Robenia

[Bipin 3,402]

StreetxROBLOX: Rooms go for $350+ per night. Normally that is, I'm sure I can make an exception for you.

Kakado_to_Save: Thank you! that means a lot!

Testuser1234: That's what I want to hear. Thank you!

Sumwonyuno: My goal was to make my own RHW stand out from everyone else's. I'm sure that will be more evident in the following update.

As of late, I've taken a break from the Utopian Robenia for a more, dirty and dangerous class of a city; an industrial slum. Sector 15 is a significantly older area from around Robenia. The slums that are Sector 15, were at one time, anything but slums. This was a time when industrial cities throughout North America thrived, when the steel and vehicle industries were in full swing. These days, Sector 15 is merely a polluted industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Robenia. Many of the residents who once occupied Sector 15 have moved out, only the poor, working class citizens have stayed, although there are quite a few. Steel and vehicle industries are relatively strong in Sector 15, although nothing like what they were many years ago.

The desolation; the abandonment is quite evident in Sector 15, or is it? While many buildings appear to be abandoned, only a handful of them really are. Many of the residents live in sub-par conditions. Although they appear to be content with it and are in fact quite proud of the industries they run, almost all industrial materials are made and processed in Sector 15.

Part of the reason why Sector 15 is still (somewhat) alive, can be attributed to the area being a major transit hub. Three major highways and a rail yard for both industrial and a small amount of commercial train traffic can be found here. The municipal government had recently decided to upgrade its aging infrastructure, although a lack of funding meant only part of the project could be completed. This is the reason why there are so many unused elevated highway pillars near major interchanges.

The center of a three-highway junction can be seen here. The lone EMIS on-ramp is for quick access from the residential/commercial zones to the rail stations and industrial area. The rest of the EMIS joins up with the third highway.

Over here, drivers are able to chose between several off-ramp options. As for the MIS near the top right corner, drivers can chose either an express route to the rail yards by taking a right, or merge onto the 8C highway, where they can later chose to enter the industrial zones, or continue on the 8C.

There's that train hub I mentioned. Well, at least what I've built so far.

Observe all the different levels for different kinds of traffic, and notice how they all weave together. We've got elevated EMIS, elevated MIS, concrete roads, sunken rail, and soon; ground level rail.

Back to the interchange... Here we can see another entrance tunnel to the industrial and rail areas of Sector 15. Again, note the variety in elevations to make this area more compact.

I'll leave you with this final image of a typical compact diamond interchange, something common in older industrial North American cities.

I hope you enjoyed this update, I wanted to try something different and I believe I succeeded. Please comment and critique on just how successful I was. You know I love to hear what you have to say!

[ZeThomahawk 0]

Bipin, your first page of updates was awesome! I really liked the sleek central downtown layout and your use of the RHW is spectacular. Your update for Sector 15 is my favorite though. I love the dirty inner city feel of the factories and the way you used the RHW with the SFBT urban highway set. Looks very realistic considering that set is meant for the Maxis elevated highway. You've made me curious as to the full extent of possibilities capable using those two plugins. I can't wait to keep watching Robenia develop. Keep up the spectacular work!

  Edited July 11, 2011 by ZeThomahawk  

[Bipin 3,402]

Bipin, your first page of updates was awesome! I really liked the sleek central downtown layout and your use of the RHW is spectacular. Your update for Sector 15 is my favorite though. I love the dirty inner city feel of the factories and the way you used the RHW with the SFBT urban highway set. Looks very realistic considering that set it meant for the Maxis elevated highway. You've made me curious as to the full extent of possibilities capable using those two plugins. I can't wait to keep watching Robenia develop. Keep up the spectacular work!

Thank you for the wonderful comment, this is the exact type of comment I work so hard towards hoping to hear. I've put a lot of hard work into Robenia and its neighboring Sector 15. I'm glad you enjoy both cities, and particularily Sector 15, as it is my first try with industrial gritty cities.

Seeing as your so kind, and seeing as Sector 15 needs its roads named, I'll let you chose a name for the 8-C RHW highway passing through the city. Once again, thanks for the reply!

[ZeThomahawk 0]

WOW!! I feel so honored. I'm going to think about this one for a little bit to make sure it's the perfect name for your RHW. So probably by the time you have your next update, I'll have an idea for a name. Thank you!

After reviewing the Sector 15 update, I'm curious as to where you were able to download those underground rail lots, which, if my memory serves me correctly, were made by the Japanese BATter NOB. I remember years ago they were available for download, but during my research as of late, they seem to have become unavailable during my SC4 hiatus.

[Bipin 3,402]

They were indeed made by NOB, and are available for download on the BSC LEX. The lots were re- modded by the NAM team and work great, even UDI/automata compatible! Just search for "sunken glr" or "sunken light rail" on the LEX.

[ZeThomahawk 0]

Thanks again. They are great bats. too bad they're for GLR though. Well, who knows, maybe that means I should try implementing that transit network into a part of my city so I can utilize the wonderful look of those sunken rails. I'm done with questions, I feel I'm just spamming away on your page! haha

[sumwonyuno 42]

The concrete is a nice addition. Not everything is green and clean around highways.

[Bipin 3,402]

I have as of recently taken a break from the Robenia CBD, although this does not mean I have taken a break from SC4. Right now you're probably thinking that I took an unnecessarily long hiatus, but you'd be wrong. You'll see why in the next nine photos. On that note, let me present to you...

Cape Corodado

The suburban area of Cape Coronado; considered to be both the newest and largest of Robenia's Residential areas. In fact, it is so new, much of the area is still under construction, not unlike Robenia itself. Here we can see construction crews working the land in preperation for a new super-tall structure. Why in a residential area, you may ask? You'll find out near the end of this post.

We continue down the right side of the coast to find the work of landscapers. This beach area has been "spruced up" by expert landscape designers. The addition of trees and fine white grain sand has transformed the beach area all along the coast of Cape Coronado. In fact, it's transformed it so much that Sims seem to come here, just for the beaches, even though there aren't really any houses built yet.

Sims are already exploring the beautiful beaches of Cape Coronado. They come by boat from the Robenia CBD or older suburbs around Robenia, looking for a fresh, new place to go.

Moving along now, we'll be skipping the first inlet. You'll get a better taste of what these inlets look like in the upcoming pictures. This one is a bit small, which means it's packed with boat traffic. Not a good place to be now.

Coming around the coast, we can see another; larger inlet. It's just as busy as the last one, although there is much more room. Let's go explore!

Moving along the channel, it's easy to see the boat traffic can get quite heavy, even in this largely undeveloped suburb of Robenia! The beaches along this channel are protected from the pounding waves and strong currents. It's the perfect place to anchor your boat, just bring it up to shore and get a ride back to the beach with the harbour pilot.

Here we can see some of the first few residential developments at Cape Coronado. Developers expect to mix residential and low density commercial along the avenue. Note how the driveways go right up to the asphalt sidewalk/bike lane. The developers of the Cape Coronado were tired of seeing cars driving over the grass divider between the sidewalk and the road to leave their driveway.

Well, that's all folks! We come to the end of yet another Robenia installment, right back to the inlet of the channel we were just in. Be sure to tune in soon though, as Cape Coronado is constantly growing, in fact landscapers have already completed the unfinished area at the top of this picture. If you haven't been able to figure out where all these inlets lead to, perhaps the next; final picture will help:

Still not sure? Oh what the heck, we'll just tell you. This large suburban island will, when completed be in a shape similar to that of the Palm Islands in Dubai. My goal here was to create a North American version of the Palm islands. This is what I believe the North American counterpart would look like, and I put a lot of hard work into it. Months in fact, as I had to restart the region twice. A super-tall structure will be built near the bottom left of the above picture. It will serve as a key and defining piece on the island. With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this large update as much as I do, and feel free to suggest which skyscraper or other tall building should go at the end of the island!

[Fox 1,444]

What stunning creativity you have expressed! I'm very impressed with your work.

I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

[Schulmanator 5,787]

EXCELLENT!! Very well done

[AdoxxBE 289]

Really love the texture you're using, great cj btw

Can you tell me the name of those bushes? They look very realistic.

[Bipin 3,402]

Thank you, both Fox and Schulmanator, for commenting on my CJ. Comment's are always a pleasure to read!

Really love the texture you're using, great cj btw

Can you tell me the name of those bushes? They look very realistic.

The sand, sandstone textured gravel and grey gravel, as well as the bushes are part of the HBS MMP Flora Pack. The trees I use are from the Mattb and SimFox mayor mode flora sets. As for the boats, they are either self-lotted or from Goldiva's mayor mode flora and boats set.

[Roger51 381]

Well done!! Those pictures are amazing

[Bipin 3,402]

The development of communities in the Cape Coronado Suburbs is underway...

Every house lot you see in each and every one of these pictures was compiled in Lot Editor.

As you can guess, this took a lot of work. Especially since most props are HD. So on that note I hope you enjoyed this small update!

[AdoxxBE 289]

Great pics, I know what you mean with HD, the game starts to lag when you want to scroll around and sometimes crashes when you place to much stuff

Anyway, great pictures and love the quality!

[androidboi 57]

goodness me! amazing work here!

[Schulmanator 5,787]

VERY nice!

[TheOGnehogo 8]

Back to the interchange... Here we can see another entrance tunnel to the industrial and rail areas of Sector 15. Again, note the variety in elevations to make this area more compact.

I'll leave you with this final image of a typical compact diamond interchange, something common in older industrial North American cities.

I hope you enjoyed this update, I wanted to try something different and I believe I succeeded. Please comment and critique on just how successful I was. You know I love to hear what you have to say!

[MayorAwesome 12]

Fantastic! I have one question though; What terrain mod are you using?

[wwetom1 831]

Two fantastic pages at the start of what looks to be a very impressive and promising city journal.

Good work, and good luck!

[Bipin 3,402]

Thank you everyone for your comments. I can tell you now, you won't be disappointed with the next update! Let's get rolling with some replies:

Adoox: Thanks for the comment, hopefully that lag will change once I get my new computer.

Androidboi: Thank you very much, thats what I hope to hear after all this hard work!

Schulmanator: Thank you for dropping by once again. Always nice to hear what you have to say!

TheOGnehogo: Those guardrails are from an old, old RHW-4 mod by Maarten. The mod added metal guardrails and "EXIT" signs to RHW-4 and sometimes unintentionally to RHW 6S. The mod did a bunch of other unintentional things, so as far as I'm concerned its nowhere to be found on SC4D or Simtropolis.

MayorAwesome: I'm using the Pyreean Terrain Mod. It's made by the TSC and available on the ToutSimCities exchange. I'm a bit rushed right now, so I cant post it here, but the download links are also in my latest entry for this CJ in the CJ section of Simtropolis.

Wwetom1: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed viewing the CJ! I've put a lot of work into, glad to see it's paid off.

[Bipin 3,402]

I bet you didn't expect to see a teaser for my Robenia CJ today...

Resized to 79% (was 1023 x 994) - Click image to enlarge

...I also bet you'll be surprised to hear that no photo editing was done, save for the border, to this image. This is exactly how it appears in game, but what is it?

[emperordaniel 1,281]

Seriously? NO photo editing??? AWESOME!!!

[Bipin 3,402]

Part of how I achieved it is by using a modified version of SimFox's DarkNite. The mod was modified to give a slightly yellow, smoggier hue with more opacity to the sky when it is night.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Nice! I like it!

[bluemoose 223]

Lovely Photo! And the power lines give it that extra something... I love the duality between the first page sleek financial center and the grime of Sector 15 and teh interchange here. Really lovely!

[Benedict 3,119]

Great to see you back - and that picture has a great gritty/industrial look.

[Bipin 3,402]

I'll be starting up my CJ again, as it's summer time, which means more time for stuff I enjoy. The question is, how should I start it up. Should I focus on building a fully-HD suburbia viewed exclusively from zoom-6?

Or should I focus on a more contemporary metro area, such as one inspired by Boston or Chicago?

You decide! Tell me what you'd like to see. Before you do make a decision though, keep in mind that the suburban area is 95% HD (only 1 in 20 props/buildings are meant for zoom-5) and it will focus on hyper-detailing and realism. On the other hand, the metro area centers around a sunken highway flanked with some pretty cool skyscrapers and sunken highway walls (which I BATed).

Let me know what you think, and be sure to click on the pictures for full size, there is a big difference! I love to hear what you have to say, especially now.

[Charlie_Zane 963]

I'd have to choose the metro area, that highway and the walls look amazing!

[Bipin 3,402]

I'd have to choose the metro area, that highway and the walls look amazing!

Thanks for the reply, and I think that's what I'll go with for now! I find it can look just as good as the suburbs, in terms of detail, but requires much less work. Also, I may be releasing those highway walls, so look out!