Three Rivers Region

[Jonathan]

I remember those first textures on the curves, and I remember feeling shocked at how awesome they were. So these RealRoads, there just aren't enough words....
I just wish I could create textures like you do, it's much more useful I think than RULing.

EDIT:  Ahhh, but without RULing, Jonathan, the nicest textures in the world are just that- textures.  Thanks for the kind words, but your skills in working with RULs are truly what are indispensable. -DE

[metarvo]

Maybe it's just an illusion created by the slopes, but in the SC4 pictures of Marathon Bend, I almost think I can see FAR RealRoads. 

EDIT:  That's because you can!  The basic FAR straight and curve segments are done in RealRoads.  All the rest of the FAR stuff is in the works.  RealRoads is a comprehensive rural road replacement system- that's why it is so important to figure out how to properly mesh it in with the NAM. -DE

[Battlecat]

Fantastic stuff here.  That's a great looking quad!  Those new textures are really coming together now.

[ldvger]

David-

Not to belittle, in any way, the work you do improving the game pieces we all use to play with, but I have to say, for me anyway, it's really great to see you actually back into building in your region again and posting pics and stories.  To me that is the heart and soul of 3RR and I have missed it (although I enjoy being a spectator and occasional cheerleader for your diversionary work).

As for comparing the "old" versus the "new", I think this is why so many of the city building projects I undertake end up being put out to pasture after a while...there is always something new and better coming on-line that makes me unhappy with previous attempts.  I put so much time and effort (as does everyone, I'm sure) in building my cities "just so" and while all the third party stuff helps tremendously, it also is constantly changing and being updated, meaning one must either go back and redo huge sections of our cities or be content to let them lie.  And, with as much thrid party stuff that is available, we all run into areas in our cities where no solution truly exists and so we must compromise with a "good enough" solution.  Then, lo and behold, some time later, some brilliant fan comes up with a solution and then it's back to the drawing board for us perfectionists that simply MUST replace our earlier compromise with the new solution.

So...no city or SC4 project is ever really "finished".  And that is part of the original design and intent of the game, and therefore a big part of it's undying fan base.  And as a drafter and knitter, I am well versed in going back and doing things over again, to get them as perfect as I can.  But for some reason, I'm the type of person who needs closure in the projects I undertake.  I am not hestitant to take on huge projects that will take years to complete, but I want to know they will, someday, be complete.  SC4, now days, with all the myriad of third party stuff available and technology changes since it was originally released, allows any of us to create for ourselves unbelievably huge and complex projects.  If we try to keep them current with all the latest and best stuff available, they'll never be complete...they become a life works.  

I admire folks that can commit to such projects and have always thought myself to be able to do so myself, should the "right" project come along.  But now I begin to doubt myself.  While not permanently abandoned, both of my own MD's languish, due mostly to my waiting for other folks to create new solutions for the dissatisfactions I have with the current soultion set(s).  I thought I could join the ranks of solution creators by teaching myself some of the software tools (and I may yet), but mostly I've ended up just sitting back and watching others play.  The truth is, I am daunted.

The fault is mine on several fronts.  I truly do need to spend my free time putting 100% effort into finding paying work in the real world...I feel guilty "wasting" time playing games.  But that's just an excuse in many ways, because I do play (other) games in my free time.  The fault also lies in the scope of the SC4 projects I create and set before myself.  My MD "Apocrypha" started out small and simple enough, but (inspired by 3RR) soon grew to a huge chunk of Alaska wilderness.  And recreating the entire San Fransisco Bay Area as realistically as possible?  

So, in typical Lora fashion, I'm thinking about a new project, a new SC4 project, one that I can sludge together completely from the dusty rooms of my own imagination.  Seeing your new maps and pictures in this last update made me miss playing the game something awful.  It brought me to this semi-melancholic state of mind and made me think about why my grand projects lie unfinished.  Perhaps using a RL landscape as a starting point, rather than being inspirational to me, is instead actually hindering me.  Having access to RL pics and stats...maybe that's blocking me from the type of creative play I seek.  Maybe I am too much a Taurus, too bound to the real, to think "outside of the box" when using a RL landscape.

Years ago I found a very richly detailed map of a section of sea floor off the Altlantic coast, a undersea continuation of the Hudson River Valley.  No one lives there no...it's underwater.  But it's a gorgeous terrain with extensive variety and the continental shelf rises like a monolithic barrier cliff at the far NW end of the map, with just enough of the shelf itself beyond to make a broad flat plain.  This could be a wonderful, maybe even alien, landscape to play with.  I still have the maps, so maybe my buddy Heblem would turn it into a region for me.  

Sorry to go off on a tangent in your MD, David.  See how you inspire us???

Lora/LD

[superhands]

Lora, you raise some very good points about cities and well regions being put out to pasture.
I can remember one of my friends who played sc4 in it's early days, he use'd ta draw roads around every vanilla plop-able building you can imagine.
I had to watch in shame

The "good enough solution is really a temporary place-holder" theory is quite the real. For example the technique of curving networks. Some brilliant community member (forgot his name ) realised that if you plop say a police station, it puts a blue curve on the map showing its coverage area.  the smart thing is that it becomes like a compass. then all that's left to do is draw in the road or avenue. And in a way, Fractional roads/rail are the perfectionists (hint hint) new solution.

David, very very nice work btw.  I can smell more game changing stuff on the horizon.



-Dave

[dragonshardz]

RealRoads is a comprehensive rural road replacement system- that's why it is so important to figure out how to properly mesh it in with the NAM. -DE

I wouldn't call it a rural replacement...I think it would work just as well in an urban setting, albeit with some tweaks.

On another note, I suppose I had better take some time out to finish updating the 3RR Honors List.

~~dragonshardz~~

[mightygoose]

I wouldn't call it a rural replacement...I think it would work just as well in an urban setting, albeit with some tweaks.

On another note, I suppose I had better take some time out to finish updating the 3RR Honors List.

~~dragonshardz~~

well im pretty sure those modifications can be done with the wealth dependent sidewalks? and can you not also have rci zone type dependent sidewalks or am i making that memory up....

[dragonshardz]

Nope, you're right. Wealth-dependent textures and the RCI-sensitive textures you're thinking of are one and the same.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Nice textures , are all the bridges going to get upgraded to include the new texture

EDIT:  That's the plan, Corey!  Thanks for stopping by. -DE

[dedgren]

In the 1970s when the 3RR proposed freeway network was developed...



n.b.: Click here [linkie] for a version you can actually see.  Note, IE Explorer users, that these are .gifs.  The easy-read version in 2,560x2,560, weighs in at about 800Kb, and will open in a new window.

...an inventory was prepared of the structures that were in the path of the routes being laid out.  In the late 70s and early 80s, most of these that were residences were purchased by 3RRDOT under eminent domain and the former owners compensated and relocated.  Since then, where rights-of-way remain unconstructed, wind, rain and the other elements have had their free reign.

The Sociology Department of Pinehurst Polytechnic University updated the inventory in 2008.  The title pic is not a residence, but rather a church in the planned right-of-way of F-60 near Woodstock.  Here are a few more pictures.

F-37 near Pvarcoe


F-21 near Truman


F-437 near Ellsworth


F-28 near Meacham


F-228 near Pineshore


F-28 near Highland


F-37 near Stockholm



David

548408

[Pat]

David you never cease to amaze me!!!! Also thank you soooo very much for the Birthday wishes, I will do my best as my health goes to get on more and play some more again....

[Battlecat]

That's a wonderful set of photos! 

[choco]

Nice textures , are all the bridges going to get upgraded to include the new texture

EDIT:  That's the plan, Corey!  Thanks for stopping by. -DE

David,

would only need a few technical bits to get going.  when ya get a chance, we'll iron it out. 

[dedgren]

This time a year ago I had pretty much turned 3RR into a railyard during the run up to the last major release of the NAM.







We were at about 235,000 page views (I didn't post on February 12, 2009) and had 6,727 comments.  Our great friend Ryan (Ryan B.) had just posted the sad news about Continental Airlines flight 3407 [linkie].  Heather and I were getting ready to head for a cabin for Valentine's Day.



There was nothing about the day to mark it as being a month away from March 12^th- 3RR's birthday.  Oh, sure, we started the quarter-million page views contest a few days later, but that milestone came and went on the first of March [linkie].

Heh!  As I look back, our great friend Dustin (thundercrack83) was, as usual, dead on.



We hit a half million with no fanfare at all by the end of 2009, and we should be close to a million views in the first half of 2011.

But the birthday in 2009- it kind of came and went as far as anything I did.  You folks, as usual, were great- I was feeling, at that point, the first effects of the RL year from you know where.  So, while I guess, birthday-wise, 3RR in 2009 doesn't rate one of these...



...we can certainly do better this year.  And we will.

Four weeks from today, folks.  Four weeks from today.

* * *

Speaking of birthdays, today 3RR Regulars^* MaryBeth (Grneyes) and flame1396 celebrate them.  We haven't seen either in a while, and wish both of them the absolute best.

Later.


David

^* A 3RR Regular... start the chorus... is anyone who has ever posted here, at 3RR-ST or on the 3RR Blog at least once.

548775

[cubby420]

My first post at 3RR! Hooray! 

That means that months from now when September rolls around, I may have the honor of having my birthday acknowledged by SC4 royalty! 

But I guess I'll have to wait my turn... What can I say about this MD that hasn't been said by thousands of others before? Excellent work and keep it up. I'm still trying to comb through and glean what I can from this massive and creative database of info and ideas you've created here dedgren. Your experimenting, humor, and playing with the game and all of its features has undoubtedly enriched people's experience and made the community better for all of us. Sorry to kiss booty but I guess that's all I can do when faced with the massive undertaking that is this CJ/MD...

Peace and love,
Andrew

EDIT:  Andrew, welcome to the ranks of the 3RR Regulars!  The best, as they say, is still yet to come- thanks very much for the kind words- we'll do our darndest to live up to them. -DE

[Teufel285]

Well I have read the first 25 pages of this MD...only 443 to go *sighs* this may take a while too bad I must get some sleep before I go into work tonight. Anyways from what I've read so far, I'm extremely impressed. It's 1:25 PM and I needed to go to bed like 2 hours ago when I found this MD.  The detail that has gone into making those farms and eye candy makes me wish that I had the same degree of artistic ability y'all have.  I'll keep on reading and hopefully will be able to achieve 1% of the greatness I've seen thus far.

EDIT:  Teufel, my friend- thanks so much for making your first post on SC4D here at 3RR.  We've had our share of those over the years, but it's always a special thing to see when it happens.  I wouldn't sweat the 1% thing, either.  I've never really considered myself an artist at SC4 in a class with folks like jeronij, Jim (jmyers2043), and Chris (Chrisadams), but rather just someone having fun with something that is really enjoyable to do.  The game does tend to reward folks who play it over the long term, though.  Thanks again. -DE

[Ryan B.]

Great recap, David.

Families of the Flight 3407 tragedy walked approximately ten miles from the plane crash site to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, in order to finish the journey their loved ones never did.  An estimated eight hundred people made the trek.

If I didn't have to work, I would have been out there, walking with them.

[mightygoose]

another year another string of great achievements.

[metarvo]

I've truly had some good times in 3RR.  It started with the excitement that I experienced when I was new to 3RR and trying to catch up.  Ever since the day that I finally did catch up, I have had endless anticipation of the next 3RR update.  I haven't been disappointed yet, and 2010 promises to be no different.  It looks like I managed to climb back on the boat just in time for the good things that are planned for next month. 

[ldvger]

David-

Not to detract from building anticipation for the upcoming celebrations or to distract from nostalgic looks back, but I have a new project underway and am bugging all my mapping gurus for help.  Lucky you, your one of said gurus.  Rather than taking up space here (or on anyone elses' MDs), I've started a thread over in the Mapping Tutorials forum and am hoping maybe you will find time to stop by there and maybe chip in your $.02 worth of advice. 

Loved the pics of abandoned buildings.  There is a great one in Skagit County, WA, just west of Burlington on Hwy 20 westbound, an old two story Victorian farmhouse complete with a turret at the corner.  It's been many years since I've been by that way so maybe it has fallen or been torn down by now, but I know there are lots of pictures of it out and around.  If it's still standing, one may be able to find it and see it on Google Earth. 

Lora/LD