[sc4pac] Let's write our own package manager

[RaccoonFox 1]

well, killing the command-line jar file and just running the GUI at port 47000 did the trick.  I have no idea why this works, though....

[Simizen 1,098]

so, set up the new one and started using it today (didn't know there was a graphical aspect to it till today, lol)

and wanted to suggest a few things, so forgive me if it was mentioned previously, I was trying to read through the thread but my brain is slowly becoming mush from reading everything, and I wanted to put this out before I forget

• being able to access the SC4 install plugins folder; this way we can install stuff that we wanna keep in the game at all times, regardless of the profile we're using
• regions; this might add way too much to the installer, so I get it if it's not added, but figured it'd be neat to have and maybe to help streamline people tracking what regions they've got
• ploppable vs growable options; much like the Night and CAM options, I think having a plop vs grow option would be good too; though idk if that would require everyone to update their yaml files
• back button on mouse goes to previous page; probably not a high priority, but i like the feature the mouse provides, so whenever there's a program that doesn't have it, it bugs me, lol
• creator or mod name color change; was noticing how there's 2 different shades of purple involved, a light purple and a darker purple, and realized that while they look great, it wouldn't hurt to have a different color for one of these to help it stick out a bit more; nothing extreme of course but noticeable

was also gonna suggest breaking some stuff down a bit further in the menus, like utilities into it's 3 components (4 if the telecoms idea becomes a thing), but from looking at the list, it seems like it's at least planned out, jsut not utilized due to currently having a low number of mods each

And, idk if this is something that needs to be setup under sc4pac or if there's a creator option, but went to get the Uniform Street Lighting mod, but discovered that it gives you blanket options for the preferred colors, rather than customizing what colors you'd want per network type. Understandably this would be a lot of work for sc4pac to implement, so I just moved my USL setup over.

That said, I now wonder if maybe there's a way to setup the program and yaml such that the creators can supply the options, and it be less reliant on the devs of sc4pac, but idk the complexity of doing that and if it's easier/harder than just adding the extra options directly into the program

[nos.17 5,120]

26 minutes ago, Simizen said:

That said, I now wonder if maybe there's a way to setup the program and yaml such that the creators can supply the options, and it be less reliant on the devs of sc4pac, but idk the complexity of doing that and if it's easier/harder than just adding the extra options directly into the program

For uploads to the STEX there is Simtropolis x sc4pac. Any upload that has a metadata.yaml file (even a blank one) in the zip file will automatically be added into sc4pac. The full instructions for adding the metadata are listed out here. I think we have under advertised that it exists; only two people have made use of it so far.

[marcio1977 207]

I use it and this integration is really a helping hand.

[Simizen 1,098]

I'm currently trying to navigate the yaml thing to see if i can make one and prep some stuff, but not sure i'm fully understanding it currently.

Had to take a break tho, cause my head's been killing me all day, so I'll get back to it a bit later

[memo 1,444]

8 hours ago, Simizen said:

• being able to access the SC4 install plugins folder; this way we can install stuff that we wanna keep in the game at all times, regardless of the profile we're using

You could set up a 2nd profile for the game install plugins folder. There are some caveats though. Sc4pac would need write access to that folder – not sure if anything needs to be configured for that on Windows. Moreover, installing plugins in different Plugins folders is bound to become a problem as soon as files need to load in a specific order. That's why sc4pac uses only a single Plugins folder, and I don't recommend using the 2nd folder.

Instead, use the "Export" button to create a list of plugins you want to install at all times. Then "Import" it in every Profile.

8 hours ago, Simizen said:

• ploppable vs growable options; much like the Night and CAM options, I think having a plop vs grow option would be good too; though idk if that would require everyone to update their yaml files

Since the introduction of Submenus, this has become much less relevant, as the DLL sorts all the ploppable RCI buildings into respective submenus.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I'm sure this has been covered already but I haven't found it. 

My older uploads very generously already had their metadata made, but what do I do when I need to update a file? Do I just include a blank .yaml file in the new .zip, and update the version number on the STEX page when I upload it? Or does that upload's metadata need to be manually updated on GitHub? 

The specific issue is that for Albee Amphitheater I accidentally put the DarkNite model in the MaxisNite .zip, so there was never actually a MN version released. I've reexported the MN version, and now I need to update the STEX. I also have some older lots that had corrupted values that I'll need to go back and do something about and those will need to have new versions uploaded as well. 

(Also I'm still completely blown away by SC4Pac!) 

[Simizen 1,098]

22 hours ago, memo said:

Since the introduction of Submenus, this has become much less relevant, as the DLL sorts all the ploppable RCI buildings into respective submenus.

my concern was for the people interested in one or the other before downloading them. Some players only want ploppables, others only want growables, and others wouldn't mind both at times. And when I was going through the list of some buildings, it was hard for me to tell if something was a growable or a ploppable (I prefer growable myself), unless they explicitly stated it ahead of time, either in the title, or in the body near the top somewhere

basically, it would allow people the options of the "player" vs "painter" styles of cities based on their interests

and certainly nothing against the submenus being in place, it's absolutely wonderful, cause I do believe that they're needed even for the ploppable versions of these lots for various resons. It's just that, some people are going to be more interested in curating one set over the other, and the goal is to let them know upfront what's what

22 hours ago, memo said:

Instead, use the "Export" button to create a list of plugins you want to install at all times. Then "Import" it in every Profile.

that's cool, i'll probably be doing this then

though, makes me wonder if maybe we could have a "global profile"? but not sure what that would entail

22 hours ago, memo said:

There are some caveats though. Sc4pac would need write access to that folder – not sure if anything needs to be configured for that on Windows.

it's sorta possible, but the overall issue is getting past the craziness regarding windows security and such. Cause you have to convince windows that you're a game or something and allow you to write to the appropriate folders based on location (assuming default `C:\Program Files\` setup). Otherwise people would likely be forced into moving it to a separate drive (which they probably should anyway), but most people wouldn't be interested in doing such a thing.

So, I could definitely see some major roadblocks with that there

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

57 minutes ago, Simizen said:

(assuming default `C:\Program Files\` setup)

(A point in GOG's favor then is: C:\GOG Games\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Plugins)

[memo 1,444]

On 9/1/2025 at 4:08 AM, Jasoncw said:

My older uploads very generously already had their metadata made, but what do I do when I need to update a file? Do I just include a blank .yaml file in the new .zip, and update the version number on the STEX page when I upload it? Or does that upload's metadata need to be manually updated on GitHub? 

@Jasoncw This depends on which channel the file belongs to. If it's in the Simtropolis channel, then you have all the control, in the same manner as for the packages you added yourself. Simply include the blank .yaml file and the package should get updated automatically (assuming the plugin doesn't require any special attributes in the .yaml file). The main thing that's important is that the package name (which is derived from the STEX title) should stay the same.

If it's in the Main channel, I manually keep the metadata up-to-date with what's on the STEX. I don't do this daily, but every now and then, so there will usually be a delay of several days. I use a script to check for updates, so I won't miss any STEX updates going on. If you prefer to have more direct control over these, just let me know and we can migrate them to the Simtropolis channel instead.

[memo 1,444]

Version 1.3.1 of the program is now available. This is mainly a bug fix release, resolving some rare but notorious issues.

 

Changes since version 1.3.0

• The SC4Evermore Channel has been added to the default channels of new Profiles. When upgrading, add this channel to your existing Profiles if you like: https://sc4evermore.github.io/sc4pac-channel/channel/
• Bug fixes:
  • The long-standing compatibility issue with Microsoft OneDrive has been resolved.
  • A few more less frequent issues have been resolved. For details, see the changelog of CLI and GUI.

 

Additionally, there's a new Troubleshooting & FAQ section on the website.

Another fairly recent change is the addition of the meta-package config:sc4-edition. This lets you choose between Windows-digital, Windows-disc and macOS variants, depending on the version of your game. This package doesn't install anything, but helps sc4pac detect compatibility problems, for example, as many DLLs depend on the Windows digital edition of the game. If you use the macOS edition, this will ensure that no plugins that depend on DLLs are installed.

[Allein 329]

Hello, I have a FormatException: Unexpected end of input (at offset 0) error when importing my modset on my new install. I have an older save from July where the  import is working fine, as does the Jonica modpack.

```
Sc4pac GUI version: 1.3.1
Sc4pac CLI version: 0.8.1
Platform: windows
Web: false
Java: 25 - OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 25+36-LTS/25, Eclipse Adoptium, OpenJDK Runtime Environment, C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jre-25.0.0.36-hotspot
OS (Java): Windows 11 10.0 amd64
OS (Dart): windows - "Windows 10 Pro" 10.0 (Build 26200)
Dart: 3.5.3 (stable) (Wed Sep 11 16:22:47 2024 +0000) on "windows_x64"
Exe: C:\Program Files (x86)\sc4pac\sc4pac-gui.exe
Arguments: []

Error type: /error/unexpected
Error title: Unexpected error
Error detail: FormatException: Unexpected end of input (at offset 0)

Init phase: InitPhase.initialized
Authority: localhost:51515
Authenticated: true
Profiles config folder: C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\io.github.memo33\sc4pac\config\profiles
Profile ID: 1
Profile name: Plugins
Plugins folder: C:\Users\USER\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins
Cache folder: C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\io.github.memo33\sc4pac\cache

Server log:
WARNING: A terminally deprecated method in sun.misc.Unsafe has been called
WARNING: sun.misc.Unsafe::objectFieldOffset has been called by scala.runtime.LazyVals$ (file:/C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/sc4pac/cli/sc4pac-cli.jar)
WARNING: Please consider reporting this to the maintainers of class scala.runtime.LazyVals$
WARNING: sun.misc.Unsafe::objectFieldOffset will be removed in a future release
WARNING: A restricted method in 
java.lang.System has been called
WARNING: java.lang.System::load has been called by org.fusesource.jansi.internal.JansiLoader in 
an unnamed module (file:/C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/sc4pac/cli/sc4pac-cli.jar)

WARNING: Use --enable-native-access=
ALL-UNNAMED to avoid a warning for callers in this module
WARNING: Restricted methods will be blocked in a future release unless native access is enabled
```

 

[memo 1,444]

@Allein Could you send the JSON file you're trying to import? That error indicates a problem with the JSON syntax.

[Allein 329]

On 06/10/2025 at 8:17 PM, memo said:

@Allein Could you send the JSON file you're trying to import? That error indicates a problem with the JSON syntax.

From what I experienced by dichotomy (by divising the file just one time by two) synthax seems fine, but file lenght might be the issue (in my case 3457 lines and 122 kB)

[outdatedSIM 4]

Hi, I was installing the mods with SC4PAC following instructions how to create profiles. I created a profile MAIN and placed it in Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\, so it's Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\MAIN now. 

I install mods, but I have read here that DLL plugins should actually land in \Plugins, not in \Plugins\MAIN

Question: What could I be doing wrong?

Question 2: Do I have to manually move them to \Plugins as it is with the INI files - or should they be in \Plugins\MAIN? I have the impression that they are actually not working.

[outdatedSIM 4]

Hello, I've been trying to set up my profile for a long time now. @Ulisse Wolf and others were very kind to help me out on discord but it's still not working.

Currently I am trying from scratch and put my profile in 

X:\GOG\SimCity 4 MOD\SimCity4\MAIN2025

The game is installed in 

X:\GOG\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\

Shortcut made manually from SimCity4.exe, Target:

"X:\GOG\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -UseDir:"G:\GOG\SimCity 4 MOD\SimCity4\MAIN2025\"

Tried also:

"X:\GOG\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -UseDir:"G:\GOG\SimCity 4 MOD\SimCity4\MAIN2025"

 

Installed only SC4GraphicOptions to test if it works.

Dxwrapper set up, log ok, resolution set in GraphicOptions mod, intro set to false, loading game I see intro and low res. What could I be doing wrong?

Also: Any suggestion for a simple mod that'll make me see if the profile works straight after booting the game to reduce troubleshooting workload will be helpful, thanks.

 

[memo 1,444]

@outdatedSIM I've updated the FAQ, adding an explicit example for the "-UserDir" parameter. You also have a typo there. It's -UserDir, not -UseDir.

As for a mod for the region screen, you can use cyclone-boom:web-button-improvement-mod for testing.

On 10/9/2025 at 9:11 PM, Allein said:

From what I experienced by dichotomy (by divising the file just one time by two) synthax seems fine, but file lenght might be the issue (in my case 3457 lines and 122 kB)

@Allein Thanks. It'll be fixed in the next release.

[outdatedSIM 4]

5 hours ago, memo said:

@outdatedSIM I've updated the FAQ, adding an explicit example for the "-UserDir" parameter. You also have a typo there. It's -UserDir, not -UseDir.

As for a mod for the region screen, you can use cyclone-boom:web-button-improvement-mod for testing.

Finally it is clear. Thank you.  @memo I am confident , that at least a shortened version of these instructions should be provided to users in the GUI as a pop up or anything. The concept of the main \UserDir and subdirectory \Plugins inside is not intuitive at all for someone trying to get into it. Great work with combining all the mod sources, the GUI and what's underneath!

EDIT: Finally it is working. Thanks again!

[outdatedSIM 4]

How can I remove an unwanted profile from sc4pac?

[nos.17 5,120]

15 hours ago, outdatedSIM said:

How can I remove an unwanted profile from sc4pac?

There's a section in the FAQ that was recently added to help with this. However, it was missing one sentence, and I've submitted a request to add it. The relevant text will be:

• Go to Settings → Profiles configuration folder and open the folder.
• Open the file sc4pac-profiles.json in a text editor and edit it.
  • To delete a profile, locate the desired profile in the profiles array and remove it. Remember this id. Ensure that the value of currentProfileId below is set to the id of a profile that still exists. Lastly, delete the folder next to sc4pac-profiles.json with the same name as the deleted profile's id.
• Restart sc4pac.

 

Side note, @memo, the GUI will not launch correctly if currentProfileId points to an id that doesn't exist.

[memo 1,444]

Or wait for the next release. It's already been implemented for the next version of sc4pac:

4 hours ago, nos.17 said:

Side note, @memo, the GUI will not launch correctly if currentProfileId points to an id that doesn't exist.

Already fixed on my end.

[timdmackey 6]

I wanted to contribute metadata for a tree controller that's not currently listed in sc4pac, is there a process for doing so? I submitted a PR to the memo/sc4pac channel but then I realized simtropolis has its own channel and now I'm unsure whether that was the correct place. The mod developer (blunder) hasn't logged into the site since 2024, so I figured it isn't likely to be getting an update anytime soon from simtropolis's servers.

Also, I stumbled across Zasco's sc4pac channel, it appears that it's mentioned in the sc4pac "About" page, but aside from that It's not very discoverable at all (and it's not included in sc4pac's default channels). Is there any reason against either merging it into the main channel or adding it as an additional channel in sc4pac? There's a lot of extra mods there, including the tree mod I just documented myself...lol

[nos.17 5,120]

16 hours ago, timdmackey said:

I wanted to contribute metadata for a tree controller that's not currently listed in sc4pac, is there a process for doing so? I submitted a PR to the memo/sc4pac channel but then I realized simtropolis has its own channel and now I'm unsure whether that was the correct place. The mod developer (blunder) hasn't logged into the site since 2024, so I figured it isn't likely to be getting an update anytime soon from simtropolis's servers.

Also, I stumbled across Zasco's sc4pac channel, it appears that it's mentioned in the sc4pac "About" page, but aside from that It's not very discoverable at all (and it's not included in sc4pac's default channels). Is there any reason against either merging it into the main channel or adding it as an additional channel in sc4pac? There's a lot of extra mods there, including the tree mod I just documented myself...lol

Thanks for your contribution! 

There's no hard rule for what goes in which channel. In general, our aim with the default (memo's) channel is to provide a smaller, more curated set of higher-quality plugins, while the Simtropolis and SC4Evermore channels aim to include as much as possible. Dependencies should also go in the default channel due to how packages are allowed to be referenced across different channels. ST and SC4E channels can reference the default channel, but not the reverse. In my opinion, blunder's stuff is perfectly fine to submit to the main channel.

As for zasco's channel, the scp4ac allows you to set up your own channel to host for your private or public use. If you want to use zasco's channel, all you need to do is paste the channel url into your list of channels in sc4pac. There's no reason those items can't be added into the default or ST channels, other than time. Feel free to drop requests to me for things you'd like added, or add them yourself, if you'd like. I'd also note that thanks to @smf_16, the ST channel has a series of scripts that help to automate the process, including generating the yaml and validating dependencies, among other things. A quick writeup is here. Happy to help with any questions you have.

[timdmackey 6]

Thanks @nos.17! As a newbie/returnee to the game I'm one of those players that would gladly have everything managed through a single place, hence my desire to contribute here. I have installed some mods that aren't available through sc4pac yet, but I'm much rather have the installations handled automatically.

If I have the time I'd like to make some contribution to getting more mods documented and into sc4pac. Is there any sort of contribution guide? I understand that ST is set up now to automatically updater sc4pac metadata if a mod author goes through the right steps, but there are a lot of mods that either abandoned or just unlikely that the author will ever take the time to update them. What happens when a mod is manually defined in the metadata repository, then the author updates it to be compatible with the STEX's auto-generation?

Actually, while writing this I just found this issue Backfill channel with STEX content #99, looks like I could get started by contributing to this list .

[timdmackey 6]

As I look through through the the list on that backfill issue, i'm realizing how truly herculean this task is 😵‍💫. Kudos to everyone who's put their time towards this!

[nos.17 5,120]

12 hours ago, timdmackey said:

What happens when a mod is manually defined in the metadata repository, then the author updates it to be compatible with the STEX's auto-generation?

Any metadata would get overwritten by the user-specified yaml, I believe. A PR is automatically created by the bot so we can watch out for any conflicts or issues, though I don't really expect this to be too much of an issue. 

12 hours ago, timdmackey said:

Actually, while writing this I just found this issue Backfill channel with STEX content #99, looks like I could get started by contributing to this list .

Yep, feel free to start with the people in that list if you'd like, but by no means let that limit you. If you'd prefer to see something else, go for it! The only thing to note is I have Cockatoo's content in progress already.

12 hours ago, timdmackey said:

Is there any sort of contribution guide?

Not at the moment. It's never really been a priority yet as no one else has really offered to contribute. 

I can share a link dump of all the things I went through and learned, but honestly it might be best to work through things together one at a time. I'll start preparing a writeup too.

Spoiler

Features
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/77
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/78
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/82
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/87
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/93
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/98
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/109
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/122

Guidelines
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/112
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/116
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/121
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/127
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/138
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/142
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/177
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/181
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/184
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/190
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/191
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/199
https://github.com/sebamarynissen/simtropolis-channel/pull/254

 

  Edited October 25, 2025 by nos.17  
added note

[timdmackey 6]

PR #77 and #78 describe tools that assist in manually creating metadata files, but it appears they rely on having a STEX API Key. The only other place I can find this api key mentioned is in the yaml editor preferences. Is this something thats just for admins? I have no idea what kind of privileges it grants.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

3 hours ago, timdmackey said:

STEX API Key.

Try this: [Guide] How to Setup Your sc4pac STEX Token

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

@timdmackey Sorry about that. I was thinking of the wrong thing.  

That API Key is something different and does need assigned specifically. I'll mention it to CB this evening. (Thanks for the heads up in the PM, @nos.17.)

[smf_16 1,835]

On 25-10-2025 at 5:19 PM, nos.17 said:

Any metadata would get overwritten by the user-specified yaml, I believe. A PR is automatically created by the bot so we can watch out for any conflicts or issues, though I don't really expect this to be too much of an issue. 

This is how it works indeed. The channel is simply built from the main branch of the git repo, so whatever's in there, ends up in the channel. This means that if a package was added manually, but the author then makes their package compatible by adding a metadata.yaml, it overrides what was in the repo. However, you can then still file a manual PR to propose further changes, but then the creator can override those again by updating their metadata.yaml. Simply put, last come wins.

The scope of both approaches is different though. The idea is that creators make their packages compatible by including a metadata.yaml file as creators often don't know the ins and outs of git & GitHub, plus it has the benefit that a metadata.yaml can be simply empty and everything will be filled in automatically, which doesn't work if you just file a PR with an empty .yaml file obviously.