Need4Camaro

How To Guide Blue Hope is a mostly flexible City Journal but there are a few regulations I would like to keep abroad mostly in the Department of Transportation field. Mayors also need to follow this when creating Interstates. First I would like to state that Mayors and Investors can also create Highway Signs for their own projects and do not need to rely on the DOT to create them, but they WILL need to consult with DOT for exit numbering schemes. If this becomes complicated then it would probably be best to provide DOT with your preferred sign post and let them do the job. Plugins You may install plugins for Blue Hope such as BAT’s and buildings or parks or anything you like with the exception of mods that will change the game play for EVERYONE. If you have a plugin that changes game play and you want to run it for yourself then do so by importing it into your personal C:\Program Files\ Sim City 4\Plugins folder. Also, if you see a NAM update or NWM or RHW update and believe we are currently out of date, you ARE allowed to update these entities. All plugins are to be placed in the Blue Hope Plugins folder unless otherwise noted as I stated above. This will enable all users to see them. Before you place them in the Blue Hope folder, I require them to be DAMN’d. You will HAVE to place them in your My Documents\Sim City 4\Plugins folder temporarily and then begin the DAMN process. (read the final step below regarding DAMN’ing lots to find out how.) Mayors & DOT: on slope foundations & Interstate-Grade While this does not apply to state routes, ALL elevated section of interstates MUST use on-slopes for ground to elevated conversations, likewise for roads and avenues overpassing these corridors. Do NOT use the standard transitions. As far as the actual on-slopes go, the on slope transition from the elevated section to surface level should be smooth; this applies for use with all on slopes, not just interstates. It should not be an abrupt one / two tile drop. Use the Avenue tool to drag from the highest point of the on slope to the base of it and the Avenue will create a smooth transition. (You don’t have to do this with road bridges, just drag the road where you want it to go, this is just for RHW.) – Also for exit ramps, use the road tool to create a smooth transition. Interstate Grade sections of roadway must also have a minimum of a 1 tile median in Rural Areas (2 preferred) and a Jersey Barrier in Urban Areas where a empty median is not possible. Interstates MUST offer interchanges with other Interstates. Interstates CANNOT be tolled Interstates and Toll Controlled Highways cannot be altered with the exception of increasing capacity and access and exit efficiency unless permission has been granted to do so. Interstates MUST use smooth curve pieces whenever changing directions Highway Signs I will be providing Standard Sign Posts for your use, you have the option of using custom posts but you will need to design them to fit the specifications of the road section you’ll be using them on. IMPORTANT: When designing Highway Signs, you need to make note that the conditions of one sign might be entirely different for the conditions of a VERY similar sign. Such as offset for example. Some RHW puzzle pieces take up two tiles so you will need to compensate by offsetting the model by 16 meters. It’s a VERY WISE IDEA that you know EXACTLY where you’re going to be placing each sign before you go BATTING away, that way you’ll know how to offset them, if necessary, and where to place them given the road conditions or even what model you need to use. Sign Standards Sign Standards for State, Toll and Turnpikes are loosely applicable but strict for Interstates. It is required that drivers receive at minimum 3 warnings as they approach an interchange. Also, signing can share the same gantry for different interchanges. Example: Martha Rd Exit 1 mile | Vineland Ave Exit ½ mile. Read below for more information. Interstate Grade Road Junctions (Requires a minimum of 3) Exit 1 Mile Exit ½ Mile (With Lane Configurations if applicable) Exit (With Lane Configurations if applicable) [*]Interstate Grade Junctions with limited access highways (Requires a minimum of 4) Exit 2 Miles Exit 1 Mile Exit ½ Mile (With Lane Configuration if applicable) Exit (With Lane Configuration if applicable) Responsibility Things I’m responsible for:Providing Standard Overhead Sign Posts RHW4 & GHW RHW6 & 6C RHW8 & 8C RHW10 Elevated RHW4 & GHW Elevated RHW6 & 6C [*]Providing Rural Gantries [*]Providing Single Gantries & Next 3 Exit offsets [*]Providing the state herald Things YOU’RE responsible for:Rotating ALL provided Sign Posts for Diagonal or “FAR” pieces in sections applicable. Diagonal is 45 Degrees “FAR” is 15 Degrees [*]Offset Sign Posts for conditions (by 1 tile, 2 tiles, ect) [*]Providing Custom Posts if using them. [*]Placing the route number on the herald [*]Placement of actual signage. Requirements All of the following requirements are MANDATORY to make Highway Signs in Project Blue Hope. You CANNOT omit a single one of these files. PLEASE READ THE LIST CAREFULLY AS IT CONTAINS FILES FOR BOTH GMAX AND 3DSMAX AND YOU WILL NEED TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THEM! Gmax or 3DSMax – Gmax is free and can be had here. 2a. The BAT tool for Gmax (Not Applicable for 3DSMax) here. 2b. BAT4Max for 3DSMax (Not Applicable for GMax) here. SC4 Update for Night Lighting here. Texture Scripts for High Definition Textures (GMax only) here. The SC4Tool which allows File Merging and Exemplar Editing here. SSP Tool here. And the DAMN plugin here. My Updated Highway Sign Posts here. Instructions Install Gmax and then Install the BAT. If you have 3DSMax, then instead just install BAT4Max and ignore all Gmax instructions. Install the Night Lighting update. This is necessary so that you will be able to create night emitting signs in game. You will also install the High Definitions Texture Mod (already comes with BAT4Max) in the scripts folder for the BAT NOT Gmax. This is necessary so that signs are readable in the 5th and 6th zoom level. (Your BAT folder is located in your GMax gamepacks folder) Making Signs with the BAT First, we need to build the sign template, the images we will be using to render or the actual signs themselves. I use kurumi’s sign maker which can be found here. All interstates must follow the standards presented there, however; I am okay with custom signage on state or city routes. Go to the Kurumi Website. Familiarize yourself with the controls if you haven’t already, and then begin making your sign. Example Below. After creating your sign, press the “Print Screen” button on the top right corner of your keyboard. This will copy everything on your visible window onto your clipboard. Then open up MS Paint and press Ctrl+V or right click anywhere and select “Paste” and this will paste the image you copied from Sign Maker. Now import all content you want on the signs, including custom heralds or alternate text or modifications. Using the select tool, select and copy each sign and make a new BMP file. Paste the sign and make sure there is absolutely NO empty white space after pasting it. Save the new sign. Do this for each sign. Name them in the order of their location as seen below. Now, load the BAT tool and open a Sign Post. For this tutorial I’m going to be adding signage and exporting the RHW6SignPost. You won’t always have to perform this step, depending on how many signs you’re placing, but in this case, you notice we have two signs, but only one support. Here’s how to remedy that. With the front view, use the select tool (the arrows pointing four directions on the top left area of the screen.) to select the Sign Support and the lights like this… Now select Edit from the menu bar and then select clone and then make sure Copy Instance is bubbled in and press OK. At first it will look like nothing changed, but take the select tool to the “X” axis on the front view and click and hold it… while holding the left mouse button down, drag it to the left and you will see that it is now a copy of the original Sign Support. Now we can place two signs. Now to make the actual sign itself. We do this by creating a box. Use the Front view to design the width and length, relative to the sign you created on sign maker. You will design it at the height of the actual support. Now use the top and left view to design the thickness. You don’t want it to be very thick. Just enough to be present. After which, use the left view and drag the X-Axis toward the sign support. When the sign is just over the support, you can release it and leave it. The end result should look similar to the image below… Now we want to apply the BASE texture, not the sign texture yet, but they grey texture of which the actual board is made of. So now we need to select the board and then enter the Material Editor. Upon entering the editor, you will see a window much like below. This part is easy, all you need to do is just select Apply as the default texture that loads is sufficient for the sign board. Now we need to convert our box into a poly so we can modify the textures on a specific face. To do this, click the blue rainbow button toward the right side of the screen. Now select Box and then right click and select Editable Poly. After it has been converted into a Poly, we want to be able to select the face of the sign that’s facing us so we can apply the sign’s image onto it as a texture. To do this, select the Red Box that represents Poly. From the perspective view, click the FRONT of the sign so that it is now selected. Go back into the Material Editor as we did to apply the grey texture before, and this time select the empty button just to the right of the Diffuse color Select Bitmap, then select the image and in this case I will be using leftpanel.png Afterward click the Blue and White checkered box as depicted below… Now select Apply. – You will notice that you cannot yet see the sign. At best you will get a blank white board. Don’t freak out, this is normal. Repeat steps 8 - 16 to create additional signs. (Note: You might have to select “Reset lights and camera” in the BAT menu to view the textures of the signposts and signs.) With the sign selected and the menu with the blue rainbow open, click the drop down arrow and under the subcategory for UV Coordinate Modifiers, select UVW Map. Select Face. By now, if you have Reset the lights and camera in my signposts, you should be able to see the signs. They should look like this… Now it’s time to export the models so we can import them into SC4. To do this, select the hammer at the right side of the screen and then select BAT. Before you go BATting away, make SURE that the High Definition Output is activated. To do this, select the Preview tab and the select HDoutput. Now you’re clear to BAT the model. Do this by clicking the Export tab. Make sure Quality is on High and then click Export. The process takes a few minutes and you should see an image like this during the process This concludes our BAT tutorial. Now we will focus on the SC4Tool, Plugin Manager, and Lot Editor. While we design the signs through these steps, we want to keep in mind that they need to have the general properties. #1 The ability to illuminate at night, #2 The ability to conform to just about any terrain. With that said, our Highway signs will NOT be placed as props, they will be placed as buildings. Working with the Plugin Manager Our goal with the Plugin Manager is to take the model we just created and give it properties. It is absolutely IMPERATIVE that you know that our Highway signs are NOT props!!! They are to be placed as Buildings. The reason this is, is because props cannot conform to terrain and buildings can.Start the Plugin Manager. You will immediately notice your model in the list of models after it initiates. Left click your model and hold, drag it to the Parks category on the left side of your window. Upon doing this, you will receive a window with the building statistics. Refer to the image below for the next step. Then select Apply and OK NOTE: It is HIGHLY recommended that you BAT all of your signs and import them into the Plugin Manager then proceed to the next steps as most of them from here one will contain actions that can be performed in bulk ALSO: You can now make a sub-directory INSIDE your plugins folder for your signs to organize them. Working with the SC4 Tool – Part A: Modifying Building Size You’re probably wondering why we need the SC4Tool this early in the process, as we don’t have a complete BAT. If you noticed, the RHW6 Sign is slightly larger than 1 tile and this is necessary to fit it over the entire RHW6 section. For whatever reason props can be the size of the lot plus half and still fit, but buildings MUST fit within the tile, but you don’t want to create 2x2 tiles for large Highway Signs as this will quickly clutter space. What we have to do is trick the game into believing that our 24 Meter long Highway sign is only 16 meters so the game will accept it as a building, to do that we’re going to have to modify it with the SC4Tool. IMPORTANT: The SC4Tool has compatibility problems with Windows 7. Running Compatibility Mode for Windows XP will not be enough. If you have a Windows XP Emulator then it is highly advised, if NOT then you will need to stop your themes from running temporarily. This Tutorial will show you how. After you’re done using the SC4Tool you can easily reactive the themes as well. The Program will still OPEN without disabling themes, however you will not be able to access the file hierarchy. Select the bottom right option to edit bats and their properties as displayed in the image below upon the launch of the SC4Tool. Select the Directory of which your signs are stored, as I mentioned earlier it is recommended to place all of the models and .desc files into a new sub directory so it is easy to navigate. Select the Sign we just made (DemoSign in this case) and then expand the tree. After which, find and select the Occupant Size option. Select the Width field and if the number is GREATER than 16, then erase the contents and type 16 in its place. If you have more models, then decompress the tree and then expand the tree on the next model and repeat steps 3 and 4. Select the Save Option. You can select Current File, if this is the only file you modified or All Modified to save all the files you’ve modified to this point. And that’s it for the SC4 Tool, but we will be coming back to it later to compile all of our signs into a single .dat file. Working with the Lot Editor You’re almost done at this point. The Lot Editor is pretty straight forward. Let’s begin.Open the Lot Editor. You will immediately be prompted to open a file. We will select the Grass field for our sign. Type Grass in the search field and it should come right up. Select the Building Tab and then select Replace Item and search for your sign. In my case it was DemoSign. Place the sign so that the Sign’s arrow is facing the edge of the lot and not empty space within the tile. It should always be in the corner and every sign should be made to fit in the same corner. Select Save As and save it with the same name as you originally gave the sign. Adjust the Lot Maximum to be 999 – This will enable the lot to conform to any slope you put it upon. Now select Save again and this concludes the Lot Editor instructions. Return to the SC4Tool – Part B: DAT packing multiple signs This is necessary so that we can compress the hundreds of files we would have after completion of a signing project into one DAT file. Afterward we can apply a “DAMN” menu in which would complete the process. IMPORTANT: IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU BACK UP ALL OF YOUR SIGN FILES, (.SC4LOT, .SC4MODEL, AND .SC4DESC) BEFORE CONTINUEING AS THIS PROCESS IS IRREVERSABLE AND YOU WILL LOSE THESE FILES AFTER THE PROCESS IS COMPLETE. ALSO YOU MAY NEED THEM SHOULD A CHANGE OCCUR IN THE BLUE HOPE INFASTRUCTURE.Launch the File Merger by entering the SC4 Tool and then selecting Editors in the menu bar and then File Merger. Select the file path of the signs you wish to merge. Select all of the files, including ALL of the .SC4Lot, .SC4Model, and .SC4DESC files related to your signing project. In the upper portion of the window you will see Target File. Press the folder button there and select the name of your new Sign Pack and the location of which you want these files to be exported to. The same goes for Save Folder, only you will be selecting the folder you want to save it and not a file name. THE SAVE FOLDER AND TARGET FILE FOLDER MUST BE THE SAME! Don’t worry about xml file. Press the Green Arrow pointing to the right and begin the process. When its complete, all of the files you created earlier will be gone and merged into a single file. The DAMN Menu’s ALL IMPORTED PLUGINS FOR BLUEHOPE MUST BE DAMN’D OR THEY WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE SYSTEM. The reason is because with several members playing and each running several plugins, imagine the clutter and confusion of HUNDREDS of plugins cluttering the in-game menu’s making it impossible to navigate. If you haven’t already done so, Install the SSP Tool. Then use the Tools from the menu bar and select Install Plugin and navigate to the DAMN zip file. This will automatically install DAMN. When it is complete, DO NOT CLICK INSTALL DAMN – It has already come pre-installed for you under the File Share folder. Now click DAMN Manager and then use the Plugin Folder section to navigate to your Highway Signs Dat file you have just packed (or any lot you may have downloaded for that matter) and select it. You will see a list of contents of everything inside that file displayed on the Plugin Lots section. You can select them all, or select however many you like, after you select them, click the blue button directly underneath the Plugin Lots section of which says “Add selected lots to DAMN menu” when you hold your mouse over it. Afterward they will appear below in the DAMN menu lots section. From here you can order and arrange them as you like. NOTE: You can only have up to 50 plugins per menu, HOWEVER; not per folder. So if you run out of space then just start a new menu and save it in the same location. Use the DAMN Menu Folder section to select where you want the signs to appear in the DAMN Menu. In this case, Highway Signs should be located in Roads_Props/Highway Signs/Blue Hope Signs Click Apply, and then Next, and the DAMN will make menu’s for your signs or lots. Afterward your signs will be available in the News Ticker. They will not appear in the in-game menu’s as they will be hidden from them. This makes it possible to make indefinite amounts of signs without cluttering the menu’s. I know this process is rather long and tedious but it gets a lot simpler after doing this once or twice. I made over 150 highway signs in the period of about 3 months while being stooped down with college. Route Heralds

How is a record of 0.1 inches of snow in July possible when the record low temperature is still above freezing point?

Honestly Im very much so against the 2x2KM city size map... Especially since Cities XL has a 10x10KM map and still sucked - there's no excuse.

I hope they have a modular lane system and modular ramp system.

Where did you get those street lights?

Wow. Where did you get those buildings?!

I desire to build a True 3D "Multi-player Region Simulator" - It would be much like Cities XL except, you wouldn't need to exit your city to move to another city. You would instead just continue moving away from your city... into the country side, and eventually you would find another users city. I noticed a powerful 3D tool online by the name of "blender" at http://www.blender.org and that got my mind to thinking. I'm going to say I have absolutely no programming experience, but I do have a fair bit of 3D Modeling experience. I want to know, if something as complex as a city simulator could be constructed in this program from what it looks... Political Concept Your city limits would be based on the amount of land you purchase. You would basically, draw out your city limits used a multi-vector line which must fulfill a complete loop (doesn't have to be a circle or oval, but the last vector must meet the first vector) and the larger the area it encompasses, of course the more it's going to cost. This will be deducted from your mail pool of start-off cash, so everyone will technically start off with a different amount of money depending on how much land they decide to purchase for their city. city limits can be expanded as your city grows or as you so desire. I desire to have inter-regional traffic as an IMPORTANT factor in the success of your city, so although "lone" cities will be possible, they will be much harder to develop. For that reason, inter-regional transportation will be a big must and so because of this, users will be able to build Railroads, Roads and Highways OUTSIDE of their city limits, based on their money, and loans will also be available for certain projects. OR if you desire to wait for public approval you can allow the federal government build the link free of charge to you, but it might take a moment and the route will also have to carry a Federal Designation (Like a U.S. Highway or Interstate) throughout the areas the route encompasses (even in other users cities. For residents to desire your city, the most important factor would be a strong economy and employment capacity. To provide this, your city will need commercial and industrial districts in which are also in demand of your city. Industrial districts will retain importance later in the game and this is because commercial districts will rely on manufacturing for products and goods and this will product jobs in commercial districts. HOWEVER, the neat thing about the regional system is that in this case, the industry doesn't need to be in or anywhere NEAR the same city. It can be industry within another users city entirely and still feed commercial zones say in a city 50 miles distant, although the further away, the less of an effect. The Commercial to Industrial demand will not be maintained by actual Industrial facilities, but by a goods to sales ratio. An indicator displaying from 1 to 10 box icons will stand for industrial shipments. When it is at the lowest (1) then every product is being shipped to commercial facilities and therefor commercial demand will be lower and industrial demand will be higher. When it is at the highest (10) then your industrial facilities are producing more than they can sell, so your industrial demand will be lower and commercial demand will be higher. Some industrial facilities will be national, others will be regional, and others still will be local, and product types will vary for all. Because of this, you will have national industrial firms who will only have 2 Boxes, while local's have 6 or 7 meaning your national industries are surviving fine because the national economy (other people's cities) are supporting your industry just fine. Local Industries on the other hand will be more dependent upon your own micro-management. I'm going to go into a neat feature later on in this. Individual industries can grow, and when they reach lower than 5 Box icons (they're shipping the same amount they produce) then they start looking for employees. Residential zones will then be necessary to support this demand. People who move in attracted to the industries will quickly be employed by them, unless of course other circumstances apply as residents can also be attracted to education and health-care. Education will be the gateway to Hi-Tech jobs, or mid-level / upper level commerce jobs. So there will be "multi-wealth" demand. Health-care won't provide jobs to the people who need it, but it will provide hi-end jobs to middle aged Sims. Transportation Concept Firstly, there WILL be inter-regional transportation, and even national. In fact this is a very VERY vital component to the success of your city. Industries in the beginning will rely on rail networks, and Seaports (as this will be the cheapest way for them to ship goods over long distances at first.) to send freight-trains or cargo-ships too and from cities. A cargo station must be located at BOTH cities for it to be of any use. These stations wont plop beside the tracks but will be focused upon building rail yards. The larger the rail yard, the more cargo it can handle, but more space it consumes. If you can't get freight out of your city quicker than your industry can produce it however, you'll bottle neck the industrial process and cripple your industrial demand which will quickly kill your economy. This will be indicated by the boxes in individual industrial facilities becoming higher and higher even though there are available consumers for the packages. So you will want an effective method. As your city grows and you begin to build highways, some industries (but not all) will rely less and less upon railroads and more upon the flexibility of freight trucks which can deliver to more remote places. Businesses and Commerce will be much heavier dependent upon Highways than Industries will, and this is for business trips and final shipment to destination commercial sectors. Residents will need to use them to get to work as well. Now the actual networks Roads These will include everything from Single lane omni/uni direction streets, to 16 lane interstates. Instead of selecting an individual button, for the type of road you want (like in SC4 you get Road, One way Road, Avenue, Highway), you will click the "Roads" tool and your cursor will highlight. You will drag the route you desire and you will be able to curve at any angle you desire and upon releasing the mouse, you will get a dialogue that opens up. The dialogue will give you options. You will be-able to determine if the road is a omni or uni-directional road, whether or not it has paved lines, how wide or thin the road is, how many lanes the road has, how wide or thin the lanes are, whether or not it has a median and the size of the median if it has one, the speed limit of the road, and if the road should have a shoulder or not. You can also use this tool to design entrance and exit ramps and drag them as desired. Handi-caps - You can set the speed limit of a road as high as you want, HOWEVER; on a higher speed limit road, the more narrow the road, and the more intersections there are, the more likely there will be accidents, which will be extremely counter-productive to commute times and will even penalize you some demand. Also it will toll your road-maintenance budget higher. so faster isn't always better. It is best to reserve higher speed limit roadways to limited access highways or long uninterrupted country-side roads. Limited Access Highways that do not have a shoulder will not qualify for interstate shielding or funding. The minimum speed of an Interstate would be 50 MPH and 45 through the CBD. Other amenities: You can build toll plaza's / toll booths for extra income You can choose street lights / lamps for your route or leave them out entirely You can create Sign Gantries with signs and edit the text of what they say and the lanes they encompass. You can even import your own herald for your own routes. Rails Much like roads, you will drag this and determine how many tracks there will be, the curve radius will be a bit more refined, and so will terrain and grading. After clicking and dragging the desired route, you will be given the option to construct an electric rail via overhead wires or third rail, or no electric rail at all. Electric rails will be better for commuter trains, but won't be compatible with freight rails, while freight rails will do an excellent job at commuting freight between cities but will be poor for local passenger service. Other amenities You can build any type of station or hub from this menu. You can add signal gantries to help rail congestion. Airport Airports will be pieced together. You will click and drag the runway length. The longer the runway, the larger the aircraft that can land in your city. The more runways you have, the greater commerce capacity your city will have. Airport Terminals will have capacities determined by the number of "Gates" that airport serves. The more Gates, the greater the capacity of your Airport. an International Gate would be required to receive international flights. Seaport Much like Airports, these will be pieced together. You will drag the length of your pier's and construct a freight yard. The more pier's the more your Seaport can ship, and the larger your freight yard, the more your seaport can store. -------------- Game Engine You are probably wondering a few things, like how your city industry will know about a commercial complex that exists in another users city some 400 miles away. The answer is simple. Every building will have a unique core identifier which tells what that building is, what its function is, the amount of available models it can produce for itself, the density of the property, what it produces, what it requires, and its employees. Whenever a building is constructed, the core file will be uploaded into a server and then into a database. the database will then be updated onto each user's PC. The game will use this to determine what city has what industry, how far it is, what they produce, what they need. So a Commercial Office Supplies store in need of Paper Stock located in Dawsonville by Mayor A would contact Wood Mills in Baton by Mayor B. Paper Mills in Baton would lose a Box and export the goods via truck. The Office supplies store would then increase its employement capacity and this will also increase the residential demand in Dawsonville. I'm probably going to implement a "selective log system" which means, All of your Industries will submit their "Maximum Shipping Distance" into the system. The system will then look at the maximum distance between the cities in the log and determine and only load the databases from the cities within the maximum distance range. I intend to try this with blender as it provides a pretty flexible base for 3D applications, we'll see how it turns out. ------------------ User Playability Yes, I intend to implement a user mode and a mayor mode. In user mode, you will be a character, a citizen of a city of which you desire to live in. From there you will get a job, earn wages, and begin your career to attaining a monopoly. You will be able to purchase vehicles, companies and corporations, homes and more. The interface would probably be like that of Test Drive Unlimited, but you will also be given missions from your job of which you must work, like delivering freight between cities, business transactions between commercial estates, transporting characters and more. In mayor mode, you will be given probably $1,000,000 and you will be given the option to set the city limits, anywhere you desire... and begin your career as a mayor to attain the most unique creation in the sim-nation. I could go into a lot more detail but I already reached my first bump on the road with this project... and thats the fact that my fingers are killing me... Btw, don't worry, I'm not requesting help from the community. I'm just shooting ideas out and seeing what you guys think. Although if you desire to help...I'm all for it.

An Update: I am seeking programmers. I myself am not built with a strong enough program expertise to engage the project alone. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in creating a team to undertake this project. If you are, PM me with your skills. I havent fully decided but I doubt it. I am going to try to run it based off of donations or optional spending much like Mabinogi and Need For Speed World. You can pay to get certain items or get to certain points quicker or easier, but the overall gameplay is free.

Tarkus, you need to implement the Tarkus Turnpike into this city... I'm not kidding either... I want to see the REAL Toll Road

What I want to know is, the map size limits. Will there be any map limits? will there be a "region" mode at all? Also what about transportation? Will we have highways? rails? subways? - Will we be able to customize interchanges with our own off-ramps instead of pre-fabbed puzzle pieces?

Originally posted by: simmaster07 I like the idea of a multiplayer SimCity. However, there may be some issues with the current implementation that could be otherwise prevented with an implementation I've been working on for a little while now. No file locking. If two or more people are playing the same city at the same time, their saves will overwrite each other's. Total destruction. Just because someone is told not to do something doesn't mean they won't do it. Trolls would love to overwrite every tile available with a blank tile or, better yet, corrupt it. Corruption of savegames. What would happen if a game was corrupted during/after a save? That entire city will be gone and implayable. No logs. Or at least, I don't believe Dropbox offers them. Synchronization? A better implementation would involve the use of a SimCity-loadable DLL, a tracking process, and a database server for logging and session tracking. Basically, here's how the sequence of a game would go: Have a UserDir for the game files with the DLL in it. The DLL launches the tracking process. The tracking process logs into the database server with a username and password the user is given. The tracking process asks the server if they are banned. If not: The tracking process asks the server if there are any open slots. If there are: Download any added plugins and remove excessive plugins the user added to their userdir. The open slots are listed and the user selects a slot to take. The game will load. The user can save any city at any time, though their session will only last 15 minutes (unless nobody else is waiting) and the program will only send changes made to their assigned city. Two minutes left. Alert the user if someone's waiting. 15 minutes expire/player leaves. Did the population grow? No. Discard all changes and alert the user. Yes. Send all changes to the server. Is someone waiting? No. Continue on. Yes. Kill the process, regardless if they saved or not. I just need some C++ to unpack and parse the packed savegames, which I could ask wouanagaine for in the form of some Python and convert it myself. But anyways, this is an excellent idea nevertheless, and the current implementation seems to be doing fine. I hope I don't sound like a smartass quote> The final part wouldn't be very effective. I designed the "SC4 Multi" system. Often times cities are loaded just to be renamed or a utility is added to serve several cities at once or connected roads or railroads are dragged across empty tiles to provide access to different cities, but these don't add anything to the population...thus... you'll be negating several changes that have been made... Also even for cities that are owned by mayors and have a population, what if during the 15 minutes they destroy a section of their town to implement a new highway which would destroy homes, or a massive park or a redesigned district that would remodel an entire area that might have been denser at one time and didnt fully have the time to develope? this means that all of these changes would also be negated because technically the population would have DECREASED.

**Charges Everyone a Mainline Toll of $3.50 for contributing to a thread involving the Tarkus Turnpike** Seriously though... I want to see more compatibility between Maxis Highway and RHW, smoother transitions for starters, secondly I want to see RHW6 and 6C merge into GHW... Stack Interchange puzzle pieces for RHW's would be nice but I can understand if this would be too complicated... ALSO we need Elevated RHW over GHW pieces! Also...the thing I desire MOST, is a GHW exit interface into an MIS ramp... and a smooth one instead of the abrupt merge that the NAM left us with for the GHW exit into Straight Oneway Road... there shouldnt be a 1 tile gap, MIS needs to begin on the next adjacent tile of the highway.

Beautiful work

Regions West BluePort Island Current Plugins NAM June 2010 RHW June 2010 NWM June 2010 Hole Diggers BRF TunnelAndSlopeMod Darker Ocean Mod White Sand Beach Mod RHW Texture Mod GHW Texture Mod BSC Textures SeaPort Members and Statistics Name Cities Companies Points Need4Camaro BluePort (2 Tiles) N/A 59,322 Yoshiisland Jacksonville (2 Tiles) N/A 0 JeeKTaN NorthPort (2 Tiles) N/A 0 jake_shaw137 Strathpine (2 Tiles) N/A 22,380 ralverdo Dabbersburg (3 Tiles) N/A 881,363

Thank you for the advice. I'm already using the Industrial Job Quadtrapuler. Which city are you giving this advice to? Eitherway I like Industry as masses of sky scrapers is very unrealistic in smaller cities. Industry is necessary to get there.

Update 03 Good afternoon ladies and gentleman. BlueHope is quickly gaining members and I am very proud of the development and sprawl throughout the BluePort area. Currently we have two new cities on the rise and quickly becoming populous kings. But before we get into all of that, I have a few votes and proposals I would like to hear your feedback on the comments section on... Blue Port News and Voting State Highway Act: Indeed, The metropolitan areas of BluePort are growing and route consistancy is lacking. BluePort is in need of interconnectivity roadways in which travel throughout the metropolitan areas, rural areas, and interconnect cities. BluePorts state government will fund the act but are currently seeking the best route herald to use. VOTE: Which Herald should BluePort use on its STATE Highways? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The HIGHEST vote wins the state highway herald for route designation. The SECOND highest vote will become The BluePort CITY County Road Herald. Mall of BluePort: The Mall of Blue Port is to be planned in the Northern sector of the city of BluePort. Developement plans are listed below... It will be outlined by Capital Avenue and possibly have heavy rail access. It will be circled by Mall Circle. Capital Avenue serves interconnectivity into the main city. The Mall also plans to bring several highrises and apartments to serve for live/work communities. Vote: What Mall package should I use? Railroads without wheels: Indeed, BluePort is outlined with the infastructure of railroads but hardly any trains use it. BluePort is still searching for the appropiate rail and station system. BluePort is asking for outsider advice upon which station style to use upon building its passenger rail system. Vote: What Train Stations should I use? Now on to the main update! BluePort is growing considerably, shown above is a more current map of the city limits and development around the western half of the island. BluePort is now seeking interconnectivity methods and will have route proposal maps within the near future to determine how roadways should service the state. Currently the most pressing issue would be the rise of Dabbersburgh just east of BluePort. Roadways with efficient capacity would need to be developed out eastward to serve interconnectivity between Dabbersburgh and BluePort, and further east into Jacksonville. The Mayors of these cities are commended for their efficient city planning. So while we're talking about Dabbersburgh, lets have a closer look at it with the Mayors own words... Dabbersburgh - By Ralverdo Ralverdo: The city of Dabbersburg is a very young city, though it may not look it because of its rapid growth. The city grew quickly into a Metropolis because of its excellent waterways and it’s fairly even ground, and experienced mayor. Dabbersburg features significant mass transit, it has a elevated rail and subway system that transports thousands of people to their workplace each day (See Figure 1 for Ele-rail system photograph) Figure 1 But the city does have a bad side, like all cities. It has a poor district, nicknamed “the Poor Houses” by its citizens it also has very little fire coverage because the mayor states that “Placing fire coverage citywide is useless, we only need one in each district to dispatch trucks to put out fires.” The city also has a medium sized industrial district, but that is slowly being killed and replaced by high tech industry. There are parts of the city that are secure, save and employed, such as the wealthy district, inhabited by upper-class and middle-upper class (see Figure 2 for Wealthy District). The city has a huge 20% tax on all polluting industries to make room for the High-Tech Industry expansion that will have, in the long run been a worthwhile investment to have all polluting industry to be eliminated (see Figure 3 for High Tech Indstry District). Figure 2

Welcome This is it, reading through all of those guidelines, rules, descriptions, and instructions, the city journal FINALLY begins. This page is dedicated to the cities that both myself and users created, aswell as developments. This will show an overview of each city and a few key images. A region shot, Central Business District, and a few other photos. Contractor Projects will also be displayed here. Furthermore... Each City will also attain its own page upon the City Journal to go more in depth of it and its attributes. Updates will follow concurrent pages. Cities BluePort - By Need4Camaro Downtown: Located in the far western harbors of the BluePort island, resides the foundation of the capital. Settlers have docked upon the western coast and mitigated eastward, however; the known route into the island has become a trade corridoor and set itself into a Seaport in which goods are imported and exported into and out of the island. Barely tapping into fresh water, BluePort is destined to strive with its rocketing industrial and trade demand. The capital of the island will be constructed here. Jacksonville - By Yoshiisland Further east into the island we meet lush inland flowing rivers and thriving vegetation. About 30 Miles East of BluePort, the foundation of Jacksonville rests, awaiting development to spur through its mighty rivers. NorthPort - by JeeKTaN: About 30 Miles north of BluePort, resides the foundation of NorthPort by JeekTan. portions barely landlocked, it sits on the bay awaiting heavy commercial and industrial shipping traffic. We welcome JeekTan and bid him happy developing.r Dabbersburg - by Ralverd: 15 Miles East of Blue Port, in a foundation residing between Blue Port and Jacksonville, a metropolis rises to sprawl, funded by mighty banks eager to set foot into the Blue Port state. Idustrial complexes sprawl while towers scream into the atmosphere. Dabbersburg currently seats the largest population in the BluePort region. Downtown Projects and Current Events County and State Highway Act: The government system of BluePort is working dilligantly to develop a County Road system for the city of BluePort, and an state highway system in which will traverse the island and connect to neighboring cities. Current Status: Developing County and State Heralds. Vote upon the County and State Heralds. Collect Road Network Maps Decide County Road Routing Decide State Road Routing Implement Routing BluePort Capital: Decide upon the best foundation to settle the BluePort State Capital Current Status: Choose Government Complex Style Choose Location Choose Design Style Opening Ceremony Mall of BluePort:

Welcome two of our new members, jake_shaw137 and ralverdo!! Enjoy your city planning!

Update 02 - BluePort, The Capital City. Good morning and welcome to my first update for the Blue Hope City Journal II. This update will feature the capital city of the interactive region, located on the western shores of the state of BluePort. BluePort City is a small but prosperous town in which incorporates its economic stimulus through the importing and exporting of goods through a small seaport which resides on the shores. Taxxes allow for Industry's of several types to make land fall and build a strong foundation near the city and develop products and export them, while commerce takes advantage of the imports. Many firms are growing here in hopes to fund their oil exploration projects. Farms are sprouting around the under developed portions taking advantage of the fertile land. BluePort retains the capital status of the state and is always looking to expand further. Currently the city's only givernment official office for the state resides in the city hall. The city is still searching for a state governement complex and a site to lay it upon - any suggestions from Simtropolis would be excellent. BluePort is also in process of developing a state and county road system in which will be used for formal interconnectivity throughout the city, and region. Have a look around. This is the small and humble Industrial Seaport in which BluePort thrives upon. Goods are imported and exported here for the populous of the island. The railroad gives Industrial access to the Seaport. Currently the railroad offers no passenger services however, there are plans to make this available in the near future. Just to the east of the port, we enter Downtown BluePort. Main street is depicted in the center as an avenue with a center left turn lane. The Central Business Community is but a small town, mostly a live work community in which dense residents have opportunities to work in businesses or shoping centers which are all supported by the rising industry. South of Downtown, we find the University of BluePort in which sets its hope high in producing scholars throughout the region. The residential and farming communities of BluePort. Moving farther north, we enter Holiday Isle, which is a section of BluePort which is segragated into the upper class... A closer look. The Road with the center left turn lane leads into BluePort, eventually its farming communities and exits the BluePort city limits to the south. More images of Holiday Isle... I hope you enjoyed this update. I'm sorry for my innactivity, I've just been busy. There will be longer updated to come however, I promise.

;) Updated

Coming Soon This page will display Resource Maps and Transportation Systems of the Island of BluePort. Roads #1 - County Roads - These roads will only retain their designations within a users city limits. They CAN leave the city however will lose their designition afterward. County Roads do NOT need to follow a numbering scheme and are very flexible. The County Road shield is up to the user to provide. User County Road Networks- BluePort (Need4Camaro) Jacksonville (Yoshiisland) #2 - State Roads - Blue Port is property of the Island of Newark and the United States. State Roads will carry a State Shield and a Number and can retain their designition throughout the island. State Road designitions however are not as flexible as county roads and will require council before they can placed. State Roads are not limited to the type of roadway they can utilize so they can be one way roads, standard roadways, or expressways both tolled and untolled. #3 - Interstates - Blue Port is apart of the United States and elligible for federally funded expressways. To qualify for Interstate Designition, the roadway must be access controlled and free of tolls. Also there are standards and grades of which an Interstate must meet. However the advantage is the user who builds them is funded 75% of the cost to build it and 50% of the monthly maintenance fees. Like state roads, counciling is necessary to determine its routes. #4 - Tollroads & Turnpikes - Hi Capacity Expressways that are necessary when the federal or state funds are unavailable for them can be built by a contractor. Contractors can negotiate the terms of pay and tolling schedule for them. Tollroads are individual highways while Turnpikes are typically longer tollroads that carry subsidary systematic tollroads along with them. Turnpikes and Tollroads CAN carry state or county roads but they must also be provided with their own route designition from the contractor Railroads #1 - Heavy Rail - Can carry freight or passengers throughout your city. You can have contractors develope a rail line between destinations and/or throughout your city. There's no limit to use of the heavy rail, but be respectfull that railroads have much less tollerance to grades than roadways. #2 - Light Rail / Subways / Monorail - BEST used between suburban areas and the inner city, but once again there is no limit to use and they will be allowed to travel over long distances.

Welcome our new member JeekTan and added Region photo of West Blue Port... more to come.

What is Blue Hope? Blue Hope is an Interactive City Journal in which members can ACTIVELY contribute toward the development of the region. Formerly, Blue Hope was known for its Island of Newark in which hosted several oil reserves that the United Nations took interest upon and decided to settle and develop during a peak oil crisis. The story plot remains mostly the same, however; the adventure has been taken into a new (more manageable) island in which sustains heavy oil reserves. Now that the political debates have been secured, the island colonies of Newark have been secured into the 51st state of the United States and industrial demand has sky rocketed to drill for oil. What’s YOUR role? Your job is to colonize and feed the demand for development amongst the island through the development of urban areas, industry, sea / airports, and infrastructure. How it works? The Concept: Blue Hopes regions and plugins are located on Windows Live Mesh (http://www.mesh.com) which allows for real-time sharing of files and folders. This means, when I save a file, the changes that I make are INSTANTLY sent to everyone sharing my file through online syncing. When I save a city file, the file is also updated on your PC so you can see my changes. How this works is, you download Windows Live Mesh and Messenger and add my account at christforbluehopecj@live.com. Upon adding me, you will receive a request to join the “Fileshare” folder. When you do, you are going to create a new shortcut for SC4 which will allow the game to load Blue Hopes Region and Plugins INDEPENDTLY of your own Region and Plugins. This means you won’t have to worry about overwriting your plugins or having a super massive cluster of unnecessary plugins in your Regions. Methods of Playing: There are two modes in Blue Hope. There is Mayor and Contractor Mode. In Mayor Mode, you’re the Mayor of a city and you begin with 2 Large City Tiles and no points until you build enough structures. In the long run this is probably the most prosperous way to play, but it is very constrictive if you desire to develop anything outside of your city limits. In Contractor Mode you begin with 6,000 points but no city tiles. You can use these points to make developments on land that is not considered your property but you will need to be careful to ensure that you will be making a profit. You CAN perform dual modes, for example a Major in Mayor Mode and Minor in Contractor mode means you will start with 2 Large City Tiles and all the points you earn in Mayor Mode can be used in your Contractor setup. Contractors can be under company names, for example if you’re running a transportation railway system, you can setup a company and dedicate points to that company. Mayor Mode: Begin with 2 Large City tiles and develop freely within those tiles. You gain points based on your residents, commerce, or industrial Sims. If you wish to develop further you will need to pay 3,000 points to purchase another large city tile, or use your points to develop outside the mayor mode. You can also hire contractors to develop infrastructure of developments within your land or to create networks to different cities. Mayors can also work as contractors. Contractor Mode: Begin with 6,000 points to use region wide for development. TYPICALLY contractors are assigned by company names. You gain points based on the deals and agreements you make. Contractors can also make income based off of residential, industrial, and commercial property, but their expenses ARE set. Contractors can partner with Mayors, Work Independently, or spawn from Mayors. Development: Previously, Blue Hope was sustained by a points / deed system in which members owned their own property, developments, factories, buildings, roads or railroads. While the system still exists, it is in a milder passive form as you are now allowed to freely develop upon your own land. Basically, you will not need to worry about your scores, deeds, or points to develop in your land. You will also not be limited to what you can and cannot build. You gain points based on the amount of residents you have in your city. You will be given a check in a month in which you can use to develop assets (roadways, toll roads, turnpikes, utilities, ect) OUTSIDE of your city limits, or just use it to expand your city limits by purchasing another city tile… · You start off with 2 Large City Tiles. o You gain 0.2 Points per Resident Sim in your city every month. o You gain 0.4 Points per Commercial Sim in your city every month. o You gain 0.3 Points per Industrial Sim in your city every month. · A large city tiles costs 3,000 Points o A city of 20,000 residents would net you 4,000 Points per month. · Everything you develop INSIDE your city limits is excluded from the scoring system. · Everything you develop OUTSIDE your city limits will cost a monthly fee. Score System: The score system basically determines what you can and cannot purchase outside of your city limits. Everything INSIDE your city limits is free. Everything OUTSIDE of your city will require you pay points out of your score and you will also need a deed to own the property. Usually the only reason the develop anything outside of your city limits is for the construction of Highways or Transit routes between cities, or if you want to set up a power or water deal to your neighbors. It is NOT MANDATORY that you use the score system while you’re in your own city tiles. If you just want to stick with the two tiles you have, that is perfectly fine. If you want to only expand your tiles and not build anything outside of those tiles, that is also fine. Guidelines Gameplay Rules: 1. Your score will be updated at the end of every month. If you’re a Contractor I ask that you create your own deed based on the BHCJ Calculator. Mayors incur no expenses for the city tiles they manage and also do not need deeds. 2. You CANNOT build outside of your city limits without points and permissions. You can hire a contractor, or become a contractor and use points however, but you must be ready to pay points and incur a monthly fee. 3. No complaining. Seriously this gets old. The Blue Hope System is MORE than fair and it is very easy to rack up points to develop whatever and wherever you wish. If I gave land out freely it would become a big mess of over development and cause the region to become cluttered relatively easily. 4. No sabotaging. If you are caught wrecking havoc in another person’s city tile, you will be automatically banned. If you misuse to file share center and flood it with miscellaneous useless files or use it to spread virus’s or corrupt files, you will find yourself banned. If you delete cities, the region, plug ins, or all of the above I will only restore them as they are periodically backed up and you will find yourself banned. 5. You ARE allowed to add plugins of your choosing even without permission, but I ask that you don’t take advantage and overuse this privilege. 6. No modifying default BH files such as the NAM, slope mods, terrain mods, ect. Development Guidelines: 1. In Mayor Mode, you will be able to select any two large city tiles you desire. They don’t even have to be connected. a. You gain points per sim in your city. b. It costs 3,000 Points to purchase a large city tile. c. City tiles do not incur monthly expenses so there is no deed required for them. d. You can develop anywhere on your city tile without costs or restrictions except for ordinances if they apply. e. Your points can be used to expand your boundaries, pay a contractor, or become a contractor to extend projects outside your city limits. 2. In Contractor Mode, you will begin with 6,000 Points. You CAN purchase city tiles and develop freely. However; everything outside your city limits will incur a monthly cost. a. Zoning does not incur an expense, only an income. You are paid based on the zoning, density, and wealth. b. You can still purchase a large city tile for 3,000 Points. c. Any infrastructure you develop that is not within your city limits will incur a monthly charge. Not all infrastructures will result in a net income. Toll Booths, Rail Stations, and Bus services can result in an income but they must be used. d. If you are a contractor developing within another person’s city, you can negotiate terms of how much you desire to receive per month in alternative to your expected monthly earnings for usage. e. You will need a deed for everything you develop that does not exist within your city tiles. Updates: I will perform all major updates upon your request. All you must do is request an update. If you have any special requests for your update then you will need to send me your update in a word document with the photos you wish to display attached to it along with the statements and claims. Ordinances: None

The Score System: Unlike previous versions of Blue Hope, The Score System is a lot more passive. It takes a lot less time to manage your points (if you even want to) and having a score isn’t always necessary to develop if you’re a mayor. The score really only become a concern when you’re either trying to expand your city limits, or if you’re a contractor. Anything outside your city limits will be deducted from your points to purchase and maintain it. You will need a Deed for anything outside of your property. Deeds tell you the amount of points in which you receive per month and that will be added (or subtracted) from your score every month. Anything OUTSIDE of your city limits that resemble that of Utilities, Transit Stations, and Toll Booths, will require monthly audits to receive your exact score. Make sure that whatever you build, you can also manage. If you build something with variable expenses or income, just put “AUDIT” in the deed and it will be audited accordingly. To keep up with your score, BHCJ has a calculator for you to use located in the File Share folder which makes things extremely simple. Most Infrastructures only incurs expenses, unlike zoning which incurs income. For a more detailed list, look below… THIS IS NOT AN EXACT FIGURE FOR YOUR SCORE, YOU WILL NEED TO REFER TO THE BHCJ CALCULATOR FOR EXACT FIGURES! Deeds: When you purchase a property, you will need a deed to claim ownership of it. Deeds tell you when you purchased the property and the monthly effect it will present to your score. Items which have an income which may vary between month to month should note “AUDIT” instead of a number… and your score should be updated accordingly to what you’ve earned during the month (PM me your figures.) An example of a deed and the format it should carry is listed below. The "Cost to Purchase, Monthly Profit, and Total Income" field are to be derived from the "Total Expense vs Income" field of your calculator. An example show below... Cost to Purchase: 314 Monthly Profit: 48 Total Income: -266 IMPORTANT: Many utilities have a cost to BIULD which is DIFFERENT from the cost to OPERATE. Make sure your cost to BIULD is SILENTLY deducted from your score when you build them! I have spent alittle time revising this system in effort to give users more options and a simple system in which they can follow. I truly hope this helps things out as far as understanding and simplicity is concerned.