Reorganization of SimCityBrasil files

[carlosmarcelo 984]

First of all, I would like to thank you for the cozy green and yellow place here at Simtropolis, given to the SimcityBrasil (SCB) files. Thanks @Dirktator, @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie. 

The logos of the SCB phases

Second, I see this work as a tribute to Marcello Brandão (@SUICO), founder of the first SCB website. His pioneering spirit and starting point back in 2004 were essential to encourage many people, from all phases of SCB, to create content. 

Marcello (right) and I, on the occasion we met in 2006. There were 2 cool meetings on a work trip that I did.

If anyone wants to know about the SCB phases, here are links to a documentary on the history of SimcityBrasil made by @Klyte45 (in Portuguese). 
SimCity Brasil: O documentário - Parte 1
SimCity Brasil: O documentário - Parte 2
SimCity Brasil: O documentário - Parte 3

Third, I decided to create this topic as a kind of diary for people to follow the process of reorganizing the files in the SimcityBrasil category and, also, to be able to offer opinions, suggest and also help me to identify old dependencies, authors to give credit or send any material missing or lost with you. 

Well, let's get started! 

PS: I apologize if the English is strange: I am writing in the Notepad++ in Portuguese and translating directly through Google Translator, doing a brief review before posting. If you don't understand something, you can ask around here that I clarify; if you want to correct me about Language (I appreciate that), feel free, but I ask you to send me PM so we don't get out of focus.

[carlosmarcelo 984]

At the club Simtropolis em português, 1 week ago, I offered to organize all the contents of SCB files after @Bastet69008 informed me that he had possession of them given by the administrator of the last SCB (@Klyte45).

Progress: This is the photo of the INITIAL moment: 2069 files. I will update until there are 0 files.

In a preliminary analysis, we noticed that there are files of maps and mods and bats that are already present in STEX. I also noticed that:

• the descriptive texts of the archives are without an author;
• the links to dependencies in STEX are in the old format (all that I tested worked, but the @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie can tell me if it is recommended to update); 
• there are duplicate files (there is already a plugin file zip and its files already extracted);
• there are 2 large groups of folders: one for files and one for images; they are linked by the name of the zip file name and the name of the folder containing the image;
• it has a 270Mb zip file that, apparently, has the same content as the hundreds of extracted plugins (and it is already extracted itself separately);
• there are plugins that do not have description text  (I will not discard them, but I will leave them for last);
• unfortunately, so far, I have not found a data index file (neither spreadsheet, text file, nor smoke signal) that could inform me about the authorship of files and plugins information without txt together; 

Conclusion: there are many duplications of files that should reduce the size of the effort to 1/4. 

Next steps: 
1. Eliminate duplicates;
2. Create a workflow;
3. Set up test environment (vanilla + SC4Fix + Cheats Plugin);

[Propfam 2,315]

Keep up! You might not be on level with @catty-cb or @Tyberius06 yet but at least, you can try on par with them. We'll always support you.

[catty-cb 4,413]

1 hour ago, carlosmarcelo said:

....unfortunately, so far, I have not found a data index file (neither spreadsheet, text file, nor smoke signal) that could inform me about the authorship of files and plugins information without txt together....

I'll double check thru my indexes but am pretty certain SimCity Brasil was on my to-do-list to index, and I never made a start on it 

[Propfam 2,315]

47 minutes ago, catty-cb said:

I'll double check thru my indexes but am pretty certain SimCity Brasil was on my to-do-list to index, and I never made a start on it 

Let's start now! More people means more progress. I wish I'm in charge of the project. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of SimCityBrasil contents. But, I still support this effort. I hope the project will be successful.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

9 hours ago, carlosmarcelo said:

In a preliminary analysis, we noticed that there are files of maps and mods and bats that are already present in STEX.

If you feel they should be moved to the dedicated category, you prolly have that power now. (If not, CB can fix that up for you.)

 

9 hours ago, carlosmarcelo said:

• the links to dependencies in STEX are in the old format (all that I tested worked, but the @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie can tell me if it is recommended to update); 

This is handled by some magic htaccess redirection code CB wrote. While you can update those to the real current locations, it would be a lot of extra work and not strictly necessary. The old linkys will continue to hop properly even with the old format.

 

Edit: Oh, and if you'd like, we could add a Custom Member Label (CML) for you. It could say something like SimCityBrasil Custodian (or whatever). That would appear right under your MySimtropolis Badge.

[Tyberius06 12,278]

23 hours ago, carlosmarcelo said:

At the club Simtropolis em português, 1 week ago, I offered to organize all the contents of SCB files after @Bastet69008 informed me that I had possession of them given by the administrator of the last SCB (@Klyte45), but I had no time to organize.

Progress: This is the photo of the INITIAL moment: 2069 files. I will update until there are 0 files.

In a preliminary analysis, we noticed that there are files of maps and mods and bats that are already present in STEX. I also noticed that:

• the descriptive texts of the archives are without an author;
• the links to dependencies in STEX are in the old format (all that I tested worked, but the @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie can tell me if it is recommended to update); 
• there are duplicate files (there is already a plugin file zip and its files already extracted);
• there are 2 large groups of folders: one for files and one for images; they are linked by the name of the zip file name and the name of the folder containing the image;
• it has a 270Mb zip file that, apparently, has the same content as the hundreds of extracted plugins (and it is already extracted itself separately);
• there are plugins that do not have description text  (I will not discard them, but I will leave them for last);
• unfortunately, so far, I have not found a data index file (neither spreadsheet, text file, nor smoke signal) that could inform me about the authorship of files and plugins information without txt together; 

Conclusion: there are many duplications of files that should reduce the size of the effort to 1/4. 

Next steps: 
1. Eliminate duplicates;
2. Create a workflow;
3. Set up test environment (vanilla + SC4Fix + Cheats Plugin);

Hi!

I'm gonna keep my eye on this thread. 
Your situation looks really similiar to what I had with the SimcityPolska files, but eventually those turn out quite well. At least I had a list  of the creators-creations, plus the wayback machine (webarchive) was pretty usefull in many cases. So now I have paired all the contents with their creators. The cleaning stuff is a different matter, though...

For those cases where you don't have the creator's name, I would recommend you to use the SCB Custodian and in the description, explain it. I'm not familiar with the SCB creations, I saw a few of them here on STEX and on CapitalSim, but I never had the chance to use them. Lack of time and too many projects. 
To eliminate the duplicates I kept the originals in a separate "master" folder and copied one into a new folder and started comparing the contents (size, date etc...) I actually still have the master folder with all the duplicates with the state where I started from.

One thing what I would like to ask respectfully. Since you have all these stuffs from SCB, even if it's currently unorganized, could you passed them at least to the ST Admins as for a back-up. Who knows what's gonna happen in the future, but in that case they won't be totally lost in any case. 
Otherwise keep up the good work.

- Tyberius/@STEX Custodian

[catty-cb 4,413]

Checked indexes and as I suspected I hadn't done anything re indexing the SimCity Brasil site 

13 minutes ago, Tyberius06 said:

......One thing what I would like to ask respectfully. Since you have all these stuffs from SCB, even if it's currently unorganized, could you passed them at least to the ST Admins as for a back-up....

Its good to have a backup, even tho I was planning on moving everything that was on the Citybuilders site over to Simtropolis I backed everything up to dropbox and gave the staff here the links .... just in case 

[carlosmarcelo 984]

21 hours ago, catty-cb said:

I never made a start on it 

Do not worry. As I usually say: "better late than later".  I haven't reached that point yet, but when I do, if you don't have the time, you give me the indexes that I have to check, if possible, and we exchange information.

14 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

some magic htaccess redirection code CB wrote. While you can update those to the real current locations, it would be a lot of extra work and not strictly necessary

Yes, I also think "htaccess" is magic.  I prefer to have focus fixing broken links than changing format of links. Thank you for confirming this question for me.

 

[carlosmarcelo 984]

17 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

Oh, and if you'd like, we could add a Custom Member Label (CML) for you. It could say something like SimCityBrasil Custodian (or whatever). That would appear right under your MySimtropolis Badge.

I liked that, it's good.  I don't particularly like the word "custodian", I think it is too serious...  My suggestion is "SCB worker fan" or something that, later on, may even be useful for other people in other future works or who will collaborate with me. But it's just a suggestion for your kind idea. Feel free.
In order not to take so much time from you, I suggest something simple like the first SCB logo, green and yellow. But if you already have something in mind for all, use it. 

2 hours ago, Tyberius06 said:

our situation looks really similiar to what I had with the SimcityPolska files, but eventually those turn out quite well.

Thank you for reporting your experience. It has already given me ideas of what to do, especially if I can't find the authors. And since there aren't that many files, your idea for removing duplicates is efficient, I don't need a special tool. Thank you. 
Once you have everything set up, I'm sure you will appreciate the Brazilian creations that were made.

2 hours ago, Tyberius06 said:

could you passed them at least to the ST Admins as for a back-up

Thanks for asking because it is a opportunity to I explain about this and, mainly, to become better. 
As soon as I downloaded the BIG zipfile from bastet69008 (which has already been through klyte45), I made a copy of it on my NAS RAID 1 (mini storage server, with real time mirroring between 2 differents disks). That is, until now we already have at least 2 copies of the raw content in different locations. 
I extracted all the content to my Google Drive that will be my "work environment", so I have a local copy (which is where I actually work) that is being synchronized in the cloud and replicated to other devices that I have at home. In addition, I have other features that may be useful, such as accessing the previous version of the file that has been modified within 30 days. 

However, even with all this, something worse can happen.  We must not stop thinking about it even though the idea is unpleasant! I need to ensure that all work carried out does not stop or get lost, forcing the community to have to start over again. 
With your idea of sharing the files with the moderators, you turned on this alert and gave me that light. 
So my proposal to them, if they feel comfortable, is this: if they provide me with a gmail account, I can share the cloud folder I'm working on.  This way they will have access to everything at the point where I am working, updated, being easier, in case of misfortune, they will be able to pass the baton exactly where I left off.  What you think about this, @Cyclone Boom? I am open to alternative ideas.

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

54 minutes ago, carlosmarcelo said:

My suggestion is "SCB worker fan" or something that, later on, may even be useful for other people in other future works or who will collaborate with me. But it's just a suggestion for your kind idea. Feel free.
In order not to take so much time from you, I suggest something simple like the first SCB logo, green and yellow.

Sounds a great idea, and we'll get that sorted for you. It could be made to say the text in the hover caption like it does for the MySimtropolis badge. Then upon clicking it and then the URL can lead to this thread here with your efforts being documented.

Here's the icon I've cropped and sharpened, with the text displaying when hovering over:

If you like this and it's very easy to add or modify to your preference. The main thing is to be something you're happy with.

 

54 minutes ago, carlosmarcelo said:

So my proposal to them, if they feel comfortable, is this: if they provide me with a gmail account, I can share the cloud folder I'm working on.  This way they will have access to everything at the point where I am working, updated, being easier, in case of misfortune, they will be able to pass the baton exactly where I left off.  What you think about this, @Cyclone Boom? I am open to alternative ideas.

We're very much in favour of backups being made, and they are always a great idea. It sounds like you've got a solid system for local storage too.

Admittedly neither Cori or I have active Google accounts, and so this would need to be something we'd setup specially. I can arrange this if it'd be of greater convenience for you, although if there might be another viable method and it could be even easier. One possible idea is uploading the files every so often to WeTransfer which allows files up to 2 GB in size to be uploaded. Using the link option and then you could send us every month or so, and we'd make individual local copies.

Or perhaps if you've got Google Drive and there could be the access link which can be shared similarly, without needing an account. Then it'd allow us to visit there similar to what @catty-cb did previously with her files, and then they're possible to download as a bundled zip file.

[carlosmarcelo 984]

19 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

The main thing is to be something you're happy with.

I'm already very happy with everyone's encouragement, thank you.  Choosing for the badge:
text displaying when hovering over: SimcityBrazil worker fan
then upon clicking: bring this topic is a good idea, thanks.

19 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Or perhaps if you've got Google Drive and there could be the access link which can be shared similarly

Let's do it this way, I prefer. I think it's important for you to be able to follow. I'll send it by PM. 

In the next few days I have a lot of RL to take care  of and I shouldn't have any news here, but until Saturday I talk more about the progress I've made. 

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

That's awesome! Well deserved label to Carlos.

Let me know if you guys need more people to help

[Vitoraju 675]

I liked the @carlosmarcelo initiative. It is important to preserve the Brazilian content of SimCity 4.

By the way, I think I still have some plugins that I downloaded when I accessed the late SimCity Brasil website. As far as I remember I have the CVC bus, Banco do Brasil (I think this is it, unless I am mistaken), bus stops on the roads and some other plugins (I don't remember completely now).

 

Edit:

Banco do Brasil e Caixa
Posto petrobrás
Telefonia (Claro, Oi, Tim e Vivo)
Casa do estudante (não tenho certeza)
Sede dos correios
Praia de copacabana
Flunight Mayor Props
ônibus de SP
Condos Anelaide SCBrasil
Ed. Metropolitan
IPTER COMÉRCIO E REPRESENTAÇÕES - SCBrasil
Pão de açúcar
Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
O Cristo Redentor
Locomotivas de SP (São Paulo)
Placas de rua de São Paulo
Vários plugins do Flunight

Minha pasta antiga de plugins está muito desorganizada, mas eu devo ter mais plugins brasileiros. 

2,04 GB (2.199.576.576 bytes) of plugins.

[carlosmarcelo 984]

17 hours ago, Vitoraju said:

liked the @carlosmarcelo initiative. It is important to preserve the Brazilian content of SimCity 4.

Thank you!

17 hours ago, Vitoraju said:

Minha pasta antiga de plugins está muito desorganizada,

I replied to you in the topic Arquivos SimCity Brasil that I would later see your personal folder, but with that list of yours here I may be asking you for something that I see you don't have. Thank you. 

Do you think you can separate them, zip them and send me?

[carlosmarcelo 984]

Hello guys, let's go to our weekly update. 

Progress: This is the photo from the first week of work: many compressed and duplicated files removed. 

1. I removed all zips from corresponding files that have already been extracted. To do this, I extracted each one and compared it as follows:
a. I made a comparison of name + size per sample of at least 10% of the files: all with this data were identical in name and number of bytes;
b. I also compared the date and time, and in this case, interestingly, most files had an exact difference of 1 or 2 hours between origin and destination (the minutes and seconds were identical), so I considered this difference irrelevant at the time (if later on) I notice something strange or outdated, I will use backups);

2. Only 2 zips files gave an error when unzipping; I saw that its contents referred to files that were already in the STEX (ST Roadgeek Union Sign Pack 2 and SimFox P44t midrise corner), so I just excluded them from this work.

3. There were 2 large groups of folders that I gathered: one of the files themselves and another of images that I imagine were thumbnais. As I noticed that there are plugins without images, I am adding images with their corresponding plugins to serve as a reference (even if it is a thumnail), using the ID of the folder name (below I talk a little more about ID).
This is taking the most time for now because I have to enter folder by folder to decide what to do. 
I am also finding images without a plugin: these folders are prefixing "o" with an orphan, for me to investigate later.

4. There are filenames with incorrect accent encoding; I remove the accents to avoid future confusion. I love my mother language, but I have to be technical and eliminate possibilities for future oddities.

5. The name of the folders is in the following format:
<ID1> _ <ID2> (ex: 1271_1272407570)
I am suspicious that ID1 is user ID. if i can confirm this, i will be able to discover the author of several works that are unnamed or without txt file. For example, with ID1 = 1271, I found jobs from SUICO, but not in all folders with prefix 1271. I need to see a larger sample to confirm this. 

Other informations:

I forgot to mention on day 0: as soon as I started to extract the sent zip file, my antivirus removed a total of 5 files to quarantine and during this week 2 more, all installation files. As I have saved the original zip in another location, I left it to analyze those files that were removed last.
I know that false positive situations are very common in SC4 plugin installations, myself, in a topic here (SC4DataNode Support), I did a thorough investigation and signaled to Symantec the situation so that they updated Norton and nobody more would have false positive when installing SC4DataNode. However, this has to be done thoroughly and takes time: efforts must now be concentrated on the other files.

Here's an extra tip: if someone wants a good compressed file manager, 7-zip is a blessing: free, easy to use, opens zip and rar files (among others) and operates easily with multiple files. This helped this work a lot.

Conclusion: this week, despite the short time, I considered it very profitable in reducing the universe of work.  The next week begins the most detailed work.

Next steps: 
1. Eliminate duplicates;
2. Continue adding images with their respective plugins;
3. Create a workflow;
4. Set up test environment (vanilla + SC4Fix + Cheats Plugin);

[carlosmarcelo 984]

On 31/07/2020 at 12:17 PM, JP Schriefer said:

That's awesome! Well deserved label to Carlos.

Let me know if you guys need more people to help

Excuse me!  Only now have I seen and been able to reply to your post. 
Thanks for the support, you were always on my list of people to ask for help.   I will certainly consult you because I know that you have already made many bats here at STEX, with that, I believe you have had contact with the administrators of the latest SCBs and you should know the authors of the "most recent" Brazilian BATs. 
I estimate that in 2 or 3 weeks I will reach that point.

[carlosmarcelo 984]

Hello guys, let's go to another weekly update. With some interesting discoveries and actions. 

Progress: 

1. First plugins excluded: 
a. NAM because it was a very old version (2010)
b. separate NWM installer because it was too old (2010)
c. separate RHW installer because it was too old (2010)
(I didn't even know that items b and c were once provided separately from the NAM)
d. Plugin Manager because it already has Simtropolis

2. I detected approximately a dozen empty folders that have been removed.

3. I found some files that were not plugins, but content related to SCB events.
a. 7 editions of the "Terran News" newspaper, which gave news from the regions that were part of the UBR (União Brasileira de Regiões - Brazilian Union of Regions)
b. 6 unfilled world cup spreadsheets
c. 3 files (1 doc and 2 spreadsheet) with tables and information about Olympics

I gathered them in a folder called "others" and started to thinking on what to do with them. Put it all together in a single zip for historical preservation purposes? Where to put? Or just erase it because it is something that has already passed, you no longer need to keep it and the life that follows? 

My suggestion: I will zip these 3 sets of files into a single one and send it to STEX or just leave it attached in that topic to: 
- historical preservation of SCB activities in that period
- value the effort of people to assemble this material
- encourage, stimulate and inspire others

I look forward to hearing from you and the adms about where will be best place to this. 

4. The merging of loose images with plugins is slower than I would like and I am finding some inconsistencies such as: images without plugins, plugins without images and IDs in the folder names do not always match. I persisted this week with the goal of leaving the land clean, but it is not efficient.  As I believe that many files are already present in the STEX, it will be more efficient to eliminate the plugins that are already present in the STEX first and then to collect the images only of the remaining plugins. 

Conclusion: with this change, I believe that we will begin to see more results from the work.

Next steps: 
1. Eliminate duplicates;
2. Continue adding images with their respective plugins; (canceled)
3. Generate a list of all SBEX plugins;
4. Identify everything that already on STEX, with version or date equal or higher;
5. Create 2 workflows (for files that are already in STEX and for those that are not in STEX);
6. Set up test environment (vanilla + SC4Fix + Cheats Plugin);

 

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

7 minutes ago, carlosmarcelo said:

and the adms

Hey! I'm one of those.

I personally like the idea of bundling it all up into a zip called Historic Other Stuff (or such) and simply add it in with the other uploads. The description you'll write for it will explain that stuff isn't custom content, but things preserved in case anyone would want them.

[Bastet69008 1,102]

You're doing a wonderful job buddy! Thanks again for what you're doing!

[carlosmarcelo 984]

Hello guys! Were you homesick? 

Progress: 

1. Last week I organized how the work would be and this week I already identified some files present in STEX and, thus, removed it from my file set. 

Spoiler

has STEX with date or higher version? YES
was it created by Brazilian authors or does it reproduce a Brazilian construction / culture? YES
==> review data and information
==> place the category for SimcityBrasil files

has STEX with date or higher version? YES
was it created by Brazilian authors or does it reproduce a Brazilian construction / culture? NO
==> exclude files from "sbex"

has STEX with date or higher version? NO
was it created by Brazilian authors or does it reproduce a Brazilian construction / culture? YES
==> collect and gather as much information as possible to send or update
==> place the category for SimcityBrasil files

has STEX with date or higher version? NO
was it created by Brazilian authors or does it reproduce a Brazilian construction / culture? NO
==> inform adms to decide if it is worth sending or updating

2. I created an excel table in which I am writing down the data and classifying the plugins. 

3. I confirmed that the first ID of the folder names are the names of the authors, this will help to identify authors in some folders that do not have descriptive files.

10875_1280284818 - Partners Lawyers
10875_1282756355 - Fabertech Engineering Offices
that is, ID 10875 belongs to fabricio83tst

4. I separated map and city files to analyze later. As far as I know, city files are not usually accepted on STEX because they have complex issues, but I promise to analyze at the end. The maps ones I will see at another time.

5. Knowing that it is easier and faster to use google pointing to the STEX than the search for the STEX itself, I created a .BAT script to open chrome with the terms being searched and, thus, validate if they are present on STEX. When the table (mentioned in item 2) is ready, I will be able to quickly assemble a script like the examples below:

start chrome /incognito "https://www.google.com/search?q=site%%3Acommunity.simtropolis.com+%%22Aphrodites+Garden%%22
start chrome /incognito "https://www.google.com/search?q=site%%3Acommunity.simtropolis.com+%%22Small+Town+Hospital%%22
start chrome /incognito "https://www.google.com/search?q=site%%3Acommunity.simtropolis.com+%%22Partners+Lawyers%%22
 

Conclusion: the SBEX collection is having its index formed and becoming more concentrated in the Brazilian content. 

Next steps: 
1. Eliminate duplicates;
2. Continue adding images with their respective plugins; (canceled)
3. Generate a list of all SBEX plugins;
4. Identify everything that already on STEX, with version or date equal or higher;
5. Create 2 workflows (for files that are already in STEX and for those that are not in STEX);
6. Set up test environment (vanilla + SC4Fix + Cheats Plugin);

 

 

 

[Bastet69008 1,102]

Woow this is coming along nicely! Great job!

[carlosmarcelo 984]

Hi guys, good morning. 

I came here before the traditional day to ask a question that I think is controversial. While working this week, I came across a situation that I will describe, put my opinion on and I would like to hear your opinion. 

Situation: 
I see a few description files that reported that the plugins could not be distributed without prior notice from the author. Therefore, for me to make it available on STEX I would have to have authorization from the author for this.

My opinion and arguments: 
I am a great defender of the copyright of any work, however, I believe that this case is an exception and I will give the arguments below:

1. At least 5 years have passed (most have more time) and a lot has changed. So the scenario for that decision changed completely.

2. I believe it made sense when you produced "almost exclusive" content for a particular site. Now, we are talking about a website that has disappeared and there is no sign that it will return in the short term. And, if that happens, he will have the collection preserved and will be able to request it.

3. There is not always a way to communicate to the author and have guarantees that he will respond in the short term. Some have an email, some have a profile here in Simtropolis, but have not been here for months or even years. Therefore, it is very unlikely and a waste of time to try to make this contact for this purpose of authorization.
In short, all my effort will be to give credit to the author and I also intend to name and mark them in that topic during the operation and, if they later manifest themselves to the contrary, we will remove it immediately, without any problems.

4. The content has never been paid for and, therefore, making it available for free elsewhere does not harm the author financially.

5. As I said in items 1 and 2, the scenario is completely different and, therefore, we should think more about the collective than the individual. At this time, for the sake of the community and the hobby, it is better to come together and engage so that everyone has the best and all production is preserved and accessible to everyone.

Conclusion 
Since SC4 sites are few today, the site of origin is non-existent, the archives are more than 5 years old, the author is practically incommunicado and the motivation now is to preserve SC4 history and communication, I believe that I can ignore that instruction for that particular job.

I threw the ball. I would like to hear your opinion. 

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

As has been discussed elsewhere, Electronic Art's EULA gives themselves (and only them) the sole ownership of any content created for the game. As such, from our perspective as STEX community custodians, all those restrictions peeps have added to their content are technically null and void. It is simply the accepted custom that those have been honored. However, it is incumbent upon the author to remain accessible in order for them to answer questions about other hosting or sharing.

It is our opinion as administrators of Simtropolis, that when the content is not being radically altered and said authors are not available, we can in good faith make their works available by giving them credit as you will be doing. A good rule of thumb is if they have not been seen anywhere in the past year then it is unrealistic to expect contact to be established at all.

What you're doing here with the content restoration is of benefit to the entire SC4 community, and so we fully support your mission of making this a success.

-Cori & CB

[carlosmarcelo 984]

Hello! Guys, let's go to our weekly follow-up.

Progress: 

1. After finding many instances that ID1 represented the author's name and, therefore, in plugins without any description file I could at least give the credits, I found 1 case in which, despite the folders having the same ID1, the authors they were different. This made me review the information for various plugins in the index.
I reflected a little to understand this fact and came up with a new deduction: this ID1 should actually be the ID of the user who sent the files and, therefore, it should not necessarily be the author who sent it.

As a curiosity, I discovered the real author of a plugin looking in the reader (image above), in the batch UI interface and then looking for his files in simtropolis. I believe that I will need to do this in many situations even to understand exactly what the batch does since it does not have any description. Of course, I will work first on those that already have the information described.

2. I keep seeing each plugin and collecting the data to fill in the index. From it, I will take the necessary actions to start populating the SimcityBrasil category. My estimate is that the first files will be moved to this category from the end of September.

3. All files related to maps were separated in a separate folder, maybe even upload them first because they are complete. There are 8 maps of regions in Brazil: Foz do Iguaçu, Porto Velho, Camburiu, Jaraguá, Blumenau, Campina Grande, Joinville and Grande Porto Alegre.

4. I have already filled in all the possible information for just over 110 plugins and there are still around 70 to look at. I believe that until next Friday I fill out the index by viewing the files, then the search phase on STEX will begin.

5. There are a lot of files without description and without a readme that I will need to enter the reader and collect the data; in addition, use the plugin to take a photo to illustrate when uploading.

Conclusion: This phase is a little tedious, without much news, but we will continue and I believe that in 2 weeks we will have more interesting news. 

Next steps: 
1. Eliminate duplicates;
2. Continue adding images with their respective plugins; (canceled)
3. Generate a list of all SBEX plugins;
4. Identify everything that already on STEX, with version or date equal or higher;
5. Create 2 workflows (for files that are already in STEX and for those that are not in STEX);
6. Set up test environment (vanilla + SC4Fix + Cheats Plugin);

 

[carlosmarcelo 984]

Hello guys!

Sorry for the silly question (I never made a mod in my life), but what exactly is the difference between a .sc4desc file and a .sc4lot file? What is the function of each one? 

I know that they must have different purposes (and the content as a whole is different), but I almost always see that in both the information of the attribute "exemplary" is practically the same (they may even be identical). 

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

55 minutes ago, carlosmarcelo said:

Hello guys!

Sorry for the silly question (I never made a mod in my life), but what exactly is the difference between a .sc4desc file and a .sc4lot file? What is the function of each one? 

I know that they must have different purposes (and the content as a whole is different), but I almost always see that in both the information of the attribute "exemplary" is practically the same (they may even be identical). 

Hi Carlos, and great continued job you're doing with the SCB files sorting project.

It does get quite technical, but the page here has some info about SC4 data type formats.

A descriptor file (SC4Desc) contains the properties for how a lot behaves, and the model referenced from the RKT property. Some lots reference a blank invisible model, or even simply a null vale which refers to nowhere. This applies to some of the Maxis lots, such as with parks for example (since no visible building needs to be shown). The descriptor is also known as the Buildings Exemplar, and often they can be bundled inside a .SC4Lot file.

Sometimes there are .SC4Desc files which aren't needed, and as you probably know how DataNode is a highly useful tool which allows any conflicts with overrides to be identified. Then there are ._LooseDesc files which are temporary files which PIM-X makes. These can be safely deleted since they're not necessary.

The big difference with a .SC4Lot file is it contains a separate internal file for the LotConfiguations Exemplar.  These include the data for how lot objects are configured, which is the building, props, and textures placed in it. Also another point to mention is how .dat files can be either of these, and the game still reads them the same. This is because they're simply container files, and the file extension isn't important. All this does is determines how our computers open these if associating file types.

Hope this helps to clarify!

[carlosmarcelo 984]

2 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

great continued job you're doing with the SCB files sorting project

"Slow and always." 

Thank you very much for the explanation, by the way, I really liked the link you sent with the diagrams. I confess that I am still a little confused (they are not really simple concepts), but it was enough to understand how to assess whether sc4desc is necessary or not. 

One thing I think about is turning each plugin from multiple sc4 * files into a single dat. Thanks for reminding me to use DataNode to remove possible redundancies within the same plugin.

An idea that occurred to me now is to create a "superior collection" as they did in SC4 Devotion, with the most relevant constructions in Brazil. 

[carlosmarcelo 984]

Hello guys, I'm still not going to post an update of the works because, although I'm bent over it, the results are still timid. But, soon, we will have a harvest of greater results.

I have a categorical doubt: 
1. Should the reproductions of maps of Brazilian regions, which are in the SCB collection I am working on, be sent to the category maps or to the category SimcityBrasil files?

2. And if by chance I find maps of Brazilian regions already on STEX, such as the region of Salvador da Bahia, I must keep in the category maps or move to category SimcityBrasil files

My humble guess: I think that in both situations they should be moved to SimcityBrasil files, however, I am afraid that this will generate more confusion than help. 

What is your opinion? 

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

Just my personal opinion (and not a binding decision of any sort).

I believe all maps should go in the main maps category. Then, ofc, the description can say where they came from originally.