(Mod) AMPS Development Thread

[Ulisse Wolf 4,399]

For those who don't know, I released Colossus Addon Mod 2.5 - Release Candidate 2 which introduced substantial changes in the way it interacts with other mods such as AMPS.

First all Maxis Civic and Utility buildings have a new IID permanently blocking the ability to edit Maxis exemplars avoiding bugs like the Pahntom Slider Bug

This Re IID thing allows for better integration with other mods like AMPS and implies that CAM does not have to have a dedicated version of AMPS but just a modification to this mod is enough to have support.

In addition, the CAM project also includes the modification of New_Properties.xml which allows us to integrate other mods into the project such as AMPS

[Simizen 1,088]

@RobertaME I've discovered a gravely missed opportunity regarding the giant nuclear plant

Spoiler

also, I think I found some typos in the manual, but, I'll have to read through it again to figure out what they were (if any)

[Simizen 1,088]

@RobertaME I noticed something interesting regarding some of the power line mods in relation to this mod. I see that you've generally accounted for a few of them, but wondering if they're supposed to act as power plants?

Like, I see some of them where they've got the substations, so, that would make sense that they'd have some power plant functionality to them based on the design of the mod, but I noticed @metarvo's P3 mod seems to share the same query window as that of power plants. Wasn't sure if this was a setting on your end, or Metarvo's regarding the design of either mod.

[crchinoy 0]

Hello! New to the discussion after several years away from the game, having some setup problems with AMPS on a fresh game install and I'm thinking it may be a compatibility problem.

I have my original disc copy of SC4D from 2004 and every few years I get the itch to make it run again. Currently running it on Win11 with SafeDiscShim and the disc mirrored to a CloneCD file due to lack of a built-in ODD. Nothing else installed except the standard Maxis patches and NAM. I saw this project when I went to see what's going on these days on Simtropolis, went "holy crap, I gotta see this!" and downloaded it straight away. Went and installed all the recommended transformers, power co. buildings, so on and so forth, fished out all the dependencies, all is well. Boot up the game, open an empty tile in the starter region, and... I'm not sure how to get started, because I have no advisor news messages whatsoever. Any thoughts as to why that would be?

This looks like an absolutely incredible addition to the game, I'd love to try it out!

[TogaMasterJohn 701]

8 minutes ago, crchinoy said:

Hello! New to the discussion after several years away from the game, having some setup problems with AMPS on a fresh game install and I'm thinking it may be a compatibility problem.

I have my original disc copy of SC4D from 2004 and every few years I get the itch to make it run again. Currently running it on Win11 with SafeDiscShim and the disc mirrored to a CloneCD file due to lack of a built-in ODD. Nothing else installed except the standard Maxis patches and NAM. I saw this project when I went to see what's going on these days on Simtropolis, went "holy crap, I gotta see this!" and downloaded it straight away. Went and installed all the recommended transformers, power co. buildings, so on and so forth, fished out all the dependencies, all is well. Boot up the game, open an empty tile in the starter region, and... I'm not sure how to get started, because I have no advisor news messages whatsoever. Any thoughts as to why that would be?

This looks like an absolutely incredible addition to the game, I'd love to try it out!

Welcome!

I haven't tried the AMPS mod yet, but since you are using the original CD release of SC4D, I would suggest installing the Maxis patches first and see if that helps:

Install the 1.1.638.0 update first:  https://community.simtropolis.com/library/maxis/sc4/patches/UPDATE_SKU1_TO_P1_B638.exe

Then install the 1.1.640.0 update:  https://community.simtropolis.com/library/maxis/sc4/patches/SC4Update4BAT.exe

Also, while ODD emulation may work for the original CD versions of the game with Windows 10 and 11, it's best to consider purchasing and installing the fully patched DRM-free version from GOG instead (right now it's currently on sale for only $4.99 here in the USA) [or use your CD key to claim the digital copy from EA, which should also be fully patched]. This will provide the best experience on modern hardware these days (no hassle with ODD emulation, faster install time, etc.), and it would allow you to use all of the quality-of-life improvement DLL mods.

With the death of official support for most disc-based DRM technologies on Windows 10-11 and the advent of DLL mods, the disc versions are no longer supported by the community.

I personally only use the CD version on legacy/"retro" machines nowadays, mainly whenever I want to experience the game like I did when I was younger (and once I've updated the game to 1.1.640.0, I usually then "upgrade" it to the GOG version).