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

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

19 minutes ago, KillrChicken said:

I have a Voodoo 2 addon accelerator which is connected to my GeForce FX 5500. I have a 1.4GHz Pentium 4, will be upgrading to a 2.8Ghz. And yes, I have a patch that makes win98se be able to see 4GB DRAM and a patch that makes the OS see 2TB partition. But yea, I mainly use this machine with my SB AWE32, SBAWE64 Gold, a TerraTec DMX Classic, and an SB PCI 128. I plan to build a beastly 19-slot industrial ISA/PCI setup for Win98se with 2G ram and a 3.2Ghz Petium 4.

If you plan to play SC4 with many mods and also with Multiplayer support then the specifications are completely wrong. 

Currently the recommended specifications of SC4 to play with mods are as follows:

1. have an SSD (Better an NVMe SSD)
2. 8 GB of RAM
3. 64 Bit CPU
4. Fast GPU

[QuantumChicken 82]

1 minute ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

If you plan to play SC4 with many mods and also with Multiplayer support then the specifications are completely wrong. 

Currently the recommended specifications of SC4 to play with mods are as follows:

1. have an SSD (Better an NVMe SSD)
2. 8 GB of RAM
3. 64 Bit CPU
4. Fast GPU

I actually have ~2000 modifiers and loads just fine in WIn98se. It has an SSD already.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

Just now, KillrChicken said:

I actually have ~2000 modifiers and loads just fine in WIn98se. It has an SSD already.

Yes, but to be able to run Full NAM you need 8GB RAM. If you don't have them then you can't use RHW and then install NAM LIte or NAM without RHW.  Same thing with multipalyer support that requires 8 GB of RAM.  Then there are the HD mods that require fast GPUs. If you use OpenGL (For the moment) and Software Rendering then you will have CTD

[QuantumChicken 82]

1 minute ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

Yes, but to be able to run Full NAM you need 8GB RAM. If you don't have them then you can't use RHW and then install NAM LIte or NAM without RHW.  Same thing with multipalyer support that requires 8 GB of RAM.  Then there are the HD mods that require fast GPUs. If you use OpenGL (For the moment) and Software Rendering then you will have CTD

My question is how can a 32-bit program use more than 3.99GB of memory? The 8GB makes no sense.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

1 minute ago, KillrChicken said:

My question is how can a 32-bit program use more than 3.99GB of memory? The 8GB makes no sense.

32-bit applications have a limited use of 2GB RAM because 32-bit CPUs are limited to 4GB of RAM where 2GB are reserved for OS and the rest for various programs. In 64 BIt systems you can use Large Address Aware (LAA) which allows 32-bit applications to use 4GB of RAM. To do this, however, it requires that there is 8 GB of RAM as it is necessary to guarantee RAM to the OS. For this reason 8 GB of RAM is recommended

[QuantumChicken 82]

1 minute ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

32-bit applications have a limited use of 2GB RAM because 32-bit CPUs are limited to 4GB of RAM where 2GB are reserved for OS and the rest for various programs. In 64 BIt systems you can use Large Address Aware (LAA) which allows 32-bit applications to use 4GB of RAM. To do this, however, it requires that there is 8 GB of RAM as it is necessary to guarantee RAM to the OS. For this reason 8 GB of RAM is recommended

Ah, that makes sense, thank you for clarifying it. What I remember from 32-bit server OSs is they had a kernel multistack so the DRAM could be like 16-32-64-128GB depending on which OS was used.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

3 minutes ago, KillrChicken said:

Ah, that makes sense, thank you for clarifying it. What I remember from 32-bit server OSs is they had a kernel multistack so the DRAM could be like 16-32-64-128GB depending on which OS was used.

Unfortunately SC4 is a very touchy program when it comes to memory spaces and the various I/O and CPU & GPU operations and so if you have SC4 with LAA Patch but on a 32 BIt OS & CPU then go to CTD because SC4 goes to occupy entirely 4 GB

[QuantumChicken 82]

1 minute ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

Unfortunately SC4 is a very touchy program when it comes to memory spaces and the various I/O and CPU & GPU operations and so if you have SC4 with LAA Patch but on a 32 BIt OS & CPU then go to CTD because SC4 goes to occupy entirely 4 GB

I don't actually have LAA installed because it is not needed on a dinosaur monolithic-dos kernel OS. To be honest, I was surprised that win98 could even load 2k addons in a 2GB memory space.

[TogaMasterJohn 705]

2 hours ago, KillrChicken said:

I have a Voodoo 2 addon accelerator which is connected to my GeForce FX 5500. I have a 1.4GHz Pentium 4, will be upgrading to a 2.8Ghz. And yes, I have a patch that makes win98se be able to see 4GB DRAM and a patch that makes the OS see 2TB partition. But yea, I mainly use this machine with my SB AWE32, SBAWE64 Gold, a TerraTec DMX Classic, and an SB PCI 128. I plan to build a beastly 19-slot industrial ISA/PCI setup for Win98se with 2G ram and a 3.2Ghz Petium 4.

For 2003, that would be a nice machine for SimCity 4 (especially when you go to upgrade the processor). Nice specs for the future build, too.  Long live the SBAWE64 Gold... I love that card! I would imagine that the game would run well, even with a PCI video card instead of an AGP video card.

Anyways, like Ulisse Wolf mentioned, the only downside of using an older machine with 4 GB or less is that you'll be limited to NAM without RHW or just NAM Lite.

Personally, however, while RHW is pretty cool (I love it), I don't mind not having RHW when I'm playing the game on an older machine (I play with NAM-no RHW and a lot of my favorite mods/content). It's still a lot of fun either way.

edit:  I play with HD mods (like terrain) just fine on older machines and laptops - it really depends on the system as to how well the game will perform.

[QuantumChicken 82]

8 minutes ago, TogaMasterJohn said:

For 2003, that would be a nice machine for SimCity 4 (especially when you go to upgrade the processor). Nice specs for the future build, too.  Long live the SBAWE64 Gold... I love that card! I would imagine that the game would run well, even with a PCI video card instead of an AGP video card.

Anyways, like Ulisse Wolf mentioned, the only downside of using an older machine with 4 GB or less is that you'll be limited to NAM without RHW or just NAM Lite.

Personally, however, while RHW is pretty cool (I love it), I don't mind not having RHW when I'm playing the game on an older machine (I play with NAM-no RHW and a lot of my favorite mods/content). It's still a lot of fun either way.

edit:  I play with HD mods (like terrain) just fine on older machines and laptops - it really depends on the system as to how well the game will perform.

My main sound card is the SB Extigy as it supports EAX and directsound 3d. Yea, I was lucky to get the AWE64 Gold for ~100CAD off ebay.With my franken 19-slot system, I also plan to get a Gravis Ultrasound PnP as my third ISA card, then the 12 PCI slots will be my nVidia, STB BlackMagic voodoo, a TerraTec DMX Classic, An SB PCI 128, an Audigy 1394, and TerraTec ESS Solo-1 PCI, A DMX Xfire 1024, an Aureal AU8820, an S3 Sonic Vibes, an Trident 4dwave, and a Guillemot Maxisound ISIS. The fun part will be allocating the IRQ sharing to all of those PCI cards.

[Sniffeh 121]

Does anyone know what's causing this? I first noticed it a while ago after installing a police car mod. It happened once, and I uninstalled the mod and installed another one, and it stopped, but now it's doing it again. It's doing this to all the parked police car models.

[Propfam 2,288]

How do I make a Michigan left, elegantly?

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

8 hours ago, elfrjz said:

How do I make a Michigan left, elegantly?

Well, first you have to make a Kansas City Flipperoo, stylishly!

[matias93 7,535]

On 9/22/2023 at 8:46 AM, elfrjz said:

How do I make a Michigan left, elegantly?

Wow, it's... non trivial, but it works:

It only requires the use of this REW Flex piece, though, the OWR-3 E1 ramp, which doubles perfectly as an inside and outside ramp:

You also need to use a OWR-1 starter when the left turning lane crosses with the OWR-2, to stabilise the crossing.

I also added slip lanes at the crossing to serve as right turn lanes, but I suspect there's a better way to do them.

Maybe the biggest inconvenience with this arrangement is that it's huge, using a 5 tile wide median, for a grand total of a 112 metres wide boulevard, without even counting the bulb at the external sides of it. I'm sure a much less elegant but still functional version could be contained entirely in the median of this same boulevard, but you would probably have to sacrifice the dedicated lanes.

[Propfam 2,288]

7 hours ago, matias93 said:

Wow, it's... non trivial, but it works:

It only requires the use of this REW Flex piece, though, the OWR-3 E1 ramp, which doubles perfectly as an inside and outside ramp:

You also need to use a OWR-1 starter when the left turning lane crosses with the OWR-2, to stabilise the crossing.

I also added slip lanes at the crossing to serve as right turn lanes, but I suspect there's a better way to do them.

Maybe the biggest inconvenience with this arrangement is that it's huge, using a 5 tile wide median, for a grand total of a 112 metres wide boulevard, without even counting the bulb at the external sides of it. I'm sure a much less elegant but still functional version could be contained entirely in the median of this same boulevard, but you would probably have to sacrifice the dedicated lanes.

By the way, can we just make it like a RRW U-turn? Is it a limitation on REW?

Will NAM add such left? I mean, this feature has been requested since 2005 and yet, we "only" get like SPUI and DDI instead.

[matias93 7,535]

1 hour ago, elfrjz said:

By the way, can we just make it like a RRW U-turn? Is it a limitation on REW?

Will NAM add such left? I mean, this feature has been requested since 2005 and yet, we "only" get like SPUI and DDI instead.

I'm not sure of what you're thinking of, but I'll make a guess. Does any of this options work for you?

And about the "when will the NAM", it's the same answer as ever: when they get the time (among all the other priorities, and only in their free time) and someone on the team has the specific knowledge to make it happen.

[Propfam 2,288]

30 minutes ago, matias93 said:

I'm not sure of what you're thinking of, but I'll make a guess. Does any of this options work for you?

And about the "when will the NAM", it's the same answer as ever: when they get the time (among all the other priorities, and only in their free time) and someone on the team has the specific knowledge to make it happen.

I'll try your suggestion. Thanks for the info, @matias93!

[JohanD 25]

My quick questions:
Are there mods to normalize the giant sims that walk around?

Are there mods replacing the sims? I want date it back to 1900.

[matias93 7,535]

23 hours ago, JohanD said:

My quick questions:
Are there mods to normalize the giant sims that walk around?

Are there mods replacing the sims? I want date it back to 1900.

None that I know, because IIRC those are animated props, that are very difficult to make. The size thing, though, is part of a larger scheme: all buildings in the game are overscaled, but specially so the smallest ones, because from the angles of view of the player, having them be their proportional sizes would make them look like squashed boxes. So, the sims have to be scaled accordingly, as they are mostly visible on high zoom views, where those small buildings are the main point of reference.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Fixing the sim's size is possible by using the model tweaker to shrink the size of the props. I had started doing this by going through the game's main .DAT files trying to find all of the pedestrians to copy them into a new file, but I gave up because there were so many models to go through.

[madhatter106 3,903]

On 9/22/2023 at 1:04 PM, SIM-ple Jack said:

Well, first you have to make a Kansas City Flipperoo, stylishly!

Is this anything like a Pittsburgh left?

[carlosmarcelo 975]

Hi guys! How many boats stations you can use in the same region? 

I know there is a limit, but i can´t remember this limit.

[matias93 7,535]

12 hours ago, carlosmarcelo said:

Hi guys! How many boats stations you can use in the same region? 

I know there is a limit, but i can´t remember this limit.

Ferry stations? 20 of them maximum on each city, but there's no regional cap, it depends on the number of cities on your region.

[Turnstyled 486]

Hello! I noticed this in my city.

I'm referring to the blank lot with signs bordering it. It shows up as Blank_CS$ when I query it. It provides jobs, and I'd be fine with it if it wasn't for the billboards that aren't attached to anything. Would anyone know what it is or what is causing it? Thank you so much.

Edit: It shows up as Blank_CS$, not CS_Blank$.

Edit 2: I found this wonderful resource on the good, old former SC4D forums. (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=907.0#msg24174)

I believe that it's probably HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs_3062bb31.SC4Lot by hdorriker.

Edit 3: Given that it provides 173 jobs, and that that matches up with what is listed in that SC4D thread, HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs_3062bb31.SC4Lot created this.

Please feel free to correct me if I got any concepts or terminology incorrect. Thank you again!

  Edited December 23, 2023 by Turnstyled  

[matias93 7,535]

On 12/23/2023 at 8:39 AM, Turnstyled said:

Hello! I noticed this in my city.

 

I'm referring to the blank lot with signs bordering it. It shows up as Blank_CS$ when I query it. It provides jobs, and I'd be fine with it if it wasn't for the billboards that aren't attached to anything. Would anyone know what it is or what is causing it? Thank you so much.

Edit: It shows up as Blank_CS$, not CS_Blank$.

Edit 2: I found this wonderful resource on the good, old former SC4D forums. (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=907.0#msg24174)

I believe that it's probably HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs_3062bb31.SC4Lot by hdorriker.

Edit 3: Given that it provides 173 jobs, and that that matches up with what is listed in that SC4D thread, HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs_3062bb31.SC4Lot created this.

Please feel free to correct me if I got any concepts or terminology incorrect. Thank you again!

I think I asked for that same lot like a year ago on the Can't Find It thread, I'll see if I can find the post now (lol)

[Turnstyled 486]

3 hours ago, matias93 said:

I think I asked for that same lot like a year ago on the Can't Find It thread, I'll see if I can find the post now (lol)

Within the "HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs" folder is the 43-kilobyte "HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs_3062bb31.SC4Lot" file and a 123-kilobyte file called "HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs" without a file extension. I don't know if the extensionless file played any part in the issue existing.

[CaptCity 4,753]

1 hour ago, Turnstyled said:

Within the "HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs" folder is the 43-kilobyte "HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs_3062bb31.SC4Lot" file and a 123-kilobyte file called "HDprops - Shipping Thingstuffs" without a file extension. I don't know if the extensionless file played any part in the issue existing.

Hi @Turnstyled

It looks like the file without the extension contains the props that appear in the image on the download. They do show up in LotEditor with just that file in play. Not sure why there's no extension. Someone asked in the comments, and HDoriker mentioned it was a .dat file. 

It appears the lot file is just a test lot to show the props being used. Some content makers did this to show the props and wasn't really intended to be used in the game. Given the age of this upload, it looks like it may have been made with the old 'blank' lot method. That's why it was listed on the blank lot syndrone list, and why it appears to pop up empty in the game (although, I'm not sure why the billboards would be appearing...).

Edit: Just noticed there was a volume 2 with the correct file extension and improved props.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

How shall I make a boat lot "floatable"?

I added a boat to an empty lot and tried to reproduce the settings that other boat lots have. However, my boat is actually sunk underwater instead of staying on it.  Any advice on which exemplar controls this?

[rsc204 21,808]

Honestly can't remember which exact property is needed, although I am sure it's in the LotConfig Exemplar. This is an example of a lot where the boats float correctly taken from this upload:

[olibram 2]

I'm new to downloading add-ons to my SimCity. Is there a recommended graphics/shader pack to improve the overall look of the game? Thanks in advance