SC4 Devotion Forum Archives

Debate: which of these is the most important SimCity plugin or assistant application of all time?

The by far most essential download IMHO is the NAM

The NAM is an obvious one, but I picked the datpacker since it has allowed me to keep growing my plugins folder, elminated crashes on my machine and reduced load times to a fraction of what they were. A must for anyone with an obsese plugins folder.

NAM!

Without it the game would be boring!
It's the base of all traffic related content.

And the poll is mean: you sum up the X-tool, but as far as I know this is not available to everyone. At least, I have never found a download of it.

As far as I know Tracker doesn't have the X_Tool either. IINRFR ;D

And where is Ilive's Reader? Where would we be without it?

Well, to me there are four important CC plugins:

- NAM
- BAT
- LotEditor
- Ilive's Reader

NAM,CAM and LE  ()stsfd()

NAM, RHW and DATpacker

Well, without any doubt, the NAM is the single most essential mod that is our there. Apart from the NAM, the Euro Road Textures Mod is my favorite. :)

Quote from: Andreas on July 06, 2009, 09:47:09 AM
Well, without any doubt, the NAM is the single most essential mod that is our there. Apart from the NAM, the Euro Road Textures Mod is my favorite. :)

Way to toot your own horn!  :D

I am going with the NAM and all it's associated addons. I spend more time building roads and highways then I do actually playing.

I don't have quite a few, but I know that a lot of the most influential of these do, and I thought "What do they think?"

The X Tool, from what I've read, has been quite the big thing for modding.

NAM and ILives reader are the staple things.

You forgot RTMT, lol!  :P

Quote from: wes.janson on July 06, 2009, 09:57:12 AM
Way to toot your own horn!  :D

Well, while it is true that I maintain the ERTM at the moment, and also created a number of Euro textures, other people should get the large part of the honor - esp. thorvin, who initiated the mod, frimi, who supplied about 80% of the textures, and the current NAM modding/texture guys, like Chrisim, dedgren, Schleicher68 and RogerRon91 (and everyone else who I forgot). ;)

It's clear that the NAM gets the vast majority of votes (my own included). 

As far as gameplay goes, the CAM does seem to have a good shot at being very influential, although from my experience with it, all it does is just allows CAMpatible buildings to grow (since performance did not change from its already very slow jerkiness, that was all i really noticed.) I can't say whether it improved or worsened performance because it seemed the same after I installed it as before - the reason I mention this is because most people who've tried it either love it or loathe it, and I seem to be the only one whose opinion isn't near either extreme.

The ERTM is indeed an excellent mod, receiving updates as appropriate with new features of the NAM; however as it does not add many options but simply changes the appearance of roads, I don't think it rates as the most essential. (I do highly recommend it though, even as an American)

Quote from: cogeo on July 06, 2009, 12:47:10 PM
You forgot RTMT, lol!  :P

You most certainly did!  Even though I think the NAM is unquestionably the most essential custom content plugin, I think that RTMT ranks high on that list.

Of course, some people may think that I am biased.   ::)

its a pity that the DAMN isnt used more, its an excellent addition.

Wow, shocked the DATpacker isn't getting more love. Since I started using it I haven't had a single CTD that wasn't my fault.

This is a tough call.  The NAM adds a lot to gameplay, but the DatPacker has helped me out a lot with stability issues.

That's a tough one. The CAM, XTool, and Datpacker are all top of my list. Don't get me wrong. I see that a lot of folk are listing the NAM as their top choice. And I have the NAM too.

The CAM made the game what it should have been from day one. Adding those extra growth stages is simply brillant! I Xtool'ed all the lots in my plugins two years ago (as I was a beta tester) and that balanced the game further.

This is an interesting poll. They are all important and essential IMOP...

Good question--for me it was either NAM or Datpacker, both brilliant and essential. I finally went with Datpacker, as it is a near miracle in giving you back stable, no-lag gameplay with a groaning plugins folder--and allows you to finally enjoy playing and getting to use the NAM again.

What surprises me is that no one has put together an Essential Plugins & Tools page, in even the New Members area around here. So often I find that in order to be able to help someone, I have to point them to the plugins required to gather the information I need, such as the Census Repository. And these files are the first ones I have to download after every computer upgrade or crash. A person's choice in lots and mods is determined by their playing style, so I would say that there are probably only a handful of absolutely essential lots, which provide information that can be quite useful in every city.

Personally, I voted for CAM, because it is without a doubt the biggest reason I've continued playing the game. And the biggest reason I ever actually became involved in the community. NAM is extremely important as well, but after installing the latest version so many times, I take it for granted. With each new install of the game, I get the Maxis updates, and the latest NAM, which is often more important of a 'patch' for SC4 Rush Hour/Deluxe as adding nightlights.
All of Wouanagaine's programs are invaluable for gameplay, but I don't consider them plugins.
But in my mind at least, CAM serves as the Expansion Pack that Maxis forgot they could make. (Just think of all the money they coulda made with it.)

Quote from: z on July 19, 2009, 02:14:50 AM
You most certainly did!  Even though I think the NAM is unquestionably the most essential custom content plugin, I think that RTMT ranks high on that list.

Of course, some people may think that I am biased.   ::)

I think you might be Steve...  :P  While good, I wouldn't rank it with those listed above... (I would also consider SAM and RHW part of the NAM personally).... and NAM or CAM get my vote, probably NAM, because it adds so much more to the game.  CAM expands on it, but NAM adds to it.

OK, here's the thing.

You can't have a single most important plug-in to this game.

NAM would not be the same without RHW or the HSRP. And neither of those would be possible without the NAM.

SAM wouldn't mean anything to me going through streets lined with ugly maxis buildings, and I couldn't ever have been as happy with my hand-terraforming, as I am with SC4mapper maps (thanks Blade2k5).

So, I don't think there is a single most important plugin, you need ALL of them. I'm sure many other people will realise this also. 

Definitely the NAM, can't even remember how the game looks like without it!

-Stijn-