Some time ago I created a number of maps which were built using just one shape. While these maps looked great in region view they weren’t exactly the best to play – One was very hard and expensive to build on, while the other was so open and easy it got a little boring in the end.

I had an interesting time making Island Nation a more natural map while balancing out some open areas for large cities. I decided I’d like to make another natural looking map but again limit myself to only using one shape to build all areas of the region. I also imposed a few more guidelines upon my design;

- Only circles can be used to make the map.
- – Further: only four sizes of circle at four different shades may be used (smaller > lighter [125px, 60px, 30px, 10px]).

- The map must contain;
- – Two rivers joining.
- – One island.
- – Geological activity (so I can have mountains on low land).

The region is made up of nine large size cities so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting some nice large populations growing. I hope there is just enough landscape variation that it makes things interesting and you get some good ideas for building different types of communities.

I should have some time over the holidays to update you with how my region is going after I’ve started a city in each area. I have still got that Deadly Furry Cute relaunch to finish too…

Download the New Eden Bay Area region now!

New Eden Bay Area terrain map

New Eden Bay Area region preview

In designing Island Nation I’ve gone for an archipelago island chain, with a mixture of large, medium and small city tiles.  The overall map size is still fairly small, being a long strip, but because large tiles are included the regions population can get much higher. Each tiles land mass is surrounded by water, in all cases this is enough for marina to be an option, very helpful in the later game to bust those aforementioned caps.

You’ll also notice I’ve gone a lot more realistic with this map. There are still large areas of flat land in some of the city tiles enabling large-scale city building, but the overall feel is closer to what you’d expect from an actual volcanic island chain. You’ll also find reclaiming land from the sea is sometimes your only option to advance.

Download the Island Chain region now!

Island Nation terrain map

Island Nation region preview

Island Nation examples

Why? Well that’s simple – and I’m sure every SC4 fan will agree – sometimes you want to play SimCity 4 but don’t want to spend time adding to a current large region which will – and it will – zap all your time away.  What we need is something quick and small that will only take a few hours total to play.

This map came to life while researching art deco stained glass for a project.  In short it’s a stained glass window style design consisting of two medium and eight small city zones.  You’ll notice in my haste I set the sea level too low and as such most of the map is water.  At this point my usual course of action would be to jump back in to Photoshop and fix the issue.  As I’d not yet designed an archipelago I thought it would make an interesting challenge to leave as-is. Also note the shallowness of the surrounding water. It should make reclaiming land relatively cheap.

Download the Stain region now!

Stain terrain map

Stain region preview

Today we talk about Sector 1. ‘This is the center piece you’ve been looking for’ said the brain, which continued ‘however I’ve had this thought…’ NO bad brain!

Continuing to use the inspiration for Sector 7 I moved forward eventually creating something far less complex than I had originally envisioned.  Although not what I set out to complete the map fulfills my criteria for a center piece region and I can see how the city layout will unfold as play progresses – I like to have a plan.

I’ll be making a post when I’ve made a good bit of progress, in the mean time if you download and play the map please let me know!

Download the Sector 1 custom map now!

Sector 1 terrain map

Sector 1 region preview

Both Solaris and Triangle Nation were designed around a single large city in the center of the region.  In theory this would allow the smaller outer cities to feed the center large city.  In practice the smaller cities just aren’t enough to boost population in the larger city and region as a whole.  The new theory is still based around centralized large cities – cunning is it not – but this time I’ll use many of them, supported by many more smaller cities around them.

Sector 7 was inspired by Palm Leaves in Dubai.  Initially this region was designed to be the center piece of my ‘theoretical’ planet, where i would try to finally get super skyscrapers.  In truth I was just not happy enough with my work on the region to call it a ‘center piece’.  Not being a center piece is one thing, not being a good map is another.  With the amount of time I’d put into the map I decided to finish it off and make it available.

Download the Sector 7 region now!

Sector 7 terrain

Sector 7 region preview

Because of my own selfish need for perfection I actually haven’t ever played a city on this region.  If you do please let me know!

This time I tried to not think too much about the eventual city/region layout and instead concentrate on producing something very geometric.  In truth the inspiration was some of my wife’s all over fashion prints. Simple shapes can make beautiful patterns and as we’re about to find out, can create interesting challenges to the budding city planner.

So here it is: Triangle Nation.  She’s built solely from triangles, only elevation differentiates one triangle from another.  That might sound simple enough, but with no smoothing or weather erosion to tone down their harshness the mountain sides can get pretty steep!

Download the Triangle Nation region now!

Triangle Nation terrain map

Triangle Nation region preview

I did actually play test this map, cunningly however my computer decided to crash and even more cunningly I forgot to save. Very newb I know – not to be confused with noob.  Since then I’ve not had time to play the map again, I’d love to know if anyone else has!

Not wanting to stray too far from the original premise of manicuring the region to create beautiful and futuristic cities I had to find some inspiration with which to work.  I decided to look outwardly off our humble little planet and to the stars.  Plus I’d just watched Solaris again. Yes the Soderbergh remake.

Download the Solaris region now!

The Solaris region map.

Solaris region preview

There are five easy steps to installation:

1) Load SimCity 4 and create a new region with any name you choose. Plains or Ocean, does not matter which. Close/Exit the game.

2) Go to your SimCity 4 regions folder – usually My Documents/SimCity 4 – find the name of the region you just created. Unzip the files in to this folder.

3) Restart SimCity 4. Your region should now show a new size and zone layout. If it doesn’t, switch to another region and back again.

4) Press [shift] + [ctrl] + [alt] + r to open the load map window. Navigate again to the files you unzipped and select the map.

* The process of generating the region may take a while depending on it’s size and the speed of your computer.

5) Play the game.

* If you have any problems installing any of these maps please leave me a comment and i’ll see what i can do to help you out.

Natural terrain of course poses it’s own problems and while I respect the volcanoes and earthquakes of the planet, it isn’t for me.  Natural terrain maps only hold my interest so long, mainly because of the exact problems architects face every day.  Natural terrain can be serverly limiting.

This is where anime comes in.  The cities of sci-fi anime laugh in the face of mountains – I say this as they’re all mostly flat, but that’s not the point.  These cities are beautifully laid out and designed with stunning features, even waterways and transport are thought of before a graphic pen hits the paper.

Back we come to reality.  The cities of today are built on top of the mistakes past, which means many of our city dreams cannot come true.  Of course anime doesn’t have that problem.  Either we’re seeing far far in the future, some wacky alternate earth or the spoils of a post-apocalypse.  Enter Sunspear.

Sunspear is the first SimCity 4 custom map based on the idea of a clean slate.  If it was up to me, what would the terrain of this planets future regions look like.

Download the Sunspear region now!

Sunspear terrain map

Sunspear rendered region