Whitefall, Iridar - update 3 is now up. 16-12-09; p20.

[M4346]

I haven't commented here yet? *gasp*

Well, I thought I'd do that now then, and in the process...

Welcome to Page 4

Looking good SA!

[thundercrack83]

WOW!

How did I miss this place?!!? Sorry, it took so long for me to comment here, but I just found it today. Such is the perils of "Show new replies to your posts," I guess...Anyway...

I just went through all the updates that I missed and I must say that Ensenada is absolutely amazing! The airport is magnificent; I love the entire complex from the cargo yards and customs to the airport hotels! Great work.

Next, the guide to Greater Midlands was outstanding! Not only was it incredibly creative, but the graphics work was beautiful, too!

And then that huge mosaic of the golf course! I'm running out of words to use here! Fantastic job! The pictures of downtown with the stadium and train station were great, too.

Now that I'm caught up here, I can follow along with every update, and I'll be looking forward to doing so!

[NASCAR_Guy]

I expect none less daniel

[Flipside]

Masterful. I can't wait for more. 

[seemurray2]

I'm a big fan of your work - all of your pics look amazing and it's great to see that you're not afraid to build parking lots and "lots" of them!  It just makes your city look that more realistic!  This is one of my favorites.

[Shadow Assassin]

Okay, I haven't got anything much. Consider this update 12 part 1.

Greater Midlands, of course, is Ensenada's second largest regional area. The suburbs of Greater Midlands stretch as far as the eye can see in the Brackenfell valley. Of course, the northern boundary of Greater Midlands is formed by the main river, and Little Brackenfell River (the southern river in Brackenfell itself).

Originally founded midway through the 15th century, Greater Midlands (formerly called Mara) was established as a trading centre on the Great East-West Highway, a caravan route linking Ensenada with many cities located inland, including the city of Helsingfors, now long since abandoned. Greater Midlands was established at the confluence of the Great North Road (which has long since been realigned to run through Mordicar), the Savannah Way and the Great East-West Road. Many of Midland's modern freeways actually follow the old tracks of these three roads, with the exception of the M1, which was rerouted to the south of the Brackenfell River. It is believed the original Savannah Way from Brackenfell follows the Central Brackenfell Highway, a major route linking Brackenfell (though not of a freeway standard) with Ensenada.

The old city of Mara is now a suburb of Greater Midlands. It is now a satellite town of approximately 50,000, with a thriving main street. It is located on the banks of the Brackenfell River, with a small port, which is mainly used by recreational fishers now. Despite all odds, the town of Mara still thrives as a tourist destination.

At night, the city never sleeps. All day, all night, work is done. Greater Midlands often looks spooky at night, when both moons are out, the combined light of which washes out the city lights. It is indeed a sight to behold.

Visit the city which never sleeps, never stops working to keep the cogs running. Greater Midlands plays an important role in keeping the gears of government efficiency well-oiled. It has an important role to play.

And that's part 1 of 2.

Replies will come later.

[meinhosen]

Okay, I haven't got anything much.

Okay, I know that's not true    I love the park/plaza that's below the Athen's Library.

Great work, SA!

[thundercrack83]

Well, for "nothing much," it certainly looks fantastic, my friend! The city hall is outstanding! I'll be looking forward to Part 2!

[Shadow Assassin]

Hello, all. I have a new 22" widescreen monitor and new graphics card - an ATI X1950 Pro.

Ah. SC4 runs well, but the lag is horrible... I suppose running it at 1650x1080 would cause that lag. I wonder how it'll look when all the pictures are sharpened and taken at that resolution.

Replies down below:
footballfever: Heheh, we have plenty of parking, of course. Hmm, thanks for your input.
Alex: Hehe, thanks!
kwakelaar: Thanks!
bat: Thanks!
mark: Thanks!
sebes: I wish... nah, it isn't mine. It's done by dmscopio, and is divided into two parts: You'll need this and this, before you can begin building the stadium.
emilin: Nope, I haven't, because I was dumb enough to pick up treasure when I shouldn't have - there are four places in the game that if you collect the treasure from any of these places, it will actually prevent the Zodiac Spear from spawning. Besides, spears are crappy. Staffs FTW.
Rooker1: Hehe, every tile? You sure?
M: Thanks! And shame on you.
Thundercrack: Eh, one can live with that indicator. Hehe, thanks.
Nascar_Guy: LOL, okay.
Flipside: Thanks!
seemurray2: Eh, if it looks good, I plop it. I'm just a little less discriminating.
meinhosen: Really? Thanks!
Thundercrack: Thanks!

As soon as I iron out the horrendous framerate problems in SC4, I should be able to do an update pretty soon. Oddly enough, many of my newer games (eg. Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2, etc) run at 1650x1080 with no problems whatsoever.

EDIT: After testing it to an extent, it's running beautifully now, but still has an utterly horrendous framerate. Here's an unedited picture of what it looks like in game on my monitor. Be warned: it's a big, big file, about 843kb, in fact. It's a crying shame I can't turn this monitor sideways, and orient the desktop based on it... voila, instant mosaic!

[Darmok]

Hi Daniel,
Great work you're doing... you haven't lost your touch!
I particurlarly liked the interchanges in one of your previous updates, no retaining walls but instead just gentle grass slopes.... superb... and lifelike!
about the lag thing.... I can relate, I run the game at 1600X1200 and also experience such lag that playing is really not fun... hummm.... perhaps if I were to play in 16 bit color.... hey you just gave me an idea...!

See you my friend!

-John

[bat]

fantastic two pictures

[Shadow Assassin]

I knew I forgot something.  Looks like I'm jumping to Update 13. Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, this update is not available on ST for the time being. The average resolution of my updates had to be upped to 1024px wide, to account for my new monitor. And as most know, ST's rules require a 800px-wide image. And if I had done my pictures any smaller than 1024, much of the detail would be lost. It's unfortunate, I know.

Hmm, wider audience, loss of detail or narrower audience, but increased detail? It is a tough choice.

However, it is enjoyable not having much lag when scrolling across maps. If anything, a quick driver update to the latest version helped wonderfully.

Ah, I'm still tossing up about the story line. I might have to reconstruct it significantly, since I kinda feel I've backed myself into the corner. Also, time constraints don't help my situation so much.

So, this is update 13. Some call this number unlucky. Funnily enough, it's always been a lucky number for me.

Ravenswood is a suburb of Greater Midlands, located roughly the same distance from Greater Midlands CBD as from Brackenfell CBD. Located on the Brackenfell River, Ravenswood Cemetery is a er... popular place for people. Regular tours, featured in the Guide, are held at midnight every Friday night and Saturday night. Special tours are also held on Halloween. The cemetery is franchise-run, run by the U-Dump-It consortium, a collection of funeral directors whose main aim is to ensure the disposal of bodies is carried out discreetly and safely, without any harm to any persons surrounding. They have a strict code of conduct involving the recently deceased, including not asking questions about the nature of one's death - which works out quite well for the local criminals who need to dispose of witnesses. At Ravenswood, there is a chapel, church and crematorium (for those who want quick disposal and/or can't afford/don't want to pay for a full-sized plot). You can guarantee the eternal rest of your loved ones at Ravenswood. However, we cannot guarantee they will stay put on October 31...

The cemetery abuts right onto the northern boundary of Greater Midlands. While the Cemetery is considered part of Greater Midlands, all suburban development ends here. I suppose it's just as well. Nobody likes seeing arms and legs in their basement. The original town of Ravenswood sits on the southern boundary of the cemetery. Suburban development between Midlands and Ravenswood has joined the two areas together. Just 20 years ago, much of the space between Ravenswood and Greater Midlands was open plain. Remnants of this greenbelt can be seen between Ravenswood and Rathane (in the next city tile to the east).

More pictures of the cemetery. There is wide-open space available for anybody who wishes to reserve their plot. All one has to do is call 1800-BURY-ME to get a quote. Though, space is limited, so avoid the rush! There are three gates into Ravenswood, and they are all on the east side of the cemetery. The middle gate is the main entrance.

The main entrance into the cemetery. Plenty of parking is available. The main church is here, where most services are held. The cemetery is laid out in such a way that multiple funerals can be held at the same time. There is a function room next to the main gate, for where people may enjoy a quiet afternoon with their (remaining) loved ones. It is recommended you stay away from the shellfish sauce, though. Our funeral directors are fine, upstanding people, and they are always willing to help you tackle your grief.

There is also a coffin salesroom, where you can choose between the simple pine coffins, and the expensive... pine... coffins with all the trimmings, including bio-degradable synthetic fabrics on the inside. It is unknown why there is a light inside the coffin, though. Funerals are available in packages, tailormade to suit you and your budget.

For those people who are too cheap to buy a plot: the crematorium is open to all, but a booking must be made. There are certain advantages to having a pyromaniac run the crematorium: you'll never see finer ash this side of Savannah. Trogdor's Burninarium is widely considered to provide the best-quality service at the lowest prices. They also offer Drive-Thru Funerals, for those people who are in a rush and need to reduce their carry-on luggage. To make a booking, call 1800-CRISPY.

If you still need to burn your loved one (deceased, obviously), there are shelves available for the urn to er, collect dust. We take utmost pride in ensuring the urns are kept in top condition, and we have a storage facility. Of course, it is entirely optional, and we can arrange custom paint jobs for the urn to match the furniture in your living room. Our urns are made with the highest-quality metals and plastics, so your loved one's ashes can rest comfortably in peace.

Ravenswood, of course, has its own history. This photo, of course, graces the front wall of the function room. It was taken one day at sunset, and is a popular topic of conversation amongst our patrons. This photo is of the old church. The cemetery was originally much smaller until the authorities decided to merge many of the cemeteries across Greater Midlands and Brackenfell into one large facility. A lot of paperwork was involved, and in many cases, nearly overwhelmed the facilities of Ravenswood. This move made Ravenswood six times larger than what it used to be.

We place emphasis on customer loyalty. We give discounts to regular patrons at the cemetery, ensuring customer loyalty. Once we get em, we got em for life (or death, in this case)!

The old church and the town centre of Ravenswood. Originally a separate town in its right, it was assimilated into Greater Midlands in 3008, (the current year being 3022), when suburban sprawl hit the Ravenswood-Rathane green belt. The greenbelt has mostly been developed over, but parts remain open. It is not known if future development will take over the remaining green belts.

The town centre is the only thing that gives away the fact that this place was originally a separate, discrete town. Mara, to the south-east, has suffered a similar fate. A green belt originally divided Rathane from Ravenswood, which later went down to divide Ravenswood from Mara, then curved around to join the Southern Hills. Patches of the green belt still exist between Ravenswood and Mara, though.

Suburbs and lots of it. Most of these suburbs are only about 10 to 15 years old, a byproduct of the suburban sprawl that overtook Ravenswood.

The Rathane side of Ravenswood. Due to the terrain of Ravenswood Ridge, the avenue cuts into the hill, requiring a complex system of retaining walls to maintain the structural integrity of the avenue.

Finally, a zoomed-out shot of Ravenswood, with the cemetery to the right, Ravenswood Ridge to the top. Ravenswood Ridge is a hilly section of the greenbelt. At the time, it was not developed over, due to the nature of its slopes. However, a small patch of land at the base of the Ridge was developed, giving rise to the new Ravenswood Ridge development. Note that Ravenswood Ridge is not considered a suburb in its own right.

As of now, the only suburbs of Greater Midlands that have been completed are:

• Greater Midlands
• Arlington Gardens
• Southbank
• Rathane
• Ravenswood
• Aspengrove
• Midlands International Airport (yet to be named)

The postcodes for the suburbs has yet to be determined. Right now EN2060 is given to Brackenfell. It is likely that EN2075 or EN2076 will be given to Greater Midland's CBD.


- That was Update 13, folks, and hope you enjoy it!

--SA

[meinhosen]

....Trogdor's Burninarium....

*GROAN* 

You might have to book a spot for me in this cemetary after I die from the puns.    For an update exclusively about a cemetary and its practical connections to organized crime, this was stellar.  I'm impressed as much by the layout of the place as I was by the story(s) associated with it.  Great work, SA! 

[thundercrack83]

....Trogdor's Burninarium....

Looks like we've got a fellow Homestar Runner fan! Anyway...

WOW! That cemetery is HUGE, and it looks absolutely amazing. I love your suburbs, too, they're so realistic looking! I would liketo see a region shot if you've got one, but if not, that's fine, too! Great work!

[bat]

wonderful cemetery and great suburbs!!

[sebes]

Amazing update     

Not only the best cemetery ever, but also the greatest and funniest story -ever- about a cemetery...  The drive-thru funeral option for people with to many cary-on luggage made me call 1800-KARMA4U

Oh, and by the way: great suburbs too

[Zaphod]

1800-CRISPY haha

that is a HUGE cemetary geez. The town kind of makes me think of Colma, california, which is a SF suburb that has more dead residents than alive ones

[jayo]

Shadow,don't make me cry.lol  Amazing,amazing work.I'm supprised i havn't popped in before.lol. 

[Tarkus]

Wow, Shadow.  Now that's what I call an update.

That cemetery is just massive, and very well built.  I rather enjoyed the Homestar Runner reference as well.    I am still in absolute awe of your suburbs.  They're unsurpassed in terms of realism.

-Alex

[kwakelaar]

You seem to like your cemetaries big, and they are also very beautiful. About the suburbs I can only agree with the rest they are among the best I have seen in this game.