CoriBoom Better EPIC Screenshot Technique (Pixel Aligned City Pictures)

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

Better Exact Position In City Screenshots Technique (Pixel Aligned City Pictures)
This is useful for before and after pictures as well as a progression series.

I've discovered a previously unknown cheat code in the vanilla game which makes the EPIC technique so much easier. CB and I then worked together to figure out exactly how to control it. (Without his help, I'd've dismissed it as bugged.)

This new tutorial replaces my old one here. I'll use my Farmhouse in Corillion as the sample again, but then the rest will all be new.

Cori's Farmhouse in the Year 884:

 

Cori's Farmhouse in the Year 1924:

^ Click an image and then use the right and left arrow keys to flip between them.

 

Tutorial

If you already have development in your city tile then you can use buildings or roads or such for positioning. For the above I used the Broquard's Cement Plant in the lower right as my guide by noting how much shows and where the edge cuts off part of the silos. (This is for double checking in a later step.)

For this little tutorial, I'll start in an empty tile with a rail line running thru it. First I positioned the world how I want it for later pics. Then I plopped power towers in the lower right so one of them is nearly touching the taskbar and the edge of the game's window border.

 

Next pull up the cheat code box using Ctrl+x. Type in sizeof 200 and press the enter key.

^ Note: There is a space between the sizeof and the 200.

Open the cheat code box again (Ctrl+x). Type in TerrainQuery and press the enter key.

 

Click the Query Tool.

 

Change to the Zones DataView and hover the query tool in the center of the image.

 

Make note of the values for x, y, and z.

If they have a number to the right of the decimal point, include the decimal point and number too. If that's a zero to the right of the decimal point, then you need not worry about it.
 

Using those numbers, type in SetViewTarget CoriSaysGoTo 2120 267 697 and press the enter key. (The numbers are obtained from the above query, ofc.) Also note that there is a space between the SetViewTarget and the CoriSaysGoTo as well as between the Numbers.

 

Zoom out to the size which you started with.

^ Notice the power towers are right where we want them to be and can now be bulldozed. (This is the double checking the position part I mentioned before.)

Do copy that command (the SetViewTarget CoriSaysGoTo 2120 267 697 (with your own numbers, ofc)) to a text file and save that so you have it anytime you want to take a later screenshot which will be perfectly pixel aligned with prior images.

 

Cori Edit Start:

Special Note About Decimal Points in the Coordinates

Let's say you have this instead of a simple one like I showed above:

^ In this case you'd use SetViewTarget CoriSaysGoTo 2116.3 309 1900.1

Cori Edit End.
 

Sample Progression Series

Here are example pics of how this can be used. I'm showing the progression of how I grow a small farming town which has a wee bit of industrial.

Click an image and use your right and left arrow keys to flip between them.

 

 

More Info

Spoiler

You might be wondering about the CoriSaysGoTo part of the cheat code.

As the first passed parameter to the SetViewTarget cheat, it's likely supposed to be an IID for the type of situation or something. I don't know what it's really for so you can also pass x or some gibberish there (without spaces in said gibberish) and it works fine. The key thing is it's a placeholder so the x, y, and z numbers are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th items passed to the code.

Check out the next post where @Cyclone Boom uses this technique to show the expansion of a growing town. He also presents some tips and tricks he discovered while we were testing.

Additionally: Thanks to CB for creating the Banner Pic up top of this thread.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

 

CB's Pixel Aligned City Pictures
Using Cori's BETTER EPIC Method
(And a few other tips.)

Firstly I'll just say (as ever) it was really fun working with Cori on this mini project. The whole idea of this is to make it easy to view a pixel perfect defined part of one's city on screen, by entering the tailored command for any given location. We think this really has usefulness to see city progress over time.

Here was my mission, which I was delighted to accept:

Cori said:

Using the technique which you already know, but also that I'll be writing I'd like you to expand a town in Corillion.

These areas have been sold to developers and it's your job to grow things. Ofc, you'll be making at least two pics for before and after, but it can be more to show the progression:
 

  Preview Pic (Reveal hidden contents)

 

That's at zoom three so it won't be a ton of work and the changes will be easier for peeps to notice. Let's add some industrial (no dirty, but manufacturing or high tech is fine), commercial, and residential. For the res it can be low, medium, or high density and/or a combination thereof.

 

As explained, for my scene I used a tile Cori shared with me in her Corillion region.

Here's the starting location which I obtained using the method, which led me to running the following command:

SetViewTarget CoriSaysGoTo 3225 267 1627

 

So to begin with:
(You can click one of these pics and use your arrow keys to flip between them also.)

 

Firstly I developed to the west of where the main town already was:

 

Then with the other areas developed:

 

And finally for some refinements to resurface part of the dirt roads with superior gravel, and adding precision-planted trees too:

(You might notice other differences too when flicking between, including new apartments developed.)

So the idea is to consider how a town would realistically develop in the real world. Farm land is sold off for housing and other zoning, which leads the town to expand over time. The pics illustrate how this is represented in a sequence, while making sure the viewpoint is exactly positioned. It gives one the freedom to move around and not be bothered about saving in another location or anywhere.

Just running the command again with the coordinates set, it's a simple case of entering this in each time. The ease and simplicity to know how every time it will be the same viewpoint. One can have as many different locations as desired, and it's possible to navigate between any of your choosing, whenever you wish.

 

A Few Tips 

Here's some ideas that might help when going about this method:

• The command does not need the Extra Cheats DLL installed.
  (Link here for reference, but it's not necessary as this command is built into the game.)
   
• With the cheat box open, pressing the Up or Down keys allows the flicking back and forth between prior commands run. Subsequent presses allow additional prior commands to be shown as well, so this way it's possible to pick any of your choosing before running. This can even be done once closing and reopening the cheat box too, as it still remembers them. Even when exiting to region as well, or switching to another region.
   
• When running the command in the cheat box, holding down the Ctrl key when pressing Enter allows the box to remain open. This is convenient if wanting to experiment with the coordinates, to perform fine tuning with framing the picture area.
   
• Commands can be pasted in using Ctrl+V into the cheat box. This saves time needing to type them out individually.
   
• Signposts or labels in game can be used to mark the approximate location of each viewpoint. This can give a rough idea for the coverage area for images in a city, to make sure each area is evenly captured for development pics. (CJers might find this especially useful.)
   
• Experiment with zoom levels and/or rotations, to see what might fit best for a screenshot.
   
• Note down each command into a text file (or spreadsheet even), to make sure you've got a local copy of them all. Make sure to specify what region and city it's for, so then you'll know which is what accordingly.
   
• Each command can be named by adding something descriptive to the 2nd part, which helps keeping track or what each is for.
  See my post here for more info about this.

 

We hope you find this useful!

(Depending on interest, we might open up a SC4 Showcase thread dedicated to BETTER EPIC image sequences.)

[RobertLM78 1,598]

Nice...!  I noticed this issue when i was making the progressive gif last month for the showcase thread.  I might have to go back and apply this technique

 

Spoiler

Cori Edit: I put your GIF in a spoiler because it's likely to be confused with my above tutorial and then peeps would think the method doesn't work.

  Edited May 9, 2021 by CorinaMarie  
Added spoiler for image.

[RobertLM78 1,598]

Huh.  I'm having trouble and I've followed this to a tee.  After querying i set the view to

setviewtarget xyz 21163 2019 19001

and it takes me way off the map, out of bounds, i'm guessing because the screen goes  blank,  then when i move the mouse  a bit the city reappears but the view is way off in the corner.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

46 minutes ago, RobertLM78 said:

setviewtarget xyz 21163 2019 19001

Do you have a screenshot of the Terrain Query where you got those numbers?

It really looks to me like they are missing the decimal point as even a large city tile would have a maximum of 4,096 meters for any of those.

Try:  setviewtarget xyz 2116.3 201.9 1900.1

[RobertLM78 1,598]

10 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Try:  setviewtarget xyz 2116.3 201.9 1900.1

Thanks @CorinaMarie  - I'll give that a shot as soon as i can.  I am probably going to have to break down and buy the GoG version since the Windows XP virtual system is refusing to accept the license bypass (Windows XP licensing system is no longer active so periodically i'd have to enter the rundll.exe syssetup, SetupOobeBnk, but that no longer seems to be working like it should).

So SC4 crashed when i tried to omit the xyz part, then for whatever reason the host's CD wasn't mounted and the the system froze when i went to do that.  After killing the process, i am met with the infinite license loop.

[RobertLM78 1,598]

1 hour ago, RobertLM78 said:

Cori Edit: I put your GIF in a spoiler because it's likely to be confused with my above tutorial and then peeps would think the method doesn't work.

That's fine

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

@RobertLM78

I've edited in more info in my first post (search for Cori Edit) which shows coordinates with decimal places and the command to use.

[RobertLM78 1,598]

Now that i have things running again - although not quite how i would have liked, here's a screenshot of the position:

 

I used decimal points instead, as suggested, and voila.... it worked.  Nice little method this is, it's going to be highly useful.  Thanks Corina and CycloneBloom for your efforts in figuring this out.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Just a little thing we forgot to mention, that might be useful...

With the command syntax being:

SetViewTarget CoriSaysGoTo <x> <y> <z>

For the CoriSaysGoTo part, if reading this far you'll probably know what Cori's Hidden Secret is in her above post.

Considering this fact ( The Secret! ), something that may come in handy is replacing it with any descriptive text. That way when noting down your commands in a list, they can be looked at to realise which does what. The same too when using the Up/Down arrow keys to flick back and forth between prior run commands in the cheat box. By naming this something, you'll recognise what the purpose of a given command is for. This way it makes it easy with knowing which to choose.

It could be a reference name to a particular sign post for instance, and then it associates each for their purpose.

For example:

 

So then I could have the following list (saved to my locally stored text file):

SetViewTarget Location#1 3225 267.0 1627.0
SetViewTarget Location#2 3478 267.7 1522.7
SetViewTarget Location#3 2871 267.0 1734.0
SetViewTarget Location#4 2962 267.8 1392.0
SetViewTarget Location#5 3547 267.7 1971.0

And being able to copy and paste any of these in, which allows Locations #1-5 to be jumped to for that specific area.

Important Note: Just make sure the pink part contains no spaces, or else it'll break the command syntax!

Hope this comes in useful as an additional addendum to our method.

[RobertLM78 1,598]

5 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

So then I could have the following list (saved to my locally stored text file):

This reminds me ...... i seem to remember Sims2 being able to do something akin to bash aliases.  I wonder if there's a way to do that on SC4.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

3 hours ago, RobertLM78 said:

This reminds me ...... i seem to remember Sims2 being able to do something akin to bash aliases.  I wonder if there's a way to do that on SC4.

I wasn't previously aware of this, but after some Googling I have a rough understanding of it for The Sims games and I've not seen anything at all like it in SC4.

[Simizen 1,100]

On 5/10/2021 at 9:00 AM, Cyclone Boom said:

So then I could have the following list (saved to my locally stored text file):

SetViewTarget Location#1 3225 267.0 1627.0
SetViewTarget Location#2 3478 267.7 1522.7
SetViewTarget Location#3 2871 267.0 1734.0
SetViewTarget Location#4 2962 267.8 1392.0
SetViewTarget Location#5 3547 267.7 1971.0

And being able to copy and paste any of these in, which allows Locations #1-5 to be jumped to for that specific area.

Important Note: Just make sure the pink part contains no spaces, or else it'll break the command syntax!

At first I didn't realize what was meant about it being a bug vs feature, so, assumed it was just a weird anomaly.

But looking at this, it seems as though it's an internal command.

Consider if your city catches fire, what happens? The game auto jumps to the location of the fire. Well, how exactly does it do this? It must have a "teleport" function built in. So, it's likely that the game is set to jump to a specific location, by grabbing coordinates, namely of the fire, or other emergency occurring within the city. It likely gives it a temporary name for the disaster, simply so it can identify the exact location, rather than guessing.

I don't know how many times I've accidentally moved away from something like a fire, only to have to click the Go To Disaster button. Also, I think this is possibly used for the various structures within the city. I imagine the game needs to identify schools, hospitals, jails, etc, separately for players to jump to when they select the links in the messages, or the budget. And, I imagine same thing happens with the roads, and Mayor rocks according to block messages.

Basically, my concept if I were programming it would be

void: SetViewTarget pLabel* int x; int y; int z;   //note the void label would likely be different in the code itself

So, in essence the pLabel* and the coordinates, are simply input variables. Whether this is to be used by the player or not is certainly debatable, as Maxis liked the fact that fans would make mods and do various other things with the game, it's certainly possible they allowed for it. But, likely, it was meant as a debug tool for the dev team to test and make sure that particular jump-to function worked correctly.

This may also be why the game records it, even in region view, as they likely kept it up to test it in multiple cities. Especially given that you could have different sizes within the same area. I'm sure there's one in there somewhere that lets you ignite a specific coordinate on fire, given that in the Mayor Mode Tutorials of vanilla and Rush Hour both lit a building on fire. If that's found and used, I imagine it would help to make people's CJ's look way more impressive, as they can then just spawn multiple fires, and take pix as needed to make it look like a wild fire ravaged their town, and show us the after math, and the resulting clean-up, to help give their city more depth and character.

If anyone does/can find anything regarding that, please share that with everyone, I really do think that would be quite useful for lots of people.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,109]

I just used this trick for the first time and that's a wrap! Great idea. Thank you for yet another valuable tool.

TMCSaysThanksEmoji