What you HATE about SC4...

[DioAngel 1]

Originally posted by: smstevenms Music Audio converter.. were can I find that? The musicmatch, I agree! That program is horrible!

DioAngel, Well to tell the truth, not sure. It was either on my system or with the lastest Windows Media Player DL. More than likely already installed since I have Media Edition XP.

Wish I could help, the musicmatch was a disk of some other program I bought, thought I'd check it out. Just goggle it you might get lucky on the first search.

quote>

 

I'd search on Google... tough luck, to download it cost an arm and a legg. :-(

[Barbarossa 51]

I dislike not having views for landmarks, rewards, and all the other civic buildings. I use the zone view a lot, but it is frustrating when I can't easily identify the borders of some church or park or other ploppable like that.

And the random crashing... at least I am not alone in that zooming out sometimes causes lag and then CTD (sometimes it takes 5 minutes to fully get back to desktop).

I won't even start on diagonals and sims' fascination with taking funky routes.

Barbarossa

[Shooshie 0]

The Numero Uno All Time Gripe for me is the lack of good support for the Mac! Aspyr no longer even has SC4 on their site, at least not that I can find, and we Mac users are not allowed to register on Maxis' site. It really doesn't have to be that way, but people in charge just don't give a darn. You PCers don't know how great you have it unless you've tried to build a nice city on a Mac. We can't make BATs (at least, not without a PC or PC emulator), and the BATs that everyone else makes lack nightlight support on Macs. It's kind of an involved process to get them to work within the Aspyre port, which is not really that bad of a port job, but things that are easy for you guys are somewhat more difficult for us. And the lack of nightlights on the custom buildings means we either have to stick to daytime or work with a limited set of mods. I work with limited mods, as I love the night lights too much to let them go.

The other sore points are:

1. The Grid -- though at least we are all on the same footing there.

2. The Networks when they just decide not to cooperate. You KNOW that road will bend and join, but it refuses until you bulldoze everything and start over.

3. The LOUSY trains. Fortunately, there are some good mods, but what were they thinking at Maxis when they made those toy trains and destroyed the illusion of a decent transit system?

4.The lack of an UNDO. Have you ever accidentally slipped with a levelling tool or bulldozer after spending the better part of a day getting a certain layout just as you want it? And have you ever accidentally lost something you can't get back, due to lack of money or lost opportunity? I guess it would require too much of a RAM hit, but sometimes I'd take a hit for an UNDO.

5.Why aren't Maxis's originals as great looking as some of the mods? I think Maxis overlooked a great source of funding: sell "placement" to real companies by offering models of their stores in the game. Why not have all the big chains represented? They could all pay a thousand bucks or so for the advertising, and Maxis would have the budget to finish the darn thing before releasing it!

6.The U-Drive has horrible sounds and controls. I wish it had a ground-level view.

7. More trees, please! Why do we have to download mods just to get pines?

I guess one could criticize for days, depending on how "real" your expectations are. But I don't want to make these criticisms without telling the other side. This is one incredible game! Look at how far the networks have come since the original Sim City! Remember when things didn't even try to fit together? The art of making these things fit together as seamlessly as they do now is just incredible. Maxis has come a long, long way. Gameplay is different in each release of SC. It just keeps getting better, IMO. Regions takes SC4 lightyears farther than any previous version, and gives us a sense of continuity in our cities. And it's amazing that you can click on something and see the paths. It really knows what or who is going where, and creates a credible relationship between residences, jobs, and transit.

With each new version of SC, I learn something else about the way actual cities grow. It is said that Will Wright studied everything he could find about city planning and related philosophy, and it shows. Sure, it's got lots of flaws, but who cares? I can turn the music off. I can suspend my disbelief and get so immersed in a city that it HURTS when a fire burns down a building. I get GUILT feelings!!!

It's just great. I've been playing SC for nearly 20 years, having started in the late 1980s, and I've never found a game that compares in its breadth of interest, educational value, and just plain enjoyment. Yeah, some people probably think we're crazy, because there's not a gun-barrel in our user interface, but SC is just for a different breed of gamer. Between this and the Myst series, I could just about go without any other games.

Shooshie

[smstevenms 7]

"I'd search on Google... tough luck, to download it cost an arm and a leggy. :-( " 

It's one of those things when you don't have it you want it, no, need it, and when you have it, it's just another program among the many. Sorry for late response, on the road, never know where or when I'll have time to get connected (wifi loc.). What was the program (product name, software co.) for this audio converter? You know you might be able to find an on-line service that will let you upload to convert. Worth a shot, if you converting might be useful for other stuff. Search when your board.

We used to hunt to survive, now, hunted, we run to survivequote>

[DioAngel 1]

Oh well.. thanks anyway my friend.

[dogscarletnyc 0]

missing landmarks like tour eiffel. maxis must have unfinished polygon models there?

[1973tr6 0]

Shooshie:  20 years!!!  You're the 1st one on this site that I've seen make that claim besides myself!!  Did you start with the DOS verison??  And SC has come SOOOOOO far since then.  I've played a bunch of pc games, but SC is the one I always come back to.  And with a new pc (in a week or so) I might actually become a B.A.T.ter  and make some of my own content.  I look forward to many more years of playing SC, in whatever form it evolves to.

[metasmurf 705]

The zig-zag thingys with roads, streets an avenues at diagonals, unable to handle plopable residential, stupid no road connection zot when plopping a transit enabled lot infront of a residential building, the water texture bug, hmmm..yeah i think that covers some of it, lol

[smstevenms 7]

I'd add something but I'm on the go. There's many imperfections with this game as there was with the last one, likely to be the same the new one (maybe), it just will improve so we can find new problems, LOL!

[adam.simpson 0]

I personally hate when the RCI demand thingy suddenly drops when I start a new town. it happened to me 3X already...

[DioAngel 1]

I'm started to have that weird problem too. Right in the moddle of my CJ.

[Astroman 0]

"What realiy grinds my gears?" about this game here are some of the reasons that this game could have been better.

1.Not user base game,What i mean about not being a user base game is everthing was made by EA/Maxis. 

2.insted rushing this game,To meet the deadline of the shipping date and holiday sale.They could have been takeing thier time to improve the quality of the game and the production insted of makeing Simcity 4 a typical ea game.

3.The graphics of this game,could have been better.

4.The system requirements.

Don't make a simple computer game like Simcity 4 need a system requirements of a 2.30 GHz 

100.00 GB hard drive space  Nvidia Geforce go 7900 GTX with a 5.1 sound card and at least a Directx 9.0 don't for get a 4.00 MB of hard drive space. 

5.Not good amount of buildings and the buildings are not much of inspiring.

6.The transportation system in the game is lame. 

7.Very few bridges to selcet of.

8.The onliy street format is grid,It a good format if your makeing future style cities but it's not good for makeing  historical Cities.

9.To many bugs and glitches and the game slows down to much even if you have a top of the line dest top computer or latop. 

"That what realiy grinds my gears?" 

[Tarkus 6,932]

Originally posted by: DioAngel

Originally posted by: smstevenms Music Audio converter.. were can I find that? The musicmatch, I agree! That program is horrible!

DioAngel, Well to tell the truth, not sure. It was either on my system or with the lastest Windows Media Player DL. More than likely already installed since I have Media Edition XP.

Wish I could help, the musicmatch was a disk of some other program I bought, thought I'd check it out. Just goggle it you might get lucky on the first search.

quote>

 

I'd search on Google... tough luck, to download it cost an arm and a legg. :-(quote>

Are you just trying to convert something to the WAV format?  If you have iTunes will actually do that . . . just go under Edit>Preferences>Advanced>Importing.  Switch the converter to WAV Encoder.  Then just right-click the track you want to convert, and it will pop a menu with "Convert to WAV" as an option.

There is a way to do it in Windows Media Player as well . . . it's a bit more complicated.

Another program I'd suggest is Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net).  It is a free, open-source audio editing/converting program, and it works very well.  It also does some recording and has effects built-in as well. 

Hope that helps.

-Tarkus

[smstevenms 7]

Originally posted by: Tarkus

Originally posted by: DioAngel

Originally posted by: smstevenms Music Audio converter.. were can I find that? The musicmatch, I agree! That program is horrible!

DioAngel, Well to tell the truth, not sure. It was either on my system or with the lastest Windows Media Player DL. More than likely already installed since I have Media Edition XP.

Wish I could help, the musicmatch was a disk of some other program I bought, thought I'd check it out. Just goggle it you might get lucky on the first search.

quote>

 

I'd search on Google... tough luck, to download it cost an arm and a legg. :-(quote>

Are you just trying to convert something to the WAV format?  If you have iTunes will actually do that . . . just go under Edit>Preferences>Advanced>Importing.  Switch the converter to WAV Encoder.  Then just right-click the track you want to convert, and it will pop a menu with "Convert to WAV" as an option.

There is a way to do it in Windows Media Player as well . . . it's a bit more complicated.

Another program I'd suggest is Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net).  It is a free, open-source audio editing/converting program, and it works very well.  It also does some recording and has effects built-in as well. 

Hope that helps.

-Tarkusquote>

 

DioAngel was wanting to convert into mp3 if I recall, but it was by my suggestion to convert to mp3 from wav for smaller file size, but I was mistaken.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Originally posted by: smstevenms

DioAngel was wanting to convert into mp3 if I recall, but it was by my suggestion to convert to mp3 from wav for smaller file size, but I was mistaken.quote>

Well, smstevenms, WAV files are actually considerably larger than MP3 files in file size--WAV files are of higher sound quality.  But, nevertheless, both iTunes and Audacity can also convert to MP3.  Audacity needs a plug-in, though--it is on their site.

[ccecill 52]

I love everything on sc4 except for the fact that it brings a good computer to it's nees. There were soooo many things that Maxis didn't need to put on the game. My Sims anyone? MY 150TH POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LivingInThePast 364]

@Shooshie: Actually, the sounds aren't horrible, it's just that the crashing can take away from free drive time, and they could of let us use joysticks.

[smstevenms 7]

Originally posted by: Tarkus

Originally posted by: smstevenms

DioAngel was wanting to convert into mp3 if I recall, but it was by my suggestion to convert to mp3 from wav for smaller file size, but I was mistaken.quote>

Well, smstevenms, WAV files are actually considerably larger than MP3 files in file size--WAV files are of higher sound quality.  But, nevertheless, both iTunes and Audacity can also convert to MP3.  Audacity needs a plug-in, though--it is on their site.quote>

 

That's what I said, I just confused myself and in turn DioAngel as well.

[moogar 0]

i hate the fact that the're isn't a BURGER CHEF in my city...i sure wish that one of you BAT-gods would make one....please!!

[smstevenms 7]

Why don't we have oil issues, global warming, threats from neighbors? I need challenges, I'll never have world domination if I'm not truly tested!

[Azure Skye 0]

U-Drive-It: A lame attempt at integrating Streets, SimCopter, and The Sims with SimCity... the Isometric view is its primary issue...

No Random Disasters: It can't really be that hard to make a simple random number generator for this, can it?

People who moan about the fallacies, instead of coming up with creative solutions: Sorry, what? I'm not making fun of this thread!

Regional Terraforming: Like SC terraformer... Shoulda been there from the get go...

Lack of diagonal buildings: This one is some what understandable... but only somewhat...

Lack of rivers, waterfalls, etc: Seriously, the tool was so close to being finished!

Lack of Arcos: Okay, they're not realistic, but they're damn cool!

-Azure Skye

[fusi0n556 0]

i h8 the non curved roads and the stupid demands keep chanigng soo no one will build wot i want there even if i have the taxes for that type of land at 0, i also hate that u cant choose wor building you want were

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: smstevenms Why don't we have oil issues, global warming, threats from neighbors? I need challenges, I'll never have world domination if I'm not truly tested!quote>

 

You dont want GW in SC4.

Its in Civ 4 and is terrible since   after a while your getting it every turn, thats way too often.

[screamingman12 30]

UDI should be modified, the only reason I use it is to make sure that traffic arangements will do what I want them to do. Probably the modding friendlyness (or lack of) in SC4. Or the fact that it doesn't make the densities continuous, i.e. in some of my cities, I have skyscrapers and stage 8 R$$$ condominiums next to houses.

[beachfrontproperty 0]

disapearing cars aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Mayor of Bernberg 0]

disappearing car too! And trains, public transport, people etc.

The commute time isn't realistic. The Sims took more that 1hr to go across a town!!

Airports are unrealistically short! (How do the sims managed to land a 747 at the SC4 international airport?)

[grudy 0]

Lack of realism blah blah blah, but also RETHINK THE ENTIRE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK. Things just don't add up in the game.

Population should be closely tied to the number of commuters.

10,000 cars/day should be considered normal on a road.

Commutes of three blocks should not be considered "long."

Sims leaving a city should not just disappear off the face of the earth, but their routes should be mapped out by the program to allow accurate commute times.

When moving from city to city, the # of commuters should be the same for each road (aka not look like 10,000 sims in one city and 1000 sims on same connection in another).

SIMS SHOULD KNOW HOW TO USE TRANSPORTATION EFFICIENTLY, and not do stupid things like taking the ferry across the bay and then the train back across the same f-ing path!!!

Finally, BRING BACK AUTO-DISASTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!************** They make the game more interesting. Having to cope with massive disasters is part of what makes city-building fun and creates an interesting layering of texture ot cities. What could be more fun than having to cope with a fault-line appearing in the center of the city? Perhaps roads would have to wind around this, or the area would become a park, or whatever. It's not as fun to have to create this variation manually by deciding when to wreak havoc on your sims. In general, disasters and dilapidation should occur more readily and create areas of cities that look more worn-down than others. It's too easy to wipe the slate clean with a buldozer in the current simcity. Previous decisions should have more of an impact, and sims should protest if you do things like bulldoze a skyscraper or a school to make way for the new avenue. This would create more interesting and realistic street-scapes

As it is, simcity right now is TOO IDEALISTIC.

[bearmans 0]

I hate the way you can't build diagonal tunnels or bridges, the curves in game are rubbish, the highways look terrible, the way u cant zone a diagonal road without masses of concrete appearing, the way it crashes so randomly and, whats really been bugging me lately, the way a bridge is at a constant height so if you want a high bridge you have to have a large mound either side of it with the highway or roadway travelling up to the start of the bridge. They should be curved so they have a peak height in the middle and are lower in height at either end if you see what I mean?

[DanWalker8 3]

I don't like that it exceedes any reasonable computer's ability when trying to play the largest maps. I also don't like the terraforming tools, the zoning mechanism (the arrows), the fact that there is no 4x1 plot for any zone, I think the park tools could be organized better, i completely agree with the seaports and airports comment... they're just a sore on any map, finally i don't like the u-drive its, what a waste. Thanks for listening!

[+Guest]

Natural Disasters

i hate it that this simcity version doesnt have Natural Disasters

i love everything eles about this game