Take a Tour!- An MD of the Mid-Atlantic U.S.

Travis · March 03, 2007, 09:02:52 AM

If you are new here, I suggest you skip these first 3 pages and skip to page 4. This early stuff isn't very good.

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Hello, and welcome. My intention here is to show what I have accomplished in Sim City 4 over the past two and a half years,
and to show you how I accomplished it. I'm quite new to posting links and images (and posting in general) so if
you spot a missing image or typo or such, please let me know.

Notes
I have a 2.5 gigabyte plugins folder, so its nowhere near possible to list them all. (at least not in my lifetime

)
But please, if you have ANY question about where-did-you-get-this or where'd-you-find-that,
please don't hesitate to ask. Believe me, I enjoy helping you out.

Now, let's discuss some of these pictures, shall we? I currently have four regions, and plans and ideas for two more.
We'll start with the first, largest, and more or less completed Morris County. However, being the oldest it
has the least amount of custom content, so expect me to skip a couple areas that I believe aren't up to standard.
Here's two introductory pics...

We'll see more in a few updates...

Now, we'll move out to the wide open country, which is Homestead County.
Here's some pics...

A quaint little Main Street...

Coming soon...

Next up, we'll view a couple of teasers of what will (someday) become my largest city.
I hate skyscraper forests, so if that's what your looking for, this isn't it. However, it's nowhere
near completion, so don't expect to see it in the near future.

The pic...

One of it's suburbs...

Finally, the fourth region, The Hampton Islands.
Here are two pics of the naval base...

To close out, here's a pair of eye candy pics...

That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I'd
love to hear some suggestions and comments.

*Another teaser and replies;
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=629.msg59437#msg59437

Rayden · March 03, 2007, 09:30:49 AM

That 2,5 years were well spent. I think you managed to accomplish well enough

Congrats and welcome to the MD's Land.

After looking at it once again, I have two suggestions/critics, both concerning to the port area.

1- Make the ports bigger and wider, or don't stack them with ships. They seem to be plopped in there, and that will never happen on RL. They need space to manoeuvre.

2 - That rail line that goes underground. That part of the canal/open water/port area where the aircraft carriers are stationed needs a minimum of 150/180 feet of water deep, otherwise they will get s tucked in the bottom. For a rail line to go underground on that water deep, it has to go at least bellow 200 feet deep. Not very likely

The rest is quite good

bat · March 03, 2007, 09:38:42 AM

Wonderful pictures! Great update and work!

dedgren · March 03, 2007, 10:16:41 AM

Hey, a new MD! You've gotten a really nice start, Travis. There's a nice mix of countryside, urban and industrial pics, and the Navy Base is a real kicker. Military installations are a part of the SC4 world that few have taken the time or care to properly create, and it will be interesting to watch and see what you do with yours. Your "eye candy"...

...where have I heard that term before?

...is really well chosen- its nice to know that others out there are using (and tyo very good effect here) ploppable water.

Anyway, Take A Tour! will be one to watch.

Good luck!

David

Antoine · March 03, 2007, 11:15:39 AM

wooOOOoow great work it look so realistic I like very much !!!!

emilin · March 03, 2007, 02:25:57 PM

That is a very good start. Actually I think I like the farmlands best so far, but the urban pictures are good too. I notice that you have used the Yokohama trainstation which I adore (my current MD has no railway since it's built on islands, so I envy you a little there).

Anyways, good job - and I guess I'll stick around for the rest of the tour too.

Travis · March 03, 2007, 03:35:30 PM

Time for replies...

@Rayden, You are right indeed. Taking your advice...

I spaced out the ships some and removed a few altogether. #2, I removed the rail tunnel and placed a filler lot
there instead. Actually the rail line turns right and travels under the pier, but nobody was using it anyway so I removed it.
And that's only HALF of the base by the way. Anyhow thanks for the suggestions and dropping by, and after seeing
all these comments I guess those two and a half years were indeed well spent. Hope to see you again soon!

@Bat, Thanks Bat! Glad you like the pictures.

@David(dedgren), Thanks David, a mixed variety was just what I was going for. That naval base took near forever
to create, and looks even better with the few adjustments Rayden suggested. With the eye candy I
tried as best I could to imitate yours, as I too, am a big fan of seasonal trees and ploppable water. So there's more where that came from.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you come again soon! In the meantime I'll see you in 3RR.

@Antoine, Thanks for the compliment. Realism is my ultimate goal.

@emilin, Glad you like the farmlands, and it is the subject of the next update. I also love the Yokohama Station,
and as the central train station was to be the focal point of that entire city I made sure it was a good one.
Anyway, come again soon.

@Everyone, Hopefully update #2 should be up tomorrow, and we'll have a look at some of the rural
areas, In Homestead County. See you there!

And we'll close out with a teaser...

Rayden · March 03, 2007, 03:48:38 PM

It looks much better now, but that's only my opinion. Sometimes what looks nice to someone, doesn't look that nice to somebody else. I always try to get things to look more like reality, rather than to look nicer. I guess I have been spending a lot of time at MDs like 3RR, or AVR, or Simtropia, among many other great CJ/MDs that try to resemble reality as much as possible.

Looking forward for your next update. Btw, nice looking farmland area.

Travis · March 04, 2007, 03:10:08 PM

~~Note: just lost 1/2 hour of work hitting the back button. Won't do that again...~~
Note 2: Just lost Another half hours' work hitting the back button again.

For the third time, here's update #2...

@Rayden, Thanks. I also will do anything to make my regions more realistic. More on that later...

On to the update...

Today we'll have a look at a small Midwestern-US style town surrounded by farmland...

#1.

#2. A tractor dealership...

#3. Heading in to town... Whoops! Forgot to edit that pic. Too late now...

#4. Down Main street...

#5.The cemetery...

#6. The High School complex...

#7. A couple farms...

#8. Overview one...

#9. Overview two...

#10. Last one, a random shot of a cotton plantation...

Alright, that's all for today. Next update, we'll see some urban pics.

See you later!

threestooges · March 04, 2007, 04:47:04 PM

This looks great. You show a nice attention to detail without compromising the look of the overall area. I am curious to know how you were able to get trees to appear so nicely on the edges of the roads (such as in #9). Well done.

NikNik · March 05, 2007, 07:00:30 AM

Great start and continuation of this MD, Travis.

I love the rural pics. I need to get to work on that again soon.

I like that RR going around the tractor dealership, not very RL-wise but very nice here in SC4 anyway.

Nik-Nik

bat · March 05, 2007, 07:12:26 AM

Update 2 is wonderful as the first one!

Travis · March 05, 2007, 07:21:28 PM

Replies...

@threestooges, Wow! Thanks, and as for those trees, it's a street side mod, and can be found HERE. Thanks for stopping by!

@NikNik, Thanks! As I found out, starting it isn't as difficult as continuing it.

Glad you like the rural pics, and come again soon!

@Bat, Thanks Bat! I hope you can say the same for #3...

Alright folks, next update is tomorrow, but I realized I was in a bit of a discouraging situation.
Update #3's on the way, but I just noticed how long it is taking me to load this page, and I have broadband internet. The more and more updates
I post here on the front page, the longer it takes to load, especially for dial-up customers. So come on out and let me know what you think,
and I'd like to hear your opinions and suggestions, as the help me a lot in improving my skills. So to close out, here's a teaser for Update #3...

kwakelaar · March 06, 2007, 02:29:37 AM

Some very nice shots from your region, I like your farmlands great diversity in buildings and layout.

I have spotted a building I don't know, it is the brickbuilding with tower in the third picture in you last update. It seems to be a either csx or simgoober, maybe part of a reward chain?

Travis · March 06, 2007, 07:47:38 PM

Alright folks, here we go with update #3...

@kwakelaar ,Thanks. By the numerous comments it appears the farmlands were well liked. About the building, I'm not sure whether its a reward chain or not, but is is indeed made by Simgoober. Its part of a civic collection found HERE. Thanks for commenting.

On to the update...

OK, last time I promised some urban pics. But I really don't like the look of it right now, so I'll show some suburban areas instead.

#1. A Go-Kart track...

#2.

#3. A traffic circle...

#4.

#5.

#6. A Wal-Mart...

#7. A strip mall...

#8. A larger view...

#9. Last one...

Okay, that's all for today. Not sure where I'll take you for the next update, so it might be a few days.
As always, I love to read your comments.

Good night...

Tarkus · March 06, 2007, 10:05:46 PM

Travis, this new MD of yours is looking fantastic! 2.5 Gigs of Custom Content?

From what I can tell, you're certainly putting it to good use. Keep up the excellent work, and I'm looking forward to more!

-Alex

emilin · March 07, 2007, 12:39:50 AM

Very, very impressive!

A lot of details for such a large city. And I'm liking the farms even more now.

Naryanna · March 07, 2007, 03:22:26 AM

Wonderful work!

petercintn · March 07, 2007, 05:30:58 PM

A very nice midwestern town. I too love the farm lands. For me, just one thing to gripe about, the dutch windmill looks out of place, but that's just me. Maybe deadwoods windmill would look more midwestern?

Great start nontheless and welcome.

bat · March 09, 2007, 08:05:28 AM

Fantastic pictures and great city! Wonderful work!