SimCity 2013 and all the Sim City games

[Dapcmaniac]

I'm still having a lot of fun playing, I've not come across any of the graphical issues I've seen online, and houses have always placed correctly. However the routing is a real issue, and there seems to come a lot of congestion where all the cars on a three lane highway are trying to use one lane. There are also a few issues from time to time with traded resources leading to lost happiness when water or sewage drops out for a hour or two (in game time) however all these issues can be patched. I think a good chunk of the game is currently lost due to leader-boards being offline, I believe the aim of this SimCity is not to create an everlasting metropolis but to constantly re-invent oneself to go for different challenges and or regional/frind leader-boards. I can see this becoming an excellent game with time. I would love for them to bring in a patch so you can actually create bus routes rather than just plonking bus stops and having busses drive aimlessly between them, again I can see them adding that in at some point. I also don't have an issue with the plot sizes myself, I find the constraint to be the mother of inventiveness, and to make sure each city can only have one specialisation forcing inter-region co-operation, especially when going for a Grand Project, one providing metal, another TVs etc.
One for the long haul I think, as they learn what's working and not working now the game is in the wild.

If I am really really honest I am looking for reasons to play. I have been watching some 'Lets Plays' to see what the gameplay is like in the meantime. (Day 9 has some semi-funny ones). I really want to like this game. I may have been unfairly harsh on anything it does wrong because SimCity is probably the second or third franchise I ever played, and I think the only one still around from my early early childhood. Yet every time EA opens its mouth it reminds me that the company I loved, Maxis, is dead, and the company that used to be for gamers EA, is nothing but a memory of a shell.

If they fix and patch the game, offline or not, I'd give myself a 65% chance of buying it in a moment of weakness. I think I would enjoy it and hate myself for it.

Interestingly enough though, one of the "co-founders" of EA seems to have a space based kickstarter going. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/470 ... ton-crater

I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has got old attachments to SimCity as well? I think i fizzled out around SimCity 3000. After that I just checked into one of the Sim games just to see what was new but never really playing them properly. The joy of the original SimCity and SimCity 2000 will never be forgotten

[countstex]

I've played SimCity since the first one, though haven't picked up every single follow up game. The idea os SimCity has always fascinated me, but the old games always were too simulated though for my, the traffic problems just showed up without any actual cars driving round. That's were I expected this game to change all that, to basically be The Sims but on a massive scale where you don't control them. I expected to be able to click any sim and see who he/she is married to, where they live, where they work, and follow them around for a day and see them go about their business. However this doesn;t seem to happen, it all seems fudged.. like it might be happening in the background but what you see on screen is just a bit random. I'm starting to wonder if the computing power required to run the SimCity of my dreams just isn't going to exist in my lifetime.
I know Tropico does that, but usually for a couple of thousand inhabitants at the most, SimCity is trying to deal with hundreds of thousands.. you would think that was why the servers were needed, yet it seems not.

[ratsoalbion]

I've been reviewing this for work. Spent a good deal of time criticising the traffic AI which has been addressed by the latest patch (out now).
What's even more annoying is that this patch also seems to have added a load of unsightly screen-tearing (even with v-sync on), which wasn't there before and I have the captured footage to prove it. Turning the gfx settings down (I have everything at max) does absolutely nothing to alleviate this.
Pants.

[magicjoef]

That's really weird about the tearing, the v-sync should stop that even if the frame rate suffers. Have you checked in both 30 and 60 frames mode? (Setting is in the SimCity menu)

Also, have you updated your graphics card drivers lately? Double check it isn't forcing v-sync off in the video card control panel, you want it set to 'let the application decide' or however it is worded.

[ratsoalbion]

Drivers are up to date, various visual options tested.

As I say, I've been playing it for hours and have captured footage for work with zero visible tearing. This patch seems to have changed something though. I will keep poking about although I'm fairly much done with the game for now anyway.


Edit: It was to do with the fact that I was outputting to two displays simultaneously. Once I switched back to just the one monitor the tearing was gone. Oddly though it was fine when I was doing using both yesterday.

[Dapcmaniac]

Ah im somewhat glad the patch caused new issues. Almost broke my resolve to not buy this game.

Curiously though, has anyone purchased the digital deluxe edition? Was it worth the extra cash?

[Dapcmaniac]

I was weak and bought the basic edition.

Thinking I should play in a sandbox before I join a region with you guys.

[countstex]

The sandbox might be more confusing as everything is unlocked from the get go.

[countstex]

I've found screen tearing appears for me sometimes at mid zoom levels oddly. Fine in close and well out but chuggy in the middle, but not all the time.

[Dapcmaniac]

I've found screen tearing appears for me sometimes at mid zoom levels oddly. Fine in close and well out but chuggy in the middle, but not all the time.

You are right about the sandbox mode. It is giving me a relatively safe place to learn the UI better though.

The major graphical irritation I am running into is that certain buildings are not showing their graphics at all, and instead are showing up as all white at every zoom level, unless I go to edit that building. I have to search the forums for more information.

Also I can't seem to figure out how to bulldoze edits/addons on my buildings without destryong the whole building. Edit mode seems to have disabled that button. . I guess it wont let you.

I sent you a friend request on origin 'origin ID: Ironicending'. At least I think thats you. Oddly there were two different "Countstex"'s on there.

I think a little more practice and I should be able to join the public without feeling like I am bringing down the region. Specializations are going to take a little time for me to use properly.

Anyone playing stateside?

[Dapcmaniac]

As someone who bought SimCity over the weekend, I am thoroughly irritated

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comment ... ity_by_20/

http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Arts-4 ... B007VTVRFA

[ratsoalbion]

Some info re: forthcoming improvements: http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/artic ... e-from-kip

[magicjoef]

Oh, right, yeah. Finishing the game. Good idea guys!

[countstex]

Also I can't seem to figure out how to bulldoze edits/addons on my buildings without destryong the whole building. Edit mode seems to have disabled that button. . I guess it wont let you.

Click the building to go into infoview mode for it, then click the bulldoze icon from there. Should be able to remove individual addons, or even the starting add on in the case of Windfarms, Smelters etc