16 Most Appreciated People in the SimCity 4 Community

[ChiefZDN]

Hello players,

SimCity 4 will be celebrate its 14th anniversary. As we know, we was explored the DLL modding in the last year. And, we was released NAM 35 with new features. And, don't forget we was revived the CAM with releasing the 2.0 version. From 2003 to now, there is some people that very useful to the SimCity 4 community (excluding Maxis). Here are the people and their invention(s).

• Dirktator
  He created a third-party SimCity 4 (beside the SC4ever.com, which is small communtiy & acquired by Simtrop as per 2009) community. The community is Simtropolis. Simtropolis now a big community. Even, Simtrop can acquire SC4ever.com and the affiliated site (excluding the owner site).
  
• Jeronij
  Jeronij founded a SimCity 4 community which now called SimCity 4 Devotion. He also made some model and mod. SC4D now a big community (which second to Simtrop according me). SC4D also has an file exchange called LEX. LEX has big collection of mods and BATs.
  
• Colyn and CasperVG
  A BSC founder, Colyn, created a file exchange known as SimCity 4 Devotion LEX or just LEX. When big, LEX officially maintained & improved by CasperVG. LEX has an API system which used on the LEX block on the homepage. LEX has big collection of mods and BATs.
  
• RaphaelNinja
  Raphael was create a mod called 'Blank Lot Set' (don't use it now, because it's buggy). It's the first BAT template in the SC4 even before Maxis releasing the BAT toolset. The mod gained a popularity so this mod used from the mod release even to 2012. However, the mod had a serious bug according the RippleJet. So, RJ have a campaign to not use that mod. He also made original Census Repository.
  
• Tropod & Tarkus
  Tropod founded the NAM back in 2004 with other 2 people. He and the other 2 people were found the a modding squad that leading to the NAM Team. NAM has been installed in almost SimCity 4 plugin folders and NAM is one of few complex mod in the SimCity 4.
  
  While Tarkus isn't the NAM founder, he is the NAM Project Leader. He also contribute some features, like the TuLEPs, Flexfly, and more.
  
• Ripplejet and Invisichem
  RJ started the CAM back in the 2007. CAM is used for unlocking more stages and balancing the growth by selecting 3 profile at the installation (as per CAM 2.0). CAM is useful to grow building to above than the limit (it's suitable by the slogan 'Pushing the limit'). Many and many buildings created (or redesigned) for the CAM. CAM is the second largest-DLed mod in the SC4 community. RJ also made remastered & forked version of the RaphaelNinja Census Repository.
  
• wounagaine
  He created some tools which used until now. Such as, SC4Terraformer and the SC4 Mapper. The programs are best in quality and reliable. He is even beating iLive because his tools are used more than the iLive tools.
  
• Dedgren
  He started map project called 3RR. Three Rivers Region was succesful map project and was inspiration by others. 3RR still can't beated, even now. Nobody can make big region like this for now.
  
• Simmaster07
  He founded the DLL framework that he used now in his mod. He also said that puzzle piece CTD is caused by a null deferencing error. He made 3 mods: SC4Fix, Real Upgradeable City Hall, Simmaster's Extra Cheats. He is 1 of 2 largest producing-DLL modders.
  
• Z (again, just Z)
  He created the NAM Traffic Simulator (NAM TS). NAM TS is the core part of the NAM. The TS fixes the in-game traffic simulator and add some features. Without it, NAM can't develop like now.
  
• iLive
  He created the Reader since 2004. iLive Reader is a very important and most complex modding tool in the SimCity 4. Reader is used thousand (or even million) times by many SimCity 4 modders. No tools can be beat it (SC4PIM isn't very complex than the Reader). Even, some tools integrate with the Reader.
  
• c.p.
  He created the texture mod for first time. He also made flora mod, the first BATs, and high-quality BATs. He also a BSC member.
  
• Pegasus
  Nobody can beat the Peg in the BAT. Peg created many useful BAT & mod. Some of them are CDK and the SPAM. These mods are used many times by the SC4 players. And, the Peg advantages is best mod quality. Unfortunately, some of the mod were missing because the simpeg.com error.
  
• Paeng
  Paeng made some mods in the SimPeg. He also made mods in the ST. Paeng is known as high-quality modder.
  
• Xannepan
  He created fantastic mods from above-sea in-game water to customizable airport. However, he isn't active in SC4 community anymore. He now focus on the C:S community.
  
• CorinaMarie
  CorinaMarine created a mod called "Cori's Moisture View" on Simtrop that can show the moisture data. Previously, moisture data is private and nobody had accessed it. But, with the bklj2007 discovery, she used for her mod. Now, the public for first time can view where & how much the moisture with that mod. While she isn't discover and create a tool that utilise the secret feature, she is more appreciated by players because she can integrate it to the game and no technical tools needed.
  

Sorry for my bad English & info. Don't forget to reply this thread to add more great people to the this thread. Thank you.

EDIT: Changed to most appreciated people. The arrangement is changed.

[Silur]

I think that this topic should not have development. If we list everyone who has contributed to the SC4 we choke. About the merits and say at funerals - but SC4 is still alive.
HELP - I can see Ilive Reader exe dated 24-06-2004 
And I think - Jeronij is #1 - all of us here 

[mrbisonm]

I think that the greatest person in the simcity community here on SC4D is Jeronij followed right away by me, mrbisonm. Now that we all know, we don't need to follow up on this, since it wouldn't have an end.
Everyone here (dead or alive) is Great! Let it be at that.


Fred

[Silur]

I think that the greatest person in the simcity community here on SC4D is Jeronij followed right away by me, mrbisonm. Now that we all know, we don't need to follow up on this, since it wouldn't have an end.
Everyone here (dead or alive) is Great! Let it be at that.
Fred

Good health, Fred. I like Your SC4 models forever!!! 
Now we know - Jeronij and Mrbisonm 

And JRJ room 1 - we dance on His site for many-many years without any problems. The contribution JRJ of models and Mod - is cool.

[mrbisonm]

Good health, Fred. I like Your SC4 models forever!!! 

Thanks Silur

Fred

[FrankU]

Well,
I can see the idea of making a ranking, but like Silur and Fred already pointed out: there will be no end.... And always certain people will not get the credits they deserve. So let's not do an election.

Example:
In 2004 we had in my country, the Netherlands, an election of the most important person in our history. In the end there was confusion about the counting of votes, but the two most important Dutchmen were: Willem van Oranje, more or less the founder of our nation, and Pim Fortuyn, a politician that just had won the elctions although he was murdered several days before these elctions. And although he did indeed shake up our nation and indeed this was more or less the first political murder in our country he of course was not in an appropriate position to become first or second. Just at that moment his name was very important.
So what is the value of such an election?

[APSMS]

Yes, this is the problem of making a list like this.

The LEX was created by Colyn. CasperVG is the current admin and developer, however.

CorinaMarie deserves credit for making an accessible release of the moisture data view, but the tool for viewing it had been made available in several forms here at SC4Devotion more than 5 years ago.

How do we judge prolificness? Certainly c.p. deserves a mention; not only did he develop the first terrain mods, but he has an enormous flora and BAT/LOT catalog to his name, and of all of the BSC members, he's pretty much the only one still around. In fact, I think c.p. made the first custom BAT ever, and this was over a year before either the LOT tools or the BAT for gmax tools were released!

Was there anything SimGoober didn't BAT? I'm sure there was something, but I can't remember what that would be. He even made animated BATs, which is something that still hasn't been replicated (no thanks to the dev tools that were used never being released, but still).

Do we count Gobias, Ennedi, and Lowkee, who's pioneering work in the realm of texture mods led to the development of the first HD terrain mods, along with Orange.O.

What about Xannepan, the "renaissance man" who has since moved on to C:S? I can't recall an area of modding, outside of terrain mods, that he didn't tackle, from the Poseidon mod (above sea-level game water) to the new AC Functional Airports to his Quais de Seine (and the rest of the Paris BAT collection) to the JENX Aurora and Jupiter mods that add weather and night sky effects to the game. Even for terrain mods, he has the terrain brushes, Ploppable terrain paint that really change the way we can interact with our MMPs and terrain mods.

There are so many to list; the7trumpets was pivotal in the development of the NAM and decoding DAT files, and laid the foundation for most custom content work as we know it today.

wounagaine was pivotal in creating a number of crucial dev tools, not the least of which is the PIM-X, upon which most of the BSC & CAM work is based, not to mention the SC4Terraformer and SC4Mapper, which enabled significantly more complex and varied maps than would normally be able to be handled by the in-game renderer, not to mention his work on tools like the DATpacker and the BSC Cleanitol programs.

Z and JPlumbley for their incredible work on the NAM traffic simulator.

dedgren (David) for his 3RR, which brought hundreds of people to the site, codified Mayor Diary World-Building, and whose thread, over the course of 10 years, has garnered over 2 million views and over 11 000 replies.

Can you forget the Dirktator of Simtropolis, who opened his site before SimCity 4 was even released (making ST older than the game)?

It would also be remiss to ignore the efforts of NOB, SOMY, Moonlightn and the other Japanese creators who have made some things that are still hard to wrap my head around (NOB's "underground light rail" comes to mind), nor would it be OK to also ignore the prolific works of the SFBT (from Germany), who made a great many contributions to the NAM team, as well as to the Custom Content world in general with a large number of high quality works. Paeng, RebaLynn, and NBVC are also some of the less visible creators, due to the extensive amount of time they spent over at SimPeg, along with the members of the Workingman Production team (Rivit, DocRorlach, Shkthrpy, etc.). Not even mentioning the incredible CJers and MDers that made their work shine in amazing looking cities to help us better appreciate the full potential of their work.

The list goes on. I agree with Frank that at the end of the day, it's not really possible to properly honor those who got us here, especially since significant parts of development occurred in private to ensure protection from the naysayers that have since been removed from the community, and so their contribution was often not as well recognized despite their importance.

[Tarkus]

I'd also add that your list of 9 is already at more than 9, too.  RippleJet and InvisiChem are two different people, and as far as the "BSC Founders", there were multiple folks who were involved with that team's founding, and quite a lot of people who became part of that group shortly after it came into existence.  The simple fact of the matter is that this community has been around over 14 years now, and there's been a lot of talented and generous people who have contributed to make the SimCity 4 world what it is today, in a variety of different capacities.  It's been a real community effort, and I think that's the important thing to grasp when we look at the veritable smorgasbord of SC4 content available to us today, in all kinds of forms--mods, BATs, lots, tools, CJs/MDs, images, and videos.

He even made animated BATs, which is something that still hasn't been replicated (no thanks to the dev tools that were used never being released, but still).

The tool SimGoober used was the SC4 Bitmap Animation Builder (SC4BAB), which was developed by the Japanese creator OverPoP.  It's actually been available on the LEX since 2009. 

-Alex

[twalsh102]

While I understand your intent of trying to honor those that came before us (many of whom have gone on to other things, some of whom are still around) and made the game what it is today, trying to come up with a list of the "greatest" and limiting it to a certain number will never work.  If you asked 20 people to just define "greatness," you would end up with 35 different answers.  "Greatness" is too subjective of a subject.  "Greatness" very much comes down to personal opinion.

Can one quantify greatness?  Largest number of forum posts?  Largest number of uploads?  Largest number of tools created?  Largest number of MD entries?  Wouldn't quality have to come into play at some point?  If quantity alone is a valid determinant of greatness, does this mean that the person who creates 200 pieces of custom content is more worthy of "greatness" than the person who creates one or two tools?  Are 50 pieces of mediocre, error-ridden work a greater contribution than 2 pieces of high-quality, totally unique work?  What about those who maybe never created any custom content themselves or didn't create any MDs or didn't post on the forums, but as a member of one team or another contributed to some of the great pieces of work that exist today?

I think a better idea might have been to create something along the lines of a "Wall of Honor" and inviting people to enter the names of those they wish to honor and the reasons why.  That makes it obviously all about personal opinion, and less of a contest, or election, or argument of who is more deserving, or limiting a list to a specific number.

[mrbisonm]

I became a member of Simtropolis (we were less than 75 members) before the game was even available, and here on SC4D ever since it's beginning, and I am probably the oldest member of SCity play still active on both sites. So if you want a list of people that we should mention, I could make you one, maybe 500 or 600 names that are worth mentioning. Which one is on the top 9 list?

Ha!

They all are! Because all have done something which changed, improved or added to SC. The names who you guys above have mentioned are only a fraction of those, and they are simply those who you personnally remember from your time. I remember when you guys became members and already many have preceded you and helped the community. I have a better idea, let's mention the whole community for making the game what it is today, because it is the reality. It will be easier for all.

I just want to mention some old friends of mine that have started all this modding stuff of SC files. RalphaelNinja and GramPal, (most likely not anyone around here still remembering both) the first that made a SC model and tweaked it. Way before any official tools were available then.

Fred

[FrankU]

I just want to mention some old friends of mine that have started all this modding stuff of SC files. RalphaelNinja and GramPal, (most likely not anyone around here still remembering both) the first that made a SC model and tweaked it. Way before any official tools were available then.

Oh yes, I remember them! I'm an old man too....

[rooker1]

Hmmmmmm.......
I like to pop in here from time to time to see what's going on and today seems like a lucky chance to see a topic like this start.
I see no point in ranking members that have done the greatest things for the community or that best help to progress this game. But instead we should be just naming those that we are fond of. I know for a fact that there are many things that have gone on over the years in the back ground that some have done that no one knows of to help keep the game progressing and to better support the SC4 community. How would they get recognized? This list could also be seen as an insult to others that do not make it. I, too, could name at least 500 that have done significant things to help us and the game along. But I would not be able to rank them. We all need to remember that the acts of one help others progress and do more. I'm not really sure who I would put at the top.....I don't think I could. I don't think there would be one tree with one person at the top but rather an entire forest and ever single act are the branches and this is what we all see today.

Just my two cents.
Take care everyone!
Robin 

[APSMS]

Robin!

What do you think, that you can get away with just popping in, dropping a comment like that, and not sticking around to at least say hi?!?

Really, though, it's great to see you. You don't have to have time to play the game to be able to drop in now and then and let us know how you're doing, you know.

-Absalom

[Akallan]

I do not understand the value of this list. As everyone has said before me, this list is not realistic and remains subjective. It's even degrading in my opinion ... On the other hand, a list that people appreciate can be an idea.

[ChiefZDN]

I do not understand the value of this list. As everyone has said before me, this list is not realistic and remains subjective. It's even degrading in my opinion ... On the other hand, a list that people appreciate can be an idea.

Thank you, Akalllan. I will rearrange the list soon. I don't know that there's some people in the SC4 community more great than the included in the list. I will objectize the list simultaneously with the list rearranging.

The list has been rearranged. Your wish is implemented.

[ChiefZDN]

While I understand your intent of trying to honor those that came before us (many of whom have gone on to other things, some of whom are still around) and made the game what it is today, trying to come up with a list of the "greatest" and limiting it to a certain number will never work.  If you asked 20 people to just define "greatness," you would end up with 35 different answers.  "Greatness" is too subjective of a subject.  "Greatness" very much comes down to personal opinion.

Can one quantify greatness?  Largest number of forum posts?  Largest number of uploads?  Largest number of tools created?  Largest number of MD entries?  Wouldn't quality have to come into play at some point?  If quantity alone is a valid determinant of greatness, does this mean that the person who creates 200 pieces of custom content is more worthy of "greatness" than the person who creates one or two tools?  Are 50 pieces of mediocre, error-ridden work a greater contribution than 2 pieces of high-quality, totally unique work?  What about those who maybe never created any custom content themselves or didn't create any MDs or didn't post on the forums, but as a member of one team or another contributed to some of the great pieces of work that exist today?

I think a better idea might have been to create something along the lines of a "Wall of Honor" and inviting people to enter the names of those they wish to honor and the reasons why.  That makes it obviously all about personal opinion, and less of a contest, or election, or argument of who is more deserving, or limiting a list to a specific number.

Thank you. Your request has been implemented. If there still a minus, reply this thread.

[vester]

Not quite sure what it is you want with this list.

There will always be are a lot of names missing from this list.
... and where do you stop adding names to the list.

A few names that I am missing:
Barbyw
Chrisadams
Andreas
Swamper77
null45
OverPoP

Could probaly find a lot more.

[noahclem]

Can be fun to do stuff like this but there's way too many people without whose creations the game would be drastically different to actually list everyone or anywhere close to it.

Your missing the guy responsible for about all the best (HD) flora _____

The guy who built on CP's terrain mod stuff and created his own great terrain mod while simultaneously making seasonal flora possible _____

The guy who built on the last guy's terrain mod stuff and created most of the most popular terrain mods used today ______

The guy who made most of the most popular rail automata used, allowing people to have most trains and trams from RL cities available in the game _____

The creator or RRW _____

The guy who made tons of the best churches and other monumental structures ______

The prolific and brilliant modeler offering tons of new highrises and brought lots of down under bats into the game ______

The guy revolutionizing textures and the possibilities of Middle Age creations in SimCity 4 _____

The guy who did almost all the custom made bridges until a few years ago _____

The person who fought ferociously behind the scenes for years against the spam bots trying to overrun our site and largely led the OSITM process for a good chunk of its existence _____

The person whose energy and dedication kept our staff running, made our birthdays wonderful, and brought collaborative regions back to SC4D after 3RR had been inactive for years _____

The guy leading the RRW revolution to places its creator wouldn't have dreamed would be possible _____

So many NAMites whose work was hugely helpful in making things we would never otherwise have been able to do.

And so many other creators and teams and leaders and MDers....

The best part of making a list like this is realizing that there are so many people whose work changed this game so much. All the things we take for granted as a normal part of playing the game now. And then if just one person hadn't been there we'd have no RHW or realistic, seasonal, HD trees. Crazy really.

[carlfatal]

@mrbisonm,
I love your first post here, everything said!   

And well, I don´t like rankings, I don´t compete, maybe I can`t maybe I don`t want to. I am here at SC4D, cause I never felt tested here. I know, that most game communities need their ranking, especially if they shoot or play race games. But we don´t play like this.
Can anyone say, what he or she would like as best? Best MD? Best content? Can you play with only one piece of custom content, that you call the best of? I think, nobody can. I will miss a lot of people on any list one can make, and I agree with Fred again: let´s mention a whole community for keeping this game alive, for showing us, what they do with it, for all the content  people made and still make. Thank you all! 

[APSMS]

@Noah: I think I could name everyone in that list except for one: The OSITM person. I haven't followed OSITM enough (came in at the end, really) to be aware of who that is.

And I guess the church modeler, but I think I know who that is, too.

BUT, yes, the effect is cumulative, and hard to gauge when you have people who have multiple contributions to the community. How do you determine which is more important? Sometimes, even thought the individual contributions are negligible, the inspiration counts for more than the actual work. How do we judge that kind of activity or progress.

So ranking, among other things, is false. Also, it's hard to judge entirely because of course the place that you spend the most time at will influence your ranking. It's hard to imagine an area of modding that PEG didn't explore (incl. traffic simulators/transit modding), but his representation on this site is nonexistent, for a number of reasons, and so the visibility of his work on this site is also very low.

And of course, we tend to focus on content creators, but community members and CJ/MDers have an additional impact on the community that is even harder to measure.

Endora I'm sure inspired lots of people about the ability of the game to explore whole new worlds, even if it was all photoshop work.
MindScape and other Journals that had come and gone well before I was here had an additional impact no just on the way we perceive and play the game, but also on the direction of CC modding and creation. After all, why make fake water if nobody cares about making anything aside from sprawling metropolises?
Fasan used MMPs to make irregular farm fields and changed how we perceive of the MMP tool in constructing farms (I know people used MMPs before him, but his work is pretty seminal).

The list goes on. I'm not sure how necessary it is to continue. You get my point.

The sum is greater than the parts. That becomes clear pretty quickly if you understand the community's history.