Road Plans?

[The_Mad_Poet_Blue 0]

Hey all,<br /><br />Listen, I'm sorry to sound like such an eejit, but despite dabbling in Simcity 2 and being overly succesful with Simcity 3, there belies one aspect of SimCity 4 I can't seem to get even a rudimentary understanding of:<br /><br />Roads.<br /><br />I don't get it, I can build an entire checkerboard of roads with varying dimensions, and even building in 6x6 grided road sections I STILL get no connection zots. I'm stuck building my cities around preconcieved plans I get from faqs and it's really bugging me, I want to be able to plan and grid my own cities.<br /><br />Can someone PLEASE shed some light on proper road layouts?

[Sindai 0]

You should only be getting no connection zots if the lots don't face (ie: aren't oriented with the arrow touching) a road square. This is actually pretty tough to do because the game tries hard to only let you create zones that face roads, so I'm wondering if you're not describing the problem accurately.

Could you give us a screenshot?

[The_Mad_Poet_Blue 0]

Thanks for responding!<br /><br />Well, let me try an example, the main problem is not so much the game, as it is my lack of understanding for the road recognition mechanics. One thing that I did now just realize thanks to your comment though, is that when zoning lots have arrows that show which direction they are pointing... Normally I play zoomed out so I was oblivious to this, and am currently experimenting to try and figure it all out... The computer I'm on right now however is a labtop, and not the CPU I run Simcity on, so I sadly can not provide a screenshot. I've been browsing this sight and have come up with a couple of related questions though...<br /><br />Do I need to have registered to download the patches available? Do they affect transportation? I never got a confirmation E-Mail so I'm still waiting for tech. support from EA.<br /><br />I have heard users referring to NAM, what is this?<br /><br />((Thanks to all who read this thread, sorry for being so ignorant, but I'm having a fair amount of trouble getting a footing in this game))

[guitarist4816 3]

hey, i have the same problem about not getting the confermation email. if u get one, let me know, i dont know if the site is even working anymore. =[

NAM is a mod created to help fix problems in the transportation network. It helps sims chose better routes as well as fixing many other bugs. It also comes with a considerable amount of costum content to help make ur transportation networks more unique and functional.

and dont worry about not being good at the game. it took me a full 2 weeks to figure out that i had to zone for houseing and i couldnt just place it. lol. I tried to play without reading the manual. it was a bad idea.

hope that helps

[Ephphatha 0]

if you are placing 6 by 6 lots in one hit, you'll get problems. The games seems to prefer placing zones like so:

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Instead of the logical

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Try placing a 3x6 zone back to back with a 3x6 zone.

[kenkoo1987 0]

oh..there's something i would like to ask. you know how if you have a road and a street running parallel but with say 3 tiles of separation...if you zone anything in between, they always face the road and never the street. same for avenues and roads, where they always face the avenues. Is there any way to change this?

Cheers!

[NicolaiS 8]

You can alter the direction of the arrows by "holding" the ALT key.

[Sindai 0]

That only changes the angle by 90 degrees. The problem is that if you try and zone between two road types that are parallel to each other, the zones will always face the faster one. Holding alt will just rotate them so they have no road connection at all.

Unfortunately the only workaround I know of is demolishing the faster transit, zoning to face the slow one, and then rebuilding it.

[Ephphatha 0]

Hold shift and alt.

EDIT: Really. hold shift and alt. Alt rotates it to the first logical direction it finds, and shift-alt forces it to the next.

[DOXXP29 5]

Welcome, mad poet blue. I've noticed that the arrows will point by default to the highest order thoroughfare, ie. avenue before road, road before street, etc. Sometimes, like if I have two avenues and a road and I want to have the arrows point toward the road, the alt key will only point to the other avenue. What I have to do in those cases is bulldoze one of the avenues so the alt key will point toward the road, zone my area, then redraw my avenue. Kinda convoluted and expensive way to go, but it's the best way if your road network is already established. If you're starting out you can zone lower order streets where you DON'T want the arrows to point, zone the area and later "upgrade" them which will wind up costing the same, just an extra few steps. Just a little trick I've learned to use that may be helpful. Good luck!

[RushHourFreak 1]

Did you check that all your buildings have the arrow looking at the street?/road/avenue? If no, dezone and press Ctrl/Alt/Shift and get the size and the direction you want, Welcome

[SC4BOY 20]

The arrow shift for ALT, CONTROL, and SHIFT are slightly unpredictable, BUT if you use them trying one at a time or any/all in combination, it will 99.9% do what you want ti to do.. its extremely rare for you to have to delete and replace things, tho of course this will work..