Starting with custom content

So like I’ve said before, I’ve been playing SimCity for a LONG time, and even SimCity 4 for quite some time (though not IN quite some time, if that makes sense). But one of the things that I never really got into is all the custom content that has been created by the various users.

So I started into that with the Network Addon Mod (NAM) and the Real Highway (RHW) system that I downloaded a bit ago to get some of the more realistic highways and such, but today I went a step further.

I was messing around with some of the stuff I had done on Union Terminal, and started looking for some parking lots. I browsed around to find a few options. One of the things I’ve learned is that you want to be somewhat careful in what all content you download. Because if you just willy nilly download everything you see, your “plugins” directory gets to be AWFUL full. And it’s hard to delete stuff, because some plugins have dependencies on other plugins, etc. etc. got Maven, anyone? 🙂

But after looking around, I settled on the parking lots built by the suavely named “hooha47. But then that made me have to download several other accompanying plugins, as well as some core game patches and updates. I also downloaded Shadow Assassin’s hole digging lots, which help you create sunken highways as well as terraform land with much more precision.

So I started up, and found that my hole digging lots wouldn’t work. After checking in, it seemed like I needed to download the NHP / Ennedi Slope mod. (See what I mean about all the dependencies?)

Then I booted SC4 back up and…. I couldn’t get it to work :(. Every time I plopped a hole digger and tried to connect it with a road, I got a message saying “Unsuitable area to build network”. Guess I’ll have to figure out what’s wrong. But that’s okay. Part of the “fun” of having this blog is cataloging my failures, in the hopes that a) they might help someone else and/or b) I can look back at them later and laugh at how noobish I was.

I did have a bit more success with my parking lots. Still not done, but I put in a few things over at Union Terminal.

Ignore the windmill in there as that’s just for temporary power. Still trying to figure out the best way to configure the parking lot or even the roads. Still, I do like the parking lot mod, as well as the taxi drop offs.