Essential downloads for playing growing cities

[c0rnh0li0]

I'm going to try playing SC4 again after about a 2 year layoff. I've forgotten just about everything. What are the essential downloads for playing the game when you're planning on doing little plopping of res/ind/comm? I've got the NAM/RHM. Has the CAM been reworked? Does it work better now? Can someone point me to a mod that'll cause snow in the high elevations? Do you prefer a slope mod or the hole digging lots?

[KyNYC]

i'm in the same boat...stopped playing, deleted everything over 2 yrs ago and now am considering restarting. any response to your question?

[Andreas]

There is no definite answer for this question, since it's totally up to you. Some people love skyscrapers, others prefer W2W buildings, there's a bunch of people who like farming, some even create landscapes with barely any building at all, but rather lush forests, rivers, lakes and mountain ranges. Some concentrate on creating an effective transit grid, others want to max out the number of residents, and then there are those who turn every pebble ten times before everything looks perfect. I could make a list of my favorites, and some people would agree with me, while others have completely different likings.

[c0rnh0li0]

I would be interested in what you rely on, Andreas.I've enjoyed the pics you've downloaded on the site. I downloaded a bunch of stuff custom content, & then my hard drive went kablooey last month. So I had to start all over.

I'm interested in transportation mostly. So mods & such that allow for creating realistic looking road/rail systems over different elevations w/o having to see those ugly exposed "foundations" would be nice. I also want something that will encourage commuter traffic.

[FrankU]

& then my hard drive went kablooey last month. So I had to start all over.

I'd advise you to start with buying another HD, either internal or external. And make lots of backups!
I myself have written a small bat-file which copies all new files to a second harddisk and then shuts down my computer. So everytime I shutdown I make a copy of everything I did that session. Once a month, and immediately after important activities, I copy everything to an external HD.
------------------
The bat-file:
xcopy/e/d/Y C:\home\unen_van\Documenten\*.* E:\"Backup_Documenten"\*.*
shutdown -s -t 1 -c "Sleep well!"
------------------

What I'd suggest:
- NAM/SAM/FAR etc.
- CAM if you go for large developments. CAM 2 is in the making as far as I know.
- Try to define a style for your region and look for I, R and C that fits this style.
- Find a Terrain mod fitting to this style. And try to select a style/type of trees. tehre are so many tree mods around with different looking (PEG, CP, JEronij, TSC... I don't know), If you pult all in your Polugins it will blow.
- Refrain from using the Prop Pox-causing Beach Umbrella prop by PEG.(Sorry PEG, there are more props causing PP, but they aren't indentified yet. I got some in my plugins but don't know which).
- It would be interesting to select certain park sets to your own taste, the amount is flabbergasting and if you just select what's nice the result will be a mess. Of course real life is also a mess, so if you want to simulate that, then go on.

I think selecting your taste for the region you want to make is the first thing. I'd gladly help you further then.

Good luck! 

[Ciuu96]

For buildings, stations etc. you should probably check these lists listed here, they have helped me a lot.

[c0rnh0li0]

I'd advise you to start with buying another HD, either internal or external. And make lots of backups!
I myself have written a small bat-file which copies all new files to a second harddisk and then shuts down my computer. So everytime I shutdown I make a copy of everything I did that session. Once a month, and immediately after important activities, I copy everything to an external HD.
------------------
The bat-file:
xcopy/e/d/Y C:\home\unen_van\Documenten\*.* E:\"Backup_Documenten"\*.*
shutdown -s -t 1 -c "Sleep well!"
------------------

What I'd suggest:
- NAM/SAM/FAR etc.
- CAM if you go for large developments. CAM 2 is in the making as far as I know.
- Try to define a style for your region and look for I, R and C that fits this style.
- Find a Terrain mod fitting to this style. And try to select a style/type of trees. tehre are so many tree mods around with different looking (PEG, CP, JEronij, TSC... I don't know), If you pult all in your Polugins it will blow.
- Refrain from using the Prop Pox-causing Beach Umbrella prop by PEG.(Sorry PEG, there are more props causing PP, but they aren't indentified yet. I got some in my plugins but don't know which).
- It would be interesting to select certain park sets to your own taste, the amount is flabbergasting and if you just select what's nice the result will be a mess. Of course real life is also a mess, so if you want to simulate that, then go on.

I think selecting your taste for the region you want to make is the first thing. I'd gladly help you further then.

Good luck! 

Thanks for the advice. I have an external drive that I copied things to the first time I played. But was to shortsighted to do so this time around. I had just gotten finished downloading a ton of stuff about a week before my hard drive died.

Thanks for the other notes. I'm going to peruse them & take them to heart.

[c0rnh0li0]

For buildings, stations etc. you should probably check these lists listed here, they have helped me a lot.

Great list! I'm going to check it out later in the day. Thanks for pointing it out.

[c0rnh0li0]

Unfortunately, all of the STEX links are no longer valid after ST came back online. But the others for the LEX still work.