Top Ten Modd Suggestions

[Livin in Sim 83]

It seems there are a lot of very good questions about preferred Modds. If you go to the STEX, on the left hand menu, under Categories, there is a category for Modd Files. Clicking it, then clicking Most Popular, at the top of the STEX page, will bring up the most popular modds. Nifty, eh?

The NWM, SAM, HSRP, and RHW are widely accepted, IMO, no argument there. Road Wizards, please accept our humble thanks.

At any rate, aside from that, I thought I would list my top ten favorites and their designers. It was a difficult task, but fun, nevertheless, since I've gotten a bit silly. I would invite everyone interested to list theirs. To specify, I am not talking about BAT's or lots, or even tools, really, but simply Modds. OK, here we go...

10. The Yellow Pause Thingy Remover By: The Legendary Quilted Llama So nice for shutter bugs who live to share their pics, and without that ugly border--who needs it!

9. BridgeHeightLow&Suspen By: The Epic Joerg The Bridge Height Modd, spelled here as it is in my Plugin Folder, (again, fussy spelling is not a must) is something I know I will never be able to play without. There will never be another ridiculously steep bridge approach in my cities. Ever. Again.

8. Day-Night Mod v2.0 By: The Famed Gizmo It makes those wishy washy, pale Maxis nights dark and lovely. I am flirting with the idea of trying The Esteemed Sim Fox's Night-Day Mod, but you will always be my first. I wonder if I would long for The Distinguished RippleJet's Longer Nights Lights 1.0 and Brighter $ Street Lights 1.0, that are made for Gizmo's modd, Oh, dear.

7. Extra Terrain Tools By: The Fabled Teirusu I AM the Rainmaker, the Land Bridge Builder, the Master of all I survey. Also, more Additional Terrain Tools by Tropod.

6. GodModeInMayorMode By: The Celebrated Warrior The God Mode Tools are right there beside the Mayor Mode Tools, 24/7, no flailing about with the Ctrl Alt Click on the... whatevar. It's a miracle!

5. Radius Doubler and Industry Doubler, in a Dead Heat! By: The Respected slightyslack, and The Equally Respected bones1, respectively. No more driving through endless miles of industrial complexes and unending bureaucracy of multiple civic facilities. Hurray! (There is also an Industry Quadrupler lurking about somewhere, by The Acclaimed Toroca, but a highly respected source claims it is unbalanced. I doubt it, tho.)

4. SlopeMod By: The Renowned Ennedi I have three interchangeable versions, Mountain, Medium, and Smooth. Jealous much?

3. Hole Digger Lots By: The Great Smoncrie Ditch digging was never this fun. The similar modd by The Revered Shadow Assassin is right up there, tho. I said Revered, not Reverend.

2. SFBT Street Side Mod and JRJ Street Side Mod, neck in neck! By: The Prominent Andreas and The Eminent Jeronij I can't decide which is better. I take turns using them. They changed the look of my cities so much that my eyes literally bugged out of my head the first go 'round.

And...last but not least...the customary drum roll please...thank you.

The...

Number...

One...

Top...

Ten...

Modd...

According to me...

1. The EXTRA CHEATS DLL!!!!! By: The Immortal Buggi (Or maybe Maxis...we're not sure...it is rumored that Buggi may have worked for Maxis...but...he is missing...I think...not to gossip, or anything.

It's all in here, folks, the magic snake oil of SC4, every cheat you could imagine and some you can't, even some that aren't really cheating, honest! It is guar-an-teed to make it snow, change your name, show your paths, crash your game, rock your llama and raise your life expectancy. Erm, well, maybe not that last one, but ya never know.

Honorable Mention:

culdesacmod, by The Notable quirlix;

Immortal Lot Killer, by The Distinguished RippleJet;

Persistent Automata Modd by The Well-known shadowman131, tweaked and uploaded by The Even Better-known jeiman2008, and all the lovely terrain, rock, and water modds created by Many Talented Individuals.

Other Game Fixes and Modifications:

by Cougar2004

If you have any questions about a modd I've listed--where to find it, what it does, how to use it, please PM me. I'm sure I've forgotten or not mentioned many, please list your faves, and discuss.

[SnappedManX6 2]

Fox's Night Day Mod is pretty good. Gets a little TOO dark sometimes though.

[Timmystwin 201]

Just searched for day and night, and there it is, on page 10. I typed in the exact title.

[jzmajor 1]

That was probably the most entertaining thread I've ever read!

Well done!

[andhow 0]

jzmajor, I agree! We have a great wit amongst us!

[huntingfire 15]

RCImulti, by niloluiz.

Mod that save my cities from massive R$$$ abandonment.

[Mithrik 562]

The SPAM is another memorable mention, it's a huge change from the original farming system.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well written. It is always good to give credit where credit is due.

Generally I agree with the suggestions, and will keep this thread in mind when I need something additional.

Nihil Obstat +

Imprimatur: A Nonny Moose for the Southern James Bay Parish.

[Unassigned 23]

Here's a couple of mods which address bugs in the game (and thus belong on the must-have list):

The Opera House Fix by toroca without which city growth may stagnate somewhere in the 6-figure population range.

IH missing $$$ jobs fix (update!) 1.11 by HeinBloed4711, which improves the balance between available high-tech jobs and demand for such jobs.

I think these two are the only outright bugfix mods.

Update (March 31, 2012): There is now a Tutorial: Applying the I-HT Bug-Fix correctly by cogeo, as it appears the fix in itself does have some undesirable side effects.

  Edited March 31, 2012 by Unassigned  

[XpirAment 0]

My number one of all time is the Industry Quadrupler. I'm wondering if anyone knows how to get something that will take care of my CS$ and CS$$ demands in the same manner?

An additional mod I like the Sarah Bingham Hospital. It takes up the same amount of space, but can handle 12,000, which saves space in my densest cities.

I don't understand the OP's reasoning for using the GodModeInMayorMode mod. Is "CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+god tools" really too much to do?

[CaptCity 4,694]

My number one of all time is the Industry Quadrupler. I'm wondering if anyone knows how to get something that will take care of my CS$ and CS$$ demands in the same manner?

Here's an option...

Commercial Services Doubler

I don't understand the OP's reasoning for using the GodModeInMayorMode mod. Is "CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+god tools" really too much to do?

The mod adds the God mode tools to the Mayor menu - just a matter of convenience - one click instead of pushing three keys and a click.

[XpirAment 0]

My number one of all time is the Industry Quadrupler. I'm wondering if anyone knows how to get something that will take care of my CS$ and CS$$ demands in the same manner?

Here's an option...

Commercial Services Doubler

Wow, thanks for the speedy reply. Downloaded it and about to play.

[Keder 116]

I think the best top ten mods are the NAM and the day-night mod.

[Nik B. 0]

Downloaded a few of these, looking forward to experimentation. Must Say I love the look of SimMars too, so I'm pretty excited about playing with that right now! While I'm here, of the small amount of the STEX I've tried to find a mod to make the terrain look a little more real, but Failed miserably =[

  Edited June 30, 2011 by Nik B.  

[CaptCity 4,694]

...I've tried to find a mod to make the terrain look a little more real, but Failed miserably.

Try a title search (use Advanced search) for "Terrain" or try looking for creators Cycledogg or Heblem. Should be quite a few show up.

[Dqfn13 20]

I missed the NAM in the top 10... for me that's the number 1 mod ever!

[CaptCity 4,694]

I missed the NAM in the top 10... for me that's the number 1 mod ever!

Yes, Liv said that was a given...

The NAM, SAM, and RHW are widely accepted, IMO, no argument there. Road Wizards, please accept our humble thanks.

At any rate, aside from that, I thought I would list my top ten favorites and their designers. It was a difficult task, but fun, nevertheless, since I've gotten a bit silly. I would invite everyone interested to list theirs. To specify, I am not talking about BAT's or lots, or even tools, really, but simply Modds. OK, here we go...

[Wraner 335]

this is the greatest post ever! I will have to get each and every one of these

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

this is the greatest post ever! I will have to get each and every one of these

Be careful to test each and every one as you install it in your plugins suite. Testing can save much regret later.

[Wraner 335]

this is the greatest post ever! I will have to get each and every one of these

Be careful to test each and every one as you install it in your plugins suite. Testing can save much regret later.

OH believe me, I am aware

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

this is the greatest post ever! I will have to get each and every one of these

Be careful to test each and every one as you install it in your plugins suite. Testing can save much regret later.

OH believe me, I am aware

HAH! Once burned, twice shy, eh?

[CahosRahneVeloza 385]

Three of my favorites that are now a bit incompatible with the new NAM Version 30 release:

Under El-R Facelift Mod by microabl:

https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1423

Moonlight san's El-R Facelift mod:

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=10828.0

And the Japanese NAM Overpasses Facelift Mod:

http://hide-inoki.com/bbs/archives/sc4_0818.html

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Three of my favorites that are now a bit incompatible with the new NAM Version 30 release:

Under El-R Facelift Mod by microabl:

http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=1423

Moonlight san's El-R Facelift mod:

http://sc4devotion.c...p?topic=10828.0

And the Japanese NAM Overpasses Facelift Mod:

http://hide-inoki.co...topic.php?t=818

Well, I don't know about you, but I keep all my NAM related things in one directory, and sequester them when a new NAM comes out. NAM is a moving target, so anyone who is not a member of the NAM team is taking his chances on further developments.

Thanks for the notice.

[CahosRahneVeloza 385]

@A Nonny Moose: These three mods will still function even after you've installed NAM version 30, the only incompatibility issue one will encounter with 'em are graphical glitches.

For the Japanese NAM Overpasses Mod, the Avenue Overpasses will have graphical bugs seeing as NAM 30 presents new models (or textures? I often mix the two terms up easily sorry about that) the for Avenue overpass pieces.

For the under El-R Facelift mod, you'll notice two things. First is that the Wl-R pillars will only show the default Maxis grass textures below them. And second, areas that show the facelift mod's "modded" bases (with props dependent on adjacent RCI type & wealth level) will not have El-R pillars below them. The second bit will be severely obvious if you have a particularly long stretch of El-R along downtown And you'll be amazed at how a length of El-R track is held up with no support pillars like that. You could click on the El-R track with the El-R tool to rectify this, but if you do, you'd only get a pillar with a grass texture or a modded under track texture with no pillar.

And finally, Moonlight san's El-R Facelift mod still works actually, but you'll get the default El-R Tracks whenever you cross some of the newer kinds of RHW styles & it doesn't support the NWM.

[Jololee 17]

the top 1 made me smile hahahaa.!

[packersfan 666]

Great post. I actually found some useful mods I could only have dreamed for. And exactly, NAM and its related mods are basically a requirement for you to still be playing this game 10 years after its release (no offense to our vanilla players).

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Great post. I actually found some useful mods I could only have dreamed for. And exactly, NAM and its related mods are basically a requirement for you to still be playing this game 10 years after its release (no offense to our vanilla players).

You have a good point. A constant diet of vanilla often needs a different set of garnishes, or you can change the sauce to something completely different with the CAM (which I don't use). CAM users are a special breed with an interest in high buildings. My interest lies in small, shore-line communities, so I make a lot of use of PEGs CDK, CDK3, and CDKM lots. A huge variety of interesting stuff to play with, and of course I use NAM, SAM, NWM, MTRT, but not RHW at the moment because I don't really need it. Of course if you want to go from Beef to Pork, you can try SimMars for a completely different look and feel.

[packersfan 666]

Yup, I've avoided CAM just for the fact it isn't really necessary and there are many things that are incompatible with it.

[Cougar2004 127]

Here's a couple of mods which address bugs in the game (and thus belong on the must-have list):

The Opera House Fix by toroca without which city growth may stagnate somewhere in the 6-figure population range.

IH missing $ jobs fix (update!) 1.11 by HeinBloed4711, which improves the balance between available high-tech jobs and demand for such jobs.

I think these two are the only outright bugfix mods.

The IH Missing Mod is new to me (as im just now a returning player after 3 years away). Thank you for mentioning that. I definitely will be using it.

As I recall, in addition to the Opera House Fix, there were also:

• A. City Hall (all 3) Fix - It puts all 3 versions of the City Hall back in the game, instead of just the first one. Not sure its true name.
• B. Private School Fix - I can't recall what is broken by default with this, but i know the mod fixed it.
• C. Area 5.1 & Air Force Base No Exclusion Fix - Allows both to be placed in the same city at once.

Some other fixes that I personally do NOT consider must-haves, but others might, are:

• D. Utilities Construct - Makes the plop-able Utilities buildings grow up as RCI buildings do.
• E. Civic Buildings Construct - Makes the plop-able Utilities buildings grow up as RCI buildings do.
• F. Medical Clinic Fix - This only turns the building around so the driveway connects to roads more realistically, I believe.

On another note, I am surprised no one has mentioned any Game Mods that provide additional information & extra gameplay details (i find them essential for me), so ill list a few (hopefully they are still around and not obsolete over years ive been gone.)

• G. Equinox's RCI Upgrade Mod
• H. Tropod's Graph Mod v2.0
• I. Tropod's Dataview Mod (RushHour Version)
• K. Thalassicus's DataView Detail Mod
• L. Transportation Map Mod (for Region)
• M. Improved Traffic Volume View
• N. Un1's Enlarged Graph Enlargement Mod

(Note: Im positive that some of these are not compatible with the rest in the list, so use the READMEs.)

If anyone knows of any newer mods of this type, or if any of these are incompatible with or have been incorporated into new Mods like the new NAM, I'd be interested to know that too.

EDIT: Besides the 2 Maxis Building Props files, and Landmark bulding files, there is also a Missing Landmarks Props Plugin on the STEX that I believe gives you the Grand Central Station, Living Mall, and others forgotten by Maxis. Also there is a Maxis file that provides additional Transportation elements to the game including the Air Force Base. So while not fixes, these original Maxis files complete the original game. (And I haven't tested it, but there is a U2 Corrupted Exemplar Fix on the STEX that claims to put back a level 3 C0$$ building that is broken when patching the game.)

  Edited February 22, 2012 by Cougar2004  

[SimCooG 1]

thanks