Nielsen

I have been looking at various YouTube videos and screenshots but I haven't really seen any eye-catching skylines yet. I mean, high density zones don't really seem to have that impressive towering look to them. Has anyone else noticed this? Most of you will probably agree that the downtown business districts stood out like nothing else in SC4. I somehow get the impression that skylines just blend in with the rest of the city in Cities: Skylines. Don't get me wrong, the game looks amazing but this has been troubling me a little.

How does your point relate to this discussion on CBD zoning?

Yes, a 64-bit system is required for Cities: Skylines. I'm so sorry about the confusion, we tried to make the requirement as clear as possible. Thanks for clearing that up. The blunder is on my part though. I was already looking for good reasons to upgrade my system and this game seems to provide yet another one.

I just finished downloading but the game won't launch. I thought I had carefully read the mimimum system requirements but I now see the (64-bit) parenthesis written at the very end of supported operating systems. I have a 32-bit Vista, is that likely to be the problem? None of the trouble shooting steps have helped so far.

I think it looks very promising but I currently don't have the computer to run it maxed out. Only real concern is that cities look a bit stale on the graphical level unless zoomed in very close. It could be that I'm only saying this because I'm watching other people play on YouTube.

Can someone please explain to me how the four default building style sets are supposed to blend when I select the "Build all styles at once" setting? My cities start off with an American look but suddenly the European style starts to pop up . It doesn't seem to use all styles at once like I understand it from the building style control settings. I also tried to uncheck the European building style but it didn't seem to prevent development of more European looking buildings in my cities. I don't use mods, just the last Deluxe Edition patch from Electronic Arts.

As a Vista user I'm not really into neither 7 or 8 so what are these quirks you mention? I can live with the new interface, especially now that Windows 8.1 has made the classic desktop a bit more as it used to be.

I'm looking for a new laptop and is there anything I should know about SC4 / NAM 31.2 before getting a Windows 8 system?

Vista 32 bit. As I said earlier, the NAM 32.1 installer did launch Cleanitol before I reset my computer to factory settings. The difference between then and now was that I had previously used Cleanitol with NAM 30 before upgrading to NAM 32.1. Back when I used NAM 30 I had to run Cleanitol manually and this makes me wonder if that folder is only being created when Cleanitol has been used to move files? So the reason why it worked back then may be because the folder already existed when I upgraded to NAM 32.1 This is just a wild guess.

I'm using Windows. Sorry about the confusion, the slashes were my mistake. Well, I had the Cleanitol program open when I did the stand-alone install but I did not use it for anything before uninstalling it again. So in that regard it has not been run and that's what I hoped NAM would do automatically.

Yes, that is true. Despite saying "Cleanitol will be run" the NAM installer does not seem to open Cleanitol. I don't receive the mandatory prompt for the Cleanitol operation nor do I see it in the task bar during the installation. I have already installed NAM 32.1 several times now with an empty plugins folder. These times Cleanitol shouldn't really be needed but I still wonder why it did not open during the installation. I also tried adding just single mod to my plugins folder to see if that made a difference but it did not. This probably means that the problem is not related to my plugins. Are you referring to Documents/SimCity 4/BSC_Cleanitol? If so, I do not even have that BSC... folder. Keep in mind that I do not currently have a separate install of Cleanitol. Should that particular folder still be there when only having NAM 32.1, which I understand includes Cleanitol, installed?

Ok, I tried uninstalling Cleanitol, which is the latest version from the LEX, and NAM 31.2. Then I installed NAM again but still no sign of Cleanitol during the installation. Finally, I installed an older version of Cleanitol, which I had stored on an external harddrive and used with good results before resetting my computer, but I still didn't see any Cleanitol operation during the NAM installation. About Cleanitol running in the background, shouldn't it at least appear in the Windows task bar if it is being used by the NAM installation? Also, I seem to remember that Cleanitol requires some form of user prompt during the NAM installation before being able to complete itself. I may remember wrong but I'm a little puzzled about this.

I'm trying to install NAM 31.2 on my computer, which just has been reset to factoy settings, but I'm having trouble getting the NAM installer to run Cleanitol. I select the complete installation option and the following screen then says "Cleanitol will be run" but it just doesn't happen during the installation. It all worked fine before I reset my computer to factory settings. What could be the problem? Cleanitol was the first thing I installed after installing SC4 Deluxe.

Since I discovered the possibilities that come with modding I have done nothing but testing how it all works together. Sometimes I'd just like to settle and start building a region but the truth is that Sim City 4 steals time like few games do. As if real life didn't require enough attention, modding only makes it much harder to just play the actual game.

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I remember hearing about the subway solution some months ago so I thought it was time to give it a try. Nevertheless, I'm not really keen on the idea of having subways in regions below 1 million people. Something tells me that I should limit the use of high density residential until I have a city core where it feels right to have a subway system, which eventually might spread into the suburbs. I'm still just learning my approach to natural growth and spread. In terms of getting no job zots or not, unlike before the establishment of a subway system, I could also finally tell a difference between the different capacity levels.

Thanks XL To follow up to my previous post, I tried establishing a subway system and it actually helped on the no jobs zots. The region has only reached 200.000 people so far so I wonder if subways really should be necessary? Or does numerous residential high-rises simply require an underground network in order to thrive? I'd guess it depends on how effiect the road network is.

How come I don't get turning lanes on regular road intersections anymore after installing NAM 31.2? I have tried installing it at least three times and each time I make sure that the turning lane box is ticked. Also, lately I have struggled avoiding the no job zots or whatever they are called. I have tried switching from medium to high capacities and all the way down to classic but it doesn't really affect my cities besides different congestion levels. The thing is that I have lots of residential demand but at some point they struggle to find jobs regardless of the capacity levels I select. Furthermore, my bus network doesn't seem to help much.

As far as I know, the NAM does not require any dependencies. You can download it from the file exchange over at sc4devotion.com.

I finally decided to go forward and install some custom growable buildings. This made me wonder how the game, in spite of the added custom buildings, randomly picks a building to grow. The custom ones are located in the plugins folder while the original Maxis buildings are located somewhere else (can't remember where as I'm writing this on my tablet). With this in mind, does the game distinguish between custom buildings or Maxis buildings in any way, i.e. bias selection, or is it still random? This leads on to my next question. How do growable custom buildings work with building style control? Well, I know that the readme files of the respective plugins probably would mention whether a specific building style is required. So what I need to know is whether the 'build all styles at once' option is a general precondition for making custom buildings grow? I usually stick to the New York style and I'd like to continue doing so while using custom buildings. After all, I think most of the custom buildings I have downloaded have a great universal appeal but I'd hate to plop them or see all four default styles mixed in my cities. Such compromises would ruin my motivation and immersion. Finally, are custom buildings foolproof, i.e. is full attention to all the default game mechanics, such as stage levels, wealth degradation, power usage etc. preconditions for creating a custom building? Furthermore, can custom buildings affect parameters that growable Maxis buildings don't? I know I seem sceptital about this and it's not like I don't have faith in the reputable creators and community reviews, I would just like to know which risks I might take when adding some of these awesome looking buildings.

R$$$ don't move in unless there is something about your city that attracts them. That doesn't necessarily mean that the circumstances haven't changed since they moved in. Furthermore, you can influece their demand with taxes. Be sure to keep desirability factors high for them and their jobs. You may need this mod too, which fixes a bug with the game: Also get the Network Addon Mod ( ) if you don't have it already. Your game simply won't work properly without it, i.e. your sims don't know how to reach their jobs properly. Finally, make sure you play the fully patched Sim City 4 Deluxe or Rush Hour. Details here: Welcome.

Here's something I don't understand. I have a row of R$ high density buildings that abandon on and off due to commute time. I make sure to respond to demand for C$ and ID but the sims won't go there, even if I place the jobs next door. What's even more weird, after having zoned for more commercial and industry, demand for R$ goes up but due to commute time they just don't settle in the existing R$ high density buildings. I have NAM and the roads to the jobs are not even too congested, and I even tried placing public transport. They did use that but mostly to go working in dirty industry in the neighbouring city. Why don't they take similar jobs in their own city that are located closer to their home? It's the first time I'm having this problem with NAM version 30. Is there some other factor that I'm overlooking? There's well funded power, water, ground school, health, fire, and police coverage but who cares when it's due to commute time.

It's obvious that your city city/region needs some jobs. Residential demand should come back once the jobs are there. That's just how it is in Sim City 4, jobs come before residents.

I may have switched between the two cities many times although it's still weird that the number of pedestrians match up while the others don't. Also, good to know that city borders attract commuters, I guess it makes sense then.

I don't think so. If your city has the demand, reached the highest growth stages, and has proper zoning, everything should be able to grow. If some buildings appear to be more rare than others, then it's because of the way you play the game.

I just don't understand how my car commuters disappear. See the pictures below. City A: City B: As you can see, the pedestrian numbers are almost the same in the two cities. However, the number of car commuters is extremely uneven. Even the number of freight trucks doesn't match. Am I reading the numbers wrong? The impression I get is that a lot of commuters get lost between the two cities, hence the uneven numbers. The two screenshots above show the exact same road connection. Concerning pathfinding, I took a final picture to illustrate why I don't understand the simulation. The green circle shows a high density residential area. The yellow circles show two industrial zones that are occupied by dirty industry only. The industrial stage levels may vary between the two cities but that shouldn't make a difference for commuters, right? As indicated by the red line, the commuters travel farther than necessary. Shouldn't NAM pathfinding prevent this? Furthermore, I added some agriculture along the way but they still insist to go working as far from home as they possibly can. The industrial area in city B hardly has any commuters at all, mostly freight trucks. Can this be explained?