Are there any "year" sc4 mods?

[Deus_Payne 2]

Are there any mods that allow you to change the in-game year? Every new city you start begins in the year 1900, but what if I want to start my city off as a fur trading colony in the 1600s? Or a small mining/farming community in the 1800s?. I've searched around for a mod like this but I can't find one. Any help would be appreciated.

[dedgren 830]

We fiddled around with doing this over at SC4D about eight years ago, D_P.  The date can be manipulated, but it broke the game.  I don't know if anyone has gotten any further since.  Good luck.

 

David

[rsc204 21,866]

The thing is, the date is simply a number that tells you how long the city has existed in years. If your cities look like they are from 1600, I don't really understand why this would bother you?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

You can change the date using the simdate option in the extra cheats dll.  Be sure you understand the syntax.

Generally, using this after there is anything in the tile will cause the Simulator to go wild, and the results are not pretty.  It makes about as much sense as changing the date of your operating system which usually kills the file system.

Go ahead and experiment.  Be sure you have backup.  On your head be it.

[packersfan 666]

Does the game even start in 1900?  I thought it was just 0.  The years have NOTHING to do with what things grow or don't, so it really doesn't matter.  It really is just a timer for how many Sim Years your city has been moving along.  I have some that are 300+ due to age and lots of fast speeds to get thing growing.  Other cities, I have are 1 year old...

[CT14 2,486]

Are there any mods that allow you to change the in-game year? Every new city you start begins in the year 1900, but what if I want to start my city off as a fur trading colony in the 1600s? Or a small mining/farming community in the 1800s?. I've searched around for a mod like this but I can't find one. Any help would be appreciated.

What you are actually asking for is a collection of lots and mods that recreate the look and feel of those times. This doesn't exist, since there aren't any real modpacks for this game (and likely never will be).

What you will end up doing is collecting downloads that match the theme you want, then using a Maxis Blocker to stop the default, late 20th century California stuff from growing.

You can do almost any type of historical scene using MMPs (ploppable scenery). There are also a large number of Old West type lots and models available. Check out the New Sorgun posts to see a fantastic example of them in use - he starts with the settlers landing on the shore, ends up with 19th century towns: https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/48762-new-sorgun/

Also see discussion here: https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/51374-cities-designed-with-acurate-historic-origins/

  Edited December 8, 2015 by CT14  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

^ An interesting comment.

I've always grown my cities from start-up hamlets.  The date field is just a year counter, so resetting it is just cosmetic if you do it early enough, and it is really irrelevant to the game.

It is inadvisable because of the algorithms to try to outsmart the simulation.  it will always coerce you into getting a balanced city/region.

[Deus_Payne 2]

Darn

[Nathangec78 183]

Well, once I changed the date in a city set in 1978. Using only the "extra cheats" mod. 

[airman15 4,113]

I doubt there is anything to modify the clock within the game, unless you are referring to a specific year-based theme. like with the building styles tool. The majority of the buildings that come pre-packaged are that of late 20th century houses with a few buildings that are older such as the Mayflower and Great Pyramids. 

As far as the actual timeline a city takes place in, there is not really a defined era than the suggested late 20th/early 21st century. My best theory is the game takes place on a floating timeline. And it does so for the express purpose of being able to choose the type of style you would like to build.

[Compdude787 916]

One user, Vortext, has done a Medieval-style region. You can check out his MD, (Mayor Diary) Arden, here.

[Somnolence 81]

How do you mean it starts in 1900? It starts from 0, doesn't it?

[DecodingInspire 12]

I think he means SimCity 3000, not SimCity 4.

[Somnolence 81]

On 12/12/2015 at 1:37 PM, DecodingInspire said:

I think he means SimCity 3000, not SimCity 4.

The name of the topic says: Are there any "year" sc4 mods?

[Deus_Payne 2]

On December 8, 2015 at 8:42 AM, packersfan said:

Does the game even start in 1900?  I thought it was just 0.  The years have NOTHING to do with what things grow or don't, so it really doesn't matter.  It really is just a timer for how many Sim Years your city has been moving along.  I have some that are 300+ due to age and lots of fast speeds to get thing growing.  Other cities, I have are 1 year old...

I thought sc4 started in 1900 because the previous sim city games like sc1 sc2 sc3 started in the year 1900 I suppose since I haven't played sc4 in a couple months, and i probably have more years put into the previous games I remembered it differently lol 

[packersfan 666]

Yeah, the previous games started in 1900...and they also had a futuristic component to them, did they not?  I remember the future building set for SC2000...can't remember if that triggered at a certain point on the game clock though.  SC4 just starts in 00 because the game really doesn't have any time flow component built in to change building styles or anything...except that you can set the 4 different building sets (Chicago, Houston, etc.) to switch every 5 years (but again, that just has to do with the passage of 5 years and not a specific YEAR like 1960 or whatever).

What you are talking about would be pretty cool, though!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

More and varied building types controlled by the physical year might be very interesting.  It certainly should go on the wants list for any successor, but getting a one:one replacement for this game using modern technology and thinking is a huge undertaking and I don't think any attempt so far has been totally successful.  One has to be careful when pissing in the soup that it doesn't sour.

[infamousjbe 593]

SC4 starts at the year 2000 even though it only shows 00 in game. You can tell this by the way you change the date using the option in the Extra Cheat menu. In order to change the date, you have to use the sequence 2XXX. 

It does have some kind of effect on the game but nothing I have found adverse. It's most noticeable in cities with farms. Once you change the date, whether forward or back, the farms will cycle through the seasons as in a time warp till it catches up to the date set. It does stop cycling after a while and the game continues to run as normal, at least from my experience that is. 

Now trying to set the date earlier than 2000 (ie: 19XX, 18XX) isn't something I've ever tried nor do I think it's even possible. You might just end up with a Y2K problem on your hands. 

[SteveMSim 275]

I see no need to mess with the year.  You can control the building styles by adjusting what years they appear (they don't have to change every five years; that is the default) or just have one style until the city reaches a certain point and change the building style to create a historical look to your city.  I would not change the year myself. 

There is a mod to block the default Maxis buildings from growing if you are trying to create a city of a particular period in history.