Supported
About This File
SC4 Terrain Extensions is a DLL plugin for SimCity 4 that adds in-game terrain editing and visualization tools. It lets you flatten terrain, create constant-grade paths, build bridge approaches, preview terrain changes, save and restore terrain snapshots (experimental), and display contour and slope overlays while working in a city.
The plugin is aimed at players who do detailed terrain prep for roads, rails, bridges, canals, waterfronts, slopes, sunken networks, and city-detailing scenes. It is especially useful for diagonal work: the flatten tool includes a line-mask mode for diagonal cuts and ramps, while the constant-grade tool can create straight sloped paths between two dragged points.
The GitHub release v0.1.0 with SHA256 checksums is available at: https://github.com/caspervg/sc4-terrain-extensions/releases/tag/v0.1.0
Main features
- In-game terrain menu buttons for Flatten, Constant Grade, and Bridge Approach tools
- Interactive drag-based terrain editing with live previews
- Diagonal and fractional flattening using line-mask mode
- Constant-grade paths for smooth ramps, roads, rails, canals, and terrain cuts
- Rectangle flattening for more precise terrain leveling
- Flatten modes for reference average, delta, explicit height, selected-area average, minimum, and maximum
- Bridge Approach tool for grading one or both ends of a bridge span, with adjustable bridge height, maximum grade, approach side, and approach width
- Terrain snapshot panel opened with the terrainsnap cheat (experimental). Allows to save, preview, restore, delete, and region-restore terrain snapshots
- Contour overlay with configurable interval, opacity, thickness, and major-line behavior
- Slope heatmap overlay with configurable slope mode, opacity, minimum grade, and color thresholds
Dependency
SC4 Terrain Extensions requires SC4RenderServices v0.6.2 or newer, which can be found at the GitHub link or from the STEX:
Usage instructions
Open a city and use the new terrain menu buttons. The instructions below might seem daunting at first but once you get used to it it becomes a blast to be able to detail terrain so accurately!
- Flatten
- Constant Grade
- Bridge Approach
Flatten tool:
- Drag a rectangle to flatten an area.
- Press D to toggle between rectangle mode and diagonal/fractional angle mode.
- Press Tab or Shift+Tab to cycle height modes.
- In reference mode, press H to pick or repick the source tile.
- Use Alt+Scroll to adjust explicit height or delta height.
- Use Shift+Scroll to adjust line-mask thickness.
- Release the mouse to apply the preview.
- Press Esc to cancel.
Constant Grade tool:
- Drag from the start tile to the end tile to create a straight sloped path.
- Drag sideways to widen the affected path.
- Use Alt+Scroll to adjust the target grade from downhill to uphill.
- Use Ctrl+Scroll to toggle side smoothing.
- Release the mouse to apply the grade.
- Press Esc to cancel.
Bridge Approach tool:
- Drag along the bridge direction to set the bridge span.
- Drag sideways to set the approach width.
- Use Alt+Scroll to adjust bridge height.
- Use Shift+Scroll to adjust maximum grade.
- Use Ctrl+Scroll to cycle approach side: both, start, end, or none.
- Release the mouse to place the approaches.
- Press Esc to cancel.
Cheat commands are also available:
- earthbender
- bridgebuilder
- terrainsnap (experimental)
- contour
- slope (experimental)
Project page:
https://github.com/caspervg/sc4-terrain-extensions
System Requirements
- SimCity 4 version 1.1.641.x
- Windows 10 or later
- SC4RenderServices v0.6.2 or newer
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable x86
- DirectX/hardware rendering mode recommended for overlay previews, contours, and slope heatmaps
Installation
- Close SimCity 4.
- Install SC4RenderServices first.
- Run the included SC4 Terrain Extensions installer.
- Select your SimCity 4 installation folder.
- Select your SimCity 4 Plugins folder.
- Let the installer verify the SC4RenderServices dependency.
- Start SimCity 4 and load a city.
- Open the Terrain menu and use the new terrain tools.
The installer places SC4TerrainExtensions.dll and SC4TerrainExtensions.dat in your Plugins folder. It also installs README.txt and the uninstaller under Documents\SimCity 4\SC4TerrainExtensions.
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