Three Rivers Region

dedgren · March 13, 2009, 11:25:14 PM

July, 2008, started slowly, as I continued detailing quads [linkie].

'Course, I had to spend time exploring nearby ghost towns [linkie]

and hangin' with the, er... spirits at the local bar.

Last summer's trip to Montana gave me lots of ideas about what 3RR's countryside should look like [linkie].

There's more than a little bit of Big Sky Country in 3RR [linkie].

On July 7^th, we passed 100,000 page views [linkie].

A few days later, after we went to see a young man about a horse [linkie]

we continued to work on those fencelines.

I plan, btw, to finally be finishing that project up, uhh... imminently.

...now, where have I heard that before?...

Apparently not having enough balls in the air, we decided to take a look at telephone poles [linkie]

and then I did something I hadn't done here in a long time- I took a ten day posting holiday.

With about a week to go in July, we returned to those fencelines [linkie].

We asked here for help BATting our own phone poles, something you'll more about in just a minute.

On July 25, 2008, we got the alpha FAR/FARR/Wide Radius Road and Rail Curve set back from Alex (Tarkus) [linkie].

The Wide Radius Rail textures were particularly scruffy looking, foretelling weeks of works ahead [linkie].

To take my mind off that, we started wrapping up July with a 3RR photo-essay on telephone poles [linkie]

and announced that our great friend Matt (threestooges) had volunteered his BAT talents to help us make some. We couldn't let the month end, though, without revealing the dark secret at the heart of 3RR [linkie]

as a way of introducing what has become yet another 3RR orphan- the Quick and Dirty Guide to 3RR for the Nervous [linkie].

This was intended to be on its own sub-board, and probably will still wind up on one. It certainly won't have been the longest time it took us to get back to something.

See you in August [linkie]!

David

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Pat · March 13, 2009, 11:35:40 PM

~~.... Be watching this space for further Comments ....~~

Hey whos to say 2 cant do that lol

EDIT: as I did say I would come back and comment some more in this spot, sorta posting as I go lol.... Anyways david talk about some most memoriable pics there and inspiring too!!!

Anywho I come back here this morning and look at what I caught,

talk about going on the fast track to a cool mil

io_bg · March 14, 2009, 12:57:00 AM

Happy birthday!

I'm a member here for less than a year so I see there was a lot of action before my appearance on this site!

Korot · March 14, 2009, 02:53:28 AM

David: there are no links in the previous editions, there is a [linkie], but no link. It's very nice to see a recap of the whole year, I've only been regular since December and as thus don't remember every thing, although I've read through the whole thing.

metarvo · March 14, 2009, 06:04:43 AM

With the release of a new NAM earlier this month, it is necessary at times to remember where some of the spectacular new features came from. Not surprisingly, a good measure of 3RR has gone into the two most recent releases. I appreciate all of the hard work, David. Oh, and congratulations for reaching 3,000 posts.

mightygoose · March 14, 2009, 06:33:44 AM

well it seems we will need the bumper edition of this old thing

CCFC · March 14, 2009, 07:23:56 AM

Looking back at history that I was NOT a part of is impressive, it must of been cool. I LOVE the 3RR! I mean: I REALLY LOVE the 3RR. Wait, wait.. I love the 3RR so much that it would not fit in this world or in outer space, since I love the 3RR for infinite space and the rest of the infinite time. Now, I never have said it like that besides "I love/like [something] very very very and so on very much." I hope to be around for all of year 4.

LE0 · March 14, 2009, 07:27:10 AM

This tour helps me understand and apreciate 3RR better

Very nice!

BigSlark · March 14, 2009, 08:14:19 AM

Bloody amazing, David. You're bringing back memories of 3RR moments that I had stuffed into the deepest recesses of my mind. I'm thoroughly enjoying this trip down memory lane.

Cheers,
Kevin

ldvger · March 14, 2009, 09:51:18 PM

David-

So, OK, I've been gone for a while and maybe these questions are already answered elsewhere, but to be 100% truthful, I just don't have time to read through almost 700 pages of this gorgeous journal and region that you have developed, so I'll risk your wrath with the following:

1.) Is this a "living" city/region? Does time ever pass here or have you and your collaborators built this entirely while in "pause" mode? If not, how do you keep the game sims from destroying everything you built? Are there mods you use to inhibit the natural game development parameters and growth?

2.) How do yo afford to build all this stuff? Are you using a money cheat of some kind? From what I can see, most of what you folks have done uses plopabbles, which are only available in mayor mode, not God mode, right? And mayor mode stuff cost money to buy, build, and maintain. So how does the money work in your region?

Please don't get me wrong, I am not critcizing at all. I have no problem with building non-living cities and have given great thought to trying something like that myself, especially as the mayor's advisors and the demands of the sims in my living cities drive me to distraction more often than not. A lot of the time I end up developing areas I don't really want to develope just to keep the annoying advisory pop-ups quiet. I also almost ALWAYS use money cheats, as the game is just way too slow for me to grow my cities/regions "organically" at anything less that cheetah speed. With a money cheat, I can build in pause mode and play in turtle mode and thus be able to actually see how the sims react to my new work.

3.) How much longer do you think it will be before you feel that 3RR is "complete"...or do you even envision it ever being complete? Is this going to be a life work for you? Do you have another region in mind for the future?

The only reason I ask this third question is because I am, quite frankly, totally daunted by the idea of trying to develope the region I created, Apocrypha. It is extremely challenging terrain and I am thinking the only way to do it the way I want is to build it as a non-living city. I have two copies of the region on my hard drive, one pristine and one I have been developing over the past couple of weeks (and am not very happy with). I'm a semi-decent terraformer using the God mode tools, as would be evident if anyone saw the original region I created this one from, but I know next to nothing about the use of ploppables or where even to go to find the ones I think I may want. So, if you ever think about starting a new collaborative SC project, I am volunteering Apocrypha as a starting point. It's either that or else I may be bugging you via email for a long time to come while I get myself up to speed...and no, that's not a threat.

Lora/LD

EDIT: Hi, Lora! A bunch of stuff on my plate today, but I'll be working on responding to the points and questions you've raised this evening. I'll be heading over to ST to look at Apocrypha, too. -DE

bat · March 15, 2009, 09:17:25 AM

Congrats on three years of 3RR!

And also wonderful work on the reviews there! Looking forward to more...

dedgren · March 15, 2009, 06:00:15 PM

I've been kinda tied up over the weekend so far. Here's a pic of something I've been trying to make work out to look at until I can get back by later.

Hope your day has been a great one.

David

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Schulmanator · March 15, 2009, 07:16:43 PM

Always a pleasure to see what you are cooking up here @ 3RR.

So, you going to BAT the cars on blocks too? That could be a fun BAT to put in any region, even mine!

EDIT: Wouldn't be complete, Bruce, without also doing those two other icons of rural Midwestern Americana. The "Bathtub Mary"

all rights reserved, if any, in original copyright owner

and the satellite dish.

Battlecat · March 15, 2009, 07:32:57 PM

Very nice shot there. Dirt edges to those fields are an excellent touch.

bakerton · March 15, 2009, 09:13:16 PM

"So, you going to BAT the cars on blocks too? That could be a fun BAT to put in any region, even mine!

"

Bruce, what a great idea. A rural area is not complete without a few of those. Maybe if someone does bat one (in different colors of course), David could run it through the ploplizer thingy. JKB

ldvger · March 15, 2009, 11:53:35 PM

David-

Saw your edit to my post of last night and appreciate your attention. I had been having trouble accessing the ST BBS but finally resolved the trouble this evening, so was able to revisit Apocrypha for the first time (as it exists in ST) for the first time in over 2 1/2 years. I read through my entire CJ (which I was surprised to still find there) and had to shake my head over having abandoned it. Such is life.

If you visit the CJ, go to the last page first to see the region I started with and my own finished terraformed region. Or, if you have time enough, read the CJ...it's not long...to see how I customized the terrain as I went along.

I am not a good judge of my own work, but I think I had something good going. I still need to create the above ground waterforms I envision. I have the region I am currently building on to experiment with. I want to start again...

Lora/LD

EDIT: Headed over there now, ma'am. ST was down earlier when I went to look. -DE

dedgren · March 16, 2009, 12:06:31 AM

If you were doing this, what would you change or improve on?

I'm dealing with fields alongside winding streams in a couple of quads, and want to come up with an approach for the collaborators to use.

David

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wouanagaine · March 16, 2009, 12:49:45 AM

I'm speechless, but I need to say something stupid

Now David, I think that you have plenty of time to remove the griddy of farms field, time to make a FAFF ( Franctionnal angled Farm Field ) or should I say RFF ( Rounded Farm Field )

threestooges · March 16, 2009, 02:58:59 AM

He could make a FAFF or a RFF, but he could just make a shortcut and go with a DFF (diagonal farm field), of course, he's around gone in circles with his CPI fields (sorry, every time I see a string of acronyms a certain scene from a Robin Williams movie comes to mind... you weren't the only one to feel the need to say something stupid Wou, at least you were quick with yours, heh heh). Aside from hiding the diagonal edges with trees and ground cover, this has always been a drawback of the farms to me. Looking forward to seeing what you're planning for this, as well as the continuation of the 3RR retrospective (and the start of collaboration of course).
-Matt

thundercrack83 · March 16, 2009, 03:39:49 AM

Quote from: wouanagaine on March 16, 2009, 12:49:45 AM
I'm speechless, but I need to say something stupid

Now David, I think that you have plenty of time to remove the griddy of farms field, time to make a FAFF ( Franctionnal angled Farm Field ) or should I say RFF ( Rounded Farm Field )

I was thinking the same thing, Steph!

Though, I'm sure that whatever you come up with David, it'll be great!

Dustin