District of Wenzel | Update 116 - (Ouisconsin County) Morgan Town: Rival to the South

[Sabretooth78 808]

Maybe it's a dumb question, but what do you mean Lot Editor won't work - it doesn't load to begin with?  Or does it load but not function correctly once open?

[packersfan 667]

I got lot editor to open.  Just wasn't patient enough.  However, when I edit a lot and then save or save as, it creates a completely new lot (if I hit save, it creates a lot with the same name as the lot being edited and then I can replace the lot and I can still access it via DAMN).  The bigger problem is that I've made some lot modifications and then I can't find the lot in my menus and I can't find them when running SSP tool to put them in the DAMN.

A key example of this are the Milwaukee apartments which I relotted...though I might not have made them ploppable :/  Is that what is happening when I edit these lots?  Are they becoming growable lots (even if the original was a park ploppable)?  I've been out of it for a while and I don't remember ... and never really CLEARLY learned how to edit lots and properties.  I always get lost.
 

[Sabretooth78 808]

I guess I'm not exactly sure myself.  I would have found it pretty odd for it not to load at all; however, it does take some time to load when you have a ton of plugins.  (Mine crashes, as does the game, when all my plugins are installed "loose" yet they both work find when the datpacked version is installed.  Quite odd and I've yet to isolate it.)

 

I'm no expert with the lot editor, in fact I find it rather cumbersome.  And no experience with PIM-X.  I have been known to modify a the occasional lot, however.  Usually when a lot has some massive dependency I don't want to use, or something like that.  The save behavior is familiar, and I've had issues when I've modified a lot where that modified copy doesn't override the original, assuming I don't replace/reorder everything.  I'm assuming that's just a file loading order on my end, although sometimes it has happened and I wouldn't expect that to be an issue.  But I digress...

 

I doubt what you're doing is changing the nature of the lot.  Something else is going on here and I'm just not good enough with LE to fully diagnose it.  Anyway, one of the things that irks me is that when you modify things in LE, you often lose custom menu buttons, etc., which may be related to the behavior you're seeing.  What I've learned to do is take your "save" copy in LE, and open it up in Reader.  There should be 2 exemplars, one that has the lot properties (plop cost, flammability, etc.) and the other that includes the locations of props, etc. on the lot (I can't recall exactly the name of the property but it'll probably be repeated several times).  Copy that one into the original file, replacing it.  Save, test and you should be on your way.  Or, go into the original file and delete the counterpart exemplar, open your saved copy and delete everything but that exemplar, and datpack the two.  Hopefully that makes sense (I'm recalling all of this while at work...).

 

If you do this, be careful to make backups and test.  I like to think I have some experience with Reader but at the end of the day I'm just an armchair modder so I'm not going to make any guarantees.  I can either say I've had no problems doing this, or I've had no problems yet.  It's also a good idea to tag or otherwise note somewhere which files you have modified in case you ever have to go back and diagnose some problem.  I typically preface the file "MOD_" and tag it "modded" as well.  Makes them real easy to pull up in an OS search.

 

Also, regarding ploppables, do you have the extracheats.dll?  Essentially, the "buildingplop" "cheat" renders ploppables obsolete.  The hardest part is finding the name in the list if you have a large plugins folder, but it isn't too hard.

[packersfan 667]

Yeah, I do use the lot plop, but as you said, you need to know what you are looking for and it takes time to find...not as simple as a DAMN menu.  I'll give it a try with the exemplars.

[packersfan 667]

Check out my latest update to the District of Wenzel Street Map.  Remember how I was toying with creating a zoomable map.  Well it isn't technically really zooming, but you can use your browser to zoom in and AT LEAST for this one map tile everything will be crystal sharp as I'm doing SVG!  (I didn't actually go into doing the SVG today because I wanted zooming but because I thought the raster jpegs just looked ugh, and when I zoomed things got ugly fast).  This SVG map looks great and I'll be able to include extra information that will only be able to be see at high zooms.  I've also included tiny street labels and normal labels.  Which do think is better?

The new tile is located south of the Penelope River where I-80 and I-55 end...just north of North St. Paul.  Check it out!  You won't miss it, you'll see the difference.

I haven't worked out how I'll make rail lines yet.  Any tips from you guys who are familiar with Photoshop?

As for time it took to work this all out.  I started working and experimenting and learning this morning around 10 or 10:30 and pretty much had everything nailed down around 4:00.  I had to make new SVG versions of my highway signs.
 

[Sabretooth78 808]

Looks good!

 

Although, I would imagine that the traffic on South Hardee Drive is experiencing some issues near South 41st.

[packersfan 667]

do you mean near 47th and the border between the two map tiles?  Yeah, I rearranged Hardee Drive to be a 45 degree angle there and haven't updated the other map tile yet.  Actually, I'm even using the diagonal neighbor connection workarounds to get them to be true.

[packersfan 667]

Replies to Your Comments:

Ha, I just noticed your alphabetical street naming scheme in that area.

 

Yeah, I've noticed some cities do this in areas (like Chicago).

 

Lovely picture Packersfan. I am really happy that DoW is back and still looking great. I like the colorful trees, rocks and the water. Simply beautiful. Keep up the awesome work my friend. JKB

 

Thanks, glad to be back, though I have to relearn how to do all my photo editing and what fonts/sizes, etc. to use.

 

Very nice pictures. Love the golf course. Also, how did you make that map? Do you use a special program for it? 

 

Nope, no special program.  I just took a picture of the in-game in-city transportation data view (streets and rail), cut it out and sized it according to the city tile in paint (256 x 256 for small, 512 x 512 for medium, 1024 x 1024 for large).  Then I used GIMP to lay down paths and the roads.  Of course, now I am making the transition to using Adobe Illustrator, so I can make Scallable Vector Graphics which are zoomable!  Then I take those and set up HTML to put all the individual city maps in the correct arrangement so that the entire map flows as one large map.

 

Update 97 - Penelope River South Bank

This was a busy week of learning how to do new things inside and outside of Sim City 4.

 

First, I learned how to use some workarounds to make true diagonal neighbor connections.  This will greatly improve future border composite pictures!

 

Second, I learned how to do scallable vector graphics for my street map, so now (at least on new map tiles) you can zoom in as much as your browser can handle and everything will look crisp and sharp (make sure zoom levels are multiples of 25.  A zoom level like 110% will cause gaps to appear between the map tiles).

 

Well, I thought there would be a third thing.  I guess not!  So here is a new area I reworked.  The City of Martin south of the Penelope River.  I shifted over I-55 and I-80...originally I had it overlapping S 32nd St.

 

 

 

Industrial area between I-55/I-80, South 32nd Street, and a rail line.

 

 

Cornell Park Neighborhood

 

 

Interregion Highways 55 and 80.  I hope you enjoy the flora.

 

 

You are here.  I zoomed in to take this snapshot of the map and you can see the contrast between the SVG areas and the old JPG areas.

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy the updated map (do you like the rail lines?  What about the font sizes?  What information would you like me to include on the map?).  I'm still getting the hang of use Illustrator to do all the things I pretty much got down to a science in GIMP.  I'm excited to show it off, though!

 

Check out the District of Wenzel Street Map to get an idea where we are.  This is A NEW LINK as the old LINK was dead!

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

A great entry by the way, you have a real knack for industrial estates!

[packersfan 667]

So do you.  I try.

[Sabretooth78 808]

The tracks remind me of the ones I converted to after originally using (lifting!) your original style (which I've reserved for future use for transit lines).  You could use a little more definition in the "ties", however.  They're not as visible as they maybe could be.

 

One thing to be careful of is the anti-aliasing - the arc of STR near W DeKalb & S 28th is very visible where it meets the main line DTR.  Maybe you don't mind it; I tend to try and avoid it by deleting the whole junction and redrawing [at least that portion] of the path, manually fudging the ties if need be.  That way you don't get a super solid looking block of color caused by stroking a new path on top of an existing.  This is more evident in the linked map (the posted map swatch looks perfect).

 

FYI, I use a 2-pixel wide line with 2x4-pixel wide "ties" spaced at 24 pixels; all color 90897e.  One difference I see is that you visually differentiate between DTR and STR whereas I just indicate whether or not a particular tile has rail or not (DTR is labelled as such where there is room).

 

I can appreciate the difficulty of getting back into things.  I haven't updated my map in 3 months.  I had enough trouble remembering day-to-day and I was sick of constantly doing color picks.  So I created a style guide in excel!  

 

 

do you mean near 47th and the border between the two map tiles?  Yeah, I rearranged Hardee Drive to be a 45 degree angle there and haven't updated the other map tile yet.  Actually, I'm even using the diagonal neighbor connection workarounds to get them to be true.

 

Actually, I meant to say 46th.  Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing!

[packersfan 667]

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm not quite sure how I'd avoid those issues.  Everything looks really nice on closer zooms but far out things start to bleed.  I decided to show individual rail lines instead of just WHERE there is rail since we can now zoom in and see the detail.  Before the lines just would have gotten lost.

BTW, the original track style is what I think Google used to use for rail lines OR maybe some other online map service...I can't be totally sure.

Well the great thing about Illustrator is that EVERY object is it's own layer...unlike in GIMP where you manually had to differentiate between layers and when I painted a path, that was now part of the whole layer and change could only be done at a grand scale.  Now, I can swap out styles and tweak things much easier (once I know all the tools better).  I'm still struggling with making curves as I haven't mastered the Illustrator curve tools.  GIMP seemed to have better control for making curves.
 

[Benedict 3,119]

Great to see you back - always love seeing your street map.

[Bdub01 201]

Just curious but why is it when as I brows though your mosaics they have a little yellow frog that says click and discover image shack in the middle of it?

[Sabretooth78 808]

If you don't mind my asking, what are those beach blankets in pictures 6 and 10 of Update 96?  I'm assuming they are MMPs, or did you custom lot the beach?

[packersfan 667]

Replies to Your Comments:

 

A great entry by the way, you have a real knack for industrial estates!

 

Thanks.  I do my best.

 

Just curious but why is it when as I brows though your mosaics they have a little yellow frog that says click and discover image shack in the middle of it?

 

You are probably referring to older posts from last year and before.  I guess imageshack must be deleting my pictures.  I'll have to get a new host for those old ones with IMAGUR.

 

Great to see you back - always love seeing your street map.

 

Thanks, glad to be back.  I'm working on updating the map to .svg .  Then it will be much more crisp and zoomable.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what are those beach blankets in pictures 6 and 10 of Update 96?  I'm assuming they are MMPs, or did you custom lot the beach?

 

I think they are actually ploppable beach lots.  I'm not sure what they are off the top of my head.  I'll have to look later.

[packersfan 667]

Update 98 - ST. PAUL - Beachview: Beachview Park, Marina, and Hospital

Back to Beachview where I finally completed the coastline.  I'm also working on extending the city along Brittany River but struggling with that...maybe I need to rearrange the roads and rail along the river.

 

 

 

Beachview Park

 

 

 

Beachview Hospital and Beachview Marina

 

 

Beachview Hospital at night

 

 

Condos along Waterfront Parkway and South Side Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are here.

 

 

 

 

I'm not in love with the way the beaches look.  Any tips?

 

Check out the District of Wenzel Street Map to get an idea where we are.  This is A NEW LINK as the old LINK was dead!

[Sabretooth78 808]

Regarding the beaches...

 

The biggest issue looks like you went into some other data or underground view before taking those pictures, therefore "exposing" the underwater sand.  You can correct that by going into the zoning data view and then back to no data view before snapping the picture.  Note that this cannot be avoided in the region view.  For mine, I opened it in GIMP, added the transportation view to a different layer (transportation doesn't show the beaches) and using transparency I "fixed" the shoreline on the satellite to match that of the transportation view.

 

As for the transitions, depending on how deep your water is, keep plopping underwater sand until you can no longer see the transition - be aware that this limit may be different with different zooms (and it's more to fix on the satellite).  Yours looks like it may be shallower, so you may not reach that point of opaque water and might just have to resort to MMPs if you want to smooth the transition.  For the land-side transition, it looks good.

 

I use (and it looks like you do too) "".  I don't like the 2x3 underwater lot that comes with that set, however, because the water requirement on the lot is in a middle cell.  I actually made copies of that cell, 1x4 and 3x3, in order to have a little more flexibility and to fill some tighter inside curve shorelines that otherwise are not possible with the set as provided.

 

Were you able to dig up which beach lots you have with the blankets and people?  There is an MMP set (Beach Pack MMP) but it requires a 5+MB prop pack and I think the LODs are too big or something - they can't be placed very close together.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

Regarding the beaches...

 

The biggest issue looks like you went into some other data or underground view before taking those pictures, therefore "exposing" the underwater sand.  You can correct that by going into the zoning data view and then back to no data view before snapping the picture.  Note that this cannot be avoided in the region view.  For mine, I opened it in GIMP, added the transportation view to a different layer (transportation doesn't show the beaches) and using transparency I "fixed" the shoreline on the satellite to match that of the transportation view.

 

As for the transitions, depending on how deep your water is, keep plopping underwater sand until you can no longer see the transition - be aware that this limit may be different with different zooms (and it's more to fix on the satellite).  Yours looks like it may be shallower, so you may not reach that point of opaque water and might just have to resort to MMPs if you want to smooth the transition.  For the land-side transition, it looks good.

 

I use (and it looks like you do too) "".  I don't like the 2x3 underwater lot that comes with that set, however, because the water requirement on the lot is in a middle cell.  I actually made copies of that cell, 1x4 and 3x3, in order to have a little more flexibility and to fill some tighter inside curve shorelines that otherwise are not possible with the set as provided.

 

Were you able to dig up which beach lots you have with the blankets and people?  There is an MMP set (Beach Pack MMP) but it requires a 5+MB prop pack and I think the LODs are too big or something - they can't be placed very close together.

That is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read in these forums.  I am moved to tears.  Well, almost.  I was going to use beaches again but I didn't want to show them looking like that.  I'd also add that they get that effect when you save your work.  I was wondering how one would go about fixing it.

 

Anyways, despite the issue with the beaches, this is still a fabulous entry.  Great, great work.

[wwetom1 831]

I like the waterfront parks and marina; they look good.

[NielsC007 499]

This looks great, nice work!

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

That rocky shore is so beastly!

[Benedict 3,119]

So excited you're back to updating. Another stellar update.

[Schulmanator 5,815]

Nice work!! Glad to have you back

[packersfan 667]

Replies to Your Comments:

 

Regarding the beaches...

 

The biggest issue looks like you went into some other data or underground view before taking those pictures, therefore "exposing" the underwater sand.  You can correct that by going into the zoning data view and then back to no data view before snapping the picture.  Note that this cannot be avoided in the region view.  For mine, I opened it in GIMP, added the transportation view to a different layer (transportation doesn't show the beaches) and using transparency I "fixed" the shoreline on the satellite to match that of the transportation view.

 

As for the transitions, depending on how deep your water is, keep plopping underwater sand until you can no longer see the transition - be aware that this limit may be different with different zooms (and it's more to fix on the satellite).  Yours looks like it may be shallower, so you may not reach that point of opaque water and might just have to resort to MMPs if you want to smooth the transition.  For the land-side transition, it looks good.

 

I use (and it looks like you do too) "".  I don't like the 2x3 underwater lot that comes with that set, however, because the water requirement on the lot is in a middle cell.  I actually made copies of that cell, 1x4 and 3x3, in order to have a little more flexibility and to fill some tighter inside curve shorelines that otherwise are not possible with the set as provided.

 

Were you able to dig up which beach lots you have with the blankets and people?  There is an MMP set (Beach Pack MMP) but it requires a 5+MB prop pack and I think the LODs are too big or something - they can't be placed very close together.

 

Ooops, sorry, I haven't dug up what lots those are.  I'm tinkering with beaches that are built into Terrain Mods.  I think I'll have to load different shoreline mods for different tiles because I don't want beaches along my rivers.

 

 

Regarding the beaches...

 

The biggest issue looks like you went into some other data or underground view before taking those pictures, therefore "exposing" the underwater sand.  You can correct that by going into the zoning data view and then back to no data view before snapping the picture.  Note that this cannot be avoided in the region view.  For mine, I opened it in GIMP, added the transportation view to a different layer (transportation doesn't show the beaches) and using transparency I "fixed" the shoreline on the satellite to match that of the transportation view.

 

As for the transitions, depending on how deep your water is, keep plopping underwater sand until you can no longer see the transition - be aware that this limit may be different with different zooms (and it's more to fix on the satellite).  Yours looks like it may be shallower, so you may not reach that point of opaque water and might just have to resort to MMPs if you want to smooth the transition.  For the land-side transition, it looks good.

 

I use (and it looks like you do too) "".  I don't like the 2x3 underwater lot that comes with that set, however, because the water requirement on the lot is in a middle cell.  I actually made copies of that cell, 1x4 and 3x3, in order to have a little more flexibility and to fill some tighter inside curve shorelines that otherwise are not possible with the set as provided.

 

Were you able to dig up which beach lots you have with the blankets and people?  There is an MMP set (Beach Pack MMP) but it requires a 5+MB prop pack and I think the LODs are too big or something - they can't be placed very close together.

That is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read in these forums.  I am moved to tears.  Well, almost.  I was going to use beaches again but I didn't want to show them looking like that.  I'd also add that they get that effect when you save your work.  I was wondering how one would go about fixing it.

 

Anyways, despite the issue with the beaches, this is still a fabulous entry.  Great, great work.

 

 

Yeah, hopefully I get it all figured out and have beautiful beaches.

 

I like the waterfront parks and marina; they look good.

 

Thanks.

 

This looks great, nice work!

 

Glad you like it.

 

That rocky shore is so beastly!

 

Definitely love those rocks.  The Appalacian Terrain mod also has really nice rocky cliffs.

 

So excited you're back to updating. Another stellar update.

 

Thanks.  Juggling way too many things right now, though.  Working on my photoshop skills and converting my map to vector graphics and then overhauling the flora in my region.  But it is all fun for the most part.

 

Nice work!! Glad to have you back

 

Thanks.  Glad to be back.

 

Update 99 - MARTIN - Brittany River North Bank Development

My next project will be filling out and expanding the City of Martin to the north and west.  Today we will visit the North Bank neighborhood on the north bank of Brittany River.  I upgraded the flora to seasonal, reinstalled the excellent Appalacian Terrain Mod (as my laptop seems to handle it much better than my old laptop), and upgraded Brittany River Highway and railroad to FAR and FARR.  The street map is also getting more and more information included.  Gas stations, churches, schools, police, libraries, fire stations are all getting labelled.  Insane?

 

 

 

A new exit is added to I-80.  Exit 278.

 

 

Travelling eastward on Brittany River Highway.

 

 

 

 

Some old industries along the rail and river.

 

 

First of all, I don't know how to make FAR-Avenues.  Second, how do I make this connection?  I couldn't figure out how to make the curve from FAR to orthagonal on this end.

 

 

Some high-tech firms.

 

 

 

 

An overview of the project area.

 

 

You are here.

 

 

 

 

So happy the Appalacian Terrain mod is working smoothly.  It really is beautiful and I more reluctant to place grass lots over it as it seems to blend better than the original maxis grass.  What do you think of this area?  What do you think of the improvements to the street map.  Remember, I am working on converting it to vector graphics which allow for more zoomability and allows me to include lots more information that can been seen clearly at high zoom.  You'll notice on this part of the map I have two different symbols for libraries.  One was self-created and the other is from a pack.  Which do you like more?  I might even include company logos if I can find vector graphics of them for locations like gas stations and fast food just to make it more and more fun!

 

Check out the District of Wenzel Street Map to get an idea where we are.  This is A NEW LINK as the old LINK was dead!

[Sabretooth78 808]

 

First of all, I don't know how to make FAR-Avenues.  Second, how do I make this connection?  I couldn't figure out how to make the curve from FAR to orthagonal on this end.

 

 

 

I would think you should be able to fit a nice FAR transition right to the end of the road portion, but maybe it requires another tile of road off the orthogonal end.  So I can't be sure exactly without the game in front of me, but I think you may have to shorten the avenue by a tile, which would probably entail sliding that last step over at least one tile to the right (and therefore causing at least one tile of orthogonal road.  Or maybe move the transition to what is currently the 2nd to last avenue step pictured as it is longer (i.e. just eliminate the last step).

 

The map ideas are neat, if you're up to the task of maintaining it.  It's easy to keep adding details like that before you notice you've attached too much "overhead" to the story and it becomes a chore to keep up.  Something else to consider is zooms out - even at 100%, the line spacing of your new POI labels is a bit too small.  If you zoom out (which can be nice to see the whole picture) and they become a jumble.  Is it possible to have the text scale with the picture?

 

Perhaps it's lame, but my favorite feature of the update is probably the little rock cut along the tracks in the 1st & 4th pictures.  The same kind of little mundane details I try to incorporate in my cities.  (See also: cleared power line right-of-ways.)

[packersfan 667]

I would think you should be able to fit a nice FAR transition right to the end of the road portion, but maybe it requires another tile of road off the orthogonal end.  So I can't be sure exactly without the game in front of me, but I think you may have to shorten the avenue by a tile, which would probably entail sliding that last step over at least one tile to the right (and therefore causing at least one tile of orthogonal road.  Or maybe move the transition to what is currently the 2nd to last avenue step pictured as it is longer (i.e. just eliminate the last step).

 

The map ideas are neat, if you're up to the task of maintaining it.  It's easy to keep adding details like that before you notice you've attached too much "overhead" to the story and it becomes a chore to keep up.  Something else to consider is zooms out - even at 100%, the line spacing of your new POI labels is a bit too small.  If you zoom out (which can be nice to see the whole picture) and they become a jumble.  Is it possible to have the text scale with the picture?

 

Perhaps it's lame, but my favorite feature of the update is probably the little rock cut along the tracks in the 1st & 4th pictures.  The same kind of little mundane details I try to incorporate in my cities.  (See also: cleared power line right-of-ways.)

 

Well the point of interest text is only meant to be viewed at zoomed levels.  Eventually I want to try to make the POI text pop-ups...we'll see.

Yeah, those rock cuts are part of the terrain mod.  They are great.  I'm also working on having cleared power line right of ways.

[bakercity 270]

Packersfan, there is far avenues in the NAM. As for the transition from far ave to far road, there is none to my knowledge. Road to Ave (regular transition) is the only way I could think of similar to what Sabretooth78 pointed out. Good luck JKB

[NielsC007 499]

I love the region view, nice work!

[packersfan 667]

Today, I'm getting a weird issue when saving and then exiting to region view.  The tile ends up blank in region view.  This has been happening more and more recently.  I just re-load the city and save again and exit, but now that isn't solving the issue.  Any tips?  This is happening in my window mode.  I'll see if playing full screen solves this issue.  In the meantime, I have to go to work and then I'll start working on compiling a historical look back at the region for my 100th Update.