kiwispanker

there's an easy way to unlock the train station, the rail tracks and the rail bridge, but it doesn't look too pretty. the train station is pretty messed up and can't connect to the rail lines. the layout of the rail line on the bridge needs to be fixed. even though MC did write a railroad crossing (over an intersecting road) editor file, it hasn't been implemented yet. worst of all, they aren't functional; maybe tomorrow i'll look if MC made "functioning" trains...doubt it.

Originally posted by: [iCE]{man} I've been following this for a while now. And a lot of things written here are totally strange to me. But to get some things straight: When is the mod going to be released? What does it include? Is it accessible for everyone? Where will it be released? quote> i'm not too sure what the mod is? since last year there have been several mods released for the game. if you are referring to the mod as in some super unlocker, well that is still in process i believe. there has been a root patch floating around the internet and some other people picked it up here and made it more friendly, then added some additional blueprints. this particular mod also unlocks planet offer only content like the medieval pack. ski gem and beach gem are also floating around in the pak files but aren't really developed. it is accessible for everyone, until some higher authority says to shut it down. because of the uncertainty of the legality, the mod isn't hosted on simtropolis but for now at the google project site. you can probably find more information about where to download the mods and the (re)packer tool at https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=403&threadid=115521&enterthread=y

Originally posted by: Aspire P:S: i found the particle files they were trying to finish (e.g. weather, e.t.c.) do you need a hex editor to unlock them? quote> which ones are you talking about? what's the name of the file(s)??

Originally posted by: Aspire YYYEEESS!!! Okay.. now that i know that they used 3dsmax, im a complete ***** at programming but it seems that the uildings are further located in another compressed file (.sgbin), and there should be an extractor somewhere for that, right!? but since it's 3Ds Max, (i still use GMax), i found a website that kinda shows all the files 3dsmax can export. http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/3ds_Max_File_Formats Have Fun, Aspire quote> well you're right that the buildings' textures are located in the sgbins, there is really know way to create them from using photoshop and then into 3ds max right now. just like EA gave us the BAT, MC will need to provide us with some script to convert our custom content into 1) sgbin for textures, and maybe other things, and 2) layout, meaning something that will modify the layout files -- which determine the dimensions of the building (and everything else on the "lot"). of course just like you can manually manipulate the layout files, like i did in the above picture of the titanic with a turret, you can possilby create your own buildings (along with carpet (plaza textures) and furniture (props)), BUT 3ds max, according to that website, can only "write" dds (standard), whereas cities xl reads some version called MS-DDS and uses dx1 or 5, i forgot. and please, please, correct me if i'm wrong. i've just casually looked at all of these files. i may be wrong about some things -- or all things.

here's what it may include - French, then English given per bullet. taken from generation city; author: Arcadoli Decompress (Unpack) a file or a folder of files (e.g., Pak Patch, Lvl, Floor, Sgbin) Compress (Repack) data into a patch file. Unpack SGBIN files while automatically converting them into MC-DDS DDS standard, which are editable. Duplicate objects through recompressing SGBIN files that were converted into DDS and DDS-TM and gives a new name for the object. You can duplicate an object, change its texture and its properties. An Explorer that shows all the uncompressed data in the game; graphics and text with the possibility of configuring with external editors to edit text and graphics more easily and with a simple right click. Export / backup your cities by creating a text file that contains the list of your mods installed to make it easier to share your cities online. (If a mod has been used in a city, it will need another machine to open the city) Import: up to 10 cities can be imported into the slots added and will not replace the official maps. "Plat Pays" have been added for this purpose: two per region for the first 5 regions. It is on these cards that the cities will be imported cities. A help file which will be expanded gradually with tutorials. A link to "Check for updates" Further improvements will follow: (Easy addition of new cards (maximum 9) in the region "Generation Cities" ...

Originally posted by: GlobexCo Update: Guys, I think we need a good plan. Releasing mods that do the same things is pointless. Please, if someone wants to, I need help in unlocking gem content... (creating class files - adding them to gemcity menus). It's long to do, and there are lots of files... Answer please. quote> i agree that we need to focus on a good strategy to organize and examine cxl's content. i could help with creating class files...although it's going to be very tedious work. i tried creating some ultra narrow alley ways; i got pretty far but got stuck on those dang sgbins; my packer keeps locking up my computer...really weird. so i gave up on that for a while until Arcadoli at GC releases is re-packer this Saturday!! which is suppose to support sgbin files and a whole bunch of other things. i did manage to play around with the furniture and actor files within layout, here's what i came up with: hahahaha, Nothing can sink this Titanic!!!

the class files call on .tga for thumbs...but not always. s wyllman said, the thumbs seems to be generated from the .dds image - but who knows if the game actually uses the dds or converts it into tga. Good news though!! i have successfully unlocked all of the buildings - well not all, some give me trouble. i've changed the attributes to some more favorable numbers and put them in the correct category/tag. my next task (for personal reasons) is to change the buildings from the vanilla version to be more realistic. there's so much stuff that MC just left untouched. for those of you working on playing with the game (still), i find it extremely EASY to have visuals to work with - since (pre-GEM ski/beach) MC didn't label their files well - I use the ddstexture folder as my visual aid, found at data/interface/ddstexture/ the screenshot below shows that I just searched .dds files within the whole folder, but you get some junk: now let's say that i really like that aircraft carrier, then just search your data folder for b_ldm_shipaircraftcarrier; now you have a visual dds images, the sgbins, the layouts, and the classes. i'm now making the aircraft carrier shoot out cars and not fighter jets. haha, maybe next i'll put jets on my road. as for uploading any game mods, i'll have to wait for some ok from whatever higher authority there is here; which brings me to a posting earlier from Ilikeseattle: Originally posted by: Ilikeseattle GlobexCo said that he hacked files and that not a single .EXE was touched. Therefore, if the EULA is read so that only what was explicitly stated was disallowed (editing, backward engineering, or hacking the .EXE itself), then nothing wrong has occurred.quote> If you read the evolution of how most of the un/re-packers were made, you'll find that the .exe and .dlls were manipulated. but MC knew about this and allowed it so long as it didn't interfere with online play. if you're curious at where this evolution took place, look at xentax. also, Ilikeseattle, you mentioned that you would like to see some alley ways in the game, i think i could do that...although it may conflict with GlobexCo's road mods...meaning i'd have to use an already existing road file....or maybe we could make our own. it would be the first uploaded building to the game! i say this cuz citiesxl treats roads like buildings. hmm...forget the other stuff i just said i wanted to do...i'm going to make a road!

Originally posted by: cm39 Wow...great job Globexco.... Do you see some buildings from the asian pack? Also, i download the patch who unlock all the PO stuff and it work perfectly....i don't know why you don't use it instead of unlocking them one by one? quote> i've been looking and i can't find any of the chinatown buildings. MC has written the descriptions for each of those buildings but never included the class/layout files in the updates. at globexco, i'll look into thumbs; are the road thumbs just turning out white? also, is it possible to upload some unlocked buildings on simtrop? i don't mind shairing what i got. concerning the eula, in writing, i do believe that the game shouldn't be modded in any way. BUT, MC has allowed modifications in solo mode - which is what we're doing. if the new company has problems with MC's old way of allowing mods, then they should make their concerns known.

Originally posted by: Skimbo I do not think they will...... quote> what do you mean by they skimbo?

great job jeremy12!! is there a way to include .sgbin files? i think arcadoli over at the french forum generation-city is making a pak/re-pak program as well. i'm pretty excited about all the new developments taking place.

maybe they've had to downsize to only french-speaking workers. that is great news about quick support; i was needing to put in a ticket but figured i'd get no response.

Originally posted by: fukuda Yes, F11 was the screenshot shortcut. It may have changed, but one of the F keys is the correct one. The HUD shouldn't be visible in these screenshotsquote> this is true, but the OP wants to make a video. unfortunately, there is no way, save for a mod (that has yet to be created), that could take out the HUD. i'm assuming that you want to use some type of a screen recorder; well you could decrease the interface down to 0% - making it tiny - then record not a full screen, but a region, trimming out the interface edges. remember that F2 will put you in windowed mode so you can easily jump between the two programs as needed.

i like your designs, especially the "slanted/curved" intersections. a lot more artistic than the normal grid.

pete and theonesime, which operating system are you using? and are you running as administrator. some of neidhard's programs must be run with admin rights. i personally have windows 7 (32bit) running as admin....no problems; patch exports fine. i have guests flying in tonight so i don't think i'll have anytime to test this out more any time soon. thanks nashville nelson for the tips!! i'll try imageJ. for some reason, GeoControl2 always crashed if i messed with any of the secondary perimeters. oh and on the german forum, neidhard perhaps mentioned that it may be possible to add cities without replacing existing ones - or at best, create additional cities on the world map. do you have any info on this?

Originally posted by: Ilikeseattle GEMs are different. They need to be bought. They are too big to download uncompressed.quote> but a lot of the files (gem, old-england pack, trains) are all in the pak and patch files that MC kept sending out. when you open up the pak files you can easily see (in plain english) those files. when you repack those files into a patch, you could unluck them and use them in your own game - that's the misuse problem mrdazza is referring to. roundabouts and trolleys have alread been unlocked and available for public download. however somethings like train tracks can only be laid down and are not functional. i agree that MC should distribute its exclusive content packs a different way - otherwise, anyone could unlock those features and files for their own use; then no one would buy from MC and we wouldn't get additional content in the future.

i messed around with it a bit today and got it working - kind of i made all files in photoshop. you'll also need a program to view and edit the DDS files. you can download for free either Gimp or Paint.net. Or, if you have and like photoshop, you can download the nvidia dds plugin. to be able to work with the raw files, i first use photoshop to make the heightmap then import that file into GeoControl2. there's other programs that'll work as well (like world machine 2). i obviously don't have a feel for it yet - maybe with some time. as you can see, my city is under water. nashville nelson as uploaded a San Francisco map at citiesxs.net. one of the downsides to this program is it must overwrite an exisitng map. i think neidhard mentioned before that it may be possible to add a city to the world map without interferring with other cities. @theonesim: did you export the new map as a .patch file? also, some of the map names that neidhard wrote aren't exactly the same as the English game. for example, the archipelago map in the English game is written as MultiIsland in the MapEditor.

regarding the new camera mod, i actually found it even hard to deal with MC's ultra-sensative mouse wheel. if you can write LUA scripts then maybe you can help us all out and come up with a mod for this exact issue.

mentarman: bus stops on both sides of the street will only be plopped automatically if you make a line route. to make the line route, you can't just double-click wherever, but after you've made a small loop near the end of the bus line's route; once the small loop in reconnected to the main line, then cxl will prompt you to double-click and auto-complete the straight-line route. also, special note: if on any part of your line you went down a one-way street, the game cannot autocomplete back to the depot. you'll have to retrace along the same bus stops you've already created and create stops there. i did experiment with a simple city with unskilled up north, factories back east, and some second bus depot in the middle. i had one bus line (from the first depot) going only south. i then had a second bus line (from another depot (out west) going east (and back). the people in the north, wanting to get to work in the east, were forced to transfer in the middle. the experiment did work for 3km, 6km, and 10+km bus routes. it just took some time for the unskilled workers (and even the skilled ones) to stop using their cars and take the bus (and transfer).

does cxl buses allow for transferring - like if you have two lines at a cross, can the citizens easily change bus lines or does the simulation take into account walking and waiting times?

thanks for the surveys edcase - let's hope cxl2011 takes some of our considerations into thought this time.

at any rate, they should have gotten back to you by now. my support tickets took just a couple of days at most. the problem with monte crisco's support is not answering but rather implementing. i have told them about translation fixes (really simple fixes) that have gotten overlooked for several updates now. sure, maybe MC took a long vacation or maybe they're priorities aren't concerned with translations, but rather on that nasty memory leak or the annoying super-sensitive mouse issue.

i don't see why MC wants to restrict paying subscribers/renters from using PO maps in their own offline cities. What if you want to ticker around with more than 5 maps. That is frustrating to me.

Originally posted by: Kevin Ar18 Originally posted by: site400 But what we don't know is how long inactive cities remain on the server before they are freed up. In particular, how long do cities created by people who used their 7-day free trial stay online before they deleted. I see a butt-load of cities every day, but only a very small number are actually "in use". MC could just leave cities in play for weeks after a person's trial ends just to create a sense of "fullness" on the planet. Who knows! quote> Quote from Matthew: The rules are: - Trial account (no registered CD-key) : cities are kept for a week after the trial has ended - 7 days PO tryout (registered CD-key) : cities are kept for a month after the tryout period has ended - PO subscriber : cities are kept for at least 6 months (but can be longer as we'll try and keep them for as long as possible)quote> It's probably not to create a sense of fullness, but to preserve old cities if people decide to come back. quote> My 7 day trial city is still "in planet". and that was more than 2 months ago.

i remember seeing those lines a while ago. i just assumed the fourth line was for the specialty buildings (although the special "star" button didn't have any lines). that would be nice if there was a fourth density, or at least two different densities to distinguish between tall (high density) 10 story buildings and super tall (high density) 40+ story buildings. like the fourth density could just be solely for skyscrapers. if i ever play the game i'll take a photo.

Originally posted by: Mermekk I think something like buses is too essential to be left out in the fundaments of the game. I think it's a human right to have them available if you rightfully bought and own this game.quote> Although I do agree with you Mermekk, and probably and overwhelming amount of other mayors, that the bus addon is a very core feature that, at one point, was promised to all. However, I don't agree that the bus feature is a human right. You should read the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.