Selective blurred region view

[infamousjbe 593]

Just recently noticed that a couple of the city tiles in the region view look blurry compared to the adjacent city tiles.

 

At first I thought maybe it had to do with in-game res/tex settings, but switching everything to high before saving back to the region view, even after running the sim for a few months before exiting, but the city tile still looks blurry.

 

As you can see here, the DT & W.Bear Mtn city tiles look blurry compared to the rest of the developed city tiles. 

 

Any know reason for this? if so, any solution to un-blur those particular city tiles?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Do you have a slope mod installed?

[infamousjbe 593]

Do you have a slope mod installed?

 

I do not. Haven't gotten around to trying any yet.

[bnsf611 6]

I have noticed this in my game too. The cities that appear blurry vs. not blurry also seem to be in a checkerboard pattern. I've noticed this years ago when i first bought the game, so i don't think it has to do with any mods, and as far as I know there is no way to fix it, though I do hope someone knows a solution.

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

The previews are only snapshots of your cities, which are made when saving. Each time you save a city, a new snapshot will be taken and updated. I don't think anyone has identified the cause, or any possible solutions to the "blurred" appearance. But it could be due to the resolution of each image, which can't represent the amount of detail in the city. If this is true, less detailed areas (such as rural farmland) would appear sharper. Just speculation though...

 

You could just try re-saving the cities in question, or developing the adjacent tiles.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Since you don't play on the region, does it matter?

[Indiana Joe 1,752]

I thought that we had already established that once a city achieved a certain size*, the region screenshot became lower quality to conserve data?  Once a city goes blurry in my regions, I've never gotten it to switch back.

 

*Size as in number of lots, zones, streets, etc., not necessarily population.

[infamousjbe 593]

The previews are only snapshots of your cities, which are made when saving. Each time you save a city, a new snapshot will be taken and updated. I don't think anyone has identified the cause, or any possible solutions to the "blurred" appearance. But it could be due to the resolution of each image, which can't represent the amount of detail in the city. If this is true, less detailed areas (such as rural farmland) would appear sharper. Just speculation though...

 

I've tried upping all the settings in both cities, letting the sim run for a bit, then save&exit to region, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the snap shot.

 

After reading some of the responses, there is one thing in common with both the particular tiles in question would be that both cities have the most Industrial congestion. I highly doubt it could be the devs trying to replicate the "heat signature" you might see above an industrial area from a birds eye view? For what ever reason, that's what I'll choose to believe.

 

 

Since you don't play on the region, does it matter?

Not quite sure what gave you the impression I was no longer working on that region. When in fact it's the only region that's in progress, and in fact play on multiple tiles concurrently. From the original 5 tiles that I started with, has now branched to 9 tiles

 

I thought that we had already established that once a city achieved a certain size*, the region screenshot became lower quality to conserve data?  Once a city goes blurry in my regions, I've never gotten it to switch back.

 

*Size as in number of lots, zones, streets, etc., not necessarily population.

Wasn't paying attention to the pop, but these two city tiles do harbor the most sims in the region. 

. Any of the tiles with development on them are all in their 15th decade. It sucks to have to "catch up" the other tiles when it's time to branch out. As it stands now, it's about 8 minutes to fast forward the years to 120-130.... 

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

 

Since you don't play on the region, does it matter?

Not quite sure what gave you the impression I was no longer working on that region. When in fact it's the only region that's in progress, and in fact play on multiple tiles concurrently. From the original 5 tiles that I started with, has now branched to 9 tiles

I think Nonny means it's more an aesthetical / visual issue, rather than one that directly affects gameplay. After all, most time is spent inside individual cities, and less in region view.

So it might be one of those little quibbles which is just best to ignore.

[bnsf611 6]

I thought that we had already established that once a city achieved a certain size*, the region screenshot became lower quality to conserve data?  Once a city goes blurry in my regions, I've never gotten it to switch back.

 

*Size as in number of lots, zones, streets, etc., not necessarily population.

 

As far as I've noticed, whether or not a city is blurry or not is determined by the first time the city is saved. If a city is blurry after the first save, then it will forever be blurry regardless of what you do in the city form then on. Likewise, if you save for the first time and it is not blurry, then the city will forever be not blurry.

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

Another suggestion: It's possible to remove city snapshots using iLive's by editing a saved city file. This will essentially "reset" the image on the next save.

 

To do this:

 

1.  First make a backup of your saved region (located in "Documents\SimCity 4\Regions").

2.  Then choose a blurred city, open it using Reader and click "Fill the list". The contents of the saved file will open in categories, for example.

3.  Double-click the "entry" column to order the categories. You should then see a few listed PNG files at the top.

4.  Select and delete these PNG files (right click > Remove file).

5.  Save changes and exit Reader.

 

Make sure the edited file is back in your individual region's folder, and load the game. You will notice the city's snapshot will have been removed, meaning it'll appear as a blank tile. Load the city, and save & exit back to region. This will then create a brand new snapshot file.

 

In theory this shouldn't make any difference, but it's worth a go.

[infamousjbe 593]

 

I think Nonny means it's more an aesthetical / visual issue, rather than one that directly affects gameplay. After all, most time is spent inside individual cities, and less in region view.

So it might be one of those little quibbles which is just best to ignore.

 

That would make a whole lot of sense. However, the OCD in me can't stand it, and I do look at my region view quite a bit trying to figure out how I want the transportation network to be laid out.

 

Guess I just never noticed it on other mayor's region views on the forum and jealous mine doesn't look cohesive.

 

 

Another suggestion: It's possible to remove city snapshots using iLive's by editing a saved city file. This will essentially "reset" the image on the next save.

 

To do this:

 

1.  First make a backup of your saved region (located in "Documents\SimCity 4\Regions").

2.  Then choose a blurred city, open it using Reader and click "Fill the list". The contents of the saved file will open in categories, for example.

3.  Double-click the "entry" column to order the categories. You should then see a few listed PNG files at the top.

4.  Select and delete these PNG files (right click > Remove file).

5.  Save changes and exit Reader.

 

Make sure the edited file is back in your individual region's folder, and load the game. You will notice the city's snapshot will have been removed, meaning it'll appear as a blank tile. Load the city, and save & exit back to region. This will then create a brand new snapshot file.

 

In theory this shouldn't make any difference, but it's worth a go.

Gonna try and give this a shot.

 

EDIT: Didn't help so far.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

 

 

Since you don't play on the region, does it matter?

Not quite sure what gave you the impression I was no longer working on that region. When in fact it's the only region that's in progress, and in fact play on multiple tiles concurrently. From the original 5 tiles that I started with, has now branched to 9 tiles

I think Nonny means it's more an aesthetical / visual issue, rather than one that directly affects gameplay. After all, most time is spent inside individual cities, and less in region view.

So it might be one of those little quibbles which is just best to ignore.

 

Exactly, thank you.

[SimCoug 5,977]

I noticed this when using the default maxis terrain mod, but I don't think I've noticed since using custom terrain mods. That could just be a coincidence though.

[infamousjbe 593]

I noticed this when using the default maxis terrain mod, but I don't think I've noticed since using custom terrain mods. That could just be a coincidence though.

 

This statement makes me want to start trying out some terrain mods to see if it actually will remedy the blurry city tiles.

[Indiana Joe 1,752]

It doesn't.  The terrain may not look as blurry because of smoother textures, but buildings still get blurry.  (I still recommend experimenting with terrain mods though)

 

You really need sharp eyes and nothing better to do to notice this problem though.  I don't think it is a particularly pressing issue, and that's why no one has found a solution.  There's probably some way around it.

[infamousjbe 593]

Probably wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't for the peninsula in the upper left corner of East G. & upper right corner of Downtown not matching. That whole peninsula is mostly the plain green grass park lot surrounding mansions. I really like the way it looks on the East G side. Wish is blended cleanly, and yes, simply for joy of the look at my region while I figure out where I want things to develop.

You really need sharp eyes and nothing better to do to notice this problem though.  I don't think it is a particularly pressing issue, and that's why no one has found a solution.  There's probably some way around it.

Devils in the details. Seems to be something I'm good at noticing.   OCD+Perfectionist=Thread

 

I do appreciate all the comments though. Maybe someday it might be discovered, but it won't be by me since I don't mod. Though I would certainly try and help anyway I could.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

SimCoug: What "default maxis terrain mod"?  Did you mean the default maxis terrain?

[SimCoug 5,977]

SimCoug: What "default maxis terrain mod"?  Did you mean the default maxis terrain?

 

Just the maxis terrain - the one that comes with the game (no modding).

 

 

It doesn't.  The terrain may not look as blurry because of smoother textures, but buildings still get blurry.

 

Must be my eyes getting older then 

[bnsf611 6]

One other thing I have noticed is that when I select a blurry city to play, the image in the loading screen appears to be of higher quality, like a city that wasn't blurry. I thought maybe it looked like that because there wasn't any other cities for my eyes to compare it to, and I was just imagining it.

 

But then I used SC4 Savegame Explorer to open up some cities and get the region thumbnail PNGs and put them next to each other for comparison, and it does appear that the PNG in every saved game file is indeed "not blurry," but for some reason in the region in-game it displays many of them as blurry. Don't know why it does this, but like everyone has said before, it's just a minor aesthetic issue, so I think the only solution is to just try to ignore it.