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CAM 2.1.0 Uploaded and ready

Started by InvisiChem, January 28, 2016, 02:06:53 PM

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InvisiChem

Hello Tyberius,

The IHT bug fix does what the CAM does basically, changes what kind of workers IHT asks for. Originally, IHT asked for 10%R$, 80%R$$, 10%R$$$. IHT bug fix brings 2% away from R$$ and applies it to R$$$ bringing the to total request for 10%R$,78%R$$,12%R$$$, fixing the bug. CAM does use different, albeit I feel more balanced numbers. CAM adjusts these numbers for most employment types.

With that said, I highly suggest using the new CAM in it's entirety to balance out the stages and fix a few more bugs. Since you do not wish to install the CAM, I'll provide you with some results from my testing though.

Do use the installer to provide the IR Fix only. This will cause IR to be tallied into your total industrial numbers and be provided CAP relief without altering any other part your game.

The doubling bug first found in the original CAM and thought to be part of the IHT Bug fix, I found this to only be the case when using the Total Census Exemplars. If you are not sure of what these are, there is a group of files that are listed Census, Regional Census and Total Census. It is only by using the Total Census ones that sum together the properties, all industrial for instance, that the doubling bug occurs. I could not duplicate this bug under any other circumstances using any other census exemplars.

So, placing the IHT bug fix into your plugins without dat packing should be sufficient to fix this bug without getting the doubling bug. The Total Census Exemplars I was just talking about, they have just been dat packed into your file using the IR Fix only option in the installer.

The reason for this message is usually trying to dat pack the file with SimCity_1.dat loading after IH_Census_10_78_12.dat file. I would restore your original SimCity_1.dat file then run my installer with the IR Fix only. If you still wish to dat pack the IH Fix after that, follow the directions very closely and be sure to rename IH_Census_10_78_12.dat to z_IH_Census_10_78_12.dat. This will fix your entries superseded issue.

If you want to avoid all of that, restore your original SimCity_1.dat and just install the CAM SkyScraper version. This version is very close to the original stage values, keeping the game growing quickly but still giving all the benefits CAM provides.

Hope all of this helps.
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InvisiChem

Mero, you would be correct, the fix is in the MainController file. It also has the all the other changes and workforce drive changes as well.

I could try it with JDatPacker. Being able to choose the input and output folder, I could actually setup the fix in a folder outside plugins, decreasing the probability of someone accidentally compressing their entire plugins folder with SimCity_1.dat.

I know wouangaine did not mind his tools being used in installers as long as they were not permanently installed and the program was still credited, I think I remember reading memo was the same way with JDatPacker.
Everyone has something to offer, most do not possess the courage to offer it.

Tyberius06

QuoteThe reason for this message is usually trying to dat pack the file with SimCity_1.dat loading after IH_Census_10_78_12.dat file. I would restore your original SimCity_1.dat file then run my installer with the IR Fix only. If you still wish to dat pack the IH Fix after that, follow the directions very closely and be sure to rename IH_Census_10_78_12.dat to z_IH_Census_10_78_12.dat. This will fix your entries superseded issue.

Oh, d... sh... :D :D :D You're right, I totally forgot the proper loading order this time, and I forgot to put the "z_" tag before the mod-dat file.
Well, I'm gonna check the IR Fix.

Thank you for your help! :)
You may find updates about my ongoing projects into my development thread here at SimCity 4 Devotion: Tyberius Lotting Experiments
or over there on Simtropolis into the Tyberius (Heretic Projects) Lotting and Modding Experiments.
I'm also member of the STEX Custodian and working on different restoration projects on behalf of non-anymore-active custom content creators.
Current projects: WMP Restoration and SimCity Polska Restoration.
Member of the NAM Team and RTMT Team.

Mero90

QuoteI could try it with JDatPacker. Being able to choose the input and output folder, I could actually setup the fix in a folder outside plugins, decreasing the probability of someone accidentally compressing their entire plugins folder with SimCity_1.dat.

Yes, that's great!  :thumbsup: Doing so you have to move SimCity_1.dat only once in a backup folder. Then select the backup folder as input, and the output will be ".../Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe" or ".../Steam/steamapps/common/SimCity 4 Deluxe" for Steam users.

InvisiChem

just downloaded the jdatpacker source code. See if I can build a version that removes the interaction altogether. A huge thank you for the help here.

Also reading your posts about the Wineskin wrappers and your NAM 34 port. With that knowledge, an installer for Mac OSX may be coming soon as well for the CAM.
Everyone has something to offer, most do not possess the courage to offer it.

Mero90

Before doing that, there are some things about Wine you have to know.


  • Wine does not run Javas, and maybe never will. That's because java programs still run under UNIX systems.
  • OSX doesn't handle programs installation as Windows. While in Windows all game files and the .exe are located in the "SimCity 4 Deluxe" folder, in OS all game files (except saves and plugins) are stored inside the .app bundle (i.e. the "SimCity 4 Deluxe" app). An app is a special folder with a command line associated, when you double click on it, it will run the program stored inside. Java cannot access inside an app bundle, the only way to get inside an app is right-click on it and select "show package content". Once there a file can be moved outside by drag and drop while pressing "command" on keyboard.
  • Wineskin is partially sandboxed, it can access only to the following folders: Documents, Desktop, Movies, Music and Pictures. However that's not a problem for the plugins installation since they are in Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins.

My suggestion is to make a special .exe installer (that I'll port on OSX) that won't try to update SimCity_1.dat, but installs under "Documents/SimCity 4/CAM Auxiliary Files" the JDatPacker, the "z_CAM_2.1.0_Stand_Permanent Merge.dat" and provides all instructions how to do the update (I can write the instructions file if you need).

Finally, all Wine files are about 300MB big, so I'm planning to make a single Wineskin Port with both NAM and CAM installers inside.

bombardiere

Got it :) Finally  &apls I needed mfc71.dll Perhaps you could add that to installation instruction. I found out this as I tried wougantine's DatPacker and it gave me this error.

After that the installation with your installprogram went smoothly. Thank you. I installed your full changes. Now to see how it looks in the game. :)

InvisiChem

@Mero99 I can do that. I'm a little worried about the 300 MB Overhead, but we'll work on that. Just in case, I am also looking into a Java based Installer Generator. Again, I wouldn't be able to access the protected package, but let me build the NSIS Mac Exe and I'll send it to you, along with the script.

@bombardiere The mfc71.dll is actually included in the temporary folder with SC4 dat packer and removed when the installation is completed or stopped. Interesting results though, means that even with the redistributables in the application directory some windows installations want the dll registered.

This is yet another reason to use jdatpacker as the base for the patch for an incremental release. Thank you guys for all this.
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Mero90

That's why I want to create a single Wineskin port with both NAM and CAM inside, multiple programs can run in the same Wine environment if they can run on the same Wine release. I have tested the NAM 34 installer with more than one Wine release, it should run on all releases above the 1.6.2 (which is quite old) &Thk/(. It runs the Clantiol, but ofc can run the Compiler and the TSC during the installation, they must be run manually after the installation.

However I'll test if a disk image .dmg gives a better compression than a .zip file.

I'm gonna write later a detailed guide how to install the IR fix on the Mac version  "$Deal"$, it seems complicated, but they are just few clicks.

InvisiChem

Mero, I sent you a PM with the new Mac Installer and the sources. Again, I can't express how much I thank you for all this help.
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InvisiChem

Mac users, be sure to visit this link http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=17344.msg505849#msg505849

This work by Mero99 made this possible. It is a big download, but really nothing with all of our broadband speeds anymore. Contains both the NAM and CAM. Check it out.
Everyone has something to offer, most do not possess the courage to offer it.

Mandarin(a)

Hello again!

Well, I finally had some time to install CAM - of course not without problems  &sly
I am using Windows 7, so I downloaded Windows installer, ran it and get an error message that my system is missing msvcp71.dll So I downloaded it and installed to my system directory, ran CAM installer again - and an error occurred again. In this case, there were no specific details, just a path to logfile: C:\Users\AppData\Local\Temp\nsfD867.tmp\Contrib\ExtProgs\DatPack\SC4DatPacker.exe.log - nsfD867.tmp was never created in Temp folder.
So I went on to manually merge SimCity4_1.dat (everything else seems installed right). It went well, I think it is going to work; I just don't have enough time today to run the game and see if everything is alright.

Please inform me if there is something I missed and I hope that this helps somehow  :)

Mero90

#52
Hi,

that's because msvcp71.dll is part of Visual C++ 2003 libraries, and they are no more installed by default on Windows. You can look at the following thread how to merge files into the SimCity_1.dat (it's for Mac users, but can be applied also for Windows).
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=17341.msg505737#msg505737

You will find the IR fix file in the Mac version.
http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3336

However, InvisiChem is working on a new version of the installer.

Mandarin(a)

Yes, that's exactly what I have done!  ;D I have used SC4DatPacker but if I understood correctly from that thread, there is no real difference.
One thing though: I have noticed that merged SimCity_1.dat is smaller for 10 kB than the original one. Is this a normal thing to happen when merging or is this wrong?
Thank you for quick reply!

InvisiChem

Yes, this is normal. I end up with the same results. I imagine it is because SC4 Dat Packer strips any unnecessary items from exemplar files.
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Flaschensammler

Thank you for your all work! Never tried cam, but decided to give it a shot now. I'm stuck at following problem.

So I tried to install it, got that missing mfc71.dll everytime.
Tried packing it manually, after failing that I uninstalled everything and installed it again, and failed again, again following the upper guide designed for mac which should work for windows, too (I have windows 7). Both times after packing most of the RULs of the original game (which are streets, roads, etc., right?) doubled (and my SimCity_1.dat file did not get smaller). Any ideas how to procede now?

Mero90

Just scroll up on this page  :P I have made a post about the mfc71.dll  ;D

Flaschensammler

#57
exactly. Sorry for being unclear, but it's your instructions -for manual Simcity_1 merging- I followed and although they were very fool proof, I somehow fucked it up :D.
I'll try again later.


EDIT: Well, couldn't fix it, whenever I load the game with a merged file, the vanilla streets, roads, rails, zones, etc. are doubled, the industry wants water and somethings are just weird


EDIT2: Guys, I'm an idiot, after installing the file which should be merged with the original SimCity_1.dat file appeared in my plugin folder and it took me ages to come up with the thought, that the Simcity_1 folder doesn't belong into the plugins, but into the main folder.... Nearly deinstalled the whole game :D

Everything works fine now, I think, can't tell the difference yet, super hyped to try this now

Vee Andronov

#58
hi invisichem today i was uninstall sc4deluxe because i install your cam2.1.0 and test all types like ir fix only cam extended midrise skyscrapers etc but this mod is really very fast developed all skyscraper who i was install in the plugins fold according their dependencies but can u fix only one problem in your cam 2.1 and this is the residential buildings for fix does not appears buildings who i was install in plugings fold but developed only maxis exactly ingame buildings this is [Watch the language and tone. - Tarkus, Admin] i dont like the ingame buildings

InvisiChem

Vee,

I am working on changing the way the in game buildings are used in CAM. The current buldings are the same buildings as CAM 1.0. The TGI (address for the buildings and lots) is the same Maxis TGI. This remains unchanged thus far. The only 3 buildings I added still use the Maxis TGI - Nuclear Power Plant, Solar Power Plant and Medical Clinic.

With that said, lets see what is happening and get you a solution. The CAM and it's buildings are loaded in a folder named a__CAM. This is so any custom content that needs to override aspects of CAM can by being installed into any folder that begins alphabetically after that. If the custom buildings you are using use the same address as the Maxis TGI, please be sure they load after the CAM (i.e. b_Residential building 1, etc.)

The custom CAMeLots and CAMpatibles downloaded here should grow without any issues with the new CAM. They mostly all use a different TGI than the Maxis buildings. They should grow alongside the Maxis buildings perfectly.

It sounds as though you have quite a bit of custom content and do not wish to have the ingame buildings growing. To make this happen, be sure to have plenty of custom content along all stages (lowrise, midrise and highrise) then use BSC Maxis blockers http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=897 to stop the Maxis content. Remember, CAM adds no buildings to the game. It uses the maxis content.

Be warned, if you do not have enough custom content and use the BSC Maxis blockers, your city will fail to grow properly, if at all.

Hopefully this helps.
Everyone has something to offer, most do not possess the courage to offer it.