Digby - East Coast Region

[Nardo69 51]

Date: 1/12/2005 3:47:46 PM
Author: sargeantcm

Excellent work there with the mods. Especially the bridges, they look great!

A couple of pointers I've noticed with the slope mod however: I personally think a 2% slope on a railroad is a bit too small, I've edited mine to be 5% (and if you've ever been through places like Crawford Notch in NH, you'll see steeper than that!). The other thing is that you can rarely get away with no manual terraforming at all - while the mod limits the slope of a single tile, it has no effect on the gradiant difference between two tiles, meaning you can still get some of that waviness. It would be nice to be able to specify a maximum grade difference from tile to tile (which would possibly be more realistic rather than limiting individual slopes), but I don't think that's possible.

One thing you just taught me was the reverse use of the hole digging lots - I never thought of that!

-Chris

quote>

5 % slope for a railway line is heck of a steep slope - poor men on the old steam engines that had to put charcoal in the fire!!!!!!
Germany´s EBO (Eisenbahn Bau- und Betriebsordnung, yes I am a german civil engineer ) which is valid for EVERY railway in Germany except tramways says if you build new railway line slope shall not be steeper than 12,5 o/oo for main and 40 o/oo for secundary railway lines.
o/oo means 1 out of 1000 so 10 o/oo are 1 %
In fact a slope of 25 o/oo or 2.5 % is quite much for railway because the adhesion is way smaller than on streets. which results not only on problems by accelerating and keeping speed but especially in stopping - some trains need more than 10 km to stop if the brakes are pulled.

Because of this and due to the playability of SC4 a slope of 2 % or 20 o/oo is quite okay for me

I only have one problem with the slope mod: I don´t find it ...

[MayorBean 8]

Hi Paul!
You've done a really great CJ so far. The story, your kind of humour and not at least your 'tutorials' about your experiences. Keep on!

BTW I probably try the codeword 'lewellan222' if I ever get caught speeding

@Nardo69: PMed you the link.

bean

[Zagreus 0]

Everything looks great! Your city is becoming more and more realistic during every update. The mods you have implemented are the perfect Digby mods that are purely for aesthetic reasons and does not affect game play. Someone already mentioned earlier, but I think I'll say it too: there are a handful of new cites we have not yet been introduced to. We are all looking forward to more CITY updates!

[metrokaw 0]

I haven't posted here yet, but I've been watching this journal since it started. It's far and away the most brilliant work I've seen. Had you been born 50 years before you were, Paul, I'll bet you would have been an ace model railroader. (Maybe you are!)

The subject of mods and Didby prompts me to suggest, for anyone who cares, my dream mod -- one that would keep demand for agriculture at maximum all the time. I've been trying to build a sparsely populated farming region (similar to what one might find in parts of Iowa or the Dakotas, for example), and I find that after a while, my region has so much agriculture, the demand for it falls. Yet in real life, there are many places similar to the region I'm trying to build.

Just a thought. Keep up the good work, Paul!

[bertrana 0]

Yes, I would like that, too. I want gigantic farms and some small towns that I can cultivate into cities. Unfortunately, it looks funky with just a few areas of agriculture and cities with the high-tech cities.

And for no good reason, I'm including this .

[Cjah 15]

bertrana you've registered over two years ago and this is your first post....

I've heard worse reasons to party.



Yep theres a nice smile party.

I can't wait for more!

Digby rules in 03,04 and now in 05 its offical Digby still rules!

[lewellan222 3]

The Grande Forkes Maps

 

Before I start getting into building, I wanted to finish up the maps for each of our eight main cities. We already saw Granton a while ago. This time, we'll have a look at Grande Forkes

 

 

Maps really help to keep the reader oriented. As you can tell, I like making maps!

 

As before, there are two maps. The first shows the entire city in a simplified form. It contains main streets, and some services and facilities. I call it the road map because it shows major roads, but not all streets.

 

 

As you can see, there are some facilities in Grande Forkes, but it still doesn't have an airport, and there is no shipping here (the rivers are too narrow and shallow).

 

 

The next map is the street map. It is a zoomed view of the built up areas of the city. The map below shows the portion of the road map that is shown in the street map.

 

 

 

The full street map is shown below.

 

All streets are listed, and the locations of all city services are outlined.

 

 

Focus on Grande Forkes

The focus presentations use the above maps in conjuction with screen shots to, um...focus...on certain areas of interest. For these, I zoom in even further on the street map, then spotlight the area with a screen shot from the game. This helps to mesh the map with the game.

 

 

These maps are very accurate because they are traced over top of screen shots taken from the game. Streets are postioned and named exactly as they appear in SimCity4. I am hoping that this approach will help people to get a sense of place in my cities.

 

I intend to use this map approach to highlight building projects, and to help orient reader to the many BAT structures from Simtropolis that I will be featuring soon.

 

Speaking of BATs...

 

Man, I just gotta say, some of you BATers out there are incredibly talented! I am almost beside myself with excitment at the great structures I am going to feature in Digby.

 

I have painstakingly gone through the entire STEX of BATs page by page, and hand-selected 92 (yes, that's ninety-two) different original BAT structures that I want to feature in Digby. And that is only for 1950's Digby, which does not use the 1990's Houston or 2010 Euro architectural styles yet! So I have a lot of work ahead of me. 

 

In some cases, there are some artists (yes, some of these guys are nothing less than artists!)...there are some of these people that are so prolific, that I will feature whole presentations just on that artist!

 

So, let's get crackin'!

 

(I hope you enjoyed the maps!)

[jacqulina 162]

these are really good

[pansarkatt 2]

I really like the way you focus on small areas with a picture and a description. It gives the feeling of a real place with real people. I myself build so fast that I don't even know my own cities, I probabably know your cities better than mine.

[bertrana 0]

Eh...call me a slacker. I guess if a user posts only one comment they aren't classified.

(I feel like a redshirt from Star Trek.)

*LOL*

I love the STEX and post comments on lots now and then, but until I started watching the CJs in the forums, I never had much reason to post anywhere. I sure to love these CJs, though, for all the great ideas for how to approach my own cities.

I appreciate the party! THANKS!

[Ma8thew 77]

This is one of my favorite journals ever! You are doing a great job keeping us entertained Paul!

[Zagreus 0]

THANK YOU! A city update! Grande Forks looks GREAT! The city has really expanded, including your upper wealth population. One question: How do the farmers have enough work, when much of the city seems to be seems to be of the higher income bracket? The Road maps really give one a perspective of what the cities really look like. Keep up the graet work!

[davidhogan 1]

It seems like every update you outdo yourself. As much as I love Digby, you're really raising my standards for a good CJ way too high.

Dave

[your_adress_here 11]

This is another awsome Digby update. I really can't wait to see what comes in this city's future!

[Cjah 15]

Wow every update is always better then the last.I love the street maps.They look like actually maps from a real city!

I like how you use streets like highways.Most cities do that.

Digby 30,31 and 37 look great!

37 is one of my favorite numbers.33 is my 1 favorite!

Where's highway Digby 33?

Great detail.Great city.Great update!

[comdude21 6]

Looks great as usual. However I have one question. How do you make those maps? Those are some of the nicest maps I've seen in a CJ.

[fenton56 0]

are u using the NAM in your cjs, i love the mapping.  I also recomend that u use the radical ordence mod to get ride some some of your pollution

[lewellan222 3]

Other Uses for the Maps

Of course, I have also designed the maps so that they can do more than just show you where things are. I can use them to show function as well. For instance...

 

Bus Routes in Grande Forkes

Here is the current placment of bus stops in Grande Forkes. The current volume of each stop is shown, as are the main routes (highlighted on the streets in Transit Mauve)

 

A screen shot of the basic data map from the game, translates into something more meaningful:

 

As you can see, there isn't a whole hootin' heckuva lot of people riding the bus here.

 

 

 

 

I can also use the Road Map, as opposed to the Street Map to show larger portions of a city and spotlight areas from a higher altitute (thanks Mr. Smoor). These maps can get little busy, I suppose, but they're still fun to make.

 

 

I can see how these maps will be quite useful...or course, I still have to make them for the other SIX cities...(sigh)...

[lewellan222 3]

 

Chicago Firehouse (Engine 77)

by SimGoober

 

Here is a nice useful little BAT that I've just used in Grande Forkes.

 

 

 

We sure need more BATs like this, I tell  ya'!

[alt+tab 2]

Wow, this showcase is B-E-A-U-tiful!

[Nardo69 51]

Thanks Paul and Mayorbean for PMing the Link to the LevelMod.

I guess I must go back now - it does make realistic slopes but they are to flat for SC4 - seems to be scale has not a big meaning in SC4 - the railway line i made in a hilly tile looked like a French TGV - line ....

Anyway a nice tool to get halfway realistic railway line - thanks again for your great tutorial! Only problem is the time starting from quitting SC4, moving file and then starting SC4 again ....

Because of you I am now beginning to start a new region ... due to the inspirations i got from you I don't like the older parts of it anymore ....

Maybe i am going to make a CJ too - but maybe not - I don't believe it will look nice next to yours ....

Anyway - keep on with your great work!!!!!!

[insert_name_here 1]

Yet again another outstanding update Paul! I'm glad to see that you've started using some mods in Digby, some mods aren't that bad a thing and in fact do some wonderful things for the game.

Happy modding and I'll look forward to seeing another Digby update!

[Dannato 4]

Again, incredible job on the maps. I'm working on maps for my region too and I know it takes a hell of a lot of time, and mine are far less professional looking than yours. Anyway, it'll be very interesting to see which 92 BATs you choose, given your sense for quality I'm sure it's going to be like a showcase of the best BATs ever.

[miniklobb 0]

Holly mother of god!! I love the way in which you showcase the little pieces of your town. I never thought about my own towns and cities this way.

[generalee7 0]

Digby looks great! I love the use of the maps.

[+Guest]

To Lewellan: I love when CJ has a potential. This Digby CJ has an amazing, outstanding potential!

Still i love your CJ artworks - maps, logos.. great!
Also i must say that i very intrested with your future projects on Digby

[mtbikewnc 0]

This is my first post to Simtropolis. I've been lurking through the CJ's and this one is by FAR the best I've seen. Can't wait to see it grow!

I personally love the realistic slope mod, and never exceed the 2% rail grade, even if that means looping my tracks back and forth to make a bridge or hill

[Wisla_Krakow 0]

Wow. Over 60,000 thousand people have seen this. That's more than half the population of my town.

[kieran1408 0]

Wow. What a beautiful place Digby is

This is by far the best CJ I have seen and I love the maps and newspapers

I have one request though, can you post a whole region shot

[Cjah 15]

I wish I could have posted sooner,but I've been having computer problems.It seems I've got a nasty virus ruining everything...

 

But I'm glad I could at least get online and post here.

 

The maps are a great add on to this great C.J. and the fire station is awsome.I can't wait for more!