lrfox

The red building... your take on the design for Boston's Clarendon Back Bay (currently under construction)? If so, that's pretty accurate. a few renderings:

Ok- stupid question... i am looking for the old program i used to have to edit terrain. it was a separate program from SC4, that allowed you to edit .jpg and greyscale images, and create and edit the size of config.s it was very easy to use, and i THINK i had to go off this site to get it. does anyone know what it was/ where i can get it again? it's NOT the newer Terraformer released in july. thanks in advance for any help. Edit**** i BELIEVE it was called the Landscape Designer... does anyone know where that can be found?

Scotty, is one of those "quickies" 99 High St. in Boston? It looks a lot like it. In any case, keep up the good work. They're all fantastic

I posted this in the HK Asian BAT team forum, but i figured i'd post here as well in hopes that someone could look into this. ...As everyone who posts in this forum knows, the Asian community has been vital to the survival of SimCity4. Without their work and effort on keeping the game relevant, we may have all grown tired of it by now. At this point, it seems as though Sim City Societies will not be what we hope for in terms of the next gen SimCity Game. That's why many of the members of our Simtropolis community have gone over to www.cuplanet.com to voice our desires for the next generation city builder game. Cuplanet.com is the home site for Cities Unlimited, a city builder currently being developed by Monte Cristo, the French studio who brought us City Life. Monte Cristo has been hearing our requests and working with the community (Philippe DaSilva, a Monte Cristo employee, has been to Simtropolis to find information) to build a game that suits our desires. On thing that many of us on Cuplanet.com have noticed is that the Asian community is conspicuously absent over there. Philippe, who was vital in getting simtropolis involved in Cities Unlimited, has admitted that because of language barriers, they haven't reached out to the Asian (specifically the Japanese) community. I am posting all this here because i have no means of communicating with the Japanese or Chinese communities. I can't speak the language, and i don't know any way to translate reasonably. I was hoping that some of the people that post in this thread, specifically those who are here as liasons between the Japanese sites and this one, could help get the Asian community involved with the new game. Philippe at Monte Cristo is working on a way to set up a Japanese language forum (hopefully within the next week) and we're trying hard to get people over there to put in their two cents. If you have any way to inform the Asian community of Cuplanet and the forums there, it would be much appreciated. This is a terrific opportunity to get what we all want in the new generation of city builders, but I feel that no city builder can be complete without representation from all over the world; and so far, we have Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Australia... we're still missing one more. Anything you can do would be appreciated. OH, and if you're a member of cuplanet.com already or plan to become one, please support adding the Asian community in this thread: http://www.cuplanet.com/index.php?/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,6/func,view/id,6259/catid,4/lang,en/ thanks so much for your help.

Oh.. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding Well i apologize if this thread was out of line, i just figured that since you and the rest of the Cities Unlimited team had their hands full with a lot of other stuff, that I would to my best to try to work on getting some of the Asian community over to Cuplanet.com. Thanks for the correction, that's important information. If we can get some sort of middle man who can communicate with the Japanese (or other Asian) community and also communicate with the English community on CUplanet.com that would be good too. As long as they're not left out. I understand it's nearly impossible to set up a Japanese language forum especially when no one on the team speaks the language (haha) . thanks for the effort and help though, i really can't thank you enough for what you and the team have done already for us. ...just trying to do what i can.

Phillipe, will you be interacting more now on the cuplanet website? (i finally got in btw, and it's nice)

The game should not be developed entirely as a sandbox mode canvas. However, it would be nice to have the cheats to allow a player to go off and develop his/her "dream" city or ideal urban area as they wish. It's the combination of those two things (with the help of mods, and user cheats) that made the Sim City series (SC4 especially) such long lasting success stories. It would be great to see CU take that from this.

Then Badfish, I agree with you. I think it's unrealistic for every part of an entire city to look like central Manhattan. I don't think it should be the most difficult to have a dense population. In fact, i think in poorer areas, it should be relatively easy. I think that the most difficult aspect should be getting a dense WEALTHY population. Another SC4 flaw was that Apartment towers in some big cities stood above the the height of commercial buildings, so it was almost impossible to distinguish the Central Business District from the Residential areas around it. I think the game developers for EA/ Maxis forgot that 50 story residential building (a HUGE apartment building by the way) is NOT as tall as a 50 story commercial tower. This is because in most countries the minimum height for one story is lower in a residential building than it is in an office tower. I think maxis missed the boat on one thing for sure. in most mid-large cities (excluding large Asian cities), the majority of the layout is residences in the 3-7 story range, similar to "row homes and townhouses" in the USA... Most of the similar European buildings are slightly more intricate, but same story 3-7 stories. I think that should be the standard for density in Cities Unlimited. Of course, there are high rises residences in real life, but they shouldn't be as tall as the tallest 1/3 of the office towers. They also shouldn't be as easy to pop up in cities. there should be strict requirements for them to grow. For example, in SC4, the there shouldn't be a 45 story low wealth residential tower with 5,000 residents in a city that has 26,000 people (26k is no random number, i think that was the min. pop for high density res. in sc4) and vast amount of open land left to develop. Density in moderation is what i'm getting at i guess. Density should evolve as the city evolves as it does in real life. When you start running low on real estate (be it a game map, city limits, whatever CU utilizes), THEN you start building up. All throughout the world, the center of most cities is the central business district, or downtown. This area also happens to be the most densely inhabited by both buildings and people. density should radiate out from the main area of the central business district and decrease as it gets further away (with random exceptions such as suburban office parks, apartment complexes, hospitals, etc)... i think this is similar to what badfish was getting at in his previous posts and i couldn't agree more. but to get back to the point, density should be evolutionary and dependent on more factors than (as in simcity) what color zone one plops down. It really needs to depend on what already exists in the city. start small and go from there. SC4 attempted this but was still way off the mark. Ok, i think that's my last rant for the day. We had the day off from school and I didn't have to work so i had WAAAY too much time to hog the space in this thread. time for others to chime in.

eh i agree with some of your post, Badfish. Scale is important, and weather is a nice touch but not completely important in terms of game play (we are limited by our computers capabilities). However, I disagree with the skyscraper in the center of the city theory. In most middle-large North American cities you're correct, the skyscrapers are near the center of the city and the tallest are in the middle. But seeing as this is a game that, as the developers have mentioned, is intended to be marketed towards the whole world, that wouldn't be fair. Many cities (yes, even in North America) have pockets of skyscrapers... and some even have the tallest building outside of a downtown area. Paris has it's tallest buildings in different areas of the city (Montparnasse (sorry if it's spelled wrong)). In North America, the tallest buildings in my Hometown (Boston) are in a totally different neighborhood (Back Bay) than the "downtown (Financial District)." Even Houston, in the pictures you posted has some really tall buildings outside of downtown. Many other cities in the world don't follow the American trend. I do, however like the idea of being able to build cities with supertalls, and also cities like Quebec City (pictured above) with a historic downtown and feel. even combinations of the two would be nice (see almost any large European city). f That being said, in SC4 you had the option to create towering skyscrapers wherever you wanted. Placing a super tall landmark in the city center such as the Pan Pacific Place by NDEX from the STEX; then zoning Dense commercial around it (maybe even some dense residential) followed by a layer of medium density commercial would give you the effect of a "peak" building and a descending slope of towers from that supertall. I'd assume that in any new city building game you'd be able to have some sort of flexibility in your downtown, but restricting it to an ONLY American building style would be a mistake. Also on the weather thing- maybe an add-on weather customizer for download or purchase would be a cool idea. but i wouldn't want to focus on it too much on the main game. Not that weather should be left out, it just shouldn't be the main focus

Zane- Could be. However, why not suggest it. they look, they take what we have to say into account. not all suggestions will be used in the game, but if even a little of this can be applied then it's worth trying.

Thanks for the response and again, it's great to see you guys in here.

I think this is necessary. i have felt this way for a while about sc4. One thing this will hinge on is the betterment of region play. For example, as you said, mines should have transportation to factories. well, in most areas, the mine is not in the middle of the metropolis. This idea requires better transportation, better region play, and more realistic zoning as a foundation. The zones in SC4 were far too restrictive. For example, how many areas (especially rural areas and residential areas) have ground floor commercial and upper floor/ loft apartments in real life? This needs to be incorporated into the game with some sort of Dual zoning (if we're doing zones?) or dual residency. Say, light commercial/ medium density residential for residential urban areas (this would give it a more neighborhood feel), and in downtowns you have a lot of hotel/ residential in the same building in big cities. that translates to both medium/ high density commercial and medium/ high density residential in the same building. This would mean you have people traveling to and from the same buildings at different times (for example, the residents of the hotel/apartment tower will travel OUT to work, while hotel employees and guests travel INTO the building for work). this post and Hutts' post both call for a more advanced commuter/ transportation system and better regional gameplay. aka more realism. I'd also like to see normal urban evolution. In SC4, how many times did your dense, dirty and manufacturing industrial areas become old and abandoned while your city's education and commerce grew? In real cities many times these areas become re-invented into lofts, bars, restaurants, etc. It'd be nice to see this happen in the new game- Automatic type changes. Example- when demand for industry drops, and middle class residential demand rises, then why not have some of the old factories house people in loft style apartments instead of demanding brand new residential areas while another part of the city rots? Also, the need for different types of commuters is necessary as well. like Hutts mentioned, people don't commute just to work. I can't say how many times i made a suburban town next to a big city and all my citizens commuted to the big city for work while my shopping areas (using some of the malls and simgoobers shops, and box stores on the stex) saw little to no traffic (only workers). it'd be nice to see traffic to shopping areas pick up on sat and sun, while the business districts get traffic mon-fri. maybe a heavy volume of pedestrian traffic in well-placed parks, or even include a new type of traffic, bike traffic (our dutch friends would love it) for inner city commuters and recreation. Incoming and outgoing traffic is necessary no matter what as it is reality. thanks for hearing my addition to this topic.

Well duh... the U.S. still believes the Cold War is taking place. McCarthy is alive and well in the minds of some here. Our country's biggest flaw is it's belief that everyone should be the same as we are (except when it comes to military strength, nuclear power, burning of fossil fuels, distribution of fossil fuels). Sort of hypocritical that we claim to be the biggest proponent of "celebrating diversity" yet we want to force everyone to be just like us. On topic- the building is fantastic.

Dasilva/ any other Monte Cristo Developers- I was just curious as to whether or not you or any of the other development team members have much experience playing SimCity 4 and what you'd like to see in an ideal urban simulator. I know you have all had experience in city simulators, but i'm curious about SimCity 4 specifically. If this game is done correctly, Monte Cristo is poised to steal the City Simulator market from EA which is an incredible opportunity considering their role in all things gaming. I think it's awesome that you guys are here listening to our rants, suggestions (some reasonable, some admittedly borderline crazy), and bickering. I hope you'll be able to gain some substance from this mess and i hope we can help Monte Cristo to make a fantastically entertaining game that gives us hope after what looks to be a dud in Sim City Societies and steal away the market from E.A. Finally, I do have one suggestion of my own. One of my bigger complaints about SC4 is the rivers. I'd like a river to be able to move across a region (if it's set up that way) from high in the mountains right down to sea level with cascades and waterfalls along the way. Again, i believe the general consensus of most players is realism, and this aspect of it was a big miss in SC4. thanks again, Jon

Awesome. that's good to know. thanks again for your help and time.

I just tuned into this and i have to be honest, i haven't read through the entire thread and probably won't so sorry if this is redunant. First, Thanks to Philippe for hearing us out. At this point in the development i wonder how much flexibility the developers have in terms of changes to the interface, etc?.(that is sort of a question/ statement hybrid). Second, I was wondering what and if there are plans for future user custom content. My suggestion would be to set up something that works with the latest versions of 3dsMax. It seems that most gamers worldwide use that to edit custom content. Is this something that's possible? again, this looks very promising and thank you for listening.

I really have nothing of substance for you, except i'd like to welcome you back to the world of BAT. your Bank of SimCity Tower remains one of my favorite BATs. Good luck sorting out your technical difficulties and once again, thanks for returning.

you did over-light the last one. they both look good though. the lights on the second are a little too bright, and you don't need every window light-up; i'd say go with maybe 1/3 light. the rest dark. other than that, your work is fantastic.

Hey, Patriots. i've been lurking and i'm sure i'm not alone. I've been too depressed since seeing the SC5 stuff to really say much. nice work there on the house and control tower. I've put off messing with sketchup and gmax for now, but i am still closely watching you and scotty hold this thing together. nice work.

hahaha. fantastic job first of all. I wouldn't mind seing the supports (gateway arches) be thinner. they gain too much of my attention in that. but other than that, looks great.

Wow. I've been out of town for a little over a week with no internet access. This stuff is FANTASTIC. Patriots- that 111 Huntington is awesome... leaps and bounds better than the first. it is so great looking nice work. Scotty- Good luck, i hope this one works out better.

Ok, thanks. I think it makes sense and that those don't belong here (even though i enjoy them greatly). I also like some of the international suggestions. good ideas.

Jason- I know this isn't the right thread, but i didn't want to start a new one, so feel free to delete my post after you read (the BAT material is good reference for people having problems my question will just add clutter). My question is about moving the two Sticky threads on Japanese BAT hunting and the massive Japanese Building into the HK/ Asian BAT Team forum. Could we do it? It would geographically unite two similar areas and have them in the same place. It would also make it easier for people who want an Asian style building to look for them and at the same time check on the progress of the HK Asian BAT team. Sure, the team would have to OK it, but i think it's a good idea for consolidating and cleaning up the Simtrop forums. let me know what you think. Also, you're doing a great job of single-handedly answering all the questions in this thread and making FAQ's etc. keep up the good work, this forum is getting better and better thanks to you.