As I sit on my work PC looking at my Win XP, 1G memory, P4 Dell machine (home PC) chugging away trying to load the PIM-X with a large set of dependency files, my mind contemplates a new machine (again). The go seems to be a 64-bit Windows 7 machine with 4 or 8 Gig memory (I've got another laptop running Ubuntu 64-bit with 8Gig memory and it flies).
Anyway, given that Win 7 seems to have bedded down and there's a lot of 64-bit versions running out there, I thought it time to ask the communitiy of their experiences with SC4 (RH) and the various tools. Do they run ok natively in 64-bit or do they need some form of 32-bit compatability mode?
Here's what I use:
Maxis-supplied
- SC4 RushHour
- LotEditor
- Plugin Manager (PIM)
- BAT (i.e. GMAX and the BAT plugin)
Community-supplied
- BSCCleanitol
- PIM-X
- iLives FshMan
- iLives Reader (0.93)
- SSPTool
- SC4Mapper
- SC4DataPacker
- SC4Tool
Thanks.
I have Win7 64-bit, and all tools seem to work fine (I didn't try SSPTool yet, though). For SC4Tool, you have to disable "Desktop Composition" in the Compatibility tab. For Stéphane's tools, you need to install a standalone version of DirectX 9, and for the texture editing tools, you need null45's updated FSHlib.dll (I updated the SC4Tool download with that). null45 created a texture converter tool, too, and from what I heard, it works really well, and a lot faster than the old tools, as it can handle alpha transparency within the PNG files (no need for extra alpha maps), and directly converts the IDs if you use them as the filename.
EDIT: SC4 (and probably some other tools, too) need to be installed with an admin account. Personally, I hate UAC, so I disabled it, but I don't think that's necessary.
I haven't used BAT, Maxis PIM, or FshMan under Win 7 x64 - but here's what I can tell you...
SSPTool works fine. You do need to change the permissions on the Plugins folder in Program Files (x86) for DAMN and SSPTool to work.
SC4Mapper has a bug where it will not run if there is a \U in the path to your Documents folder, which is a problem under Win 7 since \Users is the new default. Some folks have had luck moving their Documents folder to a non-standard path, but I prefer to use SC4Terraformer instead. You have to download and install DirectX 9 for SC4T to work. The ReadMe lists a specific version of Direct X 9.0c that is required, but it worked fine for me with the most recent Direct X 9 update.
Also, with Cleanitol and DatPacker you need to be sure to download the DLL files listed in the ReadMe files. They were standard with previous versions of Windows, but they are not installed by Vista or Win 7. I copy them directly to the program directories to avoid any problems with permissions. Win 7 is much stricter about access to program and system files.
Overall, it is fairly painless under Win 7. I haven't had any problems with permissions or UAC, aside from the issue with DAMN noted above.
I hope this helps.
Thanks guys.
Quote from: Andreas on January 30, 2011, 07:40:29 AM
...For Stéphane's tools, you need to install a standalone version of DirectX 9,...
Does it have to be DirectX 9? I went to MS and downloaded DirectX and it ended up with DirectX 11...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg849.imageshack.us%2Fimg849%2F8591%2Fdirextx11.jpg&hash=d7c78f8c85b636eb00e42959bb3a1e197144209f) (http://img849.imageshack.us/i/dirextx11.jpg/)
Should that work with the tools, or do I need to go get DirectX 9. If so, where?
From what I have gathered, wouanagaine's tools rely in a few functions that are included in some DirectX 9 DLLs. It was suggested to download the DirectX 9 Redistributable (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3B170B25-ABAB-4BC3-AE91-50CEB6D8FA8D), which will add the missing DLLs to your Win7 system. After that, the tools should run fine.
Quote from: Andreas on April 11, 2011, 12:10:56 PM
From what I have gathered, wouanagaine's tools rely in a few functions that are included in some DirectX 9 DLLs. It was suggested to download the DirectX 9 Redistributable (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3B170B25-ABAB-4BC3-AE91-50CEB6D8FA8D), which will add the missing DLLs to your Win7 system. After that, the tools should run fine.
Thx. I'm always nervous of downloading stuff from external sites, when the vendor's site is available. Obviously it's caught me out this time. Hopefully installing over the top of DirectX 11 won't cause probs.... :-\
EDIT - Actually, that download link is the same one as I used earlier. It does say version 9.29.1962. But when it installs it's still labeled as DirectX 11. What the....
Well, regardless of the label, do the tools work properly now? ;)
I only have PIM-X installed and it's still suffering the problems identified in the PIM-X support thread. I was trying to confirm I had all the right bits and versions of bits.
Quote from: deadwoods on April 11, 2011, 05:01:05 PM
I'm always nervous of downloading stuff from external sites, when the vendor's site is available. Obviously it's caught me out this time. Hopefully installing over the top of DirectX 11 won't cause probs.... :-\
There is no conflict between DirectX 9 and later versions AFAIK. The readme for SC4T asks for the April 2006 version of DirectX 9.0c, but it has worked for me with the latest and greatest version.
The latest version is the June 2010 Redist, which is available from the Microsoft Download Center (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3b170b25-abab-4bc3-ae91-50ceb6d8fa8d).
Quote from: ScottFTL on April 13, 2011, 01:40:05 PM
There is no conflict between DirectX 9 and later versions AFAIK. The readme for SC4T asks for the April 2006 version of DirectX 9.0c, but it has worked for me with the latest and greatest version.
The latest version is the June 2010 Redist, which is available from the Microsoft Download Center (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3b170b25-abab-4bc3-ae91-50ceb6d8fa8d).
Thx guys. That's the one I've got.
Hi...Your post really got me thinking man..... an intelligent piece I must say. :satisfied:
I've noticed that most programs run without problems on Win 7. Some will require you to go under properties and set it to run in a compatibility mode (these range from Win 98 to XP SP3), and that will usually resolve the problem.
As someone who loathed Windows Vista, I love Win 7. So take that assessment for what it is worth. ;)
Well, for somehow SC4 Terraformer isn't work in my Windows7 64 bit.
I have dotnet v3.5 and Direct x version 11.
does somebody can help me?