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Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

Started by Battlecat, February 10, 2009, 06:39:50 PM

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Battlecat


metarvo: Glad you like how they came out.  I've got some more ideas in the works, but the GLR mod is at the top of my list at the moment.

Jason (Albus of Garaway): I had a blast doing this, there was no way I was going to pass up on this opportunity once I realized how simple the fix actually was.  Granted, it took me a while to figure out what that simple fix was, but the actual texture modifications were reasonably easy.  Also glad you found the tips helpful.  I've got a series of screens regarding how I've been handling the Tahoe shoreline, I've just got to assemble them into a coherent tutorial. 

Shulmantor: Thanks!  Glad you like them!

TiFlo:Sorry about that!  You might just have to take it a couple pages at a time, Simtropolis can be quite sluggish with large city journals.  Glad you like those mods, I've got some more little things in the works as well as the GLR!

Bernhard (Nardo69): Hmmm, well there's certainly no obligation to use those, although I'm glad you found it tempting!  Actually, I find them quite nice to use for creating large sized cul de sacs.  As for the cul de sacs, I had actually considered adding a proper transition arc in, but at the time I decided the space was too small for it to have a real impact on the visual appearance of the texture.  I might have to reconsider that.  Thanks for the feedback!

Ethan (ecoba): Yeah, things came together nicely on Sunday, so I've got a few extra shots in the bank.  After today, the next one will be back on the normal schedule this Friday.  As for your question, there are no bad questions, just bad answers!  And the answer is, yes indeed, it should work just fine with the Maxis sidewalks. 

The way the transit textures work, there's an alpha map which makes portions of the road transparent.  The sidewalk is a full tile texture that's underneath and only shows through where the alpha map is set to transparent.  A sidewalk mod simply acts as a direct replacement for those maxis textures. 

I'll make a note at the start of my update when I add the new information to my cross border mosaic tutorial thread.  Glad you enjoyed the update!

Eric (Dreamcat): Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.  Texture mods are actually pretty easy to make since it's really just substituting one picture for another.  Actually a good analogy would be how changing your avatar in the profile changes all your posts, not just the new ones. 

This is only the second attempt at modding I've ever done.  The first one is still on the STEX; the basic overhanging lots for Simgoobers Canals.  I did that mod shortly before the wipeout crash three years ago, it was my one and only foray into the BAT.  I'm actually really looking forward to getting going towards the coast.  I'm considering leaving Winfield city incomplete just to do a non lake tile for a break!  Probably one of the neighbours of Alexandria which will have a larger river flowing through it.  I might have to do some tweaking to the brigantine water, I've noticed some interesting secondary modds for water floating around that might help improve the color a bit.  But that's a project for another day!

Thomas (turtle): Yeah, this is actually the shortest amount of time between updates I've ever done, mostly because I consider update 64 a bonus since it's just introducing the new modds I'm working on.  I contemplated those mods really fast because it's one of those odd details that keeps jumping out at me.  Just a quirk of my personality I guess!  As for your sidewalk choices, there are a lot of good sidewalk options available, but I'd say sithlrd98 has the most diverse selection, all linked in his thread here.  His are particularly handy for an urban region since he's created sidewalk mods for the wide radius curves and avenue curves.

I certainly appreciate it, and I'll be sharing the technique soon.  I just need to go document the process with appropriate screenshots!  It should help a lot with making the last bit of cleanup easier.  I'd highly recommend giving a cross border shot a try when you get the chance, the key thing is to take a couple of extra shots on both sides to ensure you get enough coverage for at least 1 800x600 image!

Good luck with the dam.  I sent you a PM regarding the curves but I'll just repeat it here.  The wide radius street curves are hidden among two of the new icons in the street/road menu.  The first icon is the one for the FAR and Wide Radius curves.  If you tab through that section far enough, you'll find the wide radius maxis style curves.  The second icon is a bit further down.  It's labeled rural roads or something like that.  In this tab you can find the Gravel, Dirt and black asphalt curves.  Thanks for stopping in, hope this helps!

Update 65
Winfield – The Edge of Westside

Today we're back to normal with a diverse set of shots!  Three updates in three days, but don't look for one tomorrow!  The next one will be on Friday as usual.  The goal today is to fill in the remaining empty space between the Vavenby border and Westside.  Additionally, I've got a bit of extra polish to put onto the city based on several comments after update 62.

65-1: Before I actually get on with the update, I took this quick shot of Vavenby town during the prep for yesterday's update.  It's just a sample of how the new sidewalks fit into an existing town. 


65-2: Everyone was absolutely right about the parking at Costco and Sears.  Sadly, there's not enough room to fix Sears but here's a bigger, better Costco lot!


65-3: I've started popping in some trees at the edge of town, but I think there's going to be one more major store in here.  I might still leave the trees to give the feel of a growing town.


65-4: I've also extended a couple of streets out a ways into the forest.  The town is spreading down the hill from here.  I think I might add some exurb style housing near the waterfront to represent older development. 


65-5: I created this mosaic just for fun.  It's a nighttime shot of the downtown area of Westside. 





65-6: Back to business, I'm putting the occasional connecting trail in between these suburban streets.  In other towns I've used the plopable pathways, but something slightly more formal seems appropriate here. 


65-7: Moving right along, I got inspired to do a little experiment.  This is just down near the last exurb development I showed in update 63.  The three lots there are just a simple concrete base texture that we use in industrial areas.


65-8: As I work on this, I've started putting in the shoreline.  A small selection of private docks here.  And near that concrete pad I added, there's a little fishing business.   


65-9: So here's what I've got now.  Turns out that pure texture lots will take water and textures just fine.  This is going to be a poor man's boat launch.  If this turns out well, I'll probably use this technique more in other locations where I don't want a formal facility. 


65-10: Just to finish the details here, I created a small 2x3 custom lot to act as a dirt parking area for the boat launch.  A few boat trailer props and trucks just to round it out and then I carefully finish filling in the shoreline with textures!


65-11: Between the dock and the area I finished near the border it's time to finish the shoreline.  You can see the rough draft of the water in 1/4 Tahoe style tiles.  I then fill in the basic textures along that line, approximately.


65-12: Sometimes I fill in the water first, but today I pulled the forest down to the shoreline.


65-13: And the water fills things in to provide another section of finished shoreline. 


65-14: Still not done yet today.  This forested block of land here needs some attention.  I've decided to put a bit of pressure on the urban edge here.


65-15: And what better pressure than a brand new shopping center?  Hey, apparently the road roundabouts don't have alpha maps either.  Guess what's going on the list if I can't find an existing mod! 


65-16: Behind the shopping center, there is going to be some parking for employees and for delivery access.  Somehow I didn't manage to take a specific shot of it though.


65-17: Before I get to far though, here are the local utility suppliers.  On one side we've got the Westside Pumping Station, and on the other side, the start of the small electrical grid that supplies Westside and Salmo. 


65-18: They are important because the main power lines are going to run through the right of way past Salmo.  They cross the land where the mall probably wants to expand. 


65-19: The lines are hard to see, but at least the grass and flowers help highlight the mainline! 


65-20: Here's a better look at the point where the line crosses past the mall.  The grassy area is an area the mall probably wants to expand, but the power company is probably causing serious delays.  Something similar happened in my hometown!  I'm going to look into creating a transit enabled version of some of the parking lot junctions here to improve the appearance a bit. 


65-21: Just to wrap up today's update, here's the entire area I've worked on today.  The lake is slowly creeping along! 


That's all for today.  Next time, I'm going to take care of the entire southern shore of Williston Lake in one massive blast of work!  In the process, I'm going to acquire some shots for a tutorial on my personal approach to Tahoe Style lakeshores that I'll post for update 67.  Enjoy!

Tomas Neto

Awesome again!!! As I said before, every update that you make is a true simcity lesson!!!  :thumbsup:

Dreamcat

Hey Battlecat  ;D Gee, Winfield is just so purty.  I love the Costco's parking lot.  How did that happen, anyway?  Looks just like the BAT's parking lot, you can't even tell it was plopped.  Winfield is looking great in the dark.  Nice mosaic, you need to do more of those.  They just really add to the view of the city.

mmm, the lake is so beautiful with all the trees surrounding it.  Love the boat docks.  What is the new store in Winfield?  Looks like a Cabella's or a Gander Mountain, if you know either of them.  Just a couple of hunting stores, and it looks just like that.  It is so cool.  Don't forget to send us some shots on Friday of the parking lot in back of the new store.  I also love the out of the way utilities you have there.  You know, it is getting pretty hard to find anything disagreeable any more.  Just such good work you there.

The RHW in the mosaic is too good.  By the way, will we ever see any Maxis highways?  Just curious.  I'm not implying anything, the RHW is so excellent it doesn't need it.

Oh, just remembered something though.  65-14 isn't looking that great with all the orange trees.  What's up with that?  Seasonal lots or something?  In my opinion they just look out of place.

'Till next time.
Eric

ecoba

Wow, the town is looking really great, as are the exurbs and the lake and, everything!

Great Work!

By the way, I'm pretty sure someone released a modd on the STEX that fixes the roundabouts. I would look but my search for the STEX doesn't work...

Ethan

metarvo

Somehow, this reminds me of a technique that the local power companies use in my area.  Tall trees under power lines are a real no-no, but smaller trees and flowers are often planted in the power line right-of-way to lessen the environmental and aesthetic impact of the clear-cut that was made to build the line.

It looks like Winfield is getting into the big times with all kinds of new shopping centers and stores.  I like the new growth, but I also like the fact that some trees are remaining, at least for now.  Keep up the good work, Battlecat!

:thumbsup:
Find my power line BAT thread here.
Check out the Noro Cooperative.  What are you waiting for?  It even has electricity.
Want more? Try here.  For even more electrical goodies, look here.
Here are some rural power lines.

woodb3kmaster

Adara continues to impress! I really like how Vavenby looks with the new sidewalk mod, and the parking you added to Costco is a great improvement. You did a great job on that boat launch area; it looks very realistic. Finally, the new strip mall in 65.15 is quite lovely; I recognize the Kohl's, but what's the BAT next to it?

Looking forward to more!

Feel brand new. Be inspired.
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Nuclear City - 5/8

sumwonyuno

Well I've missed a lot!  :'(

While I skimmed through the last 3 pages, I stopped to look at your modding attempts.  Good luck, and the resulting streets turned out great!  I also stopped at the strategy of lake building.  I probably will adapt it somehow, not sure exactly how.


The City & County of Honolulu, a Mayor Diary based on Honolulu, Hawai'i.

mark's memory address - I've created a blog!

djvandrake

Fantastic work!  I love your shorelines.  Everything looks awesome.  &apls

danielcote

Wow this place just keeps getting better!

calibanX

Holy smokes Battlecat! You've been busy. Those alpha-mapped roundabouts just stopped me in my tracks. That has been a pet peeve of mine for far too long. Inspired idea my friend. Nice idea too regarding the ploppable texture used as a boat launch. I use a lot of single-tile ploppable textures to add detail. I love 'em. I'm liking your experimentation.

Take care.

Geoff
Where City and Country Flow Together

scott1964

Wow, looks great.  :P I could use some of your stuff in my part of the woods.  $%Grinno$%

Battlecat


Tomas Neto: Thanks very much as always!

Eric (Dreamcat): Those parking lots are on the STEX, called Caspervg's Modular Parking set.  They pretty much match the standard parking lot style used in most of the custom store lots floating around.  The only catch is that there is only one transit enabled piece, which is a security gate.  Glad you like how this last update turned out, I do enjoy putting the mosaics together, but they do take some extra prep time.  I'm getting better at it though.  The new larger stores are a Khol's (closest to the highway) and an Outdoor World (tucked up towards the mountain). 

There are actually maxis highways in this tile, the bridge and it's approach are modded maxis highways using the Highways Restyling Mod.  Granted, it doesn't affect the bridges, but bridges are usually a different color from the rest of the network anyhow.  I do prefer the rural highways for most applications though since they're a bit more flexible. 

Those orange trees are the pure fall colors of Dave's (dedgren) seasonal trees on the Three Rivers Region Exchange.  I usually avoid taking shots at this time of the year in game because they are so dramatic, but I didn't manage to notice this time!  The hard part is the trees look so nice the rest of the year it's hard to pass up on them.  Thanks for your thoughts!

Ethan (ecoba): Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed the update.  You're absolutely right, vershner released a mod here on the STEX.  Thanks for mentioning it!  The catch is, it modds both the street and road roundabouts, removing all the grass from both.  I've decided to keep using my grassy style streets, but I'm going to use the road version. 

metarvo: That was my goal with this detailing style, glad it works for you!  It's pretty common here as well, more for the high tension lines, but even city circuits that run through forests have a narrow right of way.  Mine are probably a bit bigger than standard, but that's just the limits of the game.  Thanks for stopping by, glad you like how it's coming together!

Zach (woodb3kmaster): Thanks very much, glad you like how that sidewalk mod is fitting in!  The boat launch was fun to put together, it worked far better than I expected with the terrain textures along the ramp!  The BAT next to the Kohl's is an Outdoor World.  It's a Simgoober product available as a single download here on the STEX, but I'm pretty certain I got it as part of one of Simgoober's mega packs on the LEX. 

sumwonyuno: No worries, glad you enjoyed going through all the recent updates!  Thanks for your kind words regarding the modding work; it was and continues to be a lot of fun to put together!  Thanks for visiting!

djvandrake: Thanks very much, I enjoy putting them together!

danielcote: Thanks for your kind words!

Geoff (calibanX): It's funny that they haven't been done.  There's a completely grass free version out there of both roundabout styles, but not one with just the normal sidewalks!  I wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't installed that sidewalk mod.  Thanks for stopping in, glad you enjoyed the results of the various experiments during this updatee! 

scott1964: Thanks very much!  The vast majority of what I'm using is available on the various lot exchanges around the community.  I've downloaded a huge quantity of stuff from the LEX though; my plugins folder is well on its way to 2 gigabytes at this point! 

Update 66
Winfield – Southern Shore Blast

Today I'm going to polish of the entire southern shore of the Winfield tile.  It's the shore with the gravel road, railway and main power lines.  Not much else to say as introduction today, so let's get started.  This is going to be a fairly incremental update, I hope you enjoy the details. 

66-1: First things though, a quick look at the wider lot at the back of the stores.  This isn't anything terribly ground breaking, but it is important addition. 


66-2: Here's part of the area I'm going to be finishing up today.  At the end of this update, this entire block of land will be fully detailed. 


66-3: The first thing I decided to start on is the access to this valley.  A small hidden stream comes out of this valley and cascades down into a valley. 


66-4: The lake extends most of the way up this valley, although there might be a short stream section at the upper end of the valley.  Either way, it's not going to be terribly visible on this shot. 


66-5: This is probably going to be the rockiest valley section I've done to date.  First batch are in around the base of the waterfall.

66-6: I've splashed in a few different styles, I imagine that darker grey rock is an outcrop of a more resistant stone layer. 


66-7: A little further up the valley, this modern looking bridge was installed pretty recently, so the stone looks fresh.  It's entirely probably that there are long term plans to upgrade the entire road on this side of the lake. 


66-8: Trees in the upper end of the valley now, some greenery scattered around including some shrubs clinging to the steep cliff faces.


66-9: Moving further downstream, I need to create a transition.  In the real world, this canyon would have continued to dive towards the original valley bottom before the area was flooded.  It would have abandoned patches of rough stone here and there.  But now the modern lake shore is also depositing and creating finer sized materials through wave action. 


66-10: Quickly zooming out, I've plopped out the rough draft of the rest of the lake's shoreline. 


66-11: The rest of valley is done now.  I put mossier stones under the rail bridge, since I expect it's much older than the road bridge. 


66-12: Get used to the shot right here.  I've taken a series of shots for a quick tutorial next week.   


66-13: But for the moment, here's the finished version.  I plan to talk about the various brushes I use, and some things I ponder when making shorelines with these tools.


66-14: There are very few homes along here, the vast majority of this side of the lake is rural.  I'm planning to add a small rural resort on the neighboring tile, which will also contain the southern side of Winfield.


66-15: Just to really be ambitious, this is going to be a cross border clearcut.


66-16: It's reasonably old, and also provides an excuse for adding a lumber mill in somewhere in the future. 


66-17: The last few homes on this block of land are in place as is the grass and foliage under the main power lines. 


66-18: I could go on for ages, but I'll push this update to a close now.  Here's the finished shoreline and housing for this side of the lake.


66-19: A train crossing the finished rail bridge. 


66-20: And winding its way towards the steep slope down through Vavenby.


66-21: Finally, zooming out just a bit, here's the narrow bay and  bridges in completely finished context.


66-22: And zooming out even further, the south west corner of the Winfield tile is done and the lake is really starting to take shape now. 


That's all for today.  Next up on the list is a quick tutorial and run through on my approach to Tahoe style plopable water.  After that, we'll see what grabs my attention! 

ecoba

Great work with the ploppable water! I really wonder how you have the patience to complete that whole lake, it seems to just keep going! I also like the use of your inventice 'hidden streams'.

You've quite figured out how to use the PEG detailing tools, and you've learned how to plop rocks in a very nice manner. Where could I get those green rocks under the rail bridge in 66.19? Lots of people use them, but I have not been able to find them, and I really want them...

The exurbs seem to be going well. I really like the homes that grow, even though they are Maxis. I might want to live there... I think that the idea of a cross border clear-cut is very adventurous, and I hope you succeed.

Hope to see more soon,

Ethan

JoeST

Oh fantastic, you HAVE been busy :)

And what amazing creations you have produced. Just simply stunning

Thanks for the mods too, they look handy :D

Joe
Copperminds and Cuddleswarms

kwakelaar

You have been busy, sometimes I really ask myself where do you find the time to make so many updates, but I have been enjoying reading and looking through all of them.
First I must say I still admire the cross border photo's, I especially liked the large boat launch some updates back. The new fixes for the side walk problems make a big difference, very well done. &apls
And from your last update, the little canyon with the bridges is quite stunning, and even changing the style of stones according to the age of the bridges... talking about minute detailing  ::). But I really love it all and looking forward to your next update.
Gjermund

Bobbi


2010.8.4 - I get on SC4D with PSP. So cool.:D
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Luke09

Incredible!Where can i found the sidewalk mod that you are using?It is possible to use it with SFBT sidewalk mod?
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djvandrake

WOW!  That waterfall, stream, and lake look fantastic.  &apls  I especially like how you built up the stone around those bridges.  First rate work.  :thumbsup:

calibanX

I like the edges of your water. It's interesting to see how people are starting to use the new tools for shoreline development. Everyone is developing their own style. You're doing a great job Battlecat. I especially like how you built up the white rocks under your highway bridge, a very nice touch.

Geoff
Where City and Country Flow Together

Tomas Neto