Sims 4 Photo Mode

[zombie615 9]

I took a couple photos of my small town in hopes of uploading them on here an sharing to see if I could get some advice. Sadly I cannot figure out where the photo files that I snapped in the photo mode are located on my computer. I've looked in the Sim City 4 Deluxe program files area but I've come up with nothing. Thought there would be a photo folder or something.

[darkritual 1]

Your pictures should be in Documents\SimCity 4\Albums

[zombie615 9]

Your pictures should be in Documents\SimCity 4\Albums

 

I don't see any folder named "Albums" inside Documents\SimCity4Deluxe

[Turjan 1,048]

My folder in "Documents" is called "SimCity4", as darkritual said, not "Simcity4Deluxe", which is the name of the folder in the Program directory in my case.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

They are indeed in the user area .../simcity 4/albums.

 

@zombie615: You should not put anything, especially plugins, in the Program Files area.  That area is global to all users on your machine, and tends to load first, which may not be desirable in many cases with custom content.

[infamousjbe 592]

If you're on a PC it can be easier to use the Print Screen button on your keyboard (usually upper right hand corner) to take the snap shot of everything on your monitor screen. Then just use the Microsoft Paint program to "paste" the image in. At this point you can do some cropping if so desired. If you're versed in photo editing, than even better. 

 

After that, just use a photo storage website to host the image. (Imageshack, Photobucket, Imgur, etc) This allows you to copy/paste the images URL directly to your forum posts. 

 

I usually use the "Direct Link" from the image and paste the link between "["img"]"paste link here"["/"img"]"   Just remove all the quotes.

[zombie615 9]

They are indeed in the user area .../simcity 4/albums.

 

@zombie615: You should not put anything, especially plugins, in the Program Files area.  That area is global to all users on your machine, and tends to load first, which may not be desirable in many cases with custom content.

 

 

If I don't place it there my custom content tends not to load up in the game at all. I'm not quite sure why.

[Lost Realist 762]

Well you pretty much have to have a SimCity4 folder in your Documents that contains plugins, regions, albums and other stuff. What OS are you running?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

And more to the point did you get your game from Steam or Origin?  Both of these have funny ideas about where things should go.

[Turjan 1,048]

And more to the point did you get your game from Steam or Origin?  Both of these have funny ideas about where things should go.

 

They still use the "Simcity4" folder in "Documents" and the "Simcity4Deluxe" folder for the application, only that the latter is in a different place.

[zombie615 9]

(My Non-Gaming Laptop Specs)

 

VAIO Computer

Windows Vista Home Premium SP2

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5800 @2.00GHz  2.00GHz

Ram: 4.00 GB

System: 64-bit Operation System

 

Graphics Subscore - 4.1 / 5.9

Overall Subscore - 3.8 / 5.9

 

I run the game in Windows XP SP2 Safemode

 

BTW - I found the "Albums" folder an have made a post with my lame city progression lol

 

 

Place of Purchase - Amazon about 2 years ago (Digital Version)

 

For some reason I have to go to "Computer/ Local Disk (C:)/ Program Files(x86)/ Maxis/ SimCity 4 Deluxe/ Plugins" to install any mods or the game will not load them. Any suggestions with the information I've given you all? Thanks!

[dlsni 156]

have you ever patched your game?

[zombie615 9]

have you ever patched your game?

 

Yeah I believe so. I checked the latest version an mine matches it.

[Turjan 1,048]

All digital versions come fully patched, so that should not be any problem.  I have no idea why you cannot put your plugins in the usual space, though.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Let's review for a second:

 

Digital version from Amazon.

Running on Vista using XP SP2 Safe mode (?)

 

Needs no patches.  Version should be 1,1,641.

Safe mode implies system operations only.  Should not use this.  Why did you?  This could be why the user space is ignored.

 

Fixes:

Suggest upgrade to Windows 7

No special modes needed, only the run-time option -CPUCount;1 added to target.

Not sure what Sony puts in that model for graphics, but in any case the GPUs 3D options all need to be set to 'application selected'.

If monitor is a 16:9 version, also needs the appropriate graphics options on the command line.

 

Remember that Vista turned out to be a public beta for Windows 7.  Upgrade and stick there.

[zombie615 9]

Honestly I don't know if it is a safe mode or not. I just know that somewhere on the forums I saw that stability can be increased for the game on Vista by running it in Windows XP mode or something like that. Not sure about all the other graphics stuff. Game looks fine an runs without crashing. Before I switched to the Windows XP thing it would crash randomly. Haven't had that problem since.

 

(Notes)

 

Loads Faster than before

Graphics set on Max runs fine unless in a huge city on a large tile an doing stuff too fast at the same time

 

Q: Mods seem to work fine. Not sure why putting them in that other folder would make a big difference?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Has to do with load order and exemplar overrides.  (An exemplar is a computer word that contains certain values used by the simulation.  They seem to have different meanings at different positions in the various tables.  In the OOP model they would be called attributes)  The rough order of loading is:

 

Program Files stuff, including the .exe and the plugins

User area stuff in alphabetical order by the full pathname.

 

There are some finer distinctions, but basically if you want stuff to load last to override something it should be at the end of the user area with a folder name beginning with a z and at least three or four underbars.

 

Somewhere in the forums there is a full description of the loading order by Z1.  He might want to put it in an omnibus article sometime.

[zombie615 9]

Has to do with load order and exemplar overrides.  (An exemplar is a computer word that contains certain values used by the simulation.  They seem to have different meanings at different positions in the various tables.  In the OOP model they would be called attributes)  The rough order of loading is:

 

Program Files stuff, including the .exe and the plugins

User area stuff in alphabetical order by the full pathname.

 

There are some finer distinctions, but basically if you want stuff to load last to override something it should be at the end of the user area with a folder name beginning with a z and at least three or four underbars.

 

Somewhere in the forums there is a full description of the loading order by Z1.  He might want to put it in an omnibus article sometime.

 

So if I put all the plugins within my plugins folder in a single folder than rename that folder Z_ _ _ _ 1 or something it might help the load times?

[Cyclone Boom 16,938]

Honestly I don't know if it is a safe mode or not.

...

 

Just to clarify, when a Windows computer is in safe mode, you'll notice the words "Safe Mode" in each corner of your screen. This is only really intended to diagnose system level problems, since only basic resources & drivers will be loaded. It's not recommended for everyday use, certainly not for running graphic-intensive applications like games. I think what you're instead referring to is Compatibility Mode, which is distinctly different. Instead, this slightly changes how Windows handles legacy programs not designed for the host OS, and in some cases may help improve their stability.

 

So if I put all the plugins within my plugins folder in a single folder than rename that folder Z_ _ _ _ 1 or something it might help the load times?

No, not quite. If you put your entire plugins in one single folder, it doesn't matter what this folder is named. The game will just process and load the contents of it according to the loading sequence. For example, if there is a folder at "\SimCity 4\Plugins\test", the game would first look in the root "\SimCity 4\Plugins\". And seeing as there'd be nothing in there, it'd then proceed to load the "test" folder.

 

Using overrides (like adding zzz___ to a folder) can be useful to ensure the contents load after other plugins.

Any plugins in Program Files however will always load before anything in the user profile.

 

By the way, I think z1's post and the thread he refers to about loading orders.

 

To speed up loading times, other than using a solid-state-drive (SSD), probably the most reliable method is to compress your plugins using DatPacker.

[zombie615 9]

Thank you for the advice on the DatPacker it has helped a bit I believe.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Are we agreed you are not running in Safe Mode?

[zombie615 9]

Are we agreed you are not running in Safe Mode?

 

Yes, I'm not running in safe mode.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

OK, now are you still having trouble using the user level plugin folder?  If so, I'd really like to get to the bottom of that.

[zombie615 9]

Yeah I am still having trouble. I'm not sure if something happened during my install or what. I'm about to make a tough decision an delete all my SimCity4 stuff an re-install from the very beginning. *I don't really have that many plug-ins so its not that big a deal to do so*

 

BTW - I just now realized I put "Sims 4" in the title instead of "SimCity 4" lol

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

1.  Move all your plugins to the user area.

2.  Delete the game and say yes to the keep user files question.

3.  Reinstall the game.

4.  Use the -CPUCount:1 option and run under Windows 7 with no compatibility options.  They really are not needed.

[zombie615 9]

1.  Move all your plugins to the user area.

2.  Delete the game and say yes to the keep user files question.

3.  Reinstall the game.

4.  Use the -CPUCount:1 option and run under Windows 7 with no compatibility options.  They really are not needed.

 

I currently have Windows Vista SP2

 

Plus I've already wiped my entire simcity4 & an everything relating to it from my system. I'm OCD kinda....

 

Could you explain the "-CPUCount:1" option a bit more

 

Note - I'm in the process of hopefully purchasing another computer, preferably a desktop with space to do major upgrades down the road. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

To use any program option on the call line you have to edit the shortcut (in windows).  To do this, right click the shortcut and select Properties.  In the resulting panel you will find a text box that is labelled Target.  This is actually the script command line that launches the program.  It has the name of the program file with all its folders enclosed in quotes (complete path name).  It is in quotes because it has spaces in it, and the scan for the command normally stops at the first space, but quoting prevents that.

 

Many programs have options that can be invoked at launch time, and this option is one of them.  To use options you need to understand the layout of the command line (syntax) as designed by the programmer.  In the case of SimCity 4 this is a modified standard that was in vogue at the time the program was written.  The requirements are that each option must begin with a hyphen character preceded by a space ( -).  So to use the CPUCount option your Target line needs to be edited to look like this:

 

"C:\Program Files (x86)/Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CPUCount:1

 

One of the other rules is that any value for the option (parameter) must be separated by a colon ( and that explains why this is used to specify the number of cores (CPUs) the program is allowed to use.

 

When you are finished editing, press the Apply button, and close the panel.

 

---

 

There are many options for this program and here is a complete list of them.  I suggest you might want to review these, but don't try any of them you don't understand completely.  Here is my complete Linux script that I use to get this program going:

<Linux tutorial starts here>

#!/bin/bash
date
env WINEPREFIX="/home/john/.wine" \
wine "C:/Program Files (x86)/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe/Apps/SimCity 4.exe" \
 -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:software \
 -CPUCount:1 -f &>~/sc4.log
date
 

This looks a lot different from the Target line.  Here is the explanation:

 

The first line tells the program launcher which script to use to run it.  In this case, bash, the Bourne Again Shell

 

The date commands simply print the date and time on the console.  I like to know how long I've played.

 

The env line is the beginning of the actual command line.  Command lines can be extended by placing a backslash (\) at the end which causes the newline to be ignored.

 

WINEPREFIX="/home/john/.wine" tells the windows executive which folder to look in for its operational needs

 

wine "C:/Program Files (x86)/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe/Apps/SimCity 4.exe" \
 -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:software \
 -CPUCount:1 -f &>~/sc4.log  If I was running windows this would be the Target line (all on one line).  It calls the windows executive and passes it all the other "words" on the line.  The first word is the quoted complete path name to the SC4 executable.  After that is a set of options as specified above.  It says to SC4 the following:

 

Do not run the opening movie;

Allow a monitor that is not 4:3, and the specification for the monitor (resolution) is 1920 x 1080 with 32 bit colour.;

Run in software rendering mode;

Allow only one core;

Full screen.

 

The expression &>~/sc4.log is for the shell.  It tells the shell to set up a file in my home folder (~ is a Linux shortcut for home folder) and the name of the file is to be sc4.log.  This file gets any comments from the windows executive (wine) while the job runs.  here is the contents of that file:

 

fixme:service:scmdatabase_autostart_services Auto-start service L"dxregsvc" failed to start: 2
fixme:thread:start_thread Started native thread 00000023
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x32eea8,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x32edf8,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x32f438,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:winediag:AUDDRV_GetAudioEndpoint Winepulse is not officially supported by the wine project
fixme:winediag:AUDDRV_GetAudioEndpoint For sound related feedback and support, please visit http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1960599
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x32f418,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x32f418,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:ddraw:ddraw_surface7_Flip Ignoring flags 0x1.
fixme:imm:ImmGetOpenStatus (0xac63e68): semi-stub
fixme:imm:ImmReleaseContext (0x1004a, 0xac63e68): stub

 

Note that all of these start with fixme.  What these lines are is a set of reminders to the developers at the wine group that there are things that are still in need of development in wine.  They can be ignored, since the program (SC4) works OK.

 

</Linux tutorial>

 

This is just about as complete as I can make it for you.  Try not to get too confused, because there is a lot of stuff not in evidence that you will only pick up by years of computer guts and gore experience.
 

[zombie615 9]

Here is what I've choosen for my target file from the above link an what you've said as well.

 

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CPUCount:1 -intro:off -audio:off

 

(Notes) 

 

I just went an tested this out without the use of any mods or plugins just the complete vanilla setup as comes with the install of the game. Loading times have been drastically cut in half, very pleased. 

 

Used to take about 4 - 6 minutes from time of clicking the shortcut to actually having a city loaded an playing the game.

 

Now one click an 1 minute or less I'm already playing the game.

 

 

Now I just need to figure out the best setup for the graphics options. Right now I have the following...

 

[infamousjbe 592]

There really isn't a way around the lengthy loading times once you start stuffing your plugins folder. running the game without the intro and plugins will be like night/day.  With just over 2gb active plugin folder it takes my game about 6 minutes to load to city from the SC4 Launcher.

 

As far as the graphics goes, reducing your shadows will have the most noticeable effect. Cutting down the Automata and Visuals helps a bit too. Since I reduce most of the graphics, I also tend to uncheck the clouds, waves, translucency, & vary automata.

 

Most of this is because I'm running on a low end laptop that doesn't handle all the graphics too well. 

 

Once I'm employed again, I'll definitely be looking into upgrading this laptop, or possible just building a SC4 dedicated tower. I personally like the graphics and animations and would love to be able to play with them set to high.

 

Now my only question, does the 16/32 bit color play much into the laggyness of the game? Currently I'm in 32bit, but if 16bit would run just a bit better, then I'd probably switch to the 16bit instead.

[Cyclone Boom 16,938]

Here's my current settings:
 

 
Notes:

• The first two options are set to medium to give a balance between visual and performance. Setting these to low will speed up the game at a visual cost.
• Shadows on low since they're very resource consuming. I'll sometimes raise this setting when viewing a city and not primarily building.
• Building draw speed on high. This controls how quickly objects are rendered when changing game views. Setting to low can be beneficial for PCs with less processing power.
• Texture quality and city detail also on high. Controls the detail of textures and the range of props shown on lots.

• Clouds/fog & Waves: Usually turn them off, as consumes unnecessary resources. May help marginally speed up game.
• UI translucency & colour cursor: Although they're visual preferences, I don't notice a performance difference with these, so tend to keep them on. Best to test on your setup.
• Variable speed automata: Cars and vehicles will change speed along with the simulation speed. Disable if noticing lag when running Cheetah speed.
• Colour quality: Have always set this to 32-bit. The quality of the picture will be reduced (appear slightly more grainy) when on 16-bit.

• Resolution: Custom (set in shortcut parameter).
• Rendering: Hardware will better utilise your graphics ability, but software tends to be more stable on a wider range of systems. Best to experiment on this one.