Urland, a (mostly) rural coastline

[Traffic_Jam 0]

Awesome job!

[PhilsCafe 8]

Hey Nardo. I like how you mix up the different zones: farms, low-wealth residential and sometimes you can even see some small shops. That's so realistic. And the farms are layed out very well.

I'm glad there ARE 3 mills in Schilfstadt. Maybe residents should propose to rename the town - to 'Drei M

[Nardo69 51]

Hello to All!!

Hola, a lot of response and if these ol' man's eyes did not trick me we are heading towards 5000 views ... When I began this CJ just four (!) months ago I feard noone would care about it and it would end with 1 update and no views after 2 weeks or so ...

About the tutorial I was speaking in my last post: it is under construction but before I do it I have to make an backup of this region since I don't want this CJ to die a sudden death due to saving failure(s) that killed a lot of decent CJs here ...
Right after I made the first screenshots for the tutorial I saved and quit to the region. There I almost got a heartattack since the complete town has disappeared, only flat green empty terrain!!! [:0]
I was lucky, when I entered the city again it was still there, and after a new save the regıon view was okay again but it isn't always that harmless! This way I lost a lot of developement of the biggest city my previous region as the backup was about two months old ...

So what do we learn out of this? Make Backups. And make a lot of backups. Empty CDs are cheap nowadays ...! Oh and did I mentioned to make backups?

@meinhosen: Thanks for the compliment. I guess you will like this update! . About the tutorial: see above ... .

@bartinator: Welcome to my CJ. About grids: In flat areas with huge farms you sometimes find grids too, but due to simulatıon reasons they are really to avoid in rural settings. I just have to ask you for a little bit patience for the tutoral, see above

@wodsworth: Welcome to my CJ! Hey, you did a good job on Sincity . I hope I wasn't too negative about the slopes but I always was anoyed by the standard ingame slope for them . Hope you like this update too!

@Deathtoall: This time only farms, but I guess you'll like them!

@jacqulina: Nice to see you! BTW: When will have the honour to place my first post in your CJ?

@oroen:Actually I made my first nightshots quite late since I always play at daylight (the game lags enough this way ... )
About the pubs: They are open from 5:30pm to 1:00am, friday and sunday until 2:30am. Kitchen closes half an hour before the pub closes!

@Traffic_Jam: Thanks for the complıment and always nice to see your post here my friend!

@PhilsCafe: Yeah, I like to mix them a bıt. I did this since the good ol' days of SC2K. About renaming: I will propose it to the town council but, well, you know, these guys are just busy discussing details and small things noone REALLY cares about ...
Oh, and thanks for opening page 8! That much already ... wow!

And I did not forget, Kwakelaar: The windmill on the farm is part of one of the farms of the CSX Farms Vol. 01 . It is nice but don't forget the dependecies ...

And now, after so much text, here is

Update 13-4

Pic 13.24
An overview of where we are going to go today. Even though it is the newest developement I like to show it to you since I really like how it turned out!
BTW: The dirt track shown in last update's last pic can be seen in the middle of the lower edge of the pic. This is why I LOVE detail shots ...


Pic 13.25
Just continuing last pic's overview. Can you spot the Vogelbach making its way through the small wood and the fields?


Pic 13.26
A closer shot of the Vogelbach nesteling thru the fields. The village has the same name as the creek: Vogelbach. You can find this quite often in Germany.


Pic 13.27
Following the small streets on the left side of Pic 13.26 leads us to a wineyard and a Pedriana (right name? In my German version it is called P.H.Neutral...).

Aaaaaaaaarrgh! Pedriana! Pedriana! Typhus! Cholera! Run!

Naaah, it ain't that bad anymore. By now I have enough stage 3 farms in my plugin folder so that Pedriana is only poppıng up here and there (twice in Schifstadt I think). So no real need to install the Pedriana Killer Mod ...


Pic 13.28
The village above the Pedriana is one of the thousands of villages in Germany that is called Weiler.
BTW: the dirt track leading to the tracks is the same as in Pic 13.23!


Pic 13.29
Another shot of Weiler, from a different angle and a bit earlier. The second of the nice big R$ from rp2005 has now been replaced by R$$ here ...


Pic 13.30
The farms above Weiler. I must confess I don't use the hedges often but only because there are quite selden where I come from. I like to use them sometimes because they are really nice. The Windpowerplant on top of that hill is placed like a lot of windpowerplants in southwestern Germany - you are just bound to see 'em. That's why some people don't like them anymore ....


Pic 13.31
A last shot at the Pedriana. I must confess when it popped up everywhere like mushrooms on a moist warm autumn day I really disliked them. Now that they only pop up here and there I began to like them again. They aren't soo bad, are they?

That's all for today! Tutorial is under construction but it needs some more time!

@All: Have fun! And don't forget to make some backups from time to time BEFORE the big accident is going to happen!


Nardo

Questions, comments, suggestions are always welcome!

[Darmok 34]

Nardo,

I really liked it, my favorite one this time, is 13,26 the way the river is crossing the street and then the railroad track, and the track that goes into the trees. Beautiful picture!

And I agree with Phil, your CJ look realistic. The feeling is right!

All in all a great update.

Take care and have a great week end.

[____----____ 37]

looking good but do you think we can get a region shot i'd love to see how those

farms are looking from above.

 

Alek

[jacqulina 162]

wow awesome detail,fantastic update,i will be posting my cj soon i have started building but not quite happy yet with the design,and i await your first post when i do thanks

[Tidalpool 0]

Where is the vineyard from?  Great Looking... Also you mentioned stage 3 farms, which ones are they?  Your city looks so cool.  Thanks for the information?

 

 

[wodsworth 0]

 

Hello Nardo

 

Good Updates as always..i am going to add Rural to mine soon because of you..looks great.May have to use a couple of your ideas..hope thats okay..they look good.

Question and Reply: You posted in my CJ..thank you by the way..about the NAM..i have concern with that..maybe you know? I naver have loaded it because in its instructions..it clearly states and emphisis's that its for Sim City 4 Deluxe Edition only....I have the original and then added the adder pack...so from reading that post i elected not to load it..for i dont have the deluxe game...Is this true or am i just acting my age...old....and reading to much into it..otherwise i will get it.

 

Keep up good farming!

Regards

R.J.Wodsworth

Canada

[Darmok 34]

To wodsworth

I have exactly the same setup as yours ie. SimCity 4 original + Rush Hour add-on

I'm using the NAM with no problem whatsoever. Go ahead it's an extraordinary add-on!

I didn't want to intrude Nardo, I was just passin' by and try to help you.

[Nardo69 51]

Just dropping by ...

@Aleking: Well, it has been quite some time since I uploaded the last region shot - ok, will be in the next update! Promise (I guess I got on the nerve of a lot of CJer by asking for detail shots when they uploaded a lot of regionshots so it is more than okay for me to be asked for a regionshot .... )

@jacqulina: Thanks for dropping by. Hey, if your cj is only half as good as what you posted on Show us... it'll marvelous!!!!

@Tidalpool: Okay, short question, long answer ...
Every zone in SC4 has its stages, whereas stage 1 is the lowest. Residential and Commercial lots are stage 1 to stage 8, whereas Industrial lots (in the game agrar lots are industrial) are stage 1 to 3.
An example: the small cabins are stage 1 residential and the huge skyscrapers are stage 8 residential.
When you begin the first town in a region all buildings are stage 1 - res, com, ind and agrar. There is a quota for the developing of the different stages depending on the regional population (and some mods to change it as far as I know)
Agrar lots don't grow after a city went over a certain population - due to my experience around 40-50.000 sims. Depending on how much developed your region is you get stage 1 and 2 farms (the small cabins) or stage 3 farms. EA ONLY put the Pedriana as a stage 3 farm in the game so without plugin you'll get mostly Pedriana if your region has some developement. And with some developement i mean some basic growth after the beginning!!!
Which ones are stage 1, 2 and 3? Good question, but stage 3 is easy if you don't have any farms in your plugin directory: the big grain silohs of Pedriana ...
If you download farms from the STEX it should be described in the readme with stage the farm is. READ THE README CAREFULLY especially when you download BSC, BLS and CSX farms - they have quite a lot of dependencies that is prop packs you have to download, too! When you do it it is a pain in the ass since the brown boxes are quite frustrating (I still have some of them) but after you loaded at least most of the dependencies they look quite good.
I mentioned in my update that I am working on a tutorial so come back in a few days and have a look! There will be some useful links too!
I hope I could help you!
edit: Oooops - I almost forgot: the wineyard close to the pedriana is the CSX Vineyard Simonsberg Estate and since it is a CSX farm - RTFM!

@wodsworth: It is like Darmok said: you need either the deluxe edition or the vanilla version (the plain one) with the Rush Hour addon. I have the ladder since I bought both of them when they were available in Germany - I am not sure if the deluxe - Edition was sold in Germany as I never saw.
Anyway: Go and download it! You'll love the overpasses, the better pathfinding, the roundabouts and of course the Avenue Turning lanes! But be careful with the GLR and the elTrain over the road, both of them made my VERY stable SC4 - copy crash to desktop!

@Darmok: You're always welcome my friend!
Yeah, I like that small little creek to. It just very difficult to let them run over two or more maps, that's why this creek is going to SimNation
Have a nice weekend too!

@All: Have fun!

Nardo

[wodsworth 0]

Well Thanks Guys for your help and advice...Damn..now i may have to totally start a new city with all those extra tools...lol..Look out..

 

regards

R.J.Wodsworth

Canada

[PhilsCafe 8]

Hi Nardo. The trails look really amazing. I just figuerd out the same thing yesterday and it's much more realistic to use the trails instead of the streets (as long as there is no need for a street of course).

As you know, I don't ban the Padrianas either. It doesn't hurt to have one or two of them in a town. In fact, I really like them - when they pop up in a decent amount.

And I love the pictures. Great job.

- Phil

[dhoppeii 12]

Great looking farms as always Nardo.  I must admit that I am not a big fan of building farms on uneven terrain, but you really seem to make it work.  Great Job.

[jacqulina 162]

thank you very much i hope it is good

[sirgeoj2 1]

Wonderful updates!!  I like the agricultural fields, very nicely laid out with the trees and everthing! 

[Traffic_Jam 0]

I just love the rural look of this CJ!

 

Great work Nardo!

 

Thumbs up!

[meinhosen 11]

Nice update.  No, that's wrong.  Stunning work. 

I just spent the last 20 minutes searching for my jaw after it dropped off.   Great work... I haven't been so impressed by a CJ since jeronij really got rolling with SCR and when San Francisco was restarted by Mexicanboy.  Nardo, you've really got something good going here- keep up the outstanding work.

[Nardo69 51]

@PhilsCafe:Well, I just got a bit annoyed by the paranoia some people do about the pedriana. I mean there are enough stage 3s on the STEX by now (even most of them have a loooong dependency list... )
About the dirttracks: Yeah, that's the exactly the point! Making the basic network with streets and the secondairy connections by the dirttracks. They are you used except harvest season once in a week so it is okay I think if you use eyecandy for it ...

@dhoppeii: Thanks for dropping by my friend! Like i posted in your CJ, I guess we like each other's CJ because we have different habits. That way we both get a lot of inspiration ...

@jacqulina: I am sure it is!!!!

@sirgeoj2: Thanks for the compliment!

@Traffic_Jam: Thanks for the compliment! And wow: long post!

@meinhosen: Wow...
My humble small CJ compared with SCR and San Francisco Bay ...
I hope I don't lift up from the ground now b yso much honour ...

@All: Have fun!

Nardo

Oh, I need some more time for tutorial, but I haven't forgotten it!

[Gryphonite 0]

Wow, can't believe that I have never visited this CJ. I love what you have done with your fields (as you know, im not really into small, well planned fields) and the whole CJ feels wonderfully rural. Personally i think Pedriana Plants usually looks wrong anywhere and use the 'Pedriana plants killer mod', especially as I had them appearing everywhere, but it seems to fit ok in the context of the surrounding area. Anyway, good work, I look forward to more. 

[Nardo69 51]

Hello to All!!

First part of the tutorial- The Basics is - is done. Second part will follow in the next days ...

But of course before I start:

@Gryphonite: Welcome to my CJ and Thanks for teh compliment! About pedriana: at the moment I am more annoyed by SimGoober's Toys'R'Us popping up EVERYWHERE ... I guess it is just the frequency of occurrence that makes us dislike a good LOT (hey, Pedriana is not THAAAT bad...)

And for my friend Aleking: Updating the region shots (though this is not a regular update... )


Satellite view

Residential Population: 405477
Commercial Population: 121431
Industrial Population: 149716


Region view with city names


Now, Ladies and Gentlemen,

here is

Nardo's Tutorial about how to do a nice rural setting
Part I

Before we start some necessairy basics about the traffic simulation of the game.


Pic T1.1


Pic T1.2


Pic T1.3

And the left pic will lead us to one of my favourite eyecandy: the Dirt Tracks !

I guess you already noticed that I do not use the dirt street mod. Why?
Because I want to have sealed street for the regular traffic and no traffic on my dirt tracks as there is / should be no traffic!

You may know by now that I am German. To be more precise a German civil engineer and in my student times I learned quite a lot about streets in Germany's rural areas. And of course I am doing a German region. In other countries it sure is different but this tutorial is about how I do my areas.

For the basics, let's create a small rural community with some farms on a flat terrain (hilly terrain will follow in Part II!)


T1.4
Have you ever seen Germany out of an airplane? Then you will agree: farm fields ARE rectangular thus not always griddy as they follow the landscapes or more precisely, obstacles like mountains or rivers do change it abit but fields are in generall rectangular.
In the first Pic we se the basic layout. In the game as well as IRL farms must have road access. And in Germany there are for this reason sealed streets for the main access and ...

*Huh, didn't know I have all these nice stage 1s and stage 2s in my plugin...

*

T1.5
unsealed streets or dirt tracks for the secondary access! Why? Let's see in the next pic!


T1.6
Farms in southwest Germany are traditionally rather small. So not to waste any precious space on the fields the farmers turn their machines on the streets and dirt tracks.
BTW: The econimical lenght of a field in this scheme is 400 m within standard crops.


T1.7

Have you noticed the empty tiles on T1.5? They left free intentionally. Fields needs water, too (naah, not only the simwater out of the pipes). And because the game would be kind of boring without eyecandy, let's quote The Searchers with sweats for my sweat, sugar for my honey and add another VERY usefull rural candy, SimGoober's Irrigation Canals
BTW the comnination of dirt and sealed rural street is typical German. So no really need for the dirt street mod ...


T1.8


T1.9
I learned how to look into the detail from Digby . Folks, if you haven't been there, this is a must-read CJ! It is a pity that Paul hadn't done any updates since march ..


T1.10
I must confess I love PEG'S Seasonal Woods . They look great in every season. Okay, making large forest for small comunities is quite expensice but IMHO these tiles are perfect the spots and stripes of forrests and woods you can find in old rural areas in southwest Germany.


T1.11
This is also a technique I learned from Digby, putting lowdensity residential next to farms.


T1.12
It becomes even nicer with Arcedila's ADC Forested Streets Modd

Okay, these are the basics. I hear you shout out: FLAT TERRAIN?!? YOU DO YOU TURORIAL ON FLAT TERRAIN?!?
Well, this is only the first part with the basics. I thought you might need them for going in medias res ...

That's it for today! Next time will be Nardo's Tutorial about how to do a nice rural setting - Part II but it may need some days ... RLS, you know...

Oh, and please don't be too critical with my poor PaintShop knowledge ... I have only PSP 5 here and haven't used it for years ...

@All: Have Fun!

Nardo

Comments, Questions, Suggestions are always welcome!

[Kwakelaar 92]

Thanks a lot for your information. I have indeed never downloaded the farms from CSX, but now I might have to.
What a beautiful update.... again!
Edit
You edited your post after I made my comment. The tutorial is great and very informative. I will surely have a closer look at my own rural communities after this.

[____----____ 37]

Nardo i love the way you showed the thought behind placing the house there,

and not only what you said it just plain looks cool.

 

Nice job with this CJ

 

EDIT: OMG that is a great region view kinda like your flying over

your region, so so cool looking i think a mid sized city would look

really incredible in your region.

 

look out LPC

[meinhosen 11]

Nardo, you put a lot of good ideas into my head and onto my drawing board.  Great work on the tutorial.  Looks like I'll have to do some little eye-candy work on my rural areas later today.

[jeronij 13]

Hello Nardo,

I just wanted to say you that this is an amazing rural areas tutorial . Very instructive .

And I also love the region view, with all the farms..., how many farms do you have in your region , just kidding

 

Congratulations for a great job  !!!

[barnatom 0]

Hello Nardo

You have a great CJ here. I love the rural style, your farms are layed out very well and I like how you put the dirt tracks, the trees and the little rivers and canals in between. All looks so natural.
And a great tutorial, too. I read it with great interest. Since I am from Germany too, I am familiar with this kind of farms. I lived most of my life in the south west of Germany, and I know that the farms there are quite small due to the ancient heritage laws (Erbrechte).

Only the trees you are using along the roads are looking a little bit strange. I would say that is because you are using premade lots. Because of that all this rows of trees do look to uniform. Try to plant them one by one and I am sure you will be happy!
Keep up the good work please!

Wirklich gute Arbeit! Mach weiter so!
(Auf einmal auf deutsch zu schreiben ist schon merkw

[Traffic_Jam 0]

Hey Nardo!

Nice tutorial! Really useful!

 

Great job! (Very nice regional shot by the way)

[PhilsCafe 8]

Hey Nardo. What a great tutorial, I love it. The traffic simulation is crap but now I at least know the reason why sims always took the streets. I like the dirt tracks.

- Phil

[dhoppeii 12]

Great Job putting that together Nardo....Those irrigation canals from SG are awesome aren't they.  I used them heavily in the first couple of cities in LPC, but decided to take a bit of a break from them.

[Nardo69 51]

Thanks for your support! I really appreciate it!

@Kwakelaar: Thanks for the compliment. I really appreciate it. About editing the my post... well, it took me at least 2 hours to write all the tutorial together - not including the time I spent in PaintShop for making up the pics. Even though I made a lot of preview to see if everything is in the right place, grammar correct and no typos, after that much time I do not see all of my mistakes ]. I guess there are still some left, and I discovered some typos in the pics that I cannot correct anymore ... . So when I lurk in to see if and what someone has posted and I see then some typos or wrong grammar / wrong words I edit my post and correct them with notifying it. Hope you don't mind. But I really want to fool noone here, especially not the poster in my CJ!

@aleking: Thanks for the compliment. I really appreciate it form someone who tries to be as realistic as possible like you do in Brastoval Bay Area
About the region view, yeah, it is not really bad, even my wife likes it (and she doesn't like SC4, guess why ... )

@meinhosen: Thanks for the compliment! Actually, that was my intention to give you some background information how I think. Even though it is eyecandy: to make it really beautiful you should know a bit how it would work IRL...

@jeronij: WOW! I am honoured. Actually I didn't believe my eyes when I saw the first time that YOU have posted here ...
About the tutorial: like I mentioned in the reply to meinhosen I like eyecandy that has some functions IRL. You cannot simulate everything in a game, according to this eyecandy isn't useless at all since it may be the only possibility to make the situation look close to reality.
About the farms, well, I haven't counted them ... I don't know if I should ...

@barnatom: Welcome to my CJ! As you could see O really enjoyed your A UK village since I love Gascookers BATs too, as you could see.
The trees at the streets (roads, to be precise) are the CSX seasonal woods. I use them since they gave the roads a Allee - feeling (Allee: German, a road with two rows of trees at each side, not to be mistaken with alley!). These roads haven't been often in Southwest Germany except the prussian part of Rheinland Pfalz and have mostly disappeared in the fifties and sixties. Nowadays they planted trees in Allee - matter but of course these a small trees.
But you can find a lot of them especially in Northeast Germany and I love the lok of them. Thus I find them quite useful to limit the dilapation on the left and on the right side of busy roads. More of it in the next update!

Ja, ist schon komisch, man hat sich so an das Englische gew

[Darmok 34]

Hey Nardo, sorry about the delay, It's really like I wrote in AVR, it's like being in a Twilight Zone TV episode!

Anyway.

That was a FANTASTIC piece of work Nardo! Like candy! Lots of pertinent info and lots of tricks! The only thing I had tried is the trick on pick T1.9 in Emyn Arnen, in fact it should appear later on in the CJ, it was on the farm in pic 8_11 but not as nicely done as you did here! And the idea to cut portions of field that are too small! Like Dhoppe always says Details, details!

I can't wait for the next one, Oh! by the way, yesterday, our 16 years old had a football game in a lttle town about 50km from here, and all of a sudden, on the way there I noticed that the farm fields were practically a copy of Urland! long and rectangular and gently undulating, not flat! We can say that you and dhoppe are great observers of rural life!

Till next time my friend!