Will subfolders in Plugins affect performance?

[Pakistani890 122]

Ok my plugin folder is getting a big mess and i wanted to ask something if i make folders for organizing my plugin's will it effect my plugin's or give my brown boxes or something like that??

[catty-cb 4,412]

My plugins folder looks like this

If you do get brown boxes then its because something is missing, but having said that I never get rid of dependencies which is why that folder has 541 items and is 2.1 GB in size

-catty

[TheMurderousCricket 5,112]

3 hours ago, Pakistani890 said:

Ok my plugin folder is getting a big mess and i wanted to ask something if i make folders for organizing my plugin's will it effect my plugin's or give my brown boxes or something like that??

You can make as many sub-folders as you like. It will not affect the functionality of any of your plugins. 

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @TheMurderousCricket thx so can i make folders and sub folders to organize my plugin's folder and i WILL NOT get any BROWN BOXES right?

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @catty-cb thx your plugin's folders look's amazingly organized so after organizing yur folder did u get any brown boxes or stuff like that

[TheMurderousCricket 5,112]

9 minutes ago, Pakistani890 said:

hey @TheMurderousCricket thx so can i make folders and sub folders to organize my plugin's folder and i WILL NOT get any BROWN BOXES right?

Exactly!  

If you spend some more time browsing through the files offered here, you'll notice that some content creators explicitly recommend respecting their folder structure rather than unpacking all files loose.

Just to reiterate on @catty-cb's point - if you experience brown boxes it is due to a missing dependency and not the way you organize your files. 

[Pakistani890 122]

1 hour ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Exactly!  

If you spend some more time browsing through the files offered here, you'll notice that some content creators explicitly recommend respecting their folder structure rather than unpacking all files loose.

Just to reiterate on @catty-cb's point - if you experience brown boxes it is due to a missing dependency and not the way you organize your files. 

Ahhhhhhh OK  Thx so basically this is how my plugin's folder looks:

 

And this is my plugin folder size:

[twalsh102 1,601]

For the most part, there is no right or wrong way to organize your Plugins folder, except maybe having no organization at all. The primary purpose of organizing is to make it easier for you to see what exactly you already have, so that you don't keep downloading multiples of the same thing; so whatever works for you.

One thing you should do (I noticed you have multiple folders indicating documents and images) is remove any non-game files (e.g. .doc, .rtf, .pdf, .jpg. etc.) from your Plugins folder. Anything other than the true game files (.SC4Lot, .SC4Description, .SC3Model, .dat, .dll) in your Plugins folder will only increase load time. You don't necessarily need to delete these non-game files, but if you want to save them, you should do so someplace outside of the Plugins folder. Usually, if you have any .dll files (like those shown in @catty-cb's image), they should be placed in the Plugins folder that exists in your game installation folder. (Usually the creator of any ,dll files will recommend this in their installation instructions if it's absolutely necessary their .dll file be in a specific location. Note that some players have indicated that they have had no problems with .dll files working correctly when placed at the root of their \Documents\SimCity4\Plugins folder).

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @twalsh102 thx for the advice. I will show u the pics after organizing my folder in the meantime i am playing SC4 and can't do anything

[catty-cb 4,412]

4 hours ago, twalsh102 said:

Note that some players have indicated that they have had no problems with .dll files working correctly when placed at the root of their \Documents\SimCity4\Plugins folder).

In my case there is no alternative as I'm running the Steam version of SimCity 4 converted to Linux by Steam and running it on a Linux Mint operating system .... it works but the DLLs have to go in the Documents folder as SC4 doesn't recognize plugins or dlls if you stick them anywhere else

[Pakistani890 122]

Hey @TheMurderousCricket , @twalsh102 and @catty-cb so i have started organizing my plugin folder basically this is how it LOOKED:

Notice the big red line this much long was my plugin folder and yes i will remove or organize the trash (eg: .pdf .jpg .png etc)

STAGE 1:

MAKE FOLDERS FOR MAIN STUFF LIKE A FOLDER TO ORGANIZE DEPENDENCES LIKE @catty-cb PIC

(SORRY FOR BAD WRITING IT WAS HARD)

I AM MAKING MORE FOLDERS FOR ORGANIZIN.IF U SEE CLEARLY U WILL SEE A 1TEMP FOLDER  THIS IS WHERE I STORED STUFF (For now temporary when organizing my plugin folder) THAT WAS JUST LYING AROUND IN MY PLUGIN FOLDER LIKE .DAT, .JPG etc (and things that wasn't  in folders)

OK NOW MY BUILDINGS FOLDER (FOR ORGANIZING MY PLUGIN FOLDER IT WASN'T THERE BEFORE I MADE IT FOR ORGANIZING) WHICH U NOTICE IN THE ABOVE PIC:

 

OK NOW MY MODS FOLDER (ALSO MADE FOR ORGANIZING MY PLUGIN FOLDER IT WASN'T THERE BEFORE I MADE IT FOR ORGANIZING) WHICH U NOTICE IN THE SECOND PIC:

 

AFTER SOME ORGANIZING (NOTICE THE GREY LINE I HIGHLIGHTED WITH RED NOTICE HOW SHORT IT IS COMPARED TO THE ABOVE 2ND PIC): 

 

MY 1TEMP OR TEMP FOLDER (I LABELED IT WITH 1 SO IT CAN BE ON TOP IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) CONTAINS STUFF THAT'S TRASH OR STUFF THAT'S NOT IN FOLDERS LIKE DLLS DATS BAT ETC: 

 

IF U NOTICED I LABELDED MY 1TEMP FOLDER INTO UNORGANIZED BUT WORKING (SO I DONT ACCIDENTLY DELETE IT IF I FORGET WHAT IT IS THTA'S WHY I LABELED IT UN ORGANIZED BUT WORKING)

 

OK ORGANIZING THIS MONSTER WASN'T EASY BECAUSE I HAD 500 TO 400 ITEMS (IN ORGANIZED BUT WORKING FOLDER) SO I DID EVERYTHING BEHIND THE SCENES:

 

AFTER ORGANIZING (BASICALLY TAKING SAME NAMES FILES OUT SEARCHING THEM ON GOOGLE GOING TO LEX OR STEX TO DOWNLOAD THEM AGAIN SO I DONT END UP IN BROWN BOXES OR SOME OTHER MAJOR STUFF OR JUST HAVE TH BUILDING'S I DOWNLOADED MISSING THEN MAKING FOLDERS [IN AN ORGANIZED WAY] AND PUTTING THE REPACEMENTS [STUFF I DOWNLOADED COPY OF THEM] IN THEM BUT STILL THERE WERE APPROX A 100 ITEMS (EXCLUDING HTMLS JPGS PNGS AND READMES) I CANT ORGANIZE BECAUSE I CANT FIND ANYTHING ABOUT IT IN MY HISTORY OR ON GOOGLE SO YEAH THERE R IN THERE FOR NOW.....

 

AFTER ORGANIZING THE HELL (LOOK BELOW) 

FINALLY MY FULLY ORGANIZED PLUGIN FOLDER (YAY). BTW U ALL R SOOOO RIGHT THIS IS MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER. NOW I DONT NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE SAME DEPENDENCEY OR THE SAME BUILDING AGAIN AND YES THIS TOOK ME 4 HRS.

NOW I FEEL BETTER AFTER SEEING MY FOLDER BTW I WANTED TO KNOW THAT IF U NOTICE THAT THERE IS 2 FOLDERS NAMED DOCUMENTS AND FILES SHOULD I DELELTE THEM BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN README'S AND JPGS. NOW MY MAIN QUESTION IS THAT AFTER DELETING THE JPGS WILL I GET ANT MISSIING TEXTURES OR MISSING THUMBNAILS 

[TheMurderousCricket 5,112]

1 hour ago, Pakistani890 said:

NOW MY MAIN QUESTION IS THAT AFTER DELETING THE JPGS WILL I GET ANT MISSIING TEXTURES OR MISSING THUMBNAILS

Readmes and jpegs are only for your own information, they usually don't contain any critical elements.

If they do, it's the creator's fault. 

You can delete these files but it might be a good idea to keep them if, for some reason, you need a reminder what these files are for or where they can be found in-game.

Just gather them up somewhere else.

[Pakistani890 122]

5 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Readmes and jpegs are only for your own information, they usually don't contain any critical elements.

If they do, it's the creator's fault. 

You can delete these files but it might be a good idea to keep them if, for some reason, you need a reminder what these files are for or where they can be found in-game.

Just gather them up somewhere else.

hey @TheMurderousCricket so will it increase SC4 load time and performance

 

ONE THING I WANT TO ASK A IMPORTANT QUESTION:

i installed this UI mod:

 

Has my organizing of plugin folder or  this mod has done smething of displaying things like containers should be in seaport menu but they r in road menu similar like that i the data center BAT should be in Landmark menu but it is somewhere else and plugin's are active but r not showing up in the menu plss tell the fix for this should i delete the UI mod or should i keep it??

 

[TheMurderousCricket 5,112]

Yep. It works that way.

I gained about 2 seconds at startup when I removed my readmes and promo images, though I have far less plugins than you.

Come to think of it, I believe it can be easily tested...

Why don't you put lots and lots of pictures to your "Plugins" folder (any will do) and run the game? Use a stopwatch! Then, remove all of it and measure the time again. 

I wonder what the results will be!

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @TheMurderousCricket before any plugins SC4 loaded in like maximum 5 seconds and mainly after installing NAM SC4 got alot slower like 10 minutes of startup and yes i will remove or put somewhere else the readme's and jpg's and what about the above question about the UI mod one??  

[TheMurderousCricket 5,112]

30 minutes ago, Pakistani890 said:

plss tell the fix for this should i delete the UI mod or should i keep it??

I'm afraid I can't help you here, because I don't use this mod. I'm not sure how it works or what it does. 

Perhaps someone else will know the answer. 

[CaptCity 4,915]

2 hours ago, Pakistani890 said:

not showing up in the menu plss tell the fix for this should i delete the UI mod or should i keep it??

Hi @Pakistani890

That mod is a User Interface mod (game controls and such) that simply changes the UI. It does not affect anything related to playing the game. You can choose to remove it or not. If you've noticed changes in the menu items, it may be because you might have DAMN installed (I saw a DAMN - Removed Lots folder in one of your images). Using DAMN could lead to menu changes depending on how you have it installed. I would recommend removing it from the plugins until you get everything the way you want it.

 

1 hour ago, Pakistani890 said:

...before any plugins SC4 loaded in like maximum 5 seconds and mainly after installing NAM SC4 got alot slower like 10 minutes of startup...

That behavior is not uncommon when using NAM. Although 10 minutes with only NAM being loaded does seem long. Is it the only thing in the Plugins?  It depends on the version you installed and the city size and development being loaded. If you use NAM and have many plugins, long load times are possible.

Also, I noticed you have a ZZZZ_PEGs Seaport folder and an X-Pots folder in your image above. Without knowing what is in those folders, I just wanted to point out that if you have both the functional seaports by PEG and the BSC Functional Seaports (x-ports), you will have issues that may lead to game file corruption. Those two, if you do have both, are not able to be used together unless you've made changes that will permit it. 

I also see a folder named SimCity_1 folder that might not be needed. If it contains the game file with the same name, it is probably rather large. Do you know why you have it? There are times the game file might be modified, but you should be able to remove the original from the game's Program Files location (save it somewhere else outside the Plugins) and replace it with the modified one (do you remember doing that?). 

[catty-cb 4,412]

All my non SC4 files like pictures an readme's etc are in the SimCity 4 folder ie not the plugins folder ... I'll take a snapshot tonight to show you and also well done your plugins area is looking alot tidier.

EDIT: Picture of my SimCity 4 Folder, ignore the Link to SimCity 4 folder as that's because my operating system is Linux and also the Winter folder used to be in my Plugins but I no longer use it in-game but didn't want to lose the contents in case I ever changed my mind

  Edited November 8, 2021 by catty-cb  
Added a picture

[Pakistani890 122]

On 11/7/2021 at 10:31 PM, CaptCity said:

On 11/7/2021 at 8:49 PM, Pakistani890 said:

not showing up in the menu plss tell the fix for this should i delete the UI mod or should i keep it??

Hi @Pakistani890

That mod is a User Interface mod (game controls and such) that simply changes the UI. It does not affect anything related to playing the game. You can choose to remove it or not. If you've noticed changes in the menu items, it may be because you might have DAMN installed (I saw a DAMN - Removed Lots folder in one of your images). Using DAMN could lead to menu changes depending on how you have it installed. I would recommend removing it from the plugins until you get everything the way you want it.

 

On 11/7/2021 at 9:14 PM, Pakistani890 said:

...before any plugins SC4 loaded in like maximum 5 seconds and mainly after installing NAM SC4 got alot slower like 10 minutes of startup...

That behavior is not uncommon when using NAM. Although 10 minutes with only NAM being loaded does seem long. Is it the only thing in the Plugins?  It depends on the version you installed and the city size and development being loaded. If you use NAM and have many plugins, long load times are possible.

Also, I noticed you have a ZZZZ_PEGs Seaport folder and an X-Pots folder in your image above. Without knowing what is in those folders, I just wanted to point out that if you have both the functional seaports by PEG and the BSC Functional Seaports (x-ports), you will have issues that may lead to game file corruption. Those two, if you do have both, are not able to be used together unless you've made changes that will permit it. 

I also see a folder named SimCity_1 folder that might not be needed. If it contains the game file with the same name, it is probably rather large. Do you know why you have it? There are times the game file might be modified, but you should be able to remove the original from the game's Program Files location (save it somewhere else outside the Plugins) and replace it with the modified one (do you remember doing that?). 

 

yes  @CaptCity i have installed DAMN but nothing was showing up in DAMN menu so i removed it BUT i think it did did some minor changes or updowns and also i think after installing a fresh version of SimCity 4 might fix this (btw i am not doing this right now i will do it later) and YES THX SO MUCH @CaptCity FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEM I WAS SCARED THAT SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO THE GAME OR THE UI MOD HAS DONE SOMETHING (NOW WITHOUT WORRIES I CAN INSTALL ANY UI MOD)

 

 

And yes one thing i DO have higher load times after installing NAM but i installed a lot more stuff like BSC Functional Seaports, AC (Aerospace Consurtium) Functional Airports (they have a lot of lots for making amazing functional airports) and yes i have INSTALLED A LOTS OF LOTS OF PLUGINS and yes if u have see pic:

you will see jpgs and readme's which as of now i have deleted.

and yes one thing while i do have lots of plugins i think my system requirements r low which in turn makes the game slow (becuase before installing the plugins the vanilla game was very fast). These r my system requirements (and yes plss dont mind i have hidden some important stuff like product ID etc for security reasons) :

and this is the stuff (stuff i have installed and i have other already installed standard windows programs) i have installed and the programs highlighted in red are the one which i will uninstall because i dont need them anymore:

and yes i do have low-end pc after seeing the system requirements (BTW I AM GETTING A NEW PC IN THIS MONTH BTW IT'S NOVEMBER AS SHOWN IN THE PIC) but for now i am using this one so i think my system requirements might be the main candidate for slowing my game but i think the plugin's might be involved in this to. LOL

and yes @catty-cb i have removed at least half of the trash (readme's, jpg's etc) to somewhere else and yes my game is a little bit faster 

[markussaage 762]

@Pakistani890 hey there.
This is, what my Plugins folder looks like atm. I spent quite a while organizing and optimizing my folder structure
in the last couple of years by using rivits DataNode tool and other tools.

My Plugins folder size is small, 6,24GB at the moment. It's always a work in progress. With this structure my game loads a savegame
in one minute or so. But that's only because I use the SC4DatPacker to compress my Plugins folder. Without doing that, it would take
20 minutes for the game to load or so.
Hopefully I could be of some help here for you or anyone else.

Kind regards!

[Pakistani890 122]

On 1/5/2022 at 4:02 PM, markussaage said:

hey there.
This is, what my Plugins folder looks like atm. I spent quite a while organizing and optimizing my folder structure
in the last couple of years by using rivits DataNode tool and other tools.

My Plugins folder size is small, 6,24GB at the moment. It's always a work in progress. With this structure my game loads a savegame
in one minute or so. But that's only because I use the SC4DatPacker to compress my Plugins folder. Without doing that, it would take
20 minutes for the game to load or so.
Hopefully I could be of some help here for you or anyone else.

Kind regards!

Hey @markussaage. Thx this will help me alot❤️ i am rebuilding my plugin folders because i got a new pc

[markussaage 762]

On 13.1.2022 at 3:07 PM, Pakistani890 said:

Hey @markussaage. Thx this will help me alot❤️ i am rebuilding my plugin folders because i got a new pc

You're very welcome

The most important tool to understand and optimize the loading order is the SC4DataNode tool. Once you get the heck out of it,
it's fun tweaking the plugins.

Kind regards!