No Space for Plugins in SimCity 4

[DBJisDa1 8]

I was just about to throw some mods and such into the plugins folders and start playing the game but I got a notice saying I have no space left over in the SimCity game for such plugins. I have the steam version of the game incase you where wondering. Is this issue related to how many regions you have and how many cities are collected in each region? I only have 1 region with 4 cities + Timbuktu. I'm running the game on a Dell Laptop to incase that helps lead to the problem.

[CorinaMarie 29,774]

Hiya, @DBJisDa1. Welcome to Simtropolis.

It would help a lot if you could post a screenshot of the message you received. We have several members who's Plugins folders contain 6 to 9 GB of files so there doesn't appear to be a limit to how much one can put in there. For regions, I personally have 54 separate ones containing 1,806 city tiles and there's no trouble from that. (I do a lot of map creation and testing in case you are wondering and I have a few old play regions and one current one.)

It seems more likely to me that you may have run out of available space on your hard drive. Assuming Windoze for your OS, go into File Explorer, right-click on your hard drive, and select properties. You are looking to see how much free space you have.

 

[DBJisDa1 8]

I have 391,260,500,448 bytes of free space and here is the screenshot of the problem at hand

[DBJisDa1 8]

Ive got another question, its an in-game question. So I made loads of the demanding jobs the Sims wanted and gave them multiple quick ways of getting to their new job but instead choose to go the "no job" icon and leave their homes due to long commute times. 

[jaredh 195]

It looks like you are trying to copy files onto a DVD to me....  (DVD Drive D:)

[DBJisDa1 8]

I didnt know where to go on Steam to upload it to the game

So where would I go on Steam to upload it?

[jaredh 195]

I don't know for sure.  You might read the steam forum on the game for help while you wait for someone who does.

 

You can always try the way the CD version works....a sub-folder My Documents.  Or dig through the Steam folders for the game files.  It probably has a Plugins folder in there.  

 

 

[rsc204 21,836]

Don't use the folder inside of Steam, your plugins folder (regardless of version) can be found inside Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins. All custom content should be copied to that location.

[DBJisDa1 8]

In my Documents I don't have SimCity 4 in there

[rsc204 21,836]

Did you run the Installer application for SC4, which for the Steam edition should happen from the Steam interface? This is not only the default location for user-files for SC4, but there is no option to modify it upon installation either. So if it doesn't exist, something's not right somewhere.

[DBJisDa1 8]

The app itself is on my desktop if that what your referring to. 

[rsc204 21,836]

Not really, it's more a question of how it got there. When you download a game from Steam, you must install it before you can play/run it. It's during this process that these folders we're talking about will be created.

[DBJisDa1 8]

Okay In my documents folder SimCity 4 finally popped up and  i copied the mods and other stuff into the plugins folder. So is that it and the mods should work?

[Cyclone Boom 17,016]

Hi there @DBJisDa1,

Maybe just double check the full path (as shown in the location bar of Windows Explorer) is in the format of:

C:\Users\<Username>\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins

Additional subfolders can be added inside, which will be processed according to the loading order.

There's also another Plugins folder located in the root directory where the game is installed, and I believe this is also included with the structure as set by the Steam version. However the "Documents" folder is recommended for convenience since it's where most custom content installers usually default to. Also being located in your local user folder, it wouldn't be wiped out if ever uninstalling the game. The same also applies to any regions which are inside: \Documents\SimCity 4\Regions

Note: At least on Windows 7, I notice how the system recognises "My Documents" the same as "Documents". If navigating to the former, it jumps to the latter. Whereas on Windows XP and earlier systems, I recall there was the "My" part of the user folder name for local document storage.

 

1 hour ago, DBJisDa1 said:

So is that it and the mods should work?

I'll tentatively say yes it is, and I hope they do work. But there's only one way to find out...

Should it not already be present after running the installation as @rsc204 said, I found the local "SimCity 4" directory containing Plugins and Regions will be created upon starting the game. So should it somehow not be the correct location with the proper structure, that may well do the trick.

(As tested here on the disc based version of SC4 Deluxe.)

[CorinaMarie 29,774]

3 hours ago, DBJisDa1 said:

Okay In my documents folder SimCity 4 finally popped up and  i copied the mods and other stuff into the plugins folder. So is that it and the mods should work?

Adding to what @Cyclone Boom said: The mods should work, but it will depend on which ones in particular you have downloaded. Most come in a zip format and must be unzipped. Windoze has the ability to do that. Then you'll also need to check if any of the mods have dependencies. For instance you might download a building that uses textures or props (or both) which were created by other peeps. Those files also need to be in your plugins folder so the building you've installed can find the other parts it needs in order to display correctly.

It's best to take this slowly downloading one particular mod and testing it in a sandbox region (one that is for testing only and not your live, main region). Keep in mind that some content has special instructions or a list of dependencies only mentioned in a ReadMe type of file included within the download. Be sure to check for those and read what they contain.

[DBJisDa1 8]

the mods dont seem to be appearing up in my game, did i do something wrong? I copied them to the Plugins Folder

[Cyclone Boom 17,016]

1 hour ago, DBJisDa1 said:

the mods dont seem to be appearing up in my game, did i do something wrong? I copied them to the Plugins Folder

That's strange then.

Are you absolutely sure you've fully extracted (copied out) all the contents of the zip files as @CorinaMarie explained above, along with installing any dependencies?

Also a consideration is some items of content are packaged in a zip file which then contains an installer (.exe). These are common for the BSC prop and texture packs, and will need to be run and the steps followed in order to copy the necessary files into your Plugins. There will be one step to confirm the path is correct, where many installers ask to create their own predefined subfolder structure in the process. This can be left alone or altered as you wish, as long they're successfully copied to somewhere in Plugins.

The most common file formats for SC4 include:

• .dat  =  A multi-purpose container commonly used by mods to store exemplar properties, but can also compress other game data or models.
• .SC4Model  =  The actual BAT model files themselves as used by custom lots.
• .SC4Lot  =  Stores the configuration data relating to a lot's properties and assigned props & textures.
• .SC4Desc  =  Known as the descriptor file, this is used by some content items to reference a model.

These are the files which should be located inside Plugins for each item of content, whether a mod or custom building (BAT). For more info, this thread goes into greater detail about the various formats and how they're processed by the game when loaded in sequence.

Should all the files appear present and correct, it might help us to diagnose the possible issue if you could specify which items you've tried to install. The term "mods" can cover many modifications to aspects of the game, so there are numerous types and combinations. Some mods may alter variables in the simulation and thus don't not appear in the menus or be instantly obvious at first glance. Or for growable RCI buildings, they'll depend on there being adequate demand for them to develop.

[DBJisDa1 8]

So I went to "This PC", "Documents", "SimCity 4", and then " Plugins" and through in the mods and when I went to go play the game the mods weren't present in the game

[Cyclone Boom 17,016]

25 minutes ago, DBJisDa1 said:

So I went to "This PC", "Documents", "SimCity 4", and then " Plugins" and through in the mods and when I went to go play the game the mods weren't present in the game

Hi again,

It sounds like this is the same issue as you've described in this topic, so for clarity with containment I've moved your post to here.

Hopefully the above posts can provide some guidance as to the possible causes. One thing which might be worth checking is to test on a small scale to rule out this being an issue with possible conflicts. Also I don't suppose this is the case, but perhaps like with the original Mac Aspyr version of SC4, there's a limit on Steam for the number of files which can be loaded. So I suggest trying with a simple ploppable lot (ideally without dependencies), and then there will be fewer variables which could go wrong.

[DBJisDa1 8]

this is what it looks like in my plugins folder

[twalsh102 1,601]

All of these are .zip files.  You have to unzip them before anything will do you any good.  Then move the .zip files themselves someplace else (outside your Plugins folder) in case you need to reinstall these packages sometime in the future.  Even once you install them, nothing from any of these packages will add anything new to any menus.

You do realize that the SC4MacInjector package is for use on Macs only?

[Terring 6,476]

Hello and welcome to Simtropolis

You haven't unzip your plugins yet. Unzip them and extract them to the plugins folder. All but the .pkg file, because these kind of files are for installing things on macOS and not on Windows.

[DBJisDa1 8]

I try to unzip them and they say my trial is over on Winzip

[DBJisDa1 8]

wait i figured it out. Sorry Im not good with computers at all lol

[DBJisDa1 8]

So the mods are working now thanks for the help

[Cyclone Boom 17,016]

50 minutes ago, DBJisDa1 said:

So the mods are working now thanks for the help

Great to hear it.

Usually each item of custom content comes packaged in a .zip file file this. Or alternatively you may see a few items with .rar or maybe even the .7z extension. These are all containers which compress the items inside for easy downloading, and SC4 cannot process these alone.

It will only read files in the supported formats including:

On 12/07/2018 at 12:42 AM, Cyclone Boom said:

The most common file formats for SC4 include:

• .dat  =  A multi-purpose container commonly used by mods to store exemplar properties, but can also compress other game data or models.
• .SC4Model  =  The actual BAT model files themselves as used by custom lots.
• .SC4Lot  =  Stores the configuration data relating to a lot's properties and assigned props & textures.
• .SC4Desc  =  Known as the descriptor file, this is used by some content items to reference a model.

 

The Extra Cheats Plugin along with the SC4Fix are rare exceptions being DLL files. These two are special by the fact they add functions to the game not possible in regular formats used by custom content. Whether this be additional cheat commands, or enhancements to resolve certain things in the game.

As previously hinted at, something to watch are those which also contain executable (.exe) installers. These must be run individually and the steps followed in order for files to be copied into your Plugins. Just like the zip files, simply copying in an installer and the game won't recognise these either. It's possible to run them inside the zip file (by double clicking), though personally I unzip them before running. Then I keep a copy of the original downloaded files in a separate folder for later safekeeping if ever needed.