in the U.S.. Soni's life is threatened on several occasions however he survives and manages to overthrow the prime banks of which control Newark, but not without sacrifices. Soni loses his girlfriend and ultimately his own santicty as he surrenders himself to christianity in effort to bring Newark and the United States under its former title, one nation under god. With spiritual influence, Soni is directed to relieve Newark from the rebellion and finally hands the country over to the U.S. but he too is assisinated in the end.

We pick up after Newark has become the 51st state, and today's economical struggle to colonize and control the island. Newark being found a spot for terrorist was not chosen for the state capital. Instead the state's largest port for distributing goods was chosen due to its influence on the states economy. BluePort. It was located on the western shore of the state. This city journal involves the colonizing the island of Newark - of which was renamed to BluePort to bring industry, homes, and banks in which would all play apart of the extraction of crude oil and deliverance to the U.N. and ultimately effect the global economy... How will your role play a fate in the world?

• The Government & Economy
  

The capital is BluePort. The economy is bustling as businesses and banks sprout open granting loans to industries to manufacture and produce due to the abundance of minerals and also for oil companies to open and drill for oil. You have the option to invest in BluePort's economy as well by setting up your own business, industry, of home colonies within the state.

• Maps
  

Current Region

Current Transportation Map

  Edited April 30, 2012 by Need4Camaro  

[ThePilotGuy 10]

Hmmm... Looks interesting!

How will custom content work, though?

[Need4Camaro 50]

Hmmm... Looks interesting!

How will custom content work, though?

Any plugins you want to use, you drop it into Blue Hopes plugin folder and it will be shared amongst all of its members, so everyone will be able to see and have access to it.

[Need4Camaro 50]

Update: Added How To Guides... They are posted above - will be finishing my sign pack tomorrow.

[kj3400 178]

You know I am up for this. I will find a way to get my computer up and running. Can't wait to start cranking out some signs!

[ThePilotGuy 10]

I'l join. I can't promise I'l do anything well, though... I haven't played sc4 in a looong while! I'm just getting back into it. Also, are money lots allowed? I'd like to be able to plop my city to make it look like I'd like.

[Need4Camaro 50]

You know I am up for this. I will find a way to get my computer up and running. Can't wait to start cranking out some signs!

Very well, we'll be waiting!

I'l join. I can't promise I'l do anything well, though... I haven't played sc4 in a looong while! I'm just getting back into it. Also, are money lots allowed? I'd like to be able to plop my city to make it look like I'd like.

Technically money lots ARE allowed but I really wanted them to be used sparingly - as in, only in extreme situations. I was looking more-less for realistic development. You can join though. Just sign up for a windows live account if you don't already have one. Contact me on christforbluehopecj@live.com on a instant messenger and we can get you in.

[ThePilotGuy 10]

You know I am up for this. I will find a way to get my computer up and running. Can't wait to start cranking out some signs!

Very well, we'll be waiting!

I'l join. I can't promise I'l do anything well, though... I haven't played sc4 in a looong while! I'm just getting back into it. Also, are money lots allowed? I'd like to be able to plop my city to make it look like I'd like.

Technically money lots ARE allowed but I really wanted them to be used sparingly - as in, only in extreme situations. I was looking more-less for realistic development. You can join though. Just sign up for a windows live account if you don't already have one. Contact me on christforbluehopecj@live.com on a instant messenger and we can get you in.

I've added you on WL Messenger.

[Moskva 75]

Meanwhile the idea of a multyplaying Simcity4 with roles is great, the great level of difficulty here proposed will keep away a lot of potential players, me included. Displeased, however i hope to find something else...

[kj3400 178]

Question: Do I have to make the signs with signmaker? I tend to make my signs with inkscape now. Can I be the exception?

[IL. 1,043]

I would like to play a multiplayer, btw, will be allowed to add some files to that shared plugins?

[Charlie_Zane 963]

This looks very exciting, i might try to get involved in this later

[Need4Camaro 50]

You know I am up for this. I will find a way to get my computer up and running. Can't wait to start cranking out some signs!

Very well, we'll be waiting!

I'l join. I can't promise I'l do anything well, though... I haven't played sc4 in a looong while! I'm just getting back into it. Also, are money lots allowed? I'd like to be able to plop my city to make it look like I'd like.

Technically money lots ARE allowed but I really wanted them to be used sparingly - as in, only in extreme situations. I was looking more-less for realistic development. You can join though. Just sign up for a windows live account if you don't already have one. Contact me on christforbluehopecj@live.com on a instant messenger and we can get you in.

I've added you on WL Messenger.

Awsome, and welcome aboard. Hope to see some progress in Arro City soon. I've diverged I-B3 into your city.

Meanwhile the idea of a multyplaying Simcity4 with roles is great, the great level of difficulty here proposed will keep away a lot of potential players, me included. Displeased, however i hope to find something else...

Good luck finding a simplified way of converting a single player game into a multiplayer shared network.

You can look but there is no easy way of doing it, and I am the original designer of the shared region concept as tanjeeks idea was based off of mine and I currently have 8 members participating so I don't find a great number of potential...displeased...members.

And my idea isn't horribly complicated, you're only adding one parameter at the end of your shortcut and using live mesh to synchronize the region and files to your computer which that shortcut points to.

Question: Do I have to make the signs with signmaker? I tend to make my signs with inkscape now. Can I be the exception?

Either way is fine as long as they meet the sign standards that Signmaker has - in essence, as long as the signs look the same / and are consistant then its fine.

I would like to play a multiplayer, btw, will be allowed to add some files to that shared plugins?

Yeah thats fine.

This looks very exciting, i might try to get involved in this later

Any time you're ready I'm here.

Before I begin my update guys, I'd like to show that I have posted the region map and transportation map above this entry in an older entry I posted just to keep the consistancy of all the main titles of the CJ on the first page.

________________________________________________________________________________

Update 1

September 25th 2032

Clickable Image - Please ignore the brown boxes, some other players have downloaded mods and havent provided the supporting dependencies and I'm uncertain of which ones they are at this time.

Clickable Image

[nathanthemayor 1,262]

Wow amazing photos!Sometime it would be nice to see a region view......

[Durfsurn 539]

I like it a lot!

[Need4Camaro 50]

Wow amazing photos!Sometime it would be nice to see a region view......

There is one above this recent update. I edited an older post of mine in the thread for consistancy and put one there.

I like it a lot!

Thank you!

[kj3400 178]

Excellent update, but some of those signs scare me a little

[Moskva 75]

You kidding right? You've to use the BAT, make your own signals, that's enough complicated, it's not for the average people, i've had my tryes with the BAT and i can assure anyone that it's pretty complicated. If we could get beyond the signals (which really have not all that importance you give them, you nearly can't see what is written on them ingame) i could re-think of this "project".

PS: Please don't post a thousand images in one topic... i don't think it is not allowed, however it takes minutes to load this page and it's pretty annoying.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

You could use Spoilers to hide the images. At least it saves quite some scrolling and it's helpful for long posts that not everyone needs to read, or lots of pictures in one post like this...

[Need4Camaro 50]

You kidding right? You've to use the BAT, make your own signals, that's enough complicated, it's not for the average people, i've had my tryes with the BAT and i can assure anyone that it's pretty complicated. If we could get beyond the signals (which really have not all that importance you give them, you nearly can't see what is written on them ingame) i could re-think of this "project".

PS: Please don't post a thousand images in one topic... i don't think it is not allowed, however it takes minutes to load this page and it's pretty annoying.

I'll fix the image thing in a bit. As far as using the bat to make your own signals, what exactly do you mean? you mean signs? Thats for DOT only, not everyone has to do that, that is optional.

You could use Spoilers to hide the images. At least it saves quite some scrolling and it's helpful for long posts that not everyone needs to read, or lots of pictures in one post like this...

I'll try that.

[Moskva 75]

Alright man, i'll take my time to re-read the content, i hope i'll manage to get in ^^.

[zahrul3 472]

I see a large skill gap between players

Some of the pictures are almost completely Maxis, some have been terraformed well and some haven't even been terraformed on, some guys have retaining walls, some don't and etc..

[godrock24 12]

Sorry for not being on here or BHCJII My laptop is not working

ps nice update

Godrocks24

  Edited May 2, 2012 by drjumbajookiba20