pauld

Hi, I started SC using the Maxis short cut icon in the Start/all programs/maxis/SC Deluxe. Opened city and for the first time the pop up appeared...Success!! The two files popfile.dat and BSCfields.dat have finally been written to the apps folder plus the file beer.dat. Tried starting SC again using my original desk top shortcut and the pop up doesn't appear even though the files popfile.dat and BSCfields.dat are still in the apps folder. Created a desktop short cut from the original Maxis shortcut and everything works fine. Seems the mod only works using the maxis short cut. With my limited knowledge I haven't a clue what's going on so I'll leave you experts to scratch your heads... I have to add a big thank you to Pheonix Rising for spending your time, having a brain wave and providing the solution which works for me. Regards

to those still having problems with the BSC tracking: could you move the BSC_RegionalCounter.dat file in a folder called 'zzz_RegionalCounter'. This way the file will get loaded last... so if there are still problems we can rule out certain conflicts.quote> Reinstalled regional tracking mod to new folder (zzz_RegionalCounter). My problem seems to be that the mod refuses to create/write the two files BSCfields.dat and popfile.dat to the apps folder. I have Simgoober's Flower market in my city and notice that when querying this lot it does say BSC regional tracking is currently unavailable. I'm wondering whether this is related. Regards

Date: 5/30/2005 4:01:08 AM Author: Daeley after your reinstall, you do still have the BSC_essentials_OG.dat file installed, right? if it still doesn't work we'll have to look at other things... your setup is the same as mine now. quote> I reinstalled the BSC_InstallEssentials101.zip as this is the latest updated version. Also downloaded and used the latest version of your mod. Still no popup I'm afraid and the other two files BSCfields.dat and popfile.dat are still missing. Regards

Date: 5/28/2005 1:34:33 AM Author: gwyned Date: 5/27/2005 6:50:37 PM Author: Daeley no I'm not writing to the registry I'm just writing to a small text file... and I'm not quite sure what a complete reinstaal could do, if anything. I'd say only do this if you really want to do it yourself, because I personally don't think it will matter much... as a sidenote, where is Simcity installed? just C:program filesMaxis? and do you run the .exe from the main directory (or with a link, that's the same) or did you place it somewhere else? It's very important that the .exe is in a path that has Apps as a subfolder. I am using the default installation directories for Simcity 4. I also directly access the .exe file from the Apps subfolder. Good luck, and thanks for all your help! quote> Took your advice and didn't reinstal WinXP. I have reinstalled SC deluxe though and this time put it in the default drive C: Reinstalled your mod and it still refuses to work. It doesn't write the two files BSCfields.dat and popfile.dat to the apps folder. It does install BSC_RegionalCounter.dat to the C:\Documents and Settings\Paul\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins. I do hope you manage to find a solution to this annoying bug in time, while at the same time I appreciate that the problem may well lie at my end with my setup...at the moment I've run out of ideas! Regards

Date: 5/27/2005 6:50:37 PM Author: Daeley no I'm not writing to the registry I'm just writing to a small text file... and I'm not quite sure what a complete reinstaal could do, if anything. I'd say only do this if you really want to do it yourself, because I personally don't think it will matter much... as a sidenote, where is Simcity installed? just C:program filesMaxis? and do you run the .exe from the main directory (or with a link, that's the same) or did you place it somewhere else? It's very important that the .exe is in a path that has Apps as a subfolder.quote> Haven't done a reinstall just yet. Simcity is installed on my D drive: D:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe I start it up from a shortcut on the desk top and the find target of the shortcut icon is: D:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps I only have one 160Gb hard drive at the moment and the C: partition (8Gb)(is where the OS is installed. Everything else is on the D: drive, including the My Documents folder. Hope this info is useful. Regards

Date: 5/27/2005 2:39:38 AM Author: Daeley well I will not get into technical details... but comes down to this: The Regional Tracking Mod will write the information it needs to certain files it creates himself (I like to call these 'simcity cookies'). I haven't seen any problems about this with anyone, but if you do not see those files, it may be possible the mod is unable to create them. If this is the case, the problem probably lies not with the mod (or with simcity for that matter) but is probably a case of restricted access. My guess is somewehre in your settings you are giving programs limited write access over your harddrive. Are you on a computer with multiple users? If so, is someone else of them very computer-savvy? It's possible he/she fuzzled a bit with the user priorities and controls if so. I will ask a bit around about this... I would like to get to the bottom of it quote> I'm the only user on this computer. Had a word with my son who is far more computer literate than me. He can't think of anything that would restrict access or writing to my hard drive. We've reached the conclusion to reformat and reinstall Windows XP to rule out any possible problems with the system. All part of the process of elimination I suppose. Anyway, I'll have a nice clean reinstall if nothing else In the meantime I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this may be the solution. Will let you know one way or the other. Regards

Date: 5/26/2005 3:48:01 PM Author: Daeley the uploaded file is basically the same as guinessmonkey posted... I'm guessing the problem must be somewhere else... as long as you have th BSC_essentials_OG.dat file I don't see where it could be though... can you check your program files simcity folder (the one with the simcity4.exe file) and look for a folder called Apps. Please tell me if there are two files called 'BSCfields.dat' and 'popfile.dat'. These files should be automatically created but they are required for the mod to function properly. Perhaps if they're not there you have some sort of write-protection mecanism that disables LUA from writing there... quote> I reinstalled SC Deluxe again and chose not to save my cities this time (have a backup on CD) when uninstalling. I'm now back to original game. The only plugins I have installed are the: bsc_Essentials_OG.dat BSC_RegionalCounter.dat. No Joy so far. Have checked for the two files you suggested, BSCfields and popfile.dat in the apps folder and neither one of them exists. Also checked my backup disc of SC D:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps and the two files aren't there either. Looks as though I've never had them which probably explains why I've had no success. Are these two files written/installed in apps folder by your regional tracker mod or some other bat/lot/mod? One last question, LUA? I did mention earlier that my knowledge lies somewhere between zero and nil...lol Kind regards

Date: 5/26/2005 1:59:34 PM Author: Daeley do you happen to have a lot of cities with ' in their names? (like 'Little momma's house', 'Devil's kitchen', 'Jean's garden' etc.) guinessmonkey has detected a bug that causes these cities not to be tracked... If this is the case, I'm afraid I made you do a reinstall for nothing... my apologies... but a fixed version will be uploaded in a few minutes quote> All my cities have regular names...none with apostrophes... Tried guinessmonkeys file and still have the same problem. You didn't make me do a reinstal as it was my idea and at least it took SC out of the equation...back to the drawing board! Obviously it has something to do with my setup but I will try your new file when you upload it. Regards

Date: 5/24/2005 7:36:45 AM Author: Daeley It might be possible something else is conflicting though i can't really think of what it could be... If you do a reinstall, you don't have to lose your cities per se, you can always back them up and put them in the appropriate folder after the reinstall.quote> I did a fresh install of SC today. I did opt for save my cities when uninstalling. Still no regional tracking popup I'm afraid. Tried removing mod, saving cities and reinstalling mod again...no luck. Decided to remove every single plugin from plugin folder. Loaded a new region and created a couple of test cities and then reinstalled the mod again along with the file bsc_Essentials_OG.dat....sadly the same scenario as before. Perhaps rather than having a conflict I am missing something instead? Apoplogies for being a pain in the neck but I've run out of ideas. Regards

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. I am running SC Deluxe version on Windows XP with an Athlon XP3200, 1 Gb ram and a Nvidia Geforce Fx5900. I have let the cities run for a couple years. I have to confess that I know absolutely nothing about the inner workings of SC so have no idea what kind of item I have might of instaled ie. a BAT, Lot or mod that might be a possible cause of my problem. I'm thinking perhaps a reinstal of SC may be the solution., The only problem with that is the worrying possibility of losing my cities, especially the rural ones. Still if that's what it take, maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and go for it. Regards

Hi, Not sure if I am posting this in the right place - these forums confuse me! I have tried everything I can think of to get the your regional tracking mod to work...looks like I must be on my own.... No matter whether I open an existing region or create a new one, the popup asking whether or not to track city just refuses to appear. Tried removing the mod, opening and saving each city in turn, exiting SC and reinstalling the mod but to no avail. I can only assume that I have a conflict or I'm missing something somewhere but must confess I'm at a loss where to begin. Will keep trying and let you know if I have any sucess as I really want this mod if possible. Kind Regards