What you HATE about SC4...

[smstevenms 7]

Tomatoworm, thanks for the concern. Thankfully I found a another copy at Target yesterday, whew! I am back in business, yahoo!!

[IonWind 3]

I think I'll contribute to this topic by saying that the few features that truly drive me over the edge are:

- UDI: The idea is quite good while the implementation of it sucks so hard, especially with the cars. One can't possibly drive in the city without hitting something as one can't see behind the buildings. Also the distance one has to travel in missions is overexaggerated. It takes forever to drive in 4x4 city from corner to corner, though one couldn't possibly do that because the car would be wrecked after two minutes because of the disappearing and appearing cars. Argh. Also the Dr. Vu missions where one has to avoid the police doesn't work at all. The mission fails, not by police action but randomly.

- Advisors: I've undestood that the frequency of the advisors bothering you depends on the difficulty level. I hate it when the budget advisor freaks out with the money problems. I liked the way the advisors looked in SC3k. I'd keep the drawn characters instead of crappy sims.

- Grid system: No.

- News Ticker: News Ticker in SC3k was good, I liked the little humorous news and puns and absurd news. It feels like there is only a small amount of different lines in SC4 when comparing to SC3k. In addition, the puns in SC4 are just stupid and dull.

- Retaining walls: NO! I think they could've made the building on slopes bit more aestethic than what it is now. Oh god how I hate those concrete walls.

- Commute times: The biggest city size can be 4x4 kilometres, right? I've understood that the numbers on the commute times chart are minutes. How in the hell sims can averagely use some 80 minutes to travel to work? Of course the average value rises when sims have to travel to neighbouring city, but still. My experiments are that when driving on the main roads in countryside, it takes about one minute per kilometer, sometimes less. In city, it takes at max 3 minutes per kilometer.

One square was 16x16 metres? How come sims won't walk further than some 10 squares? Why do sims have to travel by car if the distance is longer than the car?

- Ordinances: There's too few of them. Why couldn't they include things like parking fines? There should be a lot more.

But still, SC4 is the best we have so far. Kind of a hate-love-relationship this is indeed.

Edit:

Hahayoudied: EA company have a lot of crappy programers and technecail  support staffs.quote>

EA's and Maxis' programmers aren't probably crappy as they've managed to get this game done. I'm studying IT and I'd say the problem lies within time and money.

Time:  To polish the game to its perfection needs time, and when the time passes and there is no product to sell for the customers the company loses money, which is no good for the stock owners.

Money: big companies want to make lots of it and you can't get lots of money from a small minority of hardcore-city-building-players. Big companies want to target their products to big masses which equal big money.

The programmers have all the possibilites to do almost anything, don't blame them as it is not their fault that we don't have diagonal bridges or accurate commute times or the non-grid system.

For example, when the SC4 was in the definition phase, the developent team probably thought that it would take too much time (and don't forget the system requirements back then) to make the game grid-free, so in order to save time and money (and make their bosses happy and keep their jobs) they made this game based on grid system.

You know, making a software is mainly something completely else than sitting on a computer writing code.

[KingTitan 6]

The only thing , and i wouldn't say HATE....that's a harsh word, but what I dislike is that there are so many GREAT STEX stuff here on simtropolis.com to enhance SC4. I wish TM/EA would do something like of a "support expansion for sc4 to handle all of these wonderful bats..i know there is the disc 1 and 2 that simtropolis.com offers. But aomething like a BOOSTER... Or maybe simtropolis.com can do an expansion pack of just dependencies to go along with the regular release of STEX stuff they have on disc. hmmmmm

[Yeah_Right 2]

Yeah, I am an old user of SC4, but new to ST, and I am overwhelmed by the amount of custom content on here! This is not a bad thing, but it is really hard to find out what to install first, and figuring out if NAM is compatible with this and that, and does the MEGA props pack actually have all props?!..... I think there should be a starter pack on ST, to help enhance the SC4 experience. But thing I hate most about SC4 is...that it is really hard to buy rush hour separately from SC4! I live in Australia, and every copy of Rush Hour is from a different region! grr

[KingTitan 6]

Originally posted by: Yeah_Right Yeah, I am an old user of SC4, but new to ST, and I am overwhelmed by the amount of custom content on here! This is not a bad thing, but it is really hard to find out what to install first, and figuring out if NAM is compatible with this and that, and does the MEGA props pack actually have all props?!..... I think there should be a starter pack on ST, to help enhance the SC4 experience. But thing I hate most about SC4 is...that it is really hard to buy rush hour separately from SC4! I live in Australia, and every copy of Rush Hour is from a different region! grrquote>

 

There is a stater pack friend. 

[Simmguy 1]

I hate not being able to turn the canal and dock squares so it will match up with the others. Anyone know how to do this??

[benblue20 0]

Originally posted by: Duke87 It crashes..... especially when I've just spent hours buiding up a city and forgotten to save.quote>

 

same thing happened to me. that's what i hate about it!

[BlackStar 0]

SC4 does seem to be rather unstable. However there are ways of significantly reducing crashes. Where 5 months ago I'd do a Fast Save after every important step, I am now confident that I won't lose major parts of my cities.

Pay attention to the readme files - they contain information on potential causes of crashes. For example dragging ploppable network pieces over transit enabled lots. Keeping your plugins folder neat and tidy is another good idea. Keep an eye on dependancies, etc. Housekeeping on your computer helps as well -- keep your disk defragmented, etc.

That said, my main issue with SC4 is the performance issue. However, there is not a lot of fixing that.

Secondly, I find the UI patronising and cartoonish. This goes to include the advisors, automata, news tickers, and so forth.

[jakealake18 0]

Stratton Spas

[Morofry 41]

I am not a fan of the industries using freight truck whenever possible. I mean, come on man, use the friggin freight station. Im currently looking for the Car-only blocks. Another thing that bugs me is the zoning tool. They don't wanna go the way you want them to. And the last thing is just a nit-pick. I want to build roads under dry-land bridge segments.

[lilcamo 0]

I hate mansions popping up everywhere when you want a suburb to stay with normal medium income homes

[simsmart 1]

Originally posted by: Simmguy I hate not being able to turn the canal and dock squares so it will match up with the others. Anyone know how to do this??quote>

Use the "Home" and "End" keys.

The game is too basic, go STEX!

[Schmicky 0]

I hate the scale of everything, and the width of the 6-lane highway should be wider than the avenue. mostly the scale.

[Jman47 0]

you know what really grinds my gears? ( that was a funny episode)

how u cant have water at different altitude levels!

and how innercity low wealth slums always build over my farm houses in my rural communities!

and you know what else! YOU america! kiss my a$$!

last one is from family guy too

[doorknob60 11]

Originally posted by: smstevenms What I hate, is cheaply made disc. These program disc really need to be made of a stronger material, and the tops need to have a duruable protective layer. If you can't tell what I'm talking about, my disk cracked and there's a scratch on the data side!quote>

Lol, I guess that can be one of the things I hate, because I can play the game, but I can't install it because my Disc 2 was too scratched. I fixed it by downloading it off the internet and making another DIsc 2 just for installation Also I hate the bugs, especially when it freezes after you finish something and don't want to save because it takes so freakin long! I guess that' my other main problem lol, but running it in Ubuntu made my cities load about twice as fast so it's not an issue anymore

OH! Almost forgot something important, I HATE those stupid freight trucks! Just use the trains!! A pain in the butt because they clog up the highways and I use UDI a lot so that's a bad combo

[redlinefever 0]

1 - It would be nice to have a choice of grid patterns when using "God Mode" so you don't have to guess at how steep the terrain is - something you find out later when you add a road and it doesn't quite go uphill correctly or make the turns....

2 - And I agree with 1973tr6 (BTW sweet cars back in the day!), somethings should have been much more improved, having been an addict for too many years ....

3 - What is it with the dual rails and lack of WIDE highways with more than TWO lanes. Can't even cross highways and add exit ramps like you could with SC3K! Got to use that stupid tile hogging cloverleaf ... and all raised highways don't like to match up with land lubber highways .... so much for realism.

4 - Sadly the programmers have fallen prey to the corporate world of "more money" instead of "more quality". After all, we're just the low life addicted consumers waiting for a better fix the next time a newer version appears!

5 - EA sucks, they changed their website, so even getting some goodies for some older Sims games is now a search for the almost impossible. Oh well ....

[Chrisdragon 0]

1) EA

2) That police chopper bugging me about "den of crime" BS at corner of airport

3) Lack of building variety names

4) Commute time!

5) Lazy sims

[smstevenms 7]

If we started a "What you hate about SimCity Societies" I think there'd only be enough room on a page for one post at a time. Guess it a good we don't.

[LB_Industries 4]

the square and the diagonal....

to have only this 2 possibilities the cities look what ever u do always the same...gridded

the scale is not correct

and to control the traffic is not really possible ( ped's prefer to take a bus driving 50 tiles than to walk 5 [also with NAM simulator])

pathfinding is bad and not really real

[smstevenms 7]

Well SCS it isn't any different, seems there's no will to change the grid style.

[nthooze 13]

Have seen most of my gripes on here already

- I wish they put a 'snapshot' of your adjacent tiles rather than just having the thing floating in some empty universe and forcing you to imagine/remember exactly what is happening beyond the boundary.

-  I really wish there was an undo button.

-  Also along those lines, it would be nice to have a design or engineering mode in which you could layout say a highway, road or rail system conceptually, working out all the details prior to actually building it.  Then have it built once its the way you want it.  Rather than having to build live and hope for the best, often having to demolish for adjustments.

-  Autosave would sure  be nice and  backup files too.  Would sure save the day on those rare but horrific occasions that the city file gets corrupted.

[smstevenms 7]

Originally posted by: nthooze Have seen most of my gripes on here already

- I wish they put a 'snapshot' of your adjacent tiles rather than just having the thing floating in some empty universe and forcing you to imagine/remember exactly what is happening beyond the boundary.

This and all your ideas are great. But as you can image this would put a load on the computer and most wouldn't be able to handle that.

-  I really wish there was an undo button.

Also another idea, many of times I wish there was one. Have you have you ever deleted a large section of a city (large), well there's a very long pause & you get very nervous. But this would require alot of memory and cpu power, again the average person won't have what it take.

-  Also along those lines, it would be nice to have a design or engineering mode in which you could layout say a highway, road or rail system conceptually, working out all the details prior to actually building it.  Then have it built once its the way you want it.  Rather than having to build live and hope for the best, often having to demolish for adjustments.

This is an interesting idea, but I think a seperate program would be better. It would be a waste having it on the disk. Heck ask around, you mind someone that might be able to make something or just tell you it can't be done.

-  Autosave would sure  be nice and  backup files too.  Would sure save the day on those rare but horrific occasions that the city file gets corrupted.

This is the only idea I don't like. I've never liked the idea of autosaves unless you can turn them off or on yourself. You could be working on something that turns out to be awful, when would it autosave, would you be able to set the time, how would you know what's the best length of time? Backing up files is as easy as downling a new plugin. Copy and paste it where you want it!

quote>

[nthooze 13]

Originally posted by: smstevenms

Originally posted by: nthooze Have seen most of my gripes on here already

- I wish they put a 'snapshot' of your adjacent tiles rather than just having the thing floating in some empty universe and forcing you to imagine/remember exactly what is happening beyond the boundary.

This and all your ideas are great. But as you can image this would put a load on the computer and most wouldn't be able to handle that.

The way i figure it a frozen 'snapshot' (2D image) wouldn't be unmanagable and of coarse could be turned off and on to boot.

-  I really wish there was an undo button.

Also another idea, many of times I wish there was one. Have you have you ever deleted a large section of a city (large), well there's a very long pause & you get very nervous. But this would require alot of memory and cpu power, again the average person won't have what it take.

I don't think the loading would be horrendious, depending on how the engine was built to begin with.

-  Also along those lines, it would be nice to have a design or engineering mode in which you could layout say a highway, road or rail system conceptually, working out all the details prior to actually building it.  Then have it built once its the way you want it.  Rather than having to build live and hope for the best, often having to demolish for adjustments.

This is an interesting idea, but I think a seperate program would be better. It would be a waste having it on the disk. Heck ask around, you mind someone that might be able to make something or just tell you it can't be done.

-  Autosave would sure  be nice and  backup files too.  Would sure save the day on those rare but horrific occasions that the city file gets corrupted.

This is the only idea I don't like. I've never liked the idea of autosaves unless you can turn them off or on yourself. You could be working on something that turns out to be awful, when would it autosave, would you be able to set the time, how would you know what's the best length of time? Backing up files is as easy as downling a new plugin. Copy and paste it where you want it!

quote>

quote>

An auto save feature I imagine would keep separate sav files in say a temp folder rather than overwriting the actual game file.  This way if there is a catastorphy you can go retrieve that file and put it to use.

[BlackStar 0]

I've always wanted to be able to have screenshots of your adjacent cities on the edge of your city. I think that's a fantastic idea. The undo button is something I would love, but the amount of RAM needed to hold all the information would be ikky. If I'm about to do something dangerous, I perform an express save.

[Danny_K_B 0]

i hate the Vehicle Disappear Cause Its Unrealstic.. And When On UDI, I Hate When Vehicles Appear And Disappear after siren..

[Yeah_Right 2]

i think in SC5, they should use vectors or something instead of the basic grid.

the grid is what I hate, but it IS necessary

[Arkkys 0]

Hmm, lets see. - I really wish there was an undo button, as I've on a few instances demolished things that I didn't want demolished. I once demlished by accident an 2 - dual highway interchange that I worked on for an hour. Yeah I'm slow. LOL. - UDI is crappy at times, especially the police chases. They can't possibly expect me to arrest someone at the edge of a map when I'm on the opposite end. - The inability to build diagonal stuff, or at least a triangle or something. - Sims that won't use highways bug me alot. I can't figure out how to force them to use highways. They absolutely refuse to take the highways. I guess it's good in a way, because they're using the subway I gave them. Only thing using my highways in game are the freight trucks (they don't seem to want to use the freigth rails).

[sterashu 0]

AMEN to the undo button! --Or lack thereof.

What I really miss is the random Map generation from SC2000. They could have make that so much more realistic and advanced for the recent editions. I like the challenge of just taking whatever I get and "working-with-it"

I am just now re-discovering this game since SC Societies turned out to be such a disappointment. Fortunately for me, the contributors of this site have developed so many new things since I originally abandoned SC4 years ago. Thank you all for keeping the game alive.

Speaking of SC Societies. It wasn't ALL a bad concept. I actually like the idea of having societal influences that determine the overall look and feel of the city. But GOD they took away zoning! WHY? Why cant we just place societal markers that affect what styles of buildings would naturally develop on their own within a radius from the markers? But where's the fun in plopping every single thing?

I just like the interactivness of "working-with" something that I don't control. The Sims decide what exactly gets built, God decides the terrain you are given. The player should decide how to deal with it and influence the outcome.

The design aspect was what made Sim City the great game it was, but design is not about starting with a clean slate so the player can use the game as a plop-everything canvass to make the city of his dreams. That's what an artist would do. Design is dealing with limitations and balancing requirements and overcoming those obstacles in a functional and hopefully brilliantly creative way. If any SC5 developers are taking notes here, please bring this concept back and abandon "sandbox-play"

Sadly SC4 may be the closest there will be to that since SC2000.

[DioAngel 1]

Of what I hate about it... we have all sick of traffic during in the ingame mode!! Even trying perfect strategies clear up to red from green, but winding up still reporting the same spot! I hate it a lot!! Especially no job zots poping out from no where, even if there own house is ONE INCH away grrrrrrrrrrr!

[smstevenms 7]

That's the one thing Maxis forgot to add, brains for are Sims. Can't they just create some downloadable brains, we can control are Sims (TheSims the game), but we have to hope these sims firgure it out. I guess this is why we have the disater feature, for torture, hahAHAHA!