Itroduction and some basic questions...

[MayorMcZack 0]

Howdy folks, I never would have figured this old game was still so popular... I bought it out of a discount bin a couple years ago... played it for a while, always left it on easy and I got pretty bored with it and didn't t touch it for a long time. Out of the lack of anything else to do lately I started playing again, on medium, and am actually having much more fun than I did before, who'd a thunk it right, playing the game right is more fun...

Some things I've run into, no one ever uses parking garages... ever... do they only get used when the cities get fairly large?

Is there anywhere that lists requirements for city advancement? Because googling "SimCity requirements" just has the computer system requirements... but what I'm looking for is like what they list on the reward buildings, such as you need four city museums to unlock the reward museum, etc, but broader, for instance what populations do I need before I get high rises (I've yet to ever get a high-rise other than a reward or landmark building. No High density zone has ever sprouted a big bad ass building)

I try the residential city next to the industrial city thing, but the industrial city hardly takes off, it stays mostly the little one and two square buildings. I'd think they'd sprout the bigger better factories I get in full mixed cities....

well... brain fart... I know I had a couple other issues, but I can't think of them... more to come...

Oh... one thing I've noticed after coming here... all these custom looking buildings, roads, etc, is see this BAT here and there, which I'm assuming is a file type... I'm not all that computer savvy, so if someone could give me the gist on what's up with that, it'd be helpful... (like, is it just download them and drop them in the appropriate folder?, etc)

  Edited April 5, 2011 by MayorMcZack  

[Lucario Boricua 7,050]

The city reward buildings and the progress of development are both tied to population, and sometimes to certain region development milestones. Starting with the reward buildings, we have (in order of increasing population):

Mayor's House (500)

First Temple (1000) *the game provides several temples per city, I've gotten up to 3 so far (10,000 and 35,000)

First Cementery (2000) *same as with the temple (15,000 and ca. 70,000**) **not sure about this other number

Large Elementary School (3500)

Large High School (6000)

City Hall (12,500)

University (15,500, as well as some education on elementary and high school levels)

Radio Broadcasting Tower (18,000)

Minor League Stadium (23,000, with at least 15 parks)

Deluxe Police Station (ca. 24~25,000* ) *don't quite remember the number right now

Fire Department Landing Strip (don't remember ATM)

Courthouse (40,000, not sure about any other requirements)

TV Studio (65,000)

Major League Stadium (85,000)

Opera House--I'm not sure about this one since I only got it once, in a city reaching 300,000 people. I'm not sure if the city needs that total population or if it needs a medium and high wealth population threshold.

Mayor Statues (various population and mayor rating thresholds--none that I have checked since I'm not a mayor-dictator with a personality cult)

Other rewards:

Resort Hotel (region with 4 cities, at least 50,000 medium and high wealth residents, low pollution in the city--this is offered right from the start of the city)

Tourist Trap (region with 6 cities, eligible city connected to at least 4 neighbors)

Convention Center (either the Municipal or the International Airport, some commercial job threshold)

Stock Exchange (requires some bigger commercial jobs threshold)

Solar Powerplant (25,000 MWh/month are consumed by the city and neighbor deals, requires some medium and high wealth population threshold)

Nuclear Powerplant (at least 80,000 MWh of power are consumed by the city and its neighbor deals)

Hydrogen Powerplant (at least 100,000 MWh of power are consumed by the city and its neighbor deals)

Main Library (not sure on the population and total book borrowing in the city, but I'm sure it needs at least 3 libraries)

Regarding the development size, it's tied to population and city tiles in the region. You can get medium density residential development on a city on its own, with a bare minumum of 1,100 inhabitants, but with something around 10,000 you should be getting a decent amount). High density usually requires populations above 50,000 residents (even if the bare minimum per city is 27,000) and several neighbors.

In the case of the industrial buildings, there's the size of the industrial lot. This trick here helped me a lot: use Ctrl to make a single parcel with the desired size (press the key, lay down the zone and then release the key). If you want to change the orientation, press Alt at the same time as Ctrl. You won't see the parcel's border and arrows until you have laid it down. Some parcel sizes I recommend you to use (when * appears, second number indicates the side of the lot with the arrows):

- 1x2

- 2x2

- 3x2

- 4x2*

- 3x3

- 4x3*

- 5x3*

- 6x3*

- 4x4

By the way, welcome to Simtropolis!

  Edited April 5, 2011 by Dragonxander  

[jim 546 43]

Welcome to Simtropolis!

Since you're new, it'd be a good idea to check out the refurbished Omnibus of knowledge linked at the top of the page, it contains many useful hints and tips for developing cities. Also, check out the pinned threads in the forums such as THIS ONE as they usually contain helpful stuff as well.

Parking garages are used to connect sims with mass transit (buses, el-rail), they leave their cars here to get on the bus to work and come back here to go home, so they'll only get used if they provide a link to work and it's quicker than driving. The commute time is determined by the in-game traffic simulator, although it is widely accepted to be broken, so I suggest downloading the Newtork Addon Mod which contains many helpful tools and fixes a few problems.

high residential and high density commercial require lots of satisfaction in their neighbourhoods before being built, such as good health and education and parks, you can see a list of helpful items HERE.

Once more, take time to browse the Omnibus, it's full of help. If there's any other problems, ask them here or in the chat room.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Welcome.

All good advice, so far.

Now let me add that if you have other questions, start a new thread with them. There are no dumb questions except the ones that don't get a voice, so don't be shy.

Look around at the other threads. You might find some really good stuff over in the Builder's Forum. Here is the general index.

There are some interesting topics over in General Off Topic that you may want to join. These are usually on-going discussions, and dew drop inn to the Moose Factory (link in my signature), and enjoy our virtual calories department (guaranteed not to increase your weight).

[Mithrik 562]

Oh... one thing I've noticed after coming here... all these custom looking buildings, roads, etc, is see this BAT here and there, which I'm assuming is a file type... I'm not all that computer savvy, so if someone could give me the gist on what's up with that, it'd be helpful... (like, is it just download them and drop them in the appropriate folder?, etc)

I can answer (at least partially ) this question.

BAT: Stands for Building Arquitect Tool. It's an "offspring" of the program gMax, that Maxis realized with the expansion of Sim City 4, The Rush Hour Expansion Pack. I nthe Sim City 4 Community, we use BAT as a reference to all of the custom buildings created by the community for the game with the 3D modeling of it.

To install a BAT you must follow the instructions on this thread .

If it helped you out, nice.

By the way, Welcome to Simtropolis and Happy Simming.

[MayorMcZack 0]

Right on, thanks folks...

I had my parking garages next regular train stations, not ElTrains, so maybe that was it... I also have rather thorough coverage of bus stops so maybe they just didn't need the garage. Or my populations weren't big enough.

I remember now the other thing, Freight Train stations almost never get used. I've had them in industrial zones, commercial zones, between the two... in the middle of agricultural cities that are next to fairly densely populated cites... hardly ever get used. I get plenty of industrial that goes right to thr trains, but no one seems to use the freight stations.

[Cob92 360]

Right on, thanks folks...

I had my parking garages next regular train stations, not ElTrains, so maybe that was it... I also have rather thorough coverage of bus stops so maybe they just didn't need the garage. Or my populations weren't big enough.

I remember now the other thing, Freight Train stations almost never get used. I've had them in industrial zones, commercial zones, between the two... in the middle of agricultural cities that are next to fairly densely populated cites... hardly ever get used. I get plenty of industrial that goes right to thr trains, but no one seems to use the freight stations.

Freight is a one way deal in SC4. It goes from the factory to the city line and then disappears. The freight train station simply allows your factories to use the railroads to move freight rather than the roads. All you need to do is place the freight station near the industrial area and have a rail line touch it. Also, if you want the station to be used, you want to limit the number of road connections near the industrial zone, because factories prefer trucks over trains for transporting freight.

[airman15 4,113]

Welcome to Simtropolis, MayorMcZack! If you want to become a serious modder, there are a few programs to use:

Modelling Programs:

BAT- Building Architect Tool, the basic program to create your own static buildings

GMAX- Needed for the BAT to work, and for me its easier to texture buildings than BAT

MilkShape- Low Poly Program used to create you own vehicles

SC4 TerraFormer- Used to create your own regions

Programs to put models into the game:

Lot Editor Tool- Program to edit the looks of each lot from moving buildings/props to overhauling the entire complex

SC4 Organizer- Organizes Props and Buildings and edits stats if i remember right

Other Tips:

-You can place only one building on each lot, everything else is a prop

-Buildings are responsible for bringing up the stats for the lot, props serve as eye candy

-When editing lots, there are base textures (grass, sand, etc.) and overlay textures (paths, mudspots, runway pieces)

- .SC4Lot are lot files

- .SC4MODEL are the physical models that appear in the game

- .SC4DESC are the stats for each model

[MayorMcZack 0]

I have some minor experience with 3D modeling so I'd be all about making my own buildings... I'm going to be so busy for the next few weeks I don't have the time to get into it all just yet. I also don't have internet at home, so I can only check this $%&^! out briefly while I'm at school when I need a moment away from classwork.

[airman15 4,113]

I have some minor experience with 3D modeling so I'd be all about making my own buildings... I'm going to be so busy for the next few weeks I don't have the time to get into it all just yet. I also don't have internet at home, so I can only check this $%&^! out briefly while I'm at school when I need a moment away from classwork.

If you do get into 3D modelling, feel free to ask questions. I have a bunch of models finished, and now i'm trying to get them into the game.

[Finkle 14]

I had a city with very little population and had a sky scraper district, its really about high wealth not pop. the high the land value and the richer the people with less area set for res. or others it seems that sims don't notice the undeveloped land around them.

I never really had luck with garages either.

I just started back on for the first time in months a the other day, still not ready to get fully going yet, maybe in a couple days.