Ennedi plays Shosaloza

[figui]

excellent landscapes, excellent road network, excellent landmark, excellent slopes, excellent power grid, excellent nature scenes, excellent dunes and excellent teaser for what is to come.

i'd say the same
after this, what can we expect about the full sized update?

btw, those dunes look like as the coast in Uruguay 

mauricio.

[Badsim]

Hi Adam , 

Those dunes are fantastic , indeed ...

Thanks so much once more for being that kind of SC4 adventurer exploring for us the unsuspected possibilities of the game ... I wonder if there's a end , and to visit your MD is each time like to receive a refresher course to remember that SC4 is the best game ever made ... and for a long long time to come . Yes , thank you .

I admire too your skill and patience to build your roads network , even if that's not my favorite subject . You know, these interchanges always look a bit overscaled and/or rough ... and most of all , I can't bear all these tiles you can't control anymore ( I mean "work on" anymore ) ... that's a pity . Looking at the two farthest views about the making of this network ( just before the dunes ) and remembering your quote of the wonderful Lago Di Como , I hope you'll make this beautiful ... Looking at these incredible views with the dam  , I don't worry that much though .

It was a great pleasure .

[szarkoz]

Such a fantastic work Adam!

The traffic network layouts are very complex and realistic. You're not only a great sculptor, but also a good planner!

And those dunes... just like in Poland, this is what describes them perfectly, and I think that's a great compliment

I'm looking forward to more!

[thundercrack83]

Welcome back, my good friend!

And with another fantastic update, too! I love all the bridges and the transportation networks you've set up, I can't wait to see how things develop further! And those beaches look absolutely wonderful, too! I'll be lookign forward to seeing more!

Oh, and congratulations on 300 comments, too!

Take care, Adam!

Dustin

[TheTeaCat]

Words fail me 

You go and do it in style when you tease us my friend

A mini tutorial stuck in what most people would be happy with for an update - Classy

Oh boy am I looking forward to the update


TTC

[Yoman]

Incredible update here Adam, I looked over it twice and it really inspired me (though I don't have the terrain to make something like this). I can remember driving along alpine highways like this in northern Italy when I left Rome (where I lived for 3 years). And you've captured the feeling very well. I lived there when I was young so I used to play a game where I counted the power line poles (not sure how its fun, but well I was 7 ). So you've got that detail smack on.

During my recent visit to Vancouver and British Columbia Canada I drove along a highway (Canadian highway 1) that dug itself into the side of the mountain above the city much like this, after that it went along the fijord which was spectacular.

Anyway I see several interesting things you could develope out of this setup. The 3 way avenue interchange at the mouth of the river is perfectly placed. I can just imagine driving along this road waiting and needing to decide to stick to the mountains along the coast for that view, or to cross over the bridge for another incredible one. Well I guess it would depend on my destination.

I look forward to see what you do with these areas and to another one of these "teaser" updates  (what complete crap, that was a full update, and a fabulous one it was  )

[Jmouse]

The transport system looks great and fits perfectly with the terrain. I noticed several tunnel configurations and will study them at length along with the other elements when time permits.
Meanwhile, it's good to see you back in the game.

Until next time...
Joan

[LoneRanger]

Ennedi, you are deffenetly a landscape wizzard it's breathtaking what you can do with this game when it comes to landscaping. 
Not just this topic but I remember the pictures you showed in the "transparent ploppable water" topic. 
This MD is so inspirational, briljant even.   

* LoneRanger wonders if there are worms in those dunes.. 

[paroch]

Hi Ennedi,

I really enjoyed that update.  The way you use different elements of the available roads is very impressive.  And that junction where the lanes swap sides is both crazy and awesome at the same times.

And the dunes are great too - looks like Camber Sands on the south coast of England.

All the best,

Paul

[Shadow Assassin]

Wow, what a beauty. I love what you've done here.

[Pat]

Adam simply breath taking i love the dunes and what did you use to get the fencing in there???

[bat]

Really beautiful pictures there! And fantastic update, too! Wonderful work on that roads!!

[beskhu3epnm]

You old snake, you!

You seemed to have experimented with exemplars that I haven't! The dunes are the icing on a huge cake.

Pictures are worth 1,000 words, my friend. Your pictures do all the talking here. I sense a revolution in terrain modding coming about. Every update keeps getting better and better.... The effect of the small beaches around the mountains, while the sharp river banks rise look absolutely alien for SC4. Incredible...

[Shadow Assassin]

My favourite picture's the one with the cable-stayed bridge. It fits there perfectly.

I'm lovin' it.

[Berethor]

Always is a pleasure see an update of your MD. The terrain, nature, roads, everything is beautiful 

[Toichus Maximus]

Ennedi, your MD here has always been my favorite. I'm a big fan. The dunes are actually amazing. My experiments to try and make dunes with ploppable beach never turned out anywhere near as nice.

May I inquire as to what water mod you used during your beach shot? I like the look alot, and it isn't one I'm familiar with.

[Ennedi]

Hello my friends,

No update today, only replies and a little surprise



The break was really long, I must start from 13th November 

Pat: Thank you my friend for your visit, it's always a pleasure to see you!

Jmouse: Hello Joan, another nice guest here!
I don't know if you found the Heblem's mod and gray marble rock mod, I will look for them after posting this message 
Edit: found Gray Marble Rock Mod

bat: Hello bat, thank you for your continous support!

rooker1: Hello Robin and thank you, I remember my troubles with choosing the terrain mod which would be good for me, so I decided to make it a bit easier for others. And these modifications are really easy (although it isn't all we can do with terrain properties).

Heblem: Very nice you like my pictures, your terrain mod is really very good, maybe we will cooperate a bit with these mods in future?

tkirch: Welcome in Shosaloza, I'm glad you like it! This game really has a potential and our knowledge about it is far from complete. I think great cities should have an apropriate surrounding 

shanethemain: Thank you for your nice words, I hope my tips will be useful for you. If you like these pictures, please visit me again!

meldolion: Hello Luca, Making these comparations I was thinking about your new great map too!

sebes: Thank you very much, I'm not sure if I'm a champion but I like my award! 

Badsim: It's very nice to hear you can use some of my information, I learned a lot from you and I hope I will learn more in future 

thundercrack83: Hello Dustin, yes it is possible to spend a lot of time only playing with these landscapes, and there is a lot to discover
yet! I'm glad you (and some others) like these lights with Gizmo's mod, I noticed weak lights are a problem for many people using this mod.

Sober: Thank you very much, of course you can be spoiled and you can have wishes - it's only a new occasion to the next great play! 

nedalezz: thank you, it's one of the most fascinating aspects of this game that it enables researching and experimenting, and it is not
only visually amazing, but it's also an excellent intelectual exercise
Here are your Highway Light Towers

tooheys: Hello Dave, always nice to see you! It's a great pleasure to hear that something I show can inspire somebody! From this time you have written your comment (20th November) you achieved amazing results with TPW - if there is any little part of my work in it, it's
really a great satisfaction!

capo: Thank you very much, it's especially nice to read your positive opinion remembering your great work with landscapes! It's a great
pleasure to show something interesting and then to see others make a good use from it 

keyboardconfessional: Thank you Jamie, I like to build cities too, but I think it is good to live in the beautiful city and to have beautiful landscape around it. Many people don't have time to play with terrain, forests and so on, but I want to show them it isn't difficult and they can easy arrange a nice environment for their urban creations 

cameron1991: Welcome in Shosaloza, I'm glad you like these lights!

paroch: Hello Paul, I'm glad you like my beaches, you have beautiful beaches in West End too 

gmavignier: Hello and welcome in Shosaloza! I'm glad you like it and I hope you will find more interesting things for you in future!


And now replies for your comments after the last update (13th December):


meldolion: Hello again, if it's really an inspiration for you it means I didn't waste my time 

tooheys: Hello Dave, thank you for nice words! This roundabout on the island will be important, this island will look different, there will be a ferry port here and it will need an exit. I will have a big problem here, the ferry port needs a large parking, I have to build a multi-level or underground one 

suplado!: Thank you, I'm glad you like Shosaloza 

capo: Hello again capo! Looking at these open mouths I'm not sure - is everything right with my dunes?    Thank you and visit me again!

gmavignier: Very nice to see you again, trees, forests and other flora will be showed and discussed here in the near future, I think it will be shortly after the New Year. I'm glad you like Shosaloza!

figui: Hello Mauricio, You are a very nice guest here!
Sorry, you must wait a few days more for the full-sized update (not very long) - and maybe I will have a little present for you in future? 

And what you say that my dunes look like the coast in Uruguay is a great satisfaction for me, thank you!

Badsim: Hello Cedric, it's always very nice to read your comments!
About these roads - I understand you, it's very difficult to create realistic looking roads in SC4 because of their specific behaviour. Original Maxis roads look strange, especially their curves. But we must remember the most important factor for their creators was functionality. Their intention was to save as more space as possible (it's a reason of unrealistic curves) and to save CPU and memory resources. Now we have better computers and most of us use large city tiles. So we can build roads in another way (RHW and MIS are a good example), I'm sure there is still a lot to do on this field.
In my opinion most interchanges are not overscaled - they need a lot of space in RL too - but we simply have too little space in our cities. If we are trying to save space, we achieve rough and strange interchanges.
I hope new NAM Team creations will improve this situation a bit, but I think the most effective method we can use is an art of illusion, I will try to show what I mean in future, but I think you understand 

szarkoz: Thank you very much! You are right, what you say about these dunes is a great compliment for me!
What a strange thing - Mauricio says they look like in Uruguay...
These are simple pictures, I know they are not perfect, but if I moved somebody's imagination (at least a little) - it's something great for me! Thank you all!

thundercrack83: Thank you Dustin, yes these networks are only a preparation and they are unfinished, my intention was to show the building process and hear your opinions, I only hope I will be able to build something interesting here 

TheTeaCat: Hello Derry, what a nice visit! Please wait a few days more for the update, RL is merciless, you know 

Yoman: Hello Owen, it's a great pleasure you can confirm there is a bit of these alpine valleys atmosphere in my pictures! I love these
roads, every time when I was driving to the South Europe, I looked at the map and planned the most challenged (and sometimes stupid) way
looking for the highest alpine passes. It was a great pleasure for me, but sometimes I was feeling a bit strange driving all the day, when the weather changed 10 times per day and I went from the fog to the sun and from the sun to the storm 
Yes I know it's a complete crap, but yes you can expect a few "teaser" updates before a complete one  , you know how difficult is to prepare something good 

Jmouse: Hello Joan, good to see you too! Thanks for visit!

Lone Ranger: Thank you, I'm glad you like my pictures!

Mmmm, worms... Do you mean something like this?



Sorry, too little sand, too much water - you can only expect this



Paroch: Hello Paul, thank you! I will work on these roads, they are not enough good and enough crazy yet 
And thank you for nice words about dunes! Now I know three good places for them - Uruguay, Poland and England It seems I have to develop
this theme - and do it yourself, it is really simple!

Shadow Asassin: Hello SA, I'm glad you like pictures and the bridge, I had another one in this place, but changed it

Pat: Thank you, I will find this fencing for you and send you by PM!

beskhu3epnm: Hello Travis, yes we will play with terrains together! Without your help I wouldn't be able to start with these exemplars -
thank you! 

Berethor: Welcome and thank you! Your own MD is very original, I'm glad you like mine!

Toichus Maximus: Thank you for you good opinion!, Yes, I also made experiments with ploppable beaches and wasn't satisfied, especially
because of water. Now I'm thinking about something different: researching terrain mods a bit more (I will show another kind of dune coast in the near future) and making various beach stuff on transparent bases (it would be good if one of our lot editing masters would do it).
This way we will be able to make beaches of our dreams 



Looking at my region it's obvious I should extensively use slope mods. There are some of them, I was always in trouble which one is the best and in which situation? But I was always getting nervous trying to make soft road on the slope and seeing all these bends.
Look below, this is bones1 slope mod, the slope is about 50 m high:

15,5.1


And this slope is created using the Ground Lifter (Hole Digging Lots) and it has 15 m:

15,5.2


Some people know how to make perfectly soft roads (SA for example). Jeronij invented the micro-terraforming method using Mayor mode tools,
I developed this method and use it extensively. But it needs much time and patience.
I started to think what can be done with the slope mod to make networks more soft and to be able to build them on relatively steep slopes
in the same time. Played a bit and...

15,5.3


15,5.4


These are first results and the work is not finished yet. There are some funny side effects (look at the upper avenue), they appear in some special cases, not always and not with every network

15,5.5


It seems I invented a new kind of windy roads 
But it can be fixed. I found a manual method (look at the lower avenue), but it is a few clicks too much and I want to fix it in the mod itself.
There are some other things we can do with slope mods and I think we can create a "slope tool set" with a few mods and use various mods
depending on our actual building need.

What do you think about it? 

[nedalezz]

I personally never figured out to properly work slopes to my advantage, but what you are doing looks fantastic.

[Jmouse]

Oh boy, this is going to be very interesting since I've struggled with a slope or two recently!
I like the avenues in 15,5.3, 5.4 and 5.5. The streets in 15,5.3 and 5.4 look good, too. If I had to pick only one MOD, and that's what we usually have to do, I like 15,5.4.
Of course, the height ratio appears to be greater in 15,5.1 than it is in 5.4, and different elements (street, road, avenue, rail, etc.), react differently to identical slopes. At least they do with the slope mod I'm using.
Also, in looking at 15,5.3, I wonder if the sharp humps between transport elements could be softened by placing the elements a little farther apart (maybe six tiles instead of three?).
You must know by now that fooling around with source codes and exemplars is way over my head , but I am very interested in the end result of your experiment even though I'm still wandering around in the sand dunes!
Once again, you are a pioneer.

Until next time...
Joan

[thundercrack83]

I've always considered slopes to be one of the major, defining obstacles for good and great players. Those who can master slopes are the great ones, and then...there's me!

From seeing what you've done already and what you can do, I believe you are one of the great ones! I can't wait to see what you can come up with, my friend!

Dustin