Citites Unlimited Graphics

[thecarl3 2]

Simcity 4 has been a very popular game for many reasons I believe. One big reason besides the whole idea of building a city was because of the graphics in the game. Since there was only a certain distance you could zoom in and rotate the view it allowed for better graphics. If they make Cities Unlimited so that you can zoom all the way down to the street I am afraid it might turn out like Roller Coaster Tyucoon 3 or City Life. The graphics in these games are good but they are too smooth and child like looking. I think there should be zoom levels for Cities Unlimited so that the graphics stay sharp and realistic looking. If anyone agrees or disagrees i would like to hear what you have to say. Thanks.

[fox406 7]

It looks amazing from the pictures I've seen...

[Cockatoo 2,257]

I think they've (Monte Christo) already decided that the game will be in full 3D. I here what you're saying though, but I'm sure they'll do a reasonably good job with the graphics given what we've already seen- you just have to head over to CUplanet.com to know that. All this stuff was just in their blog... and the game's not even finished yet.

Looks pretty impressive to me

Oh, but as an actual comparison to SC4...

[Patricius Maximus 236]

From the pictures at CU Planet, I believe that it will have superior graphics from SC4 and certainly from SCS.

[Hahayoudied 3]

I will laugh if CU sells better that SCS. Wait if CU comes out, we have to pay to get the game CU?

[The_Dalai_Llama 15]

CU should look better than a game that was made 5 years ago... and so far it does look better. I don't think there's a reason to worry.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Yeah, but I'm worried about the scale. The scale of SC4 is perfect to me. A bigger scale kind of make the buildings feel like cardboard to me. All those pictures are just preliminary things but we have yet to see all the elements put together to see the game in its full perspective. I'll wait for actual game screen shots to judge.

[BurroDiablo 222]

The Graphics aren't going to be as sharp or as detailed as SC4, with HDR and stuff these days games tend to look a little 'fuzzy'. However, I have every hope in MC that they have the brains and abilities to get the job done and get it done to expectations, if not beyond. Superior gameplay is the key... SCS might have had 'nice' graphics, but thats nothing without playability.

Mr_Maison - The scale should be fine, as long as everything isn't as chunky as SCS. The scale in SC4 may have looked perfect, but it in fact was way off...  even some of the buildings Maxis done were weird scales, this is evident when you compare some buildings side by side in game or Lot Editor.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

@ El Burro....True......the airports especially.

[edmonton_stinks 5]

SCS is way too cartoony for my tastes, what with the candy cane streetlights and all that garbage. CU looks incredible.

[UrbanLegend 63]

I don't know. Everything looks so "brown". Also the shadows are REALLY harsh.

http://www.citiesxl.com/

Also IMHO, what made SC4 such a great game was that your city felt alive.  The health of particular neighborhoods changed depending on what you built there.  Every game since has just felt like I was placing buildings for a giant train set.

[aking88 7]

If you head over to their website and see their graphics demonstration of the stadium they have modelled, you will see that there is no lack of realism there per se, nor seemingly any limits.

What will ultimately decide how realistic it is, is how the lots are handled, how the terrrain below them is handled, how wall2wall buildings grow, how construction is simulated etc.

I think that the lighting is good but there will always be room for additional tweaking once the game is released, through patches. With that being said, its not done yet!

But I do think they have a bit to go as far as how the game handles lots.

I also hope for some realistic cloud simulations, fog and other atmospheric effects. Rain would also be great.

I also think they should focus the graphics towards the actual buildings and urbanity rather than vegetation etc, but what do I know... i just feel that it will take a lot of computer power but maybe they have a solution to make that look realistic anyway.

[toxicpiano 125]

Originally posted by: Hahayoudied I will laugh if CU sells better that SCS. Wait if CU comes out, we have to pay to get the game CU?quote>

Why on earth would they give it away for free?

[Bumdark 3]

Personally, I'm very interested in C-XL... If it turns out as good (pretty hard) or better (suicidally-hard) as SC4, then I admit I'll be defecting there fast. (Of course, that's if I get the game, and if it's even affordable...)

The graphics of C-XL look simply superbe. I'm particularly excited that finally, FINALLY, we can have full 3D camera controls, being able to sweep through the city in any angle... I've always wanted to know what my cities felt like on street-level... I simply can't wait.

Problem is, I wonder what the System Requirements will be...

*Hypothetical Minimal Requirements*

CPU: 2.4

RAM: 1.5 GB

HD SPACE: 20 GB (for all the buildings - and of course, all the potential Custom Content could grow that exponentially in a really short amount of time...)

... And etc.

[SimFox 804]

Given that Game is full 3D all the geometry there will have to be pretty low poly. What it means is that it will not look as detailed as SC4 does. Not even close. And the very thin so many people are so excited - free moving camera will be one that would be most problematic. So far Monte-Cristo are carefully feeding to the press and world generally "staged" views of the game. Not to close not at to steep angles. That hide structural limitations of low poly geometry. But once you will take control of the camera you'll quickly notice that walls are flat surfaces with pictures on them round things aren't round etc, etc. You move close and building in stead of getting more detailed as in SC4 will become more blurry, or pixelated.

Of course in a dynamic environments it wouldn't be quite as obvious as on stills.

Lighting of such a 3d world will be another big challenge. And as far as I see on the latest screen grabs, it isn't particularly good. you have moon like views - bright sun and almost totally black shadows.

[Bumdark 3]

Killjoy! lol just j/k... I do know there will almost certainly be low-poly buildings in the game... but maybe if they find and implement techniques that could, somehow, hide that, maybe it won't be so bad... though I have no idea how they would do that, however.

And why are everyone dissing the lighting in this game? Sure, the shadows may be dark a bit, but I personally like them like that, gives it more Mystique and all. Who knows, maybe the screen grabbers are intentionally modifying them with Photoshop or something, to try and give the game an extra "mysterious" feel...? Just speculating.

You have to admit, though, that the terrains and landscapes look effing sweet! The waters and all look really well done, so much better than SC4's feeble little "sparkles"... though I do like the whales of SC4, they make nice additions to any pics.

[wallasey 8]

I must be the only one who prefers SC4's graphics...the screenies I've seen from the new simulation programmes I've seen closely resemble the "flat" looking graphics of Sega. There doesn't seem to be any depth to the new graphics at all...and it most certainly doesn't look realistic. Thats my view!

[aking88 7]

Originally posted by: Bumdark Personally, I'm very interested in C-XL... If it turns out as good (pretty hard) or better (suicidally-hard) as SC4, then I admit I'll be defecting there fast. (Of course, that's if I get the game, and if it's even affordable...)

The graphics of C-XL look simply superbe. I'm particularly excited that finally, FINALLY, we can have full 3D camera controls, being able to sweep through the city in any angle... I've always wanted to know what my cities felt like on street-level... I simply can't wait.

Problem is, I wonder what the System Requirements will be...

*Hypothetical Minimal Requirements*

CPU: 2.4

RAM: 1.5 GB

HD SPACE: 20 GB (for all the buildings - and of course, all the potential Custom Content could grow that exponentially in a really short amount of time...)

... And etc.quote>

I think it will need more ram, keep in mind there is a year + left before potential release, and thats the release not taking into account the pathces, tweaks, mods etc.

I think 4 gb ram will be minimum to keep it flowing at reasonable setting and with reasonable sized cities. If not 8... plus graphics memory.

wallasey

Take a look at the graphics and lighting demonstration over at their website, i think its good good potential to look realistic, it will depend on the effect, rendering etc. And of course, how it handles lots and urbanity in general.

[Namesys 3]

aking88, i must disagree

from the site:

The system requirements are still being determined. Our objective is to ensure that CITIES XLtm is accessible to all gamers,

and thus run on older systems, all the while providing gamers with a realistic and enjoyable experience.

If the game needs 4 GIGS to max it hardly anyone would buy it, 8 Gigs of RAM is silly, really.

My minimum system rq guess:

-CPU

Intel 2.6 ghz Pentium or better/ AMD 2.4 Ghz athlon xp or better

-RAM

1 GB or maybe 1.5 GB

- Graphics card:

256 mb

ATI: x1600 or better

nVidia: 7600 or better

[toxicpiano 125]

It'll probably need at least a directx 9 graphics card. Hopefully by then I'll have a new nvidia card

[Shingure 56]

There is no way for me to play this game then without MASSIVE upgrates. My C drive in it's natural state holds 30 GBs and that's it. 20 is just TOO HIGH a number.

[Ramona Brie 121]

Is 2.4 likely for Intel CPU clocks? If I get this - even beta, it will run on a Boot Camp partition on a 2.2 Intel Mac.

[Mattoman 0]

i hope its not anything like SCS or RCT3 those closeup graphics are terrible.

[katamariguy 6]

Stop being so negative!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aking88 7]

Originally posted by: Namesys aking88, i must disagree

from the site:

The system requirements are still being determined. Our objective is to ensure that CITIES XLtm is accessible to all gamers,

and thus run on older systems, all the while providing gamers with a realistic and enjoyable experience.

If the game needs 4 GIGS to max it hardly anyone would buy it, 8 Gigs of RAM is silly, really.

My minimum system rq guess:

-CPU

Intel 2.6 ghz Pentium or better/ AMD 2.4 Ghz athlon xp or better

-RAM

1 GB or maybe 1.5 GB

- Graphics card:

256 mb

ATI: x1600 or better

nVidia: 7600 or betterquote>

Most computers today have 3-4 gb of RAM. Also, its not coming out until plenty of months. You mght be correct about the min-specs, but realisticly to run it at high framerate and keep it flowing I think more will be needed.

SC4 is going slow with all my mods now with 2 gb of ram.

In either case, as far as graphics go, the biggest differences will be textures, number of objects, render and environmental effects and of course how it handles the 3D itself (lots, inclinations etc).