(Mod) AMPS Development Thread

[CorinaMarie 29,576]

11 minutes ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

Unfortunately, in the process of attempting to grab the link, it seems as though the mod, now no longer exists on the STEX. And, over all, that the creator's page seems to be gone entirely, so, no idea of what to do there.

You can continue to use it for yourself, but the content has indeed been removed. (And the discussion about it is closed.)

[Simizen 1,088]

Understood. I'll leave it be then.

[RobertaME 1,376]

16 hours ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

Way ahead of you on that. I was originally going to test it with a pre-AMPS city, but, during issues with removing another mod (for private schools), I realized that I should probably demolish the plants before I use AMPS. So, luckily the launcher mod lets me pop mods in and out as needed, so, I was able to do that pretty quickly. The city's already a test city itself, so, that's not an issue there. But, after bulldozing the 2 (very large) gas plants I have, that's when I had to replace them with the 100+ peak plants. XD

{snip}

That was the plant that I was using to power the whole city (had 2 cause of the crazy power demand), which was the reason for using the 100+ peak plants. I even demolished the other power structures I had that you also use within your mod, just to make sure that everything's still good. And, since my testing, I've returned it back to normal, and seems to still be working fairly well. So, as long as people demolish the structures first then uses AMPS, they should be good. Mind you, it's not exactly an in-depth test, so it's possible there's a problem with that concept until way further into the game.

It should work doing it that way, but you're right... I have no way of knowing if there will be any long-term problems from implementing AMPS on an existing city. That may be the cause of the issue with your advisor messages not populating, for all I know. That's why it's not recommended. AMPS makes SO MANY changes to things that starting from a fresh city is just the easiest and best way to go. I know it should work right that way!

I do thank you very much for helping with the testing, though! If things work out well for you in the Alpha 2, hopefully the Beta I'll have up soon should work alright as well, with better implementation and fewer bugs. ::fingers crossed::

Hope to get the Beta packaged and up Soon™. :^)

[Simizen 1,088]

Thought I'd provide a quick update to my testing so far. (Note: I still haven't added some of the extra lots and such that's recommended in the manual yet.)

So, I readjusted some of the mods, and while I thought it was the DAMN mod; turns out I was simultaneously right & wrong in that regard. Basically, the main folder was causing issues, but, it seems that there's a file in there called News_Filter.dat, which, I suspect, is the main cause of issues, regarding conflicts with AMPS. And from what I can tell the folder zzzzzz_DAMN_Hidden, which was the part I was thinking was causing trouble, doesn't seem to be the case. Alternatively, it's possible, that the DAMN and AMPS are either affecting the *exact* same line of code, or, that they're using the same identification number, as far as the game's concerned. But, given the file name itself, I simply think it's indirectly affecting AMPS by killing/reducing things.

Anyway, that all said: I did get it to work!

Turns out the message is labeled Tower of Power? lol, certainly an interesting label. But, I do have a question about some of the other messages, mainly the first 2 that pop up from our overloved city planner. What exactly is the timing set to for his messages, in regards to the power plants he mentions? Cause, I went through it a couple times, due to the fact that I was trying to clear them out the way for a moment, and it resulted in another popping up, almost immediately after. I was on turtle speed, so, it's not like the game was flying past. But, I had barely made it through January, when both of his came up, while attempting to read the utilities advisor message. Definitely had to pause it after to avoid issues with other messages popping up too quickly for me. Though, thankfully when I did, I was scrolling through the power menu and saw the requirements for some of the lots and noticed one was going to pop up in a couple months.

Another thing, is the utilities message supposed to show up as a standard news message, or urgent advice? Cause, it shows up as a normal message, but, I was under the impression that it was an UAM. Granted, I simply could have just misunderstood how you made the mod.

Now, onwards to a couple more things. I decided to also use those neat power line mods to add some more detail to my game, and they worked, though, a catch is, that, you'll still need to basically link it up to the power grid, cause, apparently they don't transfer power over the wires. But, thankfully I have the power conduit access, which I plopped underneath. Though, to be fair, I did also check to see if I could drag the power lines through them, but, apparently that doesn't work like I thought. Oh well. (:

This one's for kloudkicker: when you made these lots, did you give them sound? Cause, to me it seemed like there was, though, I did also have some other power lots active at the time. I did demolish the others to focus on these, but, it was hard to tell still. Only asking, cause, I feel like they actually don't make noise in real life? But, I could very well be wrong on that. Never actually stood near one for long enough to find out honestly, usually only here them when they explode.
On a side note, is it possible to give them extra textures to match the SAMs?

And, going back to the messages, I remembered reading through the utilities message, and thinking that some of the links were broken, but, that was not the case. You've got them spaced out, where each word in the "link" was it's own link. Which, I think is absolutely genius. So, I started opening up all the links in the messages, just to see what all I was given.

Though, I noticed an interesting, bug, if you can call it that. When I click on the link for the AMPS office building, it sent me to a transformer lot. For clarification, I do not have the office building installed. So, I figured it would simply be an empty link, like the 940kVA (or MW?) building that the city planner has; but, turns out it jumps you to another lot. I don't know if the lot is chosen at random, or if it's simply pointing to a certain spot in the list, and then just grabbing it's nearest neighbor, but, I thought I'd let you know.

Oh, and one other thing I've noticed during my testing, it seems, even though I removed the DAMN, that it's initial menu is still in the game. I don't know what file is responsible for it, but, as soon as I can figure it out, I'll let you know. Because, that one doesn't seem to interfere with the utilities advisor message at the start of the city. But, as soon as I can figure out the trouble file, I'll definitely update you on it, so that everyone can know what to look out for. Cause, it seems that the DAMN mod can still function, and play well, with the AMPS mod.

Also, for anyone else, who may be using it, or even testing out the AMPS mod alongside having the DAMN mod, etc. I'm using the one from the DAMN Manager Mod, and not technically the original DAMN mod. I don't know if this is maybe causing issues, or, if maybe there's something else going on, but, I figured I'd put that out there, so that we can be on the same page.

[Simizen 1,088]

So, did some more tests, I was right, it does seem to be that file: News_Filter.dat. Removing it lets the messages through, while still allowing for access to the DAMN menus. So, removal of that file is required for anyone wishing to use both mods together. That is, assuming they're using the DAMN Manager variant, like I am. I don't if this will be the case for anyone using the older setup for it.

The larger news window mod has proven useful, not only for DAMN, but, for AMPS as well, when the utilities advisor drops a message. So, I'd add that to the list of preferred mods to use with this one. That way people aren't having to scroll forever to read some of the messages.

I did find a few typos, but, I'll need to run through the mod again a few more times so as to hunt everything down. I know that's not likely to be that high up on the list of necessary fixes, but, thought I'd at least point them out. I don't think they're bad enough to detract from the messages. But, I do advise against trying to read through them at like 5 in the morning when you've already been up for almost 20 hours prior to that. XD

Oh, an interesting discovery in regards to the use of both the DAMN and AMPS mod; turns out, if you move a handful of the unlockables from the utilities list over to the DAMN menu, they become instantly available. So, there does seem to be some kind of override or disconnect with the DAMN mod. I only found this out, cause, I was aiming to reduce my insanely long lists in the default menus so i wouldn't have to scroll forever looking for things.

I am, however, curious about the triggers for the UAD's, as, when I get far enough along, I end up having about 3 or 4 pop up in a row (I'm on turtle speed most times when this happens), and, after reading up on one and being ready to try and place a building, another one pops up, immediately after, forcing me to read that to understand what's going on. The immediate pop ups, also prevent me from checking if the building I'm attempting to place, even exists in my version of the game.

My only other concern regarding the UADs, is that it's always the city planner popping up. And, reading through many of the messages, you've done well with giving him some personality, and I don't want to lose that. But, I was rather hoping for the utilities advisor to be used more given that the default game, just doesn't really utilize the other advisors all that often.

I did, however, manage to unlock the default oil plant finally, though, I feel that may have unlocked sooner than it should have, so, I don't know if that was the game's default requirements being reached, or if I truly met the requirements for the AMPS mod. But, sadly, I still don't have a base load power plant within my city. So, I'll definitely need to run through the list in the manual to get the rest of the buildings. XD

[RobertaME 1,376]

On 6/1/2021 at 9:23 PM, Ryuu Tenno said:

What exactly is the timing set to for his messages, in regards to the power plants he mentions? Cause, I went through it a couple times, due to the fact that I was trying to clear them out the way for a moment, and it resulted in another popping up, almost immediately after. I was on turtle speed, so, it's not like the game was flying past. But, I had barely made it through January, when both of his came up, while attempting to read the utilities advisor message.

Thanks for the great testing! You don't miss much! In regards to when messages pop, it's whenever the player unlocks a new power facility type they've never gotten before. Often, based on exactly how many prerequisites are fulfilled in the same month, you'll trigger multiple facilities at the same time. Since the game only checks conditional building availability on or around the 28th of each month, any that have had their requirements unlocked since the last 28th will unlock at the same time. For example, if you put down a bunch of transformers in the first month, when the next 28th rolls around you may unlock one or more distribution substations. Same with putting down multiple substations... you may unlock one or more power plants or transmission stations in the same month. I'll see if I can note this somewhere in the documentation so it doesn't come as a surprise to new users.

On 6/4/2021 at 12:51 PM, Ryuu Tenno said:

I was rather hoping for the utilities advisor to be used more given that the default game, just doesn't really utilize the other advisors all that often.

I did give many of the new dialogs to the city planner. Mostly this is because he's the advisor that is called on to tell you about conditional buildings as default by Maxis. For example, in the vanilla game, when you unlock the solar power plant, the city planner is the advisor that notifies you of it. That was the way Maxis wrote it, so I just followed the same pattern. I DID give the Utilities advisor a few new dialogs, as appropriate, plus changed many of the ones he already had to reflect the changes in the power system. Beyond that, you're right... Sparks doesn't have many advice dialogs, which leaves his personality a little flat. I tried to help that with the city planner dialogs, giving Jonas Sparks a bit more personality through what you learn about him from the city planner. Same with a few others like the Finance and Environmental Advisors... but remembering that each is colored by the opinion of the person talking about them. I felt this made for a more organic way of learning about them because it's how most people learn about others in real life... through the people that know them more than by personal interaction.

Update:

I've been trying to get the Beta version ready for release, but with the in-laws here every day and my son's graduation ceremony coming up next weekend, I barely had time to write this post! Now I need to get some sleep so I can be up at 8 tomorrow to take a 30-mile trip to see my mother and have the boys help her move some furniture. Hopefully, once the grad ceremony is done and the in-laws are on their way back east to go home I can gave the time I need to finish packaging up the Beta and get it posted.

One of the things I've done in the Beta is reorganize the file structure. Instead of the one used in the Alpha 2, an entirely new structure is in place:

As can be seen, everything is changed based on the revised code tables. I've also consolidated all LTEXT files into a single AMPS_Language_Files_{language}.dat file. This way all a user has to do to switch AMPS to a new language is replace the English file with a new dat file in their preferred language... once I get some volunteers to go over a few thousand (yes, a few THOUSAND) LTEXT files and translate them! The AMPS_Core_Files.dat contains the LUA package 0BB35100, my main program code that defines all the new tables, variables, constants, and program calls that makes AMPS work, along with the new _constants.lua file that, for the time being, is what allows real-time tracking of what buildings you have in your city. Eventually, this second part will be replaced by the code concept that @CorinaMarie came up with that does the same thing without overriding the original. (one thing at a time, though!)

At any rate, I hope this shows that AMPS is still moving forward, albeit at a snail's pace at the moment... but that's better than none at all, right? ;^)

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. I may take a bit to get back to you, but I WILL reply... eventually! :^Þ

[Propfam 2,286]

25 minutes ago, RobertaME said:

I've also consolidated all LTEXT files into a single AMPS_Language_Files_{language}.dat file.

Nice to see someone follow the good modding practices! Make sure to recheck if there are elements that aren't using LTEXT.

I hope you'll release the beta soon!

[RobertaME 1,376]

4 minutes ago, chfzdn said:

Nice to see someone follow the good modding practices! Make sure to recheck if there are elements that aren't using LTEXT.

I hope you'll release the beta soon!

The way I structured all the files in AMPS, every user-visible entry is a reference to an LTEXT file. I knew that if I got this project all the way to completion that some people might want it in other languages, so I made certain it could be translated without too much fuss. The main problem will be getting someone that's bilingual and willing to translate thousands of LTEXT files. It was a ton of work just getting them written the first time, let alone doing it again in several languages. (I could try my hand at a German translation, that's the only language I know other than English, but it would end up sounding like it was written by a 5 year old because my German is so bad!)

I won't have the time needed to finish the Beta until AFTER next weekend when my son gets his diploma. Hopefully though I should have it up before the end of the month... no promises though! Thanks for the interest! Glad to know that people are still interested after so many delays in the project. Between Hard Drive crashes, my youngest son's graduation, and the visiting in-laws, I was afraid people would have lost interest and moved on to other more active projects. It's KILLING me that I haven't gotten this done yet! It nags in the back of my head every day!

Thanks to everyone for your patience and continued interest. :^)

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

Hoping all went well with your sons graduation, @RobertaME.

Just a little update on some recent testing... 
When I was notified that I could build the 30MWh oil power plant and clicked on the text link, I was given the 4.5MW oil plant for placing instead. Had to plop it to find out, thinking it looked too small for a 30MW.
Other than that, all is going well. Just working on the budget has been the challenge. That's nothing new though.  

 

[RobertaME 1,376]

4 hours ago, Kloudkicker said:

Hoping all went well with your sons graduation, @RobertaME.

Just a little update on some recent testing... 
When I was notified that I could build the 30MWh oil power plant and clicked on the text link, I was given the 4.5MW oil plant for placing instead. Had to plop it to find out, thinking it looked too small for a 30MW.
Other than that, all is going well. Just working on the budget has been the challenge. That's nothing new though.  

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll check into it.

My son's commencement went perfectly! The party afterward was a lot of fun, too. Of course, I still got a head cold from the party, but it'll pass. I'll try and get teh Beta packaged up and uploaded by the end of next week. ::fingers crossed::

[Simizen 1,088]

Discovered a fun issue with the mod. Not a bug though, it's due to the way some other mods work.

Turns out, CAM and SPAM, can cause you to miss out on the smaller 180kW generator. This is due to your city population reaching the 10k limit, sooner than you should. Essentially, what happens is, when most people are expecting to hit 10k residents, before losing the 180kW generator, they can end up losing it considerably sooner.

Last night I was running a test city (added the rest of the power grid structures and had a few others in the mix that I haven't used yet; and looking at some of @CorinaMarie's farm pics I had some ideas that would work well with AMPS), and found that even though I had a population of about 380, I could only have a single 180kW generator. Hovering over the generator shows the requirements, but, as seen in the image, I'm nowhere near it, even though it says that I've got about 18k people.

If you were to add up the numbers from the chart, it's totaled to around 8-9k, which is far short of the number as shown in the tool tip. However, I must also point out, that I most likely have a mod that's interfering with that number. Aside from being dumb enough to run CAM and SPAM at once (a file was left in when I thought I had removed it, so, SPAM's running at full force here), I also downloaded a mod from @rsc204 I believe, who set up a job limiter for someone to use (in another thread), to reduce the amount of workers on the farms to about 1 worker per tile. At least, according to my understanding of the comment in that thread. So, because of this, it could very well be reporting the numbers that CAM + SPAM are supposed to be reporting, rather than what the limiter is allowing; which would explain the lower actual population of 3k as seen in the pic.

That all said, it's still quite possible that I've exceeded the kVA requirements, which would make this whole thing virtually pointless. But, seeing as it's reporting 0kVA capacity, it could very well be the population requirements have been exceeded. Or there really could be a bug, but, this I doubt.

Only wanted to post this, more as a general heads up, rather than a bug report, simply because people like to use CAM and SPAM (and even sometimes together when they know what they're doing; of which I don't it seems, lol). I don't want people to grab this mod and combine with either one and think that there's something inherently wrong with the mod, when it may simply be an issue with multiple mods running at once. I'll definitely need to run this in vanilla again at some point and double check that it's strictly my funky mod setup, and not a full on bug.

[TogaMasterJohn 701]

Ah! I have been meaning to comment on this thread to see how this mod is coming along for the past couple of weeks but alas I kept forgetting to do so! I've been following this for quite some time now.

Anyways, I haven't tested this mod yet (it looks really cool and I like the premise!), but I use SPAM to replace the vanilla Maxis farms. It makes me wonder if there might be a workaround or a fix for this issue.
 

In the mean time I'd probably play around with this mod on a different machine. 

[Simizen 1,088]

I imagine there is. @RobertaME most likely knows where to fix it in the mod. But, I'm sure there's also limits, given that CAM and SPAM each affect parts of the game differently. So, there may need to be a separate patch made for each for anything that AMPS itself just cannot fix on it's own.

That said, if my observation for how it works seems like an issue, I see nothing wrong with you testing it out with SPAM on it's own to see if what I've posted is true. I doubt extra eyes would hurt for the project. I've just got a lot of stuff going on in my plugins folder that I'd have to sort out what mods are doing what. So, I'll probably be posting an update for what CAM does with AMPS later, as well as my observations with SPAM and AMPS. And, probably IRM and AMPS, but, I doubt there's any kind of issues from both of these coexisting.

Up to you of course, though, I hope you enjoy the mod when you check it out. Just, keep in mind, you'll want a good chunk of the list of mods in the file, along with the list of dependencies for them, cause otherwise it won't work all that much.

 

Side Note:

I should probably have been leaving in all my posts regarding the tests: I've been playing on easy mode the whole time. Though, to be fair, I actually meant to play on one of the higher levels this recent test, but, I forgot to change the difficulty before starting.

[Geechan 9]

Hi - huge fan of this mod! I always thought the utilities in SC4 were very lacking given the complexity of the rest of the game (and I even feel SC3000 did it better when it came to vanilla utility management). You've modified the power system in such an extensive way that is very impressive, educational, and fun to play around with. Even the alpha version 2 build is very stable in my game so far.

I haven't seen an update to this thread in over a year from you - including a lack of a beta build despite the earlier teaser - so I hope things are still in development! This is truly a groundbreaking mod and something that deserves a lot more attention from the community.

[Simizen 1,088]

So, I know it's been a while since anything's been updated, but, I've had a few things I've discovered that I wanted to share. But, first...

I know real life stuff takes priority, and that it's taken our wonderful mod creator out of the loop for a while. I'm really hoping everything's going well for you @RobertaME, and that you're not over worked, or overwhelmed.

So, I've been going through work to reset my SC4 game, due to getting a new hard drive and reorganizing everything, so, now it's on an SSD, and the rest of my games are on a brand new external drive, so, now i've got a ton more space for everything. With this, I've been running through things, to test out a handful of mods and see how things work with each other. My current setup is a handful of general mods, NAM and AMPS, but, no CAM or SPAM (there's a ton of stuff I'd have to go through to figure out what my plans with those are). Originally I wasn't really aiming to add AMPS, just cause of the work involved, but, then I was exploring some of the mods that I had installed, and they all needed various dependencies, and then it lead into me reinstalling AMPS, .

But, a few things here:

1: one particular mod I have is 'Old Time Power Plants - jestarr Boilerhouses' by CT14, and, I realized that these would be great for some smaller power plants to have in the mod. I'm aware that there's quite a bit of work involved with getting AMPS to work with this mod properly, but, I figured it'd be something neat to have added into it. (This was the mod that inevitably lead into AMPS's reinstallation, )

2: I found a typo. lol, kinda nitpicky i'm sure, but, figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and knock out everything I can find.

3: discovered another bug! Turns out, when the Utility Advisor pops up with his message, when you select the "Front Office" link, it just auto selects a lot, even if you've got it installed, so, dunno know what's going on there. Alternatively, this is just a general SC4 bug, in which all the links would default to a small generator lot, regardless of which one you click, but, I don't think that's the case, but, it's very hard to tell. I'll be doing some more testing on this later, and update accordingly.

I've been trying to go back through, and reread this thread, but, man is it a lot!! It's going to take some time for me to go back through, especially since I'm trying to double check on some concepts to see what's been done and what hasn't.

Unfortunately, I've been finding that I still don't have some of the mods that are in the AMPS recommended list, so, some of the links I'm selecting (like the above 945 kW container), doesn't exist for me sadly. So, it's still going to be a little bit of work for me to get everything together, and run down the list of bugs (if any) associated with this.

I do have some good/fun/interesting news about it though: So, when I started my city, I had built it up with a couple small zones, a dirt road (courtesy of NAM ), and the default power plant. I was originally aiming to follow @Lucario Boricua's power grid idea with power lines in a region (which I still plan to do), when I went over to AMPS. I decided to remove the power grid that I did have in place, and pop in AMPS to see how things go, and thankfully, due it still being in the super early stages (read, simulator had not yet been unpaused since I first established the city), all the AMPS starting dialogs were able to pop up, even though I had stuff established for it to potentially cause interference. So, as long as you haven't fully started your city, installing AMPS will work well. However, I don't know what'll happen when someone attempts to do this in a prebuilt region, but, I'd imagine they'd have to go through the painstaking process of demolishing the power grid in the established cities, if they're intent on utilizing this mod in a fresh tile in a prebuilt region they've been working on.

There is a question I'd like to ask, but, I'm still working out what to ask exactly.

In other news regarding this mod, I've had a few other ideas, and one I'm really hoping to see get sorted out soon, because, if it works the way I'd like, I think it'll fix a ton of problems for everyone playing the game (not just the mod, but, it'll be a helluva boost for it). Primarily it's got to do with the menus, . Otherwise, I've been thinking of doing a couple test lots with the mod to see if I could potentially add a couple extra things to it. They're not going to be required of course, but, some optional lots that some players may enjoy having (if nothing else, I'll enjoy having them in my game ).

Anyway, I certainly hope you've been doing well @RobertaME! If nothing else, I'm sure we can get a general update from @Kloudkicker

 

Note: I'll probably be making another post later with some more info on things as I continue my testing

[RobertaME 1,376]

Hello to all still following this thread.

First of all, I want to apologize for just disappearing the way I did. I know it's been almost 3 years since I last was here and over 3 years since I last worked on AMPS. Something happened IRL that put me off continuing the work.

Namely, my brother @Skyroguen who commented upthread and played SC4 with me ever since it first came out died of a sudden stroke.

After that, I lost all interest in the game. Even thinking about finishing AMPS just made me sad knowing he wasn't here to see it through and able to play with the finished product.

He always believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. He thought I could do anything and pushed me to be everything I was capable of being. I've thought of this project often over the past years and always felt bad that I couldn't bring myself to return to it. I'm finally in a place where I want to finish it, for him. I want to dedicate it to him knowing he was jazzed to see it complete. Even more though, I want to finish it for the community... to apologize for just dropping it the way I did with not a word.

@Ryuu Tenno, @Kloudkicker, @CorinaMarie, @Simmer2, @rivit, @Whte_rbt, and all the others that contributed to this project... you deserved better than silence. I just couldn't. It was too hard. I am so sorry! I know some of those people haven't been here for years now and may never know why I just vanished. Please forgive me.

So... I have no idea if anyone still wants this mod done... and I have to retrain myself in all the things I pushed out of my mind that made this all possible, but I know I have to try. John would want me to finish what we started. I'll post again soon after I look over my last work and try to get back up to speed with where I left things. I remember that I was pretty close to putting up a Beta version, but I'll need to work out what still needs done.

See you all soon.

[RobertaME 1,376]

OK, it looks like I was in the middle of integrating @Kloudkicker's Power Company Central Office, Research Facility, and Corporate HQ when I stopped development. I've managed to add the Central Office and have the other two left to go. (it's taken me the better part of a day to even remember what an Exemplar is and how TGI works)

No promises on when the Beta version will be out... I have a lot to try and remember. (luckily I put LOTS of comments in the LUA file so it's fairly easy to figure out what each line does) After I get the Power Company lots integrated I'll test it in game and see what's left to finish/fix and let everyone know where things are at.

@Ryuu Tenno: I fixed the spelling error you pointed out. Thanks!

Regarding the issue with City Population and the 180 kW Natural Gas Generator, the Beta version handles that slightly differently. It now uses game.g_city_r_population instead of game.g_city_rci_population. Not sure why it was still off by so much, but it's likely due to the SPAM and how it changes Industrial population, so with the fix to only reading Residential population it shouldn't be an issue anymore.

I'll check back in soon. Comments and suggestions are of course, welcome.

[Ducio 285]

Just as someone who's been watching this from the side, welcome back! So sorry for your loss. I like to think that the people who pass on would want us to continue with hobbies that we enjoyed together. I never have expectations on modders or batters here, it's just nice and so great that people share their work with others. So, there's no pressure! We're on our own timelines. Just happy to see you continue with this and hope SC4 can still bring you a lot of joy again in the future!

[Ulisse Wolf 4,399]

It is nice that the development of the mod has resumed. At this time me and @Null 45 were developing a version of the mod taking advantage of the new development of the Mod DLLs. There are some limitations in when we cannot add more power plant classes causing a corruption of the memory and consequently the save.  But anyway we are trying to interpret the LUA code and then write the Mod DLL and consequently add more functionality. If you have time we could use some help in interpreting the LUA code so we can write the DLL Mod

[RobertaME 1,376]

5 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

If you have time we could use some help in interpreting the LUA code so we can write the DLL Mod

The LUA is fully commented and explains each line. You're free to examine the code and comments when I release the Beta and use it in your project, so long as it's properly attributed to myself, my brother John, and CorinaMarie. (the three people that worked on the LUA code)

Unfortunately I have no motivation to work on DLL projects as I have the CD 1.1.640 version of the game and thus am unable to run DLL mods. I'm also unwilling to pay for my game yet again and have to go through the hassle of uninstalling it and reinstalling a new version for the privilege. There simply aren't enough benefits for the trouble.

@Ducio: Thank you for your condolences. I wanted to return and finish what my brother and I started, but for a long time it was just too hard to move on and face it without him. In the end though, you're right... John would want me to finish it... which is why I'm here. I'm doing this for him... and now Cori since she can't be here.

I have @Kloudkicker's Power Company Research Facility integrated. All I have left is his Corporate Headquarters and I'll be ready to test. Hopefully I'll have results tomorrow.

Comments and thoughts welcome, as always.

[RobertaME 1,376]

Update:

I finished integrating @Kloudkicker's Power Company buildings into the Beta version and ran a test, only for it to crash to desktop.

It seems I was also in the middle of converting all the Global Variables over to Variable Tables and stopped in the middle of the process. I only have about 22 more variables to change and once done all of the AMPS variables will be contained in one of several tables:

generator_hex_id = Instance numbers for all Generators (3 variables)
transformer_hex_id = Instance numbers for all Transformers (23 variables)
dist_substation_hex_id = Instance numbers for all Distribution Substations (9 variables)
transmission_station_hex_id = Instance numbers for all Transmission Substations (9 variables)
elec_feature_hex_id = Instance numbers for all Electrical Features (6 variables)
power_plant_hex_id = Instance numbers for all Power Plants (33 variables)
amps_building_hex_id = Instance numbers for all AMPS Facilities (7 variables)

kva_rating = Value of each item's kVA rating (446 variables)
mwh_rating = Value of each item's MWh  rating (464 variables)
power_storage_stacks = Number of power storage units in each  Electrical Feature (16 variables)
amps_building_costs_monthly = Funds each unit costs per month (512 variables)
unlock_variables = Values defining each unit's unlock requirements (63 variables)
company_name = Names assigned to each Content Creator supported by AMPS in the form of a business name (64 variables, 29 used)
grid_logic_var = All internal calculation variables (221 variables, 22 incomplete)

The only AMPS variable not assigned to a table is POWER_COMPANY_NAME which is set to "Allied Municipal Power". (used in some advisor messages)

Once I have these last 22 variables fully moved over I can test again. ::cross fingers::

Comments and thoughts welcome, as always.

[RobertaME 1,376]

After working through the rest of the Global Variables I had a few issues with remembering how to do a proper Override Exemplar and had to re-do @Kloudkicker's Power Company Central Office, Research Facility, and Corporate HQ to get them to properly show up as AMPS buildings, but... I got it and the game seems stable with the current Beta build!

Here's a preview of the current Query for the AMPS Front Office:

All the data looks good and is reporting properly now. I only have a few bits of cleanup to do (mostly removing debugging code from some of the Queries and Advisor Messages) and I will be ready to post the Beta Release to the STEX! I also went over the various LTEXT entries and ran them through a spell and grammar check, so hopefully I've squashed THAT bug too!

One thing of note: The Load Balance code is still not running properly. It's supposed to be using one of the unused Ordinance routines to impose an invisible power increase on the city when you don't have enough Peak Load coverage so you get rolling blackouts... but so far I can't seem to get the game to recognize it. I may have to use the Power Conservation Ordinance to make it work, which means people would lose the ability to use that ordinance to reduce power consumption. :-/ I still have a few things left to try before I give up and make load enforcement part of AMPS... one way or the other. (if I can even get THAT to work)

Hopefully I should have the first Beta version up later today, but no promises! (so close!)

[Null 45 3,020]

5 hours ago, RobertaME said:

It's supposed to be using one of the unused Ordinance routines to impose an invisible power increase on the city when you don't have enough Peak Load coverage so you get rolling blackouts... but so far I can't seem to get the game to recognize it.

Which unused ordinance are you using?

[RobertaME 1,376]

THE BETA RELEASE IS NOW LIVE!

WARNING TO ALPHA-2 VERSION USERS! YOU MUST BULLDOZE ALL POWER LOTS IN YOUR CITIES BEFORE UNINSTALLING THE ALPHA-2 AND INSTALLING THE BETA! FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN CORRUPTED SAVE GAMES!

If there are any questions or issues with the Beta version, please post it here.

1 hour ago, Null 45 said:

Which unused ordinance are you using?

I've been trying different ones, some just causing a CTD, but I don't know if that's an issue with my code or with the Ordinance. (no discernible pattern) Now that the Beta is up on the STEX, I'll be posting more on this part of the mod.

[AsimPika3172 1,129]

That's was awesome!

[Simizen 1,088]

So.... a thought about the bug: it's possible you could get the ordinance to work as intended, but I've read one of your previous posts, and you've stated you don't currently have the 641 version of the game, which I feel would be the solution.

Basically, the way stuff's setup right now, essentially everyone else with the digital, update version, can likely run with a working hidden ordinance due to the DLL modding, but that just means you won't be able to, unless you get the updated version.

Not saying you have to update to it of course, just that it may be the only real solution without creating a convoluted work around for it. If you do however opt to go for the updated version, I suggest the GOG release as it's not tied to either Steam or EA (that is, if you have issues with those).

Sadly, it's been a hot minute since I've messed around with it, cause I've had to reset a good chunk of my game to work out how I want to properly play the game, and opted for a mostly Vanilla play through to sort that out. That said, I've greatly missed using AMPS cause I have managed to create an instinct to start small with the power generation and work up to bigger and better. I'll definitely have to see what all I can do with the new Beta version and see how that goes for sure.

And I'm glad to see you've returned, and I'm very sorry for your loss, but I totally get the silence that resulted from it. Something like that can take quite a toll on you.

And iirc, the Submenu mod that's currently in the works, will fix a ton of problems regarding AMPS and it's rewards while being organized. Pretty much, it renders the whole DAMN/DAMN Manager issues moot since it allows for sorting everything into appropriate groups, and I believe retains the reward status in them. Though, I may need some clarification on that part, but my understanding was they ran into a bug with that for a bit, but then fixed it. Though if it's still around, it may just be they stick around in the main list. Point is, stuff won't be so crowded in the Power menu now, lol.

Anyway, looking forward to the next part of the project, whatever that may be! Been loving it so far!

[RobertaME 1,376]

2 hours ago, AsimPika3172 said:

That's was awesome!

Thanks! I'd love it if you try it out and let me know if you see any issues or problems with the mod. I've only tested it on my own build, so I want to know if there are any issues with other mods I don't use. (or just know if I missed something in the finalization, even spelling or grammar errors)

2 hours ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

So.... a thought about the bug: it's possible you could get the ordinance to work as intended, but I've read one of your previous posts, and you've stated you don't currently have the 641 version of the game, which I feel would be the solution.

Quite probably a DLL could fix the issue without even too much difficulty, and I read the debates on why it was chosen that the 640 was not to be supported... and I agree. It makes no sense to double the work for a small fraction of the player base. I also agree that the GOG release is the best way to get the 641 version as it has no DRM and is dirt cheep.

That having been said, I'm not likely to get it. It's not the cost since you can usually get SC4 on GOG for $5, but the hassle of pulling out all my mods, uninstalling the 640 version, then installing the 641 and putting all my mods back and getting everything back the way I like it.

Essentially, "if it ain't broke.."

I'll post up my work on the Load Balancing portion soon so other people can get a look under the hood. Maybe someone can see something I missed. :-) In the mean time the Beta version is working perfectly on my install doing everything it's supposed to do except cause brownouts. Once I get that squared away AMPS will be ready for final release and then expanded to include all the new lot suggestions people provided up-thread like @Simmer2's Gideon Power Plant, hydroelectric plants, new variants of the Power Company buildings, and anything that anyone else comes up with!

Thanks for the condolences. It was hard coming back to finish this without John, but I just had to try. There's a commemoration for him and @CorinaMarie in the mod, as well as thanks for all the people that helped make this possible. (including you!)

As for the Submenu mod, since it's a DLL mod I can't use it and I'd rather AMPS be open for even 640 version users like myself if it's at all possible. Don't get me wrong, I still agree that not supporting the 640 version was the right call for DLL mods, but If I can do the job without it, I'd rather try that first. Besides, the way I've organized the Power menu makes finding things extremely easy even without sub-menus. (though people are more than welcome to make a sub-menu friendly version of AMPS so long as it follows the CC BY-NC-SA License)

[Null 45 3,020]

1 hour ago, RobertaME said:

Quite probably a DLL could fix the issue without even too much difficulty, and I read the debates on why it was chosen that the 640 was not to be supported... and I agree. It makes no sense to double the work for a small fraction of the player base.

Some DLL mods will work on 640 and earlier, the ones that require 641 (e.g. my Allow More Building Styles DLL, and memo's Submenu DLL) are doing advanced things like rewriting parts of the game code in-memory. The fact that 640 executable is encrypted on disk makes finding the correct parts of the game code to patch very difficult to impossible.

Adding a new ordinance is something that should work on 640, but I don't have the ability to test it. I did a bit of digging and it looks like the game may support the hidden ordinances that @Ryuu Tenno mentioned, but I haven't tested it. A hidden ordinance would not appear in the budget dialog's ordinance window, but it could be turned on or off by a LUA script.

Sorry for your loss.

[RobertaME 1,376]

2 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

Sorry for your loss.

Thank you. It's very much appreciated.

3 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

Adding a new ordinance is something that should work on 640

So I was following the logic of my Load Balancing routine and I realized why it was causing CTDs... and it's not good.

The main routine to determine if you are short of power is as follows:

    grid_logic_var.MIN_P_POWER         = (math.floor((game.trend_value(game_trends.G_POWER_CONSUMED,0) * grid_logic_var.P_MPERCENT)+1)) -- At least 20% of consumption MUST come from Peak Load power plants, rounded up to the next whole number
    grid_logic_var.MAX_I_POWER         = (math.floor(game.trend_value(game_trends.G_POWER_CONSUMED,0) * grid_logic_var.I_MPERCENT)) -- No more than 40% of consumption can come from Intermediate Load power plants, rounded down to the previous whole number
    grid_logic_var.USED_I_POWER        = (math.min(grid_logic_var.MAX_I_POWER,grid_logic_var.ALL_I_POWER)) -- The amount of Intermediate power used is equal to the maximum I power alloawable or all I Power produced, whichever is less
    grid_logic_var.UNUSED_I_POWER      = (math.floor((grid_logic_var.ALL_I_POWER - grid_logic_var.USED_I_POWER)+0.5)) -- The Intermediate Power Produced that cannot be used or sold, rounded off to the nearest whole number
    grid_logic_var.MAX_B_POWER_A       = (game.trend_value(game_trends.G_POWER_CONSUMED,0) * grid_logic_var.B_MPERCENT) -- No more than 60% of consumption can come from Base Load power plants
    grid_logic_var.MAX_B_POWER_B       = (game.trend_value(game_trends.G_POWER_CONSUMED,0) - (grid_logic_var.MIN_P_POWER + grid_logic_var.USED_I_POWER)) -- Power consumed minus the sum of Intermediate power you are using and the minimum Peak power you MUST use
    grid_logic_var.MAX_B_POWER         = (math.floor(math.min(grid_logic_var.MAX_B_POWER_A,grid_logic_var.MAX_B_POWER_B))) -- The maximum Base Load power equals 60% consumed or the previous factor, whichever is less, rounded down to the previous whole number
    grid_logic_var.USED_B_POWER        = (math.min(grid_logic_var.MAX_B_POWER,grid_logic_var.ALL_B_POWER)) -- Base Power used equals the maximum Base power allowed or all B power produced, whichever is less
    grid_logic_var.UNUSED_B_POWER      = (math.floor((grid_logic_var.ALL_B_POWER - grid_logic_var.USED_B_POWER)+0.5)) -- The Base Power Produced that cannot be used or sold, rounded off to the nearest whole number
    grid_logic_var.USED_P_POWER_A      = (game.trend_value(game_trends.G_POWER_CONSUMED,0) - (grid_logic_var.USED_I_POWER + grid_logic_var.USED_B_POWER)) -- Power Consumed minus the sum of Intermediate and Base Power Used
    grid_logic_var.USED_P_POWER_B      = (math.max(grid_logic_var.USED_P_POWER_A,grid_logic_var.MIN_P_POWER)) -- The greater of the reamining power needed or the minimum Peak power required
    grid_logic_var.USED_P_POWER        = (math.min(grid_logic_var.USED_P_POWER_B,grid_logic_var.ALL_P_POWER)) -- Peak power used equals Power needed or all Peak power produced, whichever is less
    grid_logic_var.UNUSED_P_POWER      = (math.floor((grid_logic_var.ALL_P_POWER - grid_logic_var.USED_P_POWER)+0.5)) -- Peak Power Produced that is not being used and can be sold, rounded off to the nearest whole number
    grid_logic_var.SHORT_P_POWER       = (math.max(grid_logic_var.MIN_P_POWER - grid_logic_var.USED_P_POWER,0)) -- Peak Power Shortage equals Peak minnimum required minus Peak used (positive integer only)

The variable grid_logic_var.SHORT_P_POWER is the number of MWh you're short which was being used to increase the percent of power consumed via an unused ordinance proportional to the shortfall. All well and good until you consider that the MIN_P_POWER, MAX_I_POWER, MAX_B_POWER_A, MAX_B_POWER_B, and USED_P_POWER_A variables are all determined from game.trend_value(game_trends.G_POWER_CONSUMED,0) that SHORT_P_POWER is modifying to cause brownouts... so every cycle of the simulation was taking the shortfall, increasing G_POWER_CONSUMED which the routine saw as an even LARGER increase in power demand, increasing SHORT_P_POWER more to account for the larger demand... which increased G_POWER_CONSUMED etc. etc. etc. until the values overflowed and you get a CTD. The times it wasn't crashing is when there was no shortfall and I never let the simulation run until there was one.

In other words, I was creating a logic loop that created ever increasing power demand until the registers overflowed and sent the whole thing crashing down.

Unless I can find an alternate way to read the current power demand before it's affected by ordinances, there's no way to force brownouts. I'm going to have to go back to square 1 on this part. :-/

[Null 45 3,020]

46 minutes ago, RobertaME said:

Unless I can find an alternate way to read the current power demand before it's affected by ordinances, there's no way to force brownouts. I'm going to have to go back to square 1 on this part. :-/

I was just looking at the Mac disassembly of the cSC4PowerSimulator class, and I don't think there is any easy way to do that. The game applies the ordinance modifications to the monthly consumption value, and doesn't provide a way to get the original value.