Some recent observations

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Greetings fellow SC4 Deluxe Players,

 

I've been playing this "game" now for something like 12 years and while I get considerable enjoyment from it, there are some things that I haven't done recently that I am now trying out, maybe for the first time.

 

First of all, I play on Ubuntu (14.04 LTS at the moment) under control of the Windows Executive layer (wine-1.7.21) using the X-org default driver for my AMD RS780 chip set which is no longer supported by AMD [ATI 3000] on this version of the Linux Kernel.  So I have a few vicissitudes to deal with.

 

While the game runs well in hardware rendering mode, certain things, like FLUPs, work better in software rendering mode.  So, while I have scripts that give me either, I use the software script most of the time.  This locks me out of HD textures.  You know something?  I don't care.  It is just an ego trip for some.

 

Anyway, today I tried something I don't remember ever doing in the past.  I had some infill to do in one of my large tiles and I was thinking that there is always top of the chart CS$ demand, so I created a CBD of 4 x 4 low density commercial lots.  This is on the other side of an elevated highway connected to a small industrial area.  The interesting thing is that I got all the same buildings on about a dozen lots and no others were built.  I've concluded that the BATting fraternity have not created any 4 x 4 CS$ lots, or at least none that I have.  Maybe they've missed a bet in not doing so, or I've just not picked up the right ones.  I tend to avoid lots that have many dependencies I don't already have.  Comments?

[Prophet42 1,500]

I too feel that larger CS$ lots are lacking.  Most larger BAT lots seem to be CO$$$ or CO$$.  Most of the CS$$ and CS$ lots available are smaller 1xX or 2xX lots.

[JimC 159]

Greetings fellow SC4 Deluxe Players,

 

I've been playing this "game" now for something like 12 years and while I get considerable enjoyment from it, there are some things that I haven't done recently that I am now trying out, maybe for the first time.

 

First of all, I play on Ubuntu (14.04 LTS at the moment) under control of the Windows Executive layer (wine-1.7.21) using the X-org default driver for my AMD RS780 chip set which is no longer supported by AMD [ATI 3000] on this version of the Linux Kernel.  So I have a few vicissitudes to deal with.

 

While the game runs well in hardware rendering mode, certain things, like FLUPs, work better in software rendering mode.  So, while I have scripts that give me either, I use the software script most of the time.  This locks me out of HD textures.  You know something?  I don't care.  It is just an ego trip for some.

 

Comments?

 

Yes. What in God's name does any of that mean?

[rathefalcon 395]

Anyway, today I tried something I don't remember ever doing in the past.  I had some infill to do in one of my large tiles and I was thinking that there is always top of the chart CS$ demand, so I created a CBD of 4 x 4 low density commercial lots.  This is on the other side of an elevated highway connected to a small industrial area.  The interesting thing is that I got all the same buildings on about a dozen lots and no others were built.  I've concluded that the BATting fraternity have not created any 4 x 4 CS$ lots, or at least none that I have.  Maybe they've missed a bet in not doing so, or I've just not picked up the right ones.  I tend to avoid lots that have many dependencies I don't already have.  Comments?

 

That is a valid point. I do agree that there is a deficit of low-density, low wealth large commercial lots. All I can get in that situation are drive-in theaters. However, I wouldn't mind making a few CS$ 4x4s once I get acquainted with 3ds max...

 

In the time being, have you tried making lots of your own from multiple CS$ buildings that are already available?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

 

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Yes. What in God's name does any of that mean?

 

Well, in this case, it means English comprehension skills are somewhat lacking on the part of the reader.  Was there some part that was unfathomable?

[Turjan 1,048]

All I can get in that situation are drive-in theaters.

 

I really have to check my game and see what I get there. But yes, I guess it will be those drive-in theaters. I remember the feeling when I'm surprised for a short moment that "something big" is growing, only to see the film screen come up.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Strange, because I only get those drive ins on medium and high density 4 x 4 C.  I bulldoze them immediately, and eventually the game gives up and places a decent building.

[Turjan 1,048]

Strange, because I only get those drive ins on medium and high density 4 x 4 C.  I bulldoze them immediately, and eventually the game gives up and places a decent building.

 

May well be, but the Willmot Drive-In is the only Cs-$ 4x4 in the game.

 

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

Commercial service plugins tend to have a lot of dependencies.  SimGoober probably has made the largest collection; but once again, the dependencies can be notorious.   in particular of 4x4 growable/ploppable shops.

[Turjan 1,048]

Well, those are Cs-$$, and the game has already five different 4x4s of those, but there's just one Cs-$ of that kind

 

Perhaps, the reasoning is that the Cs-$ stage is that short that it doesn't make much sense to provide more variety. I had that experience with low wealth store packs I installed. You have to be really fast with clicking the "historical" button if you want to see them around.

 

.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

And yet the game has no upper limit on CS$ and I have very rarely seen that demand bar anything but topped out.

[Turjan 1,048]

Sure, but my game loves to convert the Cs$ into Cs$$. I'm probably just too good to my Sims and should leave some garbage in the streets.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

It is a good trick to get a medium density building on a low density lot.  Do you actually zone low density and get higher density buildings?  I've always thought that density was one of the things the game didn't change.

 

Remember that low density (or single occupancy) means only one owner, not the number of people living/working there.

[Turjan 1,048]

Do you actually zone low density and get higher density buildings?  I've always thought that density was one of the things the game didn't change.

 

I think it happened two or three times to me. I suppose it's a glitch. Normally that doesn't happen. There are a few lower density buildings that look like higher density, but I'm sure you are aware of that.

 

The game sometimes glitches. I remember that I once tried plopping a residential when I wasn't aware that "this doesn't work". The problem was that it worked for me, but only that one time. The game seemed to have forgotten to delete the zoning information below the plopped building. Unfortunately, just a glitch.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You tempt me to paraphrase Robert Service.  This program has some interesting hiccups.

[Shark7 118]

While the lack of variety is generally a bad thing, there are also times when you do want all the buildings to be the same (like a gated community).

 

Never fails though, when you don't want the buildings to all be the same they are, when you do want them all the same they aren't.  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

There certainly are times when using bldgplop is a solution.  Don't forget to mark them historical before the game rebuilds them.