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Showing results for tags 'coding'.
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SimCity 4 Open Access: Repository of modding tools
Ulisse Wolf posted a topic in SC4 Modding - Open Discussion
SimCity 4 OPEN ACCESS This page has been created to create a list of all available tools that the various modders and NAM Team use to create mods for SC4. The purpose of this list is to create a database of the tools used and that are available on GitHub making it accessible to edit and improve these tools. The main purpose is to speed up the development of new programs for modding by making it easier to access the source code of the programs used so far but they are showing their old age by making it increasingly difficult to use them in modern versions of Windows and in case create specific versions for the MAC If you create programs that start from the source code of the programs available on GitHub, it is strongly recommended to give credits to the original authors as well. The library consists of three main sections LIST OF MODDING TOOLS ON GITHUB LIST OF SC4 DLLs FOR ADVANCED MODDING OPENSC4 The list is still incomplete due to the difficulty of performing reverse engineering of the programs used. -
CoriBoom Lua Coding to Trigger Multiple Game Effects (Such as Disasters)
CorinaMarie posted a topic in SC4 Modding - Open Discussion
When the killer robots come in packs of five: Or the volcanoes sprout en masse simultaneously: ( Don't mind me. I've just been playing around in Lua code. )- 51 Replies
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CoriBoom Cori's Lua Coding Explorations for Reader 1.5.4
CorinaMarie posted a topic in SC4 Modding - Open Discussion
Some fun with Lua scripting inside Reader 1.5.4 As some of you know @BartonThinks and @Raymond7cn did some poking into using Lua coding to automate some tasks in Reader 1.5.4. Raymond beeped me into the topic where I wrote a couple of lines of code to tweak what he created. The result is something which saved BT from several hours of manually modifying a few hundred exemplar names for his project. Once I understood the possibilities, I was off and running with some code of my own by creating a Lua script which outputs all of the Properties lines and values of every Cohort and Exemplar in any given SC4 data file (that includes .dat, .sc4lot, .sc4desc, and any other file Reader can display). The output is a text file and is formatted into columns just like you see in Reader (with the exception that I re-arranged the columns so the two most important (IMO) are together on the right side. I've already had a viable use for this inasmuch as @Sunrader needed a Raiser Lot set to a non-standard height for modifying SC4 terrain for later importing into The Sims 2 game. While chatting with @Cyclone Boom, he was sure it was set somewhere in the LotConfigurations Exemplar. So, I loaded up the 7.5m, the 8m, and the 10m Raiser Lots included in NAM and created text reports of each. Then with the help of WinMerge, I quickly found which data rep of which property was the likely controller for the height amount. While I did simply view the output on my screen, CB made some images comparing the differences. Here's what those look like: The 7.5 meter Raiser Lot: The 8 meter Raiser Lot: The 10 meter Raiser Lot: So, I was able to deduce that it was indeed the 5th rep of property 0x88edc900 (LotConfigPropertyLotObject) which needed tweaked. I changed that to 0x0007C000 and it worked as expected. What I'd noticed was the hex thousands position has value 8 for the 7.5 meter raiser. Said 8 being exactly half of 16 made it likely that was the fraction of a meter while the more significant digit to the left of it was the number of whole meters. 75% of 16 is 12 and that's how I decided to try C in that position. I was pleasantly surprised it did actually work. (Tested in the game using the TerrainQuery option.) Now, this topic isn't about that specific tweak at all. I wrote the above to showcase one of the potentially many possibilities for having the SC4 information in a pure text form. Cori's new Lua code as a pretty picture: Here's a pretty picture CB made of my new code so you can see the colors Notepad++ uses to aid programming: ^ I've attached this code in text form at the bottom of this post in case any of y'all want to take it for a test drive. Applying the 4 GB Patch to Reader.exe Before we get started running Lua code in Reader 1.5.4, it's a good idea to apply the 4 GB Patch to it. (While this might not be needed, it won't hurt anything and has the possibility to help.) Rather than run the 4gb_patch.exe with administrator rights, I copied the file to be patched to its own folder, applied the patch there, and then copied the modified file back into its home in Program Files (x86). Here's the steps I followed: Locate the Reader.exe file: ^ Note the last modified date is 2 October, 2015. (Not important to know, but I'll reference the date again in a wee little while.) Copy Reader.exe to a new folder that does not require admin rights to edit files and also copy the 4gb_patch.exe file in as well: ^ You could make the new folder in your Documents folder if you feel more comfy doing it there. Double-click the 4gb_patch.exe file and it'll pop up a file selection dialog window. Select the Reader.exe that's in the new folder and click Open: After it instantly does its magic, you'll see the confirmation: Next, copy the updated Reader.exe and paste it back into its original location. Windoze will notice there is already a file there with that name and give you some choices for what you want to do. Click the Copy and Replace option: Since Windoze is really fussy about the Program Files folders, it's going to require a signed affidavit from God and his mother to allow this confirmation from you. Click continue: And here you can see it has an updated modified date: While we are chatting about the 4 GB Patch, this is the very same little program that is used to fix SimCity 4.exe to work with the new NAM 37 mod. There's a real nice explanation for that in the context of the game. That particular post is for the Steam version, but just as above and in that linky it's the same general steps. Personalizing the Code before running it the First time. There is one thing you MUST do before using my Lua code for the first time and that is to personalize it for your comp by telling it where you want the output text file to be created. Here's that part of the code, zoomed up: ^ That needs to be a valid path to a folder on your comp some place. The part to change is between the opening [[ and the closing ]]. You'll find this on line 59 of the code. Save the file after editing this. Note: There is no need for a trailing backslash for the path. My code will slip that in between the path and the file name. Also, Lua actually uses forward slashes, but I've written the code so you can use the standard Windoze format and I flip them before creating the output file. You can also, but don't need to, change the next line for the text output file name: ^ If editing this, it is the same as above inasmuch as you edit the part between the opening [[ and the closing ]]. While not imperative, it's good to give the file name a .txt extension as shown. The next line can be left alone, but it's there if you have a techy reason to need all data returned as pure Hex instead of the more human readable XML lookup text Reader does by default (for properties and values it has names for). That's this line: ^ My notes in the attached source code file fully explain this. The options are 0 or 1. Basically the 1 option is for later code modification where I'll need to know the exact hex value for pattern matching and alteration. (More specifically, that's what I'll be using to check for certain OccupantGroups for use with our upcoming Expanded Tilesets mod.) Ofc, save the file after you've finished editing it. Running the Lua Script in Reader 1.5.4 To give my new code a workout, let's have it analyze the SimCity_1.dat file. ( No need to think small when putting it thru its paces. ) Run Reader 1.5.4 and open a file which has either cohorts or exemplars (or both) in it. In Windoze 10, Barton said Reader needs set to Win 8 compatibility mode. (I'm running in Win 7 and didn't have to jump thru any extra hoops.) Within Reader, I have to click something in the left-hand pane before it will enable the script option in the ribbon bar: After clicking the script button to get the code area, I expand that white box where the code will go: ^ This step is not required. Then copy the code from your text editor and paste it in the code section. Next, click the itty-bitty black triangle play button thinger to run the script: And then as it runs, you can watch the gray display box under the code. For all normal files, it'll run so quick you won't see them as separate messages, but here's the progression when doing a huge file: And now go open the output file in your fav ASCII Text Editor program. Remember word (or line) wrap will make it look goofy as hell, so be sure to turn that option off. Conclusion This is some exciting new territory here. While the above is simply to display the data in a useful manner, the possibilities for repetitive tasks being automated could be a significant time saver for many peeps. Let me know if the above code works for you. Without feedback, I'd likely assume I'm off in left field barking up an empty tree. Special thanks to @Cyclone Boom for his continued help testing, proofreading, making images, and presentation advice. Without his dedicated help, this topic would be rather ho-hum looking. Also, thanks to @Raymond7cn for prodding me by creating the first script in Barton's thread. Attachments Even if you never plan to use the Lua Code, you might find the text output is a handy reference. Here are both versions: SC_1.dat - Cohorts and Exemplar Properties - Cori's Lua Output - XML.txt.zip (2.67 MB) SC_1.dat - Cohorts and Exemplar Properties - Cori's Lua Output - Hex.txt.zip (2.65 MB) Additionally, I've tidied up the ilive_script.txt file (found in the installation directory of Reader 1.5.4): ilive_script-vCori.txt (19.4 kB) And, ofc, my Lua Code: Cori's Cohort and Exemplar Properties Script v1.00.lua (24 kB) -
Tutorial - How to invoke private methods without reflection
BloodyPenguin posted a topic in Cities: Skylines Modding - Open Discussion
In mods we need to call private methods sometimes. But calling private methods with reflection makes some significant performance hit. During today's lunch I came up with this simple stupid technique for invoking private methods that uses Sebastian Schöner's RedirectionHelper. Note that the technique is slightly different for classes and for structs. using System.Reflection; using ICities; namespace TestMod { public class TestMod : IUserMod { public string Name { get { Test(); return "Test mod"; } } public string Description => "Some test mod"; public void Test() { RedirectionHelper.RedirectCalls ( typeof(SomeClassDetour).GetMethod("PublicStaticMethod", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Static), typeof(SomeClass).GetMethod("PrivateInstanceMethod", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance) ); var classInstance = new SomeClass("private value1"); var arg1 = "method argument1"; //classInstance.PrivateInstanceMethod(arg1); //That's impossible! SomeClassDetour.PublicStaticMethod(classInstance, arg1); //Here we go! RedirectionHelper.RedirectCalls ( typeof(SomeStructDetour).GetMethod("PublicStaticMethod", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Static), typeof(SomeStruct).GetMethod("PrivateInstanceMethod", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance) ); var structInstance = new SomeStruct("private value2"); var arg2 = "method argument2"; //structInstance.PrivateInstanceMethod(arg2); //That's impossible! SomeStructDetour.PublicStaticMethod(ref structInstance, arg2); //Here we go! } class SomeClass { private readonly string _privateField; public SomeClass(string value) { _privateField = value; } private void PrivateInstanceMethod(string arg) { UnityEngine.Debug.Log($"Class: This is a private method. Private value: {_privateField}. Arg: {arg}"); } } class SomeClassDetour { [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining)] //to prevent inlining public static void PublicStaticMethod(SomeClass instance, string arg) { //This line is crucial for success! We can't detour empty or too simple methods UnityEngine.Debug.Log($"Class: This is a static method. Instance type: {instance?.GetType().ToString() ?? "Null"}. Arg: {arg}"); } } struct SomeStruct { private readonly string _privateField; public SomeStruct(string value) { _privateField = value; } private void PrivateInstanceMethod(string arg) { UnityEngine.Debug.Log($"Struct: This is a private method. Private value: {_privateField}. Arg: {arg}"); } } struct SomeStructDetour { [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining)] //to prevent inlining public static void PublicStaticMethod(ref SomeStruct instance, string arg) { //This line is crucial for success! We can't detour empty or too simple methods UnityEngine.Debug.Log($"Struct: This is a static method. Instance type: {instance.GetType()}. Arg: {arg}"); } } } } That gives the following output in output_log on game loading: (Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/UnityEngineDebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 65) Class: This is a private method. Private value: private value1. Arg: method argument1 (Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/UnityEngineDebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 65) Struct: This is a private method. Private value: private value2. Arg: method argument2 As you see, the private instance method was called successfully. I think it won't be hard for you to figure out by yourself how to apply this technique to properties and to static methods- 7 Replies
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