How valid are mods ?

[zziobs 0]

I have few growable mods(BAT) installed but I m bit worried abouts it's bad effects to the simulation.

What I mean here is the game(SimCity4) have some system, each building has some data values. Pollution, Power & Water consumption etc. And I want it to remain the way it is. So how do I know if mods aren't messing the simulation; How do I know Lot Mods are using proper values that are somewhat identical to ORIGINAL game lots. And those effects they cause are not being outta proportion. Some mods makers actually list those data values NDEX and Asian team. but I m totally unsure what are good values and what are bad, outta proportion values.

I want it to be like original as much as possible thats why I don't use cheats, money mods, garbage mods etc.I just want to have some diversity with different buildings some extra transportation and don't want it to use unrealistic values. Don't want to make it way too easy.

So my question is -- How do I know if BAT's good and valid? 

Thank You.

Trash just disappears unlimited funds; just like fairytale. LOL

[BBUUBBBBLLEESS 0]

I wouldnt really know how to help you with this (since it A. Doesnt bug me too much and B. I dont normally use BATS and stuff...)

But you could try only to download stuff from well known BAT makers (like Pegasus)

Although I'm sure that they are probobly all legit. Simple awnser would be to try it, and if stuff isnt the same, get rid of it....

[SC4BOY 20]

The discipline of the lot is purely up to the bat'er. The only way to "check" it is to use the SC4PIMX  tool to verify that it meets a set (not neccessarily the ONLY set) of rules. If you wish to use that to verify each download you make, go to SC4Devotion to the CSXLEX and get that (you will have to register at BOTH sites) and get the tool and read up on its use) It is a capable and useful tool, but requres knowledgeable use.

[k808j 0]

You can also build a "test city" if you are not technically inclined and the see the affects of the different mods.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

You are mentioning a real problem there; BAT stats are often messed up and unrealistic. You need to take special care with civic BATs. Downloaded educational BATs, for example, may cause the EQ in your city to jump straight to 200 instead of unfolding a gentle and realistic effect.

With RCI BATs, the problem lies mostly in totally disproportionate consumption (power, water), pollution (especially garbage!) and tax income values (called "building value" in SimCity lingo).

It is true that nowadays there are better tools available, but these need to be used carefully as well. I've seen releases where one and the same building in two variations (one exactly orthogonal to the grid, one at a slight angle to the grid) had totally different stats... it happened because the creator trusted the tools blindly.

I have faced the problems mentioned here in the past, and they bugged the heck out of me. That's why I started digging into the game files and compiling some stats. Nowadays that's a lot easier - tools like SC4Tool contain a Maxis building database where you can see the stats of each building. Anyway, after compiling these stats, I started entering all downloads I had into a huge spreadsheet in an attempt to adapt their stats to something that would blend into the game as seamlessly as possible.

The problem is that the stats Maxis assigned to the buildings are not logical in themselves. You may find that two identically sized buildings have radically different occupant numbers, and you might see that a small single-family home generates as much garbage per month as a huge residential highrise. Besides, the progression of values from smaller to bigger buildings is not really a smooth and proportionate progression at all, Instead, it's rather jumpy and often irregular.

So I had to smooth out this jagged graph and try to average values... that's what I did in the aforementioned spreadsheet. I also treated hundreds of BATs by tweaking them to the values I had determined to be ok. Now there is not THE one correct solution because, as I said, Maxis didn't provide a simple, logical formula to base everything upon. However, I have found my game (I'm a rather heavy download user) to run rather smoothly after making all the adjustments mentioned here.

You could take a look at this download - it's not really that up-to-date anymore, but it might provide a decent starting point. At least it's what I began with...

[zziobs 0]

Thanks a lot for your valuable inputs. T Wrecks, "SC4Tool" and your "STATS and VALUES Pack" is exactly the thing I need. Yes I'm willing to edit the BATs, I download. I'd rather have lesser Nicely tuned BATs than having lots of poorly tuned BATs. Thank you yet again. Now I can run my BATs without any fear.

I think there should have been random events in SimCity4 just like the ones in "Tropico - Paradise Island." Some (automoted & inevitable)disasters like epidemics or storms. That would have made this game more glorious. It sometime bugs me to have plain smoothly ran gameplay and smooth cashflow etc. But still SimCity 4 is greatest.