SC4PIM-X 2026  2026.7.4

SC4PIM-X 2026 is a community-preserved and substantially expanded edition of @wouanagaine’s classic “better Maxis PIM and Lot Editor” for SimCity 4, originally released in 2009, also known as PIM-X or X-Tool.

It can create building, prop, flora and foundation exemplars from SC4 models; create and edit growable or ploppable lots; manage building and prop families; inspect dependencies; and edit lots in an integrated 2D/3D workspace.

The project began by recovering the original application from its compiled Python 2.4 bytecode. It has since grown far beyond a Python and OpenGL compatibility update. The familiar SC4PIM-X workflow remains, but its editing tools, rendering, performance and support for modern SC4 modding practices have been extensively expanded.

Big changes

• Completely redesigned Lot Editor: The asset browser now supports searching, sorting, favorites, adjustable thumbnails and detailed hover information. Assets (props, flora, families, effects, textures, ...) can be searched by name, family member or source filename. The renewed editor also adds:
  •   Editable object position and rotation
  •   Alignment, centering, rotation and mirroring tools
  •   Configurable grid snapping
  •   Fit-to-lot and additional close-up zoom levels
  •   Layer visibility controls (i.e. temporarily turn on/off certain asset types to focus on others)
  •   Separate land and water placement constraints
  •   Better keyboard shortcuts and toolbar controls
  •   Persistent window layouts and column sizes
• Undo and redo in the Lot Editor: Lot editing is no longer a one-way process. Object placement, movement and other edits can be undone and redone, making complex lot work much safer and less frustrating.
• Timed, seasonal and animated prop previews: The Lot Editor preview system now understands more of what actually happens in-game. Date and time controls can be used to inspect timed and seasonal props, including playback and looping. Animated S3D and ATC models can be previewed and represented by animated thumbnails, while family variations can be inspected and selected directly.
• Day and night rendering in the Lot Editor (both Maxis night and SimFox DarkNite)
• Transit-enabled lot editing: The original release offered very limited support for transit-enabled lots. This edition adds a dedicated transit workflow with:
  •   Transit-object placement and inspection
  •   Edge-direction and edge-byte editing
  •   SC4Path discovery, parsing, previews and selection (i.e. the ability to assign custom paths to a TE tile)
  •   A structured Transit Switch Points editor
  •   Data-driven presets for common stations and transport combinations (thanks to @Tyberius06 for his wealth of knowledge on this!)
  •   Automatic calculation of relevant transit properties, costs and capacities
• Safer property / Filling Degree recomputation: Recomputing exemplar properties now opens a comparison showing what will be added, changed or removed. Individual changes can be selected before they are applied, helping preserve intentional manual overrides (i.e. OGs, etc.) and preventing unexpected bulk edits.
• Dedicated property editors: Several complex properties no longer have to be edited as opaque lists of numbers. Purpose-built editors are provided for areas such as:
  •   Occupant Groups and Occupant Type
  •   Transit Switch Points
  •   Building submenus
  •   Response curves
  •   Prop timing
• A new dependency report: The dependency dialog has been redesigned to find and clearly display all missing resources rather than stopping at an incomplete result. It understands additional resource types, and can use the SC4 Prop & Texture Catalog (thanks @nos.17 for providing this!) to provide more useful information about missing props and textures.
• Major loading and browsing improvements
• Additional improvements:
  • Configurable SimCity 4 Plugins location
  • High-DPI display support for crisper text and graphics for people with Retina or 4k monitors
  • MacOS compatibility (experimental!)
  • Numerous fixes for lot creation, exemplar values, models, textures, animations, ...

Installation

Extract the complete archive to a folder of your choice and run SC4PIM-X from there. On Windows, keep SC4PIMX.exe together with its accompanying _internal folder. The executable will not work correctly if it is copied out by itself. The packaged release is self-contained; users do not need to install Python separately. Settings, logs and generated caches are stored in: %APPDATA%\sc4pimx\

As with any modding utility, keep backups of files you intend to edit. This is a major reconstruction and expansion of an old application, so reproducible bug reports are welcome. Including the generated log will make problems much easier to investigate.

Credits and provenance

The original SC4PIM-X was created by wouanagaine in 2009. Its source was never published and was later lost. This edition was reconstructed from the surviving Python 2.4 bytecode and then modernized and expanded. The decompilation and modernization were carried out primarily using GitHub Copilot and Claude Code under human supervision and verification. Additional catalog entries and transit presets include community contributions by @Tyberius06. Thanks also go out to @Ulisse Wolf for maintaining and expanding the new_properties.xml file that SC4PIM-X relies on for accurate caclulation of property values for all kinds of buildings.

This is an unofficial community preservation and continuation project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Electronic Arts, Maxis or the original author. Rights to the original work remain with their respective owner.