The Unorthodox CJ

[ThirtyThree 141]

 

Hello, and welcome to 'The Unorthodox CJ' where the story is made up and the money doesn't matter! That's right, the money doesn't matter just like Britney Spears' latest music video.

 

"Now, ThirtyThree, what is so unorthodox about this CJ?"

-I would try to think of a witty answer, but I really should explain. The Unorthodox CJ is going to be my version of a CJ featuring the growth of my city region (which is a 4x4 region, so I'm just considering it a large city.) Money is no object in this CJ as I am out to try to make my best looking city in two aspects: attractive to my eyes and realism.

 

I hope that you will join me on my journey.

 

Enter now, The Orthodox Valley!

 

Of course, that's only half of the entire region. I edited the pic only to show the regions I have worked with. As I said, I am using a smaller region, which is Blade's '  I should probably note ahead of time that I am using an ' mod to earn money and to also fairly unlock any rewards. I will highlight any specific mods that I use when the time comes.

 

Now as you can see in the above picture, I am currently working on the entire street/transit layout of my region, albeit little by little and bit by bit. On the major parts of my region, which I am obviously working with at the moment, I am going by a variety of grid designs. I'll see how everything works with all of this as I go. I'm also experimenting with the RHW and you'll see some messy interchanges and you'll have to hold yourself back to comment "Oh COME ON ThirtyThree! You took up that much space to make a trumpet?"

 

I should also note that I've just got back into SC4 after a few years due to me wanting to play it a lot, so I will be learning to use the RHW, NAM, and the works. I hope you will follow and enjoy my project. More updates on the region to come soon, as well as a photo of the region in transportation map view. 

 

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[Schulmanator 5,787]

Any reference to one of my favorite shows make me intrigued! Rock on!

[Stevphfeniey 35]

Agreed, I think this CJ definitely needs lots of Wayne Brady

[ThirtyThree 141]

REPLIES (from a hat):

 

Schulmanator: I'm glad you enjoyed the reference, and I do assure you that there will be plenty more. Thanks for the comment!

The Steve: ...as much Wayne Brady as Colin needs hair, methinks. Thanks for commenting!

 

I have some small updates today. I found a water mod that suited what I wanted perfectly, and that water mod would be Dogfight's 'https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1387'>Muddy Lake Water', found on the LEX. I wanted a dirty, muddy water mod for my rivers. Why? I think it looks tons more realistic, especially in the city setting. Here's a pic to wet your whistles...

 

Remember to keep in mind I'm working strictly with the road layout and mass transit systems at the moment. Nothing has been zoned yet. I plan to be finished with the road layout by the end of the week. But with all the monotonous grids, I can still have some fun, eh?

 

Meet the abrupt ending of the East Orthodox Freeway, I-70 in Baltimore style!

 

Now, of course, I purposely ended it in a parking lot like so. For added fun, I've cleared space for where the expansion would be, but you'll see more of that later. There's also another highway stub on the other side of the city, but I may actually get to completing that one since it would fare very good for Sims' commute... but then again, I-70 would fare well for commuters as well... hmm. We'll see what happens, but  I'm keeping the E. Orthodox Frwy stub because I like that one. 

 

aaaaaaaand here's the region view as of tonight. As you can see, I've completed the eastern sector and the northeastern sector as well. I don't plan on much expansion up north of the city.

[ThirtyThree 141]

Today's update (Happy August, everyone!)

 

I was experimenting with the new Seawalls I downloaded and also with the RHW. I can't say I am disappointed in the results in any way. Took me a couple hours, but I like it. If anyone can guess what my setup is based from (minus the el train), you'll get a... cookie and perhaps a good feeling that you got it right? I don't know.

 

 

Either way, I found out how to make elevated RHW and use the seawalls.

[Dazzyls 576]

Nice update, but was this the first time you experimented with the elevated RHW? If that's so, it's pretty good!

[tshirt23 75]

Really nice job with the highway!  The elevated rail in the center looks awesome.

[ThirtyThree 141]

REPLIES (from a hat):

 

Ultimate727: Yes, this was the first time I ever used elevated RHW. I was experimenting with the double deck RHW first (I was curious to see how it worked; I wasn't actually using it for anything yet.) and I figured I'd try to implement something other than the regular ground level RHW, so I tried the elevated and it gave me what I think is my favorite picture of my project yet. Thank you for commenting!

tshirt23: Thank you! The el train in the center of the highway was inspired by the section of SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line that is directly in the middle of I-95 here in Philly. Of course, that is where Spring Garden Station is, but unfortunately I cannot build any el stations in the middle of the highway. That's okay, though, since it's part of my subway system. I just thought it would be cool to fill the empty gap between the two roads by having the el come up for a bit.

 

Not a big update today since I spent most of my freetime searching the STEX for BATs that I liked, but I've been filling a lot of open areas with trees while taking out the trees that were inside of the street grids where zoning would be. I like doing this because it makes it a lot easier for me to determine where the endless, monotonous gridded streets end. In turn, that will be the border of the city of Orthodox. at least on the south side of the river. The part I worked on today is the region west of the city. I will be doing this on each region. More updates to come later.

 

 

[Benedict 3,119]

The image you have in your update is really too small and blurry to get a feel for the work you've put into it - I'd like to see more detail like your previous update.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

Replies from a hat!  Hahaha, this is awesome.  Some interesting pictures to top it off, this is a cool start to your cj.

[ThirtyThree 141]

REPLIES (from a hat):

Benedict: Sorry about that; it was from region view. What I was really trying to show in that update is how the trees looked from region view in contrast to how they looked in the very first post on the thread. Nevertheless, thank you for the comment!

NMUSpidey: Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying my CJ so far.

 

Not much of an update today. I haven't played SC4 since the last update. Why?

EMBANKMENTS.

Usually I'm patient with things... but with embankments? NOPE. I love the effect of them and how much more realistic they make coasts in more urban parts of the city look... however, I don't exactly have much patience with them. I jumped back into the game a few days ago, but haven't done much until tonight. I spent almost six hours on what you're about to see.

 

Now, that bridge didn't always want to be a double-decker... (and no, it didn't want to be a lumberjack either.)

...it was originally going to be just like how the twin bridges look in the update where I feature the sports stadium. But all thanks to my lack of patience, embankments, and the fact that there is a tiny height difference between the two coasts, double-decker was my only choice.

That's all I really had to share tonight. I'm going to work on re-doing the grid of the downtown portion of the city since it wasn't very exciting (or practical).

 

Also, could someone tell me how to disable the grid while I take pictures? Thank you in advance.

[Dazzyls 576]

Nice, man!

[ThirtyThree 141]

REPLIES (from a hat):

Ultimate727: Thank you!

 

Semi-large update today. I am about 75% finished re-doing the street layout. I spent most of the time redoing River Drive (the two one way streets that run alongside each other on the outer rim of the city.) I upgraded them to the three lane one ways and added GLR in the middle. Originally, I was just going to keep the subway that ran under it, but I decided against it. While not entirely finished yet (I only have one station on it), I'm very happy with the outcome and I can't wait to see the trains run up and down the coast.

 

I was working on the southern portion of downtown when I decided to go all out on it and make it look photo worthy to add some eye candy to this CJ. The parking lot variant of the SAM can get irritating to work with at times, but the results never fail to please.

 

Then some more buildings were plopped and parking lots added.

 

 

 

...and an EL station was added in between the expressway, providing quick access from the west edge of the city to the GLR without having to drive on my haphazard RHW experiments.

 

Lastly, the Space Needle, because why not?

[ThirtyThree 141]

Can I interest you in some... moderately high skyscrapers?

I was working on perfecting the downtown area of Orthodox and I really like how it looks so far. Here's the downtown from all four angles.

 

North:

 

East:

 

South:

 

 

West:

 

And some closeups:

 

On the east side of the river is the city's main hospital, Harbor Medical Center.

 

And here's how most of the rest of the city is looking so far.

 

Lots of work left to do on this city tile alone, but I think it's coming along very nicely.

[Dazzyls 576]

I like the close-ups! It's nice to see your city growing, but where are your commercial and industrial areas?

[ThirtyThree 141]

REPLIES (from a hat):

Ultimate727: You'll see them in action a few updates later. Right now, I'm just zoning and perfecting the layout of the city and plopping down civics (and beautification). Thanks!

 

 

 

Not much of an update today, but I just wanted to show you a picture of the city tile I'm working with from region view (highlighted.)

 

There's really nothing to report on lately due to the fact I'm just putting zones down. This will probably take a while, so updates may be slow for the next week. Nonetheless, good things come to those who wait... unless you're Colin Mochrie and you're waiting for hair to grow.

[Dazzyls 576]

It looks like Seattle with those mid-high skyscrapers and the space needle!

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

wow, you've put a ton of work into this already!  I like how you're planning everything out first.  Don't know if you ever found this out but press G to turn off the grid for pics (I think).  I'll be patiently waiting for new developments.

[TekindusT 3,809]

You're on the way of having a realistic and attractive downtown! Never liked that embankment tiles, but this is just a matter of personal taste.

[ThirtyThree 141]

REPLIES (from a hat):

 

Ultimate727: Seattle is one of my favorite cities. I guess some of my adoration of the city is rubbing off onto Orthodox. Thanks for the comment!

BlondeTwiggy: I think it's best to lay out everything first instead of just going right into it and playing by ear. Also, G did turn off the grid. Thanks for the comment and letting me know how to turn off the grid!

TekindusT: I'm glad you think so! As for the embankment, I prefer one that I had just downloaded the other day, but I'm too lazy to go redo three large city tiles worth of embankments. Plus, I think it fits my city well. Thanks!

 

I've taken a break from the main city of Orthodox to work on the suburbs and outlying cities and towns - including Belmar and Lewandoswki Township. I (somewhat) introduced Belmar in update #3, but now you get to see it all.

 

 

The central business district.

 

I'm really proud of how I did this, honestly. It's not very pretty, but it works well.

 

 

 

 

I'll have some pics of the other small towns in the next update since I still have a bit of work to do on those.

[nhgriffith 179]

These pictures look very cool.

 

Two tips.

 

1. To turn the grid on/off, simply push G.

2. You can greatly reduce the emphasis on the arrows on one-way-roads with NAM.  All you have to do is re-install NAM (don't uninstall, just run the installer again), and go to custom options when installing and look through everything.  Somewhere in there are some options for the way OWRs look.  Pictures like the one here are a good example of why it's a good idea to reduce the graphical emphasis on those arrows: 

 

[Dazzyls 576]

Really awesome! Were you active on other SC4 forums earlier, or not? It's like you were.

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

The first pic is very impressive!

[SC4Fanatic 3]

WOW!!! Looks good to me. Great job.

[ThirtyThree 141]

If anyone was waiting for this to be updated, then I'm afraid Colin Mochrie will have a better chance at growing hair than this CJ will have for getting another update. 

It's more or less the same story as 'computer broke, didn't back up CJ, CJ now gone.'

 

However, I'm planning a new region (yes, region - not city) as my next CJ. I'm doing this in conjunction with two cities that I had built on The Sims 2 way back in 2009. I did a lot with those two cities online (regularly sharing pics, etc) and I figured to commemorate it, I'd build the two areas in conjunction on SC4.

 

I'm hoping to start working on it soon. I'm going to be using a tons more custom content and I'm not going to rush it as much. 

 

Until then,

-ThirtyThree

[mayorbk 66]

Very nice work so far, the central business district really stands out from the sprawl around it.