How to Zoom Out Farther

If you are like me and you want to be able to look at your islands from a more expansive bird's-eye view then follow these simple directions and enjoy the view!

Introduction

It really annoyed me how limited the Tropico 4 camera is when zooming out on my islands so I found an easy way to create a one time setting that allows me to zoom out as far as I want so that I can see my islands in all of their glory.

Note: From my experience this modification does not increase CPU or RAM usage.

Here's a comparison..

Before:

You can barely zoom out in the vanilla game :(

After:

But wait, there's more..

Bird's-Eye View:

You won't be able to zoom out this far using the scroll wheel - instead, you have to rotate the camera by holding ALT + Left Mouse or pressing and holding the scroll wheel while dragging the mouse.

It doesn't just look cool, it can also also help you be more efficient!

It's really helpful to use this view to get an overview of natural resources and other things like crime, liberty, etc.

How To

1. Open the Tropico 4 directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Tropico 4\)
   
2. Create a new directory called "Game"
   
3. Open the "Game" directory that you just created
   
4. Create a new text file in the directory you just created - you can name the file whatever you want, I named mine "zoommod"
   
5. Open the file you just created in a text editor like NotePad or NotePad++
   
6. Copy/Paste the following code into the file
   

   -- Zoom Mod
   ZoomMod = function()
   	-- modify camera settings and move fog higher
   	hr.RTSCamera.MaxHeight = 120 -- original: 40
   	hr.RTSCamera.MaxZoom = 20000 -- original: 7500
   	hr.FogStartModifier ="5" -- original: "2.0"
   
   	-- modify rendering settings and render objects from farther distances
   	--hr.ShadowRangeModifier = 20000 -- Shadows
   	--hr.TerrainLODDistanceModifier = 250 -- Grass
   	--hr.BillboardDistanceModifier = 250 -- Trees
   	--hr.DistanceModifier = 250 -- Buildings
   end
   
   -- Only fire once
   local FiredOnce = false
   
   -- UA Set Mode
   OnMsg.UASetMode = function(actions,mode)
   	-- Fire until fired once
   	if not FiredOnce then
   		-- If we boot, trip it ...
   		if(mode == "Boot") then
   			FiredOnce = true
   			-- Run the thread to bypass it
   			CreateRealTimeThread(function()
   				-- Do mod loading code here.
   				ZoomMod()
   			end)
   		end
   	end
   end
   
   -- T4 (non MT) approach
   OnMsg.ClassesPreprocess = function()
       ZoomMod()
   end
   

7. Save and close the file
   
8. Rename the file extension from ".txt" to ".lua" (file extensions will have to be visible; for help, see https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+view+file+extensions)
   
9. Launch Tropico 4

You can modify the parameters by changing the values for MaxHeight, MaxZoom and FogStartModifier.

Credits

I came across this solution after searching the web and landing on a thread in the Kalypso forum. You can find the thread at http://forum.kalypsomedia.com/showthread.php?tid=10894.

[spaceweezle]

Much better. Thank you!

[Carda NL]

EPIC! Just what i've been looking for. The zoom out is a nice bonus to what I was looking for. I didn't like the fog distance and now everything looks colorful. You just saved Tropico 4 for me

[Falka]

Here is the lua script. Replace "DOT" with a period
wwwDOTmediafireDOTcom/file/vlasjpxc03fopav/zoomMod.lua

[PapiwA]

Epic 😎👍

[Bipolar Bear]

@Millenium, I just noticed your comment, thanks for the suggestion! I'll try it out later this week, it may be worth adding here too. I'll be watching for changes in performance as well :P

[Dramato]

Very useful. I also recommend the SweetFX mod to get sharper image details.

You can also add these lines to zoommod to get more details in zoomed out image
hr.ShadowRangeModifier = 20000 -- Shadows
hr.TerrainLODDistanceModifier = 250 -- Grass
hr.BillboardDistanceModifier = 250 -- Trees
hr.DistanceModifier = 250 -- Buildings

[Bipolar Bear]

@papiwa I didn't :P If you look at the last screenshot you can see that that little lake is an inlet to the ocean :)

[PapiwA]

How on Earth did you put a cruise liner in a lake ??

[Kaurv]

Thanks.
The file extentions weren't visible to me, I am on Windows 7.
I didn't get an error, it just didn't change the file.

[Bipolar Bear]

@K0RVU5, are the file extensions visible to you (ie, when you look at the file does it say "zoommod" or "zoommod.txt")?

I assume they probably are, so I'm wondering if you get an error when you try changing the file type?

If you get an error like "the file may become unusable" then it is fine to proceed with the renaming.

I wouldn't mind trying to troubleshoot your issue so I could improve the guide but to save you time I've uploaded the zoommod.lua file for you to download directly.

You can download the zoommod.lua file from http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=96473696085325237636 - please let me know if the link becomes invalid.