Submenus DLL

[memo 1,445]

A DLL plugin for SimCity 4 that

• enables submenu functionality: This DLL is a dependency for other submenu-compatible plugins.
• adds submenus for Plazas, Green Spaces and Sports Grounds to the Parks menu

Download: https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/36142-submenus-dll/

Source code: https://github.com/memo33/submenus-dll

The DLL dynamically creates new submenus by checking for some new exemplar properties, for example in the building exemplars of ploppable lots. This allows anyone to create additional submenus for their lot sets. The modding details are described in the Readme file.

Currently, there are just the three parks submenus. (Edit: As of version 1.1.3, the mod comes with more than 50 standard submenus.) Hopefully, in a community effort, we can update the most popular lot sets to use submenus, in no time.

 

Draft for a standard set of 1st-level submenus:

(Comments welcome.)

Spoiler

 

1st draft (2024-03-03):

Flora:

• Deciduous Trees
• Coniferous Trees
• Palm Trees
• Bushes
• Flowers
• Non-Flora (ploppable water, rocks, people, …)

Rail:

• Passenger Stations
• Freight Stations
• [Sidings and Spurs] (yards, non-functional lots)
• Monorail/HSRP Stations

Misc Transport:

• Bus
• GLR
• El-Rail
• Subway
• Multi-modal Stations (arguably these could be added to all of the above menus instead)
• Parking
• [bikepaths, access roads, alleyways]
• [signs, lighting]

Airport:

• … (the airport menu consists mainly of lot sets that maybe don't need standard menus, but can come with their own submenus(?))

Seaport:

• Ports and Ferry Terminals
• [Marinas]
• Seawalls
• Canals

Power:

• Fossil/Nuclear
• Renewable
• Substations/Poles/Misc

Water:

• Water Towers
• Water Pumps
• Water Treatment

Garbage:

• … (maybe none?)

Police, Fire, Health:

• Small
• Medium
• Large

Education:

• Elementary Schools
• High Schools (including private schools)
• Higher Education
• Libraries and Museums (to split or not to split(?))

Landmarks:

• Government
• Theaters (Operas, Cinemas)
• Religion (Churches, Cemeteries)
• Ploppable CS (possibly split further into gas stations, hotels, restaurants, …)
• Ploppable CO
• Ploppable Farms
• Ploppable Industry
• …

Parks:

• Green Spaces
• Plazas
• Sports Grounds
• Paths/Modular Parks (these all come in sets and should each get their own sub-submenus)
• Embankments (retaining walls)
• Fillers (IRM Fillers, diagonal fillers, roundabout fillers, etc.)
• …

The categories in brackets might not really be needed or could be reworked to make them more concise.

 

2nd draft (2024-03-07):

Flora:

• Trees
• [Seasonal Trees]
• Bushes
• Flowers (Are there many flowers? They could be merged with bushes.)
• [Natural Items] (ploppable water, rocks, …)
• [Artificial Items] (people, cars, …)

Commercial Zone:

• Ploppable CS low density (alternatively separate by wealth instead of density?)
• Ploppable CS medium density
• Ploppable CS high density
• Ploppable CO low density
• Ploppable CO medium density
• Ploppable CO high density

Industrial Zone:

• Ploppable Farms
• Ploppable Industry Dirty
• Ploppable Industry Manufacturing
• Ploppable Industry High-Tech

Rail:

• Passenger Stations
• Freight Stations
• [Yards] (non-functional lots, sidings, spurs)
• [Hybrid Railway Stations] (could be added by NAM instead, since NAM would be required)
• Monorail/HSRP Stations (HSRP could be a separate menu added by NAM)

Misc Transport:

• Bus
• GLR
• El-Rail
• Subway
• Multi-modal Stations
• Parking
• [bikepaths, access roads, alleyways]
• [Signage] (signs, billboards, lighting)

Airport:

• … (should be added by airport mods instead)

Seaport:

• Ports and Ferry Terminals
• [Marinas]
• Seawalls
• Canals

Power:

• Dirty Energy
• Clean Energy
• Substations/Poles/Misc

Water:

• Water Supply
• Water Treatment

Garbage:

• [Disposal]
• [Recycling]

Police:

• Small
• Medium
• Large
• [Jails]

Fire:

• Small
• Medium
• Large

Education:

• Elementary
• High Schools (including private schools)
• Higher Education
• Libraries and Museums

Health:

• Small
• Medium
• Large

Landmarks:

• Government
• Entertainment (theaters, operas, cinemas, stadiums, night clubs, etc.)
• Religion (Churches cemetries)
• …

Parks:

• Green Spaces
• Plazas
• Sports Grounds
• Paths/Modular Parks (these all come in sets and should each get their own sub-submenus)
• Embankments (retaining walls)
• Fillers (IRM Fillers, diagonal fillers, roundabout fillers, etc.)
• …

The categories in brackets may be added in the future if there is a need for them, but may not be needed for the first release.

 

3rd draft (2024-03-14):

Flora:
- Trees
- [Seasonal Trees]
- Bushes
- Flowers
- [Natural Items] (ploppable water, rocks, …)
- [Artificial Items] (people, cars, …)

Commercial Zone:
- Ploppable CS$
- Ploppable CS$$
- Ploppable CS$$$
- Ploppable CO$$
- Ploppable CO$$$

Industrial Zone:
- Ploppable Farms (0xC220B7D8)
- Ploppable Industry Dirty
- Ploppable Industry Manufacturing
- Ploppable Industry High-Tech

Rail:
- Passenger Rail Stations (0x35380C75)
- Freight Rail Stations (0x3557F0A1)
- Yards (0x39BA25C7) (non-functional lots, sidings, spurs)
- [Hybrid Railway Stations] (0x2B294CC2) (could be added by NAM instead, since NAM would be required)
- Monorail Stations (0x3A1D9854) (HSRP could be a separate menu added by NAM)

Misc Transport:
- Bus (0x1FDDE184)
- GLR (0x26B51B28)
- El-Rail (0x244F77E1)
- Subway (0x231A97D3)
- Multi-modal Stations (0x322C7959)
- Parking (0x217B6C35)
- [bikepaths, access roads, alleyways]
- [Signage] (signs, billboards, lighting)

Airport:
- … (should be added by airport mods instead)

Seaport:
- Ports and Ferry Terminals (0x07047B22)
- [Marinas]
- Seawalls (0x1CD18678)
- Canals (0x03C6629C)
- [Waterfront] (industrial/commercial)

Power:
- Dirty Energy
- Clean Energy
- Substations/Poles/Misc

Water:
- Water Supply
- Water Treatment

Garbage:
- [Disposal]
- [Recycling]

Police:
- Small (0x65D88585)
- Medium (0x7D6DC8BC)
- Large (0x8157CA0E)
- [Jails]
- [Military]

Fire:
- Small (0x868E0F99)
- Medium (0x91A8F38E)
- Large (0x9E60B665)

Education:
- Elementary (0x9FE5C428)
- High Schools (0xA08063D0) (including private schools)
- Higher Education (0xAC706063)
- Libraries and Museums (0xAEDD9FAA)

Health:
- Small (0xB1F7AC5B)
- Medium (0xB7B594D6)
- Large (0xBC251B69)

Landmarks:
- Government
- Entertainment (theaters, operas, cinemas, stadiums, night clubs, etc.)
- Religion (Churches cemetries)
- …

Parks:
- Green Spaces (0xBF776D40)
- Plazas (0xEB75882C)
- Sports Grounds (0xCE21DBEB)
- Paths/Modular Parks (0xDEFFD960) (these all come in sets and should each get their own sub-submenus)
- Embankments (0xBB531946) (retaining walls)
- Fillers (0xF034265C) (IRM Fillers, diagonal fillers, roundabout fillers, etc.)
- …

The categories in brackets may be added in the future if there is a need for them, but may not be needed for the first release.

 

4th draft (2024-05-11, updated 2024-06-02) for menus that are not part of a release yet:

Flora:
- Trees
- [Seasonal Trees]
- Bushes
- Flowers
- [Natural Items] (ploppable water, rocks, …)
- [Artificial Items] (people, cars, …)

Misc Transport:
- [bikepaths, access roads, alleyways]
- [Signage] (signs, billboards, lighting)

Seaport:
- [Marinas]

Water:
- Water Supply
- Water Treatment

Garbage:
- [Disposal]
- [Recycling]

Fire:
- [Small] (0x868E0F99)
- [Medium] (0x91A8F38E)
- [Large] (0x9E60B665)

Some of these categories may be added in the future if there is a need for them, but may not be needed for the first release, or there isn't a clear consensus for them yet.
 

  Edited June 2, 2024 by memo  
Updated 4th draft for remaining standard submenus

[Terring 6,473]

Holy cow! The need for some kind of submenus to solve the clustering problem was the reason behind the development of DAMN. That's awesome!

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

8 hours ago, Terring said:

Holy cow! The need for some kind of submenus to solve the clustering problem was the reason behind the development of DAMN. That's awesome!

We are working on it. It will be a long process but it is in the works. 

[Kel9509 1,363]

This mod is something that will really result in a positive gameplay experience!  Frankly, it is a game changer.  Several questions:

1. Based on the readme, it appears that any "menu" listed in the Readme's table can have a new submenu.  So for instance, you can have a submenu underneath the Education menu.  Does this mean that, hypothetically, you could create a submenus separating schools, libraries, colleges/universities, and museums?  

2. Can you expand on how this is to be done, as I'm not sure I understand the readme file's instructions: 

"To create a new submenu, create an item exemplar with two additional properties:

Item Submenu Parent ID: the parent Button ID that opens the submenu this item belongs to

Item Button Class: set to 1 for Submenu Button.

To add network items or flora to a submenu, set Item Button Class to 2 or 4."

I've got a basic knowledge of editing Lots in iLive Reader.  But I'm not sure about the properties that need to be added.  I understand referencing the Item Submenu Parent ID in OccupantGroupsAlt, but does ItemButtonClass need to differ among ALL of the "parents"?  Like a library under the Education menu would be submenu ItemButtonClass 1, and a school could be ItemButtonClass 2?  Is that right?  Or would it need to be something different entirely because plazas and flora are already defined as "2"?    

[wilby30 1]

I'm not sure what do you mean when you wrote: "Copy the DLL into the top-level directory of either Plugins folder.". I just have one plugin folder and I thought only one plugin folder exists. The "Plugins" folder is located inside the "SimCity 4" folder. In my case: Does de DLL file copied into de "SimCity 4" folder?

[Null 45 3,041]

37 minutes ago, wilby30 said:

Does de DLL file copied into de "SimCity 4" folder?

No it goes in Plugins.

The instructions are referring to the fact that the DLL has to be in the root of the folder, not a subfolder. You would place the DLL in either <Documents>\SimCity 4\Plugins or <SC4 install folder>\Plugins.

[Jackspital 391]

This is some fantastic work! With my plugins folder pushing 7GB I have a lot of clutter in the menus that takes some scrolling. This dll will defintely kickstart the community to make submenus. I know there is a way to do it without the dll file, but it appearts to be quite an arduous process.

[atsf189 460]

I have been experimenting with this and have been able to create a sub menu in the Landmarks for my plopable gas stations.

What is the purpose of the first part of the OccupantGroupsAlt number 0x00001005  I created a new instance number for the second input.

Are you trying to standardize these instance numbers?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

24 minutes ago, atsf189 said:

Are you trying to standardize these instance numbers?

We are doing that. It takes time to finalize the logistics

[Sniffeh 121]

21 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

We are working on it. It will be a long process but it is in the works. 

Glad to hear. The game really needs this.

[Vanasonic 49]

This is awesome! I've dropped this game a few times because I didn't want to scroll through the menu.

[Kel9509 1,363]

3 hours ago, atsf189 said:

I have been experimenting with this and have been able to create a sub menu in the Landmarks for my plopable gas stations.

What is the purpose of the first part of the OccupantGroupsAlt number 0x00001005  I created a new instance number for the second input.

I'm close to figuring this out also, but would you be able to clarify a bit?  In a Landmark lot, you added an OccupantGroupAlt with the properties 0x00001005 (does that reference the Civic OccopantGroup?) and 0x09930709 (to reference the Landmarks menu)?  Is that correct?  Or did you just create a custom instance number for testing purposes when you created the Landmark submenu exemplar? I'm just trying to be sure.  I'm guessing that 0x00001005 refers to the Civic lot OccupantGroup but it'd be good to know if that was correct.  Why not use 0x00001006, which is Parks?  Anyway, you also then added the LTEXT and PNG files, similar to what was added in the example parks-submenus.dat?  

Could you attach the lot you edited as an example?

2 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

3 hours ago, atsf189 said:

Are you trying to standardize these instance numbers?

We are doing that. It takes time to finalize the logistics

Standard instance items would be very useful.  But I'll probably end up creating some custom ones as well for my own organizational purposes.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

5 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Standard instance items would be very useful.  But I'll probably end up creating some custom ones as well for my own organizational purposes.

We are currently working to define the basic Maxis standards and rules, and then we can proceed with the custom standards for individual players and the various Modpacks. 

[Wiimeiser 444]

I've been waiting for this. Well, it was more menus, but still. I guess I'll have to go to all the tedious effort of getting every single menu item I have after all... Would be nice to have BSC Parks, PP/BPT, ARS, Dutch Parks, WMP Allotments, whatever set Monkeywater is from, all the canals, etc, within discreet categories. Even just a big category for each type, like one for canals and another for modular path systems.

 

It's going to be a ton of work for modders... I wonder if a simple patch would work?

  Edited February 27, 2024 by Wiimeiser  
A lot of work

[atsf189 460]

22 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

'm close to figuring this out

The arrow shows what makes it go to the landmarks menu. This one will show in landmarks. you should change all instance ids in this example 26A5EB4D should be your own id

The 0x00001005 Is not used anymore as updated by memo below

[Kel9509 1,363]

30 minutes ago, atsf189 said:

The arrow shows what makes it go to the landmarks menu. This one will show in landmarks. you should change all instance ids in this example 26A5EB4D should be your own id

The 0x00001005 I think is what makes the game create sub menus

Got it.  I'll give it a go and make some custom submenus as Landmarks also.  I'd love to organize my landmarks better into Ploppable office buildings with Jobs, vs. Eyecandy landmarks, etc.

[atsf189 460]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

OccupantGroupAlt with the properties 0x00001005 (does that reference the Civic OccopantGroup?) and 0x09930709 (to reference the Landmarks menu)?  Is that correct? 

The second number 0x09930709 refers to the instance id of the exemplar that makes the sub menu. In the above picture it is 26A5EB4D the first file.

All the other files are the building exemplars for the building you want to add and you only add one line to each file the OccupantGroupsAlt

it shows up in my picture as "unknown". I do not know how to add it to reader so it shows up correctly

[Kel9509 1,363]

 

5 minutes ago, atsf189 said:

The second number 0x09930709 refers to the instance id of the exemplar that makes the sub menu. In the above picture it is 26A5EB4D the first file.

All the other files are the building exemplars for the building you want to add and you only add one line to each file the OccupantGroupsAlt

Thank you, that is very helpful and clarifies it a lot.  I should've figured it out but just wanted to be sure.  

7 minutes ago, atsf189 said:

it shows up in my picture as "unknown". I do not know how to add it to reader so it shows up correctly

You gotta use iLive 1.5.4, and download the new XML linked in the readme file and replace the "new_properties.xml" in the installation folder, and the description will show up properly.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

10 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

 

Thank you, that is very helpful and clarifies it a lot.  I should've figured it out but just wanted to be sure.  

You gotta use iLive 1.5.4, and download the new XML linked in the readme file and replace the "new_properties.xml" in the installation folder, and the description will show up properly.

 

18 minutes ago, atsf189 said:

The second number 0x09930709 refers to the instance id of the exemplar that makes the sub menu. In the above picture it is 26A5EB4D the first file.

All the other files are the building exemplars for the building you want to add and you only add one line to each file the OccupantGroupsAlt

it shows up in my picture as "unknown". I do not know how to add it to reader so it shows up correctly

Although we are happy with these initiatives I must remind you that the mod is still in the experimental stage and furthermore there are some critical issues involving rewards. Please wait for our official communications to give the go-ahead for submenu mod creations and publications

[Kel9509 1,363]

4 minutes ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

Although we are happy with these initiatives I must remind you that the mod is still in the experimental stage and furthermore there are some critical issues involving rewards. Please wait for our official communications to give the go-ahead for submenu mod creations and publications

Fear not, I'm just trying to understand it for now.  I appreciate the effort to standardize things and just wanted to understand how it works.  

But are you really planning on editing every (popular) lot out there to organize them into various sub-menus?  I mean, there are thousands of downloads.  Or are you just planning on maybe producing the basic submenu exemplars and then will leave it to others to mod their lots and/or create other custom submenus?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

2 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

But are you really planning on editing every (popular) lot out there to organize them into various sub-menus?  I mean, there are thousands of downloads.  Or are you just planning on maybe producing the basic submenu exemplars and then will leave it to others to mod their lots and/or create other custom submenus?

Simple Answer: Yes

Long Answer: Yes but we are currently defining the maxis submenus from which we will start the development of the other submenus based on content. Obviously we are prioritizing the LEX content as it will be mostly raggrouped in the various packages. The ultimate goal is to have various submenus so that the player does not have to lose his head in scrolling through things. It takes time in creating the standards but it will be worth it

[Wiimeiser 444]

Looks like there was an accidental triple post. Or was that intentional? Anyway, I'm trying to list the stuff I have in my Parks Menu right now, here's what I have so far:

Modular Parking Garage
BLS Bridleway
JRJ Urban Canals
JRJ Rural Walls
Cablecar
Stockade
ML JPN Canals
Shotengai
Blank Fillers
Sign Fillers
SP Parking
Some misc parks
TL Paths (Lots of them)
Floating Speedway
3 Avenue Bridges TE
Some Japanese stuff that seems to be missing dependencies
Duco Fillers
Tunnel Entrances
More TL parks
Boats & Bridges
WMP Allotments
3-Lane AVE Roundabouts
Murimk/Tariel Boardwalks/Marina
Dutch Parks/Plazas
Royal Themed Parks
Immortal Lot Killer/Misc Utilities
Only then do we get to the categories for the vanilla lots
All sorts of unorganized miscellany that needs a dire sorting through because they all have the same order ID...
Callagrafx Canals
More misc, Parking/Alleyways, Oppie Canals...
Even more random uncategorized misc...
Road signs, Paeng's old gardens, stuff called "Open Grass Area" because official tools couldn't change the lot name...
Boardwalks, start of Big Paeng Theory...
Traffic generators
More Misc, BPT Market Stalls, Sports Fields, Monkeywater and Co...
Japanese Railway
Lilo Parks
SPAM SIP
Midi Droit Canal
Beaches
PEG Memorial Parks
More misc stuff, more signs, castle stuff, a giant rat...

And that's not even half my Parks Menu...

At this point, I think it'd be easier to just dump my whole plugins folder somewhere and let the community sort through it all...

[rsc204 21,808]

5 hours ago, Wiimeiser said:

At this point, I think it'd be easier to just dump my whole plugins folder somewhere and let the community sort through it all...

Yeah of course it would be easier, just like it’s easier to get someone to clean your house than do it yourself. The question is what do you expect of the community? Because I’m not sure who would fancy fixing your Plugins folder.

Realistically no, not every piece of content out there is going to get the new SubMenu functionality. Although as we work through restoring files and other updates, I think this new functionality will be incorporated where it makes sense. Likewise I think certain large packs that are popular will receive focus from the wider modding community to make them work with SubMenus.

But either way this is going to entail a lot of work and there is always enough of that to keep us busy. So we’re still at a very early point in this. But as ever with SC4, how you organise your Plugins and what if any modding you do to them, will mostly remain a personal choice. Meaning if you want your entire Plugins suite to be grouped, you’ll have to do some of the work yourself. Although as time goes on there will be ever more content that will support this new feature. 

[Wiimeiser 444]

54 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

But either way this is going to entail a lot of work and there is always enough of that to keep us busy. So we’re still at a very early point in this. But as ever with SC4, how you organise your Plugins and what if any modding you do to them, will mostly remain a personal choice. Meaning if you want your entire Plugins suite to be grouped, you’ll have to do some of the work yourself. Although as time goes on there will be ever more content that will support this new feature. 

You're right, I should be doing most of the work myself. But cataloguing everything is probably going to require a team effort, especially since I don't have everything on the STEX/LEX/etc... What I listed above is just what's in my Parks menu above Havoc's Giant Rat. Maybe I'll list the rest of it, though I don't know if it'll help in any way...

[rsc204 21,808]

Not sure how a list of what you have in your parks menu helps this process.

I’ve gone through my park items today and added submenus for most of its contents. It’s not terrifically hard to do. It wouldn’t be hard to release a set of ready to use Sub Menus for common things like Parks and Canals. The harder part is adding the additional property to every Buildings Exemplar to use them. So maybe that’s a good halfway house for those who don’t have familiarity with modding tools. 

[Wiimeiser 444]

Is there a way to do it as a mass separate patch, or does that only work with Maxis lots?

[rsc204 21,808]

No, because even for the Maxis stuff included to demonstrate the functionality of the DLL, you must add a new property to each of the Buildings Exemplars. Modified versions with this were included.

[Propfam 2,288]

Can I make submenus inside of submenus (and possibly inside of submenus inside of submenus..., you get the idea)?

[atsf189 460]

45 minutes ago, Jidan said:

an I make submenus inside of submenus

Yes If you look at the parks menu in the download you will see this on the green spaces submenu

[Panda 209]

EDITED 2/27/2024: Updated the XML to rename " OccupantGroupsAlt" to "Building Submenus" per revision 1.0.1 of the memo.submenus.dll.
EDITED 2/27/2024: Added two missing properties related to submenu buttons
EDITED 3/28/2024: Added the "Exemplar Patch Targets" property

For those who want to experiment with submenus and are using ILives Reader version 0.9.3, I've created an xml properties file that will let the reader properly show the new OccupantGroupsAlt property.  Download and save the following file: submenu_properties.xml

To show the properties in the Reader, you will need to add it to the list of xml property files.

1. Open the "Option" menu and then select "Options" (not shown) to open the Option popup.
2. Click Add next to the XML Property Files, it will open a new dialog box.
3. Select "Browse" to open the file browser. (Or type in the path to the XML file directly and skip step 4)
4. Navigate to where you saved the submenu-properties.xml file (I placed mine in the same folder as Reader.exe for convenience.), select the file and click open. Click okay to close all open popups and dialog boxes.
5. Restart Reader, the program should now recognize the new "OccupantGroupsAlt" propery.

Note: This XML file only adds the additional properties used in the Submenu DLL, you will also need to enable "tropod_Properties.xml" to populate the rest of the general properties.

  Edited March 28, 2024 by Panda  
Added Exemplar Patch Targets