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Showing results for tags 'order'.
Found 13 results
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The Plugins Directory - How are files loaded?
MarkShot posted a topic in SimCity 4 General Discussion
I understand that the last to load in general overrides prior items of the same content. So, leading 'a____' on something to load early and leading 'z______' on something the load later or last. But how are files in a directory level processed. I am assuming as said in computer science, depth first ... this means that everything in the root is processed, then the lowest sorting directory is found and everything is process by ascending sort, then if there are further subdirectories the lowest sorting one is processed sooner. This approach continues in a recursive fashion. Thus, there are two ways to control processing. The naming (sort order) of files in a single directory as they are read before any deeper subfiles. The naming (sort order) of directories as all files contained within are first processed. Correct? This is why some mods say they must appear in the root of plug ins, as they are trying to guarantee an early load. I assume some of the things they do, cannot be undone by something which appears later. Correct? I am not too sure how plugins work exactly. All I have read so far says 'install in plug ins directory' and otherwise people suggest grouping the plug ins directory by function, or content type, or by author. Confused. Thanks.- 5 Replies
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The other week I d/l the iLive Reader and been doing a complete re-vamp of my Parks Menu and re-organizing stuff. Everything has been great so far and have a whole spreadsheet of stuff saved, so I know what numbers I used. Have a multi-part question, since I'm new with this type of thing. I do have a Mod installed that pushes all my default Maxis Parks at bottom of menu, but I somehow managed to have sets of things below it. I dont fully understand the number range how all these orders work, until I hit a problem with a Set. I do understand these numbers convert to Hex into the Reader when saving, and I do have ranges that have been working so far. EXAMPLE: WMP uses a bunch of - negative numbers in the order. like WMP Boardwalk uses like -50 range and in Hex it's 0xFFFFFFD0 and was at the very top of the Park Menu. > I pushed the WMP into - wmp boardwalk - 34999 > This is now at very bottom of my Menu after Maxis Parks. For Number range I have a bunch of stuff I re-did and at the very top of menu I have stuff like - Scorchin Observation deck - # 55138 - GB Markets - # 55139 - Don Miguel\Waterfront Promenade # 55140 - Don Miguel\Large Promenade # 55141 As I scroll down from that, I get into PEG MTP and Pond Stuff, then after all that is BSC Parks Stuff. After the BSC Parks stuff, I have bunch of Custom stuff that goes into the range 1x1 Flower Beds - # 1012 1x1 Flower Gardens v3 - # 1013 1x1 Tree Lots Pack - # 1014 As I keep scrolling down, I have more stuff until I hit The Thing Park System which reserves Range # 2300-23800 Right after The Think Park Set, things are like this - Jenx various Farm Animal Plops -35000 - wmp boardwalk - 34999 Inbetween these 2 Groups, I have Maxis Parks in Middle of this in menu. Now I keep adding more things after WMP Boardwalk and continues going to very bottom of Park Menu Simgoober Farm Canal - # -34998 wmp boats - 34997 Scoty Field Paths -34996 Scoty RV Park -34990 Everything works and is perfect !! I uses those -34xx range to keep at very bottom of menu. OK now, after all this typing this is where I have an issue with Plopable Farm Field Pack. This is like an extra Set of plopable fields, on top of what BLS, CSX normally provide in their growable farms. I only use the SG, CSX and BLS .dat files, Each .dat is crammed with stuff in it. I spent time and cherry picked the Exemplar Files to edit and add into -31995, -31994, -31993 range. None of these .dat have an Occupant Groups listed and had to physically add the Item Order for the ones edited. Soooooo, the ones I edited are now at the very top of Park Menu and not at bottom like Simgoober Canal, WMP and Scoty stuff. Is there something wrong with these .dat missing the OccupantGroups ? The ones I DID NOT edit, are perfect in the location of menu where they are. Sooooooooo, 2 part question. Is there a way to fix this without doing any more editing or fixing ? or - Is there a way in iLive Reader to just like delete these Exemplar Files so they don't show up in the Park Menu at all ?
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Help! Question about Plugin Folder Structure and Pathways
smbrockett posted a topic in SimCity 4 General Discussion
Just a quick question, do the pathways in the plugins folder matter? I just want to clean up my folders and have them organized and get rid of the excessive nesting, but would this interfere with them at all? -
What order are the "plugins/custom landmarks" arranged in the menu?
Joe_Winko_From_YouTube posted a topic in SimCity 4 General Discussion
I'm just curious, what order are the custom landmarks arranged in the bin/menu on the game? I have Tons of custom land marks installed and i never know what order they're arranged in! i have to scroll through everything twice sometimes to find the one i want. is there a simpler way to find them? or a mod or something i can use to organize them? please help? -
I've taken the liberty of starting this topic because I have just posted a major upgrade to DataNode, and to date there has not been a single place where support questions could be posted. DataNode is the sort of tool that is actually very easy to use, but overwhelming for many because of the massive amount of data it presents. The Manual included with it is there for a reason - to make this use of this data easier to understand and put to your own ends. Its really an audit tool aimed at a couple of tasks as a player: Checking that the load order of mods in plugins leads to the result you want - a fast loading, clean SC4 plugins folder. Checking that you have the dependencies needed for a mod As a modder it can help in verifying that your mod is correct and clean, and works as you expect if it overrides game content. Latest Version of SC4DataNode DataNode has been around for a while (since 2012) , and from time to time gets a mention when people encounter bugs or discuss how they manage their plugins. Today I've released a new version v1.06 that is well worth getting especially if you have a large plugin folder. After some forum discussion about what SC4Datanode shows of the files in the Plugins folder, I’ve decided to make all the files touched in the loading process visible. This slows the program a little bit but means it is now possible to see all files that SC4 ignores when loading those it recognises. These do no harm (generally) but slow the loading process as SC4 must look at every file to see if it is relevant. Here are the main changes: in the SC4 file view files that are coloured with a beige background and orange text, with zzz in the Dead column, are sleepers or zombies – they are examined by SC4 but only contribute to the time taken to start up the game. These are mostly documentation files – text and images - but may include all sorts of files included by authors of game material. You don’t have to remove these but if you do the game will start faster. By default, these go onto the scanning Log unless suppressed. In the Preferences panel one can suppress the logging (and display) of non-SC4 Files. This is useful if you have a lot of documentation files but want to leave them there and just concentrate on dependencies. If a file ends in .dat, .sav, .SC4, .SC4Desc, .SC4Lot, or .SC4Model, and the File is empty it will be flagged with an Apricot background, and Orange text. It will be put on the log as it may be damaged if it should be a SC4 file. But, for example, the uninst000.dat in SC4PLUGINS is a file that isn’t a real SC4 .dat. Occasionally installers leave .dll or .exe files in the Plugins – the ones in SimCity:Plugins and NAM are valid – others may just be installers for mods and can (should) be removed after installation. They are marked as IsOK in the Dead Column of the SC4 File display – just in case. SC4Datanode will now also show all files that could be loaded by SC4, LE or PIM-x even if they have no extensions or other wild names. These are treated as if they were SC4.Model files, that is, are loaded in phase 1 of the loading sequence. These should probably be renamed to have a .dat extension for easy identification in future but you’ll need to judge by its contents. When a path name becomes so long (more than 260 characters) that Windows refuses to handle it, SC4Datanode now shows you where it is and will stop running. At this point you will need to fix the problem by rearranging the folders so that the structure is not so deep. The CSV reports by view now produce one file per view – named according to the view – some reports have extra properties common to all items.The Q column has the value “=” when it is the only or final exemplar after overrides are accounted for. FileView and TGI views all produce a report. The program has had its Error Handling strengthened and should also run faster on x64 machines. Memory management has been a focus of testing. It is configured to adapt to x32 and x64 systems thus helping memory constraints if the plugins folder is very, very large. The Manual has been updated to reflect these changes. I recommend you (re)read the pages 10-15 to understand the new features. Memory and Performance During testing of this new version it became apparent that the old version would start to show memory problems on a large plugin set. This was due to the program being compiled for x32 machines. This program wades through a lot of data and uses up to 40% of the size of your plugins total during the scan. It has now been compiled to use x64 when on 64bit machines, and x86 on 32bit machines. Because pointers are double the size on x64 it will use about 50% more memory on x64 but have no ceiling other than physical memory (assuming no disk paging). On x32 the addressable memory is usually closer to 2GB. I have no idea if the Extended Flag works on .NET code - if so the limit may be 3.6GB. So: on x32 – 2GB addressable implies a maximum plugin size of about 4GB before memory may start causing issues. on x64 – 4GB memory implies about 7GB max plugin size, 8GB memory about 14GB, and 16GB should not give problems until 28GB of plugins. The memory used is shown on the status bar. A lot of work has been done to minimize use of memory. However, if you do exceed physical memory it may start disk-memory paging and become very slow or even CTD in the worst case (out of program control). Performance is very dependent on disk speed – the best times have come from SSD, and 10,000 rpm iron disks. The program is I/O bound and will use only one processor for itself by design. The OS (under the carpet) then can use as many cores as it wants for I/O. .NET is quite efficient in I/O, so the program is quite snappy – obviously the age of machine, OS, disk type and size of plugins affect performance. It is worth noting that if you run SC4Datanode directly after a reboot its run time may be quite a bit slower than subsequent rescans or scans. This is because Windows is filling its disk caches for the first time as it goes. These get used next time round leading to much faster loading times. This also holds for SC4. The more headroom in memory the more impressive this caching is. Also keep in mind that Windows can easily use 4GB (x64) on its own these days. These restrictions hold even more for SC4 – if you feed it a plugin collection in excess of 4GB its going to be slower and slower starting up and may actually run into problems. Its always more pleasant and responsive to run SC4 with a subset of your plugin archives. SC4Datanode will allow you to manage a much larger plugin set than SC4 can comfortably run. Finally this version would not be solid as it is without the efforts of @twalsh102 who now holds the record for SC4DataNode with a Plugins folder size of 14.1 GB with 29,961 files which was eventually scanned and analysed in 2 minutes 53 seconds settling on 2.36 GB of memory. This was achieved on a 2018 Win10 machine with 16GB of memory. This is nearly twice as large and fast as the 2012 testing figures held by @DocRorlach which were achieved on a Win7 machine of that time namely 7.34GB of plugins in 2m38s. Please use this place to can ask/comment/suggest about DataNode. Like any program it can be improved.
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Version 2.1
776 Downloads
Because I have a lot of stuff in my Landmark and Park menu, I use iLiveReader to give content a specific number. Parks, hedges, alleys, CO-buildings, IM-buildings, you name it, all in order. This is for easy finding. To make it more easier, here are some ‘Planning Blocks’. You can give each block a number. By example: In My Park menu fillers have there numbers between -10001 / -20000 and hedges, fences and alleys have the numbers between: -20001 / -30000. Now you choose a color, give it the number -20000 and you have a divider between the two ‘sub-menu’s’. Please see the following tutorial for info on changing the menu icon order using Reader: ---------- In this upload there are two folders. One Landmark and one Park. The one file you certainly need is: Planning_Colors.dat Also, they are ploppable. So if you want to be creative... All credits goes to @CorinaMarie, she made these things. I just changed some numbers (after reading a tutorial how to do, made by her.) Last but not least: These things may be freely shared. Related topic: https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/18863-menu-dividers/?tab=comments#comment-1697531 -
Re-arranging the order of appearance. @Tarkus mentioned in the Folders Discussion " Also, consider the absurdity of wanting to make the SC4 community more like the SC2013 community (which is basically dead, and has been for a couple years now)." It's high time to reorder the appearance of the different forums: it should be 1st., SC4, 2nd., Skylines and 3rd., SC2013, me thinks. After all, SC4 is the main forum, all others, and I mean ALL, come second by along shot. Why, just convenience in surfing around. I for one, I never go to SC2013, and just once to Skylines. So it's a bit of a drag to scroll down, and down, and... just to get to where I want to go. In fact, from my experience, SC3000 should be promoted to second place, but that's my personal preferences. Anyway this rant should give an idea.
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Hey all, got a question. I downloaded a lot yesterday. It's a police station. But this station shows up under the police menu and landmarks menu. When I view the exemplar in the reader the occupantgroups doesn't show anything but police no landmark. So is there a way to fix it just to show under police menu? Thanks
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A plugin doesn't show up in the game.
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The Freight Station Mod does not appear to work with the new NAM v31.1. Are they not compatible with each other? I have always used the Freight Station Mod: It helps by allowing Trains to dump their cargo at the freight station to be taken by Trucks. Without the mod Trucks only dump cargo at the Freight Station to be picked up and taken by Trains. I wanted to try to get my Seaport better utilized so years ago I started using this mod and set it near a Seaport, so the farms on the other side of the map would send their freight to the freight station through rail, then truck to nearby Seaport. It worked! However, since I have begun playing again this year, I have used all the same plugins, except I have upgraded the NAM to v31.1. I have noticed that no matter where i put the Freight Train Mod in my plugins directory, it doesnt appear to work now. I have tried loading it last through zzzzz_ in both file and directory in the main my docs/plugins folder. The other reason Im suspecting the NAM has something to do with it, is because the Freight Stations now have a NAM symbol on them, and a lot more useful data! I love the new data displayed. And no matter where I put the mod, even when i bulldozed and replaced the Freight Station, it always showed the NAM symbol and still did not function as I expected. Does anyone know if the New NAM and the Freight Station Mod are not compatible with each other? Or do you know a correct way to fix the load order so the mod will work again in the game? Perhaps I can could re-mod the NAM file affecting the Freight Stations to keep everything it has now, and just add this one component in the older mod. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks! - Cougar2004
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Yesterday I found Soldyne's guide in the omnibus section about how to change the item order in the game menus with ilive reader, and decided to tidy up things a bit. Took me almost all night, but it is well worth it! I definitely enjoy this game even more now that every item in the right place. Well..Almost every item. Quite often for older lots and exotic creations, I had to add the Item Order property manually, but for a reason I ignore I couldn't change the order of some of them despite I could add the property and assign the value to the lot. So I got a few questions 1. What is preventing me to change the item order of those odd lots? I noticed a few had their exemplar file colored in blue, like if some propertie was embedded to them. 2. When 2 lots have the same item order, what is the second property that prevails for menu order and is it possible to tweak it safely? 3. I was able to reassign lots in different occupancy groups (i.e erase a lot from the misc. transit menu and have it appear in the water menu), but does this alter in any undesired way the properties of the lot? 4. I couldn't find the occupant group value for both roads and highways menus. Is it possible to move some lots in those menus or is it more complicated? Thanks
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Version 1.36
10,025 Downloads
SC4DataNode - A SimCity 4 Exemplary - is intended as a Gold Standard SC4 Audit Tool - is NOT an Editing Tool - for this there are Reader, SC4Tool, Lot Editor and a number of others. The program supports four main Tasks 1. Audit/Review of Loading Sequence, file redundancies and Overrides 2. Dependency verification (as many as possible) 3. Audit/Review of a. SC4 file integrity (.dat etc) and b. TGI file content integrity (Exemplars etc) to the Property Level 4. Exploration - a really good informative display of Exemplar Property Values and file contents so that one can learn something of how SC4 works. Tasks 1 and 3a focus on the physical SC4File View Tasks 2,3b and 4 mostly on the TGIFile view (SC4 Content) These tasks can focus on the whole SC4 Environment or incidentally scanned files/folders (or both) Potential Audiences are: - The User who wants to make sure that some new plugins aren't broken - The User who wants to make sure the game loads plugins in the right order - The Modder who wants to learn what/how things work - The Modder who publishes work and wants to make sure its correct, and will work correctly with a given environment - The SysAdmin who wants to make sure their site is only hosting quality products - Potentially programmers to make use of the functionality (of the SC4DataNode.dll) How it works: SC4DataNode loads all of the files that SimCity would load, in the order it would load them when starting a game. It then marks all files that are redundant, checks the contents for accuracy, finds the interdependencies and marks them as found or not and offers a number of views of the resultant data. This can also be carried out for any given set of files. Use the included installer (program can be installed anywhere) and you're on your way The program is written in VB.NET v2.0 and should run on any machine that can run the .NET 2.0 Framework or an equivalent. It also installs one very clear to read Font. Full Documentation is accessible from within the program. (Docs Button) cheers Ron May/Jun 2012
