11.26.2007
2008 Future City Competition E-News, Issue 2
The Future City E-Newsletter is here to help you succeed and to share experiences of the many teams competing. We have more than 1100 schools registered for the 2007/2008 Future City Competition program.
The National Office of the Future City Competition brings this newsletter to you. Please check with your Future City regional coordinator for specific deadlines and additional local information. The regional coordinators' contact information is located at: www.futurecity.org/contact_region_state.asp
QUICK HINT: Looking for a particular competition form or a Handbook reference? Go to www.futurecity.org/resources.shtm –good reference information posted.
Topics in this Future City E-Newsletter
• Deadlines -check with your regional coordinator
• Plan, Plan, Plan
• Saving your SimCity files
• On-line Survey – re: Computer Hardware Used for the Competition
-- Deadlines -check with your regional coordinator
Check in with your regional coordinator for specific deadlines for the different parts of the competition. Remember, win or lose, it is about the process and the learning.
--Plan…Plan…Plan
Success depends on organization and planning. January arrives very quickly. Students have busy lives, and so do you. In the past, some teams have completed their city design, been well on their way in model construction, researched and written their essay, and began the presentation rehearsal, only to find that they cannot possibly complete their model in time for the regional competitions.
Several teams have planned to finish models during the holiday break, only to find their school locked, or a major storm interrupting their plans. The deadlines outlined in the handbook are to help you avoid these pitfalls.
There is a detailed planning guide beginning on page B-33 in your “Teacher Handbook.”
Suggestions:
1. You may wish to map out a schedule and highlight critical dates.
2. Have students work backward from deadlines for each phase of the competition, computing time and delegating responsibilities.
3. Begin brainstorming, and identify team talents.
4. Refer to: www.futurecity.org/docs/2008_Teachers_Handbook_A.pdf
--Saving your SimCity files
When you email in the computer design disk to your regional coordinator, be sure to keep an extra copy of your city in a safe place.
NOTE: --Some teams have reported that it is better to save to the hard drive, and then copy the file to a CD-ROM once you're all done for the day. That way even if something happens with copying the file to the CD-ROM, you still have the original on the hard drive and you won't have to start over.
Information on how to save your city:
Tip #1 -- Saving Your City to Disk
Saving your city to disk is tricky and it's easy to lose your file!
Step-by-Step Instructions for Saving Your City:
1. Create a new folder on the hard drive or CD-ROM drive and name it "FutureCity.”
2. In SimCity 3000, click on [Save As], and then change the "Look In" pulldown to the new folder you've created.
3. Make your "File Name" the same as your "City Name" (so the judge's don't get confused), and then hit the check mark button.
4. Before continuing with your city development, test that you have the file in the right spot by clicking on [Load] and then opening your city back up from the saved file.
--If any problem occurs while saving, the city just turns to water. When this happens, you have to go back to the last time you saved it, or start all over!
--Save your city with a new file name every time (like City1.sc3, City2.sc3, City3.sc3, etc.). That way if your save is unsuccessful and the program crashes, at least you can go back to the last time you saved.
Tip #2 -- Some Points to Keep in Mind:
--SimCity will default to save in strange locations, such as on the program CD-ROM or buried way down on the C drive.
--SimCity will only save into a folder, so if you want to save directly onto a CD-ROM disk, you'll need to create a folder on the disk first.
--If you try to save to a location that isn't available (i.e. to the CD-ROM drive but there's no ROM in the drive), SimCity may appear to save correctly, but it's actually saving to some previously used directory on the C drive and the file may not be where you think it is!
Tip #3 -- Troubleshooting and Recovering Lost Files:
--If you get an error message that "City Save Failed", it's probably because you're trying to save to a read-only CD-ROM drive.
--If you can't find your saved city, try looking in the folder C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 3000 Unlimited\Apps (this is a common default save location).
--If you still can't find your file, use Windows to search the entire hard drive for your file name.
--On-line Survey – re: Computer Hardware Used for the Competition
We are reviewing computer hardware used for the Future City Competition. We have generated a very short survey to help us find out what type of computer hardware is used in the classroom for the Future City program. This survey will take less than 2 minutes – please click on the link below (or cut n paste into your web browser):
--Re: “Future City – Computer Hardware” survey
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB22779BWM4LZ
Next Future City Competition E-News, December 4, 2007.
The National Office of the Future City Competition brings this newsletter to you. Please check with your Future City regional coordinator for specific deadlines and additional local information. The regional coordinators' contact information is located at: www.futurecity.org/contact_region_state.asp
QUICK HINT: Looking for a particular competition form or a Handbook reference? Go to www.futurecity.org/resources.shtm –good reference information posted.
Topics in this Future City E-Newsletter
• Deadlines -check with your regional coordinator
• Plan, Plan, Plan
• Saving your SimCity files
• On-line Survey – re: Computer Hardware Used for the Competition
-- Deadlines -check with your regional coordinator
Check in with your regional coordinator for specific deadlines for the different parts of the competition. Remember, win or lose, it is about the process and the learning.
--Plan…Plan…Plan
Success depends on organization and planning. January arrives very quickly. Students have busy lives, and so do you. In the past, some teams have completed their city design, been well on their way in model construction, researched and written their essay, and began the presentation rehearsal, only to find that they cannot possibly complete their model in time for the regional competitions.
Several teams have planned to finish models during the holiday break, only to find their school locked, or a major storm interrupting their plans. The deadlines outlined in the handbook are to help you avoid these pitfalls.
There is a detailed planning guide beginning on page B-33 in your “Teacher Handbook.”
Suggestions:
1. You may wish to map out a schedule and highlight critical dates.
2. Have students work backward from deadlines for each phase of the competition, computing time and delegating responsibilities.
3. Begin brainstorming, and identify team talents.
4. Refer to: www.futurecity.org/docs/2008_Teachers_Handbook_A.pdf
--Saving your SimCity files
When you email in the computer design disk to your regional coordinator, be sure to keep an extra copy of your city in a safe place.
NOTE: --Some teams have reported that it is better to save to the hard drive, and then copy the file to a CD-ROM once you're all done for the day. That way even if something happens with copying the file to the CD-ROM, you still have the original on the hard drive and you won't have to start over.
Information on how to save your city:
Tip #1 -- Saving Your City to Disk
Saving your city to disk is tricky and it's easy to lose your file!
Step-by-Step Instructions for Saving Your City:
1. Create a new folder on the hard drive or CD-ROM drive and name it "FutureCity.”
2. In SimCity 3000, click on [Save As], and then change the "Look In" pulldown to the new folder you've created.
3. Make your "File Name" the same as your "City Name" (so the judge's don't get confused), and then hit the check mark button.
4. Before continuing with your city development, test that you have the file in the right spot by clicking on [Load] and then opening your city back up from the saved file.
--If any problem occurs while saving, the city just turns to water. When this happens, you have to go back to the last time you saved it, or start all over!
--Save your city with a new file name every time (like City1.sc3, City2.sc3, City3.sc3, etc.). That way if your save is unsuccessful and the program crashes, at least you can go back to the last time you saved.
Tip #2 -- Some Points to Keep in Mind:
--SimCity will default to save in strange locations, such as on the program CD-ROM or buried way down on the C drive.
--SimCity will only save into a folder, so if you want to save directly onto a CD-ROM disk, you'll need to create a folder on the disk first.
--If you try to save to a location that isn't available (i.e. to the CD-ROM drive but there's no ROM in the drive), SimCity may appear to save correctly, but it's actually saving to some previously used directory on the C drive and the file may not be where you think it is!
Tip #3 -- Troubleshooting and Recovering Lost Files:
--If you get an error message that "City Save Failed", it's probably because you're trying to save to a read-only CD-ROM drive.
--If you can't find your saved city, try looking in the folder C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 3000 Unlimited\Apps (this is a common default save location).
--If you still can't find your file, use Windows to search the entire hard drive for your file name.
--On-line Survey – re: Computer Hardware Used for the Competition
We are reviewing computer hardware used for the Future City Competition. We have generated a very short survey to help us find out what type of computer hardware is used in the classroom for the Future City program. This survey will take less than 2 minutes – please click on the link below (or cut n paste into your web browser):
--Re: “Future City – Computer Hardware” survey
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB22779BWM4LZ
Next Future City Competition E-News, December 4, 2007.