Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[TiFlo]

Yup, WOW is Teh word for that wonderful conclusion of your OSITM run. And that mosaïc... I downloaded it, I'll look at it more closely tonight. 'tis gonna be fun, lookin' for hidden treasures!! *kiddy dancing around the table*

On a more serious tone, I've been wondering what is the method you use for planting your forests. I'm pretty sure you did a whole update on that topic, but I can't find it anymore. Is it a tree controller -which, the more I look, the more I doubt-, or is it manual planting, using the mayor ploppable trees? I've read somewhere that this is the way most confirmed SC4 players go. If so, isn't it too much time consuming?

As always, thank you for sharing those pictures!

[Connor]

Nice update once again, you have a great eye for detail in creating rural areas.

And that bonus was.... WOW! 

Truly spectacular region composite there. I had a lot of fun zooming in and quite simply admiring your beautiful work. 

---

Connor

[io_bg]

It was an amazing month, I really enjoyed all your updates (sorry for not replying to all of them )
I especially like the detailing around the dirt trail and the use of diagonal filler lots. Awesome work as always!

[canyonjumper]

It has been an amazing month for Adara in OSITM, and it came to an excellent end today. The detailing is great, and that composite...it's just awesome. Congrats again on the honour of getting OSITM, and hope to see more excellent updates in the future.

      Your friend,
                     Jordan

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic update!!! Very beautiful rural area with lots and lots of details!!! Amazingly well done!!!

[djvandrake]

Great update and that regional mosaic is just WOW!  Your work really shines when viewed at that level.  Bravo! 

[ecoba]

Really great job here, my friend. Adara had a great second run in OSITM for the month and I think that we gained about 400 replies, that's some serious growth.

The farms in this area look really great, I especially like that farm with the Italian style villa for the main house, it really is a nice lot. The small tracks that run between all of the farms are also really nice. The detailing with the small rocks and weeds makes the look of them not being used often really evident. Really it's turned out to be a wonderful area with quite a large variety of everything, and it would definitely be a lovely area to take a drive through. I think that the slight escarpment that you featured in this update is also really a nice feature that is not often seen.

I really liked that region view composite as well, I didn't open it in fear of crashing the browser, but it looked lovely from afar as well. Is Greenwood the tile to the bottom of Alexandria in the picture, or the right?

Ethan

[adroman]

I must say, Battlecat... I really enjoy my visits here, though I wouldn't do it if I'm on any tighter schedule, it takes so long to fully grasp what you do here... wonderful, I'm a big fan of the W.I.P. shots, they add a DIY Guide to it  Though, like most DIY jobs it rarely turns out as well 

All in all, keep it up! Your work is fantastic 

As always, I'll be back
Adrian.

[Nanami]

Very good!

[Cyclone1001]

Beautiful. Mabey you can get another OSITM

[turtle]

Hi Battlecat,

Absolutely stunning conlusion of your OSITM! As DjVandrake saif, your hard work of detailling everything really pays off when shown like this. The region presents itself incredibly coherent and it puts the agricultural landscaing you do right now into a perspective that was hard to grasp at the beginning of Adara. And what a perspective! Great work breaking the tile system! 

Thomas

[penguin007]

Awesome rural areas again might have to copy some of those patterns you have created with the roads and fields. Love the region view also

Will

[ShultzCity]

What a way to end your OSITM! The way you have detailed the area of farms is just incredible. And I'm still drooling from that last composite image - insane!

Keep up the good work

[Stray Cat]

Well BC...I may not have been posting much lately but I have been reading and enjoying.  Congrats on another successful OSITM...definitely well deserved.  I look forward to what else you are planning!

Scott

[nedalezz]

           

You, my friend, are a true legend of the game. That region shot! Words escape me.

Your work with the farms are second to none. How you put together such detail is beyond me.

[Toichus Maximus]

what a composite... absolutely stunning work, as always

[Battlecat]

mightygoose: Thanks very much, glad you've enjoyed it!

TiFlo: Thanks!  I hope you enjoy poking through the mosaic, I'm really pleased with how the region looks at the zoom 2 level. 

For my forests, I primarily use the Westcoast Rainforeset mayor mode controller from the large collection available on the LEX.  It's a lot of work and indeed quite time consuming.  I tend to do it in phases as I work on other updates to make up for that.  I find that most of the god mode controllers produce all sorts of oddities around the region that don't satisfy me.  Also, it gets me working in close with the terrain, which sometimes gives me odd ideas like the clear cuts and the occasional small pond. 

Connor: Thanks for your kind words!  Glad you enjoyed the composite, it was a lot fun and work to put together.

io_bg: No worries at all, glad you've enjoyed your visits over the past month!  Thanks for stopping in!

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thanks, I'm glad you've enjoyed the month.  A small part of me is glad it's over though, I'm not sure what I would have posted as a 15th bonus!  Thanks again for your congrats and your ongoing support!

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much!

djvandrake: Thanks, glad you enjoyed the mosaic!  I'm really glad that I've managed to put that beast together, the composites really are the big payoff for me as well.

Ethan (ecoba): It sure felt like 400, but it was actually only 4 short of 200 according to the MD stats.  Still it's a pretty incredible burst of growth, thanks for your help with that!  Glad you enjoyed the farms and dirt tracks, you've summed up the feel I was going for pretty much right on the nose!  It would be a nice place to drive, although I would want a good truck for that trip! 

Glad you like the composite!  One thought for getting your hands on the file.  If you're using internet explorer, you can right click on the image and use the "save target as" option.  That will trigger a download of the large format file from my web space and then you could possibly view it in a more stable program without involving the internet.  Greenwood extends off the bottom of the image as oriented on the zoom 2 composite. 

Adrian (adroman): Always glad to see you stopping in, glad you enjoyed getting caught up!  It has been a busy few months!  Glad you enjoyed the WIP shots; glad to hear they're coming in handy!

976: Thanks!

Cyclone1001: Thanks!  It would be cool to get another, but not anytime soon.  I'm out of good stuff to post for the bonus shots!  :-)

Thomas (turtle): Hello once again, good to see you!  Glad you like what you see again, especially the composite.  It is the completed visual of my overall goal for Adara and I'm really loving how it looks these days.  Thanks very much for you enthusiastic comments!

I must admit, there are a few spots I'm really itching to go back an apply a bit of polish to though.  One of these days I'll get around to it!

Will (penguin007): Thanks!  Glad you find the patterns inspiring, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Jacob (ShultzCity): Thanks, I really wanted this OSITM to go out with a bang!  Glad you like the composite, it was hard work to create but it's a real treat to see the region put together like that.

Scott (Stray Cat): Good to see you once again, glad you enjoyed your visits during the last month!  Thanks for stopping in!

nedalezz: Thanks for such high praise!  I'll try to keep the quality high going forward.  As for how I put so much detail into the game, I think it falls somewhere between absurd patience on my part and probably pushing myself into the territory of being obsessive compulsive.  :-)  Whatever the cause, I'm glad you like the results! 

Matt (Toichus Maximus): Thanks very much!  I'm really glad that composite was so well received. 

Update 109
Greenwood – Farming Fillers

Hey all!  Sorry for the delay in this update, but as I feared near the end of March real life has gotten a touch busier.  But never fear, I'll still be updating at least once a week at a minimum.  I'll be shooting for more though, but it'll be time permitting for the next while.  Anyhow, enough talk from me, let's get on with the update.

109-1: This is the block of land I want to develop today. 


109-2: Once again it's all farmland.  The large gap is land too steep for farming.  By too steep, I mean that a lot of the farm lots will look odd.  Some of the farms here on slopes though. 


109-3: Here's nearly complete selection of farms.  A couple of these are still going to be revised and there's some field replacement on the line but this will mostly do the trick. 


109-4: When I say field replacement, I'm referring to farms like this one.  While I like the building, the fields don't work for me.  Fortunately, it's easily fixed.


109-5: It works as a strawberry farm pretty nicely doesn't it?


109-6: One thing I've been casting my mind to are diagonal filler pieces.  While I have pieces that would work for this farm, and of course the complex set of lots I'm still developing that I previewed last week, I'm also considering other ideas.


109-7: I'll be interested to hear what you think of this result.  I simply applied a thick layer of RRP textures to the edge of the diagonal.  I'm actually fairly happy with the result, although the technique could use a bit of refinement.


109-8: While I think on that, I'll get going with the main detailing.  This area is now finished.


109-9: I've done a bit more edging along the top in this shot.  The highway side I've edged with just trees for comparison. 


109-10: Pulling out a bit, as you can see I've been busy putting trees in place.


109-11: The farm with the round barn is up next as well as that annoying jagged edge along the strawberry farm.  The round barn farm is just going to get an unmodified RRP fence.


109-12: But the strawberry farm is an issue.  There are no diagonal fillers that can fix this.  But the new technique I'm playing with might work.


109-13: How does this look for a diagonal cleanup?


109-14: I think it stands out nicely from further out.  As you can see, I've decided to leave the round barn's fields completely untreated for something completely different!


That's all for today.  Remember, the update schedule is going to be a bit less regular for the next few months, but I'll be back with another update as soon as possible!

[kimcar]

  Excellent work on those farm fields. Very done a great job for fitting all this to give a great looking of realism 

[ShultzCity]

Great work BC! I think the RRP treatment on 109-7 looks spectacular, but I am thinking that it would only go well with more 'run-down' looking farms. Otherwise, RRP fences with the RRP treatment look even better  - I'll definitely be using that when I get to some farms in Riverholm (I'm getting there  )

[ecoba]

An excellent update, my friend.

While a smaller update, this one lacked no quality. The same techniques of detailing that are commonplace through Adara are really making Greenwood beautiful. The new fields that went in to some of the farms are new, and, in my opinion, very unique as we have really never seen them in other parts of the region.

I hope that you're able to update soon, but, real life affects us all, so no worry. 

Ethan