P.R. Crastina's Travels

[Ralfger]

Great rural development -I really like the are around the ruins of that church!

[evarburg]

Wow, your MMP work is incredible.  I have been away from the community for a several years and it is insane how much the quality of people's MD's have increased, I am blown away, and have no idea how people are achieving this level of beauty!

I see I missed your comment. Thank you. And you're so right, we can now achieve stuff I would never have thought possible when I came to the Custom Side of the Force in 2005 or 2006 --what the NAM does, for instance, is extraordinary, considering how old SC4 is !  I just cross my fingers and hope our newfangled computers are able to support the game for years to come...) And, yes, MMPs. Aaaah, MMPs ! They allow us to become painters. Other construction games, City Skylines for instance, cannot seem to achieve that despite being very interesting and entertaining otherwise. I'll always happily give away "real 3D" for the possibility of painting my little landscapes 

[evarburg]

Kathy Vale RCI & Services I'm not sure I managed the pictures' size correctly, despise the wise advices received

Kathy Vale has stayed true to its agricultural vocation, with well-tended fields (the farmer switched to maize in between takes...)





The Agricultural and Environmental Research Center (a.k.a. the Biolab) which works hand in hand with the Mendel Agri-College



The Mendel Agri-College :



An ancient quarry has been refaced, re-earthed and rezoned agricultural, with excellent yelds :









Kathy Vale nevertheless has a robust industrial sector that perhaps distinguishes it from some of its neighbouring, more decidedly agricultural sisters cities. A requirement for all industries is planting trees all around their lot. Mostly, they like it and try.















As for the rest, like everywhere in the region, you find peaceful residentials neighbourhoods where ancient and modern cohabit harmoniously. The old belfrey tower flies the Eden Bay flowery flag.



The town enjoys all the required services, sports and cultural amenities, for instance Radio Vale and City Hall :



... or the local branch of the regional university, where P.R. has got her writing residence gig from July to October. The Museum of Agriculture is close to the University, a charmingly quaint reminder of days past ; this was taken in September, when some trees turn real early...





and there are well-developped and prosperous commercial zones





Some parts of the city are booming, especially near the rail terminal

[PaPa-J]

Very nice update.  I really like the The Mendel Agri-College, where can I find it?

[evarburg]

Thank you, and alas, I am sheepishly sorry I cannot tell you that because (1) this is an old region, long gone (2) I had --and still sometimes have, I'm afraid-- the reprehensible habit of renaming lots to suit the MD's narrative; but especially (3) : that wasn't an education lot at all but a commercial one. I could have found again an education lot, my stash is well organized as far as Services are concerned. But a commercial one ? OMG, no.  I have 5.06 gigs of them (about 1 G+ is by alphabetical order with the author's name, the most recent ones ; the rest is still divided, with or without author's names, between CS, CO, PLOP, G&P, GROW ONLY, BIG, MEDIUM, SMALL and BULK...) I'll try to keep it in mind, though, and if ever I find it again, I'll hail you, promise.

[PaPa-J]

I totally understand. Thanks anyway. 

[evarburg]

Kathy Vale : The Castle

Yes, there is a castle in Kathy Vale, another folly of one of the first Zabnis mayors' ; but curiously, that one did not elicit as much contrary passions as the channelization of Eden Bay's streams. Everyone bought the "It will bring tourists" line. Talk about tourist traps ! That one is a higher-end tourist trap, however. Located on a small hill among the fields, but close to town, it is a re-imagination of what a Middle-Age castle should be according to Bollé-le-Duck, a XIXth Century historian and would-be architect. It was built using a mix of ancient and modern techniques, (all by local artisans and workers) so it took only four years. None of the nitty gritty of what real life was inside those walls, however, for it has been arranged as an enclosed park. Nevertheless, the view of the country side from the hill is pretty, and it made for a nice bicycle ride for P. R. on her off days.

[PaPa-J]

Love the castle, is that done with puzzle pieces?

[evarburg]

Thanks you, and yes ;those are the modular castle relots by Paeng : https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/26715-paengs-castle-walk/ and https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/27884-paengs-historic-castle-walls/. If you are interested in castle pieces, Simmer2 has uploaded another, grittier version of them (either here on the Stex or both.)

[PaPa-J]

Thanks for the reply and the links evarburg! 

[evarburg]

NB : Techical stuff : I tried the click to enlarge trick for the PNGs Istill had (not all the picts.) I hope I got it right this time.
EDIT : apparently not yet ! What did I do wrong? 

And, WARNING : This is essentially a MMP orgy.
_____________________________________

Kathy Vale 6: Lazy Summers

Fortunately for the future of Kathy Vale, vast tracts of previously logged land are still available; but for the time being, they are left alone, except for the omnipresent hikers. The most usual scenary in the Eden Bay region is undoubtedly greenery, either carefully tended between houses or in vast undevelopped tracts ; and the citizens take good care of their park, as they do in the whole region : not one accidental fire since its opening twelve years ago.



One large area in particular, Nature Park, has been dedicated to campers and cyclists, to be their own playground. P. R. often took her students there, with no laptops or assorted gizmoes but a good old notebook instead : walking is not incompatible with writing or learning, quite the contrary, as demonstrated by the Greek Peripatetic Philosophers' School.  Here you can see the aftermath of the Family Bicycle Race that takes place at the end of Summer – not quite a real race, more like a pretext to go out and have fun together.

(mosaïcs)





















--------

[89James89]

This is gorgeous, your MMP work is absolutely on spot, nothing seems out of place but it all seems so natural and creates some amazing things to look at!

[c.p.]

Nice camping sites.  The creek is great.

[fantozzi]

The small romanic church and the silent pathways ... you created a sunday evening full of velvety light like those french painters in the transition from realism to impressionism– Berthe Morisot, Camille Corot, Charles-François Daubigny or Camille Pissarro Corbet – used to do.

[mattb325]

The MMP work is beautiful 

[PaPa-J]

Simply marvelous mmp work, incredibly natural looking.   

[evarburg]

Martin Falls : Introduction



Martin Falls is another "borough" , or "township" in the bigger, amalgamated Eden Bay city; a town in its own right like all the others in the region before the Amalgamation, it has two main poles of attraction : the regional Medical Research Center...



... and pieces of the regional University, which has been dispersed in several towns in order to offer a better service to the whole community ; Radio-Eden CKJB has a very good School-of-The-Air program







Martin Falls is also the place where all the regional rail lines meet ; in the upper part of the picture you can see the Big Oak, which managed to survive the rail interchange – but only for a little while ; the Greens were livid, and rightly so ; it is said that tree was about 800 years old, predating the town by a large margin. just so no one  else chokes on that particular pic, this was before Nam at least 30...



But Martin Falls is mostly an intensively agricultural part of the Eden Bay Region.



Agriculture, and commerce linked to agriculture, is the big thing in Martin Falls, although there is also a bit of industry (the non-polluting kind). The town, as could be seen in the otherview, is mostly built around the fields













All in all, like the other towns in the region, Martin Falls is a quiet and green place.





It was. Until it became the place where people from all over the region went for the summer, had a second residence built, and retired. The reason is obvious : Martin Falls, the lowest bassin in the region, is where most of the regional rivers and streams converge, to form the biggest lake in the region, Lake Martin. Needless to say P.R. made a beeline for that lake as soon as she set foot in town.

[89James89]

Love it!

Especially the massive lake in the middle with the usual gorgeous MMP work and, for some odd reason that screen with the massive warehouses next to the rural farmland!

A really nice tile!

[Tyberius06]

Hi!

What the .... that rail interchange? It looks like the avenue Y interchange, just with rail textures? Where did you find that? I've never seen that stuff... Ok since I'm using mods, I've been playing with RRW (and that interchanges looks maxis rail to me), but still...

Nice pictures anyway! Really nice work!

- Tyberius

[evarburg]

I was wondering if someone would comment on that ... That MD dates back to before NAM... oh, 30, I think.:-) We've come a long way, baby, havent we ?