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Double Post, Sorry. I have tried some different SC4 tools, but I never got to see what the buildings looked like so I decided not to use them. I like the idea of downloading lots in packs, but there should be a way to view the lot before you try it in-game. I was kind of picky about farms anyways and only got 37 farms and 108 fields. They are all really authentic looking and should go well with the maxis farms that grow in the game. I have a related question about PNG files: Sometimes, when I download a file that has 2 or more lots, I get a lot that has the exact same stats as the other lot in the file. The way to tell these lots apart is in the iLive reader, by looking at the PNG file. 2, 4x5 R$$6 lots can have the same stats, but you can see from the PNG that the building may be facing the other way on one of the lots. My Question is what to do when a file has 2 or more lots, with the same dimensions, AND the same PNG? Do these duplicate lots have any use? Perhaps the PNG file is wrong? Other reasons? Thanks

My landmark effect, park effect, and mayor rating stats are all over the board and I am afraid that they will unbalance the game!!! The game is very unbalanced anyway because it allows lower stage high wealth to take over higher stage lower wealth buildings. I am hoping to stop this in-balance by not having very many mixed wealth cities. I hope that taxes can help me here because it would really suck to have to go back and edit or delete all those stats!!! Its good to know that I can edit them without having to delete all the structures. I'm gonna spend about another month or so downloading growables, but I'll let you know how my tax plan works. I know I will find out this as soon as I start playing, but do you think high wealth will build at a 20% tax rate if there is enough desirability in the area?

Originally posted by: Andreas Roth Well, what I do is checking the building in question that grows like weed and see if the stats are somewhat off, i. e. a way too high (or low) occupancy value for a certain stage. One common example is a W2W building quickly replacing all your other W2Ws, which can be desirable in certain situations, but usually is not wanted in favor of some more variety. So I compare the stats and adjust those of the offending building to be more in line with the rest of similar sized buildings (SC4Tool's building database offers some good hints about the Maxis buildings, and ideally, custom content should fit into those values as well).quote> Thank You Very Much!!! This was exactly what I needed to know!!! I am now on Commercial Growables and I am wondering how well the W2W work with other Commercial buildings that are more open wth parking areas etc. Do these Commercial Buildings work well together or is it better to use one or the other? I also got a very important question: How much does desirabilty factors like Park Effect and Landmark Effect and Mayor Rating, affect the game? When editig all of my plopables I tried to keep these values similar, but they might be kind of skewed compared to the maxis values. Will this cause a major imbalance in my game?

Originally posted by: Andreas Roth Load them in LE, maybe move a prop around a tiny bit and hit "save" - the LE will recreate the missing PNG preview pic then.quote> I got Lot Editor to work by removing my plugins and placing the files I wanted to veiw in my plugins folder. I can't see any buildings, only the lot layout. I moved a prop (somthing blue) around the lot and saved the file. This did add a PNG to the file that I could veiw in the iLive reader, however the PNG only showed the lot layout that the LE showed. Is there somthing I can do in LE to get the building to show up? I am also going to try PIM however its taking longer then 10 min to initalize. I am going to mess around in LE some more too. Maybe there is a button I missed that shows the buildings. I'll report back with any progress I make.

You can have a high wealth city that has a waste to power plant or other nimbys. If something lowers desirability for an area and nothing builds there, place some parks or green space in the area to drive the desirability back up.

Hospitals, Schools, Police and Fire Stations are easy to mod with the iLive reader. You can mod their capacities, radius, costs, employees, etc. This was one of the first things I modded in the game when I first got back into playing. That was almost four months ago and the iLive reader has helped me with all my downloads everyday since then. If you don't want to mod anything, there are a couple of civic radius and capacity mods out there on the STEX. Just download these and drop them in your plugins folder to have double or higher capacity.

How about the Archive, Exemplars, and HTTP Cache that are in my SimCity 4 folder? Do these have any purpose either, or can they be deleted too?

If you follow the loading order above, can duplicate files cause any in game problems if the Mega Props loads before any duplicate bat props or misc props?

Originally posted by: z1 The main mod you need is the NAM. Other than that, pick up a copy of the Prima Guide to learn most of the tricks of the game. You can get a new copy of the Guide for SC4 Deluxe for... $130??? Let's see... a used copy is $40? If that's too rich for your blood, you can pick up the Prima Guide for the original SC4 for as little as $1 plus shipping; it has most of what you need in it. quote> $130??? What a ripp-off. I bought mine for around $20 when RH was first released. It isn't much different than the original, I bought that one too. The original at least has most of the same basic game mechanics inside, except for the new commute model. The coomute model was the main thing that you might miss if you are relying on the original strategy guide. The RH covers it briefly and a I'll add a few points here: In basic SC4, residents would find the closet open job to them and if the trip could be completed in 2.5 hours or less it was considered a complete trip. The traffic simulators would go through cycles, and as long as a sim could complete a trip each cycle, they would have a job. In RH cylces are completed every four months, but instead of a sim taking the closet job, they now take a job depeding on their wealth level, with different workplaces offering jobs to different wealth levels. With wealth levels and route queries added, RH added a lot of complexity to the commute model, but the prima guide only covers it briefly in two pages. The main game mechanics can be found in the original SC4 Strategy Guide or can be asnswerd here on the forum.

I have downloaded two or more variations of the same building that will grow in the game. Like if you want the same building with different colors or dimensions to grow, this should be possible. I have 2 IM1 buildings that grow on different size lots. They look the same and have the same stats but they have different instances. They both should be able to grow in my game, maybe not in the same area, but at or around the same time, or separate depending on the in game demand.

If you have maxed out education, I'm guessing that your city has mostly R$$ and R$$$ residents. The wealthy residents in this game take over and drive out all low wealth residents. The wealthy residents pay more taxes, but every city needs its share of low wealth residents because all workplaces employ mixed classes. My guess is that your city has an over supply of mid to high wealth residents and no low wealth residents to fill jobs. This can lead to lower demand and even abandonment if workplaces have no low wealth sims to employ. If this is your problem, it might be hard to get low wealth sims to come to your city. If you see any R$ buildings make sure to mark them historic to keep some low wealth sims in your city. It may also be necessary to set up a neighbor connection and zone for low wealth citizens there so that they can commute to the jobs available in your high wealth city. The only sure fire way to control the high wealth takeover in this game is to play with taxes to curb high wealth demand. I have heard that 15% taxes on R$$ and R$$$ creates a good balance. In most cases though, your cities will have to have either mid to high wealth or just low wealth. It is hard to get a city to have both.

I like the idea. Much of my SC4 modding experience has been through a frustrating trial and error process. It would have made things much easier to have more detailed tutorials on the omnibus. Luckily, I have been getting some help in a few of my posts in the modding sections. I would like to post more questions, but I don't want to bombard the moderators with newb questions. More detailed tutorials on modding should defiantly help with the amount of questions coming in. I would even be willing to do a few myself. Lol, I would probably need a turtorial on how to do a tutorial though. I like the idea of pay it forward too. I do this in all the forums I belong to, of the games I am currently playing. I start out joining as a complete newb and posting a ton of questions. Eventually through what I learn from the replies I get, and through gaining experience with the game, I better understand the games mechanics and other areas of the game. My posts turn from newbish questions into helpful replies. With SC4 I am still mastering the modding part of the game. While the moderators help me with the questions I have, I make it a point to take the time to answer other peoples questions with what I already know.

I'm low on cash now, but I will be sure to check out your CJ. Good Luck!!!