[Utility] SCS Minimapper

[Pecunia]

It's not quite a mod but I thought it would fit in here...

SCS minimapper is a small program that can extract minimaps from SimCity Societies saved games, the same as you see in the game when you load a saved game.

SCS saved games consist of three files: a .scs file and two .tga files. The two .tga combined contain the minimap for the saved game. If the tga files are available, the program combines them into a minimap image. If they’re not available, the minimapper does its best to create the minimap from the .scs file itself, but the resulting image will be of lesser quality: height variations will not show up, and not all buildings/objects may show up if the saved game contains mods.

Installation and usage
Just unzip the .exe file and run it. The program requires the .NET 2 framework to be installed. If you have SimCity Societies installed on the same computer, you already have this framework.

Source code of this program can be downloaded from my own site (http://pecunia.nerdcamp.net/downloads/scs), should one of you wish to improve it :)

Thanks go to JuliaSet for testing the program and providing me with saved games.

Update - version 1.1 - 2009-08-15
Added support for SCS: Destinations saved games.

[JuliaSet]

I am keeping it in the SCS saved games folder as it has everything it needs to run. http://www.citybuildingcontests.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/zoom2.gif Once you start to save an image you get an option to run a "batch file" which means it makes an image for every saved game in the folder! Whoot! What a present for me as the CBC minimapper. (for the results pages)

Having these pictures might be fun for players to keep abreast of their game progress without opening the game itself.

To see examples of the images check our results page
http://www.citybuildingcontests.net/archives2/contest122-scs/results.html

I had made some images the hard way, by enlarging minimaps from screenshots and Pecunia presented me with the new mapper. To see the difference, scroll down and view the last image in the table. That one was done by HAND, the rest of them were made with the minimapper.

A big thanks to Pecunia for the new tool! I just can't belive she made it and didn't have the game itself! (old computers) http://www.citybuildingcontests.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/emot-bravo.gif The mapper seems to work on saves from the patches too!
Julia

[truthinevidence]

Thank you both for creating this application. I wondered why EA hadn't included a feature within the game so that players could view a map of their cities bigger than a thumbprint.

I think this will open up a lot of possibilities. Thanks again!
;)

truth.

[Norm35]

Pecunia,

I downloaded your MiniMapper program. Thank you very much for going to the trouble to write it. It should be a big help to SCS gamers.

It worked fine on SCS save files but unfortunately, I have upgraded my SCS with Destinations.

All files created after that date, cause the message, "The minimap could not be loaded. The file you selected doesn't seem to be a SCS file."

I would love to use your program on the city files I am now creating. Is there any way I can get it to recognize scs files created with Destinations?

By the way, you mention that Visual Studio was used to develop the program.

What language was used?

[Pecunia]

I can only assume that the SCS file format changed when Destinations was released, which means I have to change the program to be able to load those newer saves.

Since I don't have the game, nor the expansion, I can't do anything about this without help: either someone else needs to pick up the project and update the code to read Destinations files (source code is available at my site), or I need to have access to a large variety of SCS Destinations saves to fix the program.

Since the former seems unlikely, anyone that wishes to help should send:
1. a SCS Destinations saved game, and
2. a screenshot of the minimap as it is shown in the game itself
to pecuniam [at] gmail.com.

By the way, you mention that Visual Studio was used to develop the program.

What language was used?
C# (using .NET 2.0).

[Norm35]

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I am a retired programmer. I did not use C# but I did use C++ and quite a number of other languages, over a span of about 30 years. I will be happy to provide whatever assistance I can to you.

Certainly, I can provide scs save files and a screenshot of the minimap.

I will get busy on that.

Thanks,

Norm

[Norm35]

I just want to be sure I understand what you want sent to you.

I understand the save file but the screen shot as I understand it will be simply a picture of the entire screen with the minimap down in the lower left corner. It can be blown up but the minimap gets quite blurry and detail cannot be distinguished.

Is that what you want?

[Pecunia]

I understand the save file but the screen shot as I understand it will be simply a picture of the entire screen with the minimap down in the lower left corner. It can be blown up but the minimap gets quite blurry and detail cannot be distinguished.
Yes, that's what I want: I'm going to use the minimap on the screenshot as a guide to check whether I'm on the right track, whether there are new buildings which are differently color-coded, and so on.

[Norm35]

OK, how is this?

[Pecunia]

OK, how is this?
That's good :)

I have updated the program - version 1.1 is attached to the first post in this thread. Have fun!

[Norm35]

That's good :)

I have updated the program - version 1.1 is attached to the first post in this thread. Have fun!


Hi Pecunia,

Your modification worked fine! It opened up the Destinations file without a hitch.

That said, we still have a problem.

Only the roads are displayed, no buildings.

As a check, I went back to the old Minimapper version and, using a non-Destinations, SCS file, tried generating a minimap. It worked fine, showing both roads and buildings.

What do you think?

[Norm35]

I ran another test using the non-Destinations SCS file. This time I used version 1.1 on it. It also displayed both roads and buildings.

[Pecunia]

Could you attach both saved games to this thread? Also, are those two .tga files in the same folder as the saved game or not? If so, the program tries to use those, and if it fails, it'll look into the .scs file (which is so complex that it might miss a couple of things).

[Norm35]

Could you attach both saved games to this thread? Also, are those two .tga files in the same folder as the saved game or not? If so, the program tries to use those, and if it fails, it'll look into the .scs file (which is so complex that it might miss a couple of things).

I already sent you the Destinations scs and tga files.

I am attaching to this message, the Non-Destinations files.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do.

[Norm35]

OK.

I picked up on the comment in your last message and added the tga files to the work directory I was using.

Now the buildings are shown.

No further action on your part is necessary.

Thanks a lot for your work.

Norm