You: SimCity Network Not this again! What are EA up to n– Wait.
SimMars is a mod for SimCity 4 taking the game to Mars. It will bring new buildings, transportation systems, user-interface and music and will replace the Maxis SimCity 4 content as far as possible, giving you the feeling to play a colony on Mars. The mod is still at beta stage. Beta 3 was released. I am having a beast of a time trying to get some mods to work for Simcity 4 Deluxe. I re-purchased the game through Steam, and now I can't mod.
Network Addon Mod?Me: The latest SimCity might have been, but there’s no reason your love affair with Maxis’ fair city-builder need end there. SimCity 4 has enormous cities. SimCity 4 had no internet requirement. SimCity 4 had all the same traffic problems as the more recent release. It also had a vibrant modding community that’s still working on fixing problems and making the game better today. This of the Network Addon Mod is testament to that.
NAM improves the game’s pathfinding, fixes bugs in the base game, and adds “a myriad of new transport network items, ranging from ground light rail, to fractional-angle roads, to roundabouts, and much more”Roundabouts!Here’s an expanded list of features from the ModDB site, because it’s the nerdy detail of it all that excites me so much. The NAM Elevated Viaducts for Roads, One-Way Roads, and Avenues are now available in a draggable form, at both Level 1 (7.5 meter) and Level 2 (15 meter) heights, complete with FLEX Height and On-Slope transitions. Overpass situations involving one or more diagonal networks are not yet supported, and will not be available until a future NAM release after Version 32. Elevated Rail-over-Avenue and Elevated Rail-over-NWM Road-4 dual-networking support has been added, complete with a new station supporting both networks. The initial phases of the RealRailway (RRW) system have been added. This feature must be selected as part of a custom install. The RealHighway (RHW) system has been expanded to include the QuickChange interchange system, which blends the RHW’s modularity with the ease of Maxis Highway construction techniques for certain situations, which will be expanded in future NAM releases.
Additionally, several new types of FLEXRamps are available–please read the instructions in the description text. FLEX Transitions have also been given stability improvements for certain situations.
Coupled with the RHW system, the NAM now offers Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) functionality, including stations.And so on.NAM isn’t the only SimCity 4 mod worth installing, nor the only mod still under development. The reveal a community still humming away with activity, and there’s a lot that’s worth looking at. That includes downloadable saved games, new buildings to turn your city into Tokyo or some other real world hotspot, and expansive mods and total conversions.Despite its age, SimCity 4’s high-resolution sprites still look fantastic.
Time has even been kind, as today’s faster computers have a better time rendering all those hundreds of sprites than my machine did when the game was first released.If you’re looking for a spot of management and city-building this Christmas, you could do worse than dig out your old copy. Because no matter how hard they try, there’s hardly a single game developer that can match the ouput and commitment of their community. The is available from ModDB, and the contains plenty more to browse.
I've owned SimCity 4 Deluxe for a few years and really enjoyed it back in the day. I picked it up again during the Steam sale so I wouldn't have to mess with discs, but I'm finding I really want to get into the mod scene to try and make it more modern.
How does it all work? What are the tools of the trade? And what's the best way to get started with a nice collection of mods? I saw the at SimTropolis, but it seems pretty old now.What I'd really like is either a package of mods that I can just drop in, or an app like the WoW Curse client where I can search, click 'Install' and be done.How do I do this in SC4? I was looking into this last night.
Unfortunately, there is no equivalent to the Curse Client for SC4. You're stuck running an actual installer for each mod, and tracking down dependencies for the mods manually. One mod I found last night has 126 dependencies!! I really don't want to have to download and run 126 installers just so my seaports look realistic.I say start with the basic NAM for better traffic modelling and a few of its plugins like Railway Addon Mod and the Network Widening Mod. Then, you can see if its worth the time to expand into custom lots and terrain mods. NAM is almost an absolute necessity because one of the most integral parts of the game, transportation, was also the leased developed in the base game. Rush Hour made things a little better, but your city had to be 1/2 roads just to keep everyone happy.
There's documentation somewhere on Simtropolis that shows that the road pathing algorithm they use is basically shortest path, even if the longer way would be much faster. For instance, if there is an incredibly overused street going directly from point A to point B, sims would rather take that than a highway right next to it that is only a couple spaces longer. Unfortunately there isn't a good way to fix this, as the algorithm is baked in to the game itself, NAM just modifies how much traffic each type of road can handle to get around it amongst other things (along with adding a bunch of other road types and such). It should be noted that NAM takes up quite a bit of CPU power though.Given that the game has been out for over 7 years now, and Sim City Societies was a total bomb, I think there'd be a market for Sim City 5 if they did it right.
Fix traffic pathing, go fully 3D instead of the isometric sprites thing, allow roads and other objects to be placed at angles other than increments of 45 (maybe even curved roads). And most importantly, open up a bunch of that to scripting so people can actually fix the things they get wrong. Given that the game has been out for over 7 years now, and Sim City Societies was a total bomb, I think there'd be a market for Sim City 5 if they did it right.
Fix traffic pathing, go fully 3D instead of the isometric sprites thing, allow roads and other objects to be placed at angles other than increments of 45 (maybe even curved roads). And most importantly, open up a bunch of that to scripting so people can actually fix the things they get wrong.I have CitiesXL, and while it's OK, it just doesn't have the feel Sim City 4 had. Overall it's a bit better, IMHO, but I'd much rather they did a Sim City 5.
It's been 8 years! Come on Maxis! NAM is almost an absolute necessity because one of the most integral parts of the game, transportation, was also the leased developed in the base game. Rush Hour made things a little better, but your city had to be 1/2 roads just to keep everyone happy. There's documentation somewhere on Simtropolis that shows that the road pathing algorithm they use is basically shortest path, even if the longer way would be much faster.
For instance, if there is an incredibly overused street going directly from point A to point B, sims would rather take that than a highway right next to it that is only a couple spaces longer. Unfortunately there isn't a good way to fix this, as the algorithm is baked in to the game itself, NAM just modifies how much traffic each type of road can handle to get around it amongst other things (along with adding a bunch of other road types and such). It should be noted that NAM takes up quite a bit of CPU power though.That's disappointing to hear that the terrible pathing is built-in and can't be modded out. I guess that means it's really important to use high-volume roads almost everywhere? I wonder if they did it because of the limited CPU power back when the game was first released. Maybe it was too much to try to calculate 'fastest' for all the different combinations on the fly?
Seems like it'd be trivial to do with today's processors, even if the algorithm was slow. Given that the game has been out for over 7 years now, and Sim City Societies was a total bomb, I think there'd be a market for Sim City 5 if they did it right. Fix traffic pathing, go fully 3D instead of the isometric sprites thing, allow roads and other objects to be placed at angles other than increments of 45 (maybe even curved roads). And most importantly, open up a bunch of that to scripting so people can actually fix the things they get wrong.Agree. They've got to know it would be lucrative-Cities XL has hardly captured the market. Maxis doesn't really exist anymore, though, do they?When Societies was announced, I didn't even bother reading past the opener. Seeing that they were changing the core of the game and essentially make it more Sims like turned me off instantly.
I think I saw it for $2 over Christmas and didn't even think about picking it up. It looks like garbage.How is the pathing in Cities XL?
Traffic is definitely one of the killers in SC4. Is the game too hard to make money, too easy.? Too micro or macro focused, or just right?
I'm re-d/ling the demo right now and slightly regretting not getting on Steam sale over Christmas. That's disappointing to hear that the terrible pathing is built-in and can't be modded out. I guess that means it's really important to use high-volume roads almost everywhere? I wonder if they did it because of the limited CPU power back when the game was first released. Maybe it was too much to try to calculate 'fastest' for all the different combinations on the fly?
Seems like it'd be trivial to do with today's processors, even if the algorithm was slow.They almost assuredly did it for CPU reasons (or at least that is a logical explanation, maybe they were just lazy). A very large city will still stress a modern computer, so resource wise, SC4 was asking for quite a bit more than was available in the day (although it basically doesn't use multithreading at all, so that is part of the problem today). How is the pathing in Cities XL? Traffic is definitely one of the killers in SC4. Is the game too hard to make money, too easy.? Too micro or macro focused, or just right? I'm re-d/ling the demo right now and slightly regretting not getting on Steam sale over Christmas.Everything I've read about Cities XL has said it has potential, but the developers sold a half-finished game with the promise to keep building, so it is riddled with bugs and whole sections of the game are incomplete.
I haven't actually played it though, so let me know how the demo goes. I have CitiesXL, and while it's OK, it just doesn't have the feel Sim City 4 had.
Simcity 4 Steam Mods
Overall it's a bit better, IMHO, but I'd much rather they did a Sim City 5. It's been 8 years! Come on Maxis!And Maxis, please go back to the goofball original nature of the series as well. SC4 was miserable due to the above-mentioned traffic problems, 3k was bizarrely flat-out boring (at least to me) and 1 was ugly by the time I got into the series. I don't think Maxis is much more than a name anymore, but I'd happily play a shiny version of the old batshit-insane SC2k (with URK!). Drop the seriousness and bring back arcologies that get grumpy and blast off, please. FYI, while you can still download the Cities XL demo, it no longer works.
It requires a login and the login servers are nowhere to be found. There is also a news item on the loading screen that says the demo is over. I didn't find one for 2011.I believe they have a CitiesXL 2011 , which I haven't tried, but looks like I can get 50% off since I own the original. For $20 maybe worth checking out. One thing I found in the original, though, is that they want you to have an online account (subscription based service) to 'play' with other users in a large, more or less persistent world.
Simcity 4 Steam Mods Free
Kind of an interesting idea, but I don't want to pay for it, or at least not much. I want my single player, massive city building game!Maybe I'll pick up the new version tonight, I'll let you know what I think. Apparently it has focused on the single player mode, while the original kept hitting you up trying to buy the subscription. Given that the game has been out for over 7 years now, and Sim City Societies was a total bomb, I think there'd be a market for Sim City 5 if they did it right.
Fix traffic pathing, go fully 3D instead of the isometric sprites thing, allow roads and other objects to be placed at angles other than increments of 45 (maybe even curved roads). And most importantly, open up a bunch of that to scripting so people can actually fix the things they get wrong.I'd love a good new SimCity game, but I'd want a bit more than that. More transportation options (and much better traffic models) are a complete necessity, but I'm not opening up my wallet until we also get some mixed-use zoning-RCI is too restrictive and pushes towards suburban-style sprawl.I also want to be able to build neighbourhoods that actually feel like places people live. Get to hear about and address issues at a smaller (and distinct) community level, rather than city-wide.
Given that the game has been out for over 7 years now, and Sim City Societies was a total bomb, I think there'd be a market for Sim City 5 if they did it right. Fix traffic pathing, go fully 3D instead of the isometric sprites thing, allow roads and other objects to be placed at angles other than increments of 45 (maybe even curved roads). And most importantly, open up a bunch of that to scripting so people can actually fix the things they get wrong.I'd love a good new SimCity game, but I'd want a bit more than that. More transportation options (and much better traffic models) are a complete necessity, but I'm not opening up my wallet until we also get some mixed-use zoning-RCI is too restrictive and pushes towards suburban-style sprawl.I also want to be able to build neighbourhoods that actually feel like places people live. Get to hear about and address issues at a smaller (and distinct) community level, rather than city-wide.Would could make that really interesting, is if you went around with a decent digital camera and took pictures all around your neighborhood and then could skin certain types of buildings with those images (stitch-assisted of course). Have a favorite pizza shop?
Make it appear in your city/neighborhood.