• Welcome to SC4 Devotion Forum Archives.

PIMX Official support thread

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

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.


manchou

Hi.

I've the same problem as everyone clearly ... &Thk/(
But, i don't installed the SP1, and all DLL are download, so i don't understand why the PIMX doesn't run.  :'(

If someone can help me, thanks.  :)

Manchou
My BATs or here but it is in french ;)

boxleitnerb

I installed PIM-X on a XP virtual machine, but when it starts, it apparently looks for 3 directories. Sim City 4 is not installed on the VM, it's just for PIM-X. What do I have to do in order to use this program?

ThisIsMyName

I have a question - I'm trying to turn already existing lots from growables into ploppables.  I've been able to do so, except for an unfortunate problem that it completely strips away everything but the building, leaving it on an empty grey stone base :(  Where did all the props go and is there a way to prevent this?

Lowkee33

You can delete/copy/paste textures/props/flora in PIMX.

Click on your new lot, and select the "TYPE: Texture"(s).  Right click on them and delete.  Then find the Lot that you just made plopable, and select all of the "TYPE"s other than the building, right click and select "copy properties".  Then Paste Properties into your new lot.

ThisIsMyName

#225
Okay, perhaps I'm doing something wrong?  I'm changing a house, so when I do "convert to ploppable", I get a second window.  In it, I can see and remove the TYPE info, but on the first original window, I don't see any TYPES from which to copy anything :(

Edit:  Only the first three lines, "File Name", "TGI" and "Parent Cohort" bring up a copy function when right clicked

ThisIsMyName

Aw, it looks like this thread has died :(

Lowkee33

Quote from: ThisIsMyName on November 02, 2011, 08:53:19 AM
Aw, it looks like this thread has died :(

nope, I would suggest you just try again.

 

ThisIsMyName

Um, try again how? You mean re-ask my question?

What am I looking for?  How do I find it?  I already stated I don't see anything that I can copy from the original file into the new one :(  Is there a screenshot of the line(s) I need to use, maybe?

ThisIsMyName


FrankU

#230
Hi ThisIsMyName,

I see your question just now. Some days ago.

Here is the tutorial I promised you.

OK, we start. You know how to make a growable lot.  If you open it in SC4-Pim you see something like this:


In this case it is a residential lot. Now you want to make a ploppable lot that looks alike. Remember: you cannot make ploppable residential lots, so maybe this is a bad example, but let's say you want a landmark looking like a residential lot.
Now there is indeed in SC4-Pim an option where you can choose: Create a ploppable lot using this building. I tried to work with this option and I could not find out how it worked, or it just did not work. The problem was: I got a ploppable lot all roght, but I could not retrace it in my game menus. There was nothing to plop.

The best you can do is this.

Go back to the Start screen of SC4-Pim. Select the model you want to become the building for your ploppable lot. Of course this is the same model as you used for the growable lot.
You enter a name for the building file and then you select: "Create a ploppable lot using this building". Then in the lower right screen you will see this.
I have opened four files in SC4-Pim: the building of the growable lot, the growable lot itself, the building of the ploppable lot and the ploppable lot itself.
You can see them all next to each other in the upper line of the lower right screen:


Now the building files are not interesting to this tutorial. You need just the two lot files.
Click in the lotfile of the growable lot. This is the lot that is OK and you want the props and textures of this lot to be also on the ploppable lot.
Select all entries in the list where the values are named "type: prop" and "type: texture". Be sure you do not copy any other entry! Right click and select "Copy properties".

Now open the lot file of the ploppable lot. This lot is quite empty: there is only a base texture for each of the four tiles of the 2x2 lot.
Select the four texture entries. You see this:


Right click and select "Delete properties".
Then you see this:


Now right click again and select "Paste properties".


And you will see this in your screen:


Now you have copied all props and textures (also overlays) from the growable lot into the ploppable lot.

The result looks like:


The only thing you now have to do is move the builidng to the exact location as on the growable lot.
You may, of course, not copy the building entry!
Because in SC4-Pim you can open two or more files at the same time it is not too hard to compare the two lots in order to move the building to the same location. Now don't forget to save the lot before closing the lot file!
In the root directory of your plugins you will see a file that has the name of the building with the extension Loosedesc. Delete this file. You don't need it. It is a temporary building file for a ploppable lot. After you have made a ploppable lot this building file is of no use anymore.

I hope this is clear....

FrankU

And now I got a question of my own.....
While making the tutoarial above I reread some parts of the SC4-Pim manual. I found out that I had fogotten something that is described in this manual.

Maybe some of you have seen that I have released several Windmill sets on the STEX. One of this sets, Windmills set 2, contains ploppable landmarks with jobs.
After reading the manual I found out that I had forgotten to edit the LotConfigPropertyWealthTypes and the LotConfigPropertyPuroposeTypes of these lots.
Is this harmful? Should I edit these lots and relase a version 1.1 of these windmills? Or is it not too important?

joelyboy911

I'm just wondering if there has been any development on finding the fix to make the PIMX work on updated versions of Windows 7?

And if not, whether there's anything I could do to help find or develop one.
SimCity Aviation Group
I miss you, Adrian

westamastaflash

Quote from: boxleitnerb on October 26, 2011, 05:56:29 AM
I installed PIM-X on a XP virtual machine, but when it starts, it apparently looks for 3 directories. Sim City 4 is not installed on the VM, it's just for PIM-X. What do I have to do in order to use this program?

Not sure if you ever got this working, but here's what I did. I can at least run PIM-X now.

1) Create a new virtual machine, install windows, etc. (I used windows 7 pre SP1, but XP should be fine).

2) Using Regedit, export the Simcity 4 registry keys from your local machine to a .reg file. (HKLM / SOFTWARE / Maxis / Simcity 4)

3) Copy this file to your Virtual Machine (probably want to create a shared folder to do the copy). Execute it to add the registry entry.

4) Copy the entirety of your simcity folder under Program Files to the virtual machine's Program Files folder.

5) To use your "plugins" folder, you will need to create a "fake" Simcity 4 folder in your My documents. Then, you need to create a "symbolic link" to a shared folder on your host machine that has your plugins in them (either by using the JUNCTION command from microsoft sysinternals, or the mklink command in Vista/Win7).

So all this being said, it is not an easy task. I'll try to put together some kind of better tutorial at some point, once I have it working to my satisfaction.

jmyers2043

Hello Wesamash

Quote from: westamastaflash on December 10, 2011, 03:10:23 PM
.....So all this being said, it is not an easy task. I'll try to put together some kind of better tutorial at some point, once I have it working to my satisfaction....

Thank you for your persistence. I'm sure others will benefit from your method once you get it up and running.

- Jim
Jim Myers  (5th member of SC4 Devotion)

ThisIsMyName

Thank you, Frank, for trying to help.  I had completely forgotten about this thread as I had managed to figure it out on my own.  Sorry about that!  Your tutorial still does not answer the original question I had as to where the files i needed to copy were hiding, you just say "open the file and copy them"

When I finallly found them, I learned that making a plop is almost ridiculously easy and quick.

What I do:
Put ONLY the file I want to make a plop from into the plugins menu first
- In PIM, uncheck maxis so only your desired lot shows up
- Click and drag the file that you want down into "Landmark eyecandy" (personal preference) on the lefthand menu list.  This item must come from the "Standard models" menu or it wont copy over
- name it, then right click anywhere in the new window to bring up "create ploppable lot using this building", okay the size
- click back to the first window, right click to bring up "convert item name and convert description" options, click both.  On the bottom of the window you can now remove "typing monkey" text
- click back to the second window and delete textures.  THIS is where I ran into a wall before.

Where your original file comes from the "Standard models" menu, the file that containes the textures to copy does not, that comes from the "Descriptors - All" menu instead.  So at this poiint I click there, scroll through the files shown until the right one, in this case sixth file down, and THEN can I copy from it into the plop file.  Nobody was telling me that I had to find the files in a different menu than the original file you use upon opening the program!

At this point the new plop file is not in the same place as the original, being now in either plugins directly or a main instead of subfolder and needs to be moved back.

Knowing this now, I can make a plop file from a grow in about 10 very quick clicks :)

I highly suggest that someone edit the original tutorial file that comes with this program to mention the fact you need to use both "standard models" AND the "descriptors - all" menus to make the plop textures work.  I did not find this info there, unless I simply overlooked it somehow.

FrankU

Hi Thisismyname,

I did a quick read in your post, so it might be that I overlooked something, but as far as I can see now your description is quite the same as my tutorial. Maybe you do some things in a bit different order, but the main fact is that you cannot open a growable lot and then click the option "make a ploppable". I did that one time, but the ploppable never showed up anywhere in any menu, althoug it was sitting in my pluginsfolder.... The SC4_Pim does something that is not OK in this situation.
So, I am happy I did not help you but that you found out anyway!  :thumbsup:

ThisIsMyName

I have no idea what you mean, as I most certainly CAN make a plop from a grow using the "make a ploppable" option.  I've done it many times, using both original maxis and downloaded lots.  They appear in the folder, I move them where I want, they show up in the game fine.  I, myself, use the DAMN, which makes it *really* easy to see if something should work, then go in the game itself, and every single one has shown up.  Only two I've ever tried to make came out "wrong", the building was being duplicated on the lot in a bizarre way I couldn't figure out, but that's it.  Sorry, what you say is not actually a "fact", as it can be done. :(

FrankU

Huh?
Well, then I probably have screwed up something. I'll have a second look at it some day. Thanks!

ThisIsMyName

I find it very strange that you couldn't do it yourself!  I should have put in the caveat earlier that I'm using windows XP, not vista, are you using that? Perhaps the program doesn't agree with vista as well?

Perhaps try this next time you try to make a plop - after it's made, I then go into lot editor to make sure it didn't screw up (as some have).  If it's all good, then go into LEprop, and *specifically* tell it that you want it to go into the landmarks menu.  (assuming you're making a residential plop).  Go into the game, look in that menu, it should hopefully now show up.  Make sure you have *nothing* else in the plugins, except perhaps the "remove maxis landmarks" mod, as the lot can be very easy to overlook.  The menu icon should have a black background with a very small image of the lot itself.  Hope this helps!   ;D