Gamingforce Community SimCity 4 Region Project

As I had brought up in this journal entry here, I brought up the idea setting up a community project where everyone could work on developing a region in SimCity 4.

After some discussion in my journal and elsewhere, I've decided to make it public.

This thread will be used for the overall discussion of the project.

The Purpose
To have an entirely GFF created SimCity 4 region.

It is not meant to be competitive, or even meant to have a defined finish date. Instead, I wish to focus more on cooperation, with eventually everyone needing to work together and come to agreements about neighbor connections and deals. Yeah, it sounds really corny now, but when it all starts coming together, you'll really need to!

You are encouraged to be as creative as possible when working on your city. You can experiment with different things within the game, even experiment with some of extra "puzzle pieces" in the NetworkAddon Mod. Reporting your progress in this thread is also encouraged, and you can also get creative in this aspect. If you want to screenshot your progress, go right ahead!

If you need help or have any questions while playing the game, you can ask them right here, and someone will be able to help.

Confirmed Mayors - Lot(s) working on (~ = scheduled to be marked inactive if does not update by the next submission date)

Dullenplain - 28, 33, 51-e, 51-j
el jacko - 31, 40
Freelance Wolf - 5, 37, 48-d
KrazyTaco - 2, 18, 44
Lukage - 3, 45, 48-l
Merv Burger - 17, 22, 30, 34
Musharraf - 9, 24 (up to 2110)
Ryuu - 23, 35
Shonos - 47, 48-e, 49-e

Inactive Mayors (italicized means picked up by another mayor, see list above)
Bigblah - 39, 41
Brent - 49-u, 51-n
cabbitluvcarrot - 6, 7, 11
Crash Landon - 38, 49-v, 50-t
Dark Nation - 20, 46, 50-g
Denicalis -
dragon_87 - 12, 50-u
Grawl - 9, 48-o
Juanzen - 13
Prons - 16
RABicle - 1, 8, 26, 48-b, 48-i
Smelnick -
The Wise Vivi - 42
Ultima -

To join or show interest, just post saying that you're either interested or definitely willing to work on this.

Latest Updates:
Week 10 has started! No official update this week, lol
Up to Year 100 is due on September 8th, 9PM (US EST, -5GMT). But PLEASE, upload them as soon as you're done!

If you didn't participate in the first week, you can still pick a city and get it up to the current target year.


Claimed lots, updated by Freelance Wolf.

Rules and Requirements

Requirements:

• SimCity 4 and SimCity 4: Rush Hour expansion pack (Windows or Mac OS X,) updating to the latest version, 1.638, is recommended, but not necessary.

  Hopefully people can provide disc images for the games if people are interested in participating, but don't have copies with them.

  Torrent for SimCity 4 Deluxe (Windows)

  Or if you're willing to buy it, the Deluxe edition (which has SimCity 4 and the Rush Hour expansion together,) will run you about 15-20USD.

• Simtropolis' NetworkAddon Mod June 2007 version

  PC version Alternate Location (Recommended Installer instructions) | Mac version | The descriptions are out of date, when you go to download them, they'll be the June 2007 version

  Installation Instructions Update (06/13) - "Automata Controller" setting is optional, this is a preference, and my recommended setting actually requires a faster system to use. Also, the "Traffic Controller" setting is more my preference, if anything. RABicle's suggestion of 2x capacity is a bit more reasonable, while retaining game difficulty.

• The Gamingforce Region

  Extract to My Documents (home folder)\SimCity 4\Regions\

Recommended Downloads:

To install custom mods/building sets, you must copy them to My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\ (into their own folder is preferable, for easy sorting.) Unfortunately, I don't know where the Mac version keeps that stuff, but I assume it would be in a similar place, like ~[user name]/SimCity 4/Plugins/ (sorry for the *NIX home folder syntax.)

• NetworkAddon Mod Essentials for June 2007

  Turns the NAM into a modular plug-in based system. Other mods take advantage of this. Mac users will have to use File Juicer to get the files.

• NOB's Ground Light Rail Tram Stations for NetworkAddon Mod | Alternate Location

  This adds Ground Light Rail stations for the NetworkAddon Mod (there are GLR tiles, but no stations,) so if you wish to use that functionality, downloading this is a must. el jacko will be using this with his cities.

• Sunken Highway Mod (with dependencies) | Alternate Location

  Allows you to create a "sunken" ground-level highway.

Basic Rules:

• Start your cities with either medium or hard difficulty (easy is TOO easy.)
• Obviously, there is no city name requirement, you can be as creative as possible.
• Please use your GFF username as your mayor name. SimCity 4 by default uses either Defacto or the last name you used.
• No cheats or trainers shall be used while making a city.
• Please disable/remove all unapproved mods or extra buildings you may have installed prior to participating.
• Under no circumstances will the "Obliterate City" tool be used!
• Neighbor connections and deals should be planned and worked out with the person whose city you are connecting to, unless the city you're connecting to is your own.
• Avoid developing right next to any borders (unless your city is on the edge of a region,) as the game will autolevel the terrain, which can effect a neighboring city if they reconcile the terrain.
• You are to work on your lot to the target year for the week. If you want to do more, you can request another lot to work on, which is to also be worked on until the target year. (For a clearer idea, read Target Years in the Other section.)
• Currently, there is no limit on the number of cities you can be working on at a time.

Other:

• Lot/City Picking

  You are allowed to pick what lot you are to work on, by picking a number on this map. To start, you are allowed to pick up to four (4) lots you wish to work with. If during the week, you build all of your lots to the target year, you are allowed to request another lot. However, if you pick a lot, and do nothing (or "squat on it,") for the week, it will be put back up for picking.
  
  To pick a lot, just post which lot number(s) you will be taking. If you want to develop lots 31 and 41, just post saying those are the lots you're taking.
  
  You are not required to pick new lots every week.
  

  About Lots 48, 49, 50 and 51

  These lots are lots that are either all water, or mostly water. These are lots that are exempt from most of the God Mode Terraforming rules (explained in the next section.) To pick them, refer to them as [lot number]-[lot letter] (ex. 49-v.)

• God Mode Terraforming[indent]In God Mode (the mode that you're in when you first start a new city,) terraforming that is on a large scale cannot be performed. Small changes can be performed, such as leveling of terrain, or adding aesthetic elements, and you can use the tree and animal tools. If you will do something, avoid effecting the border (unless border is the edge of the region, or the lot on that side is yours.) To be sure, use the reconcile edge tool to make sure everything is still good. You should follow the idea of "make sure it isn't out of place, and fits in with the region," but if you are unsure if what you're going to be doing if acceptable, it would be best to ask.
  

  Exceptions for Lots 48, 49, 50 and 51

  God Mode teraforming is completely open, except if what you are doing will affect a lot not in the special areas. You are free to do whatever you want in these areas, ideas include extending the main "continent," making an archipeligo, or make large islands composed of multiple lots, by "connecting" the land from lot to lot.
  
  However, the rules about effecting neighboring lots that aren't yours still apply.

• Target Years

  I've decided to use a system where you can work on your system for a target in-game years (about ten years every period.) This is the system that the site I got the idea from used, and I think they used the system mostly because they ended up making stat sheets that displayed progress.
  
  For the first period, the target year will be year 2010. All cities should be built to that year (month does not matter, but somewhere in the January to June range would be fair.)
  
  The second period's target year will be 2020. All cities should be built to that year. Any new cities started in that week should also be built to that year, but if they are not, there is no penalty.
  
  The third period will have a target year of 2030, period 4 will be 2040, etc.
  
  The next period will start when everyone has uploaded their city files, or, in the case of an inactive participant, after a period of time.

• Region Updating

  I have an FTP server setup for uploading your city files to. Please upload your city after you reach the target year. If you cannot use the FTP for whatever reason, the best I can do is suggest using Rapidshare or Megaupload and PM me the link.
  
  

  Spoiler:

  The details for the server are:
  Address: mervburger.dyndns.org:21
  Username: [your gff username]
  Password: sc4upload
  Down/Up Speed: 50/10 kbps
  
  You need to connect in active mode, so make sure to have passive mode disabled.
  
  You should be able to resume your file if you get disconnected or whatever, but I can't get delete permissions working for some reason. If something happens and you need a file deleted, IM or PM me right away.
  
  Sorry DevilGlobox, there is no Kirby's Air Ride OST here.

  
  
  Upload your city to the folder for the corresponding period (should take about a minute or so for a well-developed city,) and that's it!
  
  About 30 minutes to an hour later, I should have compiled, uploaded and posted the updated region, where you can download it and start the next period.
  
  If I can, also within the next day or so, I'll compile a datasheet that has basic statistics such as population (residential, commercial, industrial,) population growth, income/expenses comparisons, etc.

• Inactive Mayors

  You will be marked as "inactive" in one of these ways:

  • You say that you have to drop out of the project.
  • You haven't submitted a region for two updates
  • You haven't picked a city yet

  If you are inactive, any cities you have picked become eligible to be picked up by someone else, and they can build off of what you have done so far to the last update you have submitted (There is to be no use of the destroy city function when you take an inactive mayor's lot.) If you decide to become active again, post saying so, and you will regain control of your lots (or any lots you say you want to take back,) at the next update. You must work with what has been built by another mayor, if someone else started working on your city.
  
  If you wish to take an inactive mayor's lot, you must build it up to the target year for the week.
  
  If you haven't picked a lot to work on, you can just pick a lot and you will become active.
  
  If you are unable to update for the week, and know in advance that you can't, please let me know, in either a post or PM. I am VERY lenient, and if I know you can't update, I won't mark you as inactive.

Previous Regions

Original Region
Year 10 (Dark Nation's Cities)
Year 20
Year 30
Year 40 (dragon87's cities)
Year 50
Year 60
Year 70 (Dullenplain's cities)
Year 80 (Ryuu's Cities)

Other ideas, comments, or are you in?

It does sound really interesting.

I think a random region would be cooler, 'cause first of all, you know all the city edges will line up the way they're supposed to. Secondly, I always thought it was a bit more fun to make a natural, more organic city. It was a bit more challenging to work within the bounds of nature, but ultimately more satisfying as a result.

I guess lot distribution could go by randomization or by choice, I think both would be alright. Randomization, again, seems a little more exciting because you don't know until the beginning what kind of limitations you'll have to work around.

Hook me up. Setting my game up right now.

I LOVE Simcity 4 so I will sign up for this. I hope my version of Windows will work with the game. Anyway, sign me on!

This is a region I generated today, that I might use, with a few touchups. I'd like for a bit more variety in it. If anyone else comes across a region that you'd like to use instead, I'd be fine with seeing it.

I'll probably start finalizing rules and other such details tomorrow (since I am absolutely tired now,) and once we get a few more people confirmed, we can start picking a lot we'd like to work on!

I have to find my copy of the game and re-install it but I'll give this a go. I always liked Sim City (even though I sucked at it) and this sounds fun.

Count me in!!! ...After I free up enough space to download and install the damn game.

Don't worry, Shonos. I suck too.

Hey, I hope you won't mind me deleting my cities a few times until I get the hang of SC4. Can I work with a nice smallish map? I doubt I'd be able to build giant cities with my skills.

Oh, and my wrists hurt, so don't yell at me if I don't post an update :(

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

Hey, I hope you won't mind me deleting my cities a few times until I get the hang of SC4.

I would rather you do that on your own region instead. I'd hope that by the time it starts, you'll have gotten a bit of practice in first!

Quote:

Can I work with a nice smallish map? I doubt I'd be able to build giant cities with my skills.

You'll get to pick what you get work on (and it's likely that you'll be working on multiple lots eventually.)

But remember, this isn't about making the largest city, it's more about developing a region. If you can't build a giant metropolis, that's quite alright and encouraged, small towns and farming communities are easily capable in the game and would add a lot of variety to the region.

I feel kinda bad that I couldn't participate in the GFF Risk (Due to a busy schedule), so I'll make up
by engaging in this! Sign me up!

... Now I gotta go find that DVD-R with Sim City 4 on it >_>

I couldn't find the CD, so I will be DLing the torrent. Thanks for the link. Yes, I'm sure to put in some practice first before I start the project for good.

I'm hoping to make a cute little city with lots of wide open spaces, like a giant park for animals :3

I'm off to do other things now. CIAO. (I thought Chow was a slang word )

P.S. if I end up loving the game, I'd be buying it.

God. It's ciao. Don't use foreign words if you don't know what they are, furry. You desecrate Sam and Max.

Anyway, yeah, I'd be up for this. I'll have to blow the dust off the old CD, but I could be bothered for a nice little community event like this.

I'll have to go find my game, but I can swing this.

I've expressed my interest in this in your journal, so count me in.

I'll be a mayor. I'll also participate. I'll go get the game somewhere soon.

This sounds like a really fun idea! I am currently "attempting" to get Simcity 4 for mac...probably won't work out but if it does, I'd surely like to contribute.

On proposed limitations of design...I would leave the layout of the city to the imagination of the individual. Putting restrictions on what people can or are supposed to do seems a little creatively stifling. Half the fun of simcity is seeing how each person designs their city differently. It says a lot about them. I honestly don't think it would be as much fun to place any limitations on structure and design.

I have the game, too, and I like playing it, so you can pretty much count me in!