Rural City Help!

[treybles 9]

I am looking to diversify fields and buildings for some rural areas in my region. What are the mods that I should be looking for? Does the SPAM add extra fields or no? Any must have BAT packages I should look into? Any help would be mucho appreciated!

[MushyMushy 3,618]

SPAM does add some new farm fields that (imho) look much better than Maxis's farm fields. Most of the files related to the SPAM or MTP sets will greatly help you build a nice rural scene.

[APSMS 1,893]

The SPAM is indeed a nice addition, but make sure you stay away from the SPAM traffic controller, as this conflicts with the NAM and will cause problems. The SPAM traffic controller is a separate download, so this is just a reminder not to download it while you are searching for SPAM-related stuff.

[airman15 4,112]

The SPAM is a type of canned meat, usually comes in a squarish blue tin with a pull-top lid.

Just kidding, the SPAM is really the best way to go for agricultural cities, and if you want to expand rural setings you might want to check out buildings under the Mountain Theme Pack. If you use all files released for either pack, it would be more of a small-scale conversion so if you want to keep the atmosphere the same you an pick and choose the files you want.

With SPAM, it introduces a crop-rotating mechanic according to realistic harvest cycles and while modular you can build ranches of any size. Besides overhauling the Maxis Orange/Apple orchards, it even introduces crops for Barley, Wheat, Tomatoes, and Switchgrass too. And that's not all, if you wanted to do farming in arid settings there are even circular crops like those out in the Central Valley and Nevada (link to download here, was posted in an old thread in General Discussion).

[treybles 9]

Thank you guys so much! I've been playing since it came out but just got into all these crazy mods. It can get a bit overwhelming but they all make the game so much better. You all have been a great help. 

[Prophet42 1,503]

Also check out the JMeyer's farm set.  It is absolutely fantastic.  I find the farms acutally look more realistic than the ones found in SPAM.  You can find them over on the LEX on the SC4Devotion website.

[treybles 9]

Will those farms work with the SPAM or would there be any conflicts?

[Compdude787 916]

They should work with the SPAM just fine. The only thing that is incompatible with the SPAM is the CAM, so if you're using that by chance, don't download the SPAM.

[CorinaMarie 29,772]

1 hour ago, Compdude787 said:

The only thing that is incompatible with the SPAM is the CAM, so if you're using that by chance, don't download the SPAM.

Personally I would reverse this suggestion to: If you are using the SPAM, don't download the CAM.  

My reasoning is that the CAM is an advanced mod which has a much steeper learning curve. This is not to say there is anything wrong with the CAM, but it does require a deeper understanding of RCI demands to use it effectively. And the SPAM is more in line with the topic title about a Rural City.