Problems installing Region

[cosc00488 0]

Using this help topic:

Downloading the Map Files from the STEX 
1) Find a map to be downloaded by searching the STEX. Note the name of the map.
2) Navigate to the following path: \\My Documents\Sim City4\Regions. (Typically, this path is under the C:\ drive path.)
3) Create a new folder naming it with the same name as the map to be downloaded. Note the name of the folder created.
4) Go back to the STEX, and click on the map link to open the Map window.
5) Once the Map Window is opened, there typically is a picture of the map image and a picture of the config.bmp file.
6) To download the map image, click on the Download link to display the grayscale image for the map.
7) Right-mouse click on the image and select the "Save picture as..." choice.
 Navigate to the region folder created in Step 3), above. 
9) Save the grayscale map image in the region folder using the default name of the file.
10) In the top right-hand corner of the Map Window, click on the "Back" link.
11) If there is a Config.bmp link (not all map files have a config.bmp file), click on the link to open the File Download dialog box.

NOTE: Concerning config.bmp Files.
If the map being downloaded does not have a config.bmp file included, one must be created before installing the map. Please consult the Config.bmp: HowTo Make It Yoursarticle for instructions on creating a config.bmp file.

12) In the FIle Download dialog box, click on the "Save" button.
13) Navigate to the region folder created in Step 3), above.
14) Ensure the file name is config.bmp then click on the "Save" button.
15) The map has been downloaded and saved to the computer.


Installing the Map Files into SimCity 4


16) Launch the SimCity 4 game.
17) From the Main Menu of SimCity 4, Click on "Load Region" and open an EXISTING region.
18) THEN click on "Load Region" and open the region created in Step 3), above.
19) The configuration of the the config.bmp is displayed.
20) On the keyboard, press and hold the following key combination: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R.


NOTE: Wireless Keyboards
Typically, wireless keyboards do not support more than three simultaneous key combinations. It will be necessary to use the appropriate key combination for the wireless keyboard being used to simulate the Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R combination. The normal wireless keyboard combination to use is [Alt Gr] + Shift + R.


21 This will bring up the Grayscale Image File dialog box.
22) Browse to the folder created in Step 3), above.
23) Select the grayscale map image JPG file and click on the OK button.
24) SimCity 4 starts to render the region and a "Creating New City" screen appears.

 

When i get to part 18 The region i entered does not appear. Therefore it does not open to a blank region.

If i tried to just continue with a normal region, i can get to part 23, but part 24 never starts

[cogeo 960]

Don't have a Mac, but there is something I suspect: The grayscale doesn't need to go into the region's folder, it can be saved anywhere. Instead (under the WIndows version at least), it can cause problems, like the program does not recognise this setting as a valid region folder (eg a valid region folder may only contain the config.bmp and possibly the region.ini file and a number of city files).

 

Under the Windows version there are further complications, eg rendering (step 24) won't start if the region folder contains anything else but the config.bmp. What other files may be there? First off, the grayscale. But also, a file named thumbs.db. It's a hidden file created by Windows, used for fast extraction of thumbnails of the image files stored in the folder. With the default windows settings, the file is not visible and users do not know that it's there. What you can do to keep it from being created is, change the folder view to "Details" or "List" (instead of "Thumbnails" or "Filmstrip") before you put in any image file (config.bmp is technically an image as well); thumbs.db will be created by the system as soon as you put the first image file there.