Simcity 5 Discussion

[Krukedogg 0]

First off, my apologies if this is in the wrong area. If a moderator needs to move it, please do so.

This thread is basically about opinions on what they should include in Simcity 5. I would also like it if other people posted there ideas here so we could discuss it. 

As many know, Simcity 4 isnt really that good. If it wasn't for this site, and peoples genius custom content that makes the game better and more realistic, I wouldn't play the game. However, im hoping Maxis has there brains working on MAJOR stuff they missed out in Simcity 4. Some of my ideas include:

Sewer System ---> Basically same as water pipes, but a bit bigger. I don't know one city in the world that DOESN'T have a sewer system. I mean where the hell does sims waste go exactly ??

Better Bus/Subway Stops----> The games stops are crap. Simple as that. I have downloaded peoples subway/bus stops off this site and have to say its alot more realistic to have them on the sidewalks of the road (like in real life).

Weather----> Yes weather. I think Maxis should include a option in Simcity 5 that allows weather to be turned ON or OFF depending on your computer specs (For those with slower computers, that way they can enjoy the game to). I mean....having no weather ? Its so damn unrealistic. I mean I would like to see it rain, and if it continues long enough flooding could occur in low level places. Also during the summer in most citys, water is lacking. Most place restrictions in order to deal with this. This issue should be included in Simcity 5. Water Utilities efficienty should be cut down during drought.

Winter weather would also be awesome. Having snowplows plowing the snow off roads in the city would be great. 

Also more disasters. Hurricanes/Tsunamis for the coasts, Earthquakes, Tornados, Volcanos, Floods, Forest Fires.....these are all realistic. I hate the alien attack and the auto wreck monster. I play simcity for realisim, not fantasy.

Gas Stations---> I noticed there is a severe lack of these in the game. They should make it that so every commercial zone (certain size) develops one of these for sims to fuel up. How do there cars run again ? Hydrogen Power ?

Transportation----> Well basically we need like 1000 more types of roads. I know new york city has roads that have 5 lanes going ONE WAY. There is also 6 lane highways in someplaces. Id like to see them include new ways. I mean roads, avenues and one-ways are great, but we need bigger and better. Having 3, 4, 5, 6 lane one-way roads would look good in certain areas. New york does this, why cant we. Also every road type should have areas on the side for CARS TO PARK ! where do cars park in simcity ? No where ! This would look great to have this on every side of the road, espically in the suberbs. 

Anyways these are my ideas. All of them are based on making citys look as real as possiable. Now I know these are all possiable to program, but might slow the game down or something liek that. So don't critize these ideas. After all, most major citys have them and id just like to see more realism. 

Post your ideas here.

[crazyyaya 4]

You couldn't have said it better. I would lso like to see a bigger variety in the styles of buildings, all we have now is chicago, new york, houston, and euro, WHAT ABOUT CHINESE OR JAPANESE, how about historic euro, and latin america.

[beachfrontproperty 0]

weath please, that would be great, floods from the east, hurricanes from the south, blizzards from the north

[Tarkus 6,934]

Krukedogg, welcome to ST!  One thing I can tell you, though, is that with the custom content capabilities that are possible within SC4, most of the stuff you're wanting to see in SC5 can already be done in SC4, if it hasn't already.  And Will Wright has said that he wants the next SimCity to be "simpler", so I personally think that any SC5 or SC5000 or whatever they're going to call it will be a huge step down from SC4. 

So here's the list:

-Sewer System:  Well, I think the "Water Pollution" in game is supposed to simulate some of this.  There may be a way to do a dedicated Sewer setup, but it would be a little tricky, admittedly.

-Bus/Subway Stops: Obviously, you've already seen that there are custom stops (like cogeo's) which work fantastically and meet your needs in SC4, so I'm not sure why you need SC5 for this when you already have it.

-Weather/Disasters:  Gizmo did a weather mod which can be activated by plopping a special Lot that affects the Effects Directories (hosted off-site--don't have the link handy).  It actually creates rain showers.  And you can already kind of flood cities in various ways with cheats (like going into God Mode from Mayor Mode by clicking the God Mode icon with Ctrl+Alt+Shift). 

Plus, there's also the fantastic Freeflowing Stream mod by qurlix, which you can pick up on the STEX here, which is also excellent for that sort of thing.  The technology qurlix used in modding this has other, further extensions as well, which would be good for this sort of thing.  And you can also use Teirusu's "Rain" tool, found here, which creates a shower of in-game water (which doesn't save, unfortunately).

And as far as winter weather goes, there's a few winter terrain mods out there, plus Buggi's Extra Cheats.dll file actually unlocks a "Snow" cheat, which will produce snow in game during the winter months.  I believe Swamper77 has done some excellent Snow Plow automata as well.

-Gas Stations:  There's plenty of alternatives to that pathetic in-game "Pump and Scoot" station available on the STEX.   See deadwood's "Servos" here.  Bobbo662 also has done a number of gas stations, many of which were on the STEX at one point, but taken down due to a conflict.  He's uploaded some of his new ones to the PLEX at SimPegasus, and is doing a number of other new ones right now as well, which may be released at SC4 Devotion at some point.  These stations are actual RL brands, too.  There's probably plenty of others I'm missing.

-Transportation:  Well, I've got a good deal of knowledge in this area, as an active member of the transit modding community.  If you want wider One-Ways, jplumbley and mikeseith are working on that project.  This is an earlier screenshot from last December (the textures have improved since):

If you're wanting other widened networks, also check out the links to the various transit modding projects in my signature.  The TLA Project (Turning Lane Avenues) has resulted in production of wider Avenues with functioning center turn lanes.  A variety of widths are being produced for the RHW ("Rural" Highway) as well.  The NAM Team has also produced Draggable GLR (a concept which can be further extended), as well as GLR-in-Avenue and Avenue Roundabouts, all of which will be available in the next NAM release (which is quite soon). We're at the point now where we have techniques of turning in-game networks into completely new things (without replacing them).

If you're wondering about parking, there's a few transit-enabled lots out there which accomplish that.  I can't name them off the top of my head, but if you search around, you'll find them. 

-Building Styles: Well, you can actually change things around with this, and move buildings into the different styles, change the icons, etc.  Adding new ones in would require some fairly extensive modification, but I think that with the options in terms of buildings the online SimCity community has produced, here and at other sites, that would merely be a formality, an ancillary detail.

The fact of the matter is, SC4 can be extended a great deal with custom content, enough to completely transform it.  Look around at the STEX and the exchanges at various other sites, and you'll be amazed at what is actually available.  And if we can get the source code (which some members have been in talks with various Maxis programmers about), even more will be possible.  Even without the source code, though, SimCity 4 is actually a very flexible platform for modding, and almost everything you're wanting out of SC5 has already been done or can be done with SC4.

Just about the only thing EA can really add for SC5 is 3D, and the system requirements will be absolutely ridiculous at that point, such that only a top-of-the-line computer will be able to run it.  SC4 is demanding enough.

That's just my $7.68.  Again, welcome to the community!  Browse around, and you'll see there's plenty of life still left in SC4.  If you need any suggestions for mods/custom content, I'd be happy to suggest some more.

-Tarkus

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

I think we'll let this exist for a while.  While there is another discussion thread, this may produce some interesting poll results.

I voted for weather. 

Realism isn't my bag.  If you had to go with everything to scale, and be able to declare the latitude and longitude of the principle city, you would have a total rewrite from the ground up.

My idea for weather is that it not necessarily be animated.  Weather forecasts and reports will do, with the relevant disasters, or storm effects, etc.  This makes room to remove all the science fiction disasters and put in some real ones.  They would, of course, occur randomly as required by the weather simulation.  This should be able to be turned off.

[Deever 23]

If it were up to me, I'd ask for system requirements that aren't that high but we all know that such a request happening is a statistical impossibility.

Seriously speaking though, if this SC5 is going to be full 3D, it would be nice if there was an option for the player to view his city at a horizontal angle. That would produce great screenshots.

[Krukedogg 0]

I appreciate your post. Yes I have downloaded several bus/subway stops. I think it was Deadwoods ? Anyways they happen to work great in my city and look great also. As for the Weather stuff, I didn't know about it. I will look into that as soon as Im done typing this.

As for Gas Stations, I mean't actual gas stations that Sims MUST use to fuel their cars, or else they break down. Not just eye-candy but something interactive. I know I have to fill my truck up or else it would stall.

I know of the NAM. My favorite thing. I love it. The Avenue-Road Turning lanes work great ! The NAM is just genius. It makes the game about 100 times better. However a small suggestion on the turning lanes is that they should develop at T-Intersections. For instance where a West-bound avenue meets a North/South bound avenue. You shouldn't always have to drag the avenue through for them.

The parking issue. I would like realistic parking on the sides of the roads. During the day in residential zones I would like to see cars fade, but appear in commercial/industrial zones. During the night the opposite. Also, they should form along Roads/Avenues/One-Way Roads as you drag it out. You shouldn't have to plop them. Since your part of the transit modding community you might be able to suggest this ? I have no idea how hard this would be to do, or even if it's possiable.

The Sewers. I think you misunderstood. You know how medium/high wealth residential buildings won't develop unless they have water, but low wealth will (they have wells) ?? Well they should make it so you can make Sewers exactly like water pipes. Subways and water pipes don't interfere with each other, so Sewers shouldn't. They should be bigger though. About somewhere between water pipe and subway. Medium/High wealth won't develop but low wealth well (They have septics )

Anyways Im going to check out your links for sure. I like your picture. Im going to try to do that in game. Once again I appreciate your post and comments and your suggestions. 

Also as I previously said for Weather, due to the fact that it would take massive amounts of power to perform there should be a option to turn it on/off. As N_O_Body said I would like to see Hurricanes hit randomly on the coast, blizzards in the North and Tornados in the south depending on what terrain your city is built on, and if its near a coast/mountians whatever. I would actually love to see real flooding/snow. 

I know for a fact what a ***** Simcity 4 was to play when I had pentium 4, 512 MB of ram. I however bought I new dell computer just a few weeks ago that has 4 GB Ram, and the new Pentium Core 2 Duo Processor. Because of this, I can play Simcity again

[IDS2 3,453]

I'd hope for a more advanced verson of simcity. If it isn't I'll be playing SC4. But I expect more suburban homes mostly. Culdesacs and diagonal  lots.

[Teddah 1]

Originally posted by: Tarkus Krukedogg, welcome to ST!  One thing I can tell you, though, is that with the custom content capabilities that are possible within SC4, most of the stuff you're wanting to see in SC5 can already be done in SC4, if it hasn't already.  And Will Wright has said that he wants the next SimCity to be "simpler", so I personally think that any SC5 or SC5000 or whatever they're going to call it will be a huge step down from SC4. 

...

quote>

It's possible that the community has done the job of modding and improving the game TOO well, such that SC5 might just be a basic framework for us to build on to again.  If Mr. Wright wants this to be a simpler game, it may work to our benefit, since that will make it easier for us to work with it.  And since we're doing most of the work, we won't have to pay as much for it!  (Or one can hope, anyway, as unlikely as it is)

Perhaps they could release the initial game, which is enough to build something basic, and then follow it up with expansions for whatever feature we want.  For example, a "Weather Pack", which would mod the game to include weather, and another expansion for a more detailed infrastructure, for those that want it.

Ideally, this model of software would include the ability to add your own custom mods, identical to an expansion pack.  It would also be cheaper for the initial SC5 ($20 - $30 for a very basic game, maybe?) and then $10 - $15 for each Maxis-produced expansion.

That's one way to do it, anyways.

[Alvo1016 0]

Originally posted by: Deever If it were up to me, I'd ask for system requirements that aren't that high but we all know that such a request happening is a statistical impossibility.

Seriously speaking though, if this SC5 is going to be full 3D, it would be nice if there was an option for the player to view his city at a horizontal angle. That would produce great screenshots.quote>

This is one aspect  of SC5 that would make the game a legend. If we are able to  see the city like in real life when driving. Imagine been able to drive the school bus in your downtown city while appreciating the architecture and enviroment of your city. If horizontal u drive it is included, they should make it so that it looks real not like sim city 2 or 3 where the horizontal u drive it  was mediocre. it looked so fake, with every building been a grey box. hopefully with todays techno SC5 horizontal view will be exceptional.

[Sirris 1]

because of the ability to mod in simcity4 , i bet some very talented coders could make half of those things

the roads would be easy, building styles would be somewhat challenging (mostly time consuming)

disasters and weather would be hard but hey, possible

[George! 0]

I completely agree about the roads/streets/etc. I would personally like to make crescent and circular streets, at the moment we can't even make diagonal grey roads without a hack!

I would like labels/street names that don't disappear when you modify the roads nearby!!!!!!

I would also like more emphasis on props and street furniture, in particular more choices of streetlights, with the ability to add them in yourself (a bit like in the Sims 2 neighbourhood views, or better still, in downtown/community views (ahh now I'm thinking of something like a game called Simsville, due tobe released in 2002 ). Highway cloverleafs look absolutely ridiculous without any lamp posts!

Last but not least, I'd like something of an up to date Streets Of Simcity. I wasn't overly impressed with the U-drive-it offering in SimCity 4. It would be great to have a street level/*****pit view of the city and be able to say to yourself "I made all this!".

[George! 0]

Okay... the swear filter doesn't like the word c.o.c.k.p.i.t without the dots for some reason...

[Krukedogg 0]

I  agree with George!. In response to what I have already said I would like to see in the game, I would like to add a few other things that I think would make the game great. I live for realism so my ideas are ALL based on how real the game could be.

1. Garbage Pickup. Id like to see trucks actually pull up along houses and pick up the garbage every day (depending on where you area in the city). Id also like to see streetsweepers which are common in major cities.

2. Garage Sales and Block Parties: Common in many major citys. It would be nice to see sims sell there junk or have a party. Im of course not asking for awesome graphics on the sims, they can just look like they do now.

3. Fires more common. I havent had a fire since i started building my city 7 days ago. Im trying to do a whole entire region with skyscrapers and not one has caught on fire. I know for a fact theres at least 10 fires/day in major citys. We need more fires.

Anyways, also If anyone knows who I could PM or what thread I can post on if I want to request custom vehicles please let me know.

[Poetic 0]

The main thing that I'm looking forward to in Simcity 5 is the creative aspect it'll most likely bring. Knowing Will Wright's philosophy on the importance of creator content (which he has noted as being the most important aspects of his games), I think he'll use the same model he is using with Spore. This is especially exciting when you think of the BAT tool in Spore (based on Will's presentation). The buildings in spore are created in the game by the user (not gmax required) and is child's play easy (I think he even mentioned his 5 year old was able to make something with it). The Spore BAT tool is like clay - you simply click and drag on the mouse to make the buildings... it's extremely customizable, and easy to use.

No offense to the STEX BATers here... I appreciate the very hard work that goes into creating SC4 buildings & designs... but I think SC5 (like Spore) will have such an easy layout that the average person can make very customizable buildings and advanced BATers won't really be required. (except to make very realistic buildings that may require extremely good attention to detail... like recreating NY based skyscrapers)

I'm hoping the roads and mass transit will also have a creative tool with them... but Wright has learned one important thing from the Sims - expansion packs sell. So he may not let us have all customizable tools upfront.

Of course, it being 3D and no longer confined to a grid (and therefore, the ability to create roads at many different degrees) goes without saying as being an important factor in the success of SC5.

[patriots_1228 51]

i agree with most of whats been said.

I would really like to go into a car and drive through my citys though. that would be pretty fun! it would also be imppossible but a kid can dream, right?

[villagemayor 0]

This topic has been rehashed before but everyone always has two cents worth of opinion. I hope Maxis is reading these messages. I hope that it will be 3D, or something close to it. Even if they produce a separate game like Simcopter that's fine by me.

[Azure Skye 0]

Man, I'd love to go through my city in Streets of Simcity style or SimCopter style... those were such excellent games...

Really SC5 should just be an engine, a bunch of tools, and some standard content. So its basicially made to be modded in every concieveable way from the get go, rather than trying to lock us down...

It'll be quite interesting to see where the Sim series goes from here...

-Azure Skye

[Krukedogg 0]

Shoot. I forgot to metion this and I think this is cruical for residential areas in Simcity 5.

The creation of Suburbs and Housing developments.

Now in Calgary, Alberta (which is in Canada for those who don't know) many houses look the exact same. Same colour, roof, house design. These are housing developments. They are EXTREMLEY COMMON in North America. LA has them, Chicago, Toronto there everywhere. Simcity 5 should have these. Areas where the houses are the exact same. With cul-de-sacs.

Also I have tried to create suburbs many times in Simcity. Now I dont know if its impossiable, but I zone Low Density residential, make sure it has good fire/police protection, a school nearby, I usually throw in a library and water. I want suburbs and I know im doing everything right !

However, they always devleop into mansions......cause the land value is so high. Can someone help me with this ?

[bwatterud 7]

Best way to avoid mansions is to tax the hell out of the High Wealth Residential. If you want to make mansions somewhere else later, make the buildings in your suburbs historical (you don't need to make all of them historical, just enough so that the big mansion lots won't be able to grow), and lower taxes. Another thing that would help would be to have a set of suburb lots (there are a couple of good ones on the STEX) and the Block All Maxis Buildings Mod. The mod allows you to block buildings of a certain wealth level, so you could just block R$$.

[Cockatoo 2,262]

I'd love to be able to see a rain/ snow/ hail in the game. And also more hospital/ police/ and fire options aswell as a build in GLR. More buildings from all over the world (not just the US) would also be great.

[kalashnikov 1]

My friends and I would quite like a multi-player element to be done, LAN or 'Net based, you each run a different city on a pre-set region, it'd add an extra layer of strategy to play - who to make deals with, and who to ignore to benefity your own city. Something like that could really breathe almost permanent life into this type of game.

Of course a full 3D world with a moveable camera view would be excellent, but I can't help thinking that such an advanced feature might put some lower-ability content creators off a little, because of the extra work involved working in 3 dimensions as opposed to 2.

[GQBouncer05 0]

I would like to see more options for tourism, SC4 only uses the airport for commercial use, I would like to know how many people are flying into my city to see landmarks and shop.  Tourism should also affect your commerical shops, for example if i have a high tourist rate i should have a number of shops and hotels.  I also believe we should be able to tax certain neighborhoods like living in a basin should be cheaper than living on a hill.  I also believe just how the airport grows the ports, the convention center, city hall court and the mayor house should grows. just some of the many things i would like to see

[George! 0]

About more building styles, I forgot to add, why not have some Georgian style buildings, they would look good in any city. I would personally love some Georgian crescents with communal gardens such as in Edinburgh, Bath, Kensington, etc.

[LivingInThePast 364]

I didn't vote, but wouldn't sewage be theoritically possible since the water pipes (and sewage lines, likely), networks and can be changed through ANT?

[spa 970]

Originally posted by: Krukedogg Shoot. I forgot to metion this and I think this is cruical for residential areas in Simcity 5.

The creation of Suburbs and Housing developments.

Now in Calgary, Alberta (which is in Canada for those who don't know) many houses look the exact same. Same colour, roof, house design. These are housing developments. They are EXTREMLEY COMMON in North America. LA has them, Chicago, Toronto there everywhere. Simcity 5 should have these. Areas where the houses are the exact same. With cul-de-sacs.

Also I have tried to create suburbs many times in Simcity. Now I dont know if its impossiable, but I zone Low Density residential, make sure it has good fire/police protection, a school nearby, I usually throw in a library and water. I want suburbs and I know im doing everything right !

However, they always devleop into mansions......cause the land value is so high. Can someone help me with this ?quote>

 

Just to add to what bwatterud just said you can use the make historic button to stop R$$$ mansions and you don't even have to click every house. Just every third house on one side of the street. At low density R$$$ needs a 3x3 sized lot as a minimum. If there isn't room, they can't grow. For a detailed explanation of what I'm driving at with pictures and steps check out my tutorial "Working with Hills" in the omnibus. If you didn't want to use the make historic button so much you could, alternatively, zone 1x2 blocks with a strip of grass or something down the centre so that, again there is no room for 3x3s. I personally prefer these methods as taxing R$$$ completely out or blocking all maxis content is just too blunt an instrument.

[offgreen 1]

One can only hope they don't dumb it down, but of course they will. I guess if its even close to the stupidity and simplicity of the sims I can leave the series. The game needs better graphics, a better engine, more capability and much more room for modification, not less. The game needs more complexity to reflect more realism and give players more control. I guess new sales from 8 year-olds who never played the games can be more important than living up to the tile.

In terms of specifics, I have no idea if this game is even going to come into being, but if it was somehow like the other games, I will have better everything. We'll just have to see.

[Krukedogg 0]

Actually several times now in the past 2 years I have been a member of this community (name has changed due to me forgetting my password) I have thought to myself.....why doesn't maxis just come on here and ask people from this site to develop the game. I mean so many people have done great things that add realism to the game that Maxis never even thought of.

[George! 0]

Mr Wright would have none of that!

[Poetic 0]

Originally posted by: Krukedogg why doesn't maxis just come on here and ask people from this site to develop the game. quote>

That would cause many legal issues and a big company like EA no doubt has many attorneys that wouldn't want to take that chance.