Planning a CJ - Not Modded the game before and need some advice and a little help, oh and Hi all

[Vincethehat 0]

Hello everyone

First off may I just what a great site you have here.

I have now owned SC4 3 times and have been playing since the first Sim City on my school computers (Acorns)!

I have been lurking here a fair while and have been amazed and inspired by some of the CJ's I have seen, I am not going to name any here as there are to many but some of you guys are truly amazing.

I have a plan to start my own CJ and have been experimenting for a couple of weeks now, my main problem is that I have not been happy with the game in it stock form. I have worked out how to use all the mods and understand everything around dependencies. The main problems are as follows.

1. The plugins folder - Wow this becomes a mess! Can anyone help with suggestions on organising this? I have started using folders for groups of mods such as the SPAM collection but can anyone suggest a way of organising this further? I was thinking of making a basic set of folders such as Ind, Com, Red, Props and Prop packs and so on. Will this work?

2. Region design - Can anyone point me in the direction of a good one? I do not want a random design, I plan to try and create a loose model of New South Wales in Australia (My all time favourite place in the world) I want my region to flow from the small farming towns in the east through to the medium suburbs in to the big cities on the coast. I am looking for something that will allow me to place the size of maps only as I will terrorform each one with the view to having the planes leading to the Blue Mountains and then to the costs (Sydney ect).

3. Dependencies - Wow these are doing my head in! Not in that I do not understand them but trying to obtain them all. this is kind of 2 part question, first is there a list or can someone make a list of a good set sort of a starter kit of the most common and second what can you do if you cannot find one due to a link being broken ie will the building be incomplete in the game?

4. SC4 Devotion - I hope this is ok to ask here! alot of the stuff I am having a problems is the BSC files hosted here I have tried to join and never get the email to activate, I have checked my spam folder ect Can anyone help with this either with getting on to the site or alternative places to get the downloads.

I am already using the SPAM mods which I have to say are wicked and will form the backbone of the farming towns, I plan to use a whole lot of SimGoobers work as this is awesome does anyone know of any other 'packs' like those found in the SPAM for other areas such as Residential, Commercial and Industry and for things like airports and docks? I am going to play the game for my CJ with no cheats and organically so Growable buildings would be good but I am happy to Plop if needed but these must be working and provide homes, jobs ect, .

I will post in the CJ section later tonight with the grand plan for the CJ I hope that in time I can achieve the standard that is there.

Many many thanks in advance.

Vince

[jacksunny 741]

Welcome to Simtropolis.

​1. I organize my plugins based on category. For example, parks go in a folder called parks, schools in a folder titled schools, etc. What you are describing will work, yes. Remember though that some plugins come with an installer, so you will have to input the location you want it installed when installing it.

2. You could look through some mapping tutorials in the Omnibus. If you are going to create maps often, I recommend downloading SC4Terraformer. It is a program that was created to make it easier to terraform your region. There are also a lot of maps available for download on the STEX.

3. There is really nothing we can do to help you here. If you ever have trouble finding a dependency, see if it is on the Dependency List.

4. Some of the SC4D Admins are active on this site. If you are experiencing difficulties, send a PM to Tarkus, he is an admin at SC4D and can help you.

For airports, look up the RMIP set. For ports, I suggest the PEG CDK sets.

Have fun!

Jack

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Good luck. For streets and roads inside your city you will definitely want the NAM, SAM and NWM. Be careful because the SPAM controller conflicts with the NAM. Use the one in the NAM.

I make heavy use of Pegasus CDK, CDK3 and CDKM lots for shore line items. There are also some good things in the other sets, notably MTP. For some interesting material have a look at Paeng's library at SimPeg as well.

To increase the number of growables, take a look at Madhatter106. Many of his lots are on small footprints.

[Vincethehat 0]

Thanks for the help guys!

@jacksunny - Thanks for confirming I was on the right track with the plugins folder, I was a little worried that adding my own folders would cause issues. I have downloaded the terraformer program and it looks really good I have also found a region designer so with the 2 I think I will be able to do what I have in mind. Thanks for the list you linked to, man is that long! I have printed it off and thinking of going through it and downloading them all in a props folder then making a cd or dvd backup of it so i will always have them. Thanks for the suggestion for sc4d site, opend my email this morning and the email was there! Not sure if you had a hand in that but thanks anyway. I will take a look at the RMIP and the PEG stuff.

@A Nonny Moose - Thanks for the reply I am already using the NAM ect I found a post here with a top 10 list and got it then makes roads look so cool. I am using the NAM controller I think, I have not had any issues testing so I think all is ok. I am in the process of going through the whole SimPeg site for the rural areas as this seams to be the best place for most of that stuff. Thanks for the Growable suggestion I plan to get to a point where I can use the mod to turn off the maxis buildings at some point.

I am sure there will be more questions soon and again thanks for the help.

Vince