simpeg-forum-threads SPAM - Introduction

Craig-Abcvs · April 12, 2011

SimPeg Agricultural Mod (SPAM)

ADDONS, ENHANCEMENTS AND LINKS

Additional Packs To Enhance The SPAM

Here a quick overview of other packs that are designed to be integrated with SPAM.

SPAM Irrigation Canals

A set of Irrigation Canals designed for the SPAM.

The water texture of these canals is designed to match the PPond set and all of the ARS sets, but they will work well in any rural setting. This first pack contains the 'Core Lots', the 'Culvert Lots' and the 'Utility Lots'...

Download from PLEX

SPAM Access Roads (SPAR)

Various sets with SPAM-compatible textures and props to connect your fields and farms.

To enhance the core set of wide access roads there is a large range of subsets with many variations and options - narrow and offset roads, different driveways and gates, road sections with fences or waterpipes at the side, matching transition pieces to combine any or all of these subsets, plus a host of special purpose items like transit enabled crossings and connectors, extenders and more...

Download from the STEX - SPAM Access Roads (SPAR)

PEG-SPAM_Traffic_MOD (AddOn / Patch)

Note: This mod was packaged separately to avoid any possible conflicts. Experienced players can install and test it at their own discretion!

With the optional SPAM Traffic Mod installed, all traffic congestion is reduced in a realistic manner. Freight trucks and trains will roll 24-7 as they do in the real world... and the freight truck automata overkill that default farms generate has been toned down considerably...

Soon available at the PLEX / STEX.

Be sure to check the PLEX regularly as we expect numerous additional items and sets to be developed in the near future - including freight stations, utilities and more...

Related Links @ SimPeg Forums

* About SPAM

* About Grain Elevators

* SPAM Previews

* The entire PEG SPAM collection is (soon to be) available on the PLEX as well as the STEX.

Craig-Abcvs · April 12, 2011

SimPeg Agricultural Mod (SPAM)

NOTES ON GAMEPLAY

Some Hints On How To Start A SPAM City

There are two things you need to consider -

1) this is not a small mod that changes a single aspect of 'something'... it is a large mod that changes a considerable part of game mechanics and behaviour;

2) most of us are not used to play extended agricultural cities or regions... specially not of a type that stays agricultural - one of the main objectives of the SPAM.

So it will be necessary to 're-learn' how to play an agricultural setup (at least it was to us).

Do not plop the SPAM 'on top' of a more or less fully developed city and expect some sort of magical transformation... With SPAM you are supposed to (slowly) develop an agricultural area.

Testing on a Developed City

Of course you may still be the adventurous type who wants to just try this, testing out what might 'happen'... In that case we would recommend to take the whole SPAM folder (which normally resides under "PEGPROD"), move it to the root of your Plugins and rename it to 'zzz_SPAM' - that way you make sure it loads last (overriding other mods), and it will be easy to move it in and out of your Plugins to test and compare. Run your city for a while and observe. Do not save the city until you are properly satisfied that no undesired developments occur.

Testing on a Virgin Tile

To really understand and learn how to control the SPAM though, it might be better to start up a fresh tile and build up a new city... or even a fresh region - note that SPAM developments may happen at a very different pace depending on the neighborhood. Is it a 'virgin' region? Are there neighboring cities? How far have the neighbors developed? Are they connected with networks? Test as many different scenarios as possible...

With this approach it'll also be easy to test other custom farm lots you may have collected and still want to use - add them one-by-one to your Plugins and observe how they thrive... or if there are any conflicts.

Within a SPAM city you'll also notice vast changes, compared to a default start-up city. Settle in slowly - zone agriculture as you please, go easy on other types (RES and COM)... watch the curves of demand and capacities - they'll all behave differently from what you are used to. Same for civics, education, utilities and all the other things your Sims need or want or demand.

Always remember...

With the SPAM, agriculture is not anymore just a city-starter 'necessary evil' to be discarded once the ritzy neighborhoods develop - agriculture is now here to stay. Like we mentioned before - think of farm zoning more like low-density I-D and I-M that wants to be groomed and taken care of, instead of being replaced by concrete parking lots and highrise towers.

Craig-Abcvs · April 12, 2011

SimPeg Agricultural Mod (SPAM)

COMPARING MTP AND SPAM OBJECTIVES

From MTP To SPAM

The MTP Play Style

The MTP is actually a theme... not a mod. It doesn't alter any game-default game functionality. So creating MTP communities is more of a playing style. You can create major MTP metropoli... huge, dense cities with dirt roads and short buildings... but it would not really have that 'spread-out' rural MTP look and feel. The game tends to favor a denser urban style development and the MTP is more about rural, less denser development. And you can't get bigger populations without bunching up and making the city denser.

The game allows for a 'less-denser' playing style... but it does not encourage it. It tends to treat it more like a temporarily measure used in start-up cities. As such, many aspects of the game are limited or even not available to cities of lower density and populations.

MTP Requests

Many MTP players expressed an interest in being able to grow their MTP cities larger and with higher populations... without sacrificing their preferred MTP playing style of a lesser density city. They wanted to be able to obtain rewards... and enjoy many of the perks that larger urban cities can get... without actually having to go urban-style.

We did not want to change (mod) the basic MTP as it's widely used and any changes of that nature could impact existing cities. Plus, many are satisfied with it the way it is. So we thought we might try to introduce functionality changes via optional add-on mods... with the SPAM being the first of those.

The MTP With A Side Of SPAM

The MTP and farming seem like they should go together fairly well... theme and appearance-wise. But the chief complaint about the farms is that they limited city growth because they offered so few jobs. Farms take up a lot of real estate and give back very little RES demand in return. You can build and maintain small cities with farms... but larger cities usually require some sort of work-around... be it mods or drawing in workers from neighboring cities. Neither of which may promote or allow actual city growth or count toward earning rewards. Many players just resorted to using the farm job multiplier mods... which do increase demand for low-wealth RES... but not R$$ or R$$$.... and limited demand for higher levels of COM.

SPAM

The SPAM attempts to address those issues in several ways. Besides expanding the type of work force that will work on farms, we increased the number of jobs to (roughly) match the other types of IND development in the game. We computed a basic average of "jobs per tile" for the other IND types and averaged it in to the farms as best we could. So ideally, a farm on a 4x8 zone will now provide nearly as many jobs as all the IND that develops on a normal, low density IND zone of the same size. In effect, we tried to remove the "job-count punishment" of zoning farms... and bring it up to par with other forms of IND development.

It's not an exact science, of course. Farms are far too unpredictable as to what size or stage lot will actually develop in any zone. But its pretty close. You also have to account for the 1 'mystery worker' that works on each crop tile. So even huge farm zones with a small farm lot are providing a number of jobs that closely matches what the same amount of IND-M tiles would provide.

* Some non-SPAM custom farm lots increase the workers per tile to 3... which on a 8x8 farm with a 1x2 lot would bring the number of jobs there to over 200. Which we would agree is far too many. And if these lots are replaced by SPAM lots, a lot of 'mystery workers' are going to lose their jobs... and R$ demand will plummet. Keep an eye out for that.

Future SPAM

The SPAM was designed specifically to allow for future add-ons and mods. In fact, co-developed with the SPAM are the SPAM Irrigation Canals (SPIC) and the SPAM Access Roads (SPAR). These are optional add-ons designed to integrate visually with the SPAM and provide even more visual realism to the SPAM farms.

SPAM Comparison

The SPAM is technically designed as the Industrial Resource replacment mod for the MTP. However, it is in no way limited to use only in MTP themed cities. It works very well in any city... including modern, Utopian urban metropoli.

The SPAM borrows a lot of "numbers" from the IND-D and IND-M. So it might help to think of farm zoning more like low-density, low wealth IND-M... that looks like farms... uses less power and water... and doesn't pollute.

Where comparing SPAM farms to other farms might be like comparing apples to oranges, comparing SPAM to normal IND-M would be like comparing peaches to nectarines.

Craig-Abcvs · April 12, 2011

SimPeg Agricultural Mod (SPAM)

SOME BASIC FEATURES OF THIS MOD

DESCRIPTION

Let's have a good look at some of the new SPAM features.

Development Stages

A thing of the past. The default 3 stages have been removed. SPAM farms use a real-world agricultural Parcel Classification system - five classifications (AG-1 thru AG-5) corresponding to Private, Family/Partnership, Co-Op, Corporate and Processing. The Parcel Classification for each farm is now also shown in the custom query.

Agricultural (I-R) Demand

You like to eat, right? So does everyone else. In the real world, demand for food never sleeps. So why does it die off in the game? Well, now it doesn't. The entire demand and desirability aspects of the game's Industrial Resource (farms) has been modified to reflect real world values. Your cities will now retain a respectable desire for farm development... in all wealth and education levels... no matter where you zone for agriculture. Corn on the Beach? Industrial Wheaties? Landfill Lemons? Put your farm zones where YOU want them. Beach-front Barley may be a waste of high-priced land, but you're the Mayor, dammit. You want it... now you got it.

Employment

Did you know that each crop tile around a farm has workers on it? That's okay, neither did we. But they do... and we made a query just for the crops so you can see it for yourself. So that rinky-dinky little farm you had may have only shown a few workers when you queried it... but it didn't tell you about the other 30-50 guys out in the fields. They're all out there, trust me. So those farm job doubler mods you've been running were not really necessary. That said, SPAM farms are still a bit more labor-intensive than their default counterparts... and job counts on the lots are a bit higher to balance the amount of real estate farms use in comparison to other IND lots.

Education

No longer a deterrent. In fact, bring on the brainiacs. Agriculture is a science and SPAM farms now appeal to all education and wealth levels.

No Power? No Water?

No problem. The lower Parcel Class lots are zoned to develop without external water or power sources. Ideal for start-up cities... or creating remote, simple farming areas that won't pester you about basic civic services.

Pollution

No longer a farm killer. SPAM farms are much more tolerant of all pollution types except radiation. Did you know that the default farms were the largest water pollution producers in the game? But not SPAM farms. SPAM farms are Green... and even help to reduce air pollution.

Sub-Divide and Conquer

SPAM uses a new technology we call VSL^TM... for Variable Shaped Lots. With VSL, you can now zone farm areas as small as a single tile... and in any shape that you want. That's right... any shape. Diagonal, L-shaped... even lots with holes in the middle to place your favorite pond. Farm lots will only develop on zones that are 17 or more tiles in size... but once they develop, by default, you can bulldoze any crop tiles, even all of them... and reshape and size the zone in any way that you want. You can also bulldoze a large area of existing crops... and watch as a new farm lot develops in its place.

Crop Only Lots

Using the VSL, you can now create zones that are precisely 16 tiles in size, any shape... and they will develop as crop-only lots. No buildings... just crops and a small irrigation prop by the road (so you know where to click for the query).

Improved Lot Orientation

Unfortunately, the game does not always orient Industrial lots correctly... often giving you driveways to nowhere and no visible means of accessing the lot from the road. SPAM lots are designed to account for this... with most lots that are large enough having road access points on all 4 sides. It doesn't always work, of course. But it's an improvement. With controlled use of the VSL and limiting the number of tiles that touch a road, you can improve on the orientation odds and even have some control over the size and class of lot that will develop.

Crop Selection

The default game gave you apples, oranges, lettuce, grass and dirt. Not much of a selection. Enough for maybe a fruit salad... and that's about it. The SPAM greatly increases that selection with a wider palette of default crops that can grow on all lots; not just custom crops on a few custom lots. Additionally, most SPAM crops are seasonal and will change with the seasons. You can now actually lean back... and watch the corn grow.

DEPENDENCIES

This mod requires the MTP Super Pack.

INSTALLATION

By default, the SPAM files should reside in a sub-folder named "SPAM" in your Documents Plugins folder.

* My Documents/SC4/Plugins/PEGPROD/SPAM/

* SPAM_Mod_Main

* SPAM_Core_Lots

* SPAM_Super_Resource_Pack

- SPAM_Resource

- SPAM_Textures

- SPAM_Crops_Resource

It has been tested and will function properly in that location... with no other farm or Industrial Resource related mods installed. Moving the folder, renaming the folder, or relocating any of the files in the folder may cause the SPAM to not function properly. Do so at your own risk.

DEVELOPER NOTES

General Troubleshooting

As with all replacement mods, these only replace the growable default lots... and add some new ones. None of the custom lots you have installed will be changed and they will still develop. You may want to keep this in mind if any of those custom lots won't fit in visually with the MTP.

Compatibility

You do NOT have to remove any game-default farms already developed in your cities. They will continue to function normally with the SPAM installed. You will probably want to bulldoze those default lots to allow the new SPAM farms to develop, but that is up to you and can be done when and if you choose.

You should, however, remove any farm-related mods you have installed. Job doublers and Pedrina Plants killers, etc. are no longer needed and could interfere with the development of some SPAM lots.

Custom growable farm lots you have installed may or may not function properly with the SPAM. Any conventional custom lots will most probably still function... but any lot with modified development stages (e.g. CAM) will not function properly.

As to the interaction of the SPAM with other mods, some will need to be removed... but most should still function.

The Pedrina Plants Blocker you would want to remove.... unless you don't like the large grain elevators that will likely replace it. We believe the Pedrina Plant is the only default Stage 3 I-R lot... which explains why it develops so much. The SPAM will include several new Stage 3 lots for extra variety.

The SPAM farm lots have increased employment... so any related mods like I-R Job Multipliers probably won't be needed.... and would likely interfere with the SPAM lots that will replace the game default lots. But possibly not. It depends on how the mods were made.

Same for any of the IND Job Multipliers. The MTP IND mod lots will have slightly increased employment numbers. Combine that with the overall normally lower density of MTP cities, and the jobs multipliers should not be necessary.

With that said, if you are experiencing any conflicts with other files or SPAM items do not seem to be appearing or working correctly, try renaming the SPAM folder to "zzz_SPAM" while ensuring that it is located in your Documents Plugins folder.

Craig-Abcvs · April 12, 2011

SimPeg Agricultural Mod (SPAM)

GETTING READY FOR THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

INTRODUCTION

The SimPeg Agricultural Mod (SPAM) is an absolute, total and complete replacement for the game-default farming system.

The default system was never really finished before game release and was, in fact, designed to be short-lived and used only initially in starter cities.

The game, as it progresses, actually is designed to kill off all desire and usefulness for farming.

We changed all that.

Not only have we changed how all the farms look... but we also changed how they play.

Originally in a city, you could hug a tree... or kiss the sky with glass and steel. Now... you can do both.

At its most basic function and goal, the SPAM is an MTP Replacement Mod... similar to the RES and COM MTP replacement mods.

Its primary goal is to give an MTP-ish look and feel to the game's default farm lots.