SimCityPak - Modding Tool

[oppie 487]

For the past few weeks I've been working on deciphering the building model file structure. I've made some major strides, but until now I haven't had much to show for it. However, today I finally managed to put everything together for a first taste of what's to come. My first goal, building recolors:

 

[charliemcf 0]

For the past few weeks I've been working on deciphering the building model file structure. I've made some major strides, but until now I haven't had much to show for it. However, today I finally managed to put everything together for a first taste of what's to come. My first goal, building recolors:

 

Looks cool with the custom decal on! Nice!

[SimsTG 5]

People what I want most right now is a simple thing and have not found the way. Add a tool Forest improved.

 

In this picture you guys can see that I added in photoshop an icon for the result of which would be the MOD.

He must have these characteristics:

• Maximum density in a single click, without having to click 4 times in the same place.
• Be 10 times greater than the current ratio.
• Be 20 times more expensive per click than the current (§ 50 to § 1000)
• Do not replace the existing tool, but add one to the side as in the picture.

What I found:

 

In my view this texture map is a way to paint the trees in the brush tool. But I'm not sure and I can not import successfully, so that open in Photoshop, is only open in Paint. When you import BMP says it is, but renomiei with PNG and DDS and did not work in Photoshop. Even with the original extension BMP. I left everything blank and then all in black and had no change in the result of the density of painting. Both times, he painted a few trees, so I believe that the amount of trees and density of the forest depends on the numbers in the investigated variables.

 

The variables, honestly I did not understand and did not find anything. I do not know where or how to clone and duplicate the button Forest, and make this additional button for the my MOD on inside of menu.

 

What I found, for example, and i di'nt understand:

 

Any help is welcome.

 

And I'm quite open to help any of you with design creating buttons, logo, banners, textures for 3d models, textures dds, etc.. That I am expert designer.

[potorium 17]

0xb674e73b and 0xf1035727 are the two variations of area effected for placed parks. means we can swap parks radial effect areas between these two. And possibly change the prop  or add a new ID to have different areas. we possibly could have a 'place one and turn whole map d2/d3) items. 

 

either as pure cheat or balanced with high maintenance cost

 

0x00b1b104-0x09878a01-0x70dd2f03  0x00b1b104-0x09878a01-0xc0ec9bbc is the tree placement menu item.

 

its parent has radius control props so changing its size/color should be possible.

 

its placement type is out of scope so is either compiled or in a file type we have yet to read. this might have zero to do with the actual placing of trees but i'd hazard a guess its scripted and thus oos for now as tree placement is random(ish) in where they actually go.

 

(a guess again)

They  plant the trees by staining the forest maps when the placement tool is used and then bleach this map against masks of the pollution map / radiation to kill trees that live in high pollution/radiation over time.

 

to manually remove trees, clicking the remove tree tool simply bleaches the forest map.

 

if full stain is 4 clicks then maybe there is something in the files that controls the 'stain' amount but nothing overly obvious to me

[SimsTG 5]

0xb674e73b and 0xf1035727 are the two variations of area effected for placed parks. means we can swap parks radial effect areas between these two. And possibly change the prop  or add a new ID to have different areas. we possibly could have a 'place one and turn whole map d2/d3) items. 

 

either as pure cheat or balanced with high maintenance cost

 

Changing instances "Tree", which are actually a group of parks "middle class" when he increased the diameter does not really affect. Only increases the radius of the circle, virtually, that is, visually. 

 

0x00b1b104-0x09878a01-0x70dd2f03  0x00b1b104-0x09878a01-0xc0ec9bbc is the tree placement menu item.

 

Thanks for the light I had not found before Plant Forest. I managed to increase the radius of the diameter of the forest also virtually, but could not increase the density nor the fulfillment of trees. As you can see in the image below. The game continues planting trees in a very small space, the same as before.

[oppie 487]

@kaiuaki - I looked into the Plant Forest tool a long while ago, when I had the idea that if the game writes to the forest map, it might as well be modified to write to the terrain height map (thus allowing terraforming). I abandoned this shortly after I realized that most of what I was after was in the scripts folder.

 

The way I understand it, the Plant Forest tool works as follows - first of all, there's the visual of the planting tool - e.g., the circle of which you can modify the diameter and color etc. Secondly, there's the unit that plants the actual trees. If you look at the tool, it has a tiny square at the center - this is the indicator for the unit to be built. When it is built it runs its rules (add to the forest map in a certain radius) and then deletes itself again. So what you're looking for is not so much in the tool, but rather in the unit that is built - this will definitely be in the scripts packages. With a bit of luck,the values for its radius and strength may be available for editing, and with an lot of luck modifying them will not lead to rollbacks. With an extreme amount of luck, you might even be able to modify the map the unit writes to and make it a terraforming tool, resource refilling tool or even a pollution/radiation removal tool! For the record, I doubt that this will be possible without rollbacks, but it might be worth trying. Good luck!

[potorium 17]

take a look at 5f804d7e. 4 tree models. possibly the 4 used by the tool. might trace something useful in parental/child chains

some potential id's. scan in as dictionary should all be fnv and currently unknown

 

Spoiler

airportbase
airportcargo
airspaceexit
alertfirealarm
alerttemplategambling
alloyconsumer
alloydelivery
ambulancealarm
basefirerisk
bridgeframe
casinobase
casinogamblinghouse
circleflat
coaldelivery
coaldriver
coaleditor
coalextraction
coalmininghqcommerce
collegebase
computerconsumer
computerdelivery
connectfirst
crimearson
debugdisasters
debugexplosion
defaulteditor
disasterchance
educationbusstop
electronicsconsumer
electronicsdelivery
explosivegamblinghouse
extractorbase
firegarage
freightconsumer
freightdelivery
fuelconsumer
fueldelivery
garbageconsumer
garbagecost
generalexpenses
globaltradechat
glowframe
greatworksarcology
greatworkscoalmine
greatworksconstruction
groundpollutionconsumer
happinesscommercial
happinessconsumer
healthbase
highlightarrow
highschoolbase
hindfreighttruckextd
homelessfire
hospitalbalcony
hqbalcony
internationalairportbase
launchballoon
leaderboardarrow
leafcarsservicedbackground
leftdirt
legendbudget
legendcoal
legendcrime
legenddensity
legendeducation
legendelectric
legendfire
legendgarbage
loadingcoal
lodgingcarousel
logoebed
longcargoplane
maintenanceback
metalconsumer
metaldelivery
missiondefault
oilcrudeconsumer
oilcrudedelivery
orerawconsumer
orerawdelivery
paletteinfopoliceexpensehour
palettepanelbulldoze
palettepaneldisasters
panelaction
parkexit
parkinggate
pathedit
patientroomsbuilt
pedestrianglobalui
pendinggarbageindump
plaguecloud
plasticconsumer
plasticdelivery
policealarm
policehelicopterrecomap
powerconsumer
powerwindbasestation
powerwindbattery
railcrossing
recentcrime
recentdelivery
recyclingdispatch
regionedit
regionwallavatar
residentecounitbindrawbinids
residentsgone
rightdirt
ringgold
roaddraw
robottargetiwconsumer
sewageconsumer
sickcloud
sidewalkdirt
signfire
simoleonsdelivery
smeltingdriver
surgicalcenterbuilt
televisionconsumer
televisiondelivery
templatedisaster
templatefiretruck
templateglobal
totalcars
touristattraction
touristexit
tradeconnection
tradedeal
tradedisasters
tradeeducation
tradegarbage
trainexit
transmitterflower
tutorialconnection
tutorialfire
waterbase
waterconsumer
watercost
waterplantsfalse
widgetmessagedropdownpanel
windpowereditor
xeccfcriminalmurderer

 

id's from american dictionary

moved

these are in my current xml but renamed without kprop

 

Spoiler

  <Instance Id="0x1e16cfe6" DisplayName="alloy" Comment="kResourceidAlloy" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xe3101f25" DisplayName="ambulance" Comment="kResourceIDAmbulance" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x475ef674" DisplayName="arson" Comment="kResourceIDArson" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xa8e5624c" DisplayName="barrels" Comment="NumberFormat.Barrels" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xe45f4186" DisplayName="Budget" Comment="kCategoryIDBudget" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xc710b6e9" DisplayName="building" Comment="kCategoryIDBuilding" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9730f3a0" DisplayName="bulldozer" Comment="ToolidBulldozer" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x2a99c945" DisplayName="BUS" Comment="kResourceidBus" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x0bfa0784" DisplayName="casino" Comment="UIToolCategory_Casino" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x674129fd" DisplayName="civic" Comment="kCatagoryIDCivic" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd0b69018" DisplayName="claimed" Comment="kResourceidClaimedBox" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xce7bff0f" DisplayName="Clouds" Comment="kResourceIDEnvNumClouds" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xcec5890c" DisplayName="coal" Comment="kCategoryIDCoal" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x8da94c6a" DisplayName="computer" Comment="kResourceidComputer" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd28cc2e7" DisplayName="Confluence" Comment="R_Confluence" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x61201b16" DisplayName="connected" Comment="kEventIDConnected" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x1e14b6c2" DisplayName="criminal" Comment="kResourceidCriminal" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x4c09c4a7" DisplayName="cultural" Comment="kCategoryidCultural" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x2e72d6b1" DisplayName="Death" Comment="kResourceIDDeath" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x2ea8fb98" DisplayName="default" Comment="kDefaultToolID" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd8f2b788" DisplayName="demolish" Comment="kCategoryidDemolish" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x5c74d18b" DisplayName="density" Comment="kResourceidDensity" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9b7c811f" DisplayName="disasters" Comment="kCategoryIDDisasters" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xbe63fdb7" DisplayName="dispatch" Comment="kCategoryidDispatch" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd2684828" DisplayName="dormant" Comment="R_Dormant" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x95a9d6fd" DisplayName="Education" Comment="kCategoryidEducation" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xbee1c73e" DisplayName="electronics" Comment="kResourceidElectronics" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xe0c72a64" DisplayName="embezzling" Comment="kResourceIDEmbezzling" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x8d31b469" DisplayName="enter" Comment="kKeyTrigger_ToggleRegionWall" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xed995a56" DisplayName="expenses" Comment="kResourceIDExpenses" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x5836c9ee" DisplayName="extraction" Comment="kCategoryidExtraction" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x4df24367" DisplayName="ferry" Comment="kCategoryIDFerry" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9fac79c9" DisplayName="fire" Comment="kCategoryIDFire" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x185eca98" DisplayName="firefighter" Comment="kResourceidFirefighter" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xcebb31d7" DisplayName="firelight" Comment="kLayerFireLight" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xaeb95d48" DisplayName="flat" Comment="R_Flat" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xb2af71ce" DisplayName="fluids" Comment="NumberFormat.Fluids" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xbdc71042" DisplayName="freight" Comment="kResourceidFreight" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9ea37dd1" DisplayName="fuel" Comment="kResourceIDFuel" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x7cb23a4e" DisplayName="garbage" Comment="kCategoryIDGarbage" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x7b5637c5" DisplayName="germs" Comment="kResourceidGerms" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x30da95fd" DisplayName="govt" Comment="kCategoryIDGovt" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xdb2d51a3" DisplayName="health" Comment="kCategoryidHealth" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xcd887e17" DisplayName="heat" Comment="kResourceIDHeat" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x4c47d5c0" DisplayName="height" Comment="kResourceidHeight" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x4397911f" DisplayName="homeless" Comment="kResourceidHomeless" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x61c1b2df" DisplayName="Hospital" Comment="kCategoryidHospital" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd5a08f93" DisplayName="hour" Comment="kResourceIDHour" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x107fcdcc" DisplayName="income" Comment="kResourceIDIncome" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x05f62454" DisplayName="injury" Comment="kResourceidInjury" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd5402275" DisplayName="Jobs" Comment="kResourceidJobs" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x88f7d91c" DisplayName="Kauai" Comment="R_Kauai" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x428428cb" DisplayName="Kid" Comment="kResourceidKid" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x7a19a243" DisplayName="kResourceidActiveBuilding" Comment="kResourceidActiveBuilding" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xc4478341" DisplayName="manufacturing" Comment="kCategoryidManufacturing" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9375c65e" DisplayName="metal" Comment="kResourceidMetal" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xafa8707d" DisplayName="mining" Comment="kCategoryidMining" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xb9db0acb" DisplayName="mugging" Comment="kResourceidMugging" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xc4040d8c" DisplayName="murder" Comment="kResourceIDMurder" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x223ceee8" DisplayName="NIMBY" Comment="kResourceidNIMBY" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x3a798ed7" DisplayName="oil" Comment="kCategoryIDOil" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x23796ae3" DisplayName="Ore" Comment="kCategoryidOre" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x14a99156" DisplayName="overcrowding" Comment="kResourceIDOverCrowding" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd0621548" DisplayName="Parks" Comment="kCategoryIDParks" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x4ea7c793" DisplayName="payout" Comment="kResourceidPayout" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xed1f36d5" DisplayName="pickup" Comment="kResourceIDPickUp" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x43730d97" DisplayName="plague" Comment="kResourceIDPlague" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x27638c5b" DisplayName="plastic" Comment="kResourceidPlastic" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x1159ecd7" DisplayName="police" Comment="kCategoryIDPolice" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x8e8b4e10" DisplayName="POWER" Comment="kCategoryIDPower" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xa2d0b6b3" DisplayName="protester" Comment="kResourceidProtester" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x043b619f" DisplayName="radiated" Comment="kResourceIDRadiated" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x1d716f2e" DisplayName="radiation" Comment="kMapidRadiation" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x3c72d675" DisplayName="RCI" Comment="kCategoryidRCI" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x20d9409e" DisplayName="recyclables" Comment="kResourceIDRecyclables" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xadd70701" DisplayName="recycling" Comment="kCategoryIDRecycling" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x048fceb9" DisplayName="regionals" Comment="Regional Globals" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xe8376a32" DisplayName="research" Comment="kResourceidResearch" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x1e38117c" DisplayName="residents" Comment="kResourceidResidents" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x023f1028" DisplayName="resources" Comment="StringID.TableResource" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x5e0ac22e" DisplayName="roads" Comment="kCategoryIDRoads" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd831a1fa" DisplayName="robbery" Comment="kResourceidRobbery" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xec593ccd" DisplayName="runway" Comment="kResourceIDRunway" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xdd03c990" DisplayName="Sawyer" Comment="R_Sawyer" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xcd1ddc35" DisplayName="sewage" Comment="kCategoryIDSewage" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x933024c6" DisplayName="shoplifting" Comment="kResourceIDShoplifting" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x2afeaa77" DisplayName="sick" Comment="kResourceIDSick" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x37964372" DisplayName="simoleons" Comment="kResourceIDSimoleons" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x5a1826a1" DisplayName="slackers" Comment="Parks" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x28f896a4" DisplayName="soil" Comment="kMapidSoil" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xd7ef2862" DisplayName="strata" Comment="G?" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x2c1da112" DisplayName="student" Comment="kResourceIDStudent" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xb8b5dd59" DisplayName="television" Comment="kResourceidTelevision" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x35a123f9" DisplayName="temperature" Comment="kResourceIDEnvTemperature" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xbf45a84f" DisplayName="tons" Comment="NumberFormat.Tons" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x899bea70" DisplayName="tourism" Comment="kCategoryIDTourism" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x144dbf9c" DisplayName="trading" Comment="kCategoryIDTrading" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xac12c904" DisplayName="transport" Comment="kCategoryIDTransport" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9b54723d" DisplayName="tundra" Comment="R_Tundra" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xe04a24a3" DisplayName="tutorial" Comment="R_City" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x6c969dee" DisplayName="units" Comment="NumberFormat.Units" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xff3a51ed" DisplayName="unlock" Comment="kEventIDUnlock" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0xf168c300" DisplayName="vacant" Comment="kResourceIDVacant" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9e3c3dfa" DisplayName="water" Comment="kCategoryIDWater" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x01562122" DisplayName="wealth" Comment="kResourceIDWealth" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x5b9db0f3" DisplayName="Wind" Comment="kMapIDWind" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x9b8bc62e" DisplayName="year" Comment="kResourceidYear" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x66a03667" DisplayName="zombie" Comment="kResourceIDZombie" Hidden="false" />
  <Instance Id="0x3193c0be" DisplayName="zones" Comment="kCategoryIDZones" Hidden="false" />

 

some will be bogus names but all were unnamed on mine so nothing lost, till confirmed

 

what building is this? 0x2f4e681b-0x00000000-0x2dcbd1c2

[ProcsKalone 294]

its http://simcity2013wiki.com/wiki/Zamek_Kr%C3%B3lewski_w_Warszawie

[potorium 17]

thanks

same as above, unknowns in my copy but may contain a few false positives

id's, nearly all new with a few renames and spelling.

will contain a few false positives and contains those in my last 2-3 posts above + new

 

file dl is in

 

patch 7's wip been release/hinted at. kind of not much there apart from moving procs trees and trgs road elevation into their domain.

fingers crossed the freight trucks requiring a destination is them testing a proper 3 way handshake before agents are created and sent on a route.

rest looks like property changes and some tweeking

[potorium 17]

anyone know how i could adapt simpack to dump all the instance id, property ids and property value ids? I'm after the hex strings for properties and their values mostly as i can excel scrape all the group/type/instance hex strings. after a simple one off dump so i wont need to add menus etc, just need to figure out where the tool reads the lists in before it adds the xml names and dump it to a file. ty in advance

[Artekus 2]

How do I save changes to the ER2 file with the tool? I try to edit and save but nothing saves even when I edit the HEX representations of the characters.

Figured it out... have to export, edit in notepad and then import and delete the old file.

[potorium 17]

going to try make the residential density 'speed up' mod into a package app over the weekend just to try learn a bit of c#

 

basically allow the app user to input the density threshold value within a set range for each density upgrade level via a slider or some such.

 

then on saving, output all the packages that are needed for the mod into a package folder mod similar to the no disaster switch app (ive still not tested   ) or make the changes direct to the main package files.

 

anyone know if its likely to be possible to add a tooltip value (or another attribute) to each of a package's property values when the simpak loads packages for the byte offset to the value in the corresponding package?.

 

so in simcitypak, hovering over the property values we want to change for a mod, shows the byte offset number and if possible also the package file name?

 

would be kind of cool to write an app that works with simcitypak to auto generate the mod package files or auto update the changes in the main files.

 

 

if it was written to only change the main files we could then

 

just feed in a set of  xml or cvs or /shrug... file containing the package file names and byte offsets for the values needed for a users selected mods.

have the app highlight any conflicts where 2 mods need to change the same value.

 

This will also mean 10 people could release 10 separate mods that all change a value in the same property file and as long as all 10 mods needed different property changes to the same file, none would overwrite the other changes as stand alone mods package files do.

 

replicating a property file could also be done by a menu option that causes a prop file to be read but then saves with a user defined instance id either to the package folder or even possibly to the main file and changes to the header made if needed to account for the extra index counts.

 

if outputting a stand alone mod, could have a menu option that auto outputs any needed parent/dependency files that are needed for stuff like the rollover ui's to display properly.

 

just an idea more for me to learn some programming skills but could potentially be a nice tool (if i ever became a master programmer!!)

[Kyatt Tiger 0]

Hey guys,

One thing I would like to see happen is if anybody can create another copy of the mod which put the regional freeway into the roads menu.

I have tried to create one myself, but it does not seem to work, I have never attempted anything like it before, the most programming I have ever done is a little bit of java.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can do this for me, and thanks to oppie, for your amazing modding tool

[Kyatt Tiger 0]

Here is my attempt:

https://mega.co.nz/#!uE5wgKiQ!DkomI0wPcTb9e-k5QQmdV1TPy1BrPL7S-g8joVhbpG4

[CAL0807 4]

Hello everyone

 

I went to use SimCityPak, and I used the SimCity_Game package file and followed the instructions on the codeplex guide, and this came up:

 

Can anyone help me?

 

[phalanxs 1]

Hi, I'm the guy that translated the FAQ in french. I would like to do so with the basic modding tutorial, but for this I would need some explaing/reformulation :

 

Can you please telle me what this means ?

The index is a pointer that counts both as an unique identifier for the game to refer to specific files and a pointer to a location in the package that contains the actual data for this index. The only thing that you generally have to know is that each index is defined by a Type, Group and Instance id (referred to as the index' "TGI")

 

 

Thanks in advance

[oppie 487]

It's been a while since I added any updates to this thread - but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the tool. I'll quickly sum up the progress on several of the areas I've been working on. Note that while I've got a lot of important information on hand that should enable us to do some exciting things, I'm very limited in time - if there's anyone here with some 3D, .NET and WPF experience who'd like to help on some of the graphics programming, I'd gladly share all of the technical details. Anyway, these are the things currently in the works;

 

Custom Buildings

This one's a biggie and progress is slow - I'm fully aware of the basic file structure but all of that is so complex that exposing all of those possibilities to the user through the tool is very complicated. I think I've stretched the possibilities of WPF 3D and the .obj file format to their limits and need to look at alternatives. I'm going to attempt to retool the importing of 3d models to the COLLADA intermediary format, but that's a long term goal.

 

RW4Model decoding

In my attempts to reverse engineer the file format for the buildings I've identified most of the important elements of the RW4 file format such as the vertexformat and parts of the materials. The vertexformat in particular is interesting because it identifies each element of the mesh, where in the vertex it's located and in which format - for example the vertex position which is always the first element and usually in a FLOAT3 type. This means that in theory I should be able to create an importer/exporter that works with every mesh and I've already updated the viewer to work with the new information

 

RASTER images and decals

I'm fully aware of how these work but they're finicky to work with because of the fact that each color channel is a different layer, and the actual colors are defined by a decal atlas. Like I've shown in a picture previously posted in this thread, I know how to modify them, but the process to do so is still more tedious than it should be.

[raymondle 0]

i have a crash when Import DDS file. So how can fix that ?? I using OS Windows 8 with 4GB Ram

[okyanusadasi 0]

i couldnt import rw4 files for simcity 2013

[Griffon 19]

I started using your mod pak today and was thinking an interesting addition to the game would be stand along casino hotels, basically I took the hotels out of the casino menu like the tutorial did to with the pedestrian path thinking I could plop them in my city without placing a casino, although I figured it'd still take money out of my hourly budget while also providing extra hotels (at my own cost of course), except when I tried it out I couldn't place them, no plop points appeared next to the roads for me to place the hotels (also I just placed them in the casino menu)

 

do you know how to add plop points for buildings that previously didn't have any?

also I don't even know if what I wanted to do would even work they way I intend for it to, but I still wanted to try it

 

and I'm not any good with game graphics but I'm usually good at modding the games so if it does work maybe someone else could change the graphics on those hotels so make them look like they belong in the city more besides when they are attached to the casino

 

btw if anyone else can figure this out go ahead and make it but at least give me credit for the idea (unless someone else already thought of it) and tell me how you did it too

 

and one more thing, it's an awesome program for modding, I just need more knowledge on how to use it lol

 

Edit: I don't know if you talked about that already but after I posted I seen there are 18 pages in this topic already and don't really want to read through them all lol

[ke1234 0]

I want to edit the Oppie_Flag_AU.package, and put my own design on it. I open the SimCityPak, open the package,and get to the screen shown on the image. I click Import, click on my .dds(which is the same size as the flag shown) , then it crashes. Am I doing something wrong?

[oppie 487]

I want to edit the Oppie_Flag_AU.package, and put my own design on it. I open the SimCityPak, open the package,and get to the screen shown on the image. I click Import, click on my .dds(which is the same size as the flag shown) , then it crashes. Am I doing something wrong?

Your .dds file probably isn't in the right format. Make sure that it's in saved in the DXT5 format. If that still doesn't work, can you attach the .dds file so I can try myself?

[ke1234 0]

 

I want to edit the Oppie_Flag_AU.package, and put my own design on it. I open the SimCityPak, open the package,and get to the screen shown on the image. I click Import, click on my .dds(which is the same size as the flag shown) , then it crashes. Am I doing something wrong?

Your .dds file probably isn't in the right format. Make sure that it's in saved in the DXT5 format. If that still doesn't work, can you attach the .dds file so I can try myself?

 

I used that format and it didn't work, I also exported the .dds that came with it, and tried to import, but that didn't work either. Here is a link for the .dds: https://db.tt/jpauPLjr

[DrSpaceman 0]

Hmm... I followed the 'Basic Modding Tutorial', and now I'm doing the texture one.. but for some reason when I look at the RW4 (fire engine, police car, anything) it has no textures in the 'Vehicle Models [0]'... it just  says "11" and has a 2x2 image. My game is fully updated.

 

http://oi40.tinypic.com/ridaqf.jpg

 

I followed the tutorial exactly... halp!

[sithalo 0]

im wanting to try to change the hourly cost of buildings and/or there addons but i cant ffigure out where i go to change that. person told me that it will jsut do a roll back if you change the hourly cost but i want to try anyway. 

 

does anyone know how i do this or where i go to do this?

[Takouma 15]

 

I'm sorry because I'm new here.

 

Every time I go to open any package and view any prop.. I get this error message in red, "Unable to load one or more of requested types"

 

at System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.GetTypes(RuntimeModule module)

at System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.GetTypes()

at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes()

at Gibbed.Spore.Properties.PropertyFactory..ctor() in JAMy Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\SimCityPak\SimCityPak\PackageReaden Properties \ PropertyFile.cs:line 79

at Gibbed.Spore.Properties.PropertyFactory.get_Singleton0 in J:\My DocumentsWisual Studio 2010 \ Projects \SimCityPal4SimCityPak\ PackageReader\Properties\PropertyFile.cs:line 69

at Gibbed.Spore.Properties.PropertyFile..ctor() in J:\My DocumentsWisual Studio 2010 \ Projects\ SimCityPak\SimCityPak\ PackageReaden Properties \ PropertyFile.cs:line 140

at SimCityPak.ViewPropertyFile.UserControl_DataContextChanged(Object sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e) in JAMy DocumentsWisual Studio 2010 \ Projects \SimCityPak\SimCityPak WiewsWiewPropertyFile.xaml.cs:line 49 

 

0nn2.png

 

Windows 7 x64

UAC disabled

DirectX updated

System with a newly installed clean formatting.

 

What I'm trying:

 

Web Install Visual Studio 2013 Express (I did not think the 2010)

Install full version 4.5 NetFramework

 

PS: I found the Visual Studio 2010 Express Full ISO this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads

 

PS2: The line 49 in WiewPropertyFile.xaml.cs is blank.I do not know if that can cause this error.

 

 

 

I also get this error.

I'm sorry I'm beginner about such things.

I read these responses, but I couldn't understand.

So, please tell me how to solve the error simply.

Thank you. 

[KaOz 0]

Hmm... I followed the 'Basic Modding Tutorial', and now I'm doing the texture one.. but for some reason when I look at the RW4 (fire engine, police car, anything) it has no textures in the 'Vehicle Models [0]'... it just  says "11" and has a 2x2 image. My game is fully updated.

 

http://oi40.tinypic.com/ridaqf.jpg

 

I followed the tutorial exactly... halp!

 

I have the same problem... What are we doing wrong?

 

Thanks for help!

[SingingTurnip 0]

Is this the tool to get now that anyone can add mods to games?

I am wanting to "reskin" the police cars and trucks/lorries etc.

[ET85 0]

I was wondering if anyone had any luck extracting some of the texture maps for any of the commercial buildings? I know oppie did because I was checking out his BK and McD's buildings..I had no problems getting the .obj into maya, or putting the RW4 files in its own package. But for some reason I'm not getting any of the texture sheets to display. I'm wondering if I'm just misunderstanding their texturing workflow. Are they using vertex colors and then BW textures over the model like a multiply and than just using custom decals? I mean i'm looking at the BK and McD's and they for sure have texture on them, so I'm kind of curious where the UV's are stashed because they dont come with the OBJ. Or should I being seeing actual DFS, SPEC, NM , Gloss all under the textures? I'm seeing numbers of textures...a lot of different unknowns, but no real way to access them. I've checked its parent PROP too.  I figured the Raster files with the RGB masks were for the placement of where the buildings spawned, deciding where to place construction, parking, tree, grass etc. but i've been reading the textures are usually hooked up with the RW4 file. Hopefully, this doesn't sound too much like ramble...The answer is probably right in front of me. ALSO thank you Ollie (and everyone linked to the project) for the great work!  

[cowkilla 12]

post for subscription. will read this later.