Sterling & Lake Champlain Region

[un1 41]

Beautiful port. Amazing update, I can't wait for more.

-un1

[dfnva 34]

I agree with you about the NAM curves in urban areas, when you're trying to fit a lot into a small area, they're not to feasible.

Another great update, I like the industrial and waterfront scenes, a nice contrast to the serene rural areas not far away.

-Dan

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

That update looks a lot like what they've done in Marquette, MI. They tore up the railyard on Marquette Bay and converted it to a park, the old iron ore dock still stands, and they've been talking about making it into a cruise ship dock (who knows if that'll ever get done). Very nice and realistic pictures!

[xXSim_EdXx 0]

Nice breakwater! keep up the great work.

[asturianu 4]

Wow! Hey Phils that was an amazing update! The old port of Sterloing and all the waterfront of the city look terribly realistic. Man, I could see part of downtown! hahaha you knew I would become crazy looking at the last picture I can see some nice architectural gems there. I think Downtown Sterling will be one of the best ever. I am really looking forward for the next update!

I gotta say that the natural breakwater is a gorgeous detail...wow! And that farmer is lucky to have that nice field there. The lighthouse is a superb touch.

Great work, my old friend

Cristian

[Matrx999 0]

What a great update! The third pic with the docks is incredible. How did you get the terrain on the steep hillside above the rail to appear like that? Keep the updates coming often, because you now have another rabid follower who will check this journal daily hoping for one.

[penguin007 27]

Lovely cj here I like the ruralness of it. The coastal areas with the little inlets and the lighthouse is superb

Will

[sobol 1]

Nice looking CJ... Rural and whatnot.. great stuff. Give us some more?

[PhilsCafe 8]

Replies

jacqulina: Thank you so much for your nice compliment my friend! CJs like yours have taught me a lot how to create realistic looking shores, however, I think the pictures don't really do them justice... I hope they will do better in the following updates. Take care, Jacky!

Schulmanator: Great idea, but hurry up, the lake often freezes up in winter. Well, you could still go ice fishing then... thanks a lot for your comment, it's always great to see you here.

un1: Here's more... Thank you very much for your continuous support, un1. I'm glad you liked the update.

dfnva: It's quite a contrast, isn't it? That's what I wanted to show, I'm glad you liked it. I think I might have overdone it a little bit though... you know, steel industry is something you wouldn't expect that much in a city like Sterling. However, thank you very much for your ongoing support, Dan!

NMUSpidey: Marquette, that's where NMU is, right? (I've looked it up on Google Earth, hehe). I think it's quite cool how relicts from industrialization are converted into areas that are open for the public. Especially waterfronts have so much potential. For Sterling, I was inspired a lot by Burlington, VT and what I said about the lumber storage is actually true . Thanks a lot for your comment my friend!

xXSim_EdXx: Thanks a lot there. I'd like to show something special in every update, something that is defining for a specific part of the region. For Sterling Harbor, it's the breakwater. I'm glad you like it.

asturianu: Hey Cristian, I'm so glad you liked the update. Thank you for your great compliment, buddy. I worked a lot on Downtown and it'll probably look kinda different now (I've found some nice BATs), I hope you still like it. Enjoy!

Matrx999: Hey there. It's great to see you back, thank you for stopping by. I'm really glad you like how the port turned out. To answer your question, it's the terrain mod which makes it appear like that.. I'm not exactly sure what makes it appear just like that though. In fact, the terrain often changes for no apparent reason .

penguin007: Hey Will, thanks a lot for posting. I'm glad you like my CJ. Especially now that Ancelstierre has become a source of inspiration for myself . I kinda like doing rural areas more than cities now.

sobol: Thanks a lot for stopping by, sobol! I discovered that creating rural areas is so much fun. I'm glad you like it. After Sterling, I promise there will be more rural areas again.

Thank you everyone for commenting, it's really appreciated! Last update wasn't my best update so far, I think. There were good things which I began to appreciate too after some of you pointed it out, but I wasn't happy with the steel industry... it just didn't seem to look right. That's why I began the update with a fix of that area. Enjoy the update!

---

Update 3.1: Downtown Sterling

As I promised, a fix of the port area:

^ Before Sterling became a city, the town residents used to meet at that church for the town meeting.

^ City Hall accomodates the Mayor's office, City Council and Sterling's Finest, the brave men and women who risk their lives in the line of duty. Every day.

^ A little bonus.

So, I hope you all enjoyed the update! There will be more from Sterling in the next update.

EDIT: btw, this might be my last update for a little while (don't worry... there will be plenty more), because uni starts for me again soon, so I probably won't be able to post that often.

[nofunk 1,933]

I love your latest update! Downtown Sterling looks so vibrant and dense! I love how you have expertly fit buildings together to make a truly realstic city center.

Can't wait to see more!

[Tia-may 0]

Nice pictures and captions.

[roboo1 1]

You created a nicely done cita and great harbor!!! Great job

[antsel 841]

Amazing work Phil. I just came across your CJ and I must say I am impressed. You really campture the feel of New England and the Lake Champlain region. I love downtown Sterling and the old brick buildings, it gives the city character and a nice historical perspective. I'm looking forward to more updates!

[Schulmanator 5,793]

The town looks great and the vernacular brick buildinsg you chose to serve as the city core are an excellent and realistic choice. Fine work!! Don't work too hard at the university!

[Jillybean86 38]

AaaH! I was looking for the reply to my comment, but I was shocked to learn I didn't comment!! So Sorry, Phils...your last update was great. The industrial looks weird in the cozy Vermont setting, but you did it nicely.

I love the small towns you have in this update. That's nearly the same look I'm going for, but it seems so cozy here in Vermont. Like I want to curl up with a book and hot cocoa just looking at those pics

[xV.I.N.C.E.N.T.x 0]

Downtown Sterling has a lot of interesting details. There is a lot of custom content that you showcase that inspires me very much. I really love your CJ. It is photo-relastic.

[jacqulina 162]

my friend you are doing an awesome job here,there is nothing wrong at all with the pics.im happy that you have learnt to do the shores.amazing work and pics.take care

[fabsies55 5]

dude your city just keeps getting better and better well done by a mile.

[dfnva 34]

Another great update, I don't think you overdid it, I like the size of Sterling and the industrial area. The Peg waterfront stuff and parks near the waterfront look great and I love the downtown full of low-rise W2W buildings. I also really like the working class neighborhood and apartments.

-Dan

[MCO1254 2]

That is an incredible downtown. Your attention to detail and accuracy really shows. I look forward to seeing more from this cj.

[GreekMan 246]

Wow that's a great little town

[ky72x 13]

Great to see this CJ's return! Awesome work Phil, the last few updates have just been outstanding, but that's to be expected. Nice overpass in the port update last week. The port has a very good layout, and even though there are no custom industrials, it still looks fantastic. As for downtown Sterling, I think it's easily your best work to date. After all, there's a lot of excellent variety, from the W2W's to all those apartments, and even the small bit of Maxis sprinkled in there. Plus, that park was placed in the perfect location.

Take care at school. Have fun while you're at it, too.

- Kyle

[art128 4,618]

very nice update phil !!

[Twenty20 28]

Excellent update, it's one of the best cities that I saw here, there's a lot of details, all is very realistic especially the harbour and the sloping streets , it's a very good work.

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

hey you!

Nice concept on your cities!

[Benedict 3,119]

Your downtown Sterling update is perfect! Great work as always.

[PhilsCafe 8]

Replies

nofunk: Why thank you. I wanna say everything grew like this, but I had to plop many of the Commercial buildings to make it look more realistic. I was quite surprised about the outcome though and I'm really glad you liked it that much. As you can see, I've also found a place for your Third Ward Lofts... and there will most definitely be more of your creations in future updates.

Tia-may: Thank you, Tia! It's nice to see you again. And congrats to making the 100th reply in my journal!  I think I finally found the way how I wanna present the captions, without taking the focus from the pictures too much.

roboo1: Dziekuje bardzo (I hope that was correct ), your comment is very much appreciated! I'm glad you like the city.

selles: Welcome to Sterling, selles. Thank you so much for that awesome compliment. Capturing the New England feel is one of my main goals, but at the same time it is something I can't really judge myself. So I'm very grateful for such a comment!

Schulmanator: Thank you for your constant support man! I'm glad you like my building choice... I'm always trying to get a realistic look, even if this means I have to go back and redo things. Your comments are always very helpful!

Jill Jacobs: And I was already wondering, what did I do to you? Hehe... Seriously though, I'm really glad you posted now. I always enjoy reading your great comments. There are definitely nicer places to drink your hot cocoa to than that industrial dock. Or what book exactly would you want to read ? However, it's good to know you still like it. Thank you for visiting, Jill.

xV.I.N.C.E.N.T.x: Photorealistic..? What a great compliment, thank you so much, Vincent. I'm glad I was some kind of inspiration. I hope to provide links of all the custom content I used here as soon as I have finished Sterling.

jacqulina: Thank you my good friend! I don't know, I just thought there were better pictures, but when you say there's nothing wrong about them, I'm very happy too . Take care, Jacky!

fabsies55: It's thanks to comments like yours that my city's getting better and better. Your input makes me think and thinking makes me change things. Thank you for stopping by!

dfnva: Thank you for your detailed feedback, Dan! It was really just the steel industry which I thought was a little bit too much, so I let the furnaces being replaced with I-M and warehouses. But overall, there's actually more industry now. I'm glad you like the downtown and parks, I think that's what keeps the small town character...

MCO1254: Welcome to my journal there! Wow, thanks a lot for that great compliment. I hope you keep coming back...

GreekMan: Thanks a lot man! I wanted to go for a more urban setting for once, while keeping the rural feel of the region. I'm glad you like it!

ky72x: Hey Kyle, great to see you're still around! Thank you so much for your awesome compliment, I'm glad you liked the look of the port. I kinda like the in-game industrials (I-D and I-M anyway). I have downloaded some custom industrials too, but those didn't show up very much yet. For the downtown I deliberately used the "No Maxis Buildings" mod, because there were just too many of them popping up all the time, however I thought it would be nice to keep some of them. Thanks again and take care, my friend!

art128: Arthur, welcome to my CJ! Great to see you here, thank you very much for stopping by.

Twenty20: Thank you for pointing out the sloping streets... that's actually one of the formative features of this town. At the beginning, I almost went crazy building on that terrain. It took me a while to figure out a technique to get the streets like that and the buildings align smoothly. I'm glad you liked my update, thank you so much for commenting!

Mexicanboy13r: Hey man, how are you doing? Congrats to making it into the Hall of Fame, btw. Thank you for stopping by mex, I'm glad you like the concept. It was so great to read you after such a long time, buddy!

Benedict: Hey, thank you very much for commenting my friend! I'm glad you liked the update that much, although there's still a thing or two I'd do differently now.

Thank you so much everyone! I haven't played much lately, but since the response on my last update was so huge, I thought I couldn't leave you empty-handed. That's why I put together a small collection of random pictures from Sterling. Here you go!

---

Teaser: Random Views on Sterling

I hope to post a regular update next time. Thank you for viewing... your comments are welcome!

[GreekMan 246]

wow the second to last pics is very realistic!

looks great PC...PC???I am going to make fun of you now...jkin you

[Benedict 3,119]

Great teasers, the church in particular looks very good.

[xV.I.N.C.E.N.T.x 0]

Great tease. The waterfront homes in Sterling is where I'd wanna live...

Very nice waterfront

Vin