jgehrts

It's hard to wrap my head around the idea that this game is 20 years old. The Sim franchise was a big part of my growing up, and SC4 has withstood the test of time remarkably well - and the community of modders and content creators have obviously played a huge role in that. I'm sure it's a labor of love yet sometimes feels a bit thankless for the work that goes into it... but for those who have contributed over the years, if you're reading this, know that your efforts brought extra joy and delight to the game.

For some reason, this immediately reminded me of Calebopolis, which some very long-time SimCity fans may be aware of: https://calebjc.wordpress.com/portfolio/calebopolis-a-featured-simcity-2000/

What's your secret to getting the apartment complexes to develop so well? Lots of patience coupled with the bulldozer tool and hitting "make historical" as soon as one you like comes up?

Stunning, stunning work. It's amazing how your industrial areas are huuuuge, but they don't feel bloated! I feel like this is a dull question, but what slope mod are you using?

Is there anything in particular you do to foster those apartment complexes to grow, or is it a lot of luck and patience?

I don't recall running across that strip mall shopping center - is that one you downloaded or created yourself?

I see these seaports every so often and they look sharp. Which ones are they?

IIRC, the original plan for SimCity 2000 was to include real-world businesses, but there were legal concerns for various reasons. Having ads in SimCity 5 could certainly add a sense of realism, but there can be some issues. For example, let's say McDonalds wants to buy space within the game (maybe their restaurants would grow in-game), but they only want them to appear in affluent areas. In such a case, that wouldn't be a realistic situation, as they appear just about anywhere.

On the contrary, the original highways are a cheat - the size is FAR too small, which one could easily argue gives you an unfair capacity for the size of the road. Both the non-NAM networks, and the NAM networks, have benefits and drawbacks if you want to discuss "cheating." If you feel that not adding anything to the game is the only way to not cheat, then so be it. But for the sake of more realistic cities, I'm a fan of the NAM.

Here's the thing... the media report on some garbage because people, for whatever reason, will eat up that garbage. If people didn't watch it, then it wouldn't be run. Fortunately, I haven't seen any whacko comments that media are controlled by the government and we're just puppets for their agenda. As someone who works in the industry, I can tell you that that's just completely laughable. There is no way that it trickles all the way down to your local newscast - at all.

Can't, that I know of. It's an extension of the RHW highways, not the original ones.

I agree with David. Dreaming big is one thing, but dreaming big and *realistically* is quite another. What's happening here is the former, not the latter. You need a staff of artists, programmers, testers... with lots of knowledge in specific areas (building styles, UI, intelligence for transportation, and the list goes on and on)

Indeed it is. https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=124&threadid=67624&enterthread=y

You're in luck... one part of the RHW project is very customizable ramps/interchanges. Check out the RHW thread for all sorts of info.

Originally posted by: PoeticRight turning lanes would be nice too... if you can't do normal ones (due to size limitations of the avenues) then I remember seeing some in Alabama that were like ramps that curved over as a merging lane (usually with yield or stop signs)... it was a pretty interesting looking design that I think could be implemented into the game.quote> Somebody was working on slip lanes quite a while back, but they couldn't get them in-game without it crashing, IIRC. I think the project was abandoned. Perhaps one of the knowledgeable people here can confirm or deny that.

Duke87 -- the notion that tornadoes "don't like" hilly terrain is a common misconception. The real reason is that atmospheric conditions are generally more conducive for tornadoes in the Plains ... but large tornadoes can and do occur in the eastern part of the nation. The largest outbreak in US history impacted a number of eastern states. porter66083 -- I wouldn't say that the EF scale isn't always a good indicator of the severity of a tornado. The EF scale, just like the formerly used F scale, is a scale based on damage. Higher rating number = higher amount of damage. To me, that seems like it WOULD be a good indicator of the severity of the storm. (That said, a mile-wide tornado could be classified an EF0 if it doesn't hit anything.)

Originally posted by: Tarkus Well, jgehrts, theoretically, it would be possible to do puzzle pieces for different intersection designs. And if you're wondering about draggable Avenues with center turn lanes, well, you're in for a treat. I've had this project on the backburner for a little while, and plan to pick it up again once RHW v14 gets released. It's basically produced using the RHW technology on a Road-Road side-by-side override. It's completely functional, as this pic shows: There's also a 7-lane version (6 lanes plus 1 center turn lane, on 3 tiles) in the works as well: The way the override works, it can be extended out to an infinite number of lanes. I'll have a development thread for this "Turning Lane Avenues" (TLA) project up soon. -Tarkusquote> Pretty slick stuff! Now we all have something *else* to get ants-in-our-pants about. My old computer couldn't handle SC4 very well, so I haven't played the game in a couple years... but my new one will cut through the game like butter, and seeing all this awesome stuff that you and others are cranking through makes me really excited to play the game again, now that classes are done...

If I go through Lincoln whilst storm chasing at the end of May, I'll have to remember what it was like and compare... although I suspect I'll have trouble finding any differences!