TUTORIAL - Use CPT_No7a and CPT_No7 tree controllers both at the same time!

[Angry_Bubble 52]

Hello guys, I do not know if I'm violating any rights to the plugins, but I want to share something I found. Its use a (ONLY ONE) old CPT_No7 controller + one CPT_No7a any. Let's work!

 

Many people complain that some old controllers has no variety, which does not plant out using the terrain curves (getting more realistic) and the new CPT_No7a  sometimes do not plan too much, or plant only those trees cut with the tractors. Here's an interesting solution I found: USE ONE OLD CPT + ONE CPT NEW!

 

 

Install any CPT_No7a (Italy River, for example), it will create a folder called "CPT_No7a_TreeController" in Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins folder. In this folder we will CPT_No7a ...... dat file and, in my case, I put the CPT_No8 No9 and dependencies in the same folder, but if you already have these dependencies do not need to do this! When you download the old CPT_No7 it will create a folder called "CPT_No7_AssortedTreeControllers" Documents / SimCity. There will be all the old controllers, and the readme. In my case, I downloaded all new CPT_No7a and put them in the same folder, as you can see:

 

 

Now we will go to the controller folder inside the plugins folder. Choose a former controller (I will use the example of Elm). VERY IMPORTANT HERE: Rename it so that it is always before CPT_No7a controller like I did here: (in my case I removed the "RequiresNo8andNo9")

Ready, open the game. Some important things to point out:

- Some controllers in the beginning only plant the tree CPT_No7, but over time becomes mixed with the CPT_No7a. Some already are mixed at the beginning and are thus the rest of the game. In both cases you get a planting along the lines of its land since last SimCity 4 is reading the CPT_No7a and then it is picking up the settings.

- I have not tested with the controller "Default Maxis" and not the "Generic", but I believe there should be no problems.

- Working Elm + anyone CPT_No7a is quite boring! Sometimes right away he was already mixing well, other enters the above rule (spending time), sometimes not even that! But usually me after a while he mixed well.

Here are some of my results and good luck to you!

 

Italia River + Juniper:

 

 

Italia River + Aspen:

 

 

Italia River + Lodgepole:

 

Italia River + ShorePine:

 

Italia River + Cottonwood:

 

[GMT 389]

[Angry_Bubble 52]

[GMT 389]

seriously tho, this trick makes my region look soooo much better than before, using ItaliaRiver and Lodgepole. Just retreeing the affected areas and then I'll make a before-after region view comparison

 

EDIT:

took a while but here it is, a before and after (in that order) pic of my region with just ItaliaRiver and then ItaliaRiver+Lodgepole.

North and east areas show the most changes and frankly, it's a great change!

 

 

[Angry_Bubble 52]

But it gets even better

[Angry_Bubble 52]

My new forest: Redwood (old CPT) + Olympic Coast (CPT_No7a)

[GMT 389]

for some reason unknown to mankind, this trick stopped working for me from one day to the other... investigating

EDIT: Idk I just can't figure out whats happening. Looks like I gotta create my own tree controller to get the awesome back

EDIT2: Lazy me didn't create his own controller. Lazy me continued investigating and found a conflicting plugin. One I had for years and didn't interfere in the first place, but out of the blue now does act up. Got rid of it. Problem solved.

  Edited October 4, 2015 by GMT  

[Lost-In-Sofia 20]

Absolutely wonderful for another natural growth region of mine, thank you so so much! 

[Angry_Bubble 52]

On 29/09/2015 at 2:17 PM, GMT said:

for some reason unknown to mankind, this trick stopped working for me from one day to the other... investigating

EDIT: Idk I just can't figure out whats happening. Looks like I gotta create my own tree controller to get the awesome back

EDIT2: Lazy me didn't create his own controller. Lazy me continued investigating and found a conflicting plugin. One I had for years and didn't interfere in the first place, but out of the blue now does act up. Got rid of it. Problem solved.

I'm same problem now. What plugin did you find?

[Angry_Bubble 52]

WOW, it's work again. I'm waiting 3~5 minutes after the game launcher and it's happens!

[GMT 389]

On 28.12.2017 at 12:07 AM, Angry_Bubble said:

I'm same problem now. What plugin did you find?

honestly, I have no idea what it it was. It's been more than 2 years...
What I do know is, if the combination of controllers is valid and there's no conflicting plugin, it'll still take some time for the combined controllers to take effect.
This also happens from time to time well after they started working in the first place.
From the looks of it, this is what happened to you.

[matias93 7,535]

No idea what could it be, but I also found myself using mixed tree controllers, indeed one old CPT and Heblem Californian, with not-so-great results: sometimes both controllers complemented each other nicely, but most of the time one overrided the other in permanent fashion (i.e. one city tile used CPT and it would always use it). Also, I got issues when trying to terraform those cities, as apparently some trees ended being invisible and caused CTDs when demolished by the terraforming.

I remember that @11241036 did a Tree Controller lately, so maybe can help us with some insight on how this works?

[11241036 5,115]

Well, I hope I can help you with some insight, but mixing up tree controllers will yield results that strongly depend on which files you've installed. I've looked a bit into the TC's you have mentioned, but finding out why one TC by CP overrides all others may take me much time, and I really don't feel like doing this.

If you are interested in how TC's work, you might be interested in reading the tutorial I've written:

But long story short:

It's entirely possible to combine several TC (unless they are buggy, this does not cause CTD's on its own), although in most cases there will always one of the TC's be overriding the others. There are some important rules to keep in mind:

• A TC is basically only a collection of flora item exemplar files that are programmed in a way that they are being recognized as trees that can be planted in God Mode.
• If two TC's contain the same exemplar files (and in fact, this is the case with most of CP's old TC's AND the Italia TC one!), the same thing happens as usual: The last exemplar file in loading order will override all the others.
• A tree that can be planted in God Mode needs to be "enabled" first (I call it enabling/disabling). The crucial property is the FloraPreferences property. It contains 256 reps that can have values from (and including) 0-1. If any of the reps there is higher than 0, then a tree can be planted under certain circumstances. These circumstances are altitude (in m above sea level) and moisture (don't ask me how this works exactly...), and one rep stands for one individual altitude-moisture combination (so called "slots"). Important: If there are several exemplar files with the same slots being higher than 0, only one file will become active. To my knowledge, it is NOT the last one in loading order, but the one with the highest TGI number.

 

In your case, the reason why a TC will override the others only partly may be a combination of the two last rules mentioned above.

 

About issues with TC's:

• Invisible trees: This is something that, as far as I know, only occurs if you either remove the dependency files AND the TC (or install a TC that has exemplar files with no RKT, which is very unlikely).
• CTD's when terraforming: As far as I know, this only happens if you plant trees with any TC and then remove the TC files without bulldozing all trees that you've planted with the TC first. (BTW, removing a TC can be done in the same way as removing any other plugin: Just bulldoze all trees that you've planted with this TC and then remove its files; although that's, admittedly, much work.)

 

If you want to combine TC's and want to have more control about which TC becomes active:

Just make one TC with several so-called "brushes", copy its files several times and change the files in a way that every file has only one brush active (and every file has a different brush active). Then make sure that the TC that you want to be active loads last (because all files will have the same exemplar files). This will result in only one TC being active, but you can switch to any other TC by leaving the game, changing the filename and getting back into the game. As long as there are exemplar files for a God Mode planted tree in your Plugins folder, there won't be any CTD's. BTW, CP may have actually done this with old assorted TC's: With the exception of the default Maxis and the generic conifer TC, you should be able to do this (but please try this on an empty region first, I haven't tested it).

 

For further information: Please read the tutorial I've linked first. TC's are highly advanced mods and it takes me much time to write explanations.

[Angry_Bubble 52]

So I went back to what I had taught myself (yes, I had forgotten kkkkk), which was leaving the old CPT before the new CPT7a and waiting for 5 minutes of play open and ready, it came back to work. Sometimes after about 40 minutes, only the old CPT goes back to work, then I leave the city and when I come back to it ready, old CPT and new CPT7a well mixed.

The best thing about using these two together is that it reduces many of those tractors and trees cut from your flora design (in case the old CPT fills it).

And in detail, any new CPT7a supports any old CPT controller and any CPT7a without having to knock down all trees or have problems with crashes. So when I discovered this combination I was very satisfied and I came to show this because I think of all combinations with CT this is the best.

[Angry_Bubble 52]

I discovered some new things:

- You just run the game, and opened a city, just give an Alt + Tab to toggle the windows with anything open on your PC, when back the two controllers will mix at the most.