Sim City 4: No-Nonsense Metropolis

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Sim City 4: No-Nonsense Metropolis

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

The essential mods section of the OP should probably include the high-tech jobs fix, shouldn't it?

And you should probably put in the basic Running The Game section a note of those essential 'patch' mods, for people who don't want to mod and just play vanilla, and will just skip over the modding section.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 11:06 on Mar 8, 2013

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 11:04

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 19:53

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

ToxicSlurpee posted:

So just how bad of a debacle was SimCity 5, anyway? I never bought it after hearing about the always on DRM and multiplayer only crap. I read a little of the thread but it's just too much of a behemoth to sit and read all of.

Let me put it this way; Amazon pulled it for a while because it wasn't functional enough to sell, and EA just pushed out a patch that disables Cheetah speed and limits you to Llama or Turtle to lighten the load on their servers.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 16:59

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

PUNCH posted:

Because the terrain mods are HD (greater resolution than the base game technically supports,) they are unfortunately incompatible with software mode. Delete the terrainmods folder and you should be good to go.

And this is a pretty drat bad thing because Hardware mode in SimCity 4 uses a bunch of DirectX functions that were removed from the spec soon after launch, and the legacy support for the functions on any modern graphics card is very dodgy and much slower than software rendering because of the way it goes about faking the function. (Although the degree can vary between manufacturers and setups)

And because SimCity 4 runs graphics and logic in the same thread, it means that this grinds the whole simulation engine down in speed as well as the frame rate falls.

This is still a problem in software mode, but it's worse in hardware. Either way, it's why the game runs so slow on systems 20 times more powerful than it was designed for.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Mar 10, 2013

# ¿ Mar 10, 2013 03:46

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

AlphaDog posted:

Now simulate Melbourne

To be fair, Melbourne was pretty well forward planned too, at least at the start. Ridiculously wide city streets, with a large-small repeating pattern along one axis? It's served us pretty well. It's just that it's made people so lax that everyone since then hasn't given a crap about keeping good planning up.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Adelaide's planning was basically an improved version of the Melbourne grid. The very wide streets especially turned out to be wise.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Mar 11, 2013

# ¿ Mar 11, 2013 15:55

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

AlphaDog posted:

I installed the Old Fashioned pack, and while it looks nice, it slows the game to a crawl. I can't figure out why, since it's not using more than 50% CPU and less than 4gb of ram is utilised while it's running.

I have an i5 2500k with 8gb of ram and a 560ti. Nothing this old should run that badly. It was fine with just the traffic mod installed. Any idea what I've done wrong?

Try removing the terrainmods (just drag out the folder) in the pack and then switch it to Software Rendering mode, because Hardware Mode is bugged out on modern cards and can slow things to hell, but the terrainmods in the pack requires it.

If that does turn out to be the cause, you can replace it with Meadowwood (Meadowshire?) or Columbus terrain mods from LEX, which don't require Hardware Mode. Or just leave it be with Vanilla, but I'm crazy like that.

This should possibly be in the OP, since some setups will have it really bad whilst others will run alright in Hardware.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 10:21 on Mar 12, 2013

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 10:05

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Jefferoo posted:

So I'm starting with a totally blank, new region, (no luck with mod packs, just 4+Rush Hour unless someone knows how to get NAM working on Mac)

Here, NAM v30 Mac Edition

# ¿ Mar 13, 2013 09:47

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

PerrineClostermann posted:

So...I installed the old fashioned pack and the Fhuzo region, but every time I try to make a city, the game crashes. Any ideas? I noticed that someone else had trouble with the region, but he didn't have the old fashioned pack.

EDIT: Oh my, I seem to have posted hastily. I'm simply crashing every time I try to start a new city, regardless of region. It's a fresh install on W7 x64 with the single CPU flag set.

Double EDIT: Removing the old fashioned pack removes the crash. Perhaps there's a potential conflict inside it?

The HD terrain texture pack in the Old Fashioned Pack requires hardware rendering, are you using it?

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 05:55

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Dice Dingus posted:

I fired it up with the custom region and the old fashioned pack and...

...It ran like total poo poo, taking upwards of five to ten seconds every time I tried to scroll the screen inside my new city to finish rendering the trees.

Time to try GrandFromage's pack! If it works on Software mode, it works for my janky intel graphics chip, and that works for me.

Pull the HD terrainmods out of the oldfashionedpack and run it in software, it'll probably work full speed.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 10:41

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Shibawanko posted:

I can kind of see what they were going for, they wanted a two-way roundabout, but imagine you're some wheel-clinging pensioner and suddenly this thing comes up. I'm also guessing it looks rather ugly.

It's been done in a couple of other places too. It works better when it's clear that it's not one big multi-roundabout-superroundabout, it's just five little roundabouts on a ring road, which is more obvious on some of the other ones where it's more spaced out. Swindon's just too compressed.

Then again some yanks I've spoken to can barely handle one roundabout. You're missing out over there, guys.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Mar 14, 2013

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 13:03

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

It's not even the mega roundabouts; just that things are way easier when every minor-street-but-not-back-street intersection is roundabouted.

Plus they usually have pretty flowers and stuff.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 13:27

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Shibawanko posted:

My country does it that way, I vastly prefer roundabouts in most situations because it's easy to turn around if you've taken a wrong turn.

But then they make insane variations like this:

I regularly have to navigate one of these fuckers, they really feel quite dangerous because if you're in the central lane, sometimes you have to cross other lanes to take a right turn, but in most cars it's quite difficult to see if any other cars are coming from that angle. Fortunately mine is slightly less convoluted than this one, but it's still weird as hell when you first encounter one.

That's not even a roundabout, that's just a bunch of exit lanes lanes that cross each other. :raise:

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 14:20

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

I think it's just the 'terrainmods' folder. Punch can confirm, though.

This may not do anything, but in my entirely anecdotal experience it can cause a lot of slowdown.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 18:03

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Dice Dingus posted:

So, since the gorgeous amazing terrain mods included in Old Fashioned turn my game into molasses-on-a-January-morning, can anyone suggest some terrain mods that work with software rendering? I loathe these mod sites with a fervent passion and my just play without them altogether, but this big hilly region looks so much worse with the default terrain and it's very depressing. I particularly like the snowcapped peaks it shows.

Try Columbus with one of the snowcapped options. Here.

So did removing the HD terrain and going software actually fix the speed problem?

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Mar 15, 2013

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 01:03

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

I think y'all know my answer to everything by now. _{softwaremodesoftwaremode}

# ¿ Mar 17, 2013 03:53

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Andrigaar posted:

5) Have tons of reconcile edge disasters if enough people join/regions are taken

Oh, you'd have to do the major landscaping ahead of time, probably.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2013 10:14

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Yeah, don't do the roads ahead of time, that's overcontrolling. Although it'd be nice if everyone agreed to not deliberately cause the traffic loop bug.

Usually the regional terrain can handle the small difference caused by building flattening at the edges, but ah well. It's only like a few tiles anyway.

And yeah, maybe ban volcanoes along the sides.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2013 10:31

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Dropbox will sync the modified city files, not the whole region.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2013 17:11

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

For the final thing, you should offset the city grid a little to maximise connections between large squares.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2013 02:08

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Abner Assington posted:

I ended up installing the OldFashioned pack (re: threw it all in the Plugins folder), minus the Terrainmods folder since hardware mode is awful, and it crashes SC4 every time I load a city Maybe I'll try one of the other packs.

Did you remove the terrainmods from Everything Else too? And if that doesn't work load up the full old-fashioned and see how it runs in Hardware, I guess.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2013 09:37

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Giggily posted:

I like the random, lone trailer house that is convinced that it has no road connection.

This is lovely looking, but the bit where the road and the street are running parallel would drive me bonkers.

Is there an SC4 profile/mod manager? Just fake out /Documents/Simcity4 with folder redirection, I'd imagine.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2013 06:24

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Elukka posted:

The town I live in has a bit where in Sim City terms there's a road and streets running parallel on either side. I don't see anything odd here.

Are you talking about Service Lanes? (slash Frontage road depending where you live, I guess)

# ¿ Mar 25, 2013 10:33

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Reason posted:

How are you guys getting the game to run at higher resolutions? The highest I see in the settings menu is like 1078x748 or whatever and I can't stand it.

If you're launching through steam, add

code:

-CustomResolution:enabled -r1680x1050x32

to your launch options. Or if it's a shortcut, add it to the end of the launch command.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2013 07:18

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Medium Style posted:

I have a problem where I can never balance R$$$ residents with $$$ jobs. I keep having R$$$ move in but demand for offices or I-HT never goes up enough, so I can't develop any employment for them. Eventually they litter my city with abandoned mansions due to "commute time". I've tried attracting employers by slashing taxes and improving education but I only get blips in demand, not enough to stop the R$$$ from leaving. Eventually the offices and I-HT that do develop will also stagnate and abandon due to low demand. I've also tried keeping land values lower to discourage so many R$$$ from moving in when there aren't enough jobs for them, but that doesn't stop them and only seems to hurt the business that are there.

Do you have the HT jobs fix?

# ¿ Apr 11, 2013 01:36

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

triplexpac posted:

So I have a city of about 20,000 and I'm starting to put in some water & basic education to get sims happier

The problem is when I build a school, it immediately fills up past capacity and the teachers go on strike. I fund the schools to max, but they still go over that.

Is there a way around this, or do I have to just keep building schools until everyone is happy?

Lower school bus funding so it pulls from a smaller area of people; preferably it should be in the middle of your rich district. It shouldn't be long until you get the large versions of the schools, though.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 15:31

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Avocados posted:

Is it possible to (eventually) replace all dirty industry with high tech industry? Or does dirty industry need to exist in some certain quantity? Also, if possible, whats the best way to turn a massively polluted industrial sector into a high tech one?

In-place replacement is the hardest method, since the pollution will drive off High-Tech development. A separate High-Tech park and redevelopment of the old Dirty area with something else is much easier.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2013 13:44

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Yeah.

Speaking of incantations, in my experience you get much better performance on the software renderer due to some issues with the hardware one, but you need to use the hardware renderer for Old Fashioned Pack, so :shrug:

# ¿ Oct 31, 2013 23:41

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Eric the Mauve posted:

Lots of luck finding two goons with the same mods and custom buildings to work with, though.

Hmm, coming to think of it, it'd totally be possible to make a mod manager that has profiles which launch with redirected mods folders synced at dropbox public shares as profiles.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 06:09

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

It should play significantly faster and more stable in software mode, due to depreciation of certain graphics card functions used by hardware mode.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2014 12:22

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

And once you get lots of large city plots things can become unfeasible unless you take fairly extreme traffic measures.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2014 04:18

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

You may be able to get speedup by switching between hardware and software rendering. Simcity 4 is a strange bird; graphics, UI and simulation don't run in different threads, and graphics uses functionality which doesn't properly exist on modern graphics cards and can cause greater slowdowns today than ten years ago.

# ¿ May 5, 2014 16:50

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Wait, GoG serves the DOS version and not the Windows version?

How bizzare.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 06:04

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

nielsm posted:

The DOS version of SC2k is easier to get working on modern systems. I'm quite sure the Windows version is a Windows 3.1 program i.e. 16 bit, that won't run on 64 bit Windows at all. You'd need a full virtual machine running Windows 95 or 3.1 to get it working well. At that point it's much simpler to just use DOSbox and run the DOS version.

The game's actually 32-bit. The installer is 16-bit, but that's easy to work around for a place like GoG.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 08:51

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Tai posted:

It's scary to think how popular an offline game is 10 years later and the scary amount of modding that is still going on...

When it's basically the last decent game in the entire genre...

If a decent citybuilder got release SimCity 4's community would probably die fast.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 11:43

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

James The 1st posted:

The Paradox dev who's the producer I believe said in the AMA that the game has a built in asset exporter. So you can easily add new buildings and whatnot right from the start.

You mean an importer?

There's actually a tool right now that autoconverts SimCity 4 creations to SimCity 2013, maybe they'll be able to do similar. It's neat to be able to leverage the huge number of lots.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2014 09:35

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Be careful with on-street mods, some of them can seriously gently caress up the car traffic simulators by causing them to consider each time they pass a station as the end of a route and the start of a new one.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2014 14:26

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 19:53

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Bell_ posted:

At the risk of asking a question that may have been answered several times (though I couldn't find it in the OP) does this game still require a connection to EA's servers?

It was a deal breaker when this game came out, as much as I wanted to play a new Sim City.

Wrong SimCity. This is SimCity 4, from 2003.

I believe an offline mode has been patched into SimCity 2013.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2014 02:16

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