jsieczka

Originally posted by: ForceInfinity Originally posted by: Audacitor And things get worse once you have an extablished infrastructure. Let's say you've got a nice retail zone you built with the block tool sandwiched between some medium density residential and your heavy density downtown area. To connect them all, there's a small avenue running from end to end. It wasn't always like this, of course. Your residential area used to be light, and your downtown area didn't exist, which is why you have only a small avenue. But now they have lots of traffic going through them, and your retail area is swamped in the crossfire; your small avenue isn't enough anymore. I hope space efficiency isn't something you care about, because if you want to expand your small avenue, you're going to demolish it and a whole row of retail establishments to make room for the new big road. And once you put in the new road, you'll have space left over between the road and the next row of retail establishments. All that wasted space. quote> I hate to break this to you, but this is actually more realistic as this is something you have to do in real life. Here in Sparks Nevada, there is a nasty bottleneck in the area of Pyramid Way and McCarran Blvd. The RTC here wants to reconstruct that intersection into a SPUI and add extra lanes. In order to do that, they're going to have to level a whole row of houses on the east side of Pyramid. That sounds strangely similar to the issue you point out with having to lay waste to a row of retail establishments. If you dont leave yourself right-of-way space, then you're going to fight that problem *every* time in real life as well as in a computer game. quote> The diffrence is that in real life if you take 5% of a lots space you are left with 95% space to build on and new buildings that fit that lot will be built. In Cities XL if you take 5% of a lot you are left with 0% do to no building being able to fit in the new space.

Originally posted by: ifurkend Don't get mad first, there's probably a good reason for CXL to require internet connection not limit to online verification. By connecting to the server, they can update the in-game advertisement database even for solo mode. This will help increasing MC's income and fund more future expansions. So everyon is obligate to maintain the internet connection when playing the game regardless which mode (SP or PO) he/she is playing.quote> How is this a good reason? Forced auto update, I don't care why they want to update files but only one program auto updates files on my computer and that is Kaspersky.

Originally posted by: Mathew_MC LordOscar wrote You can't. French players have confirmed today you need to connect to your online account each time you want to play, even in solo mode.quote> You don't. Once you have activated your copy once online, you can play in solo mode even if not connected to the internet. If you enter your login and password without being connected to the internet, the game will propose to play offline.quote> If that is the case then what is the point of having people log in to begin with? The first screen should be a choice between single player or online play. Clicking single player loads the game, no online log in even if you are online. If you are online you should not be forced to log on to your site.

Originally posted by: Brandon8181 I think the Longevity and game play really concernes me. So is what your saying is you think after a short time of playing you could get easily bored with this game? quote> Did I get bored no, more accurettly through out the beta and the couple hours I played today I could not get into the game to begin with. I got more enjoyment "walking" around the city then I did playing it. If you are a hardcore simulation fan then the game may not be for you. MC removed alot of the detail work that you would want in a simulator and traded it off for playability. It is in the same vane as Railroad Tycoon, where it has more realism then an arcade game, but less then a true simulator should. At the same time if you liked Railroad Tycoon's level of depth then this might me up your alley. Me my favorate sim is an airline sim that to play the game you need to have very strong understanding of the airline industry and are willing to make spreadsheets to keep track of what is going on.

I borrowed my neighborers copy for a quick test drive: The Good: -Graphics are very nice -Easy to use -farms are nice The Bad: -lack of mass transit -graphics bugs are still prevalent -it is a hassle to get into single player -far to easy of a game -lot sizes are far to limiting -trade system is unrealistic and arcade like -zoning system is cumbersome and unrealistic -GUI has issues, somethings too small, somethings too big, overlapping windows. My overall ratings: Graphics: 8/10 (close up zooms are a bit cartoony) Sound: 6/10 Gameplay: 5/10 Longevity: 2/10 Overall: 5/10

yep

Using an external drive as the optical drive Simcity 4 should have no problem running on a new netbook. The recommended stats are low by modern standards at CPU: 1 GHz or faster RAM: 256 MB or more Video: 32 MB or greater supported Direct 3D. The game is 6 years old now, so it isn't running top end specs. I tested it on mine and it ran with out issue.

No, the game just isn't all that fun and looking at the releases that are to come this year (Assassin's Creed II, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Katamari Forever (released haven't bought) I just can't see speeding any money on the game.

The idea that you have to compare Cities XL to the 1st generation of Simcity 4 is ridicules, so is the notion that you cannot compare Cities XL to SC4 outright. Cities Xls competitor for my spending dollar is not the vanilla SC4 it is the present version of SC4 aka SC4+RH+CC. For my spending dollar Cities XL is both inferior to the product that I now have in both value and gameplay. My copy of SC4 has long since been payed off or if you spread the cost out over the lifetime of my ownership then $10 a year and decreasing fast. Cities XL I will have an initial start up cost plus monthly expenditures so $12 a month next to $0.83 for SC4, of course this is only if you want a better product. In terms of game play I find the product that I have in my possession already to be far more fun to play. As a consumer the argument whether or not to buy something comes down to is it better then what I have now, is it more cost efficient then what I have now and do I need the product? In this case the answer is no on all accounts.

Review of the Cities XL Demo These views are solely based on the Demo version of the game The bad Zoning by wealth. Single size lots curved roads are made useless do to the single sized lots. The lots do not fallow the roads which then leads to large amounts of unused space. An inability to build on most slopes Graphics bugs galore Government controlled leisure facilities that cost a fortune and make no money, aka bowling alleys. Government controlled trading, why is a mayor controlling the selling of heavy industry goods and then bringing in money, talk about pay to play government. A complete lack of intricate controls needed to run a city. A very formulaic game that once you figure out the formula the game becomes far too easy. The city is completely static and is best described as plop and stop. Your city basicly does not evolve over time and is very stagnant. Bridge and tunnel building is a pain and fails miserably at times (resulting in a major cost to fix) Memory leaks galore and general instability The Good: Postcard view from far away looks good

bryan1272 and oo7_warhammer are right on the money what you see in the demo is a indicator of what you will get.

According to a post on MC's website by a MC employee they are not ready to Beta test yet. So this may be a whopping 1 to 2 month Beta test, which will be no where near enough time.

Well I live in Rochester, NY now and am from Buffalo, NY orginally so here are both of them. Downtown Rochester from the South High Falls Downtown Rochester looking South Buffalo, NY from Lake Erie

There is a new Buffalo Building on the STEX. It is Hock & Ladder 16 - engine 4. It is not one of the best looking city fire stations but it is 1 of the 2 designs that are active now . Next up is Hock & Ladder 14 - engine 31.

Ok, I made those changes and it looks much nicer. I found out was I was doing wrong with the trying to make the windows transparent. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//64%20Amherst%203.JPG align=baseline>

Here is the first textured render let me know what you think. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//64%20Amherst%202.JPG align=baseline>

Ok have an update for everyone. This one is moving fast, It helps to have blue prints of the building. I found some disappointing facts out. I have had to SimCity the building a bit. I found that the building would be barely 2X3 which I did not want. So it has been scaled down to 1X2 which is a much better fit for a working class area. I also made to roof so it only hits 3 stories. Most houses in the games working class areas are not that tall so I lowered in to fit in better. The last change is that I have modernized it so that it could still function as a fire station today (it is a home in real life). https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//64%20Amherst%201.JPG align=baseline>

Ok, I'm back after having work sorted out. My boss and the managing partner from the company I work for were arrested for about 10 different things. Now that I have figured out how to deal with my rapid promotion I can get back to BATing. I unfortunately do not have any of my old stuff so I'm starting anew with smaller buildings that give a city a real feel to it, things such as schools, churches, police stations, and my first project fire halls. I'm starting with Engine #15 up in Black Rock. I will hopefully do about 9 of Buffalo's older fire stations so that people can have different looking ones in there city. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Buffalo%201.jpg width=236 align=baseline>

Here is another update, new roof textures, as well as windows accross the board. The is still some detail work to do.

Ok, after a long break I'm back. I got busy with life. Graduating college, trying to find a job, tring to rember why I majored in aviation? But do to the fact that I have a broken foot I have far more time to sit infront of the computer. I have gotten the GNE textured let me know what you think?

I have finished 3 sides of the Great Northern Elevator rebuild, but i'm stuck on the land side. I have found no pictures of the base. I may end up guessing on it if i can't find anything soon. I have some bury photos but nothing that I can get a good idea. After that I'm going to do an urban elemtary school, the 70's era northeastern type. As a side note a TV show rated Ted's hotdogs as one of the best places for hotdogs in the US. As any one from Buffalo would tell you it is THE best.

I think something is up with the STEX nothing has been added all night. The building is shown as a box with that says updates are being preformed. So it is uploaded but not downloadable yet.

I just uploaded the Terminal to the STEX at 9:00pm (Indiana time) 7/23/04. Time to update the profile.

It was just lacking a lot of the detals that this version is going to have. Wrong number of windows, the towers were not really right. It was an early work that I can improve on.