How deep can SC4 be modded?

Mr_Maison · July 23, 2009, 06:13:38 PM

I been kind of out of it for little while in Sim City land and recently went to the Sim City Wiki page to see if there was any news on a new development in the future.

And read this sentence- On January 10, 2008 the SimCity source code was released under the free software GPL 3 license under the name Micropolis.

This probably is not news to many of you so excuse me if I seem late. But does this mean that modders can get to those deeper places of the game that prevented access to things? If so, are there any projects going on that will make big changes in gameplay? Just very curious.

sithlrd98 · July 23, 2009, 06:19:29 PM

That was not for SC4. Sadly,it seems that it is a double edged sword...because the community has been able to strive and create so much content , and EA continues to have strong sales of SC4 , it could be a long time before the code is released. So , SC4 can only be modded as deep without breaking the .exe .

Jayson

Tarkus · July 23, 2009, 06:21:02 PM

Quote from: Mr_Maison on July 23, 2009, 06:13:38 PM
And read this sentence- On January 10, 2008 the SimCity source code was released under the free software GPL 3 license under the name Micropolis.

The SimCity they are referring to is the original SimCity from 1989, not SimCity 4, so there's not going to be any changes on our front. It would be nice if they GPL'd SC4, but don't see that happening anytime soon, and there's already quite a lot we can do without the source code.

-Alex

chris0101 · July 23, 2009, 07:09:10 PM

Out of curiosity, just how many copies of Simcity 4 are being sold as of 2009?

Most people here bought it early on and intend to hang onto their copy and not buy another. Very few people I have heard of are buying SC4 now.

sithlrd98 · July 23, 2009, 07:32:16 PM

The last figures I could find were from the sales figures for 2007...it was still ranking in the top 10! 6. Sim City 4 Deluxe--Electronic Arts--284,000

I have no guess , but looking at how many members are here and the other main sites , and new players sign up every day , who knows?

Jayson

Tarkus · July 23, 2009, 07:50:39 PM

Quote from: chris0101 on July 23, 2009, 07:09:10 PM
Out of curiosity, just how many copies of Simcity 4 are being sold as of 2009?

I don't have precise figures, but the SimCity Box, which includes SC4, was the 14th highest selling PC game for the month of May 2009, and 15th highest for June 2009 according to the NPD Group. SC4 Deluxe was in the top-10 for most of the first couple quarters of 2008 as well, outselling SimCity Societies. It's still selling a respectable number of units in some form or another.

-Alex

Mr_Maison · July 23, 2009, 09:44:28 PM

I still see the Sim City Box on shelves at electronic stores like BestBuy and even Target. I do not think retailers would be ordering it if it was not a hot item. Personaly, I think SC4 would do better by itself without that "stick SCS in there" package. Aside from the Orange Box, bundled games come off kinda outdated and cheap. If SC4 was a person, I can see it really mad and trying to ditch SCS from it's ankles. They need to get over the fact that SCS is not a good game and stop letting it cramp SC4's style.

As for the source code, I hope they will keep it and give us SC5. I think they're fools for not doing so. In the mean time I will be playing SC4 as long as I have a PC.

catty · July 24, 2009, 12:33:16 AM

Quote from: chris0101 on July 23, 2009, 07:09:10 PM
Out of curiosity, just how many copies of Simcity 4 are being sold as of 2009?

Most people here bought it early on and intend to hang onto their copy and not buy another. Very few people I have heard of are buying SC4 now.

Not counting the older versions of Simcity that I own, I've also have

2 copies of Simcity 4 Vanilla
2 copies of Simcity 4 Deluxe (US Version)
1 copy of Simcity 4 Deluxe (UK Version)

and on Wednesday I purchased the SimCity Box so now own Simcity 4 Rush-hour as well

I may need to join a support group

BarbyW · July 24, 2009, 01:25:41 AM

I'll join you there, catty, as I have multiple copies too. I haven't yet bought the SimCity Box though.

I am an SC4 addict. There that's the first step

WC_EEND · July 24, 2009, 01:57:35 AM

I'm quite baffled by that to be honest, then again I used to own 2 copies of The Orange Box (one on PS3 and one on PC)

M4346 · July 24, 2009, 01:58:09 AM

Apart from the SimCity Box sold here, they are still selling individual copies of SC4 VANILLA over here!

And that for less than $10

RadicalOne · September 01, 2009, 06:59:17 PM

Back to the original topic of this thread - Yes, I know I'm bumping this - SimCity can, in theory, be modified rather deeply. Conceivably, anything in the SimCity_#.dat files can be edited, with each number (1-5) being a different sort of data. Whatever is controlled by these .dat files could be changed. SC1.dat is the exemplar data, 2 is textures, and so on. All of that can be editing with the appropriate software, and a bit of cunning.