Sim City 4

[joninmobile]

This is sort of an unofficial Sim City 4 Thread where you can talk about all things related to Sim City 4. Any quetions, comments, advice, anything like that.

So I am planning on getting Sim City 4 as a Christmas present this year, and I was wondering some things about it.

1. Can you make custom content with it, and if so, where do you share your SC4 custom content.

2. I've heard you can use SC4 to make neighborhood maps for sims 2, is there anything else you can do in sims 2 using SC4?

3. Would you reccomend it for a die hard sim fan?

- I have played Sim Cities before I got into The Sims, my favorite one to play was Sim City 3,000. So you have an idea of what kind of Sim City game I like. Basically is it worth the person paying their money to buy it for me for Christmas, for me since I enjoyed Sim City 3,000.

[JohnnySp]

Absolutely get it, preferably with the Rush Hour EP. SC4 has loads of custom content that have prolonged my gaming pleasure by years. Simtropolis is a good site for custom content downloading and sharing.

[Synthesis]

Despite its bugs, it's an outstanding game. I very much recommend it.

Two suggestions: first, as JohnnySp suggest, Simtropolis is fantastic. Second, if you're having framerate problems, consider disabling traffic in the graphics options. I found that helps.

[ElPresidente]

Definitely the best of the series but you will have a small period of adjustment going from 3 to 4.

The main change is that regions interact in Sim City 4. Whereas in the past you would build a city that had an area that was slummy, an expensive area and so on now you have to start thinking regionally about these issues otherwise your old strategies will see your cities stagnate quickly.

To succeed in Sim City 4 you need to have an entire low income region to provide jobs for low tech industry. If you want a farming district you will need to devote most of a region to it. Just like in real life.

It takes a bit of getting your head around but once you understand the more holistic nature of the game it becomes significantly deeper.

[midnightmonkey28]

I would recommend Simcity4. I love Simcity4 it seems very realistic and has good graphics.

Simcity4 even has a mysims feature where you can actually put your sims in your city choose their star sign and choose where they live and tell you all about your city and what it's like and what you should improve on. Also if you get Rush Hour you can actually drive cars! :up:

And i would recommend Simcity4 rush hour, it gives you alot of stuff like cruise ship ports and you can choose what kind if bridge you want, ground level highways, gives you two more disasters, more than 350 new buildings!

Also you can do U drive it missions where you do driving missions and get rewards like Simolians, unlocking certain buuildings before you earn them, increased mayor rating. :D

You can also drive planes, boats and cars also tanks that you can actually use the gun and blow up buildings. :)

You can also put animals in your city but be careful or you might get an animal stampede (Animal stampedes are pretty rare but they can happen!)

And i also recommend Simtroplis.com :)

[aaries16]

After reading through this, ya'll make me want to install SC4 again. I love it. And I had SC3000 before it too, it did take some adjustment, but I got the hang out it, though I'm not the best city planner.

[MekMek]

If there is one game that will stick around on my old trusty tin-can, it's SC4.
So, I'll agree with the rest and recommend it also. :up:
I don't regret that I bought it.

2. I've heard you can use SC4 to make neighborhood maps for sims 2, is there anything else you can do in sims 2 using SC4?

I've been wondering about that too, though I haven't managed to
find much else than the neighborhood making. It's a bit of shame
train tracks don't show up in TS2 if you have putted them in
your region in SC4.

[cmomoney]

You can get programs for modding SC4 here. (http://www.simprograms.com/programs-simcity-4/) I have had SC4 installed on my PC ever since I bought the game and I still play.

[aaries16]

I reinstalled the game today, started playing my second city in the region, and all was going well - I think I had gone on for 3 or 4 years. Then the game crashed - I had nothing saved :(

[slc1999]

My simcity 4 always crashes. So i never play it anymore

[Mootilda]

The largest active SimCity 4 site is probably:
http://www.simtropolis.com/

Another fairly active SC4 site:
http://sc4devotion.com/

[Couriervaughan]

Sims City 4 is my favorite game all time

[Bananas8338]

I got SimCity 4 for Christmas last year, but it's so hard! SimCity 3000 was waaay easier!

[Slipslop]

Oh Sim city 4 is a fantastic game, i spent countless hours on this game, combined with the soundtrack it was very relaxing at the same time. Really a game you could dive into, personally i loved that you could grab a car and drive through your city. Still have it installed and play it every now and then.

[Aladhruin]

I never played SC4, I am thinking of getting it now, BUT. would you guys recommend it if I only want to use it to create 'hoods for the sims2? I've been playing the sims3 plus CAW for a while now, but I m getting fed up with it, because every time i build in it i get sick from the camera movement, plus, i hate to play a hood that i didnt create, and I dont like the maxis hoods either. so i m considering going back to TS2 again! (feel like a traitor). i have seen very nice TS2 hoods created using SC4, but i still want to build my own hoods! so, what do you think?

[cmomoney]

I don't know if I would get it just for those reasons, it's a fun game on its own ('cause it still has the Maxis touch I guess). Being able to do the other stuff is an added plus. My son just started playing TS2 again; don't feel like a traitor, you paid for it, play what you want. Although, I never was able to get the positioning right building worlds for TS2 using SC4.

[Kailacat]

I just got SimCity 4... And wow, it is awesome. So far I am loving it. Although all my cities have negative income, but I'm keeping them afloat with cheats. :D

[Ive]

Usually use a demand cheat because I hate it when I have to build big blocks of industrial areas that just mess up the pollution entirely.

I so love playing it tho, have had it ever since the release :lovestruc Simtropolis is a great place for buildings and other items like different roads or just cheats.

But I really would wish that a Simcity 5 would be made just like I wish there would be another Theme Hospital (Yeah Right!). Upgraded graphics, game glitches and random crashes fixed, more possibilities like complicated rail tracks (like barriers going down and it would hold up the traffic for a passing train. Meh could list a lot of things like this), bridges over small rivers or just over other roads and curved roads or roundabouts and more in depth about the things going on in the city would be so great. There is a huge fanbase for it so I don't see why they don't take the chance or time.

Cities XL is also great if you like SC4 but that's more about the gameplay rather than the building. So I would love a SC5 with the mix of both!

[Tamalain]

Hi Kailacat. Here are a few pieces of advice to help with income.

1. Start out, do NOT install doctors, schools, fire house, or police. Also sta away from Landfills for as long as you can.

2. The first thing you need are small lots, low income type, one wind turbine. Once you have enough sims in town, check tax rates. raise all to about 9%. They may complain, or they may not.

3. Add a water tower once you have made back the base amout of cash. Be slow and carefull.

If you spend to fast, you will go broke in a hurry. Also have at least on connector road to next region. Thats all for now.

[Kailacat]

Okay, I have a question. Sorry if this is the wrong place to put it but it does have to do with SC4 and I figure this thread will get replies more. When I put a custom terrain into Sims 2, do tunnels carry over or do they disappear?

[ElPresidente]

Pretty sure they disappear.

[mimolay]

I've had SC4 Deluxe since 2005, and it still holds up today. It may not be fully 3D, but that's what is great about it since it doesn't take up much CPU (if rendering graphics on "Software" mode). I've had a great appreciation of SC3000, SimTower, and SimTown when I was little. I feel like SC4 just completes all of those games I played growing up. SimCity Societies was a major disappointment though. I think it's because that it didn't have the "Maxis" care, and it shows how Electronic Arts can just throw away a franchise.

[cmomoney]

SimCity Societies was a major disappointment though. I think it's because that it didn't have the "Maxis" care, and it shows how Electronic Arts can just throw away a franchise.

My son liked SimCity Societies. I thought it was stupid. I spent hours playing SC4, and could play SCS for more that 10 min. I can just imagine how great a series SimCity could have become if they had just improved the game that was.

[Axe Gaijin]

My son liked SimCity Societies. I thought it was stupid. I spent hours playing SC4, and could play SCS for more that 10 min. I can just imagine how great a series SimCity could have become if EA hadn't fucked around with it


Edited For Truth :)

[IzzyBess]

I know that this thread is old, but maybe someone will find it helpful. I've found out the solution for the game crashes, credits to whoever found it out first:

" Run the program. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL go to TASK MANAGER then Processes. Find the Sim City Process. Right Click the process and select "Set Affinity..." Uncheck all but one processor, so that one processor only can run the Sim City process."

[simsample]

Or you could update the shortcut to set the affinity to core 1 if you have a multi core CPU.
Change the target to have the following before the path to the SimCity 4 exe (which will need to be enclosed in quotes)
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START "SimCity 4" /high /affinity 1

so for example:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START "SimCity 4" /high /affinity 1 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe"

[IzzyBess]

Thanks for that suggestion :)

From what I've learned SimCity 4 has problems with multi core CPUs not systems (eg Win7 or any other).

[lisfyre]

Okay, I have a question. Sorry if this is the wrong place to put it but it does have to do with SC4 and I figure this thread will get replies more. When I put a custom terrain into Sims 2, do tunnels carry over or do they disappear?

They disappear. I made a lot of hoods for TS2 with SC4 and that is the one thing I really miss in TS3. I know we now have CAW but for the casual world builder like me, it's really intimidating.

OT - I loved the game and for years I played it and didn't know it had CC until this year when the new SC was announced. I got nostalgic and decided to install it again and found out you had to patch the game. So went looking for a patch and voila found there was CC for this game :faceslap: Sigh. Oh well. And if you follow that thought, same thing happend for TS2.. I got it for Christmas 2007 and a month later I was ready to give it all up when I found out what CC was and what it could do to improve my game. Wish I'd known about SC4 CC years ago.

[Zoltan]

Oh look, a screw-up by EA on SimCity...why is this NOT a surprise?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57573053-1/simcity-launch-a-complete-disaster/

[Mootilda]

Oh look, a screw-up by EA on SimCity...why is this NOT a surprise?This thread is about SimCity 4. If you want to talk about SimCity 2013, there are other threads in this forum. Any of these threads would be appropriate... perhaps the last one is the best one for your post.
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=498175
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=497864
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=498179

[MattShizzle]

SC4 is still an awesome game and well supported (Simtropolis and BSC exchange.) The numpties at EA are guaranteed to fail if they don't allow CC in any SC or Sims game. CC and mods are what make these games so good.