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Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

Started by Battlecat, February 10, 2009, 06:39:50 PM

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Battlecat

Update 1: Introduction and Table of Contents

Hello there!  Thanks for stopping in.  Welcome to my Mayor's diary and my first run at playing SC4 in about 2.5 years.  I'm not much of a story teller, my preferences lean towards the visual.  And with all the recent improvements to the game through the community efforts, I've got a lot of tools available thanks to the amazing efforts of all the SC4 communities on the web!  My intent here is to step through my very gradual development of this region, both terraforming and development, in what you will all find to be an entertaining manner.  Failing in that, I hope you at least all like pictures!  Comments and criticism are greatly appreciated.  Now with all that out of the way:


Vanilla terrain graphics?  No way!  While it can be appealing if treated right, even 2.5 years ago there were some beautiful alternatives that I love! So, adding my old favorite gems plus a new one:

Olympic Terrain by Cycledogg with the beach texture correction by Swamper77
AubracRock, By Orange_o_ of the TSC Team
Brigantine Water, By Pegasus

A touch of terraforming in a test area to make sure I like the result and:


Much better!  Ok, now so as not to completely bore you all, here's where I'm going to get started, the future site of Delmar Junction:


Boy, with nothing else here it sure is tough to see what the terrain looks like in the screenshots!  A quick bit of work with the NAM and the new wide angle curves where the future downtown will be.  And of course a couple of land bridges.


Plopable water was just coming into use when I last played the game.  Imagine my surprise when I started looking for it and found the latest version:


This new clear plopable water by Jeronij is quite amazing.  It looks quite convincing at this level of zoom even without any of the details that will be added.  It certainly produces better small streams that we could ever get with the normal game water.  The road through town climbs up a steep slope through a pass in the mountains next to a lake.  Again putting the new curves to work, looking great.  I really like this trick with combining the old and new plopable water to give the illusion of depth. 


Anyhow, that's all for now.  This maps going to need some serious work and detailing to really achieve my visual goals.  I'm aware there's not a lot to comment on here yet but I'm just blown away by this water.  I'm going to have to contemplate some blending methods for it.  I'll be putting up the second update in a day or two.  Enjoy!

Table of Contents:
This is new as of Update 35!  Each link goes directly to the post. 


    Update Link     Update Title
    Update 1          Introduction and Table of Contents
    Update 2          Delmar Junction – Farms and Streams
    Update 3          Delmar Junction - Trails
    Update 4          Delmar Junction – Farms and Forests
    Update 5          Delmar Junction - More Farms but also with some new stuff!
    Update 6          Delmar Junction – Grid Removal, Farms and Polish
    Update 7          Delmar Junction -  Agriculture and Industry
    Update 8          Delmar Junction – Finishing up the Farmland
    Update 9          Delmar Junction – Mountain Rivers and Recreation
    Update 10         Delmar Junction – Concerning Maps
    Update 11         Extra – Method Used to Create Adara Maps
    Update 12         Alexandria – First Look
    Update 13         Alexandria – Back on the Farm
    Update 14         Alexandria – Wandering Down the River
    Update 15         Alexandria - Enter Suburbia
    Update 16         Alexandria – Farming for Ideas
    Update 17         Alexandria – An Urban Crop
    Update 18         Alexandria - Details
    Update 19         Alexandria – Closing the Gap
    Update 20         Alexandria – Farming Again
    Update 21         Alexandria – Farmer in the Corner
    Update 22         Alexandria – Fill Sites and Farmland
    Update 23         Alexandria – More work on the Urban Edge
    Update 24         Alexandria – Where the Rich People Go
    Update 25         Alexandria – Completed!
    Update 26         Alexandria – Mapping Away Once More
    Update 27         Vavenby – Welcome to the Third Stop
    Update 28         Vavenby – Roads, Rails and Towns
    Update 29         Vavenby – Farming Once Again
    Update 30         Vavenby – The Old Crossroads
    Update 31         Vavenby and Delmar Junction – Boundary Issues
    Update 32         Vavenby – Farming and Lotting
    Update 33         Vavenby - Ponds and FARms
    Update 34         Vavenby – Agriculture Amusement
    Update 35         Vavenby – Two Birds and One Stone
    Update 36         Vavenby – Small Town in Need of a Name
    Update 37         Vavenby – Detailing the Dam
    Update 38         Vavenby – Farming Near the Dam
    Update 39         Vavenby – The Joy of River Details
    Update 40         Vavenby - Williston Dam Version 2
and More Farms of Course
    Update 41         Vavenby – Farming and Camping
    Update 42         Vavenby – Back to Town
    Update 43         Vavenby – Housing for All
    Update 44         Vavenby – The Last Spots
    Update 45         Vavenby – Mosaic Day
    Update 46         Vavenby – Mapping
    Update 47         Jackson Pass – Getting Started
    Update 48         Jackson Pass – Initial Townsite
    Update 49         Jackson Pass – Terrain Stylings
    Update 50         Jackson Pass – Picture Blowout
    Update 51         Jackson Pass – Delmar Junction Boundary
    Update 52         Jackson Pass – Greenspace
    Update 53         Jackson Pass – Lower Density Homes
    Update 54         Jackson Pass – Going around the Mountain
    Update 55         Jackson Pass – Nighttime in Salmo
    Update 56         Adara - Classics Celebration Nighttime Tour of Adara
    Update 57         Jackson Pass – Lakeside Exurbs
    Update 58         Jackson Pass – Finishing Touches
    Update 59         Jackson Pass – Mapping Odds and Ends
    Update 60         Adara – Long Term Plans and First Look at Winfield
    Update 61         Winfield – Transportation Time
    Update 62         Winfield – Westside Town Core
    Update 63         Winfield – Vavenby Border
    Update 64         Winfield – Time for some Modds
    Update 65         Winfield – The Edge of Westside
    Update 66         Winfield – Southern Shore Blast
    Update 67         Tutorial – Tahoe Style Plopable Water
    Update 68         Winfield – Bits of Polish
    Update 69         Tutorial – Cross Border Photo Prep Technqiues
    Update 70         Winfield – Going to Town
    Update 71         Winfield – Urban Growth
    Update 72         Winfield – Small Stuff
    Update 73         Winfield – Water Ways
    Update 74         Winfield – Tourism Area
    Update 75         Winfield – Apartments and Businesses
    Update 76         Winfield – Back to Suburbia
    Update 77         Winfield – Slumping Demand
    Update 78         Winfield – Building Demand and Detailing Distractions
    Update 79         Winfield – More Industrial Growth in Westside
    Update 80         Winfield – Jackson Pass Border Details
    Update 81        Winfield – Vote for the Future
    Update 82        Winfield – Streams and Shores
    Update 83        Winfield – Higher Education
    Update 84        Winfield – Mosaic Day
    Update 85        Winfield – Maps
    Update 86        Ellison Flats - Introduction
    Update 87        Ellison Flats - Back to Farming
    Update 88        Adara One Year Anniversary and Ellison Flats Shorelines
    Update 89        Ellison Flats - One more Set of Farms
    Update 90        Ellison Flats - Railways
    Update 91        Ellison Flats - Industrial Plans
    Update 92        Ellison Flats - Suburban Diversion
    Update 93        Ellison Flats - Building the Industrial Area
    Update 94        Ellison Flats - Water Detailing Day
    Update 95        Ellison Flats - Suburban Blitz I
    Update 96        Ellison Flats - Suburban Blitz II
    Update 97        Ellison Flats - The Other Side
    Update 98        Ellison Flats - Forest Details
    Update 99        Ellison Flats - Forest Details
    Update 100        Ellison Flats - Staying the Course
    Update 101        Ellison Flats - Putting on the Finishing Touches
    Update 102        Ellison Flats - Maps and Composites
    Update 103        Greenwood - Roads and Rails
    Update 104        Greenwood - Border Startup
    Update 105        Greenwood - Farmers Moving In
    Update 106        Greenwood - Detailing Some More
    Update 107        Greenwood - West Side of the Highway
    Update 108        Greenwood - Last Day of OSITM
    Update 109        Greenwood - Farming Fillers
    Update 110        Greenwood - Detailing
    Update 111        Greenwood - Simply Farming
    Update 112        Greenwood - Wind Farm
    Update 113        Greenwood - Fun with Gravel Trails
    Update 114        Greenwood - Townsite
    Update 115        Greenwood - Rolling Along
    Update 116        Greenwood - Hiatus Update
    Update 117        Greenwood - Back to River Business
    Update 118        Greenwood - Prep for Game Water Detailing
    Update 119        Greenwood - The Real River Details
    Update 120        Greenwood - Still a Lot of Farms Left
    Update 121        Greenwood - Shoreline and Farm Details
    Update 122        Greenwood - Final Farms for this Side
    Update 123        Greenwood - The Other Side
    Update 124        Greenwood - One Shore Wrap
    Update 125        Greenwood - Detailing Poplar Grove Farms
    Update 126        Wednesday Night Technical Detour
    Update 127        Greenwood - Detailing Poplar Grove Farms II
    Update 128        Greenwood - The Joy of Mosaics
    Update 129        Greenwood - Shoreline Detailing
    Update 130       Greenwood - Detailing . . .
    Update 131       Greenwood - The Final Day
    Update 132       Adara Rapid Fire Revisions - Delmar Junction
    Update 133       Adara Rapid Fire Revisions - Alexandria
    Update 134       Adara Rapid Fire Revisions - Vavenby and Jackson Pass
    Update 135       Adara Rapid Fire Revisions - Winfield
    Update 136       Adara Rapid Fire Revisions - Wrap Up
    Update 137       Dunster Bend - Welcome to Tile 8
    Update 138       Dunster Bend - Straight to the Border
    Update 139       Dunster Bend - Farming First
    Update 140       Dunster Bend - Finishing Farms
    Update 141       Dunster Bend - Urban Start and Something Extra
    Update 142       Dunster Bend - A Touch of Details
    Update 143       Dunster Bend - Back from an Unexpected Holiday
    Update 144       Dunster Bend - Lakeshore Phase 2
    Update 145       Dunster Bend - Another Swath of Residents
    Update 146       Dunster Bend - Random Developments
    Update 147       Dunster Bend - Detailing Here and There
    Update 148       Dunster Bend - Lakeshore continued
    Update 149       Dunster Bend - Bit of This and That
    Update 150       Dunster Bend - Detailing Day
    Update 151       Dunster Bend - Dunster Lake Complete
    Update 152       Dunster Bend - Valley Flood Fill
    Update 153       Dunster Bend - Swamp
    Update 154       Dunster Bend - Farms
    Update 155       Dunster Bend - Golf Course
    Update 156       Dunster Bend - Getting Close to Completion
    Update 157       Dunster Bend - Golf Course Revisit
    Update 158       Dunster Bend - River Wrap Up
    Update 159       Dunster Bend - Regional Context
    Update 160       Lehman Valley - Slow Start
    Update 161       Lehman Valley - Bridge Headaches
    Update 162       Lehman Valley - Exploring Details
    Update 163       Lehman Valley - Boundary Issues - Vavenby
    Update 164       Lehman Valley - Lowland Farms
    Update 165       Adara – A Long Overdue Update
    Update 166       Deroche – Highway Interchanges
    Update 167       North Delta – Railway Crossover
    Update 168       Deroche – Revisiting the Interchange
    Update 169       Saltery Bay – A Simple Start
    Update 170       North Delta – Fractional RHW6
    Update 171       Delta – Ferrying Around
    Update 172       Seabird Island – Flight Plan
    Update 173       Riverside – Complicated Simplicity
    Update 174       Savona – Future Suburb
    Update 175       Sailor Bar – Not That Kind of Bar
    Update 176       Upper Lehman Valley – Heading to the Hills
    Update 177       Natalia Bay – Coastal Cliffs
    Update 178       Southridge – Williston Lake Expands Some More
    Update 179       Rosedale – A New Row of Tiles
    Update 180       Adara – Small Touch Ups
    Update 181       Seabird Island – Rumors of My Demise . . .
    Update 182       Kinswater – A Step Towards an Experiment
    Update 183       Seabird Island – Budget Deliberations
    Update 184       Bickerton Hill – Last New Tile for Now

Tarkus

Battlecat, amazing start here!  You've done amazing work with the ploppable water and the forest shot there is absolutely stunning.  And I really like that curvy road there--you've put the NAM curve and fractional angle pieces to good use. :)

-Alex (Tarkus)

threestooges

Excellent start Battlecat. I like that you are showcasing some of the recent community developments but, even better, that you are taking a methodical approach to the region and showing step by step development. You may not have played in 2.5 years, but you would hardly know it from looking at what you've shown so far. Your little terraforming pic looks like it's just giving a taste of what's to come. Very well done.
-Matt

JoeST

Im going to be keeping an eye on this, looks like its going to be good, thanks battlecat :)

Joe
Copperminds and Cuddleswarms

Sciurus

L'atelier d'architecture
* * * * * Longwy * * * * *

art128

Wow ! very nice start there.
That nature looks exceptional. :thumbsup:
Can't wait to see more,

Arthur.  :thumbsup:
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

Battlecat

#6
Update 2: Delmar Junction – Farms and Streams

Hi everyone!  As promised, here is the second update.  From here I intent to shoot for once per week to update for now unless I start getting a significant backlog of updates.  But first looks like I actually have some readers!   ;D

Tarkus:  Welcome and thanks for the kind words!  The plopable water is absolutely superb to work with, I hope you like my efforts with the details along the edges as much. 

threestooges: Thanks for all your kind words.  The honest truth is that it's the amazing developments all across the Simcity community that's inspired me to return.  I prefer to give credit where it is due wherever possible although that can be quite hard with the sheer number of plugins I like to use. 

JoeST: Hello!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sciurus: I appreciate you enthusiasm!  Wait not more, here's update 2!

art128:  Thanks for stopping in, I hope the nature will look even better after today's update.

Finally, to all the lurkers who kindly took the time to stop in raising me to over 100 page views in 2 days, thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed it and choose to stop in again soon! 

Ok, back to the update!  Time to start getting some farms and details on the ground!  I spent some time messing around in a practice area with zoning and farms and decided quite quickly that it would be a lot less work if I did everything at once in on portion of the city square.  Zoning, roads and detailing will all be done simultaneously to save time and pain with the intent of not going back and destroying too much of this.  At least that's my hope.  I may change that plan in the future.  So without any further babble from me, here are today's pictures!   

2-1: This is the area I'll be working today.  Here there will be a small urban core, plus the start of establishing the farming in this area.  High density urban development is quite a long ways out and far off in another part of the region.   



2-2: My first attempt at zoning out the city.  It's been a while so I'm not happy with this layout.  Also, looks like I used the wrong streetside mod, no offense to Jeronij, but I really like the way Cycledogg's trees look on roads sides. 



2-3: A much better result after a quick bit of mod replacement using the Cycledogg Streetside and the maxis tree replacement mod, both created by Andreas plus a quick redesign of the urban core.  Not to mention the added bonus of the trees on lots matching the style of the street trees.  No worries though, Jeronij's amazing trees still have an important place here!



2-3, 4 and 5: And now for some messing around some more trying to get a feel for techniques to make aesthetically pleasing farms.  You may notice in the following pictures: Darmok's dirt trails, a wide variety of farms from many talented artists, plopable fields from Dedgren and of course the amazing pieces of the Rural Renewal Project from Chrisadams3997.







2-6: Now to start work on a section of the river.  First, I need to bring a road across the river here, but I'm tired of bridges.  Jeronij's Culvert and a whole bunch of plopable rocks to simulate rip-rap slope reinforcement looks pretty good to me. 



2-7: And just to the north, the initial detailing of the first waterway.



2-8: The finished waterway complete with trees, shrubs, flowers, water plants and a short trail just for kicks (Chrisadams3997).  I've chosen Jeronij's Riparian tree controller for the waterways, it produces a nice mix of trees.  The yellower willows were added separately for color. 



2-9: And the culvert.  Hmmm, this farmer seems to have build a random wall (Jeronij's).



2-10: One more farm and the finished town core at this point. 



2-11: I'll pick up here next time.  Putting in a walking loop trail here around the bridge near the train station that's going to be removed because it just doesn't quite fit in here.  I'll add one nearby on the other side of the river later. 



I hope you all enjoyed this, if you have any questions or want a closer shot of something, just let me know, I'm happy to oblige!  Have a great day!

Modified to add picture numbers

Tarkus

Battlecat, another fine update here.  You seem to have the rural side of things figured out very well.  Absolutely masterful use of Chrisadams' RRP flora and some of the other recent rural content here--I'm learning a fair amount from your Ploppable Water usage as well. 

The town looks quite nice as well, and I really like the way you've worked in all the FAR and FARR pieces in.  I'd concur with your plans with the train station as well.

-Alex (Tarkus)

Sciurus

Good developpment, but when will you do a big city? ;D
L'atelier d'architecture
* * * * * Longwy * * * * *

bat

Two wonderful updates there with great pictures! Your region looks really great!
Nice start! Looking forward to more... ;)

threestooges

Things seem to be progressing quite nicely here. The culvert crossing looks pretty darn good and I like the addition of the willows. It's small touches like that, above the single level that the already great tree controllers provide, that helps to add that extra little something. The cattle farm (with Chrisadams' stuff) turned out pretty well and what really caught my eye was the walking trail that passes under the rail bridge. I'm looking forward to seeing the results when it's all detailed and done. Nice work.

LE0

Leoland coming Spring 2009

FrankU

Battlecat, this is a very nice development.

You brought me to the idea of using Andreas' street tree mod. It looks indeed so mouch more realistic to have the same trees in the streets as on the lots....
I have installed Andreas' tree replacement mod, but forgot that there is a street tree mod that fits with it. Thanks for the tip.

And the first overlook of your rural area: I think there are too many different farm types, resulting in too many colours. I can see mediterranean farms (one with lavender), but also flower fields that fit into the northeren european region (Netherlands, Danmark). The fields, but also the buildings do not match.
I do make the same mistake. Some time ago I downloaded almost all farms I could find and dropped them in my plugins. So I ended up with lavender, tomatoes, pumpkins, tulips, corn, fukitol, whatever. I later realised that selections are the start of beauty: I'd advise you to select just a small group of farms that fit together in coloring, but also in type. Every climate has its own farming types, and I think the rural areas in game also look better when the farms are combined in some realistic way. I myself did not have the time to select my farms, so I now play a large urban region with ports etc. Farming will come later, some day.

And do I see it right that you can get a farm growing at the end of Darmoks transit enabled streets? I didn't know that that was possible.

Did you terraform your complete region in one run, or are you going to do that step by step as you need more room?

And as my last remark: you have a very good eye for detail and it is a real pleas to the eye looking at your pictures. The details of your farms and the small streams look gourgeous!

kbieniu7

Thank you for visiting Kolbrów, and for being for last ten years!

Simpson

Incredible work there, you small city look super.
I really love the river  :thumbsup:. I'm looking forward to the update 3.
Take care,

David
My new city is now here
The région of Kaikoura

Teaser of Lopsas[+ How did I do it?]:Lopsas

Battlecat

#15
Update 3: Delmar Junction - Trails

Greetings everyone!  Welcome back and thanks for visiting!  I've got an update for you shortly, but first: 

Tarkus: Thanks for your kind words!  I'm glad you are enjoying the project so far!  I just love rural areas.  I'm really trying to play around with all the tools available these days to see what is even possible.  So many tools, so little time!

Sciurus: Glad you liked it!  I'll be on rural development for a fair while here, but I've got plans for urban development in the future!  Once I get the hang of things the rural development should start moving faster though.

bat: Welcome!  Glad you're enjoying your visit so far!

threestooges:  I originally intended to use the Rural Renewal Project culvert but it was a bit too tall for that location.  I'm please that Jeronij's culvert worked out so nicely though.  Hope the trail appeals now that it's done! 

LE0: Welcome and thanks for the applause!  Not positive I'm worthy of it, but I appreciate it none the less!   

FrankU: Welcome to Adara!  You're absolutly right about the proliferation of extra crops and medeterranian buildings in my region.  I hadn't actually thought about it until you mentioned it I'll be working on reducing the number of them some of them in a future update and going forward I'll be watching a bit more carefully what develops.  Bannanas in a temperate climate just doesn't work.  I've put a bit more information at the end of the post on this topic. 

As for Damonk's roads, you're absolutely right about things not developing at the end of the transit enabled street.  Some time back, Damonk posted a tutorial about this in his Anduin Valley Revisited thread.  The basic concept isyou run a normal street into the middle of the parcel, and then destroy it once the farm is developed.  A transit enabled piece of the trails must touch a portion of the farm lot (even just crops), then the rest can be built as eye candy pieces. 

Finally, to answer your last question, I'm using SC4 terraformer to create the region.  Only this tile is finished at this point, I'll terraform more of it in the future as necessary.  Thanks for your visit and comments! 

kbieniu7: Thanks for visiting!  Glad you like it!

Simpson: I really love the waterways myself!  Come back again soon! 

Now, on with the update!

3-1: As I mentioned last time, I'm going to get started on this update with the waterfront trail.  Here is the area now that the train station is gone.  A small number of homes are on this street now instead.  I guess living next to the railways needs to have some benefit such as a nice walking trail.  Also, as noted by FrankU, that lavender field will have to be dealt with in the future.  Unfortunately, not today though!



3-2: Getting started with the details, a trail head, leading though a flower filled meadow


3-3: And then down to the river through the forest. 


3-4: Here is the final result in this area.  I'm very pleased with how this looks now. 


3-5: Moving right along, I need new train station.  Additionally, I also have added an industrial area in and a garbage transfer station.  Not the nicest area, but it's necessary for now.


3-6: I'll come back to this urban area here in a future update, but first some more farms. 


3-7: The farm on the far side of the road is great but I'm going to replace the fields with something nicer.


3-8: Getting close to being finished here, the river needs some work next.


3-9: So starting with the further detailing of the river.  I added this farm as I was working on the river. 


3-10: Finally, here is an overview of the developed area of Delmar Junction to date. 


This is starting to come together quite nicely.  Before I head out, I just want to revisit the farm fields a bit.  This region will tend to emulate the area I live in in real life a bit, the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia.  As such, I've got to be a bit careful about crop.  This region's climate is called a transitional region.  It means that some crops are just on the economic boundary here.  Fruit trees and wine grapes are rare, but present in this area as are bulb farms, corn, most livestock, hazelnuts many berry crops and even one or two real oddities such as soy.  However crops like lavender, olives, bananas and melons don't thrive here at all.  Other crops such as tomatoes and peppers grow here, but only in greenhouses. 

Anyhow, hope this helps clarify the situation as well as it has for me.  I'll start enforcing this strictly by update 5!  Thanks for reading, I'll see you next time!

Modified to add picture numbers

dedgren

My friend, this is a great start!

I can't wait for the map.




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

antimonycat

Looking good, especially the overviews, meadow and river. I haven't really made any rural areas yet but seeing this makes me want to give it a go  :)

io_bg

Great use of the ploppable water! Your rivers look realistic. I also particularly like the second picture with the trail and the flowers. Can't wait for the next update!
Visit my MD, The region of Pirgos!
Last updated: 28 November

rooker1

I have to agree with some of the others, great start and your river look great.  Definately up there with the best.  &apls Your second and third picture in the last update is awesome.  I hope you can find some time to enter the SC4 Picture Competition.  ;)

Robin  :thumbsup:
Call me Robin, please.