Port St Claire (#36)

[vortext]

Catching up on the last couple of updates and it's just flat out amazing Willy! The farms look great and the flora detailing is about perfect! 

Though I've to say it's kind of dangerous to leave sheep near water. If somehow they get stuck in the mud or get into the pond their coat soaks up water (it can hold 20 to 30 liters!). Once that happens it's awfully heavy and chances are the sheep can't get itself to dryland, or worse yet, ends up on its back because of it. If no help is offered immediately, the animal will probably die. So, to cut a long story short, better leave the sheep in a fenced of meadow, away from water.

Other than that, i've really enjoyed your OSITM and I'm confident your regular updates won't be less amazing! Keep up the good work! 

[benedict]

Another great couple of updates to end your OSITM - fantastic work.

And it has kept you on top of BTT for a fourth week - congratulations and Happy New Year.

[Dantes]

Amazing pictures.
I can even see just how a house is built! 
Your farms and landscaping is great. I still have much to learn from you, to be more good.

Great pictures again. 

[TheReverend]

I've read through this Diary probably four times, one of my favorites ever. I love your tree controller and T21 mods. Those are honestly what I've been trying to put together for a while. What are your thoughts on uploading those two?

[RickD]

I just read the latest updates. Your Farms look fantastic. Great attention to detail. In the overview I appreciate that you have some variety with diagonals and wooded areas but you did not overdo it.

[eldaldo]

This is quickly becoming my favorite MD.  Do you individually lot every building?  or is it some sort of creative system you have?  also, please keep showing us region views, they are spectacular in spite of being able to see edges.

[benedict]

For yet another week you're number one on BTT - well done.

[Swordmaster]

1.1.   Subtle Bends

I'm always late for birthdays. . .

There's been a lot of non-communication here recently on my part. I have to apologize for not returning to your comments sooner – I enjoyed them all. I've been spending a lot of time testing the new RHW and learning some bits and pieces of RUL code. None of which, of course, is an excuse to send PSC into hibernation. But you all know when you get new toys, the old ones get dusty.

Of course, I'm not posting here without having something at hand, so here is another small stretch of that main road that connects St Claire to the rest of the world. (You do remember our little port town, don't you?)

I really enjoy Girafe's new lindens – be sure to get them before stocks are depleted. I honestly give them an A+ rating.

I'll also note that there's some magic at work here; I'm not sure if you would catch it otherwise. Apart from the fact that I'm redoing the road textures yet again (let's call it honing my skills), there's a little goodie from NAM 31 in here, courtesy of Markus (memo): draggable FA roads. In this stretch I've incorporated FA-2, both at the top and in those large S-curves. Sorry, what grid did you say?

As usual, check out the full version here (3.8 MB)

Replies

Looking at these picture, I almost forget its from SimCity4.

Wow just one word: beau-ti-ful.


Leave that to other people. Pure coincidence that it was post #200.

Hope you have some plans for some more dens city, maybe even w2w.

Hey Arne, thanks. That was a joke about the #200 post. We will honor people here in slightly different ways.

Of course, there will be denser cityscapes, but all in due time. PSC will become a major rowhouse city like Philly and Baltimore, at least the East side. And with a ton of streetcars of course

These are great! Both the overviews and the little details. Such a beautiful scenary.
Happy 2013 to you too

Thanks! Hope your year has started well so far.

Well, it looks like I've made a fine mess of things. I thought I had already posted, but obviously I haven't. I've been awfully busy the past few days, but feel like I haven't accomplished very much.

You're making a grand exit which rivals your grand entrance in OSITM six pages ago! I love the interesting shapes of the fields in 0b. This could easily be an aerial photo. The old farmhouse in 2 shows an excellent job of LEing, and your tree placement is faultless – that's a feature on which I often compliment Noah. As I soak up the details in the next several scenes, one thing especially catches my eye. I love the way you use the sand to soften fence lines, pathways and similar areas.

I also love the water mod you're using. It looks so real in 7 and 9 along with several more which follow these. And yes, Joan would love to live in that lakeside estate. A favorite? You've got to be kidding! Every single one of these little jewels is a masterpiece, but 18 and 15 would be mighty close to the top of the list.

Port St Claire has made a stunning impact this month, and I will, indeed, have a Happy 2013 if you maintain this level of quality which I'm sure you will.

Happy New Year to you and all who read this message...
-Joan

Hi Joan; don't worry – you can't really mess up here. There's enough places in life already where you have to do everything right. Here in PSC you can relax and fumble to your heart's content

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. That farmhouse in 2 was only a slight alteration of Jim's, so LE credits go to him, not me. And be sure that I've taken a lot of clues from Noah's tree placement (among other things).

The water mod is a modification of one by dobdriver. For some reason he didn't change textures between zooms, which means zoom 1 has the same wave sizes as zoom 5. . . I corrected that, and applied my own color palette to it in the process.

An incredible OSITM run, Willy.  This is the kind of MDing that brings all the aspects of what is possible with this game together.  It reads from start to finish like a good story, with the incredible pics doing the talking.

Count on Port St. Claire to be part of making 2013 a great year for playing SC4.


David

Thank you David, that's a great compliment coming from the premier story teller you are. I certainly hope PSC will showcase some of 2013's cutting-edge in modding.

I'm sorry to hear that I had hurt your feelings, I want to smack myself for that.

The farms look great, the rivers look so complex, It's almost like i'm in a little Bi-plane swooping through.

It was a great month with Port St. Claire and it is sad that it is coming to an end. Still, we hope for a bright future to come!


Hope you have a happy new year! 2013, here we come!

Don't worry, my feelings don't hurt that easily (I'm a railroader, I'm used to getting abuse ). Glad to see you liked it. OSITM may be over, but PSC has only just begun.

No 16 is my favorite - your play with our SC4-plants. Very nice rural pics! 

Thanks, and welcome! It's great to know which are someone's favorites.

Your rural pics continue to delight and impress. I wish mine were that good.

Thanks Bruce! All of this only looks good because of the models our community has made over the years. I'm only using their talents.

Willy, my habit of lurking has again gotten the best of me! 

I've been snooping around here throughout December simply being astonished by your work; perhaps I was speechless? The level of intricacy and detail and all-around perfection with which you play the game is something which I have been trying to achieve for years. All of your pictures look like they could be right out of someone's camera; you truly have mastered a rural American scene.

I will enjoy watching the seasons pass both in your MD and as Port St. Claire evolves over the coming four.


Happy new year!
Ethan

Welcome Ethan! Sorry to hear about your lurking but I'm glad to see you realized you were missing out on the best part of SC4D: contributing. Comments like this do a lot for an MD'er and for the community as a whole.

I'm also pleased to hear my scenes look American. I usually have aerial images from New Jersey or Maryland handy when I'm making this stuff.

First comment here, from what I've seen I wish I'd been following this MD from the beginning. I love the rural theme and all the detailing, especially around the river. Makes me want to try my hand at rural areas. Nice work.

No problem Alex, you can post here at your convenience; thanks for doing so! Welcome!

Your speed of updating is really amazing! I'd never be able to create that quality in such a short time! 

Brilliant scenes again!

Thanks Theresa. My scenes don't usually get made in one go. Today's mosaic coincidentally did.

Amazing stuff!!!!

Thanks!!!!

Such amazing rural scenes 

Thanks Antoine! Pretty barren had it not been for your flora.

Your farmlands are great. It's really impressive. 

Thanks, good to see you visit again.

Wow, I feel like every time I turn around for a minute something amazing happens here! The level of perfection of these scenes is...I don't even know what to say. Just wow. I absolutely love the way the water, flora, and terrain look in these scenes. So many good ideas, so much excellent work.

Happy 2013 to you and PSC!!!

The lesson here: don't turn around.    Thanks Noah, I've given my all for OSITM.

Great update!  I love that last far zoom pic - looking forward to what you will surprise us with in 2013 

Thanks! If I get my way, plenty of stuff!

Catching up on the last couple of updates and it's just flat out amazing Willy! The farms look great and the flora detailing is about perfect! 

Though I've to say it's kind of dangerous to leave sheep near water. If somehow they get stuck in the mud or get into the pond their coat soaks up water (it can hold 20 to 30 liters!). Once that happens it's awfully heavy and chances are the sheep can't get itself to dryland, or worse yet, ends up on its back because of it. If no help is offered immediately, the animal will probably die. So, to cut a long story short, better leave the sheep in a fenced of meadow, away from water.

Other than that, i've really enjoyed your OSITM and I'm confident your regular updates won't be less amazing! Keep up the good work! 

Well, that's what happens when a guy who's lived all his life in the city wanders off in the countryside. Let me find an excuse . . . er . . . dumb farmer! Or . . . they've just been shaven! Or, well, I'll keep it in mind next time around. Thanks for the enlightenment!  (And for commenting!)

Another great couple of updates to end your OSITM - fantastic work.

And it has kept you on top of BTT for a fourth week - congratulations and Happy New Year.

Thanks Ben! What do I get if I make it to five?

Amazing pictures.
I can even see just how a house is built! 
Your farms and landscaping is great. I still have much to learn from you, to be more good.

Great pictures again. 

Thanks! I think I still have more to learn from you, actually. Although I won't go Asian style, I presume.

I've read through this Diary probably four times, one of my favorites ever. I love your tree controller and T21 mods. Those are honestly what I've been trying to put together for a while. What are your thoughts on uploading those two?

Thanks, and welcome! Good to see you've dediced to post. I don't intend to upload the tree controller, because both vortext and epicblunder are making good ones. Also, there's a lot of plopped trees in between them, so it's a bit of a mixture. The T21 is a bit too specific to my road textures I'm afraid; the maxis roads are too wide. And I'm not uploading things that aren't at 100% quality.

I just read the latest updates. Your Farms look fantastic. Great attention to detail. In the overview I appreciate that you have some variety with diagonals and wooded areas but you did not overdo it.

Thanks Raphael. I'll keep in mind what you said here; you're probably right that one can overdo it.

This is quickly becoming my favorite MD.  Do you individually lot every building?  or is it some sort of creative system you have?  also, please keep showing us region views, they are spectacular in spite of being able to see edges.

Thanks! My lotting evolved from converting evergreens to seasonals, then I started removing cars and before I knew I was doing way too much work. For the farms I've mostly converted Jmyers' lots to large residentials so I can control where they grow exactly. The actual farm lots are identical to the field lots so you don't notice them. And then there's a handful of ploppables like sheds and things. I should also note that I frequently plop MMPs on the lots after they've grown, so they're individualized. This is one of Badsim's tricks.

For yet another week you're number one on BTT - well done.

Thanks Ben! What do I get if I make it to six?





That'll be all for today, folks. On to the next 10 years!


Cheers
Willy

[MTT9]

What a great pic Willy! I do believe that FA-2 and memo's draggable FA roads will change the game quite a lot. I look foward to using them myself...

[Girafe]

Good job with the flora items 

[vortext]

As usual this is an excellent shot! Though imho the roadtexture is too narrow and clean cut, you may want to extend the shoulders a bit. Other than that I can only echo Girafe, the flora is just gorgeous! 

[noahclem]

A mosaic of tremendous beauty     All the details look perfect but it's even better to know what's going on below. Your texture modding is just beautiful and draggable FAR speaks for itself. How much T21ing is involved here? Just excellent 

[Jmouse]

I believe someone said recently that good things are worth waiting for, and this update proves they were right. Port St Claire has become synonymous with stunning in-game photos ever since I first discovered your work. I especially like the bottom half of this newest shot. Separating the clumps of trees and allowing some weeds to grow in the empty spaces makes for a very realistic scene. And there's some more of that well-placed sand. I'll have to try and copy you.

Really nice mosaic, Willy...
-Joan

[jmyers2043]

That old dirt trail has some subtle bends and turns.      

- Jim

[vester]

Wow is that really SC4 !!! 

[ecoba]

Joan certainly hit the nail on the head when she said that good things are worth the wait. That scene is truly amazing! 


Ethan

[rooker1]

Very impressive mosaic!  Love the amount of detail you have managed to jam into this area.

Robin

[rambuckel]

That's a really beautiful scenery! I wish I'd sit on that cart 

[RickD]

Beautiful pictures. Who would have thought this would be possible ten years ago? Certainly not me.

[kelis]

I just can say amazing !!! Everything is perfect in your pictures, it's like looking at a painting, a work of art, everything fits perfectly.

Keep up the good work