Plugin Folder Contents "Snapped" Away. Everything is Gone

[dabadon6 12]

Good Morning everyone. Yesterday morning I woke up to play some SC4.

I load up the game and enter a new city. When the city opens, I noticed my terrain is back to the default Maxis terrain....oh boy.

I check all the menus and there is nothing. All Maxis content, no ST,SD,etc content. Checked my plugins, gone. Everything is gone.

Except for Simmer2's Biofuel Tanks Array 8 which was the last file I DL'd. 

I am not too upset. I haven't even really started on the cities themselves, but to have to DL all the Dependencies again will be a pain in the butt. 

Does anyone have an idea of what might've happened? A mistake of my own? A bug/glitch? Thanos snapping all my plugins?  

I can't find them anywhere lol. Thanks for the help as always. A bit of a blessing in disguise, but starting over is a bit of a pain. 

 

tldr: Plugin Files completely gone 

 

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

That sure sounds very (very) peculiar indeed.

Other than when uninstalling the game with custom content inside the installation directory (where everything gets wiped out), I don't recall hearing this before. I know how newly copied over regions can get placed inside a Downloads folder at "SimCity 4\Regions\Downloads" though for Plugins I didn't think it can do the same.

A few questions:

1. Specifically what version of SC4 are you using?  (E.g. Steam, Origin, GOG, original disc)
2. What is your operating system?
3. Did you install the content in either the installation or Documents Plugins folders?
4. Are both the Plugins folders themselves still there (as empty) or not?
5. Other than the SM2 Biofuel file, is there anything else inside them at all?

The Plugins folder at Documents is located at:
Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins

Whereas the one in the installation folder can be found at:
SimCity 4 Deluxe\Plugins

(With the preceding parts to the paths.)

[CorinaMarie 29,576]

20 minutes ago, dabadon6 said:

A mistake of my own?

Your prolly already checked, but if not, peek inside your Recycle Bin. If it was an accidental deletion on your part, the files could be sitting in there ready to be restored or deleted.

 

[dabadon6 12]

20 minutes ago, Cyclone Boom said:

A few questions:

1. Specifically what version of SC4 are you using?  (E.g. Steam, Origin, GOG, original disc)
2. What is your operating system?
3. Did you install the content in either the installation or Documents Plugins folders?
4. Are the Plugins folders themselves still there (as empty) or not?
5. Other than the SM2 Biofuel file, is there anything else inside them at all?

1. The original Disc 

2. Windows 7 

3. Documents Plugins Folders

4. Empty

5. Nothing, just the few things I have downloaded since the incident.

 

15 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Your prolly already checked, but if not, peek inside your Recycle Bin. If it was an accidental deletion on your part, the files could be sitting in there ready to be restored or deleted.

I did, Nothing there.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

Do a search for "plugins" under your documents folder. There's a chance you accidentally drag-dropped it into another folder (mouse handling error).

[rsc204 21,806]

Moreover, might as well do a search of all drives from My Computer, since it's possible such an error could have moved it anywhere. If that doesn't help, try a generic search for *.DAT, since many SC4 Plugins will be DAT files, if somehow the Plugins folder got renamed so anything other than Plugins, it should help find the folder.

[Tyberius06 12,184]

Did you check the hidden files? Maybe somehow the whole folder got hidden. Also you are not using the SC4 StartUP manager, are you? That stuff can make stuffs disappeared (well hidden). However I'm not sure whether the game can read the hidden files or not.

 

[dabadon6 12]

14 hours ago, Tyberius06 said:

Did you check the hidden files? Maybe somehow the whole folder got hidden. Also you are not using the SC4 StartUP manager, are you? That stuff can make stuffs disappeared (well hidden). However I'm not sure whether the game can read the hidden files or not.

How do I check hidden files?  I am not using the SC4 Startup manager.  Just to clarify, my plugin folder is still here, just nothing inside. 

Thanks everyone for the help. I can't fine any of the files. Which is kinda good. This allows me to re download mods/dependencies/bats that I really need. 

I'll keep trying to find them. I'll be more careful and perhaps this was a mistake of my own. 

 

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

9 hours ago, dabadon6 said:

How do I check hidden files?

At least here on Windows 7 (which I also use), it's possible to toggle the view preference for hidden files (and folders) from a settings menu.

As follows:

To get to these Folder Options first click the "Tools" menu item in the Windows files explorer. It can be toggled back any time to hide them again, and just make sure to click Apply and then the OK button to confirm your new preferences. I found it still works with just using the OK button, but I'm into the habit of using Apply beforehand.

For anyone else, there's an article here which shows the same can be done on latter versions of Windows too, including Win 10.

 

23 hours ago, Tyberius06 said:

However I'm not sure whether the game can read the hidden files or not.

I just ran a test on this and can confirm the game does still load hidden content items, providing they are inside one's Plugins folder as normal.

[CorinaMarie 29,576]

On 11/23/2019 at 7:14 AM, dabadon6 said:

This allows me to re download mods/dependencies/bats that I really need. 

While you are doing this, it's a good idea to keep a separate folder outside of the SimCity 4 one of Documents which contains the original downloads and to also back that up to another drive (such as an external flash drive) now and then.