Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[RickD]

Marking the shoreline with ploppable sand before lowering the sea level: so simple, yet I didn't think of it.  This will make things much easier for me. 

[Cyclone1001]

Amazing, simply amazing.

[Tomas Neto]

Yeah, really amazing update!!! 

[Battlecat]

djvandrake: Thanks, it was a lot of work, but the results today make it well worth the time!

RickD: I'm pretty happy with how helpful that little line of sand has been.  Make the detailing a lot easier!  Glad you find the idea handy!

Cyclone1001: Thanks very much!

Tomas Neto: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

Update 119
Greenwood – The Real River Details

Now that I've figured out what need to happen to detail my game water, I'm getting started in the same area I tested out last time.  Hope you enjoy the results of today's efforts.  It's a pretty steep learning curve!

119-1: Now that I've cleared the decks of the detailing tests, here's the real thing.  First off, I've raised a section of land in the middle of the river.  This will become a sandbar. 


119-2: Exiting and reloading to drop the river level back down again. 


119-3: This is a typical shoreline for this first attempt.  I'll be varying the detail quite extensively to give the feel of varying terrain heights.  Some areas flood yearly, others only flood rarely.  There will be more trees where there are lower flood impacts which will give the subtle feel of a shallow grade. 


119-4: The transition from plopable water to game water officially occurs between the highway and railway.  I've extended the transition right out to the main river though.  I'll develop this farm and a large additional block in the next update. 


119-5: This is the transition area in closer detail.  My plan here is to continue the standard detail style from the stream here through to the main river, although it'll be widening outwards leaving larger beaches due to flood impacts. 


119-6: Here's the mouth of the river just prior to turning the water back on. 


119-7: And then the mouth of the river afterwards.  You'll notice that I've tweaked the beach a bit.  I'm using the same textures, but I've increased the area they're permitted to appear a bit.  There's still another big pass of detailing to do here but it can be done while the water is in place. 


119-8: Here's the plopable water to game water transition point.  Aside from the subtle wave, the transition is effectively invisible. 


119-9: Here's the fully detailed sandbar.   I used the sand colored reef rocks from Sorchin to achieve this effect. 


119-10: Naturally the shoreline isn't done without a batch of flora detailing to transition to the forest.  It's going to be a busy area with lots of different techniques blended together.  My goal here is to try a whole bunch of different looks in a small area to see what appeals.  I'm still going to make one more detailing pass here on the blank spaces. 


119-11: This area in front of those homes is done now.  They're really pushing the floodplain construction laws here.  At their own risk of course. 


119-12: Moving along, there is a swath of the riparian texture in here although it's a lot less dense than along the streams.  The straw texture from the RRP actually makes a really nice river grass effect when combined with this particular beach.   


119-13: Here's the finished area next to the highway bridge.  I'm really happy with how this whole area turned out. 


119-14: And finally, one last look at the area now that all the details are in place.  I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this! 


That's all for today, next time I'll be detailing some farms and some more riverbank!  See you later!

[threestooges]

Very interesting results. It looks like plenty of work went into this update. The shore portion of 119-11 look great, and the plants in the water are well done. The giant boulder on the other hand seems a bit out of place next to everything else. I think it might be the rock color in contrast to the sand, but it feels off there. Otherwise, I think it's one of my favorite images of the update. The shore has a great swampy/flood prone feel to it. The PW-game water transition is very smooth and borderline flawless. Even the wave isn't so out of place. It happens here where some rivers enter the ocean, it wouldn't be surprising to see it happen with a river and a stream. 119-14 though illustrates one area where the transition seemed a bit stark. Following the shore from the left of the picture, things disappear nicely into the obscurity of the water. However, further to the right, where the stream comes in, the rock plops end abruptly, and the water is well over them. The sudden loss of fading just seems to stick out a bit, and that may be one issue with blending the PW with the game water. Very nice work on this update though. It's a very interesting technique you're developing.
-Matt

[ShultzCity]

Great update BC! Wonderful work - considering it is a largely un-explored area of work.

I have tried using the extra cheats mod to lower the sealevel before, but it demolishes essentially half my city - maybe I was doing something wrong?

I remember seeing a while back on an older (inactive now I think) MD where Brigantine water was used in conjunction with the setsealevel cheat to create a simply amazing result. Wish I could find it again....

I especially like the way you didn't cover the whole coastline with flora, but let some of the underlying texture show through. I'll have to keep that technique in mind next time I'm detailing some coastlines...

[Luke09]

Interestings results Battlecat!

The shore has a great swampy/flood prone feel to it. The PW-game water transition is very smooth and borderline flawless. Even the wave isn't so out of place. It happens here where some rivers enter the ocean, it wouldn't be surprising to see it happen with a river and a stream.

threestooges said almost exactely what  i was thinking about your transition.It really looks like a real transition between river and stream water.I hope i see you soon 

[nedalezz]

The transition, as stated before, is very realistic. Your work with shorelines, I think, has revolutionized the way we all do ours, and in turn, revolutionized a pretty important part of the game. Great update

[Cyclone1001]

Like, woah. You need to make a career out of this.

[canyonjumper]

Wow BC! Your game water detailing looks great! Inspiration abounds in this thread

           Your friend,
                          Jordan

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic development of this area!!! Great work!!!

[Schulmanator]

Your nature areas are terrific! Great use of the rural flora. Very very nice ! 

[Battlecat]

Matt (threestooges): Glad you enjoyed the update so much!  Thanks for pointing out spot you pointed out in 119-14.  It didn't turn out quite as nicely as it could have so I made an attempt at improving it today.  Hope it looks better now. 

Jacob (ShultzCity): Thanks!  As I mentioned via PM, I'm not using the set sea level cheat for the exact reasons you describe.  I'm using a modified version of my terrain mod with the sea level set to zero to make the change instead.  The underlying texture is another color to play with; we just have the restriction that we can't change the extents.  Glad you like how it turned out!

Luke09: Thanks very much!

nedalezz: Thanks!  I'm glad you like how it's turning out!

Cyclone1001: Wish I could, sadly there's not much money in it!  It makes a great hobby though!

Jordan (canyonjumper): Glad you enjoyed it and found the ideas useful!

Tomas Neto: Thanks for your kind words!

Schulmanator: Thanks, glad you enjoyed your visit!

Update 120
Greenwood – Still a lot of Farms Left

I'm going to be pretty busy next weekend thanks to an in-law family reunion, so I'm not sure when the next update will be.  Of course I also didn't get as much time as I would have liked this week as well.  Maybe I'll try to scrounge up some time mid week.  Anyhow, today I've got a large block of farms still to develop.  This map will be the longest thanks to my limited gaming time recently. 

120-1: Here's the large block of undeveloped land I still have to work on.  The two farms on the left would have been isolated by the highway development so the frontage road maintains access. 


120-2: Here's the initial farms for this batch.


120-3: Before I develop the farms, Matt (threestooges) pointed out a flaw in the shoreline in this location.


120-4: The terrain here is problematic for detailing but I think this looks a bit better.  Let me know what you think.  Note that the right side of the image is not remotely close to being done yet.  Have to get the development finished first. 


120-5: I prioritized the beachside farms today because next time I load the game I want to detail the next swath of shoreline.  The farmer here is using the land between the highway and frontage road for extra hay. 


120-6: Here's the finished area just prior to river details.  That's for next time though.


120-7: The farm with the hay bales is next, I've replaced it with my own style of farming.  This one is of course half cut.  I've left out the machinery in this case. 


120-8: I really need to figure out how to tune my automata better, the colliding trucks annoy me greatly.  In this shot I'm playing around with a better transition from road to RRP texture.  An extra row of prop free tiles that match the road edge texture allows me to create a smoother transition from road to field. 


120-9: I've also replaced all the other fields with the fences.  I just need to add the foliage next.  But that's a job for next time. 


120-10: This is the last thing I had time to do this weekend.  I spend a few minutes in the lot editor to finally get my diagonal clover field texture into the game.  This one isn't written in stone which is good because I see a few flaws in it.  I'd like to get your feedback on the texture before I alter it though.  I'll be creating filler pieces to go with this as well. 


Hope you like the results today!  Looking forward to hearing what you all thing. 

[Skimbo]

Your shorelines are just gigantic in detail, I love them!

And your feedback to the texture: It's nearly impossible to make it even a bit better, just great like this MD

[Cyclone1001]

[move][move]Very Cool![/move][/move]
But you should be a city planner, just use Sim City to plan a real city

[Tomas Neto]

Very nice update again!!!

[Une_ame]

I see a few flaws in it

Which one ??

[TiFlo]

Those last few updates are a gold mine for inspiration on how to lay a proper looking shore. And as usual, excellent work.

Thank you!! 

[sumwonyuno]

I really like that resulting sandbar, and I also like the mouth of the river!   

[canyonjumper]

Wow BC! Looking excellent! I can't wait for the shoreline details!

            Your friend,
                           Jordan