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I know that this is not a direct answer to your particular question, but I'd still like to offer the following as a general piece of advice from someone who has learnt all that from ten years' experience: If dependencies are your problem, I recommend NEVER to rely on scanners. Scanners can tempt you to use horribly inefficient and non-user-friendly methods instead of applying good practices and keeping your stuff user-friendly right from the start. If I may venture a guess: You probably made the re-lot using your full plugins folder, took any props that looked good, and now you have no idea which prop and/or texture pack would be required to display everything properly? Does that describe the problem? If so, I'd recommend a different approach - it's the one I've been recommending throughout all my years in this community: Make a new, totally empty plugins folder. You'll have better overview, the Lot Editor will load faster, the prop and texture lists will be shorter and easier to handle. Add the lot that you want to modify. If you think you need an external dependency, add one. You probably have something in mind. Something like "Those trees that Cycledogg made would look great!". Fine. Then add Cycledogg's prop pack. If you found everything you need, go to step 7. Else continue. If you think you need some more stuff, try e.g. another prop pack. Poke around in the list of props, see what this pack contains. Useful? Then keep it. Not so useful? Then remove it from your current plugins folder immediately so you don't use it accidentally. Repeat until you have found everything you need. Try to focus on a handful of packs rather than using a new pack for every unimportant detail. Let's face it: One tiny potted plant doesn't look that different from another tiny potted plant. You don't need to add another prop pack just for a potted plant. Instead, you may find a similar potted plant in one of the packs you're already using. Or even among the Maxis default props! The same applies to all small and simple objects like benches, bushes, lamps, trashcans, phone boxes, and so forth. The lot design won't suffer much, but the dependency list will be far, far shorter. Very important: TEST your lot in game with absolutely NOTHING in your plugins folder but the lot itself and all dependencies that you think are needed. If everything shows up correctly, you are ready to go! If something is missing, you need to go back and check what you missed. This may sound tedious at a first glance. But trust me, in the long run it is very efficient, and you will learn your prop/texture packs this way. You will soon be able to tell beforehand which packs you'll need. You'll be familiar with their content, and you'll be able to make better use of what you have. Last but not least, you will create stuff that looks good with fewer dependencies. These have a fair chance of being more popular because few people like to download a single lot - and then 12 dependencies after that! (just an example, of course.) As regards your current problem, if iLive's reader works on your system, you can open the lot file and check the LD file inside. It should contain a list of prop dependencies. It does not, however, list texture dependencies.

Murphy's Grove is a small hamlet on the northeastern edge of St. Florence County. Most residents are still on rotary phones, and it takes about forty-five seconds to dial 911. Some of the more progressive young folk have actually advanced to dial-up Internet, and it's still possible to hear the "You've got mail!" audio prompt from those crazy AOL users. The Hixton Mill provides enough energy to power the wood plane for the local lumber trade. They use the lumber to make Xboxes (that's a wooden box where you keep pictures of your ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends). The Brodys own eight horses, but most of them run wild because the Brodys can't be bothered with fixing their fence. In their fence defense, the nearest Home Depot is about three hours away. If you cross the Berry Brook Bridge, you'll run into the sleepy community of Gibbler's Knob. You can pay with cash for goods and services, or you can try and barter by slapping some beaver pelts on the counter. Even more horses have escaped from the Brody Farm. It's not a very stable stable. There's a big sale on Jonathan Apples, bags of flour and shoe laces at the general store this week. Good luck getting them to accept your Groupon. The Berry Brook Bridge is pretty creepy this time of year. The ghost of Jeb Gibbler is said to roam these parts. Jeb lost his life drinking milk after the cow fell on him. Instead of "Boo!", he moans, "Mooooooo!". A new shipment of quilts arrived this morning, so Gibbler's Knob is buzzing with activity. It's the equivalent to an iPhone release day. According to the last census, there are more dead people living in Murphy's Grove than living people. The headstone business is booming, and the St. Florence Church is running out of room in their cemetery. Here's the "NSA view". Thanks again for visiting. Feel free to leave a comment before you go.

That's what I've been busy with

Yup, I understand what you mean. I also like that rewarding feeling when that spectacular skyscraper finally pops up. Using growables only also teaches you how to "channel" demand onto a few high-density lots to get some skyscrapers going. Does plopping equal cheating? No and yes. No because what our resident moose said: You're not playing in a competition with others. Yes because you cheat the game mechanics. Instead of careful zoning, good playing and that particular bit of good luck, you just click a few times, and there it is. I'd go so far as to say you even cheat yourself because you'll miss out on the rewarding feeling mentioned above. Then again, this aspect depends on your playing style: some prefer organically growing everything, being challenged with surprising developments, and managing a living city, whereas others focus on creating the most accurate manifestation of their idea of a visually pleasing sandbox city. The choice is yours... IMO, considerations like "in real life, the mayor would have a say" don't really apply. SimCity strays from RL in so many ways (no elections, no lengthy negotiations, you can immediately bulldoze anything, you have god-like powers) that 1:1 comparisons between game and life just don't cut it. Personally, I only use static "eye candy" landmarks, and only very sparingly. In fact, I use fewer than I like. I would like to use them to accentuate certain corners of my cities - say, one to three landmarks per city tile (not just skyscrapers, mind you, but also low-rise stuff and bigger monuments), but I somehow tend to forget all about it. As for repetitive buildings, yes, that's mostly a matter of too few competing BATs (buildings of similar size and category).

I bring you what could probably be viewed as my first actual interchange. A very simple RHW-4 trumpet, but still. Not bad for a first try, eh?

At the end of last week Paradox held a live stream for Cities: Skylines and now there's this edited version. Last Friday Paradox and Colossal Order held an hour long live stream for Cities: Skylines, their city builder which is due for release next year. The Paradox video editing guys have decided to chop the hour long chat down to a 13 minute segment which they are calling "Gameplay Infrastructure - Highlights". ---- More videos here: http://www.incgamers.com/2014/09/cities-skylines-infrastructure-highlights-snipped-from-live-stream

Prescott is a small village nestled along the foothills of Vermont close to the Canadian border. Its residents celebrate a rich and historical heritage after their epic battle with Canada back in 1789, also known as "The Great Maple Tree Massacre", in which almost three hundred people lost their lives fighting over rights to the the syrup fields of the North East. Canada lost the battle, but won the war after sending us Celine Dion, Bryan Adams and Justin Bieber. Prescott straddles the Hockeepuckah River, named after the Hockeepuckah Indians, of course. They were known for their incredible skills on the ice, and are credited with inventing the very first ice skates, which were made from beaver pelt and moose antlers. Below is Abraham's Bridge. Unbeknownst to Prescott residents, it's been rigged with explosives in case the Canadians ever try and invade again. You're looking at the Folsom Bridge. Yeah, it's rigged for explosives too. Damn Canadians. It's Bingo Saturday at St. Rico's Church. St. Rico is the patron saint of mental illness, and became famous after convincing parishioners that an impending Canadian zombie apocalypse was on its way. Just think of how much maple syrup is in all of those trees below. It's Pumpkin Spice Latte time at Starbucks!!! Damn Starbucks. Here's the "NSA view" of Prescott. Thanks for checking out my CJ! Comments and critiques are always welcome. This is still my freshmen year, so be gentle.

This is a real chance to blow my own horn, so here goes: Each of these render using the game. The instructions are in at least one of them. They all work the same way.

If a "real gamer" is someone who plays FPSs, RPGs and such, then I'm a "real gamer." As a "real gamer," I can say simulators are very much real games and are much less casual than any other genre I know of. Take SC4 for example, where us CJers nitpick over tiny details on 4km x 4km maps, and compare it to GTAV, where I sit down in a tractor trailer and rofl when I drive off a cliff (I'm being serious, I do that). As a "real gamer," I can also say that the communities for simulators are generally much more mature and creative than your average FPS community. Now then, I'll go ahead and say as a "real gamer" that there's no such thing as a "real gamer." Every game is real, whether it's mainstream or played by a small community, whether it came out yesterday or was made 20 years ago, or if it's rated M or rated E. They're all "real games." We're all "real gamers" because we all play games. This is all just my opinion though.

Replies: APSMS: Fasan's Krokanien MD is pure genius. Thanks for the link! His work has given me all sorts of ideas and all kinds of things to consider. Schulmanator: Thank you. bitsaul: Thanks, and good luck with your city and/or CJ. Tekindus: Thanks a lot, but laying down those curved tracks was not as irksome as I initially thought it was. The terrain levelling was more frustrating though! City_Master: Cheers! 47ply: SC4 is my obsession during my spare time. Also it is the first time I have used Paeng's parks in a city. Benedict: Great stuff. Update 46: Midnight is Where the Day Begins As promised here is San Widge's CBD at night, it also comes with a couple of night-time pictures from other areas of the city. Enjoy! ///

Super Mario Cat Countess Katherine II is returning home to Harar after a stay at the Feline Quarter in Schulmania's capital. As you can imagine, it's quite a journey from the posh, metropolitan capital in East Tenne to her home in east central Harar. Countess Katherine II The Feline Heritage Center in the Feline Quarter The Bureau of Feline Affairs Palace in the Feline Quarter, where the Countess has been working But now, the adventure to get home begins! First, on the way south, she stops off in Belva Dear, South Wirdleonia She then stopped off at Admiral Hestorb's ranch in Hestorbia. The Admiral is out at sea so there's plenty of room in the estate. She will host a dinner party for some feline friends this evening before heading south again. Hungry? A trip across the Wirdleonia River into Harar is easy when you cross near Cat Tail Shoals Harar is a vast and untamed wild territory. She loves traveling through it! She stopped by the capital, Lake Felis, to greet Queen Vera and have dinner with Baron Nik She headed back home after detouring to Villa Nepeta, home of the world's finest catnip plantation She also stopped by Ajaw Xulman to hang out with her friends the margays, ocelots, and jaguarundis. A grand time was had by all! Below, you can see her playing a game with her friends at Ajaw Xulman. Now, it's time to dust off your Nintendo and join her!

Amazing that I've been here since 2004, but I guess I'm just not social enough, haha. Just surfing some threads today and seeing names like Jacqulina, Nonny Moose, TenkindusT, etc. brings back memories. Amazing how most of us are still playing the game that basically started this website - SC4. Seriously 11 years of playing SC4. Now SC4 has become more of a picture drawing game and less of a simulation for me --- which is why I can't wait for a suitable robust realistic replacement for it. And wow, some of you guys have a ton of awards!

If you go on the STEX, you can choose to view only files in the Maps category, and then when it displays the results, you can sort by "highest rated" or "most popular" to get what you're looking for.

180 degree highway drive

^ Its a very big ocean, and it is considerably warmer than in the past.

There's got to be some debris scattered somewhere that the authorities somehow missed. Maybe in the desert north of Roswell, New Mexico?

About distressed/vacant buildings: The game's tendency to over-build high-wealth ($$$) buildings is now my biggest pet peeve - the brilliant modders have resolved all the other issues! When a building becomes dilapidated, it fills up with lower-wealth-level Sims. This means it still provides taxes and can have an even higher population than originally. This does balance out the simulation, so the main downside to dilapidation is the aesthetic factor. To deal with the problem, you could 1) bulldoze the offending lots. But I find that the simulation is perfectly happy to replace a dilapidated building with another R$$$ lot - eternally optimistic about its chances at prosperity. You can also 2) make it less likely for rich Sims to move in (raise their taxes or deny services). In my experience, just one elementary school or clinic is enough to encourage R$$$ growth, so that's not very effective. Plus, you do need some higher-wealth residents to work at your companies (even manufacturing or C$$ need a few). And messing with the tax structure is so easy, but can lead to such headaches. So, I would recommend 3) checking the RCI graph carefully and choosing the right moment to bulldoze. With practice, you can reliably predict what developer type will rise out of the rubble. Make sure there is demand for the one type you're interested in, and consider making it historic once it does. About playing on Timbuktu: YMMV, but I have created several cities on the default region without any issues. I also have about 10 versions of Big City Tutorial scattered around sandbox regions. The only problem is that they all say Big City Tutorial on them, regardless of what they're called or whether other city names are displayed or not. About downloading regions: As you can see, I'm not the most creative player out there. When I download a new region, I usually delete it soon after because it doesn't quite fit my playing style. It's hard to make recommendations because everyone is looking for something different.

Yes and no. Yes if you are playing the game to try to build a city with the vanilla game's mechanics, which means letting everything grow normally. No if you are making a CJ. It's basically a given if you are making a CJ, as you quite simply cannot make an area look as nice with growables as you can with ploppables (in any reasonable period of time, at least). I guess it really depends on your goal. If you wanna "play" the game, then ploppables could technically be a cheat because (as said above), it sort of plays with the game mechanics. On the other hand, if you want total control over the appearance of your city (i.e. for CJs), then you'll want ploppables, or else you'll be sitting there for 5 years trying to get a specific 6k capacity CO$$$ tower to grow. I personally use ploppables very heavily in CBDs and industrial sectors, since it is a huge pain to wait for massive capacity buildings to grow, even if you have a demand mod on.

Hello everyone! I'm Littleyeou, and I just joined so figured I'd introduce myself. I'm an engineering student who has a passion for gaming. I suppose I began playing SimCity because I was looking for a game to play and stumbled across it. Now it's one of my favourites and I tend to play at least twice a week (when I'm not studying of course hehe). But none of my friends play it That's all from me I guess!

i do think a lot of the mods would be cheats. For instance the cheat i use is the black hole waste management. I justify it by saying to myself that a regionwide landfill is not allowed in the game, therefore it must be outside the region. I dont think that money cheats are really cheats, because the money doesnt matter much. But anything that changes the desirability i would consider a cheat, because its distorting the regions balance, but i think its all a matter of preference. Personally i dont like to use anything with an effect because it alters the balance too much, and i too feel like i did not earn it. I also think that its a little easier to manage my downtown without them, because the you can get the game to balance slowly with the region without giant falls in demand elswhere.

My only idea is that someone created this energy ball using unknown means, like so.

Well it was probably <insert conspiracy theory here>. Personally I'm going for a spherical shaped alien craft flying by.

True, some winners of the peace prize never actually promoted peace at all and some of those who should have won the prize never actually won at all.

Your best bet for identifying mods is probably either the Lot Editor or SC4Tool. Since both have pictures of the lots, you should be able to go from there. I too have mods that I've accumulated over 10+ years that amount to only 1 GB. All of them are identified by the source (author, group, etc) so that I can review them as necessary. I keep a pretty tight rein on them, and I test each new addition. It is a pity that some players get bitten by the download everything in sight bug. Some of my earliest mods are used in almost all my cities.

Use the full editor to fix the spelling mistake in your title, please. If you have a PC, why on earth would you bother with a console? You sound like a typical consumer.

Hello everyone! I have been working on making a graphics pack based off SimTower with double resolution and full 32-bit color space (partial transparency for windows). Some of my early work was obvious "derivative work" of the original SimTower but I replaced most of those with better-looking, more unique art assets. However, I am working on the penultimate round of art assets before completion of the graphics pack and I have not done much art work this year (I was busy up until mid-August). Offices, Condos, and Apartments are easy. The insides of restaurants (fast food franchises and 3-star restaurants) are harder. I will edit this post to show you what I have done that looks good and what I have recently done that looks very much like the original (with one screenshot of SimTower for comparison). I would like your feedback in making my artwork more original so I don't get in trouble. I know that Yoot Saito is still around and making games (he made SimTower AKA The Tower and Yoot Tower AKA The Tower II) and that EA owns the rights to the name SimTower. I have been making such artwork since 2008, back when the first OpenTower project had its first working prototype. That prototype did not work very well with the right software on the right type of computer but is completely unusable with the updated software libraries and is most-likely nowhere to be found. However, there have been a handful of projects that stemmed off from that project (Highrise Developer and OpenSkyscraper being the projects that progressed the furthest) and I used to work with the developers of Highrise Developer to give them almost all of the art assets they used (they made some of their own as well). However, recently HTML5 has become a popular platform for games so I decided in Spring to make my own open-source tower game that can run in a browser. I call it OcramTower. Here is the GitHub directory: https://github.com/AzemOcram/OcramTower Here is the GitHub page (with a link to a video and a semi-playable version): http://azemocram.github.io/OcramTower/ Here is the majority of my graphics pack: http://www.majhost.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=284130 --Ocram EDIT: Here is an old screenshot from SimTower (I played SimTower up until 2012) Here is my new burger joint:

ok?

SimCity 4 Deluxe is the only major game I played for years. My list now includes Banished. Otherwise I stick to simple logic games such as the LOTR turn game Angband (graphics are horrible on Windows), Iagno (reversi), GNU Mines (Minesweeper), and other GNU games supplied free with the Linux distribution. I had high hopes for SC2013 when it was first hyped, but as things became clearer it turned out to be a horrible disappointment. Maxis Studio ain't what it used to be, clearly. They bit off more than they could chew, even with a reboot and their modern version of Micropolis. Will Wright was correct when he said that SC4 was the end of the line for this simulation. The cash cow is still being milked.

Right, and many of us don't play other hardcore games like racing games, MMOs, or FPSes. For me personally, SC4 is now the one game I don't suck at, and the one game I'm truly interested in.

The Death Star passing by.

That's interesting, you must be looking at a different game there. I still have the 3 boxed versions of SC4 which say on the back: SimCity 4: "Build and run your own city" Rush Hour: "Your city is on the move" Deluxe: "The biggest SimCity ever!"

truly amazing

XD My first one was with this Connect-Four handheld electronic device. And I kept losing A canned game? We made the 310 reconcile the clearing for a major Canadian bank. Later on we held a party the night we processed one million cheques.

Just turned in a research paper a few days ago about Ebola. Talked personally with some experts, read a lot of facts and opinions on all sides. There is a cure. And several promising vaccines. They just need to go through proper trials before they can be considered legitimate. But the WHO has already permitted some express experimental use due to the urgency of the outbreak and seemingly low risk of the drugs. The virus is in fact underrated. It is just as deadly and easy to catch as malaria and cholera. The big difference is the lack of knowledge and expertise to fight it (it was only named in 1976). There are only a couple of hospitals in the world with the medical expertise and equipment to properly treat the disease while keeping it isolated. That said, it will never spread through the U.S. quite like it does in West Africa. We are much more hygiene-conscious and medically prepared. The highly superstitious lower-class population in West Africa are refusing to accept the masks and other attempts at disease prevention; many believe the virus is a conspiracy made up by the governments. Or just a curse. They have started attacking healthcare workers. There's a lot to be afraid of. No practical way to prevent its spread either. You can shut off all travel to the entire continent of Africa. Then, say, a Guinean businessman travels to Europe and spreads the infection to some other people. One of them carries it to the United States. It has a significant incubation period. It was bound to end up here sooner or later. As well as every other continent. The world is too globalized. The challenge is keeping it at bay until the current experimental drugs can be mass-produced. I can cite a bunch of sources if anyone's interested.

Democracy will not ever work in the real world, only on paper. All these democracy protests end in one of two ways: they are crushed by the ruling government of the country, or the radicals come to power. In Russia, the communists came to power by riding on one of these "democracy protests". In Kiev, after the maidan revolution, the neo-nazi's came to power. The moment, such a protest happens, the cause is lost. It becomes dominated by radicals.

Superb! Your industrial areas are the best I've seen, truly fantastic. I forgot to ask earlier, what's the monument this image? I recognise the BAT but I can't remember it's name.

You must have faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. -- Mahatma Gandhi

Replies: Mymyjp: Thanks a lot! jmsepe: I love gridbusting and laying down agriculture. 47ply: I'm still exploring all the mods I've downloaded so there is so much more to explore and improve upon! packersfan: To answer your question; no, I have never used the Lot Editor and I haven't even downloaded it! I don't have time for LE so I rely on a lot of BATs, fillers, MMPs and lot textures to give the illusion of lotting work. As for MMP farming I reckon it is the best way to go for organic looking fields, it is a very time-consuming process but the payoff is well worth it. Donician: Give it a go with MMP farming! I would love to see this method be used by other members. tankmank: Thanks for the compliment! Agriculture is my favourite aspect of SC4, but I love the urban to. With all the custom content I have been downloading I am finding it easier and easier to diversify city areas. AboveTheCity: I use Mas71's river banks which can be found here: https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1674. And thanks for the comment! Update 44: The Estate In the final part of the Grethor tour we travel to the retail/industrial estate in Southeast Grethor. This has a little bit of everything: industry, shops, flats, houses, lakes, farms, highways, farms, woodlands and MMP work. Enjoy! /// Southeast Grethor /// Ball-breaking gridbusting. The estate. The manufacturing zone. Pots Lake to the left and Croppers Pond to the right. As ever Diggis ponds come in super useful. The suburban is strong in this one. The Coke-Cola building dominates the skyline for miles around. One of Grethor's elementary schools. The Six Blocks housing estate. The Two Ponds housing estate to the right. Moving eastwards over the estate now. I am really loving the Project Symphony highways. Some FAR filler tomfoolery. A thing I love to do is to fill the forest floor with MMPs to spruce up the Godmode plopped trees. /// And here is a preview of Townshead, the new city I'm working on. /// In the next entry I'm going back to San Widge where a cathedral and a grand central station await.

Hello, and welcome back to Simerica. You may have already seen this update on SC4Devotion, and now I'm finally getting the chance to post it here. First let's start out with replies to all you wonderful people: Ln X: Thanks, it truly is a nice rural highway. Jmsepe: Thanks, I appreciate your compliment. SimRico: Thanks for the comment and glad you like my updates! I'm glad you've enjoyed the scenery and farmlands. LexusInfernus: Glad you enjoyed the forests and farms! Titanicbuff: I definitely will keep up the good work, and I'm glad your computer is back so you can keep playing SimCity 4. PhatHead: That's a nice slogan that you came up with! Schulmanator: Appreciate it, thanks! Sims firehouse: Glad you like the interchange, and having a little historical background always makes things more interesting. Even though I don't do a "natural growth" style for building my region, I still try to add some historical perspective, such as routes of old highways and whatnot. GDK: Thanks! And now...drumroll please..... Update 4: "Bridges" inspired by Noroway... So some of Simerica's highway engineers recently took a trip to the city of Noroway, aka the NORO Cooperative, that is currently being built on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The engineers and mayors of NORO Cooperative are highly respected throughout the SimWorld because of their amount of talent they possess at creating good-looking cities and amazing transportation networks. So, as one might expect, our engineers were really impressed with what they saw, especially the bridges over small bodies of water, and they just had to incorporate that in Simerica, using the same cutting-edge techniques that are used in Noroway. Here is the end result. Just a few pictures, but as they say, it's quality over quantity that matters... 4.1 4.2 4.3 Of course, all the roadgeeks in Simerica and a few other people in the news media were impressed with these bridges, with the Twin Forks Tribune calling them "an engineering marvel of efficiency and simplicity." Everyone wanted to know how this was done. Eventually the engineers reluctantly produced a link to a YouTube video showing how this was done in Noroway, courtesy of a Norowegian engineering and construction company called MandelSoft Engineering and Construction. You can view the video here and sit back and relax as you watch a recording of the bridges being built in real time. And before I leave you, here's one more shot of the river flowing through the delta, just maybe a hundred meters downstream from those bridges. Those kayakers are paddling up to those new bridges to check them out: 4.4 I haven't done much city development; mainly I've been building a freeway to connect Twin Forks with the soon-to-be-city of Lamont on the coast. This is also the first week of classes at my college (Fall quarter just started this past Monday), so now I'm going to be spending a lot of my time at school and studying, and less time playing SC4. I'll try not to totally let this CJ languish though.... Well, that concludes this update. Hope you enjoyed, your comments and suggestions are much appreciated!

So welcome back to Simerica. Here's another update from me. But first, the obligatory replies. Replies Titanicbuff: Thanks for making the first comment on this CJ! I don't know about doing a roundabout at that congested intersection; it might work, but I want to try and build the most compact interchange I can with the RHW. Mind you that this is not a freeway and so a super-compact interchange would be fine (speed limit would be only 35 mph anyway). jmsepe: Glad you like the grid-breaking. I like it too! It's so much more satisfying to create suburbs with the NAM. Grids look nice, too, since they convey the feeling of an older area, but grids can't and shouldn't be everywhere. Schriefer: Thanks, glad you like my roads. And the pics are straight from the game; I didn't edit the pictures (besides changing them to JPG and stitching the mosaics together) so you're seeing exactly what I see in-game. Schulmanator: Thanks, and oh yes, I'll definitely keep up the awesomeness! SimRico: Glad you like the update, and I'm enjoying being a part of the USN. So where is that property that you want to buy? TekindusT: Thanks; I was trying to make it look as good as the interchanges created by RHW masters like Maarten and Noah, with lots of FARHW, smooth curves, plenty of merge space, and no weaving. I think I've succeeded at that, except I'm not to the point where I can really do it in one sitting without rage-quitting SC4 after an hour of playing the game. I think we all have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with the RHW. Update 2: More views of Twin Forks and Lynden Okay, now onto the second update. This is just going to be more of a showcase of pictures from Twin Forks again as well as from the neighboring city to the northeast, Lynden. Sorry, no interchanges this time. I've built some, but they don't have lights, signage, or development around them yet. Their completion will probably warrant another update pretty soon. First off, I'll just show you some more shots from Twin Forks. This one shows some riverfront properties and a road going along the riverbank. I like building roads that go along the riverside. 2.1 Here's another shot of the CBD of Twin Forks. Yeah, I know, those are such tall buildings--NOT! I guess I need a higher regional population. But anyway, the Crosstown Expressway runs across this picture, connecting the CBD with the industrial area on the other side of that arch bridge (you can tell I really like arch bridges ). 2.2 If you look on the left side of the picture, you can see part of the interchange between the Crosstown Expressway and I-5. It sucks right now; I plan to partially reconstruct it soon, and I'll give it an extreme makeover once NAM 33 comes out and I'll have more elevated ramp pieces to use. Okay on to the next picture. You can see more of that beautiful arch bridge across the river, as well as part of the industrial area. I know that the Maxis seaport is probably making you guys cringe, but it's just temporary. In the future, freight from the industrial area will be taken by rail and truck to the real seaport located in the coastal city of Lamont, which will be built soon. 2.3 The shot below is of the same spot as Image 1.9 in the last update. In an effort to spruce up this area of town, a developer has recently torn down several of those dumpy highrise apartments and built some nicer condos in their place. With the increase of well-paying jobs in the city, many of the residents of those old buildings had the money to move into the new condos or into other houses, so ultimately those people are now better off than they were before. People here also enjoy the short commute into downtown, another one of the perks of living here. 2.4 With that, I leave you with a parting shot of Twin Forks, a view of the entire city. It's far from finished as you can tell, but it's getting there. 2.5 Okay, now we move onto Lynden, which is located to the northeast of Twin Forks. Here you can see lots of moving trucks full of all the stuff that Sims have for their newly-built homes here. 2.6 So this is what happens when you zone a whole bunch of 1x1 residential zones: you get nothing but repetition in the form of bungalows and trees placed in the exact same spot on every lot. I think I need to find some more 1x1 residential lots; if anybody has any suggestions for something to download, I'd appreciate it. (couldn't find anything with a quick search of the STEX) 2.7 Zoom out showing more of that neighborhood: 2.8 A residential area on the other side of the freeway. People here really like swimming pools, it seems. 2.9 And now, here's a bridge along this yet to be numbered freeway. I'm not a big fan of cable-stayed bridges IRL, but I gotta admit that this one in the NAM just looks awesome. The touch of elegance on its towers really goes a long way in making it look nice. 2.10 The elegant cable-stayed bridge really fits in nicely with the equally elegant arch bridge just downstream: 2.11 Notice something cool I did here with this bridge? Yup, I put an avenue under it. Wha--how do you do that?! Well, out of the kindness of my heart, I will tell you. I downloaded the Under bridge Lots off of a Japanese website, http://klex.blog85.fc2.com/. Use Google Translate to read it unless you're familiar with Japanese; there's several other things here that this guy has made that might interest you. These under bridge lots are overhanging lots for transportation networks and they convert it to subway to allow commuters to go under the bridge, so it's actually functional and not just eye-candy. This really adds to realism since I can think of so many examples of real-life bridges of significant length and height where roads go under the bridge. I can't think of many bridges where this isn't the case. I hope you enjoyed this second update, and I'd appreciate your comments and suggestions. Also, how do I change the title of this thread? I thought I could just edit the first post, but I did that but there wasn't any option to change this thread's title.

The thing you don't realize is that most of these new developments are mostly unoccupied because they are unaffordable for the impoverished Chinese people they are supposed to house. Also, many of these new ghost mega cities were built on productive farmland. The rapid expansion does little to help the populace; it merely gives an image of growth and expansion during the global recession. --Ocram

That is to bad. I've always liked cities that are build into their surroundings, not ones that just demolish the surroundings to create more of the same.

This article needs before and after pics. It lacks them. I am disappoint.

Jobs, jobs, jobs! You simply must have more jobs either in the current city or in adjacent ones. Create a number of low density C lots where you can. I recommend 2 x 1 blocks of low density (A key) jobs, hand tailored of course, to get your cities back on track. The low density C jobs will attract all types of R. And try to keep the Sims to Jobs ratio at 2:1. Above all, do not attempt to force a CBD with huge buildings before you have the income and the traffic to sustain it or the buildings will simply abandon due to low traffic. The thing that sustains big commercial development is high traffic passing on all sides. And satisfy some of that industrial demand. Put I-D and I-M along the edges of your city. The pollution spills over into the bit bucket. I-HT is OK anywhere, even in the downtown. The requirements for I-HT are the same as for CO$$$. Don't forget the parks and plazas. Parks attract R.

Welcome to Simtropolis!! I would start with the NAM and play the game for a little while to get used to it again. Some mods can radically change the game and it would be useful if you were familiar with the workings of SC4 before you begin modifying it with mods. When you have become familiar with the SC4 again, search the STX for any mod with the word 'fix' in it. Some suggestions are as follows: 1) SPAM - this radically changes the way the farming works in SC4 (for the better). 2) Opera house fix 3) Spaceport fix 4) A good slope mod (there are several) I would avoid any RCI demand mods. These can change the game in unpredictable ways and can detract from the challenge and fun of the game.

The actual website is very excellent right now. I mostly remember this site being a slow, glitchy nightmare between a few of those updates. And the STEX screwing the pooch and a bunch of lost treasures because some people had hangups with upload permissions. I was always the outspoken appreciator of many amatuerish yet creative BAT's that fit into my cities just perfectly, and missed them when they vanished. The site as it looked around 2006 was pretty nice though, for the era. The festive christmas banners were great too.

Blue Hope is no longer just a City Journal, but a massive Sim City 4 Multi-player system that converts the versatile single player game into a multi-player system which allows multiple users to share their creations, and create among each other. The focus of Blue Hope is to transform the robust single player game into a multi-player network for multiple users to enjoy each other’s creation and content. Users will be able to share Regions, Cities, Plugins and create content for each other. They will ALSO be able to develop in other users regions and contribute toward their growth and success. Users will be able to design from distinct districts to suburban cities to urban jungles that will each link to the contribution of a multi-region server. Blue Hope is no longer a region or a city journal but a system of regions users are allowed to develop and contribute to. Users are also allowed to import their own regions and plugins for other uses to assist in development upon. There is no score system or limitations in Blue Hope any longer. The process is simple. · Blue Hope is hosted on a Cloud Server of which I am personally hosting. This will grant members access to sync real-time by installing Blue Hope, the plugins and regions to their PC and automatically update them when changes are made. o Users will be able to select which regions and plugins they wish to play and sync so we are capable of supporting multiple regions and multiple plugin packages. o Users will also be able to share and sync their own regions and plugins for other players enhancing our multiplayer experience to expand beyond the original Blue Hope map o Unlimited sync server space and unlimited bandwidth making this for a large scale project · Players will use specially designed shortcuts to determine which region and plugin packs are loaded at one time to keep plugins from cluttering and mismatching between regions. Some regions will share plugin packs however, and you CAN choose to create a region within a certain plugin pack. o Shortcuts will be organized by the region name and the plugin packs will be coded so you will know what they contain. · Players will develop upon each others region, whether it be entire cities or suburban districts, depending on the development mode of the region. o The Region’s owner will determine the mode of the region, whether players are authorized to build entire cities or just suburban districts around a city, or both. o Players will be given the ability to join certain departments depending on the region type, whether it be DOT, Utilities, Or Civil Engineering. Their goal is to look at the region as a whole and propose and design improvements. I have simplified this process. The only thing necessary to join is to add me on Skype (formerly Live Messenger) and send a message at christforbluehopecj@live.com requesting to join. Secondly you will need the BitTorrent Sync client for your Operating System. Please follow the instructions below. 1. Message me on skype at:christforbluehopecj@live.com and request to join, Even if I do not respond immediately, you are clear to proceed to step 2. 2. Input the following URL into your browser to download both BitTorrent Sync as well as the Blue Hope Region Files. [code=nocode:0] https://link.getsync.com/#f=BlueHope&sz=38E8&i=CBMZ7TJA5QQBQ37XZTCCW3NJDYYT434JU&p=CALXWWUIG3OJ27WQBXINDFLR7IDLXR5Y [/code] 3. At the bottom of the page you will see something along the lines of "Please make sure Sync 1.4 is running to receive this folder." - If you do not already have BitTorrent sync running - select the download for Sync 1.4 and it will download the BitTorrent Sync client to your PC. After it downloads then refresh the page and proceed to step 4. 4. Your browser in some way will prompt you to run the BitTorrent sync program. Allow it to, afterward; BitTorrent Sync will ask you your display name - please use your Simtropolis name so I can identify you. It will also ask you which folder you wish to store the files in. You can choose whichever folder you please. 5. If you have problems with the link properly opening BitTorrent sync, you can also use this key: [code=:0] ABGW5V5NVM75C5UK4WUKNWM37ENT3ORLN [/code] and then open the BitTorrent Sync program. At the top right corner you will see a button that looks like a gear. Select it and then select "Enter Key.." input the key and then select the folder you wish to sync with. 6. This is IMPORTANT for accurate up to date syncing: Select the "Gear" button at the top right corner and then select "Preferences". Now select "Advanced" and "More Options" at the bottom of the list. You MUST change the following fields to 0 or there will be syncing errors. "folder_rescan_interval" and "sync_max_time_diff" both MUST be set to 0. 7. You will need to create a special shortcut to route Sim City 4 to open the shared region from the specified sync folder instead of your My Documents/Sim City 4 folder. To do so follow these instructions: A. Create a NEW Shortcut to SimCity 4.exe B. Right click that shortcut and select "Properties" C. The target field must follow the following syntax: ["Directory to SimCity 4.exe" -UserDir:"Directory to BlueHope region folder/"] Without the brackets. It is IMPORTANT to include the forward slash "/" after the directory in the -UserDir: path or it will NOT work. D. For example a typical install should look like this: "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -UserDir:"C:\Users\[AccountName]\ownCloud\BluePort/" E.Thats all! Just launch the shortcut and you have SC4 online! 1. At least 10 Gigabytes of Free Hard Disk Space. 2. BitTorrent Client 3. Skype or Yahoo Messenger 4. Live or Yahoo Account