SC4 unplugged

[Benedict 3,119]

No page bump, but I love the water squiggling its way through that part of the matrix.

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Looks awesome!Wow that is a big region.......

[Tysons4 68]

sorry Evillions,

every time i try to load the region with any 3rd party programs they crash...someone needs to write them so they can utilize more ram... sawtooth's region census v0.8 gets to 1,243,588kb and i get a 'stopped working error'

simcity 4 uses 1,317,252kb to display the region in the game and with all my processes is using 53% of my 4 gigs (usually only at 20%)

if anyone knows of a better program to display entire regions let me know and i won't hesitate to use it

i would soo love to love to be able to zoom in and out of the region map in game to take pictures of the entire monstrosity... however i must wait for another program to come along, or untill i have access to better internets so i can upload the video im preparing

 

edit: yay page bump.... welcome to the sixth page... this page will be all about terraforming, as that is what im going to be doing for the next 1,000 game hours (maybe a few cities, like the new islands that are popping up in the bay, but no promises, as i only build one of those cities for every 300 cities i terraform

oh and thank you all for commenting, as this supports my endeavor

[mightygoose 92]

get region census dammit man.... we want MOAAAAR

[Tysons4 68]

sorry mightygoose, the region census can't handle my region

the number of cities i have terraformed is now 740 and rising and ive taken a couple of pics to show

the first one is looking across the lake, to the new unsettled land

and this is next to the ancient city

i like how photobucket has changed.... no more having to copy, just click the link and it copies, now if i could just figure a way to just clikc instead of having to paste into the insert image button

i have till the 2nd of december to get over 1000 cities terraformed and and maybe a few 10 minute videos together so when im away for the week at the coast ill be able to upload them to youtube.

things are moving pretty steady as in the time it took me to get this all down i have terraformed 3 cities, and now working on a 4th

what would you like to see in the videos? i thinking an overview of the region and terraforming for one, and maybe another of the process which i use to populate a city tile... i have a mic and fraps, so i dont thing you'll have to be reading anything, but instead hear me talk, as you listen as see the way i go about playing simcity... i will also share with you why watching most people play simcity 4 is torture to me... just so you know, the game has hotkeys... so when i see somone clicking the circles just to get some residental placed down, or to pull out the bulldozer or dezone tools... it really grinds my gears, it's absolutily infuriating... what? do you not have a keyboard? is it your first time playing>? also dragging to fill zones fills me with rage also... stay tuned for the videos in the  beginning of december... im trying to update this every couple of days, so maybe ill make some terraforming picture tutorials untill then...that is, if you want to learn how to quickly terraform a region.

[Tysons4 68]

this sucks... my computer won't turn on

i got it on once and i had to reconfigure my bios, when i had it configured and restarted it turned off

the busy light runs but the main light is off

now there is no light.

no sounds coming from my system

i think it may have died... i will keep you posted

[RABicle 9]

I am frowning so much at the death of your computer. Please tell me it has been resucitated or at least your game saved. 

[Tysons4 68]

everything still works but the motherboard has been fried. tried resetting it but it won't even get through the bios.

everything else still works though., at first i couldn't get it to turn on long enough to start the game or any other, and now i cant even get it to turn on, but i'm confidant my hard drives are still it working order, as the one i was playing simcity 4 from and had windows 7 64 bit installed on had nothing but sc4 and the os.... and i backed up a copy of my region to another hd about every week.

i had the perfect rig to start back up again (2.2 single core, 8 gigs ram, 8sata ports,2 ide, pci-express slot) but when i didn't bring it home with me when i moved, it made its way to the dump.

so yeah... the system is dead but all my sims and cities still live on in computer limbo and as soon as i get an awesome new motherboard i will be back at it.

although i do have a netbook and have logged 60 hours since last tuesday (probably way more since i got it just after summer) which helps me pass the time... although there is nothing like playing simcity on a screen twice the size on a computer that is 4 times as powerful.

i was thinking.. im still playing the game without any plugs or mods... maybe ill just start showing you my pictures i've amassed on my netbook... although its not the municipality matrix... its a region im calling SimCity, which i plan to have the entire region look like one city. i've already filled all the small cities and half of the medium cities... im working on the first of 3 large city tiles now... population over 250k... on a netbook

what do you say i keep the simcity 4 unplugged spirit alive with a different region under the same premise... no plugins or mods... just good ol maxis released simcity (i can tell youu know ive changed my methods and have already seen r$$$ highrises grow that ive never seen before?

should i keep this journal alive, or start a new one... of course when i get a system put together the Municipality matrix will come back...

what do you say?

[Tysons4 68]

Since the death of my computer i have been playing on my netbook.

I started a new region i called SimCity.

The cities in SimCity will have unique names Instead of districts, sectors, and zones.

The plan for this region: All Sectors (large) must become commerical corridors,  every District (Small) must become an industrial park, and all zones are only for residents

I started out zoning every district and a few zones a mixture of all 3 zoning types to get the regions feet wet.

It is an island so i wanted to make like sims were sailing in to settle.

The only picture of simcity in the early years.

But once i Got a few sims settled and demand up a bit i went to start achieving the regional goal

A commercial city called Bay Mall:

A residential city called Bluff

and Industry River that for now holds the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But im trying to make the ugly look better

This region will not be as large as the Municipality Matrix, But i will still be playing with no Plugins or mods

so i welcome you to SimCity: Unplugged

Next update: Test, the region i use to experiment

[Benedict 3,119]

Congratulations, SC4 unplugged is number 9 on Ben's Top CJs of 2010!

[Tysons4 68]

thanks for the recognition

i was going to show you some of my tests this time

how about i show you all the regions i have right now, and what ive down with them...

ill start with the basics

nothing

some cities along the border

the start

i then created a region where an avenue would run through the center of a tile, and, starting in the center, the tile size would change  small, medium, large... and repeat in that fashion

or even create a region called test and test ideas

and dont forget to hold shift before clicking and draging your network

you can get the road to bend

go systematic

or organic

plan on having no intersetions

or nothing but

get an idea and go with it

back to the plan for simcity....

all small tiles will become industry... but all small tiles are developed already...

should this town be taken down and replaced with Dirty Industry?

the city in question has a larger airplane flying over it

next update will be the regional structure

[The Duke 11]

Nice region pics!! I like the last one the most.

[Tysons4 68]

thanks

here is the regional plan

next update: network plans

[Denon333 0]

Hi again

Ya know about the text you gave me to make a region similar to yours, right? Well, I have a few questions on the advice itself:

13. zone residental on every street that doesnt go through

What do you mean by a street that doesn't go through? You mean like near the end of a street that doesn't go through, is it?

21. this should help you unlock powerstations... build what you unlock and sell the power it creates... zone in farm areas with dirty industry

You mean in the capitol or in the surrounding towns and such?

26. a capitol has to have a 2 city buffer in all directions

What does it mean by a 2 city buffer? Does it mean like two cities buffering each side or just two cities buffering.

[Tysons4 68]

13. every street that dead-ends, but not against a city border, gets low residential (makes a cul-de-sac)

21. build whatever power plants are gifted to you in your capitol and sell all excess power... if you can't sell it all, start zoning industry

26. your capitol would be in the center of a group of tiles... you must count all the tiles that are touching your tile as a one city buffer...all  the cities touching those cities would be a two city buffer

[Slashback 136]

The plans look good (I can't change them anyway...), can't wait for the network plans!

[kricsmark 0]

First thing that came to mind when reading this CJ: HOLY TITF*CK THIS IS MASSIVE OH MY GOD

You sir, have mastered the game mechanics.

[Tysons4 68]

there was a change to the region map that needed to be done (forgot to put an "R" on a residential city)

i like to think i have mastered the game mechanics, but simcity teaches me something else all the time

here are my region network plans

white line is train

blue is monorail

purple is el/subway

there will also be massive highways throughout the region

next update using negative demand to your advantage

[Tysons4 68]

i only took 2 pictures for this update

my favorite cheat code is size of:2-8

and probably my most artistic photo

next i'll find a lama on the shores at sunset... and maybe get to demand

[Raceman95 2]

this is a great cj. i love how much you can develop, but i need to ask you: how do you grow so fast. Your cities are big and it is just the beginning. If you had mods than you could create a good realistic cj. PM me on your strategy

[Tysons4 68]

im totally sorry for not answering. i play fast because i have mastered all the keystrokes and don't waste time clicking though all the menus

[Tysons4 68]

ok, i think i have to keep this going. i started this yesterday, about evening, i finished one city and decided i wanted the power to come from another city, so then i zone another city... and so on and i filled the corner of the map

then i kept going around the top

and then it was dark out and everyone went to sleep, so i went down south a bit and filled some fun little islands.

but then i was tired so i took a nap.

i woke up about an hour later,im trying to quit smoking and it can be pretty nerve racking, so i zoned some more cities

and then i thought i might as well go and finish along the bottom edge.

the sun started coming up so i tried to sleep.

couldn't sleep, found myself at a bar all day, walked around some orchards for a while.

later that evening i decided to fill some more

and so then i filled more of the region

i did pretty much all the zoning by using the click-hold method. click and hold a bit of residential, when it pops up let go and click hold somewhere close to the streets touch.

its a pretty fun and efficient way to zone, and i realized i was done filling every city

i got so into it i didn't want to waste my time naming any cities

so i got this:

at least im consistant eh?

every spot of land had development on it, no roads (except a small city connection, 1 per city contact) no tunnels, no bridges, because i don't need them yet.

i planned a few spots of commercial, most all of it is farm land and light residential.

im going to make some rules to play by for this region

1. when streets get congested, upgrade them to roads. when roads become congested, to avenues, and when avenues are congested, highways. (all considered roads)

2. cities are allowed only 3 road connections per city tile, if there are more, some must be converted to track or rail.

3. there are only up to 3 either subway or elevated rail connections per city

4. there are only up to 3 monorail connections.

5. only a maximum of 3 train connections.

so some city contacts will be more robust than others but all cities will share a maximum of 12 city connections.

but before enacting this,i think my next plan for this region is to give every city a maxis landmark. something at sets it off and makes it unique. and maybe name the city after that landmark since i couldn't think of a name with just the map or after zoning

i wonder how many hours i could play without getting one sim. i started each city on easy so i had 500,000 simolions, but i only spent about 200,000 zoning the biggest city while most cities didn't even spend 100k

i kinda want to keep the cities that have power, produce water, and pick up garbage to an absolute minimum, and rely heavily on trading... oh decisions decisions

oh, and im going to be doing this unmodded still

  Edited March 16, 2011 by Tysons4  

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

I like the transportation networks...the interchanges look crazy!

[Tysons4 68]

I like the transportation networks...the interchanges look crazy!

thanks, i'll be reducing intersections as time goes on maybe tone some done a bit

quick update, every city has its own unique landmark using each and every one maxis supplied.

some may look odd or too big, but once the power starts flowing i will blend them in

oh, and if you were curios to see what happened with my region called "simcity" here it is:

the population is at a couple of million i think

[Tysons4 68]

so i used a bunch of power lines to group cities together

here is what the region looks like with 2 power plants.

and here it is with 5 power plants

clear onto the other side of the region. it will only take 8 cities producing power keep it fully powered.

i have not once gone faster than the slowest speed and have been taking so many pictures that im not sure how to deliver them.

when i go to a city it springs to life and i dont have to do anything but wait till the income is higher than my expenses, so i've renamed the cities to their landmarks, taken a bunch of pictures, and generally just watched it develop.

all cities had a positive income after viewing for 3 months.

the oldest city is san fransisco city hall at 2 years old.

region map:

i am fully documenting this regions growth.

this will be the third pass over every city.

first pass zoning

second pass landmarks and powerlines

third power and renaming.

i bet when im done with this pass population will surpass 100k... and i havn't had to upgrade any streets to roads.

kinda boring i know.. get the nam you say... but this is the way i truly love this game. everything will grow up to be big and tall where i want it to and every city has a unique building set combination. some rotate between two sets, some only build one, some only build 3 all of them have been different so far. should be fun to see what areas look like... ok im ranting i should be showing you pictures, but that wil have to wait till next time )probably tomorrow when i finish 3rd pass, and 4th (garbage) and half way though with 5th getting water. it will probably be year 2 for the region.

only one city has gone past year one.

[Jazzmaster 716]

i only took 2 pictures for this update

my favorite cheat code is size of:2-8

and probably my most artistic photo

I should say! This is a beautiful shot. Great lighting, good mix of buildings. The details in the scene make it look very urban indeed. One thing I like about this is it lacks fancy Photoshop filters and effects (while still looking convincing), which I'm seeing a bit too much of on here lately for my tastes.

Proof that Maxis content doesn't stink so much afterall.