District of Wenzel - Update 116 - 3/17/15

[Themistokles]

A really good looking, realistic, and - I dare say - very American region view!

[romualdillo]

You're doing a great job here!!! 

[carlfatal]

Didn´t I say a word before? No? Shame on me!   

But what should I say than simply "AWESOME"? Okay, that´s it, awesome, not only the region views but particulary they are. Somewhat. Awesome... 

[packersfan]

Replies to Your Comments:

Gugu3: Very nice as always!

Thanks, now just have to figure out how to get this out of INACTIVE.

Themistokles: A really good looking, realistic, and - I dare say - very American region view!

Thanks.  Well, I'm American, so that will happen.

romualdillo: You're doing a great job here!!!

Thank you very much!

carlfatal: Didn´t I say a word before? No? Shame on me!   

But what should I say than simply "AWESOME"? Okay, that´s it, awesome, not only the region views but particulary they are. Somewhat. Awesome...

Thanks, what else can I say but thanks?

Update 97 - Penelope River South Bank
This was a busy week of learning how to do new things inside and outside of Sim City 4.

First, I learned how to use some workarounds to make true diagonal neighbor connections.  This will greatly improve future border composite pictures!

Second, I learned how to do scallable vector graphics for my street map, so now (at least on new map tiles) you can zoom in as much as your browser can handle and everything will look crisp and sharp (make sure zoom levels are multiples of 25.  A zoom level like 110% will cause gaps to appear between the map tiles).

Well, I thought there would be a third thing.  I guess not!  So here is a new area I reworked.  The City of Martin south of the Penelope River.  I shifted over I-55 and I-80...originally I had it overlapping S 32nd St.

Industrial area between I-55/I-80, South 32nd Street, and a rail line.






Cornell Park Neighborhood







Interregion Highways 55 and 80.  I hope you enjoy the flora.





You are here.  I zoomed in to take this snapshot of the map and you can see the contrast between the SVG areas and the old JPG areas.

I hope you enjoy the updated map (do you like the rail lines?  What about the font sizes?  What information would you like me to include on the map?).  I'm still getting the hang of use Illustrator to do all the things I pretty much got down to a science in GIMP.  I'm excited to show it off, though! 

Check out the District of Wenzel Street Map to get an idea where we are.  This is A NEW LINK as the old LINK was dead!

[metarvo]

Warehouses like the one you have here add so much realism to industrial zones, since such zones IRL rarely have a smokestack on every 16 m² space of land within the zone.  I'm also a big fan of the residential areas in Martin, which include alleys between the backyards of the houses.  I see this all the time where I'm at.

Nice update, Packersfan. 

[packersfan]

Update 98 - ST. PAUL - Beachview: Beachview Park, Marina, and Hospital
Back to Beachview where I finally completed the coastline.  I'm also working on extending the city along Brittany River but struggling with that...maybe I need to rearrange the roads and rail along the river.

Beachview Park






Beachview Hospital and Beachview Marina




Beachview Hospital at night



Condos along Waterfront Parkway and South Side Beach













You are here.

I'm not in love with the way the beaches look.  Any tips? 

Check out the District of Wenzel Street Map to get an idea where we are.  This is A NEW LINK as the old LINK was dead!

[compdude787]

Nice update! Perhaps some of those jagged roads could be replaced with draggable FAR, if the angle is right.

Also, a moderator should move this out of the inactive board, since this MD is active again...

[vinlabsc3k]

Welcome back to the community.
I hoped that you didn't give up with this CJ and greetings for the new computer and obviously...


Great updates!! 



PS.: Here and there you can make more connections between the bicycle path and the street, especially when they converge and they are close to each other.

[jmsepe]

Nice update and nice region.

[packersfan]

Update 99 - MARTIN - Brittany River North Bank Development
My next project will be filling out and expanding the City of Martin to the north and west.  Today we will visit the North Bank neighborhood on the north bank of Brittany River.  I upgraded the flora to seasonal, reinstalled the excellent Appalacian Terrain Mod (as my laptop seems to handle it much better than my old laptop), and upgraded Brittany River Highway and railroad to FAR and FARR.  The street map is also getting more and more information included.  Gas stations, churches, schools, police, libraries, fire stations are all getting labelled.  Insane?

A new exit is added to I-80.  Exit 278.




Travelling eastward on Brittany River Highway.







Some old industries along the rail and river.




First of all, I don't know how to make FAR-Avenues.  Second, how do I make this connection?  I couldn't figure out how to make the curve from FAR to orthagonal on this end.



Some high-tech firms.








An overview of the project area.



You are here.

So happy the Appalacian Terrain mod is working smoothly.  It really is beautiful and I more reluctant to place grass lots over it as it seems to blend better than the original maxis grass.  What do you think of this area?  What do you think of the improvements to the street map.  Remember, I am working on converting it to vector graphics which allow for more zoomability and allows me to include lots more information that can been seen clearly at high zoom.  You'll notice on this part of the map I have two different symbols for libraries.  One was self-created and the other is from a pack.  Which do you like more?  I might even include company logos if I can find vector graphics of them for locations like gas stations and fast food just to make it more and more fun! 

Check out the District of Wenzel Street Map to get an idea where we are.  This is A NEW LINK as the old LINK was dead!

[carlfatal]

Stunning, simply stunning! 
I have to admit, that reading your MD did let me start playing SC4 again. This idea to start with agriculture until you have a nice aerial view is intriguing. 

[vinlabsc3k]

snip...

First of all, I don't know how to make FAR-Avenues.  Second, how do I make this connection?  I couldn't figure out how to make the curve from FAR to orthagonal on this end.



snip...

For FAR-3 you need a 2 tile stub to end the automatic conversion.
Follow the tutorial in the readme (C:\Users\"your username"\Documents\SimCity 4\LEX_Downloads\Documentation\NAM31 Users Manual.pdf > pg. 44)



PS.: Happy birthday for the last October 16th!! 

[noahclem]

Awesome work    It's exciting to see you focus on the micro details with the same skill and style you've always brought to the big picture in your cities. The FA networks, the terrain mod, the seasonal stuff, and talk of RHW?! Great!

My apologies for not catching up here sooner and especially for not moving you back to the active section earlier. +1

[packersfan]

Okay, trying to post my 100th update...but I'm trying to copy and paste from a text file like I usually do and when I do that it refuses to let me post here.  What's happening?  Are you telling me I have to rewrite all the code AGAIN?

[packersfan]

Update 100 - District of Wenzel (Martin County) History and Census
Well this is the 100th Official Update (though technically there have been 101 as the 27th Update about Martin Downtown West was repeated as the first update was rendered obsolete due to prop pox.  It took a while for me to figure out how to put this update together.  I spent quite a bit of time going through the last 99 updates and trying to figure out what happened when (especially what has happened in the last 50 updates since the big 50 update.

Needless to say, just skimming through the topics of the updates over the years amazes me.  I am surprised at how long ago things were actually done.  (I suppose a little of that has to do with one year of not even playing SC4).  So many things that I remember as "recent" actually were built two or more years ago.  Strange indeed!

First off we have the census of Martin County as the population stands at the time of the 100th Update compared to the 50th Update.  Each picture contains a scene from the community (for some this is the ENTIRE community) and then a population bar graph on the bottom.  The darker color represents the population at update 50, while the typically longer and lighter bar is the current population as of update 100.  The bars make it really handy to see the rate at which the communities have grown.

Martin County - Population: Update 50 - 775,000 / Update 100 - 1,232,185




City of Martin - Population: Update 50 - 655,000 / Update 100 - 890,772



City of St. Paul - Population: Update 50 - 5,500 / Update 100 - 124,423 (30,017 in Jackson County [Not included in Martin County total]



City of South Martin - Population: Update 50 - 65,000 / Update 100 - 70,134



City of Hawthorne - Population: Update 50 - 5,000 / Update 100 - 59,293



Village of Hohler - Population: Update 50 - 15,000 / Update 100 - 40,566



Village of Bayview - Population: Update 50 - 25,000 / Update 100 - 25,336



City of Jefferson - Population: Update 50 - 7,500 / Update 100 - 19,081



City of Trinity - Population: Update 50 - 0 / Update 100 - 10,561



Village of Penelope Point - Population: Update 50 - 0 / Update 100 - 5,788




Village of Anchor - Population: Update 50 - 1,000 / Update 100 - 3,644



City of North St. Paul - Population: Update 50 - 800 / Update 100 - 3,479



City of Jade - Population: Update 50 - 5,000 / Update 100 - 3,311



Village of St. Andrew - Population: Update 50 - 1,000 / Update 100 - 1,154



City of Basil - Population: Update 50 - 0 / Update 100 - 795



Village of Sussex - Population: Update 50 - 4,000 / Update 100 - 507

Martin County Statistics
Population: 775,000 (1,232,185)
Townships: Charlotte, Sussex, Portland, Jefferson, Brittany, Martin, Hawthorne, Apostles
Cities and Villages:
Martin: 655,000 (890,772)
South Martin: 65,000 (70,134)
Hohler: 15,000 (40,566)
Jefferson: 7,500 (19,081)
Hawthorne: 5,000 (59,293)
St. Paul: 5,500 (124,423 - 30,017 in Jackson County)
Jade: 5,000 (3,311)
Sussex: 4,000 (507)
Bayview: 25,000 (25,336)
St. Andrew: 1,000 (1,154)
Anchor: 1,000 (3,644)
North St. Paul: 800 (3,479)
Fort Orangeport: 400
Axelrod: 300
Penelope Point: (5,788)
Trinity: (10,561)
Basil: (795)

Unincorporated Communites:
Fairchild
Lexington
Kinsman
Trinity (Incorporated as the City of Trinity)
St. Mark (Annexed by the City of Martin)
St. James (Annexed by the City of Martin)
St. Peter (Annexed by the City of St. Paul)
Brandywine Junction (Annexed by the City of Martin)

Interdistrict Highways: 55, 80, 480, 680, 255, 380
National Highways: 18, 20, 41, 43, 45
District Highways: 10, 15, 29, 31, 34, 42, 50, 67, 75, 100, 111, 140, 230, 266, 315
County Highways: H, O, X, BB, N, S, F, T, D, Z, A
Airports: Martin Municipal Airport (2 Runways)
Metro Lines: 9
Waterways: Brittany River, Penelope River, Christina River, Cedarwood Creek, Uttica Creek, Braddock Creek, Orchard Creek, Honey Creek, Portland Creek, Rosmarin River, Mine Run, Basil Inlet, Whitefish Bay, Newberg's Creek, Bitter Creek, Kewaunee Creek
Colleges and Universities: 5 (Parquart University, University of Wenzel - Martin, Martin Luther College, St. Mary's College, Southall College, Brittany River Medical College, Northeastern Martin University)
Stadiums and Arenas: Capital Stadium (Baseball), Staples Center, Hollins Arena, Red Raiders Stadium, Nelson Everest Field, Andrew Marshall Track and Field, Addison Field, Braatz Arena, Northeastern Soccer - Football Pitch, Commonwealth Field

Size: 288 Square Miles
Land: 240 Square Miles (Estimate)

Timeline:
04 June 2010: District of Wenzel launches using Mackay, Australia (increased scale) as region map.  Packersfan introuduces District of Wenzel to SimCity community having already covered the region in forests.



09 June 2010: Update 02.  Look at the original style.  I used Microsoft Picture It!  Wow.



28 September 2010: Update 05.  I went to China near the end of August to teach English.  In early September, my old laptop died.  This is the first update from China.  I then started using GIMP to edit my pictures and introduced the style head that has been used with slight tweaks ever since.







25 October 2010: Update 06.  Nearly four years ago to the day, I introduced an early version of the street map and an overview of the region all farmed up.





10 November 2010: Completed initial version of street map (no Google overlays)

13 March 2011: Start to convert map to Google style.

20 March 2011: Update 27 Take One.  Martin West Town teaser.  Not sure what happened during April, but when I went back to China for a visit in May, I had issues!



Region view from that same update.  I did a really good job of replicating what I had here when I had to rebuild West Town.  However, that big park on the north part was not replicated.



May 2011: Prop Pox infects DoW.  West Town is lost.

June 2011: At the one year mark, work begins on rebuilding Downtown Martin ravaged by Prop Pox.

20 July 2011: Update 27 Take Two.  Downtown Martin - West Town rises again.




17 September 2011: Update 34.  First update focusing on a city besides Martin.  Introducing the multicolored title bar based on which city the update is about.



11 October 2011: Update 37.  Well this update is for Rutland Neighborhood and it has a colorized bar.  Hmm.



2011: Trixie for Most Realistic SC4 City Journal

13 February 2012: 50th Update

12 March 2012: Proposed freeways in Martin County



26 March 2012: Update 57.  Introduced first highway to District of Wenzel



23 April 2012: Update 61.  New baseball stadium - Capital Stadium.



12 November 2012: Update 76.  Northeastern Martin University.



19 November 2012: Update 77. Commonwealth Field, new football stadium for the Martin Crusaders.



14 January 2013: Update 85.  While showing off the northside parks in the Martin County Park System, I really got into making massive composite pictures and skewing the perspective to get some neat shots.  Different perspective shots appeared in the next few updates, quite the fad.



21 January 2013: Update 86.  Introduced numbers to the top left corner of pictures so viewers and I could easily identify pictures and also identify if something was missing.



26 March 2013: Update 92.  This has to be one of my favorite updates.  Look at this overhead shot of the entire Page Park Subdivision (yeah, I wish I had the new FAR streets in there...).  It is composed of two different city tiles!  Future things like this will appear even more seemless as I'm using some workarounds to get street neighbor connections, etc.



01 April 2013: Update 93.  Introduced seasonal trees and seasons to District of Wenzel.  This has been a time-consuming project removing old trees and replacing them with seasonal versions, but the results are great!



16 April 2013: Update 95.  Last update for nearly one and a half years.  Real life took over as I poured myself into my English teaching.  In-game factors also led to this hiatus.  Tiles weren't loading or performing well.  I intended to return to SimCity with the purchase of a new laptop in February 2014.

30 September 2014: Update 96.  After a nearly one and a half year hiatus, District of Wenzel returned!  I bought a new laptop in February 2014, but it had issues and I didn't get it in China until May or June.  Then I sort of forgot about SimCity.  Then the bug bit and everything worked out.



28 October 2014: Update 100.  Well, here we are 100 updates!  I've made a few tweaks to the title header again and moved the numbers on the pictures to the right side with a background color reflecting the community of interest in the update.  I definitely could have put a TON more content in this update, but I've just run out of time this week between creating the new images and uploading old content to imgur and redoing the links in old updates.

Satellite Photos
04 June 2010



25 October 2010



10 August 2011




11 September 2011




03 November 2011




16 April 2012




27 October 2014

I hope you enjoyed that update. Seemed like a TON of work, but I'm excited to see your responses! Thanks for following for over four years and 100 updates!  This also happens to be my 1400th post on Simtropolis, cool!

Check out the District of Wenzel Street Map to get an idea where we are.  This is A NEW LINK as the old LINK was dead!

[vortext]

Congrats on 100 updates!! 

The aerial view is amazing as always, it could be easily mistaken for actual an satellite image were it not for the different forest tiles - which I guess is because replacing the flora? And on that note I think it's great you continue to update and upgrade the region as new content comes along.

The timeline pictures are great, sure has come a long way!  The census bars are very clever way of presenting btw.

At any rate, I have lurked here way too long - in fact I believe this is my first comment but I've always enjoyed your region and the street map of course. I hope to get something similar going one day. Keep up this fantastic work. 

[Vizoria]

Amazing work and a great overview of previous updates. I am looking forward to seeing you upgrade Wenzel with the new mods you have.

Also here are two diagonal filler sets which I have found to be EXTREMELY useful, which you will find useful to.

rsc204's MGB Diagonal Filler Set
http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/29797-mgb-diagonal-filler-set/

And also all three mods by Andy2k10 which are great urban fillers.
http://community.simtropolis.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=user_activity&search_app=downloads&mid=375381

[packersfan]

Are you Ln_X on Simtropolis?  Thanks for links to some more fillers that you use.  I'll give them a look.   

[vinlabsc3k]

Great milestone for your 100th update!!
Great idea to use a stats system with graphs in the Census, very interesting and detailed!

As always your skill for region view and modified game perspective is amazing!



PS.: A tip for Update 99: in image 2, replace the 2 OWR and the including Highway curves with a WRC.
I think you should convert the Maxis Highway with the Project Symphony (includes FAR pieces)

[compdude787]

Wow, quite the update! I just love how realistic the region view looks; for a second there, I thought I was looking at something off of Google Earth! Great work, and I definitely think it might be worth considering Project Symphony for your Maxis Highways.