Fortune - Canada's 11th Province

[Hawkeye9 0]

Oh cool!!! Just goes to show its almost always worth it to take a guess!!!

Anyway... How about for the name: The Ampton Hotel.

Lookin forward to see the area up close!!!

     Welcome to page 8!!! 

[pagenotfound 53]

THose are some awesome shots.

[antsel 841]

Replies

jacqulina: Thank you!

GreekMan: Thanks! Hahaha, yeah it's not as good as Jacky's but hopefully it still looks good.

aiumkastarkius: Thanks for your comment!

Schulmanator: Thanks man! I appreciate that.

Hawkeye9: Stay tuned for the Ampton Hotel!!

beebs: It's nice to see you here. Thanks for the comment!

pagenotfound: Thanks buddy!

Update 24

So far we're 3/4 of the way through the Douglas Pass, but before we finish the last leg of the trip, we're going to stop for a day of skiing/snowboarding. Welcome to the Meginbir Mountain Resort!

Meginbir Mountain Resort is the first ski resort ever established in the province of Fortune. If you recall from the last update, we were in the town of Douglas. If we continued on the road passed the bridge that takes us to the town, we will eventually encounter a really steep climb.

There is an extreme elevation change from the town of Douglas to the base of Meginbir Mountain Resort. In order to get there, we have to drive through a series of switchbacks.

Once we climb all the way up, we finally get to the base of the ski resort. This is the main lodge where you can purchase your lift tickets.

And here are a couple hotels right on the hill. Very convenient, but slightly expensive. Definintely worth it though!

Another picture here, you can see a couple more lodges.

If we keep following the road, it will eventually take us to another set of switchbacks.

This road continues all the way up to the Ampton Hotel. The most exclusive and the most luxurious hotel in all of the Niveous Mountains.

And a view from a little further away.

Here is an overview of the frontside of the ski hill.

And the backside...

That's all for now. Eventually I plan on making a trail map of the resort, but that's still a work in progress. I hope you enjoyed the ski trip!

[Teeparex 6]

Wow, thats a lot of switchbacks! Very nice looking mountain/s and hotels. It kind of makes me wish SC4 had a camera system that enabled you to see the views as if you were standing (or skiing) on the mountain.

[Twenty20 28]

Wow ! I love your pictures of snowy mountains.

[SounderBruce 173]

Superb!

[rushman5 33]

This is amazing work here, those region views are killer!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

That is some spectacular scenery! Fantastic work.

[Hawkeye9 0]

Wow awsome update!!! I love the winding roads going up to the resort... it really reminds me of my trips going up to the snow!!! I also really like the resort logo, very much like the real ones!!! And of course we cant forget the Ampton Hotel... Thanks for that by the way!!!

I would also like to remark on your use of ski lifts. My main hesitation to guessing "ski resort" was because I knew there was no real Ski lifts to download as custom content... and I must say that I truly love the improvized lifts... very very clever idea!!!

Overall a very nice update!!! Its very original (I actually think this is the first time ive seen a ski resot in Sim City 4), very detailed (as are all your updates) and a overall enjoyable update!!! Very much lookin forward to more!!!

[jimbo_jj 1]

Nice work on the slopes! Not just the snow but the trees and rocky cliffs really make this look like a real ski spot. I just hope those icy roads don't scare off too many potential skiers. I've been on switchbacks like that and I got really nervous, in summer nonetheless! Anyway, great job!

[rjkrox 0]

Whoa.

[dfnva 34]

Nice.... a realistic looking mountain resort in a beautiful area. The road switchbacks continue to be great as well as do the lush greenery in the area.

-Dan

[suplado! 23]

wow -- awesome work with the snowy mountain, it looks really great and nice to spend a vacation

[De Ja Vu 117]

Fantastic update! Those snowy hills add quite a touch to the region!

[jacqulina 162]

i love the snowy pics my friend,excellent work

[Yuu Caa Sim 55]

I forgot about this CJ for several months, and then come back to find all of these wonderful pictures!

Your regional shots are beautiful as usual, and I really like how your more urban areas turn out. Your rural areas look really cool and peaceful too, so I guess that means that I like it all?

My only point of concern are the way you line the banks of your streams and rivers. They don't really look all that good in my opinion. I would suggest trying out some of the other ploppable rocks, perhaps some of Cycledogg's boulders, or Goldiva's smaller, finer rocks as well. I also find that flowers usually make streams look much better, although I'm not sure if that's completely realistic for this type of terrain.

I loved looking at all those roads climbing up the mountains in the last update, as well as your ski resort. The way the terrain textures worked out was pretty cool as well.

I can't wait to see more lovely pictures!

[antsel 841]

Replies

Teeparex: Thank you! I know what you mean about that camera system, it would be so sweet!

Twenty20: Thanks for the comment!

ComputerGuy890100: Thank you!

rushman5: I'm glad you liked pictures. Thanks for dropping by!

edmonton_stinks: Thanks buddy!

Hawkeye9: I'm glad you enjoyed the update, and I'm glad you liked the way the Ampton Hotel turned out. As for using powerlines as ski lifts, it's something I've always contemplating. I thought the execution was great, but I did have to do some minor photoshopping for the bottom and the top.

jimbo_jj: Meginbir Mountain resort offers very detailed weather reports and road conditions for any anxious traveller. And, there's also snowplows that come around every now and then to make sure there's no accumulation of precipitation on the road. I know exactly what you mean about driving on mountain roads, especially in slippery conditions! It can be quite scary. Thank you for your comment!

rjkrox: Thanks!

dfnva: Thanks a lot for the comment, I'm glad you liked the update.

suplado!: I'm glad you liked the resort. Thanks for the comment.

De Ja Vu: Thanks man!

jacqulina: Thank you Jacky.

yunxiang: I appreciate the constructive criticism. After all, there's no way I can improve my region. I know what you mean about the rocks that line the streams and rivers. I was a little hesitant at first, but I figured that those ploppable rocks don't look out of place all the time. I have tried using those Goldiva rocks, but they weren't giving the same effect as I wanted. I really wish there was some sort of ploppable gravel, because that's exactly the kind of thing I want for a rocky-mountain stream. I have been experimenting with various textures around riverbanks to get a better effect, but that's still a work in progress.

Update 25

This is update 4 of 4 of the Douglas Pass.

The highway branches off into a road that crosses the Grieman River.

The bridge takes us to the small town of Spruce Falls

If you follow the main road through Spruce Falls, you find yourself climbing a hill towards a couple exclusive mountain hotels.

Back to the town of Spruce Falls, another highway branches off from the town of Spruce Falls. If you cross the river, the bridge takes you to a secondary mountain pass.

The Niveous Mountains have many scenic mountain roads to explore.

Back to Spruce Falls, lets take a look at how Spruce Falls go its name.

Now lets head back to the Douglas Pass Highway.

Farms! We've finally made it through the Douglas Pass!

I hope you enjoyed our trip through the Douglas Pass.

[Muck308 55]

Awesome! The waterfalls and the mountain hotels are especially great. You're great at anti-grid, and your timber land is very realistic. I really appreciate seeing such good flora placement... as it's something I've been trying to get better at. Keep it up, selles!

[SounderBruce 173]

Good update, selles!

[Hawkeye9 0]

Wow, great job with the last couple of updates!!! The way you made them really makes you feel like you just drove through the valley!!! We started off with great scenery and explored the small tows!!! Then we hit the slopes at Meginibir Mountain!!! Finally we made our way out and enjoyed more beautiful scenery!!! Awsome job, I have really enjoyed Douglas Pass!!!

[Tomasneto 20]

Very nice work, my friend!!! Congratulations!!!

[fordguy5 0]

Wow! Meginbir Mountain is nothing short of spectacular. I have tried to make a ski resort in the game, however I was not succesfull. I love the way the lifts look running up the mountain. The snow looks amazing too! I wonder what a lift ticket there costs. Haha

The road looks really good, although I would not want to have to drive the snow plow on it!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

I did indeed enjoy it! Great waterfalls and small town, I see we've returned to flat land. Does the highway lead to another city?

[antsel 841]

Replies

Muck308: Thanks for the comments! As for antigrid, it's pretty much necessary for a decent looking mountain town. I tend to keep things nice and gridlike for my cities on flat land, at least for the "older" sections of town. In the new areas I like to diversify with plenty of cul-de-sac developments. Flora is always nice to work with. I downloaded a bunch more ploppable flowers and grasses and such that I am currently experimenting with.

ComputerGuy890100: Thanks buddy.

Hawkeye9: I'm glad you enjoyed the Douglas Pass and the scenery within the mountains. I have been planning another pass through the mountains, but this one will be a little more extreme. But I won't get onto that for another while now, I have to mix it up the nature pics with some real urban stuff now!

Tomasneto: Thanks for the comment!

fordguy5: Thanks man. I'm glad you liked the ski hill. I'm sure with a little more practice you'll be able to get the ski resort looking fine. As for driving the snowplow, it's pretty much just a truck with a sheet of plywood attached to the front. That won't be too hard to drive... I hope!

edmonton_stinks: I'm glad you liked the pass. The highway indeed brings us to another city with a population around 15,000. Nothing too big, but a decent enough size. I'll get pictures of it up for the next update.

CJ Progress Report

So RL has been getting a little hectic in the last few weeks. I'm currently working on my undergraduate thesis, and it's been a lot of work. I'm studying psycholinguistics and I'm running an experiment on the acquisition of second language speech sounds. It's a training experiment so I need my participants to return for seven sessions, and it takes a lot of effort to make sure they're all coming back! And because I'm dealing with 15 participants, each of whom have their own schedules and priorities, I am spending about 12 hours in the lab, reading, writing, etc. In addition to all that my hockey and volleyball teams are heading into the playoffs, so that takes a lot of time out of my day too.

Despite all this, my time management skills seem to be better than I expected because I was still able to squeak in about an hour of SimCity time in the last couple days. I have been working on some projects, and I do plan on having an update sometime before the weekend.

Now, I wouldn't mind talking about the site upgrade. I love the way the way the site looks, the colour combinations look super sweet. But there is one thing that is driving me absolutely nuts: Surfing the forums, whenever I click the last page link for a thread, it takes me to page 90 when there is no page 90. And then I have to type in random numbers into the URL until I finally get to the ACTUAL last page. I thought the site upgrade was supposed to fix this. I guess not.

About the new CJ section. I think it's a pretty good idea, but it's too bad that we have two sections now. I'm not sure if I'll join into the new section or if I will just keep it right where it is. I think integrating all my updates into the new system will take too much effort, but then again it's probably something I could do one day that I'm bored. Would you guys prefer me to keep it here, or to incorporate it into the new system?

Anyway, I've been typing way too much and I really should get back to my school work. I hope to hear back from some of you, but if not, no big deal. Stay tuned because I plan on having an update of some sort before the weekend.

[Raysfan16 5]

Hi selles. Nice nature shots in the alst update. I certainly hate the new CJ section and the fact that it is it two sections.

By the way, aren't there 14 Canadian provinces?

(BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Nunavut, Fortune &gt

[antsel 841]

Thanks Raysfan! I'm still undecided about the 2 CJ sections.

Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut are territories. The rest are provinces.

[Raysfan16 5]

Which is why they have 'Territory' in their names....

[GreekMan 246]

yeah work have been hitting me too. What are you majoring in?

i don't think i am putting Halifax up on the other section. i don't think you will get the same amount of comments and view over there. OMG i HATE when there is no page 80 or what ever. I hate that. I go to these huge threads and they put me on page 156 when it's on 155. it's so annoying! grrr

anyway school is more important that SC and if you plan on stopping this great CJ(which you won't) just tell us and don't run off. i hate it when ppl disapear from CJs.. keep it up

[Teeparex 6]

Personally, copying and pasting my updates from the forum to the new cj section didn't really take as long as I thought, but I had only 5 updates across two pages! You have 25 over 8 pages, so that might take a while. If I were you, I wouldn't bother about it unless this original forum section turns dead and eerily quiet.

I'm not so sure about the new cj section myself though, it seems to be a good tool for keeping your updates tidy, but I don't see why we really need two different sections. I still prefer the forum's CJ section for some reason!

P.S. Thanks for being a regular commentor on my CJ as well!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Ouch. With a name like psycholinguistics you know it's going to be hard. As for the new CJ section, I thought this one was fine but now it's kind of hard to keep track of. That said, the new section has a lot of perks that you won't find here. I figure you can integrate it when you have the time, but for now Fortune is fine where it is.