Tutorial: Applying the I-HT Bug-Fix correctly

[Mister Giggles 310]

On 01/03/2015 at 4:56 AM, BossDragon said:

So, I recently did the fix for the I-HT bug and whille the fix worked, this happened...

My commerical demand was pretty low but after I applied the fix, it shot up drastically. Same with R$$$. Is my demand just really high or is there something I didn't do right when appling the fix? I did follow the instructions on how to apply the fix(albeit I used files2dat instead of DATPacker).

IEDIT: I checked the neighboring city, the demand wasn't the same.

Redo the fix, this time use DatPacker. Files2Dat simply inserts the file into SimCity_1.dat instead of overriding the original. The result is what you see.

On 01/03/2015 at 11:55 PM, Grayham said:

Installation Procedure:

- Make sure you have the latest SC4/RH or Deluxe versions plus Patches. Right-click on the simcity executable and check the version number. Mine is 1.1.640.0 (SC4+RH+Patches). 

Is 1.1.638.0 good enough?

Yes.

Edit:

On 19/01/2015 at 10:12 PM, Tropod said:

what the hey.........I've attached to this post what my comments above are talking about. Please note that I have not tested this file & there's a slight possibility it won't work; but for those that would like to see how this concept works &/or if it works, please by all means try these files at your own risk. Simply unzip & place in your Plugins. If this does work then it should serve as a replacement for the current version & simplify the fix.

Apologies for taking so long to get back to you.

Your plugin has the most curious effect of making it so that no one at all works in high tech.

[Tropod 144]

On 02/03/2015 at 7:09 AM, Mister Giggles said:

what the hey.........I've attached to this post what my comments above are talking about. Please note that I have not tested this file & there's a slight possibility it won't work; but for those that would like to see how this concept works &/or if it works, please by all means try these files at your own risk. Simply unzip & place in your Plugins. If this does work then it should serve as a replacement for the current version & simplify the fix.

Apologies for taking so long to get back to you.

Your plugin has the most curious effect of making it so that no one at all works in high tech.

I've removed the file I posted for the time being, pending further investigation for an alternative work-around.

I have read the whole thread here, but would someone mind providing an in-game screenshot of the problem (ie I-HT$$$ <> R$$$ jobs) ie as per follows, specifically item in bold;

On 20/05/2013 at 5:40 AM, Turjan said:

I also remember reading 1) , that several buildings - e.g. nuclear and solar power plant - lack R$$$ jobs that they were supposed to have.

Does this patch already fix this or is there another one?

I just checked, no, it doesn't, at least no for the solar power plant. You can check for yourself. If you have the Extra Cheats Plugin installed, use Ctrl-Alt-Shift with the query tool (you have to move it onto the building while all keys are pressed). It will show you actual employment, among lots of other info.

However, with solar power plants and unique buildings, those few jobs don't really matter much, unlike with a whole branch of industry. The I-HT fix overcompensates slightly regarding industry, due to how the game calculates, so you're good.

Just so I know exactly what I'm looking for.

cheers

[Turjan 1,048]

On 02/03/2015 at 12:41 PM, Tropod said:

I  have read the whole thread here, but would someone mind providing an in-game screenshot of the problem (ie I-HT$$$ <> R$$$ jobs) ie as per follows, specifically item in bold;

Just so I know exactly what I'm looking for.

Sure, no problem. Actually, I had to start a new city to evoke the I-HT bug again, as a once patched city wasn't deterred by the original simcity_1.dat.

Okay, let's start with the vanilla situation, the jobs of an original I-HT factory R$:R$$:R$$$ = 9:76:0 (should be 9:76:9)

Applying your patch. Jobs become 0:76:0 (R$ jobs disappeared, only R$$ jobs remain)

At the same time, the jobs graph for I-HT collapses to zero:

Using a patched simcity_1.dat with Hein_Bloed's original fix makes it 9:73:11 (as intended)

The jobs graph for I-HT looks okay, but curiously does not increase. Well, maybe not that curiously, as that's the bug:  the game already assumed those R$$$ Sims were employed, even though they were not, and built houses for them. Which means the "jobs and population" graph may actually show Census Drives, and you may have killed those.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

On 01/03/2015 at 11:55 PM, Grayham said:

Installation Procedure:

- Make sure you have the latest SC4/RH or Deluxe versions plus Patches. Right-click on the simcity executable and check the version number. Mine is 1.1.640.0 (SC4+RH+Patches).

Is 1.1.638.0 good enough?

Yes, but if you use the night view, you won't get lights on custom content.

[Mister Giggles 310]

On 02/03/2015 at 12:41 PM, Tropod said:

what the hey.........I've attached to this post what my comments above are talking about. Please note that I have not tested this file & there's a slight possibility it won't work; but for those that would like to see how this concept works &/or if it works, please by all means try these files at your own risk. Simply unzip & place in your Plugins. If this does work then it should serve as a replacement for the current version & simplify the fix.

Apologies for taking so long to get back to you.

Your plugin has the most curious effect of making it so that no one at all works in high tech.

I've removed the file I posted for the time being, pending further investigation for an alternative work-around.

I have read the whole thread here, but would someone mind providing an in-game screenshot of the problem (ie I-HT$$$ <> R$$$ jobs) ie as per follows, specifically item in bold;

I did use the extended query function. Turgan has done the screenshot work for me; simply replace 0:76:0 with 0:0:0. I believe I can explain the discrepancy between our numbers: The game does not quite properly recalculate what jobs a currently existing building offers when the census drives are changed. If Turgan were to explode the building and allow something else to grow, then query it, I am confident he'll find 0:0:0 himself.

[Grayham 2]

I don't think the HT fix has worked for me because even after more than a year of game time, the numbers leaving the city are more or less still the same.

[Mister Giggles 310]

Pre-existing I-HT will not be fixed.

[Grayham 2]

Why did no one say that before??

[Mister Giggles 310]

A multitude of possible reasons, but I think this sums it up best: People are not perfect.

[newkid 1]

If anybody out there has figured out how to apply this fix (and the CAM workforce fix, but I digress...) on a Mac, I'm all ears.   We can't even install the update patches, for night-lighting and the like.  It's a rough world for us

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

First of all, if you are running the Aspyr version from the Apple App store you have what you have.  Plugins are data, and can generally be applied.  When Aspyr did their last kick at the cat they managed to ignore some of the published patches, so their version is a bit crippled.

You have the choice of running the Windoze version (1,1,641) from one of the legitimate application sellers for Windoze using either wineskin or some other VM system 

Another option for you would be to dual boot your machine with a Linux distro (I am using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS), picking up the wine layer, and installing the Windoze program on a 32- or 64-bit wine prefix.  Either will work, but I recommend the 32-bit one because some of the after market stuff is doggedly 32-bit.  If you look at the wine Wiki, you'll find the instructions for setting up a 32-bit wine prefix on a 64-bit machine.

In all of these, there is a learning curve.  Getting the dual boot across is probably the easiest because all you do is download the hot boot ISO, make a DVD out of it, check the MD5 checksum, then boot from the disk.  You can then follow your nose to:

a)  Do an in-core test of the O/S without affecting your machine at all;

b)  Install a dual boot with the Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) which allows you to choose which O/S to run on a boot; or

c)  Scrap Apple and turn your machine into a Ubuntu machine (takes some guts to do this, and not recommended initially).

However if you don't need any applications you are running on Apple, you may find that once you get to Linux, there is no looking back.  I dual booted from XP because Vista would not install on my old machine (2007).  It turned out that Ubuntu had everything I needed, so when the next update came it, I made a new disk (DVD) and kissed Windoze goodbye forever.  This is a very personal decision and you have to think hard about it.

Oh, and in choice b) above you have the option of setting up Ubuntu in its own partition or letting it pick space out of your existing system.  In any case, Linux uses a small partition for swap (virtual) space, and will create this one at least.  Mine happens to be 20GB but this is maximum overkill.

The other thing to note here is that Ubuntu is free for individual users, but they will ask for a voluntary donation when downloading.  You can ignore this and nothing bad will happen.  Commercial users get to pay a serious license fee that includes full support.  Casual users are also supported both by the distributor and the community.

The system is self-configuring, by the way.  You may or may not get the option to load an additional graphics driver depending on what hardware you have.  In my case, I use a default driver because my chipset is out of support.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

As part of our ongoing reorganization, this topic has been unpinned. You can still post in it and the master list is the Crashes and Problems - Look Here First thread.

-Cori

[simchey 20]

I can't run the Datpacker -- I download it, then get this error: The program can't start because MSVCP71.dll is missing from your computer.

Moreover, I don't seem to actually have the SimCity.dat file anywhere that I can find it -- could this be because I have the game through Steam?

[twalsh102 1,601]

The fix for the first problem should be pretty straight forward.  You need to download MSVCP71.dll (find it here:  http://www.dlldownloader.com/msvcp71-dll/) and place it in the installation folder for DatPacker.

Problem 2:  Because you are using steam, the actual path to the SimCity 4 installation folder on your computer may differ from the path given in the tutorial.  If you search your C: drive for SimCity_1.dat, it should find it.  It will be at the root level of your installation folder.

[simchey 20]

Thanks for the link! That should help with the first problem

As for the second one, I just don't think I have the .dat file. I've searched my entire computer and nothing came back. What I DO have in the root level of the SimCity folder is something called SimCity 4.cfg -- could that be it, under a different extension?

EDIT: Actually, I have now found the SimCity_1.dat file. It was buried deep within my Steam subfolders.

Sorry for my lack of computer awareness - I'm now further confused though, as this part of my computer (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam Apps\common\SimCity 4 Deluxe) is nowhere near the part where my actual saved games, plug ins and regions are all found (Libraries\Documents\My Documents\SimCity 4). Is that going to be an issue?

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

14 minutes ago, simchey said:

I'm now further confused though, as this part of my computer (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam Apps\common\SimCity 4 Deluxe) is nowhere near the part where my actual saved games, plug ins and regions are all found (Libraries\Documents\My Documents\SimCity 4). Is that going to be an issue?

Those locations are exactly as they should be so no worries about that. In general computers are set up so Programs and their related files all get put in once place and then your Documents are where you store things like your Regions, Cities, and Plugins you use.

A key question will be what OS (operating system) are you using? Win 10? Win 7? Other? The reason I ask is because each later version of Windoze gets more and more cranky when anyone (except God, and even then it can be a hassle) tries to modify files located in the Program folders. If this is the case, I believe you can copy the SimCity_1.dat file out of its location in program files, do the packing, then copy the modified file back.

The gurus of later versions of Windoze can explain this better, but if you run into the next error of You don't have Permission (or such) that'll be when we need to do the workaround.

[simchey 20]

I'm running on Windows 8.1. I'm generally a Mac guy, but I quickly got tired of how hard it was to play SimCity on my main laptop, so I dug out an old windows machine and here we are! I will try this now.

Thank you both for your help!

[Cyclone Boom 16,879]

Just to add...

As an alternative, there's a cross-platform tool named JDatPacker which might come in useful. This runs using Java which means the executable file has a .jar extension instead of a standard .exe as is common on Windows systems. Perhaps this could be worth trying as another option, and if ever considering using it on your Mac system.

Here's a preview of the UI how it looks:

With both paths filled in, then clicking the Start button commences the packing process. For the merging of files (including the SimCity_1.dat) and it's a wise move to first create a backup copy of the original. Just move that to another folder, and then just in case anything went wrong or there's a need to restore it again.

 

1 hour ago, simchey said:

What I DO have in the root level of the SimCity folder is something called SimCity 4.cfg -- could that be it, under a different extension?

I'm aware how that one is a configuration file used by the game. It stores preferences like the last open region, along with Graphics Options and such.

[simchey 20]

Thank you all! I have successfully "packed" the fix -- time will tell if I did it right and it fixes my HT industry.

[simchey 20]

Curiously, installing this appears to have created doubles of a lot of things. When I went to adjust the terrain in God Mode, I saw two of each of valley, canyon, etc. I also see two each of roads, streets, and avenues in Mayor Mode. This doesn't seem to have affected NAM or custom content, just stuff that came with the vanilla version.

Would anyone happen to have a guess as to what I did wrong here?

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

1 minute ago, simchey said:

Would anyone happen to have a guess as to what I did wrong here?

Me. Pick me!

You prolly still have the I-HT fix itself in your Plugins folder. Remove it cause it's now included in the datpacked SimCity_1.dat file.

[Cyclone Boom 16,879]

6 minutes ago, simchey said:

Would anyone happen to have a guess as to what I did wrong here?

In addition to what Cori said above...

As another thing to check, I wonder if you've got the SimCity_1.dat file still present in your Plugins folder. If so and it might be replicating everything with how that then gets loaded alongside the regular compressed .dat file you've done the I-HT merge on. Then explaining how there are duplicates in the game's menus (like in God Mode).

[simchey 20]

This was, in fact, the problem! Thanks.

[Dougg 12]

Hi guys

First post on this (or any other SC4) forum! I'm back to playing SC after about 15 years - don't think I ever actually played SC4 deluxe tbh, the game play doesn't  ring any bells with me. I must have played an older (and easier!) version 

Anyway, I'm running the CD version on an old XP laptop I bought off ebay specifically for the purpose. I've patched it so it's at version 1.1.640.0. The only mod I've installed was the NAM, and this I-HT fix, which I'm not sure is installing correctly. Story follows, just to make sure I got it right, with quotes from the OP's post:

Backup simcity_1.dat! (Copy this file somewhere else - outside of SimCity's folders, eg under your My Documents folder). - I assume this is the simcity_1.dat file that is under C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe. If so, I just copied it to my desktop.

Create a new folder under your My Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins folder. - No name suggested for this, so I called the folder IHTFix - seemed as good a name as any

Copy simcity_1.dat under the above folder. -  Did this by copying and pasting the dat file I had previously copied to my desktop. So I now have a folder called IHTFix under C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins which contains the original simcity_1.dat file

Copy the fix (IH_census_10_78_12.dat) under the above folder and rename it to z_IH_census_10_78_12.dat. This specifies the loading order, and causes the exemplar in the fix to replace the exemplar in simcity_1.dat, as z_... is alphabetically "after" si... - Did this. So my IHTFix folder now contains the original simcity_1.dat file and the file z_IH_census_10_78_12.dat. So far so good, if I've got this correct.

Run SC4 DatPacker. Initially all folders in the list are selected (highlighted). Find and highlight ONLY the folder you created. This will limit DatPacker's operation under that folder only. Click on the Start button, wait for the operation to be completed and close SC4 DatPacker - Did this as described - I made sure only the IHTFix folder was highlighted. I also left the defaults ticked (Optimize Space and Include only useful TGI). Force repacking I left unticked. I ran it and it took 8 seconds to build

DatPacker should have created a new datfile, containing simcity_1.dat plus the fix. This is located under a folder by default named Plugins_Compressed. Rename this file to simcity_1.dat, and copy it under SimCity's main folder - This isn't entirely clear. There  is no folder anywhere on my system called Plugins_Compressed - is the DatPacker supposed to create this folder? If so, it didn't. What it did create was a dat file called IHTFix.dat in the Plugins folder, next to my IHTFix folder. As this file was more or less the same size as the original simcity_1.dat file (just a few kb smaller) I assumed this was the file I was seeking, so I renamed it simcity_1.dat and copied it to C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe, overwriting the original (which I still have a copy of on my desktop)

I then deleted everything I'd created under the My Documents Plugin folder and fired up SC4. This first thing I noticed was that there was no noticeable change - the RCI was identical (I expected to see a change - maybe not). I ran it for a fair while - several decades in SC4 time - and there was no noticeable change in the game play. The "no job" icons appeared right on cue and my High Wealth Residential buildings turned to soot as before. The RCI showed demand for R$$$ and I-HT as before (there is always constant demand for I-HT, as was always the case, R$$$ fluctuates). The city has 280k sims.

Did I install it correctly? And should I expect to see any noticeable change? If not, what's the point?  

Any help greatly appreciated 

Thanks

Doug
 

 

[Cyclone Boom 16,879]

Hi Doug, and welcome to SC4 and Simtropolis.

It sounds like you've followed the steps correctly there. Since the game doesn't crash upon loading a city, this proves how the SimCity_1.dat file is indeed being properly read by the game. What the fix resolves is how high tech industrials are able to accept R$$$ workers. It changes the distribution of low, medium, and high wealth to work around a glitch which prevents this happening in the game otherwise.

So I believe you should be good to go, however there is something well worth mentioning...

Contrary to established fact, recently @CorinaMarie succeeded in proving how the high tech fix may not be necessary to DatPack after all. It has long been believed how this was necessary to prevent a duplication issue, but the empirical data suggests otherwise. See the post Cori made here for full details of her testing.

No one has yet come forward to disprove this with clear-cut evidence, and so it seems how the fix can simply be placed in one's Plugins folder after all and it'll still work perfectly fine. There isn't any harm in having it packed though since you've got it sorted now. Seeing as @cogeo has been actively posting recently, I'll mention him here in case he might have any thoughts as to why the fix may in some circumstances still be worth packing as per the recommendation 8 years ago.

By the way...

To use the advanced query as mentioned, this requires the Extra Cheats DLL installed (place straight in the Plugins folder).

Then hold down the Ctrl+Alt+Shift keys and use the query tool (the little question mark in the bottom left, beside the map). Hover this over a building and it'll reveal the extra details there, including the Jobs distribution. This is a good way to check and confirm the high tech jobs are correctly being allocated from R$$$ properties.

[Dougg 12]

34 minutes ago, Cyclone Boom said:

To use the advanced query as mentioned, this requires the Extra Cheats DLL installed (place straight in the Plugins folder).

Thanks for that  Is that the Plugins folder under My Documents or the one in the main SC4 folder structure? Out of interest, why is there a Plugins folder under My Documents anyway? 

Ah, don't worry. Just read the installation instructions under your link

  Edited December 31, 2019 by Dougg  
Additional info

[Prophet42 1,501]

Welcome @Dougg to Simtropolis.  Another couple of fixes you may want in you plug in folder are the Opera house fix and the Space port fix.  I will try to post links to them here if you don't already have them.

Edit:  Just in case, below are the links.

Opera House Fix   Space Port Fix Mod

  Edited December 31, 2019 by Prophet42  

[Cyclone Boom 16,879]

50 minutes ago, Dougg said:

Thanks for that  Is that the Plugins folder under My Documents or the one in the main SC4 folder structure?

50 minutes ago, Dougg said:

Edit: Ah, don't worry. Just read the installation instructions under your link

Cool. I'll just add to clarify how...

It can flexibly go in either of the Plugins folders, and the only requirement as stated is it doesn't work if placed inside a subfolder (it must go directly inside).

For me I place the Extra Cheats and also the SC4Fix under the main installation Plugins folder. This is just a personal preference thing though, and when testing with different sets of custom content I like to have those two DLL files always installed.

 

50 minutes ago, Dougg said:

Out of interest, why is there a Plugins folder under My Documents anyway?

This is the main user area folder, and in Regions is where your individual city saved files are (in subfolders per region). The folder in My Documents is the recommended place to install content. One key consideration is how if ever uninstalling the game, it'd delete anything in the Program Files location where the game resides. When making backups of your game data, all it needs is to copy the entire "SimCity 4" folder in your My Documents and that could always be restored if needed.

Let us know if you've any additional questions.
(And no worries at all about anything being too basic to ask, because that's what we're here for.)
 

[Dougg 12]

18 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

To use the advanced query as mentioned, this requires the Extra Cheats DLL installed (place straight in the Plugins folder).

Cool. Loads of info. I was a little disappointed that it doesn't tell me what my sims had for breakfast or what colour socks they wear, but I can live with that 

Is there a page somewhere that can give me an idea of what all that info means? Some of it is intuitive, but a lot isn't. Thanks 

[Cyclone Boom 16,879]

2 hours ago, Dougg said:

Cool. Loads of info. I was a little disappointed that it doesn't tell me what my sims had for breakfast or what colour socks they wear, but I can live with that 

Maxis certainly missed a trick there!
 

Spoiler

It would be incorporating the WhatDidYouHaveForBreakfast and the WhatColorSocksDoYouWear commands (which must be typed). Upon using the standard query tool and pressing the Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Enter+F7+F8+TAB keys and querying any residential lot, all is then revealed!

But yeah, if only this could be done. Maybe using an easier to press keyboard combo. If only...

 

2 hours ago, Dougg said:

Is there a page somewhere that can give me an idea of what all that info means? Some of it is intuitive, but a lot isn't. Thanks 

Yes, there is a summary PDF guide which @huzman created as a posted article.

As follows:

 

Also there's a PDF version attached to their post here which might be useful as a local reference copy. There's details of what most of the commands do, other than the Unknown ones which are still a mystery. If there's any in particular you'd like clarification on, let us know and we'll try to explain the best we can.