index SimCity 4 Prop and Texture Catalog

[STEX Custodian 966]

Welcome to the SC4 Prop and Texture Catalogue here on STEX.

This topic will be the place of an extensive catalogue which try to cover most of the prop and texture packs with images of their contents. It will be a very similiar, but more expanded version of The Prop & Texture Photo Catalog from SimCity 4 Devotion.
The goal to give folks the chance to see what can be found in each of these prop and texture sets, to help their work when they want to create custom lots.

- Tyberius (STEX Custodian Team)

[nos.17 5,256]

🎉 After a lot of time and effort, I'd like to introduce version 3.0 to the general public 🎉

 

I have mainly taken ownership of this project from @STEX Custodian, but nevertheless, @Tyberius06, @Cyclone Boom, @CorinaMarie, and @art128 have been fantastic help in this project, whether pointing out content I missed, or through their general feedback and support. Thanks!

 

What is this?

Inspired by the original Prop & Texture Photo Catalog started on SC4Devotion in 2011, this work indexes props and textures from all known dependency packs. I wanted to create a resource for creators that is a) much expanded - a lot has changed since the first catalog in 2011, and b) make it much easier to use. This means an easy way to search for TGIs or specific names, and dynamic filters and sorting of prop and texture packs.

Who is this for?

I hope this tool will prove invaluable for many content creators (and especially lotters) who are looking for more and better content to incorporate into their work. Looking for a motorcycle to add to your lot? Filter only prop packs that contain vehicles and/or motorcycles. Looking for seasonal trees? Look through all packs that contain seasonal trees until you can find the right ones for you? Want to use all HD? Scour all packs that contain High Definition props to find the ones you want.

 

How do I use this?

Thanks to the efforts of our fearless site admins, I'm able to provide the Catalog two different ways:

1. Online Viewing (easiest, recommended): Visit the website: https://sc4proptexturecatalog.azurewebsites.net/
2. Offline Viewing + Download: (on the roadmap)
3. Independently run custom SQL queries against the SQLite database: Download the db from the Github repository (link), and open with a SQLite database browser (I like DB Browser for SQLite).

Alternatively, you can use the link at Simtropolis to navigate to the site.

The source code for this application is hosted at Github.

 

I found a problem! / I have a suggestion!

Found a bug? Am I missing a prop or texture pack? Have an idea for additional sorting/filtering categories? Is there a better way to make the Catalog more interactive or useful? I would very much like to hear from you! Please feel free to message me, drop a post below in this thread, or if you're familiar with GitHub, open an issue. I hope for this to be a project that sees quite a few improvements and updates over the coming months.

  Edited February 18, 2023 by nos.17  
update for new website

[nos.17 5,256]

Current Version: 3.1 (Mar 2023)

🢂 Visit the Catalog 🢀

670+ Prop and Texture Packs indexed, containing:

58,000+ Props

22,000+ Textures

 

Thumbnails have 25% TGI coverage.

  Edited March 4, 2023 by nos.17  
new version

[Rott 2,399]

I was looking at it for a little bit last night and it's super handy finally having a way to organize all the props. As of right now it's giving me "Your file couldn’t be accessed" for everything but I'm guessing it's being updated or something right now? Also if you need someone to help further organize everything for future updates I'm willing to do that.

[nos.17 5,256]

10 hours ago, Rott said:

As of right now it's giving me "Your file couldn’t be accessed" for everything but I'm guessing it's being updated or something right now?

You can't download from here?

10 hours ago, Rott said:

Also if you need someone to help further organize everything for future updates I'm willing to do that.

Thanks! I'm pretty covered from the organization side (at least i think so far). If you have any ideas or want to contribute in any other way, I'd love to see it.

[Rott 2,399]

I should have specified, the download was fine, and I was looking through the catalogue it was fine until a certain point, then I was getting that "File cant be accessed'' message, no clue why I don't think I changed anything. But I downloaded it again and it seems to work just fine now.

Is there plans to create even more subcategories for the catalogue? Things like vehicles, trees are all there organized nicely into subcategories, if there was even more it would be great, or if there was even a search engine for a certain prop, in case someone is in dire need of an igloo etc

This is a great feature, it will save us all oodles of time.

[nos.17 5,256]

On 1/6/2021 at 11:47 PM, Rott said:

Is there plans to create even more subcategories for the catalogue? Things like vehicles, trees are all there organized nicely into subcategories, if there was even more it would be great, or if there was even a search engine for a certain prop, in case someone is in dire need of an igloo etc

That's pretty much exactly the plan. I would love to have a much more granular search option to be able to find something specific like "traffic cones"; the "lorem ipsums" you see are basically placeholders for that text. I'm planning on playing around with a couple things to see if I can easily extract prop names en masse as doing it manually would suck. If you or anyone has ideas, I'm all ears, but otherwise, if you're interested I can keep you posted on what I find out.

As a tangent, I think it also might be helpful to have an index by IID, in case anyone needs to track down specific missing dependencies.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

6 minutes ago, nos.17 said:

I'm planning on playing around with a couple things to see if I can easily extract prop names en masse as doing it manually would suck.

I've no idea how many files there are, but on a per .dat file basis I've already written code that can pull out every property (like Reader sees them) of every exemplar and write them to a text file. That includes the name as listed in the exemplar. It cannot, however, handle more than one .dat at a time.

[nos.17 5,256]

13 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

I've no idea how many files there are, but on a per .dat file basis I've already written code that can pull out every property (like Reader sees them) of every exemplar and write them to a text file. That includes the name as listed in the exemplar. It cannot, however, handle more than one .dat at a time.

Interesting....would you mind sending that over?

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

3 hours ago, nos.17 said:

Interesting....would you mind sending that over?

And it could be customized to only output what you want or you can just bookmark lines using N++ to filter that way.

[nos.17 5,256]

 

🎉 There is now have a fully online version of the catalog available for browsing. 🎉

Thanks to some excellent work by @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie, if you choose to not download 100mb of content or always want to have the most up to date version, this is your best bet!

 

  Edited February 11, 2021 by nos.17  
fixed image

[nos.17 5,256]

Sharing a quick update. The past few days I've been trying to develop a workflow that would allow me to index the names of 10s of thousands of individual prop names. I imagine the next iteration for the catalog to include the functionality for users to be able to type in a phrase and return all props that have that substring in the exemplar name(e.g. type in 'news' and ' wmp_newsstand ', among others, would be returned alongside its TGI and origin pack.

For that, I needed to put together a new workflow to automate as much of that as I can

For each prop pack, I run a LUA script that outputs the TGI and ExemplarName as a comma separated text file.

Spoiler

-- ===================================================================================================================
-- Name: main
-- Desc: Writes Type, Group, Instance, Exemplar name as comma separated list to text file
-- Params: 	N/A
-- Called by: N/A
-- Comments: N/A
-- ===================================================================================================================
function reader.main (this)   
    local file = io.open("C:/Users/Administrator/OneDrive/SC4 Deps/SC4PropTextureCatalog/working/exemplarexport.txt", "w")
    entryidx = reader:entries_GetHeadPosition()     
    while entryidx~=0 do
        entry,entryidx = reader:entries_GetNext(entryidx)
        flag = reader:entry_GetFlag(entry)  
        if (flag == 7) then
            exemplar = reader:ex_Decode(entry) 
            exemplaridx = reader:exprop_GetHeadPosition(exemplar)  
            while exemplaridx~=0 do
                exprop, exemplaridx = reader:exprop_GetNext(exemplar,exemplaridx)
                desc, descname = reader:exprop_GetDesc(exprop)  
                valuestr = reader:exprop_GetValueStr(exprop)
				T,G,I = reader:entry_GetTGI(entry)
                if (descname == "Exemplar Name") then
                    file:write(Dec2Hex(T,8)," ",Dec2Hex(G,8)," ",Dec2Hex(I,8)," ",valuestr,"\n")
					break 
                end
            end
        end
    end
    reader:refresh()
    file:close()
end


-- ===================================================================================================================
-- Name: Dec2Hex
-- Desc: Returns a hex number prepended (if necessary) with zeros up to a specified length
-- Params: 	dec ... decimal number to convert
-- 			hexLen ... length to prepend zeros if hex is shorter than specified length (usually 8)
-- Called by: reader.main
-- Comments: N/A
-- ===================================================================================================================
function Dec2Hex(dec,hexLen)
    hex = string.rep("0", (hexLen - (string.len(string.format("%x", dec))))) .. string.format("%x", dec)
    return hex
end

 

The text file gets loaded into an excel table via PowerQuery, where some rudimentary column transformations are applied, resulting in the table below.

The next step is to use my little VBA button to append the new props to the end of the main table, which lists all the props in the index and generates the html via a rather long excel formula.

=CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&"<tr>"&CHAR(10)&CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&"<td>"&[@Pack]&"</td>"&CHAR(10)&CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&"<td>"&[@TGI]&CHAR(10)&CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&"<td>"&[@Prop]&"</td>"&CHAR(10)&CHAR(9)&CHAR(9)&"</tr>"

The last step involves manually filling the 'Pack' column. From here I can pretty much copy that HTML into NPP and find/replace a few extra quotations that are required for the excel formulas.

Unfortunately I have not yet found a way to automatically import that information - as far as I know LUA functions for reader do not expose any parameters outside of the exemplars themselves. As far as manual intervention, I guess it's not too bad.

 

---

 

Anyway, using that workflow, I mocked up version 1.1 (or maybe 2.0?) of the catalog with only 5 prop packs from WMP. @Rott is this something like you had in mind? I've attached the files to this post if anyone wants to give it a try.

Simcity4PropTextureCatalog.html

catalog.css

  Edited January 16, 2021 by nos.17  
Added gif instead

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

13 minutes ago, nos.17 said:

Unfortunately I have not yet found a way to automatically import that information - as far as I know LUA functions for reader do not expose any parameters outside of the exemplars themselves. As far as manual intervention, I guess it's not too bad.

I'm uncertain what you need automatically imported, but my code you've modified could have additional lines added to output something into the .csv table.

[nos.17 5,256]

7 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

I'm uncertain what you need automatically imported, but my code you've modified could have additional lines added to output something into the .csv table.

Sorry I probably was not super clear before. Name of dat was what I was looking for.

[Rott 2,399]

23 minutes ago, nos.17 said:

Sharing a quick update...

The search bar/autocomplete feature there is exactly what I was thinking, some of the pics in that post have broken links for me though so I'm not sure of the other ideas yet but that is looking great...

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

Try this:

function reader.main (this) 
    PackName = "type the pack name inside these double guote marks" -- Cori added line
    local file = io.open("C:/Users/Administrator/OneDrive/SC4 Deps/SC4PropTextureCatalog/working/exemplarexport.txt", "w")
    entryidx = reader:entries_GetHeadPosition()     
    while entryidx~=0 do
        entry,entryidx = reader:entries_GetNext(entryidx)
        flag = reader:entry_GetFlag(entry)  
        if (flag == 7) then
            exemplar = reader:ex_Decode(entry) 
            exemplaridx = reader:exprop_GetHeadPosition(exemplar)  
            while exemplaridx~=0 do
                exprop, exemplaridx = reader:exprop_GetNext(exemplar,exemplaridx)
                desc, descname = reader:exprop_GetDesc(exprop)  
                valuestr = reader:exprop_GetValueStr(exprop)
				T,G,I = reader:entry_GetTGI(entry)
                if (descname == "Exemplar Name") then
                    file:write(Dec2Hex(T,8)," ",Dec2Hex(G,8)," ",Dec2Hex(I,8)," ",valuestr,"," ","PackName,"\n") -- Cori altered
					break 
                end
            end
        end
    end
    reader:refresh()
    file:close()
end

^ You will have to alter that second line for each pack you are outputting and be sure there are no commas in between the double quote marks. Also note: I only quoted the relevant block of code. You still need the rest of it too.

If it doesn't work, I'll do actual testing, but I believe this'll do what you want.

[nos.17 5,256]

@chfzdn ... I deconstructed your review here. It's better if you leave feedback in this thread so we can have a better discussion. I do appreciate your feedback though.

Quote

Nice job. But the interface is certainly needs some polish. For instance, there should be a highlight color for selected subcategory much like the main category.

Noted. Issue #1. I was struggling with the javascript, so I just decided to push as is considering its only a small cosmetic bug.

Quote

Also, having a search bar is nice addition since there will be hundreds of mods and scrolling thru the page is a pain.

See demo in this post above.

Quote

In the future, the images used to show the families can be converted to a separate HTML-based page that can be interacted.

Not sure exactly what you mean by this? Do you mean that when you click on the photo of a prop pack it should take you to a new page that breaks out the individual props in that pack? What would be the benefit of that? How would that be more useful than just a list of all props with their ExemplarName, TGI, and origin pack (as I linked above)?

Quote

When you click the prop/building/texture, it shows exactly the TGI, not just the Instance.

Does my table I linked above solve this?

Quote

Also, LEX type of interface (built using Bootstrap) is also nice. But if you aren't fond of Bootstrap, that's okay. Other frameworks or make it yourself is nice, too.

I too like how the LEX looks. I'm not going to do that for a few reasons:

1. I wrote (or customized) all of the HTML/CSS/JS myself; see next point.
2. This whole thing putting together HTML, CSS, and JS has been a total learning experience for me. I had only a little HTML experience years ago in high school, so I had to relearn a fair amount of things - I still consider myself a beginner.
3. I don't know anything about using it, and as far as new things to learn, I'm not going to. I've got other plans on my long-term radar (C/C++ for some reader improvements are one of them).
4. I want to keep the entire package as small and as simple as possible, so minimizing the dependencies and codebase is a priority.

[Propfam 2,305]

6 hours ago, nos.17 said:

@chfzdn ... I deconstructed your review here. It's better if you leave feedback in this thread so we can have a better discussion. I do appreciate your feedback though.

Noted. Issue #1. I was struggling with the javascript, so I just decided to push as is considering its only a small cosmetic bug.

See demo in this post above.

Not sure exactly what you mean by this? Do you mean that when you click on the photo of a prop pack it should take you to a new page that breaks out the individual props in that pack? What would be the benefit of that? How would that be more useful than just a list of all props with their ExemplarName, TGI, and origin pack (as I linked above)?

Does my table I linked above solve this?

I too like how the LEX looks. I'm not going to do that for a few reasons:

1. I wrote (or customized) all of the HTML/CSS/JS myself; see next point.
2. This whole thing putting together HTML, CSS, and JS has been a total learning experience for me. I had only a little HTML experience years ago in high school, so I had to relearn a fair amount of things - I still consider myself a beginner.
3. I don't know anything about using it, and as far as new things to learn, I'm not going to. I've got other plans on my long-term radar (C/C++ for some reader improvements are one of them).
4. I want to keep the entire package as small and as simple as possible, so minimizing the dependencies and codebase is a priority.

The image has some name truncation issues. Definitely needs to be fixed.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

7 hours ago, nos.17 said:

I've got other plans on my long-term radar (C/C++ for some reader improvements are one of them).

Oooo! If you post about this when the time comes, please beep me. I'm interested.

[Propfam 2,305]

5 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Oooo! If you post about this when the time comes, please beep me. I'm interested.

Reader is definitely should be reworked for a long while.

[nos.17 5,256]

A few days ago I just pushed a beta release for 2.0.0 just to show some progress. It's a beta, so it's not quite optimized (the table loads pretty slowly) and only contains a portion of the prop + texture packs. If you have the time, please give it a look.

So far I've indexed individual props for prop packs named N-Z. That's 105/383 (27.4%) of the packs in my list, for a total of 20620 props so far.

Lots more work to do!

[nos.17 5,256]

🎉 Version 2.0.0 is now live. Get it here 🎉

 

Improvements in version 2.0.0 include the ability to search for props by exemplar name or by TGI. 320 prop packs have been indexed for a total of 40758 props.

Looking for something specific? Trash can? Dock? Hydrant? This can help!

Have a TGI you found in Reader and want to know what it is or what pack it belongs to? Look it up here!

[rivit 3,402]

New version is starting to look very slick.  As a consequence came here to add that if you use SC4DataNode on a set of plugins you can export data on the all of various categories of exemplars into a csv file that excel or some other code can manipulate. The fields you have currently are in those exports so that might save some time on big plugin sets.  

In fact from an inverse perspective your catalog now gives a way to resolve missing dependencies with DataNode - it knows what the TGIs are that are missing but until now they stayed a guess. Eventually it would/may be plausible for DataNode to query the database directly 

[nos.17 5,256]

🎉 Version 2.1.1 is now live. Get it here 🎉

Changes in this version (since 2.0.0) include:

• Numerous inconsistencies in file names addressed
• Added girafe flora props, AP sim workers, and misc. other missing packs
• Added texture TGIs to searchable list
• Tweaks for hosting at Simtropolis

[Simmer2 23,831]

Hi nos

Great work you are doing!

I wonder if there is a way to also search by authors name.

Thanks again for this colossal undertaking

Simmer2

[Tyberius06 12,267]

3 hours ago, nos.17 said:

🎉 Version 2.1.1 is now live. Get it here 🎉

Changes in this version (since 2.0.0) include:

• Numerous inconsistencies in file names addressed
• Added girafe flora props, AP sim workers, and misc. other missing packs
• Added texture TGIs to searchable list
• Tweaks for hosting at Simtropolis

Thank you so much! This is just incredibly helpfull. Seriously I don't think many of the people would realize the scale of this indexes and how helpfull it could be. Yesterday I got a file which is locked down due to missing listed DEPs and other fun stuffs over at LEX and I loaded the lot with the listed dependencies into SC4 Tool, then I started going through on the missing props and it was fast and easy just typing a few characters and the answere was there  I'm gonna check it deeper (texture IID part will be really usefull), this database is crazy usefull. 

- Tyberius

[nos.17 5,256]

@Simmer2 ... Progress...

[Simmer2 23,831]

Hi nos.

Unfortunately I can't see that pic but I bet its epic!

Simmer2

[Kloudkicker 4,565]

On 2/27/2021 at 1:01 PM, Simmer2 said:

I wonder if there is a way to also search by authors name.

Wonder no more. Nos.17 is doing wonders. Keep up the fantastic work @nos.17, the catalogue is fantastic! 

[nos.17 5,256]

🎉 Version 2.2.0 is now live. Get it here 🎉

Changes in this version (since 2.1.1) include:

• Added Author column to SearchTable
• Added multiple prop + texture packs by Fantozzi, gizmo28, Mary Maurine Mayo, RebaLynnTS, Oidaas, AP, and more.

 

(it's actually been live for a few weeks, but I had forgotten to make an announcement about it - sorry)