Show us what you are working on in SimCity 3000!

[catty-cb 4,412]

6 hours ago, THijSCiTy said:

I dont care if it even needs 4 years to develop, but for now I feel very spirited and motivated to make a even awesomer city, catty-cb I hope your reading this, do you have more data about buildings besides sims per tile etc?

I look forward to seeing more posts from you, I volunteered to try and save as much as the old SC3000 community site as was possible and copy it over to Simtropolis, while there are still issues with links, etc all the SC3000 community technical documents are in the omnibus, quite a few of them have to do with transit networks.

Take a rummage thru the omnibus site map

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

18 hours ago, THijSCiTy said:

I exactly wanted to know how road access worked in the game, and then you think, duh, you build a road and that's it, but I want more, I have been busy experimenting which tiles needs to have a road to connect a 3x3 building to the transport system and seems buildings have a front side and back side.

After endless measuring I came to the conclusion that the front tile of the building is the building's "main tile" so the other 8 tiles do not really matter, if you build a road on any of the parks, the building will nolonger be abandoned due to lack of transportation to other zones.

Hello @THijSCiTy and welcome to the SC3000 team! It's nice to have you on board.

Yes, you are right - there is kind of front of each building in SC3000. As long as some portion of the building fits within the 4 tile limit (in case of residential) it will develop.

However, from my observations, buildings that are only partially covered by road areas are more likely to get abandoned due to poor transportation and parks themselves do not work as extensions for road ranges.

Do take a note that buildings can resist abandonment even if poorly connected. If, for example, you have a very high demand for residential, the demand for new apartments will outpace the rate at which people leave the city. The building will stay as long as R demand holds.

I recommend you take a look into STTraffic.ini file which can be found within sys.pak file (you will need the sc3kpak tool to fish it out). Look for TripMaxDistanceToRoadRes modifier and other like modifiers. You'll notice that there are no lines that would instruct the game to extend the road distance through parks (though it could be handy-dandy given how expensive the mid-park land is).

I'm sorry I can't offer a more amusing reply. It's just in the game files. Well... as a matter of fact, it's not...

P.S.: So you plan to build another optimal mega city? Damn... another six million souls for me to save... 

[THijSCiTy 141]

Oh, the parks were temporary placeholders to mark where roads had to be built, and the sc3kpak tool is top priority now. also the amount of nearby Industrial tiles seem to influence whether sims can get to work or not and I just found out another thing! seems that if you make a neighbor road connection, it seems to count as transportation to other city parts, what I mean to say is in the attached picture.
Maybe it was already known to others but to me it seems that a road connected to a neighbor city functions as transport hub, nearby industrial/commercial areas seem nolonger needed here, the residential area developed without needing any other zone type on the map, next up is investigating metro station with connection to neighbor

Edit metro connections to neighbors didn't work, only railroad and road connections do and it seems the simulator will erect a 3x3 residential building if you place a road corner near it, when it spawns I make it monumental and remove the road

 

[THijSCiTy 141]

Before I dive into the packer tool wanted to show a "ultimate" 1 road square connected road city block, all buildings are made monumental, I do see a small gab of 2 squares on the right though, but I will fill those in later with something useful

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

Great work @THijSCiTy. It looks like you have indeed discovered something new. 

This would proove that SimCity does simulate inter-city workforce traffic. Something that is taken for granted in SC4 and is also present in SC3K, albeit hidden

But since Sims do demand airports and docks... then why not?

Good experimenting. This may proove useful in my current project as well as it has to do with building large areas of city on the map's edges.

[THijSCiTy 141]

I hope this works well, also been looking at magnasanti and it uses rail/metro connections and not metro stations, I try to make the intercity region next to the border, so far it goes well edit: the trees and docks are just markers to make it easier to see where to build

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

6 minutes ago, THijSCiTy said:

it uses rail/metro connections and not metro stations

I dare to disagree - it does. 

Magnasanti does use subway stations and plenty of them. It's just that the distances and population are distributed so evenly that the actual usage disappeares into a rounding error.

If you are still unconvinced, try and bulldoze just a single subway station and see what happens next.  I have faced this problem in one of the "Saving Magnasanti" episodes. A station seems to have no passengers. Suddenly, it turns out thousands are late for work. 

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

Ok. I am motivated enough.  Time to show you my WIP. Let's roll.

Here's a city of Happsundborg. A Scandinavian - themed city I recently work on. It is located on the coast of an elongated bay. Just like most Scandinavian municipalities, Happsundborg considers sustainability and environment as its top priorities. In fact, there are some regulations in place that protect the natural beauty of the city. For example, it is not allowed to change the shape of the shoreline in any fashion.

The city currently has 130 000 citizens. Residential and commercial areas are build in rectangular "cells" which have parks or trees in the center. Commercial zones are, essentially, highly concentrated trade hubs adorned with a skyscraper or two:

Here's a close up of the Royal Palace along with the more affluent neighborhood:

And now, behold the pinnacle of engineering. The cross-city tunnel.  This is a special communication line which serves the population of the inner city while avoiding the noise and railway crossings that trains usually bring. As you can clearly see, the stations next to the railway are fully functional and keep commuters moving along:

Here is a screenshot with the entire length of the cross-city line highlighted.

As you can clearly see the city is developing nicely, but the citizens feel that this is just the start... There is one question that keeps the Sims of Happsundborg genuinely curious... Namely...

To be continued. 

[THijSCiTy 141]

wow man!! tunnels!!! you rock!!!! your are a great source of inspiration, need to know how to make tunnels, going to experiment!

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

1 hour ago, THijSCiTy said:

wow man!! tunnels!!! you rock!!!! your are a great source of inspiration, need to know how to make tunnels, going to experiment!

Hey, thanks! I'm flattered!  

If you want to learn how to build tunnels, run the "Bridges and tunnels" scenario in the game. It covers the workflow and should get you started.

Do take a note that tunnels usually require some "clearance" area to make the construction possible. In order to build my cross-city tunnel, I had to actually bulldoze several residential zones and only then rezone.  But the final effect is well worth it.

You'll learn it when you run the scenario, but building tunnels underwater is more expensive than on the ground.

Of course it's easier to just build a subway line...  But tunnels are cooler!

[Captain Adam 422]

Been messing around with the SC3 BAT app in the last 2 days, here is some progress









I wonder if there is a way I can add more props/walls/textures to this app, anyone has info on that ?

[VetinarisClerk 271]

@Captain Adam Wow!

Did you make them from nothing? I tried to re-model some buildings (not just change texturesž from of and props), but couldn't understand the coordinate system. 

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

@Captain Adam some really nice creations, well done! I think I like the first one best (is it a logistics center?)

As for your question, prop creation for SC3000 is still a mystery for me after so many years. Maxis resorted to simply saying "You'll figure it out yourself"... Uh-huh, sure. 

[catty-cb 4,412]

9 hours ago, Captain Adam said:

I wonder if there is a way I can add more props/walls/textures to this app, anyone has info on that ?

the stuff you have done so far looks really great, there used to be five prop packs you could download from the maxis site

Classic Props Collection

Grab Bag Props Collection

Landscape Props Collection

Unfortunately I was never able to retrieve these two prop pack files, according to the notes I've got on them

Mixed Bag Details Collection ( With this set you can create buildings in the "Federalist style" or for an older look choose the "Baroque style". If you would like a more modern feel for your cities try the sleek skyscraper look of "Brute3")
Window Props Collection (Are you tired of that flat look you get from window details? Well, MaxisJoseph has been experimenting a little and has devised some "window props" that really give some depth to such details).

There are also four documents in the Omnibus on creating props, unfortunately having just had a look at them something has gone wrong and all the pictures have ended up at the bottom of the articles, anyway here's the links

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-for-ba-plus-in-sc3-maxis-r325/

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-2-in-sc3-maxis-r322/

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-3-in-sc3-maxis-r323/

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-4-in-sc3-maxis-r324/

-catty

[Captain Adam 422]

6 hours ago, VetinarisClerk said:

@Captain Adam Wow!

Did you make them from nothing? I tried to re-model some buildings (not just change texturesž from of and props), but couldn't understand the coordinate system. 

The house and the first building were not from scratch, the house was only blocks with no textures or anything added to it and the other building was already made but without alot of details and paints, the remaining two were from scratch.
 

4 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

@Captain Adam some really nice creations, well done! I think I like the first one best (is it a logistics center?)

As for your question, prop creation for SC3000 is still a mystery for me after so many years. Maxis resorted to simply saying "You'll figure it out yourself"... Uh-huh, sure. 

I think its like a radio station or TV center,  but I think it being a logistics center is more fitting after looking up the meaning!
 

 

1 hour ago, catty-cb said:

the stuff you have done so far looks really great, there used to be five prop packs you could download from the maxis site

Classic Props Collection

Grab Bag Props Collection

Landscape Props Collection

Unfortunately I was never able to retrieve these two prop pack files, according to the notes I've got on them

Mixed Bag Details Collection ( With this set you can create buildings in the "Federalist style" or for an older look choose the "Baroque style". If you would like a more modern feel for your cities try the sleek skyscraper look of "Brute3")
Window Props Collection (Are you tired of that flat look you get from window details? Well, MaxisJoseph has been experimenting a little and has devised some "window props" that really give some depth to such details).

There are also four documents in the Omnibus on creating props, unfortunately having just had a look at them something has gone wrong and all the pictures have ended up at the bottom of the articles, anyway here's the links

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-for-ba-plus-in-sc3-maxis-r325/

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-2-in-sc3-maxis-r322/

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-3-in-sc3-maxis-r323/

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/SimCity-4/reference/creating-custom-props-4-in-sc3-maxis-r324/

-catty

Thanks so much!

[VetinarisClerk 271]

@Captain Adam Cool! I'm gonna try the BAT again

 

[Captain Adam 422]

   

More stuff, 3 of them are inspired by buildings from SC4, can you guess them ?

[SimCityHawk 194]

@TheMurderousCricket

Wow, that tunnel thing you've got going is amazing. Want to try something similar, when I have the time. Kinda quiet from me these days 

[SimCityHawk 194]

On 17.6.2021 at 9:51 PM, TheMurderousCricket said:

Interesting port layout - it's not easily achievable in SC3000 (because, thank gods, it's more random than SC4 as far as marine tiles go .)

In some old city I've made (Rotterdam), I have tried to achieve a customized port layout:

 

[VetinarisClerk 271]

@SimCityHawk Wow. That's a really detailed port. And the farms are cute 

[THijSCiTy 141]

I have been busy past weeks developing the ultimate city that will surpass Magnasanti. I had great breakthroughs with the golden tip about making tunnels, this way I made a road system that uses very little tiles amounts via tunnels being connection to eachother tunnel end > 1 block road > tunnel entrance repeated across the map and flatten the land around the tunnels so I make a intercity road system that solves all problems of zones being being reached due to poor transportation, now I banned the industrial area to the edge of the map.

But the thing was, each tunnel wasted 6 squares, one for the entrance and 5 other squares because of the elevation caused by the tunnel ends, but just now I was redoing the waterpipe system and accidentally hit one of the tunnels and the elevation was removed by the waterpipe without damaging the structures above ground!!
After some deleting and rebuilding of the waterpipes I was able to make the tunnels flat!!! Now the elevation tiles are gone means I get 5 more tiles to build on per tunnel exit/entrance =) 
This might give helpful info for people who got elevation issues in their city, seems waterpipes can even alter the elevation below a building without destroying it!
I added some pictures of the progress, only 155K inhabitants, but its growing

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

On 3.07.2021 at 11:46 AM, SimCityHawk said:

In some old city I've made (Rotterdam), I have tried to achieve a customized port layout:

And a remarkable layout may I add. The way you have arranged the port basins and quays is way past cool and akin to how real-life ports look like.

But the crowning achievement here is how the port grounds have been arranged! This is a realistic looking port as they mainly consist of container storage areas, while the cargo transfer facilities are located chiefly right next to the waterways. Certainly not haphazardly scattered all across the grounds. 

I really like it - this is how ports work IRL. Did you actually bulldoze items that did not suit this layout or have they been plopped? A solid piece of work in either case. 

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

Well, looks like your project progresses just fine @THijSCiTy. It is a commendable idea to try and recreate the "success" of Magnasanti. Who knows? Maybe you too will become a part of the SC3000 canon one day? 

I'm not sure about it, but I think the SC3000 tunnels can make underground intersections too.  Just build an E-W tunnel and then a N-S tunnel crossing the line where the first tunnel was built. Not sure if it actually works, but I dare you to try it. 

13 hours ago, THijSCiTy said:

...seems waterpipes can even alter the elevation below a building without destroying it!

Hehe, not sure about this one. It requires a flat land to put a building on anyhow, so there is probably no difference at all. 

[THijSCiTy 141]

Quote

I'm not sure about it, but I think the SC3000 tunnels can make underground intersections too.  Just build an E-W tunnel and then a N-S tunnel crossing the line where the first tunnel was built. Not sure if it actually works, but I dare you to try it. 

what is e-w tunnel? and can you explain abit more into detail? this sounds extremely interesting!

edit: you mean east-west and opposite direction crossing eachother? is your intention to decrease traffic pressure? anyways, lowering the elevation gave me extra room for commercial space.

I wonder why it comes that at some point the population suddenly keeps dropping and dropping until my city becomes a ghost town..

[VetinarisClerk 271]

@THijSCiTy

Oh, I gottta try that 😁

Nice work 👍

This might help with your residential demand problems: 

 

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

1 hour ago, THijSCiTy said:

you mean east-west and opposite direction crossing eachother?

Yes. East-west. I'll prepare an example later. If it proves possible that is!

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

Yep, it's possible. 

I don't know yet if both tunnel strings are fully functional and usable for the traffic, or if one cancels the other out. I leave it up to you guys to verify. I've done my bit.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have a beer and drink to that!

P.S.: Hey, CoriBoom! How come I have a "Foot Soldier" status? I demand an "Underground Installation Engineer" rank! 

[CorinaMarie 29,856]

6 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

P.S.: Hey, CoriBoom! How come I have a "Foot Soldier" status?

The ranks are based on post count. While it's not a complete secret, we haven't published the full list so peeps can be surprised as they change.

Here's a snippet tho:

 

6 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

I demand an "Underground Installation Engineer" rank!

We've added that for you.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

6 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

We've added that for you.

No, seriously...? 

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

26 minutes ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

No, seriously...? 

Yes, seriously.

(We thought you might be pleased about it. But, if this was only a joke and you don't really want the custom rank, let us know and we'll remove it.)