I think ideally it shouldn't happen. But if a game MUST be always online it should be eventually patched out to enable better preservation and access. It would indeed be nice if they were upfront about the time-frame, but it's a large company so they would never do it.
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SimCity offline mode is FINALLY coming
- Thread starter judhudson
- Start date
Something Wicked
Member
While I didn't buy this game, as I saw the eventual trainwreck coming months before it was released, I feel making the engine "track the entire population simultaneously" was an ambitious and admirable goal, but ultimately, a naive and fatal decision. The sheer amount of computation required to model 100,000 individual "agents" realistically moving and interacting in a city or multiple cities is immense. I don't think making traffic patterns much more realistic is a trivial fix here. And if Maxis were able to do so with the current engine, then I believe the minimum RAM requirement would significantly jump.
And then to scale that up to much larger sized cities... ...I'm not sure if anyone here would have a PC to run that game... I don't think Maxis has a PC to make/test that game. I doubt modders are going to make the difference some people here think they will.
Basically, if you want a SimCity 4-like city simulator, I think Maxis and EA are going to have to scrap the current engine and start from square one. To me, I'd focus on regional transportation systems (networks of highways of varying sizes, light rail, heavy rail, etc.) as the big, new improved feature over SimCity 4 and model cities' populi more akin to SimCity 4 than SimSuburb.
And then to scale that up to much larger sized cities... ...I'm not sure if anyone here would have a PC to run that game... I don't think Maxis has a PC to make/test that game. I doubt modders are going to make the difference some people here think they will.
Basically, if you want a SimCity 4-like city simulator, I think Maxis and EA are going to have to scrap the current engine and start from square one. To me, I'd focus on regional transportation systems (networks of highways of varying sizes, light rail, heavy rail, etc.) as the big, new improved feature over SimCity 4 and model cities' populi more akin to SimCity 4 than SimSuburb.
Mental Atrophy
Banned
I haven't played SimCity since the first week or two that it was released. My Origin account has like forty hours on it, but probably 20+ hours of that were at the login dialogue waiting for the servers to function. It was fun at first, but unfortunately the simulation breaks down pretty quickly. The illusion was dispelled much less quickly in SimCity 4. I don't even mind the city size limitations or the online requirement, just the roaming mob of students and workers that go trick-or-treating from house-to-house in the evening, its effects on traffic simulation, and how everything was so easy and meaningless. I think these shortcomings are fixable, but I'm not holding my breath.
This seems to be the go-to line for lots of companies these days.
It would be refreshing, but unrealistic to hear someone tell the truth for once: "Our ideas sucked. You hated it. Our present and/or future sales will suffer. We changed it to try to salvage what's left of any consumer goodwill."
doctorcdcs
Member
I was given simcity for free by a good friend. I haven't played it, just hoping for the day that it'll get an offline mode. I'll play it when it gets released now.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Have you not read any of this thread? Do you hate your money that much that you would waste it so? Spend your hard earned cash on games that deserve to be supported, games that are good. At least wait until either EA or modders FIX the game, wait until then to buy Simcity.
Unless you really just love buying crappy games.
But that's 146 characters and doesn't fit on a tweet. That's probably why they went with the other one.
3rdamention
Member
I believe the offline mode was hacked in less than a week after he made his famous tweet. Now, he just says "that was a year ago, eh OK" or whatever.
I guess nobody should ever be held accountable. Gies works for Polygon, who was supposed to do everything different. Just watch their stupid making of, promotional video that they filmed when they were getting started. They wanted to change things.
Polygon's big things was this fluid review system. If things within a game change over time, they would change the score, both positively and negatively. Yet when things change over time, things that have to do with Arthur and his public statements, you get "why is a tweet from almost a year ago getting retweete- OH OK." as a response.
I want to feel sorry for him, he just comes off so immature. He has this image of himself, that is totally out of line with the image he is constantly projecting towards others. It is kinda sad, especially for a professional whose job puts him square in the eye of the public. He should be held accountable, and I am sure you could find a ton of his stories, tweets, and podcasts where he is trying to hold others accountable for what they have done in the past as well.
SmoothRunningGun
Member
Lol. I thought offline was impossible. Don't believe their lies...
TheVampire
Banned
So with this offline patch and allowing mods does this mean we will be able to have really big cities?
PoweredBySoy
Banned
lol, I love how EA puts an emphasis on "it's free!" like they just can't contain their benevolence.
Get fucked.
Looking forward to Banished next month.
Get fucked.
Looking forward to Banished next month.
SneakyStephan
Banned
Guys this is getting too meta now
This thread, I hope some EA drone is reading this topic and wondering why people are more interested in embarrassing Gies than in their stupid game
edit daaaaamn @ the suggestion that they dropped the DRM so that they can shut down the servers down the line
shiiiiiit I didn't even think about that
I bet that is in fact it
I can't wait to revisit this thread in a year when the online functions of sim city are taken down
Yeah I'm curious about this too. I put like 10 hrs into it not knowing how fucked up it is for old sim city players. It was my first and I was naive.
bigdaddygamebot
Member
After all the lies...
Fuck those people.
Fuck those people.
fluffydelusions
Member
Cities still to small though
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Can you imagine the rage if that happens and they imply the reason they had smaller maps was to make it easier to accomodate console versions?
Wolf Akela
Member
I haven't had any issue with it. Although I think I did something with the cores or thread priority before I played.
Dictator93
Member
Thank you GAF for giving me this thread. This wonderful thread.
EA and MS are using the same Cloud-technology; you can't unhook from it, untill enough potential consumers tell you they won't buy into that always online bullshit, no matter how many Clouds you throw at them, then all of a sudden a Magician developer arises and inserts 2 lines of code makes the Cloud optional.
King Tubby
Member
I can only forgive them if they release a legitimate SimCity 5 that builds off of SC4 the right way. As absurd as it is to say for this kind of franchise, this game is not canon and I will pretend it never happened.
As am I.
Technically he didn't say anything wrong, you could argue this really well especially if you get really pedantic about definitions.
The thing is, talented programmers and people who know how these things work exist outside of EA, and ever since the insistence that it "couldn't be done" some of these people have been wracking their brains to understand how that could be true.
The kick will be when this tweet occurred and how much information had been mined at the time. Even so, the claim always seemed like one that was covering tracks rather than being honest. Par for the course with EA.
renegade_dewitt
Member
They have assigned homes.
Cool.
I get that the launch was a complete mess, but I'm glad they're slowly improving it and adding to it to make it better.
I wonder if by opening it up to modding it will allow for bigger cities.
PHOENIXZERO
Member
Oh boy, finally getting the offline mode we knew was possible despite EA's BS. People in charge of that mess being promoted just goes to show that "failing upward" isn't just for politicians anymore.
Amazing that since the SimCity debacle they've kept themselves right on track to three peat for the Consumerist's Worst Company In America award.
*Saves for future reference.*
Amazing that since the SimCity debacle they've kept themselves right on track to three peat for the Consumerist's Worst Company In America award.
Just in case people somehow think this news makes the game worth playing.
*Saves for future reference.*
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Nope.
The no specific job or home is still part of the simulation, but they have slightly better routing and pathing since launch.
renegade_dewitt
Member
the sims do come from specific houses and go to specific jobs...I have witnessed this myself. Am I wrong here?
Japanmanx3
Member
Aww man this thread was pure ether.
Turin Turambar
Member
*: when the sales cycle of the product is at end, so we don't care now if we drop the online DRM.
PoweredBySoy
Banned
Sweet jesus.
Only for that 'day' I believe. The sim will have a home, go to a job, but then might go to a different home after that job, and then go to a diffferent job on the next day. It just finds what ever is closest when it moves from 'job' to 'home'
Thats pretty much it. I'm assuming the expansion flopped pretty hard.