Creating realistic tidal salt marshes: comments and suggestions?

[Patro321 0]

The above is my attempt at creating a realisic tidal salt marsh. I live in South Carlolina and the low country is full of these enviroments, thus I have always wanted to recreate them in game.  I simply leveled the terrain to just below see level and then carved in the various channels with the ground lowering tool. I then used an aquatic plant pack I've had forever (can't remember where it came from) to place the marsh grass and there you have it!

Now, I realize there is nothing revolutionary about the above, but I am looking for ways to make it better.I don't actaully like the grass graphic. I believe it is supposed to be cat tails and thus is a little less uniform than actual marsh grass. Does anyone know of anything that might work better? Any other props I could use to add more realism?

[Tysons4 68]

maybe add some patches of other aquatic plants to give it some variety ... good idea though with the channels... i might try that with some of my city recreations i have going (i was using canals but those are not as realistic as these are... nice work

[Patro321 0]

I wanted to use actual game water because eveuntually it will morph into a barrier island on one side and I want the channels to the oceans to be seemless.

I agree with you on the plants. I have actually been trying various undwater plant/rock graphics to replicate oyster beds, which would be just under the water around the sea grass in a real marsh. I have not found a satisfactory result yet.

[Francis90b 748]

I don't have much experience about that, but i think that's a really nice try !

What water mod are you using?

there are some good mods here, on the LEX and the PLEX which do simulate muddy water (and i assume that water should be muddy on a swampland.

If you're interested i will be more than glad to point you to them!

[Patro321 0]

I am currently using the Brigantine water mod. I will eventually try and optimize the water, I agree with you it should be more muddy, but I will eventually have the ocean side of a barrier island in the same area too so I will have to compromise.

Here is an example of what a real South Carolina salt marsh looks like.

[Francis90b 748]

Oh, then your water mod would be more close to realism....i was thinking out of my bias about marshes...well, keep on, and i'd really like to read more about that!

[Patro321 0]

I appreciate the encouragment! I do feel like it is missing something though. I already mentioned the oyster beds. I would like to find some stationary ploppable water fowl and things like crab pot bouys, no luck thus far though.

[slystone2 20]

I use these for ploppable flora:

https://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1886

There's cattails and various reed grasses that work well (the ones you're using might be PEG's from his pond set?)

Also, Jeronij makes a ploppable water set on SC4Devotion that includes a dirty water effect you can use to muddy up your marsh.

No such thing as birds or crab pots that i've ever seen, although PEG makes some cool buoys

[Patro321 0]

Wow, thanks for pointing me to thos resources. A lot of what is in them are no applicable here, but they are awsome for other things!

I tried the dark ploppable water, but it was very dark and it was too hard to get functional edges witht he reads. I am toing to attempt to stick with in game water for now, I sort of like the idea of using "real" water.

The ALN reeds interest me a lot. The ones I was using before are not really reads but just an aquatic plant and are really way too vibrant of a green to be accurate. However, the ALN reeds are very muted and also form recongizable lines when plopped, but they are also far easier to place than the previous ones.

Here is an example using the ALN reeds, which do you guys like better?

[Patro321 0]

While I wait for opinions on the above (no rush) I am curious if any of you know where I can find this:

Not Goldiva's pack itself, but specifically that single dock that is not included in the pack. I need to to provide the docks that will stretch from the marsh side homes through the salt marsh to the boat channels. Thanks!

[Biriali 58]

Hey Patro321

I'm not sure, but maybe it is this pier [link] you're looking for. I hope you're going to show us pictures of your finished marsh lands.

Good luck with your marshes!

[schooner2 2]

Here, try these piers by nbvc: https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=23230

[tubbster 0]

Believe it or not, I like the greener plants better.  Marsh reeds I've seen tend to lean more toward the yellow-green than the tannish brown, but maybe it's different in SC. 

Can you use both?  Different tidal zones, even slightly different, often have different flora.  Or, how do they look when mixed?  Do you plop them or are they "painted" on?

[Francis90b 748]

I second the last opinion expressed there, as i believe that mixing them together would give a better effect.Oh, and i'm really curious to see some signs of human life there!

[Patro321 0]

Hello all,

Sorry for the absense of activity on my little project here, but I deployed with the Navy and just recently got back. I spent many a daydream thinking about finishing this up, so back to it!

To take up the last hurdle I was talking about, I am still looking for something to stand in for the long residential boat docks marsh front homes use. Here is an example:

It would have to be many tiles long, anyone know where I could find it? I was thinking of makeing a prop that stands over the water that can be extended as far as needed, but I am not real savy with that stuff...

[Jazzmaster 716]

Hello all,

Sorry for the absense of activity on my little project here, but I deployed with the Navy and just recently got back. I spent many a daydream thinking about finishing this up, so back to it!

To take up the last hurdle I was talking about, I am still looking for something to stand in for the long residential boat docks marsh front homes use. Here is an example:

It would have to be many tiles long, anyone know where I could find it? I was thinking of makeing a prop that stands over the water that can be extended as far as needed, but I am not real savy with that stuff...

First of all, beautiful work!

Second of all, I know exactly what you need, and luckily for you it was uploaded not very long ago:

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/files/file/26125-wmp-boardwalk/

[Patro321 0]

That is an awesome set of graphics, thanks for pointing them out to me!

Ideally I need a dock that can extend out into and over in game water, these plop over top of plopable water, but I like the results thus far.