PatternRec

I've started a new region and gone back to playing on the hardest level. I find it more challenging, and the challenge keeps from over-indulging in civics. I've got a full install of the NAM, and have just installed for the first time the Real Highway Mod. I'm gonna have to practice some of the tools on a throw-away map since I've not used it before but it looks great.

Thanks.

I've almost exclusively played at the hardest difficulty level and recently tried a city at the medium level. It seemed fun at first, but then it got boring. I've got a city on a large map with about 20k population, all low density. Nothing else in the region. Now when I zone new residential, even when high wealth isn't in demand, a bunch of high wealth eventually replaces the low wealth, then ends up with no jobs, then get occupied by low or medium wealth. I'm wondering if this is because of the difficulty level. I cut my teeth on the hardest level and I think maybe the simulation is creating housing it doesn't need too easily. I'll probably go back to the higher difficulty for my next city. I was wondering what difficulty level most others play at.

I've almost exclusively played at the hardest difficulty level and recently tried a city at the medium level. It seemed fun at first, but then it got boring. I've got a city on a large map with about 20k population, all low density. Nothing else in the region. Now when I zone new residential, even when high wealth isn't in demand, a bunch of high wealth eventually replaces the low wealth, then ends up with no jobs, then get occupied by low or medium wealth. I'm wondering if this is because of the difficulty level. I cut my teeth on the hardest level and I think maybe the simulation is creating housing it doesn't need too easily. I'll probably go back to the higher difficulty for my next city. I was wondering what difficulty level most others play at.

Wondering two things: 1. Do parks need an outlet/be attached to a road, etc to work (ie increase desirability and provide demand cap relief)? 2. I notice that landfill has an aura in the Power data view, but I've had plenty that worked when not connected to the grid. Do landfills need power?

Thanks guys. I've put WTEs to work in various ways - didn't know about cutting funding. That's awesome.

Hi all. I'm a casual SC4 player and an occasional poster here at the forums. A while back when I decided to try SC4 again (not having played it since before Rush Hour came out) I did a little poking around here and decided to install NAM based on suggestions. Recently I did a clean install and tried out SC4 without the NAM, wondering if it was making the game "too easy." I have to say with the knowledge of the game mechanics I now have it was a real eye-opener. I no longer have that nagging suspicion that the NAM might be a kind of cheat. It really does make the simulation more realistic and all around better. The traffic flow makes so much more sense using NAM whereas in without it I'd have entire transit lines abandoned simply because a new avenue was put in or something. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate the work put in by the community to develop and maintain this mod, especially the ease with which it can be installed. It makes the game so much better and has provided hours of fun for me. I wouldn't keep playing SC4 if the NAM didn't exist. Thanks.

Thanks Tysons4. I'm gonna give that a try at some point. For now, I made a city without NAM that was a pretty relentless grid. Good for learning skills, but a boring city. I may make a region using just the minimal NAM install, no extras but the change to the traffic/pathfinding. As for the the 3 plugins, I've got bldgprop_vol1.dat and bldgprop_vol2.dat. Are those two of the three, and what's the third?

Originally posted by: Tysons4 the nam has its benefits... although i sitll prefer no mods... i used to have like 4 gigs of plugins in one folder but i've learned to have alternate plugin folders to play from... the game is charming and is realistic enough to me... i dont like controling my sims all that much anymore... i just like to see what they do don't get me wrong i might still play with plugins but i've created new simcity4 document folders that i play with in variety of way... i have mods for euro cities so everything is euro style, asian style, sim mars and american style plugins all with differnt nam simulators but the regular game with no plugins does it for me... with the nam it's like having the maxis addon packs that they never released... my desktop has 8 different shortcuts to different syles of simcityquote> How do you set up shortcuts with alternate plugins? Is it as simple as adding a command to the target in the shortcut or is it more complicated? I'd love to be able to load SC4 without any plugins every once in a while for a plugin-free region.

I've got a nice city going with NAM May 2010, no other mods. I've read a little about lot sizes but don't fully understand how they work. I want to make sure as I lay out my high density commercial and residential districts that I use correct lot sizes for getting skyscrapers. I'd love it if someone can help explain a little more, especially biggest lot size and most common ones for larger buildings.

What's the fix for traffic noise other than people moving to a different part of town? Do trees and parks help? Is traffic noise worse on roads and avenues because there's more traffic or is it that streets can't handle the capacity and as such there's more noise?

Thanks for the replies. For now I'll keep the traffic noise and improve the city in other ways.

I'm pretty new to CXL - I just bought and installed it a couple of days ago. I'm sorry to hear that the studio closed down. My heart goes out to the employees who are looking for work and who put their hearts and souls into the game. Hopefully the community will keep the game alive and honor the work put into it. I'm having fun with it so far.

Just got it last night and had a little time to mess with it. Did the tutorial and made a couple of practice cities just to get used to the tools. Now I've got a small city that I'm laying out quite conservatively for now, mostly a small grid. There's plenty of room on the map so I plan to get creative as the city grows and as I become more familiar with the mechanics of the game. I like it so far. Nice aesthetically, and a little less heady than SC4 so it's good for an end of the work day kind of session. I'll see if it holds up over time. So far I'm happy with it.

Thanks for the response. I'm enjoying the game so far, but I can see how one would start to miss the depth and complexity of SC4. I can see myself going back to SC after playing C XL for a while. For right now it's a good change of pace.

I've got three cities in a region of about 120k sims. Demand is high in all areas in all cities. What's the best way to do the industrial thing. I don't wanna put any more industry near my residential or commercial because i don't want the dirty or manufacturing to grow there. But I want more high tech. Should I crank up the taxes on the other two to allow for high tech to grow. Do you generally try to keep different types on industry in different cities (ie. one has dirty, other manufacturing, other high tech) by adjusting taxes in each city? Or does that spread jobs too thin?

I've been checking out some of the bat files on the stex. I'd like to use some of the other buildings, but don't know how. Also, what's the use of plopable buildings? Are they just eye candy? I read somewhere they don't have commuters.

This is my first time using NAM and I wanna post a city journal, hopefully to get some pointers from experienced players as I move forward with this. Here's the town, Oct 03: Low density housing and medium industrial. Some LD business mixed in to the residential. I think of them as corner stores. Trying to leave some open spaces for later growth. Pop about 1400. I'm on the large square that's between Queens and Brooklyn (my home town!) in the New York region that comes with the game. City has a fire station. Making about $200 a month. Wanna be conservative with spending. Will replace windmills with coal when appropriate. Need to put in a garbage dump soon. Pic: [image resized. Please keep the pictures no larger then 800x600. Thanks - Chptrk] This is kinda fun to post this stuff here.

Haven't had much time to play - have three cities in the NY region, and now that I'm a little more comfortable experimenting with layout and new tools I started one in Berlin (obliterated the Maxis cities first so starting from scratch in terms of demand). This one is all winding instead of grid-like. It'll be interesting to see how it develops.

Searched for this but couldn't find an answer. I saw a video on Youtube where someone was creating roundabouts for roads using NAM. How do you do this? Is it simply making four 90 degree curves together? I tried it but it came out too large. Suggestions?

Originally posted by: Larks2242 Great job, but why does the Nam feel like cheating?quote> I guess because the better pathfinding solves so many issues it makes running the city pretty easy. When I started playing again a couple months ago (pre-NAM) traffic would have already been a nightmare in a city of about 30k. Now when I check the trafiic map, all the roads are green - no congestion. From what I've read it's more realistic, sims take the quickest route rather than the shortest, but it's so much easier than before it feels like cheating. One weird problem I'm having: I keep getting notified that one of my hospitals is on strike when it's not. It's adequately funded and can handle 100 more patients than it has, there's no strike, but the notification keeps coming up no matter how often I dismiss it. :/

Alright. Played around with some of the puzzle pieces and have a couple of pretty cool rail connections. I've also started playing more with diagonals, roundabouts and pedestrian mall tiles. This screenshot is of my new commercial district. Still kinda grid-like, but with some variety. As I get more familiar with the new tools I'll be able to plan differently. Can't see the rail thing I did, but the whole city now has rail around it and some running through it. Not many people riding it right now, but I hope that changes as density increases. Got some bus stops, and the ones in the industrial and dense residential are well-used. For some reason all the offices here turned to spas. Maybe because I put in a lot of ped malls and footbriges over the roads? Dunno, but it looks kinda boring. edit: is anyone else like me, and try to scroll in on screenshots using the mouse wheel? lol

Thanks Randy. It was the 2x2 type i was looking for. The included 4x4s worked well for avenues but I was looking for something smaller. I'll give it a try.

Workin' on the original city this monring (Largess). Pop up to 28k. Making about 3k a turn. Demand high in a lot of areas. Education and safety good. Traffic good. Nam almost feels like I'm cheating. I'm using better pathfinding, not even perfect, and I've never had so few traffic problems in a city with this pop. I didn't add any extra capacity to roads or anything. One of the reasons I didn't stick with SC4 back in the day was the frustration with traffic and commuting. Another question: do roundabouts help congested intersections or are they just aesthetic? I've got some intersections in the middle of the city I might work on if roundabouts help.

Originally posted by: simcity4fan12 I beleive the Ped mall tiles can have buildings in front of them and the buildings will function with out abandoning due to lack of road connections. I think the Ped Bridges won't allow buildings to be connected to them and still function. Also, I don't think the positions of the arrows matter with those.quote> Thanks. I'll keep experimenting and see what works. Originally posted by: simcity4fan12 Anyway you're off to a great start! It's so 2003 classic simcity4, I like it! Can't wait for more!quote> I know. I feel like such a newb around here. Feeling more confident with playing around with things now so I'm excited. I'm having a love affair with avenue roundabouts because I can attach diagonal aves to 'em. City's pop is about the same. Got a nice tech boom going on in the southern part of the city. I'll post more screens later. edit: Screenshot of the original city, aerial view, at about 19k sims making 2k a month: