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Tutorial:
Sim City 4 Street Grid to The Sims
2 Street Grid Conversion
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In Sim City 4 (SC4), create a New
City in any of the smallest spaces. This size city
is the ONLY size that The Sims 2 (TS2) will
recognize.
This is
the N-S-E-W map in SC4, as defined by the little
compass in the top left corner. This NOT how it will
end up in TS2. In TS2, the map will be flipped from
top-to-bottom.
I have the Rush Hour expansion
pack installed for SC4. This means that I must use
the Level Road bridge. Any other bridges will not
show up in TS2. |
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NOTE: If you are using the
default neighborhood camera, you will only see approximately the
area defined on this map by the bridges. Plan your street grid
accordingly.
However, the
default neighborhood camera file may be modified to become a "free
roam" camera. Not only does this modification give you a better VIEW
of your neighborhoods, it gives you highly-extended USE of your
neighborhoods (all of them)!
With the use of this particular
neighborhood camera modification,
you can see out PAST the edges
of all neighborhood maps
(yes...the Sims world IS flat!),
If you would like to modify
your own
NeighborhoodCamera.txt file,
click
HERE.
This zip file contains the modified file.
Go to the following folder:
My Documents/EA Games/The
Sims 2/Cameras
Rename the
existing NeighborhoodCamera.txt file to: NeighborhoodCamera.bak, and
say OK to the resulting dialog box that will pop up.
Then unzip your downloaded NeighborhoodCamera.txt
file and put it in the same folder. It will then
become your default neighborhood camera document.
If you ever decide to go back
to
the original default camera,
just delete the free roam camera file, then rename the .bak file to
a .txt file.
*** REMEMBER ***
Though this file has caused absolutely
no problem within my own game,
you are taking your own risk
to use this modification in your game.
*** ALSO ***
When you update to a new EP or
SP,
you will need to replace the camera file
to the one you want.
Don't panic!
Just repeat the above steps. |
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As you can see, here is that same
river intersection in TS2, flipped top-to-bottom,
and only the Level Road bridges show up, as
mentioned above.
You'll also note that the roads in TS2 seem to go
UNDER the ends of this bridge. There's nothing you
can do about that, unfortunately.
In the TS2 photos below, I used
the street grid contained in the bottom right corner
in this photo. |
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This is the bottom right grid from
the SC4 picture shown first. It's NOT the same grid
as in the TS2 photos, but its spacing is identical,
so it works.
As you
can see by the grids visible in the sandy areas of
this map, each road in SC4 takes up one grid space.
The top left street grid
encloses a 1x1 grid space. It's the SPACES that are
important to this conversion.
I've identified the 1x1, 2x2,
3x3, 4x4, and 5x5 grid spaces, but you can see where
the 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, 1x5, 2x3, 2x4, 2x5, 3x4, 3x5, and
4x5 grid spaces are, in relationship with the marked
squares. |
It's important to note and
remember that you will never have an even number of
grid spaces inside an enclosed TS2 rectangle. You
can only get even grid spaces by leaving an end open
and making sure the streets extend one extra space
at the open end, since the tag end of open-ended
streets cannot be used by lots in TS2.
Also, you may
end up with even spaces outside the perimeter of the
entire grid, and you can use the spaces clear out to
the ends of the corners. |
This is a corresponding grid in
TS2. These photos are the same size, and the total
grids take up nearly the same space.
Notice that everything looks
pretty much the same size in this photo as in the
one just above, from SC4. The roads are just about
the same width. However, this is where things
change.
Here are the enclosed-space
conversions:
1x1 SC4 space = 3x3 TS2 space
2x2 SC4 space = 5x5 TS2 space
3x3 SC4 space = 7x7 TS2 space
4x4 SC4 space = 9x9 TS2 space
5x5 SC4 space = 11x11 TS2 space
Accordingly, the following is
true:
1x2 SC4 space = 3x5 TS2 space
1x3 SC4 space = 3x7 TS2 space
1x4 SC4 space = 3x9 TS2 space
1x5 SC4 space = 3x11 TS2 space
2x3 SC4 space = 5x7 TS2 space
2x4 SC4 space = 5x9 TS2 space
2x5 SC4 space = 5x11 TS2 space
3x4 SC4 space = 7x9 TS2 space
3x5 SC4 space = 7x11 TS2 space
4x5 SC4 space = 9x11 TS2 space
The conversions continue
EXACTLY as they have begun here, as shown below:
6x6 SC4 space = 13x13 TS2 space
7x7 SC4 space = 15x15 TS2 space
8x8 SC4 space = 17x17 TS2 space
9x9 SC4 space = 19x19 TS2 space
ETC.
In other words, start with any
SC4 dimension, multiply it by 2, add 1, and the
result is the TS2 conversion:
1 x 2 = 2 + 1 = 3
(So...1 SC4 = 3 TS2)
2 x 2 = 4 + 1 = 5
(So...2 SC4 = 5 TS2)
3 x 2 = 6 + 1 = 7
(So...3 SC4 = 7 TS2)
ETC. |
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Here are some examples of how you
could use the resulting street grids in TS2.
In this [1x1 SC4/3x3 TS2] space,
I've used a single 3x3 lot. You could also use two
of the 1x3 lots, with a 1x3 space running one
direction or the other. |
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In this [2x2 SC4/5x5 TS2] space,
I've used a single 5x5 lot. You could also make
combinations of 1x3 lots with 2x2 lots, or anything
else that would fit. You may end up with some extra
spaces inside the square. |
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In this [3x3 SC4/7x7 TS2] space,
I've used one 5x5 lot, three 2x2 lots, and two 2x3
lots. Many other combinations would be possible,
depending on how much space you leave inside the
square. |
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In this [4x4 SC4/9x9 TS2] space, I
used one 5x6 lot, two 5x4 lots, and one 4x4 lot.
There's plenty of space in this square to make other
combinations, with varying amounts of extra space
inside the square. |
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In this [5x5 SC4/11x11 TS2] space,
I started with one 5x5 lot, then added two 6x5 lots.
You could put three 3x3 lots into that top left
corner, but there would be a 3x3 space left in the
center. You could experiment with other
combinations.
There
you have it!
I hope you have fun designing
your own new neighborhood maps. |
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