zen574

a couple of years ago, i played a ummm, uhhh..."borrowed" copy of SC4 for about a month (on a laptop). it was so cool, even without any mods, that i decided to buy the SC box. i installed it on said laptop, and for some reason, couldn't play it. every time i tried i got the "insert SC4 play disc" message, even though i did, in fact have the SC4 play disc. i tried both #1 and #2 with no success. eventually, i just threw it in a drawer and drank enough beer to forget about it entirely. i recently got a new pc, and thought i'd give this SC4 box another try, ... it still didn't work. so what the heck do i do? it's a great game, and i'm even thinking about buying the sequel when it's released, but... as of now i bought a couple of absolute garbage games in order to play the one i actually like and it DOES NOT WORK. like i said a couple of times, i love the game (even stand alone), but this is kind of like buying hand sanitizer that lathers you up with a heaping dose of ebola. are there any good DIY fixes i can use that don't involve "borrowing" things or turning my game entirely stupid? (as DIY fixes are wont to do) any help you forum posters can suggest is appreciated.

it sure was. oh well...i guess the only thing i can do is try reinstalling again and see what happens.

i think my original post was unclear. i had already taken out the streetside mod that made everything go all weird on me. even AFTER taking it out, props and buildings looked just as bad as before. at that point i reinstalled and updated. then i went to test the game, with no other mods installed. the plugin folder was empty except for the maxis bldgprop_vol1.dat and bldgprop_vol2.dat files. that's when i took the above screenshots. those screenshots are an improvement over what was happening before i reinstalled, it just looks to me like there are missing props, especially in the residential zones. am i right, or is this really how terrible the regular maxis low density residentials look? (btw, lots are 3x3, and this is just a quick test. i zoned them, let the buildings pop up, then immediately took the screenshot)

when i took that screenshot, i had everything set to high except for shadows, and clouds/fog was off.

a while ago, i downloaded a streetside mod, and after installing it, tons of stuff broke. no matter the tileset, i had exactly 2 kinds of buildings growing in low density residential, props were...wrong in all zones, etc etc. i thought "oh well, no big deal. i'll just take it out." but even after i did, everything stayed that way. after a while, i gave up, backed up my regions, and just reinstalled the game. i did the ep1 and bat updates, and also put both maxis buildingprop dat files in my plugin folder (the files mentioned in boggy1's "custom content" post). after doing that, i started up the game just to make sure things were working again, and....well, i don't know. things still seem off to me. here's some screenshots. just some low density residential and medium industrial: am i imagining things, or do these buildings and props just look not-quite-right?

hmmm...since you have NAM installed, it's probably not commute time, but you could always make a neighbor connection with that avenue on the left hand side of your screenshot. never hurts to have another option for the commuters. the other thing i'd try is to maybe zone some more industry next door, let it develop, run a month or two, then go back to your residential section. oh, NWM = network widening mod, and RHW = real highway (i've seen it called rural highway, too). pretty handy to have in the old toolbox.

i just tried out the link from the "newcomer" thread out of curiosity, and it gave me the same fatal error message. try the ones in the thread "boggy1's guide to everything custom content." those worked ok for me just now. they're in the "nightlights and updates" section. it does send you to SC4D, so you might still have to register (don't remember ). it's worth it, though.

i had an idea, so i just tried it out and managed to make this happen to one of my cities. i de-funded all my mass transit through the city budget, and all their capacities went to zero (all icons greyed out). the only other time i've seen icons grey out at transit stations is when they go over capacity. so that's the first 2 things i'd look at if i had that problem.

thanks again for the replies, everyone! i'm slowly getting the hang of it. stealing ideas from the "show us your" threads is helping a bunch. i mean...getting inspiration from. yeah. that's what i meant to say.

it'd be a shame if i had to...it's fun to watch cars on roundabouts. lol ah well...if nothing else, i guess i'll have to figure out how to use the nwm well. ;P thanks for the reply

i'm also pretty new to the game, so i'm still learning too one of the best pieces of advice i've read is to not provide lots of civic services too soon. wait until you have a good taxpayer base providing decent income, then start adding things. as for fixing your problem (without just starting over lol), cut every expense you can, even schools and hospitals, then return taxes to the default settings. let the game run for a bit, and i bet you'll see positive demand in your RCI chart. you might need to bulldoze abandoned buildings, too. not sure if they "repopulate." i don't know a lot about taxation in general, so i don't mess with them much. i read somewhere that even in high wealth businesses, only a small percentage of the jobs are actually for high wealth sims, and that guide recommended keeping R$$$ taxes at 12% or so...that way you don't end up with lots of jobless rich people. ;P the only other tax bracket i've ever changed is raising them on dirty industry for brief periods, just to make sure they don't build things in zones where i want high tech to grow. and with health care, it takes a veeeery long time to see any improvement; same way with education. hope that helped a little

i'm still very much a beginner at SC4, so i'm still figuring out how to even make a simple grid-style city work well (sigh). i'd been using 6x6 lots, alternating roads and avenues. this worked ok until i'd start upgrading zones to high density, then i'd run into problems trying to cram in transit without bulldozing important junk. soooo....i'm going to try this out: i'm trying to leave plenty of space for civics, parks, landmarks and transit, as well as encouraging traffic to stick to avenues more than roads. here's my big question: am i going to regret using so many roundabouts and underpasses later on? and a couple of minor questions: i'm assuming that a building facing the underpass ramps won't count as having road access. is that right? so far all those lots are 1x3, 2x3, and 3x3. i don't have many custom skyscrapers downloaded yet, so what size zones will allow the larger maxis buildings to grow? hmmm....i think that's about all i wanted to ask. but if you want to reccomend a favorite author for growables, feel free. i've browsed through stex and lex, but there's just sooooo much stuff. it's hard to know where to even begin. thanks in advance

i downloaded tons of simgoober's stuff. my favorites are the "real life" commercial buildings. they look great close up, and are pretty eye catching from distant zooms. nice to see some color besides all the gray-ish maxis buildings. his NIMBY ones are a riot, but i had to take them out of my plugins. my sims kept building strip clubs right next to elementary schools. bunch of perverts, it seems. ;P