Three Rivers Region

[Ramona Brie]

Looks really good. Should switch back to US textures to try it out!

What networks can it interface with?


EDIT:  Raymie, hi!  Right now it is still stand-alone, but the RUL 10000002 coding can be applied, with a little texture work, to existing networks.  My whole concept for RealRoads is pretty large, involving several additional SAM sets, but there may be more immediate applications that could be done by anyone with some transit coding knowledge.  As I release an alpha (I won't make the mistake of calling it a beta again), I'll start a thread in the NAM section of the site for discussion along that line.

Great to see you with us at 3RR! -DE

[ldvger]

Well, the big move is accomplished, but I threw my back out doing it, so I anticipate being slow and sore for a couple of days, dang.  Nice, tho, to have a more private space, even have my own boom box turned low.  Bad news is I think my SC4 disk is biting the dust, won't play on the desktop, plays fine on my laptop.  All my other CD's and DVD's still play fine on the desktop, tho, so must be the disk.  I have a new one ordered, shipped today, should be here Monday or so.  The move today also upset my 5.1 surround sound computer sound system, rear speakers work fine, no sound at all from front speakers, guess I'll have to try to figure that out.  But window washers were here doing the building's exterior windows Tuesday and Wednesday (someone having forgotten to schedule them in June), so my next few days are filled with window cleaning tasks (indoors): cleaning the screens, washing the windows, bleaching the blinds.  If my back is messed up as bad as I think it may be, I may have to put those tasks off for a week while I heal up. 

Gonna hard to be without SC4 until Monday.  I have a new region I want to start...

Lora/LD


EDIT:  Feel better soon, Lora- we'll be watching for that new region. -DE

[dedgren]

Heh!  No, it's not a bomb...

A little after seven this morning Alaska Standard Time (GMT-9), I awoke to the sound of the 3RR odometer once again rolling over.  I caught it just before it clicked into place.



In the 1,477 days that have passed since December 20, 2006, you've visited 3RR at the average rate of almost 500 views a day (474, to be precise).  That means, more or less, that someone new, or someone back later in the day for a second look, or a Googlebot, has clicked on Three Rivers Region every three minutes for over four years.  We slowed down some in 2010, but the reasons for that are beginning to fade in the rear view mirror, and I have big plans...

...that's plans, not promises- I would give you folks the moon and the stars if I could...

...for 2011.  I'll note what I said when we hit 100K:

The second 100,000, though, is where things will will really start to happen.

Well, my bet is on a million views by the end of the year, because you haven't seen anything yet.

Here's a chart of our quintuple-zero days here.  It's kind of fun to go back and look at what we were doing way (or not so way) back when.

[tabular type=4]
[row] [head colspan=4]

3RR "00000" Page View Dates and Posts

[/head][/row]
[row] [head]

Views

[/head][head]

____Date____

[/head][head]

_How_Long_It_Took_

[/head][head]

_____Linkie_____

[/head][/row]
[row] [data]

100,000

[/data] [data]

July 6, 2008

[/data][data]

18 months

[/data][data]

Post 4145

[/data]  [/row]
[row] [data]

200,000

[/data] [data]

December 26, 2008

[/data][data]

5 months

[/data][data]

Post 6114

[/data]  [/row]
[row] [data]

300,000

[/data] [data]

May 6, 2009

[/data][data]

5 months

[/data][data]

Post 7811

[/data]  [/row]
[row] [data]

400,000

[/data] [data]

August 28, 2009

[/data][data]

4 months

[/data][data]

Post 8751

[/data]  [/row]
[row] [data]

500,000

[/data] [data]

December 8, 2009

[/data][data]

4 months

[/data][data]

Post 9143

[/data]  [/row]
[row] [data]

600,000

[/data] [data]

April 12, 2010

[/data][data]

4 months

[/data][data]

Post 9671

[/data]  [/row]
[row] [data]

700,000

[/data] [data]

January 6, 2011

[/data][data]

9 months

[/data][data]

Post 9922

[/data]  [/row]
[/tabular]

Thanks again, my friends!


David

700291

[CaptCity]

Thank you, David... For providing that which attracts new 'customers' and which keeps so many coming back. Hats off to you and 3RR   


EDIT:  "Friends," Charlie.  Friends. -DE

[metasmurf]

Now that's some real roads  . As for the interchanges, I would suspect your plain is to get rid of the traffic lights?

Also, how about a "stop line" ? Example: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=64.435827,16.804533&spn=0.006185,0.026457&z=16&layer=c&cbll=64.435733,16.804535&panoid=ABwYwyBbv0_lnbI47kkTmQ&cbp=12,10.78,,0,10.18 . I would imagine you have the same in the states?

[Terring7]

700.000 views?
I'm looking forward for the 1.000.000th view

[noahclem]

Beautiful scenic pics of the real roads!!     Work with those seems to be coming along very nicely. A happy new year to you and congrats on the successful move to the virtual office! In a sense I work from home as well--the bar & cafe I run is attached to my house--and I hope you find it as convenient as I have. I think I can safely assume you'll enjoy your new commute time, which is especially nice for those of us in the far north 

And congrats on 700,000 views 

[Ryan B.]

Now that's some real roads  . As for the interchanges, I would suspect your plain is to get rid of the traffic lights?

Also, how about a "stop line" ? Example: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=64.435827,16.804533&spn=0.006185,0.026457&z=16&layer=c&cbll=64.435733,16.804535&panoid=ABwYwyBbv0_lnbI47kkTmQ&cbp=12,10.78,,0,10.18 . I would imagine you have the same in the states?

Regarding the stop lines . . . . . there may be issues there with mirroring textures.  I had some of the same problems trying to do stop lines for streets a couple of years ago.

Just as long as they don't turn out like this:



While we're on this topic . . . . . is the following setup for railroad grade crossings even possible?




EDIT:  Wait... Ryan.  Did I use a different picture?



Or was I just keeping my hand in at P-shopping?  I'll never tell. -DE

[metasmurf]

Regarding the stop lines . . . . . there may be issues there with mirroring textures.  I had some of the same problems trying to do stop lines for streets a couple of years ago.

That's why we have puzzle pieces 

[thundercrack83]

Congrats, David! Over four years later, and 3RR is still as legendary as the day is started!

Here's to 700K more!

Dustin

[serebii666]

Congrats!

[dedgren]

A peek into the 3RR Texture Lab.



Heh!  You ask - we deliver.


David

701083

[metarvo]

So, is there a way for this setup to be triggered by the presence of a railroad crossing, or will puzzle pieces still need to be used?  Either way, it looks like a winner to me!  It's another 3RR Behind the Scenes moment.

[dedgren]

Nothing up my sleeve...



...Presto...



...Change-o...



Heh!...

. . . is the following setup for railroad grade crossings even possible?

Well, I dunno ... is it?




David

701393

[FrankU]

Nice, David, very nice!

[Terring7]

Good job
Just a question. After building the rails and then adding elevated heavy railroads over them, will those signals still exist? It'll look a bit odd with signals warning you for... train overpasses

EDIT: I suspect, my friend, that we'll work that one out.  The RUL 10000002 code changes I'm making are texture-specific, so the only time the crossing warning/double centerline sequence would be called by the game was when the particular level crossing involved was laid out by the player. -DE

[Jespernilsson]

David you just never sieze to amaze me! I'm so happy I can finally post here now that I am "worthy" (read: now that I've read all the previous pages)!

And a question - did you play Cities XL? And what is your verdict on that game?

Jesper

[ldvger]

David-

Excellent work on the RR Crossing!  I just LOVE realism in game, the more the better, can't get enough.  But what about speed limits on the roads?  I mean, it seems to me that the higher the speed limit on the road, the further away from the RR crossing the warning would appear, right?  Would there be a way to assign distances for the warning from the crossing based on road size?  In SC4, we have streets, roads, avenues, and highways, each with an assumed speed limit (I guess...I never checked to see if the vehicles moving along the traffic networks move at different speeds on different roads).

EDIT:  Lora, I know that the speed limit issue has been looked at by others, and that the automata move at a uniform rate that is determined by the transit type (i.e.: highway, road, street) involved.  It would be great if vehicles would slow down around sharp road curves , up a long hill, or through a rail level crossing.  That one, though,, may well be beyond our power to MOD the simulator. -DE

And Jesper, I have been curious about Cities XL, too.  The new 2011 version just came out and the screenshoots look very good.  My SC4RH disk died on me this last week and I have been jonesing for city play, so I checked out Cities XL, with the idea of maybe buying it.  I especially love the way roads in the game can be laid down at any angle (instead of the default 90/45 SC4 restricts us to) and that it appears to have an above sea level water feature that we sadly lack (see the extensive plug-ins for "plop water" and the equally extensive chatter about game water/plop water transitions on other forums).  However, I also read semi-deeply into the Cities XL forums and found that a lot of folks consider the game very buggy and that patches/fixes are slow in coming, if they come at all.  There are lots of complaints about lack of support from the company that manufactures the game.  Seems the original manufacturer sold the game to a smaller company last year and that support for the game has eroded even further since then.  So, I've been hoping someone who plays both SC4 and Cities XL could compare them side-by-side for those of us who are curious about CXL.  I also wish there was a full-game free trial we could download and play with before shelling out the bucks for the game.  So, if anyone here has tried CXL, please give us a review?

Lora/LD

[art128]

Awesome ! 

[catty]

So, if anyone here has tried CXL, please give us a review?

Lora/LD

I was in the beta and if it had been up to me, that's where it would have stopped, but I was given the release version as a Christmas present last year, so I had a few more attempts playing it and now its gathering dust at the back of my computer, to be deleted when I upgrade the computer.

Its a plop-a-city game and given a choice between SimCity Societies or Cities XL I would pick SimCity Societies everytime, but I haven't tried the latest release so it could have improved since then     

I'll be sticking with SimCity 4 Deluxe with the occasional foray into CityScape or Tropico 3