Change squares in existing region?

[Puresimcity 0]

I'd like to know whether a region's squares can be resized without affecting some existing cities that are growing in a different part of the region?

The reason I ask is I'd like to change 4 medium squares that are currently beside each other into 1 large square. I know the config.bmp file affects the size of squares in the region, but how does changing that affect the cities?

[CaptCity 4,914]

It is possible to change the city tiles by altering the config file using a program such as MS Paint and using the three game colors ( 1x1 red pixel - small, 2x2 green pixels - medium, and 4x4 blue - large). However, doing this will erase any development that exists in the cities. So that's not going to help you.

Having said that, it might be possible to use SC4 Terraformer. I'm not real sure on that. I haven't tried it, but I may have read it in the forums somewhere. Hopefully, some one will be along to give a more precise answer using terraformer...

[Puresimcity 0]

Thanks for the reply CaptCity, I'll take a look at the SC4 Terraformer.

If anyone does know a way of doing this please let me know.

[tungston 19]

I have heard that SC4 Start Up Manager can also do it, but I haven't tried it.

If the cities that you want to change are to the right, or below the established cities then you can change the city size.  The changed city will not have terraforming though.

Be sure to make a backup copy of the region before trying any of the solutions.

[Puresimcity 0]

Thanks guys. I made the size changes to the config.bmp file of this region, and as tungston said a new large square appeared in the region in place of the 4 mediums. The square I wanted to change was to the right of the existing cities, so maybe that's why it worked.

My question now is whether this change has any bad effects on the sc4 files in the region folder - Would there not be 3 redundant files sitting there now?

[CaptCity 4,914]

If you mean will there be three "extra" city files because you combined four to make one, then no. The four original city files will be replaced by the new single file. I don't know the "mechanics" involved, but perhaps this happens during the save process.