Boring Cities! Help!

[LowRider0123 0]

Hello fellow Simtropolites!

I’m having trouble creating non-boring cities that do not resemble a checkerboard. Does anyone have any tips or know of anything in the STEX that can give me a hand?

Appreciate it ya'll!>>

[Pixelrage 34]

I think the best tip is to take a good look at Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) and look at some real world examples...and try to mimic them. Alternately, use Mapquest to look at road layout.

I agree, it is extremely hard to make things look real, and I'm just beginning to learn how to do it. It's mindblowing how some people on this site create such incredible cities.

[Tommy_Vercetti3 3]

Like Pixelrage stated. look on google or mapquest.

It is challenging to make a city less griddy. Believe me. I randomly do that when im not even paying attention. so..  Good luck with the cites.

[Meastro444 1]

i find it not hard to do actually, im laying my roads as i want them to lay, and then zone them, i dont care if they al make 90 degree turns, imo, if it isnt maxis default, it is fine by me

Meastro444

[sumwonyuno 42]

all lots on the STEX are rectangular, unfortunately.

using real-life cities as reference is hard, mainly because u would need generally the same terrain replicated in sc4. an even easier way is to have fun and make something random terrain using the god mode tools or the sc4terraformer. create somethign completely abstract [for a real challege]... or think of ur dream area [would u want a metropolis with buildings vying for waterfront land or competing with a mountain, a self-sustaining island, peninsula, archipelago, etc.]... as long as it's not the default plain.

[+Guest]

Practice and more Practice.

[Kippis05 2]

It just takes time and patience...

[jacqulina 162]

i start with farms and small villages and if i am not happy with what i have built i demolish that bit or if not happy with all just start again but you can get lots of ideas by looking at other peoples cj,s it takes a lot of practice and hard work to get an end result that you will be happy with, so take your time and enjoy playing and in the end it will look fantastic

[hyped_up_boy 15]

a mix of diagonals and straight roads are key. mix them up. you might get something that's between 90 degrees and 45 degrees. if it doesn't look right, demolish and try again.

[freedo50 1]

think about the road/street layouts in your area and try to draw trhem out on a piece of paper with just horizontal and diagonal sections. i have a book full of these and it is really helpful, and of course once u have enough, u can mix up the bits to make new combos

[paperboy15 4]

Check out the city journals section for inspiration...grids can be used in an interesting city, just find ways to "break" the grid up (terrain, other networks, etc.) once in awhile for some random network flavor.

[raul39 0]

The road grid is only part of the of the problem. I find it useful to also use alot of eye candy. especially in my suburbs. heres an example:

[stardust_sam 0]

As an alternative you can also model your region first and than follow its natural flow with streets or railtracks (next to hills or rivers). So you can create a frame for your further developping. Then decide what kind of city you want (high or low density). Be crative, or just have a look at all these beautiful CJ's on this site. If you want to copy, follow everyones advices and use mapquest and google earth (many new high detailed aerial pics has been added during the last months).

Good luck!