Simizen

not sure if this is the same one as before, but just updated, but this can at least get you a baseline: https://www.kodub.com/apps/simcity4terraingenerator it should output a greyscale image for you to use. But it'll show a color image during the generation unfortunately, i'm not able to find the one I'm used to using online. Maybe @CorinaMarie or @Cyclone Boom would know which one i'm talking about. In the meantime, this link should help also get Paint.NET, as it can be really helpful for you compared to MS Paint

heyo, this is pretty cool: rip to my thumbnail image tho... oh, and RIP the chat that happened in here previously since my last post, cause that was where I ended up providing feedback on the member title badge things. I know those weren't really all that impressive, but still, it was fun to look at and such eta: y'all missed a prime opportunity to run with Lab LLama instead of lab rat, lol

probably useless to make it generic for others, but doubt it'd hurt plus I had multiples anyway, lol So, to start, what exactly are the "Clubs" on this site, and how do they work? And wondering due to the Discord stuff. Also, how often are some of the other menu/features used? Like, I typically just use: home, forums, ST Exchange. Though, I do imagine that the city journals tab is used regularly. Though, I was browsing through them a bit today just checking them out. I feel a couple might do well being merged into other pages, but idk, hard to say really.

Yeah, I came across someone explaining that if people wanted to move from Discord, they could grab the Discord Chat Exporter, so I'm glad other people know about that. And I read the article, it was a good read, and does explain a lot. Yeah, the cost of hosting servers, at least via Teamspeak, is definitely a hurdle for a lot of people for sure. It's part of why I was wondering if maybe it could be beneficial to have it hosted by the sites directly. So, Simtropolis would host it's own Teamspeak server, as would SC4Evermore. Though, I haven't seen the prices yet, so that could be a serious disincentive for doing something like this. Yeah, I had a feeling that was basically a non-issue. It just seems like it would be somewhat easier to merge the 2 given the huge overlap with the community. But yeah, it makes sense, given that there's hardly been any real issues on either side that requires moderator actions, at least, beyond banning/kicking the spam/hacked accounts. Course it does raise the question on whether or not we should merge the OpenSC4 group into either server, lol. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, seeing the prices now (though the info may be out of date), that could definitely be a hurdle for either site to try and support 1k+ people. Though, a great question does come up from this, which is: how many people do we actually expect to be on the server? Cause, let's face it, the majority of the members of most Discord servers are just lurkers anyway. Don't get me wrong, they probably get tons of info and such that they need from it, but realistically the majority of the people are just kinda there and not really doing much. Even if we have 1k on either of the community servers, we're looking at like 100-200 who are plenty active at any given point. And it sounds bad, but like, would we even need larger servers if those people aren't really contributing much? Of course, I would like to point out that, overall I'm not against them being in the servers, and I do think that if they're interested in being there, even if all they do is lurk, they should be allowed to be there. But, at least in regards to something like Teamspeak, where you'd have to pay for a server to hold 1k members, it probably does require some consideration in how best to approach it. So, maybe it wouldn't be the best option for the community as a whole, but could work amazingly well for say, the NAM Team given that there's considerably fewer members on NAM. But this would require an alternative that could easily hold 1k+ people at an overall lower cost. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Additionally, I did end up learning of yet another Discord alternative, which could be promising. Though, I'd have to look into it some more. And from what I can gather, this might be the "official" Discord replacement for a large number of people. Though, with the huge migration back to Teamspeak for a lot of people, it's likely that we will no longer have a monolithic setup like we've currently got with Discord, and that people will simply pick one of, or both, messenger/s as needed. Honestly, I'm fully expecting the messenger setup to become spread out in a way. As Teamspeak is likely useful for the smaller communities/groups, but then for the larger ones, you'd end up with Discord and alternatives. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the new messenger in question: Fluxer overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP1P0e8ueqk Fluxer messenger: https://fluxer.app/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Also, seems that Discord's pushing it off for a time. So I was right, we got lucky with it not getting implemented yet. So, we will definitely need to be working towards some kind of an alternative now that we've got some time. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Discord-postpones-global-age-verification-to-the-second-half-of-2026-as-it-considers-adding-more-verification-options.1233763.0.html Additionally, I'm seeing more stuff pop up in my feed now for other Discord alternatives. So, that's on me for looking down the rabbit hole and not paying attention to how close I was to the edge of it, lol.

Hopefully this is in the right spot for this topic. My goal is to have this in the most publicly accessible spot for people to jump straight into. Additionally, this topic can be used for similar issues regarding other messengers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, due to the Discord controversy of them rolling out their "Everyone's a default teenager" logic, there's been some interest in moving over to other messenger programs. Now, one concern is, how will we handle a switch over to a different messenger? And, to clarify, yes, there's going to be issues moving large groups over to another messenger, but the one I'm focused on here, is, how will we handle both of the community Discord servers? Cause we've got both Simtropolis and the SC4Evermore servers. And I'm sure there's others that I'm unaware of, I just know these two to be the biggest and most popular. Of course, there's been a lot of talk of moving a lot of people over to TeamSpeak, but the biggest issue with them is simply the fact that people would need to setup and host their own servers. And I can certainly see some issues regarding that, I wonder if maybe that could be advantageous to the community to some extent? Like, we've already got the STEX and LEX, so, I don't see any particular issues that could prevent us from utilizing the current webservers for TeamSpeak. That said, I am aware that webservers run a bit differently and the rules behind them may prevent something like this without going through some kind of clearance process. I'm just not sure if there's anything particularly technical beyond webhost limitations that would prevent the establishment of something like TeamSpeak. The idea behind this, is that both Simtropolis and Evermore could host their own TeamSpeak servers. Though, I don't know anything about integration, but if possible, we could have those setup so that all you'd have to do is just log into your appropriate account to use them. So, if I wanted to chat with people on the Simtropolis side, I could do that. Alternatively, we could just merge the two parts of the community together into a single one. This of course does come with a combined pressure of 2 sites running off of the same equipment, but also introduces a potentially unwanted effect, of having it centralized. And of course, if it goes down at any point for any reason, we're out that entire messenger service. Now, I know that there was some mention of using Stoat (formerly Revolt), as it seems closest to Discord in it's design. I have been messing around with Stoat for a while cause I remember there was something that came up with Discord a while back that had me start looking into alternatives (I think they were discussing going public with their company at the time), which allowed me to see how it worked out a bit. And it does seem to be the closest to the Discord experience we've known. So, if we're looking for "closest to Discord with least friction" Stoat's probably a good one to go with. I, personally, am not against checking out, exploring, and using other messenger services, but I'm aware that not everyone is going to be all that interested in making 50+ accounts to random programs that may/may not survive the next year. And I'm not trying to force the community into one right now, as we do have some (albeit limited) time to find a good one. My goal with this is to kick off a discussion of what everyone (more or less) is interested in moving over to, as that will help out greatly with reducing the friction regarding moving over. Of course, another idea is, we could find a way to implement a messenger system directly into the websites, allowing people live chatting there. Though, it may not be as robust as something like Discord. And I do remember there being an option for a live chat box on a website, as one of the first forum sites I was on had it and it was pretty fun to use at the time. And if there's a way to implement something along the lines of an RSS feed, then we could easily have a standalone program that would act like Discord, but connect directly to a website that has the chat boxes. Though, with that said, I'm aware that such a thing would be a bit of work due to the programming involved with it. Still, I do think having an integrated chat box on the sites would be good to have. Though, with how we don't have forums on the new Evermore site, it's quite possible only Simtropolis would end up with that. Hopefully I can be proven wrong in that regard. Another key concern, is how exactly would we handle some stuff? Because we've got: basic chat rooms images/memes videos/streams various projects And I feel that some of the projects, we could probably just move over to forums either here or over on Evermore. I do agree with @Ulisse Wolf, along with many others I've seen online on other sites, that Discord's actually done quite a number on information access, and that we're better off with forums for a lot of things. And, at least in regards to the projects, we are going to need a place to keep their development and access to any information that comes up from it. Of course, I'm sure that things like the basic chat rooms and memes can be easily overlooked. Except for the above mentioned issue, in which a ton of information is going to be lost soon due to Discord being such a closed system. Videos and streams will probably be fine, as I don't believe Discord really keeps the streams around, as it's neither Twitch, nor YouTube. But, I do feel that these are still some valid concerns that we should probably begin addressing sooner, rather than later. And the thing is, we might get lucky, and Discord doesn't make a complete and utter mess of things with this implementation. But, if we do get lucky? We absolutely have to take whatever buffer we gained from that and be aggressive with moving everything around, cause that's likely a one-off event. It'll just give us some breathing room long enough to work it out. Additionally, if we do end up merging both the Simtropolis and Evermore groups together, we might be able to relieve some stress on the admin/mod teams, as they won't need to be pulling double/triple duty across so much stuff. Cause we've already got a bunch of people like @Tarkus who's considerably overworked by being a mod/admin on the Evermore site, the Evermore Discord server, being the NAM Team Leader, etc, and this could prove beneficial to where he won't be as overwhelmed. Maybe. It is hard to say given how everything's setup, but we could just move all the admins/mods over from both Discord servers into the new messenger with their same rank without too much fuss (theoretically). Oh, and for any projects where we want to keep the development hidden, if they're moved over to the Simtropolis site proper, we'd need to find out if there's a way to lock forums/forum groups behind certain roles and start giving people roles to allow access to them. No clue on how the current forum software works, but it's certainly something to keep in mind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Linus Tech Tips going over it in part of their WAN Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLZr4cccNQI Discord's 'Teen-By-Default Settings': https://discord.com/press-releases/discord-launches-teen-by-default-settings-globally Reddit post for alternative messengers: https://www.reddit.com/r/allkeyshop/comments/1r3vsk1/best_discord_alternatives_to_try_in_2026_voice/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I would certainly like to know everyone's thoughts on this. And if you've got more sources and suggestions of Discord alternatives, please do share them.

Did a stream over in the SC4Evermore discord server, i think on xmas eve? lol, icr, a few days back for sure been intending to go back x.x But these are some pix from after Regional view: (2nd city named by Ameterasu, ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sterling City: idea with this was to have it look like people landed here (the road to the beach) and then expanded. So a small village is building up, but in the future there will be some busy docks here and a CBD somewhat close by. I think it's supposed to be industry + docks to the south, and commercial and beaches, or boardwalk or something to the north (of the road) ---------------------------------------------------- Sterling City Night View: (using Mashty's Night Mod) ----------------------------------------------- Timbuktree: (being graced by the Christmas day snow) built a RHW-4S through here. Eventually it'll span the region, but it's meant to be a way to connect to Sterling City to feed it, but it's pretty far out at the edges due to the size the city will eventually be. Basically, the idea is it'll build up "before" the highway is built, and the city refused to let it carve through the center had it build up on the edges near the foothills Also wish we could have larger, more gradual curves for road networks

And an example of a non-Lego set thing took 6 hours to put together and god only knows why I had enough to for the potential ability to do it a 2nd time, lol and yes, some pieces are super small and need tweezers (mostly cause of location near the end) so, there you go, you get a good example of both official Lego, and some weird off brand. Go nuts with posting others I'm sure everyone following this will absolutely enjoy what they see

Wanted to kick this off with the Tie Bomber (set #75347) includes some progress pix and final build images Gonk Appreciation:

A series of poor financial judgements from multiple people over the years has resulted in me making this thread, because I was given money for Christmas and ended up buying a Lego set, cause i have nothing else better to do in my life at the moment pretty much anything Lego goes. I was just interested in sharing pix of my sets for whoever's interested in seeing them Megablocks, Tyco, Duplo (by default due to being another toy made by the Lego company), and related can be posted here. So, it's probably more of a "modular brick mania" thread than Lego, but, let's face it, like 99% of people in the world have Lego, and I'm amazed that there's any other company still around And yes this can include things like, news, updates, pix of the packaging changes, even pix of you coloring in the paper bags, etc. Idk bout leaks though, I'll leave that up to the mods/admins to sort out cause idk what's acceptable with things like that Also, it's preferable that you post stuff you're "directly" interacting with (links to news articles are fine, but maybe not reddit just to avoid excessive spamming); and if you have a news article in a local paper covering Lego, you can post that too! Otherwise, no real hard and fast rules, save for whatever the admin team puts in

was wondering when the lights would come back looking forward to destroying endless amounts of bulbs again to see if i can make number 1 but alas unlike last time i will have a ton of work to do which will prevent me from burning through it as much and I also assume that at this point Nonny Moose works at Shattermore? If so, dude's got job security with everyone here

so a bit of a weird request throughout the site, most of the stuff is in the center, with blank space on either side, and I was thinking it'd be neat if we had like, a pale silhouette of buildings flanking either side. Though, I'd have it with the tallest on the outside, and the shorter ones towards the center as a great way to frame it and focus attention there But also, there's the bottom portion with the links, privacy policy, etc, and I realized a great way to add to the effect is to provide a street level view there So as you scroll you'd get this sense of being in a towering metropolis, and then at the bottom you'd get the ground level view, just cause it'd be a cool effect did a quick thing in MS Paint. and realized that the darker buildings and road should be further down in the area with the links and such, lol the blue ones would be up and down the main page, which can be fairly small since there's some CSS code somewhere to allow the image to remain static while the page scrolls around And of course, the designs and colors can be different but the idea was to make them blend in with the basic theme of the site, so that they're not really overwhelming with excessive detail Basically it's something similar to what we have in the SC2K and SC3K manuals, lol

okay, starting this cause i'm having trouble with finding a font, and figured, what the heck, others might like to use it too, so, feel free to ask for things like this but, overall what I'm trying to do is find a font that a lot of the gaming magazines used around the 90s to 2000s. Specifically, it's a sans-serif font with a fancy lowercase "g" and google wasn't particularly helping cause idk what i need to know to find it properly but here's some links to a few gaming magazines with similar fonts, plus an image https://archive.org/details/next-level-issue-20-sep-2000/page/n3/mode/2up (it's in spanish but the font is similar to what i'm looking for) https://archive.org/details/gameinformerissue134/page/n23/mode/2up (game informer issue 134 with one variant cover) https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-3-january-february-1992_202408/page/n5/mode/2up (game informer, issue 3 i think?) to clarify, it doesn't have to be any of them exactly, but close enough will do. It's jsut that I had a project in mind that requires this kind of font, and the ones I've got on my PC aren't matching up at all. I can either get the fancy "g" with a serif font, or i can have a sans-serif font that matches everything else, but not both

so, another idea along these lines when scouting around the site: was wondering if we could make the forum icons a bit more colorful sadly idk what else to add to them (maybe the effects on the letters could be used on the icons themselves with a colored disc?), but would certainly be cool to have like, not too crazy though, so, probably just color code each group, so you'd have the SC4 section one color, C:S another, Simtropolis related stuff another, etc also, been enjoying the super subtle improvements for site aesthetics (or maybe i'm going crazy who knows). Definitely been enjoying the subtle gradient texture on the pink buttons. I remember seeing it a while back, but was having trouble confirming it then, and then i was doing something today that reminded me of it and I went to check it out, so I at least know that those got updated