The future of the community.

[WC_EEND]

Not meaning to be rude, folks, but... if only half the time spent by everyone reading and commenting on this thread had been spent on commenting on someone's MD or creating a new LOT, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Any community that starts to talk about itself as being in trouble will usually get there in short order.

My two cents.

Cheers,
Willy

This really.
Also, am I the only one who thinks it's slightly ironic this topic has quickly become one of the more active topics over here?

[rooker1]

 There are certain things around here that we can change and others that we will not.  The LEX candidacy is one that we will not change.  The founding members of this site wanted it this way and I believe this would be a loosing argument, but let me explain why.

Before there was anything on the LEX, the BSC Team went through their own stuff to make sure it was near perfection and than the content was uploaded.  All new members must and will go through the LEX candidacy process until they manage to produce near perfect uploads on their every time.  If anyone thinks for a minute that there are preferred members here over others you are sadly mistaken.  The LEX candidacy works the way it does because every new LEX up loader goes through this process and gets a huge amount of help and support that not every upload every time can get.  Once the LEX candidacy team believes the new up loader has the ability to upload near perfect uploads they are free to go on their own giving the LEX candidacy team more time for the newer candidacy member that still needs help. There are only a few active members on this team right now and they would be spread way too thin if every upload was double checked every time.  Now, as Rayden has said already above, it is up to every team that gets uploading rights to continue the high standards amongst their own team and be always double checking their own work before uploading to the LEX.  Any team that lowers their standards, or even just makes a mistake, the uploaded product is locked and fixed right away.

I believe the new comer, if anyone, is the preferred member here at SC4D.  At any time they can PM any Staff member and get whatever help they need fairly quickly....any new member that goes for LEX candidacy gets more help, I believe, than they would any where else.
I understand this process can be daunting for anyone and I am sure this is why we don't have as many up loaders as other sites may have.  But you can go to the LEX and find that the majority of the work there is damn near perfect, aside from the possible out dated read me and where to find some dependencies.  This process is a very positive one and will not change and believe me when I say that every person that has gone through the LEX candidacy process has come out in the end better than before it.

Robin

[Shark7]

There are certain things around here that we can change and others that we will not.  The LEX candidacy is one that we will not change.  The founding members of this site wanted it this way and I believe this would be a loosing argument, but let me explain why.

Before there was anything on the LEX, the BSC Team went through their own stuff to make sure it was near perfection and than the content was uploaded.  All new members must and will go through the LEX candidacy process until they manage to produce near perfect uploads on their every time.  If anyone thinks for a minute that there are preferred members here over others you are sadly mistaken.  The LEX candidacy works the way it does because every new LEX up loader goes through this process and gets a huge amount of help and support that not every upload every time can get.  Once the LEX candidacy team believes the new up loader has the ability to upload near perfect uploads they are free to go on their own giving the LEX candidacy team more time for the newer candidacy member that still needs help. There are only a few active members on this team right now and they would be spread way too thin if every upload was double checked every time.  Now, as Rayden has said already above, it is up to every team that gets uploading rights to continue the high standards amongst their own team and be always double checking their own work before uploading to the LEX.  Any team that lowers their standards, or even just makes a mistake, the uploaded product is locked and fixed right away.

I believe the new comer, if anyone, is the preferred member here at SC4D.  At any time they can PM any Staff member and get whatever help they need fairly quickly....any new member that goes for LEX candidacy gets more help, I believe, than they would any where else.
I understand this process can be daunting for anyone and I am sure this is why we don't have as many up loaders as other sites may have.  But you can go to the LEX and find that the majority of the work there is damn near perfect, aside from the possible out dated read me and where to find some dependencies.  This process is a very positive one and will not change and believe me when I say that every person that has gone through the LEX candidacy process has come out in the end better than before it.

Robin

Which is the largest reason why I prefer to get my add ons here at SC4Devotion.  I know without fail that it has been rigorously tested, it will work and it will not cause any problems.  The new lots may not come at a fast rate, but they won't cause problems and they install into a structured directory with a few clicks.

The LEX is the main selling point of SC4 Devotion.  The forums are great, don't get me wrong, but the fact that I can get new lots, garaunteed to work and that look great is a really big draw for myself and countless others (no doubt).  Yes it may take a while to go through the process from start to actual upload, but then the best things in life are worth waiting for.

[NCGAIO]

Although I agree that the quality is very important, we must recognize that downloading updates is a big attraction to move the site in general.

For those who are used is easier to navigate through devotion, but for new visitors is no longer simple. The scheme of titles and sections, although well prepared is very large and takes a while to find what they want.

Maybe a new vision-oriented social networking sites as did others make the visit more interesting for beginners, but this would require a complete redesign which would lead to the inevitable cost to do so.

We know that the fan sites that keeps the air has its income from donations or CD sales, but also an important part of advertising is to come to this course, there must be public yet.

Following the announcement of the new game I noticed that several other sites such as Swedish, French, German, until the Spaniard, who had their areas of stagnant download began to receive new items for Downloads.

It is the suggestion of a greater incentive for new uploads to create the required page in the forum for information and support to the user. Besides the vast technical stuff about the game being reorganized to facilitate the search and understanding

[NCGAIO]

... this forum is for advanced people in SC4D ... couldnt find the download link for CAM ... what can I do ? I really love to have those lots and extra stuff in SC4 ....  help me !

LINK- http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14572.msg419248#msg419248

I think this an example of what I said above. Although much information on the Forum (By far the most comprehensive in this respect) the way it is distributed hampers their knowledge.

[mike3775]

... this forum is for advanced people in SC4D ... couldnt find the download link for CAM ... what can I do ? I really love to have those lots and extra stuff in SC4 ....  help me !

LINK- http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14572.msg419248#msg419248

I think this an example of what I said above. Although much information on the Forum (By far the most comprehensive in this respect) the way it is distributed hampers their knowledge.

Yeah because the file exchange link on the left of the forums is hard to see right?

[Tarkus]

"Where's the download button?" is the "where's my water?" of SC4D LEX.  It's been that way for a long time (it had calmed for awhile until a recent spike), and has to do with the separate registration--which is very unlikely to change, as it'd require a completely new software package on both the forums and the LEX.  In other words, it's pretty much a non-starter.

I do think a few blatantly obvious notices (including sticky threads) would help, however.

-Alex

[Epinay]

Hi,
If you want a bigger and more active community guys, you need to casualize it.
Make big packs, installers etc..


Epinay-

[Silur]

Hi,
If you want a bigger and more active community guys, you need to casualize it.
Make big packs, installers etc..


Epinay-

You want SUPER MEGA-MEGA-MEGA PROPS PACK about 1GB 
Please no this ...
Many - not means Good
We have Hi-Fi Quality material here ...
Thank You ..

[Lowkee33]

(it had calmed for awhile until a recent spike

Probably due to the new Sim City announcement.  A bunch of "where's the download", "nightlites don't work", "how to install" questions recently.

[Epinay]

Question:
Is there going to be a SC5devotion or this site will be for simcity 4 for ever ?

[Tarkus]

(it had calmed for awhile until a recent spike

Probably due to the new Sim City announcement.  A bunch of "where's the download", "nightlites don't work", "how to install" questions recently.

That was my guess as well.  It seems that the new game is stirring renewed interest in the existing game.

If you want a bigger and more active community guys, you need to casualize it.
Make big packs, installers etc..

While some file consolidation wouldn't hurt (and in fact, the NAM Team is going to be doing just that with the next release--the so-called "Monolithic NAM" that merges almost everything together), and we've pretty much always had installers (to some advanced user's chagrin) I don't think "casualization" is really the solution.  It'd be counter to the goal of SC4D to, for instance, create an active off-topic section.

I should note, this thread was started before the new SimCity was announced, which has, to some extent, upped the interest in the game.  Heck, as WC_EEND ironically pointed out, this thread has, too.  And as always, new content will always bolster activity.  A NAM or two would do the job, though RL has been keeping an increasing number of us away this year (myself included).  We also maxed out our bandwidth last month a day early, which led to the site being down on March 31st.

Question:
Is there going to be a SC5devotion or this site will be for simcity 4 for ever ?

It's much too early to tell what role the new SimCity (which lacks the "5" after it) will play here.  So far, personally, I like what I see with the new SimCity. But right now, the discussion about it is still very much in the speculative realm.  The game was only officially announced last month, and it's going to be awhile still before it gets released. 

I think that as much stuff as has been developed for SC4, and as established as the community is, and knowing the sentiments of many of the staff and regulars here, I would expect there to be "Devotion" for SC4 for quite some time to come, regardless. 

-Alex

[DAB_City]

As I'm sure the activity on SimCity forums has increased with the announcement of SimCity '5', as well as the UI redesign over at Simtrop '8', I think that SC4D and the LEX could use a little paint in order to make it slightly more attractive to new users and the like...

[orchid22]

Not too long ago my computer was wrecked in a flood, my external hard drives were saved but everything else was destroyed. While all my map/bat downloads were saved on the hard drives, I lost all interest in SimCity. However that changed when I saw the images of SimCity 5. So I installed SC4 on my new computer and started playing again. 

Now, I am not an expert when it comes to city/region building, and sometimes I feel a bit shy about posting pictures and creating a MD/CJ. I'm not saying that the forum is unwelcoming, but for me at least, it can be a bit intimidating. 

Maybe a friendly weekly competition could be made where seasoned MDers assist beginners through building, presentation, style, etc. It could last 4-5 weeks (more or less depending on members) and help increase overall activity. The same can be done for BATers and mapmakers. Just a thought...

[Lowkee33]

I've had to block every image, stylesheet, and script to make the new Simtrop run on my laptop, it's the heaviest site I've been to.

What do I do here?  Log in and click "unread-posts", that gives me all the info I need.

[WC_EEND]

I've had to block every image, stylesheet, and script to make the new Simtrop run on my laptop, it's the heaviest site I've been to.

At the risk of dragging this thread offtopic: ST 7.5 has always been horribly slow for me. Not because it struggled performance-wise, but because the site took ages to load and more often than not restulted in a 500 error. ST 8.0 (ie: the current version) is much smoother and feels much more optimized than the old version. 

edit: it's not my intention to talk badly about ST with this post. My point is: the new ST is a huge improvement over ST7.5

[Tarkus]

As I'm sure the activity on SimCity forums has increased with the announcement of SimCity '5', as well as the UI redesign over at Simtrop '8', I think that SC4D and the LEX could use a little paint in order to make it slightly more attractive to new users and the like...

We just went through an upgrade on the forums back at the end of June/beginning of July.  Before the recent one (which they've labeled "7.3.3"), ST's was a little over a year ago, and it had been 2 years back to their last major one (ST6) and 3 years back to ST5.  I don't think ST would have upgraded now had it not been for the fact that the site was regularly having Error 500 messages, which increased dramatically after the new SimCity forum was opened.

I don't think jeronij really has the time to do another forum upgrade at this point, and I also don't think it's really warranted right now, either.  Aside from a minor bandwidth hiccup at the very end of March, the site has been running smoothly.  While it's true the LEX hasn't really seen much of any change in quite a long time, and I'd speculate much of our post-new-SimCity influx has been on the LEX, but in spite of its age, it still seems to get the job done.  It hasn't stopped us from continuing to have a steady stream of new members on there, and it hasn't stopped people from downloading.  We can't really do much to the software, anyway, and the main draw for folks is still the content. 

Now, I am not an expert when it comes to city/region building, and sometimes I feel a bit shy about posting pictures and creating a MD/CJ. I'm not saying that the forum is unwelcoming, but for me at least, it can be a bit intimidating. 

Maybe a friendly weekly competition could be made where seasoned MDers assist beginners through building, presentation, style, etc. It could last 4-5 weeks (more or less depending on members) and help increase overall activity. The same can be done for BATers and mapmakers. Just a thought...

Those are fair points and an interesting idea you've proposed, which I think merits discussion. 

-Alex

[eugenelavery]

I like the idea of a BATing school and a CJ/MD school.  A similar thing for city journals was tried over at Simtropolis but it seems to have died out.  I would happily offer to help others with their building as I feel I would have good advice given that I have undergone a very steep learning curve over the last 18 months to get to where I am now.

[Shark7]

I like the idea of a BATing school and a CJ/MD school.  A similar thing for city journals was tried over at Simtropolis but it seems to have died out.  I would happily offer to help others with their building as I feel I would have good advice given that I have undergone a very steep learning curve over the last 18 months to get to where I am now.

A step by step BATing how-to would be nice.  Done right, even some one like me might be able to accomplish it. 

[rooker1]

Something new is going on in the OSITM section. 
Go on over to the OSITM section and have a look, come back here and give us your thoughts.

Robin