sq13610

Placing Mode - Toggle individual buildings/zones What does this option do? I don't see any difference whether I have it on or off.

Ok but how? I've finally worked out how to do it. For whatever reason in Cities XL 11 when you select "Placing Mode" on the main menu and then start a new city placing mode reverts to being off. To turn it on you have to hit F1 whilst "in city", bring up the options menu and turn it back on. Only then does an extra icon appear on your build options that allows you to place buildings. Took me blooming ages to figure out how to get round what can only be described as a very minor but very irritating bug.

Ok but how? I've finally worked out how to do it. For whatever reason in Cities XL 11 when you select "Placing Mode" on the main menu and then start a new city placing mode reverts to being off. To turn it on you have to hit F1 whilst "in city", bring up the options menu and turn it back on. Only then does an extra icon appear on your build options that allows you to place buildings. Took me blooming ages to figure out how to get round what can only be described as a very minor but very irritating bug.

Ok but how? I've finally worked out how to do it. For whatever reason in Cities XL 11 when you select "Placing Mode" on the main menu and then start a new city placing mode reverts to being off. To turn it on you have to hit F1 whilst "in city", bring up the options menu and turn it back on. Only then does an extra icon appear on your build options that allows you to place buildings. Took me blooming ages to figure out how to get round what can only be described as a very minor but very irritating bug.

When you say "your own buildings" do you mean ones that you have designed or choosing which building you want to place from the in-game models? If it's the latter, I can't work out how to do it.

When you say "your own buildings" do you mean ones that you have designed or choosing which building you want to place from the in-game models? If it's the latter, I can't work out how to do it.

Part I A History The Thales Accord finally brought to an end centuries of war over this fertile land. The three great powers of Polmenta to the south west, Salkenburg to the North and Kanisar to the East were brought to peace by a great warrior and inspirational leader of men. Thales. Thales had been a mercenary from the island Kingdom of Hestinium, brought to this land by the promise of riches to those that could bring victory. Thales had no loyalty other than to his own desire for wealth. He fought on all three sides during his first twelve years. He saw the waters of the great river run red with blood; he saw men frozen like statues during the harsh winters; he saw skeletal figures eating rats and grass in the vain struggle for survival; he saw the madness and pustules of bolsepsia disease; he realised that this war could not be won. He saw the desire of men to return home; he saw their despair at the pointless slaughter; he felt their anger at their leaders and he reached out to them all. In another six years, Thales became the leader that the armies of all three sides looked to. Thales was no longer a warrior but a man of peace. The fighting stopped and the rulers of Polmenta, Salkenburg and Kanisar fearing rebellion came to the table. In the accord that was reached the three great powers relinquished all claims over the territory and Thales was inaugurated as the First Protector. The peace held. The scars of war were too deep and every blade of grass in the Protectorate of Thales held too many horrific memories for there to be any desire to return. Thales lived a subsistence life in the Protectorate that now bore his name. He feared that if he exploited the rich soil the envious eyes of the three powers would once again turn towards the Anaximander River. When he died, his eldest daughter became the Second Protector of Thales. Three centuries passed and now the Republics of Polmenta, Salkenburg and Kanisar have wealth from across the globe. They have no need of the riches that Thales has to offer. Seventeen Protectors have come and gone and each one has kept the land unspoiled. But these are enlightened times of economic and political co-operation and the Eighteenth Protector of Thales has the support of his neighbours to develop the land. Part II Humble Beginnings For the first time in three hundred and fifty years a road connection is established with Salkenburg and Kanisar. No connection yet to Polmenta. On the site of the old Protectors small farm a village is developed and named Hestinium after the original Protector's homeland. This will provide workers for the surrounding farms. 50 farms have been developed and a couple of water towers erected to supply the farms with water. There are 5 silos and one fertiliser factory. Thales produces 13 tokens of food – production 17.5, consumption 3.6. Population is 2557 (84% U - 13% S – 1% E) this adds up to 98% so quite where the other 2% are is anybody's guess. Cash flow is +35,954 The land is Thales' cheapest way to generate an income in these early stages but if it is to thrive it must develop some industry. Surveyors have been sent to find suitable areas for industrial development. In the meantime Thales is a thriving and happy little community with a BIG future. Watch this space.

Part III Primary Industries The dry valley between Heraclitus Ridge and The Downs was identified as the best place to develop some primary industries. Neighbouring Salkenburg is a manufacturing powerhouse and provides a ready market for Thales' industrial production and a road link is nearby. Two small towns were established to provide workers for the industries. Cratylus and Archytas are close enough to each other to be able to share education and healthcare services. Cratylus, in the shadow of the Heraclitus ridge provides the bulk of the offices required for the administration of the industries. Hestinium Village in the foreground looking north showing the twin towns of Cratylus and Archytas and the Heraclitus Ridge. Looking east over the industrial park. A view from the top of the chimney looking west to The Downs and the Salkenbug link road A terraced housing for the workers in Archytas A more salubrious neighbourhood. Looking south from the Heraclitus Ridge over Cratylus and farmland to Hestinium Village. Population: 15,206 (61%U – 37%S – 0%E) I guess these figures are rounded down. Cashflow: 47,848 Tokens: 13 Food, 3 Industry, -1 Fuel, -1 Manuf., -1 Water.

Part III Primary Industries The dry valley between Heraclitus Ridge and The Downs was identified as the best place to develop some primary industries. Neighbouring Salkenburg is a manufacturing powerhouse and provides a ready market for Thales' industrial production and a road link is nearby. Two small towns were established to provide workers for the industries. Cratylus and Archytas are close enough to each other to be able to share education and healthcare services. Cratylus, in the shadow of the Heraclitus ridge provides the bulk of the offices required for the administration of the industries. Hestinium Village in the foreground looking north showing the twin towns of Cratylus and Archytas and the Heraclitus Ridge. Looking east over the industrial park. A view from the top of the chimney looking west to The Downs and the Salkenbug link road A terraced housing for the workers in Archytas A more salubrious neighbourhood. Looking south from the Heraclitus Ridge over Cratylus and farmland to Hestinium Village. Population: 15,206 (61%U – 37%S – 0%E) I guess these figures are rounded down. Cashflow: 47,848 Tokens: 13 Food, 3 Industry, -1 Fuel, -1 Manuf., -1 Water.

Part I A History The Thales Accord finally brought to an end centuries of war over this fertile land. The three great powers of Polmenta to the south west, Salkenburg to the North and Kanisar to the East were brought to peace by a great warrior and inspirational leader of men. Thales. Thales had been a mercenary from the island Kingdom of Hestinium, brought to this land by the promise of riches to those that could bring victory. Thales had no loyalty other than to his own desire for wealth. He fought on all three sides during his first twelve years. He saw the waters of the great river run red with blood; he saw men frozen like statues during the harsh winters; he saw skeletal figures eating rats and grass in the vain struggle for survival; he saw the madness and pustules of bolsepsia disease; he realised that this war could not be won. He saw the desire of men to return home; he saw their despair at the pointless slaughter; he felt their anger at their leaders and he reached out to them all. In another six years, Thales became the leader that the armies of all three sides looked to. Thales was no longer a warrior but a man of peace. The fighting stopped and the rulers of Polmenta, Salkenburg and Kanisar fearing rebellion came to the table. In the accord that was reached the three great powers relinquished all claims over the territory and Thales was inaugurated as the First Protector. The peace held. The scars of war were too deep and every blade of grass in the Protectorate of Thales held too many horrific memories for there to be any desire to return. Thales lived a subsistence life in the Protectorate that now bore his name. He feared that if he exploited the rich soil the envious eyes of the three powers would once again turn towards the Anaximander River. When he died, his eldest daughter became the Second Protector of Thales. Three centuries passed and now the Republics of Polmenta, Salkenburg and Kanisar have wealth from across the globe. They have no need of the riches that Thales has to offer. Seventeen Protectors have come and gone and each one has kept the land unspoiled. But these are enlightened times of economic and political co-operation and the Eighteenth Protector of Thales has the support of his neighbours to develop the land. Part II Humble Beginnings For the first time in three hundred and fifty years a road connection is established with Salkenburg and Kanisar. No connection yet to Polmenta. On the site of the old Protectors small farm a village is developed and named Hestinium after the original Protector's homeland. This will provide workers for the surrounding farms. 50 farms have been developed and a couple of water towers erected to supply the farms with water. There are 5 silos and one fertiliser factory. Thales produces 13 tokens of food – production 17.5, consumption 3.6. Population is 2557 (84% U - 13% S – 1% E) this adds up to 98% so quite where the other 2% are is anybody's guess. Cash flow is +35,954 The land is Thales' cheapest way to generate an income in these early stages but if it is to thrive it must develop some industry. Surveyors have been sent to find suitable areas for industrial development. In the meantime Thales is a thriving and happy little community with a BIG future. Watch this space.

Placing Mode - Toggle individual buildings/zones What does this option do? I don't see any difference whether I have it on or off.

Is it possible to allow the .SC4M files created using the recently available and excellent SC4 Terraformer to be uploaded to STEX instead of just the .jpgs? The files are a bit larger (630K vs 190K for a 1281x897 map) but do allow a region to be presented after using the in-game and terraformer tools to fine tune parts of the landscape. Particularly this avoids the auto-smooth/auto-erode that (imo) ruin my custom regions.

So, I'm developing a city to accompany a couple of others that are well under-way and taking great care to avoid the "sims in orbit" problem. I build some industry near the map centre and plan to develop the area around the ferry port as a commercial district. Sims were already working in the city to the south (there weren't enough jobs so I don't mind this). In order to get them to work in the city where they live I force them to go through the (future) commercial district and past the new industrial park so that they take these jobs first. Forcing sims to drive past employment centres to get to a neighbour usually works well in this respect. The result was that these sims elected to stay in their neighbour city jobs but were prepared to walk an astonishing 156 tiles to get to the edge of the map!! Commute times rose by a paltry 5 minutes (NAM Radical in operation). How on earth has this happenned and how on earth can I fix it!

Just a point of clarification. There are TWO query tools. Using the standard query tool you will get a reading of (for example) 58/64 for a particular workplace. This means that if conditions were perfect this workplace would offer 64 jobs but that currently there are only 58 jobs available because conditions are not perfect (too much pollution, lack of neighbour connections no water etc etc). Using the traffic query tool tells us exactly how many of those 58 available jobs are filled and how each worker gets to the workplace.

Hmm!! This thread has been running a while. I visited Australia for a few months at the end of last year to watch 'The Ashes'. Sydney is definately the face of Australia with its iconic structures and beaches but I liked it far less than Melbourne or Adelaide. The Mass Transit is awful (very important to a visitor), hanging about in traffic on buses mostly; the ferries are cool though, I enjoyed commuting to the suburbs by ferry. And too many sex shops and prostitutes. The number of times I was asked ..... well, you know..... I also thought that the Opera House was quite ugly. It's a very photogenic building but I did find it ugly. Melbourne was superb (although it was bloody cold!). The trams and trains were efficient. There was a feeling of space (not all cramped up and enclosing like Sydney), wide streets with trams running down the centre and districts each with their own slightly different character (Collingwood, St Kilda, Fitzroy, Williamstown etc) separated by immaculate parks and gardens. Adelaide reminded me of England and was very pleasant but I have to agree with an earlier post in this thread, we did kind of run out of ideas to entertain ourselves after a while. The locals were none to sympathetic about the Test result either but I suppose I can't hold that against them, I didn't have much sympathy for them in 2005.

Even with the terraformer I think a .bmp/.jpg is still the best way to start. I created a pretty damn fine region with 80 cities in a few hours. Without the terraformer it would have taken days. Step 1. I use this 256 colour pallette in Paint Shop Pro to roughly outline the contours of the region ending up with something like this... As you can see, the countours are quite widely spaced. Step 2. Then I use the magic wand tool to select water (Click the water with the tool then go to Selections/Modify/Select Similar). Then I invert the selection (Selections/Invert) so that only the land is selected and load a greyscale pallette making sure to tick the "Maintain Indexes" box. I can no apply an average blur to the selected area - effectively smoothing the terrain and I end up with something like this ..... Step 3 This is where the terraformer comes into it's own. I use the terraformer to smooth out the remaining ridgey areas paying careful attention to the city boundaries and add some other large features in certain areas. The terraformer tools are far more powerful than the in-game tools and can span city boundaries thereby avoiding those annoying reconciled edge problems. Step 4 Then I save the city using the terraformer and open up the game for some fine tuning and creating very small features such as the cragginess of the coasts, little ridges, smoothness of river banks etc. Step 5 When I am happy with the micro detail I can then open the region using the terraformer and export the terrain to an *.SC4M file and share it with everyone EXACTLY as I designed it.

Why I love the terraformer and want to be able to upload/download .SC4M files. The top image of each pair is the result of an SC4M file being imported into the game and is how I want the region to look. The bottom image of each pair is the result of hitting ctrl+alt+shift+r, importing a .bmp/jpg directly into the game and is, to put it politely, a less than ideal outcome. Coastline River

The .SC4M files are created by the SC4 terraformer tool (Global Tools/Prepare Export). To generate a region you would import the SC4M file into Wouanagaine's terraforer tool and the save the region. Advantages: 1 Takes a tiny fraction of the time that the game takes to generate a region** 2 No auto-smooth/auto-erode therefore preserving those intricately designed coastlines/rivers (I am a bit of a Slartibartfast when it comes to coastlines). ** Just done a quick test and SC4 terraformer to 18 seconds to generate a 1281x897 region with 70 cities. The in game engine took 9 minutes!! (Athlon 64 3500+ 2GB RAM)

I get the same but a quick search and I've found it here: http://www.ausgamers.net/files/details/html/3932 It hasn't downloaded yet so I don't know if it'll work!!