Modding Maxis Seaport

[docj101]

Ok first of all please don't just tell me to download someone elses seaport, etc. I am having too much fun with the process of learning to do things myself.

I realize the limitations on the maxis seaport, such as it not providing cap relief, not having visual cargo on the ships leaving port, ships not pulling up next to the cranes, no direct rail access, etc.

Step1: I intend to try and raise the capacity of the maxis seaport to a reasonable number and then Step2: add properties to it that will also provide industrial cap relief.

I have successfully made several of my own plugins (.dat files) that modifies other things in the game such as the mass transit station capacities and TSECs. So I am familiar with the process of opening the simcity_1.dat > selecting navigator view > modifying values > clicking "add to patch" in the tree on the left > and creating .dat with patch manager.

What I want to do (for my own amusement and the fun of modding) is change the capacity of the default maxis seaport from 650 to any number I choose. I have been in reader (v1.4) for the longest time and I cannot find the value that dictates "capacity 650".

Seaport itself does not show up in "transpot>lots" however there is 3 entries under "transport>buildings" (seaportwarehouse1, seaportwarehouse2, seaportoffice). Each of these 3 entries have a value for "freight receiving capacity" (values 1000, 2000, 3000 respectably). Although none of these numbers was 650 I went ahead and tried modifying them to see what happens to a new seaport I build in game. So upon doubling the number for all 3 entries I tried building a new seaport in game and checking its "capacity" and it still says 650. So apparently those numbers being changed didn't do anything.

Upon some further digging through reader i found that the seaport(s) have entries as "park>lots" but not as "park>buildings". In the park>lots tree the seaports are listed as "SeaportP1", "SeaportP2", "SeaportP3". (side note: I know that seaports were supposed to be upgradable originally but maxis tossed that idea out and stuck with one port, so I assme that P1, P2, and P3 refer to the development phases that were intended.)

Anyway.... each one of the above mentioned seaport related buildings in "transport>buildings" is designated to its own lot in the "park>lots" menu (i.e. "seaportwarehouse1" is the building exemplar for "SeaportP1" etc.). This confuses me in a number of ways, but mainly not finding the number 650 anywhere is my main headache.

I am sorry if the above info seems irrelevant or confusing but I thought I should give some idea of how much I have looked into this and my familiarity of reader.

So back to my original question now about Step1. Can anyone tell me how to change the capacity number from 650 for my maxis seaport? If nobody knows the answer to this but enjoys a challenge you should go see if you can do this youself and then let me know how you did it ^^.

Thank you for your time reading this and if this answer was somewhere else I appologize for creating a new thread, but I couldn't find the answer anywhere.

-Doc

P.S. I also posted this over at simtropolis.com but wasn't getting any replies.  Sorry if you had to read this twice since I know alot of people visit both sites regularly.

[docj101]

Ok, so took me about another 3 hours of exploration in reader but I found the answer to my own question.


------The answer for increasing the capacity of the maxis seaport is:

1. Go into reader and open simcity_1.dat and bring up navigator view.

2. In the left side directory tree navigate to "General" > "Developer" > "Seaport"

3. Now in the right side values window double-click "Trip Capacity List" to open the property for editing.

4. In the editor window change the values to "Display as" "Int (integer)".

5. Now you see the capacities for all 3 phases that were intended to be in the game 650, 900, 1200.

6. In the "values as text" window at the bottom of that window change the 650 to any number you want.

7. Click "set" then "apply".  The property window will close at this point.

8. Now back on the left side directory tree right-click "seaport" and click "add to patch".

9. Open the patch manager at this point on the main UI of reader under "tools" > "other".

10. In this window you will see "seaport" as the only entry.  Click "Create DAT" and name it anything.

11. Navigate to where you saved the .dat file and drag it into your \Plugins folder.

12. Next time you enter the game you will see your new capacity at all maxis seaports, without rebuilding.


I hope this helps someone who has wished to do something similar to the maxis seaport.  I realize I made this explaination rather long, however I wanted it to be easily understood by even the most novice of modder.

Now I am going to undertake the headache of figuring out how to make the maxis seaport also provide industry cap relief.  If anyone could help me do that before I figure it out please post here and let me know.

-Doc

[Lowkee33]

Welcome Docj101

Nice work with the seaport.  At this point, I would recommend you look at BSC functional seaports.  This mod not only fixes the industry cap relief, but also gets the Maxis seaport to auto-upgrade (hence the other two numbers where you modded the first).

Many, many custom seaports have been made.  There are also  "blank" functioning seaports for you to lot as you wish.

[docj101]

Welcome Docj101

Nice work with the seaport.  At this point, I would recommend you look at BSC functional seaports.  This mod not only fixes the industry cap relief, but also gets the Maxis seaport to auto-upgrade (hence the other two numbers where you modded the first).

Many, many custom seaports have been made.  There are also  "blank" functioning seaports for you to lot as you wish.

Thanks for the reply. 

I realize that there is many ports for DL, however at this point in time I am trying to keep my SC4 plugins folder as "lite" as possible.  Also, I think I am having more fun messing with values and such then actually developing my region.

I actually downloaded the "BSC Functional Seaports" prior to exploring how to fix up the Maxis one, but didn't install because of the dependency list.  I may in the future go ahead and install that package for the sake of eye candy but for right now I'm having fun tweaking things on my own and then observing the functional changes in game. 

I should be able to make the Maxis port function (but not look) just as well as any other downloadable port with a simple 2KB .dat.  Right now I am really only concerned with functionality.

I didn't realize that there are "blank" functioning seaports however.  In the future these may be up my alley because I can limit the ammount of dependencies by using maxis props on them (sorry to all of you who work so very hard creating prop packs etc.).  I appreciate the heads up on that.


At the moment I am thinking about "Demand Satisfied"-(0x27812841) and considering if that is how I will provide cap relief to my maxis seaport.  I am not very fond of this option because it will add a fixed amount of relief. 

I am going to experiment to see if I can steal a value from the "Demand Simulator" (which doesn't seem to work for the simulator); "Demand: Industrial Cap Relief for Seaports"-(0x4A1F38CA).  If I can make this value work for my seaport it will provide relief (ammount of my choice) per industrial trip (freight truck) arriving at the dock.

I'll come back and post my findings and my ultimate solution once I have this all figured out.

-Doc

[Lowkee33]

I was going to mention the Dependencies in my first post, but decided to keep the fact that I can read minds a secret 

You don't need any of them.  All you need is BSC FunctionalSeaports 3.1 and the Automatic Upgrade Dat.  I believe they install to the Lex_Downloads folder, so if you want them, they are there.  This is also where you will find the Blank Enablers.

Also, I think I am having more fun messing with values and such then actually developing my region.

  I can recommend a few good therapists for you    I've been working on a terrain mod.  You know its bad when you can't even play other games because you're looking at the textures they used.
 

[docj101]

In other threads several people have stated that the maxis port doesn't provide cap relief at all and that it is bugged.  I have now found this to be false.  I will prove this below.

Ok well I have done some testing of the cap relief provided by the maxis seaport without me having changed any values related to cap relief.  I allowed a test city to develop until it hit 100% CAP for the ID sector.  This city does not have any connections to neighbors or to the seaport in this 1st image.   However the seaport is in place, just not connected.



Notice that the CAP is 100% and the ID jobs have maxed out at ~14,000.


Now in this second image all i have done is connect the seaport, I simulated about a year, and the result is clear.  It allowed the industrial sector to grow by about 2700 jobs before reaching the 100% cap again.



Notice that the CAP is 100% again and the ID jobs are now maxed out at ~17,000.  This is interesting because the seaport building that is associated with this is the SeaportOffice which as I stated above in my initial post has a default freight receiving capacity of 3000.

This leads me to think that if I now go into the reader and mod that value for "freight receiving capacity" on the office that I might be able to provide even more relief.  Those results will be in my next post.

[docj101]

Just an update on my attempt at making seaports relieve cap:

I spent a whole day trying different things (too many to list).  The way to get the seaport to continue to provide more relief then the ~3000 i pictured above is still out of my grasp.  I mean I have indeed added the property of "demand satisified" and got that to work successfully.  However I am in search of a way for it to work as intened, that is relief per freight trip just as it works with rails leaving the borders.

I have also for sake of testing connected that rail to the border and watched my demand skyrocket and cap drop to 60% and pretty much stay there.  Maybe what I'm trying to do is impossible but i'll continue to work on it and if I ever figure it out I'll be sure to let you know how.

Ideas are welcome, just don't be a smart-ass and tell me to give up lol.

If I decide to give up I will also let you know here... for now consider a work in progress.

-Doc