SimCity 3000 for $2.49 at Gog.com

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

Edit: This sale has now ended. (So this is just a random discussion thread now.)

 

From a different thread (about SC4 Deluxe) here's the part relevant to SC3K:

On 5/8/2017 at 9:23 PM, Cyclone Boom said:

The sale will end at 12pm noon EDT on Monday 15th.

By the way, for anyone interested, SC3000 is likewise part of the sale and 75% off.

What perfect timing to coincide with our new forum & STEX category...

Coincidence or conspiracy?

 

Again, here's the linky to SC3000 for $2.49 on GoG. Sale ends May 15, 2017.

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

Spoiler

50 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Sale ends March 15, 2017.

Hmm, I don't see a time machine in the list of system requirements... 

(To avoid confusion, I can remove this post once you've amended the monthly muddle, or found a suitable DeLorean on sale.)

  Edited May 9, 2017 by Cyclone Boom  
Given the DeLorean reference, I thought a spoiler would be more appropriate.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

1 minute ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Hmm, I don't see a time machine in the list of system requirements... 

Oopsie. Those months that start with "M" always confuzzle me.

I've edited.

[huzman 445]

And I paid 9.99 € just a week ago ! Argh !

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

5 minutes ago, huzman said:

And I paid 9.99 € just a week ago ! Argh !

Ouch, doesn't that always happen just when a sale comes around...

I'm not sure, maybe if you asked support really nicely, they'd consider refunding you the difference. Maybe...

[huzman 445]

Nah... I just go hungry for a week and I refund myself

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

So, I just couldn't resist at this price:

 

Since it's my bedtime I'd better not start playing now. Here's where it saves to by default:

 

What really convinced me to buy was that article about being able to make my own maps from a grayscale image. Believe it or not, that part really appeals to me.

Tho testing of that will have to wait.

[catty-cb 4,413]

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

....What really convinced me to buy was that article about being able to make my own maps from a grayscale image. Believe it or not, that part really appeals to me.

Tho testing of that will have to wait.

That certainly brings back memories, and I also have fond memories of the roadless starter town, it was fun trying to run a city with no roads, everybody had to take the train if they wanted to go somewhere 

EDIT: Had to look it up and maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, cos the nearest match in the starter towns is

Quote

Railroad Town
-------------------------
This is possibly the best Starter Town. The extensive railroad system is great for industry, and the seaport and dense residential area are also helpful. The two oil power plants let you develop without having to worry about building power plants for a while. Keep in mind that you'll need to add a lot of light residential space early on, and the widely spread-out design can lead to traffic problems along the main road.

-catty

  Edited May 10, 2017 by catty-cb  
added a bit

[SecretMbr_735754 2,158]

Its really easy to make your own maps from grayscales. The rendering is almost immediate, and the elevations are precise.  Below is a map easily adapted from one my SC4 maps.  

[catty-cb 4,413]

45 minutes ago, RandyE said:

Its really easy to make your own maps from grayscales. The rendering is almost immediate, and the elevations are precise.  Below is a map easily adapted from one my SC4 maps. 

I remember being so surprised when I got SC4 and found you couldn't easily make your own maps anymore, and no more starter towns or scenarios to play 

[huzman 445]

6 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

make my own maps from a grayscale image

Welcome aboard ! And thanks for the grey maps tip.

 

4 hours ago, RandyE said:

Its really easy to make your own maps from grayscales.

That is good news, indeed.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

On 5/9/2017 at 10:22 PM, RandyE said:

Its really easy to make your own maps from grayscales. The rendering is almost immediate, and the elevations are precise.  Below is a map easily adapted from one my SC4 maps. 

Cool. This is going to be fun.

 

So, I dug out my old stuff for the game. I have my original box which appears to be the first release. It's just SimCity 3000. Not Unlimited or anything special. I have Prima's Official Strategy Guide and Sybex's Unofficial Strategies and Secrets books. I also discovered two floppy disks in my box with some saved cities. Here's one of them:

I set the game to windowed mode. Unfortunately when I do Alt+PrintScreen to get just the active window that also pops up the bulldozer and places a cost bubble in the image so I had to shoot my full desktop and crop this down.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

Let's see. Yep, it's been well over 4 hours since I posted so I can post again.

Here's my very first attempt at converting one of my cloud pics to grayscale to a map in SC3000:

 

Next I'll need to research whether or not I can paint on God Mode trees.

[catty-cb 4,413]

Quote

Next I'll need to research whether or not I can paint on God Mode trees.

pretty certain the trees are something you select when you start a new city and some trees will only grow above a certain height ... but its been a while since I've had time to play any game including my favourite Banished as RL keeps interfering

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

5 minutes ago, catty-cb said:

pretty certain the trees are something you select when you start a new city

I saw that option starting a new city, but I had to exit the terraform options in order to get the load grayscale box to come up. I didn't check any further cause I knew I'd get too involved and stay up past my bedtime.

[SecretMbr_735754 2,158]

Isn't this fun?   

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

That's a lot of garbage piling up there.  

Man y'all are really tickling my nostalgia. As much as I love a fully decked out SC4, there's something awfully charming about SC3K's core gameplay that no other city building game has yet to match for me.

I had already picked this up from the previous GOG sale. Coupled it with a widescreen fix and now I can enjoy the original game again at HD+ resolutions (open the pic in a new tab for the full resolution). I'm very surprised at how well the UI scales as there's no stretching to speak of. Everything is kind of small though lol.

Here's an old city file I dug up from one of my old hard drives. I tried the whole "go crazy with symmetry and astronomical land value" type thing and it worked out for the most part.

[SecretMbr_735754 2,158]

1 hour ago, kingofsimcity said:

I tried the whole "go crazy with symmetry and astronomical land value" type thing and it worked out for the most part.

All the games in the SimCity series seem to be the same this way.  If you strictly grab on to the controls of the simulator you can "drive" the vehicle all the way to a picture as above --and without any mod or other aid.   So it seems we come back to the appreciation of the graphics and the models, the more artistic stuff we do with these games.    I hope @korver gets in on this nostalgia trip and digs into his hard-drive for some pics from his SC3K experience. 

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

The revival has started!

It's really neat to see all these pics and maps. Even though I didn't play SC3K half as much as SC4 back in the day, this sure brings back quite a few memories.

And this looks like a pretty good deal to me...

 

21 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

I also discovered two floppy disks in my box with some saved cities.

I take it total file size of all those must be considerably less than 2.88 MB then?

Of course, this has always been a big drawback for SC4 saves since they grow rather exponentially. I recall hearing SC3K cities are much more friendly in this regard. So this alone sounds excellent news for anyone who'd like to share their cities to the new STEX category.

I also wonder how this works with plugin compatibility. Whether such saved games load at all, or if there's a visual indication (like brown boxes / an error) or empty spaces in place of custom creations.

 

1 hour ago, kingofsimcity said:

Here's an old city file I dug up from one of my old hard drives. I tried the whole "go crazy with symmetry and astronomical land value" type thing and it worked out for the most part.

Wow, that's really impressive!

 

36 minutes ago, RandyE said:

So it seems we come back to the appreciation of the graphics and the models, the more artistic stuff we do with these games.

Indeed, it just proves it's not always about custom content.

Sure it helps add variety and longevity, by expanding certain aspects. But a game can still be enjoyed in its own right after so many years.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

13 hours ago, kingofsimcity said:

Here's an old city file I dug up from one of my old hard drives.

2,420,063 population. For packing in the Sims and buildings, it looks good.

 

12 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

I take it total file size of all those must be considerably less than 2.88 MB then?

You can take it they are less than 1.44 MB as well. (I have the standard sized diskettes that were in vogue with the age of the comp I was using.) Here's the contents of each diskette with the file size listed first:

310,261 - 3rd City 2019-02-14.sc3
400,146 - 3rd City 2088-01-08.sc3
406,167 - 3rd City 2092-01-01.sc3

And:

301,670 - Hard City Start.sc3
340,686 - Hard City 1964.sc3
340,969 - Hard City 1964 # 2.sc3

You'll notice from the mini map in the corner of my pic that the city wasn't nearly filled up. I suspect I have other saves on Zip Disks or even on old, tiny 850 MB boot hard drives or 540 MB ones I used as data D drives.

[SimCoug 5,977]

Never used GOG before, but for less than a lunch, I couldn't pass up an old favorite...

Did anybody else dabble around with the Building Architect tool back when this came out? I vividly remember trying my hand at some buildings... they looked god awful, but it was satisfying seeing them pop up in my cities.  
Should be a hoot. 

[blunder 1,080]

10 minutes ago, SimCoug said:

Never used GOG before, but for less than a lunch, I couldn't pass up an old favorite...

Gog is awesome.  Always wait for something to go on sale though.  I've picked up all kinds of rpgs there for under $5 a pop on sale.  Baldurs Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights 1&2, Dragon Age, Knights of the old Republic 1&2, Morrowind GOTY edition.  And other old favorites: SC4, Riven, Alpha Centauri, Sins of a Solar Empire, etc.

At $2-5 a pop on sale, it's worth it even if i only dink around with it for a week or two.

[SimCoug 5,977]

7 minutes ago, blunder said:

...Baldurs Gate 2...

Oh man... hazy college memories are coming back to me right now...

[blunder 1,080]

8 minutes ago, SimCoug said:

Oh man... hazy college memories are coming back to me right now...

 

Welcome to the nostalgia shelf 

[HookerHeels 309]

Holy flash backs to when I was young.

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

On 5/11/2017 at 9:48 PM, SimCoug said:

Did anybody else dabble around with the Building Architect tool back when this came out?

My version of the game (back then) didn't have this, however I've got it now and here's the first building I looked at:

Seems to have some pretty decent possibilities. I discovered that pressing the up arrow key twice lets me see the top part of the building:

 

The Readme for Props says in part:

Quote

Creating props is a tricky business.  You will need
to tailor your images to fit precisely within certain
ranges, and you will also have to provide instructions
- coded in a .met file - for BA to handle your prop
images correctly.

So, I wonder how one goes about coding a .met file.

[catty-cb 4,413]

39 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

My version of the game (back then) didn't have this, however I've got it now and here's the first building I looked at:

Seems to have some pretty decent possibilities. I discovered that pressing the up arrow key twice lets me see the top part of the building:

The Readme for Props says in part:

So, I wonder how one goes about coding a .met file.

It should be in the SC3000 site, but I saved every article I could from the official site, including these four

https://community.simtropolis.com/clubs/26-city-builders-website/cb-documents/10-SimCity-3/35-creating-custom-props-for-ba-plus-in-sc3

https://community.simtropolis.com/clubs/26-city-builders-website/cb-documents/10-SimCity-3/34-creating-custom-props-2-in-sc3

https://community.simtropolis.com/clubs/26-city-builders-website/cb-documents/10-SimCity-3/33-creating-custom-props-3-in-sc3

https://community.simtropolis.com/clubs/26-city-builders-website/cb-documents/10-SimCity-3/32-creating-custom-props-4-in-sc3

Sorry I still haven't worked out why some of the pictures have shrunk, in the meantime just right-click on the picture and select "View Image" if you are using Firefox, the other thing I was never able to retrieve the template files these articles refer to 

-catty

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

14 minutes ago, catty-cb said:

It should be in the SC3000 site, but I saved every article I could from the official site, including these four

Sweet!

And so now I know they are simple text files which can be opened and created in Notepad. Here's a sample of yard objects.met:

Spoiler

1,1,1:"wall1a 0.bmp","wall1a 1.bmp","wall1a 2.bmp","wall1a 3.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1a 1.bmp","wall1a 2.bmp","wall1a 3.bmp","wall1a 0.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1a 2.bmp","wall1a 3.bmp","wall1a 0.bmp","wall1a 1.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1a 3.bmp","wall1a 0.bmp","wall1a 1.bmp","wall1a 2.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1b 0.bmp","wall1b 1.bmp","wall1b 2.bmp","wall1b 3.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1b 1.bmp","wall1b 2.bmp","wall1b 3.bmp","wall1b 0.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1b 2.bmp","wall1b 3.bmp","wall1b 0.bmp","wall1b 1.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1b 3.bmp","wall1b 0.bmp","wall1b 1.bmp","wall1b 2.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1c 0.bmp","wall1c 1.bmp","wall1c 2.bmp","wall1c 3.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1c 1.bmp","wall1c 2.bmp","wall1c 3.bmp","wall1c 0.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1c 2.bmp","wall1c 3.bmp","wall1c 0.bmp","wall1c 1.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1c 3.bmp","wall1c 0.bmp","wall1c 1.bmp","wall1c 2.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1d 0.bmp","wall1d 1.bmp","wall1d 2.bmp","wall1d 3.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1d 1.bmp","wall1d 2.bmp","wall1d 3.bmp","wall1d 0.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1d 2.bmp","wall1d 3.bmp","wall1d 0.bmp","wall1d 1.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1d 3.bmp","wall1d 0.bmp","wall1d 1.bmp","wall1d 2.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1e 0.bmp","wall1e 1.bmp","wall1e 2.bmp","wall1e 3.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1e 1.bmp","wall1e 2.bmp","wall1e 3.bmp","wall1e 0.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1e 2.bmp","wall1e 3.bmp","wall1e 0.bmp","wall1e 1.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1e 3.bmp","wall1e 0.bmp","wall1e 1.bmp","wall1e 2.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1f 0.bmp","wall1f 1.bmp","wall1f 2.bmp","wall1f 3.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1f 1.bmp","wall1f 2.bmp","wall1f 3.bmp","wall1f 0.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1f 2.bmp","wall1f 3.bmp","wall1f 0.bmp","wall1f 1.bmp"
1,1,1:"wall1f 3.bmp","wall1f 0.bmp","wall1f 1.bmp","wall1f 2.bmp"
1,3,2:"clothesline1 0.bmp","clothesline1 1.bmp","clothesline1 2.bmp","clothesline1 3.bmp"
3,1,2:"clothesline1 1.bmp","clothesline1 2.bmp","clothesline1 3.bmp","clothesline1 0.bmp"
1,3,2:"clothesline1 2.bmp","clothesline1 3.bmp","clothesline1 0.bmp","clothesline1 1.bmp"
3,1,2:"clothesline1 3.bmp","clothesline1 0.bmp","clothesline1 1.bmp","clothesline1 2.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence1 0.bmp","fence1 1.bmp","fence1 2.bmp","fence1 3.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence1 1.bmp","fence1 2.bmp","fence1 3.bmp","fence1 0.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence1 2.bmp","fence1 3.bmp","fence1 0.bmp","fence1 1.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence1 3.bmp","fence1 0.bmp","fence1 1.bmp","fence1 2.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence2 0.bmp","fence2 1.bmp","fence2 2.bmp","fence2 3.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence2 1.bmp","fence2 2.bmp","fence2 3.bmp","fence2 0.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence2 2.bmp","fence2 3.bmp","fence2 0.bmp","fence2 1.bmp"
1,1,2:"fence2 3.bmp","fence2 0.bmp","fence2 1.bmp","fence2 2.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate1 0.bmp","gate1 1.bmp","gate1 2.bmp","gate1 3.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate1 1.bmp","gate1 2.bmp","gate1 3.bmp","gate1 0.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate1 2.bmp","gate1 3.bmp","gate1 0.bmp","gate1 1.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate1 3.bmp","gate1 0.bmp","gate1 1.bmp","gate1 2.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate2 0.bmp","gate2 1.bmp","gate2 2.bmp","gate2 3.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate2 1.bmp","gate2 2.bmp","gate2 3.bmp","gate2 0.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate2 2.bmp","gate2 3.bmp","gate2 0.bmp","gate2 1.bmp"
1,1,2:"gate2 3.bmp","gate2 0.bmp","gate2 1.bmp","gate2 2.bmp"
1,1,2:"lawnfurn1 0.bmp","lawnfurn1 1.bmp","lawnfurn1 2.bmp","lawnfurn1 3.bmp"
1,1,2:"lawnfurn1 1.bmp","lawnfurn1 2.bmp","lawnfurn1 3.bmp","lawnfurn1 0.bmp"
1,1,2:"lawnfurn1 2.bmp","lawnfurn1 3.bmp","lawnfurn1 0.bmp","lawnfurn1 1.bmp"
1,1,2:"lawnfurn1 3.bmp","lawnfurn1 0.bmp","lawnfurn1 1.bmp","lawnfurn1 2.bmp"
1,1,1:"logpile 0.bmp","logpile 1.bmp","logpile 0.bmp","logpile 1.bmp"
1,1,1:"logpile 1.bmp","logpile 0.bmp","logpile 1.bmp","logpile 0.bmp"
3,3,1:"pool1 0.bmp","pool1 1.bmp","pool1 2.bmp","pool1 3.bmp"
3,3,1:"pool1 1.bmp","pool1 2.bmp","pool1 3.bmp","pool1 0.bmp"
3,3,1:"pool1 2.bmp","pool1 3.bmp","pool1 0.bmp","pool1 1.bmp"
3,3,1:"pool1 3.bmp","pool1 0.bmp","pool1 1.bmp","pool1 2.bmp"
3,5,1:"garden1 0.bmp","garden1 1.bmp","garden1 2.bmp","garden1 3.bmp"
5,3,1:"garden1 1.bmp","garden1 2.bmp","garden1 3.bmp","garden1 0.bmp"
3,5,1:"garden1 2.bmp","garden1 3.bmp","garden1 0.bmp","garden1 1.bmp"
5,3,1:"garden1 3.bmp","garden1 0.bmp","garden1 1.bmp","garden1 2.bmp"
1,3,2:"play1 0.bmp","play1 1.bmp","play1 0.bmp","play1 1.bmp"
3,1,2:"play1 1.bmp","play1 0.bmp","play1 1.bmp","play1 0.bmp"
1,3,1:"picnic1 0.bmp","picnic1 1.bmp","picnic1 0.bmp","picnic1 1.bmp"
3,1,1:"picnic1 1.bmp","picnic1 0.bmp","picnic1 1.bmp","picnic1 0.bmp"
3,3,2:"garbage 0.bmp","garbage 1.bmp","garbage 2.bmp","garbage 3.bmp"
3,3,2:"garbage 1.bmp","garbage 2.bmp","garbage 3.bmp","garbage 0.bmp"
3,3,2:"garbage 2.bmp","garbage 3.bmp","garbage 0.bmp","garbage 1.bmp"
3,3,2:"garbage 3.bmp","garbage 0.bmp","garbage 1.bmp","garbage 2.bmp"

[huzman 445]

2 hours ago, catty-cb said:

I saved every article

Those are great ! Thanks catty-cb !

 

2 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

I know they are simple text files

yeah but many. Thanks corinamarie !

This forum is moving along very nicely !

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

I've played around in the Building Architect just a wee bit. I loaded the Tutorial House:

 

So then I painted it and added some detail stuff: