Tutorials:A quick guide to create your neighbourhood

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A quick guide to neighbourhood creation using SimCity 4
Basegame.gif

Base Game
Authorpatul
NotesPorted and cleaned up by Database, further cleanup by .:Alex:.


Contents

Overview

A quick guide to creating a custom neighbourhood with SimCity 4.

What you will need

  • SimCity 4

Tutorial

Introduction

Creating neighbourhoods for The Sims 2 seems to be easy but there are several things to know.

First, you will need SimCity 4! In the game there are pre-defined cities in some regions, so it is easier to make a region for your Sims 2 creations. When you add a region, select the plain option, the ocean is not very useful because it's harder to see your brush underwater. Cities are saved in the “MyDocs\SimCity4\regions\name of region” folder as name of city.SC4.

The Sims 2 only accepts the small city size. You will get an error message if you try to import a city that is medium or bigger.

Optional: Create a region full of small towns

With good old MSPAINT, edit the config.bmp file in the “MyDocs\SimCity4\regions\”name of region” folder, zoom in 800%, use the Pick Colour tool to copy the red dots and cover the entire image with the red, then save and exit. http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/patul_photos/tuto/tuto01.jpg

Enter the city

By default the game will ask you to reconcile edges. Reconciling means that terrain will be adjusted to the same height as it's neighbours. This may be dangerous if you re-enter a map, as you can totally destroy terrain this way. So deactivate this option in the game options panel.

SimCity 4 modes

  • God Mode is the main terraforming mode and the default mode when beginning a new city.
  • Mayor Mode is the main mode of the game where you build and manage a city.

Normally you cannot back to God mode after you activate Mayor Mode. You can however return to God Mode using a cheat: Control-Alt-Shift + click the God icon

Your new city is initially unnamed, you must name it when you enter Mayor mode for the first time. When you save the city, it will be saved as City – “the name”.sc4 in the …\”region” folder There is no Undo command in SimCity 4. The only to reverse mistakes is to exit the city without saving (save: Ctrl+S). I myself name the city immediately then head back to God Mode using the cheat.

An interesting and useful thing to know when building your neighbourhood is to know which direction the sun comes from. In TS2 you want to have it in the best possible position for your houses. The sun will be in the south-east corner of your city. Due to the multiple rotations you will have to make, it will be interesting to note it with a forest for example.

Terraforming tools

  • When you select a tool the big size is selected by default. By pressing Shift you enlarge it to the largest size. If you hold Shift and press 1-0 on the keyboard you can lock smaller sized brushes.
  • When you right-click on the map you centre the cursor, if you scroll you still centre. Useful for adjustments with the maximum zoom.
  • When you zoom (in or out) the size of the ground changes, but not the brush size. If the brush is 10 width in zoom x0, it will remain 10 in a zoom x2 so it works for a smaller area. You can change between the 6 zoom levels with the mouse wheel and the - or + keys.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/patul_photos/tuto/tuto5.jpg

The different brushes

SimCity 4 provides help for each tool. Be careful with the valley brushes to make a river, their effects adds depth but the water surface doesn’t change. I make a unique hole, then I flatten the path of the river with the Quick Level brush. After that it's much easier to redraw and adjust. I do most of this with the level terrain tools.

Roads and bridges

There are two keyboard shortcuts that will speed things up here which are directly accessible in God Mode: R for road and B for bulldozer. http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/patul_photos/tuto/tuto7.jpg

Roads
  • The Sims 2 only accepts one type of road, the uh... Road. Streets, Highways, Avenues or Tunnels (or Train tracks for that matter) will not be carried over when you import the map into TS2.
  • The Sims 2 only accepts horizontal and vertical roads. Diagonal roads will not appear in TS2.

Making roads on steep terrain will flatten the path to the lowest possible slope. A straight road is often the only way to climb a mountain. Sometimes you get a tunnel, but you don't want this as tunnels do not appear in TS2. Start laying out your road at the top of the hill then drag down from this point to avoid tunnels.

Spaces between roads

SC4 and TS2 squares are different. It's quite easy to convert though:

Neighborhood (Nbr) SC4 squares are converted in 2*Nbr TS2 squares + 1 TS2 square http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/patul_photos/tuto/tuto8b.jpg

Bridges

Of course, you can make bridges. TS2 will convert only 2 types of bridges; the Small Arch and Level Road bridges. But only one type of bridge is allowed in each neighbourhood (consider each sub-hood as independent).

In standard SC4, building a bridge will raise the ground surrounding the foot of the bridge. This can cause several squares to be unusable for building. A useful mod is one that allows flat bridges, the Bridge Height Mod by joerg at [[1]] http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/patul_photos/tuto/tuto091.jpg

Funds

You must pay for each building action. If you are out of funds hold Ctrl+X then type “weaknesspays” in the cheat box. This cheat adds §1000 to your treasury.


Never forget that you make a neighbourhood for your sims

Credits

Originally posted by patul Quick guide to create your neighbourhood. (original post) Cleaned up by Database and .:Alex:.

External Links

Making a neighbourhood (more tricks)

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