The city population...

[TZLNCTV 12]

The largest city population I made is just over 600,000. Good city planning helped a lot. I'm wondering how to make a bigger city (the only way to get population that high is to get a large plot). Can I have some advice?

[jakehh 52]

Good public transit, close Jobs & Easy to access schools etc. Try and keep congestion as low as possible, Otherwise, build alternative routes (Highways, Subways, Rail, EL Rail etc)

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Are you talking about 600K on a large or Medium citytile (surely not a small one I hope) or regional?.

mrb

[TZLNCTV 12]

Large city-tile. The highways are all red, and I can't bypass traffic!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Instead of the congestion display, click on the radio button that is second in that box which switches to the more detailed traffic flow display. You can find your hottest routes this way. Sometimes the way to fix this is to add some serious transit relief with subways and monorails. Both expensive, but if you have the capital do it.

Also, to build your population higher, set up more neighbor connections. This will level the demand across the region, level out the traffic and give you the time to think about how to build more population in the main city. If you are running on top gear, gear down one, and let the game do a better job by giving it more cycles between screen updates.

If you need income, consider toll gates on your neighbor connections.

  Edited May 18, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Moskva 75]

To get more people, i'd make it no-water, or keep a small river, zone high density only, residential and commercial, meanwhile making lotso of indutries on the neighbouring cities. I recall of 600k on a medium tile but i lasted short because of not enough jobs. My best was around 900k on large tile.

[TZLNCTV 12]

To get more people, i'd make it no-water, or keep a small river, zone high density only, residential and commercial, meanwhile making lotso of indutries on the neighbouring cities. I recall of 600k on a medium tile but i lasted short because of not enough jobs. My best was around 900k on large tile.

Everything's high density. I'm trying to get it up higher, and NAM makes it crash every time I open it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

To get more people, i'd make it no-water, or keep a small river, zone high density only, residential and commercial, meanwhile making lotso of indutries on the neighbouring cities. I recall of 600k on a medium tile but i lasted short because of not enough jobs. My best was around 900k on large tile.

Everything's high density. I'm trying to get it up higher, and NAM makes it crash every time I open it.

I have never had a crash that could be attributed to the current NAM. What are the circumstances, exactly?

[Silur 3,308]

Hi. TZLNCTV ...

Can You show me any interdependence: Population and NAM ?

Like Mr. A Nonny Moose never had any crash with NAM. And thousands here too ... Look at Yourself ...

You must explore Your Plugins Folder more carefully and sometimes read Readme files !!!

Good Luck ...

  Edited May 19, 2012 by Silur  

[TZLNCTV 12]

I have a few files incompatible with NAM. Checked the readmes.

[jdbknpchi 14]

ive made 1.2 m people on a large tile i uses all high res,and high comerical!! no idustrial make sure u keep garbage,an air pollution under control cause ive lst 300k due too bad air ,water and garbage good luck!!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I have a few files incompatible with NAM. Checked the readmes.

One assumes you have either removed them or removed the NAM.

[TZLNCTV 12]

well, over 600,000 was the highest, but the population rocket-dived to 501,206 exactly.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I have given up striving for high populations but my region just topped 1 million Sims and is growing.

[Indiana Joe 1,751]

Commute time becomes a huge problem when your cities get to be several hundred thousand. Most people can't get much higher without the help of the NAM. It is probably the single most important piece of custom content available; If I were you, I'd opt to dump whatever incompatible files you have and get it. In fact I'd dump the entire rest of my plugins folder if I had to to keep it.

The CAM is another helpful mod that increases demand and allows you to get much bigger buildings.

[maddux0817 10]

I usually try to keep my medium-cities at a population of 500,000 or less, and use high-density residential ONLY in downtown loops and "some" oceanside communities. I use medium-density for anything outside of the downtown loop in those cities and spread it out to neighboring cities to transition into suburban. Right now, my metro is about 2 million and growing rapidly.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I am more a rural builder. I am not very keen on cities over 200,000 although I have a couple that 'jest growed'. I zone a lot of 2x1 low density because of some of the plugins that I have specifically for that. Also 2 x 1 residential of any class. You can really pack up a village this way.

In farming areas, I have found 1 x 1 lots fill the bill. All densities, because I have plugins to accommodate this. I prefer smaller lots, and give thanks to those who produce these on the STEX, especially the ones in large sets.

Don't get me wrong, I also allow high and medium rise buildings to grow, and even target them when needed. Generally, I do not plop RCI buildings.

[TZLNCTV 12]

what is CAM?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

CAM = Colossal Addon Mod. It extends the game to more building levels beyond 8. It also changes the game considerably, and you should consider very carefully before adding it in. Do not use the CAM controller if you also use the NAM. The NAM controller is much later and more powerful.

CAM needs careful consideration because of the effects on the game. If you want some of the newer buildings beyond stage 8 you should consider downloading some from the LEX at SC4Devotion, where the CAM development is. If you want a city full of skyscrapers, this is one way to do it relatively quickly, but you must understand what you are doing.

If you want to test out the CAM without affecting your existing cities, create a new user account on your machine, open the game to create the default structures, then download the NAM, then the CAM (carefully), then any CAM-specific adds you want. Since this is a separate environment, you could also reach over and pick up any other Plugins from the other account. This gives you a completely new environment for the CAM, and you can revert by simply logging on to your old account.

You need to understand that you may have to give permissions for the new account to run the game. You do not have to reinstall it. It is a multi-user game, and can be run by several accounts.

  Edited June 27, 2012 by A Nonny Moose