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

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

But the city is still there right? That's the crucial thing.

[Compdude787 916]

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.

This happens when you take focus off of SC4 while saving. Try not to do this and it shouldn't happen. Don't alt-tab or switch to any other running program while SC4 is doing a save.

[packersfan 667]

Update 100 - District of Wenzel (Martin County) History and Census
Well this is the 100th Official Update (though technically there have been 101 as the 27th Update about Martin Downtown West was repeated as the first update was rendered obsolete due to prop pox.  It took a while for me to figure out how to put this update together.  I spent quite a bit of time going through the last 99 updates and trying to figure out what happened when (especially what has happened in the last 50 updates since the big 50 update.
 
Needless to say, just skimming through the topics of the updates over the years amazes me.  I am surprised at how long ago things were actually done.  (I suppose a little of that has to do with one year of not even playing SC4).  So many things that I remember as "recent" actually were built two or more years ago.  Strange indeed!
 
First off we have the census of Martin County as the population stands at the time of the 100th Update compared to the 50th Update.  Each picture contains a scene from the community (for some this is the ENTIRE community) and then a population bar graph on the bottom.  The darker color represents the population at update 50, while the typically longer and lighter bar is the current population as of update 100.  The bars make it really handy to see the rate at which the communities have grown.

 
Martin County - Population: Update 50 - 775,000 / Update 100 - 1,232,185
 


 
City of Martin - Population: Update 50 - 655,000 / Update 100 - 890,772
 

 
City of St. Paul - Population: Update 50 - 5,500 / Update 100 - 124,423 (30,017 in Jackson County [Not included in Martin County total]
 

 
City of South Martin - Population: Update 50 - 65,000 / Update 100 - 70,134
 

 
City of Hawthorne - Population: Update 50 - 5,000 / Update 100 - 59,293
 

 
Village of Hohler - Population: Update 50 - 15,000 / Update 100 - 40,566
 

 
Village of Bayview - Population: Update 50 - 25,000 / Update 100 - 25,336
 

 
City of Jefferson - Population: Update 50 - 7,500 / Update 100 - 19,081
 

 
City of Trinity - Population: Update 50 - 0 / Update 100 - 10,561
 

 
Village of Penelope Point - Population: Update 50 - 0 / Update 100 - 5,788
 


 
Village of Anchor - Population: Update 50 - 1,000 / Update 100 - 3,644
 

 
City of North St. Paul - Population: Update 50 - 800 / Update 100 - 3,479
 

 
City of Jade - Population: Update 50 - 5,000 / Update 100 - 3,311
 

 
Village of St. Andrew - Population: Update 50 - 1,000 / Update 100 - 1,154
 

 
City of Basil - Population: Update 50 - 0 / Update 100 - 795
 

 
Village of Sussex - Population: Update 50 - 4,000 / Update 100 - 507

 
Martin County Statistics
Population: 775,000 (1,232,185)
Townships: Charlotte, Sussex, Portland, Jefferson, Brittany, Martin, Hawthorne, Apostles
Cities and Villages:
Martin: 655,000 (890,772)
South Martin: 65,000 (70,134)
Hohler: 15,000 (40,566)
Jefferson: 7,500 (19,081)
Hawthorne: 5,000 (59,293)
St. Paul: 5,500 (124,423 - 30,017 in Jackson County)
Jade: 5,000 (3,311)
Sussex: 4,000 (507)
Bayview: 25,000 (25,336)
St. Andrew: 1,000 (1,154)
Anchor: 1,000 (3,644)
North St. Paul: 800 (3,479)
Fort Orangeport: 400
Axelrod: 300
Penelope Point: (5,788)
Trinity: (10,561)
Basil: (795)
 
Unincorporated Communites:
Fairchild
Lexington
Kinsman
Trinity (Incorporated as the City of Trinity)
St. Mark (Annexed by the City of Martin)
St. James (Annexed by the City of Martin)
St. Peter (Annexed by the City of St. Paul)
Brandywine Junction (Annexed by the City of Martin)
 
Interdistrict Highways: 55, 80, 480, 680, 255, 380
National Highways: 18, 20, 41, 43, 45
District Highways: 10, 15, 29, 31, 34, 42, 50, 67, 75, 100, 111, 140, 230, 266, 315
County Highways: H, O, X, BB, N, S, F, T, D, Z, A
Airports: Martin Municipal Airport (2 Runways)
Metro Lines: 9
Waterways: Brittany River, Penelope River, Christina River, Cedarwood Creek, Uttica Creek, Braddock Creek, Orchard Creek, Honey Creek, Portland Creek, Rosmarin River, Mine Run, Basil Inlet, Whitefish Bay, Newberg's Creek, Bitter Creek, Kewaunee Creek
Colleges and Universities: 5 (Parquart University, University of Wenzel - Martin, Martin Luther College, St. Mary's College, Southall College, Brittany River Medical College, Northeastern Martin University)
Stadiums and Arenas: Capital Stadium (Baseball), Staples Center, Hollins Arena, Red Raiders Stadium, Nelson Everest Field, Andrew Marshall Track and Field, Addison Field, Braatz Arena, Northeastern Soccer - Football Pitch, Commonwealth Field
 
Size: 288 Square Miles
Land: 240 Square Miles (Estimate)
 

Timeline:
04 June 2010: District of Wenzel launches using Mackay, Australia (increased scale) as region map.  Packersfan introuduces District of Wenzel to SimCity community having already covered the region in forests.
 

 
09 June 2010: Update 02.  Look at the original style.  I used Microsoft Picture It!  Wow.
 

 
28 September 2010: Update 05.  I went to China near the end of August to teach English.  In early September, my old laptop died.  This is the first update from China.  I then started using GIMP to edit my pictures and introduced the style head that has been used with slight tweaks ever since.
 





 
25 October 2010: Update 06.  Nearly four years ago to the day, I introduced an early version of the street map and an overview of the region all farmed up.
 

 

 
10 November 2010: Completed initial version of street map (no Google overlays)
 
13 March 2011: Start to convert map to Google style.
 
20 March 2011: Update 27 Take One.  Martin West Town teaser.  Not sure what happened during April, but when I went back to China for a visit in May, I had issues!
 

 
Region view from that same update.  I did a really good job of replicating what I had here when I had to rebuild West Town.  However, that big park on the north part was not replicated.
 

 
May 2011: Prop Pox infects DoW.  West Town is lost.
 
June 2011: At the one year mark, work begins on rebuilding Downtown Martin ravaged by Prop Pox.
 
20 July 2011: Update 27 Take Two.  Downtown Martin - West Town rises again.
 


 
17 September 2011: Update 34.  First update focusing on a city besides Martin.  Introducing the multicolored title bar based on which city the update is about.
 

 
11 October 2011: Update 37.  Well this update is for Rutland Neighborhood and it has a colorized bar.  Hmm.
 

 
2011: Trixie for Most Realistic SC4 City Journal
 
13 February 2012: 50th Update
 
12 March 2012: Proposed freeways in Martin County
 

 
26 March 2012: Update 57.  Introduced first highway to District of Wenzel
 

 
23 April 2012: Update 61.  New baseball stadium - Capital Stadium.
 

 
12 November 2012: Update 76.  Northeastern Martin University.
 

 
19 November 2012: Update 77. Commonwealth Field, new football stadium for the Martin Crusaders.
 

 
14 January 2013: Update 85.  While showing off the northside parks in the Martin County Park System, I really got into making massive composite pictures and skewing the perspective to get some neat shots.  Different perspective shots appeared in the next few updates, quite the fad.
 

 
21 January 2013: Update 86.  Introduced numbers to the top left corner of pictures so viewers and I could easily identify pictures and also identify if something was missing.
 

 
26 March 2013: Update 92.  This has to be one of my favorite updates.  Look at this overhead shot of the entire Page Park Subdivision (yeah, I wish I had the new FAR streets in there...).  It is composed of two different city tiles!  Future things like this will appear even more seemless as I'm using some workarounds to get street neighbor connections, etc.
 

 
01 April 2013: Update 93.  Introduced seasonal trees and seasons to District of Wenzel.  This has been a time-consuming project removing old trees and replacing them with seasonal versions, but the results are great!
 

 
16 April 2013: Update 95.  Last update for nearly one and a half years.  Real life took over as I poured myself into my English teaching.  In-game factors also led to this hiatus.  Tiles weren't loading or performing well.  I intended to return to SimCity with the purchase of a new laptop in February 2014.
 
30 September 2014: Update 96.  After a nearly one and a half year hiatus, District of Wenzel returned!  I bought a new laptop in February 2014, but it had issues and I didn't get it in China until May or June.  Then I sort of forgot about SimCity.  Then the bug bit and everything worked out.
 

 
28 October 2014: Update 100.  Well, here we are 100 updates!  I've made a few tweaks to the title header again and moved the numbers on the pictures to the right side with a background color reflecting the community of interest in the update.  I definitely could have put a TON more content in this update, but I've just run out of time this week between creating the new images and uploading old content to imgur and redoing the links in old updates.
 
Satellite Photos
04 June 2010
 

 
25 October 2010
 

 
10 August 2011
 


 
11 September 2011
 


 
03 November 2011
 


 
16 April 2012
 


 
27 October 2014
 

I hope you enjoyed that update. Seemed like a TON of work, but I'm excited to see your responses! Thanks for following for over four years and 100 updates!  This also happens to be my 1400th post on Simtropolis, cool!
 
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!

[Compdude787 916]

Wow, I love those top-down aerial shots of the region! It's like I'm looking at a satellite image of a real city! Great work, and I always love looking at your street map too. Makes me want to make a street map out of my region as well!

[Sabretooth78 808]

Very nice, appropriate 100th update.  Although:

 

 

Airports: Martin Municipal Airport (2 Runways)

 

You lie!  What is that I see at the 7 o'clock position on the regional overview?

 

Peacock's Crossing/Calico Crossroads Int'l Airport? 

 

(And better yet, how is it connected to the regional highway network - ID-680 extension?)

[Schulmanator 5,815]

Happy 100th! Impressive update with lots of great stuff. Here's to another 100!

 

[simlink 1,098]

Congrats on 100! Things are looking amazing in DoW. The region is looking fantastic, and it's cool looking back on how you've been plugging away for 4 years now. Great work and here's to many more!

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

What a great update.  The look back at earlier work is always an interesting thing to do, but really everything you've posted has been pretty awesome.  Congratulations on #100.  Are you going to treat us to 100 more?

[bakercity 270]

Congrats on the 100th update packersfan. I look forward to more awesome updates and hopefully to another 100 updates. Again, congrats to this milestone. JKB

[packersfan 667]

Just uploaded new vectorized sections of the Street Map complete with lots of little points of interest for when you zoom in (area north of Hohler, Marshall Peninsula...you'll see lots of little red words and stuff...zoom on in!)

Let me know how it is loading.  I had some trouble getting one of the tiles to load, it would load a little and then just turn white...too much INFO?

 

I suppose it adds a little time to completing a map (but for the most part the stuff is extra and those extras can be added later once the map is completed)

 

The hard part is always setting up the maps from scratch and that is a pain especially when re-doing maps in vector style and when those maps are 1024 x 1024 pixels and include water, freeways, grid-busting roads crossing borders!

 

Let me know if you see anything that looks funky.  I know some things don't look as great zoomed out.  If you how to fix something, let me know!  Hope you guys enjoy it!  I know I do.

[naftixe 131]

Congrats! This is one of the CJs that greatly influence my ST style

[Benedict 3,119]

Congratulations on an impressive century of updates.

[packersfan 667]

Update 101 - City of Martin: Burnham Park and Portland Creek Neighborhood
I spent much of the week working on maps, but I did fill in some area around Portland Creek. I am trying to resist using grass lots, so I can show off Lowkee's terrain mod. What do you think? Good or bad idea?
 

Burnham Park at the end of Portland Creek







Ugh, for some reason the picture number tab doesn't match in size. What are you doing Photoshop!?



Portland Creek Parkway fall colors








Holy Name Cathedral




The new Portland Creek Neighborhood






















You are here.

Wow. That is a lot of pictures, and it is so late here! Hope you enjoy this look at an "old" area that has finally been filled in. Tell me what you think about this update, the map, whatever!

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!

Replies:

Compdude787: Wow, I love those top-down aerial shots of the region! It's like I'm looking at a satellite image of a real city! Great work, and I always love looking at your street map too. Makes me want to make a street map out of my region as well!

Thank you. I love the aerial satellite shots. The last one is really cool with the blurring of the lighter water closer to the shore (that was not done intentionally). I hope you enjoy the additions to the street map!

Sabretooth78: Very nice, appropriate 100th update. Although:


packersfan, on 29 Oct 2014 - 12:06 AM, said:
Airports: Martin Municipal Airport (2 Runways)

You lie! What is that I see at the 7 o'clock position on the regional overview?

Peacock's Crossing/Calico Crossroads Int'l Airport?

(And better yet, how is it connected to the regional highway network - ID-680 extension?)

Well that is my international airport in progress, haha. I think I-680 will connect with it and then curve to the east towards St. Paul a connect up with I-80, I-55 south line and I-255 just west and south of the Christina River near St. Paul.

Schulmanator: Happy 100th! Impressive update with lots of great stuff. Here's to another 100!

Thank you!

simlink: Congrats on 100! Things are looking amazing in DoW. The region is looking fantastic, and it's cool looking back on how you've been plugging away for 4 years now. Great work and here's to many more!

Thanks. Don't think I ever made it to 100 before with Cambellsport, Rabourn, or Sessquenna. About time!

NMUSpidey: What a great update. The look back at earlier work is always an interesting thing to do, but really everything you've posted has been pretty awesome. Congratulations on #100. Are you going to treat us to 100 more?

As long as the game keeps running and nothing catastrophic happens to destroy the region, there will be 100 more!

bakercity: Congrats on the 100th update packersfan. I look forward to more awesome updates and hopefully to another 100 updates. Again, congrats to this milestone. JKB

Thanks! Glad to have a fellow Wisconsinite following!

naftixe: Congrats! This is one of the CJs that greatly influence my ST style

Thanks. Just passing on the knowledge of those before me and adding my own twists. I think I'm one of the few to widely use alleys in my cities, but alleys are so realistic!

Benedict: Congratulations on an impressive century of updates.

Thanks, but I didn't crack the number one spot on BTT with it like I did #50...unless that will happen next week? Oh well! Thanks for following!!!

[Compdude787 916]

Really nice update! I like how you have avoided using grass filler lots; the terrain mod is too good to cover up. The lush, green look of it makes it look a lot like a grassy field.

[packersfan 667]

Guys, I NEED help.  I want to replace textures in the game.  First I want to grab textures (FSH) files from Lowkee's terrain mod.  Then I need to convert the FSH to BMP or PNG, right?  Then I create a texture dat file.  Then I find all the in-game texture IIDs I want this new texture to override.  I found a tutorial I want to try out, but I'm having a hard time getting all the tools together and getting them to work.

So far, SC4 Tools, SC4 Reader work.  However, I can't get any FSH to BMP/PNG programs to work.  Links.  Help!?  I want to try this out and get a little more involved in modding.
 

[packersfan 667]

Day One - Modding

Well, I spent today attempting to create some texture overrides to better match the terrain mod I'm using.  Unfortunately, I've run into a few road blocks that limit what I can EVEN ATTEMPT!  I have no way to convert FSH files to PNGs.  I worked around this with what I tried today, but it won't work for everything (especially if I want to edit the textures for streets and roads).  I just took a screenshot of the FSH file preview in SC4Tool.  I created and overrode some grass textures, but when I looked at them in game, they just didn't blend in well at all (too dark).  Maybe Lowkee's BEAUTIFUL terrain mod doesn't lend itself well to this sort of thing?  Any ideas?  Sudden Valley looks like a good terrain mod and it comes with replacement textures.

I'm just getting a little frustrated, so I'm going to play Call of Duty or something.  On a side note, WOW does SC4 load SUPER fast and run super well with NO plugins, haha.  Would be a dream to really pare down my plugins, etc.  That's a project for another day.  Oh well.  I know I'll keep attempting these things from time to time.  I'd love get a little more smooth transitions between the terrain and base textures.  ANY help would be super awesome!

 

Goodnight,

 

Packersfan
 

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

On a side note, WOW does SC4 load SUPER fast and run super well with NO plugins, haha.  Would be a dream to really pare down my plugins, etc.  That's a project for another day.  Oh well.  I know I'll keep attempting these things from time to time.  I'd love get a little more smooth transitions between the terrain and base textures.  ANY help would be super awesome!

 

I wish I could help you out with that, but this is really beyond my area of expertise.  I gotta say though, paring down my plugins really helped raise my enjoyment of playing the game!  Your most recent update was very nice, too.

[packersfan 667]

Thanks.  I'm pulled out some folders from my plugins...not a big dent at all, but just taking things out that I know I have yet to use.  The hard part is that somethings I might have used a filler lot or some little part of a big pack.  Going forward, I need to be more conscious of what I'm plopping into my cities and determine what plugins are just taking up space in the folder.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

I've actually started using specialized folders for different cities to adhere to my 1GB rule and still have some uniqueness throughout the region.  Certain cities of mine have unique buildings that aren't used anywhere else.  If I know what city I'll be playing that day, I switch that city's special folder in with the standard stuff.  I imagine that you don't use the same buildings in every single city.  Doing something like that may be worth your time, too. 

 

As for your other problem, do you see anything at paint.net that might help?  I did a little googling and this looks like it might help, but I really have no idea since I don't really know anything about this sort of thing: http://download.cnet.com/Paint-NET/3000-2192_4-10338146.html

[SimCoug 5,977]

Regarding your texture work - have you looked at the Batch PNG to Fsh tool?

Here is the support thread.

 

I haven't really delved into texture work yet, but I know vortext has lots of experience with this aspect of SC4.  

I would take a look through his old thread here that discusses many of his texture projects.

 

Good luck!

[packersfan 667]

I'm having no luck with PNG to FSH tools or FSH to PNG tools...really stunting any work I want to do.  I guess I'll have to wait until Windows 9 or 10 or whatever comes out and I can do a fresh install on my machine.  Too many issues with my current OS.

[packersfan 667]

Update 102 - Brittany Town Expanding Along Brittany River South Park
Didn't get much done this week as I was mostly trying to figure out some texture modding. So here is a look at Brittany Town south of Brittany River.

An old picture of Brittany Town...I think I made it look TOO old. Heck, there are roads and a gas station!



This is a little bit more believable.



I love these farm fields.







Brittany Town expanding north towards Brittany River













Brittany Town expanding east







You are here.

Hope you enjoy this little update I put together. Just felt a little bored with what I was working on this week in SimCity. Hopefully, next week will prove more fruitful.

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!
 
 

Replies:
Compdude787: Really nice update! I like how you have avoided using grass filler lots; the terrain mod is too good to cover up. The lush, green look of it makes it look a lot like a grassy field.
 
Thanks.  Now I just need to find transparent bike paths and stuff.  Strangely, the bike paths I have SAY in the description in game that they have transparent lots, but they don't...hmm.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

The town centre of Brittany is really nice because of those W2W buildings. Also the suburbs are nice and varied to.

[jmsepe 2,040]

Nice entry, I like the maps and how you post process some of your images.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

What a great looking little town that is.  I can never get my non-urban areas to look so nice.  Awesome work, as always.

[packersfan 667]

Update 103 - Kenilworth Neighborhood - Updating the Flora
Today, we will revisit an old neighborhood on the north side of Martin. Kenilworth Neighborhood is located north of I-80 and northwest of Downtown Martin. It is comprised of mostly single-family homes with a strong industrial presence along the railroad between North and Sherman Avenues. I've gone back and removed grass lots to show off the excellent terrain underneath and updated the flora to seasonal stuff. Hope you enjoy.

Title Picture: Stylized shot of Grace Lutheran Church at the corner of North 48th Street and West North Avenue.

Old shot of Exit 283B...note the grass lots and traffic generators. I'm having no luck getting traffic generators to work in my cities anymore. Any clues?



New flora, exposed the terrain underneath.



I'm in the process of moving D-230 from North Avenue to Washington Avenue. North Avenue has been redesignated County Highway N.



Finally got the red-brick bridges back.



That grass looks awesome!












Nearly the same shot as earlier.





Beautiful fall colors. Would be ideal to get all the trees to be seasonal...one thing at a time.




I need to get some even more close-up shots of these great looking buildings. Excellent batting work!



You are here. Oops, this cut out of the map happened to not grab a single N/S street name (besides McPherson Drive).

It is always fun to go back to an old area and update it. Sometimes, headaches are involved. Kenilworth proved fun and interesting. Applewood, Lucas, and Luther Neighborhoods will really be a blast from the far past. Hmm...some ideas for future updates!

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!

Replies:

Ln X: The town centre of Brittany is really nice because of those W2W buildings. Also, the suburbs are nice and varied, too.

Thanks. Brittany Town has been sitting there looking like that for A LONG TIME. Just recently when I was working on that tile, I expanded the City of Martin towards it. Soon it will be a little neighborhood crossroads within in the urban sprawl.

jmsepe: Nice entry, I like the maps and how you post process some of your images.

Thanks. The maps are my extra thing. Yep, I post process every picture. Most often I just increase the contrast and saturation a little, add a little gaussian blur, a border, and a number and date stamp. Sometimes, I will do some more fancy things just to mix it up a little.

NMUSpidey: What a great looking little town that is. I can never get my non-urban areas to look so nice. Awesome work, as always.

Thank you. Still working on getting the post-war suburban sprawl look. Seems I very good at urban grid but not as good with the suburban stuff, I think...

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

I love the medium density industry. It's also funny how that Maxis highway wriggles around.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

Great underpasses and great work with the MMPs, as always.  The parks look like really great places to play, it looks like a very livable area overall!

[Benedict 3,119]

Phenomenal update.

[Mymyjp 1,052]

Some people may think that after more than 100 updates, there wouldn't be much variety in the journals...they would be wrong.

 

Your journals are simply a delight to look at...so much variety. Loving it.