Allow More Building Styles - DLL Plugin

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

8 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

(Also, any thoughts on the new query?  I bolded the Building styles but I wonder if I should revert that back)

(Personally, I'd favor its title "Building Style:" to be bold and the styles themselves normal.)

[Kel9509 1,363]

17 hours ago, Null 45 said:

As far as I can tell, SC4 essentially picks new lots to develop at random. So it is possible for it to take a while for the game to find a match when the W2W and/or Keep Lot Zone Sizes options are enabled, both options can severely restrict the pool of lots the game is allowed to use.

So if there are 10,000 total options for it to choose from, and only 100 W2W options amongst that larger set, will the game keep randomly choosing among the 10,000 before it is prevented from building those if they're not W2W?  Or will the game only choose amongst the 100 W2W options?  It sounds like the former instead of the latter.  If there was a way for the W2W options to limit the sets the game can choose from, instead of merely preventing non-W2W or W2W from being built, that would probably speed up the growth.

[Kel9509 1,363]

9 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

(Personally, I'd favor its title "Building Style:" to be bold and the styles themselves normal.)

That was my choice as well, but I do not know if it can be done.  The UI for the Query is:

Quote

<LEGACY clsid=GZWinText iid=IGZWinText area=(12,613,278,733) fillcolor=(0,16,84) caption="Building Style ID" captionres={cf474442,ea4dd0d8}  winflag_visible=yes winflag_enabled=yes winflag_moveable=yes winflag_sizeable=no winflag_sortable=no winflag_pbuff=no winflag_pbufftrans=yes winflag_pbufferase=yes winflag_pbuffvid=no winflag_alphablend=no winflag_acceptfocus=yes winflag_mousetrans=no winflag_ignoremouse=yes font=GenBodyMedium align=lefttop notify=no wrapped=yes opaque=no forecolor=(51,68,102) bkgcolor=(51,68,102) gutters=(2,2) textoffsets=(0,0) >

The font is controlled by "font=GenBodyMedium", which makes the entire thing bold.  The "thing" that's bolded is this: "Building Style: #building_styles#".  For me to bold the "Building Style:" header, but not the actual styles, I'd need to break up the UI into two separate controls.  The problem with that is that I'd need to either put the styles on the next line underneath in order to have them within a box that fits the width of the query, or I'd need to manually place it immediately next to the "Building Style:" line, which would then squeeze the "box" that the styles are in (and if anyone translates the query, the placement could get messed up if the length of the translated line is different).

To my knowledge, there's no way to bold the "Building Style:" part of the LTEXT without also bolding the "#building_styles#" variable.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

10 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

I'd need to manually place it immediately next to the "Building Style:"

What about the Building Style: label on its own line in bold (maybe with a horizontal line separator above it too)?

Then on the line below show your #building_styles# variable.

[Kel9509 1,363]

5 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

What about the Building Style: label on its own line in bold (maybe with a horizontal line separator above it too)?

Then on the line below show your #building_styles# variable.

How does this look?

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

So if there are 10,000 total options for it to choose from, and only 100 W2W options amongst that larger set, will the game keep randomly choosing among the 10,000 before it is prevented from building those if they're not W2W?

Correct.

I was looking at the Mac and Windows disassembly, and it may be possible to knock W2W or non-W2W lots out of consideration at an earlier stage than the styles check. But those changes would simply make things slightly more efficient than waiting for the styles check, it wouldn't alter the overall behavior of the algorithm.

The first stage of the lot selection process (cSC4TractDeveloper::ListExistingLots) appears to be picking x and z coordinates at random within some limits and testing if there is a lot at that position, but the compiler made it hard to follow. The second stage is taking over abandoned lots (cSC4TractDeveloper::TakeOverAbandoned). The first style check would only occur after those two stages have picked their candidate lots.

[Nite Owl 79]

@Kel9509

Would it be possible to have each Building Style on its own individual line? The run on sentence type of listing as shown in the above post could get a bit confusing even when separated by commas or some other punctuation type of symbol. More coding no doubt. Is there also the possibility of the dialog box becoming too long for the game window if there are a massive amount of Building Styles coded for a given lot? Inquiring minds need to know.

 

[hugues aroux 3,784]

@Kel9509 and all other participants... hello, bravo for this work .. I can't recommend enough that you make your window in two columns - because we play on "landscape" screens! and not everyone plays on a 27 inch full screen ! ..  Having worked on many windows UI for SC4 and other applications in general (webdev, design, ...) , it's just more comfortable and especially readable for player/user. On the left the classic data and on the right the new ones. On the right column with the Data R$, R$$ ... decenter! (aaaarrgh !  ) Line title in "align-left" .. "space" .. values (also "align left"). For long lists like the "Styles" ones, use the pipe character " | " with a space before-after! It will be a little more bearable to read! I know some people like to put each item in such a list in brackets [ ..aabbcc .. ] ... !

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, Nite Owl said:

Is there also the possibility of the dialog box becoming too long for the game window if there are a massive amount of Building Styles coded for a given lot?

No, the window does not change size based on the amount of text. But the game will truncate the string if it gets too long, as shown in the following image.

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, Nite Owl said:

Would it be possible to have each Building Style on its own individual line?

That wouldn't work for buildings with lots of styles. I tested it and it only allowed 7 styles before truncating, as shown in the following image.

Spoiler

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

10 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

How does this look?

Much better.

 

7 hours ago, Nite Owl said:

Would it be possible to have each Building Style on its own individual line?

6 hours ago, Null 45 said:

I tested it and it only allowed 7 styles before truncating,...

Would you mind to keep that code handy where each is shown on their own line?

CB'll be along later today with a solution which can make perfect use of each style being listed on its own line and no worries about being truncated.

 

[Kel9509 1,363]

8 hours ago, hugues aroux said:

@Kel9509 and all other participants... hello, bravo for this work .. I can't recommend enough that you make your window in two columns - because we play on "landscape" screens! and not everyone plays on a 27 inch full screen ! ..  Having worked on many windows UI for SC4 and other applications in general (webdev, design, ...) , it's just more comfortable and especially readable for player/user. On the left the classic data and on the right the new ones. On the right column with the Data R$, R$$ ... decenter! (aaaarrgh !  ) Line title in "align-left" .. "space" .. values (also "align left"). For long lists like the "Styles" ones, use the pipe character " | " with a space before-after! It will be a little more bearable to read! I know some people like to put each item in such a list in brackets [ ..aabbcc .. ] ... !

I don't know if I have the UI skills to do what you're suggesting.  It would take a substantial amount of work on my part to expand the UI horizontally, instead of expanding it vertically as I've done so far.  I suppose I can try doing it in the future as an option once I'm done with the vertical form of the UI.  I don't mind attempting it as an option, but I'm nearly done with this one so I'd like to finish the vertical one first.  

[hugues aroux 3,784]

19 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

so I'd like to finish the vertical one first

Of course I understand, if you want I can start the work on the file in two columns. Send me the file by PM, I will have some time to do it Monday or Tuesday. It will change me from textures! ;-)

[Kel9509 1,363]

1 minute ago, hugues aroux said:

Of course I understand, if you want I can start the work on the file in two columns. Send me the file by PM, I will have some time to do it Monday or Tuesday. It will change me from textures! ;-)

If there's no other issues with the display of the styles, I'll upload the latest version today or tomorrow for everyone.

[Kel9509 1,363]

2 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

CB'll be along later today with a solution which can make perfect use of each style being listed on its own line and no worries about being truncated.

Is it really so bad if the styles aren't on their own line?  In any event, I can hold off on a new version if there's another suggestion!   

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

2 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Is it really so bad if the styles aren't on their own line?

Not terribly so, no.

I imagine in reality there will be very few which will actually appear in so many tilesets. Your example is a good way to account for that possibility while knowing the 4 original Maxis plus one (or maybe two or three) others is likely the practical limit.

As @hugues aroux mentioned: Separating with a space, a pipe, and another space would be the best if they must remain as a long flowing string.

But yes, if Null will make a version which passes the same #building_styles# with the embedded CR LFs then CB has a solution wherein you won't need extra empty space at the bottom of your UI and all styles can be read cleanly each on their own line.

It was too late for him to post last night, but the concept looks good to me.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @Kel9509

So my idea that Cori alluded to looks like this:

Tooltips Concept

    

(Unhovered on the left, hovered on the right.)
 

Each Style Per line (Example)

(I just edited this directly to show what it'd look like.)

Of course, it'd be beneficial if @Null 45 would make each style on a new line. This just shows the concept.

The sweet part is the Tooltips expand as needed, depending on how many styles to display. This dynamic height works around the limitation of the fixed UI panel. So if having one style, only one line is shown. The more styles belonging to a given lot, the taller the display area will be.

UI Editing

Here's the UI code which does that:

<LEGACY clsid=GZWinBtn iid=IGZWinBtn area=(13,663,280,687) fillcolor=(0,16,84) caption="Building Styles  (Hover to view list)" winflag_visible=yes winflag_enabled=no winflag_moveable=yes winflag_sizeable=no winflag_sortable=no winflag_pbuff=no winflag_pbufftrans=yes winflag_pbufferase=yes winflag_pbuffvid=no winflag_alphablend=yes winflag_acceptfocus=yes winflag_mousetrans=no winflag_ignoremouse=no font=GenBodyMedium colorfontnormal=(51,68,102) colorfontdisabled=(102,102,102) colorfonthilited=(51,68,102) colorfontnormalbkg=(0,0,0) colorfontdisabledbkg=(0,0,0) colorfonthilitedbkg=(0,0,0) toggle=off triggerondown=off showcaption=yes fill=no autosize=no wrapcaption=no shiftcaption=yes tips=yes tipsdelay=no tipstimeout=no style=standard gutters=(2,2) tiptext="" tipres={cf474442,ea4dd0d8} tipoffsets=(0,0) tipflag=0x01000000 align=center winflag_enable=no >

You'll notice we're using a button here, but it does nothing upon click. This is a little trick I learned from the Census Repository, which allows tooltips to show upon hover. Tooltips only appear for buttons. (I've tried adding to the standard text-based UI controls, but they don't appear.)

To make this work, we just need to find the LText entry:
cf474442, ea4dd0d8

And then edit this to only contain the variable:
#building_styles#

This is what the tipres={cf474442,ea4dd0d8} property points to, which then displays this variable in the Tooltip.

Possible Translation Support

So it can be translated into other languages, we'll probably want to add a captionres LText entry for the text:
Building Styles  (Hover to view list)

Right now per the above UI code, the text displays directly from the caption property.

Other Thoughts

After this it allows you to shrink the UI height and remove the empty white space at the bottom. Maybe also remove the "Building Style:" label if you feel it isn't needed any longer, and then add back the horizontal line after the Occupancy/Capacity section (as per your preview earlier).

This might be the solution to the empty white space, while providing an easy way to read each style on its own line.

[Null 45 3,041]

Release version 3.1.0, which adds a cIBuildingStyleInfo2 interface.

[Null 45 3,041]

11 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

As @hugues aroux mentioned: Separating with a space, a pipe, and another space would be the best if they must remain as a long flowing string.

But yes, if Null will make a version which passes the same #building_styles# with the embedded CR LFs then CB has a solution wherein you won't need extra empty space at the bottom of your UI and all styles can be read cleanly each on their own line.

I plan to do both. The #building_styles# variable will be changed to use the pipe format @hugues aroux suggested, and a new #building_style_lines# variable will place each style on its own line. I am not sure if #building_style_lines# is the best name, I am open to other suggestions.

[Nite Owl 79]

#building_style_lines#    =====>    #building_style_own_lines#    or    #building_style_individual_lines#    or    #building_style_each_on_its_own_line#  

The first is more concise but not as descriptive as the second while the third has too many words but is the most descriptive of the three. Your code -- your choice. Whatever you call it as long as it has thorough documentation as to what it does then the actual name does not really matter.

[hugues aroux 3,784]

6 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

which allows tooltips to show upon hover.

Aaaah Yes ... excellent !!

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

8 hours ago, Null 45 said:

The #building_styles# variable will be changed to use the pipe format @hugues aroux suggested,...

Oddly I still get the comma separated list.

 

8 hours ago, Null 45 said:

...a new #building_style_lines# variable will place each style on its own line.

And for this I get nothing at all. (I copy and pasted to be sure I dndi't hvae any tpyos. )

 

8 hours ago, Null 45 said:

I am not sure if #building_style_lines# is the best name,...

As @Nite Owl indicates: It's fine however you code it so long as we know what it is.

 

SC4MoreBuildingStyles.log contents:
SC4MoreBuildingStyles v3.1.0
8:50:01 AM Installed the building select window patch.
8:50:01 AM Installed the lot configuration manager patch.
8:50:01 AM Installed the building style algorithm patch.

I'm running the GOG version of the game if that'd make any difference.

And the hover over of the DLL itself:

Spoiler

 

[Nite Owl 79]

The DLL file with the #building_style_lines# options has not been released yet. It is still a work in progress so the comma separated release is the latest. My concern @CorinaMarie is with your file hover. The date shown is not correct. According to the download here at Simtropolis v3.1.0 of this DLL was only posted about 10 hours ago as this is being typed. That would put its creation date between 10/23/24 and 10/25/24 if one allows for downloads in various Time Zones. In your hover the date is 9/29/24 which is slightly less than a month prior to where it should be. Unless the date and time is back set on your computer for personal reasons. If so then ignore this and chalk it up to my own compulsive behavior towards spot on dates and times on my computer.

No, what? Obsessive and Compulsive, me? Not in the least.     

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

41 minutes ago, Nite Owl said:

The DLL file with the #building_style_lines# options has not been released yet.

Ah! I got beeped for a new version and then the message here was talking about the two display options. My bad!

 

41 minutes ago, Nite Owl said:

My concern @CorinaMarie is with your file hover. The date shown is not correct.

Now that is weird. I didn't even notice. My computer clock is set to the current date and time so no, I'm not doing anything strange like setting it back.

Peeking inside the zip I downloaded:

Looks fine. (Hover over doesn't work for files inside the zip.)

 

For the one in the prior screenshot with the goofy date, I used 7-Zip to do an Extract Here... as I usually do after I make a new folder. So now as a test I did a right-click and Copy, then pasted. The date now matches inside the zip:

 

WinMerge compare says all is well despite the date and time difference:

 

Edit: Even odder: The one that had the goofy date has fixed itself in File Explorer. (Was looking in the 7-Zip extracted folder.)

Edit Too: Ok. It's the plugins in the install folder that is wacko. No matter which prior or current version of the DLL I copy and paste and agree to replace the current file, it gets that exact older wrong date and time. Quite bizarre. At this point it seems to be a Windoze 10 bug.

[Kel9509 1,363]

18 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

This is a little trick I learned from the Census Repository, which allows tooltips to show upon hover. Tooltips only appear for buttons.

You know @Cyclone Boom, when I updated the Census Repository to fill it out with all of @Null 45's new MoreDemand info, I added Tooltips to the new items as well by following the format RippleJet and RaphaelNinja used. I even made sure to show them in my screenshots.  But it's a neat idea to incorporate into the Building Query.

I like the idea.  I'll create a version with Tooltips and a version with the traditional style, each in one download for those who can choose which to install.  Maybe I'll use the regular list for the traditional style, and the one with styles on each new line for the tooltips version.  Hopefully the list with the "|" separator looks ok.  I never thought using commas was so bad.

I'll need to wait for Null 45 to release an update of the DLL as well.  

[Kel9509 1,363]

I've updated all 3 queries now so that there is an optional tooltip version.  Don't want to post screenshots yet though until there's a newer DLL with one style per line.  The Query is obviously not as large as it was before.  

The best part about this is that you can mix and match queries now.  So if you want Residential styles to be shown in the query to avoid hovering to see the styles immediately, then there's that, but then you can use the other tooltip versions for Commercial and Industrial lots.  So now there's the best of both worlds.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

8 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

The Query is obviously not as large as it was before.

Yay! Even on my 4:3 ratio screens it was feeling a bit overbearing.

I grabbed the new DLL and tested that the #building_style_lines# works perfectly. (A fun thing to do is while the hover over is popped up, move your mouse very quickly to the left or right (wherever you have more room) with no vertical movement and then the popup will attach itself to the mouse and you can move it around separately. To drop it, just move back over the query panel itself.)

[Kel9509 1,363]

Now that a new version of @Null 45's DLLs are released, I've also uploaded and released v2.0 of the RCI DLL Query Mod.  You can select a query that uses Tooltips, or does not use Tooltips, and can mix-and match which ones you like:

 

[Kel9509 1,363]

I noticed today that the latest "new_properties.xml" file for PIM-X has the W2W options as draggable items.  However, when you drag to create a new building, the W2W option created is through an Occupant Group.

PIM-X doesn't seem to understand W2W buildings through the use of the new W2W building exemplar.  I don't know if it can be edited that way or not.  It's just something I noticed now.  

[Null 45 3,041]

48 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

I noticed today that the latest "new_properties.xml" file for PIM-X has the W2W options as draggable items.  However, when you drag to create a new building, the W2W option created is through an Occupant Group.

The latest development version of New_properties.xml should have support for the Building Is Wall To Wall property, a commit was added for that 2 days ago.

[Kel9509 1,363]

1 hour ago, Null 45 said:

The latest development version of New_properties.xml should have support for the Building Is Wall To Wall property, a commit was added for that 2 days ago.

I should check those updates more often!  Yes, I see it now.  However for some reason PIM-X still doesn't filter according to W2W exemplars.  Here you can see that I've coded Hammer Security with the new W2W exemplar, as well as some building styles (which I used to test the Query out).  However, under High-Tech W2W it does not appear in PIM-X:

However it does appear under regular High Tech:

I don't know if this is a PIM-X limitation or not, as it may only filter according to Occupant Groups...

EDIT:  I took a look inside new_properties.xml.  The Filters for W2W still don't work, even if you drag a new model to create a new W2W building, PIM-X still doesn't recognize that it's a new W2W building although it does appear to create one by adding the appropriate Occupant Groups.  Even more interesting - when you drag to create a W2W building, it will only add the Occupant Groups with W2W, but the W2W exemplar will be added yet set to "False".  But I can't find the reason for that in new_properties.xml.  I'm not sure why it's doing that when otherwise the filters are set to "True."