Knowing beforehand where CS pieces can be found

[apet08]

Is it possible at all to know, just by viewing the CS files with any program, where a set's pieces can be found in-game (under "items", "fences" etc.), without actually installing the set? I suspect that the answer is no, but I just wanted to be sure, because if it were, it would save me a lot of time and the complete list would be updated much faster.

Thanks in advance

[RCT3robin]

Well.. You can know all my sets will be in walls :haha:.

But seriously,I believe there isn't a way to see that ,no.

[coinich]

My only guess would be that it is in the Style.ovls, as those determine theme, to the extent of my knowledge.

[CedarPointer]

I would assume it would be in the .ovls. Might be wrong though...

[stu-2693]

hmm... i will have to think about this one :p, im sure there is a way, you just have to find it... have you tried opening the ovl's with notepad or whatever? i would have thought the easiest way would be to install a whole load of cs, then open rct3 and just jot down were everything is... i think that is as easy as it is gona get..

[RCT3robin]

I tried opening them with notepad, Then you don't get the info on where its place is in game.

[apet08]

hmm... i will have to think about this one :p, im sure there is a way, you just have to find it... have you tried opening the ovl's with notepad or whatever? i would have thought the easiest way would be to install a whole load of cs, then open rct3 and just jot down were everything is... i think that is as easy as it is gona get..

Unfortunately this is what I am doing, one set at a time (for reasons even I am bored to type down now). It's just that it would be tremendous help if I knew where to look for each set and under what name. That way I would be able to load ten at a time and get done with them in a matter of an hour or an hour and a half, considering that I also have to update CCOr and transfer parts of it to the list. Now it takes me 20 to 30 minutes per set (don't ask).

And yes, I have opened that files with Notepad and, like RCT3robin said, there is no such info visible in there.

[stu-2693]

Unfortunately this is what I am doing, one set at a time (for reasons even I am bored to type down now). It's just that it would be tremendous help if I knew where to look for each set and under what name. That way I would be able to load ten at a time and get done with them in a matter of an hour or an hour and a half, considering that I also have to update CCOr and transfer parts of it to the list. Now it takes me 20 to 30 minutes per set (don't ask).

And yes, I have opened that files with Notepad and, like RCT3robin said, there is no such info visible in there.

wouldnt it be quicker loading in multiple sets at a time? or cant your pc handle it? i would have thought you could laod in about 10 at a time and do them all at once..

maybe belgabor could make you a mini program that gets that information for you...

[apet08]

wouldnt it be quicker loading in multiple sets at a time? or cant your pc handle it? i would have thought you could laod in about 10 at a time and do them all at once..

maybe belgabor could make you a mini program that gets that information for you...

The only way I can be absolutely sure I don't miss anything is by loading one at a time. Let's say that I upload ten sets with a wide variety of objects. Ideally, you could spot what belongs to which one of them by their entries, but this is not the case. One might place a "Walls" entry (with no other qualifications) in the Walls section and another a "mytestwalls" somewhere else. How would I know which belongs to which? Not to mention the fact that, very often unexpectedly, I find a set that places some pieces in the "Facilities" or "Ride entrances" section, for example, with no mention of it in the thread itself. I remember of a set that placed a pole in the "Facilities" section and it actually was a working toilet! Needless to say, that particular entry does not help a bit in order to understand where it comes from. Just check the Excel file of my CCOr and you'll understand what I mean.

It's not a matter of my computer handling it; in fact, after I make a first check that a set is working, I move back to my Style\Themed directory all CS sets (and I mean all), reload the game and then check it out to see what exactly it contains, after, of course, having noted down its entry's name and place in-game. So this is roughly the order: move away all previous CS sets to a safe place, run the game, check the set's name and place and the number of its pieces, quit game, move back everything to Style\Themed, run game again, check every single piece of the new set while updating CCOr, check that none of them freezes the game etc., quit game, make final updates to CCOr and finally write all necessary notes to a doc file to use when updating the list. All in all, approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

If I knew where to look for and under what name, I could load them all together, without having to remove the previous CS sets (it's difficult to find a new set among 600+ other sets in-game, you know), test the pieces and that's it!

[stu-2693]

yeah, sounds like you have an issue there... and probably by the time you have finished a set, there is one released already :p

another option is to ask the owners of the set to make a list, since you can just open up the THM file and read it off usually..

[apet08]

yeah, sounds like you have an issue there... and probably by the time you have finished a set, there is one released already :p

That is so true.

another option is to ask the owners of the set to make a list, since you can just open up the THM file and read it off usually..

My policy is not to bother the creators at all; not to mention the fact that many don't frequent these boards.

[RCT3robin]

The most sets with readme's explain where the sets are located.

[apet08]

The most sets with readme's explain where the sets are located.

Most sets do not have readme files, however, and, sometimes, a creator might give wrong information, because he/she simply forgot. This has happened even with the number of items a set contains. I want to rely on my testing; after all, that's the idea of testing, isn't it?

[LightGrenades]

Wouldn't Errt's scenery switcher help in this respect?

I'm not sure how it exactly works, but doesn't it load all scenery in the correct place then you can move it?

Worth a shot...

[apet08]

Unfortunately not, it changes the theme only. It doesn't say under what name(s) a set's pieces can be found, nor where.

[stu-2693]

maybe errt can edit it so it does :p

[Belgabor]

I'll see what I can do (of course the information can be read from the ovl flies, how else would RCT3 do it? ;)).
apet, what information would you need? Is there anything beyond where it can be found?

Now that I think about it it may be a good idea to put face counts into the list so people can see what resource hogs they use :p

[apet08]

You are my saviour!

I want to know the entries, not the individual pieces: for example, Vodhin's Gizmos updated has three entries ("Vodhin’s Gizmos - Coaster Kit", "Vodhin’s Gizmos - Traffic Lights" and "Vodhin’s Gizmos Rail Road Kit"), all placed in Scenery/Scenery Items. I'd like to have exactly this information: the entries' name and place in-game. Of course, if a set places its pieces individually, like Old-Spice's Trees N' Plants, which places its pieces individually in Scenery/Foliage, I'd like to know all of those pieces' names (which are entries, really). I don't mind if an entry is shown to exist in the .ovl files but for some reasons it doesn't appear in-game (if that is possible), but I want to be sure that, if an entry appears in-game, it is also shown in the .ovl games; but I guess it couldn't be otherwise, could it?

If you make it, you cannot possibly imagine how much faster I will be able to update the list! A very big thank you!

[stu-2693]

see, i told you belgabor could do something :p belgabor is awesome :haha:

[Belgabor]

apet, is there anything else I can do to make your life easier? I could also extract things like size, placement and so on.

stu, that task is similar to what I need to do to examine original ovls to find out new stuff, so it's just putting existing code into a new small utility =)

[apet08]

To stu-2693: I know, but I didn't want to request such a thing, because I generally don't want to ask for things; people might simply not have the time to do it. That's why I didn't send a PM to Belgabor or errt, although I knew they could do such a thing. I was hoping that the Custom Scenery Importer would do such a thing, but, since I'm not familiar with it, I made this thread.

To Belgabor: One other thing that I forgot to mention in my previous post: it would be really helpful if the information given was for each separate entry. For example, Doughnuts neXus set v1.0 by stu-2693 (Doughnuts) has four entries. One of them is named "neXus park entrance billboard" and can be found in "Scenery/Billboards", while the rest of them are all named "neXus set" and can be found in three different places ("Scenery/Foliage", "Scenery/Path Extras" and "Scenery/Scenery Items"). It would be great if the info given was for each one of them separately, rather than a list with the entries' names and another with the place they can be found in-game, without linking a specific entry from the first list to a specific place from the second.

Concerning face counts, that's a daunting task. Even if I knew how to measure that, it would have to be for each individual piece, right? Well, we currently have no less than 633 sets listed, with about 30 more waiting to be added. Each of them has anything from 1 to 370 pieces. Now, you do the math!:bulb:

I've just seen your last post. I can't think of anything else right now. As I said, I will still test each individual piece, to see first of all if it freezes the game, how it functions, whether it conforms to terrain etc. Of course, since this will not be a utility created for me, others might have other ideas. For the list and CCOr, however, this is all I want. Thanks!

[stu-2693]

apet08, if you don't ask, you usually don't get the task done, usually it is worth asking anyway, if they do not have the time or any other reason you can still accept that but if they do then they can do it for you :p or help you anyway

why did you have to use my set as a example lol? are you hinting at something :haha:

[apet08]

why did you have to use my set as a example lol? are you hinting at something :haha:

It was just the first to catch my eye :p

[stu-2693]

yea sure it was :haha:

[Adnecles]

Apet08 if it helps my castle defense walls thread has all the poly counts for each piece. I also think both of my sets appear in scenery/walls.

[stu-2693]

lol, if he gets the program he will know exactly, just incase :haha:

[apet08]

Your set, Adnecles, is already listed, so it is already known (and noted in the complete list) where to find it in-game.

But as I said, I think a list of poly counts would be a very difficult task, not to mention the practical aspect of it: how would you list all pieces from a set, so that you also give info on their poly count? At each set's entry? What if such pieces do not have a name in-game? A lot of them don't. Even some entries don't, as those who've got my CCOr will have noticed.

And, most importantly: who has the time and is willing to do it?

[stu-2693]

well surely if belgabor puts it in this "program" then all you have to do is copy the output to wherever you need it, just put in a column next to the piece or something

[Belgabor]

Well, it doesn't need to go into a list, whenever I get to that program, I'll make it available (and somewhat useful) for everyone =)