Brown Boxes Instead of Plugin Building

[Taz the Mystic 51]

I have started from scratch with SC4.  I am using NAM and CAM.  I use sc$ Pac for virtually all of my plugin downloads.  I am getting some brown boxes instead of the actual buildings.  Any quick fixes or a process to fix?

Thanks!

[Ulisse Wolf 4,413]

You need to specify which buildings have this problem. Only then can we understand what the problem is.

[Taz the Mystic 51]

Not a big deal as there are many others to use but this is what did not work, SM2 Garthamlock Water Tower and SM2 Water Treatment Plant. Both are available to download on sc4 pac.

[Taz the Mystic 51]

Here is an issue that popped up today.

[Taz the Mystic 51]

It took me some time to remove my brown boxes but I fixed them today.  I was missing some dependencies.  When I finally got them into my plugins folder the plugins causing the brown boxes now work. 

These are the dependencies I was missing.  I found them in Simtropolis by digging into the plugins information and finding the member, SM2, that created it.  He listed that these were required for the plugins he has created.

Dependencies

SM2 Essentials http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3586

SM2 Mega Prop Pack Vol2 http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3645

SM2 Mega Prop Pack Vol3 https://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3787

BSC - VIP girafe carpack vol. 1 & 2 http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2821

SP SuperSHK MEGA Textures https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31006-supershk-mega-parking-textures/

I hope this content helps someone else someday.

  Edited December 4, 2025 by Taz the Mystic  
Additional Information

[nos.17 5,124]

On 11/26/2025 at 7:11 PM, Taz the Mystic said:

Not a big deal as there are many others to use but this is what did not work, SM2 Garthamlock Water Tower and SM2 Water Treatment Plant. Both are available to download on sc4 pac.

Hmm. Thanks for reporting, but I looked into this and was unable to replicate the issue using a fresh install of these two files from sc4pac. The metadata for each of the files also matches exactly the STEX descriptions for those, so I'm not sure what could be going on.

Anyways, please do continue to report things in sc4pac not working out of the box - we'd like to get it fixed for everyone!

[Taz the Mystic 51]

I am trying to use SM2's cold fusion reactors.  I downloaded them through SC4 pac but I am getting a brown box.  See photos.

 

 

[nos.17 5,124]

On 12/15/2025 at 8:06 PM, Taz the Mystic said:

I am trying to use SM2's cold fusion reactors.  I downloaded them through SC4 pac but I am getting a brown box.  See photos.

I was not able to replicate this again. I installed freshly through sc4pac without issues. The metadata matches the download page exactly. The missing plugin pack id indicates you're missing a building, which is curious because the building exemplar is bundled into the same file as the lot, so one would think if you're missing the building you'd be missing the lots too. Can you share a pic of the Cold Fusion Reactor files in your plugins folder?

[Taz the Mystic 51]

So after reading your response I went looking for where SC4 pac was saving my files.  It was in an old file system I abandoned to us one in Documents.  So I think I have to figure out how to reset where to save my plugins when I use SC4 pac to download.  I moved the Cold Fusion files from the old location to the one I am currently using.  Then I was able to put a cold fusion power plant in my game and the attached picture shows I still have buildings missing.  This is jus wierd and should not happen according to my brain.  Let me know what you think and how to get SC4 pac to put my plugins in the new location.

Thanks so much for your help.

[Taz the Mystic 51]

Here is a picture of my current Plugins folder.  The cold fusion plugins are at the bottom.

[CaptCity 4,756]

7 hours ago, Taz the Mystic said:

Then I was able to put a cold fusion power plant in my game and the attached picture shows I still have buildings missing.

The boxes appear to be the result of missing the models for the vehicles that sit on the lot. They are supplied by girafe's Carpack Vol 1 & 2 dependency. When I installed the reactor with sp4pac, it was placed in the 100-props-textures folder.

 As for configuring a new plugin location for sc4pac, I'll have to leave that to the experts. I've not tried to do that.

[memo 1,445]

@Taz the Mystic There's a button for you:

If you have to change the Plugins folder location, check the explanations in the FAQ.

Also make sure to install null-45:startup-performance-optimization-dll .

[Taz the Mystic 51]

I was able to load the cold fusion reactors today using sc4 pac.  And..............it worked!  Whatever I messed around with over the last few days finally got everything working it appears.  Thanks for all the help!