Allow More Building Styles - DLL Plugin

[Null 45 3,041]

5 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

I believe @Null 45 reserved up to 127 (or 128?) slot IDs, but that likely could be bumped up to a full 255 (or more) if needed.

Correct. The current range is limited to 1-127, but I also reserved 128-255 for future expansion. Any further expansion would need to use a nonconsecutive range, 256+ is currently used for the control check boxes. Zero is reserved as invalid due to it being used by some Maxis blockers, replacing the extending style id 0x2004.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

6 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

The current range is limited to 1-127,
    <snip>
Zero is reserved as invalid due to it being used by some Maxis blockers, replacing the extending style id 0x2004.

Is that something different than the 0x0000000 in this UI code?

<!-- Additional Building Styles.-->
<LEGACY clsid=GZWinBtn iid=IGZWinBtn id=0x00000000 area=(41,107,275,123) fillcolor=(192,192,192) caption="Style Slot 0"

[Null 45 3,041]

5 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

Is that something different than the 0x0000000 in this UI code?

Yes, the reserved value refers to the style id number.

[Null 45 3,041]

@CorinaMarie The button id range is actually 0-127. I confused it with the style id, in my earlier post. Only the style id has 0 as a reserved value.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

15 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

The reason I was so excited for it is because how I used styles in a demo somewhere. I had an entire Building style for a singe type of W2W and then I had 4 different ones. I was able to grow each type on their own streets in close proximity so that it just looked like minor style changes over the years.

Oh, I understand your point now. Well, that indeed could be useful to create very uniform neighborhoods. Like industrial revolution working class dwellings. But I can also see it to be very useful to create ethnic and geographical locations. If one has a good set of qaṣaba or, say, Gaudi buildings, you can create growable impressions of Marrakech or Barcelona. Which is always more interesting and rewarding than just plopping the buildings in.

We simply prefer different use ofc @Null 45's tool. I try to sort all buildings, sort of, academically - into most recognizable architectural styles that history gave us. Like Post-modernism, renaissance, neoclassicism and others. But I only assigned them to, like 16 out of 28 available slots while the rest receives random BATs. This is why I said I can't imagine anyone using more than this with good accuracy. 

[hugues aroux 3,784]

Following on from the CoriBoom UI proposal presented on 24 January, here are the French LText for this interface. To be added to the Translations\ directory of this Mod.

hugues_BuildingStyles_FR.dat

I've noticed a tiny little bug, which makes it a bit difficult to select the two foot elements ("change style" & "No Kick Out ...") in the new panel. With Cori's permission, I'm providing an updated version of the .dat file - orig. name : [ CoriBoom's 36 Slot Building Styles UI - v0.46 Beta (For Use with Null's DLL).dat ] - here that fixes this little issue :

CoriBoom's 36 Slot Building Styles UI - v0.46 Beta HA250411.dat

For your pleasure...

 

[Null 45 3,041]

Release version 3.3.2, which fixes an issue with the PIM-X placeholder style id (0x7b6bc069) acting as a blocker (GitHub issue #1).

Also fixed a related issue where some style ids outside of the 0x2000-0x2FFF range could conflict with the button ids used in the Building Style Control UI, all of these values have been  reserved as off limits for use as style ids. Buildings with only the reserved style ids in their Building Styles property will be made to use the legacy Maxis styles in the Occupant Groups property.

[Null 45 3,041]

Release version 3.4.0, which adds a number of building style related functions for use by Lua scripts.

See building_style.lua for a list of the provided functions, and building_style_tests.lua for examples of their use.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

Hi @Null 45. I am writing because I noticed a potential issue with the "Prevent cross-style redevelopment" option in the mod. Today I noticed that a 4x4 CO$$$ office with default building styles got "overbuild" by another 4x4 CO$$$ building which has a single 0x2009 building style allotted in the .desc file.

I also noticed that a small 2x2 petrol station which belongs to the 0x2014 style got replaced by two 2x1 default Maxis buildings at roughly the same time.

I checked all files in iLives to make sure they are not in the same family and they are not. It seems that the option described does not work exactly as intended, unless I'm doing something wrong.

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Today I noticed that a 4x4 CO$$$ office with default building styles got "overbuild" by another 4x4 CO$$$ building which has a single 0x2009 building style allotted in the .desc file.

I documented that property as attempts to prevent cross-style redevelopment. if the game has code paths that bypass my checks there isn't much I can do. The growth code is complex, and obviously I don't have the benefit of being able to read the original source code to see what all the code paths are.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

1 hour ago, Null 45 said:

I documented that property as attempts to prevent cross-style redevelopment. if the game has code paths that bypass my checks there isn't much I can do. The growth code is complex, and obviously I don't have the benefit of being able to read the original source code to see what all the code paths are.

I see. Well, what I noticed after some additional tests is that the "Prevent cross-style redevelopment" checkbox seem to affect only those lots which are zoned after the box has been checked.

In other words, zones that existed prior to enabling the option redevelop like before, regardless of whether the box is checked or not. Only when the same location is levelled and completely rezoned, will the option take effect.

I'll play some more today and we'll see what happens.

[Null 45 3,041]

Now that the building styles are unblocked for public use, there should be a discussion on making the process of distributing building style mods easier.

The current BuildingStyle.ini system is fine for prototyping new styles or users who want fully custom styles, but it doesn't scale very well for distributing styles on the exchanges.

The fix I have in mind is to define a new BuildingStyle exemplar format that can be included in a style mod. These exemplars would exist in their own group, similar to how @memo's exemplar patching works. The exemplar would have properties for specifying the style id and name, the name would point to a LTEXT file so it may make sense to reuse Maxis's  "User Visible Name Key" property here.

To preserve compatibility with fully custom style configurations, the values set in BuildingStyle.ini will override any conflicting BuildingStyle exemplars.

Letting the mod author specify a checkbox number would cause conflicts, so the check boxes would have to be assigned automatically by the DLL (e.g. sequentially). But an automatic system comes with a few issues:

• The style check boxes would be in a random order in the UI.
• Running out of check box ids wouldn't be immediately obvious, but I would print a log error in that case.
• Possibly other things that I missed.

Suggestions and feedback is welcome.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

1 hour ago, Null 45 said:

Now that the building styles are unblocked for public use, there should be a discussion on making the process of distributing building style mods easier.

The current BuildingStyle.ini system is fine for prototyping new styles or users who want fully custom styles, but it doesn't scale very well for distributing styles on the exchanges.

The fix I have in mind is to define a new BuildingStyle exemplar format that can be included in a style mod. These exemplars would exist in their own group, similar to how @memo's exemplar patching works. The exemplar would have properties for specifying the style id and name, the name would point to a LTEXT file so it may make sense to reuse Maxis's  "User Visible Name Key" property here.

To preserve compatibility with fully custom style configurations, the values set in BuildingStyle.ini will override any conflicting BuildingStyle exemplars.

Letting the mod author specify a checkbox number would cause conflicts, so the check boxes would have to be assigned automatically by the DLL (e.g. sequentially). But an automatic system comes with a few issues:

• The style check boxes would be in a random order in the UI.
• Running out of check box ids wouldn't be immediately obvious, but I would print a log error in that case.
• Possibly other things that I missed.

Suggestions and feedback is welcome.

So you are creating a kind of Building Style Exemplar where you have the IID of the style and TGI of the LTEXT

Right?

If I understand the mechanism correctly, it is identical to Memo Exemplar Patching however, it occurs to me whether this system works if properties are entered directly into the Building Exemplar

[Null 45 3,041]

8 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

So you are creating a kind of Building Style Exemplar where you have the IID of the style and TGI of the LTEXT

Correct.

8 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

however, it occurs to me whether this system works if properties are entered directly into the Building Exemplar

That would be way more work as I would have to scan every building exemplar, it is much more efficient to have a dedicated exemplar. The building style info only needs to be defined once, and my assumption is that most mods will have multiple buildings.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

1 minute ago, Null 45 said:

Correct.

That would be way more work as I would have to scan every building exemplar, it is much more efficient to have a dedicated exemplar. The building style info only needs to be defined once, and my assumption is that most mods will have multiple buildings.

It can be done. Maybe you need to post a demo dat file so other modders can view the work that needs to be done

[Null 45 3,041]

4 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

Maybe you need to post a demo dat file so other modders can view the work that needs to be done

I am still working on designing the exemplar format, but what I have so far is:

The exemplars will use the group id 0xB06361D6, with the style id as the instance id (similar to the existing style tool tip format). The style exemplar will have the 0x8a416a99 (User Visible Name Key) property to set the LTEXT file that defines the style name, and possibly additional properties. The additional properties I am considering are:

• A 'Bold Check Box Text' property, for parity with what the INI file allows.
• A property to allow the style tool tip LTEXT TGI to be configured, but this would be redundant as I already have a documented mechanism for that.

I can't think of any other properties to add beyond those 3.

[Kel9509 1,363]

On 7/23/2025 at 11:22 AM, Null 45 said:

The fix I have in mind is to define a new BuildingStyle exemplar format that can be included in a style mod. These exemplars would exist in their own group, similar to how @memo's exemplar patching works. The exemplar would have properties for specifying the style id and name, the name would point to a LTEXT file so it may make sense to reuse Maxis's  "User Visible Name Key" property here.

So like submenus, this new examplar would categorize particular buildings to the style defined in the exemplar patch, right?  One style patch could apply to hundreds of buildings and then direct editing of a building's exemplar would not be necessary.  Is that correct?  

That would make things a lot easier.  Since @Ulisse Wolf is already uploading files with his own private style ranges, I might want to start categorizing my downloads as well with a style patch to assign styles to buildings.  I was waiting for the Community Styles to be settled, but I'm not sure that will happen anytime soon (I still don't think we should wait another year.  I think we should reopen the discussion - particularly if there are more than 12 community styles now.  Pausing things doesn't really resolve the underlying issues).  Once the community styles are determined, it might be easier to re-assign a private style in an exemplar patch to the newer community style if I want to "convert" them later.

[Null 45 3,041]

2 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

So like submenus, this new examplar would categorize particular buildings to the style defined in the exemplar patch, right?

No, it would allow style mods to add building styles to  @CorinaMarie's UI template without requiring manual editing of BuildingStyles.ini. The exemplar patching to make buildings use any new styles is a separate concept.

2 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

Since @Ulisse Wolf is already uploading files with his own private style ranges

The private style ranges were abolished, all ranges are now public for anyone to use if their building fits that style.

2 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

I was waiting for the Community Styles to be settled, but I'm not sure that will happen anytime soon (I still don't think we should wait another year.  I think we should reopen the discussion - particularly if there are more than 12 community styles now.  Pausing things doesn't really resolve the underlying issues).

There were several attempts in various threads to come to a consensus, IIRC it always ended with a deadlock over how the basic categorization should be done.
The number of community styles were adjusted a few times, but it didn't help resolve the underlying dispute over the basic categorization.

[Null 45 3,041]

The building style exemplar documentation and an example DAT file are now up on GitHub. I also rewrote part of the readme, and removed the reference to the private building styles that no longer exist.

[Kel9509 1,363]

21 hours ago, Null 45 said:

it would allow style mods to add building styles to  @CorinaMarie's UI template without requiring manual editing of BuildingStyles.ini. The exemplar patching to make buildings use any new styles is a separate concept.

I see. I never really thought that manually editing the INI would be an issue but I guess it does make things slightly easier for pure downloaders who just want to install stuff.  But what will happen in the case of multiple style downloads that conflict?  Or is that not possible due to the ranges?

However, in practice, despite not having Community Styles, this is going to result in @Ulisse Wolf's styles becoming the default style used with this mod (absent anyone doing manual editing of their downloads) because he is revising all CAM buildings to adapt to his styles, so in effect his will be the most adopted and used styles for anyone using CAM.  And with this style mod, it oversteps the need for a person to manually edit the INI, allowing his styles to proceed into the game uninterrupted (particularly when mass-downloading with sc4pac).  Clever trick there, guys.  

I don't really mind all of that, if it allows things on this mod to proceed. What I'd really like is a way to easily patch buildings to add them to a style, in a way that doesn't require iLives Reader usage for each building exemplar.  Something like the sc4 cli tool (or a newer version of that) which allows you to patch a group of buildings to add a new style to them.

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

But what will happen in the case of multiple style downloads that conflict?

Not possible due to the ranges. The only potential issue I can think of is the user running out of style check box slots (there are 32 in the current CoriBoom template), but I handle that case by logging an error message.
Of course, that scenario would require people to have created more than 32 styles that are in downloads on the exchanges. Which I don't think will happen anytime soon. 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

4 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

However, in practice, despite not having Community Styles, this is going to result in @Ulisse Wolf's styles becoming the default style used with this mod (absent anyone doing manual editing of their downloads) because he is revising all CAM buildings to adapt to his styles, so in effect his will be the most adopted and used styles for anyone using CAM.  And with this style mod, it oversteps the need for a person to manually edit the INI, allowing his styles to proceed into the game uninterrupted (particularly when mass-downloading with sc4pac).  Clever trick there, guys.

Just a clarification

CAM will never have predefined Buidling Styles as it is not an area of responsibility of the mod.

AndisArt CAM Building Pack is a mod that originated in the project to revive CAM but is now dead. I modified the mod just to be the guinea pig to define the best method of distributing building styles.

The manual method on which the mod is currently based is not ideal, based on the feedback I have received, because it is too onerous to the average user so it will undergo changes so that the ideal and easy distribution method

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

4 hours ago, Null 45 said:

(there are 32 in the current CoriBoom template)

(I made one with about a hundred slots, but no one liked it.)

[Kel9509 1,363]

4 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

AndisArt CAM Building Pack is a mod that originated in the project to revive CAM but is now dead. I modified the mod just to be the guinea pig to define the best method of distributing building styles.

When I saw that uploaded, I wondered if more revisions for CAM buildings would include your building styles.  It seemed natural that more would come.

4 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

The manual method on which the mod is currently based is not ideal, based on the feedback I have received, because it is too onerous to the average user so it will undergo changes so that the ideal and easy distribution method

I agree that this new method for installation of buildings with styles applied is probably ideal and makes a lot of sense.  

What is also needed, in my view, is an easy way to apply styles to a group of buildings, similar to @smf_16's sc4cli tool.  In fact, if that tool could be modified to include a way to do an exemplar patch for buildings to apply a new style, it would really explode this mod into mass use.  Certainly it'd make it easier for anyone who has a decent amount of downloads to categorize their buildings without manually editing the possible thousands of building exemplars manually, or manually creating an exemplar patch for each one.

[Null 45 3,041]

8 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

(I made one with about a hundred slots, but no one liked it.)

The 128 slot version may be useful to some people in the future, at present I think the 32 slot version is plenty. 

Did you ever upload your 32 slot template to the STEX? That would make it easier to find, I currently link to the forum post with the attachment in my documentation.

[simmering 2,637]

5 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

In fact, if that tool could be modified to include a way to do an exemplar patch for buildings to apply a new style, it would really explode this mod into mass use.

This is certainly true for me. But I thought players are already using this a lot with their own private setups. After all, Allow More Building Styles - DLL Plugin has almost 3.5k downloads. I am puzzled. 

[Null 45 3,041]

6 minutes ago, simmering said:

I am puzzled

It could also be because of the 'Build all styles at once' fix the DLL includes, or people just download every DLL mod they see.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

10 hours ago, Null 45 said:

The 128 slot version may be useful to some people in the future,

It is several versions behind. I abandoned it when no one wanted it. If RL ever settles down and I get to play the game again, I will update it to be current for my own use and then it'd be fine to share should anyone need it too.

 

10 hours ago, Null 45 said:

Did you ever upload your 32 slot template to the STEX? That would make it easier to find, I currently link to the forum post with the attachment in my documentation.

No. In some thread somewhere CB and I donated it to the public domain of ST so you (or anyone else) can take charge of it and bundle it with whatever is best. All we ask is mentioning our contribution. Something like: The Building Styles UI was originally created by @Cyclone Boom and then significantly updated by @CorinaMarie.

 

9 hours ago, Null 45 said:

... or people just download every DLL mod they see.

For me it was every version of the Building Styles. Each time you added a feature, I needed the newer version to incorporate access to same in the UI.  

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

16 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

(I made one with about a hundred slots, but no one liked it.)

The problem that the 128 version is ideal for 4K and at most 2K screens.

I did an evaluation and I think having 32 styles is sufficent for a normal user to develop their dream region.

If we want to increase we can aim for 48 styles or 64 styles if we want to exaggerate

[Null 45 3,041]

Release version 3.5.0, which adds way for style mods to register their style in the UI using an exemplar.

See the Building Style Exemplars page for more information.