Edvarz

Hey, thanks to everyone for your input! Sorry I couldn't respond, I had to tend to some RL things over this couple of weeks. I think I'm going to hold off on buying a new laptop for now and save a bit more to see if I cand find one with an SSD; CPU-wise, it seems a Core i5 is the way to go due to the single threaded nature of this game; and I definitely want a computer that allows for an eGPU, that will really help with heat management and maybe it'll also make it easier when playing a couple other games like Civ4 or AoE3 but that's not a requirement. Since I missed the Christmas deals; I'll probably have to wait until July/August for the "back to school" rush; in the meantime I'll get my trusty Samsung laptop serviced. I'll also be on the lookout for semi-used models that can be future-proofed. At least now I have a better picture of the available options. Thanks again!

I've played SC4 since 2008 but only discovered Primordial dream when I started adding my own music on 2013ish. I really like that track, it really conveys a feeling of emptiness and awe, especially when looking at an entirely blank region. And the way @matias93 likens it to greek mythology gives it an entire new layer! I really enjoy the whole soundtrack in this game, even if I've heard it a thousand times, but that also goes to the music in SC300, it's really nice to mix both together in SC4; heck, even the SC2013 score is really good, there's a couple of tracks that kinda sound similar to a Phillip Glass composition in there (example). Oh, and I never thought about mixing the regional tracks with some progressive, that sould make it really interesting... I have a couple of jazz songs mixed in with the city tracks; that, along with a couple of tracks from SC300 (like Central Park Sunday) really sets a different mood.

@matias93 Feliz año, man! Your feedback is indeed helpful. Nice to hear about the Intel graphics driver update, that means I don't have to worry a whole lot about that when searching for models. I do think the best option is to get a new laptop, since my current Samsung RF410 notebook, trusty as it has been, it's starting to accumulate problems: the battery is practically useless, the click buttons on the touchpad don't work (I use a usb mouse anyway), and the Core i3 CPU is six generations behind the most recent one. But the biggest problem of them all is heat management, I use a basic $100 MXN cooling pad and I never use the computer on the bed, or even on my lap; I do monitor heat levels and I've found that when using the laptop normally (i.e. when writing an essay, reading or browsing the web) temperatures for the CPU, GPU and Motherboard oscillate between 50 and 60°C, they only go below 50°C when I suspend it; without the cooling pad they hover around 60°; the Motherboard is always the one that has the highest temperatures, when playing SC4 it can rise up to 75° while the other two don't usually top 70°, which is still a high temperature. Now, I recently opened the case to check on the dissipator for dust, and It wasn't extremely dusty; the thermal paste, however, has never been renewed. Maybe by giving my current laptop full maintenance I can get more lifetime out of it, I'll definitely do it as soon as I can make a full backup, since I don't want it frying one day, but I still wouldn't think about using a dual monitor setup, or playing 3D games like Morrowind, Tropico, Rise of Legends or Civilization, and I do want to do those things (I've never played Civilization for instance, and having two monitors would make citing and checking on sources much more comfortable when writing papers. That's honestly the main reason why I want to fully upgrade. Also, if I can't reduce heat levels, I wouldn't want to stop playing SC4, since I have a lot of pending lotting and modding projects and ideas, and with the recent stream of Latin american content, building a decent, varied city with this theme is finally possible, and I want to explore that. The thing is, I also have plans to build a gaming rig that can run C:S with decent graphics settings, with a partitioned disk boasting a Linux/Windows 7 combo so I can learn the ways of the former and finally start my cyber-emancipation ... but right now I don't have enough time to embark on that project since I have to focus on getting my bachelor's degree; and given my current economic situation I can't afford to both upgrade my laptop and start building a gaming rig.

I recently passed the 100 rep points mark! It's a small achievement I know, I know... Man I really should post more often. Many thanks, nevertheless! Also, if I timed this post correctly I should have exactly a 100 difference between posts and reputation. Edit: I did time it correctly! I also went from being a Senior, to a Backpacker. Is it the next rank, or is it just a rank you get when you have a 100 post/reputation difference?

@T Wrecks Thanks! I figured it would be useful for potential creators to clearly see what this pack offers. That is indeed a really useful resource, I've used it a couple of times before. Though it could be featured somewhere IMO, it's kinda hard to find if you don't already have it bookmarked. @raynev1 Oh, I have a couple of ideas on how to use these props. Hopefully I'll have something to show soon enough.

I don't think this would benefit us in anyway, it may be catastrophic even, given that the US is our main commercial partner. (link is in spanish, you would think the official page about our bilateral relation would have an english version, but oh well...) Conversely, we are their second commercial partner and the first destination for many US states' exports. Engaging in a trade war would be catastrophic for both countries, though maybe a bit more catastrophic for us. I'm speculating here, since I'm not very profficient in economics, but such an event may well bring global consequences. And, mind you, i'm not even taking about a renegotiation of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement, spanish acronym TLCAN). I agree, South America maybe won't have any significant negative consequences of this, but it'll be rather interesting to see certain things; who knows what this new government will do about Venezuela, for example. And maybe there's the TPP theme, coupled with the new surge of right-wing economic liberals in Argentina, Perú and Brazil. (I'm not exactly sure about Brazil's position on this, but Macri's government certainly has been enthusiast and Perú is already a member) There's no clear stance (that I can find) from Trump on this matter, but it will definitely be his government's responsibility. About our national worries, government officials have predictably come out to say our economy is sufficiently robust and can take the hit. Nothing substantial from the president, only the reiteration of his disposition to work together. Dollar sells at 19.17 mexican pesos, having reached around 21 pesos in the immediate aftermath. We shall see how things unfold. You know, it's the second time I see Scmitt's name come up when discussing this theme in the last few months, I'm not specializing in political philosophy but have kept an interest in it since taking a few classes, so it's not a name I hear often. But you are right, his crude vision may be more adequate to fully grasp what is going on. You also mentioned Habermas, I think he and the Frankfurt School are especially relevant if we want to understand how liberal democracies born out of enligtenment values are devolving into such movements. A few months back I came upon a very interesting piece about Theodor Adorno's "The Authoritharian Personality." I have found this term -authoritharian- repeatedly linked to Trump (example). Arendt came to my mind precisely because of a piece I was reading a couple days back on this subject. And that's the thing, wether or not Trump follows suit on his xenophobic promises -both the wall and the deportations have been said to be extremely costly and unpractical- these antagonizing narratives are already out there; had he lost the election, the trend would still be out there, and this is by no means exclusively a thing of the US. I could really go on talking about the subject but this post it's getting already quite long. -------------------------------- A final note, while we're at the subject of right-wing backlash: Today (well, technically yesterday as of the time i'm posting this) a group of congressmen discarded a presidential initiative to grant equal marriage rights in the 32 states. This happens following an aggressive campaign from the catholic church and the far-right. Even the friggin' Vatican told our shady cardinal Norberto Rivera to drop it. Our Supreme Court had already ruled in favor of them more than a year ago.

So, Trump has won our northern neigbor's election. Our already weakened currency is at an all-time low, the Bank of Mexico and the secretary of "Hacienda y Crédito Público" (sort of like our IRS) are expected to give a press conference at 7 am. These effects were starting to usher in even before a definitive result was announced, we shall see how we fare, but right now all I see is stupefaction and uncertainty. One clear question that arises about this subject and others like the Colombian Referendum is, how did polls get it so wrong? Honestly, I'm at a loss for words and can't think of anything substantial to say right now. There's an adage that's frequently repeated when referring to our relationship with the US, it goes "When the US gets a cold, Mexico gets a pneumonia". Some TV analysts have been calling for calmness, and I watched one political figure in a discussion table say "it's time for us the professionals to do our job." Of course, that guy recently lost his job as head of our ruling party -and with it his shot at the presidency in 2018-, following the biggest defeat in the party's history; one of the major causes for such defeat was the growing frustration with our economic underperfomance. It would be naïve not to take his words with more than one grain of salt. I'm not religious, but as it is often said in this part of the world "Que Dios nos agarre confesados" which may translate to "May we be confessed when God comes to take us." Like many others, I can't really have any confidence that our government is going to handle this competently. And on top of the economic aspect, we shall see how can we handle Trump's now triumphant rhetoric. He's succesfully made a strawman out of us -one of many-, he latched on to a centennial culture of hatred and anti-mexican propaganda, of blaming us for their problems; he's effectively trying to get his mobs to lynch us, albeit in a less blatant way than a hundred years ago. Seldom do facts or reliable data support his claims, but this considerations are to no avail when facing the powers of contemporary propaganda techniques; I think philosopher Hannah Arendt said that there's no such thing as an objective reality in politics. Earlier today I tried to write a couple of paragraphs in this very thread about this type of propaganda and how it helps impose value systems by creating an easily marketable reality (not even distorting an existing one); however, I couldn't really piece anything together. I'm honestly speaking from gut right now, but I'll get into a more academic mood later and ellaborate on this. It's not that I had much hope in this whole process. Rather, as a young philosophy student, I feel somewhat overwhelmed and pessimistic when delving into the power dynamics of our postmodern political life. Maybe this is what has turned many of us internet dwellers into nihilistic, self-rigteous cynics, and what usually makes political discussions online so unbearable. Thankfully we have this niche where we can at least promote some sort of civil, informed discussion.

So, as they say in my country "No estaba muerto, estaba de parranda", which can be translated to "I wasn't dead, I was partying hard" Of course, I wasn't partying at all but buried to my neck in work... Now that I catch a breath I can finally upload a working version of my LBT prop modifications. Version 1.0 of my Essentials is officially in the STEX, you can get it here. Version 1.0 only has prop families, 94 prop exemplars grouped into 21 families! Further versions will include timed car props and some prop fixes, and whatever prop modifications I consider worthy of uploading to the STEX. I will be continually updating this pack. A huge shoutout to @rsc204, who provided invaluable help with the modding aspect. Thanks a lot! Also, thanks to all of the simtropolitans who support this and other projects!

@Fantozzi Well, maybe the "fixing team" part of my proposal is indeed unnecessary, and it may lead to some problems. It's certainly true that there is no "right" way of playing the game, and my proposal was not in any way intended to impose any right or wrong choice upon players. I think point one of the proposal is the one causing this problem; I can see how creating a team of "curators" can put people off from participating, even if such team is open to any member that is willing to participate. I have to admit I didn't put 100% of my brainpower to elaborating this part. However, I think we can distinguish between 'who does the modding' (point 1) and 'how it's presented to the public' (parts 2 and 3) and point 1 can be discarded or modified without substantially affecting points 2 and 3 The reasoning behind my proposal was this: It seemed to me that the "copyright" debate is hampering the taking of some action, so why not do away with this problem entirely by just offering alternatives (I think this part is in tune with @Fantozzi's proposal) together with the means of easily removing the content we are trying to substitute directly in the end user's HD instead of the STEX. And, again, I recognize there aren't many clear cut cases of right or wrong in this debate, insofar as there is no right or wrong way of playing the game. That's why I favor the offering of alternatives, even in cases where files don't really work as advertised. So, in hindsight, I'm sorry if I made the debate go back to restating arguments, but I didn't want to be left out of it entirely. Again, I agree with Fantozzi, we first need to focus on accessibility, on making the things actually reach the community efficiently.

I' wanted to add my two cents to this thread a while back, but RL hasn't been kind to me lately. I don't know if this post will still be relevant to the discussion, but here goes. I tried to catch up with as much of it as I could, so pardon me if I repeat things other people had said or state something that isn't relevant anymore. From my experience, I think I can relate to something that rsc204 said on the original post Usually, when I install new buildings I move them to a special "Edit" folder in my plugins with all their dependencies, so that I can see if the stats are at least reasonable; over the course of maybe a year and a half I have edited tilesets, fixed occupant numbers, pollution levels, growth stages, etcetera; I have also removed lots of unused files, not only .sav and .LooseDesc files but also some .SC4Desc files that didn't have any lot associated. This I've had to do way more frequently than I originally expected I'd have to. There are a couple more implications beyond this tedious process: I want to DatPack my growable lots to optimize my game's performance, but I can't just take my whole collection and pack it in one swoop because, should I happen to find a problematic building, I would have to search for the exemplar among too many other files contained in the .dat; this means I have to take a super strict and almost manic control of my plugins to be able to truly optimize the game. I'm unable to revisit old cities that make use of the faulty exemplars unless I install the old file again, bulldoze the building and then install the "curated" file again. Viceversa, sometimes I have to hold on revising a file because I first need to bulldoze it on my already built cities. The flipside of all this is that I have gained a ton of modding experience, so if there's ever a "fixing team" for STEX content, I would gladly be a part of it. This experience also serves to ensure everything I release to the STEX will have the quality standards that I aim to have in my own Plugins folder. So, let me articulate a proposal for fixing things on the STEX: A dedicated thread, or group chat, or whatever's most suitable is opened, with people that are willing to revise faulty files (or that have already revised them for their personal use); this group must also know, or be willing to learn, how to do such things. This team can release "Packs" of fixed exemplars, such packs can be grouped by a certain theme i.e. "Ill Tonkso's commercial office ploppables." Included in each "Pack" must be a Cleanitol file listing the faulty original files so that the user can either remove them quickly with this program, or search for them manually. This would work much in the same way the BSC Mega Packs do, except it would not be datpacked or have an installer program. The fixed exemplars would override the originals but the files containing said exemplars wouldn't necesarily have the same name. This is to ensure the files containing the fix can be said to be substantially different from the original. Also, the install structure should ensure the original exemplar is overriden, this simply means naming the installation folder z__(whatever). The Cleanitol file also serves to circunvent the issues derived from messing with the STEX uploads themselves. With it, the user can choose to remove the original files from their plugins or just leave them as overrides. A Copyleft or some kind of open license should be used with these fixed files so that, if the original creator decides he/she wants to include them as part of an update to the original upload, he/she can do so freely. Also, if another creator decides he/she wants to revisit or reinvent some exemplar included in the pack i.e. by doing a re-lot, they can redistribute the fixed files without adding an extra dependency (of course, the original model would still need to be listed as dependency). Now, this proposal is by no means definitive or even universal, in fact I think it's limited to growable and ploppable buildings; transit stations and cosmetic mods would be a whole other beast. So this is just my way of contributing to the discussion, hope it is useful.

This is just great! I've been meaning to install a terrain mod (along with a tree controller) for a long time, but I don't really have the time to search between all the mods out there, much less to try and see if there's one that suits my needs. However, with this reference I've narrowed the list down to just two mods; and the fact that the dependencies are listed along it's just the icing on the cake. Thank you very much @CorinaMarie you are seriously one of the most helpful and enterprising members in this community. Hats off to you!

Yeah, I googled it and it is indeed beautiful, I guess every city has those kinds of "cool" districts. @matias93 Is this the image you were referring to? If so, I think you mistook the "portones" below the kiosks for vitrines

I've submitted my vote, but I'll eventually download all of the packs anyway. And by the way, the "pack porteño" also looks really nice, looking forward to seeing it on the STEX. Now, if you allow me a suggestion, for the "pack capitalino" I think it would be best if the buildings were either all R$$ or a mix of R$/R$$; there aren't many medium wealth latin american buildings out there, plus, colonia Roma has seen a recent "gentrification" process (seriously, place's full of hipsters) so making it predominantly medium wealth should be realistic.

Great idea, I have to say I've lurked in the other politics forums but I've never really entered any discussion, this may be a good point to start. So here's a news piece about the colombian peace process to kick the discussion off with a polemic but fruitful topic: President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday. I read somewhere that this was politically motivated (news piece in Spanish): To salvage the peace process, Santos was given the prize over the Syrian White Helmets -who aid the population after bombings- or the Greek rescuers who aid the drowning refugees in the Mediterranean. Are there any parceros (colombian slang for friend) here to give us their point of view? What strikes me the most about this plebiscite is that abstentionism was higher that 60% some are even likening this with the Brexit vote: made in a hurry, highly influenced by fear, and with a minority effectively deciding the whole affair. From what I've gathered, and I may be worng or have incomplete information, the rural population (which is the most affected with the war) vote overwhelmingly for the Yes, while urban populations -with the exception of Bogotá- voted for the No. So what's next for Colombia? This is a good example of our convoluted history, I don't think any ibero-american country hasn't had at some point in the past century some dictatorship or guerrilla problem (heck, even Spain and Portugal suffered dictatorships).

Primero que nada: ¡excelente trabajo! es agradable ver a otro hermano latino haciendo contenido de calidad acá en Simtropolis. I hadn't seen your thread or your BATs before (I took kind of a vacation from Simtropolis) I'll be downloading them as soon as I can, but I can already see them in many of my cities, congratulations on your great work and your promising projects. I'll look forward to seeing more. On a side note, after you've picked up a couple of ideas from Buenos Aires, maybe I can interest you to explore Mexico City's colonia Roma? It has a similar kind of architecture with beautiful neoclassical, french-inspired palacetes. Sigue así y saludos desde México

Sad news indeed. I only interacted with him a couple of times on the Tech Issues and General Discussion subforums, indeed he was very helpful and had interesting anecdotes and points of view. I also lurk sometimes in the Off-Topic section but I've never got quite up to join any of the discussions, it would have been a great experience to debate with Mr. Moose; I don't think we would have been on the same side in many issues, although this would have made it all the more interesting. Alas, I can only imagine now. Farewell to such a respected member of this community.

Hey, me again! Does anybody know of a turorial for making functional rewards using PIM-X, I understand that it can only give you a template and you need to use the Reader for the scripts. I found a couple of tutorials but this one seems to be outdated (please correct me if I'm wrong), and the other one is for replacing Maxis rewards, which I don't want to do. Thanks a lot!

Hey, sorry for the bump, I just wanted to air this: It worked! I even managed to make bi-lingual support by making two .dat files with the same LUA file but different LETXT files; it's not automatic, players have to choose if they want to install the english or the spanish files, but I'm really pleased with how my reward turned out. ¡Thanks again for the help povided!

¡Gran trabajo! I especially like the school re-lots, you've made them look like real-life schools; one thing that always bothered me about the original ones was precisely the lack of walls, in real life you never see a school that lets kids (and especially teens) walk off during the recess. The rail stations also look great, you've given new life to them, as you did with the useless vanilla Grand Rail Station. If you allow me a suggestion for the terminus station, a longer lot may be more realistic, and maybe also a central platform. I'll stay tuned to see more of your lots, ¡sigue asi!

@MushyMushy Oh, no, I didn't mean to put Yellowstone in the realm of far-fetched theories, that is science, it's certainly something that will happen. As far as I know, if it were to happen soon enough, we'd all be doomed: let's just hope Geologists are on top of it.