SimCity 4 is a city-building and urban planning computer game released in 2003, suceeded by the Rush Hour expansion pack and the eventual Deluxe Edition. The name SimCity carries a heavy amount of nostalgia for a lot computer gamers and for many, SC4 was and still is the best city builder out there. The fact that it is still played today is proof of the game's success and awesomeness. Its staying power, however, is entirely contributed to the modding community. Over the years, fans of the game have created a wealth of content for the game that has improved and expanded the title in numerous ways. This content can be found on several exchange sites, the main three being those in the "Resources" sidebar directly to your left. Searching through this content can be extremely overwhelming so this page is to serve as a list of awesome and essential mods for the game that should prove as a great resource for newbies, returning players, and veterans who might have missed a mod or two. 

This particular page was created was created for r/SimCity, a subreddit for the popular website dedicated to the game.

Please keep in mind that some mods may require dependencies. Dependencies are files essential for properly running the mod and must be downloaded. The dependencies for each mod are listed on the respective mod's page. More information on installing mods and dependencies can be found in the sidebar. Also, the sites on which you will find these mods require that you create a free account in order to actually download the content. 

The list compiled before you is by no means a complete collection as the amount of custom content for SimCity 4 literally extends into the thousands. This collection is what the author simply consideres to be the most awesome and essential mods and plug-ins. 


Transportation/Network Mods


Gameplay Mods, Fixes, Cheats
  • CAM: Colossus Addon Mod - the CAM allows you to use CAMeLots, which completely redefine the growth stages of the buildings. if you're tired of the same old buildings popping up in your city, this is the mod to use. the CAM itself alterns the stage growth of in-game buildings for better development and the lots spice up the game by adding a ton of new buildings. with this mod, you can create an entirely different look and feel for your city. 

  • IH Missing Jobs Fix - a bug in the game stops some IH lots in the game from creating jobs even though they create demand. this fixes it. 

  • Opera House Fix - fixes a capacity issue with the opera house reward.

  • Crime Doesn't Pay - makes crime a lot eassier to manage especially since megalots (airport, country club, etc) are notorious crime havens due to a a bug in the game that won't allow station coverage to reach inside them.

  • Radius Doubler - increases the coverage of your in game services. all the schools, police stations, fire departments along with the clinic and hospital will have increased coverage. this is great for when you're not planning to use higher density zoning in your city and don't want so many services all over your map.

  • Toll Booth Booster - increases the capacity of tool booths and allows you to tweak tool booth fees.

  • BSC Funding Mod - nifty little cheat allows you to freeze your money.

  • Extra Cheats Plugin - exactly what it sounds like.

  • Black Hole Waste Management - easily get rid of garbage.

  • Lottery Program - make extra money for your city with a new lottery ordinance.

  • Parking Fine Ordinance

  • Legalize Medicinal Marijuana - a green ordinance for your cities.

  • Functional Landmarks Complete Set - as nice as they are to look at, the in-game landmarks don't provide any jobs for your sim citizens. this mod fixes that.

  • DAMN: Daeley's Advanced Menu Navigators - a tad tricky to set up but worth the effort, this takes all your mods and plugins and organizes them under the newswire.

  • Immortality Killer - certain custom content can be buggy and can not be demolished, rendering it "immortal." this little plug-in allows you to get rid of these buggy lots. 

*a note about the additonal ordinances. there is no way for modders to actually add new ones to the game so these modded ordinances usually replace other in-game ordinances  they usually replace the carpool incentive ordinance since it has a bug in it that renders it useless. as a result, downloading multiple ordinances might cause a conflict in the game and prevent them from working since they are both essentially replacing the same ordinance.
Beautification Mods - parks, plazas, ponds, canals, beaches, seawalls, and more...


Mapping/Region Tools

Buildings, BATs and lots of LOTs...

there are thousands of custom buildings out there and searching through the exchange sites can be a bit tedious. listing individual bats/lots would be pretty tedious too so instead here's a list of the best modders individual pages.

  • SimGoober on sc4devotion or simtropolis - lots of really nice buildings and custom content. residential, commercial, and industrial lots, civic buildings, stations, canal add-ons, and plenty more.

  • mattb325 on sc4devotion or simtroplois - a ton of beautiful and detailed content, his mansions and schools are especially awesome.

  • Peagsus on simpeg - the amount of content created by Peagasus is ridiculous. he's responsible for all the PEG Collections over on simpeg.

  • Paeng on simtropolis and simpeg - lots of beautification for your cities. be sure to check out his parking lots and the previously mentioned Paeng's Parks.

  • ILL Tonkso on simtropolis - a fellow redditor, he has created a ton of awe-inspiring content. definitely check out the street office buildings and the modern ferry.

  • Equinox on simtropolis - lots of beautiful content, especially the skyscrapers, they are a must-have for any metropolis. 

  • Andreas on sc4devotion - a nice mix of modern and classic buildings and some cool rail and tram stations.

  • deadwoods on sc4devotion - a variety of content. some really nice parks and plazas and and the very popular dedwd highway walls.

  • Heblem on simtropolis - small collection of awesome commercial lots and some terrain mods.

  • jestarr on sc4devotion - a good amount of nice buildings, mostly industrial.