What frustrates you about sim city 4

[benjames98 7]

Originally posted by: Markus J

Sims refuse to take the freeway to work in the next city when it's clearly faster.

I've used the RHW neighbor connectors and though it says RHW-2 does not need them, I used them anyone just in hopes that sims will drive into my next city on the highway and stop flooding my dang roads! I wouldn't be so ticked if they would at least use the avenues if not the freeways but they just keep flooding and jaming my roads!

Edit: Dependencies, oh lord the dependencies! So many of them and more keep coming out! Just to get one nice building for my city I need to spend at least an hour downloading and extracting files! And then deleting the unzipped versions or the install files to save space! And sure they're starting to put them in packs that was good before one building required 10 packs! And heaven forbid if a file is locked on this website and not found on SC4 devotion! I've gotten so picky with my downloads now that I almost use none! I love realism, and I love the buildings but going through all that is not worth it to me.

Oh and if you miss one little file, brown box!quote>

I wish that the makers of the dependancies would stop saying "Please don't include these dependincies in your addon. Just tell downloaders to install this 25 MB file in which you only used one freakin' 20kb part of".

Sure, it makes the dependancy more popular, but still!

[Coastercraze 1]

Dependencies but that's not SC4's fault that's mine for abusing custom content

Crash to desktop is my only real grip - that and you can't play the game without a CD. Oh well.

[Strategist01 0]

Well, Yeah the dependencies do get to me - especially when you live in South Africa, where the internet is capped and I can only move 5Gbs of traffic a month. But at least I can do it at 4MB/s .

The other thing that annoys me is that Maxis/EA hasn't released the .exe for us to mod freely. SO MANY PROBLEMS would be gone, if they allowed us to just modify the .exe! I mean, the modding community can release a new patch that would allow tunnels for RHW, make the RHW show up properly in the map, and of course fix all of the RCI/Commute time problems, etc. The patch would also be able to tell if you have the latest version of the game, 1.6 AFAIK. I was told that version was un crackable/no-body has tried to crack it, so we can also stop piracy of SC4

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If the release of the source code could produce a revision of the game that could run properly on modern machines, I am all for it, but you can bet EA would want to profit from this.  While other stuff released from there has been utter junk, remember they no longer have Will Wright and his original team who could probably make this happen if it were budgeted.  I think that Wright and Co. left with such angst, especially after the fiasco with Spore, that wild horses and a presidential order couldn't get him back under EA's roof.

The only real solution is to release the source to the Free Software Foundation.  Surely by now, EA has made the cost of the game back and profits in spades.  Time to let the old cow out to pasture.  The biggest problem with the FSF if you would have to be sure what version of the revised game you got.  Of course you could get a copy of their source and do your own damage.

I don't think this old code can be salvaged short of a complete re-write in something modern like Java or C++.  Java would be nice because it could then run in a browser, and, gasp!, maybe be networked with multiple players.  This will take a lot of effort and some donations are probably in order should that come about.  Think of all the fun you could have as the City Planner guy.  The multiple characters are there, and not everyone can be Mayor.  On the other hand, what about playing multiple tiles to create one huge metropolis with each player running his own tile in co-operation with other players.  Neighbor deals would be negotiations, eh?

What I currently find frustrating about SimCity 4 RH is the plethora of stuff that is available as add-ons.  Many of them are special purpose for the person who created them to complete a CJ or some other thing.  Others have little idiosyncracies that can lead you astray.  Wurra, wurra.  What to choose?  I feel like a kid with a credit card in a candy store.

[Strategist01 0]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

If the release of the source code could produce a revision of the game that could run properly on modern machines, I am all for it, but you can bet EA would want to profit from this.  While other stuff released from there has been utter junk, remember they no longer have Will Wright and his original team who could probably make this happen if it were budgeted.  I think that Wright and Co. left with such angst, especially after the fiasco with Spore, that wild horses and a presidential order couldn't get him back under EA's roof.quote>

Oh for sure. We have so many teams and the modding community is so large with so many experienced users that we could overhaul SC4 completely!

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

The only real solution is to release the source to the Free Software Foundation.  Surely by now, EA has made the cost of the game back and profits in spades.  Time to let the old cow out to pasture.  The biggest problem with the FSF if you would have to be sure what version of the revised game you got.  Of course you could get a copy of their source and do your own damage.quote>

Exactly my line of thinking. I think that in order for EA to co-operate with su fully, they would say that you have to buy the game legally (they make their profit) and then do as you see fit. We would of course have to be careful to not include any code that allowed the exe to be run w/o the CD. EA would have a fit!

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

I don't think this old code can be salvaged short of a complete re-write in something modern like Java or C++.  Java would be nice because it could then run in a browser, and, gasp!, maybe be networked with multiple players.  This will take a lot of effort and some donations are probably in order should that come about.  Think of all the fun you could have as the City Planner guy.  The multiple characters are there, and not everyone can be Mayor.  On the other hand, what about playing multiple tiles to create one huge metropolis with each player running his own tile in co-operation with other players.  Neighbor deals would be negotiations, eh?quote>

Oooh, don't get me excited. C++ would be better, as it would integrate more easily with the windows shell. Java would have to be run through a platform, etc; IMHO.

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

WhatI currently find frustrating about SimCity 4 RH is the plethora of stuff that is available as add-ons.  Many of them are special purpose for the person who created them to complete a CJ or some other thing.  Others have little idiosyncracies that can lead you astray.  Wurra, wurra.  What to choose?  I feel like a kid with a credit card in a candy store.

quote>

Well, all I can say is that keep a theme in mind about what to choose! At least you proabably have unlimited internet to DL as much as you want, I can only move up to 5Gb a month ! Hopefully that will change soon with uncapped internet prices coming down even more in South Africa .

[Ndragonawa 37]

Load times!!   It takes like 4 seconds for me to get to the subway screen and 4 seconds back to ground level!  And on my new rig too! =(

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: Ndragonawa

Load times!!   It takes like 4 seconds for me to get to the subway screen and 4 seconds back to ground level!  And on my new rig too! =(quote>

Get the DatPacker - it will eliminate this problem.  It will also greatly speed up the loading times of both the game and individual cities.

As the DatPacker exists only on the LEX, in order to download it you will need to create an account there if you don't already have one.

[SlashFan2000 1]

Aside from the other countless things posted by others, unrealistc scale. At 16 meters per sqaure, that's 52 ft. When a house lot take up 2X2 squares thats 100X100 ft. When raising land 15 meters for overpasses, that's 45 ft. I have yet to see an overpass that high.

Constant repetition of buildings. I have downloaded 2.5G of add-ons, and still can't get decent variety.

Also, the load times. What exactly does this DatPacker do?

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: SlashFan2000

What exactly does this DatPacker do?quote>

It combines all your smaller plugin files into bigger files - up to 400 MB each.  By default, it creates a single .dat file for each subfolder in your Plugins folder, but you can easily change that.  I have about 4.4 GB of plugins in 11,700 files, which DatPacker has reduced to 96 files.  You can also choose which files to DatPack and which not, and you can repack folders individually when you update files.  The link I gave in my previous post is actually a link to a tutorial for using DatPacker, which will tell you a lot more about how it works.

With all my plugins, my game now loads in 45 seconds, and a city of two million loads in about a minute.  (Disclaimer:  I have a very fast computer, including SSDs.  But DatPacker is still a very big reason for the speedup.)

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: Strategist01

C++ would be better, as it would integrate more easily with the windows shell. Java would have to be run through a platform, etc; IMHO.

quote>

Sorry, my friend.  You are talking about incestuous relations with Windows.  It is not the only O/S out here.  Many people have Macs, I don't have either, and I won't ever go back to paying for operating software as the very idea is obscene.  We could go to something less portable than Java, if you like, but it has to run everywhere.  This probably means abandoning DirectX for Open GL, and not playing with all the lockin tools in .NET.

Maybe the best implementation language would be BCPL, since it can be put up on almost any machine in about a month.  But it is more like an assembler than a high-level language.  If you want OOD and OOP, then I think Java is the way to fly.

EDIT:  And you did want a multi-tasked structure, didn't you?

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

The fact that it takes SC4 several minutes to start, but thats probably my Plugins doing that.

[SlashFan2000 1]

Okay, DatPacker did a good job of cleaning up my Plugins folder, but still have loading problems. Spend more time waiting for a menu to open than playing the game. Getting EXTREMELY irritated with this.

[tjh876 31]

If I could fix one thing about SC4, it would be the interface. I know there are mods, but still, its annoying when you have a couple add-on lots you have to get through to get to the one you are looking for. Also, there is no way to take a picture of an entire region (ones that same with SC4 and my uploaded ones too), as that if you wanted to show your successes, you would need a separate program.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

To the Region-Census-mobile!

[Strategist01 0]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

Originally posted by: Strategist01

C++ would be better, as it would integrate more easily with the windows shell. Java would have to be run through a platform, etc; IMHO.

quote>

Sorry, my friend.  You are talking about incestuous relations with Windows.  It is not the only O/S out here.  Many people have Macs, I don't have either, and I won't ever go back to paying for operating software as the very idea is obscene.  We could go to something less portable than Java, if you like, but it has to run everywhere.  This probably means abandoning DirectX for Open GL, and not playing with all the lockin tools in .NET.

Maybe the best implementation language would be BCPL, since it can be put up on almost any machine in about a month.  But it is more like an assembler than a high-level language.  If you want OOD and OOP, then I think Java is the way to fly.

EDIT:  And you did want a multi-tasked structure, didn't you?

quote>

Hmm, ok. Good points raised there. I concede. However, i was thinking along the lines of a Win Release, and of course there would have to be a Mac/Linux release as well. I do own windows, and although I have some problems with it, I know how to make it behave. There would have to be separate releases, but would a patch for a Win PC written in Java be able to be patched into whatever Mac's version of an exe is? i fso then one patch release would be fantastic!

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: SlashFan2000

Okay, DatPacker did a good job of cleaning up my Plugins folder, but still have loading problems. Spend more time waiting for a menu to open than playing the game. Getting EXTREMELY irritated with this.quote>

I had this same problem on Windows XP, and I managed to fix it.  You're probably running at least a dual core CPU, aren't you?  If so, please try adding "-CPUCount:2" (without the quotes) to the end of your command line in the program's shortcut, regardless of the number of cores you have.  SC4 needs this in its command line on all multi-core (or multi-CPU) machines in any case.  I think that this is what fixed my problem with the menu delay.

[Hyronymus 56]

Currently I'm frustrated by the way farms work. My city has a farming community and a well-developed city area (total 330.000 citizens). For a long, long time there is no need for farms aymore. Why can't I keep building farms?

[Strategist01 0]

You have reached the building capacity for farms. In order to get more farms, you'll have to download RippleJet's Census repository, which I think you can find on the STEX, but it is definitely in the LEX. The census repository vault will provide cap relief.

[Hyronymus 56]

That sounds interesting, will try it soon .

EDIT: OK, I installed it but nothing changes. My cap stays at 100% and I can even build multiple vaults in my city...

[SC4BOY 21]

In a city of 330000 you will not get farm demand.. it cuts off about 30000.. even with boosters, you'll not likely get any demand... If you grow the farms before you develop the population, it will not kill the farms, but they still cease to have demand. Just curious as to why you'd be developing farms in a major city? You can of course plop farms and they will look fine.

[Hyronymus 56]

Well, the reason is I wanted to have a realistic region. 2 neighbouring cities are agricultural and I never liked the sudden transgression from high-rise to farm fields in my next-door city. And here I was contemplating additional agricultural cities next to my 'main city'.

I'll try and upload a screesnhot from my region if SC doesn't crash .

[SC4BOY 21]

I suggest you download some plopable farms then so you can "round out" your city..

hmm I tried to find out where I got them, but someone repackaged a LOT of farm fields which show up on the Parks menu.. they will allow you to "build" your farms to your heart's content.. of course they are non-functional, but in a city of the size you have, farms contribute virtually nothing to the game anyway. I think I got them from the LEX but I dont' really remember.. hopefully someone will remember and let you know where to get the download... it is a collection of maybe 40 fields from all sorts of people.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

In a word, yes.  However, Java runs as a virtual machine and you have to trust the authors (Sun Microsystems) to get it right.  They usually do, and the JVM, which has been around for a long time is only up to version 1.6.

Usually, you send a java fix out as a JAR file, which may replace an existing one, or merge into an existing one.  Patches, per se, are not used.  Whole units are replaced.  This keeps the integrity of the programs good.

[Budcat 0]

I hate when i download something and build it in game, then itss a box , what must i do??

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: Budcat

I hate when i download something and build it in game, then itss a box , what must i do?? quote>

Welcome to our conversation.

Find and install all the dependencies.  SC4Tool will tell you what they are.

[SlashFan2000 1]

Neverending frustrations. Just tried to work an highways for first time since using DatPacker, now all my RHW/NWM does not work. Icons are in the menus, but I get a red pointer when I try to use them. Menus are also messed up. Reinstalled all NAM components, still don't work. In the process of clearing out Plugins folder and re-installing EVRYTHING. Seems I get one thing fixed and another problem pops up. Spend more time messing around with this stuff than playing the game.

[partho989 1]

the graphics are bad and where is the new version

[SC4BOY 21]

I believe the NAM team suggests never DatPacking the NAM files.. do the rest of your folders, then drop the NAM in afterward.

[Strategist01 0]

Nam files and their plugin files as well! This mean RHW, SAM, CANAM (although that was included in the one release) and all of those that you find in the Network Addon Mod folder.

[SlashFan2000 1]

Cleared out my plugins and just finished re-installing everything I originally downloaded. Still getting the red pointer when trying to use NAM pieces. What could be missing? Is there any special order these need to be installed? NAM/RHW/NWM?