Developing Macedon

[crazychickensc12 84]

Good luck on your surgery coming up soon, I'm sure everything will be fine and I will be patiently waiting for some more wonderful updates!!

[sorchin 18]

Yoman3: I'm sorry to hear that buddy. I hope you resolve it soon.. Good luck...

Nik-Nik: Hey buddy. I'm glad you've come back. I missed ya. I hope your doing well? Take care and Thanks...

jaqulina: Hello my good friend. No problem. It was my honor to do it..

raul39: Thanks buddy. The lumber yard can be found here. I'm sorry but I don't know where I got the containers from. I put together a custom lot and used those containers. Sometimes props are hard to find because they're buried in a DAT file and are very difficult to trace. If I find what file they belong to I'll let you know..

asturianu: Thanks mate and welcome..

aleking: Hey mate. I appreciate the compliment. Especially since you have the one of the best shipping ports (if not the best) on Simtropolis..

mwd2: Hello and welcome to Simtropolis my friend. I appreciate the compliment and I'm glad I helped you out..

patriots_1228: Hey buddy thanks so much. You honor me Step by step is a trademark of this CJ. People seem to enjoy it so I'll continue doing it.. Thanks again mate..

salut221: Thanks and welcome my friend..

slann: Hello my good friend. I'm glad you've visited my cj again mate. I hope to see you back again soon..

crazychickensc12: Thansk buddy I really appreciate that my friend.. Take care...

Update 39: Westfork Coal and Iron Ore Mine. Dedicated to patriots_1228 

Sorry my friends for a lack of updates over this past week. As many of you know I'm schedueled for Rotator Cuff surgery Wednesday September 6th. As a result work this week has been literally day and night. I had a little time yesterday and earlier today to put something together. Most of what you see has been customized in some way. There are two main lots that I focused on. One is the Coal and Iron Ore mine. The other is the bucket wheel excavator (bottom of page). I hope you enjoy..

This first pic is where the mine will be located..

Time to get down to business. Lets terraform.

Lets dig the hole...

The idea is to lower the pit as low as it will go without hitting in game water. (You'll have to imagine the mine itself goes deep below ground)...

I want to create a rail line that will go directly into the pit.. Lets gently ease it downslope...

Alright. Now lets add the mine itself...

Lets ease a dirt street downslope as well...

Time to add some custom made dirt roads plus Somy's massive buckett wheel excavator... Notice the arrows, Whenever I tried to add one of my custom dirt roads beside the in game dirt streets, they streets would turn the regular paved grey with added sidewalks. I didn't want this. Check out how I resolved this (two pics down)..

Lets add some coal and iron ore mounds for the excavator to have a use other than looking pretty...

To resolve the dirt road turning to grey asphalt problem I simply added a tiny little BAT. The BAT itself is a 1x2 lot but I placed it on a 1x1 lot so that it overhangs over the lot. So in reality the maxis dirt street is NOT beside another lot, therefore it won't turn grey.. (I hope I'm not confusing anyone)..

This is the result..Please keep in mind it was literally put together within about 10 minutes..

Ok a big excavator such as this is going to leave some big  dirt and mud tracks right? So lets add some now...

Lets add florra to blend everything in....

Another angle...

And a panned out view of the completed area...

I plann on building a few industries and homes on the right side of the last pic in my next update. I hope to have one last update before my surgery, perhaps Tuesday?? But I have much to do before then for RL..

I'll certainly be commenting in your journals by the end of the weekend

Have an amazing day everyone...

[crazychickensc12 84]

Another amazing update, and I love that excavator, ive seen pics in real life and it looks the same, great mine!!

EDIT: Whats that blue,white, red beach ball lookin thing?? Water tower?

[GMT 389]

wow... this mine looks awesome.

waiting for more

[bat 6]

Looks very beautiful!

bat

[jacqulina 162]

awesome work steve my good friend i loved the step by step and what a result looks so real there inamongst the trees, that excavater is wonderfull,i have that problem with the dirt roads turning to the grey its very frustrating trying to get round it, i hope all goes well for you in your surgery

[Yoman3 5]

Jaw Drops

Checks to see if sorchin is looking in his brain.

Holy crap, awsome my friend just awsome!!!! That is an awsome update. The mine, everything is awsome!!!

I have that bucket wheel excavator and was going to have it chisel into the side of a mountain in Ankara some time.

[salut221 10]

Awesome work man ! I also like the exacavator lol

[raul39 0]

Looks great! The rock texture looks great with the mine. sweet...

[cowcorn 11]

Great mine! Very good use of the excavator. Get well!

[Nardo69 51]

Amazing Update and the first time I saw an halfway adequate use for the excavator but I guess you never saw "German Mining", did you?

These huge excavators cannot work on muddy ground since they are way too heavy. Instead these huge babies are working in deep stone areas where the area is too sour for any plants too grow. The one I saw in a brown coal mine between Köln and Aachen some years ago (appr. 250 meter below normal surface ... ) was sitting on gravel and stone and had some free spaces around it.

For some resarch on these babies look here (german links, sorry):

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagebau_Garzweiler

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagebau_Hambach

http://www.rwe.com/generator.aspx/standorte/braunkohle/tagebaue/hambach/language=de/id=8774/hambach-page.html

These are the biggest holes in Germany as far as I know, Hambach I saw personally some years ago and it is really ... breathtaking ...

So IMHO you should give it way more space ...

Anyway great work ... !

Bernhard

Bernhard

[cityhawk 12]

I think this is the first time that I've seen that massive bucket wheel excavator in a CJ. I never knew where exactly I would use it if I were to use it, but I do now! It looks great with all the dirt and rocks and other cool lots, and nice way of solving the problem with the dirt streets (I wish I could make custom stuff like that!). I look forward to more! Also, in case there's no update before Wednesday, good luck with your rotator cuff surgery.

[PhilsCafe 8]

Awesome mine there buddy! Once again, your amount of details is outstanding. And I love that huge crane... it really makes this setup work. There's absolutely nothing to complain about, really loved that update.

Take care Steve!

- Phil

[moganite 4]

These are fantastic pics I am making some mines in my CJ but I have the proble of no room before I hit water i would love to know where you go this stuff from.

I noticed you used alot of .PNG files it took a while to load it is better to use jpegs if possible as they are quicker. It still looks great when it loaded.

[asturianu 4]

WOW! Sorchin, your pics always impress me. Awesome mills! Really Great, Sorchin.

[Zelgadis 638]

Well, I'm still going through this CJ and it's great!  Noticed the castle you're making a couple of pages back.  Can't wait to see it finished!  I know somebody who might need something just like that in his own CJ. 

ISF

[____----____ 37]

THe best mine ever and only cause i like it and your cj so much a couple of ideas

the loli pop looking thing should go

the flora maybe mix in some of the burnt lodge poles

to give the land that abused look and have you ever

thought of making one of these lots have a bunch

of IDor IM jobs for the mine?

IT LOOKS FRIGGIN SWEET either way

ALek

[ript73 0]

Wow, sorchin! Blew me away with that update! Love the custom lots you created. Any chance of releasing them to the STEX? Great presentation of how you created the mine. Really keeps me coming back to your CJ. Good luck with the surgery!

Cya around!

[Kwakelaar 92]

What a gigantic monster, and stil very nicely fitted into your CJ.

[dedgren 830]

Whoa, Steve...

...but that's for later.

Best of luck with your surgery tomorrow.  Be thinkin' about you all day.

David

[sorchin 18]

I just want to thank all of you for your well wishes concerning my Surgery (which is in about 10 hours from now). I really appreciate it...

crazychickensc12: Hey buddy. Thanks for your compliments. LOL It's a water tower which has been replaced with a more appropriate one..

GMT: Thanks as always mate...

bat: Thanks my friend...

raul39: Thanks buddy... I appreciate it...

jaqulina:Thank you for your amazing support Jacky...

Yoman3: LOL. Very humorous my good friend. It's a huge contraption but a beautiful one I think. I'm going to make the entire area much bigger when I have the chance... Thanks buddy...

salut221: Thanks my good friend. I appreciate it mate...

cowcorn. Thanks as always buddy..

Nardo69: Thanks alot my friend for those pics. I goy the idea to do this area by watching something on TV concerning the worlds biggest earth movers (or something like that). However I wasn't really sure what kind of terrain they moved best in. What I'll do (if it's cool with you) is take one of those pictures and make a new texture or two and redo the ground. I am also going to make the entire area much bigger, I made it small at first to get some feedback to see what people thought of it. For the most part it's positive, so I'll continue with it. I would also like to create a BAT or two made specifically for this area... Thanks for your info my good friend..

cityhawk: Thanks as always mate: The BAT is difficult at first but once you get the hang of it it's actually quite fun to use, if a little tedious.. If you want to learn it try this tutorial first... Take care and thanks ...

PhilsCafe: As always your great support is appreciated my good friend. Thanks Phil...

moganite: Hey buddy welcome to my cj.. They are actually jpeg pics, I'm not sure why it takes so long to load. It takes long for me too.. Most of the stuff is custom made in the Lot Editor, there is also a BAT or two I made as well as some textures (the mud tracks) I created. When I have mad enough textures or a new BAT I'll probably release some of this stuff. Much of it you can make via the Lot Editor. Take care and thanks for stopping by and commenting mate...

asturianu: Thanks very much my friend...

 zelgadis: Hey mate welcome to my cj. I'm not sure when that Castle will be done (it might take time for me to recover from my surgery). But I hope I can get back to work on it before too long (I would love to see it in your great cj).. I appreciate the comments my friend. 

Aleking: Hey buddy, LOL the lollipop is gone, it's been replaced by a more appropriate water tower, that's a good idea adding some dead logpole pines (see the pics below), I'm planning on adding an entire area of di residential areas, the Jamison Steel factory etc.. to this area. I'm also going to expand the "pit" area as well. I appreciate and respect your insight my good friend...

ript73: Hey buddy thanks my friend. When I get enough textures and little BATS together I will upload to the STEX, I'm working on so many things right now I'm not sure when though Thanks for wishing me luck mate...

Kwakelaar: Thanks buddy. I'm glad to see you. I hope all is well... Take care Gjermund...

dedgren: Thanks very much David, eeechhs. I should be in bed now, 9 hrs till surgery, (shhh, don't tell anybody..)

Teaser Update: Dedicated to dedgren

Sorry everyone. Only a couple of teaser pics for today.  I have a bunch of pics but didn't have time to upload to imageshack (not to mention Simtropolis). I'll have the full update as soon as I'm physically able

I have added th Jamison Steel Factory as well as a Freight station and a Train Maintenace yard just North of the Coal, Cobalt, Iron Ore mine(s)..

Here are the two pics..

In the full update I'll show you how I got to this point. There is still lots to do as well..

Take care everyone. I hope to be back by the weekend (or sooner)..

[cowcorn 11]

Great teaser! I'll watch to see what you do with it next.

[Yoman3 5]

I love it my friend!!! Cant wait

[crazychickensc12 84]

Awesome teaser!! can't wait for that update!!

[owenluby 1]

Wow! Fabulous work!

That huge digger rocks!

[jacqulina 162]

hi steve my good friend i hope everything went ok with your surgery get well soon,awesome work great teaser pics cant wait to see more when you are able

[bat 6]

wonderful teaser!

bat

[ginchael 1]

Sorry I haven't been around recently--I just started college and its been a crazy couple of weeks...

Great updates, love the mining updates. I tried to do something similar to that in Armalis, but yours is much, MUCH better, as always.

It might be a little late now, but good luck on your surgery. Hope you get better soon!

[raul39 0]

Woah! That's great. It's amzing how you can mix the forest in with the Industry and still be able to make it look nice! I'm barely learning how to do that in my cj and I found out that the anwser to that is as always, the stex.

Good luck with your surgery buddy, hope to see you back soon!

[____----____ 37]

nice to see all that iron ore will be used so efficiently at the Jamison steel works

nice planning

AK