Building an Emirate

[Boppgun 0]

Hello all,

I am newly registered having lurked for a while on this wonderous resource.

I only got SC4 some weeks back after remembering how much I loved the series and wanting to try out it's last incarnation. My first few attempts at city building have been relatively haphazard and largely unsuccesful. I came here looking for ways to improve my experience and have found myself utterly overwhelmed by the amount of high quality content here. I've got as far as downloading the NAM but that's about it.

Anyhoo, my question relates to a project i'd like to do which in essence create a small Dubai/Abu Dhabi style mega-rich emirate. It would be a relatively small coastal desert region with an extremely high-density city surrounded by small Arabian villages and massive oil fields and refinery complexes. As I see it, from a mod point of view i'd need the following things -

1. Desert Land Textures - To colour the terrain 
2. Roads/Streets that fit on top of this desert terrain
3. Arabian-style housing - Western style buildings are fine for $$ + $$$ buildings but i'm envisaging small villages of purely arabic desert housing
4. OIL, OIL & MORE OIL. Derricks, refineries, complexes. The whole shabang. This is an Emirate that got it's wealth from oil and i'd like to devote whole cities to oil eyecandy & maybe a bit of industry.
5. Related Municipal + Religous buildings - Mosques, Palaces etc
6. If it's out there, Skyscrapers & Landmarks with an Arabic/Muslim flair to them.

If any of these things have been made by anyone out there and they wouldn't mind pointing me in the right direction i'd be eternally grateful. Failing that, pointing me to an article which explains the basics of creating my own structures would be grand.

I hope you all like my idea and any suggestions, feedback or articles relating to this subject would be amazing.

Regards

[Mikeaut1 261]

Welcome to Simtropolis.  

As always, don't hesitate to PM me if you have any additional questions.

Sitmropolis has a special area known as the "STEX" where you can download a lot of custom content for city journals.  You are looking to do a desert themed region. Sounds cool! If you go to the STEX and type in "desert", "mosque", or "oil" you might find some things to look for. I actually did some lookups for you and I do see some great things you can download to help get your region moving.

There is an award winning city journal on Simtropolis that already has mastered some of the things you are looking for. I bet after looking at this region you will drool and get very inspired. The city journal is JARGEAH by suplado. Take a look at his journal as it is very similar to what you're looking for. 

Much of what suplado uses in Jargeah is available on the STEX or at SC4Devotion, another Sim City 4 site. If you go to SC4Devotion, you will need to register there. 

I hope this post points you in the right direction. Again, feel free to reply here or PM me with additional questions.

Welcome again!

[TekindusT 3,809]

Some good oil refining stuff can be taken here: http://members3.jcom.home.ne.jp/somy000/ You have oil and GLP tanks and some seaport oil facilities. For some real "Dubai-esque" skyscrapers try here http://27.pro.tok2.com/~chilitomato2/ There are some amazing skyscrapers, including Burj Al Arab!

And look up the city journal above, it is a must for everybody trying to build a 21st century emirate!

[Liberater444 11]

YEah, Jargeah is an amazing CJ. Also, I forgot the link, but There are some Arabic type buildings for a midtown-esque desert area. on our Exchange

[zurrabear 20]

Originally posted by: Boppgun

As I see it, from a mod point of view i'd need the following things -

1. Desert Land Textures - To colour the terrain

    

2. Roads/Streets that fit on top of this desert terrain

3. Arabian-style housing - Western style buildings are fine for $$ + $$$ buildings but i'm envisaging small villages of purely arabic desert housing

4. OIL, OIL & MORE OIL. Derricks, refineries, complexes. The whole shabang. This is an Emirate that got it's wealth from oil and i'd like to devote whole cities to oil eyecandy & maybe a bit of industry.

5. Related Municipal + Religous buildings - Mosques, Palaces etc

6. If it's out there, Skyscrapers & Landmarks with an Arabic/Muslim flair to them.

...

I hope you all like my idea and any suggestions, feedback or articles relating to this subject would be amazing.

Regards

quote>

I really like this idea.  I don't know if there is a desert mod available, I haven't seen one myself, although I have seen a mod that changes terrain color to something like the US southwest, kind of tan-and-orange...not exactly what you want.

There are definitely a few BATs that represent 'traditional' Egyptian buildings--small and somewhat larger homes; one is represented to be a merchant's home if I recall. There is definitely at least one mosque on the STEX; and there are definitely numerous Arabic-style highrises, most of which are utterly beautiful and awesome.  I haven't seen oil derricks, but then I haven't been looking for them, but something like that is likely to be out there too.

All you really need to do is run keyword searches on the STEX and also at SCDevotion on the LEX.  I'd search for 'Egypt', 'Dubai', 'oil', 'merchant', 'desert', etc.

[Boppgun 0]

Thank you all for your excellent suggestions and feedback. I have taken up many of your suggestions and have begun trying to build the Emirate though progress is slow as i'm still a bit of a dunce when it comes to proper city design (everything just ends up big grids).