Got a quick SC4 question?... Ask here!

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

2 minutes ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

My plugins folder shouldn't have any jpeg or html files in it, should it? 

That is correct.

 

2 minutes ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

I can just delete those and hopefully have my game running better, right? 

Yes, you can. However, you might want to move them to a folder outside of plugins in case you'd ever want them for reference.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

6 minutes ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

My plugins folder shouldn't have any jpeg or html files in it, should it? 

I can just delete those and hopefully have my game running better, right? 

Yes, that's right.

The game will attempt to read files like images or readme files, but since it cannot process them (without being in DBFP form), they get skipped. But since SC4 has to load up the contents of one's Plugins folder, it'll contribute to increased loading times. Probably only fractional in terms of small files, but they'll all add up.

The Cleanitol allows removing these in one fell swoop, by moving them outside one's Plugins folder.

 

Spoiler

 

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

Thank you wise sages, I'll get on that Cleanitol tomorrow!

[nombex 26]

6 hours ago, rsc204 said:

I hope you realise I'm just being a little playful, but it's a super-useful tip, people often worry things might not be right, but it's super easy to see if things are being used as expected or not. So next time you get stuck, you might be able to work out if everything is alright by yourself.

yea for sure, i was trying to lay everything out (had a few zones already) without them developing as i hadnt placed the bus stops yet. speaking of, i think it was robs guide to SimCity videos where he says the 12 tile thing about how far sims will walk. i also changed NAM settings from medium american to the next one up from that, forget what its called

[rsc204 21,808]

If you are looking to have a higher proportion of sims driving, then the American setting is the choice for you, but if the intention is to get sims to use more Mass Transit, then you might prefer one of the European options.

In the top right this tool lists the preferences for each wealth of sims (in %), of using Mass Transit, Driving (Cars) or the Fastest possible route. The beauty is that you can change these setting any time you like, so my advise would be play for a bit and grow some cities, then see if you are happy with your current settings. If not then you can switch to a different setup that better fits your own playstyle.

[atsf189 460]

@Lazarou Monkey Terror

Yes you can remove jpeg and html files and also readme files.

I just cleaned mine and would recommend SC4 DataNode for finding other stuff you may not need.

[franyer 305]

On 14/2/2022 at 7:05 AM, nombex said:

theres an archived post that i couldnt reply to, wanted to confirm if i could or couldnt make this work - one way street neighbor connections like this. i see the arrows pointing in opposite directions which of course i assume wont work (2 to the neighbor, 1 to the neighbor for the street and 1 away from the neighbor for the street)

Use RHW-4 to make the connections

[matias93 7,535]

2 minutes ago, franyer said:

Use RHW-4 to make the connections

It wouldn't work. All RHW networks require the addition of special Neighbourhood Connector pieces that loop back their lanes, and there is no piece that can do that across an el-rail connection.

The road solution, as loops on the same tile, would work.

[franyer 305]

5 minutes ago, matias93 said:

It wouldn't work. All RHW networks require the addition of special Neighbourhood Connector pieces that loop back their lanes, and there is no piece that can do that across an el-rail connection.

The road solution, as loops on the same tile, would work.

well then use the pieces to neighboor connections

[rsc204 21,808]

4 minutes ago, matias93 said:

there is no piece that can do that across an el-rail connection.

True right now there isn’t but the new flex-nc’s should allow for a few median options like this in future.

But of course it also requires having RHW installed, which not everyone will have.

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

7 hours ago, atsf189 said:

@Lazarou Monkey Terror

Yes you can remove jpeg and html files and also readme files.

I just cleaned mine and would recommend SC4 DataNode for finding other stuff you may not need.

Giving this utility a whirl now. It's having issues with some long file names of some recent files so I'm rearranging those. 

Do long file names upset SimCity4? 

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

3 minutes ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

Do long file names upset SimCity4? 

Afaik, long file names don't bother SimCity 4, but if the path is too long then it cannot see those to read them. This can cause goofy errors when the path is just at the point the game can see part of a file name, but not the whole thing.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Also just adding to what Cori said above, inside this post there's a few extra details I made on the subject of path length. This is something which applies to other programs likewise, and DataNode will alert to this if scanning one's Plugins and it detects the length is too long for a given item.

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

8 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Afaik, long file names don't bother SimCity 4, but if the path is too long then it cannot see those to read them. This can cause goofy errors when the path is just at the point the game can see part of a file name, but not the whole thing.

Sounds like I may be getting closer to my CTD while saving issue then. Goofy Errors I can do without! 

 

2 minutes ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Also just adding to what Cori said above, inside this post there's a few extra details I made on the subject of path length. This is something which applies to other programs likewise, and DataNode will alert to this if scanning one's Plugins and it detects the length is too long for a given item.

Happy to report that's exactly what it's doing 

[City_Slider 2,716]

15 hours ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

I can just delete those and hopefully have my game running better, right? 

Better? No Sir. Faster? Yes Sir. 

You can put all JPEG and all other Files, out of your Plug in Folder... save them somewhere else, to check em (if needed) later.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

21 hours ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

My plugins folder shouldn't have any jpeg or html files in it, should it? 

I can just delete those and hopefully have my game running better, right? 

It's also not a bad idea to have a text file somewhere, with the file name and download link, just in case it gets lost in the shuffle. Be aware that most Read Me's are disposable, but every once in a while, you'll get one with special caveats you might not remember: Only load one version, Must load last, Conflicts with other files, settings, etc.

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

Is there a difference between "Quick Save" and "Normal Save?"

Still having CTD saving woes 

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Quick Save is when it does not update the thumbnail image for the region view and is considered the safer way to go if having trouble saving.

Normal Save is just like the Quick, but adding the updating of the thumbnail image for the region view.

I imagine you already know to keep focus on the game while it saves.

[matias93 7,535]

1 hour ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

Is there a difference between "Quick Save" and "Normal Save?"

Still having CTD saving woes 

Quick save doesn't create a new miniature image for the regional view, so is faster and has less risks of CTD or save corruption, but you won't be able to see the changes on the regional view, unless saving normally.

[rsc204 21,808]

Oooh, that gives me a thought...

So my plan to deal with the annoying region view issue (when running higher resolutions than DX7 supports), is to every so often reduce the resolution from 2k to FHD, then return to the game and save each affected city. 

So if I can just remember to do the Quick Save each time, whilst the region won't update, it won't constantly look a mess in-between updates.

[City_Slider 2,716]

22 hours ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

Is there a difference between "Quick Save" and "Normal Save?"

There are a lot of Ways to "Save" a Situation out of SimCity. I´m going to write a Tutorial about it this Weekend.

Hang on -Oliver

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

Thanks folks, lots of ideas!

But my quest continues...

 I can delete one of a duplicate of a file ( lot, Desc, Model)  and not screw things up, right? 

Running the SC4DataNode on my plugins reveals a lot of duplicate files but I am wary of deleting them. 

I have a 'Duplicate Finder' app I can use on my Plugins, it shouldn't matter where the remaining file is, should it?

[rsc204 21,808]

2 hours ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

I can delete one of a duplicate of a file ( lot, Desc, Model)  and not screw things up, right? 

Provided this duplicate is an exact copy of another, all you are doing is removing needless overrides, but other than slightly faster load times, it's not doing any harm.

Where this gets tricky is if two files are named the same, but the contents of them is not. If in doubt check the Modified date of the files, which should help to be sure if they really are the same or not. 

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

8 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

Provided this duplicate is an exact copy of another, all you are doing is removing needless overrides, but other than slightly faster load times, it's not doing any harm.

Where this gets tricky is if two files are named the same, but the contents of them is not. If in doubt check the Modified date of the files, which should help to be sure if they really are the same or not. 

Thanks, I had 13,119 duplicates so fingers crossed deleting those will improve stability and performance 

[rsc204 21,808]

Maybe move them to a temp folder not in Plugins, that way you've got them just in case, of course the Recycle Bin can function much the same, except restoring so many files if you've other junk in there, won't necessarily be as easy .

[City_Slider 2,716]

Thats why i said...

19 hours ago, City_Slider said:

I´m going to write a Tutorial about it this Weekend.

It´s not Magic, but helpful ;-)

-Oliver

[atsf189 460]

22 hours ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

Thanks folks, lots of ideas!

But my quest continues...

 I can delete one of a duplicate of a file ( lot, Desc, Model)  and not screw things up, right? 

Running the SC4DataNode on my plugins reveals a lot of duplicate files but I am wary of deleting them. 

I have a 'Duplicate Finder' app I can use on my Plugins, it shouldn't matter where the remaining file is, should it?

 I had several files like below that SC4 Dat said were overridden by another file. I deleted these after seeing which one was the latest version.

I am not an expert but my understanding is that the game would take the time to load JENXAIRPORT_Dulles_Apron only to have it overridden by JENXAIRPORT_Dulles.dat so removing JENXAIRPORT_Dulles_Apron has no effect on the game because it isn't using that file anymore.

I had about 30 files like this that I deleted. I would think this would save some load time if you have many files being overridden. Maybe it only saves a few milliseconds per file. In the case below I removed both files with no effect on the game.

 

For your CTD problem have you installed the below: 

SC4 Fix Mod  ***** This stopped a lot of my CTDs when holding onto a menu item and passing over something in a city.

HT_DemandFix

IH_census_10_78_12 

OperaHouse fix 

SaveWarning_Disable_Exit_Quit   ***** This stopped a lot of my CTDs while saving. I use the one that disables the button

 

These all help but I think with the game being so old and heavily Modded that CTDs are something that will never go away.

I have my documents/SC4 folder saved on a flash drive and an external Hard drive just incase a CTD makes a city unrecoverable. 

Try to save and backup often.

I think the game knows when you haven't saved in awhile and throws a CTD out to remind you it is in charge.

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

5 hours ago, atsf189 said:

 I had several files like below that SC4 Dat said were overridden by another file. I deleted these after seeing which one was the latest version.

I am not an expert but my understanding is that the game would take the time to load JENXAIRPORT_Dulles_Apron only to have it overridden by JENXAIRPORT_Dulles.dat so removing JENXAIRPORT_Dulles_Apron has no effect on the game because it isn't using that file anymore.

I had about 30 files like this that I deleted. I would think this would save some load time if you have many files being overridden. Maybe it only saves a few milliseconds per file. In the case below I removed both files with no effect on the game.

 

For your CTD problem have you installed the below: 

SC4 Fix Mod  ***** This stopped a lot of my CTDs when holding onto a menu item and passing over something in a city.

HT_DemandFix

IH_census_10_78_12 

OperaHouse fix 

SaveWarning_Disable_Exit_Quit   ***** This stopped a lot of my CTDs while saving. I use the one that disables the button

 

These all help but I think with the game being so old and heavily Modded that CTDs are something that will never go away.

I have my documents/SC4 folder saved on a flash drive and an external Hard drive just incase a CTD makes a city unrecoverable. 

Try to save and backup often.

I think the game knows when you haven't saved in awhile and throws a CTD out to remind you it is in charge.

Thanks, I do have a vast plugins folder, 60k files and 16gb (and that's after I deleted all duplicate files) so there's always going to be instability. 

I'm considering tidying my folder and DATpacking but for now my CTD while saving problem seems to be under control, thanks to this thread 

 

 

[nombex 26]

looking at dwyrin's sc4 tutorial video i noticed his roads and avenues both have turn lanes (hes using NAM) but i cant figure out why mine dont. hes selecting the regular road and avenue tools. anyone know what this might be or how to get the turn lanes?

[rsc204 21,808]

4 hours ago, nombex said:

i noticed his roads and avenues both have turn lanes (hes using NAM) but i cant figure out why mine dont.

The Auto-Turn lanes are a legacy feature of the NAM, having this happen by default at every intersection actually ended up causing a number of problems, so for Roads these were removed from the NAM at least 10 versions back. The Avenue ones also cause stability issues with various overrides and whilst I think they may still be an option in the installer, they are not there by default anymore.

The legacy road turning lanes can be manually activated if you select the OWR tool and click once in the intersection. However, the vastly better method these days is to use the FTL and QuickTurn features of the NAM, which are compatible not only with Road and Ave, but many of the NWM networks like TLA-3/5/7 AVE-2/6 and more.