Sim City V

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Oh yeah, Sim City V will scream regardless of CPU. Plus your board will be able to support either processor if you do decide at a future date to upgrade.

Although... maybe consider an SSD for your boot partition?

SSD is gonna be the first thing I purchase. I just have a ton going on right now with my truck needing some tuning up for 4x4in', trip to Vegas and Australia, and the list goes on. I realized that building a computer it quickly becomes $30 here, $50 there, another $100 extra there to upgrade stuff and before you know it you double your budget.

They seem to be coming down in price as well and it's not a necessity right now so waiting a few months won't be too bad. And the thing is I wasn't even looking for a new computer at this point it was a few buddies getting me into League of Legends and seeing how much quicker everyone else loaded, along with other games, that made me reassess it and just fork out some cash.

[Nehkara]

The devs are trying to include a neat feature. Creating a "virtual display" within the game to allow you to take very high resolution screenshots. It is a work in progress but they hope to include it in the shipped game. Here are a few examples, I am going to just put up the links to the images as they are MASSIVE.

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/4052/2city09.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/904/2city04.jpg

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6582/1city02.jpg

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/7152/1city00.jpg

[Nehkara]

For those really interested in the details of the GlassBox engine, here is a link to the slideshow Maxis showed at GDC last year when they announced SimCity.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...Y5ZTMwNzYzOTNk

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

The devs are trying to include a neat feature. Creating a "virtual display" within the game to allow you to take very high resolution screenshots. It is a work in progress but they hope to include it in the shipped game. Here are a few examples, I am going to just put up the links to the images as they are MASSIVE.

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/4052/2city09.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/904/2city04.jpg

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6582/1city02.jpg

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/7152/1city00.jpg

It's weird that this game isn't feature complete with a month left until release. They should be concentrating on bugs and fixing AI issues.

The pathfinding is awful, which is demonstrated in the first screenshot. Cars are avoiding the main thoroughfare and clogging up the side streets. If you watch a video of the garbage trucks they all race to the areas where they're needed the most, instead of following practical routes to ensure everyone gets service.

And if they're going to be adding features, the thing that's needed most is a modding API so user-designed buildings can be included. The coolest thing about Spore was making creatures. Use that tech to let use create objects. I want to add an outdoor rink to the game.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

It's weird that this game isn't feature complete with a month left until release. They should be concentrating on bugs and fixing AI issues.

The pathfinding is awful, which is demonstrated in the first screenshot. Cars are avoiding the main thoroughfare and clogging up the side streets. If you watch a video of the garbage trucks they all race to the areas where they're needed the most, instead of following practical routes to ensure everyone gets service.

And if they're going to be adding features, the thing that's needed most is a modding API so user-designed buildings can be included. The coolest thing about Spore was making creatures. Use that tech to let use create objects. I want to add an outdoor rink to the game.

Well it is a big development team, a lot of the guys are crazy busy fixing bugs and such, while art and graphics guys are working hard but less busy. They have been adding some things in, such as the mentioned feature. They have also added the ability to zoom in further. They also are working on improving multi-monitor and 3D support.

Other things that are being added are additional behaviours for the Sims (specifically mentioned have been turning off the lights when they go to sleep, and lighting the fireplace in their home when it is raining).

They have changed/fixed zoning. They are working hard on pathfinding issues. They are changing the rules about placement of bus stops.

It is quite likely that SimCity will support the modding community, just perhaps not at release.

One of the biggest things to remember, however, is that while there are significant drawbacks, one of the benefits of being always-online is the ability for Maxis to continually improve the game.

[worth]

I installed an SSD in my laptop yesterday and did a clean install of windows 8. My boot times went from 60 seconds to 15 seconds. Glorious.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by worth

I installed an SSD in my laptop yesterday and did a clean install of windows 8. My boot times went from 60 seconds to 15 seconds. Glorious.

Yeah SSDs are a dream!

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by worth

I installed an SSD in my laptop yesterday and did a clean install of windows 8. My boot times went from 60 seconds to 15 seconds. Glorious.

Do you reboot a lot?

[worth]

....a normal amount ...

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by worth

....a normal amount ...

A normal amount for me is once a month on Patch Tuesday. What's a normal amount for you?

[Nehkara]

Don't worry worth, I like to play with my SSD too.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Rathji

A normal amount for me is once a month on Patch Tuesday. What's a normal amount for you?

computer gets turned off at night before i go to bed. guess i'm oldschool like that

[Finny61]

Looks like Dell has some sales on the desktops, XPS 8500 looks decent but I'm not sure I want to buy from them, are there computers easy to upgrade down the road? I'm thinking it's best putting together a PC through MemoryExpress.

[KelVarnsen]

Do the MemoryExpress option.

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by Finny61

Looks like Dell has some sales on the desktops, XPS 8500 looks decent but I'm not sure I want to buy from them, are there computers easy to upgrade down the road? I'm thinking it's best putting together a PC through MemoryExpress.

I bought my first PC through Dell years ago and I'd never buy from them again. It was a huge hassle. Go through MemEx.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by cDnStealth

I bought my first PC through Dell years ago and I'd never buy from them again. It was a huge hassle. Go through MemEx.

My first PC was a Dell as well (7 years ago now maybe?) While it was serviceable, one of the biggest annoyances was how the case it came in was not suitable at all for upgrading and switching out components. After having my brother build my latest computer for me, I'd never go back to a pre-fab computer again.

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by Komskies

My first PC was a Dell as well (7 years ago now maybe?) While it was serviceable, one of the biggest annoyances was how the case it came in was not suitable at all for upgrading and switching out components. After having my brother build my latest computer for me, I'd never go back to a pre-fab computer again.

I remember the case being really terrible as well. I upgraded at one point but that case was just awful. I also extremely dislike the amount of bloatware they install. The biggest problem was if something happened and you need to get it fixed you'd have to mail them your PC. That was the case 10 years ago so I don't know if much has changed in that regard.

I built my last PC myself by buying the parts from Memory Express. I had never built one before but it was pretty simple and you can get them to do the hardest part for free while you are in the store (mounting the processor to the motherboard).

[KevanGuy]

Does anyone have a copy of Sim City 4 they would part with? I wouldn't mind trying it out as I wait for V. Or is it just best to get it through Steam?

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

It's weird that this game isn't feature complete with a month left until release. They should be concentrating on bugs and fixing AI issues.

The pathfinding is awful, which is demonstrated in the first screenshot. Cars are avoiding the main thoroughfare and clogging up the side streets. If you watch a video of the garbage trucks they all race to the areas where they're needed the most, instead of following practical routes to ensure everyone gets service.

And if they're going to be adding features, the thing that's needed most is a modding API so user-designed buildings can be included. The coolest thing about Spore was making creatures. Use that tech to let use create objects. I want to add an outdoor rink to the game.

That first screenshot does scare the crap out of me. It's terrible! Half the side streets aren't getting used, the main middle roads aren't being used...jesus. That is terrible AI. You see the same thing in the other screenshots. 75% of the roads empty, with 25% of the roads being congested.

Yikes.

[PsYcNeT]

I really wouldn't worry too much about traffic pathing. Even with the limited time in the beta, I got pretty close to learning how to min/max (lol) traffic utilization depending on the street type/local zoning.