SimCity 4 ignoring config.bmp

[ReshiramLover 50]

I am having an issue with creating Config.bmp files. SimCity 4 seems to completely ignore small cities (red) in the config.bmp! The region does not show any small cities! it is as if the red in my config.bmp isn't even there! If you zoom way into my config.bmp, you can obviously see red that is 1px wide at the left edge, SimCity 4 is ignoring this. The SimCity 4 Terraformer won't accept the config.bmp at all or any config.bmp with red in it. SimCity 4 leaves all red blank, even if it is in the middle of the region!

Does anybody know what the problem could be?

I have included one problem config.bmp file for troubleshooting

config.bmp

[f3cs 1,063]

As neither SC4 and SC4T are accepting your config.bmp I have to ask, do you download it or did you make it by your own hand? Anyway, you can fix it by yourself checking this little tutorial: 

 

[Toby Ferrian 875]

The problem is you got the wrong shade of red, it's a tiny bit too dark for the game to recognize it.

Here, I fixed it for you: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wqvyep8rji5kcxh/config_fixed.bmp?dl=1

 

[CorinaMarie 29,884]

On 5/14/2017 at 5:12 AM, Jolteon said:

The problem is you got the wrong shade of red, it's a tiny bit too dark for the game to recognize it.

Yep, that's the problem. Elaborating on that here's what I found checking the original config.bmp:

Checking the color Red shows 240-16-1 rather than the 255-0-0 it needs. So here's how the color choice should look:

 

I also noticed the green directly adjacent to the red was slightly off in color. (@Jolteon fixed that too.) I suspect when you painted the red your brush was set to round and maybe larger than one pixel so it bled the into the green a little and altered the red as well. Or the brush had some other opacity or blend setting or something.

 

[HayleyRenaNemeth 465]

for it to be counted as red , the R value has to be 255 , the G and B values can be anywhere from 0 to 254. 

same with the other colours. only one of them can be 255 the rest between 0 to 254. its best to alternate for the green and blue ones. so it knows where the boundaries are. 

always use the pencil tool in photoshop when editing your config file. 

[ReshiramLover 50]

I created it with 255 Red, I guess something went haywire when I or Photoshop saved it

[HayleyRenaNemeth 465]

39 minutes ago, ReshiramLover said:

I created it with 255 Red, I guess something went haywire when I or Photoshop saved it

did you export it as 24 bit and WIndows?? those are usually the default settings. you may have saved it as a PSD. 

[xXLoBaLL71Xx 3]

Just trying to get any config.bmp to work.  Even the simple one I edited (ignore black border from screenshot) won't work, and it's the one that came with the downloaded region.  RGB values are 255 -0-0 respectively.  Blue are 4x4, green are 2x2 and red are 1x1, etc.  Yes, there are 2 layers of "red" cities on edge.

Tried SC4 Terraformer.  Doesn't work.  In fact it makes it worse.  Config.bmp has black squares in it, and the colors are off. Tried making new region, and copying config.bmp.  Doesn't work. I definitely don't like any of the config.bmps that are generated.  All I want to do is make my own config.bmp to work, so I can get started, and here I am again, totally frustrated.

Now, decades of revisiting this game, countless hours pouring over STEX, installing, uninstalling, re-installing, modding, searching the internet, etc. I've never gotten this game to work.  Even the most rudimentary things just don't work for me.

I hate to complain, guys, but I'm at my wits end again.  The fact that I'm even making a post here is due to total desperation at this point.  So, what gives?

[CorinaMarie 29,884]

10 hours ago, xXLoBaLL71Xx said:

Just trying to get any config.bmp to work.

If you'd like to attach one you've made, I could peek inside and see if there's anything obvious which might be causing the trouble.

 

10 hours ago, xXLoBaLL71Xx said:

Even the simple one I edited (ignore black border from screenshot) won't work,

I presume this was made a .jpg so it would show as an image in your post.

I made one from scratch based on your design. Here's how the region looks just prior to selecting the grayscale image:

^ So this shows the game will recognize it.  

 

And then after rendering:

 

 

I'll attach my Config.BMP and Region.INI here if you'd like to try them: Boston-Config-and-INI.zip

[xXLoBaLL71Xx 3]

I put the region .jpg, config.bmp, and region.ini into a folder.  Created a new region.  Named it Boston--a nice, simple region, but the city tiles aren't where I want them...

 

I used Shift+Ctrl+Alt+R, navigated to the scale_boston.jpg.

This is the result I got using your config.bmp.  ( I think) config.bmp

[CorinaMarie 29,884]

7 minutes ago, xXLoBaLL71Xx said:

Created a new region.  Named it Boston

When you use the Create New Region, that makes a new, random Config.bmp in that folder.  

Go ahead and delete that one. Then use Window's File Explorer to create a Boston folder in the Regions folder (which is in the SimCity 4 folder in your Documents).

Now copy in your grayscale jpg, my config.bmp, and region.ini into that new Boston folder.

Go into the game and Open an Existing Region called Boston. You should then see it like in my first pic.

And now do the magic key combo for rendering.  

[xXLoBaLL71Xx 3]

Success!

So, 

UseExteriorConfig.bmp=false !

 

That seems to be the one step overlooked.

You're still the best Cori!  Thanks a bunch.

SC4Pac brought me back, and seems to be working great!

Now, I'll put those tiles where I want them, and bootstrap this region as a learning testbed.

[CorinaMarie 29,884]

27 minutes ago, xXLoBaLL71Xx said:

UseExteriorConfig.bmp=false !

That seems to be the one step overlooked.

I have no idea where this is set, but I'll presume it's for one of the new Setup DLLs?

[xXLoBaLL71Xx 3]

3 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

I have no idea where this is set, but I'll presume it's for one of the new Setup DLLs?

It's only set in my brain...

C:\Documents and Settings\LoBaLL\brain.ini