New York City

[Misterquicks 4]

Hey Everyone,

After being signed up to this site since 2003 and not really having contributed much to it I thought it was about time to do something about it and start a city journal.

After visiting New York for the first time earlier this year I felt inspired to try and recreate it in Simcity 4. I know this city has probably been done to death in the forums but I am always intrigued to see each individuals interpretations of this fantastic city. I myself am going for a relatively realistic approach to a degree that is possible within Simcity without going to overboard. The map scaling may be a little off but the overall look and feel of NYC will be well represented. I will be using many of the fantastic BAT's uploaded on the STEX to help me in the process including XDesign's World Financial Centre and rubik3's amazing World Trade Centre complex.

Without further ado I will start this journal off with a picture of the Financial District at the bottom of Manhattan Island overlooking South Street Seaport.



Please feel free to leave a comment and I will endeavour to update this CJ as often as I can with an update at least once a week.

[bbfan02 23]

Nice start, very nice recreation of the South Sea Seport! I am looking forward to this cj and all of the updates!

[topcliff 1]

This looks like a great start and I hope it only gets better from here. Although (don't worry, I do this in everyone's CJ), I do have a pointer-outer for realism. When I was living in NYC or a little bit, it was much lower to the river than that. Just saying. Nice use of custom content, and I thoroughly look forward to Central Park and Battery Park. Two of my favorite areas of the city.

[Misterquicks 4]

Thanks for the response bbfan02 welcome to the CJ. I'm hoping it's a relatively fair representation of the area.

Thanks also topcliff for your response. I too realised only after having taken the CJ quite a distance that the river was too low. I have decided to go with it, although it is proving difficult putting the ports in and making them look realistic.

Anyhow, another small update, this time looking through the World Trade Centre to the World Financial Centre with the Chase Manhattan Bank Tower on the bottom right.

[connorc24 2]

Very nice and very urban!!!

[Jman47 0]

That looks good so far, hope to see more soon.

[penguin007 27]

Nice start cant wait for more

Will

[Schulmanator 5,799]

Always glad to see a fresh take on NYC. :-)

[Mike the Mayor 51]

Great start, looking forward to seeing more. New York is an awesome city!

[Jazzmaster 716]

Looking great so far, I can't wait for more!

-Yoshiisland

[KingTitan 6]

Your WTC area looks like the real thing....can u do that same pic with the night lighting ON and at different angles??

Definitely an endeavor on your part. Good Luck friend. and glad to see more members posting CJ's....

Great Stuff

[suplado! 23]

cool pics...hope to see the city overview soon..

[topcliff 1]

This is looking fantastic dude. I remember how much sadness I felt just looking at the construction cranes go up for the Freedom Tower. However, I really enjoyed Winter's Garden. I wish you the best of luck with this. Just curious, but are you a New Yorker yourself?

[gabry85 2]

Welcome to ST, Misterquicks!

You made a great work here! Everything looks very realistic and well-detailed! I'm happy to see the WTC. Keep up the good work!

BTW, are you using the Maxis' map?

[Skram 4]

Nice that looks pretty good!!

[Abc987 3]

Looks very cool, lots of good custom content. Can't wait to see where this goes!

[Misterquicks 4]

Thanks everyone for the encouraging remarks and please stay tuned for more =]

KingTitan I will definately release some pictures this week of the WTC and WFC with night lighting so stay tuned and thanks for visiting.

topcliff Thanks once again for your input. I am in fact from New Zealand and visited New York for the first time earlier this year. The city inspired me to get back into Simcity 4 and to release this city journal. I am trying to go for realism but I feel New York isn't New York without the WTC. This means I will be going for a blend of old and new look New York's and incorporating all the New York BAT's released on the STEX. Fingers crossed that one of the many great BAT artists consider doing the United Nations building as it is such an important part of NYC.

gabry85 Thanks for the welcome, glad you are enjoying the tour thus far. I am using claw's version of the NYC map off the STEX. It's not the most accurate in scale but I find it's the best one to use for city journals.

Anyhow since I got so many previous responses I decided to release another shot, this time of a night-lit Washington Square Park with the Washington Square Arch looking up 5th Ave.

[topcliff 1]

Hey, I actually remember that when I lived there! I was heading toward Dean & Deluca, and I had an awesome print in hand. It started pouring, but luckily I had it in a trash bag. I wish I'd had more chances to visit the Arch. Oh, and last piece of advice: I would recommend getting rid of the additional avenue lane. It just doesn't feel NY, since they have fancy medians and stuff.

[2nerdy4u 1]

Ok... something is wrong with me... I keep forgetting to post in people's journals...

Fantastic job. I especially like the rowhouses in that pic... very New York.

[bbfan02 23]

I would agree with Topcliff, that lane in the middle is (I think) only good for suburbs or mid rize downtowns. Anyways, good job!

[Mikeaut1 261]

WOW, that World Trade Center picture looked rediculously realistic!! Great placement of the Marriott in there and that NDEX lot makes a great Winter Green!

[Misterquicks 4]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I have been debating for a while whether to remove the median texture I currently have installed in my New York but there is reasoning behind having it in there. First reason is it makes them look wider than the default Maxis texture. Second reason is I want to use the default texture for Park Avenue to set it apart from the rest of the avenues in the city. I just hope that someone releases a 4 or 5 lane one-way road texture and it would be perfect for New York.

More updates to come later on.

[ivan10 0]

Not too bad for the first time, I just don't hope that it's only going to be about skyscrapers and Downtown, they are over-emphasized in CJ's. Nice pics of neighborhoods are welcome can make a CJ very interesting.

[Abc987 3]

Washington Square looks great! I remember when I went to New York there was a festival going on there, there almost always is!

[cmdp123789 710]

Hey, I like what u r doin' with manhattan, are u doin' the same with bronx and brooklyn? or just manhattan? also, are you planning your streets and avenues like real NYC? I would love to watch aerial pics of the whole city, please would be great!

[gabry85 2]

WOW! So realistic! I remember Washington Square Park perfectly!

Ah, memories...

[Virtual_Pancake 0]

Man I want that city of urs so bad...

[Misterquicks 4]

Hey everyone, thanks once again for the remarks.

ivan10 You can rest assured it won't just be about skyscrapers even though New York is largely based on them. I will be developing each individual neighbourhood how it is in reality including Greenwich Village, Soho, Little Italy and Chinatown which are relatively low-rise compared to the rest of the city.

jrhnemo Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

cmpd123789 I will certainly be getting around to completing all those neighbourhoods but will be focusing foremost in developing Manhattan Island first and then moving outwards from there.

gabry85 Thanks, just wait until you see Central Park

Virtual_Pancake Thanks for stopping by

Ok this time I am going to release a picture of the World Financial Centre at night as requested and also one of the Financial District as it stands at the moment with more refinements to come.






Enjoy and all comments welcome =]

[penguin007 27]

Nice update I like the last pic

Will

[2nerdy4u 1]

Very nice work! You've put a lot of good work into this.