Downloads: 12901: Download. Simply unzip the 'BSC Funding Mod.dat' file to your plugin directory or a subdirectory of your choice. SimCity 4 is a registered trademark and belongs to Electronic Arts The custom game objects on this exchange are produced partially by using Maxis Toolkits At no instance or occasion does the. SimMars is a mod for SimCity 4 taking the game to Mars. It will bring new buildings, transportation systems, user-interface and music and will replace the Maxis SimCity 4 content as far as possible, giving you the feeling to play a colony on Mars. SimMars BETA 2 brings the mod a step further to the goal. The Site General. Sim City 4 Devotion, most commonly called SC4D, is a member supported fansite dedicated solely to the game SimCity 4.The site caters to the 'serious player' and is the home of a number of some premier SC4 custom content development teams, such as the BSC, Network Addon Mod Team, and the AC Team. The site also hosts dedgren's Three Rivers Region and ChrisAdams3997's. Presumably, the OP stuck some sort of funding/radius mod in there, among the other messes present. Even if you decide to remove that mod and/or the entire pack (which might not be a bad idea, given /u/Tyberius06 's analysis), you're going to have to bulldoze and rebuild every education and health building in the effected cities.
We're really sorry for the inconvenience, but please would you disable your ad-blocker? Our adverts are relevant and non-intrusive, they appear only at the top and the sides, never in the content. They don't include auto-playing audio either, they really won't spoil your enjoyment of the site. Thank you in advance!
Want to see this appeal go away forever? Support us on Patreon and we'll make that happen! Click the button on the left to find out more.
'I'm not running an ad-blocker!' -Refresh/reload the page, if you still see the panda or have other problems then click here to contact us immediately, thanks.
'Why are you doing this?' - Frankly we're struggling to make ends meet here especially since the site got more popular. The only way we can think to cover our costs is to run ads, but if so many of you keep blocking them...
'But I never click ads!' - Doesn't matter, you should only click them if they interest you. We get paid based on the number of views AND the number of clicks.
'You ruined the site!!!1! I want to send you hate mail!!' - Sure, click here.
Another fact - We have the software and the power to completely block adblock users from our site, but we're not going to, at least for now. We figure most of you would like to support us and you only installed Adblock because of other sites that aren't so considerate with their ad placement. Please, don't punish us because of them, in the seven or so years I've been a blogger/webmaster I've ALWAYS considered the need to balance monetisation with reader experience. I want to build an audience not send them away.
So go on, whitelist us and any other site you love. If it wasn't for ads, the internet would lose a whole chunk of really great niche content like this, which would be a real shame in our opinion.
Now, go ahead and read the page if you want to, but wouldn't it be much more convenient if you just whitelisted us? :)
Get this game pre-fixed, DRM free and ready to play from GoG.com. Fully working or your money back.
The Sim City series of games has been keeping wannabe town planners occupied since 1989. With the latest instalment of the series getting so much negative publicity due to its unreliable servers and it’s arguably unnecessary requirement that you are always connected to the internet when you play, it seems like a good time to revisit the previous instalment in the series. Luckily this metropolis building mayor simulator can run on modern PC’s without too much hassle.
SimCity 4 should install on modern PC’s without any major issues, simply insert the DVD and follow the on-screen prompts to install the game. The version of the game we tested was the Deluxe Edition, which also includes the Rush Hour expansion pack, but there should be no issues installing the standard edition either.
Before taking your virtual mayors office, you should install the latest patch for SimCity 4. Patches for the game are still available from EA.com here. Download the relevant patch for your region and remember if you are using the Deluxe edition or the Rush Hour expansion pack you should download the SimCity 4: Rush Hour or Deluxe Edition patch. Note that you only need one patch (either the standard or the Rush Hour/Deluxe Edition patch) even if you installed Rush Hour separately from SimCity 4.
SimCity 4 supports custom resolutions and will run with the most common widescreen screen modes.To enable these widescreen modes, we need to edit the games shortcut. Find the games shortcut on your Start Menu or Start Screen, right click and choose “Properties”. (Windows 8 users will need to right click on the games icon on the Start Screen, choose “Open File Location” and then right click on the shortcut that appears). The properties window for SimCity 4 will then appear, click on the “Shortcut” tab. The picture below shows the window that will appear:-
Click on the box labelled “Target” and press the “End” key on your keyboard or use the cursor keys to scroll to the very end of the line. Now, copy and paste one of the following additional commands. For 720p:-
-CustomResolution:enabled -r1280x720x32
Or for 1080p:-
-CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32
If your monitor uses a different resolution, simply substitute 1920×1080 for the appropriate values. Click on “OK” when you are done and then try to launch the game. If you followed the steps correctly, SimCity should now launch in your chosen widescreen resolution. According to the WideScreenGaming.net Wiki, at higher widescreen resolutions, “the images (thumbnails) of large cities in the region have a minor corruption”, but nothing you can’t live with.
Random crashes:- If you experience random crashes while playing SimCity 4, it may be due to the fact that you are using a multi-core CPU. Most modern PC’s use CPU’s with two or four processing cores, but in the past most PC’s only had one and this occasionally causes problems with older games. To fix this problem, you should configure the games shortcut to launch SimCity 4 and use only one of your computers CPU cores. See this tutorial for details of how to do this.
Like many popular PC games, SimCity 4 didn’t stop growing or expanding after the official expansion packs were launched. Hundreds of user created mods, buildings and textures are available for the game. Head over to Simtropolis to browse and expand your SimCity experience.
As I’ve mentioned on here before, I’ve been considering posting up a guide to getting started with custom content for SimCity 4 Deluxe, and now, that time has come.
Custom content has been one of the main reasons why SimCity 4 has remained popular, over 10 years after its release, and there’s still an active content community out there, developing new stuff for the game. I myself picked up the game back in 2004, shortly after the Deluxe version was released, and once I finally happened across the sheer breadth of content about 2 years later, I’ve stuck with it since–now that’s replay value!
First off, here’s what you’re going to need to fully take advantage of this guide:
There’s also a few other, smaller sites out there. Perhaps the best known of the remaining English-language fansites is SimPeg, which is the personal site of Pegasus, a prolific content developer who, at present, is no longer active, though members of the Night Owl Productions group are the prime movers of the site now. Most SimPeg content, including that of the Night Owls, is also available at Simtropolis. There’s also a number of foreign-language sites, such as SimForum.de and SimCityKurier (German), Tout Sim Cities (French), Capital SimCity (Spanish), SimCity Brasil (Portuguese), SimCity Polska (Polish), and a number of sites operated by independent Japanese creators (there’s lots of information on that front in this subforum at SC4 Devotion).
Now that I’ve covered the preliminary requirements, I’d like to cover a few more basics with respect to terminology, and give an overview of some of the content out there.
Custom Content vs. “Mods”
“Custom content”, “CC”, or “Plugins” are generally the prevailing terms in the community of how to refer to third-party game objects. The term “mod”, used as a noun has a very specific meaning within the overall ecosystem of custom content. Here’s the overall breakdown of the basic categories:
BATs: These are building downloads–the most common type of game object. The term “BAT” comes from Building Architect Tool, the tool that EA/Maxis released in 2004, to allow for the creation of custom SC4 buildings. BATs, unless they’re part of a Prop Pack, come on a Lot, which allows the BAT to be placed in game, either through growable or ploppable means.
Lots: These are the containers upon which BATs and props are placed, generally made in the Lot Editor tool, released by EA/Maxis in 2003 (though some newer lots made by developers on the LEX at SimCity 4 Devotion were built using a tool called PIM-X). There are Lots out there that aren’t part of a BAT download (Parks being a prime example), and before the BAT was released, the primary form of custom content out there were re-Lots of existing Maxis items (kind of like a “remix” of the original), and there are also a number of re-Lots out there of custom buildings as well.
Dependencies: These are external support files that a given download also requires, in order to ensure proper functionality and appearance. The most common types of dependencies are Prop Packs and Texture Packs, which will be shared by many different BATs and Lots. There are some files that may be an expansion to a base set (e.g. Canal Sets, Park Trails, Airports, etc.), and will require the base set as a dependency. There’s also the matter of re-Lots, which, often times, will entail downloading the original BAT/Lot, and removing the included .SC4Lot file, so you can use the re-Lot in its place. Dependencies should be marked on the documentation for a given file, and, in the case of the LEX at SC4 Devotion, there’s a new feature which as been rolled out for some files, that will allow you to automatically download all the dependencies that are available on-site, in one fell swoop. The main reason why dependencies exist is efficiency, using less bandwidth on both the server and client ends, and, should you pick up multiple downloads that all rely on the same dependencies, you’ll be saving hard drive space, too.
Maps: Maps are new terrains on which you can build cities and regions. Both fantasy maps and recreations of real-world topography are available in spades, and in a variety of different sizes, the largest map out there likely being drunkapple’s “The Big Kahuna”, a full-scale recreation of the big island of Hawaii, covering some 701 large city tiles. Many older maps can be generated using the game’s built-in render capacity, but this entails a lengthy rendering process (which, for larger maps, can take 2-3 hours, easily), and only has 8-bit resolution. Most maps from 2007 or later, including the works of the New Horizons Production (NHP) team and drunkapple/dobdriver, instead rely on a tool called SC4Mapper to get the terrain in game, which allows for 16-bit resolution, and builds the terrain outside the game, allowing you to immediately start playing on it once you boot up the game.
Mods: This category is a bit more nebulous, but it generally refers to things that aren’t one of the above categories, typically with an emphasis on changing how you play the game, or altering its appearance. The best-known mod out there is the Network Addon Mod (NAM), which dials in the traffic simulation (Maxis had to tune down the pathfinding before shipping the game, in order to support lower-end computers), and adds literally thousands of new options for constructing your transportation network, including ground light rail, fractional-angle networking (that is, between diagonal and orthogonal/”straight”), roundabouts and turning lanes, wider roads and one-way roads, and a new variable-width, modular highway system, among other things. The Colossus Addon Mod (CAM) rebalances the game’s RCI (Residential-Commercial-Industrial) growable system by adding new growth stages (but contrary to simulated urban legend, it is not a mod to add a bunch of buildings to the game). There’s SimMars, which changes SC4 into a “what-if” Mars colony builder. There’s also terrain mods and water mods, in case you’re tired of the game’s default neon green grass and electric blue water, and numerous smaller cosmetic and “theme” mods out there.
When used as a verb, the word “mod” in the SC4 community generally means “mod creation”, not simply adding or installing mods or content created by others to your game. Several newbies of recent time have shown up on the forums and posted threads using the phrase “I’m new to modding”, and, instead of getting installation help, they got links to threads and tools for making mods, so it’s useful to make that distinction up front, rather than assuming it’s a given.
What’s “essential”, and what other things should I take into consideration?
There’s been an active content development community for about a decade now, and as a result, there’s a lot of stuff out there. And ultimately, it depends on what kinds of cities you want to be building. Are you trying to build your own simulated New York or Paris? Are you interested in building sprawling suburbs or small rural towns? Is Hong Kong or Dubai more your speed? Or are you interested in creating some sort of unique fusion gleaned from lots of different sources? It’s all a matter of taste. There’s also different playing styles, and different “feels” in terms of game balance, that are ultimately a matter of personal preference as well.
The only mod that is universally recognized as essential, by the majority of SC4 players on the scene, is the Network Addon Mod (NAM). There’s two official, fully-supported distribution sites: ModDB and the SimCity 4 Devotion LEX (where you’ll need to be registered and logged on). ModDB doesn’t require registration, but SC4 Devotion will get you a quicker download. It’s a roughly 300MB download, and there’s really a lot of stuff in there. I’ll have more details on getting going with the NAM in a future post. And if you’re curious to get a peek at the documentation for it before downloading, you’ll find links here.
You’ll hear a lot of people also discussing another “-AM”, the Colossus Addon Mod, or CAM. As I mentioned before, it is a mod developed by RippleJet of the BSC Team, which rebalances the game’s RCI simulation–there’s a lot of false information out there about it, which I’ve attempted to clarify here. It’s a popular package–and I use it myself–but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s also worth noting that you’ll need to watch what you download if you have the CAM as well. The game uses a system of “growth stages”, which are basically equivalent to densities of residents/jobs in a certain zone size. The default settings include 8 growth stages for Residentials and Commercials, and 3 for Industrials. However, there’s a wide variance out there in terms of the ranges of residents and jobs with buildings/lots at the top end of the growth stage progression–esp. Stage 7 and 8 on Residentials and Commercials, and Stage 3 on the Industrials. The CAM provides a different progression, and expands the number of available growth stages to 15 for Residentials and Commercials, 10 on Dirty, Mechanical, and High-Tech Industrials (I-D, I-M, and I-HT), and 7 on Industrial-Agriculture (I-R, the “R” standing for “resource”). And if you’re curious to read the documentation beforehand, it’s right here. It’s worth noting you can use the CAM right out of the box, without downloading anything else–it includes modified settings for many Maxis lots, meaning you can enjoy the new game balance with the game’s original content. However, do not use the CAM’s traffic plugins under any circumstance, as they have vastly inferior pathfinding to the NAM’s current batch of traffic plugins, and won’t work with many newer NAM features.
Growth stages are something you should take into consideration when deciding what buildings to download. Here’s a few rules of thumb:
There’s also a series of “starter packs” that were released at the same time as the CAM, and much of the misinformation out there about the CAM is the result of people conflating these packs as being part of the CAM download itself. They are strictly optional, and as the CAM is now a 6-year-old mod, and there’s lots more content out there on the LEX, which is easier to download and enjoy. I’ll have more information on my top picks for starting out with the CAM in a future post.
What about money cheats?
You might hear some whispers of a supposed “Money Tree” lot download. However, it’s badly-modded, difficult to obtain, and there’s a far easier method. You’ll want to pick up the Maxis Extra Cheats DLL file. This was a file that Maxis originally used for debug purposes when developing the game, and eventually, they allowed modding pioneer Buggi to release it to the community on their behalf. Once you’ve installed it to the root Plugins folder, it enables a some rather interesting stuff. One of the things it enables is the “Moolah” cheat. Press Ctrl-X, and in the little light blue box that appears in the upper-left corner, type “Moolah”, followed by an amount (1000000, for instance), and press Enter. Your city’s cash on hand will be augmentedby changed to the amount you specified.
The “cheat” file also has a number of other non-cheat applications, such as the “DrawPaths” cheat, which many NAM Team developers (including myself) use for testing and debugging purposes, as well as diagnosing issues that users bring to us in tech support. If you run into a pathing-related issue with a NAM item, chances are that we might ask you to produce a DrawPaths screenshot. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of what that nifty little file can do, and even if you find the idea of “cheating” at SC4 deplorable, it’s well worth having. You can read more about it here.
I’ll leave it at that for now, and return with follow ups–if any readers out there have any questions, I’m happy to at help. Happy city building!
-Tarkus