Long Time SC4 Player Confused About DLC. Please Help? :)

[IvoryL96 6]

Hello there everyone, I have been playing SC4 for many years now, and had no problem with creating various cities with the in-game buildings, and as of recent, I have been looking online for skylines and layouts which inspire me, and couldn't help but notice all these buildings I have never even seen before, most of which are apparently downloadable. I am brand new to this community, and no matter how old the game gets it will always be among my favorite, would someone kindly explain how to download this content? I am 21 but not tech savvy as far as DLC goes and would love to join all of you. Thank you all! 

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

Hiya and welcome to Simtropolis!

Let's start out with some questions so we can better tailor our answers to your set up.

1. What operating system are you using? (XP, Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 10, Mac, Linux, etc)
2. What version of the game do you have? (Disc or a digital version)
3. If digital version, which one? (GoG, Steam, Origin, etc.)

And then if you are using Windows as your OS (operating system) are you familiar with Windows File Explorer? (The one that shows all the Folders and Files.)

For the first test I like to get something simple that doesn't require any dependencies. (Dependencies are files you need in addition to something you download.) So, let's start with the very first file I got myself while I was still new and confuzzled about the whole custom content routine: Money Park 10.5

You will download that and un-zip it. Then take the folder it creates and place in your Plugins folder which is under SimCity 4 in your Documents. (It's this last part that might be the most trouble as it can vary depending on the above questions.) So, go thru these steps as best you can and let us know what part you understand and what part you don't.

Good luck.

[IvoryL96 6]

I have windows 8.1, on the disk version

 

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

And have you run the game recently? I ask because of this: Windows Update KB3086255 blocks SC4 from starting

[Propfam 2,315]

Yeah, SimCity 4 has official DLCs and the DLCs are some landmarks, updates, and BATs. I think, you've installed those (except for landmarks, which I don't know the link). If you want to download mods from SimCity 4 Devotion LEX (or LEX for short), you should register new account. Remember, SC4D account can't be used on LEX. Here's the mods that can change the game: https://sites.google.com/site/sc4modds/.

I forget to mention, PLEX isn't available on standalone site (simpeg.com) again. Now, PLEX is on this site (try to visit our Files section).

I hope this is help you. Thanks.

[IvoryL96 6]

CorinaMarie yes i have run the game recently, i changed the windows compatibility to run on previous versions for sc4,  lol that in itself took me like 2 days to figure out, as there was little posted for windows 8.1, i have succeeded in figuring out the process to download these plugins, however i encountered an issue with no audio in the game, which was never noticed until i started downloading these buildings.

[IvoryL96 6]

Thank you so much Chief ZDN!  i really appreciate the info!

 

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

9 minutes ago, IvoryL96 said:

i encountered an issue with no audio in the game, which was never noticed until i started downloading these buildings.

The two will be unrelated as downloading buildings won't cause the audio to go out. (Just saying since you already indicate it's a coincidence that you just noticed.) Anyhow, the first thing that comes to mind is if you have turned the audio off. Like did you set up some custom switches in the startup line? For me there is an icon on my desktop that looks like this:

If you right click on that and select properties you should see in the target line a minimum of: "C:\Games\SimCity 4\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" or something similar. The path will likely be different on Win 8.1, but the important part is what comes after that part in quotes. At a minimum you want a switch that looks like -CPUCount:1

What we want to check for is that you do not have this one: -audio:off

(In the mean time just hum for background music, and say "plop", "screech", and such for sound effects.)

[IvoryL96 6]

My Audio Is Back!! <3 thank you alll! you are all amazing! 

[IvoryL96 6]

One more question, with zip files do can i just drag it into plugins, or do must i open it and drag every individual item?

 

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

You want to unzip them first. Ideally they will create a folder with all the individual files inside and then you copy that folder into your plugins. As you obtain more and more custom content you'll prolly find that your plugins will become disorganized. Check out the Show us how you manage your plugins folder topic for some tips on that.

[APSMS 1,893]

If you are running the disk versions, have you patched your game with the official Maxis patches? Both patches are available both on this site as well as Sc4devotion.com, and a lot of mods require them to work properly, as Maxis addressed a number of hard-coded issues with the game in these patches. Notably the BAT patch (which will update your game to version 1.1.640) allows your game to display nightlights for custom made buildings (i.e. Pretty much everything available on this site). It may also be worth noting that the power cheat 'fightthepower' won't actually provide power to custom buildings (plugins) and thus even with the patch installed you won't get nightlights on these buildings, if that happens to be important to you.

[BC Canuck 207]

I'll toot my own horn here.  Look up "CAROL'S LIST" in omnibus section under SC4 Tutorials.  Sorry can' t give you the link as I am on my iPad and can't seem to make it work .    This contains a bunch of suggestions of what you might be interested in having in regards to custom content and where to find it (A number of people contributed to this list).  Plus other tutorials you may find helpful.

Have fun discovering new custom content.

Cori Edit: I made it a direct linky for you.

 

[rsc204 21,869]

15 hours ago, IvoryL96 said:

One more question, with zip files do can i just drag it into plugins, or do must i open it and drag every individual item?

.zip files aren't really compatible with the game in this sense. They are used to compress or reduce the size of the download. Therefore they must always be de-compressed before using them. This can be accomplished in Windows by right clicking the file and selecting the option with Extract in it from the menu.