Tutorial: Applying the I-HT Bug-Fix correctly

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If your system administrator won't let you do this, get him to do it for you.

[7238320 77]

@ Platypus5 - From what I understand, the two files must be 'merged' to work properly. Hopefully you can talk your Admin/password holder into helping you out.

We are more than happy to walk your Admin through the steps!

edit: there ya go.. the Moose types faster than me...

[Synergy67 88]

And what would be the solution for a Mac user of RH? Maybe someone would kindly email a fixed version of the dat file, or perhaps it could even be posted on site? Same thing for the power plants and hospital. I'd love to be able to do these things myself, but can't on my Mac. I don't have or use Windows at all. So I am at the mercy of the kind work and service of others.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

And what would be the solution for a Mac user of RH? Maybe someone would kindly email a fixed version of the dat file, or perhaps it could even be posted on site? Same thing for the power plants and hospital. I'd love to be able to do these things myself, but can't on my Mac. I don't have or use Windows at all. So I am at the mercy of the kind work and service of others.

Asking for this kind of thing is slightly illegal. You most certainly have the necessary tools on the MAC (OS/X) but you simply need to learn enough about your system to translate instructions from Windows to OS/X. If you need to run a Windows executable to do this look into wine for MAC.

People like you and I are mavericks when it comes to things like this. I use Linux by preference simply because I am too cheap to pay for a licence for either Windows or OS/X. Why you use OS/X is probably some forced putt like being in need of some MAC-only applications.

[Synergy67 88]

I kinda figured it wasn't appropriate for anyone to post modified original Maxis game files, even though they stopped repairing anything themselves years ago. I use a Mac simply because I love the OS and have been using it for many years. I think I'd have to learn a whole lot more to translate instructions from Windows to OSX than I'd ever have the patience or interest to attempt, because I do not have a programmer's mind. I have great attention to detail, micromanagement, and minutae in a game like this though. I am rather shocked at how many things are messed up or incomplete in the game coding, and also at how much more of a mess has been made at times by attempts to correct them, like this thread here is describing. I just learned how road top mass transit is a hack essentially creating an invisible drive through building, that can mess up your transit menu buttons (which I was trying to solve for the last several hours)—I got two Subway buttons in my menu, and my Zone data view switched to working in subway station mode, not Zone mode. It also can slow down processor speed. There is so much to find out about all the pros and cons of all these mods. I think SC4 is a fantastic game though, and it's well worth the time and effort to make the best of it. I'm so impressed and amazed by the devoted, creative, talented community here of the last decade. I think in the case of this IHT §§§ issue, the simplest solution is maybe to just leave it alone entirely and let those §§§ sims work elsewhere. Can anyone say that it really makes any significant different in stats calculations and gameplay ultimately, those relatively small numbers of missing jobs for R§§§?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Frankly, Scarlett ...

Anyway, I don't mess with the game residency files at all. This means I don't get to use this fix nor the CAM, and I don't miss them. I could do it, because I've been a computer programmer since Christ was a carpenter, but being retired from all that, I just don't bother unless there is something really annoying me. Can you believe I saw my first hands-on computer in 1962? Were your parents alive then?

[cwhomer 100]

I've tried installing this several different times, and each time I am getting 3 of each basic road type appearing in the roads menu. Each time, i have made sure to delete all the plugins_compressed related files and have scoured mydocuments and the main SimCity folders to make sure nothing is in there. Even after swapping the new simcity_1.dat with the old one, I am still having this problem until I do a complete reinstall. Running Windows 7. Has anyone else had this problem, and can it be avoided? Is it a problem, or just annoying side effect?

 

Thanks.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

What if you didn't bother?  Do you notice a difference in your game without it?  I don't.

[cwhomer 100]

What if you didn't bother?  Do you notice a difference in your game without it?  I don't.

 

My first attempt involved a city of about 13,000 and I noticed that there was a massive spike in all RCI Demand categories. I consider this a negative difference. Plus, I've been playing SC4 on and off since it came out so I can live without this particular bugfix.

 

I am more curious about whether I have some larger issue, system conflict, or am simply missing something when it comes to the Dat Packer as it's something I'm interested in using for other plugins. From what I've observed something doesn't seem to be working right. I'm not sure why this fix would create a  demand spike in the thousands for every RCI category, for example, or why things don't return to normal after swapping in the original simcity_1.dat file. That's a topic for another thread if no one else has run into the issue here.

[cwhomer 100]

Solved. As I suspected, Windows generated copies of the dat files and placed them in a folder where they could only be located, and deleted, manually. Anyone else who may have this problem in the future: remember to check your users/app data folders for duplicate files.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Excellent!  Yet another example of Microsoft trying to mother the user.  Why they should do this is beyond me.  You surely don't need to be protected from yourself.

[BloodCat 1]

This instruction and original fix description mentioned that stock Medical Clinic is bugged and doesn't provide adequate jobs. Is there a way to fix this?

[Cyclone Boom 16,879]

^ The medical clinic fix can be obtained from along with other common SC4 fixes. Though it only corrects the parking lot of the medical clinic (not any of the lot's properties).

[BloodCat 1]

^ The medical clinic fix can be obtained from along with other common SC4 fixes. Though it only corrects the parking lot of the medical clinic (not any of the lot's properties).

 

I saw that fix, but I need a game mechanics fix, not some eye-candy.

[SimMavGER 8]

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?

 

1) Note to self: bookmark more ...

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Don't know.  Did it?

[Turjan 1,048]

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.

[cogeo 960]

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?

 

The I-HT jobs bug fix only fixes the $$$ jobs issue in I-HT. The other buildings affected by the bug, ie the Medical Clinic, the Solar Power Plant and the Nuclear Power Plant must be fixed specifically. I think there are fixes/uploaded on the STEX. But it wouldn't be hard to fix them on you own, just copy their building exemplars into a new plugin, and modify the number of jobs (Demand Created - both jobs & amenities) so that no two job numbers (for each wealth level) are equal. This plugin (or plugins) doesn't need to be merged into simcity_1.dat, you can just install it under your Plugins folder (overriding the originals). Not sure if it will fix your existing (already plopped) buildings though, or if you need to bulldoze and plop them anew. If so, bulldoze them WITHOUT having the fix installed, then save, exit simcity, install them and plop them again.

[Mr Baseball 0]

Will not fixing this issue seriously impact the game? I'm not a numbers guy, it's all greek to me. After reading the Fix for the fix, I don't know if I want to get into all that work, unless game playability will really suffer from not using it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I don't use it for policy reasons.  Because of the way I work, I have to reinstall frequently and all this flopping about is just a nuisance.  It depends on your style of play.  Put it on the back burner until you get up to speed.

[aarons55540 0]

Wow...thanks Maxis. This explains why I can't get ANY of the rewards!!!

How long has this game been out? Why hasn't Maxis addressed this with their own patch? Or is my game supposed to be completely useless and absolutely no fun to play?

 

So, apparently I have to go to college for a couple of years-and then I can apply this fix(because right now-the instructions might as well be written in Greek)...

 

any one want a free copy of SC4 with the rush Hour expansion?...its pretty much of worthless to me now...

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Maxis hasn't had much to do with this version since around 2005.  So if you are talking about installing the fix for HT, don't bother.  I didn't.  As far as applying the update fixes for the actual game is concerned there are two executable files and all you have to do is run them.

 

There are some aspects of this game, as with all software, when you have to get into the guts that do require more than basic computer knowledge, but to do ordinary things like applying patches that come with executable installers and custom content it is pretty much a matter of either executing an installer with choice of options or simply moving files around with windows explorer or whatever file system you have on your machine.

 

If you can't do that, find someone who will show you how.  It is a job for a little old lady, like the ones I used to teach in Introduction to computers. 

 

As for mussing with the internals of this game, it is a thing to be avoided except for hackers and purists.

 

Apply the EP1 patch and that's all you really need.  The supplementary patch for nightlights is a convenience but not really necessary.  After you get your game to level 1,1,638 you are generally good to go.

[nightglamer 0]

I packed the CAM.dat file and this fix to simcity_1.dat but after saving it to main folder my game  is crashing to desktop while loading the city tile ...I replaced the old simcity_1.dat file and it worked fine with it and FYI I used file2dat software to datpack....please give me some solution for this

[z1 566]

Try using the DatPacker, as the instructions say, instead of file2dat.

[nightglamer 0]

Hmm i tried that packer but after installation it showed some .dll file missing so it wont run that's why i used file2dat!!!

[Cyclone Boom 16,879]

For newer versions of Windows, you'll need to install some necessary DLL files. These are dependencies for DatPacker to run. Please see the readme doc for information about this.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Probably explains why DATpacker won't run in my wine environment.  Thanks.

[pjk64 6]

*sigh* 

 

I have a similar problem to that of cwhomer. After creating a new SimCity_1.dat file with the Dat Packer, my travel (roads, rails, etc...) and zone icons are doubled (but not items like stations or multi use menu buttons). But unlike Mr. cw, swapping back my original dat file returns the game to its original state. I've followed his advice and looked for duplicate files hidden around my HD(s), but there are none. Since swapping back the original returns the game to normal, I assume that proves there aren't duplicate files and that the issue is purely with the new SimCity_1.dat file (or the creation of it).

 

The one caveat of my system is that I don't use my C:\ drive for game data files. I have three drives, C:, D: and E: The C: drive is reserved for the Windows OS while the D: and E: are for user data (like games). That means my pluggin folder isn't in the default location under C:\Documents and Settings but is instead a sub-folder of E:\Games\SimCity4. The game runs fine this way, but the DAT Packer insists on finding pluggins on the C: drive. Therefore I had to make a duplicate folder structure to 'fool' Dat Packer.

 

To that end, I created a \SimCirty 4\Pluggins\Test folder under C:\...\My Documents and placed the original SimCity_1.dat along with the IH census fix file (renamed with a leading 'z') and then ran the Dat packer. It created a file called Test.dat in a newly created 'compressed' folder. I renamed that file to SimCity_1.dat and moved it to the SimCity 4 game folder (overwriting the original), deleted all the newly made files and folders on the C: drive... and viola - double menu items.

 

(double) *sigh* as I expect this thread is so old, no one will respond...

 

I guess it's not imperative, but it bugs me that I can't get this fix to work right for my game.

It's not like I'm not computer savvy, but I'm feeling dumb here.

 

 

(some more) background. My version of the game is 1.1.638 - which is the same as the SC4 Update referenced in the 'For the Eager, Yet Overwhwhelmed Necomer' thread.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Try again, but this time instead of DATpacker try using and make doubly sure you don't have any duplicate files in the list.

[pjk64 6]

I figured it out, but I can't tell whether I'm a genius or an idiot; I've heard there's a fine line between the two anyway. The key was the notion of a duplicate file. There must have been one, right? So where was it?

 

The thing I was doing wrong was saving my original SimCity_1.dat file in the game folder. I changed its name to "SimCity_1.dat_Original" and thought that the extension suffix would be enough for the game to ignore it. It wasn't. I changed it again to SC1D.backup and now my game looks right AND R$$$ sims are working at I-HT AND the no job zots have (at least temporarily) vanished due to the new job openings in the high tech industries.

 

It is also worth noting that using the created Dat Packer file with any name in any folder (game or pluggin) will cause it to become functional. Renaming it and/or moving it to the default game folder appears to be irrelevant, though good practice for keeping files organized.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

BTW - I am from Kitchener, though I now live in NYC. I guess we are sort of former neighbors. Howdy.