Cougar2004

SC4-related Acronyms made Clear (previously Exchange Acronyms made Clear) Searching the STEX and LEX can be quite the exciting, fun, yet overwhelming experience. You have to learn on your own, howto manage through them, and what to download and install to work for your SC4, the way you want to play the game. But there is one way to make our exchange searching just a little less confusing, and that is to know what the various titles and acronyms mean. I couldn't find any omnibus or 'cheat sheet' to answer this in my searches. The purpose of this thread is to find out what all the small exchange acronyms mean. With any luck, new users will search the forums and find this thread, not have to ask again, and improve their overall SimCity 4 gameplay/custom content experience. An acronym is a small group of characters that stands for something, for instance SC4D/RH = SimCity 4 Deluxe/Rush Hour. What do these others mean? (EDIT: People's responses from below have been edited into this original post. Thanks to haljackey and others who are contributing to this list.) RCI - Residential, Commercial, Industrial (Types of zones that are not utility/government?) UDI - U-Drive It or You Drive It (Means game vehicles you can drive around town?) BAT - Building Architect Tool (Program for making new buildings) STEX - SimTropolis Exchange LEX - Lot Exchange ([@ SC4D] also known as BSCLEX) PLEX - Pegasus Lot Exchange (@ Simpeg) PEG - Short for Pegasus and his BATs (a person who does custom content for the game) CAM - Collossus Add-on Mod (Makes the game have more people/capacity?) NAM - Network Add-on Mod (Adds new transit options) RTMT - Road Top Mass Transit (NAM addon?) GLR - Ground Light Rail (NAM Addon?) LRT - Light Rail Transit (Same as GLR) HSR - High Speed Rail (NAM Addon?) GHSR - Ground High Speed Rail (NAM Addon?) SAM - Street Addon Mod (NAM Addon?) RHW - Rual Highway [Mod] (NAM Addon?) MIS - Modular Interchange System (included with the RHW mod) RAM - Rail Addon Mod (NAM Addon) STR - Single Track Rail [Mod] (Part of the RAM) T-RAM - Tram-Road Addon Mod (same as GLR and LRT in road) FLUP - Flexible Underpass (Part of the NAM) 3DS - 3D Studio Max (an advanced modeling program by Autodesk/Discreet - sometimes also called 3dsMax or just MAX, also .3ds is a file format for the program, a program for making new buildings) W2W - Wall-to-Wall (As in wall-to-wall lots) WFK - Waterfront Kit SF - SimForum (a group who does custom content for the game) or (sometimes refers to the user SimFox) or (sometimes means Slope Friendly, as in a lot that has been adjusted to conform to the terrain) SG - Short for SimGoober and his Bats (a person who does custom content for the game) BSC - BAT Squad Certification (a group who does custom content for the game) BTE - BSC Tracking Enabled (relates to the BSC's Reward lots in-game) BTM - Bullet Train Mod NHP - New Horizions Productions (a group who does custom content for the game?) CJ - City Journal MD- Mayor's Diary (same as CJ) SC - City Showcase (Same as CJ and MD) SCAG - SimCity Airport Group NDEX - N74704, DuskTrooper, Equinox (a group who does custom content for the game) ITS - short for Ill Tonkso and his BATs (a person who does custom content for the game) MTP - Mountain Theme Pack (can also be used for multi pack) CDK - Coastal Development Kit SFBT - Simforum BAT Team (a group who does custom content for the game) SNM - SimNation Military BLS - Barby Lot Studio BRT - Bus Rapid Transit CXS - Colyn Serfontein Expanded (a group who does custom content for the game) SC4T - SC4Terraformer (application written by wouanagaine) SC4M - SC4Mapper (program written by wouanagaine) .SC4M - File format (used by SC4T and SC4M) RGB - Red, Green, Blue (reference to color models) MTCS - "Map This! - Cartography Services" (mapping services by Vandy) TUT - Short for Tutorial RUL - Network Rule LOD - Level of Detail RL - Real life (often used as a reason for not doing BATs) RHW - Originally, it was "Rural Highway Mod", then retconned into "RealHighway Mod" Anyone who has an answer or confirmation to any above, please offer! Anyone should feel free to ask what another one means or stands for here as well. We have such knowledgeable people here that I'm sure there will be an answer. Thanks! (Note: And who knows... in a few weeks if we get all the answers and there isn't too many, I'll probably copy and organize them all in the original post here to make it easier for new forum members finding this thread to get answers. I look forward to anyone's answers.) EDIT: Here's a link to the glossary on the wiki. Or try the Simtropolis Glossary. Contributers' Answers' Added: Patricius Maximus, hawkeye0, Hagar Topeka 1, haljackey, Tarkus, Livin in Sim, warrior, Blue Lightning, Vandy, Strategist01

I'm an old SC4D player & long time Simtropolis member from over a decade ago, haven't played in all that time, but have returned. I'm back visiting today for the 20 year anniversary of SimCity 4. I actually played the original SimCity, 2000, 3000, & more. Its nice to see so many familiar Member Icons here, and the STEX looks stable with new things added even. I always loved customizing my in game music, correcting game bugs with plugins, and adding beautiful new items to the game. I looked to see if anyone produced a new game that rivaled or topped what SC4D has always been, but after app store and web searches, it doesn't seem so. (TheoTown for Mobile devices is the closest, and even then, graphics are lacking, game play is limited, but its nice to see someone at least trying in this area - so shout out to them.) Overall, I have been pretty disappointed in phone app games, so I rebooted my old PC today which still plays SimCity Deluxe w/Rush Hour (after a hack to fix the annoying DRM bug Microsoft hit us with to break the Run from Disc). I'd like to try playing it again, even if its only an hour a week on Sundays. I love that it doesn't require online access, no one will come steal your stuff or destroy this game's city, there are no pesky ads or features begging for credit card payments, and the custom (STEX) downloads are amazing, not to mention I can go back to writing my own plugins if I want something that no one has made yet. So now I'm hoping to hear from you guys on a few things. And while I may only reliably visit this site on Sundays for my free hour of game time, I'd love some answers and help to get back up to speed here. Questions: 1. GAME - Is there ANY new City Building Game better than SimCity 4 Deluxe now in 2023? (whether from EA Games / Maxis, or someone else) 2. ESSENTIALS - Are there any MUST HAVE (but safe) essential UPDATES (or new things) on the STEX that I should grab before diving back into this game? (IE: NAM update, etc?) I used to maintain a thread here entitled Essentials to help new players, but being gone a decade, now its me who needs the help. 3. COMMUNICATION - What is the best way to communicate with fellow Simtropolis members here? This Forum? I found Simtropolis on Discord, but it seems that permissions lock me out from talking there - maybe it has been deprecated. Or maybe an Admin can help me with that, if its still a valid thing. 4. REFERENCE - I have and always used the SC4 Deluxe Prima's Official Strategy Guide, and kept various lists, notes, and spreadsheets of my own with information and reverse-engineering info to help build with best knowledge of the game's mechanics, tips, and yes even all the cheat codes for those 'special cities'. What are the best/new reference docs used today and where can I find those? I hope all of you are doing well, and I look forward to connecting with some old friends if any are still here. If I can get the 4 items resolved above, I'm likely to stick around, and bring SimCity 4 back into my life, even though it will be a much smaller part. I welcome help from anyone here, and look forward to making some new friends along the way. Perhaps this thread will not only help me, but can help other long-time players returning to the game, who find it here. Thanks! - Cougar2004

Hello ST Friends, While on my way back to full SC4 gameplay, I have started by ensuring my game has all the original necessary and completeness files. I compared items here: https://community.simtropolis.com/sc4-maxis-files/ with my Plugins folder, and found its almost an exact match, except im missing a bunch of dats, and then i have this extra dat called z_AllInOne.dat. I looked for it on the STEX but couldn't find it (there were some plop building dats that might relate). Does anyone know what this might be? Its 26KBs and has a create date of 3/5/2004. Also... about those missing files... I can't find these anywhere on my system. Is it possible these are known by another name, or perhaps rolled into another pretty common file? Plugin_002_TheLivingMall.dat CastleSet.dat Longfellow Castle_4d50ba18.SC4Lot Plugin_007_AirForceBase.dat Thanks.

I"m wondering if i have found conflicting files, as im auditing my plugins folder (returning to SC4). I have 2 GraphModd's found in my Plugins folder. I think the first one is from the STEX I think the second one comes from the SC3K Incinerator download QUESTION: Does anyone know if the V21 is actually the SAME as the V2 just with extra improvements? OR Are these separate files for separate purposes and should both be retained together, without regard for order of loading? Besides that, I recall while loading my NAM 47 yesterday, that there was some kind of Graphmodd or DataViewMod in there. Does anyone know if the NAM conflicts with these 2 files so i can figure out how to keep all the functionality, but remove any unnecessary duplication? -- A similar question is: THL_DataViewMod_MoreDetail.dat - I found in my plugins, but cannot find it anywhere on the STEX. Does anyone know where this came from, what it does, and if it conflicts with the GraphModd files above, or the NAM 47? Today I found this on the STEX - does it have any additional functionality not already included in the ones (above) that I have already? And lastly, I have a strong suspicion that this Improved Traffic Volume View may be superseded entirely by the NAM 47. Can anyone confirm that for sure? Thanks!

Wow, it worked! i never could figure out how to make it work before. Thank you for this help Jasoncw !

Very Helpful! Thank you RSC. And welcome to the discussion elfrjz - its great to meet you and enjoy the benefit of your experience, suggestions, and links! CPU Heat - My core temps start around 27 and usually sit right around 63 under average load, however the first core (core 0) does regularly report 90c which is a bit above the 70c that is supposed to be the safe max. I have multiple large tunable single direction flow case fans in addition to the cpu heatsink and fan, so turning those up usually helps a little, but i often close the offending program, or kill the likely runaway process causing it. Sometimes I wonder if its related to cpu fighting to use disk cache since my RAM is all maxed out often, especially during those times. There seems to be a correlation between maxed RAM, and sustained high cpu usage. But that may just be that whatever process is working just needs both. You educated me a bit on how things really work, so thank you for that! RAM Upgrade - I think its safe to say that you have convinced me that its worth trying to upgrade my RAM now. I did an ebay search as you suggested, as well as Amazon, newegg, and a few others. I found some 8GB as 4 x 2GB but that requires me using all 4 slots, which others research has shown that my board downclocks 1066mhz to 800mhz in those conditions. I could not find a single 2 x 5GB DDR2 1066Mhz matched set. So unless someone else can show me who to find them, I think i may be limited to trying either, only 800Mhz 2 x 4GB or the 4 x 2GB 1066Mhz which will likely down clock to remain stable on this board. If filling all 4 slots is the only way, then I wonder if i should opt for 16 or 32GB max of my board? But my search for those ran into trouble too, as i couldn't find any. V-RAM - Your comment about slowness being related to Video Ram makes sense. And you're right. The Game DOES seem to use some, but its a pretty small percentage exactly as you said. But this conversation got me thinking of another vram, Virtual Ram, and how that might relate to overall computer and SC4 slowness. I've about run out of disc space on this 1TB drive which is not an SSD. So the configured virtual ram using that harddrive isn't likely getting what it wants and needs when the 4GB RAM maxes out. I"ll work on freeing some space. I'm sure i can get 10 or 20GB (who knows, maybe 50 or100GB free - I have a new 4GB portable USB drive so i can offload zipped files), which should help. Problem 1: Slow Load Time - OK so the NAM 47 full install may be the cause, but strangely, I was pretty sure i was loading and playing cities about the same as before the NAM (after obviously the first time the city was loaded, which i do recall was very time consuming. But maybe I'm wrong and it wasnt as fast as I thought for a day or two after NAM install. I'm going to finish up some tests on that, by removing other things, and then the NAM, and see if i can just prove exactly what is slowing it for sure. I didn't want to take this step of testing, because I have had the idea that it was more a conflict of something, meaning when i look and see the tools reporting what loaded in order, I see 'this was overwritten by that, and overwritten again by this other .dat'. it makes me wonder if that could be slowing it. Besides that, I recall a couple things I loaded around that time. One of them, the instructions clearly stated goes in the SKU1 directory in programs, which is not what im used to. And a few others go to Program plugins, plus some .dlls that went into documents plugins. So im just going to do the testing now. But what would really help me is to know if there is a specific tool that reports load times and reasons why? I recall there being something like that, but I cant remember now. I see your suggestion to use datpak. I haven't done that before. I guess i should try it. I just have a concern about it, because i like to constantly remove and add items, even if its only 1 a day, and if packed, im not sure how easy changes to plugins are. I also see you say that NAME Lite could be an option. I haven't had crashing or RAM limit failure with the NAM 47 full install YET, so I think ill hold off lite and try to keep the full l version for now, to try out all the new features. So your advice to just wait, if all else fails may be ok, since i timed it and it was 5 minutes yesterday, but once i left a city, to region, and then returned, it was instant. So it must only be on initial load. But if im reading the link you gave correctly, it seems that maybe you can datpak just the NAM and not the rest of my plugins? IF so, maybe that was all you were suggesting. So ill dive into that next and read everything in that link. EDIT: I just performed 10 planned tests of load time, having only the game open, plus the directories I was moving things in and out of plugins. I used only 1 small city, fully developed. The Verdict is clear. It doesn't matter what or how much I move in or out (among the 489MB expansive library of plugins I use), there is no significant difference on load times - it is always about 10 seconds. However with the NAM 47, it is 8 1/2 minutes load time, even if nothing else is added. So... since I often only have 30-60 minutes to play during the week, this is eating too far into that time. Therefore, I have decided to create 2 different Regions. One Region for NAM 47 Full Play (the weekends), and one for NAM 47 Lite Play (during the week). If the Lite version is more than 3 minutes, I will likely change the week night region to a NAM 32.1 (which I had backed up) or just NO NAM for quick load-short play times. Therefore, I must admit you guys giving me the advice, were right on, correct. It was always the NAM as the cause of slow load times. And it has been verified that even the full NAM 47 loads in under 10 seconds when already having been in the city, and just exited to Region view and then going back in, so that is a plus, and explains why I didnt think it was the NAM 47 Full at first. Problem 2: Farms don't grow - You know, I think you're right. I had the game on turtle speed, and placed industrial and commercial too early and too much. I do recall that when i used to play, i would go longer time with just farms, so that was probably my mistake. I know I never had any cheats or cap removers before. I suppose i could try one out, but I think im fine with the regular game mechanics as long as ive collected all the fixes (maxis bugs + realism improvements). I'll download that cap lifter just because on a new city, id like to see the difference in game play, but because I recall the region play can be affected by demand of even a single city, Ill make a new region before loading that to explore it. Thanks for the idea. I just wanted to get some clarity on one thing you said. Once farms are there, they stick around. I recall that being true, and on larger maps, id have a corner where id leave the farms for the lower wealth to work while building up other areas. That seemed to work ok. However, what would happen if i raise the taxes on the I-Ag Farms? Do they persist and just pay? other Industry would abandon. What happens to farms in that case? Maybe thats a way to make more money that i hadn't tried before. And my last Industry related question, fits farms but also the other types... you referred to a bug in the game about I-R. I've seen "fixes' doubling quadrupling jobs for industry, as well as some other fix that claimed it solved the problem a different way than jobs. Are any of these useful, important, for realism or bug fixing that i should consider adding to plugins? Problem 3: Can't find City Ordinances - Your instructions were simple enough. I found it! It was in the monthly budget the whole time. I can't believe I forgot things this simple in 15 years. But finally i can use ordinances in my cities again. Thank you! Problem 4: Missions Bubbles Reject me - I have no trouble getting mission bubbles - in fact i often click 15 within 15 seconds, only to find each one has decided its outdated, or it otherwise just doesnt want to let me play it. Some work though. I just dont recall it being that annoying. I think id get 10 work and maybe 1 that rejected me, but usually that was because i didnt jump on it fast, and im fast on all these, even more so since im only playing on slow. I do realize that i have to place certain buildings, to get NEW missions, and i have a list so no problem there. I'll try your idea to drive UDI vehicles around and see if that helps at all. It just feels like there is something different or wrong with the quantity of rejected missions that pop up and fail when i click them since ive been back. Thanks again for the great advice and discussion. Appreciate you. Perhaps someone will have some insights on the additional topics above.

Thanks @rsc204. Its good to hear from you again. GOG - Thanks for confirming that i do have the right file there. I have a couple copies of it now in my possession. RAM - I understand what you are saying. My Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 matched pair RAM is in 2 slots. Since you believe I can find it cheap perhaps on eBay, I'll seek it there. If I put in 2GB in each of the 4 slots, as matched pairs, it should be ok. However I will lose my 1066speed, as proven by nearly every forum. Every test ive read, shows that when using all 4 slots on this board, the maximum stable speed appears to be 800Mhz. Thats why I originally only put in 2 slots, so i could enjoy the higher rated speeds. I never could find any larger dimms like 4GB matched pairs at a reasonable price before, but maybe this year i can. So ill try looking for that because at least there is a possibility that I can keep my higher speed by only using the 2 slots. But if you are right about $10, I wouldn't have a problem with trying all 4 slots with 2GB each or 4GB each even. Maybe it wouldn't drop in speed, or maybe i just wouldn't notice or care. Some people online did mention that the different between 800 and 1066 wasn't that noticeable, and they really needed the 8GB over the 4GB. I have the full list of supported RAM for my board and was just looking at it last week. There are lower quality ram than Dominator, and I might be able to find another high quality version of another brand. If I cannot find any at a price range like you mentioned, then I probably am not doing it right, so I'll let you know, and provide you info here, so maybe then you could help me me find some options. Cores - I understand what you are saying. I have never had a crash for that reason that I can recall. Certainly none in the last weeks of daily running the game, as ive returned to it. Maybe its a more rare occurrence? Or maybe there is some reason why my setup, is not finding exceptions to crash the game. But I think I'll just change that to 1 core now, and run the game for a few more days, and see if i can feel or notice any serious degradation. After reading what you said, my theory is that i wont see a difference. Additional Context - Here is the information on my CPU - its not the best in its line, but it was the best price point for the performance at the time I purchased. Likewise, here is some GPU info. I've never figured out how much the GPU matters, or why. I just haven't taken time to research it, or liken its stats and abilities to how SC4 uses it. But I can say that I had a much lower card previously, an evga with about half all the speeds and 1/4 the ram of this card, and around 2014 after about 4 years on this build, it was tweaking, so I got this one, which was the highest performer in its class at the right price point at the time of purchase. SC4 immediately played better, although I dont know the reasons why exactly since I thought SC4 really only uses the CPU, not the GPU. But perhaps it borrowed some RAM, or used other attributes of the card. Either way, its stable and seems to work well. Now that I've been back a couple weeks and playing a little every day, I have 4 problems (non-hardware related). If anyone has suggestions for me, I'm very interested in solving these. Problem 1: Slow Load Time - The Game loads extremely slowly in the last week even though the week before it was loading fast. What changed this week? Well I did install NAM 47 (used to be NAM 31.2) - But I haven't used any RHW yet, only the default Maxis roads, rails, subway, etc. I did add the AirForceBase from the Transportation Bonus CD, but after comparing it in various tools, even though Im 15 years rusty, and not a professional content creator as others are here, it really seemed to me as if it was virtually identical to all the elements already in my Deluxe version of the game, with the exception of the text languages and the file size of the images. I think I'll remove that file and see if the game loads fast again. It was loading in about 15 seconds, but now its 7 minutes or longer. IS there any best tool to use that can just tell me which dat or dll files are slowing the load time? I'd love to have that and verify as i try some custom content, or make my own again soon. Problem 2: Farms don't grow. I used to be able to have I-Ag desirability for decades in all size tiles, even spreading tons of beautiful custom farms from edge to edge of the map before beginning to introduce commercial and high rises. But for some reason, since Ive returned to the game, perhaps ive just forgotten my strategies, or perhaps I haven't configured or copied some necessary files into plugins to support Farms as I used to. Simply put, after only 2 years, whatever farms i have is all i get. The rest just never grow. I do not recall having any cheat or specific farm booster of any type, other than the I-ag doubler and all the Industry type doublers (not quad), which seemed to bring the game into realism. Of course, that should lower the demand for I-Ag, and im sure i had those exact files before. I actually didn't even download them, just copied them from my old drive that used to be my main drive. As a sidenote, I have read some things on the STEX and in other forums here that people lately consider there are other Industry fixes - i hope i can find those again, and determine if those are right for me. But if anyone has suggestions on what im doing wrong with Farms, or even just tips for generally supporting farm growth, and maintaining demand, Id appreciate it. Problem 3: Ordinances - (and im embarrassed that this even has to be asked, but...) I used to love ordinances (not necessarily any mod versions of them, although i occasionally tested and played 1 city for a day with those). The default game Ordinances were a very critical part of my SC4 15-20 years ago. So much so, that I had a strategy for which ones i started with, and then generally in which years i would add new ones, and remove some old ones. It was like an art as much as science. I don't remember a thing about now, and will have to relearn, but I recall it may have started with some volunteer fire department at a very low cost on day one, as being a good idea, and then went from there. Regardless of ordinance strategy which I will regain in time, especially if i can find my old notes, my BIG question now, is.... Where do I click on the screen to bring up the ordinances? I can't seem to find them anywhere. I should know this. But i keep starting cities, and taking them into populations and still can't find how to open the ordinances panel. Can anyone help me remember how this works Problem 4: Missions - Mission bubbles appear, but when clicked they just say... "oh sorry, thats not longer available". Do recall seeing this happen once in a rare while when i used to play, but its nearly 90% of all of them are doing it since Ive been playing again this week. Any ideas what causes this? Or how to fix it? I can't be the only one that this happened to. For example, The Mayors Mansion, the Large Medical Center both seem to spawn missions, for the mayor's limo, and the ambulance, but they always won't let me do them. On the flip side, I have 4 train stations so i get whistle stop missions that work 100% of the time when clicked. And the Hospital does give me the helicopter which works 100% of the times I click it, for either the good or bad mission. So whats wrong with all the other missions? Thanks!! Again, I appreciate RSC, and everyone who has helped me get back into SC4 and Simtropolis here.

It works now! You did it. Yes, those are confirmed as exactly the ones I remember. Thank you for helping me get these. (now I just need to figure out IF/HOW i can have both these and the originals in the game at the same time, and if i I can make them functional like the landmarks. If not found on the STEX, they won't likely have those abilities, and I'll have to build them myself once Ive gotten back into modding again. If you are still in the searching mood, I'm looking for any and all latest versions of SC4 modding tools and utilities, to get back into it 15 years later. So far I have collected the following: DatGen 0.7.13-alpha Ilives Reader v1.54 SC4DataNode v1.0.14 SC4Tool (currently on STEX) - but it seems too buggy for me to use as it spins & crashes when i click any menu Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool v1.3.3 (1715) / Simulator Version: 2.4.1 SC4 Region Maker 1.1.0.0 SC4 Lot Editor 1.0.12.0 SC4 Plugin Manager 1.1.1.0 SC4 Building Architect Tool (BAT) gMAX 1.2 [Finally found a copy on an old pendrive since www.discreet.com is offline) Any new version or new/better/other tool I should find and try? ALSO, im stuck reinstalling the BAT because it needs gMAX and I don't have a code. Can anyone help me find a code? UPDATE: I found a way around it. There are a few sites hosting a version of it, but I tested it and its all good. Read more about the option here: https://archive.org/details/gmax-1.2-with-registration-key Thanks!

Wow you are amazing CaptCity! I'm glad you are part of this community. I love reading the the logic that you used to determine the likelihood. It sounds just right to me. I'd remember them with a simple photo, but your .jpg failed to show up, at least on my screen, from this post. (perhaps you can EDIT and fix). But either way, I'm confident enough to download these and try them in my game. Potentially, it may make sense to add all of these to the Simtropolis MAXIS downloads page, to make it even more complete. But if not, at least I feel that I have the complete maxis originals set for myself now. Thanks!

3 files originally Maxis, EA, SimCity.com downloads were included in the mirror site, however while everything else has a dropbox download, these 3 files seem to have gotten lost entirely. I remember getting these a long time ago, and using them in the game. But I cannot find them anywhere on my system now. I had hoped to find them here on this link, but they are not there: https://community.simtropolis.com/sc4-maxis-files/downloads/getfile_pri.php?filename=transportation.exe Does anyone know where they can be found? Mayor's Mansion Country Club State Fair Thanks!

Thank you! Thats great info, and an alpha download for 0.7.13. I just noticed that the page says 0.7.12 is the last official release, and in looking my image above, while it says 0.7.9 it also says 07.12.247 just below it, making me believe I probably have the latest official release, so I'll just use it, and have the alpha download on standby in case something i need is in it. (I'm starting to think that DarkMatter is not coming back ever. But he had a whole team, I wonder if we can find them!?) Thanks for finding this gwada971 !

Thanks. I was hoping to find whatever newer version existed, but the STEX seems to only have 0.6.0b. My current version installed on my computer is 0.7.9. Does anyone know if there are any newer versions out there from the last 15 years? I noticed that the link in the About goes to a dead website.

Well, in the spirit of finding things.... look what I found. Can anyone explain the discrepancy? I imagine these are NOT the same files, and now I'm seeking Ilive Reader, DatGen, & SC4Tool's latest versions so i can remember / relearn how to open them up and compare whats inside. Transportation Bonus CD (downloaded from Mirror of Maxis's site today, which installed to the SC4 App Plugins - just this 1 file when extracted): The Air Force Base downloaded with all the other direct downloads as a Maxis original file from the link above, that I already had in my Documents / Plugins. Notice a huge difference in filesize? And neither of these seems to be exactly the same as what was found back in 2006 (on the thread you found for me above, where I got this 1.41MB screen capture). -- So unless anyone can completely explain the discrepancy, my next question is where can I find the latest version of: Ilive Reader? (Is it this? https://www.dropbox.com/s/7g06tdc313xmkxx/Ilives Reader_v154_Release.zip?dl=0 from https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=10417.0 ) DatGen? (The old link seems to have been deleted from STEX: https://www.simtropolis.com/modding/index.cfm?p=details&id=334 ) SC4Tool? (Is it this?) ... and then I'll get to it and try to unravel the mystery. Hard to imagine no one has done this before in 20 years, but those who know may not longer be here.

Thank you CaptCity you truly nailed this one! That is everything I wanted to know, exactly. I see now that the bug that caused these issues to work with the game were fixed in the EP1 update that everyone now has. I just downloaded another copy of it, so now I can see if I have them. And I have to re-install and re-learn the modding tools again, so i can check to see what exactly we get with it. I imagine its just stuff that randomly populates visually when certain circumstances are met. But the only lingering question in mind is... Why aren't all these original Maxis Files Links included in the Stimpolis page here? I wonder why some were left out (like the Transportation Bonus CD). https://community.simtropolis.com/sc4-maxis-files/downloads/getfile_pri.php?filename=transportation.exe Anyway, thank you for this perfect answer!

This may be a hard one, but lets try it. The SC4 "Bonus CD"? I've referred to it sometimes in my posts here a decade ago, but I cant recall exactly all that is in it, or where to find it. I do remember it had extra items for the game from Maxis such original vintage style cars, and other things which enhanced the game, including some for the MySims feature. Anyone recall this? Know what to find it / what its called now? Thanks.

Thank you gwada971 for the answers. That makes total sense, especially why that file was found with my Landmarks. Yes, I grabbed a new copy of the files i was missing and put them in the directory. But im just very surprised that all 4 of those were completely missing from my plugins. I wondered if installing some other file, deleted those, or gave instruction for me to remove them so not to have duplication or conflict. But I guess I'll never know. so I put them back in. It will be fine. I noticed that Toroca's mod for Functional Landmarks says to have it load after the rest. I assumed by putting z_<filename> it would load after everything else in that directory, however Ive seen other plugins on STEX say to put things you want to load to override in DIRECTORY's with z_<foldername>. Does anyone know if the Game reads alphabetically within folders, or only reads the folders alphabetically when loading plugins? What's the right answer & best practice? Thanks.

Hello! I'm excited to upgrade from NAM 31.2 to NAM 47 today. During the installation process I read that there is a new Abandoned Buildings Data View. Q1 - Abandoned Building vs Radiation DataView: Does this Eliminate the Radiation Data View entirely from availability? Or does this just use that view to show the Abandoned Buildings, and if there happens to be any Radiation, it will also show up as GREEN Glow on the same Data View? How does this work exactly? Q2 - Transit - Ferry DataView - I noticed that the Ferry view in Transit does not have the 100% 130% 300% etc designators like all the other ones. Is this a bug in the NAM 47 or could I possibly have some DataView Mods competing with it that I should clean out? Q3 - Other Replaced Features / Functionality (in or besides DataView) : And besides the possibility of this replacing previous functionality, what OTHER NAM 47 full install items ALSO replace (eliminate) game functionality that older players like myself may have been using a decade ago?

Does anyone know what might be causing this strange pixelation issue when I load the region view of a fairly new region with 1 existing city I just barely started a few days ago which has nothing more than some Farm Zoning, and one Coal plant (no transit of any type)? It does not go away or change when i move the map around. When I enter and exit the city, even after saving, it remains, no change. It seems to have started just after I installed the NAM 47 (with 4GB Patch) today, but i have no proof or reason to believe it is related. When I load other existing regions, I do not see this same strange effect. I've loaded 4 other existing regions, from very full and complex, to one completely empty. and none of them seem to have any strangeness like this in any way. Its just this one that I created and started this week. Anyone ever see this before? Have a fix? Or any idea why its happening? Thanks.

Switched, and Fixed. Thank you Ulisse Wolf.

Hi, I'm a long time player, been on break for a decade, just returned to the game. This MySimtropolis feature sounds so fun. I'd like to volunteer to join. But im not sure if my avatar can be converted well. Perhaps needs a little editing, like to remove the name to blow it up tad. And I'm not totally sure what makes the most sense for my name in the game. I suppose name could be: Cougar or Cougar2004 or Aric Cougar. (Any suggestions on that?) Male Leo Thanks!

SIDENOTE Complement: I hope no one is too bothered that I'm interrupting a perfectly good educational discussion here that could likely help a great many, especially those returning to SimCity 4 after many years of not playing, but I really want to take 1 minute and recognize rsc204 for these helpful technical responses. You are truly a very clear communicator. Your knowledge is so on point. I just want to say thank you. I'm glad you are a part of this community, and especially grateful you've been willing to assist me with my concerns as I'm getting back here and set up for more SC4 fun! You Rock~! (If someone can tell me how I can give some kind of reputation point credit to others, id like to know the steps to do that for people here that deserve a boost. Thx.) I have to also give a gracious shoutout to Ulisse Wolf too, who was the FIRST to begin getting me set straight for my return. I appreciate you as well! -- Now... continuing discussion points from above. Patched - I love your verification that my executable is 100% patched. I imagine nothing much has changed on that since I've been gone except the 4GB patch. RAM - It looks like my 2010 build was using a 2009 motherboard. Here are some images that may help us figure out if I can have 8GB RAM or not. (Yes Im pretty sure its DDR2.) - Oh I think I just figured out how to put images inline - Attache then click the + when my cursor is where I want it. EDIT: I also dug up the following information about my Board's RAM requirements. I'm currently using Slots 1 and 3 with 2GB in each - PC2-6400 (400Mhz) Corsair Dominator PC8500 - running stable at 1066Mhz (533Mhz clock x2). I searched Crucial.com and some other memory sites, and its very hard to find DDR2 - I dont see any new, and used is risky. Plus while its a minor issue probably, I reviewed some forums that clearly state tests finding that using all 4 slots with any configuration eliminates the ability to run stable at higher than 800Mhz (400Mhz clock x2), which is a small slow down, so probably worth it for double the available ram if i could find some. (New Builds are costly these days - and my laptop is employer owned so cant use that.) Regardless, as per the advice, I have installed NAM 47 + 4GB Patch now, and initial tests show it working fine, so we will see how it goes. SC4 Startup - As I recall, despite the risk of crashing, I believe I changed from -CPUCount:1 to -CPUCount:4 because it appeared that the game was always choosing to only use my first core, and unfortunately my first of the 4 cores is the only one that is a bit defective in that it runs extremely HOT, way more than the other 3. So by allowing the game to spread processes out among the cores, it minimizes the overheating and risk of losing the core or whole cpu. At least that was the logic. I'm willing to reset it back and run new tests again, especially if I do a 4GB patch because maybe if its catching to disk LESS, then the CPU will have less work for that reason. But what is the truth about how this works? Could someone check my logic and knowledge on this, and tell me what I may have wrong? I suppose I can delete the EH & English settings. I don't suppose they are costing me any load time, but they seem to be superfluous. SECDRV.SYS - Thank you for refreshing my memory on why I did that secdrv.sys. It all makes sense again. NAM 47 Upgrade - I definitely feel better that you have confirmed my understanding of how to safely backup and test and restore if ever needed, the NAM. I'm excited to get to NAM 47. Truthfully I never call having any problem with any versions of NAM loading yet. And now I have installed NAM 47. Its up and running! You convinced me that the 4GB Update is only going to touch the SimCity 4.exe file, so I upgraded it, and it said successful on the first try using the included .bat. So it wasnt patched, and now is. No issues on its maiden voyage today. GOG SC4 Download - Lastly, about the GOG purchased 641 SC4D file, I think I found it. I logged in just fine, and see its the only game i purchased previously there. I see this screen. Is this offline download backup file at the bottom that calls itself a hotfix really the only file i need and nothing else, for if i ever have to reinstall, or if i want to add this to some future new computer? Thanks again to this community for being awesome and helping me back into the fold.

No problem catty-cb, others can answer my questions, and its great to see you here too! Thank you for the warm welcome back.

I really like the responses here from rsc204 & Ulisse Wolf. Thank you! Now for some questions a little deeper, and then decisions will be made. HERE is a copy of my config-log recently generated when I ran the game. 1. It shows that I'm on version = 1.1.640.0 (however im not sure that it would show 641 even if it was updated. How exactly can I check to see that? The Executable that I think im using doesnt seem to have version showing when clicking on properties. Any other ideas how to check and verify what I actually have installed? 2. This shows: memory = 4096 and since I'm not sure when the log was generated, at startup, during use, or at exit, I don't know what I can learn from freeMemory = 1916. But I am pretty sure that this motherboard from 2010 has a maximum RAM ability of 4GB DDR2 Ram which is already installed. 3. Windows version shown below is osVersion = Windows NT 6.1 which is Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. So that answers some of the compatibility questions above. 4. Looking over the rest of these settings in this Game Config Data in the output file, does anyone suggest any changes that should be considered for a better experience? To give context, I'll also give the startup string I use: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity4Run.cmd" which refers to this file: "@ECHO OFF sc config secdrv start= demand sc start secdrv start "" /wait "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -l:english -Intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -CPUCount:4 -EH:ON sc stop secdrv sc config secdrv start= disabled" I believe maybe back in 2018 or so, I realized Windows destroyed my game's ability to run (DRM or something), so I found instructions online to hack it to work again. I think that's why this is here and now works perfectly instead of my old shortcut which was: ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -l:english -Intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -CPUCount:4 -EH:ON" 5. NAM - Yes I'd like to use the latest version of NAM (with as much of it as I can, IE RHW), and I'm really happy to hear that its just moving or renaming 2 folders to clean up for the 47 install, and then if it fails, or wont run, I can delete those new folders and copy back my original 2 folders with 31.2 which works perfectly right now (just doesn't have all the new fixes and improvements). However, Id like to verify 3 things with you guys... A. Is there any possible RISK of things going badly if i attempt to upgrade to NAM 47, that wouldn't be covered by the restoration plan written here above? B. How do I know if i have the 4GB Patch? Possibly I already have it. C. If I don't have it, what is the RISK of installing it? Is it as easy as NAM to undo, and restore my game to full currently working version? Or is there risk of attempting to patch with the 4GB update that could make it so my game may never play again? I'm concerned about this. 6. GOG - I really just bought the GOG download SC3D version so if my discs ever failed or I build a new future computer and was forced to reinstall and start everything over again, I would have a way to do that. Plus I got it for $5, which was not a big deal. Just so you know where my head is at. I do not plan to install and use this download version at this time, since my game works perfectly with no errors or crashes, and I have the discs. As with my questions above, I am concerned about breaking what I have now, and I recall that it takes a bunch of reinstalled files to get things back to where I have it, with all Maxis updates, and patches.