Custom Queries for Custom Buildings

[Null 45 3,041]

52 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

The function included for that is: "#m@100#".  But I can't seem to find how it's created or where it's calculated.

The value isn't calculated anywhere. The m@100 text simply tells the game to convert the number 100 to a money string in whatever format the game's language uses, a result you can see in the UI screenshot. The m@ syntax is one of several Lua number formatting prefixes Maxis added and documented in their advisor scripting conventions, which I will quote below:

Quote

For LUA tokens you might need to use one of the token type tags 
     m@   --  for money amounts.
     d@   --  for dates.
     t@   --  for time.
     n@   --  for numbers (optional). This is also the default type tag.
     s@   --  for strings (optional).

For instance # m@ game . g_budget# will be replaced with the value of total city budget variable. Type tags are needed for lacalization purposes.  

I wasn't able to get the date and time formatting options to work, but the money, number, and string values work.

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

Ideally, it'd be great if all of these values, like each Amount, Radius, and Cap Relief, could be pulled directly from a building's exemplar.  That way, a query could be built that shows these amounts for any type of building instead of having to puzzle-piece it together for some.  BSC even couldn't do it for all of their parks because of the significant variation.

Maxis provided something like that for exemplar properties used for menu tool tips (catalog items) that contain a single numeric value. The catalog item syntax is m:<property id> or d:<property id>, which would read the specified property and convert its value to a money or decimal string respectively.

I already have a syntax in the Query UI Hooks DLL for reading user specified values (see budget_purpose_type_cost), so it would just be a matter of naming the new query strings. But I will say that the multiple formats Maxis used for exemplar properties makes it a pain to read arbitrary properties as you have to know the format each one uses.

[Kel9509 1,363]

20 hours ago, Null 45 said:

Maxis provided something like that for exemplar properties used for menu tool tips (catalog items) that contain a single numeric value. The catalog item syntax is m:<property id> or d:<property id>, which would read the specified property and convert its value to a money or decimal string respectively.

Yeah, that's very common to see.  I wish Maxis had written that to be more open than just restricting it to the tooltip texts.  Do you know if it's for ONLY Menu Tooltips, or can it be used in any tooltip?  Even still, it wouldn't work with things like Cap Relief which is not a single value.

20 hours ago, Null 45 said:

I already have a syntax in the Query UI Hooks DLL for reading user specified values (see budget_purpose_type_cost), so it would just be a matter of naming the new query strings. But I will say that the multiple formats Maxis used for exemplar properties makes it a pain to read arbitrary properties as you have to know the format each one uses.

Yeah, I understand.  And frankly I'm not sure how you'd parse something like Cap Relief, which is just a string of values.  There doesn't seem to be a way to break it up.  

But ideally, I'd have made a replacement query for the Landmark query, the Church Query, and possibly the Parks Query, because many rewards or other lots in the game have Cap Relief and/or positive Landmark and Park effects and a Mayor has no idea how valuable any lot is unless they look in the exemplar properties.  With custom lots that use those generic queries, I usually add all details about its benefits to its Menu Tooltip so I have some idea of what benefits any particular lot has in deciding what to plop.  It'd be nice if, similar to the BSC Parks, a person could theoretically click on any Landmark or Church or Park, and see its in-game stats similar to how the BSC Parks Menu shows things instead of just it's monthly cost.

I would totally make replacement Queries for the in-game Queries that do not provide any of that information now, if it were possible.

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

Do you know if it's for ONLY Menu Tooltips, or can it be used in any tooltip?

Only catalog menu tool tips. AFAICT the game pairs the catalog menu items with the relevant exemplar solely for the tool tips to query a limited number of exemplar properties, but that design make sense as you wouldn't want things like cost to be hard coded in the tool tip.

3 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

Yeah, I understand.  And frankly I'm not sure how you'd parse something like Cap Relief, which is just a string of values.  There doesn't seem to be a way to break it up.  

But ideally, I'd have made a replacement query for the Landmark query, the Church Query, and possibly the Parks Query, because many rewards or other lots in the game have Cap Relief and/or positive Landmark and Park effects and a Mayor has no idea how valuable any lot is unless they look in the exemplar properties.  With custom lots that use those generic queries, I usually add all details about its benefits to its Menu Tooltip so I have some idea of what benefits any particular lot has in deciding what to plop.  It'd be nice if, similar to the BSC Parks, a person could theoretically click on any Landmark or Church or Park, and see its in-game stats similar to how the BSC Parks Menu shows things instead of just it's monthly cost.

The Cap Relief (Demand Satisfied) and Demand Created values aren't even documented in Ingred.ini, I had to look in new_properties.xml for that. To make things more complex, both Demand Satisfied and Demand Created also have Float32 properties that use a different format. 

The Park, Landmark, Mayor Rating, and Crime effects seem simpler, as Ingred.ini implies that they are a two item array specifying the effect's magnitude and radius.

[Kel9509 1,363]

20 hours ago, Null 45 said:

The Cap Relief (Demand Satisfied) and Demand Created values aren't even documented in Ingred.ini, I had to look in new_properties.xml for that. To make things more complex, both Demand Satisfied and Demand Created also have Float32 properties that use a different format. 

The Park, Landmark, Mayor Rating, and Crime effects seem simpler, as Ingred.ini implies that they are a two item array specifying the effect's magnitude and radius.

Maybe I'm overly hopeful due to your impressive work already.  But you tell me if you think this might be feasible in some form:

Cap Relief is, of course, the Demand Satisfied property.  If it were possible to merely report out the current string, similar to how PIM-X does it, that would be awesome.

Civic Jobs, I originally thought, might be derived from the Demand Created property.  But then I wondered if Landmarks with Civic Jobs have similar job properties like Commercial and Industrial lots?  The Advanced Query Tooltip does show jobs in Landmarks with Civic Jobs, similar to how we worked out Actual Jobs for Industrial and Commercial lots:

So I wonder if it'd really be necessary to parse Demand Created jobs to get the actual # of Civic Jobs being worked.  I think that function might already work from your jobs_low_wealth, jobs_medium_wealth, and jobs_high_wealth variables.  In fact, I'll see if I can test those on a working Landmark Query replacement soon.

As for the other Exemplar properties that I bracketed, if not too hard, why not?  They're nice to see, and perhaps others might have a use for them for queries in the future - particularly items like Power Consumed or Water Consumed.  

EDIT: Of course I forgot that the query would need to have the Goofy Stats as well...

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

15 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Of course I forgot that the query would need to have the Goofy Stats as well...

I'm not a fan of Maxis Goofy Stats because their values are too fictitious and not in line with the city's development. With the LUA code, I managed to obtain Box-Muller transformation with a standard deviation, allowing me to have fictitious values in line with the city's growth.

If you need the LUA script, here is the code used to calculate the number of prostitutes in the city for the CAM Casino expansion.

function game.cam_get_prostitute()
    local mean = game.g_city_r_population / 100
    local std_dev = mean * 0.25
    local u1 = math.random()
    local u2 = math.random()
    local z = math.sqrt(-2 * math.log(u1)) * math.cos(2 * math.pi * u2)
    local civilian_count = math.floor(math.max(0, z * std_dev + mean) + 0.5)
    return civilian_count
end

[Kel9509 1,363]

@Ulisse Wolf, thanks!  Yeah, I don't want to lose the Goofy Stats but I did know you did some work improving them.  Much appreciated!

Also, I was wondering if you were doing anything on the Casinos, given how you've opened them up in CAM.  For those who don't use CAM, I might make a Casino Query override.  Or if I make one you can use it in CAM.  New_Properties has so many added functions for the new Power Plants but it's been a while since I looked and I wasn't sure if you added things for the Casinos.

The basic layout above is what I have in mind, generally, with any suggestions as others might have to adapt it a bit further.  Then I'd include the respective goofy Stat line to each standard Maxis query.  So with one template or so, I might end up replacing about 30 or so Queries, listed below:

Quote

Landmark Eyecandy Query ID: 0x2a56675c
Mayor's House: 0x4a8b9396
Courthouse: 0x0a8b9a67
City Hall: 0x9b868f68 [or not, if ModPac Zero City Hall is preferable]
Bureaucracy: 0xAA8B9971
Convention Center: 0xCA8B9D40
Statue: 0x8A8B9811
Space Port: 0x4C0969E2
Research Center: 0x8A8B95B0
Lighthouse: 0x2C096DE6
Casino: 0xAA8B999E
Toxic Waste Dump: 0x8A8B98A7
Army Base: 0x4A8B9936
Missile Range: 0x6A8B9ACC
UFO Base: 0xCC097FC0

Parks:
Park: 0x0A562A05
Stadium: 0xCA8B9CE7

Other Rewards:
Zoo: 0x0A8B98FE
Farmer's Market: 0x2A8B97C1
Cruise Ship Port: 0xAC096AC7
Tourist Trap: 0x6A8B9875

Worship: 0xCA8B9AA2
Cemetary: 0xCA8B96C2
Country Club: 0x2A8B99D0
State Fair: 0x0A8B9C6A
Resourt Hotel: 0x2A8B9DF2
Radio Station: 0x0A8B9C43
TV Station: 0x8A8B9D12
Movie Studio: 0x6A8B9AF3
Stock Exchange: 0x4A8B9C92

Once 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

3 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

@Ulisse Wolf, thanks!  Yeah, I don't want to lose the Goofy Stats but I did know you did some work improving them.  Much appreciated!

Also, I was wondering if you were doing anything on the Casinos, given how you've opened them up in CAM.  For those who don't use CAM, I might make a Casino Query override.  Or if I make one you can use it in CAM.  New_Properties has so many added functions for the new Power Plants but it's been a while since I looked and I wasn't sure if you added things for the Casinos.

The basic layout above is what I have in mind, generally, with any suggestions as others might have to adapt it a bit further.  Then I'd include the respective goofy Stat line to each standard Maxis query.  So with one template or so, I might end up replacing about 30 or so Queries, listed below:

Once 

For casinos, the work in New_Properties is already complete. In CAM Core, you will already find the Maxis override that I developed. 

CAM Casino specialization has not been updated due to a lack of LEX content, which still needs to be restored. 

For now, I am working hard on rebuilding AMPS. The Maxis lots are already ready and updated using Exemplar Patch (CAM Core is required as a dependency), but I need to update Kloudkicker Transformer, TakemeThere Transformer Substation, and Simmer2 Main Transformers to have the first alpha of the new AMPS version available to the public (using Experimental CAM Core). 

 

[Kel9509 1,363]

Success on the jobs!   @Null 45 your existing variables work fine for Civic Jobs!

[Kel9509 1,363]

I tested some standard Maxis variables from the RCI query in the Landmark lots.  Land Value, Powered and Watered work, but the others don't work so well:

Anyway, this is looking promising. 

[Null 45 3,041]

19 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

but the others don't work so well

For whatever reason, the Maxis implementation restricted those variables to only working with RCI lots.

20 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

Cap Relief is, of course, the Demand Satisfied property.  If it were possible to merely report out the current string, similar to how PIM-X does it, that would be awesome.

Reporting it as a single string is simpler than trying to split it into individual properties.  

So in summary, the requested new occupant variables are:

• Cap Relief (Demand Satisfied)
• Landmark Effect
• Park Effect
• Mayor Effect
• Crime Effect
• Wealth (which SC4 already implements for RCI lots)
• Pollution at Center
• Pollution Radius
• Water Consumed
• Power Consumed
• Flammability
• Mac Fire Stage
• Bulldoze Cost

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

4 hours ago, Null 45 said:

Reporting it as a single string is simpler than trying to split it into individual properties.  

If we know what the data separator is, I believe we could then parse it further with Lua.

[Kel9509 1,363]

5 hours ago, Null 45 said:

Reporting it as a single string is simpler than trying to split it into individual properties.  

I think that would be sufficient, given how it might be difficult to split.  In the example query, I provided 3 lines to display the potential Cap Relief.  For lots/buildings that have none, it'd be ideal if the Query reported something like "None."  It may look a bit awkward to have a large space in the query for a lot reporting "None" but that's ok.  I assume that if a building has all types of Cap Relief, the Query will display each result as much as possible on one line, moving to the next line in the query's text box until all are displayed.  

The only possible benefit in splitting them out is better organization, so that I could designate one line as Residential Cap Relief,  a separate one as Commercial, and the last line as Industrial.  But I'm not sure if that's necessary.  Like the building style list, I think just displaying it all might work.  If others have any ideas please speak up.

Also, I'm not sure what other choice there is.  My idea was merely to report these stats so that people know how useful the buildings/lots are in their city.  It's not like I only want to show Residential Cap relief and not Industrial Cap Relief.  

5 hours ago, Null 45 said:

So in summary, the requested new occupant variables are:

I think that covers it, unless I missed anything?  Monthly cost is already possible.  I don't think we need to see Occupant Groups.  Unless anyone has any other suggestions I think that covers it.

A while back I tried to implement an update to the RCI query to see if localized Mayor Ratings were possible, but I don't think the game can do that at all.

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

A while back I tried to implement an update to the RCI query to see if localized Mayor Ratings were possible, but I don't think the game can do that at all.

The game tracks mayor rating on a per-cell basis, and you would only get the rating for one cell. So I am not sure how useful that would be.

I could add that info to one of my extended terrain query tool tips, I am thinking of using the Control query as it already has land value and pollution data for the cell.

2 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

It may look a bit awkward to have a large space in the query for a lot reporting "None" but that's ok.

It may make sense to move that to the bottom of the query dialog and use a format similar to the Building Styles. I expect the Cap Lifter plugins use values that would produce a long number string.

[Null 45 3,041]

Here is the cap relief and mayor rating effect strings from my debug logging code. The cap relief is from the Cap Lifter mod. I would not be surprised if some mods also use values above 1,000 for the effect fields.

#cap_relief# = R§=4,294,967,295 | R§§=4,294,967,295 | R§§§=4,294,967,295 | Co§§§=4,294,967,295 | Co§§=4,294,967,295 | I-D=4,294,967,295 | I-M=4,294,967,295 | I-HT=4,294,967,295 | I-R=4,294,967,295
#mayor_rating_effect# = magnitude=5 | radius=256

The thousands separator is whatever SC4 uses for the chosen language.

[Kel9509 1,363]

21 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

Here is the cap relief and mayor rating effect strings from my debug logging code. The cap relief is from the Cap Lifter mod.

The output looks good.  And while it's unlikely that any single building or lot will have that much relief, it's good to know the DLL can handle large amounts like that.  

Is it possible to capitalize Magnitude and Radius?

EDIT: I assume that for buildings with negative effect, like negative mayor or park effects, the negative number would be shown?  And for buildings that do not have a particular exemplar, like Crime Effect, would anything be shown at all or would it show "None" or just blank?  Just trying to figure things out.

[Kel9509 1,363]

21 hours ago, Null 45 said:

It may make sense to move that to the bottom of the query dialog and use a format similar to the Building Styles. I expect the Cap Lifter plugins use values that would produce a long number string.

Agreed, that is very sensible.  Here's another draft:

[Null 45 3,041]

36 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Is it possible to capitalize Magnitude and Radius?

Done. From the Maxis Casino:

#crime_effect# = Magnitude=50 | Radius=128
#landmark_effect# = Magnitude=50 | Radius=22
#park_effect# = Magnitude=-65 | Radius=25
#mayor_rating_effect# = Magnitude=-7 | Radius=440

36 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

I assume that for buildings with negative effect, like negative mayor or park effects, the negative number would be shown?

Fixed, and I also fixed another bug where I was not treating the crime effect as Uint8.

Looking at the Mac disassembly, it appears that a negative crime magnitude isn't supported (the value appears to be treated as unsigned). But I have not tested that theory.

54 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

And for buildings that do not have a particular exemplar, like Crime Effect, would anything be shown at all or would it show "None" or just blank?

It would be blank, same as most of the other fields in that case.

[Kel9509 1,363]

On 1/24/2026 at 12:52 AM, Null 45 said:

It would be blank, same as most of the other fields in that case.

That is helpful.

As I'm considering replacing a lot of the standard Landmark/Reward queries, it might make sense to not make all of them identical.  In particular, if it's typical that a Reward like the Space Port doesn't produce any Crime, it would also make sense to not include the Crime Effect line in its query.  

The idea here is to really show, at least for Custom buildings & Rewards that use the standard Maxis Landmark/Reward queries (and possibly some BSC queries that are identical but with the BSC logo), what their stats are.  I'm not aware of any custom Space Ports, for instance, that have a crime effect.  So I might have to tailor some of these queries to remove properties from being shown where they aren't normally produced.  My concern was that there could be some crazy Reward building that shows up unexpectedly with something like Crime Effect, or claiming that the Reward helps Industry when in truth it only provides a Park Effect (Maxis landmarks are notorious for claiming properties that they actually do not have). 

Do people think that I should try to tailor these a bit, or should I just include most of the potential stats anyway even if some show up blank?

Same question for Parks (one separate query) and Stadiums (another separate query).

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

2 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Do people think that I should try to tailor these a bit, or should I just include most of the potential stats anyway even if some show up blank?

Are the variables to show display only? Or can they be evaluated by Lua before showing them? If the latter you could make the query dynamic by having the text also be a field that you'd fill in with spaces when there is no crime or with a proper label when there is.

[Kel9509 1,363]

10 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Are the variables to show display only? Or can they be evaluated by Lua before showing them? If the latter you could make the query dynamic by having the text also be a field that you'd fill in with spaces when there is no crime or with a proper label when there is.

I think, based on what @Null 45 has said, that if a building doesn't have a property like Crime Effect, the result is that it will show up blank.  It might be an interesting problem because the DLL can't show what's not there.  It's not even showing a zero, it'd be showing nothing.  I don't know if the DLL would be able to understand if "nothing" is shown and replace it with "None" or something else, particularly in the case where a building doesn't have the specified property like Crime Effect.  Do you know if LUA could evaluate something that's blank?

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

2 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Do you know if LUA could evaluate something that's blank?

Yes. That's a special thing Lua excels at compared to many other programming languages. You can test for "nil".  

The key thing I don't know as I've not been able to test any of Null's recent (past few months) DLLs and so I don't know if the values are ones which will only show in the UI or if they are available to peek at with IF / THEN logic.

[memo 1,444]

48 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Do people think that I should try to tailor these a bit, or should I just include most of the potential stats anyway even if some show up blank?

I think it would make sense to consider approaching this from a gameplay perspective. Most stats wouldn't usually be available to a mayor, but are simulation internals. For a park for example, a mayor would mainly know its monthly cost and resource usage, knowing that the park's value for the surrounding neighborhood roughly correlates with its costs. But exposing internal simulation parameters like cap relief, mayor effect and the like, could feel like a cheat.

[Kel9509 1,363]

17 minutes ago, memo said:

But exposing internal simulation parameters like cap relief, mayor effect and the like, could feel like a cheat.

All in the good tradition of modding, I suppose.  We've got ways to see demand,  demand caps, and other stats in the Census Repository, for instance. This is more of the same.  I've always been bothered that a lot of the simulation is a guessing game to some degree.  

Do you prefer a version with the "top half" of my draft that shows just the jobs, water, fire, pollution, etc?  I suppose I could do that also.

[Null 45 3,041]

7 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

It might be an interesting problem because the DLL can't show what's not there.  It's not even showing a zero, it'd be showing nothing.

The DLL is somewhat inconsistent in that behavior. For the job values it shows zero if the value is unknown, but most other properties would show a blank value. 

10 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

I don't know if the DLL would be able to understand if "nothing" is shown and replace it with "None" or something else, particularly in the case where a building doesn't have the specified property like Crime Effect.

I changed the variables to use other default values:

Spoiler

Coit Tower:

#building_full_funding_capacity# = §0
#building_full_funding_coverage# = §0
#building_is_w2w# = No
#building_styles# = None
#building_style_lines# = None
#building_summary# = 
#growth_stage# = 1
#mysim_name# = 
#jobs_low_wealth# = 0
#jobs_medium_wealth# = 0
#jobs_high_wealth# = 0
#travel_jobs_low_wealth# = 0
#travel_jobs_medium_wealth# = 0
#travel_jobs_high_wealth# = 0
#r1_occupancy# = 0
#r1_capacity# = 0
#r2_occupancy# = 0
#r2_capacity# = 0
#r3_occupancy# = 0
#r3_capacity# = 0
#cs1_occupancy# = 0
#cs1_capacity# = 0
#cs2_occupancy# = 0
#cs2_capacity# = 0
#cs3_occupancy# = 0
#cs3_capacity# = 0
#co2_occupancy# = 0
#co2_capacity# = 0
#co3_occupancy# = 0
#co3_capacity# = 0
#ir_occupancy# = 0
#ir_capacity# = 0
#id_occupancy# = 0
#id_capacity# = 0
#im_occupancy# = 0
#im_capacity# = 0
#iht_occupancy# = 0
#iht_capacity# = 0
#water_building_source# = None
#cap_relief# = None
#cap_relief_lines# = None
#crime_effect# = None
#landmark_effect# = Magnitude=30 | Radius=18
#park_effect# = None
#mayor_rating_effect# = Magnitude=5 | Radius=256
#pollution_at_center# = Air: 0 Water: 1 Garbage: 3 Radiation: 0
#pollution_radii# = Air: 0 Water: 2 Garbage: 0 Radiation: 0
#building_wealth# = High Wealth
#bulldoze_cost# = §4,950
#flammability# = 10
#max_fire_stage# = 3
#power_consumed# = 0
#water_consumed# = 0
#budget_purpose_type_cost:0xaa59670c# = §110

 

 

[Kel9509 1,363]

On 1/26/2026 at 1:08 AM, Null 45 said:

I changed the variables to use other default values:

I think that looks really good.  I'm working on the query now and hope to have it ready for your new version of the DLL soon!

[Kel9509 1,363]

On 1/26/2026 at 1:08 AM, Null 45 said:

#budget_purpose_type_cost:0xaa59670c# = §110

I was looking at this and was wondering if it's any different from the cost value already used for existing Landmarks/Rewards.  

A regular landmark will report a Maintenance Cost using the IGZWinText ID of 0x00001049, a Toxic Waste Dump will report income using 0x0000106c (same with a Cruise Ship Port but it's now a cost instead of income).  A park will report a Monthly Maintenance Cost using IGZWinText ID of 0x00001010.  

Is your variable an easier way to just get those amounts without using the specific IGZWinText ID?  I hope so.  But what's the Hex ID suffix? 

EDIT: Testing these different IDs in different queries results in a CTD if you don't use the proper ID with the respective query.  For instance, you can't use the Landmark ID of 0x00001049 in a Resort Hotel, which doesn't display a cost in its query.

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

I was looking at this and was wondering if it's any different from the cost value already used for existing Landmarks/Rewards.  

It is similar to 0x106c, but unlike that function it can handle buildings that have mixed income and expense budget items.

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

But what's the Hex ID suffix?

The hex suffix is the Budget Item: Purpose Type value. The ones Maxis defined are listed in Ingred.ini, but DLLs can also define their own (e.g. my Custom Budget Departments DLL).

Spoiler

; Purpose IDs
[Uint32ValueMap_0xea54d285]
0xca550301=Mass Transit Switch
0xca565486=Hospital Staff
0xea56549e=Hospital Coverage
0xea5654b6=School Staff
0x4a5654ba=School Coverage
0x0a567baa=Police Protection
0xea56768a=Jail
0xea567bc3=Fire Protection
0xca58c9d5=Water Production
0xca58edc7=Sanitation
0xca58e540=Power Production
0xaa59670c=Landmark Effect
0x4a5a495e=Business Deal Income
0xca639989=Park Effect
0x0c3bf549=Toll Booth Maintenance

 

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

EDIT: Testing these different IDs in different queries results in a CTD if you don't use the proper ID with the respective query.  For instance, you can't use the Landmark ID of 0x00001049 in a Resort Hotel, which expects an ID of 0x00001000 (as well as some additional items in its query).

Not surprising. Maxis likely assumed that the C++ functions would only be used for their intended purpose, and didn't bother with error checking.

I dumped the array of 126 functions that Maxis used to implement the 0x10xx query, which I will post below. I am curious why 24 of those function pointers are null (calling one would cause a CTD). Perhaps the function pointers where assigned in blocks and some went unused, or they are leftovers from unimplemented features. Another oddity is that the number format the game checks for is 0x1xxx, allowing for up to 4096 items.

Spoiler

Function 0 (0x1000) = SetOrGetName
Function 1 (0x1001) = SetOrGetFireStationEffectiveness
Function 2 (0x1002) = SetOrGetFireStationLocalFunding
Function 3 (0x1003) = SetOrGetFireStationEngineCount
Function 4 (0x1004) = SetOrGetFireStationMaintenanceCost
Function 5 (0x1005) = NULL
Function 6 (0x1006) = SetOrGetPoliceStationEffectiveness
Function 7 (0x1007) = SetOrGetPoliceStationArrestCount
Function 8 (0x1008) = SetOrGetPoliceStationCrimeCount
Function 9 (0x1009) = SetOrGetPoliceStationLocalFunding
Function 10 (0x100a) = SetOrGetPoliceStationPatrolCarCount
Function 11 (0x100b) = SetOrGetPoliceStationMaintenanceCost
Function 12 (0x100c) = SetOrGetJailCondition
Function 13 (0x100d) = SetOrGetJailCellCount
Function 14 (0x100e) = SetOrGetJailInmateCount
Function 15 (0x100f) = SetOrGetJailMaintenanceCost
Function 16 (0x1010) = SetOrGetParkMaintenanceCost
Function 17 (0x1011) = SetOrGetAirportOccupantAirTrafficVolume
Function 18 (0x1012) = SetOrGetAirportOccupantNoisePollution
Function 19 (0x1013) = SetOrGetAirportOccupantMaintenanceCost
Function 20 (0x1014) = SetOrGetAirportOccupantLostLuggage
Function 21 (0x1015) = SetOrGetSeaportOccupantSeaTrafficVolume
Function 22 (0x1016) = SetOrGetWaterPollutionVolume
Function 23 (0x1017) = SetOrGetSchoolGrade
Function 24 (0x1018) = SetOrGetSchoolLocalStaffFunding
Function 25 (0x1019) = SetOrGetSchoolLocalBusFunding
Function 26 (0x101a) = SetOrGetSchoolTeacherCount
Function 27 (0x101b) = SetOrGetSchoolDeskCount
Function 28 (0x101c) = SetOrGetSchoolStudentCount
Function 29 (0x101d) = SetOrGetMuseumExhibitTicketsAvailable
Function 30 (0x101e) = SetOrGetLibraryBooksBorrowedCount
Function 31 (0x101f) = SetOrGetLibraryBooksInCollectionCount
Function 32 (0x1020) = SetOrGetHospitalGrade
Function 33 (0x1021) = SetOrGetHospitalLocalStaffFunding
Function 34 (0x1022) = SetOrGetHospitalLocalAmbulanceFunding
Function 35 (0x1023) = SetOrGetHospitalDoctorCount
Function 36 (0x1024) = SetOrGetHospitalBedCount
Function 37 (0x1025) = SetOrGetHospitalPatientCount
Function 38 (0x1026) = NULL
Function 39 (0x1027) = NULL
Function 40 (0x1028) = NULL
Function 41 (0x1029) = SetOrGetIncineratorEfficiency
Function 42 (0x102a) = SetOrGetIncineratorPercentCapacity
Function 43 (0x102b) = SetOrGetIncineratorTrashIncinerated
Function 44 (0x102c) = SetOrGetAirPollutionVolume
Function 45 (0x102d) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyEfficiency
Function 46 (0x102e) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyPercentCapacity
Function 47 (0x102f) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyMaxPowerOutputCapacity
Function 48 (0x1030) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyCurrentPowerOutputCapacity
Function 49 (0x1031) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyPowerUsed
Function 50 (0x1032) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyCostPerUnit
Function 51 (0x1033) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyTrashIncinerated
Function 52 (0x1034) = SetOrGetPowerPlantEfficiency
Function 53 (0x1035) = SetOrGetPowerPlantPercentCapacity
Function 54 (0x1036) = SetOrGetPowerPlantMaxPowerOutputCapacity
Function 55 (0x1037) = SetOrGetPowerPlantCurrentPowerOutputCapacity
Function 56 (0x1038) = SetOrGetPowerPlantPowerUsed
Function 57 (0x1039) = SetOrGetPowerPlantCostPerUnit
Function 58 (0x103a) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingEfficiency
Function 59 (0x103b) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingUsagePercent
Function 60 (0x103c) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingMaxCapacity
Function 61 (0x103d) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingCurrentCapacity
Function 62 (0x103e) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingWaterUsed
Function 63 (0x103f) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingCostPerUnit
Function 64 (0x1040) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingPumpCondition
Function 65 (0x1041) = SetOrGetTransitStationServiceQuality
Function 66 (0x1042) = SetOrGetTransitStationUsagePercent
Function 67 (0x1043) = SetOrGetTransitStationMaintenanceCost
Function 68 (0x1044) = SetOrGetTransitStationActualUsage
Function 69 (0x1045) = SetOrGetTransitStationMaxCapacity
Function 70 (0x1046) = SetOrGetTransitStationGlobalFunding
Function 71 (0x1047) = SetOrGetLandmarkFunding
Function 72 (0x1048) = NULL
Function 73 (0x1049) = SetOrGetLandmarkMaintenance
Function 74 (0x104a) = SetOrGetLandmarkHomage
Function 75 (0x104b) = NULL
Function 76 (0x104c) = NULL
Function 77 (0x104d) = NULL
Function 78 (0x104e) = NULL
Function 79 (0x104f) = NULL
Function 80 (0x1050) = NULL
Function 81 (0x1051) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingCurrentOccupancy
Function 82 (0x1052) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingMaxOccupancy
Function 83 (0x1053) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingWealthLevel
Function 84 (0x1054) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingPollution
Function 85 (0x1055) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingCrime
Function 86 (0x1056) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingLandValue
Function 87 (0x1057) = SetOrGetResidentialBuildingCommute
Function 88 (0x1058) = SetOrGetResidentialBuildingMayorApproval
Function 89 (0x1059) = SetOrGetResidentialBuildingEQ
Function 90 (0x105a) = SetOrGetResidentialBuildingHQ
Function 91 (0x105b) = SetOrGetResidentialBuildingMySimicon
Function 92 (0x105c) = SetOrGetCommercialServiceBuildingCustomers
Function 93 (0x105d) = NULL
Function 94 (0x105e) = SetOrGetRecyclingCenterEfficiency
Function 95 (0x105f) = SetOrGetRecyclingCenterPercentCapacity
Function 96 (0x1060) = SetOrGetRecyclingCenterTrashRecycled
Function 97 (0x1061) = SetOrGetWasteToEnergyPercentCondition
Function 98 (0x1062) = SetOrGetPowerPlantPercentCondition
Function 99 (0x1063) = SetOrGetPowerPlantLocalFunding
Function 100 (0x1064) = NULL
Function 101 (0x1065) = NULL
Function 102 (0x1066) = NULL
Function 103 (0x1067) = NULL
Function 104 (0x1068) = NULL
Function 105 (0x1069) = NULL
Function 106 (0x106a) = NULL
Function 107 (0x106b) = SetOrGetOccupantGoofyStat
Function 108 (0x106c) = SetOrGetOccupantCost
Function 109 (0x106d) = SetOrGetWaterTreatmentPlantEfficiency
Function 110 (0x106e) = NULL
Function 111 (0x106f) = NULL
Function 112 (0x1070) = NULL
Function 113 (0x1071) = NULL
Function 114 (0x1072) = NULL
Function 115 (0x1073) = SetOrGetWaterBuildingPercentCondition
Function 116 (0x1074) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingTraffic
Function 117 (0x1075) = SetOrGetRCIBuildingGarbage
Function 118 (0x1076) = SetOrGetOccupantIsPowered
Function 119 (0x1077) = SetOrGetOccupantIsWatered
Function 120 (0x1078) = SetOrGetSeaportOccupantMaintenanceCost
Function 121 (0x1079) = SetOrGetWhyOccupantAbandoned
Function 122 (0x107a) = SetOrGetOccupantIsHistorical
Function 123 (0x107b) = SetOrGetAirportOccupantUsage
Function 124 (0x107c) = SetOrGetAirportOccupantCapacity
Function 125 (0x107d) = SetOrGetSeaportOccupantUsage
Function 126 (0x107e) = SetOrGetSeaportOccupantCapacity

Despite the names being SetOrGet*, most if not all of the functions can only get values.

 

[Kel9509 1,363]

12 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

It is similar to 0x106c, but unlike that function it can handle buildings that have mixed income and expense budget items.

Does it report an cost of zero for those that have zero costs (or, worse, missing exemplar properties)?  I can't seem to use a native Function to display a zero cost for the Resort Hotel.  (I misspoke earlier and edited my post - the Resort Hotel has zero cost and its query doesn't display a cost, still - using the landmark ID of 1049 will CTD).  

I think your function, if it applies globally to all types of landmarks, rewards, and parks, etc, would be a massive improvement.  I didn't realize that this Cost item would be such a pain in the ass to display properly, especially since I thought it was native to the game so it'd be easily done.  Not so at all!

18 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

The hex suffix is the Budget Item: Purpose Type value. The ones Maxis defined are listed in Ingred.ini, but DLLs can also define their own (e.g. my Custom Budget Departments DLL).

Do I need to specify "0xaa59670c" (aka: Budget Purpose Type - Landmark Effect)?  I'm trying to be as universal as I can here.  For Landmarks that have a Budget Purpose type of 0x4a5a495e (Business Deal Income), like the Army base or Toxic Waste Dump, I suppose that would be taken care of by the replacement Army Base query or Toxic Waste Query and I can code that suffix directly into their queries....  And Park queries would use the Budget Purpose Type - Park Effect.  Hmmm..   I'm trying to think if this is  going to be an issue or not.  Maybe not?

[Null 45 3,041]

16 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Does it report an cost of zero for those that have zero costs (or, worse, missing exemplar properties)?

Yes. 

16 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Do I need to specify "0xaa59670c" (aka: Budget Purpose Type - Landmark Effect)?

Yes, you need to specify which purpose type you want to query. AFAICT the Budget Purpose Type is like an IID, they uniquely identify a specific budget purpose.

As I hinted at in my previous post, the game allows buildings to have multiple Budget Item values. Those properties are arrays, but the base game uses a single item for everything other than schools and hospitals. In theory, you could, for example, have a building that uses both Budget Purpose Type - Landmark Effect and Budget Purpose Type - Park Effect. Plus any number of other combinations.

[Kel9509 1,363]

11 hours ago, Null 45 said:

Yes, you need to specify which purpose type you want to query. AFAICT the Budget Purpose Type is like an IID, they uniquely identify a specific budget purpose.

As I hinted at in my previous post, the game allows buildings to have multiple Budget Item values. Those properties are arrays, but the base game uses a single item for everything other than schools and hospitals. In theory, you could, for example, have a building that uses both Budget Purpose Type - Landmark Effect and Budget Purpose Type - Park Effect. Plus any number of other combinations.

Hmmm.

This is definitely an improvement over the existing Maxis ID system of describing cost, which causes CTD if you use them in the "incorrect" query.  

However, I was hoping for a universal item that could easily describe the cost (or income) of the building, no matter its budget type.  But I see that this might be difficult given what you've described about the multiple budget item values.  So technically you could create a building that falls into the Landmark cost, as well as Police and Park costs, and each with different values.  Who'd have thought that the actual budget gimmicks of real Mayors would actually extend to a simulation!  But is there a practical reason why that'd be desired for any building?  

Moreover, given that your other Budget DLL mod allows you to create new purpose types, it seems that I can't make a universal query that's future-proof because in the future, if someone creates a new budget type for a series of new Reward buildings like "Airport Expenses" then that won't be picked up at all.  The purpose type suffix would be new and there's no way it'd be accounted for.  

So at best, I can account for Landmark costs, Park costs, and Business Deal Income types.  Unless I'm missing something?  I noticed the update allows a LUA code to pick up any exemplar category you haven't addressed.  Would it be possible to pick up just the Budget Item: Cost property?  And is there a reason you didn't select that one to begin with? (I must be missing something)