Problem with Sawtooth's Region Census

[TheOtherRick]

I have installed Sawtooth's Region Census tool and the program only recognizes the default Maxis regions. None of my regions populate in the list. Any help available?

Thanks,

Rick

[cogeo]

Because in MY installation Region Census recognizes all regions, as it does with the Maxis regions in YOUR installation), there must be some problem with your regions. For example, do your region folders contain any more files than the usual ones (cities, region.ini and config.bmp)? So compare your region's folder with the Maxis ones and try to find differences, if any.

[TheOtherRick]

Because in MY installation Region Census recognizes all regions, as it does with the Maxis regions in YOUR installation), there must be some problem with your regions. For example, do your region folders contain any more files than the usual ones (cities, region.ini and config.bmp)? So compare your region's folder with the Maxis ones and try to find differences, if any.

No differences at all. All folders hold identical contents...config.bmp, region.ini, and cities. Nothing more...nothing less.

[cogeo]

Don't know then. I would also suspect the region.ini and config.bmp files. Are they of the same format as the Maxis ones, eg text format, color depth, compression etc? RC may not be recognizing tbese ones, although they may be perfectly valid, and SC4 (and other tools) have no trouble reading them. Another problem might be access rights, esp if they were copied from another computer, or created by a different user. Could you send me the region.ini and config.bmp of such a region to take a look? My email is cogeos(at)yahoo(dot)com (replace (at) and (dot) with their appropriate symbols).

[TheOtherRick]

Thanks cogeos. I have sent the e-mail. This condition does not affect only regions that I have used a modified .bmp file. Even regions that I started with that jumbled mass that Maxis makes when you start one do not show up in Region Census program.

[cogeo]

I have checked the region.ini file (and looks very much OK to me) and the config.bmp (it's the same format as the ones in the Maxis regions, ie 24-bit RGB/uncompressed). So this is indeed weird.

What I supsect now is the existence of system/hidden files in your folders (eg thumbs.db and/or desktop.ini). You can change your system settings so that you can see (and delete) them. OR, try this:
- Open your Windows Explorer, go to the Regions folder, and in the menu select View->Details. Also right-click on the Regions folder and select Properties, then go to the "Customize" tab and change the folder type to "Documents (for any file type)", if it isn't already - also check "Also apply this template to subfolders", and click Apply or OK.
- If your region's is named, for example, Ashley, rename it (eg AshleyOLD).
- Create a new subfolder under "Regions" and name it Ashley. Without entering it, right-click on it and check if its type is "Documents (for any file type)" as well. If not, change it.
- Now get into the folder and select again View->Details.
- Go to AshleyOLD and copy (move) all its files (except thumbs.db and desktop.ini - if you can see them) under Ashley.
- Finally delete folder AshleyOLD.

So now we have moved your files under a new folder (with the same name), which hopefully does not contain such system/hidden files. Look out, if you change View to Thumbnails or Filmstrip they wil be created again!

[TheOtherRick]

I keep my settings set to "Show Hidden Files" for all folders on my machine, so I know for a fact that there are no hidden files. This is mind boggling...