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PIMX Official support thread

Started by wouanagaine, November 04, 2009, 12:56:55 PM

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Buzzit

Quote from: Lowkee33 on October 08, 2010, 07:09:05 AM
I can see that you are getting the pylons in-game, so my only guess is that you did not load them properly in PIMX.  When you first start PIMX you are given the option to check folders.  These boxes are not always inclusive.  Checking only the "Plugins" folder will not load any of the sub folders within plugins, only the files there.  However, if any sub-folder is checked then the sub-sub-folders within it will be loaded.  Best bet for testing is to empty the plugin folder and then only place singular files within it.  Then load PIMX with only your plugin folder checked (not simcity).  If you still can't see your pylons as a standard

Batting is not an area I know about.  My understanding is that a model file consists of many pieces of the building and then an identity that puts them all together.  This info is enough for PIMX to know that it is a model.  Exemplars are then created to a define the model as something (prop/timed/flora).  Finally a .desc and then a .lot are made.

Power eye-candy and power producing lots are certainly possible in PIMX.

thanks for this advice! it will certainly clear up some things
anyways the in game pylon is done with the lot-editor wich doesnt have any options to change them in to power lots
but i will give it a try!

Buzzit

hey
i finally start to master this program
what a fantastic program it is!

there's only one thing thats a bit vague
i can't edit any of the costs.. is that some kind of protection? and do i have to use an other program for it? i saw the topic with someone who's bashing the program but didnt find any anwsers over there.

also how can i edit it to function as  a power plant?
thats all i need to know after that im fully aware what this program is capable of! ;D

RippleJet

Quote from: Buzzit on October 15, 2010, 11:25:11 AM
also how can i edit it to function as  a power plant?

Instead of making a prop out of your model, drag it to one of the categories under Buildings -> Power.

You could actually create "Power Eye-Candy" buildings out of your poles, which would thus cause them to appear in the power menu,
and "Auxiliary" for the substation pylons, which would make them fully functional power plants, with a small power supply.

Lowkee33

Most stats are protected in PIMX.  This is so they all stay balanced.  By right clicking in the stat area you can get an option called Recompute Properties as...  This number changes the Filling Degree, by which all of the other stats are calculated.  So, PIMX will make all of the stats balanced, but if you want to make that cost a little lower/higher you can use Reader or Xtool to do that.

Buzzit

Quote from: RippleJet on October 15, 2010, 11:39:16 AM
Instead of making a prop out of your model, drag it to one of the categories under Buildings -> Power.

You could actually create "Power Eye-Candy" buildings out of your poles, which would thus cause them to appear in the power menu,
and "Auxiliary" for the substation pylons, which would make them fully functional power plants, with a small power supply.
that was accually the first thing i did with my model i putted into the power eye-candy category.

i checked out the powerplants and instead of having there power consumped it generates power(wich is completely obvious)
but how can i able this option to let it generate power.

also the pylon costs like 10 simeuro's  to place wich i think is far to cheap i want to change that to 200 simeuro's
but the program won't allow me to do that (atleast i dont know how to.)

@lowkee33 ah! allright
i just installed the  reader but its a little bit vague at the moment but i will figure it out.

btw aint the x-tool pim-x?

RippleJet

Quote from: Buzzit on October 15, 2010, 12:03:54 PM
i checked out the powerplants and instead of having there power consumped it generates power(wich is completely obvious)
but how can i able this option to let it generate power.

Eye-candy objects only consume power.
Thus, make them either wind power plants or auxiliary power plants.
That will ensure that they generate power instead of consume it.


Quote from: Buzzit on October 15, 2010, 12:03:54 PM
also the pylon costs like 10 simeuro's  to place wich i think is far to cheap i want to change that to 200 simeuro's
but the program won't allow me to do that (atleast i dont know how to.)

If you make them auxiliary power plants, they should cost more than eye-candy.
And if you make it a wind power plant, it should cost even more...
Either auxiliary or wind should be good for you, as neither of them generates any air pollution.

If the plop cost is still too low after that,
increase the value by right-clicking and increasing the filling degree.
Thus all related properties also adjust accordingly.


Quote from: Buzzit on October 15, 2010, 12:03:54 PM
btw aint the x-tool pim-x?

Indeed it is! :D

Lowkee33

My mistake.  Meant to say SC4Tool.  SC4Tool is a little less daunting than Reader, but it can only edit Exemplars (which is what you are doing).

mightygoose

question if you have a custom plugin directory rootpath... how do you modify it so  the PIMX recognises the alternative folder....
NAM + CAM + RAM + SAM, that's how I roll....

Buzzit

hey,

sometimes when i try to save a model (after i done the lot settings like deleting the ground texture and changing the icon etc) at the moment that i hit the save button nothing happens the save button doesn't get transparent and i cant add LTEXT
is there a reason for this? or is this some kind of bug?

Lowkee33

Good Evening,

I have been moving the PIMX windows around a lot today.  It seems one of those times I moved the LE-Tools window off of my screen.  Since PIMX remembers where things were, I can't see it them again.  When I open the LE all I can see is the 2d-3d view.

A re-install fixed it, but just thought I'd put it out there that something like that is possible.

FrankU

After some encouragement by RippleJet, BarbyW and Cogeo I am trying to master Pim-X and I must say: in some aspects it is really a great program. I have done just some small things, but these are doing great.

Now a question.
Is it possible to make a copy of an exemplar? I didn't find anything in the readme and tried in several ways, but did not succeed.
I would like to make copies of some Maxis-exemplars in order to make my own prop families. Making exemplars out of models is easy, and I have done that.
But I'd like to make some copies of the exemplar called 0x2b600000---R2x1x2_§§§twocans_invis, because this exemplar, and several alike, are used to make "empty" props, because these exemplars have no visible content. That's why they are not to be found in the models section. I can just find them somewhere in one of the props lists.
Is this possible? Or is it possible to make my own empty prop by deleting the reference to the model after I have made my exemplar?

Lowkee33

A blank model can be found in "other models" just below "standard models".  It would be dragged over just like any other model.

If you drag it to the the "prop" section you would get a blank prop.  Then add a family by right clicking in the data section in the bottom right corner.

You could repeat that process to make multiple copies, but I imagine it would be much faster to do that in Reader by using the "clone" function.

As far as I know there is now fast way to add, say, 100 blank props to 100 different families.

FrankU

Ah, Lowkee,

Thanks for your quick answer. I had seen the blank model, but I didn't realise it was exactly what I was looking for. It reminded me of the blank lot problem that has occurred a long time ago, so I thought to stay away from it.

I'll do it immediately. I just need about maybe 5 empty exemplars. They will probably be part of a lot of prop families, but that isn't a problem. Just a question of numbering.

Lowkee33

Now that I try to explain the blank lot problem I don't quite understand it  &mmm.  I guess the blank that people were using was actually a building exemplar?  People were changing the stats within it to fit their needs.  The problem was that the blank was part of a building family, so all of the sudden a bunch of blank lots started to grow.

That actually reminds me I want to bring something up about PIMX.  The flora that is made is given the flora family that grows on city hall.  I have to say, I haven't built a city hall since I learned about custom content, so I haven't seen the problem myself.

I think there are a host of problems with making flora in PIMX.  I don't want to sound like I am unhappy, but the flora made with PIMX will show up in a tree controller.  Also, I can't seem to be able to make a mayor-plop-flora out of the flora I have made.  I have tried just about every combination of properties, but when I simply copy a flora that I know can plop, change the RKT, and make new instances everything works fine.

RippleJet

Quote from: Lowkee33 on November 08, 2010, 01:29:59 PM
Now that I try to explain the blank lot problem I don't quite understand it  &mmm.  I guess the blank that people were using was actually a building exemplar?  People were changing the stats within it to fit their needs.  The problem was that the blank was part of a building family, so all of the sudden a bunch of blank lots started to grow.

Check out Growing Empty Lots and How to Correct Them for more information. ;)


Quote from: Lowkee33 on November 08, 2010, 01:29:59 PM
That actually reminds me I want to bring something up about PIMX.  The flora that is made is given the flora family that grows on city hall.  I have to say, I haven't built a city hall since I learned about custom content, so I haven't seen the problem myself.

I think there are a host of problems with making flora in PIMX.  I don't want to sound like I am unhappy, but the flora made with PIMX will show up in a tree controller.  Also, I can't seem to be able to make a mayor-plop-flora out of the flora I have made.  I have tried just about every combination of properties, but when I simply copy a flora that I know can plop, change the RKT, and make new instances everything works fine.

I have to admit that the Flora category in PIM-X hasn't really been tested.
As far as I know, it's a copy of how Flora is created in Maxis' PIM.

I'd be interested in a detailed specification on how to set all those properties,
and make an update of the XML file after that. ;)


Quote from: Buzzit on November 02, 2010, 05:47:34 PM
sometimes when i try to save a model (after i done the lot settings like deleting the ground texture and changing the icon etc) at the moment that i hit the save button nothing happens the save button doesn't get transparent and i cant add LTEXT
is there a reason for this? or is this some kind of bug?

Could you show exactly what and how you're doing this?


Quote from: mightygoose on October 31, 2010, 10:30:31 AM
question if you have a custom plugin directory rootpath... how do you modify it so  the PIMX recognises the alternative folder....

I don't think you can... but maybe you'd better send wouanagaine a PM, just in case... :)

mightygoose

it's ok it means i can control dependencies by only putting certain bits into my documents without having to move my plugins... actually works out rather nicely
NAM + CAM + RAM + SAM, that's how I roll....

Lowkee33

QuoteI'd be interested in a detailed specification on how to set all those properties,
and make an update of the XML file after that. Wink

There is a lot I don't know, but from what I do know flora are pretty complicated.  The most basic thing to report is that Flora have the "air cleaning" effect.  A flora placed in LE will retain that property on at least plopables.  (I really hope to have a growable soon :))

I will get a report together and perhaps PM it to you.  It will take some time to get it formatted to be readable on this site.

Be Well

swamp_ig


Hiya,

After installing the latest SC4PIM I'm getting on startup:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "SC4PIM.py", line 1, in ?
  File "SC4PIMApp.pyo", line 117, in ?
  File "SC4IconMakerDlg.pyo", line 7, in ?
  File "SC4Data.pyo", line 2, in ?
  File "S3DReader.pyo", line 2, in ?
  File "S3DViewer.pyo", line 3, in ?
  File "Numeric.pyo", line 91, in ?
  File "multiarray.pyo", line 12, in ?
  File "multiarray.pyo", line 10, in __load
ImportError: DLL load failed: The parameter is incorrect.

I've tried it both straight from the installer, and after installing all the DLLs mentioned in the sticky (most of them seem to be the same as distributed), and get the same error.  Any ideas?

Thanks.

cogeo

I would like to report a case of a PIMX-made building/lot and the stats it produces. Downloaded SimGoober's Education Lots, and I was particularly interested in Milwaukee Club Library. Excellent BAT and lot, but how it compares with the Maxis local library? The building is "larger" (as far as its "volume" is concerned) and the lot is smaller (2x1 instead of 2x2). OK with these. The building contains an "Unknown" property, set to 0.85 (I guess this is the Filling Degree). Also properties like Occupant Groups, School EQ boost and School Effectiveness vs. Average Age are identical, which means that the building type, efficiency and age groups are the same. So it would be normal to expect that the custom building lot would have stats, similar or at least proportional to the ingame ones.

Here is how Milwaukee Club Library's stats compare to the Maxis local library's ones:
- Plop Cost is much lower, but Bulldoze Cost is much higher.
- It is high-wealth, not medium-wealth, as the ingame one.
- It has a landmark effect, while the ingame one has none.
- It causes no water pollution, neither generates garbage.
- It offers many more jobs than the ingame one.
- Has a much higher capacity
- Has a much higher Coverage Radius
- Maintenance Cost is higher, but Maintenance Cost / Capacity is lower.
ie properties like capacity, jobs, plop cost and maintenance cost are not "similar", neither "proportionately scaled". In general, stats are "better", "easier" and "cheaper" than the ingame ones, making it looking like a cheat lot. Certain players may like this, but the discrepancy is apparent, imo.

There's something else too, Lot Resource Key has a Rep count of 1 instead of 0, which is wrong.

I have modified these for personal use (set them equal to the ingame ones), but I think the upload should be updated too, and the PIMX-suggested values revised. Didn't check the rest of the buildings/lots in the pack in depth, however the problem with the Lot Resource Key property concerns all buildings.

RippleJet

Quote from: cogeo on November 20, 2010, 02:14:39 AM
There's something else too, Lot Resource Key has a Rep count of 1 instead of 0, which is wrong.

That wouldn't be a problem though...
The only known problem is with Macs, where properties that must have a rep count of 1 are erroneously set with a rep count of 0. But there's never been any problems the other way around.