burlesona

Hey Simtropolis, Way back in 2004, I created a BAT called "Electron Inc." which was intended as a higher density industrial building. Now that SC4 has been re-released for Mac, I'm playing it again. I was browsing through the STEX and saw that this lot was on the 4th page of the most popular all time BATs, which *blows my mind.* I also noticed that there are a bunch of comments on the lot indicated I screwed up the power and water settings for the lot. Since I'm playing again I'd love to correct this error and sort of atone for 10 years of having a water sucking vortex that apparently a lot of people downloaded! But I have a small problem: I don't have a windows machine, nor bootcamp, nor do I have the Maxis tools, nor do I remember how to use them after 10 years... :/ So, I was wondering if there are any active BAT editors out there who would be able to download this, fix the water and power settings, and post it so I can update the lot on the STEX? Please let me know if this is possible, and thank you very much for your help (or even for thinking about helping, that's nice too!). Cheers!

Got this problem on a Mac, can't download RJ's file because it comes as an .exe. Anyone have a zip version (aka manual install) for us Mac types?

I agree, this is totally a city life knock off, and that's a very bad thing.

I have a request: It seems that a lot of work has gone on in NAM development etc, but none of this has been added to the beta since September. Could we get an updated version of the beta NAM download listed on the mods page?

You should go with a southern or midwestern city in the 1 million people range, such as Austin, Atlanta, St. Louis, Albuquerque or Phoenix. Phoenix or Austin would probably be the easiest to recreate because of the limited connections into and out of those cities. Austin in particular would be a good test city because it's pretty small in land area, but it has the disadvantage of no light rail/subway. I think the reality of the project though is that there is not going to be a city small enough to model accurately which features all the transit options available. It might be better to try some smaller cities which rely more on roads and then when you have the system working in realistic equilibrium you could apply new transit to the city and observe/tweak the effects until you were happy with the results. If you were to take that route, I'd suggest modeling a city like Corpus Christi Tx. or Springfield Illinois. The biggest reason to go with a smaller metro like these is that the model could be completed in a few weeks as opposed to a few months, and I suspect it will be difficult to maintain a large number of contributors to a project which is stretched out over a long long development period. If you got a city's road model to perform highly realistically you could easily base the other MT values on the model roads.

Hey, a little late replying but this is the first time I've noticed one of my buildings in a City Journal (you used them as upperclassmen dorms). Probably I only noticed it because its like the center of your campus, but still I must say that's a very clever way to use the ploppable version, I love the way you made it look like a real university campus - very convincing. I am incredibly honored that my buildings are being put to good use. Thanks for the City Journal, I look forward to hearing more from you.

Hey, all interstate highways with a 3 digit name (I-610) are interstate extentions. A loop is given an even first digit (such as 610) and a spur is given an odd first digit (such as I-395). These 3 digit interstates connect to and facilitate interstate commerce even though they detour from primary routes and that is why they are so named. A good example of why these really should be considered interstates is that when 610 was built ages ago it allowed people traveling from New Orleans to San Antonio to bypass the downtown Houston area without needing to stop inside. Now the city has grown so far out that thats not going to avoid traffic anymore but still, thats why it was an interstate. There is a spur in Northern Alabama which connects... two cities, I can't remember which... Anyway go look on a map and you will see this 100-200 mile stretch of interstate which basically just links a large city which is not really located on the way to anything else, so that people not wanting to go there can save lots of time but that city still gets access.