mal7798

I was importing a few cities from a version of Cities XL into Cities XXL, with the understanding that not all of them would work. It is difficult to tell which are which from the file system, but looking into the XML files seems to help. The problem I am having is that the names of the non-working cities are listed in the roster of XXL but they do nothing and I would like to delete them, but I do not know how. Could anyone help me with this? Also, can I load the game in auto-expert (all buildings unlocked) mode? And even, perhaps auto-2x2-street grid mode?

I just installed Simcity 4 on my year-old PC last week and I am getting a problem with a strip on the south end of the large cities in the Region map that doesn't line up. This is not a Terraformer problem as it does the same with the built in large cities in Region. Is this a new glitch or one that has been known?

Thank you, A Nonny Moose, that did the trick for me. Now I know how to fix it when I need to.

It happened when I used the Terraformer program, so I thought it was with that, but then I tried it with one of the supplied regions (Berlin) and it did it there, too. It seems to happen after launching the city, because I didn't notice it until I did that with the large Berlin city. It's the south border of large cities only in which this is happening.

An appearance change was made with the latest NAM. Junctions in rails which used to curve slightly to the right and then back to the left allowed the trains to go straight without continuing the rails straight through the junction. This freed up the center tile for other things, and was a favorite place for me to put water pumps. After the latest NAM, the rails do not loop in the same way. Has the functionality changed along with the appearance, and will I have to move all of the water pumps in my old cities in order for the rails to allow the trains to continue straight through them now? (posting images and links on this message board is quite cumbersome and if I am needed to explain this problem more clearly, please ask. I cannot tell if these images are in the right place and I do not know if I will have the option of previewing my post as I compose it.) The trains could go straight through the old ones. These do not seem to allow for trains to continue straight without the rails going through.

the00guvna, what can you get to work? Can you get it to work so that the trains go straight through even with the new NAM? My question was if the change in appearance was accompanied by a change in functionality, and that appears to be the case. Those ring junctions may be unrealistic, but allowing trains to proceed straight through on the new networks is also unrealistic, but since this game is just a simulation, it is certainly possible. I guess I will have to move all of those water pumps after all. I'll chalk it up to a new "Sim federal law" prohibiting ring junctions.

I don't have anything really to add here except that I live in Columbus and I want to post to keep updated of this project. If you look closely at my user icon, you can see that it is the Columbus skyline superimposed in front of Alpine mountains and Pacific beaches.

Suddenly Sim City 4 (DE) has been crashing on me for no discernible reason. It has happened even after walking away from the keyboard leaving the game running. The only real change I've made recently is to install the latest NAM (mid 2009). Anyone else with the problem?

I've gotten a medium to over 800,000, but there were generally loads of "no job" zots. I've gotten a couple of small cities to over 300,000 without the same problems. It seems to take much longer to get the large cities to larger populations, and I don't think I have made it to 500,000 on one of them, and the program tends to start running very slowly (at least on my computer) once the big cities start getting densely populated.

I've noticed that industry greatly prefers to ship via truck, and only seems to want to ship via train or seaport if it is considerably closer, or if there are no road connections to other cities. I've seen that when placing "no trucks" tiles, the trucks seem to go out of their way to find the one road connection that is no longer blocked. So, my question--what is the advantage to discouraging shipping by truck and encouraging other methods? A seaport costs $500 per month and thus just seems to be an expensive way to do something that is done anyway. I have heard that seaports increase industrial demand, but it must be a gradual thing because I've never really seen it jump after adding one, and does it continue to increase demand even if it is at full capacity? Does adding a seaport allow more cargo to be moved out faster, which triggers more industrial product, which in turn increases tax revenue? I like the way seaports make my cities look, but I am curious about the non-aesthetic advantages. Just wanting to start an interesting discussion.

I have Deluxe--that is the original with Rush Hour built in, correct? It never occurred to me to empty my plugins folder (I figured I needed the plugins to edit and use lots I downloaded). I can try this and report what happens.

"The image" is the one I posted with the message, which is a screenshot of the error message. Is it not visible under the message?

Lot Editor Error Message When I try to open the standard seaport lot (and other in-game lots) in Lot Editor, I get the message shown in the image. How can it contain items from plugins that are not installed when they are the standard lots that came with the game?

There's another way that usually works: When the news ticker offers you a new private school, open the news ticker window without clicking on the link from there. Then, go to the rewards menu and pick the private school from there and place it where you want. Usually (but not always) the private school offered in the news ticker window is still there. This could get you up to twice the usual number of private schools.

Originally posted by: mrbombit One word MADDEN. EA doesnt need to make profit off other games. It has the number one selling piece of media of all time. Which comes out with a new version, that is bought right up, every year. Truly a cash cow. They owe it to the gaming community to develop a new sim city that real fans will enjoy. They do not need to be driven by pure profits. As far as a business model goes one can look at their stock and see they need to do some long term adjusting of their model to sustain a market share outside of sport and movie games.quote> That's interesting, because when I first read about SCS, I thought of Madden; not that it is EA's flagship (which it is), but with it they are constantly improving a game that works, giving their fans something that works, while SCS is a complete abandonment of something that worked for so long for a brand new game. Imagine if EA released the next Madden as a soccer game. It could be the most realistic, accurate, beautiful soccer game imaginable, but it's completely not what Madden fans would want. They could rationalize it to the end of the world by asserting that soccer may be increasing in popularity, but the fans will not appreciate a different game. But this is exactly what they did with the Sim City franchise. SCS has much more impressive graphics than the previous game in the series, and it may be a decent, playable, and fun game, but the fans wanted the next generation of Sim City, not a new game altogether. It's disappointing to be abandoned like this, so I am grateful for Monte Cristo's attempt to pick up the ball on this one.

If you observe the city jail for a while, you will see what appears to be a chain gang working on the road with an officer on horseback beside them. Eventually an inmate will try to make a run for it, cops on foot will chase, and sirens will blare.

Okay, so you are saying that in the real world, the city government has a say in the building of religious buildings. So when you said "not true" you were referring to my second statement (which implied that the city government has no such say). I was not disagreeing--I just needed you to be more specific. I still don't like the way the game does it. Perhaps the residents can propose that a religious building go up in a zoned lot and ask the mayor for approval. Or perhaps such a proposal can be handled through the residents themselves and be "understood" to have occurred out-of-game without consulting the mayor. This is how it (apparently) happens in the original Simcity and Simcity 2000 and I preferred it that way.

I'm not sure what could be "not true" about it. The first sentence was an opinion, and the second was a (rhetorical) question. Do you mean to say it is a BAD IDEA for churches and cemeteries to grow, or that mayors are usually in charge of making such decisions in real cities?

Mal7798's Mega List of Sim City Changes These are of course my own personal preferences, posted here because I wanted to post them somewhere and this thread seemed the appropriate place. I apologize for any redundancies as I didn't bother to read through every post before posting--this is a three-year-old thread, after all... Churches (and cemeteries) should grow in residential zones. Since when is it left up to a mayor to decide where these things go? Also, an occasional private park to crop up in a R zone would be nice. Private schools should grow too, not be plopped by mayor. Also, private clinics and hospitals should grow. I think it would be better for them to grow in R zones as that is where they are needed. The public school and hospital systems would not conflict with this and should be left. The same university in every city is redundant. Universities should be zoned rather than plopped, and be part of the regular menu (not a reward). Also, private colleges and universities should grow (either in R or C zones; not sure which is better) Airports and seaports zones should return. And as for any other zone type, poor zoning means poor development. The in game ports can be too picky about where they can go, especially seaports, which take a lot of hunting to find a place. Ploppable coastal items (ferry ports, marinas, etc.) should be less picky about where they can go. Often in my cities, despite having miles of coastline to work with, there are no places that will accept these items, and massive and destructive terraforming efforts are often needed just to place the simplest of these items. Maintenance budget and standing instructions. Sim City was originally able to be left alone to play itself, but SC4's utilities such as power and water wear down eventually and the residents quickly leave without them. There ought to be standing orders to replace power plants and water pumps when they get down to a certain level (at cost of course, and budget-permitting). Warnings about water and power emergencies!!! When I first started getting into SC4, I despised the lack of a disaster-disabling function, with constant fires interrupting the game flow while playing at "cheetah" speed. But then I realized that if this did not halt action, fires would quickly spread to burn down my city, and a disaster-disabling option would ultimately render fire protection useless. But this stopping of game action should also happen during power and water shortages as well. I remember developing a new district in a big city of mine that was over 200,000 in population without realizing that I clipped a power line to a water pump, and while my new development was going quite well, the rest of my city was completely out of water, and I looked down and my population had dropped from over 200,000 to under 800! Blackouts and water shortages can destroy a city even faster than fires, so a warning is necessary. Auto-dezoning of undevelopable zones--and less dependence on road access. If the game can determine that zones are pointed away from roads, why can't it be made to rezone them towards roads? Also, if a zone just sits there with the "no road access" icon floating over it, it should just be auto-dezoned (at the normal cost of dezoning, of course). And lack of road access should result in limited development rather than a total lack of development. Water; The salt-water/fresh water distinction of SC2000 ought to be brought back, as well as desalination plants. Inland lakes with different water levels should be allowed, and rivers could be made to flow as well. And water pumps should have optimal and less than optimal locations where they can be built (not just for pollution--there should be locations where more water is pumped). The underground (and above ground) view options should be improved. SC2000 was excellent in this respect, as selected building types could be eliminated from view in order to see certain things blocked from normal view. In SC4, when installing subway stations, the subway itself cannot even be seen. Also, finding certain small items to be bulldozed (such as water pumps, misplaced zones) can be nearly impossible, even when going through all angle views. There should be an option to switch from above ground to underground view at any time. Voting on ordinances: The mayor should not be a dictator--if your city needs what an ordinance provides, they will approve it. The "legalize gambling" ordinance should have growing casinos with varying revenue rates instead of one casino at the same rate, etc. Eliminate the road access requirement for public transit stations. Bus stops of course need road access because the buses run on roads, but there should not be the need to place subway and rail stations by roads. Also, development should be allowed to occur along rails, els and monorails--limited, perhaps, but some development can occur. I have a few more changes I'd like, but that's all I can think of right now. Well, except for one: If Maxis/EA/Whoever is going to go the way of Sim City Societies and completely abandon their efforts with the regular Sim City series, they should just RELEASE THE SOURCE CODE! Let hobbyist modders and developers take over where the professionals left off.

Before I installed NAM, when I would drag a normal road under an elevated highway, I would be prompted for automatic building of perpendicular entrance and exit ramps on each side of the highway; after NAM, I am only prompted for the entrance ramps (although I can still build both manually from the menu), and I thought that is strange. But what is stranger is that when I drag a one-way road under the highway, I am then prompted to build both exit and entrance ramps on both sides, even though two of those ramps are useless. Did NAM get something mixed up, did I do something wrong when installing it, and/or has anyone else noticed or experienced this? I am no longer prompted for the exit ramps (although I was before I installed NAM) Those two ramps on the left are useless because they would require entering and exiting the highway by going against traffic direction. Nonetheless, I am prompted to build them.