Port St Claire (#36)

[Swordmaster]

1.4.   Barton revisited

Where have the weeks gone?

Or better, the months. Let's take a look back at what happened here. So I started this MD when I thought my plugins setup was decent enough to keep growing and updating PSC at an acceptable tempo. Of course, that was all reckoned without people like our good friend Matt (MTT9).

PS: Are those telegraph lines in 1.1?

Right. It made no sense to have historical development as a main theme and at the same time try to go the easy way and ignore inconsistencies. Feel free to go back to the first update and see if it looks anything like an 18th century town there. Maybe this would have been fine a couple years ago, but with people like Simcoug and Vortext going all-out creating historic environments, I couldn't stay behind.

So I started dabbling with custom lots. The results were mixed, which people like FrankU and Vortext rightly (and too friendly ) pointed out. Then came OSITM, where I realized I needed a sizeable number of updates to do it justice. In came a gazillion MMPs and some terrain mod sideshows. Easy tricks to circumvent the bigger problem that I still couldn't get around: lotting and the simulator.

Well, I decided to tackle that monster once and for all, or at least try to. It didn't hurt that Simcoug finally released his excellent lot pack [linkie]. This gave me a good basis in addition to the lots I already had. I messed around in the lot editor and reader to get my way and have them grow where and when I wanted. Right now there are around 200 R$ lots in my plugins, all stages one through four. Of course I'm not Vortext, who controls his lots through telekinesis, but I can say this is the first time I'm relatively satisfied with R$ development.

Note that most of the credit for these lots should go to Simcoug. I only multiplied them by cutting them up, rotating, adding a shack, removing some, etc. Moreover, I brought along Badsim's technique of MMPing on lots to bring some additional variety.

So, after reading all of your kind and generous comments, especially the frequent use of the word "rural", I'm happy to return PSC to the urban stage. After all, this MD is supposed to revolve around a city.

That city in our case is still Barton. At the eve of the 19th century it counted almost 5,000 souls, which put it in the top 25 of largest American cities. Most of this growth was the result of the opening up of agricultural lands in the fertile Thunder valley. But since this is already way too much text, we'll go into details next update.

* * *


I went completely ballistic creating another mosaic/panorama; I hadn't expected it turn out this big. So I first post some highlights to watch while you can download the monster. Next update we'll do some closer shots like last time.


Barton church and Market Square.
Widescreen version



Main Street
Widescreen version



Town hall and the Post Office.
Widescreen version



* * *


Barton 1798

I hope at this point that you have a browser that allows dragging images around. I know Firefox doesn't, which is also why I don't use it.


6355x8491 (20.8 MB)

Replies

You are the master of MMP.

Thanks Eugene. If I am, then MMPs are not so hard to master. And welcome to PSC!

Amazing job with the landscapes and MMPs 

Thanks Antoine. Once more your models are a key part of this update.

Great pictures! It's clearly visible that all that MMPing was done with a large amount of passion and accuracy!  I love the colors although I'm really tired of that creepy weather outside ... about 5 - 8 °C, windy, rainy, muddy ... really nasty

Thanks Theresa. Passion, sure. Accuracy, usually not.  Lots of mistakes and then cover-ups that end up like it was all mean to be that way   Appearances is everything. Oh, and here are some spring/summer colors for you

Great update Willy Can't believe i missed that SC4D logo when i checked that "monster".

The new mosaic is awesome. I can't wait to see what's next.

Thanks Matt. Sorry you had to wait so long

Very pleasant pictures. What is very well done is the smoothness transition between MMP and water/terrain textures

The swans are MMP right? If so, the water must be very shallow. How do you do to get the water this way?
I guess with the smallest Mayor terraforming tool (ctrl+alt+1) and then flattering the terrain. Or another way?

Thanks! I worked quite a bit to get the water right for this setting. The swans are MMPs and the water is indeed very shallow, made with the god mode terrain tools. Come to think of it, I once made a mod to alter the terrain brushes to always use softer pressure. So I don't have to set the strength manually anymore.

At risk of offending an extremely talented player I may not remember off the top of my head (or the rest of the period since your last post) I'll go ahead and say you are without peer in your ability to create these types of rural and agricultural scenes. Just fantastic. I've gone ahead and filed your mosaic into the folder I have for exceptional SC4 stuff and look forward to returning to it in the future. And zoom 7?! It's beautiful--and in it's own way hilarious. I had to try the same thing out after I read your post and it's surprising what is possible. But it won't be me harassing the BATters to release ultra HD versions of their work    Probably not anyway   

I'll stop with superlatives and just repeat that I really like it. Super 

Thanks Noah. Without peer   I don't think you can compare players and call one or the other the best. We're all different in our own spheres, and I've been trying to define my own. Having a picture go into that legendary folder of yours is a great compliment for anyone. From what I've heard it's in great company there

The zoom 7 was just something fancy that I thought fitted the detail of the scenes. Whatever other zoom levels have sprouted since then are more jokes and experiments than anything else

Delightful scenery! I love it!

Thanks Bruce! Good to see ya.

The things you do with this game . . ..  I am always in awe.  every time I think I've seen the most realistic MD someone comes along and adds something fresh and exciting to the game.   thanks for doing such a good job at pushing the boundaries of realism in SC4!

Thanks! I hope I'm doing something original, although I haven't deliberately tried to make it ground-breaking either. I don't think it is, actually; it's just building on what others have done before me (Badsim, Ennedi, Dedgren,. . .  ). I realize all this may be a little overwhelming to someone with little MMP experience, but in the end it's not the greatly different thing that people seem to suggest at times. As you can see in the first few updates, I've only started using MMPs after I started this MD, so it can't be that hard.

Willy, these are some of the most magnificent in-game photos I have ever seen. My first reaction was that any one of them would be suitable for framing and hanging on the living room wall. Then it occurred to me that they actually look like quasi-realistic oil paintings that could grace the walls of a museum.

Every one of them is unique, yet they all fit together perfectly. And the vast amount of detailing defies belief. I'll be coming back to gaze in awe at these many more times.

Exceptional work, my NUTty friend...
-Joan

Thank you Joan. These are some serious compliments, maybe these should be framed instead of the pictures   I hope you can get the same joy out of today's picture.

Congratulations - you're number one on BTT this week.

I don't think it is boring at all - each scene you have created is fascinating. I didn't notice the wild pigs the first time around, for example. They are my favorite!

Thanks Ben. I think I could show these pictures a couple times over in each rotation and maybe you'd find something new each time. But that would be cheap, eh? So here's a totally new scene.

What can I say? - - - Truly inspiring!

Thanks, and welcome! What can you say? That apparently we inspire each other

Another stunning update - and those plants really do grow in a fascinating pattern.  Very inspiring - you're definitely making me want to improve my skills with MMPing.

Thanks! MMPing itself is easy; it's getting the best plugins that's challenging. I've changed and added to the existing sets in quite extensive ways over the past few weeks.

Perfect mix of your plant !Just perfect !        

I think I got some inspiration here, thanks for sharing your work , Willy ! 

Thanks, and welcome too! Your OSITM run is awesome!

Oh, this is magnificent, Willy!

I just love the animals there, especially Bambi. Oh, I love deers.

Anyways, amazing work. The monster has grown quite fierce lately. Destroying what used to be "the limits" of Simcity 4.

PS: Thanks for the swans and the ducks.

Thanks Victor! This was all before Xannepan released his er. . . zoo. . . , so animals will continue to feature more than ever.

Hi Willy

I don't expect that you have ever seen my MD but my favourite areas were rural. In this regard, I really like the work you are doing here. The use of farm buildings, your LE work, the use of available flora, fencing and other farm props, all nicely brought together to create some great farming and natural areas.

A pleasure to visit and I will be back.

Well done 

Cheers

Dave

Hello Dave, thanks and welcome! Like I've said, you're quite wrong if you think I don't know your MD   Though I admit it's been a while since my last visit. Nevertheless, there are quite a few older MDs I draw inspiration from, especially when it comes to rural development. And please do come back.

Every picture is art, art great-awesome art   
So good , so incredible 

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. (Sorry no rail lines yet.)

Great work with all that MMPing.  The amount of realistic detail you have managed to add is mind blowing.  And it is a little strange the way your plants grow.....gave me a good chuckle, thanks.  But I like it all!!

Robin

Thanks Robin! I hope you get some ideas here, though it probably won't be as many as I got out of Mind Scape

Your rural scenes are always impressive Willy, great work !

Thanks Benoit! Glad to see you return here, and to get such a nice compliment as well





Have a great time, you all.


Cheers
Willy

[Earwhyckque]

Needless to say, but that is a MASSIVE mosaic indeed. I seriously wonder how much of the enormous amount of detail is 'hand made', and what is generated by the (astonishingly tweaked) simulator. But of course, I understand if that may remain secret forever Great work!

I hope at this point that you have a browser that allows dragging images around. I know Firefox doesn't, which is also why I don't use it.

Holding the middle mouse wheel in Firefox allows you 'fly' through the image, which may ease the pain. It is not an ideal solution, however...

[Kergelen]

Just stunning!

I spend at least five minutes looking at the big mosaic. I love all the details like the small patch of forest with wild boars, the T21ing, and the position of the church, town hall, and commercial street. Great MMPing and atmosphere as usual.

[sunv123]

Oh, great town shot! It's sorta awkward that you have done so well with the lots, when I have been experimenting with them since the minute it came out. (yes, i do refresh the stex quite often.) and still not have gotten as good as you have in that pic. Just got to keep on going, I think.

Even though it's great to see more urban shots, I liked the rural updates a little more. Not saying that this one is any bad, I can still see some good MMP work going on throughout the city.(or town) The rural shots tend to give more "surprises, but the urban ones doesn't feel like everything is all alone. They both have their ups and downs.

Anyways, (sorta got into a mini rambling ) love the mosaic, Willy, it's like you're in an airplane errr, hawk.

lol, I searched up Thunder valley and got the homepage for a casino in California...

19th century has gottten into me right now, don't know why... I just finished downloading a crap ton of SimCoug's MMPs.

[MTT9]

So awesome! The first thing i did was open that masive mosaic and the one from your second update to compare the area. I remember back then, i was a bit scared that you might move foward in time way to quickly, guess i was wrong for good  .

The pics are great as always, espacially around the church. I can already imagine development through time, with those open areas turning into plazas.

The only thing i would be carefull about, are those umbrellas that appear in some lots. I'm not sure if they existed back then, but maybe i'm wrong...

Looking foward to whatever you have in mind

[Schulmanator]

Very nice! You have been busy working under the hood and made all sorts of great new things for us, Nice indeed!

[rooker1]

Not really my style, but I do I can tell you have done it very well.  I like how c.p.'s LOTs fit right in with your dirt roads.  I especially like the the church LOT, great work on MMPs and I love the horse carriages.

Robin

[eldaldo]

Wow,  holy cow that is impressive.  You just keep outdoing yourself.  I have to ask, where are the carriages from?  I have been looking for something like this for a long time.  people seem to do tons of old fashioned buildings but old fashioned cars trains and ferries are hard to find.

[RickD]

I have studied your impressive mosaic and haven't found any real flaws.*  I am not so sure about the colorful umbrellas and the blue plastic barrels but this is real hardcore nitpicking. 




*not that I am in any way an 18th century expert 

[Simcoug]

Great work Willy!  I especially like the town square and market, as well as your use of JBsimio/Spa BATs for the town center.  I'll take full blame for the umbrellas - the variety of 19th century props is pretty sparse, and I felt the lots needed a little sprucing up   I'm excited to see how this town grows up 

[Swordmaster]

You folks have obviously never read Robinson Crusoe, who made his own umbrella. Published in 1719 if you didn't know.




There's no blame to be taken Matt, the old times were not all dreary and bleak as some apparently want them to be.


Cheers
Willy

[Ol.S / Benoit]

Really nice work, I love it !

[The Last Citybuilder]

wow! nice work, willy! I am quite curious how this town will develop into a modern 21st century city.

[rambuckel]

Great pictures again, Willy!!!!  I just read a story which played about the time you show with your pictures and your pictures really match the imagination I had while reading. And it's really similar to Tom Sawyer's time! I love that story so I have pictures of that little redhead in my mind letting his friends paint the white fence.

Thanks so much for these moments of most welcome memory!

[vortext]

Looking good there Willy! 

The streets are so lively, makes me want to go back to streetside t21ing.   

As for telekinesis, you forgot to mention the magical unicorn which actually does most of the work. 

Keep it up!

[sim_link]

Wow - that overview is awesome! Every time I stop by here the quality is sublime. Nice work, Willy! 

[Badsim]

Hi Willy ,

Like Robin , not my favorite subject .... but I'm once more amazed by the sweep and precision of your work ... 





Cédric.

[Jmouse]

Another amazing batch of photos, Willy. The first one is especially appealing to me because of the church. I never would have thought of putting that somewhat elaborate model in such a rural kind of setting. It looks great there, though.

Main Street is charming, and I love the covered wagons. The Town Hall and Post Office scene is laid out to perfection, and once again, the level of detail you include without making the scene look cluttered is astounding. I can only imagine how much work was – and is - involved here.

-Joan

[noahclem]

Lovely work Willy    You're work with the lotting has really paid off and I love the period automata (or T21 props, not sure which). I can certainly see the amount of time that went into the update! I think the most special thing about this update is how unique it is in it's age and quality and for that I'd not shy away from calling it groundbreaking. The large-scale pictures, particularly the big one, make for great presentation and I can confirm that the big one made it's way into my aforementioned folder several days ago   Long live PSC 

[Swordmaster]

1.5.   The End. . .

Apparently, this is the end of my MD, folks. I was going to take some snapshots today, but when I tried to load my city I got this message.













Okay, that's about all I'm gonna say about the new game. Move along. . .


Couple more snapshots from Barton. No one dare mention umbrellas or I'll . . . . . . . remove them okay.


1.  So they have a pier, yes. Does not qualify as port, though, so it's not gonna be Port Barton any time soon.
Widescreen version



2.  Notice these rocks? VIP material, but I modded the MMP so that it stops clustering into the big rocks. That way you can just paint some small rocks without being scared of ending up with those giant pebbles. I'll see if I can release something for those interested.
Widescreen version



3.  Makes these shores a lot easier. So you don't go thinking I spend hours on them – I didn't.
Widescreen version



4.  Maybe you also wonder what's up with them Girafe bushes? Well, there's two sizes. The normal ones and a second set of resized bushes. Side by side, pretty neat I'd say.
Widescreen version



5.  Okay, I'll admit those purple umbrellas are probably out of style here.
Widescreen version



6.  Cattails have been resized, too. . .
Widescreen version

Replies

Needless to say, but that is a MASSIVE mosaic indeed. I seriously wonder how much of the enormous amount of detail is 'hand made', and what is generated by the (astonishingly tweaked) simulator. But of course, I understand if that may remain secret forever Great work!

I hope at this point that you have a browser that allows dragging images around. I know Firefox doesn't, which is also why I don't use it.

Holding the middle mouse wheel in Firefox allows you 'fly' through the image, which may ease the pain. It is not an ideal solution, however...

Hello, and welcome! Thanks for visiting. Yes, it's massive, but so is my ego   What I've always wanted to do is transfer what I see in the game to your screen. These monster mosaics do it quite well, but I won't overload everyone's bandwith every update – I'll make do with small pictures mostly. You wouldn't want to know how much time it takes to stitch together 35 images.

There are no hidden wonders in PSC, it's just lots + MMPs. Most of the trees and all carts are MMPed on the lots. What I wrestled with was getting growth stages right, but you may not see anything of that in the pictures. It's only obvious to me when the simulator runs.

I tried that middle mouse in FF, but it's cumbersome. I still don't like that browser. Thanks for the tip, though.

Just stunning!

I spend at least five minutes looking at the big mosaic. I love all the details like the small patch of forest with wild boars, the T21ing, and the position of the church, town hall, and commercial street. Great MMPing and atmosphere as usual.

Thanks Kergelen, good to have you here again. I hope the atmosphere is about right. I see some people don't like the umbrellas

Oh, great town shot! It's sorta awkward that you have done so well with the lots, when I have been experimenting with them since the minute it came out. (yes, i do refresh the stex quite often.) and still not have gotten as good as you have in that pic. Just got to keep on going, I think.

Even though it's great to see more urban shots, I liked the rural updates a little more. Not saying that this one is any bad, I can still see some good MMP work going on throughout the city.(or town) The rural shots tend to give more "surprises, but the urban ones doesn't feel like everything is all alone. They both have their ups and downs.

Anyways, (sorta got into a mini rambling ) love the mosaic, Willy, it's like you're in an airplane errr, hawk.

lol, I searched up Thunder valley and got the homepage for a casino in California...

19th century has gottten into me right now, don't know why... I just finished downloading a crap ton of SimCoug's MMPs.

Yes, rambling indeed. But if anywhere, this is the place to do it my friend – I hope you keep rambling on. I have to admit the lots have changed considerably. So it would be unfair to directly compare. Like I said I made around 200 lots out of the pack.

Sorry to hear about the rural preference. PSC is definitely an urban area – it's just very early in its history. But it'll get better, I hope, through time. To make sure you don't run away I stuck some trees in today's pictures

Thanks as well for reminding me that people may not always follow what I'm rambling about myself. The Thunder valley is decidedly not in California. I'll try to get to mapping in the coming months.

So awesome! The first thing i did was open that masive mosaic and the one from your second update to compare the area. I remember back then, i was a bit scared that you might move foward in time way to quickly, guess i was wrong for good  .

The pics are great as always, espacially around the church. I can already imagine development through time, with those open areas turning into plazas.

The only thing i would be carefull about, are those umbrellas that appear in some lots. I'm not sure if they existed back then, but maybe i'm wrong...

Looking foward to whatever you have in mind

Aha, at least someone who remembers where we started   Testimony to your consistent commenting here – this was your 25th comment in PSC. I owe you something!

Very nice! You have been busy working under the hood and made all sorts of great new things for us, Nice indeed!

Thanks Bruce. I'm gonna stay under the hood for a little longer. . . you'd be surprised at all that's brewing there.

Not really my style, but I do I can tell you have done it very well.  I like how c.p.'s LOTs fit right in with your dirt roads.  I especially like the the church LOT, great work on MMPs and I love the horse carriages.

Robin

Not your style, not your style. . . you better make it your style cause we'll be stuck in the horse-cart era for a couple dozen more updates.    But I'm happy you commented Robin, and please speak your mind as often as you want. (We'll get some industrials going once the railroads come rolling in.)

Wow,  holy cow that is impressive.  You just keep outdoing yourself.  I have to ask, where are the carriages from?  I have been looking for something like this for a long time.  people seem to do tons of old fashioned buildings but old fashioned cars trains and ferries are hard to find.

Thanks eldaldo. The carriages are props in RT mega prop packs 1 and 2. You're right about the lack of old vehicles. I'll need to find a way around that before too long.

I have studied your impressive mosaic and haven't found any real flaws.*  I am not so sure about the colorful umbrellas and the blue plastic barrels but this is real hardcore nitpicking. 

*not that I am in any way an 18th century expert 

Raphael, hardcore nitpicking makes us proud here. There can never be enough attention to detail. However, I won't remove the umbrellas   I have removed hundreds of props and added hundreds of others. We had plastic swings, chalk outlines, bicycles, paper-roll trees, and dozens more all over the place. If these two are the only ones that remain, I'm a happy man!

. . .

Okay, I'll give in. I was gonna break out the bulldozer anyway cause there's some other things I'm not happy about. Perfection is expensive. I'll take some more pictures first, though.

Great work Willy!  I especially like the town square and market, as well as your use of JBsimio/Spa BATs for the town center.  I'll take full blame for the umbrellas - the variety of 19th century props is pretty sparse, and I felt the lots needed a little sprucing up   I'm excited to see how this town grows up 

Thanks Matt, your approval counts as something here. I'll give it away before the excitement kills you: Barton will be the first railroad center in the region.

Okay, you probably would have expected that already

You folks have obviously never read Robinson Crusoe, who made his own umbrella. Published in 1719 if you didn't know.

There's no blame to be taken Matt, the old times were not all dreary and bleak as some apparently want them to be.

Cheers
Willy

Hey Willy, thanks for commenting.

Wait a minute, I know you. . .

Really nice work, I love it !

Thanks Benoit!

wow! nice work, willy! I am quite curious how this town will develop into a modern 21st century city.

Hello Quinten, good to see you here. Welcome and thanks for commenting.

Hope I won't disappoint you if I say PSC won't reach the 21st century. I have fixed the end date on the year 2000. And I don't even expect to reach that anytime soon   However, I'll try to speed up into more interesting times ASAP, for my own health.

Great pictures again, Willy!!!!  I just read a story which played about the time you show with your pictures and your pictures really match the imagination I had while reading. And it's really similar to Tom Sawyer's time! I love that story so I have pictures of that little redhead in my mind letting his friends paint the white fence.

Thanks so much for these moments of most welcome memory!

Thanks Theresa, good to see you, I mean read you   I read Mark Twain when I was a kid and I think it stuck. Our Mississippi has a different name, is all. I'm not good at thinking up stories, though, so I'll leave it to your imagination.

Looking good there Willy! 

The streets are so lively, makes me want to go back to streetside t21ing.   

As for telekinesis, you forgot to mention the magical unicorn which actually does most of the work. 

Keep it up!

Thank you sir, I hope it all doesn't look too amateurish. I did have on trick up my T21ing sleeve, though. Instead of making a ton of exemplars with "empty" spaces to alternate with the occupied ones, I made a couple prop families for those carts with a large number of blank props in them. So actually, almost every tile has a T21 prop on it, but they're mostly blank

Wow - that overview is awesome! Every time I stop by here the quality is sublime. Nice work, Willy! 

Thanks! I do my best to do something nice here each time.

Hi Willy ,

Like Robin , not my favorite subject .... but I'm once more amazed by the sweep and precision of your work ... 





Cédric.

Okay, I accept this from you. But I hope you won't stay away because of it   Mediterranean landscapes are also not my style, but I thoroughly enjoy it when you do it. Thanks for visiting again!

Another amazing batch of photos, Willy. The first one is especially appealing to me because of the church. I never would have thought of putting that somewhat elaborate model in such a rural kind of setting. It looks great there, though.

Main Street is charming, and I love the covered wagons. The Town Hall and Post Office scene is laid out to perfection, and once again, the level of detail you include without making the scene look cluttered is astounding. I can only imagine how much work was – and is - involved here.

-Joan

Thanks Joan, I somehow thought you would like that church. I'll have some more pics of it soon but I need to do some things around it first. As for the effort, there was actually less work involved with those areas you would probably most suspect it from. It's an MD'ers aphorism that those things you spent most time on get the least attention, and vice versa. Although I suspect it doesn't really apply here cause folks like you have been very generous in their comments.

Lovely work Willy    You're work with the lotting has really paid off and I love the period automata (or T21 props, not sure which). I can certainly see the amount of time that went into the update! I think the most special thing about this update is how unique it is in it's age and quality and for that I'd not shy away from calling it groundbreaking. The large-scale pictures, particularly the big one, make for great presentation and I can confirm that the big one made it's way into my aforementioned folder several days ago   Long live PSC 

Hello Mr. Clem, thank you sir. Props it is – automata are true 3D models, remember? Thanks for these great compliments. I'll not make too many "groundbreaking" big pictures or you'd need a new hard drive

Whether PSC lives long or not will depend on the work you and I and maybe some other folks are facing in the coming months. You know what I mean. . .






I'll be back ASAP.


Cheers
Willy