Ashtabula

[Jmouse]

It is always sad to hear there has been a loss of life, but to know it was caused by sheer stupidity on the part of an inattentive driver is beyond tragic. My condolences to you, Anita's family and her many friends.

The overview of Saybrook (4.3) is beautiful, Don. The mosaic was a good way to show off your rural skills. One of these days someone will create some pie-shaped wedges to fill in the FAR gaps, but since SC4 was designed to be an orthogonal simulation, we have to use our imagination sometimes.

Your maps are amazing - makes me ashamed of my own lack of planning. That's probably what's wrong with my game. I would do well to take some examples from our better MDers I guess!

Later...
Joan

[threestooges]

Just taking a quick break from studying so I'm sorry I can't leave a more detailed reply (especially after all the work you put into that power pole tutorial). I have to say though, you've certainly earned your spot here with these other MDs for the month. You show a fine attention to detail and that last region shot and mosaic are just great.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Such an event is always tragic, I hope you, her family and friends are as well as you can be.

I'll have an eye out for your next update, but until then, I hope things are well for you.
-Matt

[ashton23]

You're a good friend  Don

Please refrain from triple posting.  -Tarkus/SC4D Admin

[Ennedi]

It seems Ashtabula becomes one of my favourite MDs! 
I really like your rural landscapes, the way you build roads and rails is very well thought - I must look at your previous updates again to learn it better 
Great tutorial about placing utility poles! It would be good to make a short announcement with explaining the theme and a link to your MD in the "How to build..." tutorials section! 

I'm really sorry about the death of your friend - my condolences. My thoughts are with you and your friend's family. Yes, we must be extremely careful on the road - after making over half million kilometers by a car I saw a lot of examples of an incredible stupidity. We should always expect that other drivers can be careless, feel bad or being simply an idiot. We must be responsible for ourselves and for others.

Adam

[meinhosen]

Great work on Saybrook, Don!  I really do like the first picture... you've done wonders with the FAR/FARR and the SAM and it really shows.  The map- fantastic. 

I was sorry to read of your friend's passing.  I think Ennedi best summed up what I would have said (he probably said it better, too). 

[metarvo]

This mosaic is an illustration of rural beauty.  You know, I thought I saw small dots next to the roads and rails on the map.  Do those represent power lines?  In any case, you have placed yours quite well.  Of course, it seems like the residents think that you're letting one utility go to develop another, according to that sweet little warning you got.   With that aside, your development along the FAR is some of the best that I've seen.  Keep up the good work, Don!





I'm deeply sorry about your friend's death.  I just want you to know that you have my best wishes, Don.

[sebes]

Today I read the first 5 pages of your MD. What a beauty you make here. I am impressed.... from all detailed planning, to the inspiring maps, the result shown in pictures and the added tutorial. The Saybrook map is awesome!

I am sorry for your friend and her family. I read the newspaper link and watched the news item.. it made me sad. I hope that the cardrive will get something more than just a speed ticket

[homefryes]

Wow - coming up on 3000 views! Thanks as always for the continued support!

Guillaume (Sciurus): Thank you, my friend!

Joan (Jmouse): Thank you so much for the kind words. I'll tell you, what David (dedgren) is cooking up over at 3RR [linkie] will completely change the way we currently have to do intersections! I can't wait until they're released. It'll be FAR on steroids! Once you find a strategy for planning that works for you, you'll be doing just fine!

Matt (threestooges): Thanks for the great compliments! Thanks also for the words of sympathy; I'm hanging in there.

Ashton23: It's so hard when someone touches a life the way she touched mine. Getting my feelings out was therapeutic for sure.

Adam (ennedi): Always a pleasure to have you stop by; thanks for the compliment! I will follow your advice regarding the tutorial (in the next few days). I appreciate the kind words as well regarding my friend.

meinhosen: Thanks, I'm having a BLAST with FAR/R and SAM. How did we ever play the game without them?! Thanks also for the sympathetic sentiment.

metarvo: Thank you for the compliments. Mosaics are fun, and especially interesting with FAR. The dots on the real map are actually buildings. On newer USGS topographic maps, you will see things like high-voltage powerlines and gas lines (represented by •----•---- and ----- respectively). The topos I'm using are from the early 1900s, so these items probably weren't present back then ... either that or they just weren't represented. Thanks also for the kind words.

sebes: Welcome to Ashtabula! I'm glad to add another resident to the region, and I hope you'll enjoy your stay. I too hope for a proper and satisfactory outcome to the investigation, however long it takes. Thanks for the kind words.

5.0 – Kingsville, planning strategy part I


5.0.1 - Kingsville - loading quad

Welcome to Kingsville. Before we get started, let's see the regional development so far ...


5.0.2 - Region view

... and where Kingsville is in the region:


5.0.3 - Kingsville - locator map

The Ashtabula River passes through the very southwest corner of Kingsville (not shown in the following image) while Conneaut (pronounced kon-ee-ot) Creek enters and exits the eastern border flowing almost to the center of the township where it makes a 180° bend. We'll also find a number of small creeks and streams.


5.0.4 - Kingsville - untouched

Since receiving a lot of comments and compliments on my planning steps, I thought I'd show a little more detail into how I go about doing this.

Using the Terrain Query tool (hold the [CTRL] key down and press [X] to bring up the entry box in the upper left corner, then type "terrainquery" - CAPS not required).


5.0.5 - Kingsville - terrain query tutorial

Then use the regular query tool (forward slash) and hover over the land. David (dedgren) gives a thorough explanation of what you'll see in the query dialog bubble here [linkie]. We will only concern ourselves with the bottom row for right now, which is the "cell x" and "cell z" information to locate the center of our quad. All of my quads are large (256x256); keep in mind the cells are numbered starting with zero, so our exact center will be on the corner of 127x127 and 128x128. So let's locate that spot and right-click on the screen to center the quad there.


5.0.6 - Kingsville - locating the center

We probably won't remember exactly where that is (I never do!), but let's place a signpost; you can always move the signpost after it's placed.


5.0.7 - Kingsville - signpost tool

With the signpost tool, simply click on the quad to place the signpost. I enter the text "ctr" for the center. Use the query (forward slash) tool again to find the center, and then click the signpost tool menu button to move the signpost to our center (left-click on the signpost and hold the button down while dragging the mouse to reposition the signpost).


5.0.8 - Kingsville - signpost repositioned to exact center of the quad

I then place another signpost in cell 127x127, which is a half-tile off center. Though you can't see it in the following image, I place a [.] in this signpost. As noted in an earlier update, I make my grid 7x7 tiles with major gridlines at 28x28. So, moving west from the center, I'll place a signpost 7 tiles from my [.] signpost and place a [space]* in this one; then 7 more tiles away with a [space]; and a third with a [space]. Now, the 4th signpost will get a [.] to indicate the major gridline.
* A signpost has to have something in it. A blank signpost will not stick, so I chose to use a [space].


5.0.9 - Kingsville - signpost line heading west from center

We'll continue this 3-to-1 pattern all the way to the edge of the quad. Our last signpost will be in tile 1x127.


5.0.10 - Kingsville - west end of signpost line

Next, we'll return to the center and work our way to the right (east). Our last signpost will be in tile 253x127.


5.0.11 - Kingsville - east end of signpost line

Here's our bisecting east-west line.


5.0.12 - Kingsville - east-west bisecting line

Let's then do the same thing north and then south. On this quad, we'll run into the lake heading north, but our southern-most signpost is in tile 127x253.


5.0.13 - Kingsville - north-south bisecting line added

Next, from my southern-most [.] signpost, I'll place my posts west and east. The reason being is it's quicker to do our north-south lines next from near the edge of the quad rather than the center (less going back-and-forth). In fact, I really didn't need to do the initial east-west bisecting line (above), but I did that for illustrative purposes.


5.0.14 - Kingsville - southern-most major gridline

We'll install all of the north-south signposts along the major gridlines denoted by the [.] signposts.


5.0.15 - Kingsville - north-south gridlines

And, finally, we'll complete our east-west major gridlines.


5.0.16 - Kingsville - all major gridlines complete

That's how I place my grid which I use for planning the network. I employ this tactic even if I'm not transferring a real-life map into the game, just because it helps me line things up nicely. Next time we'll show how this compares to my real-life map.

-- Don

[Jmouse]

Don, this sounds so logical and you make it look very easy, although I suspect it will take some getting used to. In the past I've used a street tile here and there to mark something, but that has the disadvantage of disturbing the terrain elevation sometimes.

Also, I've saved 5.0.2 as a reference along with some shots from Covington by JBSimio. Both of you create the kind of rural areas I strive to make, so maybe I'll figure it out one of these days by studying your work.

Thanks for the explanation - it was a big help and I'll probably start out by trying it in a test region.

Later...
Joan

[Sciurus]

It's excellent, wonderful, but there's just signs for the moment

Guillaume

[ashton23]

I'd like to say keep up the good work Don !!!!!!!!!!

[homefryes]

Joan (Jmouse): You're right in that the street or road tile plopped here and there to mark things off can really louse up the terrain, particularly when one is working on hilly terrain. The beauty of the signposts is that when I get done plopping all those signs, I have spent not one §imoleon! Zero! I hate using money cheats, and will only use them if I have to. Read on for more about signpost placement.

Guillaume (Sciurus): Yes, of course, my friend. The signposts will all go away once the transit network is all laid out.

ashton23: Thanks for the encouragement!

5.1 – Kingsville, planning strategy part II

We left off with a shot of the finished signpost grid. Next, I'll attempt to show you how I "transfer" my real-life map to the game. Unfortunately I didn't do a great job at capturing it the way I'd have liked to, because frankly I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and didn't take enough pictures to depict it. But hopefully this next image will help. You've seen a couple of these in previous quads, and I plan to incorporate them in future updates regarding planning for each future quad, because they're kind of fun to look at. This is the original early 1900s map over which I have placed a grid. This grid matches the signpost grid I plopped into the quad; note the numbers along the left and bottom which correspond to the tiles within the (256x256 large sized) quad.


5.1.1 - Kingsville - original map

One caveat is that, because I needed to make adjustments to the lake shore (to avoid a quad with very little land), and because the real-life township border on the east side of Kingsville and continuing all the way to the south end of the county is horribly off-parallel with the others (it's true, bad surveying back then, I guess), I skewed the map to make it truly square. In the process of doing so, many of my roads got skewed as well. So, it's a little funky, but since the skewed maps are what I used to make my greyscale map, I try to live with it as best I can. I still try to keep straight roads straight, even if the RL map is showing them skewed.

So, referring to my RL map, I first locate where roads meet the edges of the quad. These images don't really "show" anything except how I mark these locations, but if I were to do a "terrainquery" on this tile where SR 84 meets the south edge, you'd see that it's somewhere in the vicinity of [x=225 z=255] (scroll up to the map). It might not be exact, as I had to keep in mind how this will play out with things that need to occur in the adjacent quad, but it's close.


5.1.2 - Kingsville - SR 84 at south border

Here is where SR 90 crosses the border. Again, a "terrainquery" would reveal that this is tile 134x255.


5.1.3 - Kingsville - SR 90 at south border

Though I obviously will not change these two border crossings, here is where SR 84 and the New York Chicago and St. Louis Railroad cross. A "terrainquery" would reveal that the railroad is at tile 0x184. You can see my signpost "line" adjacent to the railroad which corresponds to the red line at z=183 on the map above.


5.1.4 - Kingsville - SR 84 and NYCSLRR at west border

Finally, this is where US 20 and the NYCSLRR meet the eastern border; you can again see their proximity to the signpost "line" (in this case at z=71).


5.1.5 - Kingsville - US 20 and NYCSLRR at east border

Now, you may be wondering what the letters in my signposts mean. At the edges of the quad, I use the name of the road in the signpost. For the purposes of marking off where my roads, rails, etc., will be placed, I use letters to indicate what network type will be in that spot.
• t=rail (train)
• r=road (as in black with lines and can connect to neighboring quads)
• s=street (my default for this entire region will be the SAM-4 gravel-with-dirt-berms streets)
• d=dirt roads (my default is SAM-3)

Where two networks intersect, you may see signposts containing some of the following:
• tr=rail/road intersection
• ts=rail/street intersection
• rr=road/road intersection
• rd=road/dirt road intersection
• rsd=road/gravel street/dirt road intersection

That's just a few; there are numerous possibilities. For overpasses, I'll use a forward slash between the letters, as in t/r for a railroad overpass over a road.

Other network notations you won't see here for a long time (because we aren't that advanced yet) are
• a=avenue
• o=one way road (followed by a directional n for north, w for west, etc.
• h=highway (could be rural highway or Maxis standard, it really doesn't matter).

I'm also using c for creek and other variations on that as I level my waterways and to mark the ends; and I've also used (lower-case) L for powerline if I need to plan out where the high-voltage towers will go. These are techniques I use to help mark stuff out that I thought you might find useful.

SR 84 and SR 90 run concurrently for a short distance; the rr signpost indicates their southern intersection.


5.1.6 - Kingsville - SR 84/SR 90 intersection

This is a portion of SR 84 southest of SR 90. When I'm marking off orthogonal sections, I'll place the signpost in the middle of the tile, but for diagonals and FAR pieces, I place it on the line between two tiles. The red box shows where we will have a diagonal-to-FAR curve, and to the left of that in yellow is where we will have straight FAR pieces. The dashed green line indicates where the diagonal road will go.


5.1.7 - Kingsville - signposts marking diagonal-to-FAR curve and FAR pieces

Here, further south and east, we again see the diagonal-to-FAR curve in red, the straight FAR pieces in yellow, and the diagonal road along the dashed green line.


5.1.8 - Kingsville - signposts marking diagonal-to-FAR curve and FAR pieces

Now, for a little river leveling, in the southwest corner, we have the Ashtabula River making a brief appearance as it passes through (marked by the w's for now).


5.1.9 - Kingsville - Ashtabula River in southwest corner

I leveled out the river bed; it's much lower than in the previous image. I took the elevation measurement from the neighboring quad (Ashtabula) to match it here. The diagonal stretches of road allow me to occasionally raise the elevation slightly. This helps with the realism in that the river flows downhill from the south border to the west border (and, as seen in Ashtabula and Plymouth, onward to Lake Erie).


5.1.10 - Kingsville - Ashtabula River in southwest corner

I added a little creek here.


5.1.11 - Kingsville - Ashtabula River and tributary in southwest corner

Here we have Conneaut Creek as it enters and exits along the eastern border, with South Ridge Rd. in between ...


5.1.12 - Kingsville - Conneaut Creek along the eastern border

... and near the center of the quad where the creek makes a 180° bend.


5.1.13 - Kingsville - west bend of Conneaut Creek

Finally, here is an overall view of my signposts marking out the transportation network (in addition to the signpost grid we saw in the previous update).


5.1.14 - Kingsville - transportation network marked by signposts

I have already laid out the rail and road pieces an smoothed out the terrain for the networks, just as I explained back on page 1 [linkie], so I won't do all of that again here. I hope I've achieved (at least somewhat) giving a better understanding of how I plot the road based on the signpost grid and the real map.

-- Don

[Sciurus]

Impressive, the number of signs is impressive!! But I think it should be more bueatiful when it'll be developped!

Guillaume

[Haljackey]

So I just took some time to check out this MD and oh my!  Holy crap man, this is awesome!   The way you plan out your city is very creative and inspiring!  I've never seen those landmark signs used like that, but it sure is creative.

And what realism!  The end result of all this intensive planning is just stunning!  I love how you curve your road and rail networks, as well as the way you show off your cities in mosaic form.  Excellent job!  I'll be following this one for sure from now on.

All the best,
-Haljackey

[Jmouse]

Another great tutorial, Don. I've copied it to a Word.doc for study later. Your work is so unique, and all that pre-planning definitely pays off. I especially like the way you form the little creeks and streams.

I'm sure you've already mentioned it, but I'm going to be lazy and ask: Did you hand terraform your region, start with a basic map or what? It is just fascinating to watch this region develop. You've already made an impressive showing in OSITM, and the month isn't even half over yet. Good job.

Later...
Joan

[ashton23]

Homefryse have you checked out  Ryan B.'s Orleans county yet

[metarvo]

This has to be one of the best uses of the in-game sign tool that I've seen.  It looks like it would be repetitive work after a while, but I can see from the "finished" pictures earlier that this method definitely pays off.  Keep up the good work here, Don!

[ashton23]

Are there any dependencies for the plopable water kit?

[meinhosen]

The insight into your planning is incredible.  Now that I've seen the planning, I can't wait to see the result.

[homefryes]

Woo-hoo - one more entry to the big 1-0-0!!

Guillaume (Sciurus): Indeed, it is a large number of signs! It's all part of my planning process. I trust it will look much nicer without them all once I get all the roads laid out, the trees in place, and the signs removed.

Haljackey: As the sign says, Welcome to Ashtabula; I'm glad to have won over another follower!

Joan (Jmouse): I probably did mention earlier how I did my terraforming, but I don't mind telling again. I actually took the real-life maps (as shown in the previous update) for each quad and, using the photo/graphics program I have, traced the elevation contour lines, assigning RGB values for each elevation level. I then assembled all of the individual greyscale quad maps together, sized it appropriately for the game and imported it. I will occasionally do some in-game terraforming to make adjustments (with the god-mode tools), but for the most part, I've not done much else except for some initial smoothing when I named all of the quads. Hope that answers your question.

ashton23: At your recommendation, I did indeed check out Ryan B.'s Orleans County. Quite impressive. I have the utility poles, while he has the signage! (If US 20 runs through Orleans County, I may have to borrow his highway marker for Ashtabula!) As for the ploppable water, I believe it's JRJ Transparent Plopable Water by jeronij ... but I'm not 100% positive. Can anyone help verify that for me? They are the first tools in my mayor-mode trees menu.

metarvo: My good friend, I'm honored that you're plugging my MD in your signature! What I really like about using the signsposts is that you can turn them off when you want to see how things look without them, they don't cost any §, they don't alter the terrain, and when I'm completely finished with them, I can simply use the signpost bulldoze tool to get rid of them.

meinhosen: Thanks, my friend, for the compliment! With upcoming RL events, the wait for development may take a little longer than usual. Hopefully it will be worth it!

5.2 – Kingsville, preparing the roadways

Well, as life would have it, I am running severely behind on my "working ahead" concept. I'm dangerously close to having my MD caught up to my behind-the-scenes work! To add to the mix, my partner's step-mother (or "step-mother-in-law," if you will) passed away last evening. She was 72 and quite ill, so we're all relieved that she's in a better place now. This should, however, not adversely affect what's going on here, as I'll maybe even have a little extra idle time away from work this week. However, my plan for getting extra updates in before my vacation next week has totally gone by the wayside. I do hope to get two more updates in by Saturday; but then I'll be unable to post next week. My apologies in advance! Perhaps in my down time next week, I'll be able to do a little work on the MD to get ahead once again.

I said in my last update I wouldn't share images of my road-leveling techniques ... but I lied! I hadn't realized that I did in fact capture some images of that, so I will show them here. Might buy me a little time to get ahead in my developing!

As mentioned before, I am using Ennedi's slope mod [linkie], and prefer the leveling that the rail tool produces over that of the road tool (for the most part). Sometimes the terrain is too rough for the rail tool, particularly when leveling for FAR/R puzzle pieces. I then use the road tool to make those short (8-tile) strips, and then run the rail tool directly over those strips to level further; works like a charm! (Running the rail tool over the road works if meeting or surpassing the ends of the stretch of road.) But, as mentioned before, I will opt to use the road tool where I need a steeper hill than the rail too will allow. This first image is a good example of this, as I needed a good hill both north and south of this intersection.


5.2.1 - Kingsville - North Kingsville (intersection of US 20 and SR 90)

Moving west we see where US 20 intersects with Infirmary Rd. and crosses a small creek.


5.2.2 - Kingsville - US 20 (W. Center St.) at Infirmary Rd.

Further west, a nice little hill along US 20 (W. Center St.)


5.2.3 - Kingsville - US 20 (W. Center St.)

This is the New York Chicago & St. Louis Railroad near the center of the quad. A diagonal S-curve piece will go where the parallel strips are shown.


5.2.4 - Kingsville - NYCSLRR near center

Here is where Infirmary Rd. crosses the tracks.


5.2.5 - Kingsville - Infirmary Rd. at NYCSLRR

This is Kingsville (the village center). It was quite a challenge actually laying out the roads, due to the slope variations and intersecting roads, but I did eventually get it all worked out nicely.


5.2.6 - Kingsville - village center

Just east of the previous image, this area also produced a few challenges when laying out the roads.


5.2.7 - Kingsville - village center east

South and east of the village center is this area.


5.2.8 - Kingsville - southeast of the village center

Further east of the village center is where South Ridge Rd. crosses Conneaut Creek.


5.2.9 - Kingsville - South Ridge Rd. at Conneaut Creek.

Finally, South Ridge Rd. well east of the village center, with the creek on the north and south sides of the ridge.


5.2.10 - Kingsville - South Ridge Rd. east of town

Later ...

-- Don