pete1061

Recently I was speaking with a friend who works for EA, and he hinted that there are plans for SC5. But that's all he could say about it. So there may actually be some hope for the future of Sim City. Let's just hope it's not another societies. That's all the info I have. I didn't want to pressure my friend for more. I don't think he knows much anyhow, he works on a different EA title.

My biggest was about 5.3 million, and the map was a little under 50% filled up.

Though I had no use for the PO myself, I paid for it so I could have access to the extra content. I think an online option would be good for those who want it. Many games have a function to host your own server with a smaller limited number of users. That's probably the best way to go. That way those who want multiplayer can have it, and those who prefer single player don't feel coerced into paying for something they don't want just to get extra buildings. On top of that the publisher/developer of the game doesn't have the extra overhead of running big central servers.

This is good news, I'm just hoping that current owners of CXL will get some kind of a discount. This isn't really a whole new version of the game, it's a more finished version of the same game. I get the impression that MC was running low on money and behind schedule, but released CXL anyhow, though it wasn't finished. Investors we're probably nagging them to put something out. But in the long run, it didn't save MC. And there are still going to be flaws in CXL2011. My expectations are not high, I'm just hoping for an improvement on the original.

There's a good chance that the primary reason is the Christmas season. a lot of games shoot for the October/November window so that it will be fresh in peoples minds for gift shopping. I'm sure also they want the time to tie up loose ends and get the bugs out. But I'm sure if you look at all the sales data in the game industry, it will show that fall is the best time for release.

Originally posted by: mentarman CTRL-SHIFT-F11 You can put it on night time and turn your traffic map on to get a pure map without terrain, buildings, etc.quote> Thanks, worked like a charm. It did take a miniute or two, it created a 23 megabyte 4096x4096 png file. The game hangs while it's doing that, that could give people the impression it's not working right.

Given the lack of subways/light rail in CXL, it's like a 2010 toyota without a radio. (the car works, but it's still incomplete) Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get SC4 stable enough in vista to try any of the add ons, so I can't make an educated choice.

Here's my biggest city. "City Five" pop: 5.3 million (edit:changed image to shot obtained from pressing CTRL-SHIFT-F11)

Originally posted by: Mr. Cortez What the hell? Anyway, sorry, MC. I hope the employees find other fulfilling jobs. I loved City Life, it had potential. I never bought CXL because of its planet offer. Was looking forward to the continuation of the game and CXL 2011, but now I know it may be abandoned altogether if the new company doesn't like the concept. Unless Will Wright surprises us with SC5, or we make our own, us city builders will have to stick with 7-year-old SC4 until Windows 8 or 9 or whatever can't support it anymore. Just my guess.quote> Until Windows 8 or 9 can't support SC4? I have Vista and I can't play SC4 for 30min without a crash to the desktop. .... As for MC closing up shop... Thats the game industry for ya. I'm not suprised in the least. It's really no fault of their own, most small developers go out of business. It's a tough industry to make it in. We gamers are a fickle bunch. I just hope the new owners of CXL release some modding tools.

Originally posted by: hansenawesome15 I'm actually considering buying this....glad I saw this before I did, otherwise I wouldn't buy 2011. I'd like to buy it, it looks so realistic, but what's the difference between CXL 2011 and Simcity Societies?quote> Compaied to Simcity Societies, CXL or CXL2011 is actually good. If it's a choice between CXL (as it is now) and SCS, get CXL. SCS should never have been released, it was a joke.

Originally posted by: Chiverito I hope a bigger game company picks Cities XL up. (Please not EA or Ubisoft) No doubt it is a good franchise to build on; just a shame that MC put all its eggs in one basket. I think it would be interesting if 2K's Firaxis studios takes on a City Sim.quote> Probably best if whoever the future new player in the city sim genre just started from scratch. Maybe some day Civilization 6, 7 or 8 will have more of a city sim style of doing the cities.

As I understand CXL 2011 is not a completely "new" game. It's just post-planet offer CXL with a few loose ends tied up, like trade between your own cities in single player, and the bonus PO content added : medieval buildings, north american & asian building packs, and blueprints. There are not likely to be many new features at all (if any). There may not even be trains in it. And it will either be free or have a minimal cost for previous PO subscribers. The beach GEM and the ski GEM are will be sold separately.

Originally posted by: Ilikeseattle Originally posted by: pete1061 I guess everyone has their own opinion. I find the building repetition in CXL just as bad as in SC4. This problem will plague city building games until someone makes a game that procedurally creates the buildings on the fly, instead of using pre-modeled structures.quote> The problem with using procedural generation is that it is very expensive. A city builder (without a simulator) that uses procedural generation (the buildings themselves are semi-procedural, mostly premade), named CityScape, costs $19,000. A static city simulator that procedurally generates buildings and roads with a premade map (or one you make yourself) and nothing else, named CityEngine, costs $3,450. Very basic procedural generation of buildings exist for free but it will take a decade for procedural generation of buildings to enter videogames. What is more likely in the short term is procedural population of buildings by other people using simple tools (like Spore did) that are downloaded as needed. quote> You are right. As things are now, it is very expensive. But it is technically feasable. Those applications are intended for businesses, which is the primary reason for the high prices. And as they are, they require a high end system. But in 5-10 years, we could see something like CityScape re-engineered into a game. That would be awesome. They could take this genre to a whole new level. The main issue really is waiting for the average home computer to get powerful enough to handle it. But it can be done, and it will be. 10 years really is not a very long time. Procedural really is the way to go. In order to get a city builder without repition, it would take too much manpower to manually model enough buildings. Either so many 3D artists would have to be hired that it would be financially impossible, or it would take so long for a small staff of 3D artists so long, that by the time they are done, average computers will be fast enough to run a procedural engine.

I guess everyone has their own opinion. I find the building repetition in CXL just as bad as in SC4. This problem will plague city building games until someone makes a game that procedurally creates the buildings on the fly, instead of using pre-modeled structures.

Alas, this is the sad truth about the game industry. Only a handful of developers survive. Most release 1 or 2 titles and go broke.

Originally posted by: JinRenegade What has happened to video games these days? Back in the 1990s and the early 2000s, video games had some great gameplay, good graphics and a large choice of genres. Now the video gaming genre is just dumbing down gameplay, upping the graphics (slowly...) and focusing on FPS, adventure or some other type of game which doesn't need you to think. quote> Large corporations like EA & Microsoft happened to video games these days. Big corporations don't like to take risks, they go with basic formulas for content (FPS, MMO) and simplified gameplay for the lowest common denominator (release Spore vs. Prototype Spore). The shift to game consoles also has hurt the PC gaming market. Developers would rather go for the big bucks and make a game for XBox, PS3, or Wii. MCs biggest mistake was taking the corporate approach and trying to jump on the MMO bandwagon. They would have been much better off listening to the mountians advice of the city building community gave them at their request, and released a completed single player offline game.

I have a 9800GT, CXL runs pretty well at 1600x1200, max detail and 4x AA. The only time it slows is in street view when the city is over 750k pop.

I'm not sure, but CXL2011 will probably be cheaper for those who already own CXL. I'd say keep it, that sounds like a really good price anyhow.

Interesting topic, though I'm sure the moderators will move it to the proper forum. Actually, corruption and waste are widespread problems and are not unique to just large cities. Many small towns in backwater regions regularly use their local sheriff bully travelers out of money and property. And the "just throw money at it" response has nearly bankrupted many large state governments. The apathy public workers comes from too much job security and the fact that governments on all levels don't have to function like a business. Normally, any business has to provide a valuable service and do that well or customers will go elsewhere. While on the other hand, governments (at any level) mostly just take, take, take, from citizens. They provide minimal services with a terrible attitude, and if they don't make enough money, they just raise taxes. If you refuse to pay them, they put you in jail or seize your property.

You probably don't have enough passenger transportation out of the city. Add another road or two going out, or an airport. Also High tech, manufacturing, and dirty industry all use up office services.

Just the high density is locked? hmmm, strange. I remember once everything got locked out on me, turned out I accidentally deleted my utilities. All I can say is check to see if all your utilities are there. Ilikeseattle has a good suggestion with the money also.

I think we all just have to bid a fond farewell to the sim city franchise. Even if there is ever a sim city 5, as long as EA is in charge of it, it will suck. Hopefully, some day one of the many small, independent city builder projects will see some fruit.

Originally posted by: Dannibee I highly doubt into it ever being released I'm afraid, I think MC have deserted us.quote> I wouldn't call it desertion. As with the risk in any business venture, things did not pan out as well as MC hoped they would. Maybe partially because of poor business choices on MCs part, but also economies everywhere are not so good. I'm sure some day CXL 2011 will be released, but it's anyones guess as to when.

I was recently trying to figure out what the actual population per residential building, and I discovered that it is not constant. As the total population rises, the number of people per building increases. For instance, when i start out with a very tiny town of a couple hundred, the population would only increase by 15-20 when I add a medium density lot. But as the total population reaches 2000 or so, the population would increase by 40-45 when I add a medium density lot. I'm going to fiddle around more and try to get some better statistics, but i figured I'd post a topic, so if any of you have done or read any research on this, we can colloct data in this thread. This was inspired when I was noticing that with a city full of medium density residences, the total population seems too high judging by how the city looks. But in a city full of high density residences, the population is too low for how the city looks. I don't think that there is really very much of a population increase when you go from medium to high density residences. The tall buildings are merely eye candy.

I'm not really 'bothered' by the inaccuracy. It's merely a curiosity to me. I understand how impossible it is to accurately simulate every single citizen of a city of millions on your average home computer. Fudging is necessary. It is a game after all. This is more or less an informational project of mine, to understand the dynamics of CXL. Thought I'd share my findings with the community. Progress report: My low density city is now up to a population of 53,393 with 1122 residences. 74 people are added with every new building making an average of 47.6 people per residence. this city is 95% unskilled, working in low density industry. I only have enough skilled to satisfy city services. I am using the sandbox mod to make the Omnicorp prices more friendly.