Got a quick SC4 question?... Ask here!

[rsc204 21,808]

Generally speaking there isn't a compelling reason to install things like this, since the graphics for SC4 hold up real well today and the game can be made to support 4k resolutions and beyond.

What is more important is ensuring you get DirectX working with SC4, some tweaks in the 3D Control Panel can also help sharpen things up like forced AA.

[olibram 2]

59 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

Generally speaking there isn't a compelling reason to install things like this, since the graphics for SC4 hold up real well today and the game can be made to support 4k resolutions and beyond.

What is more important is ensuring you get DirectX working with SC4, some tweaks in the 3D Control Panel can also help sharpen things up like forced AA.

Thanks for the reply. Can you please point me in the right direction to setting up Direct X and this 3D control panel?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

1 hour ago, olibram said:

Thanks for the reply. Can you please point me in the right direction to setting up Direct X and this 3D control panel?

I made these tutorials on how to configure SimCity 4. Unfortunately due to lack of time I was only able to create tutorials in Italian language but there are subtitles and video description in English language. (Hopefully the English language tutorial will be available by the end of January)

 

 

[olibram 2]

3 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

I made these tutorials on how to configure SimCity 4. Unfortunately due to lack of time I was only able to create tutorials in Italian language but there are subtitles and video description in English language. (Hopefully the English language tutorial will be available by the end of January)

 

 

Thank you so much!!!

[carlosmarcelo 975]

Hi guys! Is there a mod to extend range of the water pipes and power lines?  

 

[simster007 370]

see my next post

 

[simster007 370]

33 minutes ago, carlosmarcelo said:

Hi guys! Is there a mod to extend range of the water pipes and power lines?  

this pack contains a pipe extender, working well:

 

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/22255-rcimulti-modpack-for-sc4-deluxrushhour/

[carlosmarcelo 975]

58 minutes ago, simster007 said:

this pack contains a pipe extender, working well:

 

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/22255-rcimulti-modpack-for-sc4-deluxrushhour/

Thank you! 

[kaimai 1,042]

So, long story short, I switched to the Windows version of SC4 for a bit in order to "play" the game the way I would have preferred to, i.e., by using the BuildingPlop cheat to place every building individually. (I guess this only makes pure eyecandy nonfunctional cities, but that doesn't bother me.) Turns out the BuildingPlop menu is... kind of a mess.

Is there a way to clean the menu up? Specifically, if I open every affected building in Reader, can I change their display names to reflect what they actually are, and if so, which property should be edited? (I might want to do this anyway just to sort buildings by author, but that's probably rather tedious with hundreds of them to go through.)

Alternatively, is there a better way to turn the game into a sandbox?

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

10 hours ago, kaimai said:

So, long story short, I switched to the Windows version of SC4 for a bit in order to "play" the game the way I would have preferred to, i.e., by using the BuildingPlop cheat to place every building individually. (I guess this only makes pure eyecandy nonfunctional cities, but that doesn't bother me.) Turns out the BuildingPlop menu is... kind of a mess.

Is there a way to clean the menu up? Specifically, if I open every affected building in Reader, can I change their display names to reflect what they actually are, and if so, which property should be edited? (I might want to do this anyway just to sort buildings by author, but that's probably rather tedious with hundreds of them to go through.)

Alternatively, is there a better way to turn the game into a sandbox?

Try the other cheat for plopping buildings (LotPlop). The names make more sense when using this one.

Alternatively, you can simply turn all buildings into ploppables through Pim-X or Lot Editor but I imagine this might take longer than the current age of the Universe.

[kaimai 1,042]

LotPlop has two downsides: 1) the menu often takes a while to load and 2) it doesn't save your place in the list, so if you're trying to e.g. plop multiple buildings from the same family you have to scroll back through the list until you find it again. It's a reasonably good idea though.

Turning buildings into ploppables isn't really feasible either bc trying to open my landmark or parks menus sometimes crashes the game (at least when trying to run the windows version on a mac) and invariably takes a long time to load. I'm fine with long loading times of several minutes for a city tile bc I'm not going to get anything better, but once actually in game, it's quite annoying to have to wait for things lol.

[vxt22 8]

Noob Question:

I want to restrict the tilesets for some but not all of CP's 19th Century houses. CP's work is brilliantly lotted, with multiple models mixed on each lot.

What happens if I play on, say, the Chicago tileset, and some but not all of the buildings on a particular lot are allowed on that set?

Does it always grow if he used a blank building as the main building, and his models as props?

Does it not grow if even one of the buildings as props is not allowed? That can't be right...

Does it only not grow if the restricted building exemplar is the one being used as a non-blank main building?

Forgive me if I wrote this in a confusing manner... I'm on the current edge of my understanding here.

Thank you very much!

[matias93 7,535]

2 hours ago, vxt22 said:

Noob Question:

I want to restrict the tilesets for some but not all of CP's 19th Century houses. CP's work is brilliantly lotted, with multiple models mixed on each lot.

What happens if I play on, say, the Chicago tileset, and some but not all of the buildings on a particular lot are allowed on that set?

Does it always grow if he used a blank building as the main building, and his models as props?

Does it not grow if even one of the buildings as props is not allowed? That can't be right...

Does it only not grow if the restricted building exemplar is the one being used as a non-blank main building?

Forgive me if I wrote this in a confusing manner... I'm on the current edge of my understanding here.

Thank you very much!

The tileset property is applied to the lot, not the building, so in the case of CP's lots with building families (that's how the multiple model thing is called), you wouldn't be able to do it. You could try to make many copies of the lot, each one with a single version of the building, and assign a different value to the tileset in each of them. It's time consuming, but very much doable.

[vxt22 8]

3 minutes ago, matias93 said:

The tileset property is applied to the lot, not the building, so in the case of CP's lots with building families (that's how the multiple model thing is called), you wouldn't be able to do it. You could try to make many copies of the lot, each one with a single version of the building, and assign a different value to the tileset in each of them. It's time consuming, but very much doable.

If I understand correctly then, a building exemplar gives its tileset to any lot that uses it as the main building. Correct?

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

Myth debunkers, I summon thee.

At some point I heard that plazas are necessary for the commercial zones to develop better.

Is there indeed something "magical" about the plazas that they help businesses to develop? Or is it just a regular beautification item?

[rsc204 21,808]

Parks have a Park Effect which helps Res/I-HT by making the areas more desirable which this effect covers. Plazas include a Landmark effect, which similarly increases the desirability for COM. In fact many of the Parks/Recreation lots boost both properties, so make the area more desirable overall, but for example Plazas give a much higher boost to Com than Res, whilst the parks are much more weighted towards Res/I-HT. There is a list of the values on page 227 of the Prima Guide if you have access to a copy.

To get the highest wealth types, often such desirability boosts are necessary, but remember certain in-game rewards have similar benefits too. Not forgetting that both provide additional  Cap Relief to keep your city growing.

[matias93 7,535]

Keep in mind too that many custom-made plazas are actually modded as parks, and as such, they help more with the residential demand than the commercial one.

[philforhockey51 4,211]

Does someone know what kind of props are in Romualdillo props vol 1?  It's a currently unavailable LEX dependency, used for some small residential lots. I'm more wondering if it's like some flower beds and patio furniture or are we talking like full sheds? or if the actual dat file had a different name that I might be able to use to search my old stored files

[CaptCity 4,752]

4 hours ago, philforhockey51 said:

Does someone know what kind of props are in Romualdillo props vol 1?  It's a currently unavailable LEX dependency, used for some small residential lots. I'm more wondering if it's like some flower beds and patio furniture or are we talking like full sheds? or if the actual dat file had a different name that I might be able to use to search my old stored files

This is what the Reame indicates is in the files:

Spoiler

This prop pack includes all the necessary items for my first residential set, including:

* House props

* Wall props

* Backyard props (mostly semi-seasonal)

* Street Props

I got MandelSoft's permission to use his great light cones in my streetlights, which are included.

This set is inspired in the Spanish architecture from 1800's to 1920's.

The names of the files are:

• Rom_PropFamilyCohortFiles
• Romualdillo_Props_VOL01

 

[JulioC 2,580]

19 hours ago, philforhockey51 said:

Does someone know what kind of props are in Romualdillo props vol 1?  It's a currently unavailable LEX dependency, used for some small residential lots. I'm more wondering if it's like some flower beds and patio furniture or are we talking like full sheds? or if the actual dat file had a different name that I might be able to use to search my old stored files

I was browsing a BAT thread and found this post and it reminded of your question:

 

I don't know if it helps you or if CaptCity was enough, but its cost nothing from me to try to help 

[philforhockey51 4,211]

Both helped, and I thank you both, it's as I was thinking but wasn't sure which props exactly. Nice find with the image. Those are some really nice looking props

[Membrillo 56]

I am tinkering with the filling degree of the Cambridge Townhomes by Homefryes. I was first shocked by the values, then realized the lots have multiple buildings as props (is that the correct terminology?). Still, 462 sims in 8 relatively small buildings is a bit too much to me. Now, no matter what value I use: 0.5, 0.1, 1, even 5, damn even 10!; the stage of the lots never changes. Capacities change from "realistic" to "physics defying", but the growth stage remains always the same. Is this a normal behaviour? Other lots change stage as expected.

[rsc204 21,808]

Your basic problem is that PIM-X determines these values from a combination of the size of the model itself, the filling degree and the size of the lot (to determine GS).

In PIM-X you need to edit the property for the Occupant Size, before you recalculate the stats. This is to account for the fact that there will be more than one of the buildings on the lot. Likewise this is necessary where an invisible building is used and the ‘buildings’ are actually Props. So if the width was X and a lot contained 8 of them (buildings), make the width 8xX. Now when you calculate the values it will consider the true space of usable space for the lot. DO NOT FORGET to revert the Occupant Size to its original value afterwards. Failing to do so could cause a number of issues like the immortal lot syndrome. Note that Occupant Size is the value used to determine the size of the model, PIM-X doesn’t check the model itself. Since it’s editable and there can be good reasons for doing so, it’s a good thing to be aware of. 

[Membrillo 56]

18 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

Failing to do so could cause a number of issues like the immortal lot syndrome. 

The more I learn, the more I ask to myself if I should be doing anything

Thanks for the reply. I have taken note of it. Although, in this case it did nothing. Multiplying the width (only the width?*) didn't make the growth stage to vary, even with extremes FD values.

*I just multiplied everything by 5 and... Nothing. The stage refuses to change. Maybe I can live without Cambridge houses. Or take them as they are, I'm sure the modders knew more than me (not a hard achievement ).

[rsc204 21,808]

Go into the lot, are ALL the ‘buildings’ Props? There must be a model that is the Building, is this an invisible object? Another way to check with the Buildings Exemplar open, look for a preview of a model in the bottom left. If this looks blank, that’s probably your issue there.

Send me a link to the files in question and I’ll take a look at them for you. 

[Membrillo 56]

It seems like they are indeed props, but visibles.

I fell a bit embarrased wasting your time with all this, which is not important at all. I could live with the lots as they are now, or with a bit less capacity within the same stages (I guess I could change the stage with reader afterwards*). Although, the truth is that I am a bit curious about it.

https://sc4evermore.com/index.php/downloads/download/11-residential/107-cambridge-townhomes-by-homefryes

*Actually, I just did that. I opened a lot file in Reader, changed the stage (even without actually changing the number) and then PIMX changes the stage of the lots. It is weird, because I modified the stage of the 8.2 lot file (didn´t really, I just wrote the same value, apply, then save), then changed the filling degree of the 303 building, and PIMX changed the stage not only in the 8.2 lot, but also the 8.1 lot, which I didn´t touch in reader

 

[rsc204 21,808]

So I had a quick poke around and so far as I can tell it appears that the creator used the PIM-X filling degree to account for the additional 'Prop' houses. For example there is one lot with 8 of them upon it and the related Buildings Exemplar uses a factor of 4. So this assumes that the actual building takes up .5 or half of the bounding box, but revised up to 4 or 8 times the value of a single home. Just speculation, but perhaps indeed they they just manually added the growth stages. The way PIM-X sees things, the lot is quite large, so even if it has a decent number of sims, it's still not particularly dense, i.e. a low growth stage. Stage 8 Maxis lots can have thousands of sims in a 3x3 zone by comparison. Using the example above, which is a 6x6 lot, it's 4 times the size but contains a fraction of the number of occupants.

It seems like one of those odd situations where balanced values are hard to achieve automatically. That said, I should think Growth Stage 3 or 4 was probably about right for these lots. Given that with 460 sims on a 6x6 lot, that's approx 13 sims per tile or 16m squared. So it would lean towards a low growth stage naturally, if anything I think they've been pushed into higher stages incorrectly.

23 hours ago, Membrillo said:

Still, 462 sims in 8 relatively small buildings is a bit too much to me.

Re-reading this and looking at the modding, I now feel you're perhaps failing to consider how the game works. Actually it's kinda on the money, most Maxis buildings will feel similarly over-populated, but that's because these values were not intended to match the real world. Instead, these values are the ones that allowed the game to play the best and achieve realistic city/region populations. Take one of the small Maxis houses which could fit on a single tile, one random example has 11 residents. Now there are not many families where 11 folks would live in a small house like this, typically it would be 4-5 people tops. There are many other examples where these numbers seem out of whack and consistently high, but it was done for game play reasons. These houses are quite a bit larger, so in game terms will have even more residents. Yes, almost 50 folks per house isn't realistic, but it probably plays better with the game.

What's really important is that the residents are neither too low nor too high, both of which can lead to issues. Too many sims and it might grow like weeds everywhere, too few and it might never grow or only occasionally. A better guide of whether something is well modded in this respect is how it grows in game, if you aren't having problems there, perhaps these numbers are better kept as-is. Before going any further I'd ask yourself how well these are working in game, because if they are not unbalanced, they may be better left as is.

[Membrillo 56]

10 hours ago, rsc204 said:

Re-reading this and looking at the modding, I now feel you're perhaps failing to consider how the game works. Actually it's kinda on the money, most Maxis buildings will feel similarly over-populated, but that's because these values were not intended to match the real world.

I was more worried about densities before (residential halver, doubles, quadruplers...), but not anymore. I still think Maxis had to have better options that wouldn't have clogged the traffic simultator so much, but that's another subject. What I meant is that it looks a bit too crowded, even for sims standards. Although 5 sims up or down won't break anything. My biggest issue with the capacities of these lots is that they are not consistent within them. The range vary from R$$22 per house in the lots with two houses, to R$$63 per house in the lots with 6 houses.

10 hours ago, rsc204 said:

Before going any further I'd ask yourself how well these are working in game, because if they are not unbalanced, they may be better left as is.

I couldn't say. I spend more time playing outside of the game, than inside

Thanks for all your help. And wish you the best for RTMTv4!!!

[carlosmarcelo 975]

Hi guys! 

How I can solve crime in megalots? 
I tried some things, some links, but the crime didn't disappeared:

https://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=Tutorial:Crime_Bug
https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/24092-airport-high-crime/
https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/74902-crime-on-large-lots/

Someone can help me? 

[rsc204 21,808]

The basic issue is because Police May be able to get to a lot, but if it’s large they won’t be able to access it fully. Check out my fix for the Police Stations here:

Any custom stations you have will require similar modifications and the Crime Doesn’t Pay mod is a pre-requisite too.