Renaming the same old buildings.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I know I could put a couple of modds in to eliminate and replace the standard farms, but instead I have taken to renaming the buildings.  You can open a building description with the query operator, and over type its name by simply marking it with your mouse and typing in a new name.

For example, I've taken to renaming all the House of Worship lots with something more sectarian.  E.g. Church of St. Dismas.

Dismas was the thief on the right at the crucifixion, and is definitely a saint.  "This day you will be with me in Heaven".

I sometimes am feeling a little fey, and name House of Worship for mythological gods:  Temple of Mammon, Fane of Poseidon, etc.

I've also taken to renaming schools.  It helps find them if you name them something besides Elementary School.  I've been calling mine by {city name} SS #n where SS stands for School Section.  Once you've named a school and it comes up in a strike, you can usually remember what part of the city it is in (I know, you can click on it in the education panel and be moved there, but if there are tall buildings in the way ....).  High schools are a different proposition, and you have to use your experience and imagination.  If I have a high school near the industrial complex, I will often name it something like "City Name Technical Collegiate".  I always assign a soccer field with a high school for completeness (high schools have large playing fields, always), and then I use the initials of the school to label the field (e.g. CNTC).  Four upper case letters fit nicely between the nets.

Health units are also prime subjects for renaming for the same reason.  I use things like {City Name} ER Clinic {location}.  You have to be a little careful with this, because these names will be chopped off by the dialogue boxes.

I hope this has given everyone some new things to do with their cities.  It expands the scope of your imagination and makes the city more personal.

[Mike_W 6]

I actually do this all the time. I enjoy adding more original names to a city to make it stand out. I often name my streets, schools, sometimes even skyscrapers.

[joshriddle 29]

Always good to take a different approach to things. I always got bored with "Small Landing Strip". I liked Forest Park Municipal Airport better.

[nbr1rbl 0]

Glad to see others do this also.......I always rename fairly static buildings, airports, ports, courthouse's and the like. I especially like to do the casino and resorts, I think it adds a neat touch to my towns....... and things like "Rookwood Beach Resort" always looks nicer than plain old "resort" when i scroll through the town with query

[DahMayorDefacto 1]

I often rename stations, and now i even add which line they belong to

[TekindusT 3,809]

I often rename structures like schools, hospitals, clinics, police stations, houses of worship, etc. They help me to give more "neighbourhood feeling" to the district they're placed... The bad thing is that I can't rename custom buildings...

[joshriddle 29]

I'm starting to rename my farms. I hate Pumpkin Acres all across the city. They payed a million bucks to have their farm span all across the entire city, sometimes entire region. So I slice them up into seperate farms by renaming their barns.

[SteveMSim 275]

Very good tip. I am starting to rename the repetitive Maxis buildings in my cities to give each a sense of uniqueness. This tip should be included in the tutorials.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If you want to be completely sacriligous, try renaming some of the Houses of Worship for some of the mythical gods of the past.

"Temple of Poseidon", "Fane of Marduk", "Precinct of Proserpine", etc.

[clhigh7 583]

I do the same, i also usually make little subdivisions on the rim of the city and i name all of them and the streets to.

[Mike_W 6]

I forgot to mention that I also add the number of floors to my larger buildings. I like to count how many floors are on my larger office buildings and residential towers. For instance I may have re-named a building to something like: "Bank of America 51" The 51 being the number of floors. I occassionally add street addresses also, but only in certain parts of the city.

[joshriddle 29]

I don't ever add street names really. Hard to keep up.

[Dizastrow 4]

I never knew you could do this and plan to all the time now.  Thanks

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: Dizastrow

I never knew you could do this and plan to all the time now.  Thanksquote>

You're welcome.  There is always something more to be got from this game.  That's the reason it goes on and on.  The Maxis folks really hit the jackpot with this.  Too bad they couldn't manage to fund it any longer, or couldn't resist EA's $$$.  In any case, for Will Wright and the crew, it is a programming coup, if getting a little long in the tooth now.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Or, if you're not feeling that too creative you could name just about everything after yourself. It's good for a Dictatorship city I suppose. I try to come up with more Creative things for everything though, even if it's based on something particular. "Branhattan", "Empire Province Building", ect.... any renaming of anything can give a better appeal to your cities. I think I might rename a house of worship after the god of SimCity on my computer...Brandon.

[jdenm8 362]

lol

Reminds me of Big Bang Theory...

"Where are we? Sheldon Square, Sheldon Dome or Sheldon City Park?"

"Sheldon Square"

"Well I'll have to go buy a sweater at Sheldon Mart"

"Why?"

"Cause it's cold."

XD

[LylyCSM 0]

I've been doing this forever. I really dislike having 30 "Elementary Schools", "Medical Clinics", and "Regional Libraries".

And you're right, it helps a lot in finding things.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: jdenm8

lol

Reminds me of Big Bang Theory...

"Where are we? Sheldon Square, Sheldon Dome or Sheldon City Park?"

"Sheldon Square"

"Well I'll have to go buy a sweater at Sheldon Mart"

"Why?"

"Cause it's cold."

XDquote>

Aha!  Lack of imagination.

"Church of St. Dismas", "Temple of Poseidon, Earth shaker", "Fane of Artemis", "Road of Mithras", what the hell "Temple of Doom", "Beth Tzedic Synagogue", "Ali bin Ladin Mosque and Ashram", etc, etc.

"St. Dismas Charity Hospital", "University Hospital", "Harborfront Marine and General Hospital", "East General Hospital"

"Downtown ER Clinic", "Port of Patootie ER Clinic"

"Porta Caeli Separate School", "Nova Ostia SS #6" (SS = School Section), and so on.

"Wendy's Hot and Greasy", "Joe's Truck Stop", "Yahuda's Foot Long Sausages", ... (for the taco and diner recurrences)

Just dreamed these up on the fly.

Let's see: Dismas was the thief on the right.  Mithras was the god of the Red Road. "Porta Caeli = Gate of Heaven".  Just a little hit or myth thinking.

[SteveMSim 275]

I just made sims in one city members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I renamed one house of worship the "Noodly Appendage Church", another the "Holy Pirates Church", another the "Beer Volcano Church", and so on.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Actually, I have one tile I worked up into the Parish of St. Dismas, including a parochial school and a charity hospital.  It's amazing how far you can carry this.  The Shrine of the Holy Nails of St. Dismas (not finger nails).  Appropriate "cuss" words like "by the broken legs of St. Dismas", and so on.  A crucified saint is always good for a good working over.