The Sim City Planning Guide: January 2014

Mod Installation Guide

Mods: Where to find them and how to install them

What is a mod?

A mod is a small file with a .package extension that when placed in a specific folder will modify your SimCity game. It might be something simple like different looking police cars or something more significant like the ability to add additional entrances to your city.

Step 1. Find a mod from Simtropolis (A), Skyestorme.com (B) or download everything at once with the SkyePack (C).

A. Downloading Mods From Simtropolis

Click on the link below to see the full list of mods available on Simtropolis
---> Simtropolis Mods <---

You can browse the mods that are available, and read the reviews.

When you find what you want, click on the green "Download" Button

Note: Before attempting to download a mod, make sure you've signed in to simtropolis. Downloading may not work if you're not signed in.

Click on "Agree & Download"

Then "Download"

The Green Download Button will have a 5 second countdown

When the countdown is finished, an adfly popup will appear trying to get you to download their crapware.

DO NOT CLICK ON THE LARGE GREEN DOWNLOAD BUTTON

Instead, click on the small "Skip Ad" button in the upper right corner.

Now the download will begin.

Note that the downloaded file is a .rar file.

.rar files are similar to .zip files in that you need to uncompress them using special software.

If you don't already have it, download 7-Zip or WinRAR. They're both free.

Free software tip: When downloading commonly used free programs, I like to use ninite.com. Simply select from the list what you want installed and the ninite installer does the rest. The installer makes sure you don't get any useless toolbars or get your homepage hijacked. It's especially handy when you get a new computer. You can download both 7-Zip and WinRAR at ninite.com They're in the last column under "Compression".

After you have 7-Zip installed you should be able to double click on the downloaded file and have it uncompress for you.

I usually like to uncompress them into a temporary location, such as your desktop or somewhere else on the c drive.

When it's done, you'll want to find the .package file and copy-paste it into the directory listed in Step 2 below

If you'd like to watch a video demonstrating this process you can watch Monte Rico's "How to install mods" video.

B. Downloading Mods from Skyestorme.com

--->Be sure to check out Skye's Mod Review Videos<---

Click on the one you want to download, and on the page that pops up, click on the Download button in the "How to Install" section of the mod page.

A file with a .package extension will be downloaded. Go to Step 2 below.

C. Get everything at once! Download the SkyePack aka. the Bigger Map Mod Pack

Not sure which mods you should get? Skye has put together a "Mod Pack" that has everything you need to get going with the Bigger Map mods. He's packaged all of the best mods into one download. I highly recommend it.

--> Download the SkyePack Here <--

Step 2 Copy the .package file to your SimCityData folder

Windows

Copy the .package file to C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SimCity\SimCityData

Make sure you're copying the .package files straight into the SimCityData directory. They won't work if you keep them in a subdirectory. In the photo above, I marked the mods with a red dot.

Mac
OS X Users: Right click on "SimCity" in the applications folder and select "Show Contents", then open Contents -> Resources -> SimCityData and copy the .package file there. Not sure how to do this? You can watch the SimNation Guild's Brian Hanifin's video demonstrating the process.

That's it! Next time you run SimCity the new mod should be applied.

Note: Sometimes mods will have different installation routines. If it comes with a readme.txt file make sure to check that out to make sure there's not some other process.

It's not working! What do I do?

If you're downloading your mod from simtropolis, make sure you've signed in to your simtropolis.com account.
Some mods conflict with other mods. Try installing only one and see if it works. Make sure the first one works before installing additional ones. If you can't get one to work, try another to make sure it's not the mod itself with the problem.
Is origin installed in the default directory? It should be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\ and the games should be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SimCity\SimCityData. If you don't use the default location, some mods won't work.
Some mods can only be used in Offline mode. If you try to play an Offline-Only mod in an Online game, you'll get errors and rollbacks. Thankfully, the offline mods usually start with "Offline

Managing Online and Offline Only Mods

Many mods are for Offline Only. If you run an Offline Mod in an online game it will cause rollbacks and crashes. Thankfully there is a mod manager that can be used to toggle between Online and Offline games. I highly recommend it.

-->Download the Mod Manager<--

For an explanation on how the mod manger works, watch Monte Rico's video below.

Interested in creating your own mod?

Read about, and download the SimCity Pak Mod Tool
SimCity Pak Tutorials
Video Series: SimCity Guide to Custom Creations by Benji Newell of the SimNation Guild (Great resource describing the process of how buildings are modeled in SimCity)

Want to see what others are saying about mods?

Read the "User Generated Content" section in the SimCity messageboards

What Mods do I use and recommend?

One Stop Shop for Mods - The SkyePack
Instead of picking and choosing from my list of recommended items below, you're even better off just downloading the SkyePack. Skye keeps it updated and it has all of the best stuff out there.

Data Views
Extended Worker Data in Rollover - More stats about how many workers are in each building
Budget Map in Government Tab (This one is currently not downloadable. Not sure why) - I love the ability to see what buildings are turned off.

Roads
UDoN (One way Roads and highways) - My favorite mod
Skye's Regional Freeway Mod - Now you can dictate where the map entrances are. Love it.
Oil Well Service Road in Roads Menu - They should have had this in the game originally. Great for cities with lots of trade trucks.
University Pedestrian Paths in Roads Menu - Like the oil service roads, this should have been an option originally. I love to make pedestrian shortcuts through my city.
Pedestrian Path - I love these concrete pathways. Can be used to create pedestrian shortcuts or just to make cool little park areas.

Eye-Candy - Visual Mods
McDonald's - It always brings a smile to me when I see one sprout up in my city.
Moving Truck Variety Pack - I love the U-Haul moving trucks. Simple, yet fun.
Public Transport Stops - A better looking version of bus and streetcar stops

Time-Savers
Skye's Multi-Plopper Mod - Plop away!
Skye's Pefect Road Spacing Guide - Really handy for high population cities

Bug Fixes
Avenue with Streetcar Bulldoze Tool - If you end up with an avenue with streetcar tunnel that can't be deleted, here's your fix.

Gameplay
Cam Mod - This mod gives you the ability to zoom further out. I love being able to take a screen capture of my entire map in plan view.

SimCity Official Challenge "Everyone Wants An Ocean View"

Here's my entry for the first official SimCity Challenge "Everyone Wants an Ocean View".

Here's the criteria for the challenge:

Region: Verdant Jungle
City Site: Tamarin Island
Restrictions: Non-Sandbox Mode. MegaTowers forbidden. Must have positive cash flow for three months.

We were allowed to use CoT in the other cities, but not Tamarin Island.

I built up the entire quadrant with cities. I built a cash cow Casino City, Academy City and an Electronics City. I tried to keep an excess of industrial to provide a place for people to commute to. Each city also had an excess of sewer and water to provide to Tamarin Island. In order to remove the neccessity of power production, I built a Solar Farm Great Work. I needed two trash dumps in Tamarin Island but eventually got rid of one of them near the end to try to max out the population.

I followed the same criteria that was discussed in the High Population Guide, although I added in Regional Buses and Commuter Ferries to try to get people to commute outside the city.

At this early point I still had Commercial and Industrial mixed in with the Residential.

Tamarin Island at 1,000,000

The population details when I hit 1 Million

My support cities can be seen in the distance.

All Low Wealth, High Density

Sunset on an overpopulated Tamarin Island

As you can see in my last photo below, my highest population was 1,155,082. I kept a positive cash flow the whole time. While pushing to all residential, I lowered the taxes as much as I could without going negative, to encourage development.

Origin ID: UncivlEngineer
Server: North America West 4
Region: SimCityChallenge
City: Tamarin Island
Highest Population: 1,155,082