Post Modding Requests Here

[CorinaMarie 29,618]

On 5/15/2024 at 9:20 AM, Hopkins Viorel said:

Is it possible to add some randomness to the RCI simulation within the game? ...<snip> ... I don't know how interesting this is gameplay-wise, nor do I know if is it even possible... but I would like to throw this idea around anyway just to see your opinions 

It is indeed very possible thru Lua coding which the game already understands.

The key thing would be creating a roadmap of events and triggers and the results that you'd want to see. Things can have a percentage chance of occurring based on other factors like, for instance, if Pollution is greater than some number, there could be a certain percent chance of some Negative Effect.

A good place to start would be with a file I found on the STEX long, long ago. This was way before I understood the code myself, but it added variability to farming income. Each year (or was it month?) you'd get a report that showed what the weather was like and (iirc) there were several factors that altered your income. I played with it for several hours until I decided it was more chaotic realism than I wanted at the time.

Now besides monetary effects, there could also be random disasters caused by in game circumstances. Mayor rating below some number? Give it a random chance of a fire starting or a meteor falling or half the money in your treasury is stolen or such. (As possible examples.)

Should you pop back online and reply, we could then prolly figure out which mod that was to use as a template. Ofc, you'd need to be willing to learn Lua coding (which isn't too difficult).

[MagicSpear 52]

A configurable DLL mod that is able to automatically execute one or more commands/cheats upon loading of the game itself, regions, and/or tiles. For those familiar with rc - or run command - files (e.g. .bashrc, .zshrc, .exrc, .xinitrc) or even AUTOEXEC.BAT, this would be akin to those.

The format of the INI file is entirely up to whoever might author such a mod, but I figure it could be similar to this:

[Admin]
Enabled = true

; 1. SECTIONS
;
; Global
; Parameters affecting behaviour of the plugin as a whole as well as commands
; to run when the game itself is loaded.
;
; Region
; Commands to run when a region is opened.
;
; Tile
; Commands to run when a tile is opened.
;
; Tile.Occupied
; Commands to run when a tile with a city established on it is opened.
;
;
; 2. PARAMETERS
;
; CommandList <string>
; A comma-separated list of commands/cheats. Optional (value can be left empty
; or the parameter itself omitted entirely from a category). 
;
; RunOnceCommandList <string>
; Idential to the CommandList parameter with the exception that commands/cheats
; in this list are never re-run.
;
; CombineTileCommandLists <boolean>
; Whether commands under the Tile category should be run on all tiles
; regardless of whether they're occupied. In the case of this example
; configuration file, the result of enabling this option would be the value of
; CommandList under the Tile.Occupied category becoming
; "CameraPitch 40,CameraYaw 45,TerrainQuery,You don't deserve it" instead of
; just "You don't deserve it".

[Global]
CommandList=
RunOnceCommandList=ShowTime
CombineTileCommandLists=true

[Region]
CommandList=
RunOnceCommandList=

[Tile]
CommandList=CameraPitch 40,CameraYaw 45,TerrainQuery
RunOnceCommandList=

[Tile.Occupied]
CommandList=You don't deserve it
RunOnceCommandList=

 

  Edited August 9, 2024 by MagicSpear  
Fix several oversights in my config example

[CorinaMarie 29,618]

10 hours ago, MagicSpear said:

INI file

That would be a cool way to do it if it's possible.

I've also wondered if the cheat codes could be made accessible to Lua (which the game already knows how to process) and those can be made to execute during city loading.

[Null 45 3,048]

32 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

That would be a cool way to do it if it's possible.

It is:

32 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

I've also wondered if the cheat codes could be made accessible to Lua (which the game already knows how to process) and those can be made to execute during city loading.

I am not sure how the Lua system is initialized during city loading, and I doubt that it can receive any of the game's city loading events.

Most (all?) of the functions in the game.<function> and sc4game.group.<function> categories are native C++ functions that the game adds to the Lua system. It may be possible to add new C++ functions for the Lua code to call inside the sc4game category, but I haven't tested that due to my limited knowledge of Lua.

[MagicSpear 52]

You absolute mad lad. You've gone above and beyond yet again.

[AsimPika3172 1,136]

Imagine.... if this game add support FLOATING SOLAR on water!

[CorinaMarie 29,618]

23 minutes ago, AsimPika3172 said:

Imagine.... if this game add support FLOATING SOLAR on water!

I can imagine that.

And the cool thing is it's feasible for batters who know what they are doing. The very same technique used for boats would work for this.

[philforhockey51 4,211]

Is it possible to tell the game to leave the in game menus open after selecting an item?

[acdrisk 73]

How hard would it be to replace the Tram In Street textures with the industrial road texture from SAM 11?

 

I remember seeing at least one other mod that replaced the cobblestone street textures from the tram-in-street pieces, so I think it should be possible, but I have no modding experience or knowledge. I would love to be able to change the tram-in-street textures to match the textures of SAM 11. It would be perfect to simulate street running train tracks in the type of industrial areas that I like making. Combined with glitch that gets heavy rail automata running on tram-in-street and tram-in-road puzzle pieces, and it would look great!

 

Is this something that someone could do easily?

[matias93 7,535]

17 hours ago, acdrisk said:

How hard would it be to replace the Tram In Street textures with the industrial road texture from SAM 11?

 

I remember seeing at least one other mod that replaced the cobblestone street textures from the tram-in-street pieces, so I think it should be possible, but I have no modding experience or knowledge. I would love to be able to change the tram-in-street textures to match the textures of SAM 11. It would be perfect to simulate street running train tracks in the type of industrial areas that I like making. Combined with glitch that gets heavy rail automata running on tram-in-street and tram-in-road puzzle pieces, and it would look great!

 

Is this something that someone could do easily?

It's more tedious than difficult, but yes, it requires image editing tools, some skill with the magic wand tool, and lots of patience. What you would basically have to do is to take the SAM11 textures and add a new layer with the tram rails textures (I think @rsc204 or @rivit isolated those and have them saved as transparent PNGs, but I might be confusing them with RRW rails, which are of a different size), then merge the layers, export the image in PNG and use Rivit's GoFSH to import them as FSH textures, replacing the ones on the tram-in-street (you can get the correct files to edit by first unpacking the existing tram-in-street DAT file with GoFSH, which will give you a lot of PNG files which you'll have to overwrite with your textures).

The GoFSH manual, included with the program, has a very didactic guide to do this, but because there isn't any pre-made script to do it, it would be a fully manual task.

[acdrisk 73]

7 hours ago, matias93 said:

It's more tedious than difficult, but yes, it requires image editing tools, some skill with the magic wand tool, and lots of patience. What you would basically have to do is to take the SAM11 textures and add a new layer with the tram rails textures (I think @rsc204 or @rivit isolated those and have them saved as transparent PNGs, but I might be confusing them with RRW rails, which are of a different size), then merge the layers, export the image in PNG and use Rivit's GoFSH to import them as FSH textures, replacing the ones on the tram-in-street (you can get the correct files to edit by first unpacking the existing tram-in-street DAT file with GoFSH, which will give you a lot of PNG files which you'll have to overwrite with your textures).

The GoFSH manual, included with the program, has a very didactic guide to do this, but because there isn't any pre-made script to do it, it would be a fully manual task.

Thanks! I'll need to find an image editing program and learn to use the magic wand. I have tried to figure out GoFSH before, but didn't have much success (even following the guide). But at least now I have a roadmap!

[TheMurderousCricket 5,057]

Is there any chance for the Community to start the development of a "More ordinances" mod? Possibly a .dll, given how powerful it is.

I always lobbied for a type of ordinance portfolio that SC3000 had... These edicts added significant depth to the game and there were so many of them... Some useful and some even so-called "dead laws".

If I remember correctly, there is a fixed limit on the number of ordinances in the SC4 architecture but I wonder if this can be worked around with the .dlls.

[Null 45 3,048]

58 minutes ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Is there any chance for the Community to start the development of a "More ordinances" mod? Possibly a .dll, given how powerful it is.

DLLs can add new ordinances and replace the game's built-in ordinances, I posted a few ordinance DLLs on the STEX.

https://community.simtropolis.com/search/?&q=ordinance&type=downloads_file&author=Null 45&search_in=titles&sortby=newest

Currently the new ordinances need to be added by a DLL, and I have not been able to come a with a more user friendly method of creating new ordinances. The obvious choice would be to extend Maxis's ordinance exemplar system, but SC4 has some technical limitations which makes that complicated.

[Propfam 2,289]

On 9/8/2017 at 5:33 AM, Tarkus said:

If we are talking about DLL possibilities, before he disappeared, @OrSpeeder had apparently found the key to making it such that the RHW network could actually have a proper monthly cost.  

Speaking of adding things to finance, can we also make this kind of mod? I don't like "free" RHW.

[Kel9509 1,405]

What is the reason that we can make new Graphs, but not new Data views?  All mods to the Data Views seem to have to replace an existing one.  Would it be possible for a DLL mod to permit new data views?  This way, for instance, @CorinaMarie's Parks Aura view would not need to replace the Garbage Data view?

[Null 45 3,048]

6 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

What is the reason that we can make new Graphs, but not new Data views?

The difference appears to be how Maxis wrote the code that handles button clicks for those two systems.

For graphs, the game only checks that the button id is in the 0x40nn or 0x41nn range, where nn is the IID of the graph exemplar. But they implemented the data view button handling by checking for the specific button ids used in the UI, and the game ignores any button ids it doesn't recognize.

I think I found the code that handles the data view button clicks, but I don't yet know how difficult it would be to patch it.

On a related note, the possible data sources are limited to the things Maxis decided to track in an appropriate way for it to be displayed. AFAIK the only thing that they track which isn't already supported by their data view code is the Landmark Aura.

[Trakt0rdeck 8]

Hello, people of existence. I was hoping that someone would be able to guide me how to retexture a flag mod. I'd like to add my own, fictional flag for a nation build I'm preparing for. In doing this, I would like to have a ploppable flag, as well as to replace the pre-existing flag textures in other buildings and what not, like the OFMN mod does. In my mind, it should be as easy as to replace one texture in an existing mod, or possibly create an override mod, but I don't know how to do that

[TheMurderousCricket 5,057]

1 hour ago, Trakt0rdeck said:

Hello, people of existence. I was hoping that someone would be able to guide me how to retexture a flag mod. I'd like to add my own, fictional flag for a nation build I'm preparing for. In doing this, I would like to have a ploppable flag, as well as to replace the pre-existing flag textures in other buildings and what not, like the OFMN mod does. In my mind, it should be as easy as to replace one texture in an existing mod, or possibly create an override mod, but I don't know how to do that

Hear, hear! I'd love to learn this too. If it's indeed texture-related then GoFSH should be enough to do it and it's quite easy in that case.

I'll have to download some flag and test it. 

[matias93 7,535]

It will depend on if the flag is a static prop or a 3D model. If it's the first, you would have to use GoFSH to extract the 24 images that comprise the prop (6 zoom levels and 4 orientations), and then manually modify the angled images with an external graphic editing tool. If it's a 3D model and it's static, it's much easier: you'll only need to extract one image with the flag in flat, and modify it manually. An animated 3D model is an entirely different beast, because it's a succession of many static models.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,057]

3 hours ago, matias93 said:

An animated 3D model is an entirely different beast, because it's a succession of many static models.

Ah yes... Were it only as easy as GoFSH. 

So that would basically require using Gmax, creating twenty or so iterations of a model and then texturing them, right?

[matias93 7,535]

2 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Ah yes... Were it only as easy as GoFSH. 

So that would basically require using Gmax, creating twenty or so iterations of a model and then texturing them, right?

No, if you use Gmax, you can just model a new flag and texture it once, but in that case, that's a new prop, not a retexturing of an existing one. The problem with retexturing props is that they get flattened into origami-like 2.5D models when imported into the game. Those are the ones that require the 24 different images.

[rsc204 21,815]

The official Maxis flags from the DayofPeace free DLC are animated which is pretty cool. You can modify the textures, but there are many more than usual because of the animations. I retextured them using a filter and colour adjustment layer in Photoshop. Provided you only want to alter the colours of an existing flag, this option is practical and you can then use it with the PEG OFMN mod too.

But if you want a more custom flag, you are better off just making a regular model with SC4BAT etc.

[Cyclone Boom 16,938]

Just a random thought...

Could the "Bitmap Animation Builder" (BAB) tool help with this? I recall it was on the old LEX but hasn't to my knowledge been re-hosted on SC4E yet. There's topics about it here and here which has a bit of info, but given it's so long ago some of the pictures are missing. (I fixed those in the ST topic, as I happened to make a local copy 3 years ago.)

I'll attach the program here in good faith, since it isn't available on a common SC4 exchange right now.

Here it is:
SC4BAB11034.zip  (4.5 MB)

And the main title image:

Again I'm not sure this will be of any use for what @Trakt0rdeck is looking for, but I thought to just mention it.

If/when the file is uploaded to SC4E and/or the STEX, we can remove this attachment here.

[nos.17 5,133]

I also just happened to come across this now - it might help give you a starting point with gmax:

 

[CahosRahneVeloza 385]

Could it be possible to add QoL (Quality of Life) UI and management elements to the game via DLL mods? For one thing how about an Overwrite City Save File confirmation for when you "Accidentally" pressed the Save button, or for if you really want to overwrite your save file.

And how about a "Load" or reload button instead of exiting to Region view just to reload your city? Would be useful for when you want to quickly reload to before you made a mistake while building something.

I know modern games just spoil me too much but you've got to admit SC4's kinda dated systems are showing their age.

[Paolo80 268]

Hi guys,

I have a question. I built some custom lot and now I'd want to add requirements to build them. For example I'd want to build a specific power plant when city population is 100.000. How could I do? There's some topic in this forum explaining it?

Thank you very much.

Cori Edit: Since there is a separate topic for this, let's add all replies there.

  Edited February 8, 2025 by CorinaMarie  
Added linky to dedicated topic.

[Vico93 6]

Don't know if this really belongs to this post, but i'm looking for some mods that made GLR/El-Rail to work and look more like Trensurb, the urban train that crosses the metropolitan area that i live.

The major differences are the rails are always surrounded by concrete barriers, while NAM's GLR doesn't are, although El-Rail have a shy barrier around it.

Also the design of the stations is totally different from anything already available. For example, most of non-elevated stations uses a standard that is to be mostly a covered platform, passengers embark and disembark on this and then take a scalator for the second floor where is the box offices and then leave the station through footbridges that crosses the adjacent road (most of the time is either the equivalent of a SC4's avenue or ground highway that is on both sides of the rails, though sometimes only one side have one adjacent to).

Some videos showing a little bit how it looks like.

For the elevated stations (aside of one all of them were build later), most of them looks like some El-Rail stations that were released with NAM, but still have some unique features:

The one above is the earliest elevated station to be built in the system. Notice that is more bulkier that the white one i showed above it.

And there is some stretches of the ground-level rail that also have a companion (regular) rail tracks alongside it (inside the concrete barrier). Would be interesting if a draggable 4-track (two for regular rails and two GLR ones) existed to add even more similarities to our system.

Travelling part of the course on the pilot cabin.

 

[matias93 7,535]

On 08-02-2025 at 11:04 PM, Vico93 said:

Don't know if this really belongs to this post, but i'm looking for some mods that made GLR/El-Rail to work and look more like Trensurb, the urban train that crosses the metropolitan area that i live.

The major differences are the rails are always surrounded by concrete barriers, while NAM's GLR doesn't are, although El-Rail have a shy barrier around it.

Also the design of the stations is totally different from anything already available. For example, most of non-elevated stations uses a standard that is to be mostly a covered platform, passengers embark and disembark on this and then take a scalator for the second floor where is the box offices and then leave the station through footbridges that crosses the adjacent road (most of the time is either the equivalent of a SC4's avenue or ground highway that is on both sides of the rails, though sometimes only one side have one adjacent to).

Some videos showing a little bit how it looks like.

For the elevated stations (aside of one all of them were build later), most of them looks like some El-Rail stations that were released with NAM, but still have some unique features:

The one above is the earliest elevated station to be built in the system. Notice that is more bulkier that the white one i showed above it.

And there is some stretches of the ground-level rail that also have a companion (regular) rail tracks alongside it (inside the concrete barrier). Would be interesting if a draggable 4-track (two for regular rails and two GLR ones) existed to add even more similarities to our system.

Travelling part of the course on the pilot cabin.

 

Ola Vico!

What you're looking for could be divided in two elements: the stations, as they are buildings that can be made by any BATter, and you could ask for them on the BAT Request Thread, and the network styling, which is a bit more complex, requiring to create models to use as props, and to locate those props in network tiles as T21s, which is a different method than conventional lotting.

For the stations, the main difficulty with overhead walkways is that you need a way for your Sims to cross over the road. The easiest solution is to use two lots, one on the centre with the station, and one on the side with the stairs and the walkway overhanging, and to connect them both through a subway stub. Non elegant, but functional.

For the network styling, installing the confinement fences on the most common pieces (straight, diagonal, tee and cross) is relatively easy, but to make it complete you'll also need to cover all sorts of curves, and there's when the amount of work increases.

Finally, mixing light and heavy rail on the same tile is probably viable but still unattempted; a similar method as the one used with hybrid railway could be implemented. Though, considering that the Porto Alegre's Trensurb uses wide gauge trainsets, runs in mixed railways and thus isn't completely isolated from other traffic, an alternative word be to treat it as heavy commuter rail.

[Vico93 6]

Oh thanks for the answers, @matias93!

On 11/02/2025 at 12:15 PM, matias93 said:

What you're looking for could be divided in two elements: the stations, as they are buildings that can be made by any BATter, and you could ask for them on the BAT Request Thread, and the network styling, which is a bit more complex, requiring to create models to use as props, and to locate those props in network tiles as T21s, which is a different method than conventional lotting.

For the stations, the main difficulty with overhead walkways is that you need a way for your Sims to cross over the road. The easiest solution is to use two lots, one on the centre with the station, and one on the side with the stairs and the walkway overhanging, and to connect them both through a subway stub. Non elegant, but functional.

Will do! About the station walkways, doesn't NAM add Ped footbridges (in Pedestrian Mall Tiles)? That you place tiles including ones that go over streets, roads, avenues... Maybe the station BAT could have two openings on each side where the player can position those footbridges? That would be enough for me.

On 11/02/2025 at 12:15 PM, matias93 said:

For the network styling, installing the confinement fences on the most common pieces (straight, diagonal, tee and cross) is relatively easy, but to make it complete you'll also need to cover all sorts of curves, and there's when the amount of work increases.

I saw a mod here that would add fences to GLR, but they need to be placed manually and dragging would not propagate them. That would be, honestly, too much hassle to build for me.

On 11/02/2025 at 12:15 PM, matias93 said:

Finally, mixing light and heavy rail on the same tile is probably viable but still unattempted; a similar method as the one used with hybrid railway could be implemented. Though, considering that the Porto Alegre's Trensurb uses wide gauge trainsets, runs in mixed railways and thus isn't completely isolated from other traffic, an alternative word be to treat it as heavy commuter rail.

I honestly thought GLR was just a non-elevated counterpart of El-Rail when i wrote my first post, but after toying around i realized that they are totally different things (GLR being more like trams instead of suburban trains), although i found under "Draggable Ground Light Rail" a "Ground Light Rail Rural" which it's tracks really resemble 'El-Rail-but-without-the-El', but without the fencing i want. At the end i think using regular rail and asking for station BATs resembling the ones of Trensurb (either for regular and elevated rails) is the go for me. Unfortunately RRW that came with NAM made things so much worse to draw railroads adjacent to roads, streets and such (if there is a tiny elevation change or the rail curves it refuse to allow anything near it) that i wished i could remove that, even through it came with the already mentioned Hybrid Railway that really matches, for the elevated sections, how Trensurb look like and the fencing, but i don't know how to trace long stretches of elevated rails 😭.

But thank you again so much for all the tips!

[matias93 7,535]

1 hour ago, Vico93 said:

Unfortunately RRW that came with NAM made things so much worse to draw railroads adjacent to roads, streets and such (if there is a tiny elevation change or the rail curves it refuse to allow anything near it) that i wished i could remove that

That's specifically an effect of the NAM slope mod. You can tweak it, or change it for another slope mod for rail, or remove it completely and simply use the one that comes with the game, without affecting the RRW.

1 hour ago, Vico93 said:

but i don't know how to trace long stretches of elevated rails

build a railway and then click over it with the monorail tool, that should convert it (though I'm not sure if that's the case as well for elevated hybrid railway, I'll check).