Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[BarbarossaS]

Great work on those farms once again, my friend! This city tile is almost completely done, isn't it? I'm looking forward to what you have in store for us next! 

What are you using for the reeds and marshy areas at the edge of the water?

That would be Chrisadams' wonderfull Pasture Flora from his RRP, which can be found here: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1886

-Stijn-

[vershner]

Cheers!

[evanator]

Amazing, truly amazing. Your detailing is some of the most realistic I've ever seen!

[kbieniu7]

Just beautiful. Excellemt work! 

[Battlecat]

Update 22 – Fill Sites and Farmland

Here I am back once again for a quick update today.  The weekend was rather busy, but a few minutes cleared up for me to spend an hour in the game!

Replies:

vershner: Welcome to Adara!  As mentioned by Stijn, the reeds and marshy area I'm using are all part of the Rural Renewal Project by Chris Adams.  Thanks for stopping in!

Corey (Nexis4Jersy): Thanks very much, glad you like it! 

Stijn (BarbarossaS): Thanks for taking a moment to answer Vershner's question!  I'd say there's 2 -3 more update left for this tile depending on how large my game time blocks are in the next while.  It won't be long now though!

evanator: Thanks very much for your kind words!

kbieniu7: Glad you like it!  Thanks for stopping in!

Update:

22-1: This is the block of land I'll be finished up today.  First I'll start up by the freeway interchange over there. 


22-2: The small round hill here was an isolated remnant when the highway was punch through.  It occurred to me that the hill would be a perfect spot to dump the fill removed for the highway.  The resulting flat surface can then be developed as a small residential subdivision. 


22-3: So, add a few quick zones and roads. 


22-4: And voila!  A small residential subdivision, crammed between the various highways in the area. 


22-5: Moving along, I quickly develop the farms.  Here's another border crossing dairy farm still in the process of being detailed. 


22-6: The same farm as 22-5, but with the details finished. A small worn gravel path provides access to the supplementary feeder in the field. 


22-7: Moving up the road and back towards town again, we've got a corn farm and an organic soybean farm. 


22-8: And for the last farm today, another soybean farm, using a different method from most of the rest of the farms in the area. 


22-9: Here we go, the final results for the farming in this area. 


And that's a wrap for today.  Not a huge update, but this tile is coming along quite nicely now.  Thanks for stopping in!

[kwakelaar]

Your farms are looking great, I see some good ideas I would like to try out myself.

[Battlecat]

kwakelaar: Welcome to Adara!  Thanks for stopping in and for your kind words!  Glad to hear you found this inspiring!

Update 23
More Work on the Urban Edge

Greetings once again everyone!  As you can see, I've decided to slightly re-arrange the layout of my updates once again.  Hope you all like it.  Today we're heading back to the urban area to put some more unexpected finishing touches on it. 

23-1: The majority of today's update will be in this picture today.  In fact by the end of this update nearly everything you can see here will be finished. 


23-2: Startup up on the hillside, a couple of the residential subdivisions need to be finished up. 


23-3: And after development, and detailing, here's the local result. 


23-4: Down here, there's just enough room for me to add something this city is been missing.


23-5: Since the growable version refuse to appear for some reason, one plopable big box store helps take care of the shopping needs of local citizens.  I've noticed big box stores tend to end up in very odd places since they take up so much land. 


23-6: Now for the mountain.  I dub this hill Alexandria Lookout.  You'll see why in a minute.   


23-7: Here you go, one old fire lookout, probably predating most of the farming in the region.  A trail leads up to the peak. 


23-8: A closer look at the peak, I've now added some details and some benches for hikers to have lunch at.


23-9: And here are some of the finished details.  The trail winds through a flower filled meadow on the mountain side. 


23-10 The lookout has not been used for it's purpose in a long time now, so trees have begun to obscure the view from the lookout.  Despite this, a volunteer group keeps it in good repair so it's safe for hikers to visit. 


23-11: On the saddle between Alexandria Lookout and the rest of the local mountains a few large parcels can be found with small homes along an old logging road.  Back in Terra, I nicknamed this style of zoning extra-low density housing. 


23-12: Here are the results of a small experiment, this is a recent cut block.  A few lone trees, fireweed and stumps are the major features here.  Let me know what you think. 


23-13: Finally, beyond the big box stores, one more small residential subdivison to fill in the last empty space. 


23-14: The BSC parks help add to the local area, now with irregular rocky grey paving stones.  I like this texture better than the pink pavers.  The stairs are from Marrast's set. 


23-15: As a result of changing the paver texture, the high school trails have also change.  I think this looks a bit nicer myself. 


23-16: And finally, an overview of the now completed developments.  Still a lot to do here in Alexandria, but we're getting close to completion now. 


And that's a wrap for today.  Thanks for stopping in!

[JoeST]

Oh wow... as always you stun me to silence

also, on a completely different note, I have heard [linky] that the cul-de-sac'y mode of urban development is more racist than the grid-y method..

Joe

[evanator]

Great couple of updates here, that meadow and mountainside is absolutely fantastic!

[BarbarossaS]

It looks like I missed a few updates while I was busy with school. Marvellous work you've done! You know I like your farming, but Alexandria Lookout is just stunning!  Your use of the RRP flora is unmatched! 

-Stijn-

[tooheys]

Couple of great  updates there Battlecat 

I like the RHW work. The entries/exits to the hwy in 22.1 are nicely done. The layout looks better than a single interchange and is logical in my opinion. A good bit of planning 

The other standout is the lookout and trail. Good to see the progressive development of the area, resulting in a very scenic area.

Dave

[Splime]

Well this is amazing so far! I especially like the trail, and how realistic it looks. 

[woodb3kmaster]

You are truly one of the masters of rural development, and your work on the neighborhoods of Alexandria is pretty good too. I look forward to seeing more soon. Keep up the awesome work!

[FrankU]

Uhm, sorry, but I have been involved in some really impotant RL stuff: for the second time I became a father. A son, this time.
So I missed three updates. And what quality! It's really great how you can detail farmlands, riverbenches and forests. It would really be nice to take the walk up to the top.

And the diagonals: yes, even with the no-rail-dirt mod and the diagonal lots by SFBT there still appear odd textures. Sometimes I think all the predefined textures should be gotten rid of. So a no-grass-streetside-mod for roads, streets and avenues would be useful, but then we want these sidewalks in cities... We never will get it right!
But what you show us here is really fine. 

[Battlecat]

Life hit once again like a ton of bricks this past weekend, so no update for another day or two at the minimum.  Can't leave you all hanging here though.  Thanks for stopping in and visiting!   

Joe (JoeST): Thanks for stopping in again!  Interesting talk there, certainly food for thought.  I prefer the cul-de-sac style in Simcity 4 since it prevents huge quantities of traffic from shortcutting through residential areas.   

Evan (evanator): Thanks very much! 

Stijn (BarbarossaS): Life does happen to all of use, glad you've got the to stop in again.  Thanks very much for you kind words and your ongoing support!

Dave (tooheys): Thanks very much!  Actually part of the reasoning behind the layout of that interchange in 22.1 is the placement of that corner in the highway.  The route I wound up taking created some major limitations on where things could go. 

Splime: Welcome back and thanks for stopping in again!  Sometimes I'm just amazed how things come together in the end with the tools in this game.

Zack (woodb3kmaster): Welcome to Adara!  Thanks very much for visiting! 

FrankU: Congratulations on the birth of your son!  Thanks for stopping in again!  I think at this point I'm just going to live with some of the texturing stuff that is left.  Much as I'd like to see more done about those grass textures, I think I can live with it now.  Thanks again for suggesting the no rail dirt mod!

[io_bg]

The last few updates are truly great! You're really good at making rural areas!

[Earth quake]

Excellent update and Excellent work.

Your city is really nice and I like tu rural pics. 

Vivien.

[Battlecat]

io_bg: Thanks very much! 

Vivien (Earth quake): Welcome to Adara!  Thanks for stopping in and for your comments!

Update 24
Where the Rich People Go

Today, I'm going to start working in the area behind Alexandria Lookout.  One thing you all may have noticed so far is that there are no high wealth residences in the entire region so far.  That's been by design, mostly because I find the mansion style residences don't fit in terribly well with traditional suburbia. 

That being said, they still do have a place in the region, and in this update I intend to create one in this part of Alexandria along with the farms in the area. 

24-1: This is the area I'm going to work on today.  Hardly anything has been done here so far.


24-2: First of all, this area needs a stream.  Just to try something new, this time I'm going to use the new PPond textures from SimPeg. 


24-3: A waterfall is going to be necessary here, but I'm not sure about the square edge at the base of the falls. 


24-4: Instead, here's a future pond, with a small cascade into it. 


24-5: Right next to the pond, the initial zoning for Cascade Bluffs, a high wealth community.  Of course, this had to be tweaked a bit once I remembered that mansions tend to develop on 3x4 lots initially. 


24-6: While waiting for some mansions to pop up, I started on the farms.  This one showed up, and looked like an estate home to me.  I decided this guy is just letting his fields go fallow; he just bought this land for his home and as a tax write off.  Hmmm, just noticed I forgot to put in the wide radius curves in a couple of spots here.  I'll fix that in the next update. 


24-7: And here's an overview of the farmland so far.  You can see the mansions and the pond at the top of the shot.  The dirt track in the upper left is an abandoned forest service road, which is used as a trail now.


24-8: Just for kicks, a quick shot of the lonely barn in the previous shot.  This will be turned into a cattle farm soon. 


24-9: But first, back to high wealth development.  Not a bad selection, but something must be done about those sidewalks.  Seriously, who's designing this neighbourhood?


24-10: So, to keep the local theme, I made a clone of David's (Dedgren) 3RR seasonal trees, and re-assigned these new versions as high wealth, with a small park effect.  As a result, when the new versions are placed adjacent to the road, they force the sidewalk to keep the high wealth textures, creating a uniform look throughout the neighbourhood. 


24-11: Back to the farms, here is the finished cattle farm from 24-8.  There were a whole bunch of troubles here, but extensive use of the diagonal filler lots along the highway and railway resulted in a nice final result. 


24-12: Now for the final details on the stream.  I've started here with Peg's new pebble and moss textures.  They're a bit harder to use, and for the best result, they need to be plopped with a fair amount of care to break up the round edges.  Brown rye grass from RRP helps to smooth the edges.


24-13: Continuing with the riparian trees, but very lightly here since this is a narrow river. 


24-14: And finally wrapping up with the usually trees, thus blending in the edges to the farms.  This is going to require more experimentation, but it's an interesting change from the other water style. 


24-15: Now that I'm getting comfortable with the styling techniques for the river, I'm moving on with a larger section of river.  First, the peg textures and a few rushes. 


24-16: And then the grasses and trees.  Yup, have to say, I'm pretty happy with this. 


24-17: Moving along back to the waterfall and Cascade Bluffs, here's the finished area.  Trees make things look nice!


24-18: At the upper end of the bluffs, some signs that the roads in the area are simply upgrades of an existing network.  A narrow dirt track leads off into the forest. 


24-19: Some abandoned logging roads and a few old clearcuts to break up the monotony of the forest.  I'll add more details here next time. 


24-20: Finally, to wrap things up today, here's a shot of the progress on the local area.  It's getting close to completion now! 


Sadly, I ran out of time, so I didn't get quite as far along as I had planned today.  More to come next time, thanks for stopping in!

[thundercrack83]

Wow, Battlecat--what can I say, my friend? Your rural shots are just amazing! The farms, the trees, the amount of detail, everything is fantastic!

Keep up the great work!

Dustin

[calibanX]

Wow Battlecat, I love how natural and organic your planning and landscaping is laid out. You are obviously a map maker. As others have said you have certainly mastered the ploppable water thing. I don't see anybody doing it better than you are. I'm jealous of that ARCGIS software you have. I suppose it's many thousands of dollars huh? Oh well, I'm satisfied admiring your work.

Take care.

Geoff