Cascadia Tree Controller

[citycowboy 183]

I installed the Cascadia Tree Controller by Blunder. I downloaded and installed all of the dependencies listed. I'm getting brown boxes on the largest stages of the coastal conifers and coastal conifer transitions. I tried finding what I'm missing for about an hour. Does anybody know what I'm missing? I can't figure out what it is because I don't think it would give me stages 1 & 2 of the coastal pines but not stage 3. Any help would be great. 

[rsc204 21,866]

It's hard to know really. Just go through the list of dependencies until you find the one you don't have installed. With even the most basic organisation of your plugins, this should be no more than 5 minutes work.

Why everyone seems to think there is some magical quicker way I really don't understand :/

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The other thing to be aware of is that sometimes dependencies have other dependencies.  You may have loaded all the primary ones, but did you check to see if any of them had secondary requirements?

[rsc204 21,866]

1 hour ago, A Nonny Moose said:

The other thing to be aware of is that sometimes dependencies have other dependencies.  You may have loaded all the primary ones, but did you check to see if any of them had secondary requirements?

I'm pretty certain that's not the case here, what with the dependencies all being flora. Mostly CP, VIP and Griafe's stuff, if you've all of them you are good to go.

[nos.17 5,255]

I know this has been a problem in the past. Go back through all of the girafe flora required for Cascadia and make absolutely sure you have the updated versions. Girafe updated the files a bit  ago and if you are using old copies brown boxed will appear.

[citycowboy 183]

All of the girafe files are whatever the newest ones that were available yesterday on devotion. I've simply deleted it all and will plant one by one. Thanks guys. 

[rsc204 21,866]

6 hours ago, citycowboy said:

All of the girafe files are whatever the newest ones that were available yesterday on devotion. I've simply deleted it all and will plant one by one. Thanks guys. 

Translation: Do it for me or I'll give up... sigh. I'll know I'm wasting my time trying to help you in future. Because if you don't have 5 minutes to go through a list and follow instructions I've got better things to do.

[citycowboy 183]

come on man, I've been playing this game for years. I know what causes brown boxes. After 6 hours of downloading and opening and checking and loading every single plugin on the list, not to mention that these were all the most currently available pieces available, all downloaded 2 days ago, I'm gonna give up. I ran it side by side on my other XP computer which has over 10k downloads, and it did the same thing. There are a couple of known MMPs that when you click on them once, twice, they're fine, but around stage 3 and 4 they turn into something else. For example, blue bonnets. click it once, its fine. Hold it down and make a field of them, and you have random paris buildings all over the place. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but its because some Paris building is being selected instead, probably because it has a similar file name I'm thinking. A lot of times when I ask a question, its because I'm seeing if somebody else has had the same problem and actually knows what the solution is, and not just vague replies like, "did you double-check?" I'm not trying to sound bitter, I really do appreciate all the help I've gotten from you guys. I have a process of copying and pasting all the dependencies onto a notepad, and then thoroughly going through all of it and double-checking from there, checking each item off one by one, and when a new piece developer is found, I dig through there entire lot, just to make sure everything is the latest and greatest. It would be nice if some of the things were removed, I know there's been a couple of instances where you go through someone's lot page by page and later on you find you didn't need to install each item one by one cause sometime later they made a pack with all of those resources in it. There are two trees in the controller list that give brown boxes on the third click, which I'm ok with. Sometimes people make things that don't work perfect, its not a big deal. I'm very happy and amazed that all of this stuff exists, and I really do appreciate again all the help and resources I've received over the years. 

[rsc204 21,866]

 

46 minutes ago, citycowboy said:

its because I'm seeing if somebody else has had the same problem and actually knows what the solution is, and not just vague replies like, "did you double-check?"

But that fails to take into account that the solution is to install the missing files. If that's vague, it's because it's the answer.

I can't look at your PC and cross-reference the installed files. I could show you a picture of my folder containing all the dependencies for Cascadia, they are neatly in one place. But how's that any different than referring you to the readme that came with it? It does work, I've used it for years, it's a very popular tree controller and I'm certain there is no error with such a widely used (not to mention tested) mod.

If you had a conflict or other such problem you would not get a brown box, but instead...

49 minutes ago, citycowboy said:

For example, blue bonnets. click it once, its fine. Hold it down and make a field of them, and you have random paris buildings all over the place. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but its because some Paris building is being selected instead, probably because it has a similar file name I'm thinking

Actually that means you've an ID conflict. It does happen, albeit very rarely. If the wrong item ever shows it's related to the ID of the props or models. The fix is simply giving one of the affected items a new ID. In the case of ALN (blue bonnets) and I'm guessing either JenX or Porkie (prime suspects for Parisian buildings), they have all moved on from SC4. However, if people gave feedback in these situations with a screenshot, someone could track down the problem and try to do something about it.

52 minutes ago, citycowboy said:

Sometimes people make things that don't work perfect

I agree, it happens despite the best intentions. I'm sure Cascadia is not one of those items however, the problem must therefore lie elsewhere.

You are missing dependencies, you simply must be, it's literally the only reason you'll ever see a brown box. If I had to guess, I'd say you need to update CP Vol1 / Vol2 since big trees are likely to be from there. But stabbing in the dark at which files might be out of date or missing makes no sense. It literally should take 5 minutes to go through the readme and re-download all the dependencies, then install them together in one place. If you come across missing links or whatnot, feel free to ask. But that 5 minutes is literally less time than it has taken me to write this response. Whether you do this or not really doesn't concern me.

However, when people ask for help, especially remotely, there are many things that are simply too time consuming to consider suggesting. Yes we go could back and forth swapping screenshots and file lists, but that's really inefficient. The easiest and most assured fix is to just to start over. You probably feel this is not necessary, after all it's probably only one file with the problem or missing? But the quickest solution is to do something which might seem illogical. A lifetime of support tells me you have not done the steps people have suggested. Most likely because you are questioning the knowledge of those trying to help. I'm sorry, I'm very familiar with these situations. And when I'm not in a position to refuse help, they almost always end a long time later, when one of the first things you told them to do fixes the issue. Now you shouldn't blindly follow everything you are told, but equally most people have better things to do than type out in graphic detail why you should do something. A little faith is required :).

[SimCoug 5,976]

The most likely culprit is CP's trees... you need to make sure you have the most up to date file version (he updated them a few years ago with new models, etc).  I would search through your plugins folder and remove all the C.P. prop vol 1 and 2 (you might have more than 1 of the same file, so do a search to make sure).  Once you have purged all the C.P. prop files, go to SC4D and re-download those files and put them in your plugin folder.  Good luck.

Often times folks will just re-download the c.p. files and put them in their folder thinking that will fix everything, but more times than not they still have an old version of those files hidden somewhere in their plugins folder and it will over-ride the new file and the game will act like nothing has changed.

[Toblakai 2]

Well I found your advice very helpful. I too have started playing SimCity 4 again and I too have a gazillion plugins. I started my install by re-downloading all mega packs and other dependencies. After deciding on using the new (I have not played since 2009) HD trees decided on the arcadia tree controller. I thought I had all dependencies installed, but it turned out I somewhere forgot to install cp trees no2. I got all these brown boxes, and I could not figure out why. When I see a BSC dependency I  always think that i have it already. Turned out I missed one Click when installing those 100+ mega packs. 

It is working now, thanks a million and also for all the wonderful content.

Toblakai.