Natural forest growth in Mayor Mode?

[Tysons4 68]

is there any way to get trees to grow and spread naturally after going to mayor mode? is there a mod somewhere that turns the tree grow algorithm on? would this be a simple mod to create?

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

While in Mayor Mode use the Flora propogation on cheat. (Ctrl+X to bring up the cheat box.) I've just tested it running on full speed and it works in mayor mode.

(Note: It must be wrongly spelled as shown.)

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

I can confirm the command Cori posted above does indeed work with spreading trees in mayor mode too. When running the command (exactly as spelt), I was surprised to see how it makes flora grow which aren't already planted to begin with, so I imagine this is how it simulates the seeds blowing in the wind.

Here's a sample of the progression I tried, starting with a very small cluster:

(There's also 2 deer, plenty of meadow grass, but not much else.)

 

Then running time they grew to:

(And some wild bears appeared for some reason. They look friendly enough though as far as I can tell. I fear for the deer though.  )

 

Then a bit more time:

(A few horses and the odd llama joined the crew now too. Beware of that lone bear though, please.)

 

Then finally I left it at about 20 years running on full speed (Cheetah):

 

The command also is included in the game as standard, so doesn't require the Extra Cheats DLL at all.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

After issuing the cheat command Flora propogation on and saving the city tile, that stays in effect until you issue Flora propogation off and save.

I've now tested and there are two parameters in the Flora Tuning Parameters exemplar that control the growth:

• 0x085489c7 mnRandomSeedingCellsPerMonth
• 0x8761abd0 mnMonthsBetweenCellCoverage

Setting those to 0xFF and 0x06 respectively and the growth is rather rapid. Here are images at 1, 2, and 3 years:

 

And the file if you'd want it: Flora Tuning Parameters - 0x000000FF-6.dat

Note: If your terrain mod includes the same exemplar, this one will need to load after it.

 

[Tysons4 68]

awesome. just tested it it's crazy to still be learning stuff about this game.

[matias93 7,535]

Maybe you have already checked this Cori: does the automatic growth match the moisture patterns? Or it's just random around those nuclea?

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

19 hours ago, matias93 said:

Maybe you have already checked this Cori: does the automatic growth match the moisture patterns? Or it's just random around those nuclea?

I didn't check it until you mentioned it.

I created a hill which then has one side quite dry and the other quite wet based on the way the moisture simulation handles the katabatic and anabatic winds. Then, ofc, there are the moisture differences from month to month based on the ambient average temperature.

Starting with no trees at all, the first pic is the moisture after the game adjusted to my terraforming followed by the moisture view and the trees grown. The last pic is the regular view so said trees are easier to see.

^ So, essentially the moisture content makes almost no difference for where the random trees will sprout with the exception of extremely dry or exceptionally moist areas get a few less per cycle.

However, using the accelerated tree growth mod I attached in a prior post, here's the same area after 15 years:

And after 100 years:

[thingfishs 417]

21 hours ago, Tysons4 said:

it's crazy to still be learning stuff about this game.

Totally (although I've learnt to expect the unexpected). I had no idea flora had this capacity. Thanks yet again C&C.

[Propfam 2,305]

Can I use MMP with this? Or even better, MMPs set?

Thanks.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

10 minutes ago, chfzdn said:

Can I use MMP with this? Or even better, MMPs set?

My guess is: Yes.

I can't imagine any reason this would prevent plopping MMPs.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

24 minutes ago, chfzdn said:

Can I use MMP with this? Or even better, MMPs set?

Yes, as Cori rightly suspected above, this would be true because MMPs technically are "flora" items after all. That's how they have the ability to be plopped from the Mayor Mode menu just the same way as the existing trees there. What the Flora propogation on option does is allow the God Mode trees to multiply based on the seedling sample, and so any MMPs can also be placed in areas where there's space for them to go.

[thingfishs 417]

Would there be a way to have this set on permanently (without having to enter the code every time?) In combination with the opposite of what Cori did before (so that growth was slower) I feel this would go a long way towards replicating the RL self-propagation of plants... That appeals greatly to me.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

1 minute ago, thingfishs said:

Would there be a way to have this set on permanently (without having to enter the code every time?)

Afaik, no. But, if you enter the code once in a city tile and save, it'll be on for life. (Or until you issue the off version.) And for the slower growth, don't install my mod above. Just use the built-in Maxis function. Ofc, if that's too slow then we could test variations somewhere between the game default and mine.

[thingfishs 417]

2 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

But, if you enter the code once in a city tile and save, it'll be on for life

Ah, well that will work then... (I don't really use ctrl/x except for testing via buildingplop so I didn't realise how it worked).

I'll have to get a feel for the default speed (now that I know this option exists), and modify, if necessary, from there.

Thanks mate.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

3 hours ago, thingfishs said:

Ah, well that will work then... ( I don't really use ctrl/x except for testing via buildingplop so I didn't realise how it worked).

Yeah, it's prolly the best we can do for this particular thing.

One thing to note is this option being saved as a toggle in the game data was said in the context of this specific one. There are many others (such as TerrainQuery as one example) which are not remembered when you save the city tile.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

On 5/31/2020 at 6:26 PM, CorinaMarie said:

Flora propogation on

I just did some more testing with this. (Yes, it still works. However, there's a side affect I don't care for.)

Before turning it on:

 

After turning it on (and running some time).