Questions, questions....

[Graiskye 0]

 Afternoon Simmers, Im not a total newb to SC, but just recently re installed SC4 D.E., and have a couple of questions.

#1.  First one is in regards to rail stations. which way do you align them, I cannot seem to get them to work, or when they do, it seems different everytime(how the station is placed I mean, in regard to the tracks and roads surrounding it).

 Is there a 'right' way ?

 Also in regard to the tracks, does it matter if you make realistic intersections ?

 i.e. can you just run a crossroads(which would never allow the trains in realif to switch to the other trak), or do you need to lay out a proper intersection ?

2. Bus Stops- Should they, or do they have to be on both sides of major avenues and such ?

3. Zoning- I have been having good success with region play, and I notice that many of the FAQ's and Articles in the O'bus mention zoning for only high density, be it Commercial, Res., or Industry ? 

But then this morning I noticed one of the most knowledgeable players to my mind, says they never  zone more than a certain percentage High Density residential, say 5-10% ?

 I have been exlusively zoning high dens. Res this morning and so far it seems to be working allright.

 So if you zone all HDR will LDR still move in ?

4. Dilapitated Buildings ? Should they be 'dozed. What are peoples thoughts on these and abandoned buildings. Seems like destroying them leaves a opening for another busines to take its place ?

 Is this wrong ?

 Much thanks to anyone who offers whatever help they may, please feel free to comment etc..

 Thanks again,

 Grais.

 

[pagenotfound 53]

1. The arrow must point toward a road and the road must be adjacent to it. This applies to ingame stations as well as downloaded ones.

You can cross the rail without connecting (as in near a railyard) or actually connect them if there seperate lines that need to be connected.

2 That is not necessary. It is advisable to put bus stops on major streets as well as minor streets but there is no need to put one on both sides.

3 LDR and HDR can exist in harmony, just wont look great. An advisable practice is to sorround the HDR by medium density then transition into LDR. I think you might be confusing the density with wealth. High wealth tends to cluster where its desirable to be, same with low wealth. Most likely you wont see a low wealth building right next to a high wealth one. Usally there is a transition.

[ewd76 2]

1 I have found that rail stations work as long as they are touching both a railroad and a road, doesn't matter which way it is facing.

 If you just cross the tracks they will not be able to turn, you would need to curve them into each other to get them to be able to make the switch.

2 I have found that if you put a bus stop on each side of an avenue one of them will not be used. This is without full capacity, so if one was full the other might take some overflow, but I can't be sure. Bus stops seem to be the hardest transportation hub to get to full capacity for me.

3 No matter what you zone, higher densities will not move in until there is a market for them, so yes, if you start, low density will move in first no matter what.

4 It depends, some will come right back once the situation is remedied. Others, like the tall skyscraper plops, will not come back after being abandoned even then so they will need to be bulldozed and rebuilt in order to function again.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

As to your first question, I must know: have you downloaded the Network Add-on Mod (NAM)? If you are using the NAM, then the mass transit options become much more attractive. It's probably the most popular download available for the game, and it applies changes to transit options and adds some new bridges and other stuff. Anyways, if you use the NAM, then probably the base game's train station options are going to be overwhelmed, in which case there are dozens of great train stations available here and various other places across the internet. I haven't used the base game's train stations in years.

If you aren't using the NAM, and haven't downloaded any new stations, then the only arrow that matters is the one pointing to the road. The train stations are just for transitioning to the rail, and I don't think it matters where it touches the rail.

And yes, you do need to create a real interchange for the rails. The routes won't change if you just use a crossing pattern, they need the switch pieces and curves. Your route query tool can show you that, as well.

[borgisme5 0]

To go into zone density a little more;

Using Residential as an example.

All zoning supports all wealth levels.

Regardless if you zone low density, medium or high density residential, they can each support the $, $$ and $$$ wealth Sims.

Each density zone can support it's level and all levels below it.

A high density residential zone can support high, medium and low density. A medium density zone can support low and medium density buildings, but not high. And a low density zone can only support low density buildings.

Zoning high density zones right from the beginning will be cheaper in the long run compared to starting out your zones in low density, which will be cheaper in the beginning. I say things because when it comes time that you want to start adding bigger apartments to the city, you'll have to rezone the old zone, costing more money and then again to go the high density.

~~~

If you zone your whole city in high density zoning residential zones, they will develop into what ever happens to be in demand. If education, health, land value, etc, fluctuates a lot in your city, you might end up having a neighborhood of 2000+ people apartments next to a house with ten people in it.

[Graiskye 0]

Thanks for the replies, cleared up the zoning totally, cleared it all up actually, things are going well.

Did a bunch of retro work to my transportation network, mainly rail work, and yes 'Spidey, I am making use of the NAM, along with the CAM, and a couple of other choice mods. As to the NAM, and CAM I still have a bit of sorting to do, as now it seems just too easy, my cities show green up and down every ave&st. I know Im not that good.

So far my region(Stock SC4 New York) is 600,000, biggest city seems to have capped out at 350,000.

It fluctuates 'tween 330-350,000. Briefly was up to 380,000 at one point but I havent hit that high in a bit ?

SO I am now working on that, and developingthe surrounding region more,next biggest city just hit 95,000, so, ways to go.

My PC starts getting pretty 'crappalicious'(as in its a POS) around 500,000, but I can still have a bit of fun with this game.

Thanks everyone.

-G.