Greenacre

[Swordmaster]

I concur with everyone about the good OSITM run. Yet I could have used a little more railroading in this update. 

All quite good, though you seem to have a bit of legacy trouble with short curves (yes, the curse of MD longevity). I'm also not a fan of the Y-stack, as you could have imagined. It's not the slopes that are troublesome but the curves. I bet with this radius, there should be a speed limit of around 10 MPH, which in turn makes it impossible to take such slopes. But then, the same goes for the other wide radius curves. Consider a solution to be in the works


Cheers
Willy

[art128]

Good work so far on the plaza Matt. Really adds a lot to the station.

[Jmouse]

Once again, you have made quite a showing in OSITM, Matt, moving effortlessly from a concrete slab on an island, through the halls of education, on to a rail yard and ending up with a scenic train ride. I'm not a big fan of rail travel, mainly because I've never seen a passenger train or a depot. But, there have been plenty of times when I've "enjoyed" waiting for 15 long minutes while graffiti-covered freight trains  crawl through town at a snail's pace.

Still, I can appreciate the detailed descriptions you included. The plaza in 53.02 and .03 looks great, but I never could have figured out what, if anything, was missing. That's some fancy stacking in 53.07, with a more subtle setup in 53.11. And who could resist looking out the window at a beautiful waterfall.

It seems that every Greenacre update shines a new light on the region and your carefully-laid plans for it. And I wouldn't mind borrowing that hammer for a while if you don't mind.

[threestooges]

Hmm, well this is a curious post to have to make.

I took a trip up to Seattle this past weekend, laptop in tow. Last time I ever let it get checked as a part of my luggage. Got up to Seattle, and it blue screened on loading. Tracked it down to the hard drive. Somehow it got turned on (it did the little restart progress bar thing it usually does when it's been put to sleep via lid closure) and then I'm guessing was subjected to several blows due to gravity.

Long story short, it's in for data recovery now.

That includes Greenacre.

Time will tell what's salvageable from it. Hopefully everything, but if nothing else, at least my pictures. At any rate though, I do have a computer, and I'm working to get it up to speed (went ahead, bit the bullet and bought a new one). For the time being though, Greenacre is going to be on a bit of a break, as are my other SC4 projects.

Not to worry though. It's not the end, as much as it is  setback. I'll be back one way or another, and perhaps put into motion a thought I've been kicking around recently.

Thank you all for your comments, both on the last update and all throughout this MD so far.
-Matt

[rooker1]

Ahhh that's some bad news. But as Willy and Noah keep telling me after every CTD lately...."I'ts the games way of telling you, you can do better". In this case it's Life or the damn luggage handlers. Anyways, sucks spending money on a new lap top but keep your head up on recovering your files and hopefully you are baak up to speed soon.
And I was so looking forward to my Bagel, coffee and Greenacre this morning......
Take care Matt!!
Robin

[Kergelen]

We are used to reading about loss of data and projects which ends just because of this.
The good thing of your post is that you say is not the end, just a stop, and you will return with the same project or another project which I'm glad.

[RickD]

Wow, that is bad news. But as long as the hard drive is still spinning up there is a good chance that data can be recovered. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Swordmaster]

One of those handlers must have thought, "damn Greenacre, I hate it."

Put a contract out on them, Matt. I'm sure in your branch you have the necessary contacts to get that done.


Cheers
Willy

[Flatron]

two years ago, my laptop did the same thing, but out of the blue I still work with it at the moment, so I hope that you can get greenacre back...

[noahclem]

Best of luck getting your data recovered Matt and have fun with the new machine   Looking forward to whatever the future of Greenacre turns out to be!

[Jmouse]

It's always a shame to lose something so dear to your heart. Once the shock wears off, though, you may find it's a new beginning instead of a sad ending. Of course, I hope you're able to recover everything or most of it, but whatever the outcome, I know you'll deal with it in a positive way.

[threestooges]

Thank you all for your comments here, they were nice to read through.

Near as I can tell, short of pulling the hard drive apart and plucking electrons from it one by one, the data is pretty well gone.

However, I plugged in my old external hard drive and found an old backup (April of 2011 "old"). Yes, it really has been two years since I last backed things up. Yes, I should have done it more often. Yes, it doesn't take that long. Yes, it had old Greenacre stuff on it (and a number of pictures too).

So Greenacre survived, at least in a two-year-backdated form. That said, Greenacre is more than just the map itself. I could take the two year reboot and try to rebuild, but I think I've come to the decision that the next you see of Greenacre, it will be a new map, starting from scratch.

Well, ok, not the *next* you see of it. I found an old picture from the first attempt I made at building an airport. I think I posted it way back when, but yeah, this amused me.



Amazing how far things can come, isn't it? If that's the development in two years, imagine what the next two will yield.

Until then, take it easy, and looking forward to your thoughts on the airport.
-Matt

[Jmouse]

It's sad to know the original Greenacre is gone, but happy that you've decided to start afresh. We have so much new custom content now along with some stunning terrain mods and amazing MMPs. Do you plan on terraforming the new GA, or starting out with a map and tweaking it?

[metarvo]

From what I gather, 2013 has been a bad year for computers.  I'm sorry about Greenacre, Matt.  It's good that you're going to restart it, though.  Hopefully, this airport of yours will have good luggage checkers that take care of things.

[Swordmaster]

New map, with new plans and new ideas; I'm sure we'll see a quality effort here. I'm already looking forward to it. Will it be an island again? If so, you may be limiting yourself with the rail options

As for that airport, well, . . . . well . . . . what's the word? . . . oh, nevermind.


Cheers
Willy

[rooker1]

New fresh start....I like it and I can't wait to see you break ground. I wonder what kind of map you might choose this time round. I might suggest to you to pick one that you can show off your rail passion.
At any rate, Good Luck!

Robin

[Schulmanator]

It's awful to lose that much. But I have found that each time I go back to something it gets better. I am sure you will continue to rock with your new stuff too.

[threestooges]

Thanks again everyone for the thoughts. As for Greenacre...



Well, I built an island once.



Pretty sure I can do it again.



Also, there's been a bit of a scale adjustment (large tiles, at 10x10).



So that's where things are now. I've already sculpted out land that's pretty much half of what Greenacre used to be, and I still have plenty to go.

That raises an interesting option however. There are so many maps that are already out there. I'm debating using one of them. Thoughts?
-Matt

[Jmouse]

After Willy posted a link to dobs' maps, I've been looking at them myself. There are so many stunning choices, I've been having second thoughts about my choice. The real secret is doing what feels right to you, though.

I'm sure whatever map you decide to use will turn into a very interesting combination of imaginative work and city design skills. But remember, you're not committed to anything until you're truly committed - in more ways than one.

[rooker1]

Good to see you at it again Matt!
There is something to be said for creating your own hand crafted map, a great satisfaction about saying I terraformed this myself.....espeacilly if it turns out great. But on the other hand, there are so many fantastic maps out there with so much fine detail they cannot be beat. I thgink you should find one that tickles your fancy. Instead of spending all the time creating a map, spend it on looking for a great one.
Either way, what ever you decide, I'm sure your following will continue to do just that.....follow! I know I will.

Good luck
Robin