Greetings Builders!

Finally, the time has come. The biggest Update so far for 8 Highrise City is out now! We’ve named it ComMutation - City Flow as this is exactly what this update is all about. We have changed a lot underneath which will make cities way more realistic.

The biggest change is that now indeed every citizen gets simulated correctly. That means that every citizen, as long as he or she has a job, will keep this job and get there from his home. The clue: Your citizens won’t take any job available anymore if the distance is too far. For you that means that you need to reconsider how you build your cities and an industry district far away from your main city is not possible anymore. That makes the game itself slightly more challenging, but also way more realistic.



But no worries, you won’t lose oversight. We’ve taken care of that. We have added multiple new filters and systems which will give you detailed information about your citizens. No matter if you want to know if the distances are fine, the water supply, how crowded your zones are - we’ve got you covered. We have put a lot of time into making the game easier to understand and think that with the new filters and info systems you should be able to overcome every challenge.



Tons of buildings have been visually improved and received a lot of new details. A new highlight - if we are allowed to give you a hint here - is the new nuclear power plant and the animated ads on office buildings. It is our vision that the cities get more and more details so that you can discover something new around every color. That means we’ll keep updating the details on the buildings even further, the animations and the landscapes as well.


These are the biggest systems we’ve touched for this update. But there are more. Way more. Especially in the details. Street lamps now glow during dusk and dawn, the game saves a lot quicker, tons of small UI adjustments were made and we even found the time to fix some smaller bugs and issues.

The Changelog:

• New Pathfinding for people (Influenced by the Difficulty Option ”Satisfaction Population”)
  
• Saving the game has been speeded up (improved Multithread Support)
  
• New filters allow to check needs and wishes of your citizens (No Work, No Workers, Way costs Work, Satisfaction Flats, Density of Homes, Trash Factor, Electricity Factor, Water Supply Factor, Office Factor, Storage Space)
  
• Street Lamps glow in dusk and dawn
  
• Additional infos on resources being displayed in the construction menu (Stay longer with the mouse over a button to activate these)
  
• Costs of Streets and Buildings are displayed on the cursor now
  
• Improved cursor for more direct input
  
• If a building gets wrecked, all stored resources will be transferred back to the town
  
• Latest news regarding the game are displayed in the main menu
  
• Buy Land Button is now on the top left side in the HUD
  
• During the construction of a farm, it is displayed how much the farm will be producing
  
• If a filter is active, additional infos are displayed at the mouse cursor
  
• Different additional buttons (e.g. in the building information menu) ease the way to display filters
  
• Icon-Buttons have a hovering and a press-animation
  
• Research can be reset
  
• Sizes of certain windows can be scaled (resource-list, research menu)
  
• New research “clever traffic lights” has been added: Traffic lights are adjusted to actual traffic which reduces traffic jams
  
• Cars reduce their speed in curves
  
• Improved pathfinding for cars
  
• Changing lanes is now more realistic at high speeds
  
• In the Buy Land Menu resources can now be made visible
  
• In the options, all changes can now be reset with the Reset Button
  
• RAM and VRAM optimized
  
• Wrecking a building is now possible when the building has been picked
  
• The Save Game folder has been improved and is not influenced by other files anymore
  
• HRC now works on 2 core CPUs as well (at least for small / middle sized towns)
  
• Video Option Texture Quality influences water quality. For Texture Quality Low a simple ocean shader will be used (useful for weaker machines)
  
• Video Option "Foliage Density" reduces the amount of grass
  
• Performance during the construction of a building has been improved
  
• A warning gets displayed in the main menu if the machine does not fulfill the minimum requirements
  
• Adjusted the fonts
  
• New buildings for Stage 1 added
  
• Improved office buildings Stage 1
  
• Buff-buildings need access to streets
  
• Increased reach of buff buildings
  
• New law "More Relaxed Road Users" added
  
• Fixed some smaller bugs and issues
  
• UI improved
  
• The “Milestones” Tool Tip now also shows what is to be achieved
  
• Color corrections of people and cars
  
• Textures and color corrections for Landscape and grass
  
• Trees move better when wind is active
  
• Color corrections for Office Buildings and Houses on Stage 1
  
• Plants on farms spawn with a bigger gap to the buildings and the fence
  
• Reduced loudness level for music slightly
  
• Increased loudness for chinese voice over
  
• After loading a savegame the player can already take actions during the transition
  
• Improved loading times for savegames (fixed some load processes for Voxel Landscape and 3D Assets)
  
• Zones create less open gaps close to crossroads
  
• Buildings do not spawn on streets anymore
  
• Charcoal Burning productivity increased
  
• Police, Fire Station and costs for the School have been slightly increased
  
• Reduced need for water in the beginning of the game
  
• Small water towers produce more water
  
• Around the farm a little bit of space has been left free to spawn farm mesehs
  
• Increased construction costs for a fruit farm slightly
  
• Increased number of employees for the Brick Factory
  
• Increased building times for bigger buildings