The Noro Cooperative

[M4346]

Thanks a lot M.  It's not actually that small, I only showed half of the park. -Robin

Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing or humorous because of its ridiculousness to the viewer. The concept is related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy". When the usage appeared, in 1909, it denoted: ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical, and effeminate behaviour, and, by the middle of the 1970s, the definition comprised: banality, artifice, mediocrity, and ostentation so extreme as to have perversely sophisticated appeal. American writer Susan Sontag's essay Notes on "Camp" (1964) emphasised its key elements as: artifice, frivolity, naïve middle-class pretentiousness, and 'shocking' excess. Camp as an aesthetic has been popular from the 1960s to the present.

Camp aesthetics were popularised by filmmakers George and Mike Kuchar, Andy Warhol, and John Waters, including the latter's Pink Flamingos, Hairspray and Polyester. Celebrities that are associated with camp personas include drag queens and performers such as Dame Edna Everage, Divine, RuPaul, and Liberace. Camp was a part of the anti-academic defense of popular culture in the 1960s and gained popularity in the 1980s with the widespread adoption of postmodern views on art and culture.

Source: Click!

The fact that it is a little camp is exactly why I love it!

Hmmmm, not really sure what to say after reading that.  But I am glad you like the camp grounds at the size I have made it.  I have been camping at campgrounds with @1500 sites before and the one I made here only has about 30. - Robin

[Jmouse]

Robin, you've done a fine job on the camp ground. The water looks terrific, and the trees are well placed. Overall, a very interesting combination of colors – a feast for the eyes.

I looked at your map-softening work with great interest. I know someone who could benefit from learning your techniques. You have some good-looking beaches there. Consider yourself lucky.


Thanks a lot Joan! I'm taking my time and trying my best and the results seem to be paying off.  Although you wouldn't beleive me if I told that I have destroyed the entire area several times    before I got to what you see here.
The softening tool is our friend.  Tell your friend to take thier time, use it close up and on a medium size, hold the button down and do nice smoothing sweeps across the areas needing smoothing/softening.  I'm sure they'll get the hang of it rather quickly. - Robin

[metarvo]

Let's face it, spring has sprung on the Northern Hemisphere calendar, and summer is right around the corner according to retailers and travel destinations.  So, I like seeing the camping scene this time of year.

Yup spring has sprung up here, or at least for this past weekend.  Apparently we are suppose to get 5 to 10cm of snow today, winter just does not want to let go.    But I am looking forward to camping this year, I have picked out and reserved some of my favourites places and got the exact sites I was hoping for. Thanks for stopping by. - Robin

[rooker1]

Happy Easter from Team NORO to everyone!



My kids had thier two cousins over these last two days and this morning they all woke up at the crack of dawn, knowing that it was Easter Morning. I stayed up with them last night until about midnight, they were too excited  to sleep  .  Back to this morning though...I had to keep them all  busy  in the basement until the wife had time to completely hide all the candies in the backyard.  I can tell you all first hand there is nothing better in the entire world than the happiness and smiles of kids.  They were all so super happy to find that the Easter Bunny had come to our house and hid candies and small toys for them.  And my special Nico, five years old, was really impressed that the Easter Bunny knew that his cousins were at our house and remembered to leave candies here for them.  The kids are now eating candies for breakfast and couldn't be any happier. 

Again, Happy Easter!!
Robin

[Gobias]

Great work on the NORO so far - gotta be the most interesting thread on SC4D right now.  Isn't it amazing that a city simulator can be such fun just playing with terrain, trees and MMPs!  You guys are making spectacular scenes with barely a hint of "civilization" in sight.  Dare we even call it SIM-City any more?  Just shows how versatile we've all made this game to be.  Keep up the great work and I can't wait to see where this collaboration is headed.

Thanks a lot, that means very much to Team NORO.  I also find it amazing where everyone has taken this game, especially over the last two years.  Without them we/NORO wouldn't be where we are today.  I think you'll really enjoy where we will be going in the weeks to come. - Robin

[noahclem]

Excellent camping scene Robin    The delta smoothing and flora looks great as well and I wish you and yours a very happy Easter 

Thanks Noah.  I'm glad you like it too. - Robin

[rambuckel]

Happy Easter to you, too!!!!

I should have visited much earlier ... you've all been pretty busy creating great scenes! Noah's work with the Highways is amazing as always. I wonder how you manage to keep track of all those pieces. Probably it becomes easier if you use the pieces more often than I do

Nevertheless great work from all of you!

[metarvo]

I'll bet all that candy made the kids wild for a day, Robin.    Happy Easter, NORO Team. 

[noahclem]

My motorway work is ongoing--and exciting! I'd like to post a couple small teaser pics to keep you all abreast of what's going on now in NORO--today from tile "Is"











And there's rail too 



Details, the big picture, and more--coming soon

[vester]

That majhost is really slow tonight.

The water looks a bit of. Way to still around the pillows.


The transport system looks good. Looks forward to see the big picture.
What is up with the shadow on the rail bridge ?


Thanks for the comment Arne    The water here is small, slow-moving channels in a forested river delta. There's very little current or wind and so no splashing around the pillars. I'll try a different tiling setting to see if it looks better though. I'll try to fix the bridge shadow too. Big picture coming by tomorrow

-Noah

[MTT9]

Looking good


Thanks!  -Noah

[Kitsune]

In the second picture - the top level MIS is not properly aligned. Otherwise.. it looks good.


Thanks and thanks for the tip    Not sure why I messed that up.

-Noah

[threestooges]

What is up with the shadow on the rail bridge ?

Part of the shadow, I believe, is that the bridge is actually slightly lower than the actual rail that leads up to it. It's caused as a side effect of the zero bridge height mod (which, I believe may have been integrated into the NAM at some point). Basically it can allow for bridges to be built lower than the entering track. The shadow itself is from the model which, despite having odd blocking, would be less noticeable if the bridge were raised just a wee bit.

Fun looking pictures here guys. Keep it up.
-Matt


Thanks for the tip    I tried your suggestion but have been having trouble with it--i wonder if I can improve the mod. I've also noticed the same error on other bridges. Glad you liked the pics and thank you!

-Noah

[Gugu3]

Well done Noah!always outstanding work!


Thanks Guglielmo! Always great to hear from you here

-Noah

[Swordmaster]

Good work Noah, except there's a wrong direction piece next to the FlexFly

That rail bridge problem can indeed be alleviated by heightening it a bit, like Matt suggested.


Cheers
Willy


Thanks Willy! Whoops 

-Noah

[noahclem]

Kindof a grab bag of maps, tricks, and pics today--hopefully there's something for everyone 

First I want to introduce a new project. I decided to take a little break from my transport project and look into something else I've been hoping to do in NORO. You may remember xannepan's fascinating work on the Poseidon Mod, which allows game water to exist and remain above sea level.


I've created this reservoir in tile "Ci". I'm still fine-tuning everything but it seems to be working quite well and is stable. The reservoir is a little over 2 km long and the dam is about 800m long and a little over 100m high. I plan for the area to be developed with small rivers flowing into it and another river flowing out with a large dam and hydroelectric plant.

To my knowledge nothing like this has been done before with "real" water and I'd really appreciate advice, help, and input from you all on how to best implement and design it. Are there any BATs that would work for the dam? At this point JRJ-wall-style textured lots seem like the most viable option for it. But if someone wanted to make something.... 

There's also the issue of the hydroelectic plant itself. I could use some input on how to do that as well. Perhaps from an expert on ElectriCITY?

You can pick up the latest Poseidon Mod alpha here: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2596.0;attach=9699



Now, as promised, the bigger picture on tile "Is" and surroundings. Here's our region with my current highway project in blue and other nearby highways with relatively confirmed plans in red. Planned interchange locations are gray. You can also see where the dam tile, "Ci", is located.

Click for full size



The current transport map of "Is"



The full layout of the teaser interchange shown last--the MIS directional error has since been corrected 



Not enough maps? Check out this beauty

This is my rough plan for the southern interchange in "Iu". The top is east and the road coming from the bottom is the planned highway coming from the west. It'll be difficult but I should be able to implement something pretty close to this--I hope 


Too many maps? It's okay I took a couple pics too 

This is the same rail bridge shown last time, replaced with a different model. I also tried to fix the end shadow problem but failed--this pic fixes a quick and dirty GIMP fix



Right next door, this is where the highway starts out across the delta area



Thanks for viewing and I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

[art128]

I remember Ennedi in Shosaloza did a very well made dam. Pics are still up There hopefully.


Thanks for the tip Arthur! Indeed there's some excellent ideas there (as always with Ennedi)

-Noah

[vortext]

Heblem has made a pretty neat modular dam system, which is available here. Though it looks like a bit of hassle to use properly, judging from this accompanying tutorial he wrote as well.

Also . .



. . guess great mind think alike.   

The lake spans four tiles and this proves to be a bit fickle with regard to a consistent water level in regionview . . 


Thanks Erik. That's a beautiful mountain lake indeed! Indeed Poseidon seems pretty fickle but at least it seems to work at a basic level--much better than nothing. Thanks for the heblem dam link--looks just about perfect. I hope to give it a try this afternoon 

-Noah

[Gugu3]

Good job there Noah!!! Always amazing stuff by you!Looking good there Vortext!


Thanks Guglielmo, and yeah that's an awesome pic by vortext 

-Noah

[vester]

Going to be interesting to follow the reservoir construction.


Thanks Arne, I hope it is indeed!

-Noah