Facelessman

SC4 isn't particularly difficult, but the learning curve is steep. It's very easy to fail when you're starting out, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy to build whatever you want. It's also very customizable (just look at all the stuff on the STEX) and will probably last you a lot longer than SC:Societies. If you do get it, and from what you said I think you would prefer SC 4, just know that it might take a while to figure things out. But there are plenty of tutorials and stuff here in the Omnibus section, so read those if you have trouble, or ask for help here. There are always lots of people willing to help. Societies is a very different game from other Sim City games. I won't say it's bad because I haven't played it and I am a fan of the developer, Tilted Mill. But it's not really Sim City.

If you want lots of commercial jobs, you're going to need industry. Manufacturing and high tech industries provide good jobs while boosting commercial office demand. Keep your sims educated and you dirty industry demand will stay low. The Industry quadrupler mod isn't necessary, but I find it's useful since industry tends to take up a whole lot of space, unlike residential and commercial which have the tendency to build up rather than out after your population gets high enough. If you want something less drastic I think there is the option to only double Industry jobs, maybe it's a different mod? I'm not 100% sure on that. The percentages may change over time, but you will definitely need both industry and commerce, as they help each other grow. Having I-HT is good for CO demand, which provides lots of $$$ jobs. And I-HT provides mostly R$$ jobs, unlike other industries and commerce which are mostly $ jobs.

A few years ago, a mod was created to allow exactly this. (you'll have to copy/paste the URL, links haven't been working) Get ready for a lot of scrolling, though. 450+ buildings are added to your landmark menu. Also, and this is very important: Residential buildings that are plopped will not generate traffic, meaning they will not go to work. The way to get around this is to first zone residential, let it grow, then plop over it. The new building will use the commute routes for the old one. Also, it is possible that it might not work. I'm about 95% it will work on SC4 without Rush Hour, but I could be wrong. One more thing: nobody's gonna flame you. Lots of people plop buildings...I mostly zone but I'll plop a few building here and there. Around here, nobody will flame you for how you choose to enjoy the game.

If you open the region folders, you'll see a config.bmp file. Here's how it works. It is X by Y pixels, each pixel representing the size of a small city tile. Each square is colored red, green, or blue. Red is small, green is medium, blue is large. The color of each tile must have a maximum value (255) of red, green or blue. Using other values for the other colors is fine. (255,0,0 works just as well as 255,200,75) Also, you have to make the city tiles the right size, like a blue (large) city tile is 4x4, a green (medium) is 2x2, and red (small) is just one pixel. Here is an example of a working config file. This is scaled up so it's easy to see, but the config.bmp is 16x16. So...make a config.bmp to your liking, then create a folder in the regions folder. Name your region, and save the config file to the folder. You should be able to open the new region, with the new config. (if I'm not forgetting anything) Well, if you have any questions, please ask. I'm not really good at explaining things, so if you're confused by my post, just ask! I'll try again.

Hah... yes... Yes, it does. I'm always forgetting the keyboard shortcuts that I don't use often.

Can you not zone the zones, or do they not grow? If you can't zone them: Holding down shift, control, and/or alt let's you zone differently. Shift turns off those annoying streets it wants to plop down, alt changes the direction the zone is facing, and control makes it all one continuous zone - no splits or lines or anything. These keys can be used in any combination of one, two, or three, and they make zoning so much easier. If they don't grow: You haven't built up enough demand. As your regions and cities grow, bigger buildings and larger lots grow more easily. Though in small cities, some lots, like the drive-in movies should pop up quickly on any 4x4 commerce zones.

On this page: https://www.sc4devotion.com/SC4D_Maxis_files_BAT.html There is a file called "Sim City 4 Buildings Update 14.4 MB", second download on the page. That should fix the problem. Hmm...links still aren't working, you'll have to copy and paste the link.

Sure you can. When you click on a blank city square, somewhere there is an option to Import a city. Then all you do is find the city you want, and it will be moved to the new region. Doing this will cause the city to disappear from its original region. However, if you want to just copy it, the easiest way to do this would be to go into the regions folder, copy the "Maxisland" folder, then rename it something like "Maxisland2." Then you can delete Maxisland2 after you've imported the city.

The amount of customers doesn't have anything to do with demand, actually. As combot said, it's all about the traffic. Having high traffic will increase desirability for commercial zones. That's about it, really. Don't worry too much about the customers, it's really not that important in this game.

Lots of mods? Heh, not really. I have over 300MB of plugins, and that's nothing compared to some people around here. Try this RCI Query Mod: https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=4243&v=1 It won't actually solve your problems, but it will let you see regional and city demand caps, and if you have met that demand (or are coming close to it) yet. I know you said you haven't hit the cap, but you don't seem to have a mod that shows the numbers so....maybe it will help? Other than that...make sure to give buildings time to find jobs. The faster you run the simulation, the more likely it is that buildings will be unable to find a job within the time limit. Also, did you try building more commerce and industry to see if that would boost Residential demand? I also find that building the neighbors for a while, or even just letting them run for a few months, can boost demand in the center city. I see you've been quite active here, so you may have heard all of this before...but I hope I can be of some help. Although, despite playing since 2004 or so, I've never actually had a region over about 800k residents. Yeah, I'm a slow builder, and easily distracted. So I don't really have a lot of experience with big cities. I have one region I spent many hours on...the population is less than 30,000.

You may have noticed an architectural style tool in the game. By default, the styles rotate every 5 years. The orange roofs are the "European-Modern" style buildings. So if you want those, you can set your city to build only that style. Otherwise, they should grow during years 16-20, 36-40, 56-60, etc. Of course, they need a place to grow, so make sure you have some zones for them to grow on during those years.

You'll have to use taxes or lots of pollution and NIMBY to keep R$$ sims away. Unfortunately, the game is way to eager to move out your R$ sims, I always have a hard time balancing my regions.

The sims need somewhere to go. If they can't find a place to work (or another connection, but be careful to avoid infinite loops-going from city A to B to C back to A), they won't show up at all in the destination city.

Is your entire region full, or just one city? Build neighbors if possible. Also, you can re-zone low/medium density zones to higher densities. This will not destroy any buildings on the zones. (as long as it's the same type: residential, commercial, industry) But neighbor cities are very important to the growth of all cities in the region.

1x1 lots will develop after you have a few thousand residents. (or maybe it's a few hundred, I don't remember exaclty when they'll start to grow) Until then, stick with 1x2 or bigger.

The reason you are being removed from office is because the game thinks you have negative money. There is a limit to every data type in computers, when a number goes over that limit, it wraps around to the other side, which is the same number (minus one), but negative. You have gone over that limit. I'm not sure how SC4 works with these numbers, but it is possible that it displays numbers a little differently than it calculates them internally. Because normally, nobody would ever get close to that limit, so it wouldn't be a problem. But with cheats, sometimes it does become a problem. https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=83080&highlight_key=y&keyword1=cheats%20mod Funny, I just posted this same link in another topic. Anyways, this is an "extra cheats" plugin that should help fix your problem. Just install it to the plugin folder, hit CRTL+X in game, and the cheat box will open. You can right click to see and select your options. Choose, or type, "Moolah" then a number, and you will have that much money. For example, "Moolah 1000000" would set your funds to exactly 1 million. Then get a different, safer, money park! Edit: Link isn't working, just copy/paste, or search "Extra Cheats DLL" in the forums.

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=83080&highlight_key=y&keyword1=cheats%20mod This is a plugin that adds cheats to the game. Ctrl+X opens the cheat box (even without the plugin. Some of the new things in this are not actually cheats), and you can right click on it to see all your options. Typing "Moolah 100000" will set your balance $100,000. So you can give yourself as much money as you need to build your highways (Moolah 50000000! actually, I'd be careful with this, you might accidentally go over the limit and give yourself negative money), then start your city with the normal 100,000 when you're ready to build.

Well, some interesting questions. There is a "game experiments" forum that you might find interesting and informative. (this topic should be perfectly fine here, though) But to (attempt to) answer your questions: 1.Follow the demand chart and your cities will grow This is mostly true. There are other factors that influence this, though. Desirability is the biggest factor, other than demand, that would cause people to not move in. Other things are road access, and also zone size. I'd like to see a picture of this problem city, to better understand what's going on here. 2.Citizen will look for jobs of their wealth class within the shortest travel distance I find this to usually be the case. I'm a bit confused as to why they would drive further, though I have seen them do crazy things. I would highly recommend downloading the NAM (you can find an article w/ link on the front page of the site, from April), and using the "Better Pathfinding" or "Perfect Pathfinding" if you computer runs the game well, as these (especially perfect) can slow down the game, or actually make your commute times worse, if your computer isn't fast enough. However, your problem may be related to a different game mechanic. Sims in one city can't figure out (due to game limitations) how far away jobs in another city are. So if the border to the neighbor city is closer to them than jobs in their own city, they will often go to the other city, even if jobs are on the other side of the map there. Also, remember that every building has a limited number of jobs. Just because there's a huge are of commerce and industry between the sims and their job, doesn't mean there are any available jobs. (Even if a building says something like 124/150 jobs, #4 below) 3.Education and job availability elevate citizen's wealth status Individual citizens and buildings do not change wealth. (except in the case of the "My Sims" feature) However, higher educations = higher demand for clean Industry = higher demand for Commercial Office = more jobs (and therefore higher demand) for R$$$. So, overall, high education will mean more high wealth sims. Also, your low wealth zones can re-develop into high wealth zones. But you cannot, and should not, get rid of all your R$ sims. Just as in real life, a fairly large portion of your region should be low wealth. (taxing out the high wealth in certain cities is one way to achieve this) Some will tell you that you need a "pyramid" sort of thing where R$>R$$>R$$$, but I find this to not really be the case. I've never had any particularly big regions (700-800k pop is my max so far, after playing for years! I build very slow), but I don't have any problem with a little more R$$ than R$. This may be because I design my regions, usually, to rely on High Tech industry, which employs mostly R$$ sims. 4. Residential zoning is the only way to increase population Correct, sort of. Medium and high density zones can develop to higher "stages." Higher stage buildings are higher density buildings. The larger your overall region population, the higher stages of building growth you can achieve. So as you develop your region, your buildings will be replaced by larger buildings, in decent sized medium and high density zones. Also, more sims will cram into low-wealth buildings, while high wealth sims need their space. So if your zones redevelop from low wealth to a higher wealth level, you will actually lose population. Another factor that can increase, or decrease, population is desirability. You may have noticed that not every building is full of workers or residents. This is directly related to desirability. As crime, pollution, garbage, traffic, etc., go up, desirability goes down. And the percentage of people living/working in a building is a reflection of it's desirability. This is why parks, landmarks, etc., are important, especially for high wealth. Well...I hope I've helped answer your questions. Also, please post a picture of that city that won't grow. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is especially true when discussing a game like Sim City, where there a number of factors that can influence things. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, there is sure to be someone here who can answer just about any question you may have about the game.

What exactly do you have in mind when you say you want better looking suburbs? What is it you don't like about what suburbs look like in your regions?

Ah, there's a search function in the STEX (the "Keyword Search") that you can use when you are on the STEX page (not the forums), and it will only search the STEX, so you won't get forum topics. Just lots and stuff. About terrains: if you flattened a map and then saved it, there's really no getting it back. If it was a Maxis region, that came with the game, you might be able to find it on the CD? or in the Program Files/Maxis/SimCity4 folder. As for downloaded regions: It's been a while since I've done anything with new regions...but I think you have to first have the greyscale image and the config.bmp in the region folder. Then open the region in-game (you'll see a blank map), then press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+R (might wanna look that up on the Omnibus), then sit back for a while, or find something else to do, because it'll be at work for a while creating the region. I hope that helps, like I said, it's been a while...not sure if I remember everything.

Ah, I see your problem. You see those arrows? Those arrows must be facing a road. I mean, right by the road. This setup would have worked in the older games, but SC4 is a bit more picky (and realistic) about roads. See how the 1x2 rectangles at the bottom of each block don't have the zots? That's how all the zones should be, in relation to a road. In this picture, which I just found in my photobucket, you can see these 1x1 apartments, but notice how they are all facing the road. This is what the game requires that you do (with both residential and commercial - it's not so picky with industry.)

The more cities you have, along with the higher populations and demand they bring, the faster your cities will grow. And as you get more people, higher density buildings will grow, meaning you can get a lot of people in a short amount of time. As for your budget problems, ignore your sims. Go for cheap power (possibly from a neighboring dirty, industrial city, if you don't want pollution), don't worry about police at first, and build a fire station (just one) when you have your first fire. Later you'll want more police and fire stations, but build them when you have the budget for it. It's very possible to not use any High Schools, and still get high education ratings. But it's very important to build elementary schools and colleges. (colleges are cheap!) High Schools make it easier if you're aiming for high education (and the High Tech Industry it brings), but not necessary. Another thing: you don't have to water everyone. If you have areas of low/medium wealth, low density zones, they don't need water! High wealth and medium/high density zones need water, as do the larger industrial buildings. But for lower density areas, don't even worry about water. However, a good way to make money is to have high-wealth sims move in. There's one good way to guarantee that a few rich sims move in. As long as you have demand for R$$$, zone some low-wealth areas, in 3X4 tile segments. Make sure they are 3 wide and 4 deep. (with the arrows on the 3 side) Use the Control key to make it a continuous zone. Make sure these guys have water, health and at least some education. R$$$ can bring in a lot of money, while R$ sims often end up costing more than they pay in taxes. And to answer your side question: you'll probably lose your industry that way, at least at the beginning. High education levels can almost eliminate demand for Dirty Industry, though. so if you don't want dirty, the best thing to do is work up your education, so you get demand going for Manufacturing and High Tech, then raise taxes on Dirty if you want.

Unfortunately, the game encourages you to build on the tutorial region, while they are easily reset. In the future, avoid using that region, it's just too risky. I know it sucks to lose your cities, but rather than try to get them back, only to possibly lose them again, I would suggest starting a new region. Also, make sure to back up your regions. (Well, I don't... but it's usually a good idea, especially if you've invested a lot of time into it)

It takes me 10+ minutes just to think up a City Name, I'd never get anywhere if I named my streets. I'm creative in some ways, but naming things is definitely not one of them.

I don't find region music to be depressing. It's rather atmospheric, but it's not sad. Well, I guess I can see how it might be...but I like it. I love all of the music in the game. Especially the orchestral stuff that was added with Rush Hour. Really good. I never really get tired of the music in the game, no matter how much I play it.