How do you guys get such big cities?

[DarkSoul 3]

Ive been playing sim city 4 for a little while now and though i was doing pretty well until i came here and seen some of the things i have seen. and then i realize that my cities are weak compared to even the smallest of cities posted here.

How do i achieve such great results. I am NEVER capable of getting a city going that generates money (using a money cheat or otherwise, and i dont want to cheat at this game)

My region population is a little over 100,000 in 3 cities right now, but i dont know how to get people in my city, i canot seem to get a city larger than 50-60,000 and its full, with no room left for zoning, and im spending like 60,000 a month, and getting like 15,000 income.

I have spent hours placing trees, parks, and making sure that the sims needs are met, my mayor rating its way way in the green, all of my environment stats are far in the green, im full of high wealth and high tech commercial, everyone is educated, protected, in great health, pollution is LOW, they all have water...... but my city wont grow.

I know alot of stuff is mods (Whats BAT? STEX? etc?) but for the tim being i want to try and get a large, money generating city(cities) going before i start playing expansions and modding and stuff.

any help is appreciated.

TIA

[sim1234 62]

Welcome to Simtropolis DarkSoul! I hope you enjoy yourself here!

The BAT is a tool which people use to make Custom Content for Sim City. It stands for the Building Architect Tool.

The STEX is the SimTropolis EXchange and it is where members can post their custom content for Sim City 4, it can be found here.

Lots of tutorials on how to build a great city from the very start can be found in the Simtropolis Omnibus which can be found here.

Hope this helps.

[DarkSoul 3]

I was looking in there, and some of the stuff is hard to follow sometimes... and i get lost

Im having a problem with my game freezing now for some reason.

Ill have to see if i can sort it out.

[DarkSoul 3]

Well now my city is full, and the population has stopped growing around 90,000, and wont go any higher, i cant get any denser, and i dont know what to do.

how do i get a bigger city?

[Tolomar 5]

play the cities around your city...keep expanding, rotate through the cities and return to the old cities and run them for a while...basicly....it takes time (barring cheatmods)

[hamsterTK 93]

Im having a problem with my game freezing now for some reason.

Ill have to see if i can sort it out.quote>

Have you downloaded things off the STEX? The more things in your plugins folder, and your game slows down and starts crashing. The trick to pack as many things in there as possible without sacrificing playabilty is to keep them organized in folders to assure there are no duplicate files, which can do kwazy things to the game and eat up all your ram and crash. When i first found the STEX i would just empty all the plugin files into the folder without organizing them, and it didnt take long for the game to be unplayable. Now i got over a gig in there and i can still play the game without it crashing too much. This weekend i managed to go 5 hours before the game got laggy and freezy and crashy.

Also read the readme files. Most of the time there isnt much important info in there, but sometimes there will be a warning that one of the files will conflict with something and mess up the game. I know that with many of the NDEX Skyscrapers there is a file called Essentials_OG.dat or something like that which you can only have 1 of in your plugins file or else the game will crash.

Also, do you have the NAM? NAM stands for Network Addon Mod, which gives you all sorts of neat new transportation items like light rail, and road overpass pieces, and new freeway interchanges. Its the best unofficial mod ever made for SC4 and you'll be a fool if you dont use it. I forgot if you download it from this site or not, but its easy to find.

[soldyne 111]

I dont think his question is concerned with plugins, although your comments about plugins are good ones for anyone to follow. yes plugins will cause a slower load time, but I have over 600 MB of plugins and my cities dont crash any more than when I had no plugins.

Darksoul: the number one reason why your city is not growing is mostlikely due to not having any developed neighbor cities as tolomar suggested. developed cities which have neighbor connections will feed off of and feed into each others demand levels. you can build enitre cities with all one type (all industrial, all commercial, all residential) if you want. you can even have cities dedicated to power and garbage (called dump cities) and sell the utilities to all the neighbors.

region play is essential to a successful city. I have a large region (Newtopia Valley) and every new city I go into has maxed out demand almost immediately. I built a city with 300k population in less than a few hours becuase the surrounding cities were feeding it so much demand. my region started slow with farming communities but once things started going it has become very easy to get large cities really fast.

be patient and learn as you play.

welcome to Simtropolis!

[Zelgadis 638]

Good suggestions here.

Yes, download lots from the STEX.  And download NAM, the network addon mod. 

Also, I have notice that, for me, it helps to have at least 5 cities in my region before I start getting the highest growth.  Try building up a couple more cities, then load one of them, make sure it's zoned high density with plenty of public transportation and services, and then just let it run.  It will take a few decades, but your city should start getting huge.

One more note, I have also noticed that using small city tiles in your region for almost nothing but industrial does wonders for demand throughout most of the region.

ISF

[T Wrecks 10,210]

One thing you should be aware of when looking at cities shown here is that many of them are cheated and plopped together.

Many players use ploppable RCI buildings, mostly commercial (which explains many a 'skyscraper forest' downtown) which in turn cause residential demand to go skyrocketing. They use cheaty pollution removal lots, civic and supply structures with excessive output and little to no maintenance cost, public transport lots with exaggerated stats and plugins that improve pathfinding and increase commute speeds and maximal allowed commute time. They use money and reward unlock cheats, parks that provide disproportionately strong attractivity boosts etc etc. Most of all, many use mods that raise demand radically.

This is an entirely different way of playing the game, and I'm not trying to value it. It is often used by CJ authors to get exactly the result they want.

All I want to say is that many an intimidating downtown view is in fact not the result of superb playing and secret tricks you haven't discovered...

With this in mind, let me reassure you that your approach is perfectly ok and that you won't need downloads from the STEX. They can enhance both gameplay and visuals, but the thing you really need is some tutorials to learn the mechanisms of the game. I conclude from your description that you pamper your sims faaaaaaaaar too much. Be cruel! Be mean! Be the worst tightwad that has ever plagued a city! And remember that plop cost is nothing and maintenance cost is all. You will find detailed information in the Omnibus tutorials (or so I hope). Good luck!

[shivsood 5]

the way to get large cities is to put a lot of time into them. If you put in the time and effort the end result will usually be remarkable

[DarkSoul 3]

Ok, to answer the big question asked here, yes i am using NAM.... I recently upgraded to deluxe edition, and man, are the changes friggin drastic even without NAM. But ive got that and some other plugins installed.

Luckily the first one i installed mentioned that you can make sub folders (alot of game plugins dont work this way) So my collection is organized from the very start

The city with 90,000 is gone, It was a SC4 city, when i upgraded i decided to start from scratch. But this city did have 3 neighbouring cities connected to it. I obliterated them all when i started RH that was immensly fun.

Few questions about the plugins..... Props - These are things i download which i cannot place or generally see??? they show up randomly on lots because the game puts them there???

Lots - These are lots? with buildings and functions and stuff?? they actually do something and provide something to the game??

Whats this ploppable RCI building stuff?? (i know what ploppable means) how does it work.

Now for my newest (and thus far ONLY) city, it has a population of 40,000 now give or take, and it is a small city (smallest tiles in the region) and its full...... can i still make the population grow without other cities right now?? how large can i get with only one city?

And where do i find tutorials on how the game mechinism works??? this is what i need, not tutorials on how to make a railyard and such....... Cause i never know when to put medium density zones (when are they ready for MD??) or how things all relate to each other, so something along those lines would help me alot.

[Helotes123 0]

I cheat haha,Just upload some of the good mods and your set.

[Shinnie02 17]

NOTE: I can't be bothered to read everything replied by everyone else except by darksoul.

how about making a city in a large map. I think of cheats as, more of a "newb helper". Helped me when i was a newb and envied everyone elses huge beautiful cities. Now i'm not pro yet but im almost there anyways back to the point. Alright have you downloaded the Radical Ordinance Mod from the modds & downloads section? that boosts up your commercial and industrial demands (these are optional) way up.

Neighbours: Neighbours are a must. This is how i played. Build large city in large map. This becomes a crossroad for me but it's your decision. I generally hate industrial zoning and only love having residential and commercial so i raise taxes on idustrial over 12% so they don't grow. Or you can keep industrial taxes in average to get your income higher and try to develop more residential. its good to have a huge main commercial centre with avenues, airports, seaports, and highways etc, linked to residential neighbours. And since you have the radical ordinance mod, things grow a hell lot faster then you can imagine.

Props: Think them as a movie setting. They are objects thrown into lots which is like maybe, a bin, or something like that.

Lots:Lots are existing buildings in the game, combined to make larger buildings in the Lot Editor (go to simcity.ea.com for more info) Then using tools from this site(modds&Downloads) you are able to change the stats of the buildings such as make it residential or a school and give it stats like how much water it consumes or how much pollution it releases.

Wow...my longest post ever. Hope this helps...and hope its actually correct. im sleepy goodnight

[jackel.22 3]

this is probably the easiest way.

pick an area then build only a large res, and a small commercial zone in it. (no industry) save an exit, play the city next to it and fill it all wit hindustry and nothing else. 

when you have res and co/cs demand play the first city. when you have industrial demand play the industrial city (note you need tonnes of industry early on so expect to build about 3-4 cities just full of industry)

[DarkSoul 3]

My cities usually always have high demand.... i didnt know high demand was a good thing. Cause right now im pretty much out of space to zone residental areas, but my residental demand is really high, and my population isnt growing much at all.... its sort of capped off.

Ill grab the radical ordanince mod.

[jackel.22 3]

DONT use the ordinance mod, it creates a total fake demand that can screw up your cities because you cant turn it off after you have used it.

[Flumes 3]

Off Topic, but jackel.22, great Signature

[soldyne 111]

if you want to learn the game properly and play without cheats then stay far away from ordinance mods, anything named "radical", and any of the demand multipliers. most of the mods I have installed are visual mods (street textures, ground and rock textures, tree mods, slope mods, bridge mods, etc). infact, I am pretty sure that the only mod I have that changes the functionality of the game is the NAM and I did not install any of the traffic mods that come with it (speed, time, capacity, etc).

to enhance the answers given by shinnie02:

props: these things are just all the little tiny stuff on a lot like flowers, benches, trash cans, cars, people, fountains, etc. if you down load things from the STEX or anywhere else you will need to make sure that the lot does not use some custom props. if it does and you do not have the custom prop file in your plugins, then the lot may look odd as it will not have all the props it was meant to have. custom props, textures, and other stuff is collectively known as a set of dependancies and all good lotters and BATers will list thier dependancies when they up load thier stuff

LOTs - you have the right idea, these are buildings that pop up in your city or the ones you plop down like hospitals and fire departments. lots contain props and textures. on the STEX the term lot is generally used to describe a lot that contains only the default maxis buildings and props rearranged in a new way. a BAT is a lot that someone made using the Building Architect Tool and is unique to the game all together. both terms refer to lots in the game however.

Ploppable RCI - this is a lot or BAT that you can plop in your city just like a civic building but it will act like a regular RCI building, just as if it were grown by either providing population or jobs. ploppable RCI buildings are used extensively by people who wish to create a city with a specific image in mind. not everyone does this for their City Journal (CJ) btw, I let my cities develop organically over time, and only plop the services.

for tutorials, go to the very top of this page and click on the word "omnibus" and you will find a wealth of knowledge.

very good questions, keep asking, keep playing and have fun.

[DarkSoul 3]

I dont think im using anything radical, i didnt like the sound of radical ordinance, so i didnt install it

But i am using functional landmarks, i dont know if this is radical or not, but i feel that landmarks should have jobs.... they do in real life

my second city (Medium square) now has about 30,000 people i think, and i have it connected to the small city. ill play the small city later

[kaploosh 0]

Actually, it's best to get a big city size for your first city. It gives lots of space for development and is somewhat easier. Players who want a real challenge choose the small square cities. I never touch those.

Anyway, what you mentioned above was a demand cap. If you break out of the demand cap, your whole city should be filled with high rises in your case. To break out of the cap, build tons of parks. It may be worth it to demolish some buildings. However, you should also check if your desirability for certain areas are high. Low Desirability stalls development and causes buildings to blacken (abandon).

[DarkSoul 3]

what do you mean by breaking out of the demand cap??? making it go low or what?

[manu-fan 0]

By break out of the caps, he really means increase the caps.

There are certain caps on RCI inherent in the game. For R, you can increase the caps by adding Parks and Tennis courts and other beautifying features. For C, you add plazas and other buildings that increase the caps.

Caps are the limits of what the population will grow to.

Cheers.

[jackel.22 3]

thanks flume,

yeh try planting some parks and building plazas they can help.

[paperboy15 4]

The key to creating a profit in your city is to absolutely skimp on city services and only add them as you need and/or can afford them. Also, a good strategy to boost your tax income is to zone only low-density residential until your city is full and then rezone to medium or high density (Low density property provides more per capita tax income than the higher densities). This strategy will force you to spend more on infrastructure, but it pays off.

If you want to learn more about demand caps and the like, I recommend buying the SC4: Deluxe guide.

[soldyne 111]

demand caps are usually only a problem in younger cities before you start getting rewards. most young cities dont get alot of decoration because they are still trying to get a balanced budget but parks are essential for breaking past the initial 2000 R$$ demand cap. large flower gardens give about 7000 res demand cap relief and large plazas give the most at 9000 demand cap relief. I think that some of the best default parks are the small flower garden, tennis courts, gazebo, and BB courts.

the first reward that gives a huge demand cap boost is the minor league stadium which I believe is at 200k after that your city should not have a problem with demand caps for quite a while. other rewards give huge boosts as well and it all adds up.

just keep decorating and making neighbor connections and you should not have any demand cap problems.