jplumbley

Originally posted by: Mikeaut1 Originally posted by: jplumbley Man... I dont know why you guys are turning this into a Team vs Team, Clan vs Clan, or what ever you want to call it. This whole thing is about Respect. And only respect. Creators create content. For people to enhance their game nothing more nothing less. But the issue is these people are not given the respect they deserve. They are bashed for it not being 1000% perfect or the color is wrong or some just doesnt like it. And nothing is being done to stop it. Why not? Thats all I have said or asked in this thread. Why not?quote> WHERE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! We want to know WHERE?!?!?!?!?!?! To be quite honest, the staff doesn't know where these comments are. We just listen to people whine and complain about them, and no one shows it to us. And then it ends up that people are leaving because of them, when quite frankly, the staff never knows who these people are that are commenting, and where they are commenting. This site does not condone innapropriate, vulgar comments. LOOK AT WHAT DIRK SAID: If you make a product, and your PRODUCT is criticized, it is YOUR responsibility to deal with it. How you choose to deal with it will largely be a reflection of YOUR character. The Administration will not protect you from fair criticism of YOUR product. But, like anything, if criticism turns into insult, and gets personal, vulgar or otherwise offensive, the staff will step in and moderate. If you do not like criticism for your product, then reconsider sharing it, or share it elsewhere where there is no channel for feedback.quote> You deal with the criticism you get. If they are HIGHLY OFFENSIVE and PERSONAL, please contact a staff member immediately AND DIRECT US TO THE COMMENT(S) so we can take charge of the situation. According to uploaders, there are bad comments everywhere that need to be addressed, but no one is telling us where they are.quote> Alright then. Look at the comments by KRAM4346 Then follow his link to the thread which has since been archived. Tell me what he did was not flaming and not disrespectful. Now explain to me why, when I reported it I got absolutely no response and why it was allowed to continue. There is your proof. Are you going to ignore this proof just like all the other proof that was given to you by others in PMs and ignored by you aswell? Just wondering, why nothing was done. That was about the time I decided you guys arent doing your jobs properly. EDIT: Forgot my link lol. https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=17101

Man... I dont know why you guys are turning this into a Team vs Team, Clan vs Clan, or what ever you want to call it. This whole thing is about Respect. And only respect. Creators create content. For people to enhance their game nothing more nothing less. But the issue is these people are not given the respect they deserve. They are bashed for it not being 1000% perfect or the color is wrong or some just doesnt like it. And nothing is being done to stop it. Why not? Thats all I have said or asked in this thread. Why not?

Originally posted by: dirk Uhm, did I miss something here? To assume that you have a privileged status because of your own personal sense of entitlement is somewhat arrogant, and an affront to the rest of the community. I take it you are refering to my post which did not in any way say that creators have a special right. But they have the right to be treated equally and fairly. Something that does not happen here. The "staff" seems to be biased towards the complainer. In many cases where the creator is banned for retaliating to an ambush of complainers who had been very rude and disrespectful in their posts. I will not name names or bring up certain situations because that will just start things over again. Originally posted by: dirk Uhm, did I miss something here? It's not my intention to diminish the creations of these talented modders and BATters, but there seems to be a sense of entitlement with some members. I dont disagree that it is not your intention to disrespect creators and their creations. But, your "staff" is allowing creators to be disrespected and then expect these creators to put up or shut up. This in the end is a disrespect for the creators and makes them want to leave. Why would a creator stay if he/she is reemed out because someone doesnt like the color of his/her BAT? Why would they want to stay if the people who flame like this are allowed to flame like this? Why would they stay if they are not allowed to defend themselves, without fear of banishment? Originally posted by: dirk It is judged more importantly on your character and conduct. All members are expected to treat other members with respect, and likewise, all members are entitled to the "protection" of the staff in equal measure. Again, this is your policiy. But again your policiy is not being enforced all the time by your "staff". Many of your "staff" members look away and ignore someone who complains. But when a creating says back off they are the ones to get the blame. Originally posted by: dirk The Administration will not protect you from fair criticism of YOUR product. As a creator, I have absolutely NO problem with fair critisim. But what happens when this critisim is not fair? I have been flamed myself for a mod I created. I asked a moderator to step in. What did they do?..... nothing. Not even a response. And then again, if the creator lashes back because they are frustrated, they are the one to get banished. Originally posted by: dirk The bottom line is that the staff has been directed to treat everyone equally, we just enforce the house rules. Yes, we cannot catch all fires all the time instantly, so perhaps if you got flamed and no one official stepped in, it wasn't because we didn't care, we didn't catch it in time. I am sorry if that has occurred. I understand you cannot catch every fire that starts right away. I understand you cant stop people from saying what they want to say. But, the bottom line is your "staff" does not treat everyone fairly. Your "staff" banishes the worng people. I dont want you to take this as "flaming" because it is not. I want you to take the time and think. Take the time a realize what has happened. And think about your policies, maybe change them, or maybe enforce them in a better way. I am not telling you how to run your site, but there are MANY creators who have left for reasons other than they are bored with SC4 and more to do with how this site has been run. Maybe there is some merit in that. Just something for thought.

Originally posted by: ilikehotdogsalot ^^^^^ iliketmsalot: you've been a member for less than a day, with only one post, how do you know all that you've mentioned? your username also seems very simliar to mine...i'm already having the idea of who you are. if you want to speak your mind, then please do so in your main account, i don't like how members from other sites are making side accounts to speak their minds [rudely] so they don't get their reputation challenged....quote> If you really knew who it was... you'd realize he/she cannot post in his/her "main account" because they were banned for the same reasons I stated above. I know your name had nothing to do with the creation of hte account. So you dont have to worry about an imitator. @Patriots ST has taken the development bed away from creators by not protecting them from flamers. So the creators are forced to go elsewhere, where they are protected. The NAM is not the property of ST it is the property of their creators and its a gift. If you are willing to disrespect its creators then you are disrespecting the NAM itself, and then you dont deserve it if you dont respect it. Its the same with everything else here from BATs to Mods.

Maybe... Just maybe the "staff" here should start thinking. ST used to be the place to go for greatness. Now it is a place of whiners and complainers. Most of the best content creators are gone. Why is this? Its not only because creators are "running" from complainers. Its mostly because the "staff" who are here to preserve and protect the community are not doing thier job. The "staff" is allowing creators to be vocally abused and given no respect by the people who use their creations. The "staff" is then banning some of those creators who get fed up and then yell back at the complainer who said worse before the creator lashed back. The "staff" is making double standards, and protecting the complainer and condemning the creator. Without the creators of our custom content there is no community. So who is more important to protect? The complainer who doesnt do anything for the game but take away; or the creator the one who spends thier free time to add to our game? It doesnt make sense that the "staff" would push people away in the fashion they do and then say good riddance when there is noone left. There is only a tiny few of custom content creators left here, other sites are growing in numbers because of this. Teams like BSC, NAM, NHP have all been pushed away from this site because of the disrespect for the creators. Soon, this site will have noone left to add to the game. It will just become a place to talk about and complain about things, nothing new released will be "quality". And maybe before that happens totally the ST "staff" should take a minute and think about what is more important. Complainers or Creators? My thought is that they will choose the complainers and I will be banned soon for this post. But, I have to say I support Goaskin in his move and hope that he will become an integral part of another site. I know he can! Good luck! I will now go back to the place where creators are protected from the flaming of complainers and given the respect they deserve. Because in that place, the creators are the ones in charge, not the complainers.

@Morpheus47 The easiet way to start making a city from scratch for any method is by starting with the folder. For this start by: 1. Open your My Documents/Sim City 4/Regions folder. 2. Create a new folder and name it whatever you want your region to be named. 3. Now, copy a config.bmp file from one of your other region folders into the one you just created. This is where it gets fun! 4. Open the config.bmp file in any program like MSPaint, Photoshop, etc. - You may see upto 3 different colors, each color refers to a certain city tile size. - Blue = Large city tile and MUST be in 4x4 pixel configurations. - Green = Medium city tile and MUST be in 2x2 pixel configurations. - Red = Small city tile and MUST be in 1x1 pixel configurations. - The config.bmp can be any size pixel wise. But I recommend that even for a good computer you dont go more than 48x48 pixels. This will make terraforming in SC4Terraformer start to slow down. 5. Open SC4Terraformer. 6. Select your new region. 7. Start terraforming away! Good luck!

Sim City 5 is on its way and Beta versions are already being tested! Custom Content creators have been making SC5 since we got creation tools from MAXIS just after the release of SC4. Just take a look at the STEX, SC4D LEX and PLEX along with all the other places. Who needs Sim City Societies? When we have places like these. We have the NAM which is as much alive today as it was in 2004. New additions include Draggable GLR, wider networks new intersections and anything you could imagine. All kinds of BATs, Lots and Mods created by many of the best teams like BSC, NDEX and other individuals. Who needs Full 3D? Check out whats coming up! [Linkie] It will revolutionize our game as we know it like NAM did and still does. We still have some of the greatest members around here to make SC5 even better. The likes of: Ill Tonkso Barbyw Wouanagaine Dedgren Jeronij Andreas Roth Tarkus and the list goes on! Long live SC4! Long live SC4.5 the custom content generation!

@Bixel I think that is still an issue. I have had a thought on the Lot Size crime ratio, and have wondered it making the lot TE and give it custom paths will help. Its just a thought as it would bring actual paths closer to the middle of the lot which could be the "issue" or maybe not. This theory may just not work, but it was something Barbyw hadnt tried or heard about, so its worth a shot in my opinion. HKABT is very welcome in taking part in this project. As is anyone else who wants to get involved. We have made prop packs for some of the HKABT from members that have given consent to use their models. And lots will be converted to the higher stages as testing goes along. Its showing promise! You guys are awesome! Lets bring SC5 to reality with what we have.

Are you running the debug program topcliff? It is a separate button in the Start->Sc4Terraformer Menu. If you could run the debug and printscreen the outcome and post it for Wou. Or has he has posted to you previously post the SC4Terraformer.exe.log otherwise we dont know what is happening.

@Dekaru Not enough is known about the Save Game files for SC4. It is currently not possible to add data to place certain lots in specific tiles. For this to be possible the entire Svae Game file would have to be known and decrypted. Noone is currently trying to decode the Save Game files any further, that I know of. It is just tooo much information. Especially with so much of the EXE unknown. We were wanting to do this with trees, but it turned out to be too much unknown information. And as you see SC4TF now there isnt any tree plopping available. One day we might get some help in the way of the EXE, but MAXIS still hasnt released the information for teh SC3000 EXE so that day seems to be far away. As for your question about surface water. This is not possible at all. If you want to learn something, this is why. Water level is deteremined by a specific height in the Save Game file. This height can be changed, but it is still a single flat plane. Meaning that water may only be placed one specific elevation determined by the save game file. With SC4TF you are able to set that elevation by moving water height. It is possible to remove the park and landmark effects from the PEGs stream and ponds by using iLive's Reader.

Wow!! Thats all I have to say... I really like what you have done around those Highway underwater tunnels, especially the briges over top! Your downtown park area looks just great I like the way you used those raised parks. And in that very lasy pic, the GLR system looks very realistic with all the nice buildings on either side! Keep it up!

@topcliff have you downloaded the 2 depndencies in the readme? One is Directx 9.0c and the other is a .dll To help more info is needed.

Its not the we dont understnd the issue. The issue is you cannot make roads at different angles and drag them... yet? It at the moment is not possible. One day we might figure out a trick with the RULs to allow you to drag them but that trick if it exsits has not been figured out. So, noone can tell you how to do it cause its not possible. You might want to try looking into puzzle pieces, but frankly, I dont know if the puzzle pieces would work. The issue with that is I dont think they would be able to line up properly in-game. Your next issue is the fact that highways are 3D models. 3D models dont work in the same fashion, and they are harder to make pieces for. It just not worth the tim and effort that has to go into it. I have posted elsewhere on the process and time it takes to make interchanges and why no new interchanges get released. Puzzle pieces for 3D networks like highways must be created in interchange form. Lets just say it wont happen any time soon.

Looking great still!! I really like the overview shot of the city tile you've been working on. Keep it up!

Very nice jimmymac! I am impressed least to say.... I have not seen those treelots you have used, did you make them yourself or are they from somewhere else? I like the "darkness" to them as they feel more realistic rather than "cartoonish". Thank you for the Overview! The rivers are turning out to be exactly what I had envisioned while terraforming from PEGs Pond and Stream Kits.... The merger from land to lake turned out better than expected, bravo! I really love the bridges you used. As they say in french, "C'est magnificant."

Yes suplado!, someone has to manually change those textures for the 3D models for all the pieces of the interchange. If someone is willing to do it they certainly can... but finding someone knowledgable that isnt working on something else is rare to find.

Ohhhhh very nice!! Thank you very much.. That is all I have to say. We are always impressed and proud when a CJ is brought to one of our maps! Do you mind showing an overview so I can see what part of the map your working on?

Originally posted by: Krukedogg Anyways the people who devleoped the Highways were basically dumb. quote> Agreed. Originally posted by: Krukedogg Anyways the people who devleoped the Highways were basically dumb. I know my following idea most likely isn't possiable in Simcity 4 for the NAM which is upsetting because I doubt Maxis would have enough brains to develop anything like this. Im not saying im super smart or anything, I just think it's a awesome idea. Anyways: 4,5,6,8,10 lane highways with the option of creating speical lanes. How you may ask ? As you drag out a Highway a option box will appear exactly like it does when you create bridges. It will ask you 2 questions: 1. Select Number of Lanes 2 Lanes, 3 Lanes, 4 Lanes, 5 Lanes, 6 Lanes, 7 Lanes, 8 Lanes Choose lane configuration quote> 1. Not enough is known about making the "popups" like the bridges. It is probably hardcoded, meaning it is impossible for us to add a new and apply it to the highway system. 2. Highways, Fake Highways, Freeways, whatever you want to call them, are a network of 3D models. Every single 16m x 16m tile must be rendered separately, so each interchange can have upto 256 models for it. After a model has been created it then must be textured, every single piece will need to be textured separately. Then the modding for each part needs to be written to make it work, which includes SC4Path files, RULs, etc. Making an intersection itself will take much more time than you think. Imagine doing it for essentially 6 new networks that you are proposing. This is the reason you may have seen people start a Trumpet Interchange, model it, then all of a sudden it never gets finished. Its because theres too much to learn and know to make them and its not feasible for 1 person to do it themselves. You will need a team of 4 to 5 people to get an interchange finished and it will still take months. 3. HOV lanes are not possible at this given time. And probably never will be and they will only be for aesthetics. If you have noticed, busses are the closest thing you can get to HOV. The way Maxis made traffic work was, either it is counted in the calculation for capacity or it is not. There are different traffic types, cars and busses are just 2 of them. Cars are used in the calculation for whether the road is over capacity or not, busses are not calculated. There is nothing that will allow you to say "x number of sims = 1 bus; x number of sims = 1 car" Meaning there is no way for HOV to be calculated. RHW is the closest you will get to your idea. Tarkus and I have been discussing ideas of expanding textured networks. We have found it is possible to make things like a One Way Road with 5 lanes. RHW is being made into versions with 4,6,8 and maybe 10 lanes. Avenues with functional median turning lanes have been in experiments, this can be made in versions of 3, 5 and 7 lanes. But for all of these networks they will be between 2 to 4 tiles wide. And the way to draw these "new" networks is by drawing 2 or 3 or 4 of a certain network next to each other. But this is the easiest and certainly possible way to "widen" networks. 3D networks have not been discussed as they have ALOT more invovled and it may not even be possible. 3D networks include, El-Rail, Monorail, Ground Highway and El-Highway. JPlumbley EDIT: Tarkus and Mike you guys beat me to posting...

This hasnt been mentioned yet. SC4Terraformer is a great handy tool for terraforming. You can use it to create the region before hand like everyone knows. But, what most people dont know is that it is very handy for situations like this. You can terraform sections of an already built city. You can terraform over an area without destroying the buildings or networks on it (but it is not recommended). When terraforming over a building with SC4TF the building will not change from the elevation it was plopped or grown at, but the land elevation will change and either make you building float or be covered up by the land. Now... For this specific situation. 1. I recommend backing up the region to start. 2. Then go into your city and remove the buildings and roads in the imediate area of the mountain (you probably only need a 5 to 10 tile buffer zone around the mountain). 3. Now, go into SC4Terraformer and open your region. I recommend that you lock all other city tiles while you do this except the one the mountain is in. 4. Use the tools provided to re-terraform the mountain in any way, shape or form you wish. Then save the region by clicking File->Save. 5. Go, back into SC4 and open your city. It should have saved without the mountain, all of your exsisting buildings will be intact and you wont get the Newsticker telling you that you are a cheater for going back into God Mode. If there is a problem or you didnt like how you re-terraformed the land after you saved it. Just delete the region and bring in your backup copy. And try it again. For any of you guys wondering... Can this method be used to create a river, build a bridge and then raise the land back to what it was before hand? Yes it can be. Meaning you can create land bridges with this method with out having to go back and forth from God Mode and getting the you cheat News Ticker.

@mikeseith I do not have much time at the moment. But if you start a thread over at SC4Devotion, I would definately be able to talk there. While at work ST is blocked for me so I cannot follow what has happened. Sorry, for the inconvenience. But unfortunately that is the way it is.

Hi Brenden304, Sorry, it took me 2 days to get to this RLS... Anyways, best thing to do IMO: 1. Get SC4Terraformer if you dont already have it. https://www.simtropolis.com/modding/index.cfm?page=1&view=all 2. Now, download the config.bmp of Vandy's map and save it in your My Documents/SC4/Plugins/Regions/Donovans Reach folder. Make sure this is the only file within the folder. 3. Now download the map jpg file (save it somewhere accessible like your desktop) 4. Open SC4Terraformer and open the Donovans Reach region. (it will come up as blank terrain) 5. Under Global Tools -> Import Image browse to the jpg file you downloaded from STEX. This should import the terrain hieght data. 6. Click File -> Save in SC4Terraformer. (this will save the data to SC4) 7. Close SC4Terraformer and open SC4. Open the region Donovans Reach. The terrain should now show as it looked in SC4Terraformer colors, this is OK, because when you enter a city tile it will revert back to SC4 colors. Beware though, until you enter all city tiles and save them do not use the reconcile edge button.... It will mess up your city edges. I hope this has helped you. Good luck. If there are any issues with SC4Terraformer look through the SC4Terraformer thread in Modding Research and Develpoment Forum. If there are any questions on the procedure above, just ask them here. I will check in from time to time.

Hi Brenden304, Thanks for your interest in the NHP maps. I dont have an answer for you at the moment. But, Vandy has taken a hitatus for personal reasons. I can take a look at the map but will have to do so tomorrow when I have time. JPlumbley

Hmmm... Thats a good one. My very first question is when using the exact same plugins folder do you get the CTD with other regions aswell? If this is true, then there is probably a plugin conflict. Did you install the Custom Columbus Terrain Mod that came with the map? If this is true, you may have a previous Terrain mod like PEGs rock mod or something like that installed.... these tend to cause CTDs.

Hello Blahdy!! Awesome work and updates.... I love this project! As for transparent textures Jeronij has posted a tutorial he uses at SC4Devotion.... Link = https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=23.0