Shaping Invermere Valley - Update 42 1/11/08

[bat]

You have a very nice village there! The harbor looks great, too!

[jimmymac]

bat: Glad you like it  .

Update 7 - Building New Port Talbot

In the previous update we covered the construction of Old Port Talbot. It was one of the origional 4 towns around the basin, of course, as Bedford grew so did the area around the basin. With the inception of the ferry terminals (one in Bayside and one near Port Talbot) it was inevitable that some commerce would build around both. What happened around the Port Talbot terminal however was not expected, over the course of the next 5 years, a town literally sprang up from nothing around the ferry terminal. Taking the name New Port Talbot it took none of the quantness of it's namesake. In this update we will go through the complete construction of New Port Talbot. So lets get to it.

Above we see the Port Talbot ferry terminal, along with the wharf market and fishing boat charters.

The entry into New Port Talbot, the road comes around the basin from Old Port Talbot and then over the river into town. (Note, the bridges have now changed, we will see these in a later update, but I will add a teaser at the end to show how they changed)

First I started by constructing the main street, just a few shops, nothing too big, exactly what a small town should be. It was nice to see the radio station grow in there, because it adds to the look of the town quite nicely, as all the origional towns don't have one.

Next was the second part of the main street, this time the other side of the ferry terminal, nice to see some fast food joints turning up within walking distance of the ferry terminal too.

Now the addition of the train station and the final extension of the main street, this time to join the previous two areas together and add a small stretch of shops around the mass transit systems (ferry and train).

A wide angle shot showing the above shots in context to each other.

Now it's time to add the residential around the town we will start with a little estate in the north east.

A little bit of forestation before unpause and then this happens, man they move quickly.

A zoom in of the estate when everyone is in and a little extra work on the bit in the middle.

Another few hillside houses, paused again to allow me to develope

And some more, it should be noted that not all these zones remained due to some build issues. Next I played johnny appleseed again and forested the area in and then unpaused.

People already moving in to the hillside home, good god, they seem to like living  on steep slopes.

Ditto with the other part too, they moved in quickly and it wasn't long before someone built a mansion in there.

An overall picture of the last two updates, showing Old Port Talbot in all it's classic glory and New Port Talbot in all it's sprawling newness. Finally we have a region shot showing work done so far, same as before, click for a bigger one (it's 3 meg though, so beware)


Now as promised above, here is a comparison shot of the old and new style of bridges for one area, tell me which one you think looks better in the comments please. Firstly the origional style.

And secondly the new version.


Well thats all for today, I hope you all enjoyed this mega update of Shaping Invermere Valley. Take care everyone

[jplumbley]

Awesome update Jimmy... Though you might want to put the region overview into a thumbnail.

That region view is just stunning. I love it.  Best map I have ever seen    And those bridges just look great over the PEGs pond kit.

Keep it up!

[bat]

Fantastic pictures of the port! Also beautiful new areas!

[jimmymac]

jplumbley: Thanks again for designing the map, without that this MD would be kind of redundant, I don't think that "Shaping Blank Region" has quirte the same ring to it. lol

bat: Glad you like the area, we're getting close to the end of Bedford County now and the next area wont be quite so picturesque, but still nice overall I hope.


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Update 8 - Reststops, Retouches and Overviews

In an earlier update we saw the beginning of the highway reststop, well here it stands in all it's finished glory

Overall of the entire area around the reststop, including it's positioning on the highway.

I decided to retouch the wall near the mine, I agreed with the comments that were made, it was too bright, I may still change it again, depends what people think.

Just a quick eye candy shot of the twin bridges and the mountainside railroad leading to it.

Finally an overall of the area showing the 3 towns finished so far. Sadly I couldn't fit the industry in, but when I get the area done I will to a nice mosaic of the area.

So ends update 8. As as precurser to update 10 onwards, here is another teaser of Bedford.


Get in there quick whilst we still have rooms

[HabLeUrG]

wow really nice pictures, and detailed of course

as the map is stunning! 

[tooheys]

That's a nice couple of updates. You've maintained the theme well and provided some beautiful pictures.

Can I ask where the parking lots are from which you used in Update 7, at the ferry landing and railway station?

Cheers

Dave

[jimmymac]

HabLeUrg: Welcome to Invermere Valley, I'm glad you like what you see, hope to see you around more often.

tooheys: Firstly congrats on the move to Ones to Watch. Now as for the car parks they are part of Jeronij's Trail parks, they come in two flavours, Tarmac (the ones you see in those pics) and white (you will see those in a later update)


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This update will deal with a little project that I took on which was suggested by Nardo69 over at ST, which was to alter all the bridges. This update will feature as many before and after shots as possible, so without any further ado, lets get to it.

Update 9 - The Bridges of Bedford County

First Bridges

The Above shot shows the bridges before, the below shot shows them after.


Next Bridge

I don't have a good before shot, but you can see how this bridge origionally came back onto the land after crossing the small river, below is how it looks now


Next Bridge

No before shot for this one sadly but the replaced one fits much better.

Next Bridges

Above shows the bridge and tunnel as I origonally had them, I didn't like the tunnel that much, so I decided to change them and make a rural route bridge and a highway bridge running side by side, it turned out pretty good IMHO.


Next Bridges

This was the origonal series of bridges from old to new Port Talbot. Below are the new bridges.


Then finally we have an overall of the Bayridge area.

And finally the Bayside area.

Finally a region shot of everything so far. (click for the full version, again it's 3 meg in size, so beware).


Ok, here is the end of update 9. I hope you enjoyed the look back at Bedford County, this will be the final update focusing on the county for a while, as we move to Bedford at the start of update 10.

[tooheys]

Thank's jimmymac and I've found those trail parks, appreciate the info.

The road network just gets better and better. The changes look good, and I'm glad you changed that bridge over tunnel scenario.
Speaking from experience, taking Nardo69's advice can do you no harm at all.

Looking forward seeing the next area. Great work so far.

Cheers

Dave

[HabLeUrG]

No problem! I like that bridge next to the tunnel, very creative. also the river with that waterfalls, excellent work!

May I suggest you in adding some more rocks in the "beach" around the river, so that will make it realistic, everything is perfectly well done 

[Pat]

Jimmy simply stunning work here and i do ask where did you get some of those
homes that was in update 7 when you played Johnny Appleseed on the hill???

[jimmymac]

tooheys: I took another Nardo suggestion to heart too, I went ahead and re-addressed all my railways throughout my region to remove the crossings and rail over highway overpasses, it looks much better now but was a hell of a project.

HabLeUrG: Thanks for the suggestion, I will probably try out the rocks when I revist the area for some other edits that I have to do and post some pics to show how it turned out. Also, I just wanted to thank you for some of the bats you have produced in the past, I have no doubt that you will see some of them cropping up in and around Bedford and other towns and cities.

patfirefghtr: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley, I hope you stick around. It took me a long time to gather all the information for this answer as I had trouble identifying some of them, so to make it easier I modified one of the images:


1: Casas Coloniales by debussyman (sadly these no longer seem to be available, or not that I can find on the STEX, LEX or PLEX.)
2. BSC Feld Strasse by tag_one available here.
3. Early 19th century small $ houses by c.p. available here.
4. Rollerhomes by niagaraneagle available here.

I hope those were the ones you were enquiring about, if not then just let me know which ones and I will query them in game and find them for you.


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Update 10 - Welcome to Bedford

With our journey through the towns of Bedford County completed we finally come to the "Emerald City" as it is known by it's residents or "That Ugly Blight" as it is known by the residents of Bedford County.

To start with I drew out a rough outline of streets and avenues (using the new NAM GLR Avenues) I wanted Bedford to follow a non rigid grid like pattern. i.e. Not be completely gridded, but use blocks like in many major cities. At this stage however I made a mistake that would later come back to haunt me and I used normal 2 ways roads for the streets within the city.

I then plopped the Blam tornado tower, the Blam BAST and the Petrona's towers to form the 3 landmark towers in the CBD, and also to help boost land values. Next came the raised park and then finally the zoning could begin. Below shows the very first batch of zoning that I did in the CBD, this was done in 1 sitting of about 6 hours.

Above shows the park area taken from the west, leading into the main part of the business district.

Above shows the core of the business district and the northern most side of the city.

The same shot but pulled back slightly to encompass the park and Park St GLR station.

Every city needs a good city hall, and with all the money he had available the mayor of Bedford made sure his was one of the best.

The north eastern most corner of the CBD and, the City Hall and City hall GLR station.

Two new buildings go in via plop to help throw the land value up in a new area. Also I wanted them in here to form the core of my business district.

Taken from the eastern side of the CBD, a shot showing the excellent diagonal parks by MAS'71.

Finally an overall of the whole area as it stands at the end of this update.

So ends update 10 and the introduction to Bedford, update 11 will come along on within a couple of days and from that point I will be doing a twice weekly update for the MD.

[emilin]

Waoh! Fast development around here. I missed a few updates. Have to say I really enjoyed the downtown the most. It's looking extremly promising with those highrise BAT:s.

[Pat]

Jimmy i thank you very much for taking time in getting that info for me i apperciate it very much.
Gurantee i will be back for more LoL and great update here. Loved seeing the CNIT and a few other
goodies  - pat

[jplumbley]

Very nice downtown area!!  It looks very realistic, for a start.  Cant wait to see more.

[jimmymac]

emilin: Welcome back , Things have been moving along much quicker than I origionally thought, I already have enough pictures for 19 updates, so as long as I can keep going like that I will have a minimum of 2 updates a week.

patfirefghtr: You're welcome, if there is anything else you want me to query then you just need to ask. I completely agree about the CNIT, i knew when I first downloaded it over the Blam anniversary period that I would use it for the centre of a business district

jplumbley: Welcome back, glad you like the city so far, wait till you see some of the later updates as it takes shape.


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Update 11 - High Rent Districts
So in the last update we saw the start of Bedford, and how the business district began to take shape, today we will start work on what will be the crossing point from the highrises to midrise residentials, or what I plan to be my high rent district.

The above shows the area aready planned about (As I said in the previous update, I drew out the avenues before building anything). I didn't like the way the GLR ran between the avenue and the road, so I plan to change it. (You should go ahead and ignore the hospital, it was only there to enable me to grow the towers from the previous update, it will be relocated, so no need to worry about that.)

There much better, it amazing what 20 mins and some patience can come up with.

Next we draw out the zones, lay down some paths, blitz the railway line and flatten the land out for what is to come. I wonder what is going to go in the big gap between the buildings....

A nice GLR station next to the train station for easy transfer for commuters and a GLR line between the blocks, with barriers to prevent people from getting the way.

Next we carry the GLR line downwards to what will become more residential ultimately, and start work on the railway line. I don't like how it looks, so chances are it will change. In the words of Nardo69, railways should not go over road. It should be vice versa.

Next we need some more residential zoning, still all 6x6, and some parking for the station.

Finally we unpause it and get some of SOMY's awesome midrise complexes.

A close up of Murdoch street station and GLR platform.

Finally with the addition of a few park tiles we see an overall of everthing we covered in this update.

I hope you enjoyed this more step by step style update on how I planned out my first residential zone, we will see further expansion on Friday when I return with update 12. Until then, take care.

[Pat]

Great Job Jimmy and you can guarantee that for sure i will ask when i see something i dont have LoL.

[tooheys]

I got the same advice re the rail system from Nardo69 but I must admit I didn't go back and change what had already been done, I can understand how difficult that must have been. I just made sure that I applied Bernhard's suggestions going forward and they do make such a difference. But it's amazing how what appears to be a small change, like no level crossings, effects your planning. It really makes you think about what you are doing which can only be good.

The city is such a contrast to your previous posts. It is looking good, and what I particularily like is that we will hopefully have the opportunity to see how the area grows. A lot of people just like to see or show the end result but for the larger cities it's good to see the planning process and witness the actual growth. Looking forward to following the development of this area. Great work 

Cheers

Dave

[jimmymac]

patfirefghtr: Glad you like the update. I consider myself quite lucky that so far i've only had to search for a few things for people, but i know the difficult question will be coming soon from somewhere.

tooheys: I'm glad you think that Bedford is a great contrast to the towns around it. It was my plan all along to have Bedford look totally different, and almost out of place, as it was supposed to be a city that was built up from next to nothing in the middle of a huge forest. I will keep switching between update styles for the next 10-12 updates to be honest (going between step by step style and explaned style with pictures). This style will continue at least until Bedford is finished, maybe even longer than that.


One more item that is noteworthy: As of today I have decided to go compeltely Maxis free in my game, all civics, parks, landmarks, rewards and growable buildings are gone, as well as all railway/bus stations etc. It will be a much better game for it too IMO.

Update 12 - Where did you sleep last night?

Well it seems that Bedford is very rapidly selling out of all those lovely midrises and people are being forced to sleep in offices, cars, buses parks and also on the GLR, so it's time for phase 2 of the residential project to start, this time we will be extending to the left of the previous update.


Firstly we start by laying down the first section of the paths, a bus stop and something to allow them to cross without getting hit by a fast moving car or truck on the morning run to work.


To the bottom left of this picture you will see the addition of the footbridge to allow them to cross the avenue uninjured and the first set of zoning for the new residential buildings.


Next comes the extension of the railway line. As mentioned in the last update the railway line has now been changed, and will be better seen in a later picture in this update. As soon as I drew the line over the rails I could almost hear Nardo69 grating his teeth...


so a quick change was in order and everyone is happy once more.


The extension of the GLR over the avenue (this time I wanted to keep the GLR crossing, as it fits in well with the GLR in the avenues of the downtown area). I then extended the GLR to run between the buildings, as before, and shielded it using fences to keep the children alive, as before.


A nice night shot of the new area after the game was unpaused.


An overall of the entire area from the last two updates, including the newly added greystone church and the adjusted railway lines.

So ends update 12, in update 13 we will begin what I like to call my urban beautification project. Expect to see update 13 on Monday, until then take care everyone and I hope you enjoyed this update.

[spartanB292]

Wow.




No seriously, i can't think of anything else. Just....Wow.

Great job jimmymac, very nice use of somy's lots, is the square building in the last picture, in the lower right corner the "greystone church" ? could i bequeath you to supply a link to where one could get that? I can't seem to find it.