Subgrav

I am slowly bringing all my old content back in, and so far not run into any issues... I've not, however, tried adding the NAM back in, so some of these tips are going to be handy. I have, however, run into something: trying to load a custom terrain map has me stumped. Ctrl-Alt-Shift-R brings up a window to load the file, but it doesn't seem to be pointing at any specific folder, and I am unable to navigate out to find my JPG file. My only option is to cancel. So looks like although they put that function back in, it isn't actually workable. Has anyone been able to load a custom terrain? Otherwise I'm just happy to be playing SC4 again

The problem, of course, is that once EA gets the servers sorted - more or less - and people get to playing, we're going to see a a lot more of them saying "what are you on about? it works great for me" or some such nonsense. And that, sadly, will include a fair number of people who are right now complaining about access and demanding an end to the "always on" DRM - how quickly the tune will change :-( I only wish that even once we get access and start enjoying the game, we remember the last few days and realise that EA's answer to it, basically, was rubbish. The answer of adding extra servers only works as long as the servers are up. The next time the servers crash, or the next time you visit your grandma on the farm who "don't have no inner-nets" and want to play SC, you'll maybe realise that the problem was not solved by adding more servers, but could have been solved if EA had done away with the "always on" requirement. Just my 2¢ as we are seeing more people "now" claiming that its all good in SC nirvana -- Just because the wound isn't bleeding doesn't mean you are healed.

You may not use the mods, but they are the only reason that a site like Simtropolis continue to thrive. But even if there is no "official" support for mods, do we really think that the enterprising modders out there won't figure out how to hack into the data and create stuff? just give it time. But on the topic of "always on" - Amen to that! The person who decided this was a good idea was not a designer, tech, or programmer. The place I work deals with cloud-based software all the time, and the first thing we tell our clients is "always on" is a supremely stupid idea unless they can guarantee their employees always have a reliable internet connections. That usually shuts them up and they ask what can be done to ensure only legal use and access. We design our software to precisely to ping the server on login, authenticate the software, then disconnect. The app now runs off-line! It doesn't even ping the server at shut-down, because the data is saved locally. If the client wants cloud-based sync of data, it can occur every few minutes, but if there is no connection, data saves locally and the app continues to work flawlessly. We're a small company of 20 people and we figured it out. How EA couldn't figure it out with their thousands of programmers and personnel is puzzling to me. But hey, I'd be happy to offer our company's services to fix their problem. Just waiting for my phone to ring

I've not had a problem either since the software I use in business is apparently much more sophisticated. Most require an internet connection to authenticate at boot - others do it once at install with a limit of installs available. If no connection is available, the software still functions but does not allow you to save. HOWEVER, once authenticated, I can shut the entire network done indefinitely and be able to work and save my work to my own HD at my own time. If I don't shut the app down, it will work whenever and wherever I want. That is how the industry has done it "years before it ever came to the game market" because they realised that it made no sense for people to be constantly connected online to work. Now it may be possible that you work on some geek-tech-engineer software that does require full time connection... I don't know you or what you do... but none of the high-end pro creative software I use requires that. This has absolutely, positively NOTHING to do with piracy. I will guarantee that Simcity will be pirated within minutes of release. I do have a job and spend several thousands of dollars on software every year. I expect that software to work in the subway, on an airplane, and in our studio. If it does not work everywhere, its not worth a penny to me or my company. It's called "doing business" - Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft, etc know this. Apparently EA does not. Back to SC4 with countless mods, thank you.

Sorry for jumping in here rather suddenly, but is anyone having difficulty accessing the site as well? Is it just temporary, or did something happen at simszone.de? BTW. The SC4Tool sounds excellent, and I am quite anxious to use it. Thanks for the work!

The Kensington Optical Elite is a great mouse. It has 6 buttons: standard left and right click, plus one on each side of the mouse (great for browsing... I have one for forward and one for back) plus the scroll wheel, which, when pressed, emulates a double click. Oh. And this is all on a Mac, to boot! Except for the left and right click functionality, which the Mac recognizes out of the box, you have to load Kensington's control panel to access the other features. In any case, it is an excellent, reliable mouse, and great for gaming... and quite affordable, too!

Could be... I use XP Pro, and it does quite a nice job. There are the occasional warning windows that pop up, but I ignore them. Of course, sometimes the progs crash, but I save often

So far, I've had no problems running both BAT and LOT Editor in my Virtual PC. The programs run fine, although slow, on my G5 2x2.5, running VPC 7 (and XP Pro) I don't know if the whole GMAX prog works, but the BAT version (of GMAX) does, at least for me. As far as registration on EA is concerned, I bit the bullet and decided to drop the $30- for SCDeluxe on the PC so I could register and get access to BAT and LOT. I know a lot of people don't want to do that, but I just added it to my Amazon list and ended up getting it as a gift Just don't actually try to play the game on the VPC... sloooooow! What I'm working on now is being able to design buildings in my (OSX-based) 3D program, then import the model into BAT to tweak and make the correct type. Stay tuned.

Date: 11/11/2005 9:22:54 PM Author: GoaSkin Neither the Maxis tools (LOT Editor, BAT, Plugin Manager) start in any virtual machine because the programs require a native DirectX access to the graphics adapter (exit message: could not initialize DirectDraw) Actually I use LOT Editor and BAT on my VPC without a hitch. There is occasional glitching with graphics, but if you don't rush the machine and let the virtual environment handle things at its own pace, the whole thing works quite nicely.

Date: 6/6/2005 4:04:07 PM Author: GoaSkin I try to use the LOT editor in a virtual machine but it shows me the message cannot initialize DirectDraw. When I choose a LOT to edit, it crashes. Can anybody help me? quote> Hei GoaSkin, I get the same warning, but after I click OK, everything works just fine. Which version of VPC are you running, and under what (so-called) OS... I'm running XP Pro under VPC 6 in a dual 2.5 G5 (so its actually faster than the crappy wintel box in the corner of the room) and everything is sweet. I can't play RH for anything (too slow), but BAT and LE work nicely!