soltangris

Agreed, CXL still seems better on objective count than SC 4/13. Although we have to give it that we still haven´t actually seen SC 13.... I´d really like to withold judgment for now....

Hm, if the patches don't work, than I'm afraid I have no answer for you..... But Ocram is right - for a little more you could upgrade to CXL 2011 which is better in every way, and I bet it won't require registration. By the way, you DO have a valid CDkey, right? Because then you should be entitled to 50% discount on CXL 2011. Hope this helps.

Many buildings in CXL are modelled after real-life buildings, so it's plausible.

Oh wow.... you actually still have CXL 2009????? Well, it's a big world.... Ok, I can offer you two solutions: 1 (preferred, and not because I'm trying to sell the game) - upgrade to CXL 2011, at least. The game is not multiplayer-online anymore, it's single player, has metro and a gazilion mods you coul use at www.xlnation.net. 2. Go to http://forum.citiesxl.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=90 Here you'll find instructions and a download link for the patch that allows you to play CXL 2009 offline.

Guys , good news: XL Nation is BACK! Check it out now!

I read that the problem is with the code, unfortunately. Hyperwolf is trying to optimize it, so the provider would let the site up again. Patience!

Let's keep sarcasm under control please! Mazseex, this is obviously a visual glitch involving the map, and I don't know a way to deal with these. I guess you tried unsuccessfully to reload the map.... The only other thing I could suggest is loading an earlier safe - if you don't have one, then I'm afraid I can't help you. If you want, you could head to xlnation.net - the community there is much more active and chances are you might find better help.

Like I said, that's the very first time I've seen this happening. So, it must be a really rare bug, and I recon it doesn't depend on the map.

I'm afraid it's a nasty bug, although I've never heard of anything like that happening. And indeed, the map data might have been affected - that's why you still see it after reloading the city. The only solution I can think of is you loading an earlier safe (before the appearance of the hole), if you have one, of course.

Hey Dasilva, I'm really happy we're hearing from a former Monte Cristo member! I personally remember some of your appearances in the first days, and I can't tell you how sorry many people are that the whole project couldn't go in the direction we all wanted (for business reasons), and that it didn't get to be developed properly (for the same business reason). By the way, you have noticed already that modding for the game is doing really well now, and maybe if you're interested, you could help with your deeper knowledge of the game? If so, please go to http://xlnation.net/, where all is happening currently - we would all be happy to see you there!

As far as I remember, you could literally browse the cities on your planet (which at the time belonged to many different players, not only you), then choose one and 'enter' it. You appeared as an Avatar in one of the Avatar Parks, and then from Street view you could walk around and even interact with other avatars (if there were any around). BTW, the Avatar mode is still in the code, it's simply disabled for now. You could use it to walk around your own cities, I guess..... although Street view would do the absolutely same thing

I think the fact that Cities XL is currently free to play (for all practical reasons) will keep it alive in the face of the online-only policy for SimCity 2013. Of course, EA hasn't stated yet all details about how it's gonna work, but I won't be surprised at all if they decide ultimately to go for an MMO model, very similar to the CXL Planet Offer. There are only two possible reasons they woudln't do that: 1. They saw the financial disaster CXL's Planet offer was. They don't wanna repeat that. 2. They simply think they won't make enough money to warrant the effort, and will adopt a different business model. Neither one of these reasons unfortunately has anything to do with gameplay, or care for the customer. EA has always been about the money, and milking as much as possible their customers (reference - the Sims, the countless copycat sports games, etc.etc.). So, whatever they decide to do in the end, I'm pretty positive that the new Sim City's playability will be strongly affected by the customer's possibility/will to pay them regularly. Whether in the form of monthly subscription, or in the form of countless DLCs, containing most of the 'cool' features.... At the same time, CXL is still being developed, for free, by the community - the same way as the community developed the hell out of Sim City 4. True that its official publisher has all but abandoned the game... still its code is very, very moddable, and not only on the surface, but also in the simulation part. Mods like CLM, RHM, and others have proven already that CXL can be enriched a lot. Still, of course, if EA decide to develop properly SC 2013, nothing could stand in its way. My concern is that they never really intended to build the ultimate citybuilder game, instead they simply are building A citybuilder game. Which, depending on the circumstances, might develop into a great, on into a mediocre game. We'll see.

Skis, Every building has only one possible point of access to a road; this has to do with the way the game engine works, and is not, I repeat, not, a faulty designer decision. The snap feature usually helps you place your buildings, it doesn't hinder you, especially in the case of curved roads, when the rotation options are limited, but at the same time there is no inherent grid on the map.... Speaking of rotating, you can rotate a building while placing it, by holding SHIFT and moving the mouse. Unfortunately, you can't rotate it smoothly throughout the 360 degrees - it goes on steps. Hence the snapping feature that helps you orient buildings as you wish, simply by building a road first.

Let me throw my 50 cents here.... First of all, the Sims is a different game. Like others stated already, it's centered on micro simulation - for example the need of the guy to eat, drink, have fun, decorate his house, etc. Sim City is centered on macro simulation - the needs of a whole city, like electricity, water, transport, resource management, etc. The two are interdependend, of course, but only to a degree! Would the city mayor concern himself with the individual needs of every single citizen? Of course not, and in the same time - yes; because he wouldn't be able to hear the needs of every single citizen, even if he wanted to. He thinks, then, in generalizing terms, instead of individualistic terms. For example, Citizen X likes to party, while citizen Y likes quiet life, and these are two opposing styles of life. The mayor's job is to provide places where both citizens would be happy, fitting them into the general plan of the city. Because apart of this, he also has to think of transportation, electricity, city budget, etc. So, to summarize: the name Sims is simply a coincidence, and it shouldn't be taken as a basis of the simulational strategy of a game like Sim City. Second, for me the tile sizes are indeed alarming. I've been in many places around the world on three different continents, and I've never seen a city as small as the ones we're seeing in the screens here. Those would be towns, not cities, and they wouldn't have the scyscrapers they show so proudly here. Where on Earth you have a power plant which is 300 m from the business district???? So, they are basically forcing us to think in matters of neighborhoods, not cities, if we want a reasonable degree of realism. Now, I'm a Cities XL fan (where you have these huge maps), but I really liked the regional concept of SC4 - I wanted that back and enhanced. Unfortunately, the large tiles that we had in SC4 are no longer gonna be available in SC 2013.... So, how am I supposed to develop even one single city the way I want? Obviously, by developing 5 - 6 cities at the same time. and I don't like that a bit. Yes, I'm aware of the hardware requirements that are behind this decision, but indeed, I'd rather this game be a little more generalized in terms of simulation, and allow me to build bigger cities in one tile, then simulating every single citizen and industrial agent at the same time, when they go to work and back. I'm sorry to break it to you, guys, but Cities XL is already doing a decent job with citizen simulation, despite the large maps - satisfaction in many services, transport routes and options that affect satisfaction, job options..... (what they lack is in other areas, like budget options diversity). True, the game lags on slower machines in big cities, but so did SC4 and nobody seemed to mind. So... I hope for Maxis and EA's sakes that they manage to deliver a really stunning degree of simulational depth and realism with SC 2013, otherwise, for me this game is gonna be a bigger disaster than CXL's Planet Offer was.

I think your problems stem from the autosnap feature..... The cursor would snap to the edges of buildings, instead of moving with your hand. That one's a $%&^!, especially when upgrading roads, I know. There IS a mod that reduces the snap, but it isn't that effective, I would recommend you just take some time to exercise and get used to the problem. I've never had any problems, neither with autosave, nor with the manual type.