Dirktator

Where we've been, what happened, and what's next Hey everyone, I owe you all an explanation, and a big thank you first. The patience and the kind messages over the last few weeks have meant a lot to me and the rest of the team. A bunch of you have been asking what actually happened, and who our old host was, so I'm just going to lay it all out. For 15+ years we ran Simtropolis on a dedicated server over at WHC.ca. They were good to us for a long time. What happened recently is that we missed a renewal payment, and then I missed the warning emails that came after it. By the time I caught it, we were already a day past their cutoff and the server had been pulled offline. We got in touch right away, paid the invoice, and were told the server would be brought back online. Then came the gut-punch. Instead of restoring it, they wiped the machine and handed it back to us completely blank. Everything was gone. I won't pretend I wasn't upset. But I also need to be straight with you about our end of it. We didn't have proper off-site backups, and we absolutely should have. That one is on us, and trust me, it's a lesson learned. Thankfully, CB and Cori have been much more diligent with some periodic backups so we weren't completely left in the lurch. Just mostly. But the better news is where we are now. We've rebuilt everything on a new host, Hetzner, and I have to say we're really happy with them so far. The hardware has been rock solid and their support has been genuinely excellent. The forum, your accounts, your posts, and the huge majority of our history are all back and running. We've also got automated off-site backups going already, with a more complete system on the way, so we are never doing this dance again. We've been through rough patches before and come out the other side just fine, and we'll do it again, only a lot better protected this time around. Thanks for sticking with us, thanks for caring, and thanks for your patience while we got the lights back on. Anyway. Back to building cities!

Methods to donate to Simtropolis. We will accept any currency, via any of the following methods: #1 (Preferred) PayPal Just click the donate button here and it will take you to where you need to go. #2 Mail In Donations We will accept mailed in donations, money orders and cheques are ideal. If you must send cash, be sure to enclose it inside a greeting card. You know the risks with sending cash, so the choice is up to you. You can mail your donations. The address has changed, so please email stexcd@simtropolis.com and inquire. If you have any questions, please PM me! Thanks everyone!

Thank you guys for all your support through this! Big shout out to CB and Cori who worked tirelessly to get things patched together in the back end.

Give and Receive! Your donations helps keep Simtropolis open and free! Please donate today and get STEX Collections discs as a gift. Many thanks to the numerous contributors who have generously given their time and skill to enhance, extend and improve our SimCity 4 cities and for allowing us to collect some of their best work on this disc to be gifted as a Thank-You incentive for donating to Simtropolis. Get All 3 Discs (Min $50 donation) Volume 5 (Min $30 donation) Volume 4 (Min $20 donation) Volume 3 (Min $10 donation) All the DVDs are provided as digital downloads in ZIP file form. Testimonial from BC Canuck What's Included? Once again, the STEX DVD Team have picked out the very best files submitted to the STEX. As always, the discs are well organized and searchable for your enjoyment, comprised of 1000-2000 items for you to use in your SimCity 4. Here's your chance to own some of the best work from the community. These discs are a great way to ensure you have the very best files spanning the years, and with your donation, you'll be supporting Simtropolis so we can keep community thriving! But can't I already download these from the STEX? Yes you can. These discs -- with very few exceptions (some authors have contributed exclusive items that can only be found on these discs) -- contain what you can find online. The difference is that we've done the collecting for you based on quality and feedback from the community. What about dependencies? For each of the STEX Collections, some files may still require dependencies. These are commonly hosted on the STEX or at other community exchanges including the SC4Devotion LEX, and are needed for content items to function correctly. Examples include for custom models or textures on lots. Please check details provided in descriptions, and also any readme documentation contained within each file. Should you have any issues locating certain dependencies, feel free to post on the forums in a new topic or the Can't Find It thread. Note: The "Building as Props" files are likely to be common dependencies for lots incorporating Maxis RCI buildings. Some files may not state these as dependencies as they were originally presumed. However they are often required, so these (and other Maxis files) can be downloaded from here. NEW: What does it require? All the STEX Collections are now provided in plain ZIP archive form, which allows easy extracting and navigation on any operating system. Previously it needed the ISO file(s) mounting to be seen as a virtual drive on your computer, or an actual physical drive. This is no longer the case in the currently offered versions. Each ZIP contains a START.HTM file which is a web page file to open the local navigator. How do I get it? Give and Receive! SimCity 4 continues to thrive largely thanks to players and content creators in communities like Simtropolis. In order to help keep Simtropolis operational, we rely largely on donations from members like you. As a token of our gratitude, donating means you get a disc like this as a thank-you gift! By donating a minimum of $30, we will send you this Volume 5 DVD for your collection! Donations are accepted via regular payment methods. This includes PayPal (an account is not required), and the process is quick and simple. Upon receipt of your donation, you can download your gift immediately. No further action is needed! NEW: Can I download it? Yes, we now offer a digital download option by default that lets you simply extract each and browse locally on your computer. This is identical to the physical version which used to be offered as standard. Please Note: Digital is the default option of receiving the discs, and we will only mail them to you physically upon special request. How large are the ZIP files? They are each of the following sizes: STEX Disc Vol 3 (2.4 GB) STEX Disc Vol 4 (2.5 GB) STEX Disc Vol 5 (4.0 GB) The time taken to download will of course depend on your internet connection and any bandwidth caps. How long does it take to get to me? The standard digital ZIP downloads can be downloaded immediately as soon as you receive access to each file. Please note that each volume is unique and does not contain content on other volumes. This means 3, 4 and 5 are still very relevant today -- keep in mind SC4 is a 20 year old game! I've already have the STEX Collections. Can I just donate to the site? Yes. You can still donate directly to Simtropolis via PayPal here. Note: This method is only for donating directly, without receiving a STEX Collections gift. Please donate from the top of this page instead (via Gumroad) if you wish to receive access to the STEX Collections. Each donation is very much appreciated!

Simtropolis now uses Discord for live chat! If you're already familiar with Discord, here's our permanent invite link: https://discord.gg/9mf8uRr Please note: After you join us on Discord for the first time, you will be asked to link your Discord/Simtropolis accounts in order to confirm your membership. As long as you are currently logged into both services, just visit this page and you're done. We hope to see you on! Happy chatting! ----------- Frequently Asked Questions What is Discord? Discord is a cross-platform voice and text chat service designed specifically for gamers. Discord is completely free to use. In order to get on Discord, you'll need to: Register a new Discord account Download a Discord chat client (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Linux) How do I join Simtropolis on Discord? To join Simtropolis on Discord, visit this link: https://discord.gg/9mf8uRr (also referred to as an "invite code") Why am I listed as "unconfirmed member"? How do I confirm my membership? Because both Discord and Simtropolis are separate services, one extra step is necessary in order to link your Discord account with your Simtropolis account, and confirming your membership. The first time you join Simtropolis on Discord, you will be limited to the #unconfirmed and #public channels. To confirm/link your accounts, follow one of the options below: Simply click on this link (it will sync the accounts), then go back to your chat window. And that's it! If for some reason, that doesn't work, you can do it manually by going to: Simtropolis -> Account Settings -> Discord and press "Synchronize Now". Unable to Join Discord? Currently all new members may not access the Simtropolis Discord immediately upon registration. This is due to extensive unsuitable activity which caused widespread disruption to other chatters. We encourage anyone who wishes to join our Discord server to first contribute by actively participating in forum discussions. Why do I need to link my Discord / Simtropolis accounts? Simtropolis chat has always been for members only. When you link your Simtropolis/Discord accounts, the system confirms that you are a member of Simtropolis. As a member, you will be able to access all the discussion channels: #social-lobby - our classic hangout for casual chat and banter #simcity4, #simcity2013, #cities-skylines for game-specific discussion #STEX-help where you can ask questions about installing plugins and addons #bot-fun where you can have fun with the resident bots If you are part of the Simtropolis staff team, you will automatically be given moderator status and access to the staff-only channels. As a confirmed member, the ST-Bot will update your Discord nickname to match your Simtropolis username (if they are different) so people will recognize you. (This does not change your name if you are part of other Discord communities. Nicknames are local to the server they are set on and not global.) The auto confirmation process did not work. I can only see public channels! Post a message in the Joining the Simtropolis Discord Chat topic with your Discord username and a staff member will assist you.

Thanks, all.. I'm still curious to know if these continue to pop up for folks from time to time!

You might have come across our guest article about SimCity 4 and the Network Addon Mod over on GOG.com a few days ago. Due to format restrictions, we couldn't include a full compliment of screenshots to really show off the NAM. For posterity and for the benefit of those who didn't see it, we're including the full article here with all the screenshots that were intended in the original. - Dirktator SimCity 4 and the NAM – How to best enjoy this city-building masterpiece today. Despite being released in 2003, SimCity 4 continues to offer an unmatched city-building and story-telling experience, while also being supported by an active game community. And you can be a part of it! Developed by the once venerated, now defunct game studio, Maxis, SimCity 4 has managed to withstand the test of time remarkably well, unlike many of its contemporaries. Turning a “good old game” into something great! Not only has SimCity 4 survived, it has thrived with new creations offered daily by content-makers, and has even evolved with substantial player-developed modifications like the Network Addon Mod. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Network Addon Mod, but you’ve never tried it out. Or maybe you’ve never played SimCity 4 at all and wonder how a game from 2003 can still hold up? Read on to see just how one addon can add so much! Fixes original bugs, but it’s more than just fixes! The Network Addon Mod (NAM) is actually a collection of many addons, fixes and improvements to SimCity 4’s transportation network system, pathfinding accuracy and performance; all made to work and play seamlessly together for a vastly improved simulator experience. Originally, the Network Addon Mod (NAM) had a very simple goal: to fix a number of transportation-related issues that still remained in the game after the release of the Rush Hour Expansion and SimCity 4 Deluxe in September 2003. But as development of the mod went on, many contributors began adding new features to the transportation system. In some cases, to expand what already existed, and in others, to create entirely new systems altogether. Since 2004, work has spiraled out such that there are several expansion packs’ worth of new content, all contained in this single, free, player-created mod! The NAM brings new possibilities to the game that are simply impossible to do with the “vanilla” game. Unlock the Maxis simulator – Run it the way it was originally designed When you install the NAM, not only will you get all the fixes and tweaks that have been refined over years of playtesting and feedback, but you’ll also be playing the simulator as it was originally designed! The thing is, Maxis had programmed a very sophisticated and robust traffic simulation engine that most people have never experienced! This is because of the hardware limitations at the time, Maxis had to significantly tune down the simulation parameters in order to allow the game to run on 500Mhz Pentiums, prevalent specs for that era. The result of that down-tuning is that the traffic patterns in the base game often simply follow the shortest distance, and fail to take into account the speed and capacity differences of the different networks. Basically, this prevented the game from working the way it was intended. For instance, with that down-tuned simulator, one could spend the money to build the faster, higher-capacity road-types, or a rail transit system, but the residents would completely ignore it and instead clog up tiny residential streets as they tried to get to work. If you’ve played the vanilla SimCity 4 for long enough, you will have likely seen this happen. Fixing this key part of the simulator allows the NAM and its numerous new and improved systems, to provide a rich and engaging simulating experience that you’ll never get with the vanilla SimCity 4. Several Expansion Packs’ worth of content – all in one place, for free! But more than just fixes and improvements, the NAM brings several new transport options unavailable in “vanilla” SimCity 4 such as a slew of enhancements to the road system, including diagonal streets, more bridge options, specialized lanes and roundabouts. You’ll get elevated viaducts for a number of normally ground-level transportation networks, such as Roads, One-Way Roads, Avenues, and Railroads. Industrial/office park district, with RealHighways, Network Widening Mod features, and One-Way Road Roundabouts on display. Avenue Roundabout and Wide-Radius Curves near an office park. Prefer things on the ground instead? Use the Ground Light Rail (GLR), a ground variant of the Elevated (Light) Rail network, which comes in draggable form. Or maybe you want a mix of ground and elevated that can run in, on or over other surfaces? You can do that, too, with the NAM’s “Dual Networking” options. Fractional Angle RealRailway and Network Widening Mod (Narrow 4-Lane Road) in action. Fractional Angle Roads and Diagonal Streets in a suburban residential setting. It includes the Network Widening Mod (NWM) which provides wider (and narrower) draggable variants (many with capacity boosts) to the game’s core Road and One-Way Road networks. More road options to play with like expanded Avenues with 6 lanes, or expand One-Way Roads up to 5 lanes. Get even finer control by adding continuous turn lanes, or adding a turn lane to your One-Way Roads. Lakeside business/resort district, with 4-Lane One-Way Roads and Narrow 4-Lane Road from the Network Widening Mod. 6-lane Avenue from the Network Widening Mod in a suburban setting. New FLEX Turn Lanes and Signalized One-Way Road Intersections in a business district. Tired of grid-like cities? The NAM offers myriad grid-busting options, including wider radius curves and fractional angles to many different networks types. If you love roundabouts these are improved with many enhancements, from smaller Street Roundabouts to multi-lane Avenue and Dutch Turbo Roundabouts. One-Way Road Roundabouts, Ground Light Rail, and Ground Light Rail-in Road Dual-Networking in an office district. Suburban residential area, with Wide-Radius Curves and Fractional Angle Networking. Farms and factories, featuring RealRailways, Elevated Road Viaducts, and Road Wide-Radius Curves. The entire railway system has been overhauled with multiple height levels and modular interchange capabilities. Everyone loves building highways. Here, the NAM doesn’t disappoint by offering an entirely new Highway System with several width variants, up to 5 lanes per direction, multiple height levels and modular interchange capabilities. If you love interchanges, the NAM’s intersection capabilities let you design that monster 8-way Avenue intersection you really wanted. Mammoth arterial intersection, featuring the upcoming FLEX Turn Lanes and Network Widening Mod (7-Lane Turning Lane Avenue). Partial cloverleaf interchange, built using the RealHighway (RHW) system and One-Way Road Roundabouts, plus Road Wide-Radius Curves. Busy suburban junction, built using the RealHighway (RHW) system, Network Widening Mod (5-lane Turning Lane Avenue), Street Wide-Radius Curves, and turn lane functionality. If you still wish to use the game’s base “Maxis” Highways, a number of interchange options, plus a full-on reskin are available. The NAM also includes Euro/international road and highway textures. And the Street Addon Mod (SAM) will provide 10 (soon to be 11) texture variants for the base Street network! Railways get a complete overhaul with the RealRailway (RRW) system, which offers a more realistic version of the game’s base Rail network, plus a number of new options for switches, curve radii and fractional angles, plus – coming in Version 36 – draggable viaducts. RealRailway FlexTrack and Single-Track Rail in a dirty industrial area. New FLEX Turn Lanes (coming to the upcoming Version 36 release) and Signalized One-Way Road Intersections. Four-level stack interchange, built using the RealHighway (RHW) system's modular components. Bustling office district, with Ground Light Rail-on-Road Dual Networking, Network Widening Mod (5-Lane Turning Lane Avenue), and Street Addon Mod Parking Lots on display. If you’re a glutton for even more control, you’ll love the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool (TSCT), a handy program that allows one to customize some parameters of the NAM's “tuned-up” traffic simulator, including different capacity levels (ranging from extremely low to ultra high) and mass transit usage SimCity 4 is arguably the best city-simulation game ever produced by Maxis. Nearly 15 years old, the game has proven its longevity in large part due to a legion of highly devoted fans and communities like Simtropolis.com. The Network Addon Mod brings so much to your city-building game that it’s a crime to play without it! What you need to get started You'll need SimCity 4 Deluxe with Rush Hour Expansion, get it here from GOG.COM The NAM is available for both PC and MAC versions of the game, get them from Simtropolis. If you want even more, we've collected some of the best buildings and lots for SimCity 4 in our Simtropolis Exchange (STEX) Collector's Edition discs, given as a gift when you Donate!

We're entertaining the idea of providing a second theme option for Simtropolis. It is a fair amount of work not only to create another theme but to also manage it through updates - but if there's enough interest, it's something we may undertake. For this poll, I just want to get a sense if people generally would like a Dark or Light theme for Simtropolis. And, yes, should we roll out a dark theme, you will have the option to pick which one you'd like to use.

Cities: Skylines - Green Cities is all about earth-friendly towns. This expansion adds 350 new assets to the core game, adding a massive selection of new visual options, complete with eco-friendly buildings, organic shops, electric vehicles, and new services designed to make pollution a quaint notion of the past. Story to Story, Building to Building, Street to Street: New Eco-Friendly Buildings, New specialization buildings, new alternative service buildings, new unique buildings, electric cars, new parks -- 350 new assets in all giving a unique new look to Cities: Skylines I Wish I Was Special, You’re So Very Special: New specialized options for all city zones, plus leveled-up specializations for the first time in Cities: Skylines So What So What So What’s the Scenario: 3 new scenarios, 4 new policy options, and a new Monument to make your friends Green with envy Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear More Stylish: Of course we’ve included a new hat for Chirper.

*Neither does Dirk... really...* Takingyouthere will not post next, I guarantee it.

I will apologize for the initial snark that crept into my reply, that's on me, and that was just a reaction from sheer bewilderment. And yes I did ask you to help me understand how your grandmother's name is being "demeaned" and how this was a "stab in the back" -- both of these terms genuinely took me by surprise as they came across rather accusative -- but fine, I still struggle to understand this but you don't owe me a justification. I already told you that I can't explain why you don't have an email from several years ago. And I'm not going to go into that issue. I offered to remove your content from future shipments of the collection disc as a gesture that I'm willing to make a repair and willing to accept the odd chance that the notification email never made it to you even though I firmly believe we followed a very open and fair protocol. I'll make good on that offer and accept if you want to part ways from here, we can discuss your account closure if you so wish to do so.

Well this seems like an outright lie. I attach proof of my reply to you within hours in the following screenshot. And I'll include my full reply here for everyone to see:

Always outstanding.

We're still working out the exact details, and I'd still like to give the server a couple days to see if it's solved, but I will detail and summarize what had happened for those who want to know. You can see a bit of a snapshot of what we had gone through via Cori's announcement and twitter updates. Not only has she been our tireless communicator, Cori's also been an integral help in the effort to bring things back up by testing and retesting our systems, taking backups offsite, documenting system and server settings, and doing a tonne of research for us --- all on top of being a moral support through it all -- I'm glad to have @CorinaMarie and @Cyclone Boom in the trenches for this one!

That's very odd... is it consistently working for you now? The file limit should be pretty healthy certainly should be more than 0.02 MB

The current version of Simtropolis uses a fully responsive design so that everything is usable and readable on your mobile device's browser. All features such as uploading galleries, creating clubs, editing journals, composing posts, etc. already use a mobile responsive interface so you already have the full experience on phone or tablet as well as desktop. There are no plans to recreate the site's existing functionality as an iOS/Android native app.

Curious.. Do you recall what area of the site you were trying to load up at the time?

As Clubs are a fairly new addition to Simtropolis, sometimes things may break. The "Custom Home Page" feature for clubs is actually experimental, and in the past has been prone to breaking during updates. As a result, I urge all club-owners to keep a copy of your custom Home Page so that you can easily copy-and-paste it back in if something should happen.

It sounds to me like there's a confusion between leaving a Comment and leaving a Review... these are two different actions.

There are two separate options -- you can leave a Comment OR leave a Review/Rating. You're not forced to leave a rating just to leave a comment. For example, the NAM has 1066 reviews, and 576 comments only without ratings...

Give this a try: https://inkscape.org/en/ Open Source vector editor for Windows and Mac.

Hi, I have sent you a PM and email with your download links ... Sorry for the wait