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[Rentahamster]

BTW: Whats your solution to the garbage problem? Garbage is completely broken in the game right? I always have to use those mods that just make it go away - my one and only cheat.

Broken? No. Just zone some landfill space and make sure it's connected to the roads so that your automated garbage trucks can access them. And/or build a waste to power plant as well, or a recycling center, or use some of those city ordinances to reduce garbage.

Or just make a road connection to a neighboring zone and export all your trash there.

I picked this up during a Steam sale and haven't gotten around to trying it out. I've never played a SimCity game before. How important are those plugins/mods?

If you're unsatisfied with the mechanics of the main game, or want more variety in the buildings, then mods are good.

I've don't use any, though. They make the game too easy. I prefer the challenge of the simulation and balancing needs, resources, and budgets.

If you don't like a challenge, however, and prefer just building stuff, then you may want to take a look at mods.

 

[jamesinclair]

Broken? No. Just zone some landfill space and make sure it's connected to the roads so that your automated garbage trucks can access them. And/or build a waste to power plant as well, or a recycling center, or use some of those city ordinances to reduce garbage.

Or just make a road connection to a neighboring zone and export all your trash there.

.

What always happens to me is the following.

Say my town has garbage growing at a soft slope. 10% gradient.
I zone a 6 block landfill.
Suddenly, my garbage grows at 70% until it exceeds the capacity, and then returns to growing at 10% - even if city size remains constant
If I zone a 6x6 landfill, same thing. Huge output of garbage until it just exceeds the capacity.

My only solution has been the custom designed lots that just get rid of it because if I dont Ill have a 50x50 landfill to support a pop of 5,000.

 

[Rentahamster]

What always happens to me is the following.

Say my town has garbage growing at a soft slope. 10% gradient.
I zone a 6 block landfill.
Suddenly, my garbage grows at 70% until it exceeds the capacity, and then returns to growing at 10% - even if city size remains constant
If I zone a 6x6 landfill, same thing. Huge output of garbage until it just exceeds the capacity.

My only solution has been the custom designed lots that just get rid of it because if I dont Ill have a 50x50 landfill to support a pop of 5,000.

That's weird, it shouldn't happen like that. Are your roads laid out weirdly? Do you have any other mods installed before resorting to the custom landfill?

You might as well just start a new city next door, just make a road with a landfill, and then export all your garbage there, and never visit it again. As long as you don't resume and save, that landfill town will stay in a static state forever and you can export an infinite amount of trash to it.

Or, one trick you can do is to build a waste to power plant, and cut its funding to zero by when you click on it with the info cursor. It'll still burn trash and generate pollution, but it won't generate power, but hey, it's free.

 

[Inkwell]

If you're unsatisfied with the mechanics of the main game, or want more variety in the buildings, then mods are good.

I've don't use any, though. They make the game too easy. I prefer the challenge of the simulation and balancing needs, resources, and budgets.

If you don't like a challenge, however, and prefer just building stuff, then you may want to take a look at mods.

I'll probably try it without mods first. I'm not one to play sandbox-like games without goals. I like minecraft, but that's an anomaly. I like the idea of having more challenge and chances for failure. It sounds like it almost gives the game an end-state. Maybe once that becomes boring I'll just want to be creative. Actually, that kind of happened with minecraft too. I turned off monsters in my single-player world when I felt like I had experienced everything they had to offer. Then I just started building things.

 

[jamesinclair]

That's weird, it shouldn't happen like that. Are your roads laid out weirdly? Do you have any other mods installed before resorting to the custom landfill?

You might as well just start a new city next door, just make a road with a landfill, and then export all your garbage there, and never visit it again. As long as you don't resume and save, that landfill town will stay in a static state forever and you can export an infinite amount of trash to it.

Or, one trick you can do is to build a waste to power plant, and cut its funding to zero by when you click on it with the info cursor. It'll still burn trash and generate pollution, but it won't generate power, but hey, it's free.

Nope, Im usually on the grid, and this has happened to me every time I install the game.

No point in doing that - its as much cheating as the custom recycling plots.

 

[Rentahamster]

Nope, Im usually on the grid, and this has happened to me every time I install the game.

No point in doing that - its as much cheating as the custom recycling plots.

Well, I dunno about the custom lots, but there is still a cost. In the case of garbage export, it costs you money. In the case of the no-dunding-garbage-burner, it still costs the initial price of the building, plus the air pollution is still present.

You running vanilla SC4, or the Deluxe version (SC4 + Rush Hour expansion pack)?

If you are running any custom lots, you might find that some custom lot makers forget to fix the garbage output of their custom lots, so it's a lot more than it should be.

 

[jamesinclair]

Well, I dunno about the custom lots, but there is still a cost. In the case of garbage export, it costs you money. In the case of the no-dunding-garbage-burner, it still costs the initial price of the building, plus the air pollution is still present.

You running vanilla SC4, or the Deluxe version (SC4 + Rush Hour expansion pack)?

If you are running any custom lots, you might find that some custom lot makers forget to fix the garbage output of their custom lots, so it's a lot more than it should be.

The garbage thing I use has a plop cost and monthly cost.

I'm running deluxe, but I remember this happening back in 2004 with vanilla.

I dont use custom lots outside of the garbage one 0 just the NAM and CAM stuff.

 

[Orbis]

Is there any relatively simple way I could sync my saves between my laptop and desktop? The region files and pretty small and the plugins are the same on both. Currently I'm just copying and pasting to dropbox which works but is tedious.

 

[Rentahamster]

Is there any relatively simple way I could sync my saves between my laptop and desktop? The region files and pretty small and the plugins are the same on both. Currently I'm just copying and pasting to dropbox which works but is tedious.

Can't you just designate the saved games folder as a dropbox folder?

 

[The Real Abed]

So I got it installed and working, but my colors are all dithered like they're 256 colors or something even though I have 32 specified. It's currently on Hardware graphics because Software made the screen just be black. I'm in Parallels under Windows 7 on a MacBook Air with a HD4000 GPU, is this just something that's going to happen and I have to deal with it? It just looks so sad and ugly. RCT looks better in comparison. (I would have installed the Mac version but the one I had was PowerPC and I don't think there was an Intel update. Was there?)

 

[Angst]

Love the shots in the OP. I'll download and try you mods sometime later this week. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Sorry if it's been asked and I know resolution fix is mentioned in the OP, but how can I eliminate the borders and put it in widescreen if I've got the Origins game download?

 

[Rentahamster]

Sorry if it's been asked and I know resolution fix is mentioned in the OP, but how can I eliminate the borders and put it in widescreen if I've got the Origins game download?

The simcity .exe should be in program files/origin games/apps or something like that

 

[The Real Abed]

Okay so what am I doing wrong? I have one region with just industrial and power and water and one with the residential and commercial stuff and they're connected. At first they were working perfectly together and I was taking my time, but now all of a sudden a lot of my residents are out of jobs when there's plenty of commerce and industry to work at and lots of undeveloped zones even though the RCI bars are asking for them. I even built three successful small farms in the residential/commercial areas that are running great.

My industrial side is losing money fast and my residential one is making a lot more than it is losing.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Thanks got it.

 

[Rentahamster]

Okay so what am I doing wrong? I have one region with just industrial and power and water and one with the residential and commercial stuff and they're connected. At first they were working perfectly together and I was taking my time, but now all of a sudden a lot of my residents are out of jobs when there's plenty of commerce and industry to work at and lots of undeveloped zones even though the RCI bars are asking for them. I even built three successful small farms in the residential/commercial areas that are running great.

My industrial side is losing money fast and my residential one is making a lot more than it is losing.

That's because your industrial city didn't change, while your residential city did. I assume you had dirty and manufacturing industry in your industry city. While you are working on your residential city at the beginning, you only have low wealth, uneducated sims who are more than happy to take dirty jobs. I also assume that you provided education and health coverage to your residents? That improves their wealth level and their education level, and soon they won't want to work in dirty jobs anymore.

Sure, there's "plenty of commerce and industry to work at", but that's not all the factors at play. You have to match the wealth and education level of your sims with the type of jobs. As your sims get smarter, they will prefer working in medium or rich offices, and in high tech industry.

Another factor at play could be your traffic. If a sim needs to travel too far to find a job that matches his education/wealth level, he'll give up. Make sure you have adequate road access, and that you have mass transit options if your roads get too crowded. FYI, buses don't contribute to road traffic congestion at all.

If your residential buildings get abandoned due to "long commute time", it could be two possibilities. One, is that the actual commute time is too long. The other possibility is that there just are no jobs that match those sims' wealth/education levels.

 

[The Real Abed]

I haven't added schools or hospitals yet and only added a fire station to the Industrial side when a fire broke out so far.

How do I know what kinds of jobs my unemployed sims want? There's plenty of empty commerce places that won't build.

 

[AppleMIX]

Anyone know if the Origin version of Sim City 4 is the most up to date version?

 

[jamesinclair]

I haven't added schools or hospitals yet and only added a fire station to the Industrial side when a fire broke out so far.

How do I know what kinds of jobs my unemployed sims want? There's plenty of empty commerce places that won't build.

What does your demand meter show?

You might need more housing before theres enough people for commerce.

Youll need a school soon enough for higher end jobs though

 

[Meier]

I booted it back up and it crashed just about immediately after. I guess that is why I only have 1 city in this go-round of owning the game. Mine is heavily modded in terms of custom buildings... it's hard to go back once you use them. The amount of talent that some of the BATters have is insane!

 

[Ranger X]

This song is the very definition of amazing:

Wheels of Progress

 

[Remmy2112]

Ok I uploaded that map.

First you will need new set of plugins. If you have my old one from OP delete it and use this instead:

PLUGIN

• part 1
• part 2
• part 3

Mentioned map

• part 1
• part 2
• part 3

Instruction:
- Copy unpacked Plugin folder to mydocuments/simcity4/plugins folder
- Copy Region to mydocuments/simcity/regions

Remember that this plugins will change old maps if you open them up so if you want to comeback to old regions save your old plugin folder somewhere.
Take note that you need fast processor and in best scenario SSD to work with big cities.
It already has included COLOSUS mod so you can build those XXX milion cities and traffic won't be a problem in suburbs (fixed maxis road capacity)


edit: I managed to crop region view. Look at this ! (open in new tap or download !)

Now the download of that region is blocked too. Second and third files.

 

[Kiyo]

Anyone gotten this game to work under 2560x1440 resolution on Windows 7? Tried a few months ago but never could.

 

[Sethos]

Anyone gotten this game to work under 2560x1440 resolution on Windows 7? Tried a few months ago but never could.

I tried 2560x1600 and the game refuses to start

 

[Mr. Return]

Anyone gotten this game to work under 2560x1440 resolution on Windows 7? Tried a few months ago but never could.

Unfortunately no.

http://www.widescreengaming.net/wiki/SimCity_4

 

[Darklord]

There is any decent way to build a highway in an already built area? I tried but it's so hard trying to join up roads going horizontal rather than vertical and constantly refuses to place parts for no reason. Then I try and place it again and it plonks it right on a building instead. Infuriating!

 

[Perkel]

Now the download of that region is blocked too. Second and third files.

I will upload it on mega since it looks better sharing centre.

 

[Remmy2112]

Thanks. I eagerly await the upload.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

What's the files I need to put into the folder just to get new trees?

 

[Perkel]

Thanks. I eagerly await the upload.

Here you are. It look different (like vanilla) but with plugins pack tree god mode tool will give you same trees like i had and same ground texture. If you want to use those plugins that is.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Is it worth building Fire Stations to keep? I tend to plop one down when there's a fire and then destroy afterwards. Or would it boost the land value somewhat?

 

[Rentahamster]

Is it worth building Fire Stations to keep? I tend to plop one down when there's a fire and then destroy afterwards. Or would it boost the land value somewhat?

Fire coverage increases the "security" that sims feel, which improves your mayor rating. Otheriwse, you don't really need them, unless you have a lot of dirty industry, which tends to catch on fire a lot. Fire station coverage reduces their tendency to burst into flames.

 

[Ranger X]

Is it worth building Fire Stations to keep? I tend to plop one down when there's a fire and then destroy afterwards. Or would it boost the land value somewhat?

Don't build them until there's a fire but after that, keep them.

 

[megarockexe]

I saw the organic towns in the OP and I'm tempted to try one. Here is the latest city I made and it didn't go too well despite it being my best so far.

Only playing the regular difficulty and with the road mod so they work as intended. Negative money in forever. I've resorted to the organ delivery mission for extra loans.

 

[Rentahamster]

I saw the organic towns in the OP and I'm tempted to try one. Here is the latest city I made and it didn't go too well despite it being my best so far.

Only playing the regular difficulty and with the road mod so they work as intended. Negative money in forever. I've resorted to the organ delivery mission for extra loans.

wow @ that highway down the side of the mountain.

 

[jamesinclair]

I saw the organic towns in the OP and I'm tempted to try one. Here is the latest city I made and it didn't go too well despite it being my best so far.

Only playing the regular difficulty and with the road mod so they work as intended. Negative money in forever. I've resorted to the organ delivery mission for extra loans.

Do you micromanage?

IE: If your school has 129 students fund for 130 students?

 

[Ranger X]

I saw the organic towns in the OP and I'm tempted to try one. Here is the latest city I made and it didn't go too well despite it being my best so far.

Only playing the regular difficulty and with the road mod so they work as intended. Negative money in forever. I've resorted to the organ delivery mission for extra loans.

You're supposed to make money man. Damn, it's the only SimCity game where it's actually possible to really make money. lol

-Never fund everything 100%. Keep transportation down to even 85%.
-Always start with low density terrains. ALWAYS. Upgrade later when your wallet can take it.
-Always start with small streets. Upgrade later when you can't possibly control traffic.
-Have schools and hospitals to make your wealth grow as fast as possible.
-Always underfund schools and hospital by 5-10%, juuuuust enough so they don't riot but you save money.

Long story short, you need to be a real mayor. Try to make money BEFORE pleasing people.

 

[Perkel]

My current town: Click for full size !

 

[Remmy2112]

I'm running into a bit of a issue with your region/town, Perkel. I loaded up the region and have been adding trees to the other zones, then decided to load up your city to take a look. I've tried adding a couple 1x2 residential areas in some gaps, but anytime I add them in a location where there's a tree my game crashes 100% of the time. If however I use the bulldozer to clear them before hand it works just fine. Is this normal or a result of a bad plugin?

Edit: Apparently it's not the trees. The following picture is an example of the problem.

The green line represents an area where I can add more residential without a crash. Red is where it crashes 100% of the time. I'm running the plugin pack you uploaded to Mega, and the region. Only thing I didn't do was unpack the second plugin .rar included in the mega .rar, which seemed to be a duplicate.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Looks cool. I'm doing quite well with my city. Just making money although I have been beautifying the place and most of the ordinances are on, but my head is steady above water. My city is split in two by a river and have just built up one side currently. I'll post a pic later. I normally would just build all in a grid pattern and it look very generic but I've moved away from that a bit to make it look more natural and it looks cool.

 

[Perkel]

I'm running into a bit of a issue with your region/town, Perkel. I loaded up the region and have been adding trees to the other zones, then decided to load up your city to take a look. I've tried adding a couple 1x2 residential areas in some gaps, but anytime I add them in a location where there's a tree my game crashes 100% of the time. If however I use the bulldozer to clear them before hand it works just fine. Is this normal or a result of a bad plugin?

Edit: Apparently it's not the trees. The following picture is an example of the problem.

The green line represents an area where I can add more residential without a crash. Red is where it crashes 100% of the time. I'm running the plugin pack you uploaded to Mega, and the region. Only thing I didn't do was unpack the second plugin .rar included in the mega .rar, which seemed to be a duplicate.

Hi you probably downloaded my last region. I didn't notice there was city already on it.

You need to have my last plugin pack. I will post it within 20 minutes. And i will update OP with new links to plugin pack and map.

 

[Angst]

Hi you probably downloaded my last region. I didn't notice there was city already on it.

You need to have my last plugin pack. I will post it within 20 minutes. And i will update OP with new links to plugin pack and map.

Would you mind sharing what plugins/mods are in the "my plugins" file?

 

[Perkel]

Would you mind sharing what plugins/mods are in the "my plugins" file?

NAM, CAM, PEG, SAM, God mode in mayor mode, slope mod etc. few other things. If you plan to use it with your mods DON'T. It will fuck up your game. If you want to use it just download latest pack and map.


Here are PLUGINS and wait a bit for MAP because it will be in 15 minutes. And then i will update OP.

:EDIT:

here is MAP

 

[Angst]

I don't really remember, but I think I've only installed SAM and NAM. But that was quite some time ago, I should probably clear my plugins folder before installing anything. It looks like you have some housing mods in there too?

 

[Perkel]

I don't really remember, but I think I've only installed SAM and NAM. But that was quite some time ago, I should probably clear my plugins folder before installing anything. It looks like you have some housing mods in there too?

Yes clear plugin folder.

UPDATED Thread starting post with new links.

 

[Angst]

Yes clear plugin folder.

UPDATED Thread starting post with new links.

Thanks for the good work. Just wish I had time to play this today... :/

 

[jamesinclair]

Im so bad at building dirty industrial towns and poor towns

 

[Rentahamster]

So I finally gave the NAM mod a try. It didn't really change that much...all my residential commute times when from medium/long to short/medium, and the average commute time when from 120 to 50. This was in two medium tile cities in the same region, population of 300k, and 1 mil.

My mass transit systems are already pretty efficient to begin with, so I never really had traffic problems to start with.

 

[Perkel]

30k souls. Looking good.

 

[mavs]

This thread is relevant to that second picture. Reflect Systems, the blue building that appears 20 times in that city, is a stage 4 CO$$$ that provides 251 jobs, more than any other Maxis building of that stage and wealth. The game will prefer to grow the building that satisfies the most job demand, so if you are developing slowly and keep your demand high you are going to get a lot of Reflect Systems.

Other buildings that could grow at that level are Brinks Real Estate (tan building that appears twice) with 212 jobs and Marshall Printing (white building that does not appear in that city) with 245 jobs. Marshall Printing is often very rare because it has just a few less jobs than Reflect, which greatly reduces the odds that it will be the most favored lot.