Mister Giggles

Invalid settings in the exemplars. CS$$4_5x2_DavidsonBlock_DN_GROW.dat lacks pollution radii information in the building exemplar, for example. These need to be fixed for the Datpack to work.

The RCI query works with buildings that have not had their GUI exemplar IDs changed to use the CAM queries. Short answer: Technically yes, but not without modding things. There's a solution, though: The Census Repository Facility. This'll tell you everything you need to know about caps, demand, and drives. Most likely, your city has run out of drives to keep going. There's too much or too little of something. You've done a smash up job of hitting 2.5 million with the CSF, but now it's time to take off the kid's gloves and start playing this game hardcore. Am I correct in guessing you're using CAM? If you're at 2.5 million, you're officially leaving the intended Maxis experience and entering into the extended CAM experience. It's an exciting way to play the game, but can be extremely frustrating. First off: You'll want to make a series of cheat lots that decimate caps. Otherwise you'll simply hit a point where you run out of cap and can't do anything about it because you've used every spare tile for parks and such. Second: Grab a big hospital and school lot, and mod them so they don't affect the whole city. Same with ANYTHING that normally affects the whole city besides police and fire. This is to avoid the game completely freaking out and being unable to ever fully satisfy the demand for services. Imagine having 100 hospitals and all of them are overcapacity with 10x the population in the city. Yes, that'll start happening around 5 million and just get worse from there. Oh yes, my friend. This is a whole different ballgame.

Roads... roads everywhere... I've always enjoyed the narrative in these things. Shows the creativity of the creators. Seems that Target will be on every street corner, soon. Very soon. That'd be a pretty lulzy thing to see, actually.

Huh. Yeah, I should probably check the forum I'm on before I start writing a response. The "Latest Topics" list on the main page doesn't note the forum the topic is on.

I'm a dumb. Move on.

http://www.simpeg.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=db2d9c5d9f20ae698e9fed931b89ca86&action=downloads;sa=view;down=740 The site lives! For a time.

For those wondering, the sale expired. SimCity 4 is, as of this post, a "mere" 50% off.

Wait, what? Really? Huh. I did not know this. I... I'm sorry. It seemed obvious enough on the surface, but... wow. I take back what I said about the minimalist options. Certainly, please make that more clear.

The minimal option - Traffic Simulator Only - seems to me more of an update functionality, because who JUST has the traffic simulator? Why not include the Maxis fixes and additions? You're simply fixing what Maxis broke/neglected, after all. Perhaps "Update/reinstall controller file" and "Maxis fixes/additions ONLY" options? It technical limitations/complexity limit what you can do with adding easier to access information to the installer, I agree that a wiki-based approach is the most logical way to go about things. I've always viewed the NAM as a "Fixes Maxis stuff" first mod, with "Everything else" as a second; I missed the point of the name, clearly. Given the issues with support over the years, I can scarcely imagine the majority of users for the mod really want, need, or understand the complexity found in the NAM's modern iterations. If the truth is the opposite, stunned am I, but I'll admit that I'm in the minority. In my view, programs should provide the bare minimal of functionality required to start, with the option to include more functionality either as a plugin or an option. There is beauty in simplicity. For example, a firewall. I hate most firewall programs because they have tons and tons of options, most of which I don't care about. The one I actually use is minimalistic and functions as nothing more than a glorified configuration utility for the Windows Firewall.

Rsc204, Yes. The rules of the game may be difficult, but I should not have to battle the interface and an overwhelming tide of complexity, too. The best difficult games begin simply and ramp up to their dizzying highs of insanity. You can also have more functions, more complexity, with strong documentation and an interface designed to break the complexity down into more understandable chunks. Complexity is fine, even wanted. Not composing the complexity in a manner amiable to the people most likely to download the mod is not fine. To expect that dozens of times is reasonable in a world where people fail to read big red text on diagonal bridge mods? Is it unreasonable to have a hyperlink next to each option, which opens up to the particular section of the manual related to it? More than that, something that is innately visual in nature may not be understood in mere words. How to define a blue sky to one who is blind? The twisted wood from which we are carved does not allow perfection to exist, therefore there's always room for improvement and growth. I'm not suggesting toss the whole thing out, or think for the user, but give the user the tools necessary to make working with NAM easier. NAM was not always this complex, nor did it default to a state of complexity. My main argument is to simplify the starting state of NAM and have easier, and more clear cut, access to information during the installation process. Then you're missing out on intended Maxis network fixes. NAM in the old days defaulted to improving the base Maxis networks, why remove it now when it was so part and parcel of the intended experience? The minimal install does more than add the basics. It is not, in my opinion, minimal. Custom is merely a state of when you're customizing things on your own; the massive list exists regardless, and the same issues as before apply. Number of options is not the issue, how they're handled is. Simply sitting there is an issue, too, because then people start looking at this massive list and feeling like the act of adding a simple mod is some world altering event - for a video game. No, you wouldn't. You would suffer choice paralysis. http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/11/26/the-surprising-poverty-of-too-many-choices/ It's a real phenomena, one that the NAM's installer induces. The vast list of choices makes it more difficult for people to get through the process and ultimately enjoy what they've done. Choices, options, stuff. They're just there, parading about in the installer, tempting people. They need to be tamed. No, not less options - better options. SimCity 4 doesn't exist solely for the experts, enthusiasts, insert term here, but for a wide range of characters. Both you and Nonny are welcome in its world. When I feel deeply uncomfortable recommending a mod because I feel the need to help someone handle the depth and scope of what the mod offers as a default, there is a point of criticism to be made about the mod. Sure, the terms and definitions in the manual are fine for us. They're not fine for someone who just spent 20 dollars buying the game on my recommendation and knows nothing. They don't know the context of anything; if a simple "Maxis only" option existed, which merely enhanced the vanilla game without introducing new networks and whatnot, it would go a far way in helping people simply get through the NAM installation process. Learning the nuances of SimCity 4 is hard enough. Having to, on top of that, also deal with the NAM's nuances is a bit much to ask for. People play games first for fun, then to dig deep into the material to find something new and exciting. This reminds me of Skyrim in a lot of ways. New players will come along and ask for mod advice; people will recommend a hundred different mods to tweak and overhaul the experience, but me, I consider that a misguided attempt to help. You're overwhelming someone who has no idea what the experience is intended to be. The advice I give with Skyrim, and with all games, is that you start with any patches, official and unofficial. A Skyrim with the unofficial patches is still effectively vanilla, but is closer to the experience Bethesda intended. Similarly, having the NAM install the traffic controller with the Maxis network fixes brings the SC4 experience closer in line to what Maxis originally intended. What of the overhauls and other mods? They come after, once the user has played the vanilla game and determined for themselves what is good and bad about the experience. The user has the agency to choose what they want, when they want it, because now having experienced the game and its strengths and weaknesses they have a better understanding of their wants and needs. Here's where overhauls like SkyRe and the NAM's plethora of options come into play.

I see. I never experienced the bug, so this is new to me. Thank you.

Ah, Tarkus. It was only a matter of time. Well met, good sir. I've followed the progress on eliminating puzzle pieces and such. It's a good idea. Anyway, I'm not questioning the benefits of a monolithic package of items on its face, just the bits people interact with and how much of it is foisted upon the user. I should have made this clear. As currently implemented and expressed towards the end user, the user interface, access to information, and the many options are not user friendly and, frankly, confusing. If you will, it is Windows 8. The core is good, wholesome. The user interface and default options are designed with a certain group in mind that is not related to the majority of those who will use it. Even a simple hover query above each option, explaining it in some detail, would go far in aiding the uninitiated. The primary problem with these sorts of fan projects is that the majority of people who will ever use the mod will never say a thing about it, good or bad. I, myself, have held back criticism for years. Those who do speak, criticize, suggest, and struggle to give back to the project are also those who are most likely to understand the tools and be intimately familiar with them. Complexity does not scare them because they're used to it. Most people just want to go and install stuff. They don't want to have to read a large amount of documentation. They shouldn't have to. This is a game mod, and the more complex functions of it should not be default options to deal with. I don't think this is a good idea. One, Java; two, internet connection; three, additional complexity. The monolithic package concept is dandy, it just needs tweaking to make the experience friendlier. Don't be SquareEnix and constantly try to reinvent yourselves. You've seen FFXIII, right? You have a perfectly good ice cube here; just get to hacking it down into something beautiful.

If you have a vested interest in all the bells and whistles, yes, it'll be fairly easy to learn. Dropping a lot onto the head of someone who doesn't know, understand, or really care about the bells and whistles leads to frustration. I It'd be more logical to have a simpler, more basic introduction to ease people into the NAM. Say, default to just the improvements to the Maxis networks, the extra bridges, things that are very easy to introduce and don't demand much from the player. It's then their choice to add in the RAM, or Real Highway, etc, on their own terms without the NAM team encouraging a particular set of features that may or may not be wanted by the average player.

Your avatar is disturbing... You might try adding "-f" or "-w" to the command line for fullscreen or windowed mode, respectively, to see if that'll force what you want. I assume the issue at hand is the taskbar showing up for reasons.

There is a "barebones" install that installs only the controller, which isn't the default. Which would be acceptable, perhaps, if there also wasn't a set of Maxis network fixes that is absolutely something that should also be installed. The best way to do the documentation would be to include individual help pages on each and every option, accessible from a link next to them, written in an easy to understand manner.

DLC isn't a bad term, I think. It depends on the context. If you're talking Skyrim and DLC, it and the term expansion are synonymous with each other. If you talk SimCity 2013... <_< DLC is probably a bad term to use, yes.

I'd still be interested in seeing your plugins list, Yoshi. It may provide insight.

At some point, the NAM team forget who used the mod and created something for the experts. The modern NAM is a complete mess when it comes to user friendliness. It is massive, monolithic, there are dozens of options, and things are not spelled out well. "Somewhere in the manual" is a useless statement when there is so much content that can have a dramatic effect on the experience. This is not a school project, this is a video game. It is not reasonable to expect someone to spend hours researching every component of a mod. On the outset, the NAM should be svelte and simple to understand, especially when most options with the NAM are in a perpetual state of refinement; such beta products should never be pushed as equal to, say, the traffic controller. The only options should be to lightly enhance the Maxis networks, with more complex options being available due to the purposeful will of the user themselves. They want the bells and whistles, they have to explicitly enable the option to see them all. With the advent of the monolithic model and the extreme user unfriendliness, I find myself unable to recommend the NAM, nor SimCity 4 due to being unable to recommend the NAM. It's a shame.

There's also the binary method of Nonny's, come to think of it. That may help. Don't worry! We'll solve this, or die trying.

I'm tired of this. I'm not talking about anyone or anyone's actions in this thread, I'm talking my inability to replicate any of these bugs. I can't help if I can't experience the bugs to figure out how the things do the things they do. The best I can guess is that one of the tiles has gone corrupt, detached itself from the other tiles, and is in essence unattached to the game. It's there forever, in short. However, it is possible a plugin is causing this. So, list all of your plugins. All of them. This, thankfully, is easy to do if you follow the instructions here. I suggest attaching the .txt file to your post because otherwise it may prove to be a bit long depending on how many plugins you have. I'll have a go through the list, see if anything catches my eye. It'll give other people a chance to see things as well. Maybe someone will go "Oh yeah, I had that same problem until I removed X". The more your plugins are compressed, the less useful this will be, but it's better than nothing.

I, personally, see no point in requiring the gender field to be filled with something. Leave it blank and allow people to insert their own labels.

SimCity 2013 never gained the same strong foundational group of modders that SC4 did. It's a shame that can be placed firmly at the feet of EA.

Spanish is the official language of Venezuela. More on Venezuela's swift transformation into a 3rd world country: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/16/venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-given-power-to-rule-by-decree Never let a good crisis go to waste. Although I'm fairly sure if he was denied being given dictatorial powers he'd simply start arresting those who opposed him because they threatened the state, IE, him. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/Venezuela-president-Nicolas-Maduro-arrests-Caracas-Mayor-Antonio-Ledezma/385704/ He has a bit of a history of doing it.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/windows-10-to-be-the-last-version-of-windows-until-the-next-version/ This is pertinent.

Nonny, this may help explain just how bad the Venezuelan economy is: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-06/monthly-salary-of-20-shows-why-venezuelans-wait-in-food-lines 5.99 USD, or 37.7 bolivars at (one of) the current exchange rate(s), is A LOT of money to many people in that country. To you and I, yes, $5.99 is disposable income. It is life and death to many Venezuelans, or at least I'd imagine it to be so. I don't know how well the welfare system functions down there, though I'd (again) imagine it would be somewhat lacking compared to ours. The tragedy here is that the country brings in a lot of money through oil sales. The money exists... it's just spent poorly by those in charge. Very poorly. Anyway, if Pastorale is among the "common folk" in Venezuala, $5.99 is way too much to ask for. I'm not sure there will ever be the disposable money needed for a purchase.