Essential files for path-finding functions only?

[DefconZero 0]

Greetings,

Linux user here (quick shout-out to all users of unix-like operating systems) and new to Simtropolis.

I'd like to customize the installation of NAM beyond what is offered by the "minimal" option as presented. Essentially I'm only interested in the enhanced path-finding functions, pertaining to sims using transportation options and nothing else. Skimming through the manuals, I didn't find a detailed technical report on the data files themselves and which ones contain which functions. I'd like to know which file(s) are necessary for pathfinding so that I can delete all other non-essential plugins and components. I guess you could say I'm just an optimization geek and I follow the Unix philosophy of "Do one thing only and do it well."

If I overlooked such a report, or technical overview, please direct me to the appropriate page as needed, I love reading technical documents!

 

[Tarkus 6,933]

First off, welcome to Simtropolis! 

As far as limiting the installation down to that level, it does indeed look like you can get pretty close to just having the simulator plugin (which contains the pathfinding improvements).  Select "Custom Installation", then in the drop down box at the top, select "Traffic Simulator and Maxis Fixes Only", and then uncheck the few non-simulator related boxes that remain checked.  There are one or two that can't be unchecked (the Automata Plugin being one, as well as the "Maxis Rail Textures" option, which actually wouldn't install anything in that thin of an installation), and the fixes to some network items that were broken in the base game would be included.  But otherwise, that'd be it--probably 3 or 4 files at the max, and scarcely more than 8 or 9MB.

If you want the closest approximation of the actual Maxis simulator with the pathfinding improvements, I'd select the "Classic" option on the capacity list, which is actually lower than "Low".

Hope that helps!

-Tarkus

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

8 hours ago, Tarkus said:

Traffic Simulator and Maxis Fixes Only

Does that include the 4GB patch, and is that patch meaningful in WinE?

If you can use more RAM rather than less, do so.

[rsc204 21,864]

4 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

Does that include the 4GB patch, and is that patch meaningful in WinE?

The 4GB patch simply adds a switch to the .exe that tells Windows that the application can access extended memory configurations. As such, under WINE or non-native Windows emulation I can't imagine having that switch would actually do a whole lot. Perhaps WINE can interpret the switch like Windows does, but more likely the WINE equivalent needs to be setup in the WINE wrapper used for the application. It could even be the case that WINE does this without needing any user input. In short, you'd have to refer to the WINE documentation to get a clear answer.

[DefconZero 0]

17 hours ago, Tarkus said:

Select "Custom Installation", then...

Thanks for the welcome and info, Tarkus. I should have said "custom" instead of "minimal" in the OP,  as I'm doing exactly what you've suggested. I'm still left with a number of plugin files, and there are certain extras that I can't deselect. Without a technical reference, I may have to resort to testing them myself to find out if any of them are non-essential. Any amount of streamlining the presence of modified code decreases the chances of a bug or random execution halt (and latency).

[Tarkus 6,933]

You're most welcome, and if you're wanting to narrow everything down to nothing but the traffic simulator plugin itself, everything pertaining to it is contained in a single .dat file, which will carry a name such as "NetworkAddonMod_Traffic_Plugin_Z_Classic.dat" (the last bit of the filename will vary depending on which capacity level you chose to install).  It's all of 2.19KB.

The most recent version of the NAM documentation, in addition to being installed locally (in the NAM Auxiliary Files folder, which, on Windows machines, is placed in My Documents\SimCity 4), is also directly accessible online here.  The part covering the traffic simulator is here.

-Tarkus

[DefconZero 0]

3 hours ago, Tarkus said:

You're most welcome, and if you're wanting to narrow everything down to nothing but the traffic simulator plugin itself, everything pertaining to it is contained in a single .dat file, which will carry a name such as "NetworkAddonMod_Traffic_Plugin_Z_Classic.dat" (the last bit of the filename will vary depending on which capacity level you chose to install).  It's all of 2.19KB.

The most recent version of the NAM documentation, in addition to being installed locally (in the NAM Auxiliary Files folder, which, on Windows machines, is placed in My Documents\SimCity 4), is also directly accessible online here.  The part covering the traffic simulator is here.

-Tarkus

Exactly the information I was looking for, and your link contains a more detailed explanation of the simulator as well. I'm not sure if marking as "Solved" is a convention here, but I'll do so anyway. Kudos!

 

Edit: Thread marking doesn't appear to be a function on the forum at first glance.

  Edited June 17, 2018 by DefconZero