Chicago

[dj's girl 0]

Wow I can't wait for its completion. Good work. I love the mapping of Chicago, you've designed.

[allez l'om 1]

It is a wonderful job!!! the neighboorhoods are so closed to reality!!! Are you going to made buildings from Chicago like you had done for NYC or not?

[Artur_001 4]

Looking good so far. Are you using any car mod?

[siso43 13]

wonderful, good luck, for your work.

[jglei701 8]

I look forward to following your "take" on Chicago...! I like that you're going to do the Northshore too, as I just moved to Highwood (just north of Highland Park). I wonder if you've got enough mansions for the Northshore though... My wife and I drive around and just gawk at the big houses!

[Hanson784 165]

panthersimcity4, thanks. Chicago is an interesting city. Although New York is my favorite.

lucky7, thanks. I'll see how developed I can get the map. It might be awhile though.

qinbenjiaren, thanks and welcome, me too. lol

JoystickJunkie, thanks and welcome also. I'm still working on New York BTW, it's my main project.

fabsies55, thanks. Hopefully as I progress it will look better to you.

Wrightguy0, thanks. You're right.. I should know that being from Chicago and walking past it when I used to work in the South Loop. I'll have to fix that.

Muck308, Thanks, yes a lot of work indeed, but not as much as New York requires. lol

sadhu_navarrete, Thanks. I don't know I'm thinking about creating a blog for it. We'll see if I have time.

dj's girl, Thanks and welcome, glad you like the neoghborhood map.

allez l'om, welcome also. Yep, I planning on doing some Chicago BAT's

Artur_001, thanks, nope, just Photoshoping the 3D renders into the picture.

siso43, thank you and welcome.

jglei701, thanks. I was in Highwood a couple of weeks ago... I took a nice stroll through the woods in Fort Sheridan and down to the lakefront. I'm from the North Shore (Winnetka and Wilmette) and am going to show the area in an update soon. Good to bump into a local here.

Today is a quick update showing a region map of the northern suburbs from Evanston to Glencoe which comprise most of the area known as the "North Shore." My recreation of Chicago is one of the only ones, I think, that comprises of the both the city and the suburbs (of Cook county at least) Here's a map to orient yourselves: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Evanston,+IL&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=image (feel free to turn on the streetview layer and cruise around the area)

There's still a bit of work to do on these subrubs; Evanston, being a city, is much bigger than what I have on the map. I only have half of Wilmette completed as it stretches further west, Northfield has barely been laid out and I haven't laid out Glencoe yet. The green area in between Northfield and Winnetka is the Skokie Lagoon Forest Preserve (which runs from Skokie all the way to Northbrook {a town north of Northfield})

We'll take a closer look at this area so be on the look out for that.

Thanks again all. We'll take a look at my hometown of Winnetka on the North Shore next time.

[jacqulina 162]

looking good so far my friend,groth is doing great

[Wrightguy0 40]

Tres coolio

[flyinbird93 2]

looks really good so far, cant wait to see it filled up!

[Muck308 55]

Can't have a big city w/o suburbs. Nice. I can't wait to see what else you do with this.

[KingTitan 6]

Very exciting Hanson784. Originally I am from Glencoe and I cant wait to see what u do with Glencoe. I now live in Chicago overlooking Navy Pier. Can't wait for that either.

[allez l'om 1]

Waouh!! It's so huge!! It sounds great that you plan to make Chicago BATs!!!!

[jglei701 8]

I can't wait to see it! I'm not THAT familiar with the Northshore yet, but I have driven along Sheridan from Evanston up to Highwood a few times... it was REALLY beautiful this fall! Hopefully this will help me get to know the rest of the area!

[Petrovar Ambassador 15]

wow! i am actually proud to be from chicago and i must say, impressive! keep upi the good work! =)

[packersfan 666]

I think I stay in the hotel in the last picture of your first update...I love recreations I started one of Milwaukee, but that didn't pan out, the city divisions were in unfortunate spots like right in the middle of the Marquette interchange, etc...poor planning ahead on my part...

[underwearman2007 0]

You've got something good going here. I can feel it and trust me, Asian intuition is never wrong.

[futurama2506sim 7]

This is going good, and I love the region views. Keep it up

[Shane_ 0]

This is great!! I actually just got back from Chicago. I love what you've done. I'm working on a Chicago myself from a bitmap on Rebel's site. http://www.rebel13.com/SimCity/Home.html

I've installed the latest NAM and I'm very interested in how I can go about putting in El Stations above streets as they are true to life in Chicago. It seems that you cannot have a road under an El Station, no matter what. Can anyone help me out with this???

Thanks

[patriots_1228 51]

Wow. This is awesome. Chicago is definetely my second favorite city after boston. Im actually going to be exporting the Chicago Spire this weekend [assuming thats enough time lol].

Good work.

[jglei701 8]

Originally posted by: patriots_1228 Wow. This is awesome. Chicago is definetely my second favorite city after boston. Im actually going to be exporting the Chicago Spire this weekend [assuming thats enough time lol].

Good work.quote>

Really?!  Awesome!!  I was wondering when someone would create it... though I think we all are wondering if it ever will be anything other than a gianormous whole in the ground...

I wonder, too, if anyone has thought about doing the Trump tower.

[Hanson784 165]

Hey all,

My update on the suburb of Winnetka is taking longer than expected, I do however have some initial shots of the suburb that are ready to go. I plan on getting a second part of the update out before the end of the this week. I wanted to get it all finished this weekend but I got bogged down with RL.

But first replies to everyone's comments and suggestions in a (somewhat) timely manner

jacqulina, thanks Jacky.

Wrightguy0, thank you.

flyinbird93, Welcome, me too.

Muck308, That's right. Thanks, I have some surprises from coming up.

KingTitan, Welcome. Good to see another local around here.

allez l'om, Yes, I have a few planned for future updates.

jglei701, It was a nice fall. Taking a drive along Sheridan Rd in Glencoe along the ravines is always nice. It reminds me a bit of the east coast in some parts. Hopefully my update will better acquaint you with the North Shore (I'll do an update on the other suburbs later when they've progressed more)

Petrovar Ambassador, thanks and welcome.

packersfan, The Peninsula Hotel? It's a very nice hotel, did you go to the outdoor terrace on the 4th(?) floor. Nice area to relax and take in the views.

I think I remember your Milwaukee CJ from a while back. Don't worry some cities are very difficult to make accurate recreations in SimCity. Most American cities are so big and have so much suburban sprawl they can be quite time intensive to make.

underwearman2007, Thanks. I hope so.

futurama2506sim, Thank you. Me too it's interesting looking at the various spots on development on the region map.

Shane_, Welcome and thanks. Rebel3 has some great maps, looking forward to seeing some progress with your region.

It’s hard to create the El as the NAM under road elevated network has a bug that prevents you (or at least me) from placing an intersection under the el, it causes my game to crash whenever I try. I might just BAT the El tracks myself and put a road texture underneath. It wouldn’t be functional but it would serve the visual purpose.

patriots_1228, Thanks, your Chicago Spire looks great. Good to hear it will be released soon... or whenever it finishes rendering. Didn't it take a long time to do preview renders?

jglei701, Trump Tower and Hotel is on the STEX.

I also thought The Spire was on hold, didn't the developer go bankrupt? I heard somewhere they might not build it and turn the foundation into a fountain. Time will tell.

Now we'll take a brief preliminary overview of the area to start out.

Winnetka is an affluent suburb Chicago with about 12,000 residents located about 19 miles from downtown. It's located in a string of towns locally known as the "North Shore." The village is known for its top schools, stately old homes and tree-lined streets.

The town is home some prominent Chicago businessmen, many lawyers and doctors and a few Illinois senators. Other famous resident include Rock Hudson, Chris O'Donnell, and Tom Cruise (who lived in Winnetka for a short time during his childhood) and the band members of Fall Out Boy.

Other interesting facts include a 1965 speech Martin Luther King Jr gave at a park in the center of town (or as locals call the park, "The Village Green"), Winnetka was the location for some movies such as Ferris Bueler's Day Off, part of Ocean's 12, and Uncle Buck. The director of Ferris Bueler's Day Off and Uncle Buck lived in Northbrook and most of his movies were set in the northern suburbs.

Though, the towns history isn't entirely prestigious. Winnetka was the scene of one of the first school shootings in America in 1988 when Laurie Dann, a mentally unstable young woman, shot 8 elementary school children at Hubbard Woods Elementary School and after wards barricaded herself in a residence shooting another person inside the home; reports indicated she also set a house on fire she used to babysit for. Thankfully, the homeowners were able to escape the blaze. Needless to say people were thought twice about moving to the area after those horrible events and the towns reputation was blackened for a few years.

And as recently as October of this year the town had another brush with danger when a late night police car chase, involving a suspected murderer, careened down Willow Road, through the quite side streets (near my parents home) and up Sheridan Rd before ending in a crash in a lakeside park in Glencoe.

The incident started in the northwest suburb of Wheeling and involved many police departments including the state police. The news downplayed the threat to the local residents even though the suspect crashed into cars on Willow Rd and drove in oncoming lanes down Sheridan Rd in a desperate attempt to get away.

Winnetka is still one of the safest areas in the state and is a highly sought after by families due to all the amenities, it being named one of the top towns in America and of course the school district.

We start our tour on a quite side street on the eastside of town. Many of the streets are named after trees such as Ash, Oak, Poplar, Elm, etc... Modest and large wood frame or brick homes dating from the 1910's to 1920's are a common sight along the streets.

Heading further east to the Lakefront, Tower Road Beach is a one of the most popular beaches in Winnetka and is known for the Tower Road Power Plant, a building that looks out of place in a suburb like Winnetka. Especially located right on the Lakefront near Sheridan Road.

Though, this is how Tower Road got its name and the town's power has to come from somewhere.

We head from the quite side streets to the busy (well busy for the area) business district known as Hubbard Woods. The main thoroughfare, Green Bay Road, carries traffic to and through the area. Hubbard Woods Park is a popular destination during the summer months and in July a Summer Fair is held near the gazebo.

Another side street in the area, Locust Road, which is moderately wooded (partly to provide privacy from the passing traffic)

We’ll end the day relaxing for the afternoon at the Indian Hill Country Club. (It doesn't really look like the Maxis country club but it's close enough.)

That's all for our part one overview, stay tuned for part two. More Chicago suburbia next time.

[packersfan 666]

Nice little update, would love to see more...yeah, SimCity makes it hard to layout real life cities since the tile divisions can be a pain.

[dj's girl 0]

Wow Chi-town looks beautiful. Excellent work.

[lucky7 73]

Very nice suburbs, beautiful pics, Elliot. Looking very much forward to more, take care,

Ren

[Haljackey 17,328]

Hehe, nice update! I love the parallel-parking along the road, very realistic!

[Shane_ 0]

Originally posted by: Hanson784

Shane_, Welcome and thanks. Rebel3 has some great maps, looking forward to seeing some progress with your region.

It’s hard to create the El as the NAM under road elevated network has a bug that prevents you (or at least me) from placing an intersection under the el, it causes my game to crash whenever I try. I might just BAT the El tracks myself and put a road texture underneath. It wouldn’t be functional but it would serve the visual purpose.quote>

 

Rebel's maps are good, but the scale of the Chicago one is off. I've tried to dink around to fix it but have been unsuccessful. 

I have successfully placed a full grid of the loop of El's over the streets. It crashed a few times, only when introducing stations prior to placing an Intersection road/el. But it is complete with the exception of stations. I have placed one, but had to move the El off the road for the station, then back onto the road after the station. I wish there was a way to put a station over the road to avoid that.

The detail in your City is amazing. It seems you have nearly every street in the downtown area perfect. Before I wasn't going to worry about such details, but now after looking at yours I'm going to. Great screen shots btw.

[allez l'om 1]

it is definitely the atmosphere of Chicago's surburbs for having been there!!! It would be interesting to release a regional view to see the advance of the suburbs of Winnetka!!!

[TheOlympics 546]

Hey I like this. Its nice to see my Hometown get recreated in Simcity 4 keep up the good work.

[TheOlympics 546]

almost forgot, don't forget to build caprini greens and the Robert Taylor Homes I look forward to that.

[IsaacTham 0]

Looks good. Happy New Year!

Isaac