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Blackwater (with Islas Gemas)

Started by emilin, January 25, 2007, 10:56:35 AM

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emilin

#220
I realised that the last part of the port tutorial was a bit large to finish in one go, so here now comes part Va, to be followed by Vb when I'm completly done with it. You will soon understand why it took a little more time than expected - it had nothing to do with real life, but more with me being stubborn about sticking to some really hardworked BAT:s. I think I got it right in the end, but it took about three times longer than if I had chosen to work with easier BAT:s.

On another note: today has been rather hectic so I don't really have it in me to go and comment on all the great stuff published by others, but be sure that I have noticed your work, and I will be back to comment on it tomorrow.


Personal replies:

Air6: Thank you for your congratulations and I'm glad you enjoyed the mosaic.

GMT: Thanks a lot. A bit more coming right up, but in a less photoedited fasion.

thundercrack83: Hehe, thank you so much! We'll just have to see about those next 200 comments, but the activity of this community is so high right now I guess it's not impossible.

pvarcoe: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. The superimposed shots were originally thought to cover up the fact that most of the mosaic is just plain ocean (which I did want since it is an island region, but I didn't want to be all that empty) so I'm very glad that you think it worked.

Badsim: Thanks! Those are actually real "ingame" cars. I have used traffic generators for some earlier shots in this journal, but that particular town is all real. I guess the sloped terrain makes it hard to use alternative routs, so despite the fact that it is a small town they all go the same way to work.

MAS71: Thank you so much! It makes me very proud to see your comment here, and I very much appriciated your very kind words on my building in the japanese BAT thread.

zniehadajet: Already answered the gamerelated question, but also of course a huge thank you for that extremly nice comment about Islas Gemas.

kimcar: Thanks! I'll be trying my very best...

bat, Thank you so much, bat!

Cali: Thank you, and congratulations to you and your new wife! I'm married since seven years myself. I hope you have a long adn happy marriage.

kwakelaar: Thanks for commenting! My dog is actually rather reserved towards strangers (she just doesn't care), and has some clearly princesslike manners which can be quite disturbing sometimes. I adore her, but she is only sweet to the people she really likes. Oh, and she is also in my avatar, but in a rather stilized version of course.

rooker1: Thank you! It took quite some time to assemble, so I'm very glad you liked it.

Rayden: Thank you! I guess you already know how impressed I am by work on Shozalosa, so I don't have to tell you how much a comment like that is worth when coming from someone like you. Again: thanks!

sebes: Thank you so much!


Thoughts on Ports, part Va

Time to build a port from scratch then. I will now go into detail about the devleopment of the port of Santiago de Zafiro in Islas Gemas. Santiago is losely based on Santa Cruz de Tenerife, but scaled down to about one third of the size. This will also have impact on the port, but I will try to maintain the overall concept as good as I can.

First we take a look at the real life counterpart with the assistance of Google Earth. Here's an overview of the port of Santa Cruz. As you can see it is a quite complicated structure built in difficult terrain:



And here's a closer shot of the port divider:



Just to the south (outside of the overview shot) is a rather interesting structure. It's an old oil jetty, with tanks on the sure and what looks like rudimentery refinery site (the brownish clutter in the middle). The size of that tanker is about 150m which leads me to believe that the water is not extermly deep, at least not for a petroleum harbour. The fact that it is located outside the normal port, however, hints that it is an early deep sea terminal. Though refinery items are present it is reasonble to assume that this is mostly used for import of oil intended for power plants - not refining into petroleum. They're not big enough for that:



When we move a little further up the site we enter an old container terminal. Once again, the size of the ships tells us that the water is compairably shallow. I'm not sure what those ships berthed at the pier actually are (due to bad picture quality). They could be some cargo ships, fishing trawlers, dredgers or even the coast guard. Your guesses are as good as mine:



Just inside the container harbour is a marina:



As we move along to the "upside" of the divider it looks like a large cruise port. Not at all surprising considering the kind of island Tenerife is. We can also see another marina structure just at the edge of the cruise port that looks absolutly beautiful. I will show a closeup of that structure too:





When we look at the remaining part of the port it becomes obvious that it is to a large extent actually two ports, and that the later part is much more modern and probably also located in deeper waters. Here we see a container terminal with huge ships (one is over 300m) and also another oil jetty (just outside this picture is a tanker ship of over 250m that is obviously exiting from that jetty):



And just above the modern part of the port is some sort of fishing harbour/marina:



So, if we go back and summarize what can be seen in the overview shot, it is something like this (obiously a lot of it is my speculations, so please correct me if you have better information):




That was the original port, now let's see what we can use. This is the spot I'm going to use:



Since it is much smaller I cannot maintain the structure with two of everthing (one old and one modern) so I have chosen to stick to the older structures. It seems to me that Islas Gemas is a little less developed than the real Islas Canarias, so it seem like the proper way to do it. The next is a shot of the same spot when basic terraforming has been done:



The terrain is diffult to begin with, and to add to that is that it is located on three different city tiles (who said this was going to be easy, hehe). We will start of with the oil terminal to the south. It simple wasn't possible to put a jetty there like the real life counter part has, so I had to terraform a complete terminal in one location. It does look a bit square, but not unrealistic in my opinion. There are certainly oil ports that look like this in real life too:



Time to add the oil jetty. I'm using Fukuda's oil pier here. A wonderful BAT, but HELL to place correctly. Very carefull terraforming is needed first. Something like this:



The oil jetty is put in place:



For the seawalls I wanted to use something new, so I thought that PEG:s CDK3 would be nice. I have edited away all the trucks and lorrys (that seemed inappropriate for an oil harbour) but no advanced lot editing other than that. It also turned out to be one of the easiest sea walls to place, so I can highly recommend it for use:



Now, we add the land structures. Mostly oil tanks, with some refinery pieces (pretty close to the RL version). All added BAT:s in this picture was made by SOMY:



Ports in general, and oil ports specifically, are high security facilities so we have to add some fences too:



And we finish the area by adding some dirty industry (which can also be clearly seen in the real life version):



And, of course, an oil tanker by SOMY:



In the end it looks like this:




Now, let's move on to the central parts of the port. I forgot to take a shot before placing the first pieces of the container terminal, but here's how it looked with the first structures in place:



Those are all NOB ports, but I have taken away the old warehouses in the Lot Editor (again, nothing advanced, just the easy editing stuff). Now comes the explanation to what toook me so long to finnish. For some reason I decided use modified versions of jeronij's earliest shore conforming walls. I really, really, like the look of them, but I still recommend using his later walls instead because fine terraforming the terrain to fit them takes FOREVER. They are incredibly sensitive:



But, it can be done if you really want them. No need to worry about the corner piece right now.That can be covered up by underwater flora later:



Sadly, this diagonal had to go. There simply was no way to make it work with the walls (or any other walls for that matter). To bad, I liked the organic look of it:



But, SC4 is the art of the possible, so:



More walls added:



A canal exit too (there is one in the real life port aswell but it doesn't show on Google earth because the river bed is dry most of the year):



And container lots and an old BAT called "beachclub" that will have to represent the luxury marina in the real life port (I will add some pools and stuff later):



The container terminal is shaping up. You may notice the lack of trains and rails. This is prefectly logical on an island. You normally don't use that kind of transportation on islands, so there are none anywhere on Islas Gemas. That makes other means of transportation to the port necessary, so I added a truck and lorry garage and logistics center:



The warehouses in the middle of this picture also functions as powerplants (by RayDen, available on the LEX) which is a very nice feature:




That's it for this round. Up next is placing ships and stuff in the container and cruise port and building the northernmost part of the port. Untill then...


BlackwaterEmil's inn
Berethor ♦ beskhu3epnm ♦ blade2k5 ♦ dmscopio ♦ dedgren
♦ Emilin ♦ Ennedi ♦ Heblem ♦ jplumbley ♦ moganite ♦ M4346 ♦
papab2000 ♦ Shadow Assassin ♦ Tarkus ♦ wouanagaine

Rayden

Very nice stuff, I'm honoured you're using some of my "little" stuff available. I hope you don't mine, but I'm passing this tutorial to a PDF doc, so, I can print it all out and folder it for later consulting. ;)

Cheers
Silvio

thundercrack83

It's been said before, but it's definitely worth repeating: You are the master of the ports! It looks so realistic and your descriptions and instructions are very precise. Great work, emilin! You truly are an inspiration!

HabLeUrG

im agree with thundercrack83  :thumbsup: &apls you are a master of the ports, I said it before, very usefull tutorial and recreation  ;)

Pat



Emilin,

OMG talk about just ummmm jaw dropping ok now i know im not worthy of such to
do a sea port after seeing all that you have done has left any of my ports
in total ruin lol man i wish i could my little paws on some of the custom stuff.
keep up the hard work looking forward to the next update - pat

Don't forget the SC4D Podcast is back and live on Saturdays @ 12 noon CST!! -- The Podcast soon to Return Here Linkie

sebes

Cool! You show again to be the best port builder.... &apls

Check my MD:               
Rhenen,NN

NikNik

Wonderfull port. very nice how you take us by the hand and guide us through your thinking and building process.

If this message seems small it's because I just do not have a lot to comment about, just awe.

Well done.

Nik-Nik

Badsim

#227
I'm absolutely  for seing work in progress in a MD/CJ . :thumbsup:
Captivating ; It seems so easy for you and at the same time we can feel all the work/skill  requested/provided ... &apls

°   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °


rooker1

Great update.  It reads like a tutorial.  Awesome little port.  I can't wai to see more pics of the area when finished.

Robin   :thumbsup:
Call me Robin, please.

kimcar

 &apls Great to see the evolution of your port. It`s always nice to discover how somedy build is idea and creativity. Nice tuto.  :thumbsup:

Cali

Great seaports. Very realistic. &apls
"It's not a design flaw, It's my signature"

Fred_Ginger

Even for someone not all that interested in ports your update/tutorial was fascinating! :thumbsup:
My name is Vicki
Fred and Ginger were my doggies
RIP my babies

Heinz

To quote master David (dedgren)
QuoteYou ARE the Harbor Master.  You OWN SC4 ports.

i understand the islands need the ports you devote time and passion into. but sheesh. who ever said too much of a good thing is bad? lol i'm really going to raise taxes to pay for a speed boat now! lol

iamgoingtoeatyou

I agree, You are a master of the ports, You never cease to amaze, Keep up the great work :)

dedgren

SC4D's resident Port Master, at it again.  RL distracts for a few days, hey... coming back and finding this great update is like a reward.

You make it look so easy, Emil.  We all know that it's not (or find that out very quickly when we get into one of those "I can do that!" moods).

Your work on DIG is wonderful stuff, and we are so fortunate to be around while you are doing it.


David
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

mattb325

This is extraordinary stuff emilin - thank you for sharing &apls

emilin

#236
Personal replies:

Rayden: Thank you! I like your stuff. You might not be producing tons of it, but I have yet to find something you released that isn't very useful. I'm already looking forward to the realease of your ploppable snow.

thundercrack83: Thanks a lot! As far as I'm concerned you can repeat that as many times as you like. Your comments are always welcome ego-boosters. ;D

HabLeUrG: Thanks! Hoping for those houses of yours to be released soon, by the way. It would be übercool if you made them very slope tolerant too. :thumbsup:

patfirefghtr: Hehe... thank you so much. You are much too kind. And as I have said before: apart from some rare heavy lots, most of my customization is basically removing stuff. It really isn't anything advanced.

sebes: Thank you very much! Glad you liked it.

NikNik: Thanks! All comments are just as welcome - long or small, and such nice words as yours are always EXTRA welcome.

Badsim: Thank you! And, if there is one thing that I actually am rather proud of in this case, it's the terraforming. That WAS hard. The rest just takes a lot of time, hehe...

rooker1: Thank you! The rest is coming right up.

kimcar: Thanks! I  enjoy watching the progress of other peoples work myself, but I'm usually too lazy to document my work properly. Glad it was appriciated when I finally took the time.

Cali: Thank you, Cali!

Fred_Ginger: Thanks! That is nice to know.

zniehadajet: Yes, we certainly should quote master David more often. ;D And this update is the last part of the tutorial, so now I will be moving on to more urban development instead.

iamgoingtoeatyou: Thank you so much!

dedgren: Thanks David! I would have to say that it's probably the other way around though. If I have been increasing my skills and am building better these days, it's to a large extent due to the surroundings of SC4D. This community is amazing!

mattb325: Thank YOU for commenting.


Thoughts on Ports, part Vb

Let's finish the main part of the port first. We begin with adding some underwater flora (very useful to cover up the corner pieces that wouldn't look verty good when clearly visible):



We add one of SOMY:s ships at the container terminal. I will not be using jeronij's larger ships in this port since I consider the harbour to be too shallow for them. This smaller ship is better here:



For the cruise port I couldn't resist using this awesome looking, brand new, SOMY BAT:



And I have also used another older cruise ship by SOMY. This one is BIG! It'll have to berth at the outside of the pier. It might look a bit out of place in this small port, but I still think it's rather realistic. Unlike cargo ships, most passanger ships don't go very deep in the water so it could probably call here. If it did it would probably be a rare event... and it just so happens that when I was researching the Tenerife port I found a bunch of articles on the time when the worlds larges cruise ship called there. So in this case I have the perfect excuse for using an oversized ship. :)



From some distance the cruise port now looks like this:



Then I did some more work on the receration area in the middle of the port. I really like how it turned out. Not at all very far from the real thing, in my opinion:



We end with an overview of the entire area. That white monument to the far left looks pretty much like the consert hall that is located in that place in the real life counterpart. Smaller, but OK.




Now, it's time for the last part of the port. Located on yet another city tile. I decided to make this into a small fishing and cargo port with some marina facilities (quite like the northernmost part of the Tenerife port). First, a look at the empty area:



Jeronij's breakwater seemed perfect for the outside of the pier, and turned out to work just fine:



For the actual harbour I decided on Cal's new "old english" seawalls (available on the LEX) and I have to admit that I fell completely in love with them. Not only do they look wonderful, but they might be the easiest seawalls I have ever worked with:



And some more:



Underwater flora wasn't necessary for covering anything up this time, but it looks a bit more alive this way:



Some smaller ships were added after that. One is from National Aviation Club Member (uploaded on STEX by jestarr) and the other too are Peg's scows (and I still refuse to treat them as scows when they look so much like small cargo ships. Sorry about that if you ever read this, Peg, hehe...)



Additonal items were added. Some parking lots and stuff:



Zoom out, and we get this:



This is as far as I can go at this point. Now I have to work on blending the port into the rest of the surroundings. But that goes outside the purpose of this as a tutorial. Basically, we're done.

And from a region shot view, the finished port looks like this:



BlackwaterEmil's inn
Berethor ♦ beskhu3epnm ♦ blade2k5 ♦ dmscopio ♦ dedgren
♦ Emilin ♦ Ennedi ♦ Heblem ♦ jplumbley ♦ moganite ♦ M4346 ♦
papab2000 ♦ Shadow Assassin ♦ Tarkus ♦ wouanagaine

thundercrack83

If I may boost your ego some more...

You just keep raising the bar, then clearing it by 10 feet! More beautiful work on the ports, my friend.

wouanagaine

I enjoy reading and seeing the pics
Really impressive

New Horizons Productions
Berethor ♦ beskhu3epnm ♦ blade2k5 ♦ dmscopio ♦ dedgren ♦ emilin ♦ Ennedi ♦ Heblem ♦ jplumbley
M4346 ♦ moganite ♦ Papab2000 ♦ Shadow Assassin ♦ Tarkus ♦ wouanagaine
Divide wouanagaine by zero and you will in fact get one...one bad-ass that is - Alek King of SC4

Serkanner

This Diary is a true display of artisy. I actually lack the words how to express myself after reading most of this diary ... and I will try to get my senses back and pay another visit to the Islas Gemas.  :thumbsup: