Please take lessons from Oppie on how to mod...

[oldnavy 11]

I appreciate the mods and the people that make them but when you want to use multiple mods that overwrite the Scripts file in SimCityUserData/Packages/Scripts folder, it is a headache, as I will ALWAYS choose my existing Water mod over any other.

 

Oppie, the creator of the modding program you use to make mods, has found a way to be able to have multiple mods, ones usually requiring the scripts file overwritten, to mingle with each other. I don't know the details but he had posted details SOMWHERE on here on how to do it but everyone overlooked it. He's going to kill me if he gets 1000 pm's asking him how so IF I am able to find it OR if anyone else does, PLEASE post in this forum details for other modders on how to do it.

 

I would guess you do NOT include other functions/CVARS/attributes of the scripts file that don't relate to your mod in your custom-named scripts.package file. I haven't made a game or mod before but I program C# and C. As an IT Administrator of linux, I only deal with NON graphical, service-type processes and applications. I haven't even tried to open the standard script file to see what language it is but I'm sure there's a way to accomplish what I'm talking about; ONLY mods that modify the same part of the scripts file should conflict with each other.

 

I know he has successfully done this because, in his he not only changed the name of the scripts file, to go in the packages folder, but he made it NOT interfere with my water mod like ALL OTHER scripts files do; this includes project akar. I like project akar and project orion but I cannot use them because they will NOT allow them to mingle with the which should be part of the game by default.

[stevelowe 8]

The majority of the files that include the scripts file just include it as a convenience for users to not have to find the game file in order to copy it to a second location.  I use dozens of mods, that have this file,  and none of them actually have changes to it, but they do need it copied to the userdata packages folder to properly function.  It may be a good idea for those to make note of this in their readme, so as to avoid confusion.

[oldnavy 11]

The majority of the files that include the scripts file just include it as a convenience for users to not have to find the game file in order to copy it to a second location.  I use dozens of mods, that have this file,  and none of them actually have changes to it, but they do need it copied to the userdata packages folder to properly function.  It may be a good idea for those to make note of this in their readme, so as to avoid confusion.

well the water cheat I'm talking about, to have infinite water, does along with the akar UI enhancement (otherwise the roads don't show up in the UI). I need both of these mods. ANY MOD that modifies attributes of the game (how much output or processing a mod does for recycling, garbage, power plants, WATER/SEWAGE PUMPS, how much something costs, etc )  have to have their own scripts file to change these attributes. The package files that go in simcitydata and not simcityuserdata\packages cannot change these alone, as they are not scripts.

 

I'm fighting now to create bridges out of REGIONAL UDoN roads without using akarr but other mods that don't require the scripts file overwritten.

 

The scripts are parameters that tell a mod in SimcityDATA (not simcityuserdata where the script is) how to function. You could think of it as "one is the hardware (the graphics) the other is the software (the scripts to make the graphics function)".

 

IF two scripts files (.package files in simcityuserdata/packages) DO NOT affect the same attribute, you can just rename them and not overwrite and they will both work. However, most modders on here take the ORIGINAL SimCity-Scripts_287520926.package script file, add or change the attributes pertaining to their mod WITHOUT DELETING the ones that DON"T, and tell everyone to overwrite the original. Of course, when you overwrite another script file that someone else's mod requires, you cancel out theirs because your script file doesn't have both yours and their attributes/settings; if a mod CHANGED attributes, like the water mod, that were part of SimCity originally and your script includes the ORIGINAL settings, along with the ones you changed, the rest of the original settings that don't pertain to your mod cancel out those of the other mod(s).

 

I know this from programming LUA for other than games

[stevelowe 8]

I understand completely. It seems that the infinite water mod does indeed alter the scripts file.  I apparently have been fortunate in that the mods I use that include the file have not actually made changes to it from what is in the base game. I do think it would be a good idea for modders that include the file to specify if they have altered it or not, to help with deciding which mods to install., and as you mentioned, if they do indeed alter it, pulling out their changes into a separate script file would be ideal.

[chappers 82]

there isnt anything altered in the script files they are just needed for the mod to function, and thats for all mods wich come with a script file

the values modders change are in the acompanying non script package file(s) 

[TheCraftKid 52]

ARGUMENT INVALID

That's not how the game works, and, like chappers said, no mod actually modifies the base, it's just needed for certain references in mods.

 

You don't know how the packages work, so why are you making blatant assumptions on their functionality?

 

The majority of the files that include the scripts file just include it as a convenience for users to not have to find the game file in order to copy it to a second location.  I use dozens of mods, that have this file,  and none of them actually have changes to it, but they do need it copied to the userdata packages folder to properly function.  It may be a good idea for those to make note of this in their readme, so as to avoid confusion.

This man knows how the game works, and he is completely right.

I do understand that many mod makers really don't tell people why or how something works, and when people forget about that, you end up with threads like this.

 

TL;DR: There is nothing wrong with people using a common package for basic mod functionality. The packages are only used for reference and don't actually affect anything.

[xordevoreaux 73]

Hi, bit confused.

 

 

ANY MOD that modifies attributes of the game (how much output or processing a mod does for recycling, garbage, power plants, WATER/SEWAGE PUMPS, how much something costs, etc )  have to have their own scripts file to change these attributes. The package files that go in simcitydata and not simcityuserdata\packages cannot change these alone, as they are not scripts.

 

I have many cheat mods out now, and none of them change the script files.  I use SimCityPak 0.4 to take the parts that I need, such as the garbage dump, modify it, and then save that out as its own package.  I include the script files in my uploads, but they are not modified.  I even say in my mod notes that if you already have them in there, you don't need mine, I'm only including them as a convenience. 

 

Also, all of my mods I am able to use from SimCity\SimCityUserData\Packages.  I have not placed any of my own mods in the simcityData folder.   When starting a new region or city, I start the region or city, save it, close the game, and open it back up again (the mods load when the game starts, not when you create a new region, and for whatever reason, the mods aren't fetched again every time you create a new region, just at game load time, at least when using the user folder.

 

As a side note, I used to use infinite water, but I now have a water mod that restores the water table far faster than that mod does.  My screen shots on my mod for my Cheat: Water even shows the 5-day in-game progression of the water table.

[oldnavy 11]

 

TL;DR: There is nothing wrong with people using a common package for basic mod functionality. The packages are only used for reference and don't actually affect anything.

ARGUMENT INVALID

Why? If there wasn't anything wrong with doing this, mods having nothing to do with each other (a road mod and infinite water trick) wouldn't conflict with each other.

I do know how it works because I program LUA on linux and have modded other games. Now the delivery method may be different in here but the principles stay the same, as I outlined.

 

We're not here to argue on how the game is made but only to learn how oppie took a mod that USUALLY required the scripts file updated (in addition to that mod file), renamed that scripts file, and achieved the results without overwriting the original scripts file.

 

Everyone wants to argue over the fine details of everything instead of accomplishing the main goal.