City of Torchlight

[4star 0]

Hello and welcome to my very first city journal. A little about myself first. I am 30+ and been a gamer since early 80s I guess if you count my C64 and NES 8-bit. The last 5-6 years I have mostly played World of Warcraft which takes up a lot of time (it's an online game). It was hard to maintain real life that includes two kids and a wife. I still play it but have stopped raiding so it's on a more casual basis and mostly playing due to a wonderful guild. I also greatly enjoy RPGs and played many over the past years, latest one being Witcher 2 (which I highly recommend). Now when it comes to city sims I have played all Sim City games and the last one pretty much but I never got around to making a city journal though. I've had Cities XL 2011 for quite some time but haven't really started playing it since it was so laggy. This was however a version I found somewhere on the web *coughs coughs*. Now I decided to buy it as a good citizen, hoping the legal version would be less laggy and work better. Which it doesn't but I decided to play it anyway. I turn of most graphics when I build and put em on for screenshots. It's not optimal but guess it works. I live with the hope that a future patch will make it perform better and will try the multitool thing today that supposedly makes the game balance over your processor cores. I'll see. And please ignore grammar / spelling. English is NOT my native language. Well that's a short background.

Now here I am. Decided to actually build a serious city and not start over, but keep working on it. I chose the name Torchlight because I recently played a game called that and I think it's a beautiful name on a city. I wasn't planning on making a city journal and we'll see how long I am encouraged to keep doing it. But as I looked around my city I got really eager to show my work to fellow players that also enjoy city sims and in particular this game. Only thing I miss in the game at the moment is a proper train / rail system. As in commuter / freight trains. If anyone know a good mod for it please reply.

Map: Wetlands

Mods:

Oh and I use the unlocker thingie by GlobexCo as well. Just forgot to copy those to MODS folder.

My very rough plan on how the city will develop and look --> >> CLICKY <<

All images will be thumbnails. If you want a closer look I suggest clicking them and then right-click the image and choose "Show picture" to see them in full size. (or use the magnifying glass on it)

Feel free to ask questions, comment and / or suggest. (constructive criticism is ok and general praise can be accepted as well if subtle!)

EDIT: After some consideration I will instead resize images to make the CJ look better. It's a hassle to click thumbnails

Not sure how much I will write. At first I felt like making a story but we'll see as I go along with this city journal. But enough writing for now. I want to welcome you all to...

Torchlight was founded in 1763 by explorer and botanist Edmund Filtentag. He was thrilled by the rich flora of the region and settled down. He later became known for discovering several new plants and also ingredients for modern medicines. The name Torchlight is probably what people called it due to the dark nights in the region, requiring people to use lights when they ventured outside. Nobody is sure however where the name hails from. The city itself began growing during the later half of the 1800. Not many pictures can be found from that time obviously. There is however one (courtesy of Margaret Griffin) that displays the city hall that is located on River Street. The house itself still stands there today even if no official work is being done there, it's more of a museum these days and a gathering place for the people that reside in Old Torchlight (that lies to the north of the more modern and new downtown).

Another old picture (owner unknown but it can be found in the city hall archives) showing off some farm landscape. In the photo we can see one of the first schools that was built. Some houses and a silo. All structures still stands there as of today.

Old Torchlight is these days a small community with a population around 4000. Most of the residents are working class but there are some academics living there as well. Most of the ones with a university education and high income is either working at the Institute of Agriculture or at some of the more recent high-tech offices that has been built. All in all it's a small little town with lot's of atmosphere and everybody knows somebody that knows somebody they know. A few more recent pictures showing the centre of Old Torhlight.

The old entrance to the town can be seen in the picture below. Now there's a bigger road built, that runs south of town and that connects to several other roads. One leading south through the farming landscape towards East Torchlight / Downtown and other one west towards the Highway and Princeton Industrial Enclave (P.I.E).

The Institute of Agriculture can be seen here.

Some pictures displaying the variety of Old Torchlight. There's houses that was built in the late 1800's and more recent developing. The city may be small but it's not dead. On the contrary, it's located near one of the big freight routes and is the states natural place where most Agriculture export is being handled. The small city also attracts tourists that want to experience an impressive farmland and see the how the original Torchlight looks.

The farmlands are impressive and they cover a very large area and stands for a big part of Torchlights income. Some of the farms range back from late 1700's and have been handed down for many generations. The farmers of Torchlight are proud and competent, so the goods they produce are of the highest quality. Many tourists tend to take a trip through the landscape and enjoy one of the many Bed & Breakfast places that can be found scattered between the farms and fields.

Sign of the times! Even if everyday life in Old Torchlight can be described in very different words if compared to the Downtown district or more recent development like Cape Kinta there's still some "city life" to be found if one looks. Recently a fast-food chain opened one of it's resturants in Old Torchlight on Fence Street. And if one were to venture to the old foundry beneath the eastern bridge there's some modern graffiti to be found (the place is a favourite for Old Torchlights younger generation and they hang out there or at Sam's Grill most of the times).

Stay tuned for updates...

  Edited June 14, 2011 by 4star  

[4star 0]

This just in. Breaking news.

Due to heavy rainstorms and thunder over the region, any work taking place outside (like construction) has been halted. Nobody should go outside if possible.

Stay inside and try to listen to the news (there's is a disturbance at the moment with the television broadcasting but radio seems to be working for now.

Hopefully the region wont suffer too much damage and we have a submitted picture showing the view from one of the newly built areas in East Torchlight.

Grab the image in higher resolution: >>Here<<

[4star 0]

After a long night, dawn is slowly coming to Torchlight and just before 5 AM (CFT+2) the television broadcasting came back on.

This is what most residents in Torchlight was watching.

[4star 0]

East Torchlight Update

This aerial photo was recently taken to show local politicians how development looks as of now. As a step towards further plans of the city, this image amongst several others now serve as reference material over at the Department of City Landscape.

Some other photos taken from high above ground displays how a new neighbourhood is planned and eventually finished.

Infrastructure is being worked on and, as pictures below display, many of the current roads are being worked on in some way. The main goal is to make a main highway system that connects to all existing parts of the city and also make sure new ones are planned accordingly.

Water was becoming an increasing problem as it had to be imported at a very costly price. Thus plans were made and after some work and a lot of investment, TWC (Torchlight Water Company) was founded and has already started building and supplying the city with water. Lowering the import by a stunning 50% already, this was a very good investment.

East Torchlight is a living part of the city. A part where old meets new. Most who reside here have above the average income (even though there's parts that houses working class as well) and are in the age span of 20 to 60. It's the part of Torchlight that took those first steps towards becoming a metropolis. The houses range from villas to large apartment complexes. Many where built in the early 1900's, but there's also a lot of new development. Some random pictures will display the beauty of East Torchlight.

Plans are currently being developed for Princeton Industrial area and Uptown / Downtown.

The traffic is currently being looked upon as the city grows. These two images were released to the public to display the flow of traffic and current road map as well.

  Edited June 15, 2011 by 4star  

[Fox 1,444]

Nice pictures.. love the map and the street layouts and the creative bridge work.

Pretty fun picture of people sun baking in the park ... lol!

[4star 0]

Thanks! Glad someone looked and liked it.

[sanfe96 0]

Nice city it's a good work, continues with this city, its very promising.

[4star 0]

Local politicians have recently collected a vast amount of aerial photos over the region. An impressive collection of images and data can be found at city hall (currently in a temporary building in East Torchlight until newer areas are built) for anyone interested. Everything seems to be going Torchlights way these days as the city is growing rapidly and all according to the plans made. The population are now just above 60k and every one (well apart from a few citizens that are never happy) seems to agree that Torchlight is indeed a great place to live and work in. Infrastructure funding has increased by over 150% as highways and bridges are being constructed to a) make a better flow in traffic and b) prepare for coming high density areas that are planned. A couple of photos made their way to the public.

Showing the region from above as it looks today. Notice the many new roads.

Current traffic flow. Which has been quite an issue lately and many roads / streets has been re-built. To meet higher usage.

Some smart-a** down at city hall thought it would be funny to colour the satisfaction map all green. This is, most likely, not how happy the citizens are but nobody knows for sure. The man who coloured the houses on the map claimed it was his dog that did it, but security cameras proved him a liar and he is now being replaced to more fitting duties.

A map displaying the variety of the region. There seems to be a good mix of all kinds of workers, ranging from working class to the most competent elites.

******************************************************************************* * * * * *

Well I have been busy tonight with roads mostly. Tried to finish up East Torchlight but not quite there yet. I plan on making my next update sometime this week but new residents usually means new problems So we'll see when it comes. I did however take lots of screens tonight but didn't have a chance to look them over yet. So made some quick maps to show current progress on the city. Must say I am pretty happy with it so far.

And it really made my day that somebody is actually reading it and that some of you commented!

[Fox 1,444]

Great update... love the commentary too

Can't wait to see what you have planned for the business area. Remember it's not such a large area once you start laying roads. I recommend you lay larger roads to start with as well, so you don't have traffic problems in future and need to bulldoze a lot to make room for the newer roads.

Look forward to the next update!

[4star 0]

Great update... love the commentary too

Can't wait to see what you have planned for the business area. Remember it's not such a large area once you start laying roads. I recommend you lay larger roads to start with as well, so you don't have traffic problems in future and need to bulldoze a lot to make room for the newer roads.

Look forward to the next update!

Thanks man! Appreciate the feedback! And yeah exactly what I did today hehe. Started with laying out roads / building an expressway tunnel under the commercial district of downtown.

So today I been building roads like crazy so haven't had much time to actually build on the city itself. I finished East Torchlight completely now though and started on the Downtown area. Will probably take a few days now until next big update. So posting how the region looks so far (click thumbnail as it's quite a large image) and some work in progress stuff I done today.

Region map:

Downtown housing projects:

Farmlands work in progress:

[4star 0]

Well since I can't almost play without some severe lag and freezing (low or high settings doesn't matter) I haven't really taken any screenshots as it's just a pain to build at all. I am hoping to find some way around this somehow to make the game more playable. I do build a little at a time until I get too frustrated and exit hehe. So posting some work in progress pics over the downtown area and an aerial view over the region so far.

Enjoy!

  Edited June 20, 2011 by 4star  

[Fox 1,444]

Looks great ... I like the interesting/complicated bridges you have added!

Sad to hear you are having such lag issues, as I've never experienced any with my game, I can only imagine the frustration you are feeling.

What is your current population btw?

[4star 0]

Looks great ... I like the interesting/complicated bridges you have added!

Sad to hear you are having such lag issues, as I've never experienced any with my game, I can only imagine the frustration you are feeling.

What is your current population btw?

Current population 176k

And yes it's really annoying. My computer isn't high-end by any means but it runs visually impressive and cpu heavy games like WItcher 2 fine on medium / high settings. This games lags so bad it freezes for a few sec everytime I try to do anything. Problem is (from what I read) it's poorly optimized and only uses 1 core even if you have more. It also leaks memory. Hopefully I can find some way around it as I would like to work more on the city. Glad you like the roads!