Ennedi plays Shosaloza

[kbieniu7]

That's magnificent, I can't say antyhing else

[alan_vzla]

The only thing that I can say is that you are a SC4 artist... excellent!!

[Pat]

Adam I well wow!! you have left me breathless here in this update!!! I was going to comment on one pic on how much the beauty touched me in it but then I looked more at the others and I just cant pick one!!! I cant wait till next time and I do hope soon you can get everything worked out with your computer and also dont worry there is always dinner at the computer lol 

pat

[TheTeaCat]

Adam

Truly amazing pics, so difficult to pick a fav so I won't
I'd have to pick them all

It seems to me that you have learnded quite a bit with PS  and if this is just the beginning
I certainly look forward to your next "attempt"

I keep hearing lots of people having pc probs at this time. Is there a conspiracy?
Seriouly hope you get them sorted soon but will wait patiently till you update next.

till the next time

TTC

[nerdly_dood]

That is truly a work of art Ennedi! Great work with the photoshopping!

[JoeST]

well what can I say? well except that you are AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING, and that I hope you continue to get better. Nope, I cant express your amazingness in words...

and thankyou very much for acrediting my tut that made  me feel good

[Ennedi]

I didn't solve my computer problems yet, but fortunately my old machine was repaired some time ago. I have SC4 installed in it too, so I moved shosaloza and it's plugins there. My old computer is much slower (after launching the game I knew immediately why I needed a new one  ), but at least I can do something.

So many nice comments - thank you!

I'm speechless! This is and amazing update! One question: where can I find those boats and that 'boat stuff' on the shore (in the second pic)?

Thank you! As for boats and other stuff on the shore, please look at NOB's lots they are available here. Unfortunately there are no pictures (it's an archive), so go to the "Others" section. Moving the cursor over various "Download" you will see their names at the bottom of the screen. Look for "Fishing port" - this is a base set, but there are also 2 or 3 addon packs in the same section. If you want to find more Japanese stuff, check the "Japan - so far, so near" section on our site.

Excellente!  

Thank you! I see you visited Shosaloza again, I'm glad you like it 

Hi Adam,

Glad to hear you are on the mend - my regards and best wishes to you for 2009.


As for the updates from the last three days I have only one word.......

GENIUS

Thank you very much Paul for the wishes - Happy New Year for you too!
And don't joke...

The photos are just stunning, Adam! Every scene could be a breathtaking RL view. The vineyard would be a lovely place to spend a few hours, but the last three photos look like they just stepped off the pages of a storybook.

I've never cared much for Photoshop, but you've inspired me to give it a try and see if I can create my own blissful paradise.

Later...
Joan

Hello Joan, nice to see you! My intention is to create some nice places to relax for my friends 

Well done Adam. Those were amazing pics and your editing is quite good. I particularly like the one with the path winding down the hill and the one following it. I have to keep reminding myself they were taken in a game. SC4 as fine art... if it weren't for the fact that there is probably some sort of copyright thing, I think it could be done. Hope the computer troubles are solved soon and I hope all is well.
-Matt

Hello Matt, I'm glad you like these pics, I will try to make better ones  . SC4 as a fine art... why not? I think we will speak about it again in future 

Adam, These port pictures are simply awesome my friend !
The fishermen's village is very greatly done.

one word, Fantastic ! 

Arthur.

Thank you very much Arthur! These pictures couldn't be made without all these amazing BATs, my photoshopping addons were made only to emphasize their natural beauty!

Awesome new update there! The pictures are again excellent! You have added wonderful photo-shop-effects!

Looking forward to the next excellent update...

Thank you bat, very nice to see you again!

Those pics are amazing.  There's a ton going on there... not only do the effects give them a more realistic view, they're set up very realistically too, so it totally works!  Can't wait to see more!

And those last 4 pics in particular... wow!

Thank you! As you see we can achieve quite different general look of our cities making only a few simple changes. I suppose some of elements used by me in these pictures can be implemented to the game 

That's magnificent, I can't say antyhing else

Thank you for your visit and a nice comment, best wishes for the New Year!

The only thing that I can say is that you are a SC4 artist... excellent!!

Thank you Alan, I don't feel like an artist, I only want to give some pleasure to my friends (and myself of course  ) and to learn something at this occasion

Adam I well wow!! you have left me breathless here in this update!!! I was going to comment on one pic on how much the beauty touched me in it but then I looked more at the others and I just cant pick one!!! I cant wait till next time and I do hope soon you can get everything worked out with your computer and also dont worry there is always dinner at the computer lol 

pat

Hello Pat! Thank you for nice words and best wishes for you and your family for the New Year! I'm glad you like pics and I will try to make more if I will not kick my computer out 

Adam

Truly amazing pics, so difficult to pick a fav so I won't
I'd have to pick them all

It seems to me that you have learnded quite a bit with PS  and if this is just the beginning
I certainly look forward to your next "attempt"

I keep hearing lots of people having pc probs at this time. Is there a conspiracy?
Seriouly hope you get them sorted soon but will wait patiently till you update next.

till the next time

TTC

Hello Derry, thank you for your visit! Nice to hear you are satisfied  . No that's not a conspiracy, but maybe there is a hidden intention in all this computer science development: We need more and more time not to use computer in our activities, but to maintain them and in the near future we will only buy new machines, download new software, getting new errors and repairing them by downloading another software and buying new machines... I hope we will be able at least send a short message with a sign of life at that time 

That is truly a work of art Ennedi! Great work with the photoshopping!

Thank you! I know you are mainly interested in another SC4 problems like transit networks, but I promise you will see them in Shosaloza too 

well what can I say? well except that you are AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING, and that I hope you continue to get better. Nope, I cant express your amazingness in words...

and thankyou very much for acrediting my tut that made  me feel good

Thank you Joe! Yes, your tutorials and all your activity here at SC4D is a grat help for many people, good to have a programming guru like you!

Now the update.
If I'm right it's an update 33 (I forgot about banners for this and last two updates, I will make them later).

I'm going to build a main seaport in Shosaloza. Some work is done yet, and the area is quite interesting:





And here is the regional view of this area. As you see, the port is located in two cities, so I will have to think about special methods of showing it - maybe any mosaics?

I looked for some real pictures which could give me an inspiration and I found something interesting. My first idea was to show RL pics and the beginning of engineering work. But the message would be too long. I have many RL pics and quite much SC4 stuff to show  , so I decided to split it and show the RL inspiration only today.
But engineering works will start very soon - don't worry!

Seaports have a strong representation in SC4 - both great tutorials (like Emilin's one), a lot of amazing BATs and many seaport creations. I looked for something a bit different than usual. And I found: La Spezia in Italy.

First thing I saw the area is quite similar to my building site. It's also a bay with an irregular shape and a breakwater closing the whole area.



(Please notice a strange grassy field in the north part of the port, we will research this area later  )
The general view looks very good. But when I switched to the Bird-eye view and started to look at waterfronts, my first feeling was: What a horrible mess here! Containers and other industrial stuff, tankers, shipyards - both for bigger ships and for luxury yachts, cranes, downtown buildings, rich villas and a lot of small boats - everything mixed up. And this is what I like 
But look yourself (from left to right ie. from East to West along the shoreline).

A nice little harbour


A bit to the North - docks for smaller ships and of course a lot of boats





Again a lot of boats


Yacht shipyards




Now something else


Hmm...


A shipyard


Again a bit to the North - a container area




Some silos


The Molo Italia area


With some rails


...And directly next to all that stuff - a really nice downtown promenade (Via Aurelia)


Going West along Via Aurelia we come to... Do you remember this strange grassy area?


It was a satellite view. Now let's switch to the Bird's-eye view and what we see?
(Now I will make pictures mainly on the empty water area - please look at the little map in the right-top corner of the each photo, to know where we are )











I think this peninsula is also posessed by the Navy


And this is some sort of the military stuff too




I will have some problems if I'll want to recreate this area. Most of SC4 battleships have much lower quality than - for example - Somy's ships. Or maybe someone knows any good battleships models?

Now let's go to the West side. A nice villa (and a lot of boats!)


...And another group of villas hidden between the greenery. It was probably very nice place, but one time someone decided to build here two huge LNG tanks 




I'm not sure if I would like to have such stuff directly next to my windows 
A few meters to the South: a fish (frutti di mare?...) farm


I love this area: I guess it's an older district






And this place is my favourite - look at these houses! The seashore stuff isn't worse 


Who is the best one in making the non-grid stuff? David?...

I don't know what is it, but it looks very nice


I think this small ferry is horribly late




Now let's go a few steps to the South:








Beautiful place!

The port ends at this point. But we will go to the West now maybe we will find something nice?
The seashore




Again some military installations


And a very nice house




I said to my wife that if we would buy this house, she wouldn't have too far to the city. She could go shopping every day using this nice path



But Beata says I'm stupid. Could anybody tell me why? 

At the end a nice seashore village. Please look at farmfields on terraces. Could it be done in SC4?...


I'm not going to make a recreation of this beautiful area. I haven't enough place and some things can't be done in SC4. But it gives me the general idea and I will try to follow it.
Maybe these pictures will be an inspiration for someone else too?

Adam

[dedgren]

Your favorite pic is mine too, Adam.  What a great RL place to work from!  The little wheels in my head were spinning away doing the "what ifs..." as I went from pic to pic.

They did make me think, though, over and over again how far we have brought this game over the past five years.  We can now do a lot of the things you've shown us- when Rush Hour was released all we could have done was dream.

Good luck with the computer situation- and good health to you and yours, my friend.


David   

[threestooges]

Amazing what you can find when you look into the grass. Very interesting naval base, and I think it's interesting that it would be hidden under sattelite view, but not in the bird's eye view. Oh well, those are some good pics either way. You're right, it is interesting to see the variety that is in and around the port, the villas, the industrial, houses, yachts, etc. I'll look forward to see what you come up with for your port. As for terraced farmland, I think it would be possible if you are able to edit farm field lots. It should just be a matter of altering their ability to slope conform and then some careful terraforming (or some custom lots/BATs to do the same). Well done Adam.
-Matt

[bat]

Nice RL-pictures of that harbor! And wonderful new pictures of your teaser there!!
Looking forward to more from your sc4-harbor!

[Pat]

Adam yet again you done it to me!!! I am speachless!!!! The game pics versus the RL pics wow I am soo in awwwe.... So that is sooo very strange that the grass area is hidding the navy hehehe well not so well when you switch over to birds eye view... I think that is kinda cool how that little trick is played out!!! Now only if there is a way to do that in SC4???

So anyways we'll catch you in the next update and don't worry about the banners, its all good there Adam!!!

Patrick

[Simpson]

Hi Adam

Lots of beautiful updates here, the last one was just fantastic and so réalistic, as well. Also very fine effect in your picture
Your seaport look super, and the region is incredible 
I'm looking forward to the next update my friend


Take care,

David

[Nexis4Jersey]

Nice Harbor u built there , reminds of the Harbors of Washington State!  wish you great luck on recreating a Harbor from Window's Live Maps, it will be tough

[Badsim]

Hello Adam ... a long time no see . 

I've been worried by that silence , as long than unusual from you ... But near to PM you , I saw you "logged in" from time to time so I finally thought you were just too busy or were needing a break . At least I'm glad to hear you're doing better now . My best health wishes for 2009 ... and with a new computer as soon as possible ! 

Have seen your Photoshop experimentations ... I'm not fan of fireworks and to tell you the truth MAXIs' ones are a lesser evil ! I don't like either the waves effect , rather looking like a mega-tsunami arriving than a "simple" storm ...

Ouch ! It seems I'm not very fair with your certainly hard work about these pictures ... At least I'm totally fan of those two :

The future main seaport of Shosaloza already looks breathtaking due to its location and surroundings on that truly challenging map , and due to the first developments already done . More than promising : you did never disappoint me with your SC4 skill when time to play the game comes .

Take care of you , Adam .

Cédric .

[Sciurus]

But, am I dreaming?!!
I don't know do the difference between The reality and the images so your photoshoping is impressive! You must spend all your days to do that!
I just can congratulate you!

[JoeST]

You complement me too much

and *falls over* wow, your pictures once again take my breath away...so much that I blacked out and fainted

joe

[Ennedi]

Hello,
I was going to be faster, but too much new things are on the desk...
I hope I finally solved my computer problems. I also decided to run SC4 on the Virtual PC. I had to learn how to manage it, but it is very easy and I like it more and more
I have only a few programs installed on the virtual machine. SC4, IrfanView (to make screenshots and save them as BMPs) and Office - especially One Note is useful for me. It enables making quick notes during playing, I can also make a small screenshot and paste it into the note very quickly. I'm going to develop this working method, I like it a lot.
Now I want to install all SC4 related software on this machine (Reader, Sc4 Tool, Terraformer etc.). Nothing more. Now SC4 runs smoothly, without any problems.

I want to install all my graphic software on the second virtual machine. I also created a disk which is available on both machines, so I will not have to move pictures from one to another.

Maybe the best thing in the Virtual PC is an ability to create an Undo disk. When I change something in my city, save the game and... surprise! I can't open the city again  , I can simply click "Undo" on the VPC console and my game will return to the previous state. It only needs some discipline and checking if everything works after saving the game.

So I hope my work will be a bit easier now 

Replies:

Your favorite pic is mine too, Adam.  What a great RL place to work from!  The little wheels in my head were spinning away doing the "what ifs..." as I went from pic to pic.

They did make me think, though, over and over again how far we have brought this game over the past five years.  We can now do a lot of the things you've shown us- when Rush Hour was released all we could have done was dream.

Good luck with the computer situation- and good health to you and yours, my friend.


David  

Yes, La Spezia is a great place to work from. But of course it will not be an exact recreation - I haven't diagonal piers and ships 
However, I will try to make similar mess in my seaport 
Yes, the "what ifs..." factor is one of the greatest thing in our game  But now I spend 70% time sitting and thinking "what ifs..." and clicking once or twice from time to time 
Thank you for the visit!

Amazing what you can find when you look into the grass. Very interesting naval base, and I think it's interesting that it would be hidden under sattelite view, but not in the bird's eye view. Oh well, those are some good pics either way. You're right, it is interesting to see the variety that is in and around the port, the villas, the industrial, houses, yachts, etc. I'll look forward to see what you come up with for your port. As for terraced farmland, I think it would be possible if you are able to edit farm field lots. It should just be a matter of altering their ability to slope conform and then some careful terraforming (or some custom lots/BATs to do the same). Well done Adam.
-Matt

Thank you Matt for nice words! I saw many fantastic seaports made by SC4 players, but they are mostly industrial and as well organized as possible. My intention is to make something mor "organic". La Spezia was one of the main Navy seaports in the past, then it's fuction changed and of course it was bigger and bigger. Some areas were mostly residential/suburban/recreational ones, but new companies needed more and more space and they finally filled all the coastline around the bay.
I don't know if I will be able to make something similar, but I will try 

Nice RL-pictures of that harbor! And wonderful new pictures of your teaser there!!
Looking forward to more from your sc4-harbor!

Thank you bat, you are always warm welcomed in Shosaloza!

Adam yet again you done it to me!!! I am speachless!!!! The game pics versus the RL pics wow I am soo in awwwe.... So that is sooo very strange that the grass area is hidding the navy hehehe well not so well when you switch over to birds eye view... I think that is kinda cool how that little trick is played out!!! Now only if there is a way to do that in SC4???

So anyways we'll catch you in the next update and don't worry about the banners, its all good there Adam!!!

Patrick

Hello Pat, yes it was a funny surprise to see that Navy port under the grass  . Is it possible to recreate it - we will see  For now I downloaded all SNM lots and some battleships I found here and there.

Hi Adam

Lots of beautiful updates here, the last one was just fantastic and so réalistic, as well. Also very fine effect in your picture
Your seaport look super, and the region is incredible 
I'm looking forward to the next update my friend

Take care,

David

Thank you very much David, I'm very glad you like my work! I often see your pictures and I like them a lot too, I know an aesthetical aspect of SC4 work is important for you, so your compliments are even more pleasant for me 

Nice Harbor u built there , reminds of the Harbors of Washington State!  wish you great luck on recreating a Harbor from Window's Live Maps, it will be tough

Thank you for wishes, yes, it will be tough, but anyway it's a play isn't it? 

Hello Adam ... a long time no see . 

I've been worried by that silence , as long than unusual from you ... But near to PM you , I saw you "logged in" from time to time so I finally thought you were just too busy or were needing a break . At least I'm glad to hear you're doing better now . My best health wishes for 2009 ... and with a new computer as soon as possible ! 

Have seen your Photoshop experimentations ... I'm not fan of fireworks and to tell you the truth MAXIs' ones are a lesser evil ! I don't like either the waves effect , rather looking like a mega-tsunami arriving than a "simple" storm ...

Ouch ! It seems I'm not very fair with your certainly hard work about these pictures ... At least I'm totally fan of those two :



The future main seaport of Shosaloza already looks breathtaking due to its location and surroundings on that truly challenging map , and due to the first developments already done . More than promising : you did never disappoint me with your SC4 skill when time to play the game comes .

Take care of you , Adam .

Cédric .

Hello Cedric, thank you very much for your visit!
Thank you for wishes, best wishes for you too!
As for Photoshop experiments: Yes, fireworks could be better and more realistic  But I was ill all December and I had to prepare very quickly something to give a sign of life at the New Year's beginning. You are also right about these huge waves, but:
- I used some Photoshop tools first time and I played with them 
- I intended to show these effects. These are custom brushes, they are semitransparent and they comt to the new layer. I think it is possible to make similar props - I would be happy if I would encourage somebody to create them!
Of corse I don't think about mega-tsunami, but some of my pics (like an old Somy's fishing port or the landscape with the lighthouse) show some smaller waves too...
Don't worry, simplicity and realism (or maybe some magical realism  ) are important for me too   
I'm glad you like these two pictures, they are my favourites too.

But, am I dreaming?!!
I don't know do the difference between The reality and the images so your photoshoping is impressive! You must spend all your days to do that!
I just can congratulate you!

Hello Sciurus, you are right these pics need some time - even more because I'm still learning. But it's a great playtime too.
There is much much more to learn. It's amazing that SC4 can give so great start point to create interesting pictures.

You complement me too much

And vice versa 
Thank you very much!


As I said last time we are going to build a seaport. But of course we have to make a few things earlier.
We must prepare the terrain - not only the port area itself, but it's surrounding too. Flat areas, hills and rivers must be placed earlier, to make the city general look consistent. I also use to build main transit networks first.
There will be many various areas here, and I will use some new working techniques. So I decided to make smaller steps and to show particular themes one by one. Maybe updates will be smaller, but there will be more of them and we will meet more often 

Some time ago I made a special version of my slope mod designed to help with creating bridges - especially land bridges. You can download and test it's beta version from my message in the tutorial section - "How to build a Land Bridge"

This mod has a double function. It is also a very comfortable levelling tool. Today I will show how does it work.
Attention: This is a temporary mod, ie. you normally don't have it in Plugins folder (it affects the slope mod). When you want to build bridges or if you have much work with flattening, you should put it into Plugins (I suggest to create a special subfolder called "zzzTemporary mods" - there will be more of such mods, and they should be read as last ones), make your work, save, exit and then remove the mod.
It can look a bit uncomfortable, but in fact it isn't and it needs only a while. More and more players use another temporary tools such as resizing lots technique.

I want to make a large flat area in my city.

1. I choose one of Shadow Assassin terrain raisers (or hole diggers depending of my needs):



I can use only one SA lot, no matter how long will be my flat stretch!





2. Now I drag another road perpendicularly to the first one (no need to use another SA lots)



3. And now I can drag next roads parallel to the first (or second) one - I can leave one tile space between them, so we use only a half of roads than without this mod.
(Btw I decreased signifincantly transit networks costs in all my slope mods - maybe you don't know about it, because I didn't actualize their queries - maybe I will do it in future slope mods versions).



The bridge fuction of this mod is explained in the tutorial (see the link above).

Nice, isn't it? But... We build a seaport. Would it be possible to use it to make piers ie. to use it on water?
Yes! I will show it in the next update 

And now some teasers.

1. Connecting canals with the sea is always a big problem.
Here is a river mouth (MAS71 JRP). What do you think about this transition?





2. Here is a seaport entrance (btw I modified it, I will say more in next updates). Could you tell me what is unusual on these pics? 





3. The river will be an important part of this city. Some development along it is already done.





Do you like the bridge on the second pic?...

Next update very soon

Adam

[art128]

Wow Adam, this is awesome !! the transition looks so real !!! 

Excellent work my friend !! 

Arthur.

[Simpson]

Hi Adam

The mod is looking super, excelent work on it  . This update is, as well, so fantastic
This seaport is one of the best I've ever seen  . The river is very nice, also the transition is good too .
The two last pictures are so réalistic. Once Again, incredible work there.

Take care my friend,


David

[turtle]

I'm not sure I quite understand. Did you blend a canal set water with game water there 
If so the transition between canal and sea looks absolutely fantastic. Either way, I mean, everything you build looks amazing. Also, It is good to see that you are continuing sharing this with us 

Thomas