Blackwater (with Islas Gemas)

[iamgoingtoeatyou]

Nothing fancy? Nothing fancy!? Are you kidding? That is pure awesomeness. I love all the variety of buildings, it looks really great from those farther away zooms, but also incredible in the closer zooms. Badsim should be proud!

[thundercrack83]

Outstanding, emilin! Incredible. Amazing. And other superlatives, as well!

You're doing some splendid work with the LE here, it's always a pleasure to see what you're working on in Blackwater! Hope things in real life are lightening up for you, too, my friend

Take care,

Dustin

[bat]

Another very great part of your city there!
Looking forward to the next fantastic update...

[Simpson]

Hello your city is very beautiful. It's so realistic so beautiful
I want more
You are very good at SC4
So continue

[superhands]

great, great work .
any chance of getting hands on that T21 modd for that street texture (red/brown paved squares with light concrete boarders ie last couple of photos) that seemlessly merges into the building's lot ?

thanks dave

[Adept2Rock]

Waow so Wonderful!!!And thanks for the information!

[emilin]

Personal replies:

Yoman: Thanks! I'm glad you liked the way I terraced the city so far. I'm not really a big fan of sharp distinctions between the different levels myself - but I am going to need them for the sunken highways and rails later on. But it is hard to avoid that "cut off" feeling, so if I have done something to get less of that I am very happy about it. Grimmer areas, eh? Well... sort of. I imagine there will be project style suburbs and such, and of course some industrial areas, but no real slums, actually.

iamgoingtoeatyou: Thank you so much! That is incredibly kind of you.

thundercrack83: Thank you! Real life is a bit lighter right now, so I have more stuff coming up shortly. I can't guess how long it will last though, since work has been overwhelming more often than it's been manageble for quite a long time now. There were a few people on the staff that were laid off about a year ago due to financial cut downs, and we've been understaffed ever since. So every time something out of the ordinary happens I feel like I'm working around the clock.

bat: Thanks a lot!

Simpson: Thank you! Just a small teaser this time I am afraid, but more is coming up very soon.

bighead99999: Thanks! I am afraid that is not a T21 modd you are looking at. The red/brown squares are just plaza pieces in between the lots. I use the old sap concrete sidewalk modd (together with Swamper's unidensity modds) from the STEX.

Adept2Rock: Thank you!


Blackwater: A small teaser

I have been experimenting with David's plopable farms lately. And I have almost finished a rural area that will feature in the next update. But I want to be done with the detailing before I showcase it, so there will be a few more days until it's ready.

But... a small teaser to try to get your attention:

[Yoman]

My original attempt at Odessa was terrenced, and it felt cut off alot so I abandoned it for some softer transitions. Your doing a good job of making it look good though  And make sure those aren't nice looking projects if you ain't gonna have slums

Farms are looking excellent, these plop able fields? Attached to one of David's posts in 3RR? Can't wait to see what ye've got in the next full update.

[mightygoose]

fantastic teaser great ue of plop flora, gives a real real feel to it

[Pat]

Great teaser Emilin!! I cant wait to see the full update as well!!! till next the next update....

[bat]

Wonderful looking teaser there! Nice work on the farms! Also Looking forward to the full update!

[Ennedi]

Hello Emil, RL is too demanding to have enough time to visit your excellent MD (and other places too  ) as often as I want. Sorry, I will try to improve it!

These backstreets look great and they are very important! If you want to build a realistic and consistent looking downtown, your buildings must look natural and alive from every side. I don't use LE (yet  ) and I must put a lot of work in looking for small plazas, 1x1 commercials and other stuff to make my backstreets more diversified. Please don't forget about backyards too! 

Your last teaser is fantastic! This is something I would like to make in my next MD, I haven't enough flat terrain in Shosaloza. The use of space is extremely important when you want to create realistic landscapes - not only farmfields, but also industry, seaports, roads, railways and many other things. I'm very curious of your next update!

Adam

[sebes]

Lovely farm Emil - i like the pink roof texture that you used.

Also the pathways look excellent. Is that a streed mod that you use, or is it plopable?

[rooker1]

Emil, your last update was fantastic as well as the farm pic.  Everything seems to be coming together very well.  I wonder how big your city is now and how well it functions.  How many LOTs have you made in LE now?  I have lost count. hehe.  Do you think you could give us a over view of the city, I would appreciate it.

Robin 

[emilin]

Personal replies:

Yoman: Thanks! Those are David's plop farms from 3RR, yes. I have also custom made some fences to them now, but I plan to replace them with David's fences when he releases them.

mightygoose: Thank you. I hope you like the real thing too.

Pat: Thanks a bunch! And here it comes...

bat: Thanks! You won't have to wait any longer.

Ennedi: Thank you so much! I used to plop Plazas and fillers myself, but I actually think it's faster to custom lot the filler pieces than to search for them on the LEX or STEX. That (and inspiration from Badsim, of course...) was basically why I opened the LE for the first time, myself. I agree very much about the use of space too. And that is very hard because large open spaces tend to look flat and empty in this game - so I often find myself placing to many props everywhere. I always try to have that in mind, but often fail to abide by it.

sebes: Thanks! The dirt road is a SAM variation if that is what you are refering to? The small pathways inside the actual farm are overlays.

Rooker: Thank you! Including all filler lots and stuff it's somewhere around 50 lots, I think. It's not so much, yet, really. It barely functions at this point. Many of the lots are services and transport and such. There are only about 4.000 sims residing in Blackwater right now. But it will grow.


Blackwater: Daught Island - first visit

The number of details 0n these farms just kept growing, so I decided to split this into 2-3 updates whit #20 pics in each (makes it much easier to upload to Photobukcet).

This is Daught Island - located quite far to the west of the region. It is a small island surrounded by sweetwater with some smll farms and cottages. There is no road connection to the island (so you won't see any cars on it) but there is a small landing place for boats and small ferry barges (to load animals and seed on and off the island).

The first update features most of the west side of Daught Island. The second picture contains names of geograpchid features in the area (in italics) and farms and cottages (in normal text).

If you are wondering why all of the waters around the island are named "bay" it's because I haven't been able to find a good translation for the Swedish word "fjärd" (perhaps one of my fellow countrymen can help me out with that?) which actually means "substanial body of open water" and that is obviously not the same thing as "bay".)

Anyways...

[rooker1]

Deja Vu...........
Emil, my friend, these might be the best farming pics I have ever seen.  I'm glad there will be two or three updates and 20 pics.  I will be counting of course to make sure you keep your word. I like the size of the pic as well, it makes me feel as if I am looking at photos (5x7's). 
I think some of these pics could win a couple of rounds in the SC4 Picture Competition.
Love your style and your pics, I look forward to the next update.

Robin 

[sebes]

Wow - I am looking at Astrid Lindgren land here...

Emil in Lönneberga

I think I even can see Emil being chased by his father into the barn 

The pictures are awesome, they look as Robin said like real photo's. And your promissing 3 of these updates, I stay tuned....

Hey, and if you don't want to use the word bay, just use is Fjärd! We'll be drooling here anyhow no mather how you call your inlets...

[metasmurf]

Ser verkligen skärgårdsaktigt ut Angående fjärd, det verkar inte finnas något bättre ord än bay. Bra jobbat hursomhelst!

It looks really archipelagoish Anyway, good job!

[bat]

Great use of the farm fields, also great use of the fences! Great pictures and update!
All in all great work!

[Yoman]

That old tractor is awesome  Really adds to the feel of the island as a community that hasn't changed in years. Excellent work.

By the way, that waterway that you called Perch Sound would probably be more of a strait since its so small, I'm sure you have your reasons. And now that you've told us what fjärd means, I'd use it on your maps instead of bay.