Blackwater (with Islas Gemas)

[kwakelaar]

Well, you both seem to enjoy each others company and yes she is cute. What is she? Only breed I can think of, this size and color is a Ridgeback??

[emilin]

Well, you both seem to enjoy each others company and yes she is cute. What is she? Only breed I can think of, this size and color is a Ridgeback??

It is a ridgeback, yes.

[NikNik]

WOEF.

Nice doggie.

Nice doggie.

No, no, no, DON'T LICK ME!

Yuck, just when the picture was taken......



Nik-Nik

[Heinz]

awww no updates yet? i know... good things come to those who wait, right? lol hope everything's fine. see you around

[thundercrack83]

Beautiful dog, emilin! What's her name?

[snorrelli]

I enjoyed your tutorial on ports so much I decided to check out the MD. Nice place you've built here!  I'll be following along from now on...

[emilin]

Two quick replies right now. The rest will be answered together with some pictures of recent development this evening.

Beautiful dog, emilin! What's her name?

Her name is Coco (after Chanel... my wife had the last word on naming her )

awww no updates yet? i know... good things come to those who wait, right? lol hope everything's fine. see you around

Everything is prefectly fine, thank you for asking! I realize I do build kind of slow, and not everyday can be spent on the computer but I do have a small update for tonight (european time).

[Heinz]

great! will try to be around for that. more portsm perhaps?  i know you'll sweep us off our feet again. see you around! 

[emilin]

Personal replies:

thundercrack83: I can't see a problem with boosting my ego, but maybe my wife would have a different opinion.

wouanagaine: Thank you! I really appriciate you commenting, by the way. The stuff you have done to this game is amazing, and I'm truly honoured to have your signature in my journal.

Serkanner: Thank you so much. I have no real way to respond to such an overwhelming compliment, but again: thank you.

M4346: Thanks! And let me also thank you once again for that café I had named after me in your journal. I'm very grateful for that, Marius.

Heinz: Thank you for those several different comments. I believe that the links was already supplied to the containers so know need for me to do that, but I really appriciate that you keep coming back to Islas Gemas.

NikNik: Thank you, thank you! It's good to know that you think the concert hall/monument was the right choice too. I had great difficulties with chosing that BAT.

rooker1: Thanks! I don't think I'll ever build a bigger port than I already did for Port Remington. But I didn't chose to build an island region for nothing, so more ports are a given.

Badsim: Thanks so much! You are of course very welcome to show that lot here if you wish. In fact I would be honoured if you did. And I completly agree about the flowers. I was aware of the existens of Gizmo's flora but I haven't been able to download it, so I chose the flowers to represent kelp and seaweed. But you are right, I will try to find them once again.

kimcar: Thanks. I like to use flora overall to cover up jagged edges (that is the main problem with SC4 in my opinion) and I'm certainly greatful for the likes of sorchin that have developed underwater flora.

sebes: Hehe... thanks a bunch. I got an elephant! Yay!

Rayden: Thanks for doing my work for me. I'm terrible at remembering where I found my stuff. See you over in Shosaloza!

Elektra: Thanks for visiting, Elektra! I'm very happy to have been able to inspire you.

amapper: Thanks! And thank cycledogg for the excellent terrain mod (or rather combination of several of his mods).

kwakelaar: Thanks a lot, as always! And I believe we have cleared up the dog issue. I made the avatar mostly as a training session trying to learn Illustrator so it does look more like a t-shirt than a dog in my opinion too.

Berethor: Thanks! And with my pace of updating you can never be to late. 

mark: Thank you! I hope you like the new update too.

snorrelli: Thank you so much! Hope to see you around.

And I won't go into any more detail about my dog, but thanks for all the nice things some of you said about her. I'm sure she would give each and everyone of you a big slurpy kiss to thank you if she could (even NikNik).  


Developing Santiago

The time has come to start building the capitol of Islas Gemas (actually the provincial capitol, but anyways...), Santiago de Zafiro. Since this is the only thing in this region that resembles a metropolis of some kind it is going to take a while to finish. I'm halfway throught the plopping process and after that I'm going to have myself a try at making my own growable lots for the residential areas (if I fail it's going to be a very boring process of marking as historical, bulldozing and changing tax rates for about a full work week...).

But, let's start off with a region shot of the currently developed parts of Zafiro:



And also a transit view where the winding mountain roads are more visible:



This is a view of the entire Vallo de Santiago in its current state of development:



And here are the central parts at a little closer zoom:



As you can see the city is built in two distinct levels, seperated by retaining walls. This looks a bit odd right now, but I think it will look much more natural when more growth has commenced. I have use MAS new walls that are based on jeronij's retaining walls. The texture blends extremly nice into the slopes, I think:



The following pictures are not of a central business district (since this is a european style city) but rather a "financial center" for corporate headquarters and such. The real downtown area will be with much lower and older buildings. Anyway:







And a BIG thanks to jeronij for developing the ultimate canal set. Just look and marvel at the level of detail:



And it blends quite easily with the plop water as seen in this shot:



This is the home arena for the Independiente (as mentioned in an earlier update):



And some other sports and recreation facilities located in the same area:



Well, that's all folks...

[rooker1]

Fantastic pictures, awesome map if I haven't already said so before.  Jeronij's canal pieces seem to blend in perfectly with the plop water.  And I love your solution for entry to the maxis water, a quick switch to oppie's canal pieces.  Great work!  If you could help me with the name of that mall (or link) in picture 4, I would greatly appreciate it. 
I can't wait to see what's next.

Robin   

[kwakelaar]

Well so far it is looking very good, I like the canal system you have prepared and how the city will fill this rather narrow valley. I look forward to see how this turns out.

[Pat]

 

WOW Emilin superb works here wow. as with all i do agree coco is a pretty puppy she looks like my dog
who's a red brindle boxer & pit mix and her name is Shyla.

[kimcar]

  Great update again . The first pic is just outstanding  . Great use of jeronij canal too. I`m glad to see how they look in game . have fun

[Badsim]

Hi emilin ,

The first pic is .....  

It's the first time I can see the result of a large use of JRJ canal set , stunning !

However , the white support walls ( I think it's a japanese set created of linked by MAS71 , isn't it ?) don't fit with your terrain textures ...my opinion .
About the Lot , I'm afraid it's too late ; AntiGone has been deep-frozen on an external HD now in a secret bank ....
OK , just a bad joke , I'll try to be enough motivated to do it ... or rather to send you pictures , so that you can place them where you think they'll be the most adapted or the less unadapted .

[thundercrack83]

Wow, Santiago de Zafiro looks absolutely wonderful! I love the canals and the downtown center. Outstanding work, my friend! Can't wait for the next update!

[Rayden]

Personal replies:
Rayden: Thanks for doing my work for me. I'm terrible at remembering where I found my stuff. See you over in Shosaloza!

You're welcome, I'm quite good on remembering things, except when it comes to names and faces. And it's quite embarassing when you see some friend of yours that you haven't seen for a while and you can't remember his name.
Anyway, my 3 Gb plugins folder it's a great help
About your update, impressive, the Jeronij's canals look great, the map awesome and you're choosing very well what to build and where, except for those walls on the slopes, they look a bit too metalic. I don't know if was your did or not, but if it was, maybe you cold change it for a more unclean texture, something like stone or brick. The rest it's very good as usual.
Btw, nice dog of yours, reminds me Scooby Doo

[Heinz]

woooah. great start to a "financial center" my friend. nice choices for buildings and such. the Independente stadium looks awesome!! who do they play with, tho? is there a league within Islas Gemas? anyway, the canals and PW connection looks great and the walls, hopefully they do get to blend with the finished financial center. plus, the transit shot looks like it would be nice to drive through the mountains like that. great update. and

Heinz: Thank you for those several different comments. I believe that the links was already supplied to the containers so know need for me to do that, but I really appriciate that you keep coming back to Islas Gemas.

i keep coming back because what you put up here gives me inspiration and ideas for an MD im planning. i am, however, waiting for a crucial item. *plug: the link in my sig will let you know.

so... for the ispiration and ideas, thanks! and keep em coming!

[M4346]

Great update! I love the layout of the area, and am looking forward to its development!

[Air6]

WOW Another great update Emilin The first picture is  just amazing. Very nice using of Jeronij's canals. I look forward to see the developpement.

[bat]

Wonderful pictures, great using of jeronij's new canals! Fantastic region overview!