Hello Everyone

[79Trans_Am 1]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I want to know how you guys get all the cool mods you have, such as weather, roundabouts, different streets, and things like that. I've played simcity 4 for a while and would like to make more visually appealing cities.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Welcome to Simtropolis.

At the top of the page there is a tab labelled "ST/Exchange". This is where the neat downloads are on this site, and there are thousands of them. There are a couple of other common sites, but there is no point in overloading you at this point.

A word about plugins, mods or custom content (all synonyms):

There is absolutely no rush. This site and the others are not going away soon. We've been here for 10 years.

Not all plugins work together and there can be conflicts that will crash your game. Because of the very large number of them, it is impossible to test each one generically. Each user who selects a plugin needs to test it himself immediately after adding it to his suite. This is best done in a sandbox region. You can create one by simply making a new default region from the game menu and naming it "sandbox". Nothing to it.

It is well to organize your plugins in a way that lets you easily maintain them. Sometimes they get updated.

I suggest you might want to have a walk through topic. Several people have put a lot of effort into it. Also take a walk in the Omnibus. Just click the tab at the top of the page.

When you are ready for some technical discussion, start

Using plugins is not simple. You need to read the download page and any documentation files, usually called "readme" that comes in with it. All of them are compressed archives, so they should be put in a separate folder at your Documents level called Downloads. The one called Downloads in the game has a different, separate purpose. Unpack them in place in this new folder, and reading the instructions go from there.

[atsummerlin53 47]

Something else to make sure you are completely aware of: dependencies. These are other files that a lot, bat, mod, requires in order to function properly. They are an easy thing to forget when downloading files, but can drastically affect gameplay if forgotten before installing a file to your plugins folder. Most files do not have dependencies, but some can have more than a dozen. A key consideration when downloading files is how many dependencies you need to use the file effectively. When starting out you might wish to only use files with no dependencies, then as you get more experienced download files with only 1 or 2 dependencies.

You'll also find that many dependency files are used over and over by certain designers/teams to add realism to their lots/bats. Some examples of these include NDEX and BSC prop files. You need only download the dependency file once to satisfy the requirements of tens (or even hundreds) of files, depending on how many different files you wish to add to your program.

One other thing to take into consideration: the more you add to the program, the slower your game and cities will load. Depending on your computer's performance you'll have to decide what balance to achieve between level of realism/detail and computer speed. Definitely segregate download files that are not needed (such as images and readme files) for gameplay out of your plugin folder. I typically download to a file labeled SimCity Install Files, then move the files I'm ready to use into the plugin folder in the SimCity 4 directory. Since I retain the zip files, as well, in the Install folder (just in case I delete something by mistake) this cuts down on the amount of work that the computer does to load the game and play. This also means that I can download a dozen files (or more) at a time, even if I don't want to use them right away without affecting gameplay immediately.

[79Trans_Am 1]

Thanks guys. That advice about moving images and readme's out of the plugins folder is good advice, I hadn't of thought of that. I've installed a few mods now, the NAM, RHW, and NWM. Those have already made the road structure much better, really impressive stuff.

[79Trans_Am 1]

Ok so far I have the NAM, SAM, NWM, the peg pond set, the weather mod, industry doubler, and a few packs of buildings for variety. As well as a water mod and italia terrain mod (gorgeous) all work well together and I haven't experienced any slowdown or problems.Im pretty much content now, but I have one more thing I'd like. Is there anything to reduce or eliminate garbage production? I hate having to place a big landfill right outside a nice town, not to mention how much it costs.

[Cefien 361]

Is there anything to reduce or eliminate garbage production? I hate having to place a big landfill right outside a nice town, not to mention how much it costs.

 

Well, everything has a cost in SimCity, unless you wanna use cheat or something like that.

Activating some ordinances will help you reduce the the garbage output a bit. Like Paper Waste Reduction Program or Tire Recycling Program. Or just build a city recycling center. It should be note that recycling will only reduce 20% of the garbage output, while the rest 80% still need to be incinerated, exported, or sent to a landfill.

To deal with the rest of it you can use the Incinerator waste to energy, but it will cost you a lot of money and huge polution, just make sure to put them away from your city and don't use it if your city can't handle the funding. Neighbour garbage deal is a good idea if you don't wanna polute your city with those filthy trash, and this is how you exported your trash.

There is also another option about incinerator with hardly no polution out there in STEX that will help you with your trash problem, for example.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You can also use a garbage export system. There are some lots on Pegasus site that take the garbage to sea. You could consider it a cheat, but they are not free and you do need a seacoast to use them.

The in-game waste to energy plant works well, but is polluting even if you run it with zero funding it will eat garbage. You can lay it down next to a landfill and it will eat it.

[79Trans_Am 1]

Thanks guys. That low pollution incinerator seems like a good one. How do tree controllers work? The stock tree tool seems to only make 1 kind if tree, and you guys have a nice selection of trees, like pines and trees that change color. If I got one idhave to go to all my regions and delete all the old trees first right? And do some terrain mods come with trees? When I installed mine I loaded up a new region and it had trees on it if never seen before.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Suggest you move your new topic (tree controllers) to a new thread.