Chicago

[Hanson784 165]

Welcome to my second CJ, Chicago!

For those that follow my New York CJ I’m still updating it and will have an update soon, but I had to delay an update this weekend to prepare for the debut of my Chicago CJ.

I’ve been working on the region off and on for quite a while; for about four years now. While there have been a number of great Chicago CJ that have been a source of inspiration I haven’t seen many that have comprehensively covered the city and suburbs (although I might be wrong). Specifically, the various neighborhoods of the city. After all Chicago is a collection of interesting neighborhoods. The Loop and Michigan Avenue are well known and important areas of the city but it’s the neighborhoods that make Chicago Chicago.

 Even though Chicago is smaller than New York (and more manageable to recreate) I still has a large metropolitan area. My CJ will cover (most) of the city, the northern and near western suburbs in Cook county.

With that said let’s get to the pictures.

The Loop (looking east)

Another view of the Loop (looking north)

Progress on Michigan Avenue

And of course some of my signature street close up shots:

South Michigan Avenue near Jackson.

The Water Tower and North Michigan Avenue near Chicago Avenue.

Five star luxury on Chicago and Rush at the Peninsula Hotel.

That's all for now. More next time.

Edit: Forgot to include a region view. I make that the next update.

[BANDITp61 7]

cool i guess? the sears tower is along a river and near a lake not a RIVER!!!!

[Muck308 55]

Not true. This is accurate. The South Branch of the Chicago river goes right past the Sears Tower. Just north of there, off the map, the river meets the North Branch, and turns toward the lake. There is, I believe a small block between the tower and river, but this is very close.

[Sir Gawain 1]

Originally posted by: Muck308 Not true. This is accurate. The South Branch of the Chicago river goes right past the Sears Tower. Just north of there, off the map, the river meets the North Branch, and turns toward the lake. There is, I believe a small block between the tower and river, but this is very close.quote>

You are correct. Between the Sears Tower and the river is Wacker Dr. and a small block.

Also, the river does not turn towards the lake as it flows south, away from the lake.

[anarchy0029 2]

Like McDonalad's I'm loving it. What a good start of your presentation.

[football_fever 6]

Awesome! If this is half as good as your NYC, we're in for a treat! Hope to see more soon

[jacqulina 162]

very nice start and intro very nice first pics my friend

[lucky7 73]

Oh, wow, finally! this is looking really good, Elliot. Great pictures, looking very much forward to more of your splendid work, take care,

Ren

[roboo1 1]

As for now it looks good. I am waiting to see the region overview

[fabsies55 5]

dunno its meh for a start,

could be better but again its only the beggning so ill have to wait.

[4Seasons in 1day 0]

I love it. Can't wait to see the region shot

[art128 4,618]

that's really nice !

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

Very nice. Takes me back. Love Chicago.

Nice to see someone doing Chicago.

-Vin

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Are you gonna do the area by the Science museum? That would be sweet! And, if you make any BATs of that area, you will be my hero FOR E-V-E-R!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Great start! This is a huge project to undertake, particularly if you're already doing a huge re-creation.

[Prophet42 1,501]

Good start.  Keep up the good work.

[shaylan221 0]

I like it. Question: Are those taxis downloable anywhere? Or are those photoshopped because the maxis ones are unrealistic!!

[cbreeze214 0]

Looks pretty good to start. I am currently working on a Chicago as well, although I am not doing a CJ because I am not very good. But am curious to see how you are doing the El over the streets in the Loop. I haven't considered doing it how you have with the El occupying the tiles running parallel. I also believe your Pritzker Pavilion is too close to the lake. It is located just west of Columbus Dr. where you have it to the East. Anyway, keep up the great work and I'll be checking back often.

[ODST_27 1]

Great start! Chicago is one of my favorite cities, so I'll be watching this carefully.

[tomdapom 79]

Interesting stuff. Chicago is one of my favourite cities that I have been to, and will be interested to see how this one develops. However, a few things you should probably work on:

- The river isn't that wide. I know it's hard to terraform a narrow river, but maybe you could try ploppable water? I use it, and it works alright (though I'm not sure about it in urban situations).

- The ampitheatre in Grant Park (?) is way too big. Knowing your BATting abilities, you could easily make a far better version of it.

- The el-rail runs on top of the roads downtown, rather than besides them. There are roadtop el-rails included in the NAM, and I think it would look a lot better if you used them.

Take this into consideration, and I think this one could turn out as well as NY. Good luck!

[Muck308 55]

It looks like Hanson784 has the el running over the street but only for about 2 blocks there...

[Hanson784 165]

BANDITp61, welcome. The Sears Tower is near the south branch of the Chicago River as Muck308 said in his post. Here's a map for refrence,

Muck308, Thanks you, that is correct.

Sir Gawain, Thanks also.

anarchy0029, Thanks glag you like it.

football_fever, Thanks. I'll try to bring the level of quality that I have with my New York CJ

jacqulina, Thanks for stopping by.

lucky7, Thanks René.

roboo1, Thanks, regionview below.

fabsies55, Thanks hopefully you'll find it more interesting as I go along.

4Seasons in 1day, Thanks. BTW, your username reminds me of Chicago weather.

art128, Thanks.

xV.I.N.C.E.N.T.x, Thanks, there have been a few other Chicago CJ's also but none that I can remember created lately.

Schulmanator, Yep. The southern tip of my map ends in Hyde Park and the Museum of Science and Industry should be on my list of BAT's. I'll try to do some BAT's of the U of Chicago campus nearby. Are you from the area?

edmonton_stinks, Thanks. Not as big as New York, but still big.

Prophet42, Thanks.

shaylan221, They're 3D props photoshopped into the pictures. They aren't transit enabled but I'm thinking of working on an automata project with some modder's if I have time.

For the meantime I'll try to make them downloadable but I've been having problems with exporting 3D cars in BAT. Maybe it's the complex geometry? Though, I can export buildings with high poly counts just fine and other BAT'ers are able to export 3D cars so I'm not sure what the problem is. Until I find a solution I can't release any of my car props.

cbreeze214, Good to hear another person working on Chicago. The El can be done with the el over street mod available in the NAM. Though you need to be very careful with connecting them to the road network and adding stations as the puzzle pieces can crash your game due to a glitch.

This is the reason my El tracks are running along the street instead of over it. I've been having some problems with the mod crashing my game and am thinking of BATting El puzzle pieces as static props. It won't be transit enabled but it would look more accurate.

ODST_27, Thanks, stay tuned.

tomdapom, I reworked all of your points you listed and will show the improvements in the next update. BTW, what ampitheater? Do you mean the Grant Park Bandshell? The Priztker Pavillion?

OK update time. Here is the region view I promised. The region covers the area from the lake to Oak Park on the west, south to Hyde Park on the South Side and Uptown on the North Side.

Here's a neighborhood map of areas that I'm currently working on or will be developing soon.

I also have an image of another region map of the north suburbs which covers areas from the lakefront on the east, Highland Park on the north, to Glenview on the west. I think the region runs all the way south spanning from Rogers Park in Chicago to the suburbs of Evanston, Skokie and Lincolnwood. I'll have to double check the boundaries once I get all the roads laid out.  Here's a link to a Chicago suburbs map for those who aren't familar with the area: http://www.apartmentzone.com/Apartment%20Guide/IL-Illinois/Chicago%20Suburbs/default.asp

I'll show that region map along with other images in the next update. That's next time.

[panthersimcity4 162]

Wow, that looks great so far. I love Chicago, its a very diverse rival to New York.

[lucky7 73]

Oh, the region view is great and the city seems to be already well developed. Wow, I can't until the whole region is urbanized. Great work, Elliot, looking very much forward to more,

take care,

Ren

[qinbenjiaren 0]

can see what you mean, and hope you can finish it!

[JoystickJunkie 0]

Looks great and very true to life. I loved your New York CJ, but I agree that Chicago would be much easier to recreate.

[fabsies55 5]

i dunno i'm still not so sure but its looking better so keep it up

and also from what i've seen of chicago, its pretty close.

[Wrightguy0 40]

Great CJ, one little nagging detail though, isn't the post office on the west side of the river?

How are you going to tackle the CBoT?

[Muck308 55]

Nice region view. You have a lot of work to do my friend... good luck

[sadhu_navarrete 0]

Pretty good recreation, although I like the NYC CJ better. Will this CJ have a website like your NYC Journals?