Advanced Lot Plop - new GUIs with DLLs

CasperVg · February 4

On 2/2/2026 at 8:26 AM, EastChapel said:

Makes sense regarding the search function - unfortunately most of the props I have seem to be missing the exemplar. Makes finding anything super tricky. Is it possible to search by title at all or is that one of those seems simple but is incredibly tricky to make work kind of things?

I'm having a lot of fun with this - going through props I would never normally use or even get to see is very exhilarating.

I've fixed that for SM2 at least. There was a bug where it was only looking at the User Visible Name Key LTEXT in the prop painter search function. However, most props (including those by SM2) don't actually use that, and instead just put use the Exemplar Name as a "user readable name". Now the search box correctly checks both the Exemplar Name and UVNK for matches

Meanwhile.. managed to add some previews, and an undo / commit mode to the prop painter

So there the prop will be rendered under your mouse cursor before you click already, so that you know what to expect. Moreover, when clicking, the prop will be placed but have a slight green thinge indicating that is still in preview mode. You can then still use Ctrl+Z to undo that placement. Once you press Enter the changes will be committed and saved to the city. Oh and R (probably to be changed to Home and End to align with the rest of the game) rotate the prop.

EastChapel · February 4

@CasperVg incredible work! The undo feature fixes a problem I didn't even think of bringing up as I thought there was no way to solve it! It's just simply brilliant design.

I personally prefer R to rotate but that's just me.

Thank you so much, I'll do further testing this evening and report back if there are any issues.

junspud · February 8

I was having problems with the Cache Builder only scanning a very small portion of the user Plugins folder, but it was remedied by removing the 'Read Only' attribute from the plugins folder, which I assume Windows applied by default.

I have gotten some errors 'unable to load' for files not in the plugins folder, 'failed to load tulltexture.dat' and 'failed to load bike path textures.dat', but searching the plugins folder returns no results for those files, so not sure where the reference to them comes from.

Unfortunately I got the error ' Error exporting lot configs: Illegal UTF-8 encoding in text string' and so the lots cbor is 0kb. Probably from some Chinese content. Currently I've just loaded advanced lot plop simultaneously, to get around the empty buildings list in advanced plop.

Anyway looking forward to trying this out, thanks.

Ernestmaxis · February 12

On 8-2-2026 at 2:11 AM, junspud said:

I was having problems with the Cache Builder only scanning a very small portion of the user Plugins folder, but it was remedied by removing the 'Read Only' attribute from the plugins folder, which I assume Windows applied by default.

I have gotten some errors 'unable to load' for files not in the plugins folder, 'failed to load tulltexture.dat' and 'failed to load bike path textures.dat', but searching the plugins folder returns no results for those files, so not sure where the reference to them comes from.

Unfortunately I got the error ' Error exporting lot configs: Illegal UTF-8 encoding in text string' and so the lots cbor is 0kb. Probably from some Chinese content. Currently I've just loaded advanced lot plop simultaneously, to get around the empty buildings list in advanced plop.

Anyway looking forward to trying this out, thanks.

I ran into the same "Error exporting lot configs: Illegal UTF-8 encoding in text string" issue and managed to track down the cause.

In my case the problem was a specific plugin: MI7_urban_utils.dat

After removing this file, the cache builder exported lot_configs.cbor correctly and all lots appeared in Advanced Plopping & Painting.

So it may not necessarily be Chinese content — it can also be older plugins with broken or non-UTF8 text strings inside the DAT file. The game itself can still load them, but the cache builder fails when parsing them. If anyone gets this error, I recommend temporarily removing older utility packs or recently added plugins and re-running the cache builder to identify the culprit.
So just like tracing down a ctd (remove half of your plugins/lots) see if you have a ''Successfully exported lot configs'' if you have the code, then move forward with a bit more plugins.

Powershell end info:
[22:47:01] [info] Scan complete: 7873 buildings with lots, 11424 lots, 0 parse errors
[22:47:01] [info] Exporting 7873 buildings (11424 lots) to C:\Users\*****\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\lot_configs.cbor
[22:47:01] [info] Successfully exported lot configs
[22:47:01] [info] Exporting 57480 props to C:\Users\*******\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\props.cbor
[22:47:03] [info] Successfully exported props

Hope this helps, it think it will

Ernestmaxis · February 12

On 4-2-2026 at 9:58 PM, CasperVg said:

I've fixed that for SM2 at least. There was a bug where it was only looking at the User Visible Name Key LTEXT in the prop painter search function. However, most props (including those by SM2) don't actually use that, and instead just put use the Exemplar Name as a "user readable name". Now the search box correctly checks both the Exemplar Name and UVNK for matches

Meanwhile.. managed to add some previews, and an undo / commit mode to the prop painter

So there the prop will be rendered under your mouse cursor before you click already, so that you know what to expect. Moreover, when clicking, the prop will be placed but have a slight green thinge indicating that is still in preview mode. You can then still use Ctrl+Z to undo that placement. Once you press Enter the changes will be committed and saved to the city. Oh and R (probably to be changed to Home and End to align with the rest of the game) rotate the prop.

Hi Casper,

At first just in 1 blow you made my content (MMP Project) obsolete, it it okay cause this really insane.
Wauw no words for it to describe!

I noticed something during testing that might be useful feedback regarding prop search behaviour.

Some props (for example from the art128 car packs) are successfully indexed and can be painted in-game, but they cannot be found through the search function.
See example in the attachment

Observations:
• The props are processed by the cache builder (visible in debug logs: “Processing 1 exemplars from … SC4Desc”).
• They appear in the prop list and can be placed normally.
• However, searching by model name or file name returns no results.
• These props are also usable in Lot Editor and have valid ResourceKeyType links to their models.

It seems these props may not contain a standard “User Visible Name” property, so the tool has nothing searchable to index. Perhaps using the model filename or exemplar name as a fallback search label could help in these cases.

Example:
Content of by @Barroco Hispano or @art128:

Hope this helps — and again, amazing work on this tool. It’s genuinely revolutionary for SC4.

Thanks!

Ulisse Wolf · February 12

I was wondering if it is possible to create T21 with this tool.

CasperVg · February 13

On 2/12/2026 at 10:52 PM, Ernestmaxis said:

I ran into the same "Error exporting lot configs: Illegal UTF-8 encoding in text string" issue and managed to track down the cause.

In my case the problem was a specific plugin: MI7_urban_utils.dat

After removing this file, the cache builder exported lot_configs.cbor correctly and all lots appeared in Advanced Plopping & Painting.

So it may not necessarily be Chinese content — it can also be older plugins with broken or non-UTF8 text strings inside the DAT file. The game itself can still load them, but the cache builder fails when parsing them. If anyone gets this error, I recommend temporarily removing older utility packs or recently added plugins and re-running the cache builder to identify the culprit.
So just like tracing down a ctd (remove half of your plugins/lots) see if you have a ''Successfully exported lot configs'' if you have the code, then move forward with a bit more plugins.

Powershell end info:
[22:47:01] [info] Scan complete: 7873 buildings with lots, 11424 lots, 0 parse errors
[22:47:01] [info] Exporting 7873 buildings (11424 lots) to C:\Users\*****\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\lot_configs.cbor
[22:47:01] [info] Successfully exported lot configs
[22:47:01] [info] Exporting 57480 props to C:\Users\*******\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\props.cbor
[22:47:03] [info] Successfully exported props

Hope this helps, it think it will

Hi @Ernestmaxis and @junspud,

I released a new version on GitHub that uses the utfcpp library to do some preliminary validation and sanitization of the the strings before writing to the CBOR archive, so hopefully that should fix this issue for you. I am not able to test it as I am away on a work trip without access to my desktop PC, but it would be nice to know if it solves these issues. It should also now log specifically which lot/building TGI are causing the issues

Additionally this new version should also correctly use both the UVNK and the Exemplar Name in the prop painter search dialog, and the basic preview for prop painting that I demo'd in the previous video.

EDIT: Removed release as it was broken, see below for v0.0.4

Ernestmaxis · February 13

4 hours ago, CasperVg said:

Hi @Ernestmaxis and @junspud,

I released a new version on GitHub that uses the utfcpp library to do some preliminary validation and sanitization of the the strings before writing to the CBOR archive, so hopefully that should fix this issue for you. I am not able to test it as I am away on a work trip without access to my desktop PC, but it would be nice to know if it solves these issues. It should also now log specifically which lot/building TGI are causing the issues

Additionally this new version should also correctly use both the UVNK and the Exemplar Name in the prop painter search dialog, and the basic preview for prop painting that I demo'd in the previous video.

New release v0.0.3-alpha available here on GitHub or in the attached ZIP file. Enjoy!

SC4PlopAndPaint-v0.0.3-alpha.zip

Hi Casper,

Thanks for the update and the new release and ofcourse have fun on your work trip

Unfortunately I was not able to get the new version (v0.0.3-alpha) to function properly on my system. I tried different dgVoodoo Direct output settings, but it made no difference — the game would not load at all.

After testing I switched back to the previous version, which runs more stable again. I was able to play for about 30 minutes without issues.

I wanted to share some additional findings that may help with debugging stability:

I have a very large plugins folder (about 8GB of plugins).
The game itself runs fine even with extremely large plugin sets, but the tool seems sensitive to the number of props processed.
The number of lots is not an issue — around ~5k lots works quite smoothly.
With ~58k props the prop menu becomes much less stable.
After reducing my dependencies folder by ~4GB (down to ~14k props), the tool became significantly more stable.
The game itself does not seem to mind very large plugin sets (some players run 15GB+), but the imgui interface/tool performance appears strongly affected by large prop counts in this specific menu.

So it looks like performance or memory handling related to very large prop counts may be part of the issue.

Is this something that could be optimized in the tool, or is reducing plugin size currently the only practical solution? #I hardly dare ask

Thanks again for your work on this tool!

hugues aroux · February 13

Hi,
I had previously installed the 3 files of SC4AdvancedLotPlop-v0.1.3.
Should we get rid of them!?
I just downloaded the zip file above. I placed the files from the directories to their destination :\app and \plugins
I placed the file: RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1 in my Plugins directory + right-click + run powershel... but no .cbor file appeared!

What is the purpose of PropertyMapper.xml? Should it be placed in \plugins?
And .. _SC4PlopAndPaintCacheBuilder.exe .. (il doit faire quoi ?) run .. But nothing happened!

I didn't understand everything!

Ernestmaxis · February 14

Dear Hugues Aroux,

You don’t need to remove SC4AdvancedLotPlop v0.1.3 — it can run together with the new Plop & Paint tool. They are separate tools.
However, the new version has a much better search interface and layout, so I personally recommend removing the older files to avoid confusion.

Installation locations

App folder (game installation):
ImGui.dll →
C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Apps

User Plugins folder (IMPORTANT — NOT the Program Files Plugins folder):
C:\Users*****\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins

Place these files there:

_SC4PlopAndPaintCacheBuilder.exe
PropertyMapper.xml
RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1
SC4CustomServices.dll
SC4PlopAndPaint.dat
SC4PlopAndPaint.dll

These files will be created automatically after running the cache builder:

lot_configs.cbor
props.cbor

What the files do:

RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1
This script scans your Plugins and builds the cache files (.cbor).
It must be placed in your Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins folder and run from there.
When running, it should ask questions in PowerShell and start scanning your plugins.

_SC4PlopAndPaintCacheBuilder.exe
This is the actual scanner program. The PowerShell script launches it automatically — you normally don’t run it manually.

PropertyMapper.xml
Required by the cache builder. It tells the tool how SimCity properties are interpreted.
Keep it in the same folder as the cache builder executable.

.cbor files
These are generated after a successful scan and used by the tool.

How to know it worked:

You should see something like this at the end in PowerShell:

Scan complete → Successfully exported lot configs → Successfully exported props.

Example:
[info] Scan complete
[info] Successfully exported lot configs
[info] Successfully exported props

You can also check:
/SimCity 4/SC4CustomServices.txt for log output.

If no .cbor files appear

Check:

the scan actually runs
your Plugins folder is not set to Read-Only
no plugin causes errors during scanning
try running PowerShell as Administrator

If double-clicking the script doesn’t work with the RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1

Open PowerShell inside your Plugins folder:

Shift + right-click in empty space → “Open PowerShell here”

Then run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass
.\RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1

This should start the scan.

Hope this helps

CasperVg · February 14

Hi @hugues aroux, indeed the installation is still quite cumbersome (I hope to create some sort of automated installer eventually when we go for a STEX release), but @Ernestmaxis has given an awesome overview of the necessary steps above (thank you!). One minor adjustment: _SC4PlopAndPaintCacheBuilder.exe, PropertyMapper.xml and RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1 do not necessarily need to be put into your plugins folder. You can just run the cache builder from the unpacked zip file directory directly.

Thanks for testing @Ernestmaxis! Now that I'm back home from the short work trip, I checked out the v0.0.3 release and it did not work on machine either! There was some discrepancy between the SC4CustomServices.dll and the SC4PlopAndPaint.dll, causing the game to crash on load.

The new release v0.0.4 fixes this and now works on my machine(tm) again.

As for the issues with massive plugins folder -> it is in progress! Right now it loads the thumbnails and table rows for all props and lots, even those that are not shown in the table at that time. That works fine with small plugins folders (i.e. the almost-vanilla SC4 that I test with) but will clearly run into issues with both memory usage and general slowdown if (like you) have 54k props loaded into that menu Don't worry, I'm working on optimizations there

SC4PlopAndPaint-v0.0.4-alpha.zip

Oh and whenever installing a new release, make sure to replace all the files (imgui.dll, SC4CustomServices.dll and SC4PlopAndPaint.dll/dat) as they depend on each other and may not work if one of them is an an older version than the other.

hugues aroux · February 14

@Ernestmaxis .. oh fine !!! .. Thank you for these valuable details *:ohyes: ; I look forward to testing (next week) the very intriguing and promising work of @CasperVg ..

Ernestmaxis · February 14

4 hours ago, CasperVg said:

Hi @hugues aroux, indeed the installation is still quite cumbersome (I hope to create some sort of automated installer eventually when we go for a STEX release), but @Ernestmaxis has given an awesome overview of the necessary steps above (thank you!). One minor adjustment: _SC4PlopAndPaintCacheBuilder.exe, PropertyMapper.xml and RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1 do not necessarily need to be put into your plugins folder. You can just run the cache builder from the unpacked zip file directory directly.

Thanks for testing @Ernestmaxis! Now that I'm back home from the short work trip, I checked out the v0.0.3 release and it did not work on machine either! There was some discrepancy between the SC4CustomServices.dll and the SC4PlopAndPaint.dll, causing the game to crash on load.

The new release v0.0.4 fixes this and now works on my machine(tm) again.

As for the issues with massive plugins folder -> it is in progress! Right now it loads the thumbnails and table rows for all props and lots, even those that are not shown in the table at that time. That works fine with small plugins folders (i.e. the almost-vanilla SC4 that I test with) but will clearly run into issues with both memory usage and general slowdown if (like you) have 54k props loaded into that menu Don't worry, I'm working on optimizations there

SC4PlopAndPaint-v0.0.4-alpha.zip

Oh and whenever installing a new release, make sure to replace all the files (imgui.dll, SC4CustomServices.dll and SC4PlopAndPaint.dll/dat) as they depend on each other and may not work if one of them is an an older version than the other.

Hi Casper,

Thanks for the the new v0.0.4 release.
Unfortunately I still cannot get the new version to run on my system.

What I tested:

replaced ALL files (imgui.dll, SC4CustomServices.dll, SC4PlopAndPaint.dll/dat)
rebuilt cache using RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1
tried different dgVoodoo output APIs
tested with reduced plugin folder as well

Result:
The game does not start at all (same behavior as v0.0.3).

Rolling back to the previous version works again immediately and the game runs again.

My setup:

Dutch game installation (locale = Dutch)
dgVoodoo (Output API = Direct3D 10.1)
Not sure if this is relevant: also using these DLLs in game Plugins folder:
- SC4CPUOptions.dll
- SC4GraphicsOptions.dll

Maybe this information helps debugging

Thanks again.

Greetings,

Ernest

AsimPika3172 · February 15

Nice! But... I can't build cache which make FATAL crashed....

Error2.jpg.6e9531c0f784dcde208face175dee113.jpg

I think about too many plugins was over 1,000,000..... with some errors... which destroy the computer RAM, drivers etc... *:???: Look likes I renew entire plugins very soon.

Ernestmaxis · February 15

7 hours ago, AsimPika3172 said:

Nice! But... I can't build cache which make FATAL crashed....

I think about too many plugins was over 1,000,000..... with some errors... which destroy the computer RAM, drivers etc... Look likes I renew entire plugins very soon.

A work around:

It is not necessary to permanently remove plug-ins, as long as SimCity 4 and your PC can work with them. For example, I have a subdivision of folders:
A = Dependencies
B = Lots
Network Addon mod
Z_mods
Ect

Different folders have different subfolders. You can organize them according to your personal preference.

But the game only loads what you have in your folder.
In my case, I want to have fewer props.
So in my folder A (I give the folder another A and B subfolder name)

So
A.
A.A <- props that the game needs.
A.B <- props that I want to load in the Proppaint DDL

I temporarily remove A.A from the plugin folder when I load the cache (RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1)
When the loading is complete, you put it back and load the game.
You can also do this for your lots.

Of course, we want all props whenever possible, but Casper is looking into the possibilities.

EastChapel · February 22

I've stumbled across an unfortunate problem. It seems you can create 'immortal' props with the painter that are difficult to delete. I managed to use the old tried and tested way of covering the prop with other instances of itself and then bulldozing which seemed to work, but then it will reappear after I save the game. Interestingly rotating the map stops showing the prop, so it's not the end of the world. But it's something to look at none the less.

EastChapel · February 22

EDIT: FIXED! So we've managed to fix the prop appearing - I backed up the relevant dat file then deleted the prop from it. I went into the map, saved, and then closed, then re-added the dat file back. Hopefully this doesn't have any unforeseen consequences. I might lay of the prop painter for now however.

For additional context, this is the prop in question that is immortal (apologies for the photo, screenshots still crash the game). The cause seems to be that when I leave the prop painter it maintains the last instance of first chosen prop I selected - in this case the fence. The location on my Highway was just coincidentally where my mouse happened to be when I exited the painter. You'll notice that another prop has accidentally just been made immortal using this method.
Might be related to another error - if I select one prop then select another the initial prop remains shown though when I place a prop the new selection is used.

I've tried a few deletion methods and haven't managed to find a permanent solution just yet, so assistance will still be appreciated.

Ernestmaxis · February 23

Hi Casper,

I tested v0.0.4-alpha and have some findings that may help debugging.

If I remove SC4CustomServices.dll from the Plugins folder, SC4PlopAndPaint v0.0.4-alpha loads and functions normally.
All search filters and search functionality work correctly. Super nice!

(So there seems to be a conflict with SC4CustomServices.dll — maybe relevant for your overlay testing.)

Issues observed

1. Prop paint preview always shows the first selected prop

Paint preview always shows the first prop that was selected, see attachment 1 (in the red box the green car is before entering right object in the red box is the mouse/proppreview object).
After pressing ESC and selecting another prop, the preview still shows the previous one (alway the first prop)
This preview is then reused for subsequent props.
I couldn’t fully capture the preview bug in a screenshot, but see attached example (red box red car is the proppreview, the left green car is before entering the object on the map)

2. Rotation sometimes stuck

Sometimes rotation only allows 180°
After placing a few props and cancelling with ESC, then selecting another prop, rotation works normally again.
Happens quite frequently.

3. ESC / cancel behavior inconsistent

Sometimes ESC must be pressed multiple times (2–3x) to exit prop paint mode.
Otherwise preview remains visible or leaks into lot plop mode.

4. Lot plop window layout issue

The lot plop window does not resize correctly.
The results area only fills about half the available space.
The props tab resizes correctly, but lots do not.

Notes

All files replaced as instructed.
Cache rebuilt via PowerShell.
SC4CustomServices.dll removed → tool works.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you want additional logs or testing.
Did the test with a amount of 16k props

Thanks again for your work on this, gods work

CasperVg · February 24

18 hours ago, Ernestmaxis said:

Hi Casper,

I tested v0.0.4-alpha and have some findings that may help debugging.

If I remove SC4CustomServices.dll from the Plugins folder, SC4PlopAndPaint v0.0.4-alpha loads and functions normally.

All search filters and search functionality work correctly. Super nice!

(So there seems to be a conflict with SC4CustomServices.dll — maybe relevant for your overlay testing.)

Issues observed

1. Prop paint preview always shows the first selected prop

Paint preview always shows the first prop that was selected, see attachment 1 (in the red box the green car is before entering right object in the red box is the mouse/proppreview object).

After pressing ESC and selecting another prop, the preview still shows the previous one (alway the first prop)

This preview is then reused for subsequent props.

I couldn’t fully capture the preview bug in a screenshot, but see attached example (red box red car is the proppreview, the left green car is before entering the object on the map)

2. Rotation sometimes stuck

Sometimes rotation only allows 180°

After placing a few props and cancelling with ESC, then selecting another prop, rotation works normally again.

Happens quite frequently.

3. ESC / cancel behavior inconsistent

Sometimes ESC must be pressed multiple times (2–3x) to exit prop paint mode.

Otherwise preview remains visible or leaks into lot plop mode.

4. Lot plop window layout issue

The lot plop window does not resize correctly.

The results area only fills about half the available space.

The props tab resizes correctly, but lots do not.

Notes

All files replaced as instructed.

Cache rebuilt via PowerShell.

SC4CustomServices.dll removed → tool works.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you want additional logs or testing.
Did the test with a amount of 16k props

Thanks again for your work on this, gods work

Very nice testing work again @Ernestmaxis! Interesting that it works when only the lot plop DLL is loaded, without the Custom Services DLL. That probably means there is a small issue in my GitHub build pipeline whereby the custom services' functionality is not only compiled into the SC4CustomServices.dll, but also statically into the SC4PlopAndPaint.dll? I will have to look into that.

Could you try the v0.0.5-alpha that is available on GitHub? https://github.com/caspervg/sc4-advanced-plop/releases/tag/v0.0.5-alpha It will probably still require you not to put SC4CustomServices.dll into Plugins, but will fix various other issues AND should be able to handle way more props in your Plugins folder than the previous versions.

CasperVg · February 24

Meanwhile I've expanded the prop painter a bit to also support painting props along a user-drawn line or distributed in a user-drawn polygon.. see video below

Doing some initial work to make that work with prop families as well, so that you can have lines/polygons filled with diverse props in the future!

Ernestmaxis · February 24

Hey Casper,

First of all — this is a fantastic extension. Really clever design and very useful in practice. Thanks for the work you’re putting into this.

I wanted to share some clear observations and feedback from my testing.

Prop preview issue
I can see the preview for lots, but prop previews do not display correctly for me anymore. Maybe to many plugins.. I will try will less props in my pluginfolder but i dont think that is the problem.

Rotation behavior (possible improvement)
It might improve usability if the initial rotation/orientation of a prop can be chosen before placing it. At the moment, the orientation only becomes clear once the preview appears, and rotation is only possible after placement. Allowing rotation adjustment before confirming placement could make the workflow smoother.

Search functionality
The search feature works well overall
One potential improvement would be supporting multiple keywords in a more flexible way. For example, searching:

AGC sportback

does not return this prop:

AGC_CAR_Audi_A3_Sportback_2010_Black_V01_45-0x5ad0e817_0x2f261a6b_0x30000

This is a minor usability suggestion rather than a problem.

Time props (future idea)
You support time props already — perhaps far future scope, but allowing users to configure timing themselves could be interesting.

Stability testing / crashes

I experience occasional crashes during longer sessions (sometimes after ~10 minutes, sometimes after about an hour). I will do longer test sessions this week (1–1.5 hours) to provide more reliable feedback.

From the Exception Reports:

Exception address: 0x39937500
Instruction data → appears to be random data.

To rule out environment issues:

I reinstalled Visual C++ runtimes (x86 + x64) for ImGui.
I discovered that SC4CustomServices.dll was previously duplicated in both Documents and the plugin folder — that was my mistake!
I am currently testing possible conflicts with other DLLs that use deep memory hooks in combination with the lot/prop painter.

Other amazing DDL mostly from @Null 45:
SC4ResourceLoadingHooks.log"
memo.submenus.dll"
memo.submenus.log"
memo.thumbnail-fix.dll"
memo.thumbnail-fix.log"
memo.transparent-texture-fix.dll"
memo.transparent-texture-fix.log"
Plugins\SC4ClearPollution.dll"
SC4ClearPollution.log"
SC4CPUOptions.dll"
SC4CPUOptions.ini"
SC4CPUOptions.log"
SC4DBPFLoading.dll"
SC4DBPFLoading.log"
SC4DisableFpsLimit.log"
SC4DisableFpsLimits.dll"
SC4Fix.dll"
SC4GraphicsOptions.dll"
SC4GraphicsOptions.ini"
SC4GraphicsOptions.log"
SC4Growify.dll"
SC4Growify.log"
SC4ResourceLoadingHooks.dll"

Any recommenings? How to proceed

I’ll report back once I have more stable and consistent test results. Hopefully I can pull this off, I not an expert, also hope more users will test.

Overall: excellent work — these are mostly small usability observations and testing feedback. The tool is already very impressive.

Thanks again!

Lazarou Monkey Terror · February 25

(this is all very exciting!)

kergelen · February 25

That's crazy and exciting!!

AsimPika3172 · February 25

Ernestmaxis · February 25

Dear Casper,

Update — stability testing

Quick update after further testing:

I did NOT remove any DLLs I have mention earlier.
I only installed the recommended Visual C++ runtimes:

Visual C++ 2015–2022 (x86 — important for SC4)
https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe
Visual C++ 2015–2022 (x64)
https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe

After installing these, I played for nearly 2 hours and saved once during the session — no crashes so far. The new update feels very stable, with no loading delays at all. This is a huge improvement , really really great work!

Of course, one test session is not enough to draw final conclusions. Over the coming period, when I have time, I’ll try to play similar long sessions again and continue testing.

Fingers crossed !!
I’m very enthusiastic so far

akazak189 · February 26

sorry guys i'm newbie in here, how to install this mod?

nos.17 · February 26

58 minutes ago, akazak189 said:

sorry guys i'm newbie in here, how to install this mod?

Hi, the mod is still in development, so for the time being you can download the latest version here → https://github.com/caspervg/sc4-advanced-plop/releases/latest

The file includes a README text file - follow the instructions in there for where to put the different files.

akazak189 · February 26

2 hours ago, nos.17 said:

Hi, the mod is still in development, so for the time being you can download the latest version here → https://github.com/caspervg/sc4-advanced-plop/releases/latest

The file includes a README text file - follow the instructions in there for where to put the different files.

hi, sorry i ask more question again, i follow the instruction :

Quote

Installation instructions:
- Move the file "imgui.dll" from PLACE_IN_YOUR_SC4_APPS_FOLDER to your Program Files/SimCity 4/Apps directory
- Move the files in PLACE_IN_YOUR_PLUGINS_FOLDER to your <My Documents>/SimCity 4/Plugins directory
- Generate the cache files by right clicking on RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1 and selecting "Run with PowerShell". This index your SC4 files and plugins and generate the thumbnail icons for lots/buildings and props.
- The cache building script will guide you where necessary. It may take a while for large Plugins folders
- At the end, two new files will appear in your Plugins directory, "lot_configs.cbor" and "props.cbor". These are the serialized caches that the plop and paint DLL will use to quickly load the list of lots/buildings and props.

but after i generate the cache files by right clicking on RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1 and selecting "Run with PowerShell", lot_configs.cbor and props.cbor no exist.
maybe i'm wrong?
(sorry for my bad english)

Ernestmaxis · February 26

32 minutes ago, akazak189 said:

hi, sorry i ask more question again, i follow the instruction :

but after i generate the cache files by right clicking on RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1 and selecting "Run with PowerShell", lot_configs.cbor and props.cbor no exist.
maybe i'm wrong?
(sorry for my bad english)

You’re not wrong — normally RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1 should generate lot_configs.cbor and props.cbor. If they don’t appear, the script probably didn’t actually run or stopped with an error.

You could try the following:

Run PowerShell manually (recommended)
- Open PowerShell as Administrator
- How? Press shift + right click on a blanc space in your plugin folder and open Manuely the powershell
- Navigate to the Pluginfolder with RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1
- Run:
```
.\RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1
```
This way you can see if any errors appear.
Check PowerShell execution policy (Windows often blocks scripts):
```
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
```
Then try again: .\RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1
Make sure you’re running the script in the correct folder
The cache files will be created in the working directory, so if the path is wrong they won’t show up where you expert.

If the script runs correctly, the .cbor files should be generated automatically.

papiouuu · February 26

On 2/24/2026 at 1:46 PM, CasperVg said:

Meanwhile I've expanded the prop painter a bit to also support painting props along a user-drawn line or distributed in a user-drawn polygon.. see video below

Doing some initial work to make that work with prop families as well, so that you can have lines/polygons filled with diverse props in the future!

This would be pretty good for NAM road and highway creation

Advanced Lot Plop - new GUIs with DLLs

153 posts in this topic Last Reply June 30

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Installation locations

What the files do:

How to know it worked:

If no .cbor files appear

If double-clicking the script doesn’t work with the RUN_CACHE_BUILDER.ps1

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Issues observed

Notes

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