Exemplar Patching

[Lokiness 7]

Hello 

I'm new to SC4 modding and I was wondering if there was a performance difference between the classic overwriting of an exemplar, and the exemplar patching of an exemplar ?
My exemple: I've got 30 custom building exemplars that overwrite Maxis files, would the performance (be it at launching the game, loading the city, or running the simulation) be any better, even fractionally, if all those were exemplar patching ?

Also does running Startup Performance Optimization DLL come into this ? Like maybe reduce the performance difference between 'old schoo'l overwrite and exemplar patching ?

Thanks in advance. (I hope I posted this at the right place, I did my best to find the most relevant forum, plus a few searches)

[CorinaMarie 29,857]

2 minutes ago, Lokiness said:

(I hope I posted this at the right place, I did my best to find the most relevant forum, plus a few searches)

( It certainly looks like a good spot to me.  )

And while I don't know the answer to your primary questions, I'll follow along so I can learn too.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,444]

1 hour ago, Lokiness said:

Hello 

I'm new to SC4 modding and I was wondering if there was a performance difference between the classic overwriting of an exemplar, and the exemplar patching of an exemplar ?
My exemple: I've got 30 custom building exemplars that overwrite Maxis files, would the performance (be it at launching the game, loading the city, or running the simulation) be any better, even fractionally, if all those were exemplar patching ?

Also does running Startup Performance Optimization DLL come into this ? Like maybe reduce the performance difference between 'old schoo'l overwrite and exemplar patching ?

Thanks in advance. (I hope I posted this at the right place, I did my best to find the most relevant forum, plus a few searches)

Startup Performance Optimization DLL optimizes the game's loading phase, but the performance boost depends heavily on the computer's performance and the number of mods.

There isn't really any difference between Exemplar Patch and the classic override in terms of loading times, but Exemplar Patch is definitely recommended because it avoids directly modifying the original exemplars, which can trigger issues like the Phantom Slider Bug or other game bugs, especially when it comes to Maxis buildings, which are too problematic.

[Lokiness 7]

39 minutes ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

There isn't really any difference between Exemplar Patch and the classic override in terms of loading times, but Exemplar Patch is definitely recommended because it avoids directly modifying the original exemplars, which can trigger issues like the Phantom Slider Bug or other game bugs, especially when it comes to Maxis buildings, which are too problematic.

Thank you for your elaborate answer.

So by using Exemplar patching we can change maintenance costs without causing any Panthom Slider Bug ? Did I get that right ?

[Null 45 3,087]

2 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

There isn't really any difference between Exemplar Patch and the classic override in terms of loading times, but Exemplar Patch is definitely recommended because it avoids directly modifying the original exemplars, which can trigger issues like the Phantom Slider Bug or other game bugs, especially when it comes to Maxis buildings, which are too problematic.

18 minutes ago, Lokiness said:

So by using Exemplar patching we can change maintenance costs without causing any Panthom Slider Bug ? Did I get that right ?

No, the Phantom Slider bug will occur regardless of the method used to patch the exemplar.

4 hours ago, Lokiness said:

I was wondering if there was a performance difference between the classic overwriting of an exemplar, and the exemplar patching of an exemplar ?  My exemple: I've got 30 custom building exemplars that overwrite Maxis files, would the performance (be it at launching the game, loading the city, or running the simulation) be any better, even fractionally, if all those were exemplar patching ?

I don't think so. The performance difference between overrides and exemplar patching would likely be insignificant when compared to things like the overall disk I/O that comes with loading a city. The main advantage of exemplar patching is improved compatibility with content that has numerous mods overriding the same exemplar, but you still could have compatibility issues depending on the properties being modified.

4 hours ago, Lokiness said:

Also does running Startup Performance Optimization DLL come into this ? Like maybe reduce the performance difference between 'old schoo'l overwrite and exemplar patching ?

It would not make any difference. But that DLL is required when using sc4pac due to fixing other limitations the game has with very long file paths.

[Lokiness 7]

Damn ! I'm getting all the SC4 modding MVPs at once 

28 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

No, the Phantom Slider bug will occur regardless of the method used to patch the exemplar.

Alright, so the best way to make such changes Phantom Slider Bug proof is actually to make a clone of the building with a different Instance ID, and remove the old one from the building menus (like CoriBoom did for the Crime and Police Station Fixes for ModPacc Zero) correct ?

Quote

I don't think so. The performance difference between overrides and exemplar patching would likely be insignificant when compared to things like the overall disk I/O that comes with loading a city. The main advantage of exemplar patching is improved compatibility with content that has numerous mods overriding the same exemplar, but you still could have compatibility issues depending on the properties being modified.

I suspected that if there was indeed a performance difference it would be minimal, thanks for confirming it, and making the uses and strong points of Exemplar Patching clearer to me !

32 minutes ago, Null 45 said:

It would not make any difference. But that DLL is required when using sc4pac due to fixing other limitations the game has with very long file paths.

I see. Yes, I'm still going to run it no matter what, it's probably one of the most important mods in my modlist, I wholeheartedly thank you for creating this masterpiece while you're here.

[Null 45 3,087]

1 hour ago, Lokiness said:

and making the uses and strong points of Exemplar Patching clearer to me !

Credit for creating the exemplar patching system goes to @memo, who originally created it for their sub menu DLL. I wrote the resource loading hooks support DLL that feature relies on, and ported memo's exemplar patching code over to it to allow exemplar patching to be used independently of sub menus.

Because exemplar patching allows individual exemplar properties to be overridden, it has been used to create various 'universal' mods, Universal Sea Level Mod, Colossus Addon Mod - Universal Commercial CAP Fix, etc. Plus other things like fixing a Maxis I-R bug without editing SimCity_1.dat and Building Style packs for use with the More Building Style DLL.

[Lokiness 7]

1 hour ago, Null 45 said:

Credit for creating the exemplar patching system goes to @memo

I was referring to the Startup Performance Optimization DLL here.

Thank for you for sharing all those, I'm already running the Commercial Cap Fix and I-R, haven't looked back since.