Maps Not Rendering

[jrox12345 2]

I've spent some time trying to download custom maps from the stex and get them into Simcity 4. I found a tutorial and everything went smoothly until the map was supposed to start rendering in the game. After I clicked on the JPEG in game from the dialogue box, nothing happened. The dialogue box closed but the rendering process had obviously not started. There was no indication of anything going wrong or right, just nothing happening. I waited, waited, and waited. The map was still the green default when you start a region. This is not just one map but anything I try.

 

I am still using Windows XP if that has anything to do with it.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[CaptCity 4,893]

Could you give an example of a map that doesn't seem to be working for you - exact name or link?

 

Wihout knowing a specific map, there are a few things to keep in mind...

 

1. Are you receiving any prompts telling you the file sizes do not match?

 

2. There are two kinds of maps available for downloading. The standard type that require in-game rendering. These use grey-scale images for rendering. This sounds like what you are trying. However, there is another type that are made by SC4 Terraformer. They do not render the same as the standard type. They need either SC4 Terraformer or SC4 Mapper for rendering. If you look in the downloaded files and see a file with .SC4M in the name, you'll need to use the Mapper method. You may also see .jpg images in these downloads, but these are not the images to use for rendering.

 

3. Another thing to check is the config file. These must be named 'config'. There have been a few with different names that have led to issues. 

 

Again, knowing what maps in particular are giving you trouble would help clarify the situation. Let us know...

[jrox12345 2]

At first I tried something basic, like Florida Beach.

 

 

Then, I tried Atlantys. Same problem.

 

 

Neither of these had and SC4 Mapper or SC4 Terraformer file in the download. Also, I have never had a prompt telling me the file sizes do not match.

In Florida Beach, the config file was called beach_config.bmp. I changed it and had no results. On Atlantys, the config was simply config.bmp,which still did not work.

[SimmsCity 22]

All you need is the landscape designer, a tool found here on simtropolis that lets you render greyscale maps and even create the configs for them.  Or like the other guy said get the sc4mapper that lets u create the maps there and then without the need for rendering in game.  Takes some time to get used to it but really saves you tons of trouble waiting in game while the map is being rendered.

[cogeo 960]

Make sure that the (new) region's folder contains only the config.bmp, and nothing else (incl the hidden thumbs.db files, which the system creates if you open the folder in Thumbnails or Filmstrip view mode, or if the first.file you drop in is an image). So either change the system settings so that you can see (and delete) the thumbs.db file, or:

- Create the new region's folder.

- Right-click, select "Properties", then the "Customize" type and set the folder's type to "Documents (for any file type)".

- Then go to the folder and select View->Details.

- Copy the config.bmp into the folder (the grayscale image doesn't need to be there).

- Try rendering the region.

 

You must also install the "Height Mod" if needed (check your map's Description or Documentation) before rendering the region. And any desired Terrain, Water, Beaches or Rocks mod(s) would be best to be installed before rendering. DL one of my maps on the STEX (better the last ones), they contain detailed instructions about rendering.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

OK, I downloaded both of those and here is my commentary:

 

First of all, you have to change the name of the .bmp file in the first one to be simply config.bmp.  After that it should render.

 

The other one is just fine.

 

When you click on the .jpg file be sure it arrives in the file box at the bottom of the dialogue.  (click the left hand edge marker).

 

The render is very delicate.  You must not click away from it while it is running or it will quit.  Go have a coffee while these render and you should be fine.

[jrox12345 2]

I tried all of these, plus a few other methods and nothing happens. Is it possible that my machine isn't capable of rendering and decides not to even start? It is the slowest computer in the world and about 7 years old. 

[cogeo 960]

It's not a computer problem, it's a SW problem. I would insist about the (hidden) thumbs.db file.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

What hidden thumbs.db file?  I've never seen them on any of the downloads, and these particular lots download the files individually.

 

I suspect there is something mechanical going on.  I have heard, I seem to remember, that sometimes renders are blocked by anti-virus software.  Try disconnecting from the Internet and killing your anti-virus while trying to render.

 

If the system is working properly, when you open the target region, the layout from the config.bmp file should show as all flat green tiles with whatever water is in the layout.  If you don't get this, then you are somehow placing the files incorrectly.  The proper layout for a new region is:

 

New Region
├── config.bmp
└── Something.jpg
 

[Droric 101]

Thumbs.db is a database file located in every Windows directory from Vista on that contains information on the thumbnails of images (including the .bmp file).  This can be disabled from Windows 7 and onwards using local group policy.  Please look at the following link on how to disable the thumbs.db files from appearing in every folder and let us know if that helps!

 

http://www.technoleros.com/turn-off-caching-of-windows-7-thumbnails-in-hidden-thumbs-db-files/ 

 

OR

 

the solution provided by cogeo would work as long as it's done on a folder by folder basis.  I think you may need to delete the thumbs.db file afterwards and ensure it does not show up again.  You may need to go to folder options to select 'Show hidden files' and unselect 'Hide protected operating system files (recommended)' for the file the be seen in explorer.

 

I've never heard of the thumbs.db file interfering with the operations of an application but there's a first for everything, might be worth a try.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I actually did find that crazy NTFS thing in some of my downloads.  I always delete it because the ext4 file system has no use for it whatever.  It would be nice if the Windoze implementers would stop leaving junk lying about.

[simcity1999 34]

I only use regions that is in sc4m format.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Both of the maps in question are gray-scale.  Your point is?

[lazy tiger 22]

I am having problems too. I used to have the Terraformer, until I switched computers and re-downloaded my SC4 stuff. Had issues finding the Terraformer, so I decided to use Mapper. Never used it, as I had been able to flash drive my region folders from one PC to the other. So I came across a map of Sarasota (near where I live) and I also wanted to try Billings, MT and the Grand Teton area (low water regions..) anyways, when I downloaded and opened SC4, all I get is solid water maps. no land. I tonight tracked down Terraformer, followed the tried and true steps, and again, huge maps of...water. Using Windows 7, never had this problem before (my old PC was also Win 7..) No issues with using either mapper or terraformer, nor with importing he greyscale or SC4M files... am I missing something?

 

The maps are rendering for region view. But when I select a new city tile, I get water, very deep water. When I exit God mode, and open the mayor tools, (starting a city..) it remains water. When I then save and exit to region view, it shows the saved city as a Water square, at higher elevation than surrounding land.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If you need help with this, please post the relevant URLs.

 

Do you have some kind of water/land height mod in place?

[lazy tiger 22]

If you need help with this, please post the relevant URLs.

 

Do you have some kind of water/land height mod in place?

No. When I moved everything to the new PC, I tried (unsuccessfully) to find the Terraformer. So I settled for Mapper. Never needed it until I came across those few maps. I imported the SC4M into Mapper, set my city sizes, and went into SC4 and got water (in city mode). I figured I erred somehow, so I tracked down and re-downloaded Terraformer (from SC4 Devotion) and had no issues with it running, and importing the map info. But still when I enter SC4 I get a rendered map in region view, yet nothing but water in city view. (Mayor Mode).

 

I also noticed since the last time I downloaded, that instead of running the app and installing, it now goes thru WinZip. Is there an issue with this? Currently I have the terraformer in SC4(Maxis) folder, in its own special folder. I didn't know if this was something to be placed in Plugins (before it ran itself and downloaded to the appropriate place..). Its probably something simple, yet not being looked at. Idk.

[lazy tiger 22]

i decided to check some other things out. I entered into a region (Anchorage) that I have worked on, and upon enterin a worked city, it displays blocks of graphics, amidst blue. (orthographic portions of my city). I can see my transportation structure in the little inset map, and it displays pollution and some cars, and the advisors pop up dialogs, but nothing, And this city worked fine before. I then entered into the Game's New York City Map, and again, while I see it on region view, i get a blue sea in city/mayor view. So I am going to guess its something other than the terraformer/mapper. And as of now my game is unplayable.

 

later went back and tried to raise the land level (god mode -before starting city..) and game crashed when I got the land up to the sea level. looked through my plugins I have no height mod in place. I do have a land mod (Columbia) but no issues before the other day when I tried to render Sarasota.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Terraformer and Mapper are both Python programs.  There is a particular DLL associated with them that you may not have.  Check the help files for terraformer where it is specified, I believe.  I usually don't use either of these programs, but I have them both running.  Since I am on Linux, I suspect your case may be different.

 

Beyond that, I am out of ideas.

[lazy tiger 22]

I checked for the .dll file that was needed and yes, I still have that file. But, just for a lark, I typed in "Python" in my program search (I saw this mentioned in the list of programs for Terraformer, and what you had said..) and its gone. I don't know if someone in my household did some housekeeping (its a shared PC in my house..) or idk... so now I need to re-download the Python software. Any suggestions where to find it? I still have the .dll file.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Python is a free download.  Just search it up with Google.  It is not a default Windows component.

[lazy tiger 22]

Python is a free download.  Just search it up with Google.  It is not a default Windows component.

I did that, but it changed nothing with the rendering. Its as if in mayor mode i got my normal landforms, but located deep under sea. And no height mods, so it makes no sense. Am I to place Python in with the SC4 files? When /if I get issue fixed will it wipe out  my cities? I am wondering if I should dump everything and restart entire download from scratch. I still use the original Deluxe disc that i got one its first sale day in 2003...just wanting to avoid the necessary pain of upgrading, NAM, Columbia, SPAM, etc....I dont remember ever needing to download Python before, meaning I had to get it as part of some other download. I never really knew about it until I looked at the dependencies for terraformer, I am still puzzled with these rendering issues....

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Python is a part of the system files in any computer and not a part of SC4.  It is a system wide programming language for the simple minded who can't stand putting semi-colons at the ends of c++ statements.

 

Anyway, if you are working from an SC4M file, did you try opening it with Mapper to see what that program thinks of it?

[lazy tiger 22]

Well that is part of my issue. When I had re-loaded SC4 and downloaded what I could not flash drive over to my new laptop, I had a hard time finding/downloading terraformer. So I went with Mapper, but never used it. Until last week. The maps came out nicely in Mapper, and I like that you can set your city sizes (essentially creating your config) as you decide where you want your cities to be (like a small map on an unplayable area vs. a larger map square over a lowland). So I went that route with my Sarasota download. When I opened SC4, the region opened and looked like any other in the game. But when I selected a city to develop, after all the reticulating splines and llama trajectories were figured out I got the deep blue sea. The land under it appears to be the actual rendered land, just shoved under water. And this was in the God mode, before picking city name, etc..

 

So I figured it was a Mapper issue, spent some time and found the terraformer, redownloaded, and had the same issue. Everything works as it should when I use both programs, just the llamas in the game require arks to be built. Idk.

 

If you were asking from a comparison standpoint, I like that you can actually plot the config part over the actual map (before using SC4) and not make a blind config. and I like Mapper's coloring of the land better than terraformer. I know it means little down to city scale, but the larger region map, the colors look more refined, giving a better sense where to plan my future cities... Seems easier, the interface, too. I never got into the Terraformer's sliders, and tools, I merely uploaded and rendered maps for SC4.

 

So to summarize, while I like both programs for what they allow me to do (new regions!!) I would give the nod to Mapper, even though I can't play a Mapper produced region (yet...)

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I am sort of stuck because I don't use Mapper much.  Check its help files for land height settings perhaps.

 

Here is an experiment for you to try.  Download it and render it as follows:

 

Unzip it then in your region folder make a new folder called Terranova.  Move the files config.bmp and terranova.jpg into this folder.

 

Open the game to the region display and select Terranova.

 

When the region opens (if will be flat) render it using:

 

1. CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+r  -- you get a file dialogue box.
2. Navigate to the file in the Terranova region terranova.jpg
3. Click the icon to the left of the file which should move the file name to the file box.
4. Click OK.  The render starts.
5. This cannot be interrupted so go get a coffee or something.  HANDS OFF!
6. When the render finishes you should have the map as shown in the download page.
7. Open a city that has land.  If it is underwater, you most certainly have a plugin problem.

[lazy tiger 22]

I will try this next time I am off from my job (its late right now...) and I will report my findings....But even the game default maps are experiencing this glitch. I also had downloaded Python, and have experienced no issues with any other function on my PC. Still scratching my head on this, but will give your suggestion a shot...

 

(edit) I stayed up little longer and gave it a shot. I followed the steps, got the flat land map, did the button combo, found the file, but the game doesn't go into the rendering mode.

 

Looking more and more I may just have to dump everything and start from scratch. My only plugins are the Columbia land mod, the NAM, SPAM, and a handful of restaurants, few office/pencil tower structures, some stores (kevdan, simgoober, et al..), and the industry doubler. No height mods, no bridge height mods of anytype. I will try it one more time when I return home from work tomorrow evening....

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Sounds like your game may have been stepped on.  As a precaution, save everything in your C:\<your account>\Documents\SimCity 4 folder, make sure you have no plugins other than sky textures in C:\Program Files ...\SimCity 4\Plugins (anything else in there should be in your regular plugins), and do a reinstall.

 

1. Use the game uninstall program.  When it asks to keep the user area say yes.
2. Install the game.  If from CD, apply the two patches.  Set your game graphics to where you like them.

 

If this doesn't solve the problem, then I would do a deep virus scan.

[lazy tiger 22]

I tried to render again, but same issues, it would not go into its rendering mode. So I just uninstalled it, and started from scratch. I ran the game pure vanilla (I have Rush Hour, just wanted to run the game to see if the issue popped up again, before looking to the patches...) and it ran fine. I downloaded the patches, and checked again, and it seems to be running normal now. I haven't NAM'd it or downloaded anything else, so i got a busy day searching the STEX, but I want to render that pesky Sarasota map using Mapper, just to see how it turns out (I still have Mapper and Terraformer installed...) I would imagine no issues there, but if I do get snagged, then I would suspect those programs and not SC4....

 

If it turns out, then i will pull in some custom content.

 

Thank you for your help and advice. Have you heard of anyone with an issue like mine? I am going to assume when one of my housemates deleted Python, maybe the SC4 software "forgot" how to find it when I reinstalled it (Python). When i re-downloaded my game, maybe it "found" it again??? Anyways, was wondering if maybe another had this issue, and what it turned out to be.

 

But so far, so good. I will post back when I got Sarasota cleared...

 

~~Ed

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The only time I've heard of this is when there is a plugin present affecting the water level.  There is a water level command in the extra cheats dll also.

[lazy tiger 22]

I will keep that in mind. I got a busy long day of work tomorrow, (tuesday) so Sarasota will have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday.

 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

[lazy tiger 22]

Sounds like your game may have been stepped on.  As a precaution, save everything in your C:\<your account>\Documents\SimCity 4 folder, make sure you have no plugins other than sky textures in C:\Program Files ...\SimCity 4\Plugins (anything else in there should be in your regular plugins), and do a reinstall.

 

1. Use the game uninstall program.  When it asks to keep the user area say yes.
2. Install the game.  If from CD, apply the two patches.  Set your game graphics to where you like them.

 

If this doesn't solve the problem, then I would do a deep virus scan.

 

To recap, I tried to re render the map using the ctrl-alt-shift-R, but it would not go into rendering mode. So I deleted everything, and reinstalled (from my original 2003 disc) tested the maps pre-patch and after I applied the Maxis patches. Everything seems to render and work fine. I downloaded and rendered Sarasota using Mapper tonight, and everything is still working as it should (even in Mayor mode). I have not downloaded the NAM or any custom content yet, but I cannot explain why the height went haywire. I will use a try and see approach (most of the plugin lots/mods I know are safe..) and after a batch of custom stuff, I will play a city for a session, before adding more content. Right now I am suspecting the land mod (Columbia) or the water mod (I chose Hawaiian blue), although they don't affect height.

 

I used Mapper for the first time, and like I stated previously, I like that you can set your config.bmp over top of your map. to customize your future city areas. The rendering itself went smoothly, and the landform (Sarasota, FL) looks softer in colour tone. (but Sarasota is very much sea level, this could lend to its soft beachy look..)

 

Thank you again Nonny!

 

Cheers!

 

~Ed