Playing SC4 for Class

[spoot388 0]

Hey all,

I'm Jason and as you can see I'm new to these parts. I'm a senior at Penn State and this semester I have an independent study Sociology course about new urbanism. I have to write a paper about new urbanism methods, which for those who are not familiar with NU it is a way of more efficiently building a city to decrease driving and increase the environment, but then as part of the course I also have to build a city based on the new urbanism principles using SimCity 4. I may also be presenting my findings and creation at a research conference held by Penn State at the end of the semester.

Last night I was doing some research about new urbanism and was also looking for some information about SC which is when I came across this place. I spent a few hours looking around the vast amounts of stuff this site offers and it made me really excited to build my city with all this stuff that will make it even more realistic.

I just started playing SC4 a few weeks ago for the first time in years trying to get familiar with the gameplay again. With all the various things available on this site, I'd like to start using them immediately so I know what I'm doing when I start to officially build my city.

What I'd like anyone who reads this to do is share any advice on what I should download to help me through my mission of building a city for class. I've read through Mikeaut1's and Boggy's sticky posts (as well as numerous other threads), but I know there is much more to this place than I've come across. I'd also like to hear suggestions of what/how to build parts of the city. If you had an idea that looks good and works well, I may be interested in incorporating it into my city. Although I am the one building the city, it is not necessarily my idea of how the city is to be built. I have rules that need to be followed, but besides that it is open to interpretation, so any and all suggestions about anything and everything are welcome.

[mightygoose 92]

Possibly the greatest first post by a new member ever, welcome to the site.



Unfortunately Simcity 4 is not the most thorough simulator of environmental impacts although it may do you some justice in terms of efficiency & implied environmental impact.

Obviously you are going to want air and water pollution to be minimal but, you also want to have as few cars on the roads as possible, bus stops and trains will be your friends. The clean air act and carpool incentive program are going to be essential to help you combat traffic. The other half will be about maintaining green spaces, and protecting areas so that you don’t end up with a smog ridden sprawl. I wish you all the luck in the world and perhaps you can post a few progress shots along the way that we can give you feedback on.

[mltsandwich 0]

I would recommend getting the NAM mod. It includes pedestrian-only streets allowing you to build a filtered permeability transport network.  It will also let you build tram lines.

There's another mod that I can't remember the name of off hand that you will want to increase pedestrian traffic.  By default, the game engine will have the population prefer cars for any distance over ~100 meters.  The mod will extend the walking radius and increase walking speeds to simulate bikes.  I'll see if I can find the name for you.

You may also be interested in reading about an NU based city another member created:

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=57406

[SC4BOY 20]

Given the project you are working on (and no doubt given the time constraints you are under) I'd only use the very barest "custom" installation material. I'd use basic SC4 with either the RUSHHOUR or the DELUX additions so you have a complete SC4 set. Then get all the proper patches from the EA site (linked in the "globe" at the top of the regional view). This can be verified by right clicking the .exe and verifying a version of 1.1.640.1. Then add the "NAM" version appropriate to the USA (which is pretty much the default). From there on I"d leave the rest out and just get on with your objectives. As mentioned, SC4 really isn't that analogous to real life, but if you're thinking about thinks like traffic flow and suburban access, etc it might be illustrative.

For your project's needs, your time wasted in learning the in's and our's of SC4 custom work will likely be unproductive. Good luck on your project.

[iowndiscti 141]

welcome newcomer, you have just discovered possibly the best city building game ever.

My suggestions to you:

firstly terraform you a new region, the ones that come with the game are o. Kay but they dont fit your needs. most great metropolises are buit along the waterfront, someplace with a nice beach ( nothing too rocky) where settlers cant get onto.

secondly: remeber the main street rule. all cities were built one main street at a time and they usually dont have zig zaggy designs ( unless called for, like in the case of mountainy terrain)

thirdly: placing the industrial directly in a corner offsets it pollution by one half

fourthly: if your doing this for a project, then you will most likely need lots of pictures, hence you should remember ctrl+shift+s ( toggeling the camera mode) and crtl+shift+g ( turning off and on the graph grid lines)

fifthly: once your city gets to a nice sized population, you will need the definately Nam and the RHW ( the rhw is a replacement for the maxis freeway, it looks much better), you will also need to upgrade roads into avenues and avenues into freeway

[Riot55 2]

Clean Air Act in Ordinances will stop the air pollution of farms and minimize it in the rest of the buildings.

If you were really into some work.. the Tram on Grass would be sweet.. tram rails with grass between the rail.

[Simaddict1000 1]

Must Have Transportation Mods

Network Addon Mod

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=21355

Rural/Real Highway Mod

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=19188

Bridge Height Mod

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=21327

Road Top Mass Transit ((( MUST BE REGISTERED ON THE LEX )( Registry link )( https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/Default.htm)))

https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1057

[spoot388 0]

Thanks for the advice everyone.  I've been playing around a bit trying to make a strategy on how to go about doing this.  Instead of just working on one of the large city areas, I'm going to try to build up the region with some of the smaller city blocks. There are a bunch around a bay on the map I'm using, so it should work pretty well. Once I get that going I'll start connecting the mass trasit lines through each city. I'll be talking with my teacher this week and show her the progress to make sure I'm on the right track and so she can see exactly what SimCity is.

[zurrabear 20]

One issue I foresee is this: as I understand it, mixed use building in downtown areas, combining commercial and residential use to encourage use of mass transit, is a tenet of modern urban planning--and SC4 has none of that in the unmodified game, and precious little in any community-made material.  So you're going to be hard-pressed to incorporate that idea into your project via SC4.

SC4 also has a tendency to build sprawling estates for wealthy sims, which also aren't too great an idea when trying to build an efficient city.  I think there's a mod on the STEX you can get to suppress that type of growth.

[spoot388 0]

right, a part of NU is the mixed zoning, which would be hard to replicate on SC4. one way to combat that would be to split zoning so if you have a block that is 8 tiles long, have 2 R, then 2 C, 2 R, 2 C. also, just having commercial zoning close to residential is a big thing too. instead of having like 4 square blocks of just residential zoning, have commercial sprinkled throughout instead of just on the outer part.

also, my teacher knows that this isn't going to be able to 100% replicate a real town/city. obviously a real town wouldn't have 3 pizza shops and 3 used car dealers on the same block. its implied that they would instead be local shops. its more presenting theory than actuality.

[ecoba 28]

Well, what I would do, would be to download a lot of plugin buildings, and then use the BSC No Maxis Files (on the LEX), and grow your city from there. Also, you might want to check out some terrain, tree, and water mods. They are all essential to a lot of great cities.

[spoot388 0]

any particular land mods to look for? i found a season changing tree one, but it was more for a forest. i'd like one of just single trees that change. also, are all downloadable buildings growable? i see some that specify that they can grow, but most don't say anything. so am i correct in assuming they're only plopable?

[zurrabear 20]

Originally posted by: spoot388

any particular land mods to look for? i found a season changing tree one, but it was more for a forest. i'd like one of just single trees that change. also, are all downloadable buildings growable? i see some that specify that they can grow, but most don't say anything. so am i correct in assuming they're only plopable?quote>

I'm not at expert in the game mechanics, but all trees you do plop, yes; however some are actual lots--a lot of the seasonal trees are like this, with some being 1 x1 while others might be 12 x 12 for faster usage--so you can't combine them with any other feature in the space they occupy.  you have to bulldoze them to get rid of them.  But many more are single feature items--'props' I believe is the term for that--that you can add and combine with other such features all in one square (like rocks, water, bushes, etc.).  Only the former types will change seasonal appearance in sync with the game; the latter are static.

As far as land mods go, such a thing wouldn't really have much to do with your city planning objectives, it's just eye candy, but there are many such mods on the STEX.  Search for "terrain" or "terrain mod" or "rock mod" and you'll find lots of them.  A "rock" search will also turn up some ploppable rocks that are great for adding interest to your landscapes.

Just an illustration of what I mean from above; almost everything in and around that pond is of the 'prop' type item. Trees with a seasonal appearance here do not change, they remain like that.