Largest Region Size

[newcrusader92 0]

I'm wondering what the largest region size (area-wise) is that SC 4 can handle.  I couldn't find any information on it, other than someone saying that large regions may require plenty of memory (my computer has 2G of RAM at the moment).

[Xyloxadoria 1,098]

There is no known largest region size. The limit would be whatever size you can get without having your comptuer lag to the point the game is unplayable. That will vary from person to person.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Yes, I am playing on a 19x15 (large tile) region with no problems. If you have a computer to handle a 1000x1000, then go for it!

[Skimbo 304]

My biggest ever had about 290x250 (Large tiles) and it took my computer ages to load it.....

[mightygoose 92]

Originally posted by: Skimbo

My biggest ever had about 290x250 (Large tiles) and it took my computer ages to load it.....quote>

i call bluff, lets see some evidence of this. a region census pic eg.

the largest region i have ever popped out is 14x10

i have seen 16x16

i have seen 20x24

but i would be amazed if anything ly wouldn' was possible... and if so you certainly wouldn't be able to open it in the terraformer.

[andhika 0]

i used SRACC but i have forgot how to use it, anyone can help?

[newcrusader92 0]

Originally posted by: mightygoose

Originally posted by: Skimbo

My biggest ever had about 290x250 (Large tiles) and it took my computer ages to load it.....quote>

i call bluff, lets see some evidence of this. a region census pic eg.

the largest region i have ever popped out is 14x10

i have seen 16x16

i have seen 20x24

but i would be amazed if anything ly wouldn' was possible... and if so you certainly wouldn't be able to open it in the terraformer.

quote>

I am considering creating a very large region, and plan to use Photoshop or something to create the landscape.  The terraformer is too time-consuming for me to use, even on a small region.

Skimbo, how much memory do you have?  I'm wondering how you managed to pull that off.

[Cobraroll 138]

^Well, he said he had made the region. Not that he had built anything in it. Any decent PC should be able to at least show a region of that size, if it's nothing but flat grass.

However, once you start to actually build stuff, the computer could go "goodnight".

[newcrusader92 0]

Originally posted by: Cobraroll

^Well, he said he had made the region. Not that he had built anything in it. Any decent PC should be able to at least show a region of that size, if it's nothing but flat grass.

However, once you start to actually build stuff, the computer could go "goodnight".quote>

To me, his comment could've been taken in two different ways.  I used to have a 32-bit XP system with 768M of RAM which took slightly longer over time loading up a region I've been working on for several months (a typical sized region with different sized city tiles throughout) , but it was really dragging with some operations (e.g. scrolling) when more items were put into even small-tiled cities.  The same region has been handled much, much better under the new 64-bit Windows 7 "regime" using 2G of RAM.  That was why I was asking about how much memory his system has.

[jigsaw 227]

the largest i go to is 40x40. that provides me with enough room to do as i wish.

[Yonk 2]

I think some people here are, once again confusing "tiles" with pixels. 290x250 pixels would not be completely impossible. However, I have a 70x70 pixel region (about 18x18 large tiles) and, even with only about 30 of the 350-ish cities built upon so far, it takes a few minutes to load the region. 290x250 is 72500 pixels, almost 15 times larger than mine. Keep in mind, I know there is a limit to how much RAM SimCity 4 can even use (I think it's 3GB) and I have 2GB. So even if you have 16GB of RAM, it won't matter past a cetain point. That means there IS a point you can reach that it would be impractical to create a region of that size and have your computer run it okay.

It also took 45 minutes to render from a greyscale bitmap. Maybe if that region was all flat, it might have worked, but otherwise I don't think your computer would survive 11 continuous hours of rendering. Now that I've made my region, I'm having some regrets, because while it's awesome to scroll across the whole thing, sims won't commute very far, so I could have just chopped the region into smaller pieces and built them that way, and then stich them together in photoshop or something for the combined effect. It's working so far, but I don't know how many more cities I can build before my computer calls it quits.

- Yonk

[newcrusader92 0]

Originally posted by: Yonk

I think some people here are, once again confusing "tiles" with pixels. 290x250 pixels would not be completely impossible. However, I have a 70x70 pixel region (about 18x18 large tiles) and, even with only about 30 of the 350-ish cities built upon so far, it takes a few minutes to load the region. 290x250 is 72500 pixels, almost 15 times larger than mine. Keep in mind, I know there is a limit to how much RAM SimCity 4 can even use (I think it's 3GB) and I have 2GB. So even if you have 16GB of RAM, it won't matter past a cetain point. That means there IS a point you can reach that it would be impractical to create a region of that size and have your computer run it okay.quote>

I doubt it can use 3, even if I added more memory to my system, considering device drivers and a few essential programs have to run at all times as well (such as my firewall).   (As a side note, this is why some argue that people who want to have even 3G of RAM might want to consider a 64-bit operating system.)   I almost forgot one other constraint: the hard disk space.  A large region which is close to being completely filled is something I have to plan for  - SC 4 has to store save game data somewhere.

Now that I've made my region, I'm having some regrets, because while it's awesome to scroll across the whole thing, sims won't commute very far, so I could have just chopped the region into smaller pieces and built them that way, and then stich them together in photoshop or something for the combined effect.quote>

That option will be my last resort.

Thanks, everyone.  I will spend the upcoming weekend seeing what SC 4 will allow me to get away with.

[Yonk 2]

I really don't think even the largest region, fully built up, would be larger than a few GB. It depends whether you tend toward a more realistic style of city building, or if you're going to have a region-wide megalopolis where every single tile is filled to bursting with skyscrapers and a population in the tens of millions. My region is only about 400MB right now... and I'm rather sure many people have even plugins folders that are larger than that.

- Yonk

[SounderBruce 173]

I have a 3x4 region that takes 20 minutes to load on my tiny little netbook...

[bsalvatore 0]

I currently have a region of 49 large cities (flat plains). It is over 1GB.

I keep the video settings on as low as possible and it runs fairly well.

I incubated a gridopolis city in a 1 city region until it reached 725,000, then imported 49 copies into the large region. When the center city reached 2,000,000 after bouncing back and forth between its neighbors, I imported it back into the 1 city region. I then imported 48 copies to fill the big region, of which there are now almost 100,000,000 residents. With everything so dense, the fastest speed is noticeably slower, but still playable. I don't think the region could get much larger, though.

I have a 64-bit Windows 7 computer with

Core2 Duo @ 2.0 GHz

4GB of RAM

Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT

[The Bluejay 40]

I would guessitmate that anything over 70 by 70 pixels is veering into the realms of the unplayable on the average computer. My region of 60 by 85 was beginning to get creaky by the end, so