Fixing the Landfill Bug

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Hey,

I have encountered a problem, and have accidentally activated the landfill bug. I have run the simulation for ~50 years, and the last 2x2 clump of garbage has decays as per the game's logarithmic simulation. I however have still two "immortal" garbage lots, as pictured:



There is zero trash going into the landfill, as I have Waste to Energy plants consuming all trash produced by the city. I also have cogeo's Landfill Eraser Mod installed (https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2252)

Any solutions on how to clear the last piles of trash?

[NielsC007 499]

Have you tried the immortal lot destroyer? I have never tried it with the garbage tiles but it works on regular RCI lots.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Have you tried the immortal lot destroyer? I have never tried it with the garbage tiles but it works on regular RCI lots.

Yes; unfortunately it does not seem to work on garbage.

[adavis287 9]

Have you tried dezoning the empty landfill lots and/or terraforming? I've experienced landfill lots which take a very long time to clear, but never as long as 50 years.

[rsc204 21,808]

When the Stex returns, search for and download Coego's Landfill Eraser Mod, designed to fix this very problem.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

^ OP says he already tried that.  I haven't used a landfill in so long, I really have no answer for this.

[cogeo 960]

First off, this landfill formation is indeed buggy. There is one "side" and one "corner" garbage tile, whereas the minimum valid pile is 2x2, consisting of 4 "corner" tiles.

 

As for the mod, did you read the documentation? It sets garbage decay rate to 100%. The calculation is carried out at the end of each game month. So run your city slowly until you get close to the end of the month (eg 28 or 29) then stop your city, focus on the landfill, save, exit and install the mod (this is the "preparatory" work). Open SC4 again, start running the city, and as soon as you cross the month boundary stop it, and examine the landfill. Trash should have disappeared on most tiles, allowing you to use the dezoner tool. In many cases the trash heaps left disappear immediately as you dezone a tile. But as the lots are buggy their behaviour is unpredictable, so this may not happen. In such a case exit to region (without saving) and repeat the procedure, now trying to dezone another (empty) tile. It is also essential that no garbage enters the landfill, so it would be best (or required?) to remove any road access to the landfill (decommissioning it).

 

Please let us know the results

 

P.S.: Aah, and forgot to mention, the mod is not intended for normal gameplay, only for removing landfills, so remember to uninstall it after you are done.

  Edited June 18, 2015 by cogeo  

[rsc204 21,808]

^ OP says he already tried that.  I haven't used a landfill in so long, I really have no answer for this.

Quite right, whoops... I've only ever had one area that I couldn't remove using the Landfill Eraser, I just added some MMP trash and turned it into a wasteland, thankfully it was in the heart of an Industrial sector.

Sometimes it's really hard to get the stubborn ones to go though, I found (in combination with the Landfill Eraser) that re-zoning and de-zoning areas including the problem tiles can help shift them, by and large the bigger the area you can zone/dezone, the more likely you can remove these pieces. Frankly after nothing but problems with Landfills, I simply don't build them anymore and allow some mods to take care of my trash, the Hyperspace Garbage disposal is my preferred one.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

First off, this landfill formation is indeed buggy. There is one "side" and one "corner" garbage tile, whereas the minimum valid pile is 2x2, consisting of 4 "corner" tiles.

 

As for the mod, did you read the documentation? It sets garbage decay rate to 100%. The calculation is carried out at the end of each game month. So run your city slowly until you get close to the end of the month (eg 28 or 29) then stop your city, focus on the landfill, save, exit and install the mod (this is the "preparatory" work). Open SC4 again, start running the city, and as soon as you cross the month boundary stop it, and examine the landfill. Trash should have disappeared on most tiles, allowing you to use the dezoner tool. In many cases the trash heaps left disappear immediately as you dezone a tile. But as the lots are buggy their behaviour is unpredictable, so this may not happen. In such a case exit to region (without saving) and repeat the procedure, now trying to dezone another (empty) tile. It is also essential that no garbage enters the landfill, so it would be best (or required?) to remove any road access to the landfill (decommissioning it).

 

Please let us know the results

 

P.S.: Aah, and forgot to mention, the mod is not intended for normal gameplay, only for removing landfills, so remember to uninstall it after you are done.

Hey Cogeo, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Unfortunately I have had no success using the method you described. Perhaps, would it be possible to allow the landfill to fill up again, and then wait for it to naturally decay?

[Mister Giggles 310]

I'm tired of this. I'm not talking about anyone or anyone's actions in this thread, I'm talking my inability to replicate any of these bugs. I can't help if I can't experience the bugs to figure out how the things do the things they do.

The best I can guess is that one of the tiles has gone corrupt, detached itself from the other tiles, and is in essence unattached to the game. It's there forever, in short.

However, it is possible a plugin is causing this. So, list all of your plugins. All of them. This, thankfully, is easy to do if you follow the instructions here.

I suggest attaching the .txt file to your post because otherwise it may prove to be a bit long depending on how many plugins you have. I'll have a go through the list, see if anything catches my eye. It'll give other people a chance to see things as well. Maybe someone will go "Oh yeah, I had that same problem until I removed X". The more your plugins are compressed, the less useful this will be, but it's better than nothing.

  Edited June 21, 2015 by timmie  

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

I'm tired of this ****. I'm not talking about anyone or anyone's actions in this thread, I'm talking my inability to replicate any of these bugs. I can't help if I can't experience the bugs to figure out how the things do the things they do.

The best I can guess is that one of the tiles has gone corrupt, detached itself from the other tiles, and is in essence unattached to the game. It's there forever, in short.

However, it is possible a plugin is causing this. So, list all of your plugins. All of them. This, thankfully, is easy to do if you follow the instructions here.

I suggest attaching the .txt file to your post because otherwise it may prove to be a bit long depending on how many plugins you have. I'll have a go through the list, see if anything catches my eye. It'll give other people a chance to see things as well. Maybe someone will go "Oh yeah, I had that same problem until I removed X". The more your plugins are compressed, the less useful this will be, but it's better than nothing.

My plugins folder is admittedly unorganised, but tonight I will remove the plugins and attempt to try the trick Cogeo suggested to see if the bug clears.

[Mister Giggles 310]

There's also the binary method of Nonny's, come to think of it. That may help. Don't worry! We'll solve this, or die trying.

[cogeo 960]

If the garbage doesn't disappear at the end of the month (again, try disconnecting the landfill), check if you have the mod that is supposed to increase the garbage decay rate - they are incompatible. Btw it's wrongly modded too, as it sets the decay rate to above 100%, so it should be uninstalled anyway. You can ensure that the Landfill Eraser Mod is loaded last, by installing it under a zzz_.. folder, immediately under the Plugins folder. Sorry, can't think of anything else, as the mod sets the garbage decay rate to 100%, so all trash in a disconnected landfill should disappear completely. You can test this in another city (containing a correct landfill) - all trash should go (of course you can just exit the city without saving - just test).

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

I don't have that mod installed.

Firstly, I tried that in a vanilla city and the mod worked as expected.

I built landfills on the same city tile as the corrupted lot, filled them up and the landfill mod worked as expected. Interestingly after removing all trash disposal options, trash did not go to the zoned landfill around the corrupt lots, but when other landfills were zoned the trash would be almost instantly transported to these new landfills.

I'm at a loss what to do here. The mod clearly works on this tile and others, but nothing seems to budge these corrupt lots.

  Edited June 19, 2015 by ROFLyoshi  

[cogeo 960]

So the problem is that after even the trash is removed, the buggy trash lots don't change, and no empty tiles appear (which you can dezone). Don't know what else to suggest. Maybe uninstall the mod, sign import deals, so that garbage actually enters the landfill, which can cause the trash heaps formation to change. Then try repeating the procedure (install the mod, disconnect the landfill and run the city to the month end) - hopefully some tiles may get empty this time, which can be dezoned, and all trash heaps magically disappeared. As said above, the lots are buggy and their behaviour unpredictable. This is what I would try to do. And of course, you don't want the city taking a hit, so better backup the region before (copy the WHOLE region folder somewhere else).

[Mister Giggles 310]

I'd still be interested in seeing your plugins list, Yoshi. It may provide insight.

[Prophet42 1,501]

I had the same issue a while ago and I remember resolving it.  Unfortunately I don't remember exactly how.  Below are some suggestions to try:

1. Demolish all roads around the landfill.  This will insure no amount of trash can reach the land fill (even if the simulator says there is zero input to the landfill)
2. Dezone the landfill.  Make sure you dezone it all at once.  If this does not work, try zoning something over it (like industrial) then dezoning that.
3. Do some terraforming (if the dezoning trick doesn't work) to see if the terraforming will destroy the remaining lots.
4. If none of this works, see what happens after a few sim years of having the landfill not connected to any roads.  Maybe it will eventually decay. 

Good luck.  Let us know how it is going.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

So the problem is that after even the trash is removed, the buggy trash lots don't change, and no empty tiles appear (which you can dezone). Don't know what else to suggest. Maybe uninstall the mod, sign import deals, so that garbage actually enters the landfill, which can cause the trash heaps formation to change. Then try repeating the procedure (install the mod, disconnect the landfill and run the city to the month end) - hopefully some tiles may get empty this time, which can be dezoned, and all trash heaps magically disappeared. As said above, the lots are buggy and their behaviour unpredictable. This is what I would try to do. And of course, you don't want the city taking a hit, so better backup the region before (copy the WHOLE region folder somewhere else).

Interestingly, the surrounding tiles of the landfill do not fill up, even when trash is generating.

[rsc204 21,808]

I'm tired of this ****. I'm not talking about anyone or anyone's actions in this thread, I'm talking my inability to replicate any of these bugs. I can't help if I can't experience the bugs to figure out how the things do the things they do.

The best I can guess is that one of the tiles has gone corrupt, detached itself from the other tiles, and is in essence unattached to the game. It's there forever, in short.

However, it is possible a plugin is causing this.

Doubtful, this is a known game bug left by EA/Maxis, it can happen with the vanilla game. Want to screw up a landfill, zone one large one, wait for some trash to appear and dezone around the trash (creating a second landfill). Do this a few times and run the game for a bit, soon you'll find them very stubborn to remove.

[Mister Giggles 310]

I see. I never experienced the bug, so this is new to me. Thank you.

[blyn Corporation 13]

Where Can I Find This Dependency SC4TrashcanFix.dat Please Help Me

[Yarahi 1,816]

Dependency for what exactly? Anyways, it's bundled up with the RTMT V3.5

  Edited September 18, 2015 by Yarahi