100% dumbfounded.

[straw 0]

So, I have this HUGE city.. something like 380k people. Yet not 1 single skyscraper, I have not, at all, seen 1 skyscraper in my game for the whole time i've played Sim City 4. I've included a pic. What do I do?!?!? :(

http://imageshack.us/f/37/awddw.png/

[HookerHeels 309]

There are plenty of skyscapers in that pic :|

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

What do you mean? I can see dozens of highrises in your picture.

[_marsh_ 1,117]

You have . . quite a few skysrapers. :|

If you're referring to the taller commercial ones then just keep growing I guess... There's demand caps and such to cope with.

If you're referring to one's you've seen on pictures on this site then many are downloads off the STEX. You aren't going to get much taller than what you already have.

[straw 0]

I thought there were much, much bigger skyscrapers in Sim City 4? 0_O

[_marsh_ 1,117]

Like I said. The ones you've seen were most likely custom content downloaded into the game.

The in-game buildings don't get much taller than in you're picture. You're about as tall as they get there and the landmarks are taller than any other building that can grow in-game.

[straw 0]

Like I said. The ones you've seen were most likely custom content downloaded into the game.

The in-game buildings don't get much taller than in you're picture. You're about as tall as they get there and the landmarks are taller than any other building that can grow in-game.

Oh my gosh, lol! I've seen all of these pictures where people have these HUGE, gorgeous skyscrapers and here I am.. Tapping my foot asking "Where are mine? Grow already" Lol! I'm going to have to download some ! Are there any skyscraper downloads on the STEX where they can grow in a zoned in area? I feel as though just plopping a skyscraper isn't all that fun :/

[_marsh_ 1,117]

Simply check the description of the file you're downloading. The uploaders (usually) state whether or not the building is growable. If tweaked realism is your thing then you may want the CAM. It adds additional stages to the game to make immense skyscrapers much more realistic rather than growing at the games current highest stage, and getting disproportionate cities.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You have some stage 8 buildings in there. That's it unless you skew the game with either more downloads or the CAM, which has a rather long learning curve and some incompatibilities you must understand. You might get improvement if you add some neighbor cities, and connect them. This will lift some of your caps and help you get the central city larger. Trading is important.

When this game first came out, I got a city of over 1,000,000 on a large tile that was more than half water. It had everything the original game could offer. After I got rush hour, I also got over the idea of megalopolises, and now, nine years later, I am making multiple small, quaint towns in large tiles. My current one has a quaint town, some modern subdivisions, a port, a marina with yacht club in a residential/commercial village, and an industrial pod on the eastern border which will be the entry to the next city over. The industrial pod has a high density residential pod with a band of commercial in between. This town has a population of around 18,000 with around 9,000 jobs, three railroad bridges and three road bridges. It is profitable and can run forever for all of me. I am moving on to the adjoining tile. Needless to say, there are two rivers separating parts of this tile, and all three areas have buildings.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

You are indeed missing stage 8 commercial skyscrapers so far - I see only one.

I'm guessing that you have too many commercial zones that can be upgraded with slightly larger buildings so that all your commercial demand gets distributed all over your city.

The best way to force skyscraper development is to restrict zone densities and only offer a limited amount of dense zones - 4x4 is a very common zone size for Maxis skyscrapers. If you keep high-density zones to a minimum, wait until you have high demand, and then zone 4x4 commercial high density at a nice spot (low crime, high traffic, plazas nearby), you can increase your chances of growing skyscrapers.

[straw 0]

You are indeed missing stage 8 commercial skyscrapers so far - I see only one.

I'm guessing that you have too many commercial zones that can be upgraded with slightly larger buildings so that all your commercial demand gets distributed all over your city.

The best way to force skyscraper development is to restrict zone densities and only offer a limited amount of dense zones - 4x4 is a very common zone size for Maxis skyscrapers. If you keep high-density zones to a minimum, wait until you have high demand, and then zone 4x4 commercial high density at a nice spot (low crime, high traffic, plazas nearby), you can increase your chances of growing skyscrapers.

I hate building a city on limited funds, so.. I used a Money mod (12 billion something in city funds, lol) So what I did was I started immediately zoning High Density Buildings. I never zoned for low or Medium density. Is this having an effect on my city?

[BrockDock 1]

If you play the game decently enough, you can quickly get over 1 million simoleons, I don't see any need for cheating with money whatsoever.

Also, don't know what the heck the first few posters were talking about, you don't have that many commercial skyscrapers at all, probably is to do with too much dense commercial zoning lessening the need for businesses to built UP.

[jacksunny 741]

It is not necessary to use any sort of money mod. Use the moolah cheat that comes with the Extra Cheats .dll.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

I hate building a city on limited funds, so.. I used a Money mod (12 billion something in city funds, lol) So what I did was I started immediately zoning High Density Buildings. I never zoned for low or Medium density. Is this having an effect on my city?

Indeed it is. A rather large one. I dare say it's the main reason why you don't see many commercial skyscrapers.

If you use zone densities (and you should, regardless of money!) you can structure your city. Think that some mansions on that hill would look nice? Well, then zone low density to make sure no apartment buildings (let alone highrises) will grow there. Zone densities help a lot to give a city what makes it unique and well-structured: suburbs, a CBD, mid-rise areas, etc.

But zoning has more advantages. If you use lower-density commercial zones, the biggest buildings that can grow there are not that huge. This means that there's a limit as to how much demand you can fill with these zones. Once the biggest possible building has grown there, this is the limit. It cannot be overgrown by a skyscraper because the skyscraper needs high density. So demand will build up...

If you then zone a few high-density zones, you "channel" all the built-up demand into one or two skyscrapers.

Let's say you have a CO§§ demand of +5,000. If your game can fill these 5,000 jobs by overgrowing 100 buildings with a slightly bigger building each, it will do so. All the demand will be gone afterwards, and you will have lots of medium-sized buildings, but no skyscrapers.

What's more, since there are so many zones with upward potential, this process is likely to run continuously so that it's unlikely that sufficient demand for a skyscraper builds up at all.

If development possibilities are limited because you "capped" development by means of zone densities, excess demand WILL build up, and you can grow skyscrapers with it by leaving the game no other choice.

This also has the advantage that you can have small commercials in the outskirts, medium offices in the suburbs, and restrict skyscrapers to the CBD. You can really shape and structure your city this way.