Trixie Awards - Community Discussion Latest Topics

Why no Trixie Awards for the last 7 years?

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 05:17:03 +0000

Well?

Trixies 2015-2016: Awards Ceremony

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 00:00:03 +0000

Trixie Winners Announced -

The Llamas have finally been herded, the nominations finally counted, and the medals finally polished.
Please join us in congratulating the Trixie winners for 2015 and 2016!

The Trixies are a celebration of all types of community contributions, ranging from STEX uploads, CJ entries, all the way to forum posts. It's the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the amazing content shared over the past two years, and give a special 'thanks' to your fellow members.

Nominations were held earlier this year, and since then we've been busy behind the scenes getting this reveal ready. The past two years have flown by, and we are fortunate enough to have an event which we can celebrate community content produced during this time. A big congratulations go out to all winners and nominees for the past two years, and also to everyone who took part in the awards. Whether coming up with ideas or making one or many nominations, the Trixies wouldn't be possible without you all.

Winners Revealed Below

Browse through the next two posts which will reveal who has won Trixies each year. We then welcome all recipients to take the stage and say a few words, meanwhile we also encourage everyone to take join in the festivities congratulating the winners and discussing the content.

2015 Trixie Winners

City Journal Awards
Custom Content Awards
Forum Awards
Community Awards

2016 Trixie Winners

City Journal Awards
Custom Content Awards
Forum Awards
Community Awards

Click each of the above links to navigate to a specific section, or just keep on reading on...

Without further adieu, the Trixie winners for 2015 and 2016!

Trixies 2015-2016: General Feedback Thread

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 00:05:19 +0000

General Feedback Thread -

To help pass the time until the Awards Ceremony, here's a place to share your experiences of the new Trixies format.
What went well, and how can they be improved for next year?

As you're likely aware, this Trixies introduced various changes. Not only being the first time multiple years (2015 & 2016) were combined, but notably nominations were accepted in a special forum, allowing you to post and edit them in private. Based on your ideas, the Default Awards List was also created, and intended to provide a suitable baseline to cover the wide range of site contributions.

In summary, here's a few possible possible topics of discussion:

Award Categories
- Total available default awards: 101
  - Custom Content: 34
  - City Journals: 40
  - Community: 27
- Too little? Just right? Too many?
- Spread between categories.
- Coverage of types/themes?
- Any confusion or conflicting awards?
- Did the descriptions help or hinder?
Nomination Process
- How did you find it compared to years gone by?
- Were the instructions clear and easy to follow?
- Was it helpful to edit and view your nominations?
- Any issues along the way?
- Duration of nomination period: 23 days (including the 2 day extension).
  - Too short? Just right? Too long?
Trixies Build-up
- Interviews
  - To what extent were they helpful / enlightening?
  - Types of questions asked?
  - Format / presentation.
  - More for next year?
- Content lists (2015 / 2016)
  - Did they help with your decision making?
  - Were they a useful reference?
  - Should all content have been included in the lists?
  - Grouping per author or per category?
- Community discussion
  - How could this work better in future?
- Anything else which could be done in build-up?
Trixies Promotion
- Too sparse? Just right? Too excessive?
- When did you first become aware of the Trixies this time?
- How useful was the info banner at the top? Should anything else have been included?
- Were the countdown timers helpful?
- Visibility of the Trixies forum.
- Should any other banners have been added?
- Homepage features -- were they useful or too repetitive?
Anything else?
- Post away!

We're always looking to improve the Trixies, and this was really a learning experience for everyone. Hopefully it worked well as a comeback after being absent for such a long time. But like anything, there's always room for improvement going forward.

So if you've any comments or suggestions (even not on the above list), big or small, please post below and we'll take them into consideration. Feel free to post multiple times in this thread to your heart's content.

And of course, you don't have to answer all the above questions -- they're just pointers.

Thanks!

A Trixies Interview with korver

Sat, 25 Feb 2017 09:48:45 +0000

As part of the upcoming Trixie Season, the Staff team have been interviewing various prominent members of the community and asking them about their favorite STEX files and City Journals over the past two years, inspriation and creative workflow, along with life outside of Simtropolis. So without further ado, please welcome our third guest:

An Interview with Korver

Thank you very much for taking part in this interview korver.

Sure

We all have our own unique Simtropolis story. How did you first discover this community?

I first found out about ST actually back in late 2009. I finally got a computer that could play SC4 (I was playing SC3KU before then), so one of the first things I did was buy it and see what it was all about. I wasn't too impressed with the graphics at first.. well, until I discovered ST and started seeing all of the stuff people were making. Once I downloaded skyscraper's Burj Dubai.. I was instantly hooked. For a while, at least. I was off and on with the game over the next couple years, slowly improving my skills, but never really accomplishing a whole lot. Finally, towards the beginning of 2016 I rediscovered ST/SC4 and started to take it seriously for once. I finally built up enough courage to start a CJ, something I always thought about, but never thought I would be able to do.

What areas of the site do you tend to visit most frequently?

Currently, I tend to visit the CJ section the most, constantly seeing what everyone's up to and on the lookout for inspiration. I still browse the forums regularly - I used to participate more actively, but then RL and my CJ started eating up more time so I slowly became more of a lurker. I hope to become more active in 2017.

You usually create amazing realistic CJ entries. Outside of this genre, what is a work you have been very impressed with which is thematically at opposite ends to your style?

One very unique CJ which I have been very impressed with has been Utopolist's CJ "Utopolis". It's one of a kind, creating truly unique surrealistic scenes through SC4 and PS. Sometimes you don't really know what's going on, but that's the fun of it. You really have to think about each picture he makes and what it might possibly represent.

What are the steps in your creative process?

The first step for me is to pick out a scene that I think is going to be visually interesting. Usually, I want to pick out something that hasn't been done before, or will make the viewer say "wow!". So I'll do some research, digging through atlases, online lists, and then try to pick out the best scenes possible. From there, it's a matter of trying to recapture that feeling in the game, which can be difficult. Nature scenes are generally easier, as it's usually a bunch of MMPing. City scenes are much more of a time sink, as everything I do is custom lotted to ensure the highest level of realism possible in SC4. Some things like people and cars occasionally are MMPed after the fact, but generally the rest is lotted. After that, I'll make some adjustments in PS to make it seem more authentic and to bring it to life even more.

Your work is a source of inspiration for many. Who’s work inspires you?

I take my inspiration from many. It's something that I do in all phases of my life - I start off by doing some serious research, seeing who's the best in each aspect of whatever, and then putting my own spin on it in the end. So for SC4, that means my lotting is being inspired by the likes of Badsim, elavery, & Bastet. My MMPing is inspired by Yan077, Benoit, and Ln X. My photoshop is inspired by Huston, MilitantRadical, and marsh. So on and so forth. But.. If I had to choose one name, i'd have to go with SimHoTToDDy. His SBU is still one of my favorite CJs ever - everything in that CJ simply seemed to come together perfectly.

What advice would you give to a CJ newcomer, who was planning on creating their CJ?

I can think of two pieces of advice that really stand out to me above the rest. The first being, don't get too ahead of yourself. I actually struggled with this concept for many years. I'd always download entire region maps and try to complete it all, or make a recreation of an entire country, etc or something similarly overwhelming. As a result, I got very little done and it really slowed down my progression. Now, I just make recreations of smaller scenes (Well, except for Sydney, but I only did it once I knew I was capable of something like that), and it works out great for me. My second piece of advice would be to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Do something really unique and interesting, I think this is one of the best ways for people to really notice your work. So overall, it's all about finding that fine line between constantly pushing yourself, and not overdoing it.

Tell us one of your favourite pieces from the STEX in 2015 and 2016 and explain what it is about and why this is your favourite piece?

Favorite from 2016:

Heblem made a surprise appearance in 2016, and this building was well worth the wait. It's truly one of the most detailed, beautiful, and majestic looking buildings I've ever seen before on the STEX. Few buildings take your breath away when you first see them, but this is certainly one of them.

Favorite from 2015:

To me, this building was certainly the best of 2015. First off, it was in production for over 2 years and went through a number of revisions to make it absolutely perfect. But that final rendering time though, 332 hours! Now that's some real dedication. Not to mention some of the best nightlights I've ever seen before on a BAT. I just hope one day I'll be able to put it to good use in an update!

What's a quality piece of work on the STEX from the last two years which you think has been overlooked?

I'd have to go with Flunight Props Vol 01 MMP. For the longest time, Girafe has supplied us with great deciduous MMPs, but there hasn't been the same level of quality and variety when it comes to tropical MMPs. This pack changed all of that, and I've been using it extensively since it was released back in late May.

Has anyone's content surprised you from the last two years? In what way was this a surprise?

I think the biggest surprise to me was seeing the progression of Scribosilyn's work in his CJ, "Phoenix Project". From the summer until the end of the year, it was truly amazing to watch how fast he progressed and how realistic his scenes got. It takes most people many years to become that talented with MMPs, and he got there in a couple of months. He sorta came out of nowhere and now has one of the best CJs on ST, in my opinion.

Who is an up-and-coming member that we should look out for next year?

I'd probably go with Krisman here. I'm a obviously big fan of custom lotted cities, and I think he produces some of the best ones here on ST. He produced a string of very detailed updates towards the end of 2016 in his CJ "Principauté de Caravella-Guatalaga", and if he keeps it up in 2017 he could have a big year.

What are your favourite Simtropolis moments?

For me, my favorite moments are always seeing the comments and support I get after working really hard putting together an entry for my CJ. It really motivates me and makes the whole process worth it.

Thank you again for taking part in this Korver! I wish you the best!

Same to you, and thanks for letting me take part in this interview!

I hope you enjoyed reading this interview - We can assure you there will be more to come during the build-up!

- _Michael, Staff and Trixie Team

Overview of notable STEX content 2016

Sun, 19 Mar 2017 20:28:59 +0000

Just like the list for 2015, we have also prepared a similar list for 2016. Even though these uploads aren't as far in the past as the others, we felt like a little reminder/overview might be useful.

BATs and lots

Residential

@Adrianor debuted uploading some interesting sets for fans of Latin American BATs:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31284-r-pack-santiaguino-1/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31311-r-mini-pack-santiaguino-1/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31388-r-pack-santiaguino-2/

@rsc204 enters this category with a FAR re-lot project:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31280-mgb-its-nickelby-house-for-far-relots/

@kingofsimcity has relotted Maxis' vanilla mansions:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31308-maxis-mansion-overhaul/

@FrankU, true to his main focus, provided some Dutch housing:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30963-dutch-housing-project-set-1-the-pioneers/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30966-dutch-housing-project-set-2-before-1920/
Dutch Housing Project Volume 7

@Bombardiere brought some European W2W buildings to the STEX:
Clerkenwell Close
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30930-45-rue-jeanne-darc/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31011-clerkenwell-close-hd-version/

@gutterclub reminded us that rowhouses don't have to be old-fashioned:
Modern Row Home

@Bipin uploaded something with untypically little grime - a series of slope-friendly family homes:
Bipin's Hamilton - Two Storey House

@BIWDC also uploaded a family home:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30899-biwdc-house-v1-medium-wealth-residential-growable-landmark-versions/

@Edvarz took existing BATs of mid-rise wall-to-wall buildings and turned them into a lot pack:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30945-the-lat-am-project-wall-to-wall-pack/

@JP Schriefer contributed his recreation of a 70's highrise from Belo Horizonte (Brazil):
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30978-solar-das-paineiras-residential/

@mattb325 had a set of townhomes and an apartment complex in store for us:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30992-claridge-ii-townhome/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30998-parkland-lofts/

@nos.17 gave vnaoned's French Pavillions a spin for a lotting contest and shared the result with us:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30932-vip-vnaoned-french-pavillions-relot/

@Solid_Snake0911 made some typical wall-to-wall apartments from NY:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30922-277-275-water-street/

@Wallibuk not only does Eastern European stuff - he also gave us a pack of South American houses:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30944-south-american-houses-pack/

Commercial

@Adrianor's sets also cover small Latin American shops and offices for W2W use:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31294-cs-pack-santiaguino-1/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31322-co-pack-porteño-1/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31364-cs-pack-limeño-1/

@on001222 from Thailand uploaded these modern skyscrapers:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31331-amari-watergate-hotel-bangkok/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31397-interchange-21/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30947-ocean-tower-2/

@pclark06 made his STEX debut with these retail BATs:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31345-checkersrallys/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31349-extra-us-stores-for-mgb-convenience-store/

@JP Schriefer contributed some American-style commercial highrises for the Chicago/NY tilesets, but also modern stuff from Brazil:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31363-hauzeff-building/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31418-1001-6th-avenue/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30908-magnolia-building/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30987-tiradentes-building/

@Solid_Snake0911 also made an Art Deco highrise from NY:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31381-120-wall-street-maxisnite/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31382-120-wall-street-darknite/

@jijdlswns made a modern highrise from Korea:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31391-lotte-fitin/

@11241036 gave Maxis' Lee Shopping Mall a re-lot:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31286-lee-shopping-mall/

@kingofsimcity applied his new parking textures to several offices and shops:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31295-its-office-parks-zurich-house-portsmouth/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31010-its-office-parks-holbourne-offices/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31020-its-office-parks-folegate-leasings/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31385-kosc-sg-large-shopping-center-relot/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31009-rem-gascookers-tesco-supermarket/

@madhatter106 uploaded one of his signature packs to counter vanilla building repetition:
Midrise Office Pack Volume 7

@gutterclub shared one of his small-footprint W2W buildings with us:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30902-shaky-isles-coffee-co-maxisnite/

@Huston contributed a Brazilian skyscraper for the Río Olympics event:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30973-gbt-105-lélio-gama/

@Jasoncw also participated, with two buildings from the South American city:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30962-windsor-atlantica-hotel/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31028-994-vargas-avenue/

@mattb325 had a wide variety in store, ranging from low-rise retailers to mid-rise offices:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30923-golden-state-insurance/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30959-teville-square/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30974-uk-retailers-pack-dark-nite/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30976-american-city-bank/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30986-the-bon-marche/

@patfirefghtr uploaded a smaller office building in memory of Mike (OP4):
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31027-itc-mdk-memorial-building/

@Urban Abstraction contributed something that's not done very often - a night club:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31014-avenue-nightclub/

Industrial

@Mary Maurine Mayo made a return to the forum, producing two rural buildings:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31282-kcp_corinas-soy-farm/
Mikes Tree Farm

@MushyMushy chose a Maxis industry building for a relotting project:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31290-willmott-widget-assembly-remastered/

@Simmer2 gave us a set of pipelines and power transformers to complement those industrial areas:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31315-sm2-aqueduct/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31369-sm2-main-transformers/

@CT14 debuted in custom content creation with a trio of industrial-styled BATs
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31316-llama-terminal-company/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31323-saber-la-river/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31361-troy-gasholder-building/

@Ro-Bo was up for another unusual subject, buyos to generate power:
RB Offshore Power Plants: PowerBuoys

@nos.17 made two distribution centers / freight yards that tie both into his own relotting project and into the IRM:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30954-irm-distribution-center-freight-yard/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30943-b62-remastered-irm-lowes-distribution/

Civic

@Manuel-ito covered various Maxis buildings with his "Maxis Renewal" re-lot series, including civic buildings:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31314-maxis-renewal-civics/

@Fantozzi reimagined some existing buildings as police stations:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31333-law-order/

@Bombardiere brought as an old-fashioned scrap metal yard:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31141-steptoe-son-scarp-metal-yard/

@markussaage made two county courthouses, one for new and one for old cities :
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30895-new-county-courthouse/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31041-old-county-courthouse/

@mattb325 uploaded a dental clinic and a civic center:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30940-dental-clinic/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31001-council-chambers-and-civic-center/

@Simmer2 brought VesterDK's Swan Mill power plant to us:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31025-sm2-nuts-vdk-swan-mill-power-plant/

@thegrindre combined two Maxis industry buildings for a water & air cleaner:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31016-rah-wat-air-inc-v2/

Transit

@Manuel-ito covered various Maxis buildings with his "Maxis Renewal" re-lot series, including utilities and transport:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31288-maxis-renewal-utilities-and-transport/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31209-maxis-grand-rail-station-facelift/

@nos.17 uploaded a streetside parking set:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31359-nos17-streetside-parking-ssp/

@Tyberius06 started his lotting carrer with a huge modular seaport complex
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31296-heretic-seaport-project/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31358-heretic-seaport-project-expansion/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31379-heretic-slope-side-walls/

@Simmer2 created a bunch of big rail complexes, including stations and logistics centres:
SM2 Gogar Tram Depot
Rail Service Yard
SM2 SG SimTropolis Station DTR
SM2 Rail Service Yard 2
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31370-sm2-central-train-station/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30960-sm2-hump-yard/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30968-sm2-true-rrw-dtr-sidings-vol1/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30999-sm2-intermodalterminalzip/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31007-sm2-train-repair-yardzip/

@Takingyouthere uploaded a diagonal rail tunnel portal that converts heavy rail to subway traffic:
Diagonal Rail Tunnel

@Bipin shared some FLUP covers with us that can be used to change the appearance of FLUP entrances/exits:
Bipin's Cosmetic FLUP Covers

@Moonraker0 contributed a street parking mod for NWM sections:
NWM Street Parking

@Fantozzi also ventured into the rail department an tried his hands on a freigth yard:
Real Freightyard V2

@kingofsimcity released his modular parking lots on a series of complementary releases
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30941-kosc-sp-modular-parking-base-set/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30953-kosc-sp-modular-parking-diagonal-set/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30958-kosc-sp-modular-parking-add-on-pack-1/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31024-kosc-sp-modular-parking-extension-set/

@mattb325 shared Chicago's Grand Central Terminal with us:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30925-chicago-grand-central-terminal/

@rsc204 created some light rail warehouses and a handful of basic lots to show them in work:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30927-mgb-rdp-starter-lots/

Education

@Bombardiere reminded us that W2W doesn't have to be limited to RCI with this library:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31404-clerkenwell-library/

@Diego Del Llano let the skyscrapers aside for a bit, to model a post-modernist museum
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30964-denver-art-museum-frederic-c-hamilton-building/

Park

@rsc204 once again created a dependency and a teaser lot to show it in operation - this time for tennis parks & clubs:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31320-mgb-tennis-club/

@Manuel-ito covered various Maxis buildings with his "Maxis Renewal" re-lot series, including parks & recreation:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31283-maxis-renewal-parks-and-recreation/

@11241036 brought a mayor's square and a modular plaza system to the STEX:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31313-mayors-square/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31351-modular-plaza-system-mps/

@kingofsimcity shared a tennis park set and some open grass fillers for FA networks with us:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31324-aot-tennis-parks-beta-green-green-tennis-greens/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31362-kosc-fa2-open-grass-fillers/

@flunight gave us the most characteristic part of Río on a modular beach set:
Flunight Copacabana Beach

@DocRorlach is remembered here with a traditionally dependency-heavy sports park:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31044-wmp-grand-sport-park/

@FrankU made a cemetery reward that acts as a sequel to the Maxis cemeteries:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31022-wezenveld-cemtery-reward/

Landmark

@ussoldier2002 dedicated an upload to our deceased Resident Moose:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31317-a-nonny-moose-memorial/

@KOSMO* contributed Barcelona's famous football stadium and one of New York's landmarks to this STEX category:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31277-camp-nou/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31366-liberty-island/

@nos.17 brought us two lots that set the famous statue by reddonquixote/Travis and ripptide's Palacio Cristal in a new context:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31330-el-cristo-redentor/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31396-palacio-cristal-redone/

@Heblem did an intempestive release, a neoclassisist palace inspired on the cancelled Mexican Legislative Palace
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31334-hbs-palacio-legislativo/

@JP Schriefer gave us a completed governmental building, the seat of the brazilian executive:
Palácio do Planalto

@Stanďák contributed an Eastern European church:
SimPrague St. Wenceslas Church

@adambailey39 uploaded two stadiums:
DU Rivers Stadium
DU Tigers Stadium

@alvaro6j recreated one of the wold's most famous ocean liners for SimCity:
Queen Mary 2

@Ng_pillow uploaded his first BAT, a massive complex from Singapore:
1 Shenton Way

@Fantozzi reminded us that landmarks often attract buses full of tourists - and made it possible to plop those:
Mass Tourism

@FrankU made a Dutch-style version of the farm fair:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30967-franku-dutch-farm-fair/

@nos.17 gave dmscopio's Staples Center a spin and uploaded a new lot:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31017-dmscopios-staples-center-revisited/

@SpiritOf69 uploaded two WWII bunkers:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31015-ww2-german-bunkerfortification/

@Takingyouthere added a whole series of telecommunications towers to the STEX:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31029-russian-style-tv-tower-hd-version/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31030-kiro-tv-tower/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31031-x-tv-tower/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31032-torre-da-tv-record-hd-version/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31036-wbns-tv-tower-hd-version/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31045-mount-royal-transmission-tower/

@Wallibuk brought as a monastery from Georgia (the country on the Caucasus):
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31037-gelati-monastery-georgia/

Props & Automata

@flunight uploaded a set of flora props as well as a dependency for tropical beaches:
Flunight Props Vol 1 - Flora
Flunight Props Vol 2 - Copacabana

@Mary Maurine Mayo accompanied her lot/BAT uploads with some farming and SimMars prop packs:
JBM_LNX_Mega_proppack
LNX JBM Mega Prop pack
SM_Mars Props

@11241036 broadened the selection of available lot foundations and retaining walls:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31346-various-lot-foundations-and-retaining-walls/

@metarvo made a pack of power poles available on the STEX:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31263-metarvo’s-power-pole-pack-p3-models-volume-1/

@tiemanjw uploaded a set of three modern navy vessels:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30950-navy-set-1/

Textures

@flunight made the iconic Copacabana sidewalk pattern available as a set of lot textures:
Flunight Textures

@VeeTHis shared a set of plaza textures:
Plaza Texture Pack

@Mary Maurine Mayo not only accompanied her uploads with props, but also with a texture pack:
JBM Mega Texture Pack

@matias93 made a basaltic sand texture for volcanic beaches:
Basaltic Sands Texture

@kingofsimcity made his extensions of shktherapy's parking textures available to Simtropolis users:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30934-supershk-parking-textures-vol-1/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31006-supershk-mega-parking-textures/

@Simmer2 contributed a texture set for rail in concrete:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31021-sm2-rrw-nsb-tex/

@VeeTHis uploaded another plaza texture pack:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31163-plaza-texture-pack-10/

Mods & Tools

@InvisiChem made a new, fixed and improved version of the CAM available, as well as suitably tuned CAM replacements for Maxis residential buildings:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30956-colossus-addon-mod/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30990-cam-r-maxis-building-replacements-full-pim-x/

Maps

The following users added to the map pool on the STEX:

@Urban Constanta:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31087-la-salle/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31332-empire-bay/

@CorinaMarie:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31100-borilyn-map/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31107-corindiana-map/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31127-coriland-4/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31147-coriland-22-map/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31149-cori-10x10-lg-tiles-map/

@TheLynx99:
Stripe Island
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31019-the-sparkle-kingdom/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31151-fluffy-island/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31155-the-sparkle-kingdom-complete-edition/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31352-the-sparkle-kingdom-se/

@BugeyedDragon:
Krampa DeSimmia

@Mary Maurine Mayo:
WaterLand

@RandyE:
Dovetail Region
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31138-arcological-donut-region-map-with-city-layout/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31168-atlantis-region-map/

@Ryosuke10:
Cuba

@alexismh:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30890-bogotá-colombia/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31412-monterrey-mexico/

@DecodingInspire:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31380-forest-valley/

@Dollar Tower$:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31299-nfsu2-bayview-map-beta/

@elliotwiley:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31178-cape-york-blue-summit/

@h4n53n1:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30912-greater-yosemithzip/

@IHA:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31287-planet-sim/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31292-united-kingdom/
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31300-north-america/

@Isme:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31096-la-réunion-political-island/

@Putin:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31165-randgen-map-№1/

@TOVOT:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/31329-tovot-phoenix-map/

@Trylk255:
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30903-demo-region-isle-001/

_______________

Phew, there we are. A big shout out to @matias93, @JP Schriefer and @Hamish for help putting all this together. I hope this will help one or two of you to make a choice, and some nominations! I need a drink now. No, make that two... bottles.

Trixie Nominations Now CLOSED!

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 02:09:42 +0000

The Nominations are now CLOSED!

The greatest time of year has arrived, the Trixies are upon us and the nominations have officially opened. The Trixies are a celebration of all types of community contributions, ranging from STEX uploads to CJs, all the way to forum posts. It's the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the amazing content shared over the past two years, and give a special 'thanks' to your fellow members.

We last held the Trixies for the year 2014, so understandably, we have a lot to catch up on. This year things are little different. We won't be holding just one ceremony, but two at the same time: One each for 2015 and 2016. Since we last held the Trixies Simtropolis has been through a lot of change, which unfortunately means we’ve had to change the way were conducting the nominations this year. However, we think these changes will make it easier for you guys to nominate members, and continue to nominate throughout the nominations period.

The biggest difference is that you will be posting your nominations on the forums. Don’t worry though, no one apart from the admins will be able to see your nominations, just like it was before! Let’s go through how this is all going to work.

Nominations Closed on April 5th

How To Nominate

As we’ve mentioned before, nominating members for awards will be a little different this year. Read the guides below to know how you are going to be nominating members for awards this year, and take note of some slight rule changes which will allow you to nominate members for multiple awards.

Where To Nominate

This year, all your nominations will be submitted as posts in the forum linked below.

Submit Trixie Nominations Here!

This forum behaves differently from every other forum on Simtropolis. No one else can see any of the posts or topics you create within it. In lieu of our traditional nominations system, which is now incompatible with ST, this will be where all of your nominations are submitted this year. This comes with some great benefits though! You’ll be able to see all of your nominations at all times, so you can remember what you have nominated and who you have nominated, and you’ll be able to edit these at any time just in case you nominated someone for the wrong award.

It may feel a bit weird at first, but trust us that only admins will see your nominations.

Submitting and Formatting your Nominations

Since everything has changed, how will you be submitting nominations? Its easy, just follow our guide below!

1. Firstly, take a look through the List of Trixie Awards for 2015 - 2016.

2. You’ll first find an award which you want to nominate someone for and copy its award title.

3. From there navigate to the Submit Trixie Nominations Here! forum and create a new topic.

4. Paste the award title into the topic title box, and add a couple of tags:

The name of the member you are nominating.
The year you are nominating them for.

5. Then in your post, please include the following information:

The Title of the award.
Who you are nominating.
The Year you are nominating this award for.
A short Description as to why you think they deserve this award.

To help ensure you include these details, feel free to copy and paste the following template into your posts to match the guidelines:

Quote

Award Title

Member Name

Year

Short Description

Don’t forget to add this info for each of your nominations, or else they may not be counted.

I’ll repeat these briefly below:

Topic Title: The Award Title.
Tags: Nominated member, and Year.
Post Text: Award Title, Member Name, Year, Short Description.

To submit another nomination, simply start another topic.

Ceremonies for both 2015 and 2016

We last held the Trixies for the year 2014, and due to issues we weren’t able to open up the nominations last year for 2015’s content. During these nominations we invite you to nominate content from 2015 as well as 2016. In the end, we aren't just holding one ceremony, but two at the same time: One each for 2015 and 2016.

During the run up to the nominations opening we’ve had a series of discussions, interviews, and retrospectives aiming to highlight content from 2015 and 2016 in the hopes that you won’t forget what has been created during those years.

This is why it is important for you to distinguish what year you are nominating a member for.

Rule Changes

This year we are making a slight change to how many times you can nominate a member. Traditionally you could only nominate any given member for one award. But this time, this rule is being expanded. It used to be that someone would only create amazing buildings, or only write beautiful CJs. However, now we have members who cover lots of different parts of the site, for the previous Trixies it was increasingly difficult to nominate them for just one award.

This time we are making the change to allow you to nominate a member for up to 3 different awards in both 2015 and 2016. We hope that you submit multiple nominations for a single member to awards in different sections of the Trixies, but we aren't making that a specific rule as there are awards in sections which relate to very different skill sets. Use this new ability wisely...

Cities: Skylines in the Trixies

Over the past two years we’ve seen the release of a new game which has swept Simtropolis, Cities: Skylines. In the past we’ve never had another city building game which made as much impact on our community as SimCity 4 originally did, so this is the first time the Trixies have had to accommodate another game. You’ll notice that most of the descriptions for awards no longer call out any specific game, that is because all of these awards are intended to be relatable to both games.

When nominating, remember the great content created for both games these previous two years, rather than the content from a single game.

Quick FAQ

Multiple or single threads for nominations?
Posting each nomination in its own thread is preferred, as this helps with the processing.
Really though, it's up to you. If posting in a single thread is easier for you to manage or edit, that's perfectly fine. At the end of nominations, the Llama Crew will attempt to count anything inside the forum.
For both years, how many nominations per user?
In each year, you may nominate any individual member up to 3 times.
So this means for both 2015 & 2016 combined, you could nominate someone up to 6 times.
Who can I nominate?
Any Simtropolis user (member or staff) can be nominated for any award. The processing will determine whether a given user is eligible.
How many custom "Ad Hoc" awards may I nominate?
As many as you'd like!
Feel free to be creative with the title & description if a default award isn't suitable for what you have in mind.
Is there a limit to how many nominations I can submit?
Yes, the sky.

Final Words

We hope you have a great Trixies...
And remember, Nominate early and Nominate Often!

Trixies Default Awards List

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 02:16:06 +0000

Trixies 2015 - 2016 Default Awards List -

Trixies 2015 - 2016 are upon us, and its time to start submitting your nominations. Listed below are the default awards we are suggesting you nominate members for this time. There are more here than we have included in previous years, this was obtained by discussion with the community and further narrowed down by staff discussion. Each category, Custom Content, City Journals and Community is broken down into three subsections, this will help you in narrowing down which sections you are most involved with. Visit the Nominations Guidelines topic on how nominating has changed this year.

Nom Nom Nom...

Custom Content Awards

Overall

STEX Community Favourite

When asked who was the STEX Community Favourite, most people chose this individual.

Best Development Thread

This award is for the person who curates the best development thread, through either providing an insight into their own creative process, writing tutorials or just by being the best at documenting the twists and turns of creating content for the STEX.

Most Useful Feedback in Custom Content Threads

This award is for the person who provides great, behind the scenes support for other people's BATs. Helping out, giving valuable instruction, and doing those annoying but necessary tasks needed to bring a quality BAT to the STEX.

Highest Overall Quality

This award goes to the person whose creations are consistently outstanding.

Best Effort In Compatibility

Most clear work dedicated to avoid one custom content to break the game when used in combination with others

Best Large Scale Project

The scale and scope of this project is so impressive that it's taken a great amount of work to pull off. This award goes to the member who has created the best large scale project.

Most Beautiful Small Addition

This award goes to the member who has created a tiny yet extremely beautiful addition to the game.

Best Re-creation

This BAT is the best recreation of a specific, real life building, done with total devotion to complete and thorough accuracy.

Most Important Discovery/Innovation

It seems that some relatively small steps for Modders can lead to some pretty giant leaps for simkind. This award has been invented for the one who sits at the desk in the Mission Control of Modding. Houston, we have a Trixie!

Most Inventive Creation

With many different cities come many different ways which buildings or creations could adapt to their surroundings, and the only way to overcome this is to make an inventive creation to cover all bases. This member created the most inventive addition to our game.

Highest Technical Achievement in Custom Creations

This award goes to the individual who has pushed the boundaries of custom content beyond what we once knew, and who have shared their discoveries with the rest of the community.

Most Realistic Creation

This award goes to the member who has created a BAT which is extremely realistic. This is a fictional building, yet is so well detailed we could be forgiven in assuming it was a real world recreation.

Most Useful Creation

These creations fill a void that many of us feel came with the vanilla game. They are useful because they make our cities feel more complete.

BATs & LOTs

BAT of the Year

The nominations are in, and it was decided that this BAT was the best creation this year.

BATer of the Year

This member is the best overall BATer this year. Multiple BATs at an outstanding level of quality, mixed with their ability to constantly help others in BAT threads makes this member the best BATer this year.

Best BAT Newcomer of the Year

Big splashes have been made in the community this year by this new BATer!

Best Industrial BAT of the Year

Industrial parks are an absolute essential in our cities. But they are often under represented as BATers choose more glamorous subjects. That is not the case for this member. We feel a sneeze coming on due to their dusty realness, because industrial structures have never felt a more reverential touch.

Big Building of the Year

Buildings come in all sizes, but this is the best skyscraper, highrise or major complex created this year.

Small Building of the Year

Buildings come in all sizes, but this is the best small building, house, shack, service, warehouse created this year.

Most Improved BATer

This award goes to the BATer who has shown the most improvement during the year.

Most Luminous Illuminator

Lighting, or more specifically night lighting, creates such completely dramatic changes to the way we view our BATs in game. This award goes to the BATer who provided lighting that is the most realistic, most technically advanced, most beautifully fitting, or even the most outlandishly eye-catching.

Favourite BAT team

This award goes to the community's favourite BAT team.

Lot of the Year

Buildings must go on some kind of LOT, and this LOT is the best we have seen this year.

Best Lotter

This award recognizes the skill of the individual who puts a high level of polish to each lot creation, and has received acclaim from the community with every lot that is created.

Best ReLOT

Taking an existing building and giving it a new lease of life is an important skill. This award goes to the member who has created the best reLOT this year.

Mods, Maps & Others

Mod of the Year

All votes are now in, and it has been decided by the community that this Mod was the best creation this year.

Most Dedicated Modder

This award recognizes the Modder who has stretched most to go above and beyond, to bring us their best possible work in some shape or form.

Modding Tool of the Year

Modding Tools are constantly being created to advance our creations. This award goes to the Modding Tool which has changed our game the most this year.

Map of the Year

This award goes to the Map of the Year, the best map which has graced the STEX this year.

Best New Mapper

This award goes to the Map Rookie of the Year

Most Creative Map

This award goes to the creator that has satisfied our need for maps that don't follow the normal trends. Not only are they playable, but they are the most original and creative map of this year

Best Real World Recreation Map

People love creating cities in real world locations, this map is the best recreation of a real world location.

Best Fictional Map

This award goes to the best fictional map created this year.

Best Automata

SC4 players are in love with their automata. We love to cruise the streets, hop a bus, ride the rails, and fly the friendly skies. This award goes to the member who has ensured we can do all of the above.

City Journal Awards

Overall

City Journal of the Year

The nominations are in, and it was decided that this City Journal was the best creation this year.

Best City Journal Startup

This award goes to our favourite new City Journaler whose first CJ has become an immediate favourite.

Best Work in Progress City Journal

Some people not only show their finished cities, but also the construction and all other building and planning processes. This award is for the member who's done the best behind the scenes Work-In-Progress presentation.

Most Awe-inspiring City Journal

This award goes to the City Journal that has held members in awe longer than any other CJ this year.

Most Eye Catching and Original Title

As a good headline is what draws us into a newspaper article, a good title draws us into a CJ. This award goes to the member with the best CJ title.

Best Planning

The best planner award recognizes the mayor who thinks ahead, looks at the region, and establishes a plan for what to do next before proceeding.

Best Attention to Detail

Many CJ's include pictures that are zoomed in to the max, showing their detailed downtowns, lots, and other features. This award is for the CJ that pays a great deal of attention to detail and perfection.

Best Functional City Journal

This award goes to the City Jorunaler who has created the city which could function the best in the real world. This Journal pays close attention to functionality over everything else.

Best Narration

This award goes to the City Journal that makes us feel at home in the city, providing familiar landmarks while telling us the story of a city

Best Overall Design

City Journalers pay close attention to how every part of their Journals look, from how their entries are formatted and posted, to how compose the images they post. This award goes to the member who has the best designed City Journal overall.

Best Photoshopping

This award goes to the member who has the best photoshopping of any CJ. From creating different worlds, to balancing image colours, this member used Photoshop to enhance their images in the most creative way possible.

Best Roadgeek

Every City Journal must have roads, but the recipient of this award paid attention to the detail of each and every road to ensure they had proper functionality and use for the Sims who would be using it everyday.

Best Use of Added Media

Not all that we see in City Journals is real. But of them all, this CJ stood out above them all with the best use of added graphics, sound, or video in a CJ at Simtropolis.

Most Miraculous Mosaic

A picture can be worth a thousand words. Three pictures meticulously stitched together can be worth a million. This award goes to member with the mosaic that shows them the most!

Content

Best Airports

We've seen many examples of airports in CJs this year, this members CJ has paid close attention to the design of their Airport, and we celebrate them with this award.

Best Application of a Single Public Transportation System

This award recognises the the CJ who has paid close attention to a specific Public Transportation System. Bus, Rail, Monorail, Tram or Ferry, this system is the best, and inspires others to replicate its greatness.

Best Transportation Network

Not everyone drives to work, and not all businesses ship their goods by road. This CJ shows the power of a well-designed public transport network, from the smallest bus stop to the largest rail terminal. Ships, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; this award goes to the member who presents the best of the first three.

Best CBD

Every major city has a CBD, and our CJs love creating CBDs of their own. This award goes to the best example of CBDs that we've seen in CJs this year.

Best Custom Lotting

Most CJs make use of the great creations uploaded to the STEX, but this member has gone beyond that to create amazing custom LOTs for thier own city.

Best Industry

The gritty grime of the industry doesn't escape most cities, but this member has fully embraced the smog and pollution of their industry and created CJ which showcases how great their industrial zone is.

Best MMP Use

Mayor Mode Ploppables give us a great way to build amazing places within our city, adding an extra level of detail to our cities. This member has fully embraced MMPs to create an amazing area within their CJ.

Best Natural Environment/Landscape Area

Some CJs are designed to show off the beautiful beaches, river valleys, and mountains in their region. This award is for the CJ that best showcases the region's natural terrain.

Best Parks

Sometimes you need a break from the concrete jungle. Scenic beauty and recreation are elements of this award. This creator has created the ultimate in parks using a naturalistic setting.

Best Road Map

This award goes to the member who has documented their city in the most amazing road map we have seen this year.

Best Rural/Agriculture

Cities and skyscrapers are great, but rural towns are fantastic too. This award is for the CJ that best depicts a rural area.

Best Suburban Area

This award goes to the member who pays the best attention in designing realistic and liveable suburbs.

Best Urban Area

This award goes to the member who has created the best city overall. Many CJs exhibit great parts of their city, but this award goes to the CJ which creates the best city overall.

Best Use of Railroads

Railroads are the backbone of many cities, transporting freight or commuters. This award goes to the CJ which has given us the best example of what a railroad can be.

Most Effective Use of Custom Content

This award goes to the best use of Lots and BATs in a single City Journal. The owner of this Journal had many different brands of custom content, but had them placed so that they all complimented each other in perfect harmony

Style

Best North American Style City Journal

This award goes to the CJ which is the best example of a city created in the style of other North American cities.

Best Asian Style City Journal

This award goes to the CJ which is the best example of a city created in the style of other Asian cities.

Best European Style City Journal

This award goes to the CJ which is the best example of a city created in the style of other European cities.

Best Fictional City Journal

This award goes to the best fictional city, a city which is neither sci-fi nor a real world recreation, but a city with its own style, history and location.

Best Real World Recreation

Many CJs are based off of real life locations, or share similar styles with real cities. This CJ goes beyond that to have the closest recreation of a real world location.

Best Science Fiction City Journal

The member who wins this award really deserves a lot of credit for designing cities and a region that we could only imagine in a Science Fiction novel.

Best Historical City Journal

City Journals introduced a new way of learning and living a bit of history. From the Roman Empire to the 19th century, some players decided to go beyond the four predetermined tilesets and write their own little part in history. This award goes to the member who has better told us ancient stories and ways of life.

Best Grimy/Grunge City Journal

This award goes to the CJ with the best dirty, grimy, yucky, garbage/crime infested cities. Quite a few cities out in the CJ's have some nasty areas. This award would go to the best grimy city in the Journals section.

Most Entertaining City Journal

This award is for the City Journal that is really fun. The text, the screenshots, and the everyday life of the theme city are very entertaining.

Most Informative City Journal

This award goes to the CJ which keeps us informed about real world events or topics, through its narrative it is able to keep us up to date with important topics or current events.

Most Weird City Journal

This award goes to the weirdest CJ that we've read this year.

Community Awards

Overall

Best Avatar

Some avatars are interesting; some not so much. This award goes to the member whose avatar was deemed the most entertaining.

Merit of Team Spirit

Without teamwork, a project can become chaos. This award goes to the team best able to overcome adversity and to stick together through thick and thin. This team has shown real dedication to making these projects work.

Best Captain

Every group has an enduring leader steering the ship. This award goes to the leader which has aided our groups the most this year.

Best Collaboration

Many creators have different strengths in different areas of their craft. This award goes to the members who combined their talents to create the best collaboration on any project.

Chat Insomniac Award

This award goes to the member who is up until the wee hours of the morning chatting and providing buckets of laughter at the same time.

Friendliest Chatter

This award recognizes the individual who has always been helpful and chatty in the chat rooms.

Enduring Dedication Award

Simtropolis has changed much through the ages. The award goes to a member whose dedication, work, and contributions have helped make the site evolve into its current form.

Funniest Overall Member

Pwning a troll is funny and all, but we don't have that many trolls anymore. While the others are waiting for a troll to declare their superiority over, this member keeps the rest of us laughing.

Most Consistently Helpful Member

The most consistently forumer is recognized for tirelessly answering questions when possible, often answering the same ones over and over with good cheer, is always eager to share knowledge and point the uninitiated toward the light.

Most Improving Member

Occasionally, a member will get off to a rocky start. Some never recover but others manage to learn the rules and become solid members of the community. This award is for the Simtropolian who has shown the greatest increase in socialization skills during their time here.

Most Welcoming to Newcomers

Some just give a simple "Welcome to the site" to new members who join the site. This member was always there to meet and greet newcomers to the community.

Technical Denizen

The threads in our Bugs & Technical Issues forums discuss many issues. This award honours the best techie who answers the wide range of questions that people raise.

Staff Eye Within the Storm

The staff member with the ability to keep their head when all about them people are losing theirs and blaming it on them.

Forum Specific

Friendliest Forumer

This award recognizes the most friendly forumer, one who is always piping in with good cheer and making newbies feel at home.

Highest Quality Poster

Many members have high post counts, some stretching well into the ten-thousands. But sometimes its quality, not quantity, that matters. This award goes to the person who may not have a high post count, but puts a lot of thought into their posts to ensure that each one matters.

Best Instructions in Gameplay/Strategies

This award recognises the member who is consistently helpful in conveying gameplay strategies to others, either through the use of tutorials or suggestions in threads or CJs.

Best Picture Post in a "Show us your ..." Thread

Sometimes it's best to just show the world your masterpiece. This award goes out to the most fascinating addition to the "Show us your ..." threads.

Best Tutorial

While the game may be ten years old, new things and new ways of doing old things keep popping up. This award is for the member who demonstrated a useful procedure in a tutorial.

Most Engaging Off-Topic

This award recognizes the member whose contributions in the Off-Topic section are above and beyond the usual high quality. The winner has a positive attitude, and engages the readers of their posts by making relevant and useful comments.

Most Informed Member on Real World Events

This award goes to the member who is most likely to be reading the newspaper right now. This member is constantly engaged with global events and is relied on to keep us informed of what's going on in the world today.

Other

Most Active Non-City Builder

This award is for the user who does not play a city builder game, but still contributes a massive amount to the Simtropolis forums.

Most Creative But Impossible to Solve Request

Sometimes we get questions or requests for a creation which is so unique that it is probably impossible to create. This award goes to the member whose request is so unique that it is impossible to create for our games.

Most Promising Announcement Fulfilled

We are promised great things from many creators, and are usually treated to the completion of their announcement. This award goes to the member who promised the most and has finally delivered their amazing concept to reality.

Saddest City Builder Moment Caught on Picture

This award goes to the creator who managed to document the lowest moment of their city. This could be from a natural disaster, a silly bug or from an incredibly bad planning decision. This members misfortune gave us a smile, and so we reward them with this token of our gratitude.

Simtrop Walking Library

Every community has a member who knows so much about the site we belong to. They are always there to provide us with historical facts about Simtropolis, and this award recognises them within the history of ST.

The Member Who Was Everywhere

This award goes to a member whose dedication, work, and contributions have helped make the site a welcoming and enjoyable place for all.

We Miss You; Come Back

In an online community such as this, people come and go as Real Life Syndrome takes over. Sometimes, we lose someone who we really would rather have kept among us. This award goes to the person we miss the most and wish to hear from in the next year.

Ad Hoc Awards

Remember, if you don’t see the award you wanted to give someone listed above, you may create a custom "Ad Hoc" award.

Create a title, and write why you are giving them the award in your description. The Admins will review all custom requests and decide if the award has enough merit to be given to that member.

Overview of notable STEX content 2015

Sun, 12 Mar 2017 23:43:32 +0000

Hello everybody!

With the Trixie nominations opening soon and the year 2015 so far back, we thought it would be a good idea to provide a little overview list that contains most STEX uploads we thought to be notable - "notable" as in: hopefully useful to be aware of so you have a little orientation for the upcoming Trixie nominations.

So if you find yourself scratching your head and wondering something along these lines...

What has been made and uploaded in 2015 anyway?
Has BAT artist XYZ even been active back then already? / Was that BAT I remember uploaded in 2015?
Did something slip under my radar?
Were there other uploads in the same category that could rival the one I'd nominate?

...then the following list may be helpful. It is sorted into broad categories, and I added some brief descriptions and comments here and there. The list is sorted in the order of appearance (i.e. as I found stuff when I sifted through the STEX) and not a ranking of any kind. While it is certainly not perfect, we sincerely hope it will be helpful. Should you find any mistakes, don't hesitate to comment!

It is worth noting that some entries may be featured in more than one category because they have multiple purposes.

We'd also like to remind you that we have a discussion thread where you can share your personal favourites. This list is formatted as links only (no pictures) because it would take ages to load otherwise, but of course you can feel free to take it as a resource to pick out and present your personal favourites - with images and whatever you like. Picking from this list may be more handy than browsing all those STEX pages again.

So without further ado, here's the list for 2015:

BATs and lots

Commercial

@nos.17 has taken care of @Bobbo662's old retail BATs and given them new and much improved lots, filling the low-rise commercial services category - examples:

@madhatter106 has uploaded more of his gmax-made BATs that are tailor-made to compete with similarly sized/themed/styled Maxis counterparts to increase variety and help eliminate boring repetition:

@JP Schriefer has become a serious uploader with several assets - among them, these commercial buildings:

@Huston had one of his SC3000 remakes and a pencil office tower for us:

@Aaron Graham has contributed one more of his signature Art Deco wall-to wall apartments to both the residential and the commercial category:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30167-nybt-2639-and-2641-jerome-avenue/

@xonedl, who I believe has moved on to create stuff for C:S afterwards, made this:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30178-xdl-the-spring-shopping-mall/

@Seraf made these commercial buildings for the NYBT:

@IDS2 was very active and contributed several uploads, among them the following commercial buildings:

@nofunk also released some commercial BATs:

@Jasoncw, as always, has made "a few" uploads - here his commercial BATs:

@kellydale2003 was still active in 2015, contributing this to the commercial category:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30475-bay-adelaide-centre-west/

@Bombardiere has made this pack that covers residential and commercial, and even more:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30539-london-townhouse-pack/

@kingofsimcity began with his re-lot series, catering to the needs of people who like suburban offices and retail:

@Ceafus 88 also contributed a building to this category:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30864-burger-king-v20/

@mattb325 uploaded several car dealershups and two more commercial buildings:

@Bipin had these gas stations for us:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30878-bipins-gas-stations/

@Krio has made some Northern European W2W BATs that also fall into the commercial category:

Residential

@Wallibuk is featured in this category with an entire set with city walls etc that can be used to piece together a historical Eastern European village.

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30117-slovakhungarian-smalltown/

@JP Schriefer also made a residential BAT in 2015:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30727-porthos-building/

@Huston contributed to the residential category with this one, which is part of a semi-sci-fi building series designed to display Vancouver in the not-so-far future:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30542-metmw-viewdeck-condos/

@Aaron Graham was very active in 2015, uploading some more Art Deco stuff fro the residential category as well:

@IDS2 had two BATs that apply to this category - a highrise and, untypically, a set of small family homes:

@Jasoncw also contributed two residential BATs, one a building from Brazil and the other one a rather untypical upload featuring typical London rowhouses:

@Bombardiere answered to requests for more British stuff:

@Krio uploaded this residential building:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30708-bulevardi-30/

Industrial

@nos.17 did not only cater for the commercial category. He also uploaded this untypical lot, a telecommunications tower and substation complete with service van:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30632-b62-remastered-verizon-substation/

@Takingyouthere started uploading his telecommunication towers:

@Bombardiere made a building that not only serves as residential building, but also doubles as a farm:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30744-half-timber-manor/

@pezzajn made a railcar maintenance building:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30684-pez-railcar-maintenance-building/

@CT14 also catered for the railroad community:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30848-north-american-freight-sidings/

@T Wrecks crafted a series of lots:

Civic

@Wallibuk also had something for the civic category - a pack of rural churches and synagogues:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30170-kostoly-na-gemeri/

@JP Schriefer also had a church in his portfolio in 2015:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30091-john-wesley-united-church/

@mattb325 contributed a research center to this category:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30875-research-center/

@Don Miguel is still alive and brought us another church BAT:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30078-storefront-church-1-of-3-grace-chinese-christian-church/

@UbiraJunior took care of water treatment and gave us this:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30108-etaa-treatment-plant-and-water-expansion/

@FOSC tule00 focused on power supply and made a set that can be used to make a modular solar power plant:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30428-solar-powerlot/

@CasperVg covered the recycling part and uploaded this recycling center:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30877-oosterzele-recyling-centre/

@apeek / @FANTA1990 uploaded HD-rendered, functional wind power plants, optionally without base:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30107-hd-wind-power/

Transit

@xonedl made this parking lot entry:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30161-xdl-parking-entry/

@William Lu made a roadside mod in the style of Berlin:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30808-wmlu-berlin-roadside-mod/

@blueearthspam contributed a series of speed limit signs that - despite being Australian - could be usuful not just for Australia-themed cities:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30194-australian-speed-limit-signs-rhs/

@peperodriguez2710 uploaded these median fillers for players to recreate boulevards:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30882-smfp-spanish-median-fillers-pack/

Education

@IDS2 modeled another university building:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30276-anderson-hall/

@UbiraJunior uploaded this school lot:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30110-umei-municipal-unit-of-child-education/

@JP Schriefer contributed this museum:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30874-museu-da-inconfidencia/

Park

@ussoldier2002 contributed some stadium BATs:

@KonstantinII made some sci-fi stuff:

@FrankU was busy making Dutch-style relots:

@SimCoug uploaded a set of stairs for different inclines:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30425-simcougs-stairways/

@rsc204 made some long pedestrian bridges:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30858-mgb-long-pedestrian-bridges/

@blunder contributed a set of seawalls:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30868-stanley-seawalls/

Landmark

@Wallibuk has uploaded some more old-style Eastern European that falls into this category:

@Huston had more sci-fi content and a New Zealand landmark for us:

@Reddonquixote was also still active and recreated Rio de Janeiro's famous landmark:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30172-cristo-redentor-rio-de-janeiro-brazil/

@xonedl was active in this category as well and uploaded a tower:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30183-torre-espacial-city-park-tower-argentina/

@Seraf had another tower for us - the leaning tower of Pisa:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30206-leaning-tower-of-pisa/

@Jasoncw enters this category with two lighthouses:

@Diego Del Llano made his appearance and uploaded many highrise buildings:

@Ng_pillow made his STEX debut with this modern highrise landmark:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30892-the-gateway-singapore/

@FrankU had some Dutch landmarks for us:

@miguelkuk brought us these overhanging diagonal buildings:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30180-sky-towers/

@Parisian uploaded this landmark for the NYBT:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30728-nybt-parisian-220-south-central-park/

@jmababa01 had some unconventiona ideas, turning San Francisco's Coit Tower into a lighthouse and uploading a wishing well:

@Xyloxadoria brought us a landmark that also doubles as an educational facility:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30884-the-cathedral-of-learning/

@Krio shared a cinema complex with us:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/27353-tennispalatsi/

Props & Automata

@airman15 has continued to contribute airplane and car automata and props:

@Krio contributed something unusal to this category, namely WWII tanks:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30082-panzer-prop-pack/

@Bombardiere accompanied his British BATs with a matching prop pack:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/29965-british-boxes/

@nos.17 also accompanied his long string of retail uploads with a matching essentials pack:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30114-nos17-essentials/

@Gobanboshi graced us with a visit from Japan and brought these with him:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30121-japanese-art-truck-automata/

@xonedl contributed a freight airplane automata:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30179-lockheed-c-5-galaxy/

@MushyMushy uploaded packs of HD-rendered trucks and trailers:

@Huston complemented his Sci-Fi uploads with a prop pack made up of HD spacecraft, rovers, and other vehicles:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30780-metmw-prop-pack-beta/

@rivit shared a set of luxury cars with us:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30134-expensive-cars/

Mods & Tools

@rsc204 has supplied some mods that tie into the NAM and alter/add overpasses, intersections, sidewalks etc.:

@TPB made a roundabout facelift mod:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30125-tpb-roundabout-facelift-mod-for-euro-nam/

@airman15 also contributed some humorous stuff:

@SimCoug had several MMP assets in store for us:

@KorvinGump made a little mod that increases font size for people with high screen resolution:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30826-increase-font-size/

@HippoTank made the "I-HT fix for civic buildings", so to speak:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30836-hippotank-demand-fix/

@Ernestmaxis added an MMP option that takes advantage of Dutch-themed props:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30840-dutch-prop-pack-mmp/

@Transistor X made police cars, tanks, and air balloons UDI-enabled:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30841-transistor-xs-car-pack-1/

@Bloemkoli uploaded a T21 mod that adds guardrails and reflector posts to the RHW:

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30851-catalysts-t-21-for-real-highway/

A Trixies Interview with Tarkus

Sun, 12 Mar 2017 01:40:53 +0000

As part of the upcoming Trixie Season, the Staff team have been interviewing various prominent members of the community and asking them about their favourite STEX files and City Journals over the past two years, inspiration and creative workflow, along with life outside of Simtropolis. So without further adieu, please welcome our next guest @Tarkus, which many of you will know as one of the leaders of the NAM team.

An Interview with Tarkus

Hi Tarkus, how are you?

Alright, though fairly busy of late—having two jobs will do that to you.

Many people know you as one of the brains behind the NAM, but that wasn’t always the case was it? How did you get into modding SimCity?

I first picked up SimCity 4 Deluxe sometime in early 2004, and played it quite regularly in vanilla form for close to two years. And then I ran across Simtropolis almost by accident, and as soon as I saw the NAM (Version 19 back then), the early prototype of something called an RHW, and all the other content that had been made for the game, I was absolutely over the moon. My first real effort at making content was a set of road sign lots, which were on the STEX for awhile, and picked up a modest number of downloads. I kind of fell inactive for a bit after that, as I was finishing up my master's thesis, and then didn't have reliable internet access for awhile.

Once I finally got back onto the site in late September 2006, the thing that immediately hit me was that most of the transit modding community had seemingly gone silent, and a lot of the promising things that were in the works had come to a halt—including the RHW, which I had really taken a liking to, even in its early state. The NAM itself hadn't seen a release in a number of months, either. I had really come to care about these projects, and felt an urge to do see if there was a way I could contribute.

There was really just one thing I wanted to add—a puzzle piece to allow an Avenue viaduct to cross over an RHW-4 (the only RHW network back then). At that point, the only real tutorial out there on transit modding was @redlotus Interchange Tutorial, which was a pretty intense read. After a couple months of staring at hexadecimal in the Reader, and learning what RULs and exemplars were, and some help from a couple of NAMites who re-emerged from the woodwork ( @Swamper77 was especially helpful), I finally figured out how to get a puzzle piece in-game.

Of course, by that time, I started having all these other ideas, and kept learning more about transit modding to better facilitate them. Eventually, that led to my being added to a newly-reconstituted NAM Team in February 2007. I was never sent an invite PM or anything—I just suddenly had access to a new private thread, and discovered inside that I had indeed been invited onto the team. It was a very pleasant surprise, to say the least!

You grew the quality of add-ons in the NAM through your continued development of the RHW, what has been the most challenging aspect of that project as it grew over the years?

It's certainly been a challenging project over the years, but that's really what's kept me coming back to it. As far as what's been most challenging, I'd say dealing with all the crosslinking between all the various RHW networks, and between RHW networks and other NAMcomponents. There's 33 RHW networks at present. That presents an enormous number of options compared to the base game, but enormous complications as well—especially when you try to add 20 networks at once (as we did in NAM 31—it would have been 26 if we hadn't shelved three levels of RHW-12S and 10C).

What the general user may not know about how we “add” networks (really, we've just adeptly tricked the game into transforming behavior and appearance of existing networks, as we can't add true new ones), there's no high-level programming language or scripting involved. Most of it is if/then statements with hexadecimal pointers that operate two tiles at a time, like this:

0x57030000,1,0,0x57000000,1,0=0x57030000,1,0,0x57030000,1,0

The RHW, as a whole, presently consists of over one million lines of that. We actually had to change how we save the file back around NAM30, as Maxis did some strange things with compression that had capped the size at around 200,000 lines.

One of the other big challenges has been sneaking in time for my other transit modding projects. I have plenty of stories about the myriad delays on the Network Widening Mod (NWM), which, in terms of development time, is only about a year younger than the RHW (2006 vs. 2005), but didn't see its first release until 2010. The FLEX Turn Lanes (FTL) project, which is my main area of focus for the NAM 36 cycle, has actually been in development since January 2014, just after NAM 32 was released.

When you took over development of the RHW, did you ever see it being as big as it is now? What feature would you have never thought possible when you first started but that we now take for granted?

I had a flood of ideas come to me for where the project could go once I really started figuring out transit network modding. The 8-lane RHWprototype that project founder @qurlix showed off right around the time I joined the community was a huge inspiration, and I knew from that and the various conversations I had with the RHW thread regulars back then that this was a project that could go on for a very long time. That said, I never expected it to still be going over a decade later. My big proclamation back when I first started formulating the Modular Interchange System (MIS) was that I wanted to have a system that could replicate all the designs in the Kurumi Field Guide to Interchanges. It took 10 years (the stack was the killer—NAM 35 finally stabilized it, though we can still improve it further), but we've basically gotten there, in addition to covering types that weren't even out there when we started, like the Diverging Diamond.

As far as things I never would have thought possible, I still remember my shock at seeing the first FLEXFly that @Wahrheit (then Blue Lightning) developed. That development really changed the face of the game, and laid the ground work for many of the FLEX items that have shaped development in the past several releases. Amazingly enough, the FLEX functionality is going to allow us to break the longtime prohibition on fully-assembled plop interchanges, which will make the RHW far more accessible than it ever has been in the near future.

The NAM had another big release in 2016, what's the development mentality like behind the scenes now?

Right now, the team is probably the smallest it's ever been, outside of that brief “dark age” of 2006. We're down to just three fully-active developers right now, plus a small number of semi-active ones who contribute when time permits, and a handful of testing/power user types.

There are some advantages to our smaller, leaner size in terms of coordinating different projects, particularly as our small group is intensely dedicated to keeping this project going. We don't see an end in sight. The big downside is that those of us left have occasional spurts of pretty heavy RL. Given that we're also still working through some of the ongoing large-scale efforts that were started several years ago, when our development team was much larger, it's really felt when one of us has to dial back for a bit.

Through NAM v32's development, was there someone's work which you found outstanding when you first saw it?

@Droric joined the team during NAM 32 development, and was around through part of NAM 33's marathon cycle. He joined in 2013 and picked up transit modding almost instantly. Even more impressive was the fact that he wasn't afraid to pick up big projects, starting off by getting the NAM to play nice with @Daeley's Advanced Menu Navigator (DAMN), and then being a major contributor to the major Elevated Rail Dual-Networking expansion in that release, working with veteran NAMites @memo, @z1, and @jdenm8.

NAM 32 was also the marked the initial edition of RealRailway (RRW) system, an effort started by another relatively new member of the team, @Swordmaster, intended revamp the standards of the default Rail network to improve realism. While he was whisked away by RL shortly before NAM 32's release, and has only been intermittently active since, he laid the initial tracks for what has become a very substantial new area of content development for us.

Is there anyone who might not have got the praise they deserve for their role in the development of the last update?

Both @Eggman121 and @rsc204 have been an indispensable part of the NAM Team for the last three releases—NAM 33, 34, and 35. I really can't thank them enough for their efforts in keeping this project going, some 13 years after its first release.

eggman121 is almost single-handedly responsible for taking Swordmaster's RealRailway idea and fleshing it out into one of our largest projects in scale, adding the FlexTrack system and Draggable Fractional Angle Rails in the past two releases. For NAM 36, he's working on the long-awaited arrival of Draggable Rail Viaducts. He's also been instrumental in getting the Multi-Radius Curve standard implemented, which has added a lot of new flexibility into the NAM's grid-breaking repertoire.

rsc204 has been a veritable “Swiss Army knife” for both the NAM Team and the RTMT Team. He has a unique and diverse skill set, and an amazing attention to detail. We finally managed to get a NAM release out on Christmas Day with NAM 34—the first time we've successfully been able to pull that off—and I really don't think we could have done that without his efforts. He's been phenomenal to work with on the team, and in the community at large.

You help run the biggest custom creation team for SC4, what team outside of the NAM do you admire, and why?

I've always been a big fan of the BSC. I have been particularly impressed by the way in which both teams were able to streamline the custom content process, which resulted in an amazingly prolific output of really top-notch stuff. As someone who does care quite a bit about functionality, I especially appreciate how they undertook careful research on gameplay mechanics and balance, and used that knowledge as part of their creation process. I'd mention the SFBT in the same breath as well.

Do you still get time to just play the game? Or has creating mods become the game?

Right now, with RL being as busy as it is, and my desire to rebuild my plugin setup a bit more, my SC4 time has largely been limited to NAMwork. It's been that way for at least a couple years now, though I do occasionally get a little carried away with my test cities and actually flesh them out a bit. I definitely do want to get back to actually building cities and bring Tarkusian Cities back at some point (likely with a new region), though finding the time is the caveat.

Was there anyone's creations from the last two years which you've admired?

I'd say the most amazing thing to come out in the past two years was the DLL work that @simmaster07 did, particularly with SC4Fix. Piecing together an incomplete Software Development Kit (SDK) and then using it to solve the long-thought-unsolvable TE Lot/Puzzle Piece crashes after all these years is too amazing to put into words.

Beyond that, I'm impressed with @Reddonquixote's work, @Bipin's bold ideas, and the re-lot work that @nos.17 has been doing on @Bobbo662's old files.

You active on the forums with NAM development and answering questions, in the past two years has there been anyone you've noticed who has been answering questions before you get to them, or giving you continual feedback in development threads?

I'd put @APSMS near the top of that list—that trait is one of the main reasons we brought him on as a NAM Associate awhile back. He's knowledgeable, thoughtful, and makes great points, and has really helped us out with support.

Among the development team, @rsc204 has been very helpful in terms of keeping an eye on our support threads and springs into action with useful detailed responses.

Before his unfortunate passing, @A Nonny Moose always had something interesting and encouraging to say and was a big supporter of our efforts. It still feels a bit empty not seeing him around Modding-Transit Networks.

I've also been quite impressed with @matias93 recently on these fronts, too.

You had a very successful MD/CJ, do you still keep up with the CJ scene? Are there any which you just can't stop reading?

Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as up on the CJ scene as I used to be. I'd say it's largely a product of more limited SC4 hours. I will occasionally check some out periodically—I've been impressed with @Ln X's work, and I check in on @bakercity's Region of Salem from time to time.

I do watch some of the “Show Us . . .” threads fairly regularly, however—as you can probably guess, the interchange one is probably my most frequently visited there, in part because tech support issues sometimes get reported there, and it occasionally gives me some ideas of where to go with development.

While the NAM has pushed the limits of what is possible over the years, there must be something which you know is impossible but would love to add to the game?

Surprisingly, I am fairly content with what we have and are able to do with the game. It would be nice to have a little bit more control over certain network properties—namely, killing RHW auto-connect and wrangling some of the more annoying aspects of the One-Way Road network's tidal flow system.

Lastly, how often do you still read RHW as Rural Highway? For the life of me I still can't bring myself to read it as Real Highway, no matter how hard I try!

Believe it or not, back in the day—and much to my chagrin—I used to routinely encounter folks who would inexplicably say something to the effect of “this looks great, but I'm not going to use it simply because it says 'rural' in the project name.”

I don't think anyone involved with the project ever liked the old name— @qurlix himself didn't care for it—and there used to be multi-page arguments in the development threads about changing it. Personally, I cringe heavily whenever I see “Rural Highway” used nowadays, so “RealHighway” was very, very easy for me to adopt when we finally changed it in late 2009.

Thanks for your time, enjoy the trixies!

You're welcome--and thanks to the ST staff for reviving this great community event!

A Trixies Interview with Simmaster07

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 23:47:49 +0000

As part of the upcoming Trixie Season, the Staff team have been interviewing various prominent members of the community and asking them about their favourite STEX files and City Journals over the past two years, inspiration and creative workflow, along with life outside of Simtropolis. So without further adieu, please welcome our next guest @simmaster07, which many of you will seen around the forums, or you may have downloaded one of his many mods.

An Interview with Simmaster07

Hi Simmaster07, how are you?

Fairly busy but otherwise pretty well, thanks for asking!

What is your earliest memory of the SimCity?

Oh jeez, I was tiny back then, maybe six years old. I think I was walking through Target or some sort of department store and I was bored, so I dragged my dad to the video games section while my mom did some shopping. For some reason SimCity 3000 was the game that caught my attention, and I guess my parents had no issue with it since it was pretty innocuous.

Of course as soon as I found the disaster menu I spent a good amount of time spawning locusts and toxic clouds. So much for learning about city planning — though I did manage to get SimCity 4 not long afterward, and that was a pretty good long-term investment.

Has this game helped inspire you at all in real life endeavours?

Not directly, but I did learn a lot from Simtropolis after finding it through the SimCity BBS. A lot of aspects of modding tied into my interest in programming in some way, and some of my early content was making tools for things like creating NAM packages for Mac installations or automating city backups. In retrospect a lot of the code was absolutely awful, and that content is deleted now since I didn't feel confident that it would function properly now. Still, that was a big part of the process in allowing me to learn more about programming and create the more advanced mods I've made recently.

Recently you've been pushing the boundaries of what mods can bring to the game, specifically around features which were left out of the game. What inspires you to create these mods? How much time and effort goes into researching and developing these files?

The effort to get DLLs capable of modding the game to work has been an effort that dates back to over six years ago. I was in way over my head but heard that Paul Pedriana was the one of the development leads for SimCity and figured I'd email him about how to implement DLLs like the extra cheats mod.

To my complete and utter surprise, after a bit of back and forth, he did respond with some source code. It was incomplete, but Paul said that it should've been enough to pull it off. My main motivation, up until I got something working, was trying to decipher how to take this code and and get a working program. It took years upon years of accumulating knowledge about programming and debugging to figure it out, and it definitely seems to have been worth it.

Perhaps most helpful was the community's prior efforts to learn about the game's internals, and I stumbled upon a post from GoaSkinmentioning how the PowerPC Mac port of the game had a lot of debugging information left in the final version. Because of how the game's architecture was modeled, this was actually incredibly helpful in learning about the Windows version and the generic APIs, so I'm extremely grateful that the community documented their findings as well.

You also created a patch for SimCity, a game more than ten years old, which fixes a substantial issue that was only found after significant modding. What amount of work goes into finding a fix for such a frustrating crash which so many of us experience?

Again, it takes a lot of cumulative knowledge from both personal experience and the community. SC4Fix requires some understanding of how assembly language works and how to debug a program without any reference code before you can start to build it. Once you have that, it's not a terrible amount of work to build that patch — especially since the TE lot crash is pretty isolated from the rest of the program — but it's still a good amount of work to get to that point.

How rewarding is it when you have this idea and toil away until you eventually get the patch working?

The very first thing I did when I got SC4Fix working, even in a primitive and virtually unreleasable form, was post on the forum, because I was incredibly excited about the prospect of fixing one of the biggest remaining issues with the game and sharing that with as many people as I could, so it was very rewarding to say the least. Even now, over a year after having released it, it still comes up in other threads with people hailing it as a must-have mod now, which is pretty heartwarming.

Your work is a source of inspiration for many. Who's work inspires you?

Insofar as SC4 modding goes, I've always been inspired by the work of some of my friends and fellow modders here — @Wahrheit, @meister1235, @z1 are a few that come to mind, as well as and especially the NAM Team, which has been here iterating on their work for as long as I've been here, if not longer. They and many other people here piqued my interest in modding the game, and even though I haven't been able to get into BATing or network modding I am glad I've been able to carve out my own niche and contribute that way.

More broadly, I've been inspired by entrepreneurs like Bill Gates who managed to lead revolutions in how we live and have given back to the global community after achieving that kind of success, as well as programmers like Dennis Ritchie and Linus Torvalds who haven't made billions of dollars but have still contributed with their code and their openness to and advocacy for sharing information.

(I couldn’t find a way to @ mention bill gates )

A lot of the work on mods happens behind the scenes, who has been someone that's helped you the most during development in the past two years?

I only know of one other person who's tried to pull off DLL modding, and they acted independently for the most part, so I can't say there's anyone or anything in the past two years specifically that has helped me. Unfortunately most resources I used go even further back, especially the forum threads that I used for reference.

Do you get to sit down and actually play the game very much anymore?

Sometimes on really long plane rides, but I find myself more fascinated by the game's internals than by the game itself now and so I don't ever really play the game so much as I have it running in the background while I use a debugger and a code editor to dig deeper.

I used to have a huge Plugins folder with over ten gigabytes of content, but looking at it now it seems I just have the NAM, a few lots, and the extra cheats DLL, which is probably a good analogy for how much I play the game properly now.

What's a quality piece of work from the last two years which you think has been overlooked?

I wish I could answer this but I haven't been watching the forums or the STEX closely at all. Generally speaking I notice @CorinaMarie and @rsc204 contributing regularly and probably deserve some recognition, but I might also be just a tad biased since they've tagged me at least a couple of times and their posts usually give me an excuse to investigate some part of the game internals I hadn't considered looking at before.

Has here been a STEX file review/comment from the past two years which you absolutely love, or find incredibly funny?

Not particularly, but it is also generally nice to see people like @T Wrecks consistently offering positive and constructive comments.

Lastly, what would be your perfect Sunday?

A good Sunday would probably just be doing something new with my friends.

Thank you for joining us! We can’t wait for the opening of the nominations which is now just a couple of days away

A Trixies Interview with Prophet42

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 03:26:28 +0000

An Interview with Prophet42

Hi Prophet42, how are you today?

I'm doing great. Justing relaxing by the fire.

What do the trixies mean to you?

The trixies are a chance to showcase the great talent we have in the community. For me, it is a great chance see content from members that I may have missed and also inspire me to build better cities.

What's the best part of celebrating others achievements over the past year?

The best part is that it gives well deserved recognition to members for their contribution and hopefully inspires them to continue creating great content.

How did you first discover SimCity?

Back in the mid 90's, a friend of mine recommended SC2000. So I went out a bought a copy. I have been addicted ever since. By far, SC4 is my favorite city simulator, and probably my favorite game of all time.

What would be the most substantial project that has left a meaningful impression on you from the past two years? Why is that?

@Ln X city journal My SC4 CJ Scrapbook has really made an impression on me. His attention to detail, and realism has made me strive to be more creative when building my own cities.

What's a quality piece of work from the last two years which you think has been overlooked?

I think Modern Row Home #4 from @gutterclub has been overlooked. It is a nice detailed residential piece that doesn't seem to have been downloaded all that much.

Has anyone's content surprised you from the last two years? In what way was this a surprise?

@Diego Del Llano has uploaded some great content in the last two years. What kind of suprised me is that the quality and variety of the BATs has been good from the beginning.

Simtropolis is organized into ‘player' and ‘builder' categories. Regarding the ‘player' section, do you have any favourite CJers that you enjoy following? And what piece of content from them in the past two years would you recommend to others?

For CJers, I enjoy @Ln X's SC4 scrapbook journal and @korver's True Earth journal.

As far as content, I would highly recommend @madhatter106 Middies Office Pack 7. It fits seamlessly in with the rest of SC4 buildings and provides essential C$$ buildings.

Who is an up-and-coming member that we should look out for next year?

I think the recent work of @Aarsgevogelte is exceptional. I would look for continued great work from him in the following year.

You spend a lot of time commenting on forums, specifically forum games. Who is someone which always has a funny or witty remark?

@Toothless Stitch always seems to be able to provide humor and wit to the games.

What forums games these past two years have been exceptionally fun? And are there any that you'd recommend people new to the forum games section get involved in to introduce themselves to the concept?

I especially like "Why should the person above you be banned?" and "How is the person above you going to die?"

A good game to get started with would be "Guess who’s Next"

Lastly, if there was anyplace you'd want to go, where would you go and why?

Australia. I am fascinated with the culture, geography, and unique life forms.

Thanks for your time, here's to a great trixies season!

Award Category Ideas: Trixies 2015-2016

Wed, 22 Feb 2017 02:05:18 +0000

Award Category Ideas -

Much like the Oscars, the Trixies just wouldn't be complete without The Awards themselves!
Here is a thread where you can suggest what default categories you'd like to see...

The Trixie Awards traditionally feature a selection of categories which can be used to submit nominations for. These have ranged from content on the STEX, creativity in the CJs, to wide-ranging contributions in the forums. With the previous 12 editions of the Trixies, the categories have been pre-defined by the admins, and the only method of suggesting different awards was by submitting a custom nomination.

So starting for the 2015-2016 Trixies, prior to the start of nominations, we're opening up the suggestions to the community!

Last time the Trixies were held, the categories were simplified in an attempt to make the process less overwhelming. When in actual fact, all this did was the precise opposite. There were fewer nominations per category, and less variations of each type of award. For instance with custom content and CJs, there were only more general themes, which encompassed the more niche categories.

This time, by allowing you all to choose what you'd be interested in submitting nominations for, hopefully it can provide a much broader selection to choose from. This should also help with searching for possible candidates, as it will give a clearer perspective.

In other words, we're asking you to nominate awards, to be used as the awards!

Post Your Ideas Below

You may add multiple posts with multiple ideas, or single posts with single ideas -- it's completely your choice...
Just remember we're looking for the title here, for example:

Best Llama Impression
OR
Most Likely to outrun a Llama
OR
Llama Dedication Award

And feel free to discuss and hit the button for ideas you, hmm, well... Like.

They will then be populated into the below index lists for final consideration by the Llama Crew.

Similar with how it worked in 2014, there will be at least 3 types of general awards:
(There could be more yet, we'll see...)

Custom Content
Buildings, lots, mods, maps, and their many variations.
City Journals
Types, styles, genres, themes, countries, presentation, etc.
Community
Forum awards, site contributions, members, staff, special mentions & moments, etc.

At this stage, ideas don't need to be specific for a particular game or year (2015 or 2016), as most awards can be doubled up for that purpose.
Also don't worry about duplicating someone's idea. That just proves it's a good one!

Whether big or small, we look forward to hearing your ideas!

Info & Format: Trixies 2015-2016

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 22:41:49 +0000

Nominations Open March 13^th -

The Trixies are here, the Llamas are here, and this time we're heading back in time!
It seems like an eternity since the Trixies were last held, and we can't wait to go all the way back to the start of 2015!

The Trixies are a celebration of all types of community contributions, ranging from STEX uploads to CJs, all the way to forum posts. It's the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the amazing content shared over the past two years, and give a special 'thanks' to your fellow members.

We last held the Trixies for the year 2014, so understandably, we have a lot to catch up on. So this year, things will be a little different. We won't be holding just one ceremony, but two at the same time: One each for 2015 and 2016. Since the previous awards were such a long time ago, there will be a prelude in the run-up to the start of nominations. Here we invite everyone to discuss content shared during 2015-2016. What were your favourites? Alongside this, we will also be posting special features, including retrospective lists of uploaded content, and interviews by some members, highlighting their experience over the last two years.

The purpose of this build-up intends to help everyone make informed decisions, with a broader perspective. Not be told who to nominate, but just reminded of who could be potential nomination candidates.

The Prologue

Over the next 3 weeks we will be holding a series of events to celebrate the content uploaded over the past two years. This will start here in the Trixies Forum with a community discussion of memorable content which you can recall, or may otherwise be overlooked. The discussion will be complemented by retrospectives on uploaded content, where we post summaries of 2015-2016 content. There will also be interviews with members, giving their thoughts of notable contributions over the period.

Community Discussion

I can hardly remember what was for breakfast, let alone the memorable items some 700 days ago! So when trying to remember what happened in 2015 my mind goes blank. That's why we are hosting a way which everyone can discuss uploads, CJs, forum posts or just members in general who have shared amazing creations from the past two years. The principle behind this not to form a consensus on who or what is deserving of a Trixie. But instead, a place to discuss content we have admired over this time frame, or items which we think might be overlooked when thinking back on all the amazing creations from the past two years.

Use the link below to discuss content from the past two years.

Retrospective Lists

We want to make sure that there is a place which you can go to find everything that has been uploaded from the past two years, specifically in 2015 which is a long way to look back through in the STEX. In the coming days we will feature a series of lists which highlight content uploaded to the STEX from each year. CJs were harder to list, so we ask that for CJ retrospectives the Community Discussion topic is the best place to remember your favourite CJ. These lists should help you find STEX uploads, and remember items which you may have forgotten about.

Member Interviews

There will also be a series of interviews with different members on their experience with content from the past two years as well as their involvement with Simtropolis. We've tried to interview members which we haven't interviewed before, and these range from people you will have heard of and talked to before, to some members you might have only seen in passing. These interviews will try to highlight content which they have valued from the last two years, usually focusing on areas of the site which they are involved in. These are, at times, subjective, so we ask that you don't take their opinions as definitive fact, but rather as another view on what has been uploaded in the past two years. You'll find these uploaded in this forum, where you can comment on their interviews and they may respond to comments and questions that you have.

These are just opinions, and your final nominations can be of whom ever, and what ever, you feel deserving of the award.

Award Category Ideas

As part of the build-up, a suggestions topic will be opened for the award categories. Here we invite you all to share ideas for the various awards you'd like to see make up the default set. Last time the list was greatly simplified, and looking back, this may have actually made the process more restrictive. So now, let your imagination run wild! There are BATs, but what about styles? There are CJs, but what about variations?

We can't promise all ideas will be selected, but whatever they are, we'd love to hear them.

Changes to Nominations

For these Trixies we are changing how to nominate members, and how many times a member can be nominated. Since the site upgrade of 2015, the old nominations system was made incompatible. So this year, things are going to be slightly different. We will expand on these changes closer to the nominations opening, but a summary of the major changes are listed below:

Forum Nominations

Previously nominations would be submitted via a dedicated page with a category selector and a plain text description box.

But this time, nominations will be submitted in a special forum which will open at the start of the nominations. This forum behaves differently than others, in that no one else except the Admins are able to view your submissions!

So post without hesitation in that forum knowing that your nominations will remain incognito. A major benefit of this method is that you are able to edit any of your posts throughout the submissions period. So as you keep remembering people to nominate, you can continue editing or adding new nominations until the closure date. While in previous Trixies you could continue submitting new nominations, this method means you see all of the nominations you have made, so it's easy to remember what/who you have or haven't nominated yet. An simple and straightforward way to stay on top of everything. So say goodbye to spreadsheets!

Once the categories are finalised, we'll provide a full list so that you don't miss any awards to choose from. Of course, you may also create custom awards which aren't included in the default set.

It may seem weird at first, but everything will stay private, we promise.

Rule Changes

This year we are making the change to allow you to nominate a member for up to 3 different awards. We hope that you submit multiple nominations for a single member to awards in different sections of the Trixies, but we aren't making that a specific rule as there are awards in sections which relate to very different skill sets. Use this new ability wisely…

Cities: Skylines

It's time to welcome the latest city-builder to our great Trixie Awards! This will be the first year C:S participates in our great ceremony.

Just remember, the Trixies are a celebration of Simtropolis contributions, so only items here on the site are eligible to be nominated for an award. Understandably, there are thousands of Workshop items, so C:S content on the STEX is only a fraction of the overall selection. Considering this, Workshop items can be nominated, as long as they're created by an author who is a member here at Simtropolis.

We can't wait to start sharing the love and celebrating what our community has to offer!

Here's to another memorable Trixies, let the party begin!

A Trixies Interview with Takingyouthere

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 03:43:42 +0000

An Interview with Takingyouthere

Hi @Takingyouthere, how are you?

I'm doing great, thanks for asking.

We all have our own unique Simtropolis story. How did you first discover this community?

I can't recall the specifics as it's been 12 years and 9 months since I joined the site, but I'm pretty sure I found Simtropolis through a link on the maxis simcity 4 site. Back then there were quite a few more active sites than today but Simtropolis has always stood out as one of the best.

How was it that you first came across the SimCity franchise?

The first Sim City I played was the original on the Nintendo platform. Even though I was just a little kid who didn't know the first thing about real world city building I somehow became completely enthralled with a game about city building. I still remember building up the old island map from the game over and over again, each time trying to set a new high mark in population;image credit; http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/article/Data-Maps-in-SimCity-Part-1

What have been some of your favourite Simtropolis moments?

As a highway aficionado the NAM releases are always a big deal for me and release 34 with it's additional flexfly pieces was probably the most exciting release. On a personal note entry 25 of my CJ published last Jan 4th was quite the watershed moment for me, I couldn't believe the community response at that time which was a great source of motivation going forward. As well as when I finally released the HD versions from that niche project of mine, the Towers of Steel(fyi the supertalls are coming!)

How would you introduce your work to anybody who's new to it?

The easiest and quickest way would be to take a look at my city journal. If I had to narrow it down I would recommend entries 32, 34, 35, 40 & 41 each one of which shows examples of; my urban city building from close up and afar, transportation networks, industry and landscape work. For a really quick introduction here's three pictures which sums it up best;

What are the steps in your creative process?

The creative process for me begins at the regional level. The first step is to figure out a rough estimation of the paths the road and railway networks will take as they meander across the landscape. I don't like simple grid patterns and instead I build my networks more organically and have them 'follow the terrain'. Next I determine the type of development which will be built in specific areas, starting off with large scale infrastructure projects such as power plants and continuing down what types of zoning will be built in each city tile.

When I start an individual city tile the process is more or less the same. Determine the optimal routing for highways, roadways, railways and other kinds of networks like hydro corridors, this all comes first. After that is done I place all the institutional buildings which are necessary to help the city grow and function properly eg. hospitals, schools, police, etc. This is then followed by the zoning itself. I've really never been interested in intentionally making it difficult for my cities to grow. I like them to build as easily as possible and not have buildings abandon afterwards. The problem that I'm most interested in solving is figuring out how to get people from point A to point B. Unfortunately Sim City 4 is rather limited in realistically simulating real world travel patterns. Some areas end up being overbuild and some underbuilt in regards to the traffic they should have in game. From then on I continue to make adjustments to each network while trying to do everything I can to get sims to use what is available to them. Aside from mmp placement almost everything I do in game serves a functional purpose. I don't want to build a city that is just eye candy alone, it has to be a living and breathing functional entry. At the same time though building placement is very important to me from an aesthetic perspective as well. I'll let things grow organically for a while and see what pops up, but it's rare that I'm ever satisfied with the 'look' of whats been grown. In fact most of my commercial and industrial areas are predominately plopped and I would do the same for residential development if only sims could travel in and out of them. I prefer to be entirely in control of all developments much in the same way as how a real world city council or planning department approves and rejects what kinds of development and what density can be built in any particular location. This comes from being a architectural aficionado and in fact before I switched careers I had want to be an architect. It's only once all the functional aspects of the city are complete that I'll focus on the last step which is beautifying it with mmp's.

You usually create metropolitan style CJs, what other members are creating similar CJs to yours? How does this competition in your genre help develop your own work? And which piece of their work has inspired you in the past two years?

There are quite a few other members who also build similar types of urban environments. I think I've probably taken ques & inspiration from nearly all of them at one time or another. I could easily name a dozen or more but in the interest of brevity I'll limit my answer to three examples which focus on what are my favorite types of things to create in game; mmp work, industrial zones & transportation networks. I guess that was kind of obvious for anyone who follows my work

I've taken a lot of inspiration last year from @Scribosilyn's R.C.D & Phoenix Project when it comes to landscaping and mmp usage. His work in the genre is simply fantastic and just as great is his willingness to help others in creating their own meticulously landscaped scene. There's many examples of his superb work which I could link to but the one that I think which best highlights his creative ingenuity is Eréphore - Pt. I

@Ln X's My SC4 CJ scrapbook has been an invaluable source when its come to creating large-scale industrial zones especially in the earlier days of my CJ when I didn't have the best understanding of scale. Broadsville's Industry part 1 & 2 for instance really opened my eyes up to what was possible with industry;

For transportation I highly recommend taking a look at @kingofsimcity's Exploring Onyx. For members who are trying to create more realistic highway networks look no further than Arcadia Metro I & II - that is what it should look like. Also his prodigious use of angled roads continues to inspires me to incorporate more in my own work.

What advice would you give to a custom content newcomer, who was planning on creating their first item?

In regards to BATing, I would recommend using 3ds max from the get go. Gmax is easier to use and render your work with but it generally doesn't produce the level of quality that SC4 players expect from custom models today. 3ds has a much longer learning curve but if your having difficulties I would recommend starting a BAT thread, you'll be amazed at how supportive other members of simtropolis can be.

Tell us one of your favourite pieces from the STEX in 2015 and 2016 and explain what it is about and why this is your favourite piece?

There are a number of very high quality BAT's that have been released over that time which makes this a difficult question to answer. My favorite would probably be Solar das Paineiras by @JP Schriefer

image credit; JP Schriefer
It's not a well-known building but I choose it for two reasons. First the model and textures used are incredibly detailed. For instance you can clearly see the detailed brickwork on the facade of the building. Secondly, as a art-deco & postmodernism aficionado this type of building style really appeals to me, that is buildings that make use of set backs, solid building surfaces i.e brick & stone and a combination of well integrated and varied building elements, all of which appeals to me which is also why I'm particularly fond of most of JP's releases.

What's a quality piece of work from the last two years which you think has been overlooked?

I'll go with a @Simmer2 creation here, some of which haven't gotten as much screen time as they deserve. In particular the SM2 Gogar Tram Depot really stands out with an excellent combination of textures and models laid out over a realistically sized lot(real world).

Who is an up-and-coming member that we should look out for next year?

A few members that haven't been too active on the site yet but who's work shown so far has been excellent are @Mańkowsky, @Artimus, @antsel & @Krisman.

You've had a successful year as an entrant in the Simtropolis Challenges, has there been images from other members which have just stunned you? Has there been images which are so different to your usual play style which you think you just couldn't recreate if you tired?

I haven't been following some of the more recent competitions but here's one from a little while back which fascinated me;

Plantation Metropolis Regional Night View by @pcwhiz24

On top of being a well designed and great looking road & highway network I'm still in awe of how he got the highways to light up just perfectly like that.

Finally, if you had to choose, would you rather fight a one horse sized duck, or a hundred duck sized horses?

I first read that as one house sized duck!!
But even still a horse is pretty damn big. As long as there's no time limit, I'll take the one hundred duck sized horses please!

I know I wouldn’t want to face a house sized duck, thats for sure!
Thanks for your time, can't wait for the trixies!

Likewise and thanks again for having me

A Trixies Interview with rsc204

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 05:21:10 +0000

An Interview with RSC204

Hi @rsc204, how are you today? (MGB204 on SC4D)

Hello Hamish, I'm well thanks.

What is your earliest memory of simcity?

That would have to be the Super Nintendo (SNES) version of the original. I still have that along with it's original save files too. My parents were dead set against me having a computer as a child, so until I could afford my own, I never had access to one.

Later when I did get a PC, I played the sequel SC2000, but I found it hard to balance the needs of the simulator and never really got into it. After a nasty car accident about 10 years ago, I was laid up for a while with an old laptop. This time round I managed to get on top of the simulation side, but all too quickly felt I'd done all you could do with the game.

I've always been able to sink lots of time into simulators, I like the open-ended nature of them. But SC4 was simply off my radar until about 4-5 years ago. Then I found mods, next thing you know I'm so busy making mods, I barely play the game anymore.

Has this game helped inspire you at all in real life endeavours?

Perhaps a little, I keep looking at the world and trying to think of it in SimCity. But mostly, modding SC4 has unlocked some skills, especially more artistically based, that I never would have thought possible. That said, to date those skills haven't really found a real-world application outside of my modding activities.

Content comes in many shapes and sizes. What do you look for when seeking new STEX items to download?

My long term goal is to make a modern UK-themed region, I'm nothing like there after many years of hard work though. So if a building or mod comes along that fits that theme, it becomes a must have download. I'm also focussed on aesthetics, I like everything to blend in together too. Any mod that either improves the content of the vanilla game, especially replacement HD props is useful to me.

But being able to mod, what's more important is usually the models themselves. I can always customise anything I find to work as desired. I probably don't do as much downloading/installing of mods as you might think. I'm running a tight ship where my plugins folder is concerned. Occasionally, I enjoy playing regions without worrying too much about custom content too. It's a little freeing to not have to try and find the perfect buildings all the time. Which is the very problem that keeps me modding, rather than playing. But I hope one day I'll get past this and be able to enjoy the game more. I'm in no rush, there is nothing out there that can come close to the longevity and flexibility SC4 offers.

You've made some pretty amazing mods, most recently ones which unify ground texture under NAM pieces. What inspires you to create these mods?

When I first started getting into modding, I really disliked the Maxis Sidewalks. They probably fit the San Francisco theme of the game, but were not for me. So I installed a sidewalk mod, but hated the contrast between a custom sidewalk and the Maxis ones. They just stand out, there is no way to hide them or make them work together.

A similar thing happened when I started using HD Terrain mods. Gobias' excellent Berner Oberland terrain came with the grass-equivalent of a sidewalk mod. But whilst I really liked what it did, I intensely disliked the mis-match of textures it left behind.

In both areas, I've been working to unify together a complete set of Sidewalk and Grass textures, which are the main component of both my SEN (SWN) and TGN mods.

How much work goes into something like this which, on the surface, seems so simple?

Simply put a hideous amount. I don't exactly make things easy for myself either. I think part of my philosophy of trying to give back where I can, does add to the development process. I don't simply make these mods thinking about my game only. I try to make something that can be reused and is as flexible as possible. I'm also very picky, I spend a lot of time trying to ensure I've not missed a single texture and testing everything until I'm satisfied there are no problems or missing pieces. Of course, there is always something else to add, not to mention updates to cover new releases along the way. It's probably very easy to miss just how comprehensive both mods are, no similar mod even gets close to the level of coverage I've achieved.

From the beginning, I made huge efforts to automate as much as possible. But due to the ever-improving tools I helped develop with @rivit (GoFSH), I must have restarted this process 2 or 3 times over now. I simply can not go on without mentioning both @memo and @rivit in respect of TGN. Without Memo's tool I originally used to make v1, TGN simply would never have existed. Likewise, 6 months of intensive development work together with Rivit has transformed the possibilities on offer. He was always the brains behind how to do most things. But provided assistance countless times and was very open to feedback on new features and changes. In fact, that's still evolving, so keep an eye out for the next iteration, I'm genuinely excited by what we're cooking up behind the scenes.

All told, it probably runs into hundreds, if not thousands of hours, not that I've been keeping a record. But I'm slowly getting to the point where I can sit back and simply maintain the repositories that make these mods happen, the bulk of the work is almost complete. When I get there, that will be a very good day. But the real goal here, is that hopefully my work will have solved the issue of mis-matching textures for everyone.

It's not all about textures...

If you'll indulge me with a little self-promotion however, I would briefly like to talk about my non-texture work. I keep saying I'm done with texturing, because that's really only a small part of what I'm doing, even if it's probably the most well known.

I started learning how to make models in 2015, with my first release being some simple pedestrian bridges. But I'm really very proud of both my Rail Depot and Convenience Store models. Both of which took a very long time to complete, partially because I'm very picky, but also because I'm still learning how to make textures.

I also managed to make a small but significant addon for CALs re-mastered SG Canals. Matching up the textures took an extraordinary effort, to the point of finding archaic versions of 3DS Max/BAT4Max to match the textures. But the simple eight additional pieces that produced have brought about a renascence for me and using canals. Being stuck to the grid in 2016 is really a turn off for me, so that was another creation I feel really satisfied with.

2015:

2016:

You've also made some great additions to the NAM, what's it like working with this team?

Mostly until now I've been helping by contributing fixes/patches and helping out with support for users. I also try where possible to assist my team-mates, adding EU and LHD compatibility.

Having access to certain information that would otherwise be off limits sure is useful. Alex's ( @Tarkus) long term commitment to all things SC4, unwavering patience and complete understanding of the underpinnings of the game, makes him a great ambassador. Working alongside him and the other team members is a real privilege. Not to mention the countless ways that being part of the team has allowed me to improve my modding skills.

I was very pleased to bring the MHO refresh as part of NAM35, that really felt like my first solid contribution to the mod. It's another of those very long projects I seem to find myself taking on.

My next goal is bringing everyone a completely new SAMmod for NAM36, the IndustrieSAM network. This is already mostly finished, but will represent a major contribution in terms of code for the first time. It's another accomplishment that I couldn't have realised, without the selfless help of my team mates.

While the NAM Team is probably the biggest team of content creators, are there any other teams which you follow which you must download any creation they put out?

Sadly there aren't so many active teams these days, so you've posed a bit of a tricky one there. If there was one team where I could say I'd grab every release without hesitation, that would have to be the VIP team. Although these days, that tends to be mostly the work of @Girafe. I'm a sucker for high-quality HD content and the VIP team made some of the best props/models out there. Girafe's flora is always a welcome addition and I use it whenever my lots/mods need some greenery.

Outside of this genre, Transit mods, what is a work you have been very impressed with which is thematically at opposite ends to your style?

Whilst it's not really the sort of thing I have much use for, I'd have to single out the excellent quality ChryslerBuilding by @Reddonquixote here.

https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3326

Seeing the development and the final renders, just felt like a new bar had been set for the quality of SC4 buildings. From the gorgeous metallic effect on the spire, to the unbelievable nightlighting and supremely detailed facade, it just oozes quality through and through. Yet, I don't think I've ever plopped it in game, I should rectify that.

What would be the most substantial project that has left a meaningful impression on you from the past two years? Why is that?

Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference. @ILL Tonkso created so many models, for anyone wanting to make UK cities, it's a real treasure trove of must have content. Not all of it has stood the test of time so well, but @kingofsimcity's re-lots have utterly transformed many of these models. Giving them the sort of environment (lot) that finally does justice to them. Add to that his work on the parking textures and smart use of modular complexes and you end up with some hugely visually appealing content.

For example, using just one of those buildings, a fairly generic office, KOSC lotted a huge number of variations. This makes these lots really usable without ever feeling too repetitive.

Link to KOSC's content...

https://community.simtropolis.com/profile/33566-kingofsimcity/?do=content&type=downloads_file&change_section=1

If asked to pick a couple other specific lots, I guess these would be my favourites (all from 2015):

Tell us one of your favourite pieces from the STEX in 2015 and 2016 and explain what it is about and why this is your favourite piece?

2015

In 2015, whilst perhaps not an obvious choice, it would have to be @simmaster07's SC4Fix.dll for me. As someone with a good technical knowledge, seeing this bug squashed was really quite astonishing, it was one of those things thought of as impossible. Then out of nowhere, along comes this fix, which personally has made playing SC4 so much better. I can't tell you how many times I fell foul to the CTD, being a big user of much NAM content. On many occasions, I lost a lot of work too. But since this was released, my game simply never crashes and is totally stable. As such, this was my favourite mod from 2015.

2016

For 2016, I wasn't able to decide on one clear winner, both of these little gems not only conform to my UK theme, but are of outstanding quality too.

First is @Bombardiere's Clerkenwell Close buildings. Quintessentially British, with superb texturing and modded to be very flexible, it ticks all my boxes for a great download.

Partially it's my love of the golden age of Steam Trains, but also partially because it's the Flying Scotsman (do I need explain that?).

Both of these great mods, whilst being of a more historical nature, are completely usable in a modern environment too. I am simply unable to choose between them, sorry.

I must be honest and confess I don't really get into the CJ section as much as I perhaps should. I do try to follow a number of CJs however and have been impressed with the work of @Dreadnought's Jade Bight series. His attention to detail is up there with the best of them.

@Ln X(my SC4 Scrapbook), @Belfastsocrates (The Viceroyalty of Perseus) and @_Michael (Mikenstein) are three other CJs I always enjoy seeing updates for. Mainly because I feel they all have a coherent style that inspires me to create things for my own game.

Who is an up-and-coming member that we should look out for next year?

Although releasing models since early 2016, I will be keeping an eye out for more models from @Aarsgevogelte. In a short space of time, the quality of his releases have improved greatly, along with a frequent supply of new buildings. Most of them fit well in all European environments too.

Lastly, What has been one of your favourite Simtropolis moments?

Now you've really got me thinking, I see why you left that one for last... Since there isn't a single instance that comes to mind, I think I'll have to wriggle out of it with a more general answer. Being part of Simtropolis is in and of itself a wonderful experience. I enjoy trying to help others, but have too received my share of assistance. It's a real community that has been instrumental to keeping a game I genuinely love alive all these years. Once more it's a privilege to be a part of something like ST, a place where anyone can come and join in our passion for SC4 and city building.

Thank you for joining us today RSC204, here's to a great Trixies

A Trixies Interview with Ln X

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 22:17:48 +0000

So as part of the upcoming Trixie Season, the Staff team have been interviewing various prominent members of the community and asking them about their favorite STEX files and City Journals over the past two years, inspiration and creative workflow, along with life outside of Simtropolis. So without further ado, please welcome our first guest:

An Interview with Ln X

So thanks very much Ln X for agreeing to take part in this special Trixie 2015/2016 Interview.

Sure.

I'd first like to talk about the community as a whole. We all have our own unique Simtropolis story. How did you first discover this community?

I think about four or five years ago. I came across it by accident when I was looking at custom SC4 content, I had been playing the vanilla game but decided that I wanted more skyscrapers in the game.

I'm sure many have had the same experience! And your work here, specifically your City Journals have definitely inspired me and I'm sure many other members, so they question is, who has inspired you over the years? And do you feel and competition in your genre has helped you personally improve?

I have always liked @paeng's CJs, his special detailing was always impressive.

He said something, in the now gone PLEX about how he focused on every single building, how if it didn't fit in he would try something else. I have gradually adopted this strategy.

Other inspirations were @Fasan and @korver.

Fasan began publishing his Krokanien MD, on SC4D, in 2014. The pictures were incredible as was his MMP work. He was a lotting/modding meistro who did unbelievable things in the game. He inspired me to pursue a MMP approach to rural areas and also urban areas where necessary. The city tile of Ravensworth, in my CJ, was my first emulation of his work.

The link is here for all those interested- https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=16683.0

Finally @korver...

Need we say more about his totally jaw-dropping entries...

He started last year with incredible MMP scenes from around the world. He inspired me to go nuts with the MMPs for the last city I created-Erinsberg.

As good as they are they can't be replicated in game.

They involve taking 3D models in Sketchup and using huge amounts of photoshopping to transform most of the SC4 out of SC4.

Note: Any model imported from an online resource (including Sketchup) may be functional in game, and not necessarily Photoshopped.

So going back to the point of competition...

I probably felt it in 2014 but now I don't really think about it anymore. In 2014 there was @Benedict's top ten CJs of the week, that's gone and so I did it all purely for experimentation.

Now competition can only arise if members are updating and creating City Journals.
Many though, may be fearful of starting one, so what would your number 1 advice be to someone wanting to start a City Journal?

Plugins, plugins and more plugins.

But I think number 1 advice is misleading and too arbitrary. It can't be condensed down to one point.

Indeed, and with custom content being one of the cornerstones of this communtiy, who do you think has shone brightly during the past 2 years, in relation to custom content creation? This could be a BATer, Mapper, or LOTer.

Anyone really that has made and published custom content.

Mods are massive game changers since it helps to unify the grass textures, it is subtle but powerful. Others would be @kingofsimcity's parking sets and NAM.

A huge shout out must be given to @rsc204. His Terrain Grass relots, another huge gamechanger.

@T Wrecks is still going strong with his wall-to-wall industry.

@InvisiChem created the CAM 2.0 (Colossos Addon Mod) to fix the buggy, but legendary CAM of 2007.

Also @Simmer2 has made waves last year with his lots, RRW (real railway) work and modular sets- like the pipelines...

And do you think there is content that you have used that has been overlooked by the community?

That question is a tough one because of how old Simtropolis is. I would say content has been overlooked due to age: @Glenni, IL Tonkso, @Pegprod and other oldies, they did some fantastic work. I also think a lot of good work is found outside the STEX such as the LEX, PLEX, Simcity Polska and Working Man Production.

My CJs would not have been the same without having downloaded nearly all the content from the WorkingMan Productions website and scouring the LEX for fillers and civics.

And has anyone from the STEX surprised you with their work over the past few years? The quality of it, what it does etc.

@JP Schriefer... When he first started I thought what he was doing was a novelty. But now he is cranking out content which is just as good as @Reddonquixote.

I do agree - those buildings are truly wonderful.

Another person would have to be @rsc204, his mods are subtle but very useful.

So now moving slightly away from the community, but what do you do when you're not playing SC4 or C:S?

Right now teacher training in the further education sector in England. Spare time: story-writing, listening to music, reading religious stuff, walking, skateboarding, reading the news, browsing Simtropolis' current events and watching films.

Such a varied selection!

That's the usual week for me.

Busy Busy! And to top the interview off, what has been your highlight of this community over the past 2 years?

My SC4 CJ Scrapbook.

Such a great thing as well!

And continuing from your personal City Journal, what inspires you when creating?

The countryside and Teesside...

Such diversity and variety in that part of the country.

I build large industrial areas because every Sunday of each week I drive through Teesside, and past the industry, to get to a skatepark in Redcar.

Did you know that the sci-fi movie BladeRunner was inspired by the steelworks in Teesside?

Large cities in one direction, beautiful countryside the other.

I did not know that.

Now your City Journal has been highly important over the past two years, but what City Journals do you feel have been incredibly important?

is a great one because of his CJ @Takingyouthere's lotting improvisation, I think he has definitely inspired many people with his experiments.

I really admire @Mymyjp's CJs and her content, she has a great style of blending various mods and together.

@philforhockey51 has done great work, the fact he uses Maxis terrain and makes it work is rather incredible.

and photoshopping CJs @Huston's sci-fi has always been good to see.

@Scribosilyn, of SC4D and who now posts here, has done incredible MMP scenes.

@Tonraq pumps out great Japanese scenes

And finally @korver has at last created a CJ which truly feels global. I think's it safe to say that Korver can create any area on this planet.

So that's it for the CJs... The quality definitely improves each year thanks to the new mods, BATs and LOTs.

Even though the activity decreases a bit each year...

It's the issue with ageing games.

But as we know, a brand new city builder has been released was in 2015. So how has Cities affected the community?

It's given SC4 a competitor.

Some famous community content developers such as @Bipin and @xannepan have "jumped ship" so to speak and gone to Cities Skylines.

is definitely the future and it exists largely on Reddit, C:S Youtube and the Steam Workshop community. C:S, with all the mods and custom content, has beaten the modded SC4 game by a mile and then some.

The STEX can't compete with the Steam Workshop.

With the range, diversity, size, quality?

Just about everything: accessibility, popularity, quality, size...

See, SC4, with all the mods, has become a great city painter.

It's not about the simulation anymore, it's about creating beautiful cities and countryside with these great mods and BATs and LOTs.

I must say, that's what I use SC4 for.

And this is why Cities: Skylines has such a big community.

What I have seen on Youtube, and on Reddit, it has become the most highly-detailed city painter to ever exist in the world of computer games.

You can plop in decals (textures) for concrete, grass, skid marks, dirt... You can drag in props and place them anywhere.

Or pick up any object and move it, and rotate it and shift its height...

While SC4 cannot compete with this I do think there are certain areas where it can stay fresh.

And still carry on despite Cities: Skylines being so detailed.

There is hope, and I do believe the SC4 community on the Simtropolis and SC4D will be around for at least another ten years.

I very much hope so!

The modding which community members such as @Simmer2 and @rsc204 do have helped keep the game fresh and alive.

They given everyone new toys and that is very important.

But for the future I think SC4 needs something to the decals of Cities: Skylines and believe it not SC4 does have something similar.

It has "paint" textures found in a mod made by https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3077 xannepan, this HIGHLY overlooked mod is I believe the future for SC4 since it imposes a texture on top of current textures. Link to the mod in question.

If there are more variations of textures then it could truly transform the game.

Also more diagonal and FAR buildings would be nice too!

I agree with this being overlooked. I only found out about it a few months ago.

But this is why I'm hopeful.

There is definitely more interest and development happening with SC4 mods, there are a few more movers and shakers out there (@rsc204, @Simmer2, @kingofsimcity, @T Wrecks, etc...)

I dunno why but two years ago the STEX and LEX felt stagnant.

It felt like everyone had ran out of ideas but 2015 and 2016 proved me very wrong.

So that's why I'm hopeful for SC4's future despite there being a better game out there.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Well, thanks very much for participating.

Thank you!

Have fun with interviewing the other community members and I look forward to the Trixies coming out.

C ya!

I wish you the best, and the community a very good Trixie season!

I hope you enjoyed reading this interview - We can assure you there will be many more to come!

- _Michael, Staff and Trixie Team

Community Build-up Discussion: Trixies 2015-2016

Wed, 22 Feb 2017 12:45:30 +0000

Community Build-up Discussion -

465 days and counting... It's been a long time since the previous Trixies
So this is the perfect time to share and discuss notable contributions...

Make no mistake, so much has happened between the ceremony of the previous Trixies. On the STEX, in CJs and throughout the forums, there have been many memorable moments. Although unless anyone regularly visits all areas of the site, keeping detailed running notes over the last 2 years, we realise it would be very tricky to remember more than a handful of items or events. With so many outstanding widespread contributions, it's so easy to lose track. Maybe even forget items which we thought were truly remarkable at the time.

That's why we're starting this Community Discussion, so we can together help each other recall the various noteworthy and significant contributions.

Just to clarify, the goal here is not to develop a ballot paper or set list of candidates, but instead, spread greater awareness before people go to the polls. The Trixies are never intended to be a popularity contest or a campaign of who made the 'better' content. That's not in line with the sense of community spirit in which they're run. Nominations will always be conducted anonymously and made at the discretion of each individual. In no way should the items/authors discussed here be the sole options to nominate.

The thing is, by us all pitching in with notable memories from 2015-2016, it then aims to help with making your own measured judgements. Encouraging you to investigate the items discussed, and perhaps discover things you may have not otherwise known about, or have possibly overlooked.

Also for newcomers who may not have been around since the start of 2015, this aims to inform and give everyone a greater understanding. Remember, all community members are eligible to receive a Trixie, so the power is still in your hands to make the pivotal choice.

In short, this discussion simply intends to put ideas out there for everyone to decide on their own, with a broader perspective.

Discussion Guidelines

To help ensure this is conducted fairly and follows the above principles, here are a set of guidelines to follow when posting:

1.
All Examples mentioned...
E.g. STEX files, CJs or other site contribution:

a) Must be submitted or occurred in the eligible period (2015 or 2016).
b) Was created by or relates to someone in the Simtropolis community.
c) Does not concern yourself.
d) Are linked in your post, so others can check it out for themselves. (Feel free to use the auto-embed previews which resolve for links.)

2.
Provide a few details about the Example, aiming to use a non-persuasive informational tone:
For instance, where applicable:

What is it?
Who created it?
What does it do or show?
How was this a highlight for you?
In what ways did you find it useful or interesting?

3.
For each Category, please provide at least 2 applicable Examples, from 2 different Authors.
E.g.

Custom Content

Author A
Created this rustic commercial BAT that functions as a growable CS$ and a ploppable Landmark.

Author B
Created a set of filler Lots, which can be used to construct a custom park.

4. (Optional)
Along with each Example, ONE image may be included, to help with the objective of informing.
E.g.

Custom Content
This may show a way you've used the item in the applicable game.

City Journals
This could be an image embedded or linked from the author's CJ. (Please don't re-upload!)

Community
Might not be applicable, but if you can depict a notable other community contribution using a picture, go for it!

Special Mention

Thanks to @T Wrecks for thinking of the concept for a Trixies discussion thread in the first place!

So without further ado...

Post away with what you found memorable...

A Trixies Interview with feyss

Wed, 22 Feb 2017 21:38:32 +0000

An Interview with feyss

Thank you very much feyss for taking part in this special Trixie build-up Interview.

You're welcome

We all have our own stories about city-building games. So I'd like to start by asking, how did you discover Simtropolis?

It was a long time ago, April 2009 according to my profile. I was first watching other people realisations on TSC (ToutSimCities), then I ended up here. I hadn't the game yet at that time but all of this really made me want to buy it, what I did in December 2009. Then, I lurked a lot before really posting something.

And talking of posting, you've created one of my favorite City Journals, but what's your inspiration when you're creating?

Well, first, thank you! Glad to have such enthusiast support

As I said, I first began with TSC where there was a lot of awesome things at that time.

The first people I really enjoyed watching his creations was K-ny, of course known for his 'Corsica'. But my source of inspiration was his first MD: 'Vlieland', some kind of Northern Europe city with a good collection of all the best BATs available at that time.

Then there was also Ol Scare with his MD 'Med Inspiration', a masterpiece in my opinion.

There was also Art28, known for his Japanse cities. At that time, he was making really awesome Russians cities with their Soviet blocks and colourful buildings.

You've mentioned a whole host of amazing city journals from all sorts of genres, but shifting focus to custom content, has there been a STEX uploader from the past 2 years that has really impressed you?

@Simmer2, for many different reasons. First, simply the scale of his lots. That's simply huge and that's awesome. Second, his talent. He has a lot of creativity, being able to use all the props from his collection and then, if something doesn't suit him, he just create a new prop. Lastly, because of the nature of those lots. A lot of them are transport facilities (train and tramway), which is something I would never say no to.

And is there anyone who has created a mod that has been really useful to your creations?

Well, simply the NAM team for the tramway. I'm sure I would already have stopped playing if there wasn't such a thing.

I must agree. Still talking about custom content, but who do you think has improved the most over the past two years?

I really enjoyed what Tyberius06 has recently done with his Heretic SeaPort Project. I wish I would have the time to try what he has done once in one of my cities:

And for any want-to-be City Journaler or custom-content-creator, what would your number one piece of advice be? Advice in starting out in the content or CJ creation?

Just do it! Sometimes people keep their awesome stuff for themselves, and it's a bit sad.

And it also makes you learn foreign languages!

Very true!

And if you had to summarise your favorite CJ and custom download from the past 2 years, what would they be?

I will have to launch the game for finding that BAT!

Sure!

Concerning my favorite CJ, it's a bit difficult because, even if there is less activity those days since it's an old game, there is quality everywhere. I would say Ln X's CJ, for many reasons:

I'd be tempted to agree. It is truly wonderful.

First, his huge collection of BATs and other custom contents, and the fact he uses all of them (and in an appropriate way). Everything fits perfectly.

Second, because I find it very realistic. Why? Because he builds his industry in the middle of his cities, just right next to people houses, which is how it's actually done in any industrial cities in the world, from the UK where he's from or Belgium, Germany, etc. On that matter, I never liked that idea coming from the vanilla game to build those industries far away from the rest of your city. It never made sense for me.

Very true.

It is incredibly realistic.

Finally, because of his consistency. He posted a lot of quality updates which also means he's efficient in his work (not like me). He knows what he wants to build and just do it.

I personally never finish my cities.

I know the feeling!

Wooos, I was thinking about a special BAT, but he's already from 2012. Time flies... There is that c.p. Chicago post office I really like, but I only find it on the LEX:/

https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3299

It's still a great BAT!

I'd now like to briefly talk about you outside of SC4.

What do you tend to do when you're not creating or on ST?

For the moment, looking for a job during the day, and playing other video games on the evening. I especially like team based online games, from CS:GO to Left 4 Dead... I also enjoy travelling (especially visiting cities) & making photography.

Very busy!

Has your interested in SC4 and city-building changed your viewpoint or appreciation of things in the real world? Like cities...

This game made me more interested about city planning. Now, I'm always excited about new infrastructure projects or urban policies. I always like to read the entire project proposition and make myself my opinion about it.

I must say, I'm very much the same.

And one final question, what has been your favourite Simtropolis memory from the past 2 years?

It's not a 'favourite moment', but I would just like to pay homage to A Nonny Moose, who passed away last year.

Yes, a very tragic event, and a member who will always be remembered.

Well, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to me today, Feyss. It's been great speaking!

Thanks to you!

Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?

Yeah, a huge thanks to Cyclone (and anyone else involved) for the St Challenges

It has been a great Season!

Indeed, I wish I had more time for the last ones

Nevertheless, it has been great for everyone.

Thanks again for speaking to me.

No problem, have a nice evening

I wish you the best, and hope you have a great Trixie season!

the same!

I hope you enjoyed reading this interview - We can assure you there will be more to come during the build-up!

- _Michael, Staff and Trixie Team