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SimCity 4 General Discussion and Tutorials => SimCity 4 General Discussion => General Custom Content Discussion => Topic started by: nas-t on July 25, 2012, 11:42:07 PM

Title: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: nas-t on July 25, 2012, 11:42:07 PM
Without changing anything my terrain controller changed (i think) the water level making my beaches look like that:

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg266.imageshack.us%2Fimg266%2F7083%2Funbenannt1de.jpg&hash=77f0882e3aafc3a6bb1609dee941aa4425c261a1)

instead of this:

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg560.imageshack.us%2Fimg560%2F2561%2Fvale1q.jpg&hash=f239453ec18198bf2f1670e3de96d39dd188a0f6)


what happend? how can i get my original settings back? i downloaded the terrain mod again and replace the terrain controller but nothing happens.  :'(
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: Tarkus on July 25, 2012, 11:55:20 PM
That looks like you installed a new water or beach mod of some sort.

-Alex
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: vortext on July 26, 2012, 12:37:15 AM
Ah the so-called diagonal edges, love 'em  $%Grinno$%

There could be a number of causes, did you pehaps;
1) reworked the slope of the beach
2) installed a slope mod
3) installed a 'diagonal egdes' mod, like the one from Ennedi
4) added a plugin which accidently contains a terrain controller (I remember Gizmodo's underwater flora has this problem)
5) removed or added any other plugins
6) or even just rearranged the loading order

In any case, something has changed which caused the beach to wrinkle like this and it doesn't necessarily have to be the terrain controller.
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 01:06:44 AM
Quote from: Tarkus
That looks like you installed a new water or beach mod of some sort.
I'm 100% sure i did not.

Quote from: vortext
1) reworked the slope of the beach
2) installed a slope mod
3) installed a 'diagonal egdes' mod, like the one from Ennedi
4) added a plugin which accidently contains a terrain controller (I remember Gizmodo's underwater flora has this problem)
5) removed or added any plugins from the plugins folder
6) or even just rearranged the loading order

1) i did not touch this city at all.
2) i deleted the one im using to use the diagonal bridge mod. restored everything. did not noticed any changes.
3) nope
4/5) i installed some plugins like tsc tgv, german pylon set v1 & Dutch Electric Pylon Set - 220KV. i deleted them from my plugins folder to check if they effect this but nothing changed.
6) beside those recently installed plugins i did not change anything.

i did change the map, creating a new island using photoshop & terraformer - this is when i noticed the change - i did this before without any changes in pre-existing cities.  &mmm
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: vortext on July 26, 2012, 01:16:17 AM
Quote from: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 01:06:44 AM
i did change the map, creating a new island using photoshop & terraformer - this is when i noticed the change - i did this before without any changes in pre-existing cities.  &mmm

Slighty confused here; did you add an island in this city tile, or into the region? The latter shouldn't do any harm indeed. The former, well, yes, that would change the entire seabed in the city, hence change the beaches as well. 
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 01:27:18 AM
sorry about the confusion here - of cause i did add an island to the region. ;) as you said, this shouldn't do any harm. its just when i noticed the change.

if i get you right, there is no way to find out what does this change besides trying out, right?
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: vortext on July 26, 2012, 01:35:50 AM
Quote from: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 01:27:18 AM
if i get you right, there is no way to find out what does this change besides trying out, right?

That's what I usually do when unexpected problems arise, yes, just make sure to back-up beforehand.

Hope you've also made a back-up before adding the island though. Since that's the only mayor change you've made, I've got this sneaky suspicion it might have something to do with it after all.
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 02:30:15 AM
Quote from: vortext on July 26, 2012, 01:35:50 AM
Hope you've also made a backup before adding the island though. Since that's the only mayor change you've made, I've got this sneaky suspicion it might have something to do with it after all.
of cause i did! they are about a month old, I'm sure everything was fine then. I tried out using the backups in any possible combination - nothing happend.  :angrymore:
btw: don't know if it's diagonal edges too but my cliff texture have been replaced by gras.
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: vortext on July 26, 2012, 11:17:44 AM
Quote from: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 02:30:15 AM
Quote from: vortext on July 26, 2012, 01:35:50 AM
Hope you've also made a backup before adding the island though. Since that's the only mayor change you've made, I've got this sneaky suspicion it might have something to do with it after all.
of cause i did!

Just asking, some people* don't appreciate back-ups untill it's too late.  ;)

Quote from: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 02:30:15 AM
btw: don't know if it's diagonal edges too but my cliff texture have been replaced by gras.

That's certainly related; both those nasty edges & cliff textures are controlled by the 'MaxNormalYForCliff' property in the terrain controller. It seems something has caused it to 'snap' and once that has happened it's often hard to revert back other than with delicate terraforming. Maybe it was the Diagonal Bridge Enabler. Though you say you didn't notice any changes, it does removes all the water which has an effect on cliffs and slopes as well. You could try to play around with MaxNormalYForCliff. I'm not sure wether to lower or raise the value though since it has been a while I played around with a terrain controller.

*my former self included  :P
Title: Re: sudden change of waterlevel (?)
Post by: nas-t on July 26, 2012, 12:27:31 PM
Quote from: vortext on July 26, 2012, 11:17:44 AM
Just asking, some people* don't appreciate back-ups untill it's too late.  ;)

to be hornest i didn't... fortunately windows did  :D

Quote from: vortext on July 26, 2012, 11:17:44 AM
That's certainly related; both those nasty edges & cliff textures are controlled by the 'MaxNormalYForCliff' property in the terrain controller. 
good to know!

Quote from: vortext on July 26, 2012, 11:17:44 AM
Maybe it was the Diagonal Bridge Enabler. Though you say you didn't notice any changes.
the DBE worked just right but didn't effect the diagonal edges or i didn't noticed it does.

Quote from: vortext on July 26, 2012, 11:17:44 AM
You could try to play around with MaxNormalYForCliff. I'm not sure wether to lower or raise the value though since it has been a while I played around with a terrain controller.
good hint again! is there anything you don't know about the game?!  $%Grinno$% I'm still going through my plugin folder testing plugin after plugin.... haven't found the source of my problem yet. but anyway, thank you again!