SimCity Offline Mode Discussion

[Xenocity 343]

• New: SimCity Single-Player Mode.

o Enables Offline Play.

o Single-Player Mode includes multi-city play, regional interdependence, and city specialization. Regions are saved locally and there is no limit on number of save games.

o Autosave can be disabled in Single-Player Mode in order for players to experiment and load their regions at a previous save point.

o Save As a copy feature. Players can make copies of their regions at multiple save points.

o See FAQ on Single-Player Mode for full details. [link]

• Performance: Optimizations in the simulator to improve performance of both Multiplayer and Single-Player Mode.

• Friends: Friends Search now uses the Origin friend search.

 

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/10023471.page

[JJGlover55 6]

I'm hoping this is the first step towards making this into the great game we were all hoping for.  It took almost 2 years for Diablo 3 to get rid of the auction house and alter the game into something that I feel is closer to expectations.  I think SimCity is on the same track.  And I really hope this doesn't become a trend for other games...

[Grimlogic 2]

Not yet home, but from checking the news, Update 10 should be rolling out right now.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/18/5521834/simcity-offline-mode-update-10-now-rolling-out

 

Excited for the modding possibilities this will finally open up. I've stuck with the game for quite some time now, and while I wasn't there for the disastrous launch, offline Simcity is just so much better.

[Xenocity 343]

I'll be downloading it in a few minutes once Origin is done updating.

...

updated with the release notes.

[ebalosus 19]

I'm hoping that the region play is finally fixed...or at least fixed for offline mode. My biggest gripe (apart from the broken simulation and bad AI) is the small city sizes, which I would be a LOT more forgiving of if the region play ACTUALLY WORKED! I should only have to build a single university within a given region for it to create high-tech jobs in all the other regions, instead of it only really having an effect in a single city.

[SAGGG 47]

I'm guessing the mods are rubbing their hands together, cracking their knuckles, and hopefully will be making headway into getting those bigger city tiles...

[migamin 38]

Hopefully hope will never die.

[Xenocity 343]

Hopefully hope will never die.

... And the Dream shall never die!

 

(I couldn't resist)

[nathanthemayor 1,262]

So out of curiosity, will i have to be online initially to play offline?(I watched the video that was posted a little while ago, my impression was that you can only change online/offline within the game); aka will i still need Origin even if I want to be 100% offline?

[migamin 38]

So out of curiosity, will i have to be online initially to play offline?(I watched the video that was posted a little while ago, my impression was that you can only change online/offline within the game); aka will i still need Origin even if I want to be 100% offline?

Yes you need origin at first. Download and install. Then play offline!

[Grimlogic 2]

 

So out of curiosity, will i have to be online initially to play offline?(I watched the video that was posted a little while ago, my impression was that you can only change online/offline within the game); aka will i still need Origin even if I want to be 100% offline?

Yes you need origin at first. Download and install. Then play offline!

 

 

Just to clarify further though: once Origin is installed, you can always log into it even if you're not connected - meaning you can have no active connection, and still log into the program using your credentials. Origin will open in offline mode, and then you'll be able to launch the game from there.

[Metalpuritan 160]

I see what you are doing there...

[47ply 1,100]

this off line thing might just be Maxis washing its hands of it like sc4

[cshmech 30]

this off line thing might just be Maxis washing its hands of it like sc4

 

Its better they do that and leave it to mods.. they have screwed up this game enough!  The modding community kept SC4 alive for about a decade!

[ImRadek 4]

Hopefully the modders will save this game.

[Griffon 19]

I tried offline mode and I found it to be buggy (which is probably understandable to a point) and I got frustrated trying to get it to work correctly.

 

One problem I had was that if you're connected to the internet and origin is online it tries to search for updates even if it says "Single-Player Mode" and the play button won't appear until it's done.  If I'm completely offline and start it up the play button is there from the start (with no wait).

 

Also I was playing one city while I was online but was in "Single-Player Mode."  I stopped playing, lost internet connection by the time I started playing again and my city was gone!  I started the game again later with it connected and the game reappeared.  Does it still use cloud storage or something? (can I turn that off?)

 

Another thing I seen was I had an error saying I needed to be online while loading a city in the "Single-Player Mode."  It gave me two options: Single-Player Mode or Quit.  I hit the "Single-Player Mode" button and the whole game restarted.  I finally had to restart Origin to get that error to go away.

 

(Not to mention that Origin itself is buggy.  I can't open it unless I restart it every time if I minimize it or click on the X and the only way to completely close it to reopen it is through the task manager.)

 

And all that happened in one day of playing SimCity offline.

 

I also have a few questions to ask: I think on the blog post about offline mode it said the regions are stored on your computer, well where are they? And why can I only have 10 regions like the online mode?  I think offline mode should have unlimited save spaces for regions if they're being stored on your own computer.

[Xenocity 343]

I tried offline mode and I found it to be buggy (which is probably understandable to a point) and I got frustrated trying to get it to work correctly.

 

One problem I had was that if you're connected to the internet and origin is online it tries to search for updates even if it says "Single-Player Mode" and the play button won't appear until it's done.  If I'm completely offline and start it up the play button is there from the start (with no wait).

 

Also I was playing one city while I was online but was in "Single-Player Mode."  I stopped playing, lost internet connection by the time I started playing again and my city was gone!  I started the game again later with it connected and the game reappeared.  Does it still use cloud storage or something? (can I turn that off?)

 

Another thing I seen was I had an error saying I needed to be online while loading a city in the "Single-Player Mode."  It gave me two options: Single-Player Mode or Quit.  I hit the "Single-Player Mode" button and the whole game restarted.  I finally had to restart Origin to get that error to go away.

 

(Not to mention that Origin itself is buggy.  I can't open it unless I restart it every time if I minimize it or click on the X and the only way to completely close it to reopen it is through the task manager.)

 

And all that happened in one day of playing SimCity offline.

 

I also have a few questions to ask: I think on the blog post about offline mode it said the regions are stored on your computer, well where are they? And why can I only have 10 regions like the online mode?  I think offline mode should have unlimited save spaces for regions if they're being stored on your own computer.

I played offline mode on the first day and it worked without any issues.

You can only have 10 region in offline mode, because they haven't patched in unlimited regions.

They should be able to lift the region cap in offline mode.

[Griffon 19]

I played offline mode on the first day and it worked without any issues.

You can only have 10 region in offline mode, because they haven't patched in unlimited regions.

They should be able to lift the region cap in offline mode.

I'm sure the bugs I found are mostly minor because they didn't affect the actual gameplay (once I got to play it).

[Xenocity 343]

 

I played offline mode on the first day and it worked without any issues.

You can only have 10 region in offline mode, because they haven't patched in unlimited regions.

They should be able to lift the region cap in offline mode.

I'm sure the bugs I found are mostly minor because they didn't affect the actual gameplay (once I got to play it).

 

Well no game is bug free.

[Benito666 0]

I'm curious about one thing that I haven't putted much time on so far and hoping someone has the answer to save me the troubles

 

Unless you're making a wonder that requires certain materials, are "oil cities" obsolete? Or "mining cities"? I fiddled only a bit but it seems to rake 0$ profit since, well, there's no global market.

 

I'd be grateful if anyone could enlighten me.

[AidanA28 17]

Since my social aspects are nil anyway (I don't even have region wall or origin friends as a OPTION!) I'm moving to single player.

[Xenocity 343]

Since my social aspects are nil anyway (I don't even have region wall or origin friends as a OPTION!) I'm moving to single player.

And you won't regret it.

Most things work better on offline mode.

[Griffon 19]

I'm curious about one thing that I haven't putted much time on so far and hoping someone has the answer to save me the troubles

 

Unless you're making a wonder that requires certain materials, are "oil cities" obsolete? Or "mining cities"? I fiddled only a bit but it seems to rake 0$ profit since, well, there's no global market.

 

I'd be grateful if anyone could enlighten me.

At the launch of SimCity the global market didn't work and there was a set price for everything (oil, coal, processors, etc. prices didn't change).  That's basically how it is in offline mode.  The trade specialization won't work anymore because the prices never change.  A trade specialization by itself buys resources at low prices and sells at high prices.  Since there is no change in prices you would be buying and selling at the same price (no gain).  All other specializations should still work just fine.

Also if you have CoT and the omega extraction center is unlocked you also have futuristic mine shafts and futuristic oil wells that produce more for a longer time (just incase you didn't know that).

 

So no they shouldn't be "obsolete" in offline mode even with CoT (key work is shouldn't, not saying you may have discovered a bug, but it wouldn't surprise me).

[AidanA28 17]

Well, short term future, I'm looking forward to using mods. Long term future, I'm looking forward to making mods.

[Benito666 0]

Allright thanks Griffon.

 

The city I tried this on was a rather "young" city and before I went into hours of play on it I wanted to be sure that it was possible/viable. I don't have CoT and don't really plan too since everything I saw generally turned me down so I'll deal with the basics and mods.

 

Thanks again

[AidanA28 17]

Question. Besides for gaining the trade port, is the commerce division worth it in oil trade on offline? Because of the stuck price on offline?

[msarbez 3]

Unless I'm doing something wrong, I don't really see anything different as far as gameplay in single-player, than playing online in a region by myself (aside from the "having-to-be-online" aspect).  My cities don't seem to interact with one another like I thought they would (example: in one city where I manufacture Omega (CoT), I have a few cars going to other cities, but while playing said cities, I have yet to see any of the Omega incoming).  Maybe it was my own misunderstanding, but I don't see any kind real-time growth or interaction in the region.  Did I miss something, perhaps?

[Griffon 19]

Unless I'm doing something wrong, I don't really see anything different as far as gameplay in single-player, than playing online in a region by myself (aside from the "having-to-be-online" aspect).  My cities don't seem to interact with one another like I thought they would (example: in one city where I manufacture Omega (CoT), I have a few cars going to other cities, but while playing said cities, I have yet to see any of the Omega incoming).  Maybe it was my own misunderstanding, but I don't see any kind real-time growth or interaction in the region.  Did I miss something, perhaps?

That's the thing...there is no difference in gameplay other than no internet required and instant city syncs.  Your cities won't continue when your not playing them, but as soon as you hit save their instantly synced with your other cities (once you start playing them again).  Most bugs you saw and experienced in online play are still there.  I have read that people find great works easier due to the instant syncing of cities (and resource delivery).

 

The major advantage to offline mode is that you can use as many mods as you possibly want (and I'm using pretty much every mod here and on other websites I can find).

[msarbez 3]

That (the mod part) is probably the only thing that keeps me playing.  As far as an instant sync... I did not know that part... doesn't really help, but still...

 

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

Do you think offline mode is EA saying "We give up - we won't have to make any more expansions or waste money on this if we set the modders loose on it"? 

 

The Simcity news front has been pretty quiet since the patch.