ok lets all make a city

[Gavisace 0]

This is an idea that might or migh not work. I`m a total newby to simcity and simtropolis and all the tutorials I`ve read don`t really make much sense to me. Therefore what I intend on doing is through this post start a new city from scratch and everyone chip in there Ideas and the best ones will be put into the city. Thus giving other newbies like myself to follow suite on there cities. I intend to post pictures of the city so everyone can see there ideas in the city. 
But please remember I`m an absolute beginner so speak slowly ha.

Right let`s begin. 

I`ve just re-installed simcity 4 deluxe from scratch and have already registered the game with maxis. What does evryone suggest I do next? 

[Tbakj 0]

I'm a newbie to SC4 myself (though I used to play SC2000). My advice, before you even BEGIN to build a city is play around on a blank map with roads. Learn how different kinds of roads work together, how they look when you try and lay them different ways, etc. I've found that the road structure of a city is one of the most important factors to making it aesthetically pleasing and realistic. So that's my advice: roads.

[Gavisace 0]

thx mate, I was thinking somewhere along the lines of downloads for the running of the game first and for-most before actually moving onto the city itself. Sorry should have mentioned that earlier. then I hope to go onto downloading the best map and so on and so forth. I`m sure it`ll pick up as I go along. Cheers anyway pal.

[Jester2222 0]

I like the idea and hope it works out for you. My suggestion for downloads would be the NAM, and a few packages containing res, com, and ind buildings to add some variety to your city. From there just look up stuff as you get ideas. Browsing city journals is a great way to get ideas too. Good luck!

[Jerebannus XVI 7]

This is actually an excellent idea, an onvercharged newbie attack

Nah, just joking, but it is a great and unusual concept, I'd be prepared to follow it and "chip" in my ideas as you say.

I just hope the idea doesn't die before it's even begun

[Gavisace 0]

Ok thx for your input chaps, right I`ve followed the thread on getting up and running from the new joiners section on this website and followed jester 2222`s advice and downloaded the NAM, Anyone got any ideas on a decent region to download (I think terraforming will be to much of a ball ache) So what region does everyone think would be best to download, and remember this ain`t just my city it`s everyones. Ha Ha thought I`d chuck that in for motivational value.

[GMT 389]

hm... this is in fact a nice idea, goes kinda the direction to the "perfect" city if there'll be ... ding, an idea to make this here work well:

votes. like someone (the opener, maybe) says what's to do next, ppl give their input, and then there'll be a following vote to find the best thing to do...

I'll follow this thingy here closely... *switches to lurking-mode*

[MrFingers 0]

first of all, go here;

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=88176&enterthread=y

and get some modifications to the game. then hit us back.

[Newsmouse-1 0]

Gavisace, as a beginner, I'm not sure whether to envy you or feel sorry for you!

Anyway, here are a few concepts that have helped me along the way.

First, ask yourself what kind of terrain you want to work with. A look at maps on the STEX will help you decide if you're attracted to flatlands, hills, mountains, water or a combination thereof. Steep hills and mountains can present quite a challenge to road construction, but they look nice in the background. You need lakes and/or rivers if you want to decorate your cities with bridges. Either way, when you look at a map, try and visualize how you will connect the separate elements.

Also ask yourself how you want your region to look. Does realism appeal to you? Do you want cities filled with cloud-hugging office and apartment buildings or do you prefer a more rural atmosphere? Will you be satisfied with a grid-type layout or do you have the patience to create curvy streets and roads? Do you aim to pack as many Sims as you can into the smallest possible chunk of real estate or do you like the idea of leaving some open spaces filled with parks, trees and ponds?

It might even help if you create a simple story about the origins of your region and its cities. "It was Marcus Leer, who arrived in Calammity Junction with his wife Shanda, who discovered gold in the mountain instead of coal." The story will grow right along with the region, and I believe I create better cities when there is a storyline attached.

So choose a region, build a city you would like to live in and you can't go wrong.

Good luck with your new-found all-consuming hobby!

[Linda 0]

Originally posted by: GavisaceTherefore what I intend on doing is through this post start a new city from scratch and everyone chip in there Ideas and the best ones will be put into the city. Thus giving other newbies like myself to follow suite on there cities. quote>

Sorry for the long post

One thing you should be aware of if you open up your city planning to the "peanut gallery" is that there are very many, many different styles of play here.

* A great difference of opinion about which mods should be considered "cheats" and whether mods that are "cheats" are "bad".

* Those who treat it like a "game", and those that treat it as more of a "sandbox", and those that are more focused on playing with the simulation to see what happens.

* There are utopians who try to make the best possible city to live in, dystopians who try to create the worst city to live in, and realists who try to create cities that closely match the good and bad aspects of real cities.

* Those who use grids almost exclusively, those that never use grids, and those that mix gridded and non-gridded street plans.

* There are people who focus on appearance, those who focus on transportation networks, those who focus on the general functionality, those who try to make their cities as populated as possible, those who try to make their cities as wealthy as possible, those who create other kinds of "concept" cities....

Because of this, I'm not sure if asking the board at large for ideas is going to be any less confusing than the tutorials.

But since you did ask for ideas for the city:

* Either 1) watch your monthly budget carefully and try to keep a strong surplus in your montly budget, so that you have wiggle-room to add expenses to it as the need arrives or 2) if you don't care about cheating, then download one of the modds that gives you massive amounts of money each month or 3) Try to stick with 1, but download a modd that gives you moderate finantial help if you can't quite keep within budget AND don't care about cheating a little. Which of those three peices of advice you take depends on your playing style.

* As has already been said, download the NAM. It fixes bugs and adds significant enhancements to the game. Most people here have the NAM, so much of the advice you receive will be based on the assumption that the NAM is present.

* Finally, some questions for you:

-- What kind of city do you want? A super-populated megatropolis? A rural farming community? A sprawling suburb? A moderate sized city surrounded by a ring of suburbs and a ring of farmland? something else?

-- At first glance, what aspect of the game seems most interesting to you? Of course, this is likely to change as you "get your hands dirty" with the game and see how everything works, but it will help direct the initial ideas that will be chipped in.

-- Do you want to treat this as a game or a sandbox/simulation? If a game, what is the goal? High population? wealth? Happy sims?

-- How do you feel about modds that could be considered "cheating": don't-care-anything-goes,  or OK as long as it's moderate, or only want things that modify the game in "realistic" ways, or adamently opposed to anything that could be considered chating?

-- Do you want accomadating varied terrain to be a major part of the game, a minor part of the game, or do you mostly want to build whatever you like without having to worry too much about whether the landscape will accomadate it?

most of all, have fun!

[Bigdogx4 1]

Being new, I found that the most helpful download (next to the NAM) was the Simolean Tree! When you first start out you need to try things out a bit to get an idea of how to plan. This costs alot and without a couple money trees, it can get frustrating to wait for tax dollars to come in.

[IDS2 3,344]

Wow, what a great idea! I suggest you start by laying down a grid. What tha tmeans is that streets going up and down left right. Make 6 tiles up and down in between each square. Basically a grid is a bunch of squares. So make 0one of those. Then put in fire stations police stations and turn on, in the city ordinances menu, the school and hospital ordinances. You may be running out of money, and if so, download a money park from the STEX.

If you need any help, let me know, I'm at least a 7-year veteran of the Sim series.

[capitol1 1]

I think its always best to plan out your road network first..completely modify it..even before u start growing..Unles syou want to take like 2 years doing a city of 1.million..then u would jsut build your streets at the same time you build buildings..check out my cj to see an example of a planned city.

[Gavisace 0]

wow ok I`ve had more of a feed back on this than i expected so let`s all do it like this then. First off can anyone give me a half decent map to download and tell me how to upload pictures of it on to this post. then we can all chat amongst ourselves and do every thing by some sort of vote and try and agree on what we should do next, if youknow what I mean (bit drunk at the mo) as we go on. I think I can work out how to download everything it`s just putting evrything onto this thread taht I think I`m gonna be stuck on. and then it means it can be everyones (sort of) city journal (like I said it`s not just my city it`s everyones) I think that we should maybe have some rules on this as well this is one of the rules I think that should be put in place. when talking about downloads wether it be from the stex or other you are not allowed to bring in your own downloads, this makes sure that we are not building a city on one person or groups ideas and it gives some else a "big up" as we`re going on. Can I just make another point, this may seem completely off the subject but I`m currently going through buying my first house with my girl friend so I may not be able to post stuff for a few days every now and then so please don`t bug me by saying things like "Gavisace where are you hurry up" if you know what I mean. I don`t mean to be a horror but those mortgage owners will probably know what I mean. I really hope this reply made sense, I`ll read through it tomorrow and make the necessary amendments when I wake up. I thoink the major point to make out at the mo is that first we need a decent map, and second just remember this is everyones cj not just mine happy thinking chaps, speak soon.

And just another pointer I don`t mean to throw reply`s back into people faces but can just say again to people who`ve sort of asked me what sort of city (I) want. IT`S NOT MY CITY PEOPLE IT "OUR"CITY NOW LET`S CRACK ON!!!!!!!!!! (sorry bout the outburst)

Please use the Edit button if you would like to include more information, but no one has posted after you yet.--hym

[DarkEldar 6]

Anyway Gavisace i might be able to help you depends what you want, but to start a city think about what sort of city you want if its going to be a big skyline or small subtle town then you need maps and stuff from the STEX anyway i can help you with this.

[lucashp 1]

NO GRIDS. Grids make cities look kinda ugly. What would be awesome is lots of diangol roads, Straight roads if neccisary (For putting Hospitals, Ect and for the end of the diangol roads)

[ajay_law 1]

I really love cities with a medium sized city centre with not very tall buildings and freeways(highways) surrounding the city centre and going out to lesser dense suburbs. I really like puttin residential towers along rivers and waterfronts aswell, I think it ads character.

[IDS2 3,344]

Here are 2 nice maps if you said you wanted:

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=13894

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=5350

[Mulefisk 15]

Linda pretty much said it all. Try out the different playing styles and see what you like.

Just remember, when you're learning to play the game, there's no right or wrong. As long as you're happy with the stuff you made, it's good.

Also, it can often be a good idea to rip people off. Look at other CJers and see what they have done. The best way to learn how to play the game is to learn what people have done before you.

Happy building!

[Gavisace 0]

Thanks everyone, I think one of ids2`s maps is really nice and a good start to this project. can anyone tell me how to ust the map in my game I`ve downloaded it and am stuck on what to do next. Thanks

[Hamish 1,369]

Ok. First go to your simcity 4 folder (the one that you put you plug-ins in) and find the regions folder. Make a new subfolder and name it what you want the region to be called. Place the config file in the new folder. Go into SC4. Open the new region. Press shift+control+alt+r at the same time. A window will pop up. Find the jpg in that window and open it. If you did all of this right it should start to load all of the cities and render them. Although if it made with the SC4 TerraFormer it will be a compleatly diffrent story. If it is please say so, so that you can get infomation on how do render it. Good luck with your region.

[football_fever 6]

Mulefisk makes the best point. If you listen to EVERYONE you won't get anywhere. One person is telling you how to set up an efficient grid...someone else wants no grids at all. One wants waterfalls...one wants no nature.

The best you can do is either set aside space for everything, comprimise, or take a vote. You can set polls by editing your first post. Either way, with all the talent on the site, our city will be a work of art.

[Voulpiotis 4]

Just.... just listen to your sims! What do they want? Give it to them!

[MrFingers 0]

The way I like to start a city is this;

create a central area. Make it mathematically artistic, outline a hexagon or something, give alot of thought to the interior, include a tram (GLR) system, etc. Then build that up. It will be your city center.

From there, just start making avenues branching out from it, gradually extending them further as you build more. give yourself plenty of space around your newly developed areas to fatten out later with more transit stuff. Put railways and highways into the center of town in early, so that you can build up around the transit arteries. That makes it seem more realistic.

Also, build around the landscape. Think about where a city would likely begin from a geographical point of view. Build your arteries so that they flow around mountains and water. Don't try to make the landscape conform to your city, make your city conform to the landscape. That will also make your city alot more realistic.

The trickiest part of starting a city, is how to separate the industry from the residential, whilst keeping it realistic.

[Gavisace 0]

Alright Chaps,

I`m still trying to work out how to download the maps. I`ve followed your advice Hamish I`ve tried putting in your river next to mountains map, but when I click on the Bmp file it goes back to the fully terrained new region and when I click on the actual picture file it says that the map is the wrong size. I`m also looking for help on how to take pictures of my city and saving them so they`re available to upload onto this forum. Thank chaps we`ll get there in the end

[Hamish 1,369]

Ok, you need to put the config.bmp file into a new folder in the regions folder in this location: MyDocuments=>SimCity4=>Regions=>(new folder goes here). That will tell simcity how big to make the region. You then open SC4 and go to the new region. Press shift+control+alt+r and the window will pop-up. Only, click on the .jpg file and not the config.bmp. If everything is in the right place then it should work. If it dosen't then I have a back up plan.

Ok, for the pictures. You should be able to take the pic in SC4. Go to the Albums file, in this location: MyDocuments=>SimCity4=>Albums=>(name of region)=>(name of city). Then find the picture. You will need to edit it to the size 800x600 (I think thats the size) and also save it as a .jpg. Upload it to a site such as ImageShack found at this address:http://www.imageshack.us/ then follow the instructions you get from that site. When you want to post that image Start your post then use the insert image function.

If you have problems with these, please ask.

[Gavisace 0]

Thx mate, Will try that when I get home.

[castironpigeon 1]

If you want an interesting challenge, make your city using only diagonal transportation. On the other hand, if you want to learn the game as you go it's probably best to start off simple. Go slowly, be patient with your city, and don't install new stuff until you've had a chance to learn the old stuff. Don't try anything really crazy that will frustrate you and drive you away from the game...like the diagonal transportation challenge.. This sounds like a fun project, I too shall be lurking/voting if any vote comes up.

[Atomic Reaction 0]

Hey guys, do you mean put in a city into a huge BITMAP image and blend it in together or what?