Commercial Buildings

[aciaKa 30]

Good Day Guys,

I love random placing commercial buildings like these below. But when the city runs abit for a while. It turns like all buildings look the same..

Like this... Below here are the commercial buildings I dont want to see.. is there anyway to stop having the same re building buildings... I like to see random and not all the same in a row...

btw I am using a plop mod that allows to force $$ to build the city.

[markussaage 762]

Hi,

first let me ask you this: do you play the Vanilla version of SimCity 4 or with the Rush Hour Addon / Deluxe version? And do you have any additional buildings downloaded from here or other SC4 sites? Those buildings you see are the INGAME commercial buildings, and if there are no other (downloaded) buildings available the simulator is looking for to satisfy your demand of buildings, then the same buildings will appear over and over and over and... you'll get it...  So, if you don't have any additinal buildings in your
\Your UserName\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins folder (assuming, that you use a newer Windows OS like Windows 7), than the answer is NO!
You'll see those buildings a lot as long as you don't give the game simulator different buildings to chose from...

Kind regards!

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

And especially when you force building, then the planner could be cornered because there's nothing that really should be built, so you may get the one thing that is "least wrong", and you'll get it again and again and...

You'd probably be better off if you removed the force-mod and instead developed the drivers for commercial development (plazas, green parks, airport, landmarks, large regional population...)

Do some searches and let us know what you discover.

[aciaKa 30]

17 hours ago, markussaage said:

first let me ask you this: do you play the Vanilla version of SimCity 4 or with the Rush Hour Addon / Deluxe version? And do you have any additional buildings downloaded from here or other SC4 sites? Those buildings you see are the INGAME commercial buildings, and if there are no other (downloaded) buildings available the simulator is looking for to satisfy your demand of buildings, then the same buildings will appear over and over and over and... you'll get it...  So, if you don't have any additinal buildings in your
\Your UserName\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins folder (assuming, that you use a newer Windows OS like Windows 7), than the answer is NO!
You'll see those buildings a lot as long as you don't give the game simulator different buildings to chose from...

vanilla.. which is the normal SimCity 4.. i dont have commercial mod buildings from here or any sc4 site. Wanted to get commercial buildings mod but i dont think i've seen the nice ones for me.

15 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

And especially when you force building, then the planner could be cornered because there's nothing that really should be built, so you may get the one thing that is "least wrong", and you'll get it again and again and...

You'd probably be better off if you removed the force-mod and instead developed the drivers for commercial development (plazas, green parks, airport, landmarks, large regional population...)

Do some searches and let us know what you discover.

The only way I know is to press the building with the Query the ? button icon and make the historical.. but it's quite tiring doing 1 by 1

[markussaage 762]

18 minutes ago, aciaKa said:

vanilla.. which is the normal SimCity 4.. i dont have commercial mod buildings from here or any sc4 site. Wanted to get commercial buildings mod but i dont think i've seen the nice ones for me.

The only way I know is to press the building with the Query the ? button icon and make the historical.. but it's quite tiring doing 1 by 1

Vanilla, yep, that's why you're going to see the same buildings over and over again after a while... and yes, the only way to prevent buildings from upgrading is to query them and mak them as "Historical". A hassle...
I can't believe, that you didn't find any buildings with all the creations available here... Such high standards?!

Kind regards!

[aciaKa 30]

3 minutes ago, markussaage said:

Vanilla, yep, that's why you're going to see the same buildings over and over again after a while... and yes, the only way to prevent buildings from upgrading is to query them and mak them as "Historical". A hassle...
I can't believe, that you didn't find any buildings with all the creations available here... Such high standards?!

Kind regards!

probably should take a look around in commercial buildings mod...  thanks tho!

regards,

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

2 minutes ago, aciaKa said:

probably should take a look around in commercial buildings mod...

When I found dk1's content I downloaded every one of them cause they are modeled with similar quality to the original Maxis buildings and they have no dependencies so I found them quite easy to get up and running with. Note: There are much higher quality buildings on the STEX, but dk1's are a nice, quick way to get extra stuff with minimal effort.

[markussaage 762]

5 minutes ago, aciaKa said:

probably should take a look around in commercial buildings mod...  thanks tho!

regards,

Well, it always depends on, what you're looking for and what kinda city theme you wanna create... Some building types are more available than others... But I am sure, with over 5500 lots available here there's something for you.

[aciaKa 30]

24 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

When I found dk1's content I downloaded every one of them cause they are modeled with similar quality to the original Maxis buildings and they have no dependencies so I found them quite easy to get up and running with. Note: There are much higher quality buildings on the STEX, but dk1's are a nice, quick way to get extra stuff with minimal effort.

I've viewed some of it. And it's quite simple. Maybe I should take a shot for commercial buildings.

24 minutes ago, markussaage said:

Well, it always depends on, what you're looking for and what kinda city theme you wanna create... Some building types are more available than others... But I am sure, with over 5500 lots available here there's something for you.

To be honest, I like simple building, low buildings. I'm not a fan of tall buildings. Kinda hate them cause you cant see what's behide it(I know i can rotate). I avoid lots or and mods that has a lots of dependencies. Because I could mess my Plugins folder and get confused with the mods. Used to messed up my plugin folder and I couldn't start my game and boxes starts to appear, from there I didnt know which causes it to appear. That was 3-4 years ago I believe.

 

What CorinaMarie mention or the ones in the link, I should probably try it.

Thanks once again

[markussaage 762]

7 hours ago, aciaKa said:

To be honest, I like simple building, low buildings. I'm not a fan of tall buildings.

Well, then I recommend you take a look at madhatter106's content... Right along your alley... Low and midrise buildings...

https://community.simtropolis.com/profile/207209-madhatter106/content/?type=downloads_file

Enjoy!

[madhatter106 3,931]

On ‎10‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 4:29 AM, CorinaMarie said:

When I found dk1's content I downloaded every one of them cause they are modeled with similar quality to the original Maxis buildings and they have no dependencies so I found them quite easy to get up and running with. Note: There are much higher quality buildings on the STEX, but dk1's are a nice, quick way to get extra stuff with minimal effort.

dk1's stuff is fantastic.  Get all of it.

[jabcool52 37]

33 minutes ago, madhatter106 said:

dk1's stuff is fantastic.  Get all of it.

I'm downloading all of it as soon as I get home!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Solid advice given here.

At some point, demand is so high that the game tends to use the buildings that offer the best job/footprint ratio for a given category/wealth/density - and since these are not many, you end up seeing all that annoying repetition. As you found out yourself, the problem aggravates as the city matures because zones slowly get overgrown by bigger buildings until the maximum (or optimum) is reached. Then, progress comes to a halt, and there you have your endlessly repeating rows of identical buildings.

The only in-game strategy to avoid this is a combination of the "Make historical" feature (to preserve smaller buildings and prevent them from being overgrown) and the trusty old bulldozer.

If you go for downloads to alleviate this particular repetition problem, i.e. low-rise to mid-rise commercial, then @dk1 and @madhatter106 are indeed your best options because they have made buildings that compete with Maxis' standard buildings, integrate pretty well into an unmodded game, and come without any external dependencies. It doesn't get much easier than that, and the quality is great as well.

If you don't mind a few dependencies, @jmyers2043 also has some nifty stuff, and of course you'll find some interesting items among @SimGoober's vaaaaaast portfolio, his "RLS Small Shops" being just one item that comes to mind.

However, I'd take it slowly and avoid extensive downloading sprees. Get a few items, give them a spin, check if they give what you need, rinse and repeat. It's not a bad idea to make a test folder for new downloads so you know what's currently under scrutiny - the ones you found to be good can then be moved into your regular plugins, the others can quickly be found to delete them.

If you start using plugins, some organisation cannot hurt, either: Think a bit about how you want to sort/organise your plugins. I always like to start with the question: "What if I want to remove something or check if I have it? Will I find it in my plugins?" If you go from there and think of a system that will allow you to answer this question with a confident "Yes, sure!", you're doing it right, no matter what means you employ to achieve this goal.

I'd also advise to keep the original files (including readme file and screenshots) somewhere on a backup drive. Comes in handy should you ever need to start over and helps if you need to identify something or read up on potentially missing dependencies. For those downloads that come with a choice of (mutually exclusive) options, it also allows you to go back and revert your choice easily.

The last two paragraphs are mostly advanced stuff that will show its usefulness only later when you dig deeper into downloads (should you decide to do so). However, it cannot hurt to bear it in mind right from the start, because otherwise you may just find yourself at a point where you wish you had considered it right from the start, but now it's too late.

[madhatter106 3,931]

Yeah, after the download spree on dk1 stuff, float over to the LEX and get all of jmyers2043's stuff.  From what I recall, his farm and small residential stuff has the dependencies; the basic commercial packs are all dependency-free.  Plus they're all glorious BATs.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

One other consideration before diving into download mania: Decide whether you want to use the CAM with its greater number of development stages. Some mods are made to fit into vanilla's lesser number of stages, and others are labeled "CAM-patible" or "CAM-elots" because they fit into CAM's scheme. Some of the developers mentioned above did many of their lots for CAM, so be sure you know what you're looking at and understand the effects when considering what to download.

There are whole discussions here and at SC4 Devotion about the meanings, pros & cons, and consequences of mixing. One of my favorite articles is still CAM: Separating Fact From Fiction by Tarkus.

[Similar considerations arise with IRM vs industrial downloads, SPAM vs Ag downloads etc.]

[huzman 445]

On 10/31/2017 at 12:29 PM, CorinaMarie said:

When I found dk1's content I downloaded...

Oh, This is Manna from Heaven...
Thanks a lot @CorinaMarie and @dk1.

[blade2k5 1,523]

On 11/3/2017 at 6:49 AM, T Wrecks said:

If you start using plugins, some organisation cannot hurt, either: Think a bit about how you want to sort/organise your plugins. I always like to start with the question: "What if I want to remove something or check if I have it? Will I find it in my plugins?" If you go from there and think of a system that will allow you to answer this question with a confident "Yes, sure!", you're doing it right, no matter what means you employ to achieve this goal.

Very good advice there T.  When I first signed up for SimTrop over 12 years ago, all I did was install all the plugins I downloaded without much regard for organization.  It was only later that I realized when I wanted to get rid of a certain plugin, I couldn't find it in the thousands of files in my plugin folder.  Since I kept all of the original zip files I downloaded, I cleared out my plugins folder and re-installed everything, by breaking it down by type, ie commercial towers, transportation, civic, parks and so on.  I also made sure each plugin was in it's own folder inside the maker's named folder like SimGoober with all his stuff inside that folder in their individual folders.  Made finding things rather easy.  Best way to do it if you have 7gb+ worth of plugins.