Changing in-game bat names?

[ThisIsMyName 23]

Although I do love the amount of Asian bats out there, they have an unfortunate tendency to not label their works, leaving their popups blank. Using the DAMN, I was able to rename everything to show up in the menus, but that doesn't help the issue of blank names (or "open grass land" names)appearing once clicked on with the ? tool after plopping.

I tried typing them in manually in the game itself which of course doesn't seem to work, then tried changing it in LeProp. Using that, it seems to give me completely unpredictable results. The first still comes up blank in-game, the second comes up with a generic "blank CS$" title, and the third came up properly with what I gave it. All of them were renamed in exactly the same way, with totally different results. Lot Editor doesn't seem to help either. Any suggestions on how to get everything to show up properly?

[jason leo 485]

I think the best tool to solve your problem is by using the SC4PIM (The BAT installer and the SC4PIM installer is same). First, you must locate the .SC4Desc file in your plugins with no directory. Then, you can open the PIM and change the name manually by using the 'Exemplar name' slot. Btw, it will only works if the file that will be modded is a .SC4Desc. If you must change the ingame name of a file that compressed in a .dat file, then you must use To change the name using ilive reader, you must do these steps :

1. click 'open' and search for the file that you will mod. Then, click the 'Fill the list'.

2. After that, you will find three tabs, choose the tab with name 'Exemplar file'.

Then, you will find the 'Exemplar name' slot, just click it and then, you can change the name.

ilive Reader can be used for .SC4Desc too. Another tool that can be used is the PIM-X. (must login/register first, to register, click this link, then click the 'register' link)

EDIT : Never mind, T wrecks already give the right way to change the in-game names, what I do is the right way to change the exemplar name, not something that you really need.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

The .sc4desc file (to be more precise, the building exemplar file inside it) determines what's displayed. There always is an exemplar name, and there can be an "Item Name" and a "User visible name key" property. (The latter is a HEX key that points to an LTEXT file, which in turn contains the name. This is what you add using LEProp.)

The "Item Name" will override the "User visible name key", so it should be deleted. (Same goes for "Item description" vs. "User visible description key".)

EDIT

@ Jason Leo: I strongly recommend NOT to use the exemplar name property to change names.

Enter a single special character there, and the game may crash!

Besides, the exemplar name is the name that will appear in the buildings list when you use the "buildingplop" cheat. Systematically named building exemplars make it a lot easier to find stuff. Entered right from the start, they also make file management easier.

For example, I'll add exemplar names like "HKABT_PvM_[buildingName]" for one of paulvmontfort's HKABT buildings. Later I'll add a user visible name key, and enter the in-game name there.

This way I'll have properly named files right from the start, I'll be able to find HKABT stuff where it belongs (all grouped together) when I use the buildingplop cheat for evaluation, and I'll still have proper in-game names that support special characters without problems.

Or think about buildings that are made in several versions. It is smart to call the exemplars "[MyBuilding]_CO$$" and "[MyBuilding]_LM" if you make a building that will be available both as CO$$ and as landmark. Without the suffix, you'd end up with two identically named .sc4desc files. However, later in game you don't want to click on a building and see a name like "MyBuilding_CO$$". You want to click on it and see "MyBuilding".

This is why you should use the exemplar name for systematic names, and LTEXT files + user visible name key property for in-game names.

[jason leo 485]

EDIT

@ Jason Leo: I strongly recommend NOT to use the exemplar name property to change names.

Enter a single special character there, and the game may crash!

Besides, the exemplar name is the name that will appear in the buildings list when you use the "buildingplop" cheat. Systematically named building exemplars make it a lot easier to find stuff. Entered right from the start, they also make file management easier.

For example, I'll add exemplar names like "HKABT_PvM_[buildingName]" for one of paulvmontfort's HKABT buildings. Later I'll add a user visible name key, and enter the in-game name there.

This way I'll have properly named files right from the start, I'll be able to find HKABT stuff where it belongs (all grouped together) when I use the buildingplop cheat for evaluation, and I'll still have proper in-game names that support special characters without problems.

Or think about buildings that are made in several versions. It is smart to call the exemplars "[MyBuilding]_CO$$" and "[MyBuilding]_LM" if you make a building that will be available both as CO$$ and as landmark. Without the suffix, you'd end up with two identically named .sc4desc files. However, later in game you don't want to click on a building and see a name like "MyBuilding_CO$$". You want to click on it and see "MyBuilding".

This is why you should use the exemplar name for systematic names, and LTEXT files + user visible name key property for in-game names.

Oops, based on my knowledge, LTEXT files is not very useful. Sorry, I didn't know if LTEXT files + user visible name key property is the right way to change it.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

This is the first time that I hear LTEXTs aren't useful. I can't really think of any reason why they wouldn't. They allow for special characters (unlike "Item Name" and "Exemplar name" properties, they can be easily edited with LEProp, and they can even be used to make multi-lingual lots that will automatically pick the name and description for the installed game locale. Likewise, you can make several building exemplars point to one and the same LTEXT file so that they will all "fetch" the correct name there - all things you can't do with the other two properties.

[ThisIsMyName 23]

I'm afraid I'm not sure I understand exactly what I'm supposed to do. I opened LEProp to try again, and noticed that the program was set to automatically open the dat file (.dat & SC4lot) that I tried renaming before, and I had to tell it to open "all files" to see the SC4desc files instead. When I opened the file, there was only an exemplar available, with neither Item Name or User Visible name key appearing. Is this why the object shows a blank name in-game? I opened two of the bats I tried renaming yesterday and both were only exemplars. How do I fix it?

[T Wrecks 10,209]

LEProp will not display the properties I mentioned; iLive's Reader will. You can use the Reader to delete "Item Name" properties from the building exemplar (in most cases located inside the .sc4desc file).

LeProp is just the most comfortable software for adding an LTEXT-based name. Open the desc (you found that out just right!), enter a name, hit "Apply", then "Save DAT" and exit. If you have deleted the "Item Name" property before, or if you delete it afterwards using the Reader, the name you entered in LEProp should be displayed.

If you don't get along well with the Reader, SC4Tool would be an alternative. It contains various tools, an Exemplar Editor among them. If you open a file with SC4Tool's Exemplar Editor, you will see the exemplars and their properties displayed in a tree structure, just like a folder with sub-folders in the Windows Explorer. A click on "Building" will expand all properties of the building exemplar. If there is an "Item Name" property, simply right-click and delete it, then save.

[ThisIsMyName 23]

Interesting. When I went into the file using reader, the "item name" property did not appear in the exemplar from the Desc file, but instead showed up in the Lot file. Is this uncommon? I found item name, user visibility name key, and item description, but no user visibility description key. (so i didn't delete the item description key)

I deleted it then went into LEProp to rename the desc instead of the lot I'd tried to before. Instrestingly enough, the name that now shows up in game is the one I edited on the LOT file yesterday, not the desc file.

So I'm uncertain why I found the key to delete and the name that I changed both in the Lot while you mentioned they should be in Desc? Or is this particular file unusual?

edit: the second one I just tried was the same, both through lot instead of desc. I had the naming part through LeProp right, just didn't know about the pesky item name key part! It works beautifully, thank you SO much

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Well, file handling with SC4 is a bit tricky. Actually, you have "external files" (= the ones you see inside your folder in the Windows Explorer) and "internal files" (= the ones you see when you open an .sc4desc, .sc4model, .sc4lot or .dat file with iLive's reader).

The external files are just containers, and in all but a tiny number of exceptional cases, their file extension doesn't matter at all for SimCity. For example, the model required to display a tree prop can be pulled from a single .sc4model file, but it can also be taken from a huge prop pack with the .dat extension.

What really matters are the internal files - S3D and FSH files for models, PNG files for icons and previews, UI files for customised query windows, LTEXT files for names and descriptions, and so-called exemplar files that hold building, prop, and flora properties. Actually you are not modding .sc4lot or .sc4desc files. You are modding exemplar files.

For growable and ploppable buildings, there is at least one building exemplar and at least one lot exemplar. The former holds properties related to the building's type and in-game stats: Occupants, pollution, consumption, tax income... The latter holds properties regarding the lot the building will stand on: size, growth stage (if any), zone type, slope settings, and - most importantly - the ID, position, and orientation of all lot textures, props, and the actual building.

In case of growable buildings, you will mostly see a clean distinction: The .sc4desc file(s) generally hold(s) the building exemplar(s), the .sc4lot file(s) generally hold(s) the lot exemplar(s).

With ploppable buildings, however, Maxis' tools behave a bit quirky. The BATter will have his exported .sc4model first. With this model, he needs to generate an .sc4desc file. Now with model and descriptor (building exemplar), he can open the Lot Editor, put the building on a lot, and save the lot. What happens at this moment is that the building exemplar from the .sc4desc file is automatically merged into the .sc4lot file that is created. The result is that you will now have:

(A) an .sc4lot file that contains both lot exemplar and building exemplar, and

(B) a loose .sc4desc file that contains a redundant duplicate of the building exemplar.

Actually, you can delete that loose desc file for any ploppable building - not for growable ones!

I guess you had to edit the .sc4lot file because it held the building exemplar that was used in game. The game will determine which one of the two building exemplars is used based on loading order, i.e. root folder comes before sub-folder, and then files are processed in alphabetical order. It is not unusual for a ploppable .sc4lot file (external file / container file) to contain the building exemplar that holds the item name and item description properties. It would be highly unusual, though, if the lot exemplar file (internal file!) contained these two properties.

Phew, I hope all this boring waffle made at least some sense to you.

[ThisIsMyName 23]

I think I get it. I had never used reader before, so thought it was strange that leprop was working for one file yet not working for another when doing the same thing. I am grateful that you've helped me sort out what I was missing!