FourWinds

I spotted this thread and it reminded me of a BBC news story I read. Apparently you're all being farmed by the south Korean government: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28861625

I haven't seen any update posts from Maxis on the SC forums, no sign of life for months ! Plus their new AAA project and their new recruiting makes me belive that Maxis gave up on SimCity 5.................... :( Don't be sad. I have faith in Paradox and Cities: Skylines. I'm sure we'll all love it, and that there will be a forum dedicated to it here.

I'm a fan of Paradox too. I'll be buying this, as will most of us no doubt. The only trouble with Paradox game is the fonts they always use in their UI: the fonts will be tiny and the UI won't have scaling. In every game I recall, Paradox have been asked to consider peeps eyes, and didn't bother. But it's always one of the first mods available, as people have come to expect it from Paradox. Ok. rant mode disengaged. This looks great. I have added myself to the mailing list so I don't miss any news of it.

I've read the thread and I agree with all of you...in parts of what you say. teehee Firstly, I still enjoy playing the game, and I don't wish anyone dead because it's not Google Earth, with the drawing of roads and RCI zoning thrown in. Did they want to sell large plots as DLC? I seriously doubt it. Was the small plot size due to the inadequacies of PCs? Again, I seriously doubt it. My opinion is that Glassbox just couldn't handle more than it does reliably; and so what we got/have is as a result of simply that. But, when I first played the game I didn't mind the small plots as much as most; why, it was because of the region, and my understanding that I would set up specialised cities to supply cash and resources around my region. It would be a beautiful symbiotic structure, and I would see that it was good. Oh dear. After a few hours I was hitting the internet to see how this was done. A little while later I was sad. I still enjoy it, even limited to a single plot. Note that 'offline mode' is just that, and is not a 'single player game.' Maybe Maxis will expose enough of the game to allow the moders to, one day, give me a regional game, and therefore the single player game I dream of; maybe.

I think the rest of what you wrote was clear. I did note that xoxide made a point of saying "Name Convention and Standards to help Users and Modders alike including mod managers" in his original post. He mentioned again that the format he suggested was to help all: users, moders, and automatic tools for mods god help us all ) I'm sure he took note of what you suggested; you'll know more about that than me if you have joined some group of moders. I also appreciate elemental1100's point about some of the names we've been used to not being so intuitive to read. But I guess that as you modding types are considering the best way forward at this point, things (both file names and file installation instructions) are only going to get better as time passes. Now I'm going back to lurking and watching developments; I'll still be using some of the stand alone mods that came along before these behemoths that require all this discussion for a while yet.

Hi, OP stands for 'Original Post.' In that post - well, it was the original post before two threads were combined - you said: "The date - confusing when date change but not the build number. as far as I know, add code to the file = increased build number?" I took this to mean that you had noticed mod files where the date had changed, code had been changed, but the build number had not changed. That was what I considered to be alarming. As elemental1100 pointed out however, I went on to say that as SimCity is only a game it probably wasn't a big deal. As an end user of mods, as long as the load order works, I don't care much what the moders put in them to make life easier when they track and combine the things in their increasingly large packages. I do like to be able to see who made what however; some of the little ones may get swallowed by larger projects, and I'd like to keep track of what's going on if I get to see the files. It's nice to know who to be a fan of.

I like to see the moder's name in the file name. It's a little alarming to read the OP's post where he seems to say that dates are changing and not version numbers. But as nothing is safety critical - it's a game right and not a nuclear reactor or fly by wire code - I guess it's no big deal.

I've been following Orion, and the other mods that make it fly, with great interest. Without installing myself, I've gleaned a lot of information from this thread over the weeks, and I think I could run with it myself. I have to say however that I agree with some of the other posts about the offset/offsets being perhaps off-putting. I've watched Skye's video 2 and he clears up a lot of points, but even he seemed to think that the original plot resources were where they were indicated; reading this thread suggests that there is some issue here, but maybe that's been resolved. Like I said: I didn't install yet, so I didn't check on water and the like. The reason I write this post is because I happened to notice that one of Twitch's most popular streamers (Lirik) was streaming SimCity last night (20k+ viewers for a number of hours). At the start he asked the chat about Orion, and the response was that it was not good and didn't work well at all; this is not the case I think personally. I also think that this perception would fall away pretty quickly if the new build area indication was not offset, and anything else that was offset was corrected if at all possible; to my mind, player uptake would benefit if it were prioritised. Also I understand due to reading, and watching Skye, about ctrl zoning - sod that btw - and RCI plopping; perhaps greater effort needs to be made in spoon-feeding this information to the majority who just don't want to spend long in reading and comprehension. None of what I have said is intended to be a criticism in the slightest way; it's just my thoughts on the friendliness of Orion and 'supporting' mods currently. I understand that you generous and talented mod creators might cry out 'sod the masses, we are making this for the community who do like to make an effort by reading and understanding.' I'm looking forward to using all this new stuff soon; I'm still going to hold off and watch how Skye gets on first however, as I've come to respect his musings on things.

I was wondering what mods people were using and thought I'd let you know what I'm using. Looking in the data folder there are more in there than I thought. I have the following of Oppie's: RouteMaster (essential I think) PublicTransportStops (essential) McDonalds (Yuk, should be low wealth exclusive imo) BurgerKing (essential for a balanced diet, and should remain in high wealth high density too I think Parker, assisted by Tobias, made the following: CivilianVehiclesMixedCollection (I miss the original scooter, but the rest are cool) MovingTruck (I use Budget) WindFarmServiceTruck (just cool) Xoxide's: TreeAnywhere ParkBench PedestrianPath (the three of these used together are fantastic) EmpireStateBuildingWithAirship (was amazed this wasn't in the original game) MaxisGuillaume's: BudgetDataInGovernment (great graphical info) ExtendedWorkerDataInRollover (great, but may have offline issues in current revision) Skye's: PerfectRoadGuides (saves a lot of space and tedious measuring) Now I've started using these mods, and things are starting to look very real cityish (if you don't use CoT), I've found that the graphics look much better set to 'bleached.' I'd like my list to be totally online friendly, but I can't stop using Xoxide's mods now I've tried them. I still have lots to download and try yet as well. I'm surprised how fast these must have mods are showing up. So what do you guys use day to day?

I hope not. I'm a bit optimistic that now we have 'offline mode' they will be thinking about making it a working single player regional game. But you are correct that over on the EA forum it doesn't say much about what they're working on; I think it only mentions bug fixes for offline mode. Perhaps they can stealth release the single player game with a offline great-works expansion pack, or similar, to save any u-turn embarrassment. They must realise that if they fix up the regional play for offline mode they can keep selling it for years however. Fingers crossed.

I came back to the game after a long absence, and to my delight it seems that most of the nightmare city plot bugs have been dealt with. I don't get to watch fire trucks drive in a circle round my burning buildings in an infinite loop for example. So I thought I'd give online multiplay a go for the first time. So my question is about cities that are just left alone. If a user leaves a region and then maybe forgets to ever start the game again or doesn't ever bother to abandon the region, will that city become abandoned after a certain amount of time? I don't like the idea of putting in the time to make something nice if peeps don't even bother to leave properly you see.

I would like to request a mod that removes the white-outline highlighting of anything and everything you mouse over. The pointer changes from an arrow to a strange horizontal oval with three dots - I have no idea what this might be btw - and that should be enough for most of the time. The best solution, if it could be done, would be to have the white-outline highlighting switch on and offable from within the bulldozing tab, as it can be very handy when trying to delete redundant school bus stops. I hope some clever moder hates the white outline as much as I do.

I was just thinking that a Simcity (2013) Rush Hour would make a great expansion idea for Maxis. I'd like to see it done first person however. It would be fun to drive and walk around your city in FP mode. Perhaps you could even invite others over, when online, for a race!

My answers were 'yes' and 'a bit.' I think that the 'throw your crayons out of the pram' bugs have been dealt with for the most part - I'm talking about in a single city plot here and not the region. Now we have 'offline mode.' Note that it's called 'offline mode' and not 'single player,' and I feel like that's what we have been given. The fact that Maxis have given us 'offline mode' suggests to me that a single player game will come at some point. I expect most of you know I'm talking about the region. I'm optimistic, and I still like the game a great deal. I hope EA and Maxis will keep plugging away at it. I see some posts still wanting bigger plots; I don't think that will ever happen. If I had the whole region in an offline single player game it wouldn't matter to me really.

SimCity is an interesting thing isn't it. Along with a lot of other people I bought the game. I had been on high alert during the development, but having seen videos of the tile size I got 'angry' and didn't buy at launch; I folded after a few weeks, as I just couldn't stand not playing it; so I bought it and played it and became 'angrier' still! Why won't my peeps commute I cried? Why all these people in so many cars? Why can't I play the game as was clearly intended and distribute my resources about the place to make TVs and other groovy stuff? Why oh why oh why...etc.. But here's the thing: I'm still playing the 'kin thing! I can't seem to resist it. When I'm playing other games I'm thinking of SimCity...I'm cheating on it with other code candy!!! It's a strange business to be sure. I think I must have been dropped on my head when I was a little person maybe. I draw some green, blue and yellow segments next to roads, and magic things happen! There seems to be fire in my hands; I can evoke a genesis. I'm on leave today, and so I thought I'd annoy you guys with my pointless post. Kisses all xxx.

I saw the video (I'm still a youtube sub') and thought I'd give it another go as there's an offline mode on the way. I played for a couple of hours tonight, and it was quite good fun: no obvious bugs I could see in that time. It will be interesting to see how you get on after all the fixes and changes.

I wouldn't get too excited about bigger cities mate. In that top link they said something like: 'Imagine the glory or 2 times the current size.' Note the use of the word size. As this word is used I would guess that they mean area. So for the existing size of 1 by 1 right; to give us twice the area that's only 1.414 by 1.414. So they're talking about less than a 50% edge increase if you like. Not so magnificent, but it would be twice the 'size' to plop things in I guess; mustn't grumble I'm much more concerned about running the whole region as a single player game. I can't play for fear of great rage, and the possibility of turning green. As far as the 'rental' thing goes. We just have to fight it I guess. Steam allows off line, BUT you at least have to connect once for a DRM check, that's even if you've picked up a disk someplace! I've had the internet now for years, but I worry: what if I lost my job and couldn't afford it for a time...no games for me in the future I guess. I think we need to constantly $%&^! and moan until we can play games like we used to: buy a physical copy, stick it into some hardware and it works.

Over the last couple of days I thought about SimCity, I even made a post on the EA board. But I didn't get round to playing because I know that I'll get all upset about no single player game i.e. you have to 'gift' around the region. I see in the link of the first post something interesting: Multi-City Region Play...It says 'share goods' and stuff '...to build a region of connected cities' !!!!! Good lord, could it be what I have been dreaming of. One or two of you may remember what really, REALLY got up my nose about this game: On one hand it was clear that I was being pushed to mine, refine, and use resources in order make things to sell to give me the money to build - ignore that you don't need money as the game is too easy if you can - but on the other hand I found that my neighbour cities had to 'gift' the stuff about, and so I could not automate my way to any sort of connected region; all this means that there is no real single play mode to this game. It also, in my opinion, meant that as the single player region was a dud, folks focused on their single cities and noticed that they were small...well they are if there's no regional game aren't they. If...I say again if they are thinking of doing something to change this so I can automate the acquisition, distribution, and production...If my neighbour cites are not only going to be dead zones where people apparently go to work but produce nothing unless I'm there watching!? Well then I'll start playing the game again. I may even buy the DLC. I'm sorry to bleat on about this still, but to me it's the deal breaker; I can't play the game without becoming enraged that I have to go sit in an oil field, and watch whilst I eat, shower, pace about a bit until I have enough resource/cash to 'gift' it elsewhere, and then leave the city in limbo again. There's no point; may as well just import. The result: no single player game and everyone noticing that the cities are small. I'm repeating myself; I'll leave now. If a game relies on a server that you can't make yourself, you are in effect renting that game for the duration of the server lifetime.

... Trust us PC users... the wait will be worth it... VanGio mate, I don't want to be negative, but in all honesty I couldn't recommend this game as is, or as advertised post update 5.0! I think saying things like 'trust US.. it will be worth it' is going way too far. These new guys who haven't spent their money yet need to look around the internet and sites like this to get a feeling wrt if they want to buy into this game as it is. I think you are being over partisan here. It's not a bad game, but given the cost of SC4 (with rush hour included) on Steam...would I recommend this one as strongly as you do: no I would not. I'm not ditching the game, but I am saying that your saying 'trust US it's way cool' is way over the top bro.

I have become a bit jaded and given up on it to a certain extent xoxide; you're probably right about lots of people not caring anymore. That said I feel guilt that you're still making an effort, and even though I still put myself out to bleat on about my pet hate - I won't say it again in this post I promise - I can't muster the energy to go beyond that effort. I'm not sure if they'll give us much more that isn't DLC after 6. I've seen the notes for 5, and although I can see it's going to improve things I also see it doesn't address my #1, and so I've scorned it already, both here and in the official forum. I shall change my ways and be more upbeat, at least until I see what's planned for 6; I wont promise not to throw all my crayons out of the pram after that however. Let's all cheer up, it is Friday after all.