Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[djvandrake]

More great work.    I really like the pond. 

[marsh]

beautiful man

[kimcar]

  &aplsExcellent work you did again.You put great effort to get a great finnish. The details that you put in is just perfect. That give a great quality to your MD . Bravo

[Battlecat]

Bernhard (Nardo69): Thanks very much for stopping by!  I really love playing around with diagonal stuff!  Pretty much all the power lines are still above ground here in BC, so a rural area just doesn't look right without it!  I've managed to put a couple of the items you sent me to use, particularly the fence with the gravel trail.  Sadly there just hasn't been a good spot for those diagonal retaining walls yet.  I'm having a bit of trouble with jagged edges in some places which is very frustrating considering I have the mod to theoretically fix that installed.  Hopefully I'll be able to use them soon!

scott1964: Thanks!  The majority of my farms are off the LEX.  I'm not 100% positive where I got them, but I suspect this megapack might be the source. 

Matt (threestooges): Thanks very much.  I've been making a major effort to really get off the grid on this tile.  Actually I haven't made nearly as many filler lots as you might think.  I've created a small selection of multi purpose lots which keep on doing the trick.  The FAR fillers are the first new lot I've managed to finish in a while.  I'd say I'm sitting around 15 custom lots that I use on a regular basis. 

Glad you like the little details I put in that pond, I really enjoyed putting it together.  Small ponds and little details like that are something I've been missing in my region to date.  I'll be adding them more regularly in the future!

io_bg: Thanks very much, glad you like how it turned out!

Jacob (ShultzCity): I'd really love to see the mod released, but testing for the LEX is pretty rigorous, particularly with a transit mod.  Honestly, the mod has improved in quality significantly thanks to the community feedback.  I'm just waiting patiently to hear back at this stage.

As for the FARR fillers, I'm looking into getting them out the door, but first I need to figure out how to gather the RRP textures together into a couple of prop families.  I think I'll have to apply for a IID range if I'm going to do that.  If I can get that figured out, I'll see about putting together a small pack of fractional angle fillers. 

RickD: Well it's pretty cool that you made the connection between the movie and my MD!  Glad you like how they turned out!

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thanks very much! 

Cyclone1001: Thanks!  I keep wishing I had more time.  Sometimes it feels like the development of my region is dragging along very slowly!  Putting in the heavy details makes up for it a lot though!   

Nexis4Jersey: Thanks for your kind words!

FrankU: Thanks for stopping in! 

djvandrake: Thanks very much!

marsh: Welcome to Adara!  Thanks for stopping in!

kimcar: You slipped that comment in right when I was finishing up!  Thanks for you kind words as alway; glad you enjoyed the details!

Update 111
Greenwood – Simply Farming

Today just a simple batch of farming and associated details to keep myself busy!  In the next update I think I'll be playing with something new though. 

111-1: This is the area I plan to work on today. 


111-2: Nothing to fancy for this update, just a batch of farms to put into place. 


111-3: As the farms grow, this annoying bug came up once again.  Even though there is a direct access to the road, the game thinks it's inaccessible.  Fortunately, the plopable fields make this easy to fix. 


111-4: You'd never know that there was a problem! 


111-5: This area along the railway tracks is frustrating me.  I'm going to have to create a filler lot to fix this area, but I just don't have time to do it today.  I'll be back here briefly soon once the problem is fixed.


111-6: This small complex of farms turned out quite nicely.  I think the corn and dirt farms might be owned by the same people.  Crop rotation would keep the soil in good condition.  There is a house there putting the population of this tile up around 20 or so.


111-7: The farm at the end of the road just refused to develop anything I liked, so instead I put in a small forest. 


111-8: Pulling out a bit, you can see the finished area.  From this angle, the dirt farm doesn't look so bad. 


111-9: This spot along the highway will be pretty easy to fix up.  I've got all the fillers I need to do the job.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a matching after shot.


111-10: You can see some of the results from here though.  If you look carefully, you can see the power lines along the highway down there as well.  In the meantime, the farm here needs tweaking.  I've been handed a pretty perfectly placed option for a simple cattle farm here.


111-11: It's getting pretty normal to replace fields with these fences.


111-12: In this case, I want the feel of the cattle being rotated through the three major fields.  It turned out pretty well.


111-13: How about a quick before and after shot.  Look carefully at the power lines right of way along the highway.


111-14: I'm never going to get tired of the RRP materials.  Always room for more options though!


111-15: Here's one more look at the area now that I'm done for today.  Hope you like how it's coming together! 


That's all for today!  See you soon! 

[kimcar]

  I' m glad that i post just in time lol. For this one i don' t take chance . Just a word ( PERFECT ) 

[ShultzCity]

Another great update! As for those FARR fillers, I'd prefer them just with the fence stuck on, nothing else - I don't know how to get the FARR angles right in LE. I'd love to have just the base fences so I could make what I want out of them - any chance?

As for this update, I am still loving the details you are filling this area with. Though I must say I'll be looking forward to next update! I'm not sure I like the area that you forested however....

[Cyclone1001]

Nice stuff. While I know you can make fantastic rural areas, I would love to see you make a thriving metropolis! Think about that, and keep up the awesomeness!

[ecoba]

Another very nice update, my friend. The wide variety of farming that has sprung up in Greenwood makes for a really nice picture. 

Ethan

[canyonjumper]

This is looking great! The farms are coming along nicely!

                     Your friend,
                                    Jordan

[Schulmanator]

You are making excellent progress on some fine looking rural areas

[Nanami]

Nice rural area!

[kwakelaar]

More great looking rural updates, the marshy pond from previous update turned out really well.

[Nardo69]

Oh yes. The jagged Edges. Dunno how much time I wasted making a nice terraforming and trying to avoid / repair  them. *Sigh*

Darmok had the same problem with the zots years ago in AVR. He solved it by using his TE trails. Maybe a TE'd gravel trail would have done it here, too?

Anyway the dirt and the crop fields next to each other do fit well.

Nice update - as always! 

Take care my friend

Bernhard 

[Battlecat]

kimcar: It's funny how timing works out sometimes.  :-)  Thanks! 

Jacob (ShultzCity): Sadly, I haven't managed to get my hands on any FAR angled fences yet.  I'm just working with basic textures and using trees and RRP to clean things up.  I'll see if I can scrounge up the time to get the textures packaged up this week, but it's entirely time dependant right now.  Glad you enjoyed the update.  I'm not entirely happy with that forested patch, but it just simply refused to cooperate as a farm so I gave up on it! 

Cyclone1001: Sometimes I feel the urge to take a swing at a larger metropolis as well.  I might add something like that in the distant future of Adara, but it's not even remotely imminent.  There's still way too much stuff do in rural and small town development!  Glad you're enjoying your visits!

Ethan (ecoba): Thanks very much!  I really like the variety of farms I'm getting here as well.   

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

Schulmanator: Thanks, glad you like it!

976: Thanks very much!

Gjermund (kwakelaar): Thanks, I love putting the small ponds together! 

Bernhard (Nardo69): Yeah, it's been really frustating.  Also, the slopes I'm currently developing around just aren't steep enough for retaining walls.  But I still plan to use them some time in here!  Interesting point about those TE trails, I hadn't actually considered that solution.  I'll have to look into using them that way in the future!  Thanks for your thoughts and kind words! 

Update 112
Greenwood – Wind Farm

No surprise, today I'm going to take another swing at farming.  The one extra thing for today is I'll be laying the groundwork for a small wind farm.  Sadly, I just didn't have time to detail it this weekend but we can still have a look at it.

112-1: This area will be my primary focus today.


112-2: I always like to start with the road through the area, it always gives me ideas.  This particular route actually connects right through.


112-3: This small ridge here is a decent spot for a small wind farm.  The roads through here are pretty poor. 


112-4: I finally settled on four towers and a small transformer.  This particular wind farm isn't large enough to required high tension lines, so it'll just tie directly into the local grid. 


112-5: Here are the farms that I've zoned out so far.  There's just no way I'm going to manage to detail this entire area today though. 


112-6: Here's the first phase of farms in place.  I already see two or three farms that need to be revised.


112-7: I'm just not entirely satisfied with the layout of these fields, but the farm building is multi purpose. 


112-8: I decided to convert this one over to a hops farm. 


112-9: Next up on the list is the wheat farm on the left and another incarnation of the brine farm on the right. 


112-10: The wheat farm just needed a different field style, particularly since the farm actually has this texture on the main farm lot.  The brine farm now produces wax beans. 


112-11: I'm just going to blast through some detailing now.  First up is the junction with the highway. 


112-12: Most of the details today just involves putting the trees in between the farms and flora along the power lines. 


112-13: But there are some other things on my list as well.  This particular farm is also in need of a field replacement.  I've got another, better placed farm nearby with the same crop. 


112-14: It's been a while since I've had a melon farm in Adara.  It's also nice that I have some diagonal fillers for this particular field type.


112-15: I've been play around with forests a bit.  I discovered that the CP Larch trees actually fill the gaps in between the basic oak forest I use quite nicely.  It adds a nice extra bit of detail to these small blocks of trees.


112-16: This farm is great except that I've never seen a farm this big growing just one kind of flower.


112-17: But fortunately it's easy enough to add some rows of different flowers.  This is pretty much all for today!


112-18: Here's an overview of the now finished block of land.  I hope to have more stuff for you soon!


That's all for today!  See you later! 

[ShultzCity]

Great update BC!

Love the idea od a wind farm, however I really don't like those roads    -  Usually roads to smaller wind farms like that are small service roads. Could you try replacing the roads with ploppable paths? Think that would look much better 

All in all though, I love what you've done with the area, it looks brilliant!

I'll be waiting for those fillers!

[canyonjumper]

Excellent update BC! I'm looking forward to seeing the wind farm detailed

             Your friend,
                            Jordan

[Cyclone1001]

Very nice work, you earn my seal of approval!

[RickD]

If Borat likes it, how could I not? 
This is beautiful farmland. Great work again. But I have to agree with ShultzCity, the diagonal road along the windmills is a bit oversized, I think. But the stretch passing over the ridge is good. Maybe you could use the RRP farmtracks as access to the towers?

[kimcar]

Great update once again . Adara will not be hungry for a bunch with all these farms

[Battlecat]

Jacob (ShultzCity): Thanks for your thoughts, as you'll see today, I agree with your assessment of the dirt roads!  Hope you like the revised and fully detailed version!

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thanks very much!

Cyclone1001: Thanks, glad to hear you and Borat like it.  :-)

RickD: Thanks!  I agree with the assessment of the dirt roads, I think my changes today will look much nicer using the RRP gravel trails.

kimcar: Thanks very much.  Food supply is one problem Adara doesn't have to worry about at all! 

Update 113
Greenwood – Fun with Gravel Trails

Well, just as I feared, I don't see any end to my reduced update schedule for quite some time.  The next month is just far to busy for any more than one update per week.  Then I'll be taking June off completely for a trip to Europe.  Preparation for the trip is the primary cause of the time crunch; there are a lot of details to sort out.  With any luck, I should be able to start ramping up to at least two updates again during July.  Anyhow, at least I can keep plugging away at Greenwood. 

113-1: First things first, several people made excellent comments about this particular shot last week.  The dirt roads are far too intrusive and extensive for such a development. 


113-2: The RRP gravel paths provide a far nice feel to the area.  It'll look even better when I get the trees and other details into the area. 


113-3: I promise I'll get back to the wind farm in today's update, but first I need to get some of the approach details along these farms cleared up. 


113-4: This diagonal road did some really odd things, for some odd reason, it has no texture even with the farm right next to it. 


113-5: Even stranger, when I replaced the diagonal fields with plopable version, only one side of the road filled in. 


113-6: In the end I managed to coax the textures right across the road for the sake of completeness. 


113-7: Let's take a drive up to the wind farm.  The road is fairly overgrown, and there should be a gate.  I'll see about adding that later. 


113-8: The transformer station is tucked off into the trees now, as per Adara environment requirements.  I've made a small tweak to my forests, adding in a pass of Larch trees to improve the visual diversity in the forested areas.


113-9: These windmills are the smallest of the three custom ones I have, and they already tower over these trees.  I'm very happy with how things look now that the trees are in place.


113-10: Pulling out a bit further, I've just wrapped a small bit of forest around the wind farm, there's a lot more forest to build in the long run. 


113-11: To wrap things up today, I'm going to get the details in place around these farms. 


113-12: Another gravel trail access road between the two farms.  This one is going to wind down and around past several other farms that haven't been grown yet.


113-13: Here's an overview of the finished area now. 
   

113-14: And from a bit further out, the whole area is visible.  I'm getting pretty close to putting together the actual town of Greenwood. 


That's all for today!  See you later!