Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[Tomas Neto]

My friend, another perfect update!!! Awesome as usuall!!! 

[djvandrake]

Very nice update.  Your new area is very well put together and uses those props from Peg quite well.   

[Fabian93]

Great update
Besides that small village I also especially like that sawmill in the middle of your forest of which some parts are already torn down. Pretty realistic I must say 

Keep up the great work ,
Fabian

[Xiziz]

Lovely little town, mattb's houses really fit right into Jackson Pass and I just love the woodwork. Nice to see some wildlife eating those clover too.

Looks like you have some rather wasteful kids in the block though, you ought to enlist RippleJet's help to clear all that wasted toilet paper from those beautiful trees.

Cheers

[kwakelaar]

As always a beautifully made small town. I keep going back to your earlier updates, to get to grips with how you manage to make your wonderful rural scenes.

[Battlecat]

Stjin (BarbarossaS): I certainly have to agree, the new terrain tools are a great addition to our tool box for beautiful terrain!  I actually found another one I was missing after I posted the last update.  It's perfect for what I'm working on for today's update!  Thanks for your support!

joelyboy911: No worries about not stopping by to much!  Everyone has different amounts of time available to poke through everyone's work.  Personally, I try to stop by as many MD's as I can since I get a great deal of enjoyment out of seeing how other people use the tools available in the game (love that estuary you built recently!).  Thanks for finding the time to stop in and for your kind words! 

io_bg: Thanks very much for your kind words! 

turtle: Glad you took the time to delurk once again!  Clear cuts are a sad, necessary reality of the lumber industry.  The raw materials have to come from somewhere.  Living in British Columbia, that reality is visible in many places so I'm quite familiar with them.  Glad you're enjoying the maps and mosaics!  I certainly enjoy building them. 

I think those new homes will start to fit in better as they begin to appear more.  They really are far nicer looking than the traditional maxis style lots! 

Earth quake: Thanks very much for all your kind words!  Glad you enjoyed this update!

Bernhard (Nardo69): Thanks for stopping by!  You know, I hadn't even thought about those comics till you mentioned it.  I haven't read those in years, I think I'll see I can track a few down, I remember those comics were quite fun.  My plugins folder is growing rapidly thanks to all the great stuff still being released around this community!  Gotta love those new homes though, they really are quite classy!

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much for your kind words!

djvandrake: Thanks very much!  I'm going to play with some of these new props more today!

Fabian (Fabian93): Thanks for stopping in!  Reality isn't always pretty but even a clearcut has it's own charm!  Glad you like it!

Xixiz: Yeah, I'm really pleased with how those houses look, I thought they were all intended as medium wealth, but having low wealth versions as well is great!  You know, I was looking at those shots and thinking how much that toilet paper tree annoys me!  That's exactly what I needed, that change will be going into the system right away, although it won't be reflected in all the shots from today's update!  Thanks for pointing that out for me! 

kwakelaar: Glad you like the latest small town.  The methods I'm using to make rural scenes at this point is an evolution that's developed over the last 50 updates!  I'm starting to occasionally look at older shots from the early updates and thinking about what could be done to improve them!  Thanks for commenting!

Update 50
Jackson Pass – Update 50 Picture Blowout

Welcome to the 50th update of Adara!  It's taken a mere 262 days to reach this point!  In addition to today's extensive update, I've got a couple extra things to show you all first.  You may have noticed I made a new replies banner today!  That particular shot is from the start of the Lehman Valley area of Vavenby.  I just really liked the STR winding through the area. 

Ironically enough, despite this being the fiftieth update, most of today's update is going to be business as usual.  I considered doing a recap of the various towns and cities I've created so far, but I think I save that for the 1 year anniversary!  Today I've got 40 pictures for you (including the first two bonus items) for you all to enjoy as Jackson Pass continues to develop its own character. 

50-1: As I did on update 25, here is a list of all the visitors that have visited Adara in the past 50 updates!  In total, excluding my posts there have been 375 comments on this MD!  Thanks for your support everyone, lurkers, and commenter alike!  The green bar shows how many posts were made by everyone as of update 25.




50-2: Just for the sake of my curiosity, here's how the last 50 updates have been used. I'm thinking the trend in the length of updates is getting a bit out of hand.  I'm going to see what I can do about turning that around for Jackson Pass! 


50-3: To start today's actual update, I've started blocking out the last major bit of  truly urban residential in Jackson Pass.  Most of the future residential in this area is going to be the super low density style. 


50-4: Another set of low wealth residential, but with the new homes from Mattb325, low wealth has never looked better! 


50-5: Here, let's have a closer look at these superb lots!  I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of looking at these!  I can't wait to start getting some of the medium wealth going on a future tile. 


50-6: Moving along, I've added another forest service road in just to the west of the summit of the pass. 


50-7: And again, I've outlined the two clear cuts in this area.  As I mentioned in the last update, I want to try for a slightly older feel to these. 


50-8: Enter Peg's scrub brush tool!  This tool adds a nice variety of low scrub to the area.  It gives the feel of a slightly more overgrown area.  Additionally, a small number of medium sized coniferous and deciduous trees helps give the impression of age.  Also, there are a lot more flowers here, I've used a wide variety but mostly still the pink (fireweed) and the blue (lupins). 


50-9: Here are the two clear cuts now finished up.  Strictly speaking these aren't actually clear cuts.  In modern forestry they tend to cut smaller sections called cut blocks and leave a wide swath of trees between them.  I think the idea is to provide a better source of natural colonization in addition to the replanting. 


50-10: Next, I've decided to add a trail leading from Jackson Pass up to one of the valleys at the foot of Mount Garibaldi.  In case you're wondering, that's the new official name of the big mountain that's a major feature of this map.  The trail leads off from a residential street in town.


50-11: It winds its way up the mountain.  The terrain is quite steep here, so switchbacks are a necessity!


50-12: From the bottom half of the previous shot, now we have a flower covered meadow about halfway up the mountain.  I really went crazy with both the old and new flowers in this one!  I'm  really enjoying having these new options, but it's going to still take some getting used to!


50-13: Continuing up the mountain through the trees, there's a little something hiding up at the foot of the mountain here!


50-14: A small hotspring and a picnic area are hidden away in the hills! 


50-15: A beautiful meadow marks the end of the trek to the this little hideaway. 


50-16: A this point, the more I'm looking at the lower meadow, the less I like the way it looks.  So I've bulldozed the area and started again.  First a rough batch of flowers, a mixture of RRP and Pegs. 


50-17: In among that, a mix of the coarse grass and some of the various weeds available. 


50-18: Finally, to wrap things up, some trees, logs and a mixture of peg's grass and clover textures over top of everything.  I'm much happier with this result. 


50-19: Here's an overview shot of the trail I just finished up. 


50-20: Moving down the valley to the edge of the tile, I want to work my way up through the valley with the mine next.  I've left the grid on here to give you a better feel for the local terrain. 


50-21: A line of deciduous trees marks the stream that flows out of the valley on this side.


50-22: Just a short distance up the valley, I'm adding another clearcut.  I intend for this one to feel even older than the previous ones in this update.  First of all, I'm using narrower road textures to give the feel of a decommissioned logging road. 


50-23: Outlining the area with trees gives the basic shape of the clearcut. 


50-24: Clear cuts tend to be quite slow to grow back, particularly the native coniferous trees.  Despite tree planting programs, deciduous trees will tend to be the primary colonizers of clear cuts.  I've added in a mixture of aspens and oak groves to reflect this succession.  The large coniferous trees represent the trees that are left behind by loggers to theoretically seed the area.  Scrub brush will cover most of the remaining area.


50-25: Here's a tighter shot of the scrub as it continues to get plopped.  One nice thing about using these particular tracks for older clear cut areas is the plopable features can be pushed right up to it to give the feeling of the road slowly being overgrown.  Despite that, roads are an incredibly resilient structure, the natural forest will be well on it's way to being fully regrown before vegetation makes any significant inroads to colonizing it.  Even one vehicle travelling the road every couple of months is enough to undo most of the vegetation growth! 


50-26: Moving along, I've added flowers, grasses and a whole bunch of short little trees to represent the slowly growing trees that will eventually be the mature coniferous forest.  At this point, it's mostly finished.


50-27: Still, there's room for just a bit more.  One big danger of removing all the vegetation from an area is erosion and rockslides.  That's one of the reasons we no longer log directly adjacent to watercourses in BC.   So, I've messed around a bit with rocks to create a small landslide remnant.  I'll certainly have to play with this more in the future.


50-28: Here's an overview of the finished clear cut. 


50-29: But still there's more!  I realized I hadn't added the power supply lines for this town.  Since Jackson Pass is so small, a simple single power pole network runs up the highway to a substation.  I'm simply going to assume that all urban areas have underground lines in this world! 


50-30: Further to that, the mine will need power as well.  Assuming that the mine came before any other development in this valley, the trunk power lines follow the most direct route to the mine. 


50-31: A small stream does flow out of this valley, in fact quite close to the mine.  As with most of my small streams, the deciduous trees mark the route.


50-32: Now for some development.  I've run a small stream up into this small valley, and in a rather quirky mood, built a rather inefficient road network for the area!


50-33: Expanding the concept, and adding in the "extra low" density housing to the area leads to this initial layout.  You can see the grass lots that carry power on the hill, in reality the power poles would carry it over.  Once I add trees in, those lots will be invisible. 


50-34: As the housing continues to grow in, I decided a small set of stores would be appropriate for this area.  In the end, they wound up on the other side of the street though.


50-35: Things are getting close to finishing up now.  Houses are in place, there's a wide diversity of home styles here, including a number of Mattb325's new homes.  Nice to see they come in 1x2 formats as well!  You can see the gas station at the bottom of the image. 


50-36: Just an eye candy shot here, I just love how this house looks with the STR and power lines running behind it!  I put a bit of extra effort into blending the back law of this home in!


50-37: I threw an automata generator in at the mine so I could get a couple of active rail shots.  Here's a train going past a bunch of single family homes on a straight stretch.


50-38: And later in the day, another train making the crossing near the stores.  Have to say, I think those new homes really do fit the region quite nicely. 


50-39: Further along, the same train is entering a set of curves, just near the small commercial area I built earlier. 


50-40: Finally, to wrap things up, here's the state of the mine valley after all the work I've done today.  I think this came together quite nicely!


Phew, finally made it to then end!  I think that's the most shots I've ever put into a single update.  Anyhow, that's a wrap for update 50!  Stay tuned though, there's more to come very soon! 

[Xiziz]

The clear cuts really do look good, the landslide in the last one makes the cherry on top, there was always a lot of rocks in the clear cuts I used to play in back in the days. Those powerpoles look very nice and fit in perfectly, shame no one has modded them to the streets yet, that would make a perfect addition to all these small towns and villages.
The action shots of the trains, I love them. Just having automata makes such a big difference for the feeling of a picture.

Cheers

[Earth quake]

Awesome Update my friend.
As usual, your small suburbs is very pretty and your trail is really splendid.
Besides, your valley is really wonderfull.

[Nardo69]

Hi Battlecat!

Great update! Love the update with the railway branch to the mine! Great work also with the mountains, those pine tree forrest do look good - better than my tries but all in all I am more into deciduous forrests and hills.

Gotta see these new mattb325's growing, too, the more I see the more I like!


Take care my friend!

Bernhard 

[JoeST]

oh wow...just

I take my hat off to you, creating such magical places

Joe

[ecoba]

Have I not commented here before?

Geez, I'm sorry, Battlecat, but I do follow Adara.

This was quite an amazing update. Adara has a very beautiful landscape, and it seems slightly similar to the region I'm working on now, although mine is set in NE California. (That's not the region that my MD started.)

I really love your way of during rurality, it's very realistic.

Thanks,
          Ethan  

[io_bg]

What a huuge update! Your attention to details really makes your MD one of the best (if not the best) rural MDs I've ever seen! Superb work! The last few shots with the trains and the small village are especially nice. 
Keep up the great work!

[kbieniu7]

Oh, that looks great! I couldn't imagine right words so: ALL looks awesome 

[Dreamcat]

Amazing update!  The clearcuts you have look very realistic, and I especially like the last one.  Matt's houses are looking great, as usual.  Good to see they're getting some publicity, they look great!  I'm liking the somewhat erratic nature of the streets you have there, it's wacky but it looks great in the end.  At first I saw the street layouts and I cringed, but now I like it a lot.  Good work on that!

Also, I must apologize for not commenting in so long.  Real life has been busy...surely you'd understand.  Thank you for these wonderful pictures!

[danielcote]

You're city has a nice rural aspect to it! The way the houses are all bundled in the trees makes it look cozy and I like the way you show us the steps you did to do it. 

[woodb3kmaster]

What an update! In terms of magnitude, it certainly puts Nyhaven's 25th update to shame. It also reveals just how much more often I need to post here. Adara is too high-quality to go without more replies from me! Excellent work, as always, Battlecat!
I don't mean to be a grammar Nazi, Daniel, but you're really means "you are". You meant to type "your", which is the real possessive form of "you". Sorry to bother you about this, but some things just really irk me.

[metarvo]

I really like the forest and field detailing that you've shown in this update, Battlecat.  Of course, the power lines also add a fair amount of realism.  Good work! 

[Bobbi]

Awesome pictures and details.

[Sciurus]

Very beautiful update I've seen

Guillaume

[djvandrake]

Wow, so many wonderful things in this update.  The trails and forested areas look wonderful, and you've managed to make those clear cuts appealing (which is usually not the case in R L).  That triangular steet layout at the beginning of the update made for a really interesting res zone.  And your railroad looks really great. 

Congrats on the 50th update!