Oh, yeah I'm only talking about sc3k, I'm not too familiar with 4 at all, laptop can't run it and I mostly have single player games on this since wifi isn't always available.
leaf on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
I like SC4 a lot more than SC3000 because it seems more friendly to people who are scrubs or new to this kind of gameplay.
On a related note, I started a new city next to Fucklebuckle and it not only grew way faster but is kicking out a huge profit. I only wish I could share money between the two cities.
Henroid on
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
The secret to SC4 is to build a region that has a shitload of industrial and connect it to a neighboring region, then use that neighboring region to play with. They'll commute to your industrial shithole for work, and you won't have to deal with the pollution.
Relative newbie to all this (SC4), so here goes: is dirty industrial absolutely needed? I want to just have the "cleaner" ones like manufacturing or high-tech, but there's always a lack of jobs in my city.
Also, I take it commercial doesn't work as a major source of jobs?
(How do you read the damn jobs vs. population graph, too? :P)
Ayulin on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
Dirty industry is basically your entry level work. If you have smart people all up in your city, don't bother.
Commercial does work as a job source, depends on education. I'm not sure how the game dictates who goes into High-Tech Industry or High-Wage Offices.
So I saw this game at Half Price bookstore this weekend. Decided to pick it up since I never played any Sim City games before Sim City 4.
Overall I love this game so far. However I am having an issue that is driving me crazy and was hoping someone might be able to give me some tips.
My current city has commercial and residential zones on one side of a river, and all the industrial zones and dirty stuff on the other side. I've tried putting some subway tunnels under the water to help supplement my traffic system.
However no matter how hard I try I can't seem to actually lay a rail down underwater. Or, it'll charge me for laying the pipe down, but it doesn't actually cross the entire river bed.
How the heck do I do this? Do I need to landscape the area on the shores to be of a certain slope?
Didn't realize there was a thread.
Seriously though, I can't lay a subway tunnel under a river to save my life.
Arg I'm about to tear my own hair out trying to build a stupid subway tunnel underwater.
I'll drag my mouse across the river (and it will show up as blue) but when I actually let go of my mouse button the tunnel is segmented and not actually connected all the way through.
I pretty much stopped playing 3000 because I was never able to get bridges/tunnels to build correctly. The best I could do was terraform to make land bridges. Eventually it was so annoying I just gave up.
Arg I'm about to tear my own hair out trying to build a stupid subway tunnel underwater.
I'll drag my mouse across the river (and it will show up as blue) but when I actually let go of my mouse button the tunnel is segmented and not actually connected all the way through.
Subway tunnels and water pipes can't really handle steep inclines. You'll have to level the terrain.
yurnamehere on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
I'm still trying to work out the public transportation thing in Sim City 4. I've had mixed success with bus stops - sometimes when I place them in they help clear up my traffic and see a lot of use. Most of the time though, I only end up with like 4 people who use it when there's a bunch of apartment complexes around.
Can't quite figure out parking garages either, since they never work for anything. I had one next to a trainstation in my latest town and NOBODY used it.
I've only gotten high-rail transport to work was in a previous city, and it was only when I connected it to my high-tech industry area. Anywhere else I ran the line it saw 0 use. And it saw little use in the place it did work.
Lastly, the only time I've gotten success from regular train transport was when I built my medium industry faaaaar away from the town, not connected by roads. So it was the only way people could get there. Though, it sorta backfired because people (low-end housing) were claiming to not be able to find jobs yet the industry area still had places for empty lots.
I'd managed to get a hold of a copy of SimCity 4 and lo and behold my laptop just keeps spitting out the disks and won't even look at whats on them. It does this with both Simcity discs and no other disk In my possession.
Arg I'm about to tear my own hair out trying to build a stupid subway tunnel underwater.
I'll drag my mouse across the river (and it will show up as blue) but when I actually let go of my mouse button the tunnel is segmented and not actually connected all the way through.
Subway tunnels and water pipes can't really handle steep inclines. You'll have to level the terrain.
How do I level stuff that is under water? Is that even possible?
Heir on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
To level underground stuff in SC4 you need to go into the menu as if you're gonna build, and then select the bulldozing tool instead. I dunno if that's how it's done in SC3000, I can't remember.
I'm still trying to work out the public transportation thing in Sim City 4. I've had mixed success with bus stops - sometimes when I place them in they help clear up my traffic and see a lot of use. Most of the time though, I only end up with like 4 people who use it when there's a bunch of apartment complexes around.
Can't quite figure out parking garages either, since they never work for anything. I had one next to a trainstation in my latest town and NOBODY used it.
I've only gotten high-rail transport to work was in a previous city, and it was only when I connected it to my high-tech industry area. Anywhere else I ran the line it saw 0 use. And it saw little use in the place it did work.
Lastly, the only time I've gotten success from regular train transport was when I built my medium industry faaaaar away from the town, not connected by roads. So it was the only way people could get there. Though, it sorta backfired because people (low-end housing) were claiming to not be able to find jobs yet the industry area still had places for empty lots.
First off, get the Network Addon Mod (google it, sorry) if you haven't already.
Second, I assume that your transit always actually go somewhere? People won't take buses/subways/etc. if the only bus stations are in residential areas.
Grudgeblessed is the mind too small for doubtRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
Bus stops are notoriously difficault to get to work well. Basically the only thing to do is to keep moving the bus stops around and find the best placements through trial and error. Isn't this corner working for you? Move it across the street or down to the next block. And just like real people, if there is not much congestion, your Sims will take the car instead of the bus to work, so buses only work if your Sims need to go somewhere where going by car takes too long.
Parking garages works best if you are running a park/walk simulation mod. If you are not, then don't bother.
Same goes for rail as for buses, there is trial and error involved in placing the stations, and your Sims will only take the train if they have to go really far (like into the next tile), or if there is major congestion so driving by car will take too long.
I'm still trying to work out the public transportation thing in Sim City 4. I've had mixed success with bus stops - sometimes when I place them in they help clear up my traffic and see a lot of use. Most of the time though, I only end up with like 4 people who use it when there's a bunch of apartment complexes around.
Can't quite figure out parking garages either, since they never work for anything. I had one next to a trainstation in my latest town and NOBODY used it.
I've only gotten high-rail transport to work was in a previous city, and it was only when I connected it to my high-tech industry area. Anywhere else I ran the line it saw 0 use. And it saw little use in the place it did work.
Lastly, the only time I've gotten success from regular train transport was when I built my medium industry faaaaar away from the town, not connected by roads. So it was the only way people could get there. Though, it sorta backfired because people (low-end housing) were claiming to not be able to find jobs yet the industry area still had places for empty lots.
First off, get the Network Addon Mod (google it, sorry) if you haven't already.
Second, I assume that your transit always actually go somewhere? People won't take buses/subways/etc. if the only bus stations are in residential areas.
According to info I read about the game, bus stops don't have to be placed at actual stop points. Nevertheless, I still place more than one.
I don't like the idea of getting mods for a game when I'm trying to understand one of its functions, not bypass it.
Arg I'm about to tear my own hair out trying to build a stupid subway tunnel underwater.
I'll drag my mouse across the river (and it will show up as blue) but when I actually let go of my mouse button the tunnel is segmented and not actually connected all the way through.
Just make subway to rail connections, and build a bridge.
Am I the only one getting graphical errors with simcity 4? I installed it on my new comp and I get some really funky things going on. Nothing game breaking just annoying.
dasnoob on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Am I the only one getting graphical errors with simcity 4? I installed it on my new comp and I get some really funky things going on. Nothing game breaking just annoying.
Well, I wanted to run it in window mode and still do (add -w to the end of your shortcut to SC4), but it isn't great. First, it won't let me raise the graphics options. They're like at their lowest points all around. Second, I can't go higher than 1024x800 for a window, or else it'll just force full screen. It's annoying as fuck. I can't even see fire trucks when I dispatch 'em.
I'm still trying to work out the public transportation thing in Sim City 4. I've had mixed success with bus stops - sometimes when I place them in they help clear up my traffic and see a lot of use. Most of the time though, I only end up with like 4 people who use it when there's a bunch of apartment complexes around.
Can't quite figure out parking garages either, since they never work for anything. I had one next to a trainstation in my latest town and NOBODY used it.
I've only gotten high-rail transport to work was in a previous city, and it was only when I connected it to my high-tech industry area. Anywhere else I ran the line it saw 0 use. And it saw little use in the place it did work.
Lastly, the only time I've gotten success from regular train transport was when I built my medium industry faaaaar away from the town, not connected by roads. So it was the only way people could get there. Though, it sorta backfired because people (low-end housing) were claiming to not be able to find jobs yet the industry area still had places for empty lots.
First off, get the Network Addon Mod (google it, sorry) if you haven't already.
Second, I assume that your transit always actually go somewhere? People won't take buses/subways/etc. if the only bus stations are in residential areas.
According to info I read about the game, bus stops don't have to be placed at actual stop points. Nevertheless, I still place more than one.
I don't like the idea of getting mods for a game when I'm trying to understand one of its functions, not bypass it.
The NAM pretty much fixes the traffic system in SC4 (makes it more realistic and sensible) and adds a lot more transit options on top of that. It's almost required if you don't want to pull your hair out trying to make your traffic work.
a5ehren on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
I'll pick it up since a lot of people are recommending it. Frankly, I'm tired of having all the people in the south part of my residential district take the crowded north road when they have their own road to get to the same place, same distance.
According to info I read about the game, bus stops don't have to be placed at actual stop points. Nevertheless, I still place more than one.
Right. My memory may be a little fuzzy here, but the way I remember the simulation working is the game does pathfinding for a sim, and any time their path comes across a mass transit option, they have a random chance to choose to take it, assuming there's a stop further along their route. This might be modified by their income level, and if I'm remembering properly, the odds of switching from car to bus are just as likely as going from foot to bus.
The 'My Sim' feature was intended to help yo with this. You can pick a sim in a given part of your city and analyze their route to work, looking for problems. It doesn't work very well, but it is an option.
There is also a traffic route overlay that you can turn on (this might have shown up in the expansion, I can't remember) that lets you click on any building, and see the traffic routes of sims that use that building. Do this on a neighborhood in several spots, identify where the traffic for the neighborhood bottles up, and drop a bus (or subway) station there. Stops near high-density residential works well too, but they have to be along the sim's default route for them to 'see' it.
Next, follow the traffic routes to see where the sims are working. Obviously this branches out a lot more, which means you'll need a relatively large number of stops all over your commercial and industrial areas (which, incidentally, mimics real life). Once you place these stops, go back to your initial bus stop and wait for the traffic simulation to update (does this either once a month, or twice a year.. can't remember). When it updates, you should see the usage of the stop increase dramatically.
I was never able to cap out stops. The documentation claims a bus stop can only handle so many people, but I've seen bus stops with counters in the tens of thousands and people still get to work.
xzzy on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
I've capped out toll booths. And by cap out, I mean get 7000 capacity when the max is 1000.
Right, those caps seem like total bullshit. I've had 100,000 people going through a subway station. There doesn't seem to be any kind of penalty for going over the listed maximum.
I just want to mention, NAM is a must have. Get Rush Hour (or SC4 deluxe) and install Network Addon Mod. It is a must have. Now, when you build your city, be very, very careful with the layout when you link to neighbors. It is very easy to trick the route picker for your sims (in both vanilla and especially with NAM, NAM is so good, other flaws become more obvious). Basically, Sims may choose to drive to the border of your city, considering it the closest source of work. Upon reaching there, they may decide that the closest source of work is actually back in the city they came from or, at a corner, another city over. Consequently, you can have Sims trapped in an endless commute until they just move out. Unfortunately, their twin moves in with the same problem.
Basically, place industry at the borders of the map. ALWAYS have a few blocks of industry on a path between the sims home and the border of the city. Not sure what to do about highways, though. Sims may travel to the edge faster on a highway and skip the border industry, not sure.
Machismo on
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Right, those caps seem like total bullshit. I've had 100,000 people going through a subway station. There doesn't seem to be any kind of penalty for going over the listed maximum.
I think it's just a measure of how much they can take before they contribute to traffic issues.
Also, you should probably switch to software rendering the preferences if you're having graphical problems. (Or, in my experience, even if you aren't...)
Posts
On a related note, I started a new city next to Fucklebuckle and it not only grew way faster but is kicking out a huge profit. I only wish I could share money between the two cities.
Also, I take it commercial doesn't work as a major source of jobs?
(How do you read the damn jobs vs. population graph, too? :P)
Commercial does work as a job source, depends on education. I'm not sure how the game dictates who goes into High-Tech Industry or High-Wage Offices.
Didn't realize there was a thread.
Seriously though, I can't lay a subway tunnel under a river to save my life.
I have put more hours into SC2K, SC3K, and SC4 than every other game I've ever played combined.
I've been working on my long-term region project again the past few weeks.
I wish there was a chance we'd get a real SC5 some day.
I'll drag my mouse across the river (and it will show up as blue) but when I actually let go of my mouse button the tunnel is segmented and not actually connected all the way through.
Subway tunnels and water pipes can't really handle steep inclines. You'll have to level the terrain.
Can't quite figure out parking garages either, since they never work for anything. I had one next to a trainstation in my latest town and NOBODY used it.
I've only gotten high-rail transport to work was in a previous city, and it was only when I connected it to my high-tech industry area. Anywhere else I ran the line it saw 0 use. And it saw little use in the place it did work.
Lastly, the only time I've gotten success from regular train transport was when I built my medium industry faaaaar away from the town, not connected by roads. So it was the only way people could get there. Though, it sorta backfired because people (low-end housing) were claiming to not be able to find jobs yet the industry area still had places for empty lots.
How do I level stuff that is under water? Is that even possible?
First off, get the Network Addon Mod (google it, sorry) if you haven't already.
Second, I assume that your transit always actually go somewhere? People won't take buses/subways/etc. if the only bus stations are in residential areas.
Parking garages works best if you are running a park/walk simulation mod. If you are not, then don't bother.
Same goes for rail as for buses, there is trial and error involved in placing the stations, and your Sims will only take the train if they have to go really far (like into the next tile), or if there is major congestion so driving by car will take too long.
According to info I read about the game, bus stops don't have to be placed at actual stop points. Nevertheless, I still place more than one.
I don't like the idea of getting mods for a game when I'm trying to understand one of its functions, not bypass it.
Just make subway to rail connections, and build a bridge.
Well, I wanted to run it in window mode and still do (add -w to the end of your shortcut to SC4), but it isn't great. First, it won't let me raise the graphics options. They're like at their lowest points all around. Second, I can't go higher than 1024x800 for a window, or else it'll just force full screen. It's annoying as fuck. I can't even see fire trucks when I dispatch 'em.
Right. My memory may be a little fuzzy here, but the way I remember the simulation working is the game does pathfinding for a sim, and any time their path comes across a mass transit option, they have a random chance to choose to take it, assuming there's a stop further along their route. This might be modified by their income level, and if I'm remembering properly, the odds of switching from car to bus are just as likely as going from foot to bus.
The 'My Sim' feature was intended to help yo with this. You can pick a sim in a given part of your city and analyze their route to work, looking for problems. It doesn't work very well, but it is an option.
There is also a traffic route overlay that you can turn on (this might have shown up in the expansion, I can't remember) that lets you click on any building, and see the traffic routes of sims that use that building. Do this on a neighborhood in several spots, identify where the traffic for the neighborhood bottles up, and drop a bus (or subway) station there. Stops near high-density residential works well too, but they have to be along the sim's default route for them to 'see' it.
Next, follow the traffic routes to see where the sims are working. Obviously this branches out a lot more, which means you'll need a relatively large number of stops all over your commercial and industrial areas (which, incidentally, mimics real life). Once you place these stops, go back to your initial bus stop and wait for the traffic simulation to update (does this either once a month, or twice a year.. can't remember). When it updates, you should see the usage of the stop increase dramatically.
I was never able to cap out stops. The documentation claims a bus stop can only handle so many people, but I've seen bus stops with counters in the tens of thousands and people still get to work.
Basically, place industry at the borders of the map. ALWAYS have a few blocks of industry on a path between the sims home and the border of the city. Not sure what to do about highways, though. Sims may travel to the edge faster on a highway and skip the border industry, not sure.
Click a road on one side of the river, drag across to the other side.
Yeah it's pretty finicky. Same with Rail bridges and subway tunnels. Also water pipes. Quite annoying really.
I think it's just a measure of how much they can take before they contribute to traffic issues.
Also, you should probably switch to software rendering the preferences if you're having graphical problems. (Or, in my experience, even if you aren't...)