Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[Battlecat]

NomenEstOmen: Welcome to Adara!  Yup, it's finally time to play with some game water here.  It's going to be pretty interesting playing with this.  Thanks for stopping in!

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thanks very much as always for your kind words!

Matt (Toichus Maximus): Thanks!  Glad you are enjoying your visits!

Jacob (ShultzCity): I love putting the region shots together.  Every time I add a new piece to the map it just looks better and better!  One of these days I'm going to have to start filling in the gaps, but that'll wait until after Greenwood. 

Cyclone1001: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

nbvc: Welcome to Adara!  I build the maps by tracing screenshots of the transportation and zoning maps.  I also export a black and white .png image from SC4 terraformer which I can use to generate the contour lines with a software package I have at work.  I detailed the methods I use way back in update 11.  It's effectively like putting the information into Photoshop except that I'm putting it into specialized mapping formats instead.  Let me know if you want more information! 
   
Ethan (ecoba): Yup, time to get back to the lowland areas!  It means we're looking at a major farming tile once again!  You'll be glad to know that the wait for the higher zoom view of Ellison Flats has already arrived.  I pieced it together last night. 

Bernhard (Nardo69): No worries, I certainly understand RL problems!  Glad you've enjoyed reviewing the last few updates.  These pine forests are pretty much a spot on match for the rainforests on the west coast of Canada.  I wouldn't sell your shorelines in Urland too short, I really like the style you've been developing in the last few updates! 

I got the PM, and I'm pretty sure I replied!  Granted, my internet has been eating e-mails lately, so it may have vanished.  Thanks for the offer!  Thanks for stopping in and for your kind words!

djvandrake: Thanks!  It's getting bigger and better with every finished tile.

Geoff (calibanX): Thanks very much!  I never actually thought about how handy it is to have the region composites and maps side by side.  Going back and looking, it's pretty neat.  I love putting the composites together, although I'm starting to notice some things that I'll have to go back and revise to further improve borders in some places.

Raphael (RickD): Thanks very much!  Glad you enjoyed the composites!

kimcar: Thanks!

Matt (Toichus Maximus (2)): Very cool that you're taking GIS classes.  I actually work for a small municipality as the GIS Technician for my career.  I actually do build the maps in a georeferenced framework.  I've traced out a series of 4 km x 4 km tiles in Autocad, which I then insert my game screenshots into.  I do most of my data entry in Autocad Map 3D because entering data in ArcMap is a pain.

For the contour lines, I use FME to georeference the black and white .png image you can export from SC4Terrfaformer and then transform it into contour lines.  FME is an amazing program by Safe Software that can be used to design and execute very complex spatial analysis and format translation jobs as flow charts.  I couldn't do my job or make these maps without that program!  I've got some more information about the process I use back in update 11 and if you have more questions, feel free to ask!

Will (penguin007): Thanks, glad you like it!

Utvaw: Welcome!  Thanks, I really do try to work with the terrain available, glad you like the results!

nedalezz: The regional comosites really are a great reward for finishing the tiles.  Glad you like them and the maps!  Thanks for stopping by.
   
bat: Thanks very much for your kind words!

Update 103
Greenwood – Roads and Rails

Well here we go with the first full update for Greenwood!  Today's a simple one where I just start getting the roads and railways in place.  The process is quite time consuming and not terribly exciting visually, so there aren't a lot of shots today.  The bonus should help make up for it though!  Hope you enjoy it!

103-1: I was hoping to put fractional angle railways to good use here, but as it turns out I needed to adjust this shot.  Regardless, I'm shooting for a fairly windy railway system here. 


103-2: It's hard to see on these shots, but the tile is gently terraced from highland down to the riverbank.  Granted, subtle slopes are my goal here since I'm planning on farms that will conform to the slope for part of the region.  My biggest concern right now is the upcoming transition here to game water.  I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it yet.  You can also see a STR line branching off here. 


103-3: As I was building the transport network for the tile, I came up with shot.  It clearly illustrates why it's a good idea to keep a consistent 1 tile wide gap between your roads and rails.  It makes it possible to neatly nest the wide radius curves together. 


103-4: I've got a couple more land bridges in place, including a fairly large one for the RHW system.  I'm working with a pretty severe space constraint here, so there's only going to be one interchange to the highway on this tile.  Greenwood is going to be located between the railway and road based highway here. 


103-5: And here's the interchange.  I wish I could have used another set of wide curves before and after the overpass, but unfortunately the limitations of the current RHW were reached in building this! 


103-6: Pulling back a bit further, you can see I've plotted out the course of the small stream that crosses this map.  Interestingly enough, I've decided that there won't be any bridges crossing the main river on this tile.  Of course it means I'm setting myself up for another inaccessible block of land, but that shouldn't be such a big deal for a small town and some farmland. 


103-7: I've got the roads and rails swinging wildly around the map.  The highway is a lot straighter, which fits my thought that it came later and cut through farms by expropriation.  Highway 1 through the lower mainland of BC was built very much like that. 


103-8: Here's a quick look at the Alexandria border.  This border is interesting because Alexandria was the first city I actually designed with the border in mind. 


103-9: Oh, you want to see what's on the other side?  Well I suppose I could put together a quick cross border shot as a preview.  I'll probably get started here pretty early.   


OSITM Bonus 9: To make up for the shortness of this update I've finished putting together the zoom 2 composite of Ellison Flats.  I hope you enjoy this more detailed look at the recently finished tile.  Click to see the big version!

That's all for today.  As I mentioned, putting these roads and rails down took a lot longer than I planned, mostly due to slope and bridge building issues.  Now that the biggest challenges are out of the way, I'll start getting the first farms in place right away.  See you next week!

[canyonjumper]

Great update, Battlecat! The system looks well laid out so far. The idea that the highway should be straight does fit the TransCanada idea well. And great composite!

                   Your friend,
                                  Jordan

[JoeST]

nice updates once again.

Just  a suggestion on 103-5, how about at least doing inner curves, and why not move the ramps closer to the middle on the outer, would that not work?

Joe

[Cyclone1001]

Stunning Can hardly wait for Alexandria

[djvandrake]

Love that composite.  Very impressive. 

[scott1964]

Looks good, but we need windmills. 

[kwakelaar]

Great work on your map and composite overviews. I quite like the interchange you made for the new tile.

[nedalezz]

Greenwood is off to a great start! I must say I am very curious to see how you will handle the cross border farm, although Im sure you will make it seem easy

[Yan077]

Very impressive composite overview. Your updates and method of working are always so interesting 

Keep up the good work 

[Stray Cat]

Well, missed replying to a few updates...man, I must say that the work in the past few updates have been, as usual, exceptional.  Thanks Battlecat.

Cheers!

Scott

[ShultzCity]

Another super update Battlecat! I love the road and rail planning so far 

You mentinoned the transition from ploppable to game water in your update - Tahoe style PW transitions beautifully with Brigatine water (I think that is what you are using [it's the same as mine anyhow]). Just keep dragging under water until the game water gets deeper. As it gets deeper the game water becomes less and less transparent, making for a nice fade out from PW. TPW is not so great at  this because it cannot be plopped underwater, so I almost exclusively use Tahoe PW.

Keep it up! 

[Rady]

Missed quite a lot of your last updates, but catched up now ... great region you're developing!! I'M still stunned by the way of you planning your region / city tile. I think this is something I have to learn still ...

[penguin007]

Nice development shots there can't wait for more

Will

[Tomas Neto]

Very nice update!! Great work!!

[Battlecat]

Jordan (canyonjumper): Yeah, through the Abbotsford and Chilliwack area the Trans Canada has actually chopped a number of farms and roads in half.  Thanks for stopping in!

Joe (JoeST): I could put the curves into the space available actually, the problem with the curves is that when I plop them the segment length drops below the five tile threshold for retaining the overridden two lane characteristics (much like the street addon).  Thanks for the suggestion though, glad you enjoyed your visit!

Cyclone1001: Thanks for your kind words!

djvandrake: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

scott1964: Interesting thought on the windmills, there actually might be a decent spot for a wind farm on this tile now that I think about it.  Thanks for stopping in!

Gjermund (kwakelaar): Thanks very much!  That interchange is a bit goofy, glad you like how it looks!

nedalezz: The cross border farms are actually really easy.  There are plopable 1x1 lots available in a pack for pretty much every custom field type in the game on Simtropolis.  Glad you enjoyed the start, that's for visiting!

Yan077: Thanks very much, glad you're finding it interesting!

Scott (Stray Cat): Glad you're continuing to enjoy stopping by! 

Jacob (ShultzCity): Thanks!  You're right, I am using the Brigantine water.  It's always been my favorite style.  It's going to be interesting to see how the transition turns out!  From what I've seen of TPW, transitioning through rapids or rocks seems to be the best bet.  Thanks for your thoughts on this!

Rady: It's been a busy set of updates, glad you found the time to stop by once again! 

Will (penguin007): Thanks! 

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much!

Update 104
Greenwood – Border Startup

I'd have to say life is conspiring against large updates lately.  Despite my best efforts, I barely managed to get 1.5 hours of game time this weekend!  On the bright side, I got to spend Saturday helping out in my parent's garden in 18 degree C weather.  It's been an amazingly warm month!  Despite the lost time, I managed to get the border crossing between Greenwood and Alexandria mostly sorted out for today. 

104-1: Here's a quick look at some of the details on the Alexandria side of the border on one of the connections.  The trees lining the corn field on the left side of this image are poplar trees.  They grow over time, so I'm not going to be able to show a finished shot for this area until the game runs for a while.  I'll develop some farms in the meantime rather than waiting watching the trees grow. 


104-2: Again in Alexandria, down by the highway crossing we've got a bean field and a soybean field.  The soybean field is particularly interesting because it doesn't actually have a farm building.  I'll either have to grow or build one in Greenwood, but that's a bit further down the line.


104-3: Most of this cross border work is pretty easy, plopable fields pretty much take care of 90% of the problem.  The terrain query tool has a cell listing so it's just a quick case of querying each field in Alexandria to determine where to start and end the fields.  The flora details are a bit pickier but it shouldn't take too long. 


104-4: Here's what the shots looks like cross border  now.  With this image I'll be able to properly continue the power pole pattern and match the foliage details.  Sadly, I didn't have time to fully finish this spot today so this is the most finished shot I've got.


104-5: Again, my primary goal to day is to ensure that the patterns are carried across, even if I don't wrap things up.  This is a pretty simple crossing, but it's done.  The only major thing left is to grow a farm that will act as the anchor for the soybean field.


104-6: Once again looking across the border the only issue here is a slight difference in the color of the grass on each side.


104-7: Once again, I've carefully matched up the border, and all that's left is ensuring that the RRP textures carry across.  Sadly, this is pretty much where I got interrupted.  I'll have to pick this up again another day.


104-8: Fortunately, all is not lost.  I managed to make time to produce an overview of the cross border work completed today.  The only major details left are those growing poplar trees at the top and the RRP field at the bottom. 



OSITM Bonus 10: Thanks to your enthusiasm for last week's large scale composite of Vavenby, I've got another one here of the Delmar Junction area this time.  Hope you enjoy it! 



Sadly that's all for today.  Next update I'm going to get started on actually growing some farms.  See you then! 

[JoeST]

ahh yeah, thats a logical issue yeah (@ the curves)

also, awesome update

joe

[Cyclone1001]

Pretty! Ha, but very nice works. keep it up.

[kimcar]

  Nice river shot. Very goood work on all transitions. Great work

[ShultzCity]

Very nice! I can't wait to see the finished transitions. The other thing I am looking forward to in this tile is how you handle the masses of FAR pieces in this tile. I have always found it super hard to integrate FAR into anything other than tiny rural communities.

Oh, and here in east Australia, we have been having lovely 30C weather (it's autumn here of course ). I fwe were to ahve 18 now, I'm sure someone would blame it on climate change, and if we had it two days in a row, we might be going to into global cooling

[djvandrake]

Another near seamless border transition! 

The overview of Delmar Junction is awesome.  Your plopped river looks so very realistic in that shot.