• Electronic Arts

September 15, 2017 Those of you who have been patiently awaiting the release of NAM 36 need not wait any longer–it’s out now, as of the 13th of September. All the details are up in this SC4D thread. Among other things, it finally marks the appearance of the FLEX Turn Lanes, which had been in development since just after NAM 32 was released in January 2014 (making its development cycle longer than that of the Network Widening Mod), and the Draggable Elevated RealRailway Viaducts.

Find all the latest SimCity 4 PC game mods on GameWatcher.com.

Viaduct functionality of that type has been in planning since 2009, with several unfinished attempts, before eggman121 finally put everything together. There’s also a new SAM set, courtesy of mgb204, expansions to the One-Way Road Signalization and Turn Arrow Project, some new Multi-Radius Curves, and some other fun stuff that we hope you’ll enjoy.

There’s also a marked improvement with the documentation, which is transitioning back to the old HTML format used in NAM 30 and earlier. The Windows version is up on the, the, and, while the Mac version is only at, due to its larger filesize. (And in case anyone is wondering, since Origin still hasn’t (re-)fixed their unpatched/unpatchable copy, it’s still a no-go. See my handy ) To help further get you in the mood, here’s a video I did building an RHW T-Interchange in real-time using NAM 36 a few days back, in response to a question over on /r/simcity4. June 28, 2017 Beginning with the release of NAM Version 31.2 in June 2013, the NAM Team decided to add a version checking routine to the mod’s installer script, which has remained in the package since. This decision, as you might imagine, has attracted some controversy and its share of detractors, one of whom recently tried (and failed) in an effort to upload a “hot mess” of NAM 30 files onto a popular SC4 exchange (earning persona non grata status in the process). This post is intended to answer some common questions as to why the version check came to be, its future, as well as the reasons why the NAM Team remains strongly opposed to distributing old NAM versions.

Q: Why did the NAM Team add a version check? A: The version check added to the NAM’s installer script in 2013 was in response to an ongoing series of technical support cases that began to flare up in 2011. A few users kept repeatedly complaining to the NAM Team about some broken or missing path files on some fairly common intersections, chief among them, the T-intersection in which an orthogonal Avenue ends at an orthogonal One-Way Road. This basic intersection is inoperable without the EP1 Update 1/Version 1.1.638 patch. However, that particular intersection was one that Maxis themselves had fixed in November 2003 (several months before NAM Version 1 was released), with the EP1 Update 1 patch, which upgrades the game’s files from Version 1.1.610 (Version 1.1.613 for European copies) to Version 1.1.638. As evidenced by the front sections of the NAM’s documentation from the beginning of the mod’s existence, the Windows version of the NAM has always required Version 1.1.638 or later.

Electronic Arts

Versions 1.1.610 and 1.1.613 have never actually been supported. In addition to fixing those transportation network paths, having a properly updated copy of the game is really to every SC4 player’s benefit, as the EP1 Update 1 patch also addresses a number of significant game stability issues, some of which can cause the dreaded crash-to-desktop (CTD). I’ve listed the patch notes in a previous post, pertaining to (a matter we’ll revisit later), but here they are again:. Adjusted foam spray effect for firefighters fighting toxic spills. Addressed issues related to U-Drive it mode while volcano disaster is active. Fix for random issues that may arise when dragging a diagonal power line across zones in specific manner that creates a connected orphan pole in a segment. Renderer updates to avoid memory corruption when model instance has an invalid position.

Updates to paths to improve clipper that was transforming stop points into single-point paths. Video card improvements for the following: Intel i830/845/865: Fixed graphics rules to allow hardware and to disable color cursor.

Addressed issues related to burning tree stump. Fix for airplane sometimes taxiing above the airfield. Implemented safety code for query. Fix for relatively obscure problems that occur when moving vans are created on a tile with a complex paths. Implemented a general-purpose fix for any remaining yet-to-be-discovered cases of a bad orientation vector. Fix for issue where networks loaded from a saved city would not properly re-initialize their connection bitmap.

Updated Localized strings. Updates for My Sim messaging. The issues would arise when moving a My Sim out of a city at just the right time.

Fix for reported location of sky diving mission. Fix for query incorrectly reporting trip length after abandonment. Fix for incorrectly reported commute time during inter-city travel.

Path fixes for various networks and intersections. Texture fixes for several one-way/avenue intersections. Fix for several network intersection resolves. Improved usage of parking lots and transit stations. Improved synching of foundation vs. Building height. Improved variety of industry building development.

Fix for intercity commute where bus traffic was periodically being treated as car traffic. Fix for being able to drop highway ramps over buildings. Adjusted toll booth capacities for 2-tile wide toll booths. Fix for prevention of pedestrians from using neighbor connections. Fix for elevated train volume not being reported in the traffic volume graph. Fix for commercial traffic and road noise map calculations to accommodate multi-tile morning and evening commutes.

Added left turn lanes to avenue/highway overpass onramps. Fix for priorities of props and textures in lot templates used in city detail. Fix for variety of path bugs related to roads, rails, highways, avenues and elevated rail.

That’s a pretty substantial list. And just because the NAM’s installer in earlier versions might have allowed the mod to be installed on unpatched copies of the game (or even on non-Deluxe/non-Rush Hour copies of SC4, where attempting to load the mod results in an instant CTD), that ability was simply a limitation of our previous installer script, and was never intended or desired. Q: So the NAM has actually had a requirement of running Version 1.1.638 or later all along? See the “Compatibility” section of the “1.Readme.htm” file in the Documentation folder of any older NAM release.

NAM 30 Readme, again detailing patch requirement Q: What does this mean for digital copies? A: With the (and only for those who bought the game from Origin–if you obtained a free copy by redeeming an old CD key with them, you’re okay), all other digital retailers, including GOG.com, Steam, and Amazon (the “Thin Game Download” version) sell pre-patched copies of the game, which carry a version number of 1.1.641 (the highest version number out there).

These Version 1.1.641 copies exceed the requirement, and can install the NAM without issue. The infamous Origin retail copy, however, is Version 1.1.610, and due to Origin’s modifications to change the DRM method (from SafeDisc to Origin), the patch cannot be applied to it, and it is permanently stuck at Version 1.1.610. It’s “nerfed.” If you purchased the game from Origin, ask for a refund, even if you have passed the return window. Eventually, they will determine that the cost of refunding your purchase is less expense to them than wages for their customer support staff. Shows you how you can do it. Q: I’ve heard this version check blocks cracked “No CD” executables and pirated copies of the game. Is this true?

A: Yes, cracked “No CD” executables are indeed blocked by the version check. They generally carry a different checksum, which means that the NAM installer will not recognize them as valid installations of the game. In any case, users with cracked/pirated copies have never been eligible for technical support, in large part due to the potential of version mismatches between files. While blocking cracked copies was not the primary intention of the version check, the NAM Team opposes piracy, and views this side effect as a largely positive one. More on that in a bit. Q: But my version of Windows seems to be blocking my disc copy from running–what am I supposed to do? A: Microsoft decided to declare secdrv.sys, the driver file used by many older games with SafeDisc or SecuROM DRM, a “security threat” back in 2015.

As a result, it decided not to include the driver in Windows 10, and for Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1, which prevented it from operating. If you are on Vista, 7, 8, or 8.1, one can either remove KB3086255, or use the command line or a batch file to re-enable secdrv.sys when needed. In the case of Windows 10, unless one wants to go through the trouble of manually signing the secdrv.sys driver (not recommended for the faint of heart), it’s pretty much impossible to get a SafeDisc or SecuROM game working on that version of the operating system. It may be easier at that point to find a properly patched digital copy (NOT Origin) when it’s on sale. The game does still have the seemingly steep MSRP of US$19.99 (!) some 14 years after its release, but is often on sale for a much more reasonable US$4.99. Provided you still have your disc and the CD key, you can also get a free copy by redeeming your CD key with Origin–oddly enough, they’ll give you Version 1.1.641 if you do this, instead of the “nerfed” Version 1.1.610 copies they give their paying retail customers. Q: I have a legitimate disc copy of the game, and I’ve installed the 1.1.638 patch, but the NAM installer still says I haven’t.

What’s going on? A: The EP1 Update 1/Version 1.1.638 patch comes in five different “SKUs”, each for a different market where the game was sold. Here’s a breakdown of the SKUs: SKU1 – North America, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Australia, and New Zealand SKU2 – South America, Africa (except South Africa), Europe, Russia, Mexico and Central America SKU3 – Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and (some parts of) Hong Kong SKU4 – Mainland China SKU5 – Japan The game will only be properly updated to Verson 1.1.638 if you install the correct SKU of the patch. The main reason for the different SKUs is language support–each one had a different set of language packs associated with it. Knowing the language packs on the discs can help in determining the proper SKU. If the first SKU you tried did not work properly, there is no harm in trying the others. Eventually, one will work, if you are running a legitimate disc copy of the game.

Here are a few more tips on installing this patch:. If you are playing the game in English, but the cars are driving on the left side of the road (and you haven’t done any drive-side modification on your own), that’s a dead giveaway that you’re running a SKU2 copy. The game treats “English” and “UKEnglsh” as separate languages, and there are some hardcoded differences with respect to drive side between the two (“English” drives on the right, “UKEnglsh” drives on the left). If your executable is showing Version 1.1.613 before patching instead of Version 1.1.610, that is also a sign you should be installing SKU2. Disc copies purchased in more recent times may have actually been originally intended for a different market. SKU2 copies seem to be especially mobile, ending up on occasion in the US, and with some frequency in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Q: Where can I get the patch?

A: The patch can be directly obtained through (SKU 1-5), (SKU 1-5), or (SKU 1 and 2 only). Q: Why is it called the EP1 Update 1 patch, when it seems to do nothing to EP1.dat? A: EP1.dat is a file that comes with Rush Hour/Deluxe, and consists entirely of textures for buildings added in the expansion. However, EP1.dat is untouched by the EP1 Update 1/Version 1.1.638 patch. There were no files in there that required patching. “EP1” is simply an abbreviation that EA Maxis used for the Rush Hour Expansion Pack (included in the Deluxe Edition).

Rush Hour was the first (and only) expansion pack (EP), hence, EP1. The “EP1” the patch is referring to is the full Rush Hour/Deluxe package. Q: What about Version 1.1.640 and 1.1.641? The NAM installer has asked me to consider installing the 1.1.640 patch as well.

A: 1.1.640 is the version number for disc copies of the game that have had the “SimCity 4 Buildings Update” applied. While it is not required by the NAM, it is a nice patch to have installed if you’re using a lot of custom content, as it enables nightlighting on buildings created using the Building Architect Tool (BAT)–in other words, every custom building you can download off the STEX, LEX, other exchanges.

The NAM installer includes a note about it as a courtesy, as the team figures many users will probably want to download at least some custom buildings. It requires having the 1.1.638 patch installed first. The 1.1.640 patch can be obtained at (look for the second hard disk icon). 1.1.641 is the version number of the properly pre-patched digital copies, and is functionally identical to 1.1.640, in that it has the 1.1.638 improvements and custom nightlighting support already in place. Q: What about the Mac version? A: The Mac port of SC4 from Aspyr operates on a completely different version system from the Windows version.

There is no equivalent patch on the Mac version, and Aspyr has no plans to produce one. Many of the same issues with 1.1.610 do exist with the Mac version, as well as some other quirks, and we’ve done our best to cope with them for the Mac users.

At present, however, we have no active Mac users on the team, and we are extremely limited in being able to provide any platform-specific technical support. Q: Given all the issues outlined above, does the NAM Team still feel that using the version check is prudent after the past four years? A: The goal of many initiatives we take is to reduce the amount of time we need to spend on technical support. The less technical support we need to provide, the more time we can spend developing new features. The joy of continuing to develop new features and push the game further is what has kept the NAM Team going for over 13 years. Adding the version check did create a trade-off: we traded people asking us to fix issues that Maxis already did, for people asking why the version check isn’t recognizing their install as valid. The solution to these issues is ultimately the same, however–install the EP1 Update 1 patch.

We’ve just moved the point at which we need to tell users when to do that, from when they first noticed an issue they erroneously thought was the team’s fault, to before they even get the mod up and running. We do, however, understand the frustration, and are looking at ways of potentially streamlining this process, so the SKU “guessing game” goes away, and users with cracked executables are given a more accurate message. Both of these steps could substantially mitigate some of the issues. One of the main deciding factors right now as far as the version check’s future is the Origin “nerfed copies” situation. Being a particularly visible part of the SC4 community, it’s part of the NAM Team’s role to be a watchdog.

It is our intent to force Origin to do the right thing (again) and give its retail customers the same properly patched copy of the game that all other digital retailers offer. The version check–and its de facto disincentive to pirate the game–gives us leverage in that fight. Q: If you’re going to keep the version check in, why not offer up old NAM versions for those who can’t pass through it? A: This idea is not at all feasible, for a number of reasons.

First off, as has been mentioned many times in this article, the NAM has always required Version 1.1.638 or later. That’s just as true of NAM 1 as it is of NAM 35. Not only would we be dealing with the version check-related cases, we’d also be reintroducing the Version 1.1.610/613-related tech support cases we intended to avoid by adding the version check in the first place. Secondly, the NAM has long been strongly opposed to the continued distribution of old versions. Aside from a couple of extreme emergency cases (i.e.

The one time we actually published a release date–never again), we’ve always overwritten or yanked down the old versions on the download sites once the next version is ready, for reasons described below, and gone after sites that distribute old versions. (For at time, in the late-00s, we even went to the extent of locking the mod on the exchanges, a few days prior to a new release, to prevent people from downloading the current-but-soon-to-be-obsolete version.) Q: Why is the NAM Team against having old versions up for download? A: The main reason, of course, is tech support.

The NAM Team of today is a small but valiant effort, made up of passionate volunteers, working in their spare time. We take pride in our work, and want the community to be able to enjoy it, so we are happy to offer (free) technical support for the (free) mod, to the best of our abilities. By only offering and supporting the latest version, we can still focus the majority of our activity on the development of new and improved features–the main reason we do this–while supporting a public release that’s still relatively fresh in our memories. Old versions are an unneeded distraction and a huge tech support liability, particularly as they tend to have bugs that newer versions solve, not to mention a smaller feature list.

Given our nightmarish experience with the Diagonal Bridge Enabler (anyone remember “where’s my water?”), we also have concerns that users may unknowingly download an old version instead of the latest. It’s worth noting, particularly with more recent releases, that a larger feature list does not equal a more complicated experience.

The user has a lot of control in our installer package to determine just how much or how little of the mod they wish to install, and many of our currently in-development features, such as the FLEX Turn Lanes (FTLs) and the RealHighway QuickChange Xpress (QCX) system will actually provide a readily-accessible entry point to some of the NAM’s most exhaustive components. In any case, there’s little we could do to help users of old versions, other than to advise them to download the latest version.

April 18, 2017 The latest chapter of the saga with Origin’s retail copy of SimCity 4 Deluxe has taken a rather troubling turn. The initial reports of Origin reverting back to selling their special “nerfed” Version 1.1.610 copy of the game to retail customers who bought the game from EA’s official digital download surface have now spread like a rash across Simtropolis. These reports have not only been spawned by the well-documented issue of this version of the game not being able to take advantage of some popular custom content, like the Network Addon Mod (which requires Version 1.1.638 or later), but reports of the game regularly.

This is not at all surprising, given the patch notes from when EA/Maxis issued the Version 1.1.638 patch (also known as EP1 Update 1), back in November 2003. Here’s the full list–I’ve bolded the ones related to game stability:.

Adjusted foam spray effect for firefighters fighting toxic spills. Addressed issues related to U-Drive it mode while volcano disaster is active. Fix for random issues that may arise when dragging a diagonal power line across zones in specific manner that creates a connected orphan pole in a segment.

Renderer updates to avoid memory corruption when model instance has an invalid position. Updates to paths to improve clipper that was transforming stop points into single-point paths. Video card improvements for the following: Intel i830/845/865: Fixed graphics rules to allow hardware and to disable color cursor. Addressed issues related to burning tree stump. Fix for airplane sometimes taxiing above the airfield.

Implemented safety code for query. Fix for relatively obscure problems that occur when moving vans are created on a tile with a complex paths. Implemented a general-purpose fix for any remaining yet-to-be-discovered cases of a bad orientation vector. Fix for issue where networks loaded from a saved city would not properly re-initialize their connection bitmap. Updated Localized strings. Updates for My Sim messaging.

The issues would arise when moving a My Sim out of a city at just the right time. Fix for reported location of sky diving mission. Fix for query incorrectly reporting trip length after abandonment. Fix for incorrectly reported commute time during inter-city travel. Path fixes for various networks and intersections.

Texture fixes for several one-way/avenue intersections. Fix for several network intersection resolves. Improved usage of parking lots and transit stations.

Improved synching of foundation vs. Building height. Improved variety of industry building development. Fix for intercity commute where bus traffic was periodically being treated as car traffic.

Fix for being able to drop highway ramps over buildings. Adjusted toll booth capacities for 2-tile wide toll booths.

Fix for prevention of pedestrians from using neighbor connections. Fix for elevated train volume not being reported in the traffic volume graph. Fix for commercial traffic and road noise map calculations to accommodate multi-tile morning and evening commutes. Added left turn lanes to avenue/highway overpass onramps. Fix for priorities of props and textures in lot templates used in city detail.

Fix for variety of path bugs related to roads, rails, highways, avenues and elevated rail. Some of these other ones are pretty big functional things as well–the transportation network-related fixes, which, as you can see, are quite numerous are a large part of the reason the Network Addon Mod requires the user to be running at least Version 1.1.638. It is, of course, also missing the Version 1.1.640 update, which allows nightlights to function properly on the thousands of custom buildings that the SimCity 4 community has created for the game.

The copies sold on GOG.com and Steam, as well as the “Thin Game Download” version from Amazon, are all at an even higher version number, 1.1.641, and include all the fixes from Version 1.1.638 and 1.1.640. Those who have redeemed CD keys from their old disc copies with Origin, have, oddly enough, also reportedly gotten Version 1.1.641, unlike the users who have shelled out the seemingly steep price of $19.99 (the same price at which Origin sells the 2013 “reboot” of SimCity, and only $10 less than Cities: Skylines) to buy the game off the service.

Based on the information that has come out, it appears the current “nerfed” Version 1.1.610 copy that Origin is selling has a creation date of November 13, 2015. All screenshots that have been provided by users in this latest round have carried that particular date. This suggests that Origin actually reverted to the “nerfed” version as far back as a year-and-a-half ago, meaning there may be a large number of cases that have gone undiagnosed as of yet. The fact that they are starting to spread like wildfire from new members to the community suggests we are only at the tip of the iceberg here. The most troubling aspect of the current situation is the fact that Origin has been apparently reverting updated copies purchased through their service to the special “nerfed” Version 1.1.610.

The initial case that brought this whole situation back to the fore involved a user, RichardCollins, who, after having to do a system restore,. More recently, another Simtropolis member reported that his Origin copy, after installing an “update” from the service,. That’s right, an update that actually does just the opposite.

What is possessing Origin to continually go back to this “nerfed” version is unclear, and ultimately, it does not matter if their reason is simply staggering incompetence, or actual malicious intent. What does matter is that SimCity 4 players who buy the game off Origin are currently getting ripped off, by being sold a game that is missing 14-year-old stability fixes, and compatibility with one of its biggest selling features–its modding community. It is almost as if EA wants to lose the city simulation market to Paradox/Colossal Order and Cities: Skylines, which is a real shame–and completely counterintuitive. While the 2013 reboot of “SimCity” may have been a money-losing debacle, which led to EA laying off most of the Maxis Emeryville studio, they still have a game in their portfolio that, in spite of being almost old enough to drive, is actually considered by many (including yours truly) to still be a better game than the much newer Cities: Skylines.

The main lesson of this– don’t buy SimCity 4 Deluxe on Origin. I will repeat that one until Origin shows consistent, documented proof over time that they can be trusted (read: no more “let’s break out the crappy Version 1.1.610 copy now that Tarkus and PC Gamer aren’t looking” nonsense). If you have made that mistake of buying–complain, and try to get a refund and/or force them to actually give you the properly-patched version of the game you paid for, that every other retailer on earth sells. February 5, 2017 Those of you who have followed my blog likely remember the incident back in 2014, when Origin, the EA-owned digital download platform, had been inexplicably selling users, which could not run the Network Addon Mod. A couple days after this caught wind and, Origin users reported receiving an “update” through the Client, which patched their game to the proper 1.1.641 digital version sold by all other retailers.

However, a user by the name RichardCollins, detailing the fact that his Origin retail copy of the game had reverted back to Version 1.1.610 following a system restore. He noticed this after having the NAM installer tell him he needed the patch to update the game to the minimum Version 1.1.638 needed to properly run the mod. The screenshot he provided showing the version information also has the same filesize and copyright date as the unpatchable Version 1.1.610 Origin copy from 2014. Here’s a comparison. Screenshot provided by Simtropolis member RichardCollins of Origin retail version number in February 2017.

In this most recent case, the user spent hours over multiple days trying to get Origin to correct the issue, and provide the properly updated version of the game, getting the runaround from completely unknowledgeable Origin customer support agents (which included –apparently, some gamers aren’t all that trustworthy after all). Those agents told him to disable Windows User Access Control (UAC) and his security software, among other completely useless things that have absolutely nothing to do with getting a bad copy of SimCity 4 Deluxe, which can’t take advantage of the very things that have kept the game’s community alive for 14 years. Origin did eventually relent and give out a refund, but curiously, the last agent claimed that Origin “did not have access to the patches” but would “keep an eye out for it.” This is a particularly strange response, given the fact that all reports have indicated that users who have gotten free copies from Origin by redeeming their old CD keys have gotten Version 1.1.641.

Beyond this situation, there have also been numerous reports in the past year that Origin copies, unlike other digital copies (even those with DRM), also, a Gmax gamepack that EA released themselves back in February 2004 to allow users to create custom buildings for SC4. This does apparently apply to the Version 1.1.641 copies that the CD key users as well. Based on the evidence in this case, it appears Origin may have reverted the retail copy from their online store quite some time ago.

If you have purchased SC4 from Origin within the past two years, I’d advise you check your version number. If you’re among those affected and have a Version 1.1.610 copy, you can help the cause by sharing a screenshot of your version number, by going to the executable, right clicking it, selecting “Properties” and then going to the “Details” tab. This is a developing story, and I’ll provide updates if/when any additional information breaks. January 17, 2017 In the past year, I have participated in a number of discussions across the various outlets of the SC4 community–SC4 Devotion, Simtropolis, and /r/simcity4–about the current state of the custom content distribution.

In any game modding community, there are two things that are required for that community to survive and perpetuate–ready access to available content, and the continued creation of new content. Both of these requirements become more difficult to meet as communities age–SimCity 4 is now 14 years out from its release date. If we want it to survive another 14 years in some semblance of the form we’ve come to know and love today, it is going to take some effort, and some hard decisions that will require a bit of a different mindset to make. Many of the recent discussions on the subject have been prompted by various pieces of content going missing in some fashion, the most prominent example being Gobias’ popular terrain mods.

Beyond this, we have also lost a number of individual creator sites in recent times, and things that were “soft-released” as forum attachments or via storage services. There’s also the “Accidental Mass Deletion of 2011”, when changes in Simtropolis’ file reporting system led to a number of files being purged from the STEX.

The NAM, of all things, was purged from the STEX not once, but twice during this period, and we still don’t know the full extent of what was lost during that incident. Beyond this, there’s also the regular complaints that the process of acquiring content and assembling it into a properly working Plugins folder is an arduous, arcane exercise, marked by clicking through installers and checking dependencies. While the existing order of things may have been serviceable back in the mid-00s, particularly for those who were slowly and cumulatively adding the latest buildings and mods as they were released, a decade has now passed. The way mod acquisition operates in other game communities has really cast the current arrangement we have in the SC4 world in a particularly harsh and unforgiving light. When re-uploading or repackaging the work of another creator, the typical modus operandi that has been employed in the SC4 community up to this point has been to try to contact the creator to obtain permission.

A lack of response was universally treated the same as a refusal. While this policy is a very nice courtesy that has helped keep our community exceptionally civil throughout most of its history, it is getting to be increasingly hard to follow from a practical standpoint. SimCity 4 is 14 years old.

While there are a few of us who have stuck around for an exceptionally long time, there’s been a lot of turnover over the years. Beyond that, as is the case with many internet communities, there’s a considerable degree of built-in anonymity. The only way for most to attempt contact is via private message on the main sites.

That’s very unlikely to lead to any response at all if the member in question hasn’t logged on since 2009, or pops in once every two years to see if the lights are still on for them. Even if you are a site administrator and can see the email address they had on file, there’s a decent chance that address may no longer exist, or is a spare or throwaway account used only for registering on internet forums. While I do believe that still attempting to establish contact and follow due process is the right thing to do, I believe the automatic assumption of refusal in every case of non-response will ultimately lead to the community’s demise., who made our modern computing world possible, once said that “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission.” While I would not advocate suddenly turning the distribution paradigm into a total free-for-all–which would be counterproductive–I do believe that we should, at this point in time, take Hopper’s advice under more serious consideration. It is fairly clear to me there has to be a middle ground, that remains respectful of creator’s rights and the original spirit of the rules, without allowing the rigid adherence to those same rules to lead to the community’s extinction. This, of course, begs the question–what is that next step? I am hoping to initiate a dialogue with many key stakeholders and interested parties over the coming months, bringing forward some proposals to streamline and secure our custom content ecosystem in a cooperative manner. I have outlined a few of these possibilities in my recent posts on the forums and Reddit, which include repackaging dependencies to better take advantage of new technology (improved internet speeds and LEX software upgrades), to establishing a new procedure for handling orphan files (codifying a reasonable waiting period), and dealing with files with modding issues.

I hope to make some progress on these efforts in the near term, and plan to keep readers here at SimTarkus and other outlets abreast of the latest developments. In the meanwhile, I welcome feedback and suggestions on how best to proceed here in the comments.

July 13, 2014 Yesterday afternoon, when I logged into the LEX at SC4 Devotion and scrolled down to read the recent comments on some of the downloads, I noticed one of a variety that has been known to push my buttons a little, both as a content creator and as an SC4D admin. The question was, “why is the download locked?” When I went to the file in question and looked at the history of the file and the creator’s work on the LEX, it was fairly clear to me why it was locked, and a quick investigation confirmed it for me. The download was locked 6 years ago, because it had been superseded by a newer, snazzier pack of that creator’s work, which combined the contents of the locked file with a bunch of similar lots, providing a more convenient package. In fact, there’s a grand total of 3 reasons why a file on the LEX could be locked: 1) the aforementioned case, that the file has been superseded by a newer version, often combined with other like files from that creator into a larger, tidier package; 2) there’s a serious issue with the file, and it’s locked temporarily while those issues are being sorted out, minimizing the spread of tech support issues; and 3) the creator no longer wants to distribute the file, for whatever reason. Granted, there are cases where a creator or admin might not spell it out all that well, and might take the locking for granted.

That said, 99% of all locked files on the LEX are locked due to reason #1, and those files are permanently locked. The aforementioned commenter was one of the nicer ones, in that he/she simply asked about the fact that it was locked, rather than doing what many other commenters had done–demand it be unlocked, on occasion using expletives and slurs to get their point across, even if the file in question has been locked for several years, and it’s clearly marked that the file is obsolete. Foul language aside, there is a fair point to be raised here–why do we lock files in these cases, instead of deleting them?

It’s basically a way of ensuring legacy support, as some files get updated and others that link to them don’t. Consider this scenario–you picked up an older lot off the STEX, which happens to list as a dependency.

That particular dependency pack was superseded in October 2008, when its contents were merged into BSC Textures Volume 3–a fact noted on the download page for the original file. Had the creator, a file custodian, or an exchange admin simply deleted that file, instead of locking it with a note, you’d instead see if you tried to follow the link. That’s the LEX’s version of a 404 “page not found” error. Unless you have the history of all dependency packs of 2008 vintage memorized, it’s unlikely you’re going to figure out that BSC Texture Pack jeroni Vol01 is now included in BSC Textures Volume 3, and you’re basically screwed. But because the file was locked with information on the download page, instead of it being deleted, crisis is averted. Here’s another situation: let’s say you’re a long-time player, who is coming back to the community after a long absence, and you have a hankering to build some highway spaghetti with the RHW.

You don’t yet know that the NAM has gone to a monolithic paradigm, in which the RHW is actually included in the NAM itself, rather than being a separate download. So, you remember that some guy by the username of Tarkus (hey, I know him) was involved in its development, and go searching for it, and because the old download page from 2007 is, pointing you to the monolithic NAM, you know what you’re doing. Had I simply deleted that page when that particular version got superseded, it might not be immediately apparent, and you’d have to drop onto the forums and meekly ask what happened to the RHW. For those wondering about server space from hanging onto those locked files, it’s pretty much a non-issue. We have plenty of it, and as the point of keeping these locked files around is merely to maintain the download page and point people in the right direction, we can theoretically replace the original with a blank. And because no one will be downloading these files, our most critical resource–bandwidth–is largely preserved. June 15, 2014 Note as of July 28, 2014: Following up on, I’ve received some additional feedback from my NAM Team colleague memo regarding the Mac situation, and there is a third issue, which dwarfs the first two by several orders of magnitude: that of packaging.

Because of the increased complexity of the NAM package, it is paramount that we have an installer package of some sort for any of our releases. Unfortunately, the NSIS package that we use for the Windows version will not run natively on OS X, though as is the case with Linux, it is capable of running on WINE. A few Mac users have bombarded us with suggestions–using.dmg files, etc.–but none of the solutions proposed allow anything close to what NSIS provides, and wouldn’t really improve the installation process for Mac users. We have also determined that the old.zip package is not remotely feasible, and as the Keka extractor for OS X already allows the NSIS.exe file to be opened up as an archive, it would be redundant. Barring the SC4 Mac community picking up WINE or Wineskin en masse to run the NSIS installer, we are, in effect, going to have to build a custom one to get anywhere near the Windows NAM installation experience, which is no small task at all.

The higher priority will be to simply get the compatible files available, such that those running WINE/Wineskin on the NSIS installer can at least run it without removing one of the mods “kidneys” to avoid CTDs (the “kidney” is the Bridge Controller, which actually handles more than bridges, and isn’t the true cause of the CTDs), while mitigating the quirks of the re-release (which have been the focus of my past two posts on the subject). June 12, 2014 Note as of July 28, 2014: As there have been a few questions of late as to the whole matter of NAM support for the re-released Aspyr port for Mac OS X, and it’s been a month since, I thought I would give an update.

There is very little to report, and we are basically in a holding pattern at present. While I mentioned that we had the encoding issue under control, there’s still two pesky complications the re-release presented us: (1) the “number of files” limit, and (2) the fact that the port is unpatched. These issues still stand in the way. (Note: Addendum.

There’s also a third issue.) With respect to #1, we do have a potential solution. Memo has developed a utility known as, which is designed to be a cross-platform alternative to the popular Windows-only SC4 Dat Packer program, that wouanagaine of New Horizon Productions (NHP) had released in 2007 on SC4 Devotion’s LEX. For those not familiar with SC4 Dat Packer, the premise behind it is that it can combine and compress folders of SC4 plugin files into single.dat files, which, as the results of the BSC’s “Miramba Experiment” in 2006 showed, decreased game load times and increased performance. Historically, the NAM Team has advised users to be very careful with using SC4 Dat Packer on their NAM installations, as it often led to installation issues when a user upgraded, though changes in the NAM since then have mitigated this issue substantially. Since the Mac port issue is with the number of files, not their size, “Dat Packing” the NAM would increase the stability of the mod with the Aspyr port, especially when the game is played completely offline, which inexplicably lowers the threshold at which this issue occurs to an absurdly small number of files. JDatPacker, however, is currently in an early beta state, and it requires further testing to ensure stability before we can go forward with NAM for Mac. The latest version of the tool, Version 0.1.3, is available for testing on.

Now, for issue #2, the matter of the game being unpatched, we have had some discussion with Aspyr about this topic. Aspyr would apparently have to coordinate efforts with EA Maxis and dig back into the source code, in order to issue a patch to upgrade the game to the same state as Version 1.1.638, the minimum required Windows version required to run the NAM. Per comments from their representatives, they have. The biggest issue that 1.1.638 fixed with the NAM is the inclusion of several transit network path files that were either missing or broken in the original retail release.

Until we re-did the NAM installer for NAM 31.2, to force the user to have the 1.1.638 patch (known as EP1 Update 1) installed, we started getting inundated with users blaming us for path issues that were fixed by Maxis before the NAM even existed–the T-intersection where an Avenue ends at a One-Way Road is one such transit item with a broken path before the patch. These exact issues occur with the Aspyr re-release at present, and we will be facing a recurrence of this if we release NAM for Mac. The idea of the NAM Team releasing the fixed path files as part of the Mac version has been floated, effectively doing of what Aspyr would not (at least in part), but there are legal questions involved.

The NAM Team has generally enjoyed a good relationship with the game’s developers (heck, our patch detection system in the installer has had the side-effect of preventing the NAM from being installed on cracked and pirated copies of the game) and we don’t want that to change. In summary, in order for NAM for Mac to happen, (1) we need to know we have a solid Dat Packing utility to get around the number of files limit, and (2) we need to have some sort of method to ensure that at least the transit path file end of the port can be patched, within the bounds of legality. Until both of these issues are solved satisfactorily, we won’t be able to properly support the Aspyr port.

In the meanwhile, we’re continuing development on the NAM’s 33rd full release. It’s been slow going on that front, in large part due to many of us having bouts of “real-life syndrome”, but things are starting to pick up on that front. May 10, 2014 Since Aspyr made the surprise announcement that they had just re-released their port of SimCity 4 Deluxe for Mac OS X on the App Store and Steam, with Universal Binary support, the NAM Team has been inundated with questions from Mac users about running NAM 32 on the port. This post is designed to clear up the current status of the usability of the NAM on the re-released port, as of May 10, 2014. I plan to update this as new developments arise.

Note as of July 28, 2014: Is it possible to run the NAM on the new Mac port released on the App Store and Steam? Yes, but there are some severe issues at present with doing so, which are described below. Is the NAM Team offering official support to Mac port users? No, not at present.

While we are providing some guidance to Mac port users out of courtesy, running the NAM on the port is presently at your own risk. Does the NAM Team have plans to fix the issues and bring back a Mac version? Yes, we are currently working on addressing the issues. Until the re-release, we had absolutely no idea what was causing the crash-to-desktop (CTD) errors that occurred when certain NAM plugins (some quite critical) were included in the Plugins folder. Our development team has worked almost exclusively in a Windows environment, and until the re-release, even our lone active Mac user on the team used a dual-boot to run the Windows version. With the lack of Mac-compatible modding tools, and thus, the resultant lack of knowledge about the internal workings of the NAM among Mac users running the port, there was no way to feasibly investigate the situation until we were finally able to look at it ourselves, thanks to the re-release.

It was because of this inability to address the situation in any meaningful way that we dropped NAM for Mac with the Version 31.0 release. What issues currently exist with using the NAM on the port? Most of the same issues that existed when using the NAM on the original version of the port, after Mac OS X Lion was released, still exist with the re-release, along with a few brand new complications:. A file encoding issue, affecting most of the additional bridges, a number of transit stations, and the High-Elevated Elevated Rail and Monorail plugins, causes the game to CTD. The re-release has a limit on the number of individual files/folders that can be installed to the Plugins directory, above which the game will CTD. For some reason, this limit is significantly lower if the computer is not connected to the internet while running the port. There have been reports that the game begins to become very glitchy when the Plugins folder has as few as 80 files or subfolders, without the connection, and will almost certainly crash at 200.

The limit manifests itself as memory corruption, and can occur even with 200 empty subfolders in the Plugins directory. The port re-release is unpatched, making it essentially equivalent to the original Windows retail disc version of SC4 Deluxe, Version 1.1.610. The first patch for the game, the EP1 Update (Version 1.1.638), is a requirement for the NAM, and contains a number of pre-NAM first-party transportation fixes. The NAM Team became stricter with this requirement beginning with NAM 31.x releases, after several users attempted to file NAM bug reports, citing issues fixed by the EP1 Update. (Note: some users, upon seeing the presence of the file “EP1.dat” in the installation folder, have assumed that this meant the game was patched. This file, however, was introduced in the retail disc Windows copy of SC4 Deluxe/Rush Hour, and exists in Version 1.1.610, pre-patch. The EP1 Update does not add EP1.dat, or even patch it in any way.).

Aspyr themselves have stated that they cannot guarantee the proper functionality of any plugin–including Maxis-published official updates–with the re-released port. Mod functionality was apparently an afterthought for the re-release, though they are considering revisiting the topic. A note about NetworkAddonModBridgesPluginController.dat: This file has been cited by many Mac users as the root cause of the CTDs, but the subsequent investigation of the issue after the port re-release determined that this file causes an issue only if the Additional Bridges are also installed. Despite the presence of “bridges” in the title of the file, it controls a number of other important functions, including pathing adjustments for copies of the game that are running in left-hand traffic mode (i.e. The UK version of the game). Running the NAM on a Mac in left-hand traffic mode would presently restrict the user from using any of the additional bridges.

Will old NAM releases work with the Mac re-release? The first CTD reports rolled in July 2011, with NAM 29. Mac OS X Lion (10.7) was released that same month, which removed the Rosetta translator that allowed PowerPC apps like the original Aspyr port of SC4 to run on Intel Macs. At that time, this forced users with newer versions of OS X to install Aspyr’s unfinished Universal Binary patch, which is where the trouble started.

The files that have been discovered to play a role in the CTD issue have been a part of the NAM for at least the past 8 years, and would have almost certainly caused the CTD had OS X Lion been around. However, because users either had Rosetta or were still running PowerPC systems before Lion, the issue did not arise. The NAM Team does not provide support for users running old versions, and does not condone the redistribution of any outdated or unofficially repackaged versions of the NAM. When does the NAM Team plan to issue a fix for this issue? There is no release date or timeline for release for a Mac-compatible NAM. We have gotten to the bottom of the encoding issue, but the fact that the re-release is unpatched and has the additional roadblock of the plugin limit has greatly complicated matters.

As the NAM package has grown substantially since we switched to the Monolithic NAM approach in NAM 31, we also need to determine the best way to package and distribute a proper Mac version, once we get to that point. The old.zip package has been eliminated from consideration.

We have also have been in talks with Aspyr behind the scenes regarding matters of plugin support. Depending on the results of all of these efforts, we may still be unable to provide full support to users of the new port, but some of the critical CTD-causing issues will have at least been resolved on our end. We are striving for the best possible outcome for the port’s users, however. What if I’m running Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier, with the original version of the Aspyr port? As long as you didn’t install the old Universal Binary patch, you should not encounter the CTD issues with the aforementioned files, and even the latest NAM release will work. The biggest issue you will encounter in that case is the process of installing the package. Due to the complexity of a manual install, the easiest way to accomplish this is to go to a Windows computer (or partition, if you have a dual-boot setup–some users have also reported success with ), run the installer, and then copy over the installed files (both the Network Addon Mod and zNAM folders) over to your Mac (or OS X partition).

The Windows installer can be opened like an archive using, but with the size of the mod, a manual install is only the domain of an advanced user–it is strictly at your own risk. What other options are out there? A number of Mac users are running the Windows version of the game, either using a dual-boot. A tutorial on Wineskin can be found (thanks to sargeantcm). The behavior is the same as it would be on the Windows, and thus, we can provide full support to Wineskin or dual-boot Mac users running the Windows version. Similarly, we are generally able to provide full support to Linux users running the Windows version with WINE. Additionally, useful plugins like the Extra Cheats DLL (unusable on the Mac port as OS X can’t read DLL files–and moot anyway, as Aspyr has disabled cheat functionality on the Mac re-release) and many SC4 modding tools can also be run using this approach.

As more information is available, I will update the situation. January 28, 2014 In response to a user query over at /r/simcity tonight, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. I compiled a list of multi-CAMeLot packs on the LEX, aside from the infamous CAM Starter Packs that everyone loves to complain about, which I’ve also urged users away from in the past. Virtually all of these sets use dependencies which are hosted on-site at the LEX, and have support for the LEX’s new Dependency Tracker feature, meaning you can simply vacuum up all the files (you still have to install them, but I’ve found that getting in a rhythm, I can do each installer in 11 seconds) in one fell swoop. Some of these packs also include Lots below the CAM stages (Stage 9 and above for Residential and Commercial, Stage 4 and above for Industrial/Agricultural), but those lower stage lots have been optimized for CAM usage. So without further ado: SimGoober – Contains a few Stage 9 Residential lots, no dependencies. Bixel CAMeLots (the first volume is actually called “Volume 16”): (requires two offsite dependencies: and, but you get a couple dozen lots out of it) (a set of 12!) The one department in which you may be lacking after this download spree is Dirty Industry (I-D).

Most of the I-D CAMeLots aren’t in large packs (unless you want to run the “Starter Pack” gauntlet), but are instead available a la carte. There’s quite a few good ones by tagone and jestarr.

I’ll post more as I find them, and get a more streamlined guide going from that point.