Jim plays the game.

jmyers2043 · April 13, 2012, 07:25:21 PM

You will not see the picture of the day screen grab in any of my cities. I am not good at macro landscaping. Nevertheless, I tinker and create. This is what I'm up to at the moment.

Aerial of the Jacksonville Region. A grid of large cities with water and low rolling hills.

I have a problem in the city of Stockwood. I've painted myself into a corner. The area between the rail lines and the edge of the map needs filling in. Farms would be nice but the strip is too narrow for farm size I like to zone.

Will this be a good spot for a timber farm? I zone a large farm area. Raise a steep hill. And place a road along the side of the hill where I think a timber farm will grow.

A timber farm grows quicker than a wink.

I am confident that this short stretch of road on the side of this steep hill will produce a timber farm. Why? I've gone through all my farm lots and have changed them to have reasonable more realistic maximum slopes. Some BSC and SPAM farms are set to grow on very steep slopes. I use the Cycledogg rule of thumb for farms. Find the longest dimension and add one. So a 4X4 farm lot will grow on a maximum slope of 5. However, my Forestry Tower timber farm is set to grow on slopes of 7 or higher. There is no competition.

Ah, good. Spruce Tree timber is the field that grew. There are three Timber Trees that Cycledogg has made. Spruce, Ponderosa, and White Pine. The trees cycle through three stages. Medium, Full grown, and stumps. These are the stumps from another Spruce Pine field in the city. I'm still altering and re-lotting the fields. I'm trying to find good combinations of trees to group into families that make interesting and varied forests.

This is the 6X6 stage 3 farm lot with the Forestry Tower building. The tower is 39 meters high and is the same height as the SimGoober Timber Stand. There is an abandoned metal forestry tower about 2 miles from my home. I think I'll model it and that will be the third and final of the building family.

This is the other one. I merged the tower and foundation together to get this test render. The rock and retaining walls are the foundation. The foundation extends 20 meters below the X axis. So it will grow on a steep slope and you will not see that ugly Maxis industrial concrete foundation.

This is how the 'problem spot' turned out. I'm happy. It's time to do some more tinkering.

- Jim

art128 · April 14, 2012, 02:22:12 AM

Nice start, Jim!

You've certainly made a nice job with this closed area next to the railway. I would have though if nothing else than woods myself too.

It alls looks great, from the farms to the grid cities. What I liked the most in the region view, is even if there's a lot of gird, you've been able to break it with the cities, river banks and woodlands.

Looking forward for more.

-Arthur.

Lowkee33 · April 14, 2012, 07:23:26 PM

Now we know why you made a timber field

.

Are you missing a prop on your own lot at the bottom of that last picture? Looks like an important one.

mrbisonm · April 14, 2012, 09:19:21 PM

Quote from: Lowkee33 on April 14, 2012, 07:23:26 PM
Are you missing a prop on your own lot at the bottom of that last picture? Looks like an important one.

lol....that would be funny....but no prop missing where you think, (I think).

Nice going Jim, love that outlook tower on the rock.

Next time, could we have a closer look of the village?

Fred

jmyers2043 · May 06, 2012, 06:40:12 PM

Quote from: art128 on April 14, 2012, 02:22:12 AM
It alls looks great, from the farms to the grid cities. What I liked the most in the region view, is even if there's a lot of gird, you've been able to break it with the cities, river banks and woodlands.

Arthur - I know. I do not draw diagonal roads very often. I try to achieve some randomness by following tree lines that occur when I plant trees using Cycledogg's Meadowshire tree controllers.

Quote from: Lowkee33 on April 14, 2012, 07:23:26 PM
Are you missing a prop on your own lot at the bottom of that last picture? Looks like an important one.

Carl - You're looking at Jed Clampits homestead. The dirt patches are where the SimGoober animated oil wells are located. They don't show up at distant zooms.

Quote from: mrbisonm on April 14, 2012, 09:19:21 PM
Next time, could we have a closer look of the village?

Fred - You're going to make me do some macro detailing? Next time. I'll get to it. Promise.

Region View

Small town called Landrose Landing, Aerial.

I usually play the game on hilly terrain. Maxis homes do have foundations. They never show up because the lot foundation is set to low. So I set the maximum slope for all the R$ homes to 5 and the minimum slope before lot foundation to so some larger number. The wooden post foundations are OK. The pink and white foundation is

kind of OK.

My residential foundations

Maxis lot foundations with my lots in between.

My neighborhood.

Foundations gone wild

I'm at the end of self testing a series of R$ homes. I plan to get them packaged up and submitted to the scrutineers before the week is out. Corner lots coming to a town in your region?

LANDROSE LANDING She's tended the vegetables in the 20' by 40' greenhouse for decades. But local grandmother, Helen Doris, 74, said that the task is too much for her this year. ,"My knee hasn't been the same since I was kicked by that Llama in March" said Helen. "I might plant some marigolds in the window box, but that's about it". Doris's husband, Ralph, says it will be harder next year at shearing time. "Maw just put her nose right up against the Llamas forehead and stared them down. The critters stared back. Oblivious to the ruckus the clippers make." Helen and Ralph sell vegetables and canned goods at the local farmers market. It requires more than a little work. Llamas, on the other hand, just graze in the field, drink water, and grow fur. It's an easy second source of income.

- Jim

mrbisonm · May 06, 2012, 07:12:47 PM

Maybe the "Macro" detailing isn't that important. I don't feel like looking at the flies on the window.

Nice going, love the experience with those foundations, looking good. I personnally don't like too much building on uneven terrain in the game, but sometimes it can come up more interesting as you showed it quite well above.

Btw, I think Helen and Ralph have a small fencing problem, or are those Llamas that hard to keep fenced in? There are two on the loose..... Can I come and do some hunting? Never hunted Llamas before.........

Fred

kaylacey · May 07, 2012, 10:21:59 AM

Could you give us a short tutorial on how you did the foundations in the PIM, please?

jmyers2043 · May 13, 2012, 09:39:53 AM

I don't always play the game. Sometimes I test mods and bats that other people create. It can be fun at times. This mornings project is to test Lowkee's Pigeon Effect Mod, beta version 2. Here are the results.

Pigeons go on a rampage and set the small village of Stockwood on fire.

Lowkee33 · May 13, 2012, 09:44:07 AM

Flatron · May 13, 2012, 11:25:13 AM

I like it

FrankU · May 14, 2012, 02:05:00 AM

The Birds! They did it again! Alfred Hitchcock was right in the end!

HELP!

RickD · May 14, 2012, 02:44:17 AM

Oh those pigeons. I always suspected they were up to no good.

jmyers2043 · November 04, 2012, 07:15:58 PM

I started a new region. I usually download USGS DEM data. This is West Salisbury which I think is located in Deleware. I use a DEM converter program that creates a TGA file which I alter using Paint Shop Pro. This jpg image is ready for CNTR-ALT-SHT-R.

Small start along the left edge of the region.

An aerial of the small rural town called West Salisbury. There is no city hall but the Mayor has a desk in the police depot.

I was driving along the road to Bellcrest last Sunday. Bellcrest is the neighbor city to the north. I stopped and had a chat with these workers. They gave me a small cluster of grapes. Yum, tasty grapes coming soon to a farmers market near you.

I also stopped to take this photo of a picturesque chapel. The parking lot is almost full. Must be a good preacher.

Ah, how about that! The first 3 story office building on Main Street. There are customers at Pedro's Spicy Wings too.

But one does not simply play the game. The real reason for this new region is so that I can test the CAM patch by Z. I want to check the growing frequency of Pedro's and other diners I made. The field workers also gave me an idea for a new farmers market.

Workers at the market. The SimGoober melon farm must have grown somewhere in the city.

Like I said, one does not simply play the game.

- Jim

Swordmaster · November 05, 2012, 07:20:23 AM

Heh, now I wish I could play rural that way. It's very much alive, and the way the town sits in the landscape is very realistic. And I'm so terrible at developing slopes, while it looks natural to you.

Although that's one lewd town - two xxx video shops in such a small place?

Cheers
Willy

FrankU · November 05, 2012, 07:25:42 AM

Quote from: Swordmaster on November 05, 2012, 07:20:23 AM
Although that's one lewd town - two xxx video shops in such a small place?

Cheers
Willy

Yes, there is always a customer for XXX video's. If you take a closer look though, you'll see that they both share the same customers. Or customers that have the same taste in cars as in video's. But maybe it's just a trick with mirrors or something.

Hey Jim,
I Like your village and farmer's market!

Simcoug · November 05, 2012, 07:47:29 AM

Great little town - the market is top notch. I really like the props you've created for it. Any new BATs/props from you seem to find their way into my plugins instantly. Thanks for the sneak peak.

noahclem · November 05, 2012, 08:27:42 AM

A very attractive start to the new region

Nice work on your creations and testing

Girafe · November 09, 2012, 11:06:29 AM

who is the crazy guy who batted watermelons

lovely rural scenes Jim

Kergelen · November 10, 2012, 09:33:19 AM

Nice farmer village.

The left edge of the region looks very realistic

jmyers2043 · December 23, 2012, 07:03:53 PM

Kergelen .. Thank you. A realistic region view is one of the things I find fun to make.

Girafe .. I grow watermelons in my small garden every summer. Call me crazy

but I like watermelon.

noahclem .. Thank you.

Simcoug .. bats and props? I was thinking about you and the 'rail track building' scene you entered into the picture competition while I was making props for the coal mine (see below)

Swordmaster and FrankU .. I can't help but grow XXX video parlors.

Shocking, I know. I'll have to make some bats as competition to Stevies XXX. But I've got other things on my to do list at the moment, such as ...

I have been busy with the region of West Salisbury. Not that one can tell by comparing the previous region pictures. The terrain of Blackmar city is rough. A lot of trees, hills, and a somewhat wide valley near the northern border. What will I do? I don't want to knock all the trees down. I am accustomed to rural play with a city full of farms. $:-\$

This is the village of Rocky Creek. Some homes and businesses cling to the slopes. It is the perfect setting for the Rocky Creek Coal mine.

I batted a coal tipple a couple of years ago during the GRVII completion. This is the motivation to make a couple of structures and finish the lot. The Colliery and mechanical building over the pit. A motor pool and maintenance shop. Presto!. A growable and landmark lot with 303 I-D jobs.

Miners, hard at work.

About two miles down the road and nestled in a valley is the village of Blackmar.

ST. Bartholomew Church lies at the outskirts of the village. Today is the third Thursday of the month which is the day of the Womens auxiliary fund raiser. A bake sale with all varieties of cakes, cookies, and pies. They must be good. Look at all the customers.

- Jim