-
Announcement
-
Simtropolis Returns! 05/26/2026
See here for details about our site recovery efforts.
-
Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'communication'.
Found 5 results
-
Tutorial: Building large residential blocks along non-orthogonal networks
TheMurderousCricket posted a topic in SimCity 4 General Discussion
Due to a SC4's hardcoded rule, all residential lots are required to have an adjacent road tile in order to develop. Unfortunately, this means that in most cases it is impossible, or at least challenging, to develop a large footprint (e.g. 4x4 or 2x3) residential block along such networks as diagonal roads or NAM's fractionally angled roads. This is because, two or three residential "slices" required for such blocks to be born, will always lack road connection. Only a part of such 4x4 (or any other large building) will have actual access to the network. This, of course, results in less-than-appealing visual effect. For residential areas near non-orthogonal roads will oftentimes contain only low-density houses that can be directly attached to the nearby road tile. At the same time, residential blocks will always have to be built along orthogonal networks. However, there is a workaround for this problem which can be used until a more "orthodox" solution is found. This tutorial discusses said workaround and shows how you can build fully developed residential blocks and skyscrapers, seemingly "without" a road access... It will be of most use to those who wish to build large residential buildings along non-orthogonal roads, while keeping the immediate area visually / artistically appealing. If you'd like to know how to build succesful residential areas like the one below, I invite you to read the entire post in detail. Introduction Network Addon Mod has transformed the way our city quarters look and allowed us to build industrial and agricultural areas into irregular and very interesting road layouts, like so... It is also possible to create commercial districts in a similar fashion, within whimsical roadscape around. However, commercial buildings tend to be large at times and may not be perfectly aligned with road tiles. A commercial zone that you intend to put down next to these networks may have some "loose" lots that will display "No road connection" zots. Unless, you supplement this gap with a nice PedMall, which ensures connectivity and also has a park-like appeal... One would think that a similar solution could work with residential zones... But it doesn't... Due to the game's hardcoded rule, which has been explained by @Tarkus in this post, residential zones simply need to be built adjacent to a road. Otherwise they never develop or quickly fail. This is why, if you hope to have a section of nice 3x3 homes along a FAR or diagonal road, you will probably be severely disappointed and end up with this... Of course, in order to desperately pull it through, you may just make a concession and run a tiny road or street that reaches the lots lacking road access. Unfortunately, it looks neither pretty nor realistic... It is somewhat doable for FAR-2 but may become weird when combined with FAR-3. But to be honest, littering your entire neighborhood with tiny road stubs does not look too good one way or another. But have no fear - International Rescue is here. The tutorial below will help you make a setup like this in a way which is technically valid, consistent and far more pleasing to the eye. As a result, you will never again have to reserve your residential blocks for orthogonal road tracts only! First things first In order to execute my hack, you need: Network Addon Mod (version 44 or higher) Paeng's Parks (only one file is needed - "Siding_busstop" in "ADDONS_205" folder) My "Mimicked bus stop set" file (a slight modification of Paeng's file above and a derivative work based on his lot) The theoretical part As of 2022, the game forces us to provide a road access to each residential lot, making apartment blocks next to and facing some roads hard or impossible. However, with the use of NAM tools and some simple modding, it is actually possible to do it in a painless way. NAM has some special puzzle pieces which act as underground roads. Notably, when such a road is placed next to a residential lot, the game thinks that such lot has an access to the road network, which means that the hardcoded rule previously discussed is met. @Naomi57 is probably one of the first people who discussed underground roads in detail and once I recalled her experiments, I already had one foot in the door... Unfortunately, such underground roads cannot exist independently. In other words - if there is a road underground, it has to go above the surface somewhere. Otherwise, a "No road" zot will stay over any given lot. Interestingly enough, underground road does not have to exit to the surface through a tunnel entrance/exit... It can use a bus stop as a way out... Do you see my point now? To put it simple all we have to do is to run an underground road next to "unroaded" lots and connect it to the city network via an empty tile with bus stop properties. Then, we can enjoy building large stuff along non-orthogonal networks... Read on if you'd like to know how to pull this trick out. The practical part Carefully follow these instructions. 1. Open SC4 (thanks Captain Obvious...) 2. Build a FAR or diagonal road of your choice. 3. Zone a straight or several straight residential area(s) along your new road (any density you like). Something akin to this. "No road connection" zots will start popping up for disconnected lots. 4. Open "Transportation tools" menu. Click "Build roads". 5. Scroll down to "Flexible underpasses (FLUPs)" and click it. 6. Press TAB to scroll, until you see the "Straight underground route under pedmall". 7. Now, plop this puzzle piece along all of the lots that display "No road connection" zots. 8. Make sure they all run perpendicular to the lots. Just as normal roads would (rotate with "Home" or "End" keys if necessary). 9. Open "Miscellaneous transportation" menu 10. Scroll down and find the "MBS Tex#" icon. 11. Click it. Note that you can choose one of the four textures which are consistent with those that the pedmalls use. 12. Put the MBS between "Underground route under pedmall" and the nearest surface road tile. See the reference image... All done - watch your residential areas thrive along non-ortho and "without" a direct road connection! Caveats and things to remember I hope that you liked my tutorial and I also hope that you will find my hack useful. I would, however, like to mention several caveats that come with my proposal as I believe you need to get the full picture regarding the benefits and problems this hack entails. Please remember that this workaround is mainly intended as a visual trick which enables you to develop large residential projects along non-ortho in a cohesive and eye-pleasing manner. Silly street and road stubs every 5 meters do not look good, so I hope you appreciate my tip, especially if beauty is what you are after in your cities. Although there is no bus stop building on MBS, the MBS is technically still a bus stop. This means that using it en masse in your cities, may significantly increase mass transit usage which is especially true with the new traffic simulator in NAM 45. If you like robust communication networks in your towns it will probably be fun and beneficial to use these plops, killing two birds with one stone. If, however, you have some very specific and prescriptive plans for your communication networks, it may get in the way. Note that all Sims that have no direct road access will exclusively use busses to travel around! Keep this side effect in mind. The MBS comes with a monthly cost. However, given the fact that my workaround is supposed to mainly be an artistic helper, it has been reduced to $1 from the regular $5 that bus stops normally cost. It seems fair and you won't go bankrupt, which is especially true when you plan to use these fillers often. The underground road connections are always visible in-game as small "clips" on top of whatever Pedmall texture is used. So, if you choose to employ my solution, you'll have to live with it somehow. Personally, I am not too bothered by this and simply perceive them as rainwater grates. For some reason I don't understand, the grass-based underground routes cannot be mixed with underground routes which use different textures. This causes the entire road to loose continuity and everything before (or after) the grass-textured underground road will lack road access. I believe this was not the intended way and it might be a glitch. Still, it is perfectly fine to mix, say, cobblestone, red brick and cement-textured underground roads without any problems. Luckily, that the grass-textured MBS will always work fine with all underground roads! That would be all for now. Good luck and have a nice day! If you have any questions, doubts or especially if you have discovered a bug in the MBS files, leave a comment and let me know! TMC, out. -
Version 1.0.0
720 Downloads
SM2 SatCom Networks A small satellite network communication company that services all your sims cell phone/GPS and sat radio needs. Grow lot stats Lot size 3x1 Medium Wealth Stage 2 CS$$ Bulldoze cost 229 Power req 35 Water req 4 Provides CS$42 or CS$$13 jobs Use the CTRL+left mouse trick to make a 3x1 medium density commercial zone and watch it sprout. The cars and billboards are in a family therefore you will see different ones every time it pops up. Simmer2 Dependencies SM2 Essentials https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3586 SM2 Mega Prop Pack Vol1 https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3640 SM2 Mega Prop Pack Vol2 https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3645 SM2 Mega Prop Pack Vol3 https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3787 BSC - VIP girafe carpack vol. 1 & 2 https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2821- 4 Reviews
-
- 20
-
-
-
- commercial
- sm2
- (and 4 more)
-
From the album Content Creation (S3-20-C)
Before voting, we recommend you download and try out this item of content: [Download Here] HD Cell Towers. Sims can now enjoy clearer phone conversations......- 1 Comment
-
- 6
-
-
- mast
- communication
- (and 3 more)
-
Version 2.0.0
1,507 Downloads
A few cell towers in HD with nightlights for you to play with. No cost to plop, bulldoze or maintain. No power or water required. They will give a bit of park effect. Enjoy! Simmer2 1 dependency. SM2 Mega Prop Pack Vol1 https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3640 Alternate links for my packs only SM2 Mega Prop Pack Vol1 https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/32980-sm2-mega-prop-pack-vol1/- 3 Reviews
-
- 19
-
-
- mast
- communication
- (and 3 more)
