Missing config.bmp

[lhrob 213]

Question....in order to load the cities of any given region, there needs to be a config.bmp file, a .sc4 file for each city, as well as a region.ini file for that particular region, correct?

 

I've been playing a number of different cities in a region I started (I'll call it Region A) for several months now, and today I just found out there is no config.bmp file in my Region A folder.  How can that be?   I don't understand how I'm able to load the cities in Region A without a config.bmp file??  Why am I able to play the game if there isn't one there?  This doesn't make sense to me.  

 

I was wanting to save my entire Regions folder to a backup disk in the event I decide to uninstall the game.  That way I can pick back up with my cities sometime later if I choose to.  But I know that you need to have a config.bmp file for each region, otherwise the cities won't load.  The thing is, I've been making multiple backups of my entire Regions folder since I started playing again last year, and there is no config.bmp file for Region A in any of the backup copies I've made.  (I guess I've been wasting my time doing that.  ) 

 

Here's the weird thing.....I've also started Region B and Region C since reinstalling the game last year, and the config.bmp files for those respective regions are there in the folder for each region. 

 

Someone please tell me what parallel universe I've crossed into.  Is there a way I can create a config.bmp for the current region I'm playing?  And do you have any idea at all as to why I can load the cities of a region that doesn't contain a config.bmp file?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The config.bmp file is only used when the region is being rendered.  However, if the file is hand-terraformed using the default layout, you won't get a config.bmp.  If a config.bmp is present it will be used when the un-rendered region is first opened, but lacking it, the default layout is used.  I don't think any config.bmp files are included in the default regions.

[lhrob 213]

 I don't think any config.bmp files are included in the default regions.

 

Actually, they are.  I just double checked Berlin, Fairview, London, New York, San Francisco, Timbuktu...each one has a config.bmp file.  Double check your Regions folder to see if you have them.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

 

 I don't think any config.bmp files are included in the default regions.

 

Actually, they are.  I just double checked Berlin, Fairview, London, New York, San Francisco, Timbuktu...each one has a config.bmp file.  Double check your Regions folder to see if you have them.

 

Right you are.  I don't even have those regions in my user area anymore, because I don't play them.  However, these regions do not have a *.jpg for the terrain, so they must have been used just to avoid the default layout.  Just a second while I check my sandbox ...

 

Now that's interesting.  I just made a new sandbox region and the only files in it are region.ini and config.bmp (the default layout).  No other files, which means that unless you save one of the sandbox cities, they are strictly virtual.  The program must emit the config.bmp file from some template or other.  There are no other files in that folder.

 

You know, there have been times when I wanted that default layout for a specific map, and thanks to you, I now know how to do it.

[lhrob 213]

So then, without a config.bmp file, how do I save my custom region if I want to play it later or install the game on my other computer?

 

Case in point:  Ten years ago when I first played the game, I created a region with several cities that I wanted to continue working on recently.  I had made backup copies of those cities years ago, but when I went to load them in the game this past Fall, all I got was a big empty region and none of my cities were there.  I looked in the backup folder and there was no config.bmp file.

[lhrob 213]

Wow...34 views and no one else has any other words of advice to offer?  You guys are hurting my feelings!    Where are all the whizzes who understand this game so well?

 

Oh well, never mind.  I'll try to figure it out.  Thanks for your input, Nonny.  I appreciate that you tried.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If your backup contained the city files, there is no reason they shouldn't have come back if you loaded them.  A backup of a region should be the whole folder.  If you are hard up for space, compress it first, the save the compressed file.

[lhrob 213]

I don't know what to say.  It's not the space I'm concerned about.  I have over 850GB free on my hard drive.  I just want to make a backup of my current region so I can save it for later, in case I decide to install the game on my other computer....or even this computer, should I need to reformat the drive someday.  But yeah, the entire folder for my previous region was backed up, I tried loading it, but all I got was a huge empty square of nothing but grass.  The cities didn't show up at all.

 

Now...I did eventually locate the config.bmp file for that previous region, and when I placed it in the respective region folder, the cities then showed up.  But what I don't understand right now is why I don't have a config.bmp file for the region I'm currently working on......yet the region loads just fine and I can see the cities.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Beats me.  I have always believed that that file was only needed for the first opening of the region to set it up for rendering.  There is a 1:64 plus 1 relationship between the config.bmp file and the gray-scale map.  It must be present to use the in-game renderer.  Since the file is only one allocation unit, is it possible it was lost somewhere?

[Hellken 1,658]

Interesting discussion. I am not 100% sure but I made a region (pre - Rush Hour and "manual" terraforming) and I did not get a config.bmp file. I wonder why. The default vanilla regions have them.

[lhrob 213]

Beats me.  I have always believed that that file was only needed for the first opening of the region to set it up for rendering.  There is a 1:64 plus 1 relationship between the config.bmp file and the gray-scale map.  It must be present to use the in-game renderer.  Since the file is only one allocation unit, is it possible it was lost somewhere?

 

I suppose that's a possibility, but I'm not sure how it would have gotten lost.  I can try an indepth search for all the .bmp files on my computer to see if it comes up.  I wonder if I maybe deleted it by accident when I was cleaning out all the other .bmp files from my Plugins folder...?  But I don't think I included the Regions folder when I did that.  However, it's possible....in which case I'll be slapping myself.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Don't beat yourself up too much.  I was doing something with my files structure last month and deleted my entire SC4 user area.  Could have recovered it from backups, but decided to do a restart, and rebuilt my Plugins with some considerable thought.  Took me three days to get the plugins back where I wanted them, and now I have two regions rendered so far.  The default ones that came back when I did the restart have been deleted, of course.  Sometimes things are a real PICNIC around here.