Just some general questions

[vetram 221]

Hi to everyone!  I just downloaded Simcity4 Deluxe version from GOG and i would like to know where is the right forum to ask some things.. Thanks 

[Cyclone Boom 16,851]

Hi vetram,

The great thing is you're already in the proper forum here for all things SC4 which is the General Discussion section. Feel free to ask away with any questions you may have about the game, and we'll do our best to answer them.

Some recent topics as general asking hubs are these few:

• Return of the 3 More Questions, Son of..., Revenge of the..., 3 More Questions III...
• Brand newish with Questions. Grab your coffee, or beer!
• Many SC4 questions (My first post)
• Prepping my First Region
• Newbie with questions!
• Back to SC4

So you're very welcome to do the same here too.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

2 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Some recent topics as general asking hubs are these few:

• Return of the 3 More Questions, Son of..., Revenge of the..., 3 More Questions III...
• Brand newish with Questions. Grab your coffee, or beer!
• Many SC4 questions (My first post)
• Prepping my First Region
• Newbie with questions!
• Back to SC4

I'm honored!

And welcome vetram.

[vetram 221]

ok Thanks , i would first like to ask lets say something very simple and try to make you understand what i want to ask...can i play with custom content my new game from GOG ?  and if yes how? as i dont see any plugins folder into my Documents?

[Cyclone Boom 16,851]

Yes, the GOG edition is completely compatible with all custom content. This is because it comes fully patched to version 1.1.641.0 which includes the EP1 update and the BAT nightlights patch, allowing custom lighting to appear on user created models.

For the Plugins folder, that's odd should it be missing. The standard location should be at:
Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins

Maybe try starting the game initially if this user area isn't shown at first (which also contains Regions as a subfolder). I know if the "SimCity 4" folder is missing on the disc based game and it'll automatically know to create it here. Then content items can be placed inside which are loaded up each time upon starting the game.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

31 minutes ago, vetram said:

ok Thanks , i would first like to ask lets say something very simple and try to make you understand what i want to ask...can i play with custom content my new game from GOG ?  and if yes how? as i dont see any plugins folder into my Documents?

Yes you can. You have 2 SC4 files, one in Computer files, 1 in Docs. If you don't have a Plugin(note spelling) in SC4 Docs, make one. Your custom content goes in there.

[vetram 221]

Well OK definetely there is no any SC4 files into my Documents folder ...but there are Plugins and Regions folder in c:/program files (x86) / GOG Galaxy / Games /  SC4 DELUXE EDITION / Plugins  and also Regions .....i made a test putting a custom lot into plugins folder and it worked!...so should i forget about having the plugins folder into my Documents ?  is it the same?   also i entered a saved region i used to Regions folder and it worked also!...so should i forget about those two folders into my Docs? and finally should i download any update for the game or it is everything updated from GOG?

ps:  Sim-ple Jack suggested to create a folder plugins into my Documents ...and put all my custom content there ...will the game regognise this new location ........and also forget to mention that in the Plugins folder where GOG installed the game as mentioned above there are 4 png files ..and so i put the custom lot in there also ...is it ok?

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

25 minutes ago, vetram said:

Well OK definetely there is no any SC4 files into my Documents folder ...but there are Plugins and Regions folder in c:/program files (x86) / GOG Galaxy / Games /  SC4 DELUXE EDITION / Plugins  and also Regions .....i made a test putting a custom lot into plugins folder and it worked!...so should i forget about having the plugins folder into my Documents ?  is it the same?   also i entered a saved region i used to Regions folder and it worked also!...so should i forget about those two folders into my Docs? and finally should i download any update for the game or it is everything updated from GOG?

ps:  Sim-ple Jack suggested to create a folder plugins into my Documents ...and put all my custom content there ...will the game regognise this new location ........and also forget to mention that in the Plugins folder where GOG installed the game as mentioned above there are 4 png files ..and so i put the custom lot in there also ...is it ok?

Don't mess with those png.s. They are the backgrounds for the game. You should have a folder called MyDocuments. Inside are MyPics, My Music and MyVideos. Check MyVideos first. That's where GOG put my SC4 folder.

[vetram 221]

no no there is no any such files as plugins or regions into any of my Docs folder...

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

On your desktop taskbar you have a folder. That's MyDocuments. As boring as this is, it's still better than listening to Jerry Nadler drone on.

[xxdita 1,097]

You should be able to use the Plugins folder found in your GOG install path without a problem. But you may need to pay attention to custom content that comes in installers, as it may try to create the Docs Plugins folder by default. I think you'll need to point each installer to the proper folder manually. 

 

[rsc204 21,806]

Long and short, have you ran SC4 successfully before looking for these folders, if not that's step one before we proceed.

If you have, then you simply must have SC4's needed folders somewhere, open Windows Explorer (you can do this by holding the Windows Key and pressing E). Click on My Computer (name may have changed in Win8/10), but basically the option where you see all the system's drives. Then type "Plugins" into the search bar inside that window. It will now search your entire system for files/folders named Plugins, this should find both the folder in the Install DIR and User DIR.

I'll just add some further clarification/information below, but it's by no means mandatory to solve the issue. Do the two steps above and report your results or if having difficulty let us know where you got to and we can assist you further.

1 hour ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

On your desktop taskbar you have a folder. That's MyDocuments.

Actually this just opens Windows Explorer, which is simply the application or part of Windows that allows you to look for files on your system. Usually on the left side of this window, will be Documents under Libraries. However the specifics differ greatly depending on which version of Windows you use. Either way, Documents in some form can be located this way.

My Documents hasn't been used since Windows XP, these days it's just Documents.

3 hours ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

Yes you can. You have 2 SC4 files, one in Computer files, 1 in Docs. If you don't have a Plugin(note spelling) in SC4 Docs, make one. Your custom content goes in there.

The game does have 2 Plugins folders (intended for placing mods) and Regions folders (for cites/maps/savefiles). One set will be in the Install DIR, it does not matter where you install the game for the most part, the default location varies for most digitally purchased editions of SC4.

However, you absolutely under no circumstances should use the Regions folder in the Install DIR. Ideally you wouldn't use the Plugins dir there either, with a key exception for .dll files, very few exist for SC4 but those should be placed here to ensure they load properly.

So where should you find the SimCity 4 folder which contains the User DIR Plugins/Region folders? Well, this depends on your computer, assuming you've not been doing anything silly with Windows, there is no reason this shouldn't have been properly set up. Windows uses something called the Registry to store certain information, that allows applications to interact and know things about other applications. So when you installed SC4, it would set the details of where your SC4 install is located. Another installer, for example the NAM, can simply check the registry and know exactly where your install is, so it can correctly find or place files there. The same is true of your Documents folder, this is a System Folder of Windows. By default you will have one under C:\Users\#yourusername#\Documents. The only reason why that wouldn't be true, would be if you have changed a setting in Windows to relocate that folder.

One potential issue is that when you don't use the same account to install, as for launching SC4, you can run into problems. This is because SC4 is an older application and such setups never existed when it was made, so it sets everything up to work with the account in use during Installation. Of course if you subsequently want to play SC4 using another account, you can't access the "User" folders, including Documents from the account you installed it with. Actually, this is a minor issue usually, since it should all work eventually, when you first successfully run SC4, these folders are created anew under your account. That's because the game simply can not run without a usable "User DIR" location to handle save data, if the game ever fails to see the folders it needs, it just re-creates them.

2 hours ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

You should have a folder called MyDocuments. Inside are MyPics, My Music and MyVideos. Check MyVideos first. That's where GOG put my SC4 folder.

How did the files get there, who can say, but it's definitely not right. I hate to say it, but experience tells me it's 90% odds someone accidentally moved a folder. GoG's installer will be using the registry, for example here's a line of code from an NSIS installer:

InstallDir "$DOCUMENTS\SimCity 4\Plugins\Folder"

See the $DOCUMENTS\ part, this means the installer is using the system defined path for Documents for the user account in use when it is installed. This is standard practise and it's very bad practise to force a pre-defined path in any installer, it has been for a very long time. The point being, I seriously doubt those at GoG messed up their code to alter this to Videos, so either the system defined path is set as such or the folder got moved.

[vetram 221]

there are 4 png files in plugins folder in GOG path...so is it right to use the same plugin folder for my custom content?   or is it ok to create a new plugin folder into my Documents ....?   in that case will the game use the new path ?

PS: Sorry i was replying to xxdita as i hadnt notice the last post (rsc204)

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

2 hours ago, rsc204 said:

How did the files get there, who can say, but it's definitely not right. I hate to say it, but experience tells me it's 90% odds someone accidentally moved a folder.

 

I think I might know how it got there. I had the game on XP and when I got another computer, I put the game and all it's files on an external hard drive. When I dl'ed it all onto the new computer, the game wouldn't play. So I dumped it and bought a new disc. But that wouldn't play either. I think this all happened around the time I originally joined here. So I gave up on the game. But I might not have erased the files that went with the original game. Hence it's current location on my PC. Might explain why I'm having no luck installing the DAMN.

[xxdita 1,097]

This may be a Windows Admin thing. You may need to install the game as an Admin, or open it as Admin the first time, in order to allow the game to create the necessary Documents folders. If you get a popup asking if you want to allow the game to makes changes to files, click Yes. 

[vetram 221]

Good morning to all and i have news......well yesterday night ,  i decided to uninstall the game , although i wasnt so sure that GOG would allowed me to reinstall it!....Anyway except this step i also deleted any old plugin folder that i found ... my purpose was to discover if the new installation from GOG would finally install and the plugin folder i was looking for into my Documents folder........

Fortunately , GOG let you uninstall the game (by GOG Galaxy)  and finally install the game again!.......so, when GOG finished installing the game , i noticed that there was a SC4 folder into my Doc DIR which contained the Plugin folder and NOT the Regions folder ..........I started the game and discovered that an old region i used to play was loaded among the default regions!............I immediately went into This PC/C: / Users and i saw the folder with the "strange" name .....(highlighted with red)......

the folder highlighted in yellow is my real name in Greek 

 

inside of that folder the path was....Docs/SC4/ and the following subfolders (see pic below) 

  (

i opened the regions folder and there was the old region that the game loaded  .....also made then a test and put a custom content in the pluging folder and start the game again and i saw the custom content was loaded also....

 

so , i decided to delete except all plugins files and the regions files and uninstall the game again ....i did so , and installed the game once more ...this time there were only the default regions.......there was no doubt to me that the game plugins and regions were located into the folder with the "strange name"

so , i made one more step and tried to install NAM (this is the real reason for all these..) but unfortunately the installation of NAM files have a different path and make the install into my Docs/simcity4/ ......i tried to change the path but want possible ....the result is that the game follows the plugin inside the "strange" name and didnt find the installation of NAM....I copied all NAM files and move them into the  "strange" folder and although load NAM in the menus cannot use it (drag it ) ...at this point i stopped ....and now i hope you understand why i made all these effords....my purpose was to load and work NAM ofcourse....Thanks for your patience ...any advice of yours will help ....

[CorinaMarie 29,571]

4 hours ago, vetram said:

(by GOG Galaxy) 

As I recall, @Cyclone Boom has a post showing that the Galaxy thinger rather muddles things up and it is better to install Gog's SC4 without using said Galaxy thinger. (I'm sure he'll be along momentarily to post a linky to that.)

In your first pic, is the strange name another user account or an administrator account? And if you leave the game install folders in there, does NAM then install ok?

[Cyclone Boom 16,851]

11 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

As I recall, @Cyclone Boom has a post showing that the Galaxy thinger rather muddles things up and it is better to install Gog's SC4 without using said Galaxy thinger. (I'm sure he'll be along momentarily to post a linky to that.)

Here I am, and here it is: How to download the GOG game directly 
(This link leads to a topic about the SPAM mod, but that's the one.)

The other week @Xerjin confirmed it still is an option to download and install the game standalone away from the Galaxy client:

On 08/01/2020 at 2:12 PM, Xerjin said:

I can confirm it's still like you mentioned at link....

 

[vetram 221]

ok Good evening to all !   Right now i am downloading the game offline back up game installers , as suggested Cyclone above , and i will return back with more news...Fortunately GOG let me do so , just after uninstalling the game for ..4 th time!.....

OK everything seems to be OK ...i have installed the game and there is no more "strange" users....there is just a SC4 folder now into my Docs which contains 2 subfolders (Regions and SimCity4.cfg).....there is no Plugins folder yet but i suppose it will be in the continuation but we will see.....I hope you will also help me to set up the game correctly ....i dont know about SPAM mode , i think i will start installing the NAM first ...what do you think?

[xxdita 1,097]

Try to start the game without any Custom Content first, to see if the Plugins folder is created. But the other folders being in place is a good sign. 

[vetram 221]

Good evening to all!  ...more fresh news....but first of all i would like to thank you all of you for your support 

-Now to the news....well , the news are that unfortunately for me the "unkown-strange"  reappeared once again when starting the game!.....

i searched that for a while in Google and i discovered that there are many problems with "unkown" users in win 10!.....i am not sure 100% that this is my problem with the game ,  but im afraid i cant do anything else .....now you will be wondering why i have my problem since the game runs absolutely perfectly?........

well, the reason is simple .....first , whenever i download a custom content , i must move the custom files into the "unknown" folder ....( i cant even replace the path destination folder when installing these custom files ....because simply not even those installation files can see the "unknown" folder!.....

..but lets say ok i can live with that ....unfortunately this is NOT the same when trying to install NAM........WHY?  simple because i can NOT change the destination folder path in NAM , and if i do the same as above (mean , that install in another folder and then move the files into the "unkown" user - folder)  when i will open the game NAM files arent in my menus !.....I hope you understand , as my english arent so perfect........

-Anyway , as i am an old veteran player of this game,  i have an older laptop with win8 where there isnt any problem with SC4 , but its old and too slow....

so, i am on a dilemma what to do....play with a slow laptop or with a new fast  one without NAM.....?

...and in this point i want your advice......i would like your opinion of how to play this game...i am asking you so , because here comes another old dilemma for me that i always face whenever i touch this game.....and what do i mean?  ....

...are you playing in order to win the game, if thats possible  (without any cheats i mean ) or are you playing (with cheats and mods) in order to make as much realistic and ofcourse beauntiful  region as you can ?   Although i am playing this game since released , never been sure what is the right thing to do..!

...and by the way...i saw some  city journals and i couldnt believe into my eyes!...........and here comes a final question ....where are they finding so many custom content most if all of them are quite unkown for me ?  ...i made a search in STEX and couldnt find most of them!.......Sorry if i tired you! i send you my love..

[CorinaMarie 29,571]

55 minutes ago, vetram said:

i searched that for a while in Google and i discovered that there are many problems with "unknown" users in win 10!

That is truly bizarre.

 

55 minutes ago, vetram said:

so, i am on a dilemma what to do....play with a slow laptop or with a new fast  one without NAM.....?

I'd prolly keep trying to resolve the problem on the Win 10 comp so you can have both fast and NAM. it seems there is something either goofy or very bad happening and finding out what that is seems quite important.

That said, I personally played without NAM or any custom content for my first year or so and I enjoyed it very much. I basically wanted to understand how the game worked as released (with Rush Hour and the other patches). I then added a Slope Mod and I learned how to modify some stuff myself. After that first year I did a custom install of NAM to have the SAM streets, extra bridges, and a few other nice things. Since I've been playing with those I could never go back to being NAM-less.

 

55 minutes ago, vetram said:

..are you playing in order to win the game, if thats possible  (without any cheats i mean ) or are you playing (with cheats and mods) in order to make as much realistic and ofcourse beauntiful  region as you can ?   Although i am playing this game since released , never been sure what is the right thing to do..!

Originally I played vanilla and made sure I could balance the budget and then give my Sims as many amenities as possible. While I did prove to myself I could do that, it seemed I had to sacrifice beauty of my city tile layout. I then made a little mod such that the Farms (agriculture) pays five times as much as the tax rate says (without them complaining) and that sets me up for my rural style regions with full health and fire coverage. I also modded all of the Maxis parks to cost negative one Simoleon per cell of their size. So, Open Grass reduces my expenses by one for each plop. A large park which is 3 x 3 reduces my expenses by nine. Having set these cheats for myself,  I then set those as my limit and always stay within budget.

Many peeps use the Moolah option and give themselves a few billion and play for the beauty of their creations as their goal. The only real answer is: What makes it fun for you? There is no right way to play.

 

55 minutes ago, vetram said:

.where are they finding so many custom content most if all of them are quite unkown for me ?  ...i made a search in STEX and couldnt find most of them!

The custom content is on the STEX and LEX and a handful of other sites or created by the CJ'er themselves.

[vetram 221]

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

That is truly bizarre.

yes indeed !  you can also search in Google ...of course i cant be sure if thats my problem...

 

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

The custom content is on the STEX and LEX and a handful of other sites or created by the CJ'er themselves.

can you give me an example of a journal in Simtopolis?

 

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

The only real answer is: What makes it fun for you? There is no right way to play.

I agree with you....i think its better to play vanilla game first as i want to believe that you will understand the meaning of the game ....but if finally managed so like you (personally never managed to reach into a happy end , simple because i was tempted to follow custom content and leave my game in the middle ...i am sure many many players had or have the same temptation )   then there is no reason to stop you make your city realistic and beuntiful!...

[CorinaMarie 29,571]

13 minutes ago, vetram said:

can you give me an example of a journal in Simtopolis?

Prolly the most exquisite is @korver's True Earth CJ. And here's an example where he explains some of the meticulous effort he puts into those creations.