Is SC4 still a viable city builder compared to others?

[Shazlow 13]

I've been playing Simcity 2013 lately and despite its flaws (small map size), it's possible to derive enjoyment via the simulation engine. It's not a city builder like SC4 ans focuses on EVERY SIM IN THE CITY unlike other city builders. I used to play SC4 a long time ago and I found it difficult to create functional cities because of its difficulty but I was probably too young to understand any of the content. I've recently tried Cities XL but the camera and zooming is terrible, not to mention the 'lack of soul' compared with Simcity. I want to play SC4 only if I can create cities shown in this forum. But for me to do that, will I need to download many mods? There are thousands of mods out there, which ones do I need? Which ones are essential?

 

How have the modders changed SC4  in the past 11 years? Will I use the mods more than the maxis content if I buy SC4? Why do I see diagonal buildings in SC4 - are all of these mods? I forgot the game completely but the graphics is a let down considering I have played Simcity. 

 

tl;dr if I buy SC4, will I spend hours downloading mods? Which mods are essential and where are the mods?

  Edited January 22, 2014 by CaptCity  
Edited title for clarity.

[Prophet42 1,503]

First - Welcome !!

 

Second - You will need SimCity4 Deluxe or the Rush Hour expansion pack and make sure it is updated to at least version 1.1.638.  You will only need to apply updates if you install from a CD.  If you download from Steam, it will be fully patched.

 

Third- After SC4 Deluxe/Rush Hour is installed and fully patched you will not need too many mods. The only mod you truly need is NAM. The latest version is 32.

 

After that, I would play the game and get used to it and how NAM works.  Then you can start considering other mods like SPAM for agriculture.  Also there is a lot of excellent BATs available on the STEX and LEX (the LEX is at SC4Devotion.com) to add variety to your cities.  I would strongly suggest content from Madhatter, Jasoncw, Aaron Graham, JMyers, nofunk, the NDEX team, the BSC team, etc.... (the list could go on forever)

 

I still play SC4 quite often, and find it very entertaining, challenging, and satisfying.

[Crowbarr 1]

At first I thought the graphics would let me down too, but well, it's like comparing Jagged Alliance 2, to Jagged Alliance Online. (If ANYONE gets that, I'll be happy)

 

Prophet speaks the truth (lol), NAM is essential. I also use SPAM, and have a look at Paeng, he's got a bunch of awesome stuff.

 

There is a 4gb_patch inside the NAM folder at Documents/Simcity 4/NAM Auxiliary Files/Tools. I'd recommend using that as it increases the RAM you can use for the game or some such, basically loads a little faster, might run faster too. 

 

Use the Traffic Simulator that comes with NAM, can play around with road capacities, fares for using public transport, PT use, and a few others.

 

There is also a SC4 Data Packer https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26 - This here will reduce the lag when you switch between underground and above ground, which will get pretty bad on massive maps, but you won't need it for small cities.

 

SC4 Launcher is nice, has many functions you normally have to do via editing launch files and config files. I cannot post the link but search for SC4 Launcher.

 

OH here's something you'll need. - doubles radius for public servies like cops and firestations. Real handy otherwise you'll be planting clinics every half kilometer. Get the industry doubler if you want, doubles the jobs in the industry zones.

 

Crime doesn't pay 7- fixes the errors in not being able to police certain things like large parks and other things that wouldn't normally work in Simcity 4. I personally think all crime happening in the parks is hilarious, but it's a bug, so should fix it.

 

Legalise Marijuana Ordinance Increases health, lowers crime Depending on your personal preference, this is either a must or a not needed.

 

- Cheats.dll file which is not for giving yourself money, the one you'll want and NEED to use is Drawpaths and Hidepaths to show and hide the direction of traffic, which you'll want to check on if you're making complicated designs. All other cheats I haven't used.

- A black hole to dump your rubbish in. No more garbage worries!

Theres some sort of terrian mod that changes it so high mountains are now snowy instead of rocky, and the grass is a rich mountain green instead of lightish green, but I can't find it, and you don't need it, it's a personal thing. The others should be enough.
 

I spent the first two days just downloading mods, but you don't need to. You'll probably start looking for specific things once you have an idea of something you want to build, then you'll hardly stop looking. Or you'll find one modders work that you really like, and then spend all day looking at every-single-thing-they-made.

 

For example, I just stumbled across skiing paths for mountain snow ranges. Talk about specific, I instantly thought of creating a city for tourists and skiing etc, but I know I'll end up spending all night just downloading all the mods, so try not to go too crazy and keep it simple at first, you really don't need skiing paths lol.
 

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

To answer this topic's question, SC 2013 has a huge way to go until it catches up with the modified SC4. With my plugins, all 4.3GB of them, I now have a game which is an urban simulator, a nature simulator, transport tycoon-esque and partially gridbusting what with wide angled curves and FAR (fractionally angled roads).

 

But vanilla vs vanilla... I would say SC4 has more of an edge but only because of terraforming, contiguous city tiles and larger city tiles.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

SC2013 or Sims City amounts to the now generation goes to Sim City.  It is for the immediate gratification of the impatient.

 

SimCity 4 Deluxe is for the more creative and thoughtful.  Because of its vintage, it has some technical requirements that are beyond plug'n'play, especially if loaded from CD, which then requires two patches.  This patch nonsense can be avoided by acquiring the digital download from Amazon, GamersGate, or Steam.  If you want to deal with EA, you can also acquire it from Origin.  The digital version is fully patched and diskless in operation.

 

Custom content is totally up to the player.  Along with many others, I consider the NAM (v32) essential, but it has a custom installer and can be brought on incrementally.  For a new player, I suggest not loading the Real Highway section (RHW), nor the Ground Light Rail (GLR), nor the Real Railways (RRW) until you've had a chance to assess these complex items.  For openers, perhaps only using the general traffic simulator which is, among other things a gigantic bug fix.  And speaking of bug fixes, open the STEX and find any mod or lot whose title contains the word 'fix'.  They are all bug fixes.  Be very careful to read all the documentation that comes with any fix.

 

Beyond that I suggest you play for a few months, adding such things as you find needful.  Be sure to understand what you add, and do read the documentation.

 

Over the 11 years of playing this game, I've accumulated around 1 GB of custom content, very carefully, very lean and mean.  All custom content, unless otherwise directed in the documentation, goes in your users space structure and never in Program Files.  There are some items that must load last to override some standard features, and you cannot control that in the Program Files Plugin folder because it loads first.

 

With custom content, all of which comes as archive files, you should strike a separate folder structure away from the game and direct your browser to place all downloads as chosen by you.  This little bit of extra intervention in the download process will pay dividends.  If you are on Windows I suggest a structure in ...\documents\downloads\.

 

The archives are usually .zip format and can be unpacked using the right click and expand feature of your O/S.  .rar and other formats require extra software, something some custom content creators fail to notice usually due to propaganda from the competing archiving outfit.

 

So, take your time, and enjoy the game.  None of the exchanges are going anywhere soon, so there is absolutely no rush once you have your game at level 1,1,638 or greater.  This is a leisure time activity and I've been running my most populous region for 16 months now and it is only up to about 2.5 Million Sims scattered across 48 cities.  I have also got four or five other regions I use for relief from the big one.  "A change is as good as a rest".

 

One more note: DO NOT play the Timbuktu region.  It is hacked for tutorials (run the tutorials), and will deliver some strange snap-backs sometimes, like a total reset for example.

[hellmunkey 30]

You wont spend hours downloading mods, at first, then it snowballs.  I started with just NAM and real highway a few custom replacement buildings like police stations and hospitals.  Then I started looking at cities and seeing whats out there.  Ive downloaded a ton of buildings, use the mod tools to repurpose buildings and make my own lots, and added tons of eye candy type pieces like parks, ploppables (water, trees, rocks, other props), retaining and sea walls, cars, trucks, trains, pretty much anything.  Just play until you understand things, then go nuts downloading what you want to make your city "your city".

[47ply 1,100]

Having just started playing this game a year ago I see no reason to want to up grade to another game ever. there so much to do and learn in this game. I just upgraded to project symphony highways and the frustration and satisfaction of building your own intersection is awesome. and afterwards posting your work on here for criticism or praise makes me thank my sister for giving me the gift of SimCity 4. it really is a game I will never tire of. just the thoughts of a newbie.  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Hang in there.  I've been playing this game since 2002 (the original SC4) and didn't find this site until 2003.

 

This is the game that never ends,

No it never ends, my friends,

It is the game that never ends.

It is the game that never ends.

 

Repeat.

[greener07 8]

Long time ago I played Simcity Society.. 

I played it for 15min and then uninstalled it... I didn't liked it.

 

I have played SC4 some 4-5 times before this 6th time.. And I played like a baby.. Without the NAM, without simtropolis and without mods...

 

As a result all my cities failed pathetically and I stopped playing..

 

Then this time I came to know about Simtropolis and NAM.

 

After surfing Simtropolis top tabs I came to know about mods, regions, buildings and bla bla bla.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Playing this game in a vacuum can be painful.  Have you looked at some of the CJs?  Some of them are really great.

 

We have a world-wide group, and ideas tend to abound.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

You still can play SC4 and enjoy vanilla (with the official patches), there are flaws in the simulation but it works, but as others have said it gets more interesting when you install the NAM because it fixes the traffic.

 

I suggest you install some road top mass transit stations too, The ingame bus stops or subway stations are fully retarded, I never saw a bus stop the size of a house.

 

The only problem you might encounter if you install custom content is organising stuff... because some costum mods or buildings might use some textures or props contained in an external file, or even another building. You sometimes end up installing several things you don't need just for one little house... and you might have to make extensive research to know if you have all the things you need, or sometimes to know if you did not already install it. It can get very nasty.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

<snip>

 

The only problem you might encounter if you install custom content is organising stuff... because some costum mods or buildings might use some textures or props contained in an external file, or even another building. You sometimes end up installing several things you don't need just for one little house... and you might have to make extensive research to know if you have all the things you need, or sometimes to know if you did not already install it. It can get very nasty.

I am very organized.  It is fairly easy for me to just look in my plugins folder to see if I have all the required dependencies.

 

My organization method is pretty easy.  I create sub-folders by maker.  With groups like BSC I have sub-folders within that, and in the case of plugins that come as installers, I let the chips fall where they may, but I check to see where things went.

 

I keep all my downloaded archives in a separate (out of game) structure that pretty much mirrors the structure in Plugins.

 

Here is an example of my Plugins structure for BSC.

 

BSC

├── BSC Essentials.dat

├── bsc_Essentials_OG.dat

├── BSCProps

├── BSC_Reward_essential.dat

├── BSCTextures

├── CP

├── Eindhoven residential tower pack

├── Farms

├── Ferox

├── girafe

├── JMyers

├── MattB325

├── Ripplejet

├── SimCoug

├── SimGoober

└── Spa

 

The entries showing extensions are files, the rest are folders.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

But how do you deal with packs ?... packs including things made by someone... and then other downloads make things redundant (and oops you have to check what's inside the pack and remove all the separate packs you had downloaded before... and when you download something that needs something that's maybe part of that pack but you have to check to be sure)... how funny is that ?

 

Same question for props being part of another building.

 

Dependencies are nasty... nasty nasty nasty !

[Turjan 1,048]

Most BSC dependency packs come with Cleanitol files, so it's not a big issue. Sometimes, it's a bit difficult to hunt down the newest dependency packs that are not mentioned in the readmes of the older mods, but there are threads that list those. Also, on SC4D, obsolete downloads are usually locked (here they aren't).

 

I have really found very few cases where the BSC screwed something up. One case is BSC Mega Props - Misc Vol02, which performs the cardinal sin of changing a prop family in a different prop pack (JES Mega Props Vol01) and wrecks many mods this way (the actual sin is that it adds props that are much larger than the originals). Otherwise, they are usually very good.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Yes I was a bit extreme in my last post... but that thing you mention should not have happened in the first place (and the bsc packs are used by an incredible lot of creators).

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Hey, I only posted my BSC structure as an example of structuring plugins.  I don't necessarily use BSC stuff exclusively.  To keep my Plugins under 1 GB is generally my goal in this regard.  And before anyone asks, I have tons of disk space (1.8 TB), but I grew up ;when disks were expensive items.

[zombie615 9]

It's all about the gameplay!!! Let the graphics be the last thing you worry about cause this game despite its age still had me addicted. I've got an xbox one an other computer games an the gameplay on those units are just bland. Simcity 4 still has me coming back after all these years.

 

I want to use all the cool house mods an make the cities these people on here do but that is a lot of dedication. So I just use NAM 32 an the Agriculture mods an make bustling small towns with farming as the main commerce an go from there. Takes a lot of practice to be as good as a lot of the guys on here and a lot of downloads in some cases.