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Working on a series of ruined structures, part of an episode I'm doing on the Anhur Rebellions.

How about uploading a whole series of these! You can make future post apocalyptic. I've got a little thing going with these, so if people are interested, I might decide to release some of'em. Here's some more material I'm going to use for future updates. I'm just building them up but, thought I'd show them anyway. It's the fourth bldg in a series I've made for a system war episode I'm planning on making. This ruined residential area below is going to have a variety of appearances. Just working on them right now.

My jaw is currently somewhere in the center of the earth. Just saying.

Philly represent!!! Anyway, this thread is depressing, but net in a way very intriguing. Maybe some of these may be released someday? Or maybe they are available on other sites? Who knows? It is a shame. Sad thing it seems to have been put on ice. Get to it, Dark!

The Reader can indeed be run in Wine quite easily (see for example ). It seems to be a bit slower than on Windows and there are a few other limitations, but it works and I haven't booted my Windows system in weeks.

Downtown Birmingham. Concrete city!

Here's a more finished looking product. A Vertical (VTOL) Landing Bay. It's chiefly meant to be built in High Altitudes along rugged mountain cliff areas. It should sink in to the ground too to make it seem like it's been embedded into the surface of the mtn.

@reddonquixote and @darn42, you both are fantastic in your BATs, and just helped me a lot with this! I do it in darn42's method now, but was good to know about the mirror tool, it's going to be usefull to other things. Well, that's it, really thanks to you both for your attention to even make a tutorial showing me So it's looking like this now, it's an improvement, just to show what you said worked fine I did it with the column, the wall you see between them I did just lo look better I had some progress in Park Avignon night lights as well.

For the Eager, Yet Overwhelmed Newcomer New to SimCity, Simtropolis, or been out of touch for a few years? Wondering what the heck a NAM or a BAT is? And just what the heck is up with those brown boxes?! This article will take you through the basics of registering your game, whether from a hard copy of the disc or from Steam, the essentials of Simtropolis, and a jumpstart into the world of Custom Content, to bring your game to a level beyond what you could imagine is possible. I would like to thank A Nonny Moose for his contributions and influences on the creation of this article. Rush Hours, Deluxe Editions, SimCity Boxes, Oh my! Before starting on registration information, we should make a clarification on just what the differences in these versions are. The short answer is nothing. When Maxis released Rush Hour, the expansion pack to the original SimCity 4 game, they released two versions: one simply the expansion (SimCity 4: Rush Hour); the other, a version that included both the original game and the expansion pack (SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition). It makes absolutely no difference to the game whether you own the Deluxe Edition, or Rush Hour. Now, just what is the SimCity Box? After the release of SimCity Societies in 2008, EA released this version which contains SimCity 4, SimCity 4: Rush Hour, SimCity Societies, SimCity Societies: Destinations, and The Sims Carnival: SnapCity. The story here is the same with Rush Hour and the Deluxe Edition: it makes absolutely no difference. In the event that you happen to be a long time player who does not own Rush Hour or the Deluxe Edition, it should be noted that the expansion pack is required to make use of 99% of the custom content available on this site. I will explain that further later on. Registering and Updating the Game Before playing, you need to pick up the two (2) necessary EA-released patches to your game for it to work correctly. In recent months, it has been noted that the official EA SimCity 4 Deluxe site has been taken down. So as not to leave these players hanging, some mirrors have been set up containing the assorted official updates. Important note: If you purchased your game from an authorized download source, you may not need any further updates. Check the properties of the game's .exe file. If it indicates you have version 1.1.641.0 or if you already have version 1.1.640.0, you will not need further updates. For the standard, PC version updates, check out here: SC4Devotion Own the Mac edition and can't open .exe's? Check out this thread: Bought your copy off Steam? Steam comes pre-patched! Yay! You should apply the two updates to the game in this order: EP1 to fix bugs, and the BATupdate to allow nightlights. When you are finished, you should check to see that the version number of the .exe file for the game in Program files/Maxis/Apps has been updated to 1,1,640,0. This is proof that your updates worked. Optional Upgrades and Tools You may notice on the mirror sites, a number of other downloads available. Among these are new landmarks, new rewards, the Lot Editor, and Building Architect Tool (BAT). These are all optional, and are not necessary for the games function or the addition of but do add content, and functionality. So, just what do these BAT and Lot Editor things do? The Lot Editor allows you to construct new lots, using the buildings, textures, and assorted prop pieces included within the game. The Building Architect Tool (BAT) allows you to construct new 3D models, and is what is used to create new buildings, trees, seawalls, spaceships, and everything inbetween. Using the Lot Editor and the BAT in tandem, the world is yours to create. It should be noted that both these tools have a sizeable learning curve. We do have a number of tutorials here to get you started, the most notable of these being the BAT Essentials Tutorial in the Omnibus. Unleashing the Game At this point, your game is ready to go! The appropriate patches are in place, and the game is as optimized as Maxis and EA could make it. So where to now? Many players are happy to play the game without any custom content, relying simply on what Maxis has provided. It is indeed very possible to create beautiful cities using only what content Maxis provided. But, many would also point out that the game can be so much more. In the 8 years since the release of the game, the amount of custom content available brings the game to an entirely new level. Players can recreate their hometowns with stunning accuracy, watching roads twist and curve, with even the correct corner market in place. Players can build in the desert, in futuristic settings, or on Mars. The custom content community has taken a finite game and given it infinite possibilities. And the question I'm sure you're asking by this point is, where do I begin? There are a number of exchanges available for you to browse. Here on Simtropolis, the STEX is perhaps the largest, and one of the oldest exchanges devoted to SimCity 4. The other primary English exchanges are SC4Devotion LEX and the PLEX (now on the STEX). You could say that SC4Devotiion is the high-tech site, and that Pegasus is the theme site, and you wouldn't be far wrong. Most community exchanges both require free registration in order to download, as Simtropolis does. The SimCity community expands far beyond English speakers, however - other communities include German and Japanese sites. Growable? Ploppable? What? As you browse the exchanges, you'll notice these phrases on assorted files throughout. The answer to this could not be simpler. A growable lot means that it will grow on its own with the appropriate zoning, as if it were any building created by Maxis. Ploppable lots allow you to plop the building as if it were a landmark. Some ploppables retain their commercial/industrial nature and provide jobs as though they were grown. It should be noted that at early points in the exchange, you may run across residential ploppables. These do not work, and will abandon some time after plopping. So, I've Downloaded Some Stuff. Now what? Installation of downloads really is simple. This article by our fearless Dirktator outlines the process of installation. Some downloads now come with .exe installers, which simplifies the process even more - the installer does all the work for you. The next question you may have is where the heck do I find my ploppable items in the game? Some items will be pretty intuitive as to where they are located - Educational facilities are located in the Schools menu, policing facilities in the Police menu, etc. But what about that great skyscraper advertised as a ploppable? Those will generally be located in the Landmarks menu. Nearly everything else (parks, churches, etc.) will be located in either Parks or Rewards. And if you just can't find it anywhere, consult the ReadMe that should have been included with the download. It should state where it is located in the menu system in game. Brown Boxes, Everywhere! Uh oh! This may look tragic, but it doesn't mean your game is wrecked. You just missed downloading some dependencies. Wait, what? Dependewho? Dependencies are separate files that a lot uses to complete itself. If Download A cannot find the appropriate dependency, it reverts to the lovely boxes you can see in the picture above. It may not look like it, but each lot is actually filled with bits and pieces of other files to make the bigger picture. The trees, the benches, the garbage cans, the swimming pools you see on assorted lots are all individual pieces, that come together to create a house, a park, or a shopping complex. All downloads on the SimTropolis EXchange are required to list all dependencies needed to work properly. If you've looked everywhere and just can't find that dependency, or if the dependency package is locked, please make a post here, and one of our friendly members will help you out. You may have further questions in regards to dependencies. As with installation, I would like to refer you to another article that goes into much further detail. The Dependency Debate by north_country_dude goes into great detail about the pros and cons of dependencies, and answers a few of the common questions you may have about them. So what should I download? Building tastes vary from person to person. Personally, I prefer the drab, 1970's concrete buildings, while many prefer the sleek, glass modern skyscrapers. Because of this, I'm not going to recommend any particular buildings - but I can recommend some mods that are considered the best and the greatest. Network Addon Mod, or the NAM. This mod was first conceived with the discovery of an unfinished road network Maxis left in the game. The talented modding community has taken this and turned it into entirely new road networks, gave us roundabouts, and allows us to create true metropolitan cities with roads to match. This can be found here on the STEX, or at SC4Devotion. If you're interested, here is the "official" NAM FAQ Thread with links to the different parts used with NAM & answers to common queries. If any issues come up while using NAM, there's also a support thread here. Various NAM Team members including Tarkus frequent the thread and gladly help out. A terrain and water mod. When you first launch the game, the grass and water seems realistic enough. A bit off perhaps, but hey nothing can be perfect. Not true - modders have been able to create new textures for the terrain and the water, which makes the Maxis textures look like off-coloured drawings. Cycledogg has made a number of varying terrain mods, and there are assorted water textures on the STEX, each varying for the kind of water your city needs. SimMars. Certainly this mod is not for everyone, but this article would be deficient if it weren't mentioned. SimMars transforms SimCity to Mars, complete with textures, buildings, road networks and music to match. The work done on this is exceptional, and it sits with the NAM as the greatest projects to improve the game that SimCity has seen. Everything else listed here. Livin in Sim has created this top ten list of great mod's that should be essential. A few other members have listed their contributions as well, and I would highly recommend them all! From there you could look through the CJ section to get ideas or run through the STEX and other exchanges to see if anything "jumps" out at you. As I mentioned before, if you can't seem to find something, make a post here and someone is bound to help you out. How do I win? SimCity is different from most games, as there is no set end point. Your success is based on goals you set. For many, a balanced budget and proper governance of a successful city without "godly" intervention (ie. cheats) makes a successful game. For many, the accurate recreation of a real life city is the goal, generally with the assistance of assorted budget cheats. For others still, it's simply to create the best city they can. Set your own goals and adjust as you achieve them. For all flavours of player, however, we do have an assortment of tutorials here on Simtropolis to help you on the Omnibus. The sections that will interest you most are SimCity 4 Reference and SimCity 4 Tutorials. Check back from time to time, as we do continue to add articles! Hopefully, this article has helped you get started. If you have any further questions that this article didn't answer, the folk in the forums and the chatroom are always eager to help, and any member of the Simtropolis Help Squad would be more than happy to give you some tips to the right direction.

So... I'm assuming that a lot of SC2013 players have downloaded the 3k Extended Boundary Mod (can be found here if needed: ). I'm also assuming that many of you have created enormous cities , so show them off here! We want to see your massive metropolises! I don't have a picture of mine yet, but I'll have it up here very soon. Get posting! NOTE: For those who do not know how to upload a screenshot; please follow these steps to get your picture in your post. In my opinion, PhotoBucket is the easiest way to do this. So I will provide steps using PhotoBucket. Could someone please provide me with the steps to uploading a screenshot through Imgur? Link to PhotoBucket: https://www.photobucket.com 1. Create an account on PhotoBucket (if you do not have one). 2. There should be an upload button on the page you land on once you have completed the signup process and have signed in to PhotoBucket. Click on that upload button. 3. Choose your picture file and let it upload to your Library. 4. Once that is done, go to your Library and select the screenshot you just uploaded. 5. You'll be taken to a page with a bigger version of your screenshot. Next to that, you'll see links. One of them will be labeled Direct. Copy that link and then close out of PhotoBucket. 6. Go to Simtropolis and begin to make a post in whatever thread your screenshot is needed. 7. Click on the mini picture icon above where you're making your post and paste the link to the picture there. 8. Your picture should appear where you're typing your post and then appear once you publish your post.

I don't know. Those solar roadways seems like a bit of a hoax to me. What I think is that the cities need more of these: Perhaps not as futuristic as most of what we see here, but it is effective in multiple ways, and that's where the future lies for cities.

Also, your previous avatar was better.

Please release this. Are you doing any others like this? I've got about 5 bldgs like this right now, and I'm continuing work on this as we speak. I've 3 towers and 2 low-dens residential like the one above...in ruins.

I'm back to simtropolis. I'll be (hopefully, no promises) releasing a few buildings soon, this time though it'll be one at a time.

Great job with the textures

If you did I can't see it, one thing does look a little odd from the log file you posted before: Numbers ------- ... videoMemory = 16 textureMemory = 16 textureStages = 1 ... For example here are the same figures in mine: videoMemory = 1974 textureMemory = 1974 textureStages = 8 Assuming I'm reading that correctly SC4 thinks you only have 16MB of Video Memory, not that I can shed any more light on it than pointing it out, sorry. It could just be that due to the mis-recognition of the driver it's set wrong, but I figured it might be worth mentioning.

How about uploading a whole series of these! You can make future post apocalyptic.

Will eventually become a town that looks like one on the Columbia River, WA.

To get a grip on these, query the lots that have the "brown paper packages tied up with string" to see which they are, then inspect the download page for them. The other possibility is that you have put only the .sc4lot file in your plugins for a BAT that also has a .sc4desc and .sc4model file. If you have a download containing these three items or just a .sc4lot and .sc4model file, these all go into your plugins. A BAT lot consist of the three files noted above, but some makers use techniques that eliminate the .sc4desc file by including it in the .sc4lot file. If you don't have file extensions turned on in your computer, do so. This is the only way you can tell you've got everything. This feature is off by default, which IMHO is one of Microsoft's really stupid choices.

Read the readme thats in the zipfile. If your resolution is below a certain resolution ( cant remember which one it was, I think it was around 1400) you should install the lowres and not the highres.

This is one of the few cases where I tend to agree that this package should be in the system residency (C:\program files ...). It is really an extension of the program, so why not? It is not a plugin, but a dynamic link library that should load with the game.

In a CJ, don't be disappointed if the sign was photoshopped.

Unnecessary. He will be back when he will be back. Be patient and do not bump.

Philly represent!!! Anyway, this thread is depressing, but net in a way very intriguing. Maybe some of these may be released someday? Or maybe they are available on other sites? Who knows?

Just finished an entire city tonight. Here is a preview. Check my CJ tomorrow for some action. Bwahaha.

Been doing some stuff in a while now. Thanks to the three day vacation starting Wednesday, I might be able to do a lot of SC4 stuff. Here is an upcoming update from my CJ: Don't mind the apartments in the lower right, block maxis mod doesn't work for me but they'll be gone soon... And forgive me for a very low quality gif. Lels. It's supposed to be entitled, Teiko from Dawn to Dusk but oh please, its just night, I accidentally moved the camera... I hope you visit my CJ, Teiko. See links below.

With a population of 22,600 it seemed a little to big to put in the small towns thread so I thought maybe it might fit here. This is downtown Laird.

Once again, very nice work keep it up!

We lost the TD Centre, First Canadian Place, Ice Condos 1 & 2, Aura at College Park, The Ritz Carlton, and Bay Adelaide West. So many amazing Toronto buildings and for someone who was planning on recreating downtown Toronto it's really sad that I had to put the project on hold and may never finish it if the buildings don't get released.

...and here's updated night lights for Infinity Tower:

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll increase the intensity and add a red light to the top. I have no idea what it looks like in RL as there are almost no night pictures of the building. I'll post an update in a little while. The day model is exported though Here's an update on BankWest Tower, with the base completed. Let me know what you think

Thanks everyone Here's some concept lighting for Infinity Tower, let me know what you think Declan, a tip for you: If you ask really, really nicely you have a very slim chance someone might fulfil one of your requests one day. If you say 'I want' you pretty much have no chance

Thanks guys. - Tony, sure, I'll post an update once I get TCC out. Although would be good if I can get that 3rd section of the Yarra completed first... - Noah, that's ok, if it was one of my Melbourne recreations I'd have a stronger opinion, but this one is for everyone so happy to make it as versatile as I can. - Gaz, no I don't think there's any hidden surprises in there unfortunately, I have a couple of surprises up my sleeve but nothing that's been exported yet So here's TCC with greater distribution of lights, this is about as much lighting as I think I can give it without going overboard. I'm going to export overnight, so let me know if you think of any other changes, otherwise look for it on the STEX tomorrow

Yes offline only mods will screw up online games, and you do have to uninstall all of your offline only mods when you want to play online. However, there is a solution:

Here's the fourth one finally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB4vIakQlt0&hd=1 This one is for the RCI Plop Mod.

Okay well either way, it's still nice to see something like this.

I never said it wasn't a mod but that's all I'm gonna say now. I'm probably giving too much away.

Maybe the hospital the patient rooms wing is plopped in the back as a plop-on to the building. Try looking at the model details of the modules.

You can try looking at other modules of any building that plop in the back of them and see what makes them different from the bus depot ploppable

No, or else he wouldn't have posted it in this thread.

You're absolutely right, ImaginIllyar bigger maps are not needed. You can have loads of fun without them.

I agree with Indiana Joe but I have heard that a couple more updates are coming.

For your first question: I believe that if you zone for say, $$ Residential, that the demand for $$ Commercial will go up. Now if you just want the demand and don't want to have to do anything, you can download this mod: For your second question: I believe that you can have a residential-only city, and the Sims will travel to a commercial-only city or an industry-only city for their jobs. Just make sure you have enough connections between the two cities.

You need to switch the game to Windows 7 Compatibility Mode. You can do this by doing the following, step-by-step: - Right-click on your SC4 icon on your desktop. - Go down the list until you find Properties. Click on that. - A little screen will pop up. There will be a navigation bar at the top of this screen. Click on the navigation tab that says Compatibility. - After that, you'll see a dropdown that says Windows 8 along the text box. Click on the dropdown icon and select Windows 7. - Once you do that, go to the bottom of the screen, click Apply, wait for it to finish applying, and then click OK. Your game should work pretty good after that. You will still experience minor glitches, but not nearly as many as you did before. Enjoy your game!

This may be something you want to talk to oppie about try shooting him a PM.

Welcome to Simtropolis, Sean we're glad to see you here!

What do you mean by EP? And does this mean the mega towers are bug? Cities of Tomorrow and yes, I guess you could say the mega towers are bugged.

I don't believe it's only you because I tried to help someone else out that had this sort of problem but I don't know. I don't have the EP so there is nothing I can do.

Congratulations to all nominees and winners very deserving.

Originally posted by: Vlasky And now, stay tuned for >> NOFUNK SPECIAL<< Nofunk is a very significant part of the BSP Team and a top quality BATer. We have witnessed many high quality uploads on STEX from him, for which we, as a community, are very thankful. But here are some of the beauties that never seen a light of our SimSuns: quote> Oh my goodness! Are all those mine?! Well, that was a surprise, and a nice walk down memory lane. What I can say is I still have most of those projects (a few of them I've lost). Some of them will definitely be done. When? I can't say. But someday! Some others, however, may never see the light of day. So sad. That Carew Tower looks pretty nice, huh? Yeah... Regarding other BATs that never made it to the STEX, SimFox and Odainsaker are both holding onto a handful of BATs I'd like to see in my city someday...