Organization Of plugin's folder.

[Allstillwell]

Well I've done it I installed a tree controller and for what ever reason SC4 wont start    Cities take 10 minutes to load, If i have a 200k pop city and i click on the water pipe icon It could take hours to load ( ok not really but it seems like it ) Now instead of trying to figure out what's wrong I think it's time to put this beast out of it's misery and reformat this computer. 

So I think what would help me is having an organized plugins folder. Before I would just follow the installer , or just drag and drop it in the plugins folder along with what ever props it needed. Can I have sub folders inside the plugins folder? let's say RES, CO , Landmarks , Parks etc etc? Can I place all props in a sub folder as well?  Basically whats the best way to have the plugins folder set up for maximum performance in game?

Thank you for any help
P.s. My current plugins folder is 3.74 gigs with 6,878 files in 1,613 folders  No wonder my game doesn't work anymore.

[Rady]

Hi allstillwell,

1) I keep my plugins folder organized by plugin type (Residential, Comercial, Props, Textures, ...) (--> Level 1 of my folder) and underneath (level 2) by creator, since otherwise I'm unable to find a certain plugin. So, when a plugin causes problems, or if I want to look wheter I do have installed a certain plugin, I can easy follow this structure.

2) Of course you can store your files in whatever file structure you want. E.g. I have all my props in one (well, 5 right now due to the maximum folder size given by the DATpacker) folder, and I do have an seperate textures folder. However, I try to keep stuff that belongs together in one folder. Like when with a new addon you get a seperate props file for that. As long as this prop file isn't of general use for several plugins, I keep it in the folder where it was "shipped" in.

3) I definitely don't mix up different stuff into one folder, like the SC4DESC and SC4LOT files of different plugins. I always want to know exactly which file does belong to which plugin in case I want to remove a plugin.

4) I constantly try to remove any duplicates or useless files (like read-me's, thumb files, ..) from my plugins folder to keep it as slim as possible.

5) I'm using DocRohrlachs DIC and wouanagin's DATpacker to keep my plugins folder organized and packed. So in case you havent got your plugins DATpacked right know, I would suggest to immediately do so. Difference in loading and "playing" speed is like hell.

Hope I could help a little