Three Rivers Region

[just_a_guy]

Great tutorial David! It's very useful to know all of your tricks. It makes want to go make a stream like that right now actually I'll looking forward for the next part !

[threestooges]

I really like how this tutorial is coming together. I've picked up a few things I never knew about the terrain tools (particularly that north-orientation trick) Just one thing to edit would be

So, no we have two adjacent road tiles.

just before pic 6. Looks like it just needs a w. I know you're probably just trying to get it all down first, but I thought I'd mention it just in case. Looking forward to seeing how it progresses from here.
-Matt

EDIT:  Fixed, Matt.  You are the primus inter pares 3RR Fact Checker.  Thanks once again! -DE

[bob56]

you make it look that easy... I will go and try it. I'd love some small, flowing streams above sea level.

Thanks for everything, and...

Gonna stick a culvert under that?  

I hope so, that spot is screaming for one.

EDIT:  Part Three will tell, my friend. -DE

[girlfromverona]

Sweet tutorials, David! I knew about the Shift/# combo, but the Shift/F# thing is new to me - thanks for pointing it out! Looking forward to more tips and tricks. 

P.S. Good on you, Lora! I'm sure your help will be appreciated. 

EDIT:  Marisa, as superb as your fine terraforming skills already are, I can only imagine what you will accomplish with a new tool in your arsenal. -DE

[dedgren]

Here we go again...



This is the third part of what is planned to be an extended tutorial on fine terraforming techniques.  Part Two can be found here [linkie].  Part Four is here [linkie].  It is recommended, since each part builds on the information provided in previous ones, that you would start at Part One, which is here [linkie], and work your way forward.  On the other hand, far be it for me to tell anyone what to do...

We ended Part Two having arrived here.

#1


In this part, we'll look at various terraforming tools available to soften the abrupt "banks" of our roughed-in streambed.  I've highlighted these banks in green in the pic below.  We have as a secondary goal the preservation of the "flat" bottom of the streambed marked by the road tiles.

#2


First, let's take a look at the handful of God mode terraforming tools that are available suited to the task at hand.  Specifically, these are the "Erosion" tool, the "Plains" tool, and the "Soften" tool.

n.b.  I mentioned, back in Part One, that the nifty menu arrangement you see here is due to my installation of Jonathan's great "God Terraforming in Mayor Mode Compact" mod, which is available on the STEX here [linkie].  If, for some reason, you don't want to install the mod (and I would find that hard to imagine), you can invoke God mode during a game session by minimizing all your menus back to the control panel, then clicking on the ingame God mode tool icon (the sun to the left of the mayor's hat) while pressing [ ctrl ] and [ alt ] and [ shift ] all at the same time on your keyboard.

We'll check out the Erosion tool first.

#3


After selecting the tool and setting it up in the manner described back in Part One to size=1 force=f1, we position the tooltip over a nice prominent point along the bank.

#4


Let's click once and see what happens.

Wow!  All the nearby road tiles disappeared.  I'll tell you that this is because the Erosion tool lifted, albeit ever so slightly, our streambed, but let's verify this for ourselves.

#5


You'll remember that the elevation of all those road tiles was 250.1 meters/just a few inches over 820 feet.  Here, you see the last tile left intact is the one at 90/123.

#6


Again, here's what it looks like after just a single click of the Erosion tool.

#7


Checking the northwest (top left) corner of gridsquare 90/124, which is the one to the immediate south (toward the bottom of the screen) of gridsquare 90/123, we see that the elevation here hasn't changed, yet the road tile disappeared.

#8


A look at gridsquare 91/125, which is the gridsquare to the southwest (along the diagonal to the bottom right) of gridsquare 90/124, discloses what has changed.  The northwest (top left) corner of 91/125 has been raised 1/10^th of a meter/about four inches, and this corner is shared with gridsquare 90/124.  That's why the road tiles on these gridsquares disappeared.

#9


Even though we know that the Erosion tool is not suitable for our purposes, let's for grins drill down another 20 left-mouse clicks- about five meters/16 feet.

#10


Now the amount of the lift on the gridsquares in the streambed becomes really apparent.

#11


#12


#13


#14


So, the result is the more you level up the bank with the Erosion tool, the more irregular you will leave the streambed below.

Let's move on to the next alternative: the "Plains" tool.  The flyout makes it sound like some sort of wrinkle and aging cream in that it "gently levels and smooths the terrain."

We'll see.

#15


After setting the tool to size=1 force=f1, we position the tooltip and click once.

Whoa!  It's not that gentle.

#16


Next.

The ""Soften" tool promises much the same as the Plains tool.  We'll do the usual- set it to size-1 and force=f1...

#17


...position it on our bank and...

#18


...click once.

Same deal.

#19


Our streambed road tiles are gone.

#20


A quick check with terrainquery indicates that the raising of the streambed is pretty significant.

#21


#22


#23


So, we return to our old friend, the mayor mode "Gouge Valleys" tool.

Select the tool, and set it to size=1 and force=f1.

#24


We then position it over our bank, grit our teeth, wince, and...

#25


...click once.

Opening our eyes, we see that our streambed road tiles are all still there.

#26


Even more important, after we left-mouse click another 20 times, the road tiles are still there.

It is clear that the mayor mode Gouge Valley (and, as you will see, its siblings the Raise Terrain and Level Terrain tools) is the fine terraforming tool of choice, in that it has very precise effect on the area that you are working on.

#27


After we apply the Gouge Valleys tooltip to other sharp breaks on the west bank of our streambed excavation, it looks like this.  The bottom of the excavation is still flat and level, as evidenced by the undisturbed road tiles.

#28


Turning off the grid by pressing the [ G ] key, we see that our streambed is really starting to blend in with the surrounding terrain.

#29


In the next section of the tutorial, Part Four [linkie], we'll smooth the other bank, place the culvert and plop some water.  See you there!


David

283198 - Halfway through the month and 10K page views under our belt.  We're on track for our eighth month in a row of 20,000 views- thank you, you folks are the best!

[ldvger]

Well, I've been off and running around pursueing my own interests for the past few days, I'm sure that's allowed.  Haven't yet done any admin stuff but stand ready whenever coach decides to put me in. 

I am also following this new tutorial with great interest and learning a lot. The NW corner tip is going to come in extremely handy.  I just downloaded a completely new set of maps/regions for my own CJ over on ST and while everything appears to be very deatiled at region view, once I zoom into the individual large city tiles, everything looks like slightly melted ice cream.  However it's all scale accurate (um, I think.  If not, it's good enough for me).  My new region is like David's, 256 large city squares.  Unlike David's, mine is mostly very mountainous terrain and much of it is covered with glaciers (who knew we could make glaciers in SC4?).  Due to the "softness" of the new terrain at city level, I've got a LOT of hand terraforming ahead of myself to weather and "rough up" the current "snow cone" mountains.  David, if you have advice or tutorials for fine terraforming large mountains, this gal would deeply appreciate the advice or where to find the tutorials. 

My new maps also came through with small cliffs at all the areas between land and sea, which I have learned is a common problem with deriving maps from USGS data maps.  All my seas are also very shallow, another common problem.  So I am going to have to lower sea level. dredge my seas, then restore sea level in order to achieve realistic ocean depths.  No problem, it's actually fast and easy to do using God Mode tools. 

I am not 100% unhappy with the small cliffs at the edges of my land forms where they meet the sea.  I think I will leave many of them untouched.  The seas of the far northern areas of the world are very abrasive and create unfriendly coastlines.  Cliffs are not uncommon.  However, I am not going to be able to leave ALL my coastlines cliff-like and so am going to have to create some softer beach areas.  I'm not talking Bahamas type beaches...those don't exist in the far north.  In fact sand beaches are rare.  The seas are too rough and erode the land too quickly for sand to be created.  In the north, the beaches are rounded rocks varying in size from small gravel to large boulders...usually with a considerable amount of large (whole trees) driftwood thrown into the mix.  Softly sloping areas that meld with the sea are rare...and extremely expensive.  Oceanside properties in the north are divided into four catagories: no bank, low bank, medium bank, and high bank, with "bank" being the amount of cliff between the end of the land and the beginning of the ocean.  No bank mean gentle slope to a gravel beach.  High bank means a steep cliff  between a small strip of rocky, bouldered beach and the sea and the land that fronts it. 

So I will be terraforming my beaches slowly and carefully.

But this isn't about my CJ, sorry, got sidetracked, happens all the time with me. 

David, great tutorial so far and I will be reading daily to follow the rest of it.  I have already marked the beginnng in my Daytimer (being as how I have had no billable hours for 8 months, that's about all my Daytimer is good for any more:::sigh:.

Lora/LD

[girlfromverona]

once I zoom into the individual large city tiles, everything looks like slightly melted ice cream.

I love that description. 

In the north, the beaches are rounded rocks varying in size from small gravel to large boulders...

Oooh, may I recommend (if you haven't already got them) Jeronij's fine ploppable rocks: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=145

[frdrcklim]

Here u go again david . The man that never sleeps .

[Korot]

David, your link to part 2 is faulty, it leads to the above picture, not to the tutorial.

EDIT:  Ahhh!  Another 3RR Fact Checker steps forward!  Welcome to long hours at low pay, my friend. -DE

[Ryan B.]

I learn something new from 3RR every day!  Thanks for sharing!

[metarvo]

I now know that I'll never be able to build a PW river above sea level without consulting 3RR first.  Thank you for providing this wonderful tutorial to us, David! 

[thundercrack83]

Another fine tutorial here at 3RR by the tutorial master!

Way to go, David--I'll be trying things out as soon as I fire up the game, my friend. Excellent job, as always.

Hope all is well!

Dustin

[Nardo69]

Hi Dave!

I know I am too seldom here ...

... but I just got my old boy to run Sc4 again a few days ago, and well, I feel a little bit rusty ....

(I have to confess I was allways envious about your terraforming)

... so I guess I'll have to stick around here way more often to get my terraforming skills a bit improved!

Take care

Bernhard 

[bob56]

The 3RREX is Gone!!!!! Is it gone, or just waiting for something big?

EDIT:  Bob, it wasn't gone when I looked about two minutes ago.  Might have been my ISP having a bandwidth cramp or something.  Don't worry, there's no plans for the 3RREX to go anywhere, although there will be some announcements concerning new content coming up. -DE

Edit: It still says 'this area is missing off-limit's to you...'

[abcvs]

Craig, those pics are absolutely incredible!  Thanks for sharing them with us here at 3RR.  They are additional incentive for the RAM Team to sort out STR tunnel entrances. -DE

You are most welcome.   It was kinda fun and kinda tricky to retro fit, but I got there in the end.

The problem that I can see with the STR tunnel entrances is that you will only be able to chose one version... either one for the double track or one for the single.   I cant remember which one I use for the double track but it does look OK with the STR even if you butt the STR right up to the portal (rather than using the DTR to STR short transition) it doesn't look too silly... especially if you zoom out a bit.   The default maxis with the double arches would definately look odd with the STR.   The train would then be directly in the path of the central pillar...
If some one can work out how to trick the game into having more than one choice then that will be grand.

Fixed it for RHD, but not for the lefties.

The poor unloved lefties at the bottom of the world...   

Well, Craig- plop, actually. -DE

Oh...  excuse me...  musta got the wrong end of the stick on that one... One must always ensure correct orientative terminology when dealing with ploppies.

Actually the term "grab the wrong end of the stick"  apparently came about from the days of public Roman conveniences where they provided sponges attached to the end of a stick... for well... you know... grabbing the wrong end was not recommended.     

Edit:  I found the DTR tunnel portal that I use...  it is by Fukuda...

http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=17146#



Edit Duex:  Goodness me I play the game all evening come back and my previously edited reply is still the last one...

Well...

I thought you might be interested in what I have been up too this evening...

Well this is interesting...


River on left...  new super top secret 'plane' ploppable water...  river on right regular plopable water...


Less rocks under the river on left...  can't plop flora under the 'plane' water...


Did I mention that I love what you guys do for this game?   


More here.

[abcvs]

Tunnel Portal Options for STR

As we know the maxis tunnel portal with the two arch entrances and a pillar in the middle is not fantastic for STR...
Using Fukuda's European Tunnel Portal we currently have these options for STR tunnels.



While butting the STR track directly up to the tunnel portal is not ideal at a close zoom, it does look OK when you zoom out.
In a tight spot like this, it is not really an option to use a transition.


Using the following DTR to STR transitions is a good option and the best visually.
#1


#2

[choco]

theres a lot based subway converter for the STR on the STEX....

http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=21040

not sure if it would help.....

[Pat]

David mighty tasty sir!!! I am watching with major intent here!!!

[abcvs]

Mummmmmmmmy!



EDIT:  Yeah- that's gonna hurt! -DE

[dedgren]

EXTRA! EXTRA!  TROVE OF 2004-2005 dedgren SC4 PIX DISCOVERED!!

...proof he can actually build a city?...

...could these just be clever forgeries?...

While trolling the net today looking for something I found that some server space I set up years ago was still sending pics of stuff I did in SC4 in late 2004 and early 2005 out into the ozone.  To paraphrase Fox News, "We display, you decide."











Fall trees in summer- what a concept!

Well, at least I've since figured out how to lose the control panel, mission indicators and turn off the grid.

I'll get back to working on the tutorial and be posting the most recent instalment in 3RR-Year 3 in Review in just a bit.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.


David

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