2020 SC4 Holiday Wishlist

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

1. A mod that makes the info-bubbles disappear when I go to plop something. I know, I know, already!

2. A rewards menu that doesn't default to the start, when I leave it.

3. A mod that removes the bias, so that you have a straight overhead view of the map. I know this will never happen, but that's why they call it a wish list.

 

What's your's?

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

4. A mod that lets me bulldoze a power line tower and have the roiling smoke cloud go away half a second later instead of needing a calendar to time its duration. (Might be coming to a STEX near you, but not by Christmas.)

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

5. A mod which allows the data views to be seen in an expanded panel, and also the ability to minimise the game's UI while having a data view or graph open.

6. A quick obliterate option, which would be especially useful for the method @Terring explained in his recent topic.

As follows:

 

4 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

(Might be coming to a STEX near you, but not by Christmas.)

(I know what you're referring to!)

[Kloudkicker 4,563]

I wish someone could edit this mod to make it NAM compatible for me. As described below. Please

Note: This mod is not compatible with NAM because it alters the same Traffic Simulator exemplar. However, one can edit the NAM's Traffic Simulator property 0xa92356b5 (Travel type can reach destination) Rep # 3 from 0x00 to 0x01 to achieve the same effect while using NAM.

Message added by CorinaMarie

2 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

A quick obliterate option

I could swear I saw this kind of mod once. Looked, but no go. IDK

[rsc204 21,863]

3 hours ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

A mod that removes the bias, so that you have a straight overhead view of the map. I know this will never happen, but that's why they call it a wish list.

It is literally impossible, since the game and most of it's assets, certainly all SC4Models, only contains the data needed to appear in it's intended Isometric format. I mean you can wish, but that guy in the lamp is going to deliver something not actually SC4 .

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

1 hour ago, Kloudkicker said:

I wish someone could edit this mod to make it NAM compatible for me

It should be done the other way around by editing the NAM's traffic controller file. Look in your Plugins in the Network Addon Mod folder for a file named something like: NetworkAddonMod_Traffic_Plugin_Z_Low_Custom.dat and send it to me. I'll make the edit and send it back.

(Note: The part of the file name in Pink Text will vary depending on the choices you made during installation or when tweaking via the TSCT.)

 

1 hour ago, Kloudkicker said:

I could swear I saw this kind of mod once. Looked, but no go. IDK

I did make one long ago, but CB tested it and said it didn't reduce the time so I removed it from the STEX. (I'd edited the timer property of the exemplar, but apparently the game ignores that.)

[Kloudkicker 4,563]

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

I'll make the edit and send it back.

Thank you, that's very kind of you. I just wanted to know if this can be used with previously built cities? I'm not willing to start over again right now and didn't want to waste your time doing this.

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

2 minutes ago, Kloudkicker said:

I just wanted to know if this can be used with previously built cities?

Yep. You'd just replace the unmodified version with the new one and it'll take effect. It might need a few game month's running time, but the traffic patterns will adjust to the new rule.

[Kloudkicker 4,563]

Very nice. I will PM it to you when I'm back to my puter. This is convincing me to learn reader for a new years resolution. 

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

1 hour ago, Kloudkicker said:

 I will PM it to you when I'm back to my puter.

Files received, tweaked, and returned.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

18 hours ago, rsc204 said:

It is literally impossible, since the game and most of it's assets, certainly all SC4Models, only contains the data needed to appear in it's intended Isometric format. 

 

21 hours ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

I know this will never happen, but that's why they call it a wish list.

 

 

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

On 12/23/2020 at 7:00 PM, Kloudkicker said:

I just wanted to know if this can be used with previously built cities

On 12/23/2020 at 7:03 PM, CorinaMarie said:

It might need a few game month's running time, but the traffic patterns will adjust to the new rule.

I've tested this to see how it goes. I ran at the medium (rhino speed) to allow it to update without overburdening the traffic simulator. In the pics, that's a bus station that is route queried.

Before:

 

After:

 

[Kloudkicker 4,563]

46 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

I've tested this to see how it goes.

Nice! The results look good. Less pink and more blue with more riders.

[Kloudkicker 4,563]

8. (I forgot to label #7) You get three right? Shoot fudge it, here it goes;

A mod that will take stored screenshot images of the neighbors and it puts it in place of the old background images so you can see the surrounding neighbors while playing the current city. All four neighbors views in one panoramic view.             F          A           R -fetched idea I know, but cool.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

5 hours ago, Kloudkicker said:

8. (I forgot to label #7) You get three right? Shoot fudge it, here it goes;

A mod that will take stored screenshot images of the neighbors and it puts it in place of the old background images so you can see the surrounding neighbors while playing the current city. All four neighbors views in one panoramic view.             F          A           R -fetched idea I know, but cool.

I'm going to report you for going back on topic!

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

11 hours ago, Kloudkicker said:

8. (I forgot to label #7) You get three right? Shoot fudge it, here it goes;

A mod that will take stored screenshot images of the neighbors and it puts it in place of the old background images so you can see the surrounding neighbors while playing the current city. All four neighbors views in one panoramic view.             F          A           R -fetched idea I know, but cool.

I tried something similar to your idea, earlier this year. I thought of replacing the background .png's(currently I use black to make photoshopping a lot easier) with out-of-focus horizons of hills, mountains and such, and sky so that you have a more complete picture than just the tile. Maybe I'll get back to that project.

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

7 minutes ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

I thought of replacing the background .png's ...

I believe the problem will be that said PNGs are 128 x 128 pixels and are tiled in the background.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

3 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

I believe the problem will be that said PNGs are 128 x 128 pixels and are tiled in the background.

Yea, my first attempt resulted in a candy-stripe background. The sizes of the .png's aren't too important. That's just pixel painting. It's taking the "repeat" out that's a trick. So far, other than solid colors, all I've seen is a star background from drunkapple.

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

8 minutes ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

So far, other than solid colors, all I've seen is a star background from drunkapple.

There are these which I'm aware of:

 

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

The only one of those I can see working for what we're talking about, is the water background, and that would only work if you make a lot of islands. Plus, the water would have to match the water mod you're using, so I'd have to make over 30 sets of them. You could just as easily make small islands on large tiles. I'm thinking of the old movie process, Cinemascope, which shot the same scene from multiple angles, and played it on 3 screens. It would immerse the viewer, without giving them the headache 3D did.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

So, I futzed around with this idea again, last night(boring Pats game). I made copies of the background png's and numbered them(they all look alike) to see where they end up. Loaded back in the game, I got this-

So, apparently, the game only uses one of the 5 images in my C: plug-ins. And it flips it upside down.

So, knowing that, I made a quick, blurry background ala CinemaScope,  oriented to the bottom and right side. It still tiled it, so I tried a larger overhanging transparency. Still tiled.

But the background itself did give the map depth of field. I even tested it with a skyscraper on the far corner of the map. It looked pretty real. A mod would have to be made to over-ride the tiling. If that could be done.

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

3 minutes ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

A mod would have to be made to over-ride the tiling. If that could be done.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suppose said mod would need to be in a DLL rather than anything we mere mortals could do via Reader or Lua or any normal option. Even then, I suspect it'd even be beyond DLLing.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

5 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suppose said mod would need to be in a DLL rather than anything we mere mortals could do via Reader or Lua or any normal option. Even then, I suspect it'd even be beyond DLLing.

I have confidence in you "mad scientists" around here. The only other option would be to make the "King Komayamaya" of trompe l' oeil background png's.

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

1 minute ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

I have confidence in you "mad scientists" around here.

The only possibility which springs to mind that might actually work would be to make the largest possible (within game limits) overhanging prop that would be plopped at intervals along the edge of the city tile. Ofc, said edge would then have to be perfectly flat. This might allow specific images to project out like 16 or 20 tiles or such.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

5 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

The only possibility which springs to mind that might actually work would be to make the largest possible (within game limits) overhanging prop that would be plopped at intervals along the edge of the city tile. Ofc, said edge would then have to be perfectly flat. This might allow specific images to project out like 16 or 20 tiles or such.

I might try a few over-sized png's today, and see what happens. Worst that can happen is a ctd.

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

12 minutes ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

I might try a few over-sized png's today, and see what happens. Worst that can happen is a ctd.

Sounds good tho I don't hold out any hope of that changing anything when altering the Maxis background ones. It'll prolly just scrunch them up to the size it wants to display at best and CTD at worst.

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

So, for the ploppables overhang the city tile edge testing, I've scaled the S3D model to 128 x 128 meters and a FSH image (by CB) to 1024 x 1024.

^ Ofc, if making a real set, the image would need to be in the correct perspective and the offset would need 4 different choices for the anchor plop.

 

However, they also show in the region view. (Image scaled up 300%.)

 

So, being limited to perfectly flat ground and this unsightly appearance in region view makes me see this as completely nonviable.

[Propfam 2,295]

4 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

So, for the ploppables overhang the city tile edge testing, I've scaled the S3D model to 128 x 128 meters and a FSH image (by CB) to 1024 x 1024.

^ Ofc, if making a real set, the image would need to be in the correct perspective and the offset would need 4 different choices for the anchor plop.

 

However, they also show in the region view. (Image scaled up 300%.)

 

So, being limited to perfectly flat ground and this unsightly appearance in region view makes me see this as completely nonviable.

Or, what about WSSNCOPFL for the region?

[CorinaMarie 29,865]

2 hours ago, chfzdn said:

Or, what about WSSNCOPFL for the region?

This demo is essentially that inasmuch as they are simply bigger overhanging props with a larger texture.

If created and placed only on the city tile edges which are also the region edges, that would keep them from overlaying other city tiles in the region view. Still, this means the edges where they would be plopped must be 100% flat and at the same height all the way around the border of the region.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

20 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

So, being limited to perfectly flat ground and this unsightly appearance in region view makes me see this as completely nonviable.

So was enlarging the .png. But I did find out what the other 4 were for- zoom levels.

So I got to thinking about this you posted-

On 12/28/2020 at 3:07 PM, CorinaMarie said:

There are these which I'm aware of:

 

This member had a good idea, but the wrong execution. I'm talking about the "skyscraper" background. They should have used small commercial buildings or industry, as that's what usually is beyond the downtown areas. That way, the background wouldn't compete with the foreground buildings. Giving it more depth of field. So I made a farm tile, as evenly spaced as possible, squared it up and slightly blurred it in PS and gave it a whirl. The result(pardon the buildings, my plug-ins are currently empty-ish)-

A much better result of perspective. This is the tile if you want to try it out-

You'll notice in enlargement, that I only streeted 2 sides, in anticipation of the kaleidoscope effect. So, whatever you used for a custom background would have to be smaller than what you actually build in the tile. Personally, I don't think I'd use them while playing, as they're kind of distracting, but for the money pics, they could work. Feel free to use it if you want.

Waiting for CB to make another thread out of this.