Can a city replicate real life

[Phate06 2]

HI Everyone

Getting into this game for the first time, and have read up loads on this site and have downloaded loads of additional stuff from here. I am loooking to replicate a 4/5 towns where I live (they are almost merged into one) and will be using good ol' google maps to aid me.

My Question is, will setting my city in the same way as in real life work... i.e shops near residential, and airport near residential work as it does in real life.. or will it only work in zones that are seperated?

I hope that makes sense

  Edited September 3, 2012 by Phate06  

[Markus J 242]

Sure it can be done, and all depends on how accurate you want to get. Simcity4 does have limitations that even with good mods, and lots simply cannot over come. So some traffic networks, and other things have to be compromised, or not built altogether if they're really complex.

So yes, but with limits.

I gave up on doing that kinda stuff, don't got the patients for one, and the limitations. So I just build cities that greatly resemble their real life counterparts and find it much more fun for me personally (like my Los Angeles)

And don't forget to stock up on as much custom content as you can to resemble buildings of the area.

[Dannibee 138]

Yeah you can. But the games scale is vastly different to real life when you have 26 people living in a 3 bedroom family home. You can do it to a fairly accurate degree but artistic license will always have to be used somewhere. I've done it in my CJ. Also Sim City 4 doesn't have multi-purpose buildings. Shops are just and can't have people living above them. If your careful you can pull it off with a fairly convincing result and all...

[packersfan 666]

It is easy to mod buildings to hold few residents, Dannibee, but yeah, shops can't house people...so maybe those extra sitting in those houses makes up for that...most people recreate without a mind into population but more to looks...search for Edmonton recreation by TheJerseyDevil73...he did a great job...you can do a recreation pretty accurately if you are willing to put in the time and focus.

[Phate06 2]

That goods to hear from you all, and I fully appreciate the limitations there will be... only time will tell

[packersfan 666]

I started doing a recreation of Milwaukee a few years back...the thing that rerailed my project was that I didn't properly divide the region up and the Marquette Interchange would have been cut in half between two city tiles (and I didn't feel like re-vamping the region because I had done very well placing the streets on one of the tiles I would have had to destroy...)...planning is key!

[Phate06 2]

planning is key!

Yes I agree, and i have already started planning, and going to look for other decent downloadable stuff now

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Have a care with your plugins. There are some that don't work with others, so you'd better test each one as you add it.

[Jim14409 448]

planning is key!

Yes I agree, and i have already started planning, and going to look for other decent downloadable stuff now

A word of caution...(tongue in cheek)...There have been mayors who have gone off on downloading trips to fetch new content for their city and have never been seen again. A little detective work reveals many of them are like slot machine addicts. They sit all day pressing the "Download" button while their sims live homeless in the countryside. So do some downloading and don't forget to go home once in a while and build infrastructure. I'm recovering myself.

[whatevermind 10]

They sit all day pressing the "Download" button while their sims live homeless in the countryside.

That's a great line, and something I'm sure most of us have been guilty of at some time or another.

[Phate06 2]

Well yes a good point, another question, I take it that I can download a new Lot (for example) at any time during my creation and once I load up SC4, it will be available - a silly question I know, but just need clarification

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If properly installed. Be sure you understand the differences and difficulties that exist between growable and ploppable lots.

[Jim14409 448]

They sit all day pressing the "Download" button while their sims live homeless in the countryside.

That's a great line, and something I'm sure most of us have been guilty of at some time or another.

Thanks whatevermind! Glad you enjoyed.

[Jim14409 448]

Well yes a good point, another question, I take it that I can download a new Lot (for example) at any time during my creation and once I load up SC4, it will be available - a silly question I know, but just need clarification

Not a silly question at all. Some have grown up, so to speak with the modding and don't realize how confusing and overwhelming it all can be until we get our bearings. As long as your system can handle it and the plugin is installed or placed in the proper folder, as Nonny stated, you can add new content anytime and the next time you start SC4 it will be available.

[Yarahi 1,823]

↑ That's a truth with modifications.. Every once in a while you come across buildings that replaces something in game. In these situations you would have to open the city and demolish any existing instances of that building.. Or else you will have crash-city 101.

Thus it's always a good idea to read any documents that is included with the download

[Phate06 2]

Well yes a good point, another question, I take it that I can download a new Lot (for example) at any time during my creation and once I load up SC4, it will be available - a silly question I know, but just need clarification

Not a silly question at all. Some have grown up, so to speak with the modding and don't realize how confusing and overwhelming it all can be until we get our bearings. As long as your system can handle it and the plugin is installed or placed in the proper folder, as Nonny stated, you can add new content anytime and the next time you start SC4 it will be available.

↑ That's a truth with modifications.. Every once in a while you come across buildings that replaces something in game. In these situations you would have to open the city and demolish any existing instances of that building.. Or else you will have crash-city 101.

Thus it's always a good idea to read any documents that is included with the download

Thank you for your assistance -