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

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

packersfan: I have had saves files double in size if the game crashes during or just after saving. Prop pox usually happens when the save files are really large, greater than 25MB, and after a save crash occurs. My city of Townshead suffered prop pox because of this save file crash, however I loaded up an older backup version, of a size about 30MB, and saved the city again and there was no prop pox.

[Turjan 1,048]

packersfan: Prop pox usually happens when the save files are really large, greater than 25MB...

 

Yup. City saves of, let's say, 18 MB size don't exist, because the game changes the way prop information is saved at roughly 15 MB save game size and adds another 10 MB to it. Which in and itself isn't bad, but the file is susceptible to corruption. I also have a prop poxed region at the moment, and it happened after I removed a bunch of plugins. Once one tile develops prop pox, the region is basically toast, as this save corruption is infectious. Fortunately, I had made a backup just before I removed those plugins, so I'm good and only lost a relatively minor amount of work.

 

It's really bad when that happens to a region you hold dear and you don't have backups from before the infection occurred.

[packersfan 667]

Ouisconsin County - Exploring the Ouisconsin River <DoW Update 111:02.10.15>

Welcome to a new phase for the District of Wenzel. We are moving to a different area of the district. This area dubbed Ouisconsin is about 300 miles northwest of Martin County.

Now we go back before civilization reached the forests of the District of Wenzel. About 300 miles to the southeast, Martin Town has been establish at the mouth of Brittany River along the shores of Sapphire Lake. Surveyors were sent out along the various rivers flowing into and out of Sapphire Lake. One team led by Captain Samuel Hitchcock discovered an even larger river flowing into Sapphire Lake hundreds of miles north of Martin Town.

Hitchcock named the river Ouisconsin meaning the gathering of waters. The team made their way up the lazy river searching for the headwaters. As the trees changed color, the Hitchcock and his men landed on a a wooded peninsula just after discovering a tributary to Ouisconsin which Hitchcock labelled as Liberty River on his map.

Captain Hitchcock, Lieutenant John Weston, Sergeant Robert Clefton, Courtnay Fisher, Elisha Moorhead, Timothy Baker, Oliver Putnam, and Venton Davis disembarked and began clearing the land to build some winter shelter. Captain Hitchcock and Lieutenant Weston explored further along the river while the other six men established a base of operations at Camp Liberty.

Hitchcock's men built two small cabins to provide shelter from the winter cold. Hitchcock and Weston continued to survey the area while Venton Davis and Courtnay Fisher, the group's best hunters, provided fresh deer and rabbit meat.

We are here.

Welcome to Ouisconsin!

I hope to be able to do a little bit of historical stuff with the region, establishing various outposts, chronicling the settlements growing into an expansive metropolis. I could use a lot of help though with ways to make my region historical...how to have no cars, good lots to use, how to "power" in a time when things didn't have electric power. I hope SimCoug can help me out with some of these questions, and I hope I can do my vision justice.

Replies:

Turjan: Yup. City saves of, let's say, 18 MB size don't exist, because the game changes the way prop information is saved at roughly 15 MB save game size and adds another 10 MB to it. Which in and itself isn't bad, but the file is susceptible to corruption. I also have a prop poxed region at the moment, and it happened after I removed a bunch of plugins. Once one tile develops prop pox, the region is basically toast, as this save corruption is infectious. Fortunately, I had made a backup just before I removed those plugins, so I'm good and only lost a relatively minor amount of work.

It's really bad when that happens to a region you hold dear and you don't have backups from before the infection occurred.

Yeah, that just goes to show that there is no real nailed down cause for prop pox. Backup and hope for the best...and for me now, play on 2x2 or 1x1 tiles.

Ln X: packersfan: I have had saves files double in size if the game crashes during or just after saving. Prop pox usually happens when the save files are really large, greater than 25MB, and after a save crash occurs. My city of Townshead suffered prop pox because of this save file crash, however I loaded up an older backup version, of a size about 30MB, and saved the city again and there was no prop pox.

There seem to be many different ways for a problem like this to occur, though I'm not sure if yours would be classified as prop pox as it was just an issue with the a crashed save process and you were able to fix the problem by just going to a backup. Prop pox tends to be FAR more invasive and sneaky.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Lovely MMP work, elegant but not overdone.

[dfnva 34]

Yikes -- Didn't realize what a problem Prop Pox is. Sorry to hear about your region being compromised. You've had a lot of great Regions over the years, so I'm definitely looking forward to the greatness of what is next -- and this update is a great start!!

 

-Dan

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

An interesting concept on the restart!  I'm looking forward to seeing how you tackle those problems, too.

[bakercity 270]

What a nice restart Packersfan. In real life Ouisconsin was the french name for Wisconsin. I am glad that you have kept D.o.W theme and kept Martin area tied in for some historical feel.I look forward to more in the future. I kind of feel like doing an update for Region of Salem and have a somewhat of a tie in or mention D.o.W. with Region of Salem. I am undecided right now. Keep up the awesome work my good friend. JKB

[Benedict 3,119]

I haven't seen you present nature too often - really good work!

[packersfan 667]

Replies:
Ln X: Lovely MMP work, elegant but not overdone.

Thanks. I'm not the BEST at MMPs, haha.

dfnva: Yikes -- Didn't realize what a problem Prop Pox is. Sorry to hear about your region being compromised. You've had a lot of great Regions over the years, so I'm definitely looking forward to the greatness of what is next -- and this update is a great start!!

-Dan

I need to not think about how much time or years I spent in the past region to get where it was. Just looking at the size of my new region, if I have no catastrophic problems, it will last many years before completion.

NMUSpidey: An interesting concept on the restart! I'm looking forward to seeing how you tackle those problems, too.

Yeah, we'll see how I do with a more historical start (how long I can go before giving up and just entering the car age!) SimCoug has already been a big help pointing me to re-lots of his own and many of creators of 19th century buildings. Stay tuned!

bakercity: What a nice restart Packersfan. In real life Ouisconsin was the french name for Wisconsin. I am glad that you have kept D.o.W theme and kept Martin area tied in for some historical feel.I look forward to more in the future. I kind of feel like doing an update for Region of Salem and have a somewhat of a tie in or mention D.o.W. with Region of Salem. I am undecided right now. Keep up the awesome work my good friend. JKB

Yeah, I was trying to find a good name for the region not starting with C, M, or S, haha. I'm trying to integrate my "nation" of cities. Maybe I'll have to create a DoW road map (just highways and city dots...or even a nation map). That would be fun. I did that ALL the time by hand when I was a little kid. With all these ideas, maybe I'll never actually get INTO the SimCity to BUILD!!!

Benedict: I haven't seen you present nature too often - really good work!

With all the great MMPs nowadays, nature has almost overtaken city-building in SimCity. Of course, I'm a simpleton when it comes to creating nature scenes. I want to build a massive realistic metropolis, and I don't always have the proper patience to draw beautiful realistic nature scenes, though they MAKE AWESOME CJ posts!

I'm working on Update 112 right now. It is the Chinese Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, so I will be going back to my girlfriend's hometown this week. I hope I have decent internet access, so I can post the update. I was going to try to get it up today before leaving, but I don't think it will be possible to get it just right before we need to go. Instead, I replied to your comments. Hopefully, Update 112 will be up tomorrow. Take care!

[packersfan 667]

Ouisconsin County - National Land Survey System and Scale in SC4 vs. Real World <DoW Update 112:02.17.15>

Captain Samuel Hitchcock and his team were soon joined by a number of other surveyors tasked with demarking the land under the National Land Survey System. This system is very similar in most respects to the United States Public Land Survey.

If you live in the United States or Canada or frequent Google Earth, you probably have noticed that much of western United States is plotted in squares like a chess board. How did this happen?

Following the American Revolution, the Continental Congress was deep in debt but had little power to tax, and so it decided to use the sale of Western Territories to pay off the War of Independence. This required surveying the land and demarking plots of land for sale. Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 and then the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 to control the survey, sale, and settling of the new lands.

Of course, not ALL the land in the midwest and beyond was surveyed under the new system because previous settlements had already divided the land according to Spanish, French, or as is the case in parts of Ohio, with earlier standards.

Here is a map of the French long farms in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The National Land Survey System was arranged and based on much of the same standards.

First, a baseline, which runs east-west, and a principal meridian, which runs north-south, were established. In the U.S. at a defined distance interval, commonly 24 or 30 miles, standard parallels of latitude were established parallel to the baseline.

Next the surveyors divided the land into survey townships of 36 square miles, 6 miles on each side (10 km). Then the townships were divided into 36 sections of one square mile (640 acres, 2.6 square kilometers). Finally these sections were divided into 4 quarter-sections of 1/4 square mile (160 acres, .65 square kilometers).

Here we can see land divided up into 36 square mile townships forming a county.

In the Land Ordinance of 1785, the sections were numbered a little differently with section 16 being near the center of the township. Section 16 was originally set aside as land for education.

The District of Wenzel was also surveyed and divided into survey townships of 36 square miles, sections of 1 square mile, and quarter sections. Between each section an easement of about 50 feet was left. These easements later became roads.

Let's get into some SimCity 4 vs. Real-life scale.

One SC4 tile is 16 x 16 meters, or about 52.5 feet x 52.5 feet.

One acre is 43,560 square feet (4046.86 meters). What is the square root of 43,560? A little less than 209 feet. Divide that by 52.5 feet? And you get about 4. That means an acre in SimCity is 4 x 4 tiles. Amazing that the metric scaling in SimCity very easily coincides with Imperial measurements.

Now let's figure out lengths. Remember, a SC4 tile is 16 meters in length (52.5 feet). A mile is 5,280 feet. Right. So let's divide a mile by the length of a SC4 tile (52.5 feet). That gives us about 100.5. So in SimCity, 100 - 101 tiles equals one mile in length. This would be a SECTION within a 36 square mile township. Coming back to ACRES, a SECTION (or mile squared) is 640 acres.

A QUARTERSECTION would be 50 tiles x 50 tiles, 1/4 square mile or 160 acres. Let's check this against what we know is an acre in SC4 (4 x 4 tiles). Let's take 50 tiles and divide it by 4 tiles (one side of an acre). We get a result of 12.5. Square that to get the total acreage of the 50 x 50 tile quartersection. 156.25...well that is pretty close to 160.

In Ouisconsin, I marked out every quartersection as 50x50 tiles. Between every quartersection I left 1 tile as the easement for future roads. Remember 1 tile equals 52.5 feet. Again, that is very close to the real-life easement of 50 feet! However, I had to make sure that in the future when areas are filled with gridiron blocks the edge of the SC4 tiles wouldn't be occupied by a street or road, but rather, either the back of a lot or an alleyway, thus only two or three tiles could be left between a potential street and the SC4 tile edge.

Usually this works out, but occasionally too many or two few tiles will be left on the edge, so I just doubled the easement between two quarter-sections when required. Since the scale is not exact, this occasional adjustment should average out any conversion and scale issues...and human surveying isn't EXACT.

Here you can see a 160 acre (1/4 square mile) quartersection seperated from another quartersection by a 52.5 foot easement and a 105 foot easement to help with future city block placement on the SC4 tiles.

I hope I explained things clearly. Dedgren did this years ago in Three Rivers Region. I like the history and the topic. It is certainly something to look into. If you are at all interested, check out the links sprinkled through this update.

Finally, here is a completed section of the map. Lines indicate every quartersection while red ink strokes indicate township lines.

Next time, I will present a tutorial on how to make .svg maps in Illustrator. It will cover tracing the land and rivers between tiles and setting up a simple HTML webpage to present the map.

Hopefully, I can get some organizing done of my plugins and dependencies and build some in-game shots of settlement in Liberty and Hitchcock townships. Check out the new Ouisconsin County map.

[TakemeThere 5,834]

That was very informative. I really enjoyed learning about that and I think it quite incredible that you built your entire region using the same system.

[Turjan 1,048]

Heh, that's an interesting approach. But yes, the grid is almighty in the western US. Even in situations, where you would expect a different solution, the grid is only discarded with if there is no other way, like in this example:

 

 

On the upper left, there is a cliff that forces the "FAR", on the lower right it's some steep hill.

 

Good to see this in a CJ.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Very interesting update and history lesson.  I've always found survey history to be interesting and I find the idea of "paper streets" in SC4 interesting as well.  I've used it to some extent in the past but I've never really documented it.

 

So 52.5 foot ROWs?  I'm sure that was in my PE review but I've long since forgotten.   Here in WNY you will mostly run into ROWs that are some multiple of rods (16.5 feet); most larger roads will be 66 feet (4 rods or 1 chain) with the occasional 49.5 footer. I believe my street is 33 feet.  In fact it's not uncommon to find roads actually named "Three Rod Road", etc.  We fall under the Holland Land Survey so things must have been done a little differently.  Lots of "Preemption Roads" because of the way things were set up as well.

 

I've tried following a similar format but a little less to the letter and modified by SC4's dimensional constraints.  I've based my analog to sections on the kilometer so as to avoid drift from one tile to the next (every line then theoretically shows up in the same place on each tile).  Rather than using the physical tile boundary as the township line, I offset mine half a tile each south and east to allow those easements to be centered on the boundary.  In my new CJ I'm going to do with something a little different and make one survey township equal to 4 tiles as opposed to just 1; makes the scaling a little more realistic.  So my townships will effectively consist of 64 kilometer squares; roughly 25 mile squares.  So we're on the same order of magnitude...

 

Such a system is optimal for setting up an agricultural grid (good historical context and no "slivers") but it has some limitations once you get to zoning lots (which I haven't yet) - for instance the north and west frontages of "town line" roads can't ever have buildings.  Not to say I couldn't create some backwards facing plop lots to mitigate that but I don't think it's worth the effort.  There's no right or wrong answer when you have such a limited playing field; every system is going to create some kind of challenge down the road because we're limited to "just" 256 tiles.  At least it isn't SC13!

[packersfan 667]

Ouisconsin County - How to Make a Map, Part 1 <DoW Update 113:02.24.15>

 

 

I am in the process of trying to figure out a way to keep track of my plugins: what dependencies they have, what dependencies I have.  I want to avoid the sort of situation that often occurs when you want to remove a lot or dependency file.  First, what the heck is in this file?  What is IT?  Second, are other things dependent on this file?  Third, are there other files that I NO longer need because I'm getting rid of this particular plugin and thus could save even more space?  I want to figure out a way to somehow quickly find this information.  (I want to have all the readme dependency information available in a big database of some form).  Any ideas, tools, or tips?  I would love to see your methods.

 

So, this is another stalling tactic.  Tutorials!  By now you have probably seen my (world-famous) District of Wenzel - Martin County Street Map, and hopefully have checked out the District of Wenzel - Ouisconsin County Street Map in all its old-style surveying glory.

 

A few years ago, I posted a tutorial on how I make my street maps.  Up until the past six months, I had used GIMP to build my street maps and posted basically a large JPEG mosaic on the web.  This did the job but left much to be desired.  JPEG is not zoomable.  Zoom in and the pixels just get larger and picture less clear.  Zooming out isn't as bad.  JPEG also compresses the image and leaves artifacts, discoloration, etc.

 

 

In the past year, I started using Adobe Illustrator and discovered Scalable Vector Graphics!  I'm not going to get into the specifics of how SVG files work, but they offer better presentation options.  First, you can scale up or down (zoom in and out) and the image remains crisp!  Second, you get this quality with files that are only slightly larger than lower-quality JPEGs of the same image.

 

Many areas on the Martin County map are .svg, while the entire Ouisconsin map is .svg.  So without further explanation, let's make a street map.

 

 

Creating the Webpage to Present the Map 

 

The original purpose of my street map was for me to be able to see what streets were where and what names they had.  With Sessquenna I did this by grabbing the data view of the traffic from in each city tile and then sticking them together in Microsoft Picture It! or some program like that.  This quickly became unwieldy and difficult to do accurately.

 

So I designed a webpage to stitch together all the individual city tile maps into one region size map (like SC4 does to the individual city tiles in Region View).

 

#1: Open up an HTML editor (HTML Beauty is a nice program).  A text file will work, too.

 

 

#2: Set up a TABLE.

 

 

We don't want any spaces or gaps between our map sections so "0" cellspacing, cellpadding, or cell border.

 

Remember, just like BBCode, you must close each section of code with "/"

 

#3: Let's add a top border.  There is probably a much cleaner way to do this, but we want to set up the table to have columns and rows as big as a small city tile (or the smallest city tile you have in your region --- if you are playing a region of ALL one size, this part is much easier).  You must determine what size you want your smallest map tiles to be.  I picked 256 pixels.  There are 64 tiles on a small city tile, so on the map, 4 x 4 pixels would represent a SC4 square.  You will need as many columns and rows as you region is tall and wide (you can use your config file to easily get this information)...my region is 32 x 32, so I need 32 256-pixel columns and 32 256-pixel rows.

 

This first row will set up the lattice we will base the rest of the table on.  We can also use it to make a nice border on the top.  For this tutorial let’s assume our region is 8 x 8 kilometers (8 x 8 small cities) Notice the first and last columns <TD></TD> have widths of 3 pixels, while the row <TR></TR> has a height of 3 pixels.  This will give us a black border when we tell the row and those columns to have a BGCOLOR="#000000".

 

 

 

While you are building the table, you can make the table BORDER to "1" so that you can see what you are actually building.

 

#4: Now you need to build table like your region is arranged.  For our tutorial let’s assume our region is just 64 small city tiles.  The easiest thing to do is copy the first row we made, but make sure to remove the background color and change the row height to “256”.  Now we have a top border row and a row of 256 x 256 tile boxes (8 small city tiles).  Make the table border “1”, save your HTML file and check it out.

 

Now repeat for as many rows as you need.  We will need 7 more in this example.  Note how in my example, I changed the first and last column in the Border row to have ROWSPAN=”10”.  This will save on code space as now these two columns will span 10 rows.  We have a top border row, 8 small tile rows, and a bottom border row.  Now copy your small tile row seven more times and then add a bottom border row (this row is the same as the top row except missing the first and last 3 pixel border columns…these will show up because of our ROWSPAN=”10”).

 

 

 

Let’s take a look.  If you have the table border set to 1 (YOU SET THIS TO “0” when you actually have map images in the columns), you should see 64 small tiles arranged just like you region!

 

 

 

What if your region is not all one size tile, but you have a mix of small, medium, and large?  ROWSPAN and COLSPAN are the commands we will need.

 

Let’s make a MEDIUM city tile in the top right corner of the map.

 

Find the seventh <TD></TD> column in the first map row (second row – since the first row is just the border).  Following the “<TD” add ROWSPAN=”2” COLSPAN=”2” and either remove or change the SIZE to “512”.  Then delete the eighth column and then the seventh and eighth column “<TD></TD>” in the second row.

 

 

Your map should now look like this (again, this is with table border set to “1”)

 

 

Let’s practice putting a LARGE city tile in the center of our map.  Our key <TD></TD> column is the third column in the third row.  Now change the SIZE to “1024” and add ROWSPAN=”4” and COLSPAN=”4”.  Then remove the next three <TD></TD> columns from the third row.  Then we need to remove columns 3 to 6 in rows 4, 5, and 6.  (I’m finding that this is a great way to carefully set up your table --- I’ve never done it this way before and it can be a headache trying to figure out what went wrong, what you forgot to delete).

 

 

You should have a nice 4 x 4 box in the middle of your map.

 

 

#5: Add your bottom border row.  This row is the same as your top border row.  If you included ROWSPANs for the left and right border columns, you do not need to include these columns in this row.

 

#6: Check your map layout against the configuration file of your region.

 

#7: Add the image/object to the tiles.  We have the structure of the region, now we need to add the content, the map.  In the next part of this tutorial I will discuss how to MAKE these individual map images.  At this point, we can insert the necessary information so that the maps will display when they are completed.

 

In between the <TD> and </TD> commands, write this command: <object data=”FILENAME.svg”></object>.  Substitute the actual file name for your map objects.  If you are using traditional .jpg images put in this command instead: <img src="FILENAME.jpg" width="…" height="…">

 

If you link to a .jpg that does not exist or is not in the proper folder, a missing image image will appear in your map.  However, if you link to a .svg that does not exist or is not in the proper folder, that table cell will just appear blank.  My Ouisconsin map is like this.  It is ready for new .svg map files to be saved and displayed.

 

Let’s see what happens when I stick an .svg from my Ouisconsin map into the example and turn the table border off “0”.

 

 

 

I’m not sure why my side borders aren’t showing up at this zoom level (they work on my Ouisconsin map where I have the border columns included in every row, and I didn’t do the rowspan.)

 

The .svg file shows up where placed it while all the other tiles are blank.  Take my word for it, I initially included a link to a file that did not yet exist and I kept reloading this page with no image showing.

 

I hope this tutorial was helpful.  Next week, I'll have some pictures from the region, and then Update 115 come back with Part 2 of the tutorial.

 

And one more map for the road.  I woke up this morning thinking about the Watertown Plank Road from Milwaukee to Watertown, Wisconsin.  I looked up the history and found this AMAZING map of the middle of Milwaukee county.  Amazing how all the main roads are already laid out.  I also really love how all the land plots in Wauwatosa are labelled by owner (a number of names are very familiar as their names live on as street names in those areas).  Do you think I should get this detailed with my old map?  Just awesome!

 

Replies:

takemethere: That was very informative. I really enjoyed learning about that and I think it quite incredible that you built your entire region using the same system.

Thank you. I'm realizing that I didn't do a perfect job coming up with slight tweaks of the system I use in Martin County...but oh, well...nothing is perfect (REALISM!!)

Turjan: Heh, that's an interesting approach. But yes, the grid is almighty in the western US. Even in situations, where you would expect a different solution, the grid is only discarded with if there is no other way, like in this example:

On the upper left, there is a cliff that forces the "FAR", on the lower right it's some steep hill.

Good to see this in a CJ.

Exactly. While most of the main roads in the region will be laid along these survey lines, there will be deviations due to all the rivers, plus territorial roads, spoke roads, etc.

Sabretooth78: Very interesting update and history lesson. I've always found survey history to be interesting and I find the idea of "paper streets" in SC4 interesting as well. I've used it to some extent in the past but I've never really documented it.

So 52.5 foot ROWs? I'm sure that was in my PE review but I've long since forgotten. Here in WNY you will mostly run into ROWs that are some multiple of rods (16.5 feet); most larger roads will be 66 feet (4 rods or 1 chain) with the occasional 49.5 footer. I believe my street is 33 feet. In fact it's not uncommon to find roads actually named "Three Rod Road", etc. We fall under the Holland Land Survey so things must have been done a little differently. Lots of "Preemption Roads" because of the way things were set up as well.

I've tried following a similar format but a little less to the letter and modified by SC4's dimensional constraints. I've based my analog to sections on the kilometer so as to avoid drift from one tile to the next (every line then theoretically shows up in the same place on each tile). Rather than using the physical tile boundary as the township line, I offset mine half a tile each south and east to allow those easements to be centered on the boundary. In my new CJ I'm going to do with something a little different and make one survey township equal to 4 tiles as opposed to just 1; makes the scaling a little more realistic. So my townships will effectively consist of 64 kilometer squares; roughly 25 mile squares. So we're on the same order of magnitude...

Such a system is optimal for setting up an agricultural grid (good historical context and no "slivers") but it has some limitations once you get to zoning lots (which I haven't yet) - for instance the north and west frontages of "town line" roads can't ever have buildings. Not to say I couldn't create some backwards facing plop lots to mitigate that but I don't think it's worth the effort. There's no right or wrong answer when you have such a limited playing field; every system is going to create some kind of challenge down the road because we're limited to "just" 256 tiles. At least it isn't SC13!

Thanks! Researching maps and how cities developed is always fun...even if it isn't always too easy to replicate in SC4.

I was surprised when I found out that the lines on the survey maps which later became roads were immediately designated as 50 foot ROWs. Of course, this doesn't always mean the road is 50 feet wide. Just that there is a 50 foot Right of Way for such a road...and later expansion might even require eminent domain or whatever to expand the ROW.

I believe Sessquenna or Rabourn was based on a kilometer grid to better negotiate the SC4 tiles. It still takes careful future planning and all your tiles being in perfect rows to not end up with some place where zones won't fit neatly. This region is mostly perfect, though I've run into a few areas already where I failed to solve the problem early and now it is just sort of stuck there.

Yeah, doing it in kilometers definitely makes placing a farm grid much easier as you don't have to build farms across a border. But you are right! It isn't SC13...only our imaginations and fewer and fewer limitations (due to the amazing modding) hold us back.

[Benedict 3,119]

Great stuff - I appreciate your taking the time to detail your method - it gives excellent results.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

That was very interesting.  Beyond my meager abilities, but interesting to read about nonetheless!

[bakercity 270]

Wowzer.  that seems like a lot of work to do and to get right without mistakes. cool dude.

[Sabretooth78 808]

I am in the process of trying to figure out a way to keep track of my plugins: what dependencies they have, what dependencies I have.  I want to avoid the sort of situation that often occurs when you want to remove a lot or dependency file.  First, what the heck is in this file?  What is IT?  Second, are other things dependent on this file?  Third, are there other files that I NO longer need because I'm getting rid of this particular plugin and thus could save even more space?  I want to figure out a way to somehow quickly find this information.  (I want to have all the readme dependency information available in a big database of some form).  Any ideas, tools, or tips?  I would love to see your methods.

 

 

I've posted my list on here before but it has since seen some updates.  Here is the latest version:

 

OpenDocument format (preferred)

Excel format (conversion, may have formatting artifacts)

 

Basically, I started by picking a place to start (any particular plugin), going to the documentation and finding out what it requires for dependencies.  Then go to those dependencies and do the same thing.  If it sounds like diving into custom content and building a plugin folder from scratch, it's because it basically is!  It also helps to move each file/package over to a new folder once you have it catalogued so you know exactly what you've done.  I'm not sure what capabilities Windows has, but OS X has a file tagging feature which can be indispensable for such a task.  If nothing else, just use the brute force method and just move it to another folder appropriately named.

 

All told, the process took me about 3 months from start to finish.  That's for 4GB of content, plus or minus.  Obviously, you can play during that time period, just make sure you practice good file management so nothing slips through.  It's probably a good idea to keep a parallel copy for the indexing.  Catalog new items as you add them.  Then, perhaps most importantly, maintain it once you've finished!

 

I also used the opportunity to bookmark all the links to the custom content (there were only a few dependencies I couldn't locate and had to just pass through the file I already had) as well as to compile each piece of documentation as a pdf and stored in an organized fashion by which to easily access it in the future.  I also pretty much cataloged the original installers/zips in a similar format.

 

Bear in mind that you'll run into dependencies that no longer exist because they've been rolled into mega packs (particularly true with BSC content).  Others have been superseded in some way or other as well.  As you continue through it you'll gradually remember which ones those are.  This list at SC4D is pretty helpful as well.  Also realize that some lots will say they have no dependencies but in fact do.  This can be found out either through Reader, or even better, load it up by itself in Lot Editor and you'll find prop boxes without names.  I ran into several lots like this and in most cases was able to figure out what was missing.  There were a few where I just deleted the offending props (or a few others where removing 2 props allowed me to not need a 6 MB prop pack).  One thing I didn't make note of, however, is which lots in particular this was the case for.

 

Still other lots will have multiple dependencies, but perhaps there's a version of the lot you're not going to use; you don't need those dependencies.  I cataloged those and italicized the unneeded/wanted dependencies.  For my dependencies, I listed them using the package name (in parentheses) unless it was just a single file out of a multiple file pack, in which case I listed the individual file needed and then listed the package name in a comment box.

 

I haven't read the rest of your update; will do that now.  Handy, because I'm building my new street map and while I'm expecting to just cannibalize my old one, maybe there are a few new tricks I can steal!  

[packersfan 667]

Ouisconsin County - Cass Town: Founding of Cass Town <DoW Update 114:03.03.15>

 

 

Welcome to Cass Town - the first extensive settlement along the Ouisconsin River.  Cass Town is located in Sections 28 and 27 of the Menomonee Township on the north bank of the Ouisconsin River just east of where the Menomonee and Ouisconsin Rivers meet.

 

The land was covered with forests when Captain Hitchcock surveyed the area.  Soon afterward, however, land speculators and developers moved in and began parcelling out the land.

 

 

Land speculators Henry Cass and Samuel Williams bought up the land northeast of the confluence of the Menomonee and Ouisconsin Rivers.  They constructed a dock and settlers started to buy plots and a town emerged.

 

 

 

Some local farms whose owners are in line to earn some cash as the town inevitably expands.

 

 

 

A map of Cass Town and the surrounding area including land owners, land plots, and acreage.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed our first look at actual settlement in Ouisconsin.  Next week, I will post Part 2 of How to Make a Map, actually making a map in Illustrator or Inkscape.

 

Replies:

Benedict: Great stuff - I appreciate your taking the time to detail your method - it gives excellent results.

 

Thanks.  Yeah, this is just how I do it, and it works.  There are probably better, more modern methods but here is mine.

 

NMUSpidey: That was very interesting.  Beyond my meager abilities, but interesting to read about nonetheless!

 

Thank you, but it isn't too hard.  Just try it out.

 

bakercity: Wowzer.  that seems like a lot of work to do and to get right without mistakes. cool dude.

 

Yeah, a bunch of work but just be organized and everything works out.

 

Sabretooth78: I've posted my list on here before but it has since seen some updates.  Here is the latest version:

 

OpenDocument format (preferred)

Excel format (conversion, may have formatting artifacts)

 

Basically, I started by picking a place to start (any particular plugin), going to the documentation and finding out what it requires for dependencies.  Then go to those dependencies and do the same thing.  If it sounds like diving into custom content and building a plugin folder from scratch, it's because it basically is!  It also helps to move each file/package over to a new folder once you have it catalogued so you know exactly what you've done.  I'm not sure what capabilities Windows has, but OS X has a file tagging feature which can be indispensable for such a task.  If nothing else, just use the brute force method and just move it to another folder appropriately named.

 

All told, the process took me about 3 months from start to finish.  That's for 4GB of content, plus or minus.  Obviously, you can play during that time period, just make sure you practice good file management so nothing slips through.  It's probably a good idea to keep a parallel copy for the indexing.  Catalog new items as you add them.  Then, perhaps most importantly, maintain it once you've finished!

 

I also used the opportunity to bookmark all the links to the custom content (there were only a few dependencies I couldn't locate and had to just pass through the file I already had) as well as to compile each piece of documentation as a pdf and stored in an organized fashion by which to easily access it in the future.  I also pretty much cataloged the original installers/zips in a similar format.

 

Bear in mind that you'll run into dependencies that no longer exist because they've been rolled into mega packs (particularly true with BSC content).  Others have been superseded in some way or other as well.  As you continue through it you'll gradually remember which ones those are.  This list at SC4D is pretty helpful as well.  Also realize that some lots will say they have no dependencies but in fact do.  This can be found out either through Reader, or even better, load it up by itself in Lot Editor and you'll find prop boxes without names.  I ran into several lots like this and in most cases was able to figure out what was missing.  There were a few where I just deleted the offending props (or a few others where removing 2 props allowed me to not need a 6 MB prop pack).  One thing I didn't make note of, however, is which lots in particular this was the case for.

 

Still other lots will have multiple dependencies, but perhaps there's a version of the lot you're not going to use; you don't need those dependencies.  I cataloged those and italicized the unneeded/wanted dependencies.  For my dependencies, I listed them using the package name (in parentheses) unless it was just a single file out of a multiple file pack, in which case I listed the individual file needed and then listed the package name in a comment box.

 

I haven't read the rest of your update; will do that now.  Handy, because I'm building my new street map and while I'm expecting to just cannibalize my old one, maybe there are a few new tricks I can steal!  

 

Thanks.  Your method is a lot like what I'm doing.  I also include EVERY file within a plugin, that way I can crosscheck dependencies needed with what I have even if the file name is specific.  I also what to start doing what you do, removing props or dependencies to clear out things I only need for one thing.  Need to learn to get friendly with all the tools.

[bakercity 270]

Packersfan, what a really nice and cool update. I would like a home on either Main Street or Ouisconsin Ave and is it possible that I open a general store in downtown Cass? (LOL). Looking forward to more updates and more settlement in the area. JKB

[Sabretooth78 808]

Wow, I've never even thought of naming individual landowners, and to such a degree!

[mastaschmitty 0]

Packersfan, I've been loving this CJ. I may have read through the whole thing these past few days. Keep it up!

I do have one question, though: everyone keeps talking about MMP's -- what exactly are those?

[packersfan 667]

Ouisconsin County - How to Make a Map, Part 2 <DoW Update 115:03.10.15>

 

 

Today, we will continue making a map by actually doing some mapping!  First, fire up SC4, load up your city tiles and take a screenshot of a traffic data-view.

 

Outside of the game, open up the screenshot in Paint and make a rectangular selection around the map data-view map...it doesn't have to be perfect.

 

 

 

Now copy that selection and open a new paint file with a size of 512 x 512 pixels.  Paste the selection and immediately resize the selection by 200 percent.

 

 

Move the selection so that only the map appears in the 512 x 512 area.

 

 

Select all and copy.

 

 

Paste the selection in Illustrator onto an artboard the size corresponding to the city tile...in this case a medium sized city is 512 x 512 pixels.  Make sure the selection's left top corner is X: 0 px, Y: 0 px and the size is 512 x 512 px.

 

 

Since we are mapping out the rivers, and we want the map tiles to match up, you'll want to paste in adjacent map tiles.

 

 

Now use the ink pen tool to trace a each side of the river.  Don't connect the paths, leave them open ended in the adjacent tiles.

 

 

 

 

In this example, the river required three separate paths.  Duplicate these paths and put them in a sublayer for safe keeping and click the little eye to make them invisible.

 

 

Once you have map the river out over the edges into the neighboring tiles you can save the file under those adjacent tile names for future use when making those map tiles since you will want to use the same paths that cross the tile borders.

 

Take the visible paths, select all of them, go to the Object Menu, Path, and JOIN.  Now you will have ONE path for the river.

 

 

 

If you want to get the old map effect that I am using for my rivers, duplicate this path four times...otherwise, you can just stop here switch the color from the path to the fill and select your preferred water color.

 

 

 

To get the "wave" lines, I duplicate the path and place 10 px black stroke.

 

 

Then I duplicate again and place an 8 px same color as the main water stroke.

 

 

Finally, one more duplicate and a 1 px black stroke.

 

 

Your river is complete.  Delete any unnecessary layers (SC4 data map).  You can add in section lines, label the river, and of course later on streets and more!

 

 

Save your work as an .ai (Adobe Illustrator) file so you can come back and edit in the future, then save as an .svg (scalable vector graphic).

 

 

Now your map should show up where you coded it in the HTML

 

 

The next step is to open up the .ai file of the adjecent tile and continue using the same river paths to get a seemless river on your map.  Since you saved this file while working on the previous tile, the previous tile map will be centered on the artboard.  Remove this and any other unneeded SC4 map tiles.  Selected the map tile AND the water paths and move both together so that the top left corner is at X: 0 px, Y: 0 px.  You can then hold down on the pen button to select the delete anchor points tool and remove much of the water paths that are hanging off your main tile.

 

Now just repeat the process with this tile.  Your river should match up to the previously finished tile since you are using the same paths across the edge.

 

In the next part, we'll add streets and other layers like parks and text.

 

Let me know if this was clear enough.  I'm not always so good at giving instructions...especially in written form (maybe I should make a video, but I don't know how to go about doing something like that!  I'd need a tutorial!)

Replies:

bakercity: Packersfan, what a really nice and cool update. I would like a home on either Main Street or Ouisconsin Ave and is it possible that I open a general store in downtown Cass? (LOL). Looking forward to more updates and more settlement in the area. JKB

You are welcome to settle in Cass Town. I hope I can really get this place developing realistically. I've been a little frustrated this week trying to figure out how to get a city built historically. Too much comparing to SimCoug for my own good, haha.

Sabretooth78: Wow, I've never even thought of naming individual landowners, and to such a degree!

I came across this map (I included it in an earlier update) where the land plots were denoted complete with names and acreage. I realized that many of the street names in Milwaukee get their names from the owners of the land they often run through! Why not try that with this journal, since I am doing a historical thing. Wouldn't it be cool to see those owner names eventually end up as street, park, school, and neighborhood names. Really give the area some REAL history. It is also fun to do it, especially when I'm having a hard time figuring out how I'm going to develop the cities themselves!

mastaschmitty: Packersfan, I've been loving this CJ. I may have read through the whole thing these past few days. Keep it up!

I do have one question, though: everyone keeps talking about MMP's -- what exactly are those?

Great to have a new follower. Hope you enjoyed Martin County and now enjoying Ouisconsin County. MMPs are Mayor Mode Ploppables. Basically they are like props that you can plop anywhere like trees, bushes, water, even people, buildings, and signs! Good use of MMPs turns a SimCity 4 journal into a piece of art and really ups the realism in ways that JUST lots and roads can't.

Additionally, what do you guys think of Skylines? Are you guys going to pick it up and play it. Part of me wants to try it out (but then I might never come back to SC4?) There are some compelling things included like districts with rules, etc. The region size is small (10 x 10 km with a modification at this point). It really would be more of a game than SimCity of course, which at this point for me is a moving artboard.

[Benedict 3,119]

Nice tutorial. Your maps are stunning, so great to have a little insight.

[bakercity 270]

I wish I could do this. I really don't have all the required knowledge and software, but otherwise, neat and cool to see the tutorial on how you do things. JKB

[packersfan 667]

Ouisconsin County - Morgan Town: Rival to the South <DoW Update 116:03.17.15>

 

 

South of Ouisconsin River, Konrad Morgan bought up a large portion of land and settled a town, Morgan Town.

 

 

Morgan and his associate James Smith laid out streets.  Settlers soon bought up lots.  Audalaus Moorland built a textile factory and development exploded.

 

 

Chester Avenue currently serves as the main road through Morgan Town.

 

 

Moorland Textiles on Ash Street and Prospect Avenue.

 

 

More and more houses are filling the original city grid.

 

 

St. Stanislav Catholic Church.

 

 

Wauwatosa Plank Road meeting up with Abeline Parkway.

 

 

Morgan Town.  First crossborder merging of two city tiles for Ouisconsin County.

 

 

Map of Morgan Town.  Some maps distributed by speculators and land sellers deny the existence of Cass Town to the north.  Cass Town maps also depict the Morgan Town as a swamp unsuitable for settlement for prospective settlers.  Of course, anyone with decent eyes could see signs of development of both sides of the river.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this update.  You probably noticed some anachronisms like street lights and cars in driveways.  I'm not an expert at this like SimCoug.  I think the feeling is there for a old-time start to this city.  Any tips, suggestions?  Leave comments!

 

Additionally, the great debate has started - to play SC4 or C:S!?  I haven't bought C:S, yet.  I barely have enough time to play SC4 as it is, and I've already put a bunch of time into this "reboot".  If I do get C:S, I'll most definitely have a city journal for that game...but I think I'll still very much work on this city, too.  We'll see how C:S evolves.

 

Replies:

Benedict: Nice tutorial. Your maps are stunning, so great to have a little insight.

 

Thanks you.  I'm glad to share.

 

bakercity: I wish I could do this. I really don't have all the required knowledge and software, but otherwise, neat and cool to see the tutorial on how you do things. JKB

 

It takes a little learning, but once you understand the basics it is quite easy.

[SimCoug 5,977]

Awesome work!  I love the town progression, and you have some great BATs to set the scene.  To get rid of the streetlights on the SAM streets, all you need to do is go into the NAM folder, find the SAM sub-folder and delete the 'T-21' files from the dirt streets.  I'll try and get back to you regarding your PM questions - I have just been swamped lately.  Your map is so awesome!  

[packersfan 667]

Thanks for the info on the more technical aspects of the game...I wish the street side tree mod worked on the SAM streets.

[wwetom1 831]

Whoa! This place looks a lot different from the last time I've been here. I love the new theme/look you've got going on. Cities set back in time are very hard to pull off well, but you've nailed it.

[mastaschmitty 0]

Are the dirt roads from NAM?