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

[dfnva 34]

WELCOME TO PAGE 3!

Another great rural update! Lots of great details in what you're doing, and I love the regional road atlas.

-Dan

[packersfan 667]

Yeah, I'm still working on that atlas, and the next update, taking my first shots at road signs (besides standard freeway ones) but like yours, street signs, speed limit posts, etc. Hard work! Haha, but once I get templates down it should be really fun. Always wanted to do it, not to rip you off though,

I just unveiled the District Hwy shield on the map...D-10, D-67, and D-140, south of Brittany River all have the new shield on the map.  I'm still working out the kinks and trying to make templates for signs, so the roadgeekery can start flowing in the District of Wenzel!

[Benedict 3,119]

Wow, that District Street Map is very impressive - nice work, I can't wait to see the finished version.

[dfnva 34]

Cool, I'll look forward to the roadgeekery, no worries about ripping off, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I'm excited to see it!

-Dan

[packersfan 667]

Yeah, I'm working on the map for the southern half of my region and I really put a lot of work into some of the farms down there so it should be really nice travelling through. I'm also trying to figure out where my route numbers should all lead. I have highways laid out but not always with rhyme or reason, haha, so it is hard to figure out which highway is which, the map should straighten it all out for me! It's going to be really exciting when I start building city over all this existing infrastructure, though I will miss the incredible farm lands I laid out in some areas. I'll just have to be sure to have lots of pictures to remember it by. (Maybe a backup too)

Just uploaded the map updated through Brittany and Martin Townships...only two more townships left to map and then prepare some updates touring said townships and then start building my city and finding all those good CITY plugins to use!

District of Wenzel Street Map

[packersfan 667]

UGH, I somehow screwed up my HTML coding for my map, so I have to start from scratch on the coding, all the map images are prepared, just need to fit them into the table puzzle to make a complete region map.

Check out the completed street map of the District of Wenzel.  There are still some things missing and I haven't replaced all the highway shields yet.  I also forgot to designate the city of Hawthorne at the end of the Penelope River.  I'll fix that tonight after teaching.

District of Wenzel Street Map

[antsel 842]

Nice to see you haven't lost your touch! I loved your old CJ Sessquenna, and this one looks amazing too. It's amazing how well you do both the urban and rural developments. The town looks really good, and so does the country side. I'm looking forward to seeing more! Keep it up!

[packersfan 667]

Thanks selles. I never think it looks that good, haha. Thanks for the add in your link. An honor to be in someone's signature next to Dan's Winchester!

[nathanthemayor 1,263]

Nice maps!

[packersfan 667]

Okay, I'm really excited, I just finished this week's update and that will be up sometime on November 14th (in China).  I found this website with American traffic signs which will really help me with my roadgeekery.  As you'll be able to see in the update, I was tinkering with many different ways to make my signs until I finally found this site and my last sign picture uses things from it.  The future looks good on that front.  I give Dan a lot of credit for all the hard work he puts in to create all his signs, it is tough to do good, so I'll cheat a little .  I will still have to make street signs, etc, but all the standard highway signs I can grab from this site.

Replies to Your Comments

Mayorm: Thanks, yeah a lot the farms will be eaten up by expanding city.

dfnva: The heavy traffic is due to the NAM setup I have of having a ton of automata, but I just turned down the # of people/cars in the graphics settings for now.  See the above paragraph for my tale of roadgeekery.  I'm definitely taking a shortcut, but as you will see in the update, my style for the signs changes nearly every picture as I tinkered.  I will explain it as different style signs over the years, just like in America.  Early highway signs with no standards, and then different standards that change every couple years.

wwetom1: Thanks, I always initially do the maps for my own benefit but it is really nice to put them up so that you can see what all the streets are called without me having to label each one.

Benedict: The map is essentially done.  Some inconsistencies in style and I forgot to label the City of Hawthorne, but for now it will do.  I ran into a little snag with my HTML coding but I finally figured it out and it is all up!

selles: Thanks selles. I never think it looks that good, haha. Thanks for the add in your link. An honor to be in someone's signature next to Dan's Winchester!

nathanthemayor: Thank you.  I'm glad I'm done with the initial map, so that I can focus on drive-thrus of all the farm land and then start building some city!

[Raysfan16 5]

As one who enjoys the quirky "hobby" of exploring around with real life American aerial maps, the views I have seen here are just tremendous.

A few more updates and this is definitely being bookmarked in my sig.

[packersfan 667]

Well I hope I don't disappoint...these next updates will still be mostly farms but with dfnva inspired roadgeekery complete with signs, etc. I want to chronicle the beautiful farmland I laid before I eat it up with an expanding city. Sadly the most well done farms are closer to the city center and will most certainly be destroyed while my less inspired farms will be around for longer since they are on the far edges of the map. My plan is to release an update every Sunday so keep an eye out Raysfan16, I'd be honored to be linked in another signature!

[packersfan 667]

Update 09 - Portland Township Travelling on D67, D42, and D31

Here is my first stab at roadgeekery in this MD. I've done a few drive-thrus like this before in my Cambellsport, Rabourn, and Sessquenna regions, but in the District of Wenzel I will try to go really in depth with signs (down to speed limits, loose gravel, etc.) I credit dfnva's roadgeekery style.

Just a note on these first few updates, especially this one. As you'll see in this update, the signs are NOT uniform since I pretty much experimented on each picture, until I found this great site with all the U.S. standard highway signage that I can use as templates (only one picture of this update reflects that discovery though. To explain the non-uniformity in SimCity world, it is like real life how early highway signage did not have uniformity. Even when I do get some uniformity it will still leave room for improvement to current standards. I've already started work on the next update, and I like what I'm seeing and I hope you do.

On this update we will explore Portland Township, not as exhaustively as we did the previous townships, though there are more pictures (something I will try to cut down on next update because many of them are boring I think). I suggest opening in another tab/window the region map of the District of Wenzel, so you can see where exactly we are travelling.

District of Wenzel Street Map

We start our tour at Wilderness Tavern in the Township of Charlotte. We will travel south on D67 - Jade Plank Road.

After a few miles of farms we reach the junction with D42 - Fremont Rd. We will turn left and travel east on D42 towards Martin.

Eleven miles to Martin.

We must turn right at Anna Rd to continue following D42 south for 1/2 mile.

We must turn left again to follow D42. If we continue straight south we can follow D230 to Fairchild and Lexington, two very small hamlets. Traffic travelling north on D230 must yield to D42 traffic.

The last sign picture I made where I finally found some standard sign pieces

About 100 people live in Kinsman, but the town has not yet been incorporated as a village or city.

As the sun goes down we reach the small city of Anchor, the crossroads of D42 and D31. If we continue east on D42 we will pass through the towns of Henne Park and Rutland before passing just to the north of Martin. However, we will turn south on D31.

South D31 will take us through the Village of Hohler and then the cities of Hawthorne and St. Paul.

Once again we approach D230. If we turn right (West D230) we can travel through Lexington and Fairchild back to D42. If we turn left (East D230) we can travel towards Martin. D230 redirects south at Trinity Rd, but if we continue straight the road becomes North Ave. We will continue straight on South D31 into Brittany Township.

We will continue south on D31 into Brittany Township and maybe take D140 west and then D67 into Hawthorne Township, but mostly farms, haha.

[Sretamdet 11]

Nice update. The road signs are very clear to me, especially with the Wenzel streetmap.

[dfnva 34]

Wow, what a great update!! I love the signs, and traveling through the small towns!

As for standards being different, I see what you mean, esp. traveling through western Virginia, where there are a lot of older-style cutout signs (i.e. without black background) that are smaller to mark the roads. I think yours are great though!

-Dan

[dfnva 34]

Sorry to double post... I also like the realism of the routes turning onto different roads, as is often common in real life. Rarely does a route continue straight without end.

-Dan

[packersfan 667]

Yeah, Dan, I do like my highway signs. For now they will just be all cutouts. Eventually, just like in real life, we will start to see black background ones and maybe a redesign of the three-number highway signs.

As I'm working on the next update, I've really thrown in some neat stuff I'm finding on GIMP to give my sign pictures something different from yours, can't wait until Sunday to unveil them.

[packersfan 667]

Update 10 - Driving Down D31 to Hohler

The next three updates will follow D31 south through Hohler, Hawthorne, and St. Paul. This update we will pick up from where we left off at the intersection of D240 and D31. This is a night update since the sun had gone down by the end of the last drive, so we will drive a few miles to the Village of Hohler and then rest until morning.

I hope you like the lighting effect I add using GIMP to simulate headlights, since if we were driving at night we wouldn't really be able to see the signs without our headlights on.

I suggest opening in another tab/window the region map of the District of Wenzel, so you can see where exactly we are travelling.

District of Wenzel Street Map

Wenzel District uses various signs to warn drivers that they are driving past farms (Cows, Tractors, Bales of Hay), as if the drivers couldn't recognize the fact.

A couple of attempts at signs from a different perspective.

My personal favorite as lighting effects go in this update. I first added the headlights and then the amber glow of a street light at the main intersection in Hohler. We will turn left on D140 to get to my friend's house to spend the night.

We turn left again on Elder Ave.

My friend's house is circled in red at the end of the block on the corner of Elder Ave and Locust Pl.

I hope you enjoyed that little drive through, not too much to see besides farms, but I think the farms with the fences around Hohler are the best farms I laid in the entire region. Future updates will look at these really good farms more in-depth...maybe driving on D140.

The next update, we will get up in the morning and continue driving south on D31 through Hawthorne until the limits of St. Mark.

[nathanthemayor 1,263]

Awesome!Did mayorm inspire you to do the signs?

[packersfan 667]

Dan (dfnva)'s Winchester...and Massopax Piedmont. I've been doing little drive throughs like him since my Cambellsport region many years ago, but never as in-depth as him.

[dfnva 34]

Wow! What an amazing update... besides the amazing rural landscape, your signs are truly amazing. I love the details, esp. the 3-d views. The night lights were a nice touch as well.

-Dan

[packersfan 667]

So sad, my journal is already buried!

Anyways, two more tours of D31 South are in the wings and then an urban update...I've been expanding Martintown and the mix of factories and med-density residential is looking pretty good, I'm excited to show all these pictures!!!

[mightygoose 92]

have faith every journal gets buried from time to time.

[packersfan 667]

Ugh, I'm having issues with base textures on a bunch of industrial lots I downloaded, including lots that incorporated North Country Dude's textures for railspurs. I'm also having an incredibly hard time finding filler lots like plazas of just the basic maxis med wealth sidewalk or good parking lots 1x1.

[psander5 198]

Nice update   I like the style, showing lots of linked game pictures with road signs interspersed amongst them.  It gives a good impression that you're driving through the region... although, since I don't drive I'd probably be on my bicycle!  

Sorry to hear about your texture issues.  For plazas I use s_olah's White Plaza Set and soldyne's Urban Beautification Pack.  They both have blank maxis tiles, as well as plenty with decoration.  

For parking lots, I find hooha47's modular sets to be invaluable.  You can make parking lots of any size and shape, and since they're all in 1x1 pieces, I guess you can just use the straight entrance pieces to fill your 1x1 gaps.  I didn't even realise that there were a few addon packs for these loots   Searching for them for you turned out to be a good thing for me... I've only been using the basic set!

[packersfan 667]

Thank you. I've been trying to search but I don't seem to put in the right keywords. I'm looking for old sets I used to have, so I know they exist, but I can't find them via search. Thanks for the links!

[packersfan 667]

I just spent a ton of time downloading all the Barry Sanders Project BATs, all of nofunks' stuff, and a bunch of parking...really great stuff out there!!! KEEP IT UP ALL YOU BATTERS! Great Work!

[antsel 842]

I must have missed an update already! Great work with the road geekery, I can see dfnva has influenced you with his CJ presentation style. I really your rural areas, the small towns look great. I really like what you've done with the highways signs. I like your experimentation with lighting effects too, keep it up! Looking all this is very inspiring... if only I had more free time!!

[packersfan 667]

Update 11 - Travelling South D31 - Hawthorne and Apostles Twps

Today we will continue south on D31 through the city of Hawthorne to the town limits of St. Mark. More farms obviously but more practice for my sign arranging skills.

I used a lens flare to simulate the sun. Obviously the sun is on our left as we set out south in the morning and then slips to our right side as we travel southeast. What do you think?

I also updated the region map to reflect D31 crossing the Brittany River and label the city of Hawthorne.

I suggest opening in another tab/window the region map of the District of Wenzel, so you can see where exactly we are travelling.

District of Wenzel Street Map

Dawn breaks over the Village of Hohler.

Overview of Hohler.

Remember, we have to get back onto D31 south.

As we leave Hohler, the speed limit jumps back up to the two-lane highway standard of 55 miles per hour.

Using Battlecat's (from scdevotion) technique, I merge pictures from two different city tiles...unfortunately not perfect as you can see by the black line in the brown farmland.

I really love the fences and trees lining the roads.

Speed limit will decrease as we near the outskirts of Hawthorne.

My attempt at a rail bridge.

Junction with D29. South D29 will take us to Baylor thirty-seven miles away.

A simple railroad crossing sign, slightly tilted.

Decreased speed zone again as we near St. Mark.

I hope you enjoyed the drive further down D31.

What would you like to see after completing the drive down D31? The next update will conclude the drive south on D31 through St. Paul. After that we will probably take a look at the downtown area of Martin.

[dfnva 34]

Great update... I absolutely love the rural areas, I like the trees right up against the road as well as the trees as a line of demarkation between some of the farms. The roadgeekery is also excellent. The signals are nice... I like the yellow with black backplates (Virginia/Pennsylvania style) and the mixture of pole and span-wire mounted signals.

-Dan