.:: Jakarta, capital of Indonesia ::. On Hold

[derwilly]

Welcome to my first MD and biggest challenge so far!

I am glad to have the opportunity to take you with me to Jakarta, capital of Indonesia.

A city I lived in for a year, Jakarta is one of the most amazing metropolises in the world, yet one of the least renowned.

Jakarta is a myriad of Asian and developing nation contrasts: upscale condominiums and ultra-modern office buildings rising in the middle of shanty areas, massive multi-storey malls erected along sickening canals, Bentleys driving next to Bajajs, wild nightclubs across mosques... the line is always diffuse in Jakarta.

Founded as Batavia 480 years ago by the Dutch, Jakarta was once a sleepy fishing village known as Sunda Kelapa. Today, Jakarta is the financial and political center of Indonesia, a nation of 235 million people and the most powerful economy in South East Asia.

However, Jakarta faces more challenges than ever: 23 million people in its metro area and growing, perpetual gridlock, overwhelming pollution, poverty, insufficient and obsolete infrastructures, rampant corruption and disastrous floods year after year...

Now, as for my CJ, for obvious reasons, I had to scale the city down. Unfortunately, when I decided to do Jakarta, I faced two major problems:

First, the housing and layout. 90% of the city looks this mess. Now, how do you come up with that using the SC4 grid system? that's the tricky part... I basically had to gather all the custom content I found suitable and edit several lots to achieve this chaotic look. Thus, most of my CJ is made up of plopped lots.

And second: so many amazing skyscrapers and condominiums in Jakarta... but how many Jakarta BATs can you find? ...none! This is why I had to review all the custom buildings in SC4 fan sites and find the ones that resembled the most. Some match, some others... well, you may have to use your imagination a little bit 


This is the summary of updates which I plan to publish weekly. My city is almost finished, so you have my word this CJ will not be lost in time.


1. A closer look on Jakarta's chaotic streets: random scenes of Jakarta
          
2. Kota: the old Dutch settlement of Batavia

3. Pantai Mutiara: the exclusive waterfront in the bay of Jakarta

4. Sunda Kelapa: the old harbor, still in use for fishermen and small cargo

5. Monas: one of the largest squares in the world, boasting former dictator Sukarno's last erection

6. Thamrin: the first half of the Thamrin – Sudirman road, the backbone of Jakarta

7. The Golden Triangle: the financial district of Jakarta

8. Senayan: the city sports complex and home to the national Stadium

9. Pondok Indah: the exclusive gated community and country club, home of Indonesia's who-is-who

10. Mangga Dua: so many massive malls next to each other

11. Ancol: the largest leisure resort in South East Asia

12. Kemayoran: the former international airport of Jakarta, now a high-rise development zone

13. Halim Airport: Jakarta's charter and air force airport

14. Blok M: a mash-up of malls, bus stations, red light district and expats

15. Kelapa Gading: a new, flood-prone development in Jakarta

16. Tanjung Priok: the massive port of Jakarta

And now, after this beautiful intro... I know what you're craving for... the teasers!!  This is what you'll see during the following weeks

You'll see the canals, the slums and the chaotic streets of Jakarta...

...the Dutch old town...

...the floods that take place almost every year during the rainy season...

...the steel and concrete towers of the Golden Triangle...

...the old cargo harbor of Sunda Kelapa...

...the massive avenues and the crumbling infrastructures...

...the mosques scattered throughout the city...

...the terminals at Tanjung Priok harbor...

...the contrasts between high-rise and low-rise...

...and you'll see how well some people do in Jakarta...

...and how tough life is for many others

I hope you have enjoyed this and stay put for the first update starting next week.

[Simpson]

Very good new update 
Your city look good 

[MandelSoft]

Nice coty and nice BAT's you have there, especialy on the highways. How did you do that?

[Sky Guy]

hey that looks just like Jakarta. This is great. keep it up m friend, oh where did you get the slums in the last pic??

[tankmank]

Wow looks a lot like Jakarta

[Heblem]

unique! 

[mrgscottc]

Your industrial dock area is impressive, most impressive.     It makes me wish SC4 did more with outgoing freight instead of having it disappearing in Sim City Space.

[Kitsune]

I love the squished look of the pics, very very nice and eye pleasing.

[ejc]

good start

I'm curious now how the entire city looks like

it's good to see some one start a less known city in Asia

good luck, I will follow your MD!

E

[sebes]

One word:  WOW  !!!!

But no, that would not do right, have to say a bit more.
What you achieved with this teaser is extra-ordinairy. So many challenges in recreating that city in this game, and yet the result is so natural looking. it might not be 100% right in lay out and buildings, but the atmosphere that is sparkling of these in game pictures is so right.

You deserve a medal for that already... I just know where this MD will be next month......

But: you will have to reveal the secret of the highways. How on earth did you do that? 

[Earth quake]

Just magnific, just splendid: WOW
Excellent work at the Lot Editor, I love.

It is a perfect re-creation of Jakarta, bravo.

Go on, I want a another Pics.

[rooker1]

Super start.  Maybe one of the best I have seen for a while.  Everything is so nicely put together.  I love the highway, skyscrapers and the shanty town pictures.  Those are my favourites for sure.  Your city must have a wide devercity of wealths, very well done if this is the case.

Robin 

[paroch]

Hey Derwilly,

You are generating quite some interest here and it's easy to see why. 

This is a great start.  Some very interesting shots, the flood pic is great and the traffic and port pics give the city the feel of hustle and bustle that I am sure you wanted to achieve.  And some of the pics seem to be from a slightly different angle which is also nice.

It looks as though you have created some custom content here, which is always a nice touch.

It seems a hug project you are attempting so I wish you all the best with it.

Paul

[derwilly]

I want to thank everyone for those +230 visits in less than a week. I hope I can fulfill everyone's expectations with this ambitious project!

Simpson – thank you very much for your support and first comment!

mrtnrln – thanks! About the highways... no secret, just Lot Editor. The Maxis highways are an eye-sore to me. Please read below my reply to Sebes for more info

Sky Guy – thank you, I put a lot of effort into making my city resemble Jakarta; keep an eye on the next updates and you'll see how close I came. You can get the shanties here  (I used the Lot Editor, though)

tankmank – thanks, wait till I put actual pictures of Jakarta in each update to compare it 

Heblem – thanks! Jakarta is indeed a unique city...

mrgscottc – thanks, unfortunately you'll have to wait till my last update to see the megaport  FYI, I used three city tiles to make it... it is huge and highly detailed

Kitsune – thanks! I just tried one day resizing the height to 70% and the perspective turned out to be much more realistic

ejc – thank you very much! I'll soon put a region view; there are still some empty areas I need to fill to make it look better. It is a good thing Jakarta is not well-known: there's more to enjoy for the few who go there 

sebes – thank you very, very much. It was hard hitting it. Due to the limitations of SC4 it's quite difficult to get it 100% right but you'll see in the next updates that I got somewhat close. About the highways... sorry to disappoint you, but I did not come up with some sort of "super highway enhancement mod" at all  ... it's just 4x8 pieces I did with the Lot Editor... highway textures, hedges, trees, lamps, a bunch of cars, the special bus lane... it's only eye-candy, tough 

Earth quake – hehe thank you! stay put the first update is coming this week!

rooker1 – thank you very much Robin; I hope I can keep up and keep the excitement going on for the rest of my MD. You'll get to see more experiments with highways, towers and slums, just stay put!

paroch – thanks! I think that when recreating a real Asian city the Lot Editor is a must... otherwise it's hard to capture the chaotic atmosphere... hope I got with this one 


Update Number 1 is coming soon!

[derwilly]

UPDATE 1: A CLOSER LOOK ON JAKARTA

Welcome to my first update. I'll show you just random pictures of Jakarta's cityscape. I will focus on some aerial scenes of Jakarta´s main thoroughfares and the Taman Anggrek shopping mall. You will also see some comparisons between in-game pictures and real pictures (so that you understand how difficult is to recreate Jakarta )

To start off, let us take a look to the main axis in North Jakarta, the Hayam Wuruk / Gajah Mada road. Starting north in Kota, the Dutch old town, this road goes south until Monas, Jakarta's main square and political center. It was once the core of the city and also one of the hottest spots during the 1998 riots against former dictator Suharto.

1.0

Let's go for some close ups of this road and nearby streets:

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

Real-life scenes of the road:

1.5

1.6

In Hayam Wuruk we can also find Stadium, the largest and seediest after-hours club in Jakarta. Packed every night, vice and drugs take over this place on weekends, when the occasional, out-of-place expat gets pick pocketed (I know what I'm talking about  ).

1.7

1.8

1.9

And some random shots of other areas in Jakarta:

1.10

1.11

Now let's go to some real-life vs. in-game pictures:


One of the several industrial areas in the city

1.12

1.13

A random aerial shot of this messy layout:

1.14

1.15

Jakarta has 13 rivers criss-crossing the city, plus the canals the Dutch brought. Unfortunately, they have not only become an open air sewer, but an open air toilet were the less lucky bath and brush their teeth...

1.16

1.17

This is one of the several country clubs you can find in Jakarta, just in the middle of the city, surrounded by humble houses and covered by a thick layer of smog.

1.18

1.19

This is Taman Anggrek Mall, Southeast Asia's largest shopping mall when opened in 1996. The mall is nestled within eight residential towers and houses more than 500 specialized stores, spread within six floors covering a retail space of 360,000 square meters. You can find more info here.

1.20

1.21

1.22

1.23

1.24

1.25

more high-rise condominiums are growing in the area; slums get torn down, towers are erected

1.26

To finish this first update, I give you the bonus: a full-size, yet unfinished region view

1.27

1.28

Hope you enjoyed this first update; I also hope that this MD will help you understand better this beautiful mess that is Jakarta. Next week we'll visit Kota, the Dutch historic district.

Stay put!

[Simpson]

WOW OMG 
I never seen a so beautiful région 
It's so réalistic
So really good new update there 

[MandelSoft]

It looks good, but I give you one tip: don't flatten that pictures. That looks so unrealistic.

[ejc]

hehehee... nice  you did it.. you made an entire Asian recreation-region 
(think it's a first )

E

[sebes]

This exceeds my expectations - totally. What you achieved is freaking unbelievable.

I cannot believe how close the picture above the line "Jakarta has 13 rivers crossing" is with the aereal picture just above it. It's fantastic. Also the shopping mall area is excellent.

I cannot wait to see what you've done with the Kota area.... I stay tuned ...

(just a small advise: number your pictures - for easier referencing when giving compliments 


Edit 9jul: Thanks for editing your previous update and adding numbers: I was referring to pic 1.15 above..)

[derwilly]

Thanks again to everyone for those +360 views! and a special thank you to my little hardcore fan community:

Simpson: you are always the first, thanks! if you like the region view, wait til I finish the massive aerial view collage I'm doing...

mrtnrln: thanks, but... do you really think so? I think we are too used to the SC4 perspective and it feels strange now, but IMHO flattening the pictures gives a stronger 3d perspective, don't you think? thanks anyways and please keep coming 

ejc:  thanks! as I said to Simpson, I'm coming up with a massive aerial view of the whole city; I just hope I can find the way to upload such a large file!

sebes : thank you very much! I hope I can continue exceeding everyone's expectations. I think Kota will look nice. Oh and thanks for the numbering tip, I applied it to Update 1 already 


Udpate 2 is coming tomorrow: Kota, the old Dutch town