My wish: a new zone = nature reserve (or Natl. Park)

[dare2go]

G'day,

_{I'm neither certain if this is the right forum area for my request, nor if something like my idea exists already...}

I would really like to see another zoning option to set aside land for a Nature Reserve or National Park.

My ideas are taken from real life:
1. zone land as "Nature Reserve" - best from the zoning menu (either under Residential or the yellow section above Agricultural)
2. instead of a strongly coloured overlay give the Nature Reserve a different shade of (natural looking) green
3. no cost to set up, but relatively expensive to demolish or re-zone (a bit real-life-like)
4. optional ideas to enhance game play:
   a) no major roads allowed (highway, avenues, larger RHWs) to cross
   b) no major power lines to cross
   c) only permitted developments:
       Ranger Station,
       normal roads,
       passenger train,
       maybe "Scenic Drive" and small parking spaces,
       PEGs Nature Trail, and the likes...
5. counting in the game as park benefit similar to in-game large parks, but with larger radius

Too difficult?
Or is there something like this available?

[Andreas]

While your draft sounds nice, it is not possible to add new zones to the game, unfortunately.

[dare2go]

While your draft sounds nice, it is not possible to add new zones to the game, unfortunately.

Uih, Andreas, that was quick...   

If it's not possible with "Zoning" would it be possible with a dragable tile from the Parks Menu?

Something which doesn't destroy the existing trees, just gives the ground a different shade of green, and comes with some of the above mentioned features attached...

[sim-al2]

Not possible either. You just have remind yourself not to build there. I believe on the STEX there's a mod that let's you "paint" ground textures but I think it disappears when you reload the city.

[dare2go]

Not possible either. You just have remind yourself not to build there.

Oh - why not?

What I was/am after is actually the bonus one would get out of creating a Nature Reserve (desirability, less pollution, recreational value, higher land value, etc.) - which all would/should encourage other players to use this feature to enhance their cities...

[MandelSoft]

But you already can, with parks 

By the way, you really should check the forums if something what you ask already exists.

[dare2go]

But you already can, with parks 

By the way, you really should check the forums if something what you ask already exists.

I believe you might suffer from a "short attention span" 
If you read my initial description you'll find several very important details which differ from a park:
1. leave all natural landscape features intact (like trees, animals, cliffs, rivers)! If you plop a park you loose everything there had been previously, and it might even level the land depending which park you use. In general a "Park" is an artificial, man made, recreational area, as opposed to a purely natural state you should find in a "Nature Reserve"...
2. I though to have this combined with more far-reaching rewards for the initial intention of not using up all land with man made features (see 1.)

Sorry but you missed the point - but then you are from Holland, which is an almost entirely man made country with not much "wilderness". [BTW: "you really should check the forums if something what you ask already exists." I had searched for "National Park" and "Nature Reserve" before posting = all I found were descriptions in regions like Parklands, where the mayors had provisioned for such areas, but without the extra benefits I'm after.]

Have a nice day...

[ShadeSlayer]

I believe you might suffer from a "short attention span" 
If you read my initial description you'll find several very important details which differ from a park:
1. leave all natural landscape features intact (like trees, animals, cliffs, rivers)! If you plop a park you loose everything there had been previously, and it might even level the land depending which park you use. In general a "Park" is an artificial, man made, recreational area, as opposed to a purely natural state you should find in a "Nature Reserve"...
2. I though to have this combined with more far-reaching rewards for the initial intention of not using up all land with man made features (see 1.)

Sorry but you missed the point - but then you are from Holland, which is an almost entirely man made country with not much "wilderness". [BTW: "you really should check the forums if something what you ask already exists." I had searched for "National Park" and "Nature Reserve" before posting = all I found were descriptions in regions like Parklands, where the mayors had provisioned for such areas, but without the extra benefits I'm after.]

Have a nice day...

Hey buddy, you may want to calm down there. mrtnrln was just making a suggestion, so you are in no place to criticize his country, nor are you in a place to say he has ADD/ADHD.

[adroman]

As Andreas did say, it is impossible.

I think I understand what you're referring to, you want a reserve that gives you benefit, right? A section of land that you get rewards for keeping pristine?

Personally, I don't think that is possible at all. Planting trees already gives a Mayor Rating benefit (if I remember correctly...) and reduces pollution. I don't think that Nature reserves do much more than that in real life. As far as a new zone goes, could you use the Rural Renewal Fences to fence off a block of the map?

As mrtnrln truthfully said, all of the benefits you want are in the parks... So you could create a perimeter of parks? or you could relot the Rural Renewal Fences onto Park lots.

Havva good one,
Adrian.

[dare2go]

Hey buddy, you may want to calm down there. mrtnrln was just making a suggestion, so you are in no place to criticize his country, nor are you in a place to say he has ADD/ADHD.

Sorry - it wasn't meant too seriously - really not! That's why I put it into quotation marks...
It's all tainted by the fact that over the last years I have learnt that nobody really reads anything anymore; I come across this all the time in my business. Sometimes I have to send 4 emails outlining the same issue, and still receive irrelevant replies. Personally I felt a little rebuked by the remark about the "search" as I'm not new to forums and hate it myself if the same question is repeated over-and-over - so yes: I used the "search" function first...

[ShadeSlayer]

Well, as said in this thread -- your only option right now is either using parks or making something with all of the values you want.

[callagrafx]

I believe you might suffer from a "short attention span" 

I believe you might be suffering from a "Manners bypass".  I would strongly suggest you read (or re-read) the site rules about derogatory comments.

[Diggis]

OK, there is much in your post that I could pick out.  Firstly, there are plenty of 'parks' available on the LEX that are more natural in look, CSX have done a large number, which give you the rewards without it being highly noticeable. These are still called parks because the are in the parks menu and are technically parks lots.  And what you are after is often called a national PARK.  

That is what Marteen was getting at.  As Andreas said, what you want isn't able to be done.  Marteen was trying to give you ideas for an alternative and your reply was very very rude.

Sorry but you missed the point - but then you are from Holland, which is an almost entirely man made country with not much "wilderness".

I would suggest you do some research before you make comments like this.  Holland has a large number of wilderness preserves, many more that you would expect in such a densly populated country.   of special note is the Hoge Veluwe near Utrect.  

In future I would suggest you temper your posts somewhat. We are a very friendly and helpful community on the most part and we'd like to keep it that way.

[MandelSoft]

I believe you might suffer from a "short attention span" 

Well, well, well. I believe you are suffering from it too. If  you've read the manual or at other topics, you see that parks have the same effect as what you want. Besides, if you still want to keep places 'occupied', make an empty transparent lot (I'm sure there's a tutorial about how to make that), and plant trees on it afterwarts. Then you can't build anything else on that... or you can just leave the place and remember to do nothing about that patch of land, as most people do here.

Sorry but you missed the point - but then you are from Holland, which is an almost entirely man made country with not much "wilderness". 

Is this a "personal attack" argument? By the way, as diggis said, Holland does have some wilderness:
- The dune coast
- De Utrechtse Heuvelrug
- De Veluwe
- De Biesbosch
- De Kempen
- De Peel

So your argument is not only valid, but quite wrong. Also, I've travelled to some areas that have what you call "wilderness", namely the Ardennes (Belgium) and the Schwarzwald (Southern Germany).

Be more carefull when posting comments and do some more research first.

Best,
Maarten

[Diggis]

Right, I think that might be enough off topic replies now.  As detailed above mate, Exactly what you are after isn't possible, due to being in one of the areas we aren't able to Modify.  Your best option is to set some park lots (or use some of the available ones on the LEX) that have a similar look to your wilderness and mod them to give the properties you want your area to have.

[callagrafx]

And on that note.... topic locked.

[xxdita]

dare2go, you had your answer within 10 minutes of posting the question, but you seem to refuse to accept conventional wisdom.

I won't say that it's impossible to create new zones, because there's enough documentation around here and Simtropolis (unless it's been lost in an upgrade) to convince anyone of that... for now.

I will say that if it were possible to create a new zone, it's highly unlikely that The Powers That Be would waste it on parks... or more exactly... would waste it on "an invisible zone that doesn't actually do anything". Just my opinion, but I think there would be higher priorities.

I suggest that you take a look at some of the GRV2 threads, as a Nature Preserve was one of the tasks given to all competitors, and each of them used their entire arsenals (and imaginations... remember, this is a game, after all) to the best of their abilities.

You can find BarbyW's entry here. You'll notice that the majority of the park was created using Mayor Mode Plopables and custom made lots.

As Maarten suggested, there's a tutorial by JeroniJ around here somewhere about how to make lots without a base texture. I'd also suggest looking through Three Rivers Region, chrisadams' Rural Renewal Project, and many of the great MD's here to see just what can be done with your own little tree-hugger paradise.

As far as modding something as huge as a National Reserve... there are already a couple options; either using MMP's, or using lots. MMP's are self-explanatory, but for lots, you'd need to break it down into a set of reasonably sized lots. There are limitations to the number of props & textures that can appear on a lot, and there are other problems created by so-called mega lots, which would defeat the purpose, so avoid all that.

Of course the lots you use would have to be modded to suit your own needs, ie the park effect/pollution cleanup need to have large enough radii to truly impact the entire tile. But the modding needs to be done just right, or you risk screwing up the tile completely. (Some of the cheat lots on the STEX turn the city's pollution to all red if you plop just one too many.)

With MMP's, you'll still need some sort of a functional park lot, in order to have a serious impact on the city. MMP trees or flora only provide a -2 air pollution over a radius of 2 (and that's generous).

So, you'll need to either learn how to use what is available, learn how to mod & lot for yourself, or learn to use your imagination a little.

The correct answer is usually D) All of the above.