Stop! You're driving on the wrong side of the road!

[dazza262 133]

Hi All,

I have a little problem that I hope you may be able to help with.

First off, I live in the UK (that's not the problem, by the way), and as such I drive on the left hand side of the road, or the correct side, as we call it 

Now, I've recently got back into SC4 again, after a few years away. I always used to play it from the disk, and I'm pretty sure that it used to auto-detect what country you were in, and the Sims would then drive accordingly (I'm not 100% sure, but I am getting on a bit now, and my memory isn't what it used be ).

Anyhoo, I have now downloaded SC4 deluxe from Steam, started loading up some of my favourite Mods and custom content, and things were going swimmingly. Until one day recently, when I decided just to have a quick look at how my Sims were getting on the with the road system that I was building for them, and to my horror, found them driving on the RIGHT HAND SIDE of the road!

I use SC4 Launcher, and thought there might be some settings there, but I couldn't see anything obvious. So now I'm thinking I might have installed the NAM incorrectly, but really I'd only be guessing.

As you can probably tell, I don't really understand all the game mechanics and all the other new-fangled computery stuff. I'm just a middle-aged bloke who enjoys playing SimCity, and wants his Sims to drive on the bloody LEFT!

Any help will be much appreciated 

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

It seems the driving side is tied to the Language. See: Tutorial:Switch Language and Driving Sides

(Scroll down to the first question in the FAQ before reading it all.)

See next post for a much better guide.

[rsc204 21,857]

I made a pretty comprehensive guide for switching the driving side of your game here:

Cori edit: The embedded linky is borked atm, click here instead: Alter the driving side (LHD-RHD / RHD-LHD) of SC4/NAM

I think the problem comes from the change of using the Steam version, rather than allowing you to select a locale, it's basically just the US English version you get by default. Since LHD was tied to the "UK English" option, it defaults to RHD, but you can alter that without too much fuss. Just make sure if you are a NAM user you re-install the NAM and verify it too is installed for LHD use, otherwise you may run into troubles. Bear in mind, LHD in the SC4 world means driving on the left, so a UK-Style system is LHD, not RHD as you might refer to it as a driver, confusing I know.

[markussaage 762]

54 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

It seems the driving side is tied to the Language.

As a matter of fact, it does. But the thing here is, that only the European Version of SimCity 4 comes with the UK English language (and lots of other different languages), which supports then the LEFT hand side of the road, which, of course is the WRONG side...
You didn't purchase the US version of SimCity 4, did you?! In this version there is US English only available and I don't know, if and how you can change the driving side of the road at all.

@rsc204 beat me already... never mind my comment here...

 

Kind regards!

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

1 minute ago, markussaage said:

I don't know, if and how you can change the driving side of the road at all.

I haven't read @rsc204's guide (since I like my Sims driving on the Right side), but rest assured it'll be thorough.

[markussaage 762]

Just now, CorinaMarie said:

I haven't read @rsc204's guide (since I like my Sims driving on the Right side), but rest assured it'll be thorough.

Me neither... like the right side, too...

[Prophet42 1,503]

I like the right too.  Right is right.  Left is...well, not right.  (JK)

[dazza262 133]

Hi again,

First off, thank you for the replies, it is always appreciated.

Now, an update as to where I am with this problem.

First I tried to follow rsc204's guide. As I mentioned, I have the Steam version, and I do not seem to have the 'ukenglsh' folder (or any of the other locale folders) in the install folder, so I didn't get very far with that. 

So next I decided to switch language using Registry Editor, which I did ok. Then I uninstalled and re-installed NAM, making sure to check the LHD traffic option, so far, so good.

I fired up the game, started a new city, laid a stretch of avenue, zoned some Res and Com, and waited for the Sims to make their way to work. Which they duly did, driving on the RIGHT HAND SIDE of the road  

I'm at a bit of a loss with this now. It seems that the Steam version is not going to let me switch driving sides, unless someone knows differently.

I know it's not the end of the world, but as we all know, left is right and right is......wrong 

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

1 minute ago, dazza262 said:

I do not seem to have the 'ukenglsh' folder

While I haven't read @rsc204's guide I did briefly peruse the other one I linked to originally. It seems it said something about creating that folder manually and then copying some locale.dat file from regular English into said new folder. (Along with the registry editing.)

I know Robin is extremely thorough when he creates a guide. Are you sure you didn't miss a step?

[dazza262 133]

This is what it says :

Find the install directory, where you should have a subfolder "English". Make a copy of this folder, then rename it to "UKEnglsh".
Note: there is no typo here, you need to omit the "i" in English.

I don't have a subfolder "English" 

The folders I do have are named - Apps, EULA, Fonts, Plugins, Radio, Readme, Regions, Sku_Data, and Support.

 

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

Hmm. Can you use your Windoze File Explorer to search your whole hard drive looking for: SimCityLocale.DAT

If you find that wherever it is, maybe try putting that in the UKEnglsh sub folder you are to create?

[rsc204 21,857]

2 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

I know Robin is extremely thorough when he creates a guide. Are you sure you didn't miss a step?

I try to be, but adapting the instructions for Steam/Origin versions is a bit opaque, not least because I don't have access to them. Both versions are modified from the standard way of working sadly, which is a PITA.

To shed some more light onto how this works, basically the file SimCityLocale.DAT just contains text strings that have been localised. But since Steam don't offer these additional languages, it may have been altered not to use them. Then again, that seems improbable because it's doubtful they would have been able to modify the source code much. The key here is finding where this file is presently, once we know where it is, hopefully we can re-route it. Neither the registry change nor the command line switch will work by itself, the game needs to find the additional or altered language file (even though it's only text) in the expected location before it will switch driving sides. Indeed, based on this post:

It seems the location of the files is just different. Let me know if that works and I'll update the tutorial. Because most people on Steam forums never seemed to find an answer.

[dazza262 133]

I'm sorry to report that I've still not had any joy with this.

It seems that the last link you posted there was for Mac users, so I couldn't really use that info.

Here's where I am at the moment. I used the RegEditor to change the language to UK English. Next I located the SimCityLocale.DAT file in the SimCity folder within Steam Apps. Then, because I didn't have one, I manually created a folder and named it "UKEnglsh" into which I put said file.

Next, I right-clicked on my SC4 desktop shortcut and went to properties, and added "-l:"English" after SimCity 4 Deluxe in the header, as highlighted below.

Finally, I ran the NAM installer again, checking the LHD box, and crossed my fingers 

I fired up the game, and with bated breath checked the traffic, but it was all to no avail. Not only that, this also happened ;

I'm obviously not doing something correctly, or am missing something, I just don't know what, and it is getting a little frustrating now.

 

[markussaage 762]

2 hours ago, dazza262 said:

 

 

 

Are you sure, that you are using the right shortcut here? Because under your highlighted section in "Type of file" is says: Internet Shortcut (.url). That's different to my shortcut I use to start the game, it says "Application".
It looks to me, that something is seriously wrong with your installation, because of your missing LTEXTs from the advisors in the next picture. I had this a long time ago, when I had some problems with custom made Reward lots. But this here looks like an ingame message from the transportation advisor. Do you have any downloaded plugins in your plugins folder?!
I recommend to take all custom stuff out (if there's any of course) and start with the plain game to fix your right hand/ left hand problem first.

And I still don't believe, that you can get the US Version of Steam to work with the UK English language. For what I know, that Amazon in Germany sells a Digital version of the game, that comes with German language of course, and if this version is like the old CD version, it also has UK English (Left hand drive) in it.

Kind regards!

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

I've been trying to find a thread where @A Nonny Moose and someone were talking about the Steam version.  The other person set up their launch option to execute the game directly rather than via the .url  option.

I did find this which may or may not help:

On 7/5/2015 at 10:41 PM, rsc204 said:

Note: for Steam versions open the Steam Client find Sim City 4, right mouse click and select properties, here you can find an option "Set Launch Options" where you can enter the switch. Note also that the default install location for SC4 is within the Steam Folder in Program Files (x86). Note the orange part is only for users of 64-Bit operating systems.

^ This was in reference to the language switch.

[rsc204 21,857]

16 hours ago, dazza262 said:

Next, I right-clicked on my SC4 desktop shortcut and went to properties, and added "-l:"English" after SimCity 4 Deluxe in the header, as highlighted below.

I think there is the problem, "English" is American English or RHD, you need to use -l:"UK English" for LHD. If it's frustrating, that's all Steam's fault, the GoG version simply comes with an application/utility that switches between many languages. Steam just didn't care enough to provide you with the options.

[dazza262 133]

HOORAY! Good news everybody. my sims are now driving on the left (correct ) side of the road.

I made a new shortcut and added -l:"UK English", as rsc204  said, and that did the trick 

And just to let you know markussaage, the text problem I was having was because the game was looking for the SimCityLocale.DAT file, not because of any custom content. But thanks for the suggestions anyway.

So, just to recap for any Steam users:

In C/Program Files(x86)/Steam/SteamApps/Common/SimCity 4 Deluxe you will find a file called "SimCityLocale.DAT". You need to create a new folder and name it "UKEnglsh" and put that file inside that folder. Then, if you don't have one already, create a desktop shortcut of SC4. Right-click on it and select properties. Add -l:"UK English to the end of the target line and click ok. And then your sims should drive on the right (left) hand side of the road 

Thank you so much everybody for taking the time to help an old git like me, it is much appreciated 

Now if my sims ever disobey me and besmirch my name again, I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger.....oh no wait, hang on........