GoogleMaps to SimCity 4

[michaalp 0]

Is there any way to turn Google Map or another satellite data into a functional Simcity 4 region map?

[ComeTogetherOverMe 4]

Well, it's impossible to import directly to SimCity 4. But you can print screen the image and turn it into a greyscale and use it with SC4Mapper or SC4 Terraformer. But make sure there are no buildings on the sattelite. But what map are you actually trying to use?

You might find your desired map in the STEX and download it. Just like the New York Map you can find in the STEX.

  Edited October 31, 2012 by Geometry345  

[Silur 3,297]

This is an unreal idea ...

And I'm with Geometry345 here ...

Thank You ...

  Edited October 31, 2012 by Silur  

[catty-cb 4,381]

Well, it's impossible to import directly to SimCity 4. ...

Yes you can import a image into SC4 and use it as a map, see here for detailed instructions

http://www.sc4ever.com/knowledge/showarticle.cfm?id=1103

part of the article

So, just to review, here are the steps:

1. Decide how large a region you want to make. (You can make them as big as you want, but once they're more than about 20-30 kilometers on a side you're going to need a really fast machine with lots of memory.)
   
2. Create a terrain map that's 64 pixels x region size + 1 pixel.
   
3. Save out the terrain map as a greyscale .bmp or .png file.
   
4. Create a configuration map that's as many pixels across as your region size in kilometers. Save it out as config.bmp.
   
5. Create a new default region in SimCity 4, name it appropriately.
   
6. Put the config.bmp file in the resulting folder.
   
7. Toggle between an old region, then back to your new region.
   
8. Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+R.
   
9. Select your terrain map.
   
10. Wait a few minutes (depending on how large a region you're making and how fast your computer is) and you're done. Play SimCity!
    

Unfortunately, SimCity 4 automatically "erodes" Grayscale *.bmp regional terrains. This makes rivers and creeks either too wide or non-existant. The terrain tools work much better in creating rivers and creeks, or at least correcting the automatic distortions. Other than that, it works very well.

I use this method for rendering my own images into SC4 maps, the first couple of times can be a bit trial and error working out what works, but once you get the hang of it its quite easy to do.

-catty

[Silur 3,297]

Hi. Catty@sc4d - can You show us Paris map on STEX with Your rules ?

I think You can't show us any Google map to SC4 map ...

May be I'm wrong ...

Thank You ...

  Edited October 31, 2012 by Silur  

[catty-cb 4,381]

These aren't my rules, the instructions are from the article "Creating new regions in SimCity 4" by Ocean Quigley and DB Robinson and I didn't say you could use google maps (and maybe you can), I was just pointing out that you can render maps using SimCity 4 itself to do the work.

-catty