Greenacre

[bat]

Wonderful pictures there of that new location there! It looks superb!

BTW, welcome to page 14!

[threestooges]

Replies:
-Guillaume (Sciurus): Glad you liked it. Yes, the cliffs are a bit extreme, but I wanted to give myself a challenge with the terrain, and this was also back before I had really practiced any technical points of terraforming. Just imagine Half Dome in Yosemite.


-Robin (Rooker1): Glad you liked it. I had some help on the names. The drive up the cliff isn't so bad, though it is a bit long and steep. You could try the tunnel they built for the highway to the east, but that's a long, steep drive in the dark. Not much of a chance of going over the cliff though. Always good to get your perspective on things. I've been chatting with the folks in Westport, and also the Greenacre Council, they may have a response for you shortly, but it's a touchy situation. We'll see.


-Battlecat: I wouldn't call it skill quite yet. Most of what you see there was plopped and is largely eyecandy. I could show you a few areas that would make you question how I got an area that looks even this good heh heh. The GMH is the Shedd Aquarium by Citynut. Great BAT that fits in quite well with the SG canals. To the west of this area is the future site of GRX (Greenacre Intl. Airport) East will be some higher density stuff.  Best advice I have for a good looking urban area (aside from check out Commonwealth of Marathon by Dustin. He's doing quite well with all of that) is to make sure it's not all high density stuff. Have a bit of medium density stuff leading up to it, and remember to take care of parking facilities or some sort of open space here and there. Not sur eif that helps, but it's what I've been working with.


-Joan (Jmouse): Speaking of political camps, I just saw your orders for the GRV challenge... Ms. Mouse, heh heh. I'm lad you like the progress so far, and I hope I don't mess it up too much as development continues. As for mass transit, there are a few means available. Perhaps one of these updates will be an overview of the transit networks of Greenacre... oh wait, you probably wouldn't like that, heh heh. If you look at the transit hub, at the bottom left, you'll see a bus stop and top right is the transfer to the subway. The subway network runs all the way to the freeway in the east. Along the way the tracks elevate and become GLR lines after the freeway. Though the line isn't paying for itself yet, it does move quite a few people and saves on roads (so maybe it does pay in a way). We'll get up the hill at some point too. So much to see around here, so much to see... in time though, in time.


-bat: Excellent. Glad you liked it. Hopefully I'll have some more here in the future.


Finals season is here, and it's open hunting. Good classes and all, but that doesn't leave much time for SC4. Right now GRV has been taking most of my game time, but Greenacre will pick up again after the 12th here. In the meantime, there was a local lumber mill that I found out near the NE tip of the main island. I've spoken with the railroad recently and they'll be changing over to a single track rail line there, if they haven't already.


-Matt

[rooker1]

Fantastic picture my friend and I can't wait to hear from the City Council, touchy or not.

Robin 

[Jmouse]

Great photo, Matt - especially the TPW. Where did you get those little boats? Seems like all of us are tied to GRV II right now, but it's so much fun who can resist?

Best of luck on your finals. Everyone here understands the demands of school, and we'll see you on the other side. Besides, good things are always worth waiting for!

Here's to May 13...
Joan

[CasperVg]

That's one very nice looking picture, Matt. I'm looking forward seeing the picture with STR in it!

[JJ]

Not bad but the incredibly jagged rail is bugging me.

[threestooges]

Replies:
-Robin (rooker1): Don't worry. I'll make sure to keep it on their agenda. It's not going to get lost mysteriously in the shuffle of papers or during the move to the new facilities... glad you liked the pic.


-Joan (Jmouse): The boats in that pic came from a lot that I first saw in Darmok's Anduin Valley Revisited at ST (and he's still going over there too). He gave me the link in his reply there a couple years ago or so, but it seems the page it links to has been lost to the internet. I thought it was by Somy (and perhaps someone here can dentify it more accurately) but I wasn't able to find it on his site either... I'll see what I can come up with though. Thanks for the thoughts too.


-Casper (caspervg): Thanks Casper, you won't have to wait long.


-JJ: Welcome to Greenacre. Yeah, the jagged rail was a bit of a bother, but since STR and a few other things have come along, let's just say things changed a while ago.


So, I was back in the area of the last pic. ITC Enterprises was doing some testing, and I make it a point to be there whenever anything goes on in Greenacre with them. Since I was there, I noticed that the old pic I showed you was out of date. The right of way has been realigned and the track is now a single path (which is a bit safer given some of the setbacks along the cliffs). Without further ado, here's the recent shot of the area.


-Matt

[rooker1]

Morning Matt,

The single rail line looks much better.  I just don't like the cliff edge, it looks to fake.  Maybe you could hide some more of the edge with some larger tress or try to do some finer terraformer to lessen the sharp edge.  Other than that monir point, I love it!
So you say the council is movng to a new lacation....I really hope they don't loose anything.
Keep up the great work my friend, it's always a pleasure to drop by your MD to see what's up.

Robin 

[art128]

Really nice picture there Matt, that little pond/lake is excellently done my friend. Also, the use of the FAR is a nice touch there and make that area very realistic. Aslo, it's nice to take the photo when the train passed.
Looking forward to more.

Take care,
-Arthur. 

[CasperVg]

Looking great, the new STR setting looks pretty darn good, though I wonder what kind of railway company would actually downgrade their infrastructure.. I can't wait for the next (set of) picture(s)!

[Sciurus]

This is a very very nice pic, I like it

Guillaume

[JBSimio]

Great picture, Matt!     I tend to agree with Robin about the cliff edge, though.  Perhaps just a little weathering would be enough to do the trick?

Hope the finals are going well, my friend.

JB

[Battlecat]

Nice pair of updates.  I like the before and after conversion of the railway line.  The new STR line fits the area much better! 

[Jmouse]

The STR does look much better, Matt. The Maxis rail always looks kind of bulky and clumsy to me now that we have something better. And I have to agree with some of the others about the cliff, but no rush - it'll be there waiting for you after finals are done. So will we!

Later...
Joan

[Pat]

Matt wonderful stuff has been going on in here at Greenacre and looking real sweet too!!!

[Sheep49]

I've gotta agree with everyone else here: the STR looks so much better! Plus, we get a bonus passing train there - and trains are awesome! But not everything can be so ideal... The cliff in the bottom of the picture is too steep and a little too regular, thus making it look a bit unnatural. Perhaps playing around with the terraforming tools will help.

Keep up the good work, Matt!
Piotr

[threestooges]

Replies:
-Robin (rooker1): I think that is the next area I'll focus on when I go by there. I've seen so much excellent terraforming going on around here, I know I'll have plenty of stuff to draw from. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, I have a copy of the Westport Gazette Journal from my recent trip back there. You might enjoy it.


-Arthur (art128): Thanks Arthur. This is much more like what I had pictured when I first made the area. The train crossing the bridge at the time I took the picture was a fine stroke of luck too. I had just finished re-planting some trees when I saw it going by. Got out the camera as quick as I could and managed to snag it going across the trestle.


-Casper (caspervg): Believe it or not, many railways around here will pull up tracks where they aren't being used to either repair another area or to extend another line. I'm not sure what they did with the extra material here, but I'm sure they'll find a good use for it.


-Guillaume (Sciurus): Thank you very much. Glad to know you liked it. I plan to make a few more adjustments, but it's more or less in its final form.


-Jon (JBSimio): Finals are coming and going. Call it procrastinating or call it taking a mental health break, but SC4 is a great way to relax. One final down, two to go. Tuesday afternoon I think I will suddenly find myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. I think I'll fill some of it by smoothing out that cliff. I hadn't noticed it until you, Robin, and others pointed it out. Now I just have to fix it, heh heh. That is one thing I do need to work with in Greenacre in general, be particularly there. Hope all is well with you.


-Battlecat: Thanks. I really enjoy seeing progress pics in other MDs and (if I would remember to take them) I'm going to try to start doing a few more here. The STR does fit better, especially on the 1-tile wide right of way up the hill. A sheer dropoff right next to the track. Great view, but a bit erie.


-Joan (Jmouse): In the right areas the dual rail works well. A tight-turning run up a hill isn't really one of them. A couple things I'm working on there too. The cliff will also be getting worked on and, if all goes well, STR and cliffs may soon share something in common. Two finals left, and then it's summer. It's coming quick.


-Pat: Glad to hear you're enjoying it Pat. Hope to see you on MSN or something to chat about a few things.


-Piotr (Sheep49): Trains are awesome! Hopefully when I'm done with it the cliff will be too. Perhaps if I gave it more than 1 tile to drop as far as it does it might be a bit smoother. I'll fiddle around with it and see what I can come up with. Until then, enjoy this update.


We're back in Westport today.

8.01


For a rather particular reason:

8.02


I wanted to make sure it was official before I announced anything, but it seems that the media went and beat me to it. A while back you maye remember a petition from Robin and the response from the Westport City Council. There was some fuss made about it around the capitol, but it was certainly a city matter. Here's the area before:

8.03


Not much to the area, but a great location. The city maintained that there was no interest on the part of the land owners there to sell to the city or to have the area re-zoned. This was true. However, some folks did want to make a few changes. The result was a "mixed-use" zoning system which recategorized the area to allow for residential or commercial development. Some owners opted to remain industrial for now, but these next two images show the cleared areas and the development plan:

8.04


A you can see, commercial and residential properties will be filling in the beachfront property.

8.05


Here's a view close up on how the commercial area turned out. The city added some parking in the rear to better accommodate the new shops, and it has also improved the access to the industrial buildings behind it

8.06


This is what the area looks after the redevelopment had taken place. Certainly, some buildings may come and go as demand evens out, but the area is changing. The industry will likely remain part of the area for some time to come, but it's all but certain there won't be any large factories setting up shop there. They'll have to find other spots for that.

8.07

-Matt

[rooker1]

Hey Matt,
I really enjoyed that.  Now that looks a lot better.
Now I'll have to find something else to complain about, but I think it'll be very difficult.
Great work,
Robin 

[Jmouse]

Excellent newspaper, Matt! Interesting way to make an announcement. Greenacre does have some superb beaches, and it's a natural place for certain types of commercial establishments to set up shop. Restaurants, fast food and trinket peddlers come to mind. Hopefully the rest of the industry in that prime location will remove itself one of these days. Rezoning is a good start, though.

Looking at the overview, it's hard to believe there's still so much area to cover, but I'm glad for it. I've enjoyed watching Greenacre develop from the very start, and look forward to seeing it grow for a long time to come.

Later...
Joan

[Sciurus]

It's excellent, and beautiful

Guillaume