Introduce Yourself Here!

[Alexk64 3]

Hello all! Alexk64 here, 38 y/o, from the UK, have had an interest/been playing city building games for as long as i've had computers! Ready to take the next step and integrate into the community 😂. Particular interest in CS (modded). Looking for people to assist/collaborate with in building oil refinery assets and continue the excellent work of @Badi_Dea @Jerenable @squirrelarmyuk @Ronyx69 etc. (I work for a well known oil giant on the south coast of the UK) so i have knowledge in the subject. Ive recently started experimenting with blender etc. and wish to maybe collab with people to take this further! 

Thanks for reading 🙂

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @Alexk64 and welcome to Simtropolis.

From your knowledge of oil refineries and that sure sounds like it could come in handy to develop a modding project. While I'm only a SC4 mayor personally, I wish you all the best with pursuing that further. Hopefully active CSL modders can work with you for your goal to be realised.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @CaptBlackwood and @Alexk64. Welcome to Simtropolis.

[Mytzenka 106]

Hello all. I am a 40 year old guy living in The Netherlands.

While I am not a complete newbie to SimCity games (I played vanilla SimCity4 many years ago and SimCity 2000 to death when I was a kid), I am a newbie in modding the game and only joined this forum a few days ago when I picked up SimCity 4 in all seriousness again.

Already you guys have been extremely helpful with my questions regarding SimCity 4. So already I feel like I came to the right place!

I hope this place will help me learn and get to the point where I can build those awesome looking cities that I see screenshots of here.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @Mytzenka. Welcome to Simtropolis.

You are definitely on the right slope towards understanding game mechanics and modding and such.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @Mytzenka and you're very welcome to Simtropolis also.

I've been following your slope mod topic, and you've got some good ideas there in exploring creative aspects of city design. There is so much can be done with modding, and a good piece advice is to start small with making minor tweaks in iLive's Reader 0.9.3 tool. That's an ideal way to learn and further develop understanding, by seeing what changing properties do and what they modify in game. Then of course, this is a learning community and so ask away on the forums if unsure of anything.

I don't really need to say "enjoy the site" since we can tell you already are which is great!

[artplusbytes 14]

hello everybody!

I am glad join here starting to be a part of this community.

I started playing Cities Skylines on march this year, hope to contributing here! 

Regards 

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @artplusbytes. Welcome to Simtropolis.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @artplusbytes and welcome to Simtropolis.

Hope you enjoy it here in your city building endeavours!

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

Hello Community and fellow Mayors!

The name is Andrzej and just recently I have "excavated" "SimCity 3000 Unlimited" (thank you GOG!). I have started to build and re-build, from memory, some of my past designs. To a really good effect if I may say so myself. In the future, I plan to give a shot to "Cities: Skylines" too.

Oddly enough, when I tried to register here I discovered... that I already have an account with Simtropolis, despite never having accessed this page before...  I guess some spamming bot had to be involved... If my evil-alter ego (ajman) had played any tricks on you, I ask for your understanding and forgiveness. 

In any case, it's not that bad, since I'd actually like to be a part of this community! Albeit retro-style.  It's amazing how well SimCity 3000 has aged, you know...

I'm off to browse some other topics and share an important observation I have recently made. 

Best regards,
TheMurderousCricket

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @TheMurderousCricket. Welcome to Simtropolis.

As you've prolly seen, we do have a section for SimCity 3000 and it's been a bit more active in the past couple of weeks. Jump right in there and share your observation(s).

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi Andrzej and welcome to forum posting.

There is something about city building which is inspirational in the creative aspects of design freedom. We look forward to seeing what your discovery is, and do feel free to post inside a new topic in there to explain all about it. Hope you enjoy the forums in wherever your mayoral adventure leads next.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,055]

3 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Hi Andrzej and welcome to forum posting.

There is something about city building which is inspirational in the creative aspects of design freedom. We look forward to seeing what your discovery is, and do feel free to post inside a new topic in there to explain all about it. Hope you enjoy the forums in wherever your mayoral adventure leads next.

I'll do just that. And yes, you are right - games that allow one to create and design are a special "breed". In fact, I am a budding CG artist too, so any creative activity has high-priority on my list.

Thanks for the kind welcome guys!   

[Qdigga85 4]

Hi all! Been playing SimCity 4 for years, stopped and picked it back up again after getting a new computer for working from home. Just downloaded the NAM (first mod ever I’ve downloaded). This is amazing! Any other mods that you all recommend? I’m not big on cheat codes, making the game easier (if it’s just making it work better, I’m game) but anything else I’m open to! Thanks and looking forward to being more active on here!

[Spaceblaze 194]

Hello from the Netherlands

 

My real name is Erik Esteie and I am from an area called the Zaanstreek(maybe people know the Zaanse schans, and maybe there are even windmills available on this site?) I was born in 1964 and thus am 56 at this moment. I played SimCity on the Nintendo back in the days, played the 2000 version on the first PC I owned, didn't like SimCity 3(to difficult) and spend lots of time playing SimCity 4 when it came around in 2003. Back in those days I also joined Simtropolis and remembered I downloaded things so I could add new buildings and stuff to the game.

Over time I started doing other things but SimCity 4 was always in the back of my mind and to cut a long story short, I fell in love with a real time strategy game called Hyperiums and spend most of my free time there. Recently I realised it was time for a break from this very intense text based game after I got destroyed for the x-th time and started playing SC4 again.

 

I am just a player and have no technical background on programming and stuff but would like to know how to add the buildings and extra features I saw in the past, they made the game more fun for me.

 

So it's great to back on this site again and I hope someone can point me in the right direction because this site/forum is very overwhelming right now with all the options and topics.

 

Could someone help me to a(the) topic(s) were I can download a program to add new buildings to the game. Also, I have downloaded the game from Origin because my CD-rom won't work on my current PC with windows 10, and do all the extra features also work with a downloaded game?

 

The last thing for now, I would like to thank all the SC4 enthousiasts for making it possible to have extra features now and in the past!

 

[rsc204 21,808]

1 hour ago, Spaceblaze said:

Also, I have downloaded the game from Origin because my CD-rom won't work on my current PC with windows 10, and do all the extra features also work with a downloaded game?

The first issue you may face is based on how you got your Origin version, did you pay for it directly, or did Origin redeem your CD Product Key for a free Digital version, which they will do?

I ask, because for reasons that are bewildering, the paid version is not only unpatched, but also can not be patched either, which is going to give you problems. Whereas the one they give free is a pre-patched version of the game, which obviously works better. There were two such patches you could manually install for the disk version, only the first is strictly necessary, the EP1 patch, which fixes a number of bugs/issues with the original release. The second NiteLighting patch is needed if you want to be able to see NiteLights on custom downloaded content, so less of a problem, especially if you don't play in night mode.

1 hour ago, Spaceblaze said:

I am just a player and have no technical background on programming and stuff but would like to know how to add the buildings and extra features I saw in the past, they made the game more fun for me.

There is no program for handling this, to use Mods you simply have to download them, then add the relevant files into the Plugins folder, located in Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins on your computer. Some files will come as-is in SC4 format, but it's more common that you will either have to extract them first from .zip files or run an included .exe installer program, which handles putting what you need in the right place.

Otherwise, this is all managed by the user themselves. It doesn't really require anything as complex as Programming skills, just a basic understanding of how to work with Files and Folders. The information here should help you to get going:

But we're a friendly bunch here, so if you get stuck you can always start a topic to ask for further assistance.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi and welcome to Simtropolis @Qdigga85 and @Spaceblaze

 

3 hours ago, Qdigga85 said:

Any other mods that you all recommend?

The NAM is certainly a good starting point, and then you can add other content picking and choosing.

It can be all too tempting to venture on a downloading spree, and end up with hundreds of items to go through. We've all been there doing this with so much to choose from. It is best to try and take it slow, with the realisation that SC4 can still be enjoyed with minimal selective content. Then add items you feel would be worth using, since the STEX and LEX are libraries of possibilities. Just like with books, there are so many novels, and each has a chapter to discover.

After seeing Cori's Shoppes for an index of graphical mods, I suggest taking a look at the following thread for content suggestion ideas:
 

 

1 hour ago, Spaceblaze said:

So it's great to back on this site again and I hope someone can point me in the right direction because this site/forum is very overwhelming right now with all the options and topics.

The excellent post our expert @rsc204 made above hopefully helps answer your other initial questions.

Nice intro you posted, and I'll just say about we completely understand how it feels overwhelming right now for you. Rest assured you're not alone, and we've all been in the same boat at some stage in our mayoral journeys. It can take time to become properly whelmed, but the number one thing is to keep asking when unsure. That is what these forums are for, and you'll discover how the SC4 community is still alive and thriving almost 18 years later and counting.

Enjoy the site and exploring SC4 again!

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @Qdigga85 and @Spaceblaze. Welcome to Simtropolis.

[Spaceblaze 194]

Thanks for the replies

 

@rsc204 I have read the article about the Origin download and I see the problem..

I still have the original CD-rom with Rushhour but Windows 10 won't let me install it. I have looked into it a bit and I understand I have to change something in the register of Windows to make my self a super administrator before I can make it run. (and to be honest, I am a bit reluctant to change things in the register since I can really damage things in the there)

 

@Cyclone Boom

At this moment I am downloading the STEX and will save it at a safe place. For now I have to decide if I keep playing the Origin version, or find a way to install the disk, or maybe download the game from Steam.

I will have a look at the Cori's shoppes and Indiana Jones topic. Thanks a lot!

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

4 minutes ago, Spaceblaze said:

At this moment I am downloading the STEX and will save it at a safe place.

Wow! The whole thing. That'll take weeks! Welcome to the forum.

[rsc204 21,808]

1 hour ago, Spaceblaze said:

I still have the original CD-rom with Rushhour but Windows 10 won't let me install it. I have looked into it a bit and I understand I have to change something in the register of Windows to make my self a super administrator before I can make it run. (and to be honest, I am a bit reluctant to change things in the register since I can really damage things in the there)

No, it's far worse than that.

SC4, as did a lot of games/disks, use a system called SafeDisc to check that the CDs were genuine when starting the game. This requires a driver, SecDrv.sys, to be installed and running under Windows, without it, the DRM check will fail and the game just "switches off". This was all pretty transparent to users, since Windows included this driver by default, if for some reason it didn't, the game could install it for you.

When Windows 10 was released, and only the final version, i.e. every pre-release version did NOT work like this, MS removed the driver. As a consequence, every single game that required this DRM system, was transformed into a drinks coaster. They then released an update for Windows Vista, 7 and 8, to remove the same driver from those versions of Windows too. With those older systems, you can make it work once more, by tinkering around, although you certainly don't need to mess with the Registry to do it, there are easier and better solutions. But, if you have Windows 10, none of those solutions work. What you could do (I wouldn't), is digitally sign the driver file manually and set Windows up to use it. This is neither easy, nor necessarily safe. MS argued a problem in the code of that driver, was a security risk. The company that made it, has long since been bought by another, who make no money from it, so refused to update the driver. MS said it was their responsibility, the other company said it was for MS to fix, either way, users got screwed. Personally, I think MS were just looking for an excuse to kill off a bunch of software, hoping to cash in on digital sales on their new App Store, when people had to re-buy them.

So now we get to my rant about DRM and why it's always bad. These so called soft-DRM systems, seemed harmless to the consumer, but as has ultimately been proven, they provide an off switch, which can at any time be flicked to stop you from accessing content you paid for. If you'd pirated SC4, it would still be working, DRM only ever harms legitimate paying customers, it never stops people who aren't willing to pay from accessing the content.

If you need a new digital version, you can go to Steam or Origin, pay them a ridiculous 20€ for a 17-year old game, lol most 20-year old computers wouldn't sell for that. Both will add a new type of DRM that works fine now, but who knows for how long? Or you could get a copy from GoG, who will sell you a DRM-Free version, so you never have to buy SC4 again. Provided you keep a backup of the download, you'll always have access to it. For as long as GoG remain in business, you can even re-download it if needed. Sadly, they too want 20€, but digital game pricing is simply mad. Wait for a sale, you can get a copy for around 5€, in other words what the game should normally cost. Don't get me wrong, SC4 itself is a game that's going to give you value for money, regardless of what you pay. It's just my anti-corporate stance, you ultimately decide what SC4 is worth to you and if you are willing to wait to get it cheaper.

1 hour ago, Spaceblaze said:

I have read the article about the Origin download and I see the problem

The good news, in your case at least, you should if you've the bad version, be able to get a refund, then get the good version. I'm not sure Origin support would like you doing this all that much, so it needs to be a 2-stage thing. Step 1: Tell them you can't patch the game and it's broken, you no longer want it. Be persistent, do not let them end the "support session", if they do, just call back or login again. Eventually they realise, refunding you will cost less than dealing with you, ta-da, you've your money back. Step 2: Get in touch again, explain your CDs don't work under Windows 10 (as per the above info), ask if they will give you a key for a digital version. Provided you can provide proof of purchase, they should do this. Of course, they might not if they see they just refunded the paid version. But even if it doesn't work out, you can take your money and buy a working version elsewhere instead, you've lost nothing. But with some luck, you'll get your money back AND a copy of SC4 that actually works .

[Spaceblaze 194]

@rsc204

Thanks for your extend reply

 

I will think about what you said would(could) be a solution and move from there. For now the game is running and when I get to the point of adding mods I will rethink the things you said and since I already paid for the game twice(disk and download version) I think I might go for option 3

(I am not that good with English and will probably loose the fight with either Origin, or Windows)

When this rethinking happens I won't mention it here

[City_Slider 2,716]

I'll make it short:

Welcome to our family all newbies here. This will be your home for years to come;)

Many helpful members, mods and "others" will help you as best as possible from our Q'd.

And again: Welcome to Simtropolis

Many greetings, the stubborn German

 ... :-D

* Editneed2say *

Welcome @ Spaceblaze

I was in Amsterdam a few days ago. Until the next stop I can visit you and really help yourself

 

Spoiler

Ich werde es kurz machen:

Willkommen in unserer Familie alle Neulinge hier. Dies ist Ihr Zuhause für die Zukunft Jahre sein

Viele hilfreiche Mitglieder, Mods und "andere" werden dir von unseren Q´d so gut wie möglich helfen.

Und wieder: Willkommen in Simtropolis

Viele Grüße, der störrischen Deutschen ... :-D

* Editneed2say *

Herzlich willkommen @ Spaceblaze

Vor ein paar Tagen war ich in Amsterdam. Bis zum nächsten Stopp kann ich dich besuchen und dir selbst wirklich helfen

 

[Shaggy83 8]

Hi Everyone, I'm back! I was a member way back in the early days of Simtropolis. Even have some of the CD's of lots somewhere. Alas I don't recall my old user/pass and any email if I did is probably no longer linked!  Anyway I've been busy re-downloading and rendering a few cities/countries (there's a Japan map that is HUGE!!) I'm excited because I've been testing the downloads and playing a bit as I go here and I've yet to crash - must be the new computer that is only a few weeks old!  Glad to be back and hope I can contribute in some fashion!

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @Shaggy83 and welcome back to Simtropolis!

Good idea to make a new account with losing access to the old one. Of course, we can help you if wanting to recover the login and update the email address, but it's fine if preferring to start afresh with your new registration now. A few members have decided to do that in the past as well.

Sounds great how you're getting back into SC4 with a new computer, and see you on the forums.
(Well, technically speaking this is the forums!)

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @Shaggy83. Welcome back to Simtropolis.

[Jonathanas 4]

Hello everyone! 

My name is Jonathan and I'm a college student (Valparaiso 2024) (Theatre & Poli Sci) When I'm not performing or crying over my college papers I always love playing SimCity 4, For me, I always like to experiment with new types of planning for my cities and I always take a creative approach when I design/plan/build my cities. I'm excited as ever to be a member on here and I'm excited to see and download new and unique mods and creations.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @Jonathanas. Welcome to Simtropolis.  

Jump right into the forums. That water's fine.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @Jonathanas and welcome to Simtropolis, which is one of the best websites in the universe!

The creative aspect is what particularly appeals to me also. There is something special about the ability to let our imaginations flow, and create whatever we wish to make with the freedom provided. Explore the STEX and forums, and along the way you'll realise the enormous potential for expansion to even further heights too.

We hope you enjoy it here, and all the best with your studies also.

[KittyBeanie 5]

Hello! I'm a New Zealander who plays SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition (don't know how much the deluxe edition changes the game). I had the disk about 10 years back which is where I got started playing it and I've come back to it over and over again over the years, up 'til now where I play it on Steam!

I don't think I'm very good at making cities... it took me a while to realise that I couldn't just make everything pretty and luxurious right off the bat. Anyway, I wanted to make a new region and it's difficult and I'm sure I must be doing it the slowest way so I gave up (quite quickly) and went to look for downloadable regions... I hope I can find something here!

I tried Cities Skylines but I'm not really a fan... but I do love a city builder even though I'm yet to find the perfect one... maybe with enough mods?

If anyone has any advice on SC4 related things please direct me to a forum if you like   <-- wait this is the emoticon for : ) ?