kiwispanker

The great folks over at CitiesXS have posted a new map editor that's worth trying out. I'm not sure what stages of development it's in though and I've yet to test it out myself. You can find the original link here. Or try the quick link to Google translate for a rough translation of the descriptions and comments. Perhaps you may just want to dive into the download page. Good luck...and don't forget to use your map editing skills you've learned with SC4. Nashville Nelson suggested that you can use MicroDems as well.

wait. i have no idea why a slow STEX and non-visable ploppable trains are related? i think the visability has something to do with each person's PC performance. globexco may be right about the amount of actor files in a given scene. i can change the camera configuration files for the game to "try" to render the trains when they are further away from the camera, or hopefully allow more to be visable. also, steff42: that was a great tutorial video. i honestly never thought about doing it that way. I always tried to connect the second track with the first one. there's a glitch in the game where they'll connect (or perhaps that's what is really suppose to happen). thanks again!!

yeah and a couple of the retail buildings are the wrong lot size; if globexco hasn't fixed the issues, i have the class files for them...although all you need to change is the tag i'm sure.

Is it working for other people??? I just tested it without any mods, with only unlocker and sandbox, and with all mods. It works for me on all video settings...except the Lowest setting. It may take your computer a few seconds - or longer I guess - to render the actor models. On my computer, it takes about five to ten seconds for each train car to show up. As for now there's no way to fix it. We can make the trains into buildings so they'll show up quicker and be seen farther away, but then they couldn't be seated nicely on the tracks and match up squarely behind one another. Sorry, this was the only fix I could think of. All I can say is it's working for me on all settings with all mods. Try downloading the Advanced Options Mod (I think it's from the French GC) here: CXLmod51Options-Avancees-personnalisees.patch and click Telecharger to download. You can up the settings for furniture and cars, and other things. These settings were something that MC originally put in...but like everything, they left it out. Concerning making merging tracks: you got me. It's hard. I've gotten lucky a few times early on. Now whenever I try to duplicate them while making a tutorial...it never works!! The only advice would be to make one long straight track, then try to add a second track into on a curve and pray for green.

Originally posted by: GlobexCo Originally posted by: Stef42 The plobbable trains made by kiwispanker, are not working for me. I can see all the empty thumbnails in the busmenu. I've placed a railway, a was able to place a train but the texture did not load. There is nothing appearing. Any thoughts?quote> It can be a graphic problem... thumbnails are empty, but when you place a train, then you should see it... However, they're actor (not models - they're like cars), so don't expect high quality at different zooms.quote> Very true. The trains can't be viewed from a distance. There may be a way around this by tampering with camera.cfg; haven't tried it yet but I'm sure it'll allow you to extend the rendering of smaller models (but you'll need some PC performance for that). I did fix the thumbnails and the buildingnames. You can download the latest patch here: Ploppable Trains If everyone is satisfied then I'll leave this mod alone and go back to what I was doing before. However, if you have any further requests and would like to see this mod developed a bit more - throw out some ideas. Also, the train car descriptions are missing; well I just put the train car's length in the game. But if you want to see a description of what a Hopper Car is, for example, then please feel free to expand on each model's description. Or, if you prefer the trains to be located in another submenu...it can be changed. Or, if you want each train car's attributes to be changed...please let me know what's good...cuz I don't. So far this is what I put for each: Jobs Poor: 1 @ 80% Middle: 1 @80% Production Freight: 100 (which is small) Passenger: 100 (also small) Requirements Fuel: 10 (tiny amount...for each train car) Pollution Noise: 100 meters locally Air: 100 meters locally Cost Building cost: 600 or 0; I thought I put 600 but 0 may register Destruction: probably same as above Monthly cost: 100c (public building under Public Transportation budget) Remember, the above costs and benefits are for each train car. They don't require road access to work...nor must you place adjacent to tracks. Have fun.

Originally posted by: GlobexCo ... but at the moment nothing can be done. quote> Well I wouldn't say nothing, Before anyone asks...No this isn't Cities XL 2011 and No they aren't movable trains. Thanks to Damastius for the suggestion -- geeze, where would we be without great ideas and requests! - I made up a set of 19 individual train cars that are already in the game (and you'll probably see in CXL'11). How it works: I made a blank lot with a small pole (so you know where to click for info/delete). The trains aren't buildings but rather "furniture". This is unfortunate because buildings load much nicer and are visible at any distance (without mods). However, furniture (or non-buildings) can be manipulated in position and size. As Globexco mentioned, each train car is a different size than the others. With the blank building method, we can easily make a plot of land the exact width of the train. For example, the train engine is 15 meters long, so I just made a blank lot 15 meters wide, rotated the engine, positioned it, and scaled it to the tracks. Some of the passenger cars are more than 25 meters long. What you can do: You can plop the lots adjacent to the railroad tracks (even at a slight curve What you can't do: Drive them or click on them. If you want their pop-up info, you'll need to click on the little flag pole adjacent to the train car. When and where can you download: I'm tired, so not now; sorry. Everything is done I just need to make DDS thumbs and write the info stuff (buildingnames). If anyone out there is a train enthusiast, then please give me some ideas on what to write; or better, tomorrow I'll release a beta so everyone can contribute. What am I talking about, why don't I just do it now and make everyone happy? I haven't tested this with or without certain mods - but I'm certain there'll be no problem. Remember! This is just a beta - there'll be updates when I make the thumbnail images and the buildingname info (which I'm hoping some of you could help with). Download Ploppable Trains Beta What is included, in detail: Train Engine, 15 meters (I also made a Left-hand version to drive on the other side, or to drive backwards - or whatever trains do when you see multiple train engines together) Electric Engine, 19 meters (no Left hand version because it's already pretty symmetrical) Subway-like, Double-decker engine, 12.5 meters (Left hand version included) Bullet train Engine, 18.8 meters (Left hand version included) Passenger Car, Double-decker, older, 26 meters Passenger Car, Double-decker, shorter, 16.25 meters Passenger Car, 20.75 meters Bullet train Passenger Car, 17.5 meters (Left hand version included) Boxcar - long, red, 22 meters Boxcar - short, red, 12 meters Boxcar - short, yellow, 10.2 meters Tank car - white, 13.5 meters Hopper car, 15 meters Caboose - red, 14.75 meters Subway car, 14.25 meters Trolley car, 8.25 meters

it can be done. a while ago i was actually trying to make a giant 12 lane road (6 lanes each way, sidewalks double-width). it was 70 units wide (whereas the freeway is only 45). the game kept crashing so there must be a limit. either way, roads can be made for cxl because we're not adding anything, just adding textures and changing their dimensions.

Originally posted by: kusanagi-sama So, we only need to download the version 2 (mod #2) or all three?quote> jeremy12 basically made two mods here: mod #1 = decreases the amount of purple area taken away when a citylink is plopped. mod #3 = decreases the amount of money necessary to make a highway citylink. Mod #2 is just a combination of the two mods. If you want a combination of mod #1 AND mod #3, then you'll have to download only Mod #2. *Downloading both mod #1 and mod #3 will only cause one of them to work. Hope this helps.

you don't need to alt-tab out; it takes only a few seconds while the game (splash screen) loads. i just thought less programs the better. if the other affinity tools can save profiles for each game, then that could be good!

what does your log file say (near the bottom when it crashes)? your Log folder can be found here (on vista/7) : C:\Users\*you*\AppData\Local\Monte Cristo\Cities XL\log you can open the log file with any regular text reader. also, are you on the current version of the game and have downloaded the C++ 2005 (or maybe it's 2008) redistributable from microsoft?

Originally posted by: Mootilda There's nothing that you can do to make a single-threaded application run on multiple CPUs at the same time. The only thing that you can do is to set the thread affinity to choose which CPU you want the game to run on. I have a program which I wrote myself which will do this; I'm sure that there are a number of such programs available. The only way to get Cities XL to use all of your CPUs is to convince Focus to hire enough senior programmers who are experienced enough in multi-threaded programming to do it correctly. Then, wait a year or two while they make the required changes. I doubt that Focus will consider it worth the money. quote> No need for a program, use the processes tab in your task manager. I wrote this solution not to long ago in another thread. This time I'll use pictures: Step 1: while CXL game is loading, open task manager, go to the processes tab, right click on the game, and then select Set Affinity. Step 2: dlselect CPU 0 and click OK Step 3: redo step 1 and set the affinity for the game; this time select or individually select all cores. Click OK. You will now see that although my Core1 dropped from 100% to about 6%. The other cores picked up the slack. The overall (average) CPU Usage dropped from the 30-40% to 20-30%. Sadly, you will have to complete these steps each time you open the game. Once you understand the steps, it can be accomplished with ease while the game is loading (with the CXL rio map splash screen). Hope this helps.

what is your current game version? it will be located on the launcer where you input your login name. you should be using the Cities_XL.exe for the launcher. did you try the Patch 1.0.1.457-B3 (314 mb) link given on the first post? it's an executable file - not a zip; maybe that'll work. it also updates FROM version 1.0.3.297.

Sorry I haven't been working on CXL much lately, I've been away from home for some time; but I should get back into it soon when I get back to my computer! Originally posted by: mr-tom Kiwi. Like the look of the car parks. Sorry if I missed it, but what do they actually do?quote> No problem. They are really only eye candy that give your city a few jobs, some environment (greenery), and subtracts air pollution -- because they are taking smoggy cars off the roads. They're not as in-depth as SC4 though, i.e., the building doesn't regulate how many cars can go in/out per hour. Originally posted by: GlobexCo That wooden walkaways can be of course built only on the ground quote> Yeah those wooden walkways are a pain. If you change the ground type to water it will be fine, but then you can't put it on the land!! I spent days trying to connect the waterway with a wharf/road but had no luck. I can't find in the code where MC defines these ground type restrictions. This is of course needed to make the sea_city_links have city hall accessability. Very frustrating.

Originally posted by: mr-tom Originally posted by: wyllman It may be a silly question, but Does anyone know if the purchase of cities xl 2011 by focus includes the Oldest Cities XL?quote> If you mean, "did focus also buy the original cxl" then yes, it's our understanding that they did. They're certainly still punting it on steam and taking people's money (although not offering support...) quote> i doubt Focus will ever offer support for CXL. rather, they'll just say if you want support, you'll have to upgrade (for a price) to the game that we made: CXL 2011. i can see it coming.

i never liked using the camera mod because of MC's super sensitive mouse problem, and i'm sure that's why a lot of people were put off from such a great mod; however, with permission of the authors of course, you could update the mod (camera.cfg, i think) to control the speed of the mouse yaw and pitch. i believe i set mine to 1.0 (instead of MC's stupidly configured 2.0); even slightly less numbers would do. if people would like a mod just to control speed, not for adding cameras i could supply that mod as well...but it probably won't work with the camera mod (unless we can seperate them somehow) good luck.

Originally posted by: taf_mafioso bridge cannot be built over water, when i use plotting for high-tech industry (high density) a building named "large Material warehouse" pops up which requires more space. it turns into bankrupt and looks bad. any solution to these problem?quote> Originally posted by: kiwispanker Originally posted by: mcsnetworks This mod: CXL Unlocker Mod v.2.0 [Addon patch], has a bug in it. It unlocks a "Large Materials Warehouse" which is a high tech building. It builds at twice it normal size which creates graphics issues when it builds over other buildings and it normally doesnt make a road connection to the building.quote> thanks for letting me know mcsnetworks! i've actually never seen that building before - it's really nice. I suppose MC locked it because it "sometimes" has texture issues. when i had originally unlocked it, i didn't notice that it was a special (T4) building and thus placed it with the rest of the T3 buildings. Now it can be found in the correct hightech submenu - T4 section (for special buildings). i'll add it in with an updated version of the hotfix (found on STEX) if i get any more bugs; as for now you can just download the quick patch here: http://www.mediafire.com/?vzjmnynkwte quote> Also, I saw that the large gas station is in the T1/2 slot where it should be in the larger T3 slot.

stef42, which mods are you using this with? i just ask because certain mods try dealing with the rail issue, causing different texture glitches. update: i tested this method using unlocker v2 w/ hotfix and was able to do what you did! looks good i even managed to do the same thing with the 40x15 road:

Originally posted by: avk996 I'm just wondering, is it easily accessible to modify structures in Cities XL? And if so, how? Could someone please supply me with the following information: 1. What file contains the buildings? (I have the Pack/Unpack application just to let you know.) 2. What programs do I need to edit the buildings, and are the free of charge? 3. With the coming of CXL 2011, is it worth devoting time and effort to editing the buildings?quote> I'm glad you're taking an interest in modding!! I'll try to briefly explain the basic steps, what you'll need, and where to find things. 1. The first thing you should do is unpak everything; this way, you can use your OS to search for files (or use other (free) programs to search within the files). To unpak everything you can use the pakunpak program from the French site: Generation City, or even jeremy12's program found on Google projects. But I'm not sure how long it will take; I think one person reported Jeremy12's to take an hour to decompress. You can also grab CitiesXS's cxlPackager tool. My favorite by far for repacking is the new pakunpak; but to unpak, I use a different approach: What I used, and only took a few minutes to decompress everything, was QuickBMS. You'll also need to download the needed citiesxl.bms file. To use QuickBMS to unpak (quickly) CitiesXL, open the small program (inside of the .zip) and follow the easy steps when the windows open: Find and open (through QuickBMS) the citiesxl.bms file Find a .pak file or .patch file you'd wish to extract - however since you'll want to extract all the files, highlight all of the files in your paks folder (excluding any mods!!) Find a directory that you'll wish to place these unpacked files. Remember that it will create about 4gb of space so find a suitable hard drive. For example, I have it placed in my d:/ in a folder called CitiesXLfiles. Inside there it will create your data folder, and all the other folders. Within a minute it should prompt you to overwrite any files; type in 'all'. Basically all of the .patch files MC created are overwriting the older .pak files from the vanilla version. You can definitely still use the pakunpak but it may take longer. I believe the pakunpak program is using the same script to decompress as QuickBMS. If the pakunpak works well, then go for it; I just have no experience with it. Once you've unpacked everything, you can search everything that MC had to offer. To search inside files, I use a free program called Grep; there are several others. I also use a simple free program called CSDiff which compares two folders (and subfolders) OR two files together and highlights the modifications. With that tool, you can easily compare one of the modder's mods (the patch file unpacked) with MC's files (that you just decompressed) and see what we did to unlock it and change its attributes. A good place to look at some simple files with a few edited buildings would be at the citiesxl mods page on Google projects. For example, you can compare the Mod_Karaaib_Parking with MC's parking lots (which were originally locked). You could also unpak my Money_Bank mod and then change the building's attributes to whatever numbers pleases you (and get more money!!). BUT, if you just want to look at changing some small things concerning the buildings, the just unpak only the design paks and patches (all_design.pak/patch). 2. To answer your second question, I use another freeware program to view and edit the files called Notepad++, although Microsofts Textpad would do too . The majority of the files that you'll want to look at are in the design folder. Another trick I use is to view all of the buildings in the ddstexture folder (data/interface/ddstexture/buildings) -- this way I get a clear visual of what the buildings are, associated with their real building names: b_ind_bla01_t3. You will need the ability to view .dds images on Windows. You can download some tools from nvidia (*they also have a plugin for editing dds in photoshop). Personally, I use a share program called MysticThumbs which enables Windows to see a lot of strange image formats, like .dds. This way I don't have to open the dds file in photoshop to see what it is!! You can also use a image converting program to convert the dds files into jpeg - this is only if you still want that visual of knowing what B_strange_building_name_t2 looks like. If you don't have photoshop, you can also use a free photoshop-like program called Paint.net which can edit .dds. Gimp will also do the trick with a dds plugin. These tools are needed if you wish to edit the dds files for the ingame buttons or the texture -- sgbin files (also using the pakunpak tool). So to answer your second question more directly, "yes - everything needed to edit CXL is free" 3. For your third question: is it worth your time? probably not. For me, I was working on a few projects, such as unlocking and fixing the gemski and adding new content like functional boats and HOV lanes, but some of these projects are too difficult and/or impossible for my limited time. And Focus has already shown us some new content. But we also have some projects that you could easily help us with, like making the buildings and roads more realistic. Most of these things can be changed with a simple text editor and any understanding of the English language; French is also useful for some of the comments in the config and lua scripts. Perhaps I'll write up a tutorial on how to mod; but it's pretty self-explanatory once you get in there.

i don't think i've ever seen another issue like this before. it's possible that some of the files were corrupted on install. Have you tried uninstall/reinstall? And can you take a screenshot of the mainscreen to which you're referring? The left picture is what I see with the main mods (unlocker and sandbox) The right picture is what I see without any mods - just the 427 update.

Originally posted by: Davir Soo there are more than one Moaku mod. so tell me what one so meanquote> http://www.citiesxs.net/forum/index.php/topic,1116.0.html

Originally posted by: City Planner Originally posted by: kiwispanker @cityplanner & @danny-1990: i thought the avatar trap was fixed but i can try to see what you're all referring. just to help out with your issues, do you have limited edition or not? what is the version number on that sign-in screen? quote> I don't honestly know what I have, limited edition or regular edition. I bought it off of Impulse and in my games list on Impulse it lists both Cities XL and Cities XL Limited Edition, to start the game I always click on the Cities XL Limited edition in the Impulse browser. The version listed on the login screen is Version 1.1.0.457 quote> hopefully you just have the same problem that danny_1990 did. did you try all the steps above? also, what does your log file say? anything unusual near the bottom of the text? the log folder is at C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Monte Cristo\Cities XL\log for vista/7 although you don't have to copy/past it here; just what does it say about the avatar phase? one finaly question: does it say "avatar saved"? and if so, when you force close the game, then relaunch it, does it make you create a completely new avatar?

i too have win7 x64 and i see no problems with CXL. OP, when you say you can't play it, what do you mean exactly? do you mean it won't launch the actual program, or does it get stuck in the game?

@mr-tom: thanks for the suggestion. we can keep the chiristmas patch by itself and not merge it in with others so users can freely add/delete it from their paks folder. however, either way we organize it (i.e., in the medieval road submenu or in the regular road menu) the game will crash after you delete the patch - if your city has any of the xmas roads in it. this is because the christmas patch includes completely new .class files. @danny_1990: hmm...maybe i should go and buy a copy of the normal edition; i'm curious how it's laid-out. i also thought that globexco fixed the avatar bug. i have limited edition - and although i did get stuck in the avatar loft, the avatar did save after clicking the green check. however, the red 'x' didn't allow me to exit. to bypass this, i just closed the game. you can do ctrl-alt-dlt then end-process, alt-tab then close, or F2 and then close. then once restarting the game, i noticed that i could play the game and my avatar was still in the game. is this happening with you once restarting the game? does it allow you to save your avatar (and just not exit)? my funny-looking avatar for testing: haha, maybe i'll make this my new simtropolis avatar

For now, the GEMs (ski and beach) aren't working properly. And until some LUA experts can continue working on what MC left for us, then the GEM buildings will just be sitting around; I don't like that. I'm now changing the class files of the GEMski buildings to resemble the regular GEMcity buildings (such as hospitals, hotels, houses, leisure buildings, shops, etc.). Basically, I'm just adding more buildings to CitiesXL with a snow theme. However, people - in the city - will treat them like a regular building just with some extra landmark/holiday appeal. Furthermore, I'll maybe change its financial tolerance; this way, the ski buildings won't go into bankruptcy so easily even though they are situated in a remote mountain area. I've tried contacting some people about how they think CXL's newly unlocked buildings should be located, but I've had little luck getting ideas. So I'm just going to do it my way, open up a new thread, and see what you guys think. What I've done was create a new Gem Ski button. Actually, I just replaced the Chinatown buttons with a fancy looking blue skiing guy. The only glitch is that the new button won't "highlight" (although it is active). if you look at the picture, the medieval pack shows as the active menu, but really the Ski menu is the active one - it just doesn't turn on. furthermore, since the panel doesn't reset properly, to be able to go back to the medieval pack panel, you must change to a different main panel (such as the road, utility, residents...) then change back to the main package panel. See technical notes at the bottom. I'm going to organize the submenus into three groups (since there are three sub-buttons). 1. residence - will contain all of the snow houses or cabins; if you guys prefer, it can also contain the hotels. 2. buildings - will contain all of the tourist info offices, shops, ski schools, restaurants, utility stations. *** although, if you guys think that, for instance, the snow style generator should be placed in the main utilities panel, then i'll go ahead and do that. the same thing goes for schools, retail shops, etc. 3. roads - since Globexco's new root mod includes the gemski and gembeach roads and pedestrian pathways inside the road panel, i won't bother including them in this submenu. i'll just include the ski lifts and ski paths - hopefully we can get them to work properly. again, if you guys feel that the snow covered roads should also be included here, then we can work with Globexco to get them shifted over. Personally, I think that with all of the 100 ski tracks and lifts the roads should be left in the road menu. lastly, i thought that i would make the gemski buildings roadless (that is, not being dependent on a road connection). this way, you could place the buildings wherever you'd like (as in the picture). i haven't tested the road network yet, but i believe that if the buildings were roadless, then you wouldn't be able to see who - from what house - was driving there for work, or any freight. *i should also note that MC did make two identical builldings, just one was for the purpose of being placed in the mountains - like an emergency toilet. i didn't include those buildings just because i'm not a fan of several of the same buildings next to each other. let me know what you think!!! *** I'm not a big LUA fan so if anyone could look at which files are needed to get the buttons to work properly, i would greatly appreciate it. for one, the button never goes "_active" nor does the submenu reset, yet medieval does. i've looked at constructionmenu2 but couldn't see anything promising. i mainly messed around with prototypetype. all of these files are lua so i'm not sure if i 100% fixed anything correctly. i'll upload the patch soon.

Originally posted by: wyllman How do you change the chinatown button image??? quote> The cheap way unfortunately I didn't figure out how MC called on the images, so I just renamed the ski ddstexture chinatown_active.dds or whatever it was. Exalight has recently taken an interest in this project as well so hopefully they can toss in their ideas too!! I'm going to start looking back into the files to see anything else I missed.