Abandonment Issues

[Badassgj 0]

I am pretty new at the game, and just learning all these great plug ins and cool downloads. I have the newest version of nam, but i cant seem to get beyond 60k sims for some reason. I have a massive transit system and subways/ bustops everywhere, but my buildings are constantly being abandoned due to commute time. My residential zones are really close to my commercial zones as well (within 10 squares in some cases). I have raised my R$$$ taxes to keep their demand low as well. This is really taking the fun out of playing when 75% of my residential areas have the briefcase zots over them. I understand that I am probably beating a dead horse here, but I am seeking help. I have read a bunch of forums about the algorithms, but that is all greek to me. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[SirAdamSugar 0]

You are not alone! I've played SC4 with and without NAM for some time, I think we may be having the same issues - the unemployment can usually be solved (ish). In a mid to high rise city you will always have some unemployment but integrating mid to high density commerce within your residential zone (on the same street), this seems the only solution, and over zoning has previously collapsed my commerce demand.

P.S. By 60k do you mean your residents average income has fallen? If so, me too, It may be a bug or i'm really making a hash of trying to solve the problem, but when cities become large and densely populated the income ALWAYS falls but encouraging commercial office growth restores it 50% of the time.

[Badassgj 0]

No, 60k sims. My city is not that large yet,  I have neigbor citys to help, but they are a bit smaller and are there to feed my main city. Everytime my population gets 60-70k half of my neighborhoods get abandoned. I began to expand in some land across the river with no connection to the other side, put down some residential and commercial right next to one another. They both built up immediately and then all the res zotted out. I want to find a fix to this by now i dont care if it is a cheat where my sims dont care about commuting. I have also played around with the NAM traffic settings as well. UGH!

[joshriddle 29]

Youre not the only one. However you can get the NAM Traffic Subsystem which adjusts your simulator to increase capacities.

The reason why people abandon when work is down the street could be because the road is clogged with traffic. Upgrade your networks or use the Subsystem I mentioned to increase capacities of current networks.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Look at the second traffic display which shows the actual volumes with color codes.  Anything that shows green or warmer is in need of attention.  Don't over do bus stops.  These days, Sims will walk quite a distance.  If your display is showing a lot of pedestrians on a bus route, the buses are overloaded, and you should condier a subway.

With residential abandonment, it usually make a block of them over into a commercial district, key code S.  This has two effects:  it gets rid of the abandoned buildings, and brings jobs into the neighborhood.  Remember, a residential district often has corner stores and small commercial plazas.  I stick to single and multiple occupancy zoning for this, and avoid anything that could produce a high-rise commercial building in a residential neighborhood.

Dont be shy about mixed Res/Comm zoning.  Be judicial, and arrange for the Sims to enjoy shopping near home.  At the same time, try to force lots of traffic in your main commercial zone.  It keeps them very happy.

[z1 566]

Do you have the CAM installed? If you do, you may have the CAM traffic simulator, which would override the NAM traffic simulator. That could easily account for your abandonment. If you have a folder named z_CAM in your Plugins folder, and it contains a file that starts "NetworkAddonMod_Traffic_Plugin_BetterPathfinding_CAM", then you should delete that file.

[z1 566]

Do you have the CAM installed? If you do, you may have the CAM traffic simulator, which would override the NAM traffic simulator. That could easily account for your abandonment. If you have a folder named z_CAM in your Plugins folder, and it contains a file that starts "NetworkAddonMod_Traffic_Plugin_BetterPathfinding_CAM", then you should delete that file.

[Badassgj 0]

Thanks, I will certainly look to see if I have that in there. I also decided to strip my sims of the subway to see what would happen and my problem almost totally went away. Maybe I placed a subway system in there prematurely?

[Badassgj 0]

Thanks, I will certainly look to see if I have that in there. I also decided to strip my sims of the subway to see what would happen and my problem almost totally went away. Maybe I placed a subway system in there prematurely?

[z1 566]

Placing a subway should never cause the problem you describe if you're using the NAM traffic simulator. But this may be further evidence that you have another traffic simulator hiding out somewhere, overriding it.

[z1 566]

Placing a subway should never cause the problem you describe if you're using the NAM traffic simulator. But this may be further evidence that you have another traffic simulator hiding out somewhere, overriding it.

[mr_sim 7]

I'd say your first step should be understanding the game on its base level first.

Making Money the Easy Way

That will give you a very solid foundation in this game. It is three parts which teach you all you'll need to know to grow successful cities.

Good Luck!

[mr_sim 7]

I'd say your first step should be understanding the game on its base level first.

Making Money the Easy Way

That will give you a very solid foundation in this game. It is three parts which teach you all you'll need to know to grow successful cities.

Good Luck!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

For the first time in a while, I took my own advice and put my commercial avenue in as the only path to industrial.  Boy, did it ever work.  It was so overloaded from the edge of the commercial section to the industrial that I wound up with two six-lane avenues (MAVE-6) and one four lane one (MAVE-4) to cool the traffic.  That's eight lanes each way!

Eventually, I discovered that the Sims were using the path to exit the tile using the highway I set up for the industrial to dump their freight.  I was able to redirect the work-out-of-town traffic with a neighbor-connected monorail which loaded to 85%, then I had to place a short segment of subway to cool the streets leading to the monorail.  Finally got the rush hour under control.  I wound up with one quarter of an avenue roundabout hot, at 200%, and couldn't figure a way past that, yet.  But it doesn't slow the Sims down much.  Currently, I am extending the subway into the second level of residential areas where the MURBS are.

By the way, various roundabouts are a good way to  cool a hot intersection.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

For the first time in a while, I took my own advice and put my commercial avenue in as the only path to industrial.  Boy, did it ever work.  It was so overloaded from the edge of the commercial section to the industrial that I wound up with two six-lane avenues (MAVE-6) and one four lane one (MAVE-4) to cool the traffic.  That's eight lanes each way!

Eventually, I discovered that the Sims were using the path to exit the tile using the highway I set up for the industrial to dump their freight.  I was able to redirect the work-out-of-town traffic with a neighbor-connected monorail which loaded to 85%, then I had to place a short segment of subway to cool the streets leading to the monorail.  Finally got the rush hour under control.  I wound up with one quarter of an avenue roundabout hot, at 200%, and couldn't figure a way past that, yet.  But it doesn't slow the Sims down much.  Currently, I am extending the subway into the second level of residential areas where the MURBS are.

By the way, various roundabouts are a good way to  cool a hot intersection.