Calling All Volunteers!

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

Hi everyone!

Initial progress has been productive in restoring content, but we really need your help. We're seeking volunteers who are able to assist our recovery efforts in any capacity (big or small). We extend this invite to all active Simtropolis members.

The Simtropolis Recovery Team (SRT) will be spearheaded by site staff (and led by Cori and me), but this will understandably be a task of mammoth proportions. At first it might seem like progress is slow, but then again we might surprise ourselves? There is absolutely no limit to the number of places on the team at any stage. Every little helps, and we'd be thankful for whatever you can assist with.
 

What can volunteering involve?

The main task will be to restore everything missing from after 17 June 2024 to March 01, 2026. That's 622 days of missing content.

Logically, the primary focus will cover STEX content for SC4 and the other city-building games. SC3000 files won't be forgotten about here either, as there were a number of new uploads since the cut-off period (June 2024). There are also more niche files from Clubs, including for Banished.

Depending on your comfort level and ability, you may request to help with any/all of the following:

  A) Sharing: Uploading content you have downloaded between the aforementioned time period. There are no worries about sharing files someone else might've already uploaded. It might be your copy is an older version which can later be restored. Having more files gives us a stronger baseline to work from. There might be clutter and chaos initially, but in time order will become more orchestrated.

  B) Processing: This will be the bulk of the work, spearheaded by staff. We'll be coordinating with volunteers to help physically upload files, ideally as the author originally had them. Instructions will be provided for anyone unfamiliar with the board software tools.

  C) Verifying: Making sure updates are valid, or if there's anything else which needs fixing or amending. Verifiers will have access to a "Verify" button added to the File Actions menu, which then marks a file as completely restored.

I'll be developing a "Restoration Tracker" page to serve as a real-time index of progress. This way we can identify files which need finding, editing, and checking. Additionally, recovery efforts will extend to the forums, CJs, Gallery, and other areas. There will be a number of attachments (images, zip files, etc) which we'll be hoping to restore, many of which will require manual intervention. Every file is a small piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

It's important to remember this will be a marathon not a sprint. For this reason, it'll be more important we restore files correctly and accurately as possible. Also we won't frown upon mistakes. This is a shared united effort, so we'll work as a team to ensure everything is done the best it can be.

Please reply below, briefly explaining how you'd be able to help (as a Sharer, Processor, or Verifier), or even in other ways not listed.

And it goes without saying, there are no rewards for volunteering, other than the humble moral satisfaction of helping rebuild our community.

-CB & Cori

[Propfam 2,286]

I'd like to be a processor and verifier because well, I don't have the files. I'll try my best despite I have possibly a quite hectic schedule till the end of this year.

[Golan0 277]

Hi, 

I can help in sharing part and processor. However how much I can help depends on my work. 

[Captain Adam 415]

I still have all my SC3K BATs (ands screenshots) along with most with most of @Quelquechosedautre BATs, I will slowly start reuploading mine in the upcoming days while waiting for an answer from Quel to see if I can reupload his stuff on his behalf.

[CorinaMarie 29,576]

2 minutes ago, Captain Adam said:

I still have all my SC3K BATs (and screenshots) along with most with most of @Quelquechosedautre BATs,

I'm not sure for how many, but I have Single File HTMLs of the STEX entries if that would help you.

[pclark06 11,795]

I *should* be uploading the rest of my stuff within the next week or two. All my Japan stuff is done back to August 2025 as well as what was missing between March and April. Now onto the car dealerships and going back to July 2024. Also have a few more new files to add.

[Honolulu 2,742]

I'll re-upload my two STEX files and all my screenshots this weekend, but other than that, I don't think there's much else I can do. My plugin only contains dependencies.

[simmering 2,616]

I am happy to support in all of the three roles. My own downloads are biased towards Darknite versions but you are welcome to them.

[The Thinker 479]

I have a few, not many files, all SC3K related.  Thankfully I had the foresight to keep an upload directory for my items so restoration shouldn't be difficult.

[The Thinker 479]

27 minutes ago, The Thinker said:

I have a few, not many files, all SC3K related.  Thankfully I had the foresight to keep an upload directory for my items so restoration shouldn't be difficult.

UPDATE: Ok, I've just re-uploaded the relevant files.  Presumably they just need to wait for verification.

[Foo 216]

I would like to help with processing and verifying. I already re-uploaded what I had from my files.

[c4bl3fl4m3 405]

Honestly I’m so glad we’re back and I want to help however I can! We’ve got such a great team of folks here.
 

I had DLed some files from that time period that I have 100% intact in their original directory structure. I would be more than happy to ZIP ‘em back up and contribute them back to the project.

My life is kinda busy for the next few weeks but since this is a marathon, and I’m sure you’d be happy with any amount of help whenever anyone has the time, I’d also be comfortable doing some Processing and Verifying as well. Having me Verify gives the added bonus of checking if it works on a Mac, as I’m still running the Steam version on a 64 bit Intel. (Obv. I can’t check the DLL based stuff, but that’s fine, I’ll just check the BATs.)

[catty-cb 4,381]

Put me down for all three roles for the banished clubs as i have backups for everything that was in them, I can also check the SC2 and SC3 old Maxis Files as I was the one that originally uploaded them, and it looks the rest of the files that where uploaded into these clubs are going to be put back by their creators.

I will have to recreate the "SimCity Societies" club as that is gone, luckily I have all the files and some PMs from when I was siting it up, and hopefully I can track down the people that were posting in the forum.

It looks like I won't need to do anything major for the "Found Custom Contents" club  as volunteers have already stepped up to put back the missing files ... but have noticed we have lost the club picture so hopefully who ever added it can put it back.

[Terring 6,473]

If there is something I can do to help restoring even a small piece of our community, I'm in  

[TogaMasterJohn 702]

I'm mainly available on the weekends and evenings at this time (eastern timezone), but I'm willing to help in any way I can!  

I'll need to dig through my archives, but I know I have some SC2K tile sets, SC3K maps, and SC3K BATs. I may have some forum attachments, too. In addition, I have nearly all of the original ZIPs for the SC4 BATs and tools that I've downloaded from here since the beginning of my time here at Simtropolis, including some things that were downloaded through SC4Pac (as well as nearly all of the cached download files). Like simmering, most of the SC4 BATs I have are in their dark-nite form (when applicable), but I do have both variants in some cases. Obviously, I'll check the dates on everything!

If there is a need for additional processors and verifiers, I'd be happy to help there, too. I have experience in writing and assembling documentation for various things, including tech-related manuals. I'm not all that familiar with some of the SC4 tools (such as PIM-X), but I'd be willing and happy to learn them along the way if it would help aid in the process (assuming they would be necessary). I have a little bit of experience with iLive Reader, thanks to Cori's tutorials.

[memo 1,439]

5 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

  A) Sharing: Uploading content you have downloaded between the aforementioned time period.

For the 76 files I had in my sc4pac cache, I've uploaded them here (192 MB). This only includes those files where I'm 99% sure I have the latest version and which have last been updated between June 2024 and April 2026. The modification date of the files is set to my download date. I haven't done any further comparison with what's already been recovered on the STEX.

[hugues aroux 3,780]

Hi, I don't know if this will help, but here is the list of all the | +-2000 | ZIP files [.. HA_zip_List.txt ..] (with publication date) that I own - (very)old and recent files  ..
I opened a directory [\Files_for_STEX] on my Onedrive where I could put any files that might be useful, even for a simple version comparison, ... , to the Recovery Team.
This space can also serve as temporary storage if needed...There's plenty of gigabytes available! 
You can contact me at the email address displayed in OneDrive or via ST!

[nos.17 5,112]

Do you know the latest STEX id we have before the site went down? All items in the sc4pac caches are indexed by STEX id like 37034-vagrants-volkshalle-building, so knowing that id would be a quick way to filter out what is needed and not.

[CaptCity 4,695]

As some already know, I've shared my backups on OneDrive and would be glad to post them where they may be the most useful, or feel free to use them in any way that makes things easier. I'll also be available to help with processing any files that may be meeded. And I'll be glad to help with verifying files as well. As some know, I work in education, and today was our last day before the summer break. So I'll have quite a bit more time than usual to do what I can.

[CorinaMarie 29,576]

5 hours ago, nos.17 said:

Do you know the latest STEX id we have before the site went down?

We'll want to wait for @Cyclone Boom to confirm, but I believe it's: 37240-dono-airport-security-fence-roads-and-fillers

See CB's post below.

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

Thanks everyone who has volunteered so far! We really appreciate the response.

We'll need a while longer to get everything sorted for development work in the back end. When the time comes, we'll invite you to a new special subforum where efforts can be coordinated. Anyone who wishes to volunteer can still do so, even after the initial wave of people are assigned roles.

For file authors and staff already working on restoring content, please do continue in the meantime. Very impressive work already!

By the way...
The All SC4 Files feed might be useful, which I developed shortly before the site went down. This include all the SC4 categories and is sortable.

 

@nos.17

Checking the database and I can confirm that ID 37371 was the most recent new file before the old server was vaporized. This was also the most recently updated at that point.

Date: 28 February 2026 at 04:20:06
Unix: 1772252406
URL: [Link]
 

[Ernestmaxis 214]

I will help with Role b/c.  Before waterpoloseason will start again. Of course, I don't know exactly what I'm capable of, but I'd love to learn and help you out wherever I can

[Tyberius06 12,184]

Hi everybody!

I have over 60 files that I uploaded or updated in the past 2 years, I start with those, then I am happy to help with whatever left... Here is the list that I start restoring from today. 

There might be more, but these were in my immediate STEX update back-up folder from the past 2 years.

[Handyman 765]

I have a copy of everything I've ever downloaded so I would be willing to search for anything that may be missing. I also would be willing to learn how to help in processing and verifying. I have experience with process and instructional documentation as well as java, bash. I am not sure about the amount of time I can give currently but that should change soon.

[Silur 3,302]

@Handyman said -  "I have a copy of everything I've ever downloaded so I would be willing to search for anything that may be missing".

I am also ready to search for all file and page downloads by topic in my archive until 2025-11-28.

[Honolulu 2,742]

My two STEX files and all my screenshots have been uploaded again. I have some free time until September to help with the verification process if you'd like.

[CorinaMarie 29,576]

@Honolulu I did the Delete My File Message Banner! for you.  

(Without doing that, the Download Button won't appear and it'll still say File Unavailable.)

[Mister J 101]

I'd like to help however I can. I don't think I have many files downloaded from that time period, but I can still process and verify whatever's needed. I should have a lot of downtime from work this week, so please let me know!

[Allein 325]

How is the the restoration effort going to be handled regarding the sc4pac channel side?

I already spotted that the following file is pointing to the wrong sc4pac file (caspervg:sc4-render-services-dll)

 

[nos.17 5,112]

1 minute ago, Allein said:

How is the the restoration effort going to be handled on sc4pac channel side?

Good question. It looks like this is due to an overlap in the STEX ids, as the render services was previously available under https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/37372-sc4-render-services/ (note the 37372 id is the same between these two items). I'd need to update all of those URLs in the metadata I think. Reporting-wise, you can list them out in the Simtropolis x sc4pac thread. Or, reporting each file is ok too I think.