Doublle Files???

[OhioHawk]

Hello,

You here are the best at knowing whats what with the game, (as opposed to others) but wont get into that here.  anyways,  for some really strange reason.  I seem to have doubles in the game.  I dont know how, or why.  because before i install anything in the game, I made sure that I dont install it again, by a list I made before installing things from the beginning. 

So the question is, how is that possible?  is there a way to delete them without having to do line by line? and last is there a program to do so??

Thanks in Advance
Ray

PS: forgot to mention, these are not major lots per say,  like off the wall stuff I got from simtropolis.  just off the wall lots. 

[jmyers2043]

Hey Ray

... So the question is, how is that possible? ...

I suppose it depends on what you have double. Example is that I was working on some timber farm lots and had double instances of Jeroni trees in my Mayor mode flora menu during the short time when they got loaded twice when testing.

What exactly is doubling up on you? Do you have a tall stage 8 from Simtropolis also growing as a stage 15 when using the CAM? Do you have growable industries that also show up in your landmark menu?

- Jim

[OhioHawk]

Thanks for the reply..

mostly I am seeing double lots in the rec menu (where the playgrounds are, and such)  and industry menu (the one above rewards menu).  I do have CAM installed, I do not have the DAMN menu installed. cause for some reason either I dont understand it, or its not working properly.  just comes up in the notification menu with a set of links (ie, A, B, C and so on)  weird.   I do not seem to have doubles in the reward menu,  through I dont seem to think so. 

I dont know how this got this way.  I was sick of not seening all my lots and such when I had SimPeg stuff installed, and it kept crashing the game itself.   when i stopped using SimPeg stuff the game became more stable (in Win 7 64x) didnt crash when i used the mouse to widen out to a larger view.  now it seems to also be starting again on me. 

just a fyi - I have under 1600 things in my plug-in folder. 

how might I be able to find out if I have a ""tall stage 8"" where might I be able to look? 



****  I just went in game,  and found some of those lots to be 1 with things like a parking lots on them, and the other without a parking lot.  seems sort of weird to make 2 of them with different bases.   but I have also seen in game, where the MML menu things are not working correctly.  the objects are in the menu, but greyed out.  If I remember correctly they should not show up unless the 1 plop piece is placed, to open up the files. 

there is also another thing.  the Mayor Mode / Game Mode plop-ables I only have 3 things in there, cows and other things.  seems all the trees and such are in the regular menus.  is there a problem solver for that too??

[DAB_City]

Yeah, I've had this problem with the Subway icon in Misc. Transport, ever since I first installed the NAM. I've used Versions 29 and 30, and I've experienced the same problem, even with only the core NAM installed. 

[jmyers2043]

... mostly I am seeing double lots in the rec menu (where the playgrounds are, and such)  and industry menu (the one above rewards menu)... 

Well, that is the Landmark menu, not the industry menu. I snipped the above remark from your reply because that is the clue that the problem you're having are the miscellaneous items cluttering up your parks and landmarks menus.

The reason? Some creator/authors make two lots. One that grows and the other that is plopped. These cosmetic versions of the growable lot have to be put somewhere. The landmark and parks menu are as good a spot as any.

I am not a plopper and usually delete the plop lots. Here is an example of the Fredericton Federal Building by Spa. You'll see the model file and the DESC file. Two lot files. One is the growable one and the other? Delete the plop lot and your/my landmark menu is the happier for it.

... now it seems to also be starting again on me.... just a fyi - I have under 1600 things in my plug-in folder.... 

... there is also another thing.  the Mayor Mode / Game Mode plop-ables I only have 3 things in there, cows and other things....   seems all the trees and such are in the regular menus.  is there a problem solver for that too??

So you 1600 files in your plugins. Good! I suggest that you download and learn to use the dat packer. It will take those 1600 files and compress them into one file. The game will have one large file to load and access. Your hard drive will do less work and that may help your crash issue. Then again, maybe not. If I were in your shoes I'd do a word search for "windows 7" or similar here or at other Simcity sites and do some reading. I have Windows XP and my game is fairly fastand doesn't crash so I'll not be much help.

Not sure what you mean by "other things" I think the Jestarr Cows appear in the water menu but don't quote me on that as I'd have to fire up the game to be certain. Nevertheless, cows are cosmetic plops to the game and have to go somewhere - so - hmmm - let's put them in a 'not so used' menu like water utilities. There are other cows and farm animals and other creator/authors may put them in different places. The answer is 'yes' they can be moved somewhere else but that requires some knowledge of iLives Reader on your part.

Good Luck

- Jim

[Lowkee33]

As Jim says, DatPacker is a good idea.  Double icons can happen when you have two of the same thing in your plugin folder.  DatPacker will remove such conflicts.

I believe those would be Chris Adam's cows in the water menu, Jessttar's are mayor-mode flora.

Tree Lots that are in your park menu take advantage of Seasonal Props.  Before seasonal flora, this was the only way to make a forest that had seasons.   

[z]

Yeah, I've had this problem with the Subway icon in Misc. Transport, ever since I first installed the NAM. I've used Versions 29 and 30, and I've experienced the same problem, even with only the core NAM installed. 

You can fix this by removing any files with a ".sav" extension from your main NAM folder.

[DAB_City]

Cheers, I'll give it a go 

[mrbisonm]

I would like to add my two cents here as an eight year *specialist* of SC4 Plugins folder.
1600 files you have....hmmmm....that is still considered a small folder.

You see, I hads a lot of problems with my plugins in the earlier years and I found the perfect solution for my gameplay and also computer. 1600 files is indeed small, when you consider that I have a 14 Gb's folder, holding more than 55,000 files. Yes, fifty-five thousand.

And I do not use the DAT Packer for the general of my files, because I change a lot the lots and props that I use with time. If you use the DAT Packer, that's it, you will always have to use the same lots, unless you go through the trouble of re-uploading every individual file again, choose the ones you like this time and re-datpack it (or go through the dat file and delete them individually, leaving bits and pieces behind because you cannot find all what's attached).....oh my oh my.....Just try it once, like I did and never again, what a mess.....lol...believe me.

The Datpacker is an exellent tool which I only use restrictively for some specific files (such as proppacks and textures etc), which I am sure to keep for a long time and it is perfect for those more "stable" players that uses the same lots all the time.

All my files are in subfolders that I created, some by style, others by date (those which I am testing before putting them on the "keeplist") That way I have total control of what is in my plugins. It takes me seconds to find a certain lot and its files and delete or modify them, without spending hours searching for the darn things.

I recommend to do that also, because with only 1600 files your computer is still loading those files easily and the DAT Packer is not really necessary yet.

If you would like to see the way I am organizing my files in subfolders in more details, let me know and I  will make a small tutorial on how to avoid doubles and slowing your game with too many files.

BTW, all my mod files are in the C/Programfiles/Maxis/SC4/Plugins folder, they load faster and are easily picked out and found. That I started when I started using Peg files, which can become a real pain in the *** sometimes, because his files do not always go along with other files, mostly the BSC mods.

Good luck

Fred

[mattb325]

I find a very easy method for using DAT-packer: below is what works for me.


1) Have a folder with ALL of the un-packed files in it. I call this folder 'back-up plugins'
2) These files are the ones that will be DAT-packed for game play. As I add files through download or creation, I copy these to the 'backup plugins' file as well.
3) When I make a new dat-packed plugins file, I transfer the old dat packed files to off-site storage so that I always have a real back-up in case any thing actually happens to my computer.

Obviously you will need a bit of HD space as you effectively have two plugins folders on your computer.

This allows me to make changes very easily to old lots (as I just load them up from the back-up plugins) as well as the added benefits of having a DAT packed plugins folder and fully backed up SC4 custom content

[SC4BOY]

You can avoid all that by simply using the plugins folder for all game additions (and deletions or other modifications including things like reconfiguring NAM or simulators or slope mods, etc.. Instead of moving all that around or fooling with moving after each install (since most installers unpack to that folder) I simply do my datpacking and "packed" SC4 runs from an alternate folder. This is done by using code similar to this in your SC4 shortcut "target" window: (sorry.. the code window is too big, but I see no way to shorten it.. you should get the idea anyway)

Code Select Expand

"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -userdir:"C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins PAK\" -intro:off -w CPUCount:2 -customresolution:enabled -r1280x768

The important element is the relocation of the execution folder -userdir to "..SimCity 4\Plugins PAK" which is where I datpack to .. the datpack window "destination folder" must be changed to this folder so the packed file will be properly placed. The only "special" thing you must do is be sure the "root files" for the datpacker (normally referred to as "essentials" by many teams) must be manually maintained. They rarely change so this isn't much of an issue.

I also have on my desktop a "standard" SC4 shortcut to the normal "plugins" folder should I wish to run the game without any datpacking.. this is useful to check for any errors you may have made using datpacker.

I re-run datpacker each time I make changes. I don't pack my install Maxis plugins folder (though one could). It would have to be done manually as well.