BlackStar

I do this with a pen pal of mine. We speak on MSN so we know what we're both doing with our cities, so we can decide what to build. We have two synchronized folders for plugins and regions, using MS Office Groove. Everytime we save our cities, the other player automatically receives the updated city when they turn the computer on. If they are IN SC4 at the time, they will have to F8 then re-enter to get new connections and neighbour deals, but it works very well indeed. Edit: Just to be clear, cities are updated in real-time. We stay in touch over MSN to avoid any possible saving conflicts. Generally speaking we each have our own city. For example, I say I'll work on suburbs to the east, and he'll work on a CBD.

Demand caps possibly? Create some new highway/subway connections and make sure you have all your reward buildings placed

Demand caps possibly? Create some new highway/subway connections and make sure you have all your reward buildings placed

Just a little update: Am still working on the next update, it involves a large population (in comparison), and need to get the buildings *just so* for it to be correct. You will see two completely different developments going up. 

I am not too reliant on money-making mods - I don't have extreme ordinances mods, nor do I have money gen lots. However, I do occasionally find myself in economic trouble, which can sometimes spark into an economic depression. It's probably due to mismanagement of finances, but the economic modeling in SC4, no matter how basic is very nice indeed. I was just wondering if anyone else has these episodes? I've only had a few major crises in all my years playing SC4, but the most recent I had was when public spending got too high, following a series of investments to increase the tax base. The investments didn't pay off, and with the funds dangerously low, I struggled to keep away from the red - going into debt a few times. I had to severely cut many city services - fire crews and transit workers were on strike - congestion soared as roads crumbled. Mayor ratings plummeted as libraries, local clinics and schools were closed and centralized into larger downtown facilities. Combined with traffic congestion and high taxes, this led to some occasional civil unrest. I also had to contend with a few pipe burst disasters, which destroyed several homes. This is the sort of thing which could normally be the cause of Game Over, but I eventually recovered, and income slowly crept up - and after a lucky break with a new residential development, I was able to gradually reinstate services and boost funding. I was wondering what you do to solve such economic downward spirals? And what is the best way?

Depends. Sims are just retards. You could try different pathfinding plugins

Am I missing something? Why not just use the god mode terraforming tools?

Well I run SC4 on an old, underpowered, widescreen dual core laptop and I get nice frame rates between 40 and 70FPS, with no problems at all. Even with 1gb of RAM and running vista with all the toys it runs wonderfully.

What I meant with the connections is simply to have *a* subway connection. It doesn't matter where it comes from or where it goes, just having a connection helps with demand caps and the like. I've always noticed there to be a correlation between congestion and customer levels. Not only do I frequently observe it, its logical - how else would the game determine how successful a business is? I expect this to be a replication of foot traffic, so that shops in dingy backstreets suffer. Although I may stand to be corrected by someone with relevant experience in the field. And of course education matters! Low educated sims cannot work for a CO§§§ (apart from 1 or 2 sims as cleaners, etc). Equally, highly educated sims won't work as security guards (i.e. low wealth jobs). It is a well-documented fact and covered in many guides.

Intentionally throwing up a bit of traffic congestion in the heart of your shopping district can generate a bit of commercial demand at the expense of commute time. It is not very common for the customers information to read as 'high'. Infact, I suspect it might even relate to pedestrian traffic. Would be interesting if this was the case. If it is, then bus stops generate foot traffic. With 100k residents you are not likely to see skyscrapers just yet. SC4 works through the growth stages as the demand caps are broken and the city grows. What I would say is work on a more regional level - developing adjacent cities really helps. Make a load of subway connections to neighbouring cities, too (even if it is just a 1 tile section of subway to get the yellow arrow), and also work on what worker Commerce NEEDS. High end commerce requires R§§ and R§§§ with high educational quotients. It sounds like you have the ideal layout - however, it would be a good idea to check the traffic volume dataview to find out where the highest levels of traffic actually are. If you have some heavily traversed streets and roads, you might consider placing shops there instead of homes (may as well, residents don't like busy routes). 'Too long commute' is simply a generic way of saying 'unsuitable commute', or 'cannot find suitable job'. The best way to assume this error is that the jobs aren't suitable.

Welcome back! Thank you to those who are following this City Journal. And a thank you to those who commented on the previous entry! This City Journal is loosely based around natural growth. However, I will be jumping forwards in time throughout some sections of the CJ for narrative purposes. In addition, I am using highly charged and accelerated building methods, just to get the ball rolling. Airport, whilst complete, will be continually expanded and improved as the journal progresses. Also, I have decided to drop the first person narrative. I write out my CJ entries beforehand in Word, and this writing method is a bit restrictive. Today, we will explore Mulholland – a settlement to the east, focused on the port. Latest Map of Britannica: Welcome To Mulholland It has been some time since the new Britannica Airport has been open – gathering pace and establishing itself as a word class airport. So far the transition has gone smoothly, with no notable instances other than the occasional piece of luggage going AWOL. Residents of London are feeling the benefit – their skies are clear, and the noise levels have dropped sharply. Traffic congestion on the M25 and the M4 has fallen considerably, too. However, most of the city is still choked – and people continue to lose their jobs as the stranglehold claims yet more businesses. Britannica Airport is going from strength to strength – its coupling with a nearby port makes North Europe within an easy reach of the airport. Passengers from Sweden, Norway and Denmark can hop on a ferry to Britannica – and catch a connecting bus to the terminal building for transcontinental flights. Previously, they would have to catch a flight to Schipol or Heathrow, and this has proven highly successful in keeping air traffic at Britannica. Here is an overview of the port and the surrounding area: As traffic through the port increases, hotels, restaurants and other amenities have sprung up. Today, we see this growth has continued, with tall hotel buildings owned by large chains such as Travelodge. Most of the buildings around the ports themselves are restaurants, hotels and conference suites. Towards the east, we see more apartment buildings and homes. Development in the area is closely monitored by Britannica County Council who have designated this as the town of Mulholland. Mulholland has proven a rather convenient spot for UK businessmen who travel to Europe frequently, and many expensive apartments have sprung up next to social housing projects. The rail station lies across the other side of the bay from the ferry ports – and the route between has developed as a large shopping district. Traders have set up shop here, cashing in on high volumes of passing traffic and low land value. This, of course, has helped further expand residential development in Mulholland. As well as large department store, more recognizable supermarkets and shopping malls surround the train station: Interestingly, for such a new and relatively small town – various entertainment venues have opened in the area. People are staying in Mulholland overnight – between early morning flights and late night ferries, people are spending a little time (and money) in transit. Here, we see various cinemas and theatres. A new, large theatre has just opened, with many musicals and performances put on which would have been shown in London’s West End (before it fell into disrepair). Back across the bay, ferries come and go – coach parties arrive for short trips to Europe, and travelers arrive from North Europe for Britannica Airport. Here, a ferry from Belgium has just arrived: And an overview: Just to the West of the shopping and entertainment district, a large port plays host to longer-distance ships. Today, a cruise liner has just departed, en route to Oslo for Iceland: Amongst B&B’s which originally kickstarted development in Mulholland, tall hotels and apartment buildings fringe the scenic bay: A sense of community is developing in Mulholland – its now a town, and growing. As people move in, so do their families. The Port’s medical facility has been expanded, and a school has opened in the Eastern part of town. Here, we see a trendy new plaza, fringed by expensive shops and bistros. The area will soon be filled with trendy condos and apartment buildings. Coming up next: The City of Britannica – New Plans for a New Town Once again, I would like to extend my thanks to all who are reading this city journal. I am beginning to pick up pace with this, and I am hoping I will be in full swing by the next update. I intend the next update to be considerably longer than this update, with lots of graphs and transportation maps as a new strategic transportation committee is set up.

A City Born From Aviation This city journal is set in a dystopian future – based on England in the real-world, with a lot of creative license. It follows the story of a new airport to replace the dangerously congested Heathrow. This new airport sits approximately where the current Norwich stands. For the purposes of this city journal, East Anglia is an under developed farming land, due to rich and level ground. The huge airport attracts development, and as London brinks on the edge of collapse, many national services are transferred to this new development as it becomes the new nation capital. Introduction It’s 2019, and London is in rapid decay. Since the economic downturn in the mid-noughties, the city has slowly been choking itself to death. Pollution rises from the streets as the relentless barrage of cars continues to increase. City funds dwindle as the commercial exodus gathers pace. Many companies have folded here, many have moved – unemployment is skyrocketing, and the city is struggling to cope with social benefits. As the thick haze tightens each year, more and more environmental protests land on the steps of parliament. Enraged commuters battle with hellish traffic, virtually every transport network experiences strikes weekly. There have already been two major riots this year, resulting in the deaths of over seventy people. The city is fighting to control order in what is becoming a lawless town. As public services disintegrate, the police are just about to lose their patience – this once-proud city needs a rescue plan quickly. Closing Heathrow February 16 Heavy clouds hang over the sky on a dark February morning. The sound of traffic engulfs the city in an inescapable growl, sirens ring out from every corner, the sky is peppered with circling airliners. Its 10 o’clock in the morning and some people are still struggling to get to their place of work. The roads are at a complete standstill. Today it’s the turn of London Underground – the crumbling network provides many delays, whether its fire, breakdown or derailment. It doesn’t help that almost half of the city bus drivers are on strike, either. Between standstill traffic, dangerous walkways, ineffectual public transport and a draconian security presence – I’ve managed to negotiate the 5-hour commute from Reading to Central London. I’m Liam Sultham, a regional planning advisor from Manchester. Today I am at the decaying City Hall to attend a crisis summit. This is the all-important meeting between various political leaders, business leaders and representatives. The very nature of the meeting means the Houses of Parliament are inaccessible – over 100,000 people swamp the building. Thank you for joining us today, ladies and gentlemen. I apologize for the delays many of you experienced to get here. In particular, I apologize to our friend here from Brussels. Hopefully now you can see our situation. As part of ongoing comm… The speaker pauses – windows of the riot-damaged building rattle loudly, as a regional airliner passes just overhead. As part of ongoing commitments to EU membership, I have called this meeting today to present our latest efforts to meet environmental and social targets set by Brussels. We understand that London is experiencing trouble, and that targets have not been met. London has been working hard to restore social harmony, and bring traffic levels back down to 2011 levels. The whole city has been under immense pressure to bring down traffic and pollution levels – excessive taxation and road pricing are just two weapons the UK government has used without effect to help relieve problems in this city. Our main source of concern is Heathrow. Despite the amount of landings being at a worldwide historic high, the economic viability of the airport is in doubt. We’ve also had various near misses with air traffic, and the obvious environmental and social impact is severely damaging to London. The speaker takes a short pause as he places down a hefty file on the table. Therefore – the City of London, with assistance from Central Government and Local Government in East Anglian counties, has decided to close the airport indefinitely. A New Beginning April 3, 2021 A British Airways Boeing 777 flies low over the Norfolk countryside. It makes a bumpy approach, lashed with heavy rains and pushed about by the stiff south eastern winds. On its second approach, the aircraft overshoots slightly, but makes an otherwise successful landing, and promptly taxis off the runway The first commercial flight at Britannica tests out the new technologies which have been built into the tarmac to keep surface water away It isn’t long before more follow – a Lufthansa 747, an Air France A330, even a Quantas A380. The 777 taxis into the apron, as a flood of new arrivals touches down minute after minute. Fresh-faced, the army of new employees put their training into action at jetways connect. Bags start moving, fuel trucks go into motion. Within the space of one afternoon, the entire airport is buzzing with activity. The airport lies in the centre of the Norfolk countryside, in seeming remoteness. To the East is the North sea, and the midland cities are 2 hours West. April 27 Tens and thousands of people cram the southern runway at Heathrow Airport. For the first time since 2013, the once 24/7 airport is silent. Where once the incessant noise of jet engines careened across the airfield – is now the quiet sound of cheering crowds. World media congregates to witness the demolition of the primary air traffic control tower at Heathrow. With the flick of a switch, sparks race over the tower, and it comes crashing down in a cloud of smoke. This iconic event marks the permanent closure of the airport. The transfer of flights to Britannica represents years of collaborative design and logistical planning effort. In one day, all flights to Heathrow were changed to Britannica. The last aircraft, a KLM 747 left Heathrow bound for Sweden. The airfield will soon be dismantled, building by building. Historic status on some structures has been made irrelevant, and by 2022, the entire site is expected to be razed. By Summer 2022, councils expect the site to be completely grown over as a massive public common. Environmental groups celebrate with caution. Whilst this congested, inefficient airport was closed, fear remains the new colossal airport could open the gates to a higher number of flights. This is despite new EU-wide legislation which will dampen excessive air travel: • Each country is divided up into a respective amount of regions. Britain is divided into Scotland, Wales, North, North Midlands, Midlands, East and South. Travel between neighbouring regions is not permitted by air, and existing licenses for these journeys have been revoked • Every EU member must sign up to a new transport initiative which connects each country by rail services which meet the criteria of the new Britannica Directive. France, Germany, Italy and Spain already meet this criteria – Britain has now been included following the opening of Britannica Airport with its new transport links • Various financial controls April 28 The British and European media has been feverishly covering details of a large new airport being constructed in the heart of the English countryside – and today, I get to visit this new airport. It seems the few rail services which are serving Britannica today are all fully booked, and the only coach services from this region depart from Victoria in London. Therefore, I shall be driving to the airport today. Electrification has not been completed on the new rail lines serving the airport, and temporary diesel trains have been drafted in to provide some basic coverage until electrification is complete. Travelling up the new M14 (which branches off the M11), the airport draws closer. This motorway is specifically designed with airport travelling in mind – multilingual signs, passive fatigue protection technology, and so forth. Despite being peak season, and with a lack of proper bus or rail services, the new M14 and M65 routes hold up well It’s not long before I’m slowing down, and joining slow-moving traffic for the airport. Compared to traffic in the strangled London, queues here are minimal. Tolling of these routes has been suspended until rail and bus operations are fully implemented, current projections show a reduction of road traffic by 30% after 1 month of the electrification of rail lines. The design of this airport concentrates radiating terminals around a single square patch of land. This makes for a much more clean and solid layout, and much friendlier to tired foreign drivers. I’m heading for the secondary control tower, which is located at the main amenities hall between Terminal 1A and Terminal 2. Each terminal atrium has its own parking zone for short term use, which is a walkable distance to the terminal itself. Light rail connects all terminals with all parking zones Up ahead is the sign I want, for “Terminal 1A Parking, Terminal 2 & Parking”. The airport is designed to minimize the distance spent driving around, whilst keeping a logical and robust design. It only takes a few minutes before I am in the multi-storey looking for a free space. The parking charges are a bit steep, being charged half-hourly, but that’s one of the effects of new EU legislation. Passing weary new arrivals, I descend to ground level and walk through the light rail station into Terminal 1A atrium Plazas and walkways criss-cross the airport, making it possible to walk anywhere Whilst the design of the building is nice – bright, airy, spacious, there are still signs of its ongoing completion everywhere. Decorating crews scatter the cavernous halls – painting joists and panels. Electricians are wiring in customer amenities, and the occasional builder can be seen carrying out some minor construction work. Lessons have been learned from Heathrow, and one idea I’ve mentioned to the developers has been put through. Unfamiliar with the airport, I’ve found an information point. I took the idea for these from a shopping mall in Melbourne some years back. The large touch screens provide animated 3d maps to direct even the most tired traveler clear direction information. Besides which, the modular layout of this airport means you could probably just wander until you found what you were looking for. A downside, I find, is that the terminal buildings are so very long, you feel like you are doing more travelling than you actually are. Electric buggies haul 4 or 5 passenger trailers up and down the terminal buildings, in their own designated areas. Moving walkways fill the air with a warm hum, shifting hundreds of people each minute. I don’t have to walk far – the tower is located at the ‘indoor park’, just a short walk from the entrance. After a security check, I’m allowed up – from where I have a grandstand view of the airfield. Dozens more gates than heathrow – yet doesn’t use too much more land. Smart land use, combined with new technology allows longer, more compact terminal buildings The rest of the party is not here yet, but the senior controller walks me round the tower, allowing me to gaze out with binoculars. (Yes, I forgot Zoneria in this shot) Not long after, I’m called to a room one floor below the main control room, where the rest of the party is waiting for a presentation from the airport manager, Peter Mandelson. Booklets with the airport logo are handed out as the lights are dimmed. Thank you for reading my first entry of my City Journal. Please do comment if you wish. This 'introduces' my city journal, its format, etc. If you noticed my old CJ, Osaio, you will understand the format this will take. Edit: I have gone through and given the entry a facelift to make it much more readable

Looking good Some more regional-oriented shots in the future maybe? Will be interesting to see the overall layout 

Lol I wondered where all the off topic boards went https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/index.cfm?FTVAR_SUBCAT=132&subcatname=Simtropolis%20Forum And yeh, the Peg incident is pretty much was said in the original post. Pegasus was probably one of the most prolific authors on Simtropolis back then, so he came out of it fine and continues to make excellent BATwork to this day. This was arguably the start of overzealous copyrighting and having readme.html forced upon you by installers which I helped popularize many years back

Also, hold Alt to rotate the zone, and Ctrl so solidify is (i.e. make it one lot)

Well don't forget SC4 is a very old game by now. It came out in 2003. If you are working on a fresh region with no plugins, there could be the chance that your hardware setup (maybe graphics card) is just not compatible. One thing I might say though, if it IS your graphics card being incompatible, have you tried to run SC4 with the software rendering command line? (And further to the previous comment, your OS is completely irrelevant. It would be unlikely for an OS to cause CTD of SC4 in the first instance. But nevertheless SC4 is fully compatible with it and wouldn't be causing your problems imo)

I too love the RHW. However, I feel that the intersections are still a bit fudged in places. Prefab RHW intersections would be endlessly useful for many players here. However, I do like the Maxis default highway for urban use. Whilst it is a little narrow (why does it not fill the 2 tiles?), it looks great in downtown settings and reminds me of many highways I have driven on, like parts of the M5 in England or parts of the Hume Highway near Melbourne.

Centralized utility management is a false economy. By creating power/water/garbage disposal in another city, you actually add to your financial issues. The unit price of electricity for home-generated power is considerably lower than purchasing it. Things like extra pumps required, etc are just an intentional obstacle which add to the difficulty of bringing up a large city. If you don't want to fork out for more pumps, consider conservation ordinances, or withdrawing the water supply for suburban and low wealth zones. Carefully choose your power sources, too. Working out the unit price for each mode will give you the best choice financially (however you have to offset this against the overhead cost of the plant). For example, wind farms are cheap, but the unit price is very high. Nuclear power plants are very expensive, but you get good value for money each month.

100k is a lot for a single line to manage. I build my rail networks based on a real-life layout, with most local stations being located off the mainline. Only principle stops interrupt the 'express' core line. For example, I have 1 or 2 tracks in the centre, with 1 on either one or both sides. The outer track(s) will collect traffic then add it to the central lines at strategic points. All the lines will then pass through a train station at key points such as downtown areas, etc. Ground-based commuter (heavy) rail has the highest capacity and second lowest speed if I am not mistaken. It's extremely cheap to run, anyway - so expanding the network is very good value for money. What was said previously about stations on the line is correct, unless you use default Maxis stations only. Transit-enabled train stations typically have a lower capacity than the mainline, so the station acts as a bottleneck, pushing up commute times.

Airports are inherantly crime-ridden anyway. I wonder if it would be possible just to open it in LEprop and turn it into a police station of its own?

Hey! I'm an old Simtropolite, too! I joined in about 2004 under a different username, ATPjohn (had to make a new account in 2005 for whatever reason). Can't remember exactly when I joined but usership stood at about 10,000 then. Like you, I went on hiatus, too. Have been back a few times. And yeh, the Peg scandal lol. Many of us were encouraged to boycott another SC4 website. simcitycentral I think the name was. Weird site anyway, whichever it was. Edit: *****. I read 'simcitycentral' in the original post as another website, lol

Your problem is that your available jobs & job wealth, and resident wealth & education do not concile. For example, higher wealth jobs require a higher educational quotient. High wealth businesses hire a lot of educated §§§ sims, and very few § sims (but they do employ some), and the reverse is true for low wealth businesses. Equally, your sims may be too rich and over-educated for low-wealth jobs they do not want to take. Another common problem is that the transit to work is not suitable, and thus sims cannot connect with jobs. Also, I've noticed that you have a very low-density residential layout, and no visible rapid transit. Having the bulk of employment in adjacent cities pushes up commute times considerably. Have you considered rapid transit?

Yep, that's lawnchair larry, one of the easter eggs in SimCity 4. There's a mention of it on Wikipedia if you fancy a look. I got 2x SC4 boxes and a RH box and cannot see anything about this feature in any of them! I've never used shift to make 'clean' turns, you can simply drag the network out by a further tile from the orthogonal piece, then at an angle of < 45° (left or right). Its a bit hard to explain in text but it's just in the way you draw the network which determines the corner type. You can also use this method to make a large-radius 90° turn within 3 tiles.

If I am getting annoyed with the city - do not like the layout, etc etc - I simply raise the terrain globally then move it back down. This completely wipes the map without having to wait ages for obliterate, etc. Is very quick and simple, but on the downside pollution remains, as do your finances (that said I rarely have trouble with either)

Hello, thank you for the comments :) I've screwed up a little with the residential development. I have R§, R§§ and R§§§ in growth stages 2-7, and a lot of NJZ's. This is due to developing it too quickly, with not enough industry and other services to maintain sims, rather than developing it in the usual manner. I shall be rectifying this as I develop near the airport. Hopefully this will make it a little more pleasing to the eye. @ Sky Guy: You can find the cul-de-sac mod here. I like this one as it is compatible with other sidewalk texture mods.