Expand your gameplay

[Fantozzi 4,064]

Was insecure if I should post this as it is a very very basic hint. Or maybe only a sort of reminder.

 

***

 

But I read so many topics on: which NAM configuration should I choose, which mods should I install, which terrain mod should I use and so on.

 

Then there are many topics on the plugin folder size and the methods to keep it smart as a big plugin folder slows down the game considerably and increases the possibility of conflicts.

 

There are readmes that say you can use only one mod. And if you change from mod x to mod y to you have to bulldoze your city and you have to start all over agan.

 

And it seems many people take this as a general limit: I can only play the game in one of the many possible ways.

 

So the final result is: players limit their posibilities.

 

Some play american regions with american road textures and american automata. Others play european regions with european road textures and european cars.  Some play in the flat land with sandy beaches and crystal blue water. Some play in the green valleys with dark grey rivers running through. Some download only skyscrapers and build up citys with skyscrapers. Some download trees and rocks and build up nature. And with a worried eye on the download folder they tend to choose in between. This or that?

 

Ah ... but – damn! – there are so many beautiful downloads on the STEX ...

 

***

 

This is against my nature. If someone asks me - do you want the blue one or the red one I tend to answer: give me both.

 

I want it all. Or at least the most possible.

 

And this would be even my answer if someone asked me which terrain mod he should use: TAKE THEM ALL! It's much more fun to play with three or four of them instead limit yourself to only one.

 

I wanted always to have clear blue water at sandy beaches and dark grey rivers in rocky moutains. Sometimes I want to build up big noisy skyscraper citys, sometimes arcadic rural scenes. I want to have european road textures and american road textures. I want to build up evereything I can.

 

I wanted to take all the posibilities the community gave me.

Sigh ...

... but I wanted also a smart plugin folder and a stable program.

 

What to do?

 

***

 

Well, I don't make copies of my plugin folder - I copy the entire sc4 folder. In those different sc4 folders I installed different configurations of the NAM and different terrain mods, different gameplay mods, different maps. And even different buildings. So I can create completely different environments. And as I keep the map I play and the content I use always together as one - the integrity remains.

This way I have 4 different sc4-folders (not the program folder, the user-folder), each of it containing a different reign.

 

This way it takes a minute and I can play an american map with american roads and american automata - and another minute to play an european region with european cars on european roads. One with a costal terrain mod, one with a mountain terrain mod. I simply replace the user folder.

 

That's all.

 

I don't want to tell you that you have to do it like me. The purpose why to make different sc4 folders can be different. My main reason was to put different looks of region, terrain, automata and NAM together. But you could also build up different sc4 folders where one focusses on industries and another that focusses on farmlands. Don't know.

 

I only wanted to remind you that you always have this posibility. If your plugin folder became fat and you became afraid of downloading anything else. Think of splitting it in two, three, four ...

 

Maybe there are other people like me – tired to decide "which is better the blue or the green" as they feel deep inside: "blue and green" would be the best.

 

 

[Ltw 401]

Some mods can be combined, it depends on which terrain it modifies, usually the mod says which file which terrain modifies, you can combine a lot if you know what is compatible with each other and what's not. Sometimes you could also just trial and error. You've got more possibilities with mods altering terrain etc. than for example mods altering demand, for those mods it would be wise to use only one (if you were planning on doing that at all), otherwise they would conflict with each other.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

All machines these days are multiple user.  You can set up separate accounts for different play modes and just log on to the one you want to play.  It isn't much of an inconvenience to log off the current session and log in to another one.

 

Since the game residency is global to all users on the same machine, you don't have to install the game more than once.

 

With a little manipulation of permissions, you can set up a default set of plugins that you always copy if you like.  Separately used plugins can then be added.

 

Using multiple accounts can save you from the kind of mistake you might make when you are tired.  Everything is isolated so that you can't damage more than one account.

 

I have done this, and at the moment I have my regular account and one called "Alter Ego".  The Alter Ego account is set up with SC4 Deluxe pretty much out of the box (1,1,641 actually) with minimal plugins (NAM because I can't live without it).  Sometimes I feel like running a simpler version, and this is it.  The Alter Ego account does not have administration privileges, so I can't fool with it unless I work on it from my admin account.

[Asser 78]

Or simply use the built in userdir parameter to avoid logging out and in all the time.

Copy the somcity 4 folder in your documents folder. Add or remove mods and regions from the new folder as you wish.

Make a new shortcut for simcity 4 and add this to the end of the "target" textbox on the shortcut properties tab (right click » properties) -userdir:"c:\path\to\new\simcity\folder"

If you have mods you want to share between all your folders then put them in the plugins folder in the games folder (i.e. c:\games\simcity 4\plugins)

I have the nam, most dependency files, textures and a few other mods there.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

^ And I hope you have a safe copy of those plugins if you ever have to reinstall the game.

[Compdude787 916]

Definitely consider having two different user accounts for different-styled regions in SC4. That way, you can have a different set of plugins. Moose's idea is definitely a good one.

[APSMS 1,892]

There is a tool designed exactly for this purpose.
 
it is called the SC4SUM (Start-Up Manager).
 
Able to parse large region images in a single click. Also able to define which plugins are loaded when playing a specific region. You can find it here.
 
It's ridiculously powerful when you know how to use it and as an added bonus it forces you to keep your plugins organized. It might be worth mentioning that I am not yet organized enough to use it like I want to. Getting there....
 

Ideally when I have everything as I want it I'll be able to start on my recreation of Republic City (from the

Legend of Korra) that I've been dying to do properly ever since I made a SC4 map of it. I have a crummy version, but the lack of the proper building control and mediocre rail networks make it a pretty poor recreation. This tool will enable me to do it right, but I've yet to keep a plugins folder that allows me to conveniently organize the Japanese BATs that lack pics/English readmes.