Is SimCity 4 Dead?

[vw_oklahoma 308]

Dead or Alive, I still enjoy playing this game and am grateful to find a community of other persons who also love to play it.

[vw_oklahoma 308]

Dead or Alive, I still enjoy playing this game and am grateful to find a community of other persons who also love to play it.

[vw_oklahoma 308]

Dead or Alive, I still enjoy playing this game and am grateful to find a community of other persons who also love to play it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

SC4 is a very good consumer of time when you are retired.  Keeps the ol' synapses active.  One of the best features is that it requires you to engage in problem solving, and while the problems always have something to do with building a city, they are varied enough that you can't operate by rote.  Further, if you have a creative bone in your body, you can find ways to vary your strategy over the years.  I am now on something like my fourth general approach to the game, and have taken up some stuff that entertains me greatly.  I've started building towns and nameing the public buildings with high sarcasm.

Houses of Worship become Temples of various mythological gods of no particular era

University areas seem to be able to find field houses, faculty clubs, student residences, president's residence, etc.  Even phoney frat houses.  I often have an experimental farm attached to the Ag faculty.

High Schools always get a soccer field with a colorful name.

Private schools get a softball diamond.

and I use seasonal trees to fill in places that can't properly be built because of terrain or zoning collistions.  Keeps the environmental llama off my back.  (They are parks).

You can do all sorts of silly thinks like this to enhance your game, and still play the main stuff while doing it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

SC4 is a very good consumer of time when you are retired.  Keeps the ol' synapses active.  One of the best features is that it requires you to engage in problem solving, and while the problems always have something to do with building a city, they are varied enough that you can't operate by rote.  Further, if you have a creative bone in your body, you can find ways to vary your strategy over the years.  I am now on something like my fourth general approach to the game, and have taken up some stuff that entertains me greatly.  I've started building towns and nameing the public buildings with high sarcasm.

Houses of Worship become Temples of various mythological gods of no particular era

University areas seem to be able to find field houses, faculty clubs, student residences, president's residence, etc.  Even phoney frat houses.  I often have an experimental farm attached to the Ag faculty.

High Schools always get a soccer field with a colorful name.

Private schools get a softball diamond.

and I use seasonal trees to fill in places that can't properly be built because of terrain or zoning collistions.  Keeps the environmental llama off my back.  (They are parks).

You can do all sorts of silly thinks like this to enhance your game, and still play the main stuff while doing it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

SC4 is a very good consumer of time when you are retired.  Keeps the ol' synapses active.  One of the best features is that it requires you to engage in problem solving, and while the problems always have something to do with building a city, they are varied enough that you can't operate by rote.  Further, if you have a creative bone in your body, you can find ways to vary your strategy over the years.  I am now on something like my fourth general approach to the game, and have taken up some stuff that entertains me greatly.  I've started building towns and nameing the public buildings with high sarcasm.

Houses of Worship become Temples of various mythological gods of no particular era

University areas seem to be able to find field houses, faculty clubs, student residences, president's residence, etc.  Even phoney frat houses.  I often have an experimental farm attached to the Ag faculty.

High Schools always get a soccer field with a colorful name.

Private schools get a softball diamond.

and I use seasonal trees to fill in places that can't properly be built because of terrain or zoning collistions.  Keeps the environmental llama off my back.  (They are parks).

You can do all sorts of silly thinks like this to enhance your game, and still play the main stuff while doing it.

[GeneralEtrius 78]

Originally posted by: DCMetro34

I wouldn't say it is dying at all. And yes, I have Windows 7, and it works like a charm. Everyday, there is still a lot of custom content being released, and just now we are finding out more info about SimCity1.dat. To say the game is dying is preposterous.....with SC4, this site would barely be anything.....

DC quote>

Can you clarify what "info" you are finding about this .dat file? Seems interesting.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Jasoncw

Maybe Duke knows where to find computer game sales charts?quote>

VG Chartz is usually the go-to place, but their data for non-big name games is spotty at best. They have nothing on SC4, SCS, or CXL.

[manicwhofan 27]

As long as those who have devoted great time, effort and talent into creating spectacular buildings, mods and more continue, and as long as we players continue to support sites like this, SC4 is game still has a long life to live.

[Munchiez 74]

no i dont think so, but i do play it a lot

[jumbz55 7]

Well it's probably never going to die! In my opinion, its something like what monopoly is to board games (Sim City is to PC games) type thing.

It's a timeless game that inquisitive young people, and just people like myself who have played it since I was 10 years old (I'm now 21) will ALWAYS come back to.

I guess until we all have to retire our old PC systems that make us unable to play 32-bit 'legacy' games... then SC4 will suffice!

Otherwise I do hope in the mean time that some kind of SC5 is released perhaps in the next 5 years anyway. But I ain't expecting much from EA! (Pretty disappointed in the sims 3!)

[hansenawesome15 9]

I'm still playing SC4 religiously! I love the game, and I still think it's awesome!!

[jumbz55 7]

Hrmm. I just purchased the Steam version. Interesting....

[metarvo 710]

No, IMHO.  For proof, take a good look around this good site.  The downloads and the CJ's speak volumes about the continuing popularity and longevity of SC4.  In addition, I still see it sold at Wal-Mart in the form of the SimCity Box.

[bowserchomp 1]

It's such a shame that SC4 runs so badly on newer hardware. 

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: bowserchomp

It's such a shame that SC4 runs so badly on newer hardware. quote>

Badly is a bad word to describe it. Runs perfectly on newer hardware as well as other O/Ss such as W7 with a little tweaking.

[bluespottedhorse 49]

Runs perfectly fine on my new dual core machine.

[jumbz55 7]

Yeah the game runs really well on Windows 7 if you use the software rendering. I've never seen it run so fast!

[TownMaster2005 79]

This game is great. The amount of custom content and with new items coming on line regularly ensures that we never get tired of the challenge of developing that ultimate city or region. Each of us who play no doubt enjoy that challenge and we always want the next one to better (at least that is the way that I am). It allows us to shape our little world the way we want to. We have the power.

Jumbz55 thanks for the tip of using software rendering with Windows 7. You are right it is fast. My only problem is that my planes have gone a funny scheme. I am using a custom skin. Any ides as to the reason for that. The rest all looks normal.

[danholo 12]

This game is dying. It always has, since it was released.

[Arvendragon 1]

I just noticed that SimCity and StarCraft, two of the most popular games with an extremely hardcore following, have the same abbreviation...

And it will die eventually. Either when someone invents virtual reality, or when SimCity 5 comes out.

[AundreaLynn 0]

It's practically brand new to me! I was still playing SC3K up until about 2 months ago when I discovered what exactly SimCity 4 could do (thanks to a random video on YouTube). I went out the next day and got the Deluxe bundle, and I have been addicted to it since. I didn't even know how old the game was until after I installed it and was taking a gander at the back of the box. As lame as it sounds, I even find myself planning out new areas of my city in my head while I'm working or taking a shower. I would like to see a SC5 in the future, but I've heard they were supposed to release that thing a few years ago and just keep putting it off. As interesting as CitiesXL looks, I'm just getting started on SC4, so it will be a while before I consider delving into that game.

[Yonk 2]

Originally posted by: Arvendragon

And it will die eventually. Either when someone invents virtual reality, or when SimCity 5 comes out.quote>

I disagree. A sequel does not mean the end of a game which came before it. I still play SimCity classic and 2000 from time to time, since they're easier and have short loading times, I can play more casually, like when I have as half-hour and not a couple hours. If there comes a time when computers that can run these games are no longer avaliable, it might become difficult, but the way we have DOSbox nowadays, enabling us to play all those 20-year old games, I have a feeling there will be windows xp emulators in all new computers, too.  

Besides, I don't think there will ever be a SimCity 5, unless some loyal fans of the series form their own software company and make a spiritual sucessor from scratch, and for free. That would be nice.

- Yonk

[packersfan 666]

SimCity4 is far from dead. If you keep up with all the different MODs, BATs, etc, out there by created by the community you have a very alive game. I still play everyday and have a city journal, I fully intend to complete a journal for once too, so unless I find out CitiesXL is the bees knees or SC5 comes out, I will be play SC4, along with a lot of fellow Simtropoli (I think I just made up the way to refer to citizens of Simtropolis! - correct me if I'm wrong.)

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Agreed.  Currently my game is off the air due to technical difficulties associated with a new machine.  This is a really nice machine, but so far it is no soap in either the 32-bit decor (hates my GPU) or the 64-bit decor where the unlock the cd gadget can't find the disk.  I will persist, and resurrect the game, even if I have to go back to my old machine just to run it.

[HayleyRenaNemeth 465]

if you walk into the apple store, they still have SimCity 4 on there shelves, the reason SimCity 4 is still alive is because of the community here at SimTropolis pushing the limits of the game. and also the Regional Play,

[jay_santacruz 0]

Originally posted by: jim 546

Another purchase option for Simcity 4 is to buy it from Steam, which is currently priced at £10. I'm not sure about all the details but I assume their version is patched and updated (or patch-able and update-able) and will allow the use of plugins. I also assume that like other Steam games I own, if you lose the game you can re-download it for free. Anyone know the details of the Steam version?quote>

Correct on all accounts.

What's more: if the game is available on both Mac and Win via Steam, the same purchase price allows you to run it on different platforms. (Not with SC4, but I have my various FM versions through Steam, and could run that on both Mac and Win)

[joshriddle 29]

I can assure everyone the game is not dying.

Why? You are all posting on Simtropolis, probably one of the largest, maybe (but doubtfully) THE largest gaming forums in the world.

And look at all the other Simcity sites. They have been running strong ever since the release of Simcity.

[hackinosa 29]

I would love for a Sim city 5 to come out, it just doesn't seem too likely. As for SC4 being dead, I think as long as websites like Simtropolis are around it's kind of hard to consider it a dead game. 

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Well, I would love to have a simcity 5 come out, but I am happy as it is for simcity 4, at least it has more then Societies