The Prop Pox!

[psander5]

I too have a case of Prop Pox.

What makes this especially bad for me is that I have proven myself to be a "first prize at the village fair" idiot, by not having a backup of the city tile. In fact, it crossed my mind only yesterday that I should make a backup, but I put it off for another day... only today I opened the city and got this...









This city is my most cherished, and was intended to be the focus of my CJ that's been under development for the last year

I've never encountered the Pox before, but I don't think i've ever developed a city that has quite this many props... at least since I downloaded the BDK file which I believe is the only currently known trigger.  I actually have another city in this region that is right on the file size threshold at 16753008bytes, although I haven't run that city in a number of months - possibly before I downloaded the BDK.

I used the excellent SC4 Save tool to diagnose my case:



It confuses me that my file size size is less than the 6MBy threshold, but I guess it's not below by a great deal so it could fit into a 'margin of error'.

I've read the technical "What causes prop pox" topic, but I'll admit that most of it goes over my head.  I think I understand the basics, and I am encouraged to see that there might be a fix somewhere on the horizon. 

I'd like to contribute to the research if I can, but be advised that I'm not a technical player... my plugins folder is a complete mess for example... so I don't really get much of the complicated file stuff, though I am familiar with some basic modding terms.

I await further instructions Or a magic antidote 

PS. I applaud all the effort that's gone into this so far.  It shows dedication beyond my own patience!

[RippleJet]

It confuses me that my file size size is less than the 6MBy threshold, but I guess it's not below by a great deal so it could fit into a 'margin of error'.

You're actually way below that threshold, which is 16 MB on the prop subfile alone.
It's the first time I've heard of a prop subfile this small getting the prop pox.

I'd like to contribute to the research if I can, but be advised that I'm not a technical player... my plugins folder is a complete mess for example... so I don't really get much of the complicated file stuff, though I am familiar with some basic modding terms.

I'm trying to stay away from here and enjoying my vacation in the sun for the next 10 days or so...
However, if you'd want to upload the Hamilton SC4 file somewhere, maybe someone else would want to take a look.
Otherwise, I'd like to take a look at it after my vacation.

[psander5]

You're actually way below that threshold, which is 16 MB on the prop subfile alone.
It's the first time I've heard of a prop subfile this small getting the prop pox.

Really? Oh, I thought 6MBy was the flipping point, where it jumped to 16MBy.  But you're the expert!

Enjoy your holiday!  Don't spend any of it tending to this

Here's the city save file

[dragonshardz]

I've discovered good way to help prevent Prop Pox: Have a lot of open, unused space or lots that are just textures. This isn't easy to do on mostly flat maps, but on mountainous maps or maps with lots of water, like the Invermere Valley map, it is very easy to do.

[cowcorn]

Now that I think of it I still have a backup copy of my old pluggin folder from 2007. I kept it on my external hard drive while I rebuilt my pluggins. If someone would be able to analyse it there might be some informations to gather. However since it's quite a gigantic folder I don't really know how we could process. I'm thinking of solutions to that if someone is interested to do the autopsy...

[RippleJet]

Here's the city save file

Thanks, psander5!

I cannot say which prop(s) has/have caused the prop file to become poxed.
However, you have clearly had the BDK in your plugins while playing.

E.g., in this city there are some 125 umbrella props, all of which are timed,
and set to appear between 09:00 and 18:00, just like they were set in the BDK.

Your prop subfile isn't that small though (6 MB as you mentioned)...
The prop subfile is compressed and 5.4 MB is its compressed size.

However, its uncompressed size is 14,633,493 bytes,
which I definitely should have seen from your posted image...

This tells us that some lots have recently been deleted,
and that the size has dropped back under 16 MB due to that.

We've had several indications now that it's actually the deletion of any of these timed props that causes the pox.
Notably if this happens when the size of the prop subfile is just above the 16 MB size and drops down below it again.

The reason for these props to become deleted can be manual bulldozing of lots containing them,
but also the process of lots upgrading (and lower stage lots thus being deleted).

Now that I think of it I still have a backup copy of my old pluggin folder from 2007. I kept it on my external hard drive while I rebuilt my pluggins. If someone would be able to analyse it there might be some informations to gather. However since it's quite a gigantic folder I don't really know how we could process. I'm thinking of solutions to that if someone is interested to do the autopsy...

Since we are primatily looking for DAT files (prop packs and such), could you do the following:

Open the DOS Command Line (or Command Prompt), found under Accessories.
Change the directory to your backup folder (with the CD command).
Enter the following command:

DIR *.DAT /B /S >LIST.TXT

That will create a LIST.TXT file, listing all your DAT files in that folder and all its subfolders.
Send me that file in an e-mail or upload it somewhere and I'll take a look and distribute it further for autopsy...

[BruceAtkinson]

Greetings everyone:
    I should of thought of this before, here's the deal....I still have my original city in which Proppox appeared way back when.  Now, with all the research that has been done, it may be conducive for someone to look at Wesley and see if anything else appears within its structure.
  So, if anyone is interested, just let me know where and how to download Wesley, one of the original cities plagued with the pox!
Bruce

[sedator]

I got this as well, is there a fix?

I did several things in order to track this down.
1. Complete re-install added all updates installed cam and nam only zoned out a few lots had missing overlay textures ie no driveways, trees and such on maxis lots.
2. Complete re-install added all updates installed cam only zoned out a few lots had missing overlay textures ie no driveways, trees and such on maxis lots.
3. Complete re-install added all updates installed nam only zoned out a few lots had missing overlay textures ie no driveways, trees and such on maxis lots.
4. Complete re-install added all updates installed no custom content zoned out a few lots had missing overlay textures ie no driveways, trees and such on maxis lots.
5. Complete re-install added no updates - everything is fine.

[RippleJet]

I got this as well, is there a fix?

To the prop pox... no...

a few lots had missing overlay textures ie no driveways, trees and such on maxis lots.

The prop pox would never lead to missing overlay texture...
Thus, I wonder if there's something else that's wrong, e.g. an error in one of the SimCity_x.dat files.
Such an error should have been corrected after each complete re-install though...

Where did you download the updates, and are you sure you installed the correct SKU update?

[FrankU]

I found proppox in one of my recent cities.
Never had the BDK file in the plugins list though. So thater is definitely something else going on.
Are you still interested in scrutinizing the files? I have several backups of the ciy and region. And of course I could make a list of installed plugins.

[RippleJet]

Are you still interested in scrutinizing the files?

Yes. Would you have backups of the city both (shortly) before and (shortly) after the prop pox has appeared?

[FrankU]

I make backups of the region every 0,5 million inhabitants. This could mean that I have a backup of the city with somewehere around 200.000 sims and about 400.000 sims. I am not sure. I'll check what I have exactly when I am at home again.
Anyhow: the city will not be much larger than 400.00 sims.

[sedator]

I downloaded the updates here and at the maxis site, tried both versions with the same result. What I was seeing when I ran the game with the update cam and nam as the only additional plug-ins was; Lots would develop, commercial units would appear on grass or a concrete slab...no props or parking lot textures, residential units would develop on grass only, no driveways, cars, trees, fences nothing just a house in the middle of a grassy lot. Before I nuked everything I saw it affect all the maxis lots in my cities. I also saw it appear on the older BLS housing lots, never seen it affect simgoober or mike325 lots though.

Yesterday I put all my plug-ins back in and the issue I had returned so it is definitely coming from one of my plug-ins. My game was fine until I added the plug-in folder. I will take some pics and post them here.

[FrankU]

Hi RippleJet,

I prepared a set of files for you. The whole bunch is about 20MB, how could I send them to you?

[RippleJet]

I prepared a set of files for you. The whole bunch is about 20MB, how could I send them to you?

Upload them on a file hosting service, e.g. www.fileden.com

[bap]

I downloaded the updates here and at the maxis site, tried both versions with the same result. What I was seeing when I ran the game with the update cam and nam as the only additional plug-ins was; Lots would develop, commercial units would appear on grass or a concrete slab...no props or parking lot textures, residential units would develop on grass only, no driveways, cars, trees, fences nothing just a house in the middle of a grassy lot. Before I nuked everything I saw it affect all the maxis lots in my cities. I also saw it appear on the older BLS housing lots, never seen it affect simgoober or mike325 lots though.

sedator, if it was not for this very last sentence, I would say that your problem might be a graphical resolution option set to low. When you install one of Maxis updates (EP1 and/or SKU) it usually switches the game graphical resolution back to low. Lots appear without cars, fences, and most cosmetical props because this makes the rendering faster. This is easy to check. You just need to look at the game graphical options to see if your resolution is set to low. If you do a full reinstall without any updates, you may have the initial graphical resolution set to high, and you will see the grown and plopped lots with all their details (i.e., props). This may explain why you solve the problem when you just do a full reinstall without no further updates. It is worth checking if this is indeed the case before considering yourself another victim of Prop Pox.

[FrankU]

RippleJet,

This should be the url to my file.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/9/3/2959800/FrankUProppox.zip

I hope it is of any use.

FrankU

[RippleJet]

Thanks, Frank! I'll download it at home tonight.

[RippleJet]

Frank, I cannot access that file... your link only takes me to FileDen's homepage...
I wonder if you've set that file to be private only?

[RippleJet]

sedator, if it was not for this very last sentence, I would say that your problem might be a graphical resolution option set to low.

Also had it not been for him saying he was loosing textures as well... no graphic setting would remove them as well...
Sedator sent me two PNGs, which I converted to JPG and uploaded on Photobucket.
I'll let him explain at what stages these images were taken...

March 11:


May 6:



PS, sedator!
Read this for more information on how to upload and show images here on SC4Devotion.
You might also want to read this for information about converting PNG images to JPG.