Back after a while...

[Essex 322]

I've played SC4 since it came out, made dozens of regions, came back to it after a year or so out, lost all my Plugins (more than 10gb) when my PC went bust,,, I just need some help starting a new region again, feels like a voight. Any suggestions concerning mods etc? Has much changed? What's a must?

PS. What's the best way of creating a region using a height map? I totally lost how to do it, I remember it was a pain.

Thanks guys.

  Edited June 15, 2012 by Essex  

[westy177 203]

how long have you been away. well anyway i suggest you get nam,rhw,nwm,str,and sam.

[Essex 322]

Thanks mate, downloaded those, a few lots, will probably be downloading all weekend! Seems like the community is more alive than ever.

[westy177 203]

always happy to help you should make a cj

[FalconsFan101 5]

If you plan on making a big city, I would search in the STEX, "Tall buildings". You will find plenty of nice BAT's and lots. I hope your cities and regions turn out!

[The Avatar 1,088]

I also suggest you check out list.

Some good custom content creators are SimGoober, SimFox, Dusktrooper, ILL Tonkso, Equinox, Pegasus, nofunk, Jasoncw, the entire NYBT, the entire HKABT, roe99, kellydale2003, scotty222, nycc06, Glenni, and Mattb325. Remember, this is not a complete list of all good custom content creators; this is a list of some of my favorites who came to mind. Finding and using custom content is all about personal preference.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Halt, cease and desist. What version of the game are you running? You must be at at least build level 1,1,638 to use most plugins and 1,1,640 for night lighted BATs.

People make assumptions that the O.P. has the same software they do, and this is a fallacy.

Plugins: Keep it lean and mean.

Start with the NAM. If you haven't played for a while, play in a sandbox region for a while. Expand slowly on plugins, testing as you go. Keep careful track of what you are doing. Some of these get revised and you will want the updates.

Don't put anything in your Plugins folder that is not for the game. .sc4lot, .sc4desc, .sc4model, .dat, and .dll are the only things you should have in Plugins. Sub-folders should be used to keep track of where you got them. .dlls must not be in sub-folders.

Keep your .zip files in a separate folder outside the game, with subfolders reflecting the structure of your Plugins. If you look around this list you'll find some posts from sorry players that have not done this. All the documentation and other stuff can be kept in the downloads target folder.

I have currently 1689 files in 410 folders in my plugins and it takes around half a GB. A little care will save a lot of disk space and multiple extent files which are a problem on windows.

Remember ancient Chinese saying: "Download in haste, repent at leisure."

Region Maps: If you want to play with the gray-scale style of map creation start with the Landscape Designer by Greyveil. In addition to generating random maps and config.bmp files, this tool is also capable of showing you the result of tinkering with a gray-scale map. If you search the STEX for 'landscape designer' is will show up on one of the later pages (3 I think).

  Edited June 15, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Essex 322]

Thanks for the replies guys, I downloaded NAM, SAM and a few little plug ins and they all seem to work wonderfully. Overnight I downloaded about 500mb of more plug ins... yeah I know going a bit crazy and I'm now trying to organize it all which is gonna take me the weekend probably (if I remember the last time I did it, a few years ago it was kinda a pain but it looks my PC skills have improved slightly).

A Nonny Moose;

How do I tell what build I have? I'm running Rush Hour, I bought it when it came out so it's OLD, I don't think I've ever patched it.

So the .dll need to be in the MAIN plug ins folder and the other files can be in sub folders? Thanks a lot for this, last time my game was very unstable.

[Essex 322]

So I figured out how to install all the plug ins and they seem to work fine.

Now I wanted to start a CJ but I don't know how to upload pictures, I have one entry now, but I'm not permitted to make an album? Could someone tell me how this works as I got a few pictures I like to share. Thanks.

Edit: So I uploaded the pics as files and you can view them by clicking on the thumbnail.

I'll keep updating!

  Edited June 16, 2012 by Essex  

[nukeu123 307]

the great world of mods are amazing and to expand your options, may i also suggest some content from LEX

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

A Nonny Moose;

How do I tell what build I have? I'm running Rush Hour, I bought it when it came out so it's OLD, I don't think I've ever patched it.

In windows explorer navigate to Program Files ... SimCity 4.exe and hover your mouse over the file (W7). Other versions, right click and open the version tab, Updates here bottom left and click EA Support button. Accept the agreement and carefully read to get what you need.

[Essex 322]

Thanks for the help.

[Vapor360 1]

Oh... So I haven't been the only one that has had this happen to me... My computer went bust too... I lost all my regions which of course includes my cities and plugins. D:

If you want to know how to do certain things, just look around on the website -- you'll be surprised at the amount of help and data you get around here!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

My deepest sympathy for your loss.

I guess you've got to be around computers more than somewhat to understand the value of writing external backups. If your new computer has a DVD drive, format a DVD-RW as a file system and copy your user area for the game on it once in a while (weekly at least). An external hard drive, such as I have, is even better. The path to save for Windows is:

<username>\Documents\SimCity 4 or <username>\Documents\SimCity 4 Deluxe

Depending on which version of the game you have.

Many have discovered that computers, and especially hard disk drives, don't live forever. Neither to external media, so use a fresh disk once in a while.

[Essex 322]

Yeah I've learned my lesson! External hard drive all the way!

[Essex 322]

Hey guys can anyone help me? I downloaded the logging pack 2 from Pheang and all it's dependancies but now if I start a new city and plant trees, this happens: (see pic) Anyone got an idea? + if I zoom all the way out and plant trees the game crashes. Thanks.http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/bugfm.jpg/

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Hey guys can anyone help me? I downloaded the logging pack 2 from Pheang and all it's dependancies but now if I start a new city and plant trees, this happens: (see pic) Anyone got an idea? + if I zoom all the way out and plant trees the game crashes. Thanks.http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/bugfm.jpg/

Next time, please embed your image.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Looks like you picked up the god mode textures for pine forests and snow on the heights. Download in haste, repent at leisure. Go back and read the download pages and and readme pages.