Identifying Properties

[oppie 488]

If we want to know how exactly SimCity defines its objects, one of the important things we can do is to identify all the seperate property types in the property files. These files are the SimCity 2013 equivalent to the SC4 'exemplars' - they're basically database records that define a certain object. For example, I've found one group of property files that defines all the menu items for buildings, which contains 'links' defined by KeyProperties to the icons, preview images and such. These properties aren't named (or at least, I haven't found a property name registry in any of the files, that would be very handy too), so until we ourselves discover what each property is for, we only have the ID to go on. I've added functionality to SimCityPak to help us identify the properties:

If you right click on a property title, you can choose to edit the property name.

You are then allowed to enter a display name and description for the specific ID.

When saved, your custom names will be stored in the TypeRegistry.xml which should be in the same folder as SimCityPak. This way, we can easily share property definitions which I will also collect for the default TypeRegistry.xml which will be part of the application.

[warrior 169]

In the screenshot, how did you know that that ID was for the parent? (was it there already or did you infer it?)

[oppie 488]

The 'parent' is one of the properties that apparently carries over from the way things worked in Spore - it's also the only property that's present in almost all of the property files. It basically identifies what kind of object the property file is describing. There's a hierarchy of object types - for example "fire engine" -> "service vehicle" -> "vehicle" -> "agent" (I'm making this up on the spot, haven't been able to dive that deep into it yet),

[oppie 488]

Before I go on vacation, I've tried to analyze the most common property file types and what they represent. As far as terminology goes I've tried to keep everything close to what Maxis used since their first GlassBox presentations. Note that this is mostly speculation.

Property File Types

• (0x09878A01) Menu Item - This one seems pretty obvious - contains icons, images and tooltips. This also defines prerequisites and their amounts (for example, 1 city hall needed in the region)
• (0x40e1c600) Agents - Contains the 3d models and description for a lot of 'special' agents, like police cars, fire trucks and other city service related vehicles. I don't think these also define capacities or speeds of said vehciles/agents - it seems that these just define the graphical representation of an underlying agent type.
• (0x40e1c000) Units - In their first GlassBox presentation, Maxis referred to buildings/construction sites as 'units', and thus so will I. These represent buildings with their 3d models. Also seem to contain other lot information, such as the location of lights.
• (0x40e1c100) Resources - Definitions for all the transportable/mineable/producable resource types, such as passengers, electronics, ores, and so on.
• (0x40e1c400) Paths - Definitions for all the roads, railways and bridges (and probably intersections).
• (0x40e1c500) Actions - Definition for an action an agent can be undertaking, such as "going to the park", "delivering goods" or "patrolling for criminals".
• (0x48e1c600) - Also seems to have something to do with agents. Might also define speeds/capacities, but most interesting is that these also end on '600' (like the other agent-related property files) - there might be a connection

This is as far as I've managed to figure out the property files without having the actual game to test with. I've checked in a TypeRegistry.xml to the Codeplex project that includes these definitions and some properties that I might have identified.