DarkMatter

Hello gang. I know its been a while, but I finally have a very basic UI working that is loading DBPF files. I am working on cleaning up the file listing display, rendering each file with a nice type name for each Type ID (like DatGen did), as well as providing file grouping based on user group names, as well as "standard" group names based on the Group ID. User groupings are just configurable groupings that any user of the program will be able to define for themselves (or use the defaults that will come with the program.) The standard group names, however, need to be defined. I do not remember if there was any work done to identify what each Group ID in a TGI meant, or if there was any effort to name each group. If there was, if someone could provide me a link or email me the information, that would be great. If not, then perhaps we could figure out some useful names for each Group ID. I'll provide some default configuration with this simple editor that will group the index entries by either their user group name, or their standard group name. Thanks!

At the moment, it doesn't mean anything. I am starting to write some core API's, but there aren't any tools yet. I hope that I'll be able to make my API available to everyone, so anyone, not just myself, can write tools. I don't know what the reason for the 4x4 km map size limit is, but it may not be something we can surpass. If it is, then there isn't any reason why, in the future, we couldn't surpass it.

Ah, I think I understand now. The formats I modeled above are just the DBPF. I am not adding any capabilities, just representing what is already there. Tracking when a file, like an exemplar or FSH, changed still won't be possible. It might be possible for me to set a value in the modified date that indicates the last time the DBPF changed, but you really already have that info...the last modified date that is part of the file system in windows. As for free-form editing of 3D models, I'm sure we could make it possible. I'm in the REALLY early phase of any tools right now, so a nice 3D model editor is probably months off, I would say January by the earliest for any kind of alpha tool to edit 3D models. Right now, my focus is kind of getting back into the swing of things, re-learning the formats, and putting together a nice, simple API that myself and others can use to write tools. Once I have the API, I'll be writing a basic DBPF browser that will let you extract files and view them in hex. Beyond that, I have no plans. If you guys have ideas or needs for tools, start a thread to track them all. I'll definitely not be as active as I once was, but I am glad the SC4 community is still around and strong, and I want to provide something that will help you guys keep discovering and creating new things.

I'm not really sure what your asking. The timestamps (created/modified) have been there as long as I've known about the format. Its mostly an assumption, as we could never get Maxis to confirm what those values were. They are usually zero for most DBPF files, but I do remember a few files where those values were not zero. I've listed them as a timestamp since that is what they were originally decoded as. As for their effect on actual files within the archive...there should be no effect at all. Exemplars, FSH, etc. are still just files in an archive, like a Zip file. The archive format itself has little bearing on the use of the files it contains.

Hello Modders, In my attempts to create a new and improved modding platform for SimCity 4, I've begun creating little visual guides for the file formats I'm working with. The first of these, obviously, is the DBPF format. Between resources I had myself, some from Karybdis, and others on the net, I've created the following two visual guides for the DBPF version 1.x and 2.0 archive formats. I'll post more as I create them.

Well, I'm abandoning the common modding platform idea. Makes things much too complicated overall, and will draw out my attempts to write a simple SimCity 4 modding framework by a lot. Started writing a SimCity 4 specific framework that will be MUCH easier to use by other programmers, and a hell of a lot easier and faster to write in the first place. Bixel, I'll be glad to help get you started once I have something functioning. Shouldn't be nearly as long since I'm simplifying everything.

Well, I'm abandoning the common modding platform idea. Makes things much too complicated overall, and will draw out my attempts to write a simple SimCity 4 modding framework by a lot. Started writing a SimCity 4 specific framework that will be MUCH easier to use by other programmers, and a hell of a lot easier and faster to write in the first place. Bixel, I'll be glad to help get you started once I have something functioning. Shouldn't be nearly as long since I'm simplifying everything.

Well, I'm abandoning the common modding platform idea. Makes things much too complicated overall, and will draw out my attempts to write a simple SimCity 4 modding framework by a lot. Started writing a SimCity 4 specific framework that will be MUCH easier to use by other programmers, and a hell of a lot easier and faster to write in the first place. Bixel, I'll be glad to help get you started once I have something functioning. Shouldn't be nearly as long since I'm simplifying everything.

Hi Cogeo. While I can't say that I could help fix the S3D library you are using, it shouldn't be terribly hard to write one that does what you need, and works perfectly on all versions of windows. All I would need is a specification for the format. I may actually have one...Karybdis and I decoded dozens of formats over the years, and I think S3D was one of them. As for multi-purpose buildings, I can't say yet. I'm working on a low-level framework at the moment. I/We would still need to create tools to do the things we want to. Last time I got into modding, I did most everything related to DatGen myself. This time around, I want to provide an easy to use framework that anyone in the community with a little programming knowledge can use to create tools that meet any need that may arise. I will probably always be around to help people who choose to write tools, offering them programming help and design tips for their programs. I can't say that I'll ever have the time to dedicate to the modding community like I once did, however. Hopefully, if I can educate enough people, that won't be a problem, and we can build a rich subcommunity of tool builders here on SimTropolis to meet the needs of modders.

Hi Cogeo. While I can't say that I could help fix the S3D library you are using, it shouldn't be terribly hard to write one that does what you need, and works perfectly on all versions of windows. All I would need is a specification for the format. I may actually have one...Karybdis and I decoded dozens of formats over the years, and I think S3D was one of them. As for multi-purpose buildings, I can't say yet. I'm working on a low-level framework at the moment. I/We would still need to create tools to do the things we want to. Last time I got into modding, I did most everything related to DatGen myself. This time around, I want to provide an easy to use framework that anyone in the community with a little programming knowledge can use to create tools that meet any need that may arise. I will probably always be around to help people who choose to write tools, offering them programming help and design tips for their programs. I can't say that I'll ever have the time to dedicate to the modding community like I once did, however. Hopefully, if I can educate enough people, that won't be a problem, and we can build a rich subcommunity of tool builders here on SimTropolis to meet the needs of modders.

Hi Cogeo. While I can't say that I could help fix the S3D library you are using, it shouldn't be terribly hard to write one that does what you need, and works perfectly on all versions of windows. All I would need is a specification for the format. I may actually have one...Karybdis and I decoded dozens of formats over the years, and I think S3D was one of them. As for multi-purpose buildings, I can't say yet. I'm working on a low-level framework at the moment. I/We would still need to create tools to do the things we want to. Last time I got into modding, I did most everything related to DatGen myself. This time around, I want to provide an easy to use framework that anyone in the community with a little programming knowledge can use to create tools that meet any need that may arise. I will probably always be around to help people who choose to write tools, offering them programming help and design tips for their programs. I can't say that I'll ever have the time to dedicate to the modding community like I once did, however. Hopefully, if I can educate enough people, that won't be a problem, and we can build a rich subcommunity of tool builders here on SimTropolis to meet the needs of modders.

Sure. Once I have a framework in place, anyone, including myself, will be able to write tools to do anything that needs to be done. I plan to start writing a simple DBPF exploration tool, just so that I can test the framework and make sure it works properly. I will probably include a hex editor and export capabilities. From there, I can add whatever people need.

Sure. Once I have a framework in place, anyone, including myself, will be able to write tools to do anything that needs to be done. I plan to start writing a simple DBPF exploration tool, just so that I can test the framework and make sure it works properly. I will probably include a hex editor and export capabilities. From there, I can add whatever people need.

Sure. Once I have a framework in place, anyone, including myself, will be able to write tools to do anything that needs to be done. I plan to start writing a simple DBPF exploration tool, just so that I can test the framework and make sure it works properly. I will probably include a hex editor and export capabilities. From there, I can add whatever people need.

Well, sorry for the long absence. I forgot how much code I wrote for DatGen back in the day. I have nearly 120 megs of code, 500,000 lines. I've been trying to put together a game-agnostic modding platform, which could be used to write editors for any game. I had forgotten how complex a lot of the code was for handling SimCity 4 data files. I am still working on it, however, little by little. I have finished the core framework that allows archive and game data files to be created, loaded, and saved in a way that is independent of the game (i.e. anyone could write an SC4 editor, or an Unreal Tournament 3 editor, or an editor for any other game they choose...using a common framework.) I have started working on writing a new DBPF archive file implementation. It took me a while to find the compression and CRC code that I used way back in the day. I finally found it today, and I can finally start writing some useful code. For those of you still interested, I'll post what I end up with here as soon as I can. It may be a few weeks at least, as I am in the process of buying a house, and that is my primary focus aside from work. But, I am still poking around with a new editor framework.