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Eric the Mauve
May 8, 2012

Making you happy for a buck since 199X

Albino Squirrel posted:

Came across the Simcity 3 and 4 soundtracks on Youtube. Seriously brings back the nostalgia for me; also happens to be great background music for working. I figure several people in this thread probably also have a large section of grey matter dedicated to smooth jazz city-building music.

SC3K
SC4
I still put on the SC3K soundtrack while playing Skylines

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mutata
Mar 1, 2003

Albino Squirrel posted:

Came across the Simcity 3 and 4 soundtracks on Youtube. Seriously brings back the nostalgia for me; also happens to be great background music for working. I figure several people in this thread probably also have a large section of grey matter dedicated to smooth jazz city-building music.

SC3K
SC4

Sc3k, Sc4, and The Sims soundtracks are god-tier soundtracks. I still have a ton of nostalgia for sc2k's midis too. They were the main reason I kept the newspaper on even after I had read 200 different mad-libs editions of the same articles.

Fargin Icehole
Feb 19, 2011

Pet me.

Albino Squirrel posted:

Came across the Simcity 3 and 4 soundtracks on Youtube. Seriously brings back the nostalgia for me; also happens to be great background music for working. I figure several people in this thread probably also have a large section of grey matter dedicated to smooth jazz city-building music.

SC3K
SC4

gently caress yeah good choice, I play the sc3k soundtrack always when I play cities skylines.

Want to point out that both are also available on Spotify too

MinionOfCthulhu
Oct 28, 2005

I got this title for free due to my proximity to an idiot who wanted to save $5 on an avatar by having someone else spend $9.95 instead.

Rhaegar posted:

After Dark was added to the humble bundle dlc bundle.

So this is like a really good deal right? I only have the Base game and one dlc that isn’t in the bundle and I need a chill out game to chill out to whenever I manage to get the time to chill out

Albino Squirrel
Apr 25, 2003

Miosis more like meiosis

MinionOfCthulhu posted:

So this is like a really good deal right? I only have the Base game and one dlc that isn’t in the bundle and I need a chill out game to chill out to whenever I manage to get the time to chill out
This is an absolutely ridiculously good deal. I mean, I think you still need a few mods to make it a really good chill out game, but a fully-DLCed game will give you enough toys to play with for some time. And until this the main barrier to jumping right in was the excessive up-front cost.



I've been tooling around with the scenarios, and I'm kind of enjoying the ones where you have to build a massive city after you survive a bunch of disasters. I have no idea how I'm going to fit 260K people on these islands in the tsunami one, but I imagine having the 25 squares mod is going to be helpful. And in the meantime it's been fun connecting islands with ferries and rotorcraft.

IAmTheRad
Dec 11, 2009

Goddammit this Cello is way out of tune!
How do I actually use the other building sets without using mods? Like I have European Suburbia but have no clue how to actually see those buildings in-game

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd
Getting back into this after a lengthy absence after seeing that insane DLC pack - is there a handy list of recommended mods these days?

Koesj
Aug 3, 2003
r/CitiesSkylines is pretty active and has good resources. Here's a Modlist for example.

Also check out what popular YTers have in their cities' collection as well as what mod/asset collections have been trending over time.

toplitzin
Jun 13, 2003


IAmTheRad posted:

How do I actually use the other building sets without using mods? Like I have European Suburbia but have no clue how to actually see those buildings in-game

Set a zone, then in one of the zone edit menus (like policies and such) you can set which building set to use in that zone.

A Buttery Pastry
Sep 4, 2011

Delicious and Informative!
:3:

Albino Squirrel posted:

This is an absolutely ridiculously good deal. I mean, I think you still need a few mods to make it a really good chill out game, but a fully-DLCed game will give you enough toys to play with for some time. And until this the main barrier to jumping right in was the excessive up-front cost.
What would you say are the main base game weaknesses the DLC shore up or solve?

OwlFancier
Aug 22, 2013

Industries gives you an actual supply chain element which can, with some mods, be fun to design infrastructure for.

Park life lets you build freeform parks that serve a purpose.

The academic one and the harbour one might add similar elements but I don't have them.

Otherwise it's just different mass transit options which can be fun but you probably won't use all of them. None of them really change the basic style of the game, none of them really make it much deeper other than possibly industries, but they can be fun if you want some limited functionality to your freeform city model builder. The game isn't really a very good game, it's really just a good model builder and most of the mod content is geared around that.

A Buttery Pastry
Sep 4, 2011

Delicious and Informative!
:3:

OwlFancier posted:

Industries gives you an actual supply chain element which can, with some mods, be fun to design infrastructure for.

Park life lets you build freeform parks that serve a purpose.

The academic one and the harbour one might add similar elements but I don't have them.

Otherwise it's just different mass transit options which can be fun but you probably won't use all of them. None of them really change the basic style of the game, none of them really make it much deeper other than possibly industries, but they can be fun if you want some limited functionality to your freeform city model builder. The game isn't really a very good game, it's really just a good model builder and most of the mod content is geared around that.
Thank you. I really want to like the game, and I did enjoy it when I was still figuring it out, but it's just too shallow for me to really get engrossed, and it doesn't really sound like the expansions really change that. Based on your describtion I'd probably not even make anything close to a proper new city before getting bored again.

I can't really blame them for not creating my ideal city builder game though, since I'm not sure Victoria II: Skylines would be quite as profitable, but I do wish it was at least a little closer.

Waroduce
Aug 5, 2008

precision posted:

So I got this with PS+ and can't stop playing it, but also kinda can't stop taking it far more seriously than I need to. I keep playing it like old SimCity or other such games where failure and bankruptcy are constantly looming and stressful

Is there a good video series y'all would recommend? All the ones I've found so far seem to take 75% of the video just making sure the roads are lined up perfectly, without actually explaining any of the mechanics

Like, I keep trying to make my city "realistic" which seems to not work very well. Or perhaps it's just a statement on how dumb people are if you don't micromanage their every move :v:

ImperialJedi has been great for me. very beginner friendly and has a whole vanilla series which since the free PS4 game got me into this and I've now purchased everything on steam was pretty great.

I'm having issues with scaling though, I'm super intimidated expanding and touching highways and I never seem to be able to balance a big enough bankroll and keeping residential demand low enough to slap down a proper expansion.

I'm a bit reluctant to turn on infinite money since I like the budget and growth mechanic and it feels like cheating with all da money in the world

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Lol if you don’t build a complete metro before zoning any land and unpausing the game.


I actually think I will go back and start playing without stuff unlocked and infinite money. The cities grow a little more organically it has produced some of my neatest towns.

super fart shooter
Feb 11, 2003

-quacka fat-
Does the 81 tiles mod significantly up the system requirements or affect performance in any way even if you're not building anything that far out?

OwlFancier
Aug 22, 2013

A Buttery Pastry posted:

Thank you. I really want to like the game, and I did enjoy it when I was still figuring it out, but it's just too shallow for me to really get engrossed, and it doesn't really sound like the expansions really change that. Based on your describtion I'd probably not even make anything close to a proper new city before getting bored again.

I can't really blame them for not creating my ideal city builder game though, since I'm not sure Victoria II: Skylines would be quite as profitable, but I do wish it was at least a little closer.

Yeah if you want a really crunchy management sim the game isn't ever gonna be one I think, it's really best as just a model builder. It can make quite nice looking models but I also find myself wishing they could combine that with some better actual gameplay. Really the gameplay is just you creating traffic problems for yourself and then trying to solve them.

dogstile
May 1, 2012

fucking clocks
how do they work?
The real challenge is forcing yourself to make cities that don't look like squares on squares on squares.

My efficiency :negative:

02-6611-0142-1
Sep 30, 2004

you can still make curving roads pretty square-efficient, you just have to know the secrets of the black arts

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord
This is the only video game that's made me wish I had majored in something different so that I could be better at a video game

dragonshardz
May 2, 2017

02-6611-0142-1 posted:

you can still make curving roads pretty square-efficient, you just have to know the secrets of the black arts

AKA install the one mod that makes ALL buildings use the PathsideOrGround placement mode, and an anarchy mod.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Any idea what this is called? I've been calling it an "airlock" but I'm sure I'm not the only person who does this. Basically I just have a big freight terminal, goods are delivered to the freight terminal, and the whole city lives in a bubble that's not connected by roads to the outside world. Citizens can't drive their car from the highway to their house, as they have to go through a public transit "airlock". All goods come in by train, reducing outside delivery trucks to 0, also reduces number of vehicles cutting through your city mucking about with traffic patterns etc

On the left I have P1 and F1 which are sort of the loading docks for freight and passengers, those connect via tunnels to F2 and P2. The blue line are pedestrian walkways and also a bike path



Here's an overview, on the left (1) is the airlock, it attaches to the first phase of the city. Then phase 2 which is the airlocked area. Then phase 3, there's a pre-existing highway, which I have bridges over, but doesn't connect to. There's also a few pedestrian bridges and a subway, public transit etc. Phase 3 has it's own freight terminals that connect to the other freight terminals so industry and move goods/people back and forth, as well with the outside world. There's still resource starvation, my guess is because goods are only allowed to change transport modes X times



Closeup of phase 2/3, experimenting with freight/human train stations on the edges, and in the middle of the city. Some goods come directly into the city and gets delivered to commercial areas directly, so seems like a good idea to not only put freight train stations near industry, but also commercial zones



I've been running very long, skinny blocks, and then bisecting them with a raised walkway that has a ramp down to each street, as pedestrians will only cross at street level at road intersections (they won't jay walk). This does two things 1) reduces vehicle intersections by at least half which increases average car speeds and 2) gets pedestrians out of their own cars and using walkways. Cims seem to prefer raised walkways over almost any other form of transport, so using them as streets feels a bit overpowered as it reduces the street grid complexity so much

Here you can see a pedestrian bridgeway running diagonally through the image



They're very popular, pretty much leaves the long roads completely empty except for delivery trucks, freight trucks, hearses, firetrucks etc service vehicles. I've also chosen to use streets with bike lanes, and then enabled 'encourage biking' which further reduces personal cars on the road. Population is ~75,000 at this point and I haven't had to do any special reconfiguration of the roads as I go just kind of organically drawing long roads in a grid pattern



Curious if anyone else does this, if they have any suggestions to min/max this further

Asproigerosis
Mar 13, 2013

insufferable
why is elementary school radius hosed?

Ms Adequate
Oct 30, 2011

Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling



super fart shooter posted:

Does the 81 tiles mod significantly up the system requirements or affect performance in any way even if you're not building anything that far out?

Not to my knowledge, though I'm no expert, I don't see how it would because if you're not building on it, there should be nothing additional to calculate.

Arrhythmia
Jul 22, 2011

Asproigerosis posted:

why is elementary school radius hosed?



dragonshardz posted:

Cities Skylines doesn't have service radii. The green highlighting on the roads marks out the extent of the happiness boost the school applies to buildings nearby.

Students will come to school from across the map as long as there is space for them.

Albino Squirrel
Apr 25, 2003

Miosis more like meiosis

Asproigerosis posted:

why is elementary school radius hosed?
I think one of the updates significantly reduced the happiness radius of elementary schools, though as noted not their effectiveness.

Which is weird, because living IRL one block from an elementary school I kinda wish I lived two or more.

John_A_Tallon
Nov 22, 2000

Oh my! Check out that mitre!
Maybe it should be a happiness doughnut.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Albino Squirrel posted:

I think one of the updates significantly reduced the happiness radius of elementary schools, though as noted not their effectiveness.

Which is weird, because living IRL one block from an elementary school I kinda wish I lived two or more.

If they properly simulated traffic from schools then the happiness drop from the traffic jam-up would outweigh the happiness boost from the school at very close quarters naturally and produce the happiness donut effect emergently.

Ethics_Gradient
May 5, 2015

Common misconception that; that fun is relaxing. If it is, you're not doing it right.

Asproigerosis posted:

why is elementary school radius hosed?

If you know anything about the politics of school catchment area zoning IRL, this is actually a feature and not a bug :v:

Mameluke
Aug 2, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
If anyone else likes building really, really old cities, or really dug the first episode of donoteat's Franklin series, this youtuber is doing a Cities Skylines LP set in Britain, going from the Neolithic onward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2-G16xU1ZY

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd

Mameluke posted:

If anyone else likes building really, really old cities, or really dug the first episode of donoteat's Franklin series, this youtuber is doing a Cities Skylines LP set in Britain, going from the Neolithic onward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2-G16xU1ZY

A "All-of-History" citybuilder has been my dream for ages, definitely will give a watch! Thanks!

Arglebargle III
Feb 21, 2006

Mameluke posted:

If anyone else likes building really, really old cities, or really dug the first episode of donoteat's Franklin series, this youtuber is doing a Cities Skylines LP set in Britain, going from the Neolithic onward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2-G16xU1ZY

aaaa this dude really needs to run his audio through a noise and pop filter

Eh! Frank
Mar 28, 2006

Doctor gave me these, I said what are these?
He said that they'll cure an existential type disease

Rhaegar posted:

After Dark was added to the humble bundle dlc bundle.

:aaa: I'm glad I popped into this thread, I bought & redeemed the bundle early on and completely missed that they added After Dark later. I just check my downloads page on Humble and sure enough, there's a key for it. And it would have continued just sitting there unused if I hadn't seen this post. Thank you!

Mister Bates
Aug 4, 2010
the SimCity 4 thread in Retro Games is really inactive so I'm posting this here too

I was digging around on one of my old backup external drives and found this:



that is the long-lost goon-created SimCity 4 megamod pack that came out of GrandFromage's huge SC4 LP that started back in 2011. it is as far as I know no longer available on the Internet anywhere, and is ready to play, just unrar into the plugins folder and go. I'm going to be uploading it to Dropbox today or tomorrow for people to play around with.

That just leaves Tai's Pack as the last of the three big megamod packs to be lost - OldFashioned 3.0 can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxg2mvswdgx4og4/Oldfashioned3.0.rar?dl=0

if anyone has Tai's Pack sitting around on an old hard drive somewhere I'd love to see it dredged up too.

super fart shooter
Feb 11, 2003

-quacka fat-
You know what I suddenly remembered about simcity 4 the other day? Remember how you could put rails right next to industrial zones, and they could load right onto trains from the factories or whatever. So you could make an industrial park with the railyard build right into it, no need to load up a bunch of trucks to drive to the freight depot just down the street

That, plus medium density zoning are the two simcity 4 things I would most love to have in CS

pointlessone
Aug 6, 2001

The Triad Frog is pleased with this custom title purchase.
I'd kill for some farm zoning like SC4 had. Plopped farms just don't give me that same feel.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Mister Bates posted:

the SimCity 4 thread in Retro Games is really inactive so I'm posting this here too

I was digging around on one of my old backup external drives and found this:



that is the long-lost goon-created SimCity 4 megamod pack that came out of GrandFromage's huge SC4 LP that started back in 2011. it is as far as I know no longer available on the Internet anywhere, and is ready to play, just unrar into the plugins folder and go. I'm going to be uploading it to Dropbox today or tomorrow for people to play around with.

That just leaves Tai's Pack as the last of the three big megamod packs to be lost - OldFashioned 3.0 can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxg2mvswdgx4og4/Oldfashioned3.0.rar?dl=0

if anyone has Tai's Pack sitting around on an old hard drive somewhere I'd love to see it dredged up too.

for future goon archeologists, I've added this file to my permanent archive, just hit me up

Arrhythmia
Jul 22, 2011
Happy canada day y'all. Here's my current city

Mister Bates
Aug 4, 2010

Mister Bates posted:

the SimCity 4 thread in Retro Games is really inactive so I'm posting this here too

I was digging around on one of my old backup external drives and found this:



that is the long-lost goon-created SimCity 4 megamod pack that came out of GrandFromage's huge SC4 LP that started back in 2011. it is as far as I know no longer available on the Internet anywhere, and is ready to play, just unrar into the plugins folder and go. I'm going to be uploading it to Dropbox today or tomorrow for people to play around with.

That just leaves Tai's Pack as the last of the three big megamod packs to be lost - OldFashioned 3.0 can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxg2mvswdgx4og4/Oldfashioned3.0.rar?dl=0

if anyone has Tai's Pack sitting around on an old hard drive somewhere I'd love to see it dredged up too.

uploading this right now, should be good to go in about 40 minutes and then I'll edit a download link into this post

e: and here it is: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18uDbtc1TvyHjtosOC6BFcjCzsIIL6Py8?usp=sharing

This should be ready to play as-is. Note that it was made in 2012 so it uses very out-of-date versions of the mods, but they were perfectly playable even back then, and if you know what you're doing it's trivially easy to update, say, NAM.

Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jul 1, 2020

The Locator
Sep 12, 2004

Out here, everything hurts.





Arrhythmia posted:

Happy canada day y'all. Here's my current city



Nice poo-stream.

:D

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Arrhythmia
Jul 22, 2011

The Locator posted:

Nice poo-stream.

:D

Glad you pointed it out 'cause it's got a name:

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