Winchester

[djf3591 1]

PAGE 16!!!

I like the road trip so far and the usage of the NAM curves and FAR.

[ky72x 13]

I'm pretty happy for this new drive, as well. This update was quite enjoyable, and it's great to be back in the rural country areas. All of the curved and slightly angled roads you've thrown into the mix looks really good! I liked the street names, signs, and the main intersection of Blue Springs. Nice work, Dan.

- Kyle

[masssc4 3]

Beautiful, keep up the great work!

[dfnva 34]

Haljackey

Thanks! I've been trying to go through the scaffolding that I've done of road systems and put in curves, FAR's, and such as seems fitting. 

Will (Penguin007)

Thanks. Glad you liked the overview shot, I thought it showed the rural area off better than the close-up shots. For some reason I thought that FAR had come out already, but with the last update of "Three Rivers Region," I saw that it is still being beta-tested. 

Bruce (Schulmanator)

Thanks. Glad you liked the road curves. I think they enhance the look of rural areas. I have yet to use them in more developed areas, but I'm sure I will with time.

Equilibria

With SCS and the impending city-building games coming out, such as Cities Unlimited, I fear that true roadgeekery hit a pinnicle with SC4 vanilla which is taken to a whole new level with stuff like the NAM, RHW, curved roads, FAR's, etc. With all the new stuff still coming out for SC4, I doubt I'd be more content with another building game.

Travis (SCDawg)

l love driving down US-522, it's actually a good alternative to get down to Richmond I've found out. It's definitely one of my favorite VA scenic drives, though my favorite would probably be VA-42 and VA-39 through western Virginia. 

DFJ3591

Thanks! Glad you liked the update.

Kyle (Ky72x)

Thanks! Glad you liked the signs.

Rusummer1

Thanks!

And now...

Today may be both the first and last viewing of Deltown in this CJ as something bizzare happened today with SC4 and my computer, which I'll explain below.

But we'll begin on MP-165 headed west, we're a mile or so past Blue Springs when we see this sign for an upcoming intersection with SR-640.

Here's the intersection with SR-640. Anybody remember what major road SR-640 crosses in Midland? (Hint, it's on the first page of this CJ!)

And here's a 3-D sign from the intersection for your enjoyment. Lots of signage loaded on to this pole huh?

Continuing west on MP-165...

I think this road might be evil.

Approaching the next intersection with SR-630, we see this signage.

At this intersection, MP-165 turns left to multiplex with SR-630 into the town of Deltown.

And thus, we cross the Quinnipiac Creek into Deltown.

Here we're entering the edge of downtown.

Here's the signal at Cornell Ave. 

We pass a lot of downtown churches and Deltown High School, home of the Tigers.

And here is the downtown historical district. Some of the buildings date back to the late 1800's and even the Civil War. Recent years have brought more commerce back downtown with new restaurants and shops opening up as well as new condos being built.

Upon the approach of Martin Rd/Lincoln St., we see this sign telling of the impending divergence of SR-630 as well as trailblazers for I-34.

An older truss-arm signal assembly (like ones that used to be all over Illinois) dating to the 1970s stands at the intersection with MP-165 and SR-630/Martin Rd-SR-789/Lincoln St. The signals themselves, however, replaced older ones back in the late 1990s. 

Pushing south-west out of downtown, MP-165 passes by the popular Del Farms Restaurant and the Deltown History Museum which has a lot of interesting info related to nearby Civil War battles.

And how about one more signal? This one is at the intersection at Ivy St above.

Finally here's an zoomed-out overview of the Deltown area, just click on the thumbnail.

It would be my hope to continue down MP-165 to pass by the shopping centers and cross I-34 next time.

However, a strange thing happened when I saved the Deltown city tile for the final time this afternoon. During the save, SC4 froze, crashed to desktop, then came back. Some of the pictures I took above actually were taken after the crash. 

When I exited to the region, I was baffled at what I saw. Deltown Completely dissappeared. There wasn't even a blank city tile so I could recreate it. There's just a black hole there with nothing!

Nonetheless, the Deltown file was there as it should be in the Winchester folder as was the correct config.bmp file.

So basically, Deltown's there in the folder, but everytime I load SC4, there's a black hole where Deltown should be (i.e. nothing to click, nothing there).

What I need help from you guys is whether or not there's a way to get Deltown back or if it's gone for good? Has anybody had something like this happen before? Please let me know if you have a suggestion. I'd greatly appreciate it!

-Dan

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Your pix look great. I am both surprised and disturbed with your glitch. I have not seen that before. I hope there's a way to recover. You may try crossposting that here https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?board=45.0 in case they can be of assistance. Good luck.

[Twenty20 28]

I don't understand how this kind of problem can appears suddenly, I hope I'll never have this... and I hope you recover your city.

[Haljackey 17,323]

Wait a minute.... How did YOU get FAR? I work for the NAM team and I even I don't have it! Great update!

As for your city problem, I think it is just a glitch caused by the game. It has happened to me before, but not quite like this.

-Have you tried clicking on the tile? Sometimes my SC4 will not display the city in region view but it is still click able and you can open the file in region view. If not, try to import your city back. Good luck!

Best,

-Haljackey

[Mother of Invention 23]

Originally posted by: dfnva

Kyle (Ky72x)

Ironically, the bookstore (The Black Market) thrived in the Winchester Mall location, but now has moved to another shopping center. It's surprising how few stores a mall can survive on. Cloverleaf Mall in Richmond, VA, survived for years on about 11 stores after all the anchor stores closed. I think it's been torn down, though. 

-Danquote>

After reading the Winchester Mall Update,That was the first thing that came to my mind.

(I am a native Richmonder)

[dfnva 34]

Well, some good news:

I posted in the SC4D forum and somebody had a suggestion to try importing "Deltown" into a new region which subsequently created a black hole in that new region. The positive consequence is a virgin city tile in which I can rebuild Deltown in my Winchester region.

Does anybody know if it is possible, and how, one can uncorrupt a city file?

Thanks,

Dan

[Schulmanator 5,787]

I was just thinking about PMing you to see how your progress was. I am sorry your tile appears lost. But, at least you have the space back to rebuild.

[ky72x 13]

Aww, Deltown was pretty nice, especially the W2W downtown. I liked how you used those parking lots behind the row. Glad to hear that the black hole isn't there anymore and that you can rebuild the city from the ground up.

- Kyle

[masssc4 3]

Very Good!!! Keep up the Great work!!

[bobgleason 0]

Wow, your region is incredible! where did you get the map for that region???

[Equilibria 16]

Hey, sorry about that tile... just more motivation on the new region, I guess.

Deltown looks good. What's up with the center of that big box parking lot toward the top of the overview pic? Some kind of texture bug?

[dfnva 34]

After some issues with corrupt city files, problems with my graphics card, and being out of town, I'm am slowly getting Deltown back to it's original luster, though it's been frustrating and somewhat monotonous trying to do it. Today, we'll look at the sprawl between Deltown and I-34 along MP-165/Deltown Rd.

But first...

Bruce (Schulmantor)

Thanks for your suggestion. If I have a technical problem again, I plan to post in that SC4D forum.

Twenty20

Thanks for your comment, luckily I was able to get rid of the corrupted city (as opposed to corrupt city lol) and build anew.

Haljackey

It was weird, there was nothing to click or anything, but upon importing Deltown into a new region, I was granted a new city tile. As for the FAR, I was bequeathed a trial version as Dedgren was doing some beta testing on it. As such I've been using it in my region, trying to find limits/errors.

Mother of Invention

In a way, Winchester Mall's saga is sorta based on Cloverleaf Mall which just stands as a ghostly fortress there on Midlothian Tpk. I was reading about how they're going to build some offices, condos, and a Kroger, or something, there to boost the aging/vacant commercial areas along Midlothian Tpk. 

Kyle (Ky72x)

Thanks, glad you liked the downtown. I'm still working on rebuilding it, but the central area with the W2W buildings is pretty much done. Glad you liked the setup with the buildings and parking. Often in towns like that, there's a bunch of parking behind the downtown like that.

Rusummer1

Thanks!

BobGleason

Thanks. I terraform the region, tile-by-tile. 

Equilibria

Thanks. Come to think of it, I need to do more work on Tidewater. Basically, it's a shell of roads at this point, but nothing else. For some reason (you'll see below too), I can't seem to find the right parking lot texture for Heblem's K-Mart. But that's where photoshopping comes in handy.

It remains a mystery why Deltown got corrupted.

For some reason, I think one of the purveyors of evil shown below has something to do with it...

As for the update, we're heading out of downtown Deltown westward along MP-165, which widens to 4-lanes as we go through some sprawlish commercial areas. Yes, that's a Kroger... a photoshopped Shoppers Food Warehouse bat.

One of yer classic 1980s-era signal assemblies.

Futher west...

At Hanover Ave., a 1980s era signal assembly was recently replaced by this swanky new one.

Looks like they're repaving the parking lot at K-Mart. Hehe.

At Williamson Drive, we see this signal assembly. Mother of Invention might recognize an assembly almost identical to this along Midlothian Tpk.

And we've reaching the ramps for I-34.

Here's a zoomed out look at the I-34 interchange with MP-165/Deltown Rd.

And that's all for now. We'll continue westwardly along MP-165 next time, whenever that may be.

Thanks for the support and comments!

-Dan

[Twenty20 28]

Good update, very impressive roads networks, you done an excellent job !

[Equilibria 16]

Nice update. I wish I knew how to use photoshop... it would let me fix so much.

Speaking of signals, heard of flashing yellow? We're doing some of that out here.

[dfnva 34]

Twenty20

Thanks, hopefull you'll enjoy looking at this map of roads around the areas we've recently visited.

Equilibria

I actually photoshop using a combination of MS-Paint and Powerpoint. LOL. As for the flashing yellow arrows, which I've featured sparingly in this CJ, we've got some in Alexandria, Virginia.

=====

Here is a new region map showing where we've been (transparent blue line) and where we're headed (transparent green line) in the next update. By now, quite of few of these town names should be familiar, though some of them, such as Midland haven't been visited since page 1.

By the way, all limited access highways are red, important arterials are in yellow (bold yellow means a divided highway of 4 or 6 lanes).

We'll continue further west along MP-165 next time.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

An excellent recovery. The revised version is looking good. And I remain envious of your road signs and signals. Just excellent.

[Dsrwhat316 12]

Can't remember if I've commented here before. Your transportation network is very impressive; well thought-out. I also like all the road maps provided; I'm a bit of a road geek myself. Good work, from one Dan to another...

~ Dan

[Equilibria 16]

Oh, so we have something in common. I recommend the GIMP. It lets you move the labels after you place them, and you can crop pictures more easily. I hear it has other uses, too.

[penguin007 27]

A region view!!! It looks great can I see one without the transport veiw though

Will

[packersfan 666]

AGGGH, corruption, did you not have a backup??? I seriously need to do that ASAP for my region or I will be VERY frustrated when corruption strikes me!!! But you've bounced back quickly and it looks good, ROADGEEKERY!

[Benedict 3,119]

Great road map, and my money is on the kitty for purveyor of evil...

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull work my friend very nice layout and planning

[dfnva 34]

Bruce (Schulmanator)

Thanks, glad you like the new version of Deltown. Hopefully corruption has been vanquished for good.

Dan (Dsrwhat316)

Thanks, I have a lot of fun planning the roadways for my SC4 regions, it's the first thing I do when I start a region as well as something I like to change as areas develop.

Equilibria

I've never heard of the GIMP. Powerpoint lets me do that as I have all kinds of labels, graphics, and stuff that just floats until I copy and paste stuff into Paint for jpegification. 

Will (Penguin007)

Glad you liked the road map, and I'll post a larger satelite view sometime in the near future.

Packersfan

I think if this corruption debacle has taught me anything, it's to back up my regions. 

Benedict

Thanks. There's something sinister about that cat as a Schulmanian investigation discovered a month or so ago.

Jacqulina

Thanks! I'm glad you like the road layout and planning.

I couldn't think of a better title than "Suburban Sprawl" for this update, but that's basically what we'll see as we head West on MP-165/Deltown Rd.

But first, a refresher to see where we left off. We've just passed I-34 and now leaving Deltown, MP-165 narrows to two lanes as we pass by some residential developments. Some of the still-empty space here is being eyed hungrily by developers.

Most of these houses have been built in the 1990s where farms were once located. This portion of MP-165 is under some scrutiny to be widened to four lanes.

Even residential streets get route numbers.

Further along we pass Piedmont Dell Baptist Church which boasts a private school, as well. For some reason, I think it would be good to put a traffic signal here, though there currently isn't one.

Here's a sign for an upcoming intersection.

Here's the intersection with SR-692.

Just to the left, down SR-692/Nielson Rd, are some farms still clinging on to land that developers want badly.

North of MP-165, there's a vast area of houses and even a nice pond.

That's it for now. Next time, we'll see development get somewhat denser as we approach I-79. 

I've actually got the pics ready for the next update, so I'll post them this weekend or early next week.

Thanks for visiting!

-Dan

[Schulmanator 5,787]

That looks like a nice neighborhood. I wonder what stores will join the new shopping center.

[Equilibria 16]

I like everything in this update. Why do all the intersections in that residential development switch to road? Did you want crosswalks?

Oh, and I completely support the traffic signal. Don't want kids getting hit by speeding trucks, now do we?

[Simtastico 0]

man you are the king of roads I dunno how you do it and where you get all your stuff but anyways, you do it good.. guess you like roads huh

[jacqulina 162]

excellent residential my friend great looking city so far.great farms too