San Diego: A Reinterpretation

[APSMS 1,892]

Hi everyone,

So this is my foray into MDing/CJing. Good to be here, though I must say this is mainly to force myself to get in the habit of preparing stuff for display.

First things first...

I'm playing on a map of San Diego, CA (surprise, surprise ;D), made by the NHP and blade2k5. I think it might be slightly underscaled compared to the practical scaling of the game, but in general I'm very happy with it. Because this is my first MD and because I'm not the most original with names, many will be lifted straight from their real-life counterparts, and will often reflect the real locations in-game. However, the extent with which they match the real world comes to my next point...

This is not a recreation CJ. I will not be attempting to make everything exactly like it is in the real city. Game limitations, personal disagreements with the current city development, and creative factors all play a role. (Plus, what's the point of using the game pics when we can just use the real ones?) Be aware, then, that names may be altered and elements included/removed when compared to the real San Diego (for any who might've been confused by the occasional different name/roadway/etc.)

I will also be building this region as we go along. Many parts of the city are not finished, and may show up from time to time in the pictures. I've noticed that my play style has changed as I've found this site and been exposed to both custom content as well as the way other users play the game. I try to make every city functional, though I will be using the occasional cheat lot for purposes of aesthetic. I want to be able to adapt and adjust my building style as we go along, hopefully with your help. I unfortunately have no time for both an MD and modding, so none (or very little) of that will be seen here, but hopefully you can give me vital feedback about the project as a whole and maybe even make some decisions about how certain parts of the city develop.

Enough about what this MD isn't. First, some pics. Most pics are available in full size. Just click!

1. Old city hall. Now it's used by the county for paper pushing, and is a popular place for business lunches due to the park and the bay that's directly in front of the building (not shown).

Click here for a Z5 mosaic (warning 4mb 3880x2150 res)

2. Key Tower, the second tallest building in the city. It was built amidst much controversy, but we'll discuss that later.
You can see the Emerald Towers and the new Government Center towards the right.


3. Highway 395, part of the city-wide scenic route, and very crowded during rush hour. It also happens to run through the San Diego's "Central Park," known as Balboa Park and also home to San Diego's World Famous Zoo.


4. Banker's Hill. This is just north of main downtown, and primarily consists of mid-rises with the occasional high-rise building. An old height restriction for Lindbergh Field to the west and the large number of historic homes under the Mills Act has kept this part of the city mostly flat, especially compared to downtown just a few blocks south.


5. The city has revived steam power on it's commuter rails, and in a joint effort was able to convince the San Diego and Imperial Railway (SDIR) to also use steam engines on it's daytime freight runs. The switch was for a number of reasons, including a need for increased ridership, a large amount of inexpensive regional coal (esp. compared to current diesel prices), the increased tourism draw, and a glut of manual laborers that would be put to work in maintaining the engines. (the lower unemployment rates were what drew the attention of the currently unpopular government)


As a final note, you may have noticed from my previous posts on this site that I suffer from a lack of brevity (wordiness, etc.) Hopefully I will improve this too, as we go along. No sense in being tedious; descriptions should be interesting and informative. Let me know if it's boring.

That's all for now.

 

ST Forum Archive!

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Great start! Your pictures are really good

[APSMS 1,892]

Hi all,

It's been a busy couple of months, and I've been slowly developing the city, but haven't felt like there was anything really complete to show you, until I remembered that this was a WIP MD, so development pictures were par for the course. I've yet to get around to plopping all of the things that I need to (like the park areas and such), but it's coming along nicely. This will be a very picture heavy update to capture the progress that I've made so far in the areas surrounding the downtown. All overviews are looking north unless otherwise noted. Click on all pictures for full size!

1.First, an overview of the developed portion of the region:


2.We start at the western edge of the city, in Point Loma:


3.Some nice gridbusting, I think. The winding road is CA Rte 209 to the Point Loma lighthouse. Looking north:


4.Downtown Ocean Beach. The businesses are still in development; the farms are primarily job placeholders. The blue trolley line runs in the street by the coast. Looking north:


5.Some less expensive Point Loma homes:


6.A close-up to illustrate some of the variety of the homes that you might find here. They're all custom built, so each house is unique:


7.All of the non-canyon areas will eventually be filled up with residential. Looking north:


8.Skipping over to Lindbergh Field (and passing by West Field, since there's nothing interesting in that community yet), we come across a highway junction, a rail line, and a municipal airport.:


There's also been some heavy work done on highway realignment and restructuring: All facing north.
Before:
9a.

9b.

9c.


After:
10.Looking north:


10.5 An absurdly long commuter train. I seriously doubt this train would move very fast in Real Life with that many carriages. The locomotive in question is not particularly noted for being speedy in the first place. The area surrounding it is a definite WIP. Looking south:


11.After our brief drive through Lindbergh Field, we move on to North Park, which, interestingly enough, lies just north of Balboa Park!


There's still a lot of undeveloped land. Mostly it's because I'm wary to use the grid pattern that North Park is comprised of in Real Lifwe, simply because it's uninteresting and not very fun to build on. The main roads are there, and you can see US 395 heading North, while construction of US 80 East is underway; the Texas St overpass has just been finished in this photo. Looking north.

12.A closer shot of some of the development in Hillcrest, which is technically defined as being West of Park Blvd (the northbound avenue on the left), as well as the Red trolley line, which runs north to University Heights and then turns East toward Normal Heights. Looking north.


13.Some of the homes along the cliff that have a view over Mission Valley and out to the ocean, which is but 4 miles west (to the right) as the crow flies. Looking south.


14.Downtown Hillcrest. It's still mostly a WIP, as the development hasn't quite captured the feel I'm going for. You can see the 395 on the right as it goes down the hill, and the RD-4 that goes north is 6th Avenue, which pretty much ends at Washington Ave (east-west). Looking north


15.In Downtown San Diego, progress has been slow, but I have been working on details and controlling development.


Some highway realignment:
16a.Before:


16b.After:


17.Some slow progress. It may not look like it, but there is a major rail, highway, and main road realignment present in this image. The slopes were a pain to work with, but it makes a little bit more sense now. The next step will be to work on the waterfront, and finish developing the hills with residential homes. Looking east:

18.Some night shots of downtown to finish off the entry:


19.By the SimFox towers in Bankers' Hill:


20.An industrial sector at nighttime:


21.The Santa Fe train depot at night. The art deco styling really comes out at night.


22.A small mosaic of Little Tokyo. It's not very big, as the Asian communities in San Diego are more "suburban" in nature. We'll be seeing more of them in National City to the south, and in the northeast of San Diego. Looking south:


23.A brief venture into photoediting. I'm not completely satisfied with it, and if I try it again, there are quite a few things I'd change or do differently. Still, it was good practice, though I did spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find example images, mostly with little luck. Any ideas on where to find good example pictures is welcome.


24.Government Center at night:


25.Finally, we'll finish this picture looking down onto Key Tower and the Emerald Towers. It won two rounds in the SC4Devotion Picture Competition (so close to the HoF, too!), and I think it turned out rather nice.


Replies:

Schreifer: Thanks for commenting, though you know you don't need to do it twice.

[jmsepe 2,039]

Great start! I like this CJ. It definitely is realistic.

[TekindusT 3,809]

Oh, I fell in love with pic 23!

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Oh, I fell in love with pic 23!

 

That's a Koyaanisqatsi style effect, and a pretty impressive imitation using photoshop.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvZ3DBI1tO8

 

APSMS: Have you seen the film Koyaanisqatsi by any chance?

[TekindusT 3,809]

 

Oh, I fell in love with pic 23!

 

That's a Koyaanisqatsi style effect, and a pretty impressive imitation using photoshop.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvZ3DBI1tO8

 

APSMS: Have you seen the film Koyaanisqatsi by any chance?

 

 

Yep, I was looking deep in my brain for that complicated name but couldn't recall it. Thanks!

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

APSMS: What texture mod do you use which gives wealth tiles for wide radius street, road and avenue curves? Including wealth tiles for FARR?

[APSMS 1,892]

Since this is a forum CJ I guess it's more casual, so I'll respond now rather than later:

 

APSMS: What texture mod do you use which gives wealth tiles for wide radius street, road and avenue curves? Including wealth tiles for FARR?

 

haha, this made me laugh. I had a WRC/FAR (I assume you meant roads and not RailRoads) texture mod, but deleted it awhile ago because I couldn't figure out how to get it working on all of the curves, and it was really non-functional clutter. All of the textured roads, FAR, curves, etc. are either draggable (like all the FAR, and the wide 45 deg curves on Rd-2 and OWR-2), or they're flex based pieces, like the avenue curves. No puzzle pieces were used (for the most part).

 

It takes a lot of practice, especially for FAR-3 to FAR-3 intersections, to get the drawing patterns right, but I think it's worth it, no?

 

Oh, and that Koyan-something or other you mentioned...yeah, I've never heard of anything remotely close to it (the name, at any rate) before you guys brought it up. I have seen time-lapsed stuff before, as well as long exposure photographs, which was mainly what I was trying to emulate.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Glad to see you back. You certainly have been busy. Looks good

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Since this is a forum CJ I guess it's more casual, so I'll respond now rather than later:

 

APSMS: What texture mod do you use which gives wealth tiles for wide radius street, road and avenue curves? Including wealth tiles for FARR?

 

haha, this made me laugh. I had a WRC/FAR (I assume you meant roads and not RailRoads) texture mod, but deleted it awhile ago because I couldn't figure out how to get it working on all of the curves, and it was really non-functional clutter. All of the textured roads, FAR, curves, etc. are either draggable (like all the FAR, and the wide 45 deg curves on Rd-2 and OWR-2), or they're flex based pieces, like the avenue curves. No puzzle pieces were used (for the most part).

 

It takes a lot of practice, especially for FAR-3 to FAR-3 intersections, to get the drawing patterns right, but I think it's worth it, no?

 

You draw them out? I have heard about this but I never quite figured out how to apply this. So do you plop individual road pieces which cover all the squares taking up by a particular FAR or WRC feature, and then drag the street/road/rail/avenue over it?

 

Edit: I figured it out.

[APSMS 1,892]

Glad to hear it; I know the documentation as well as some NORO videos by Mandelsoft (Maarten) are/were extremely helpful in figuring it out, and though I still keep the NAM manual open when using them, it's become a lot more natural for me now. (I was secretly worried I'd have to explain it to you, which would be very difficult)

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Glad to hear it; I know the documentation as well as some NORO videos by Mandelsoft (Maarten) are/were extremely helpful in figuring it out, and though I still keep the NAM manual open when using them, it's become a lot more natural for me now. (I was secretly worried I'd have to explain it to you, which would be very difficult)

 

I've mastered how to draw 45 degree wide radius curves and how to draw FAR. But I haven't worked out how to draw small 90 degree curves, large 90 degree curves and S bends for streets, one-way roads, roads and avenues. Of course with a little further messing around with road pieces I should be able to draw these last three NAM curves. As for the NAM manual I downloaded, well it's buried deep in one of the BSCleanitol removed file directories...

[APSMS 1,892]

I've mastered how to draw 45 degree wide radius curves and how to draw FAR. But I haven't worked out how to draw small 90 degree curves, large 90 degree curves and S bends for streets, one-way roads, roads and avenues. Of course with a little further messing around with road pieces I should be able to draw these last three NAM curves. As for the NAM manual I downloaded, well it's buried deep in one of the BSCleanitol removed file directories...

 

The NAM files should be stored in NAM Auxiliary Files, outside of your plugins folder under My Documents/SimCity 4. The Avenue/OWR 90 deg are puzzle pieces (though there are draggable OWR 45 deg curves), and the 45 deg AVE piece is Flex-based (hence the sidewalks). The S-curves for road are drawn by dragging two roads next to each other, and the street ones are straight foward, but I don't think that there is a draggable curve for either OWR or Avenue (you can do a one-tile shift, though). I don't think that small 90 deg curves are draggable for road, but you can make smoother 1-tile 90 deg bends with road if you drag a short L-shape (one tile down, then over). A lot of NAM features aren't very well documented, but the stuff is worth a read, and definitely helpful despite the shortcomings.

 

Also, there are two different types of FAR, FAR-2 and FAR-3. You've figured out how to draw and transition to both? This is where the documentation really comes in handy. Even Mandelsoft and Swordmaster keep the files open when they build, and they came up with the patterns! (Well, Memo did too, but I haven't seen anything he's built yet).

[Benedict 3,119]

Those night shots are gorgeous.

[Vitoraju 675]

Wow, beautiful photos! 

I like the name "San Diego"

[APSMS 1,892]

Hopefully I'll be able to satisfy some expectations here in the next few weeks. So I'm in the OSITM over at SC4Devotion this month (April).

One of my biggest issues with the map that I've had lately was my frustration with the coastlines. Currently the land drops very close to the water, particularly near the downtown areas where it makes good seawalls look...well like nothing worth looking at. The other problem I've had is that by default the terrain for beaches would go from 250.4 meters (dry ground) straight to the sea floor at 192 meters, which made using any sort of terraforming tool for nicely sloping beaches essentially impossible. They would always drop to quickly, or else just eat away my land mass, which when trying to develop a city other than Atlantis, is not a good thing. I'd been putting off the inevitable for a while now, but figured this month was as good as any to get started on it.

1.Using the sea level adjustment trick I learned from one of Noahclem's tutorials, I've dropped the sea floor down to around 175m. I'll be doing a bunch of work all around my coasts, but for now, here's a few teaser images of some work I've been doing underwater in Mission Bay:


2.Some prep work for some decent beach slopes:


3.Progress is kind of slow, however:


4.And to finish it off, a pair of images, this time from the community of Mission Hills where I'm having some issues getting my Sims to commute to work in the next tile:
a.

b.


Some replies and more progress will come in the next update, hopefully within a week if all goes as planned. Thanks for stopping by. Also, I am more active and find it easier to respond to comments/posts in either the CJ section of ST (not the forums) or at SC4Devotion, mainly because I find the editors easier to use in those places, so responses may take longer here in case you're looking for a BAT, method, or just want a response for something in general. I consider this to be more of an archive and informal, however, so if you think it may take more than one response (like Ln X's and my conversation above) then I guess this is the place for you.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Terraforming can indeed take quite a while. Looking forward to seeing what you have for us next.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

I found a solution to your predicament APSMS, what you need is a terrain brush to extend the beach inland. Download the JENX POSEIDON water effects mod on the LEX, it comes with several terrain brushes including a few sand brushes. These brushes are actually ploppable and you can build anything on top of the tile containing the plopped terrain surface, finally the actual brush imprints a circular terrain texture of about two to three tiles in radius. So you can paint large sections of terrain pretty quickly.

 

Here's the mod.

 

https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3077

[APSMS 1,892]

Thanks for the tip Ln X, and while it's true I haven't downloaded that particular mod yet, I did follow its development rather closely, so I'm familiar with what it does and how it works.

 

My problem isn't with the beach width per se (though I'll definitely use Xannepan's mod later now that you mention it). Rather, if you notice the west facing (bottommost) cliffs in the 1st and 3rd images are actually where the water meets the land. This should be a smooth taper, but instead its a 58-meter straight drop, which actually makes traditional terraforming more problematic than what I'm currently doing.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

What you need to do is to smooth your waterfronts. The cliffs need to be transformed into beaches, ideally the best terraforming tool is the smooth one and just keep holding down until there is barely a gradient. Ideally you want a gradient like this...

 

 

Notice in the top left how the river bank barely rises while the sandy textures extend at least four tiles in land. THAT is the look you want I believe.

 

Edit: It's not the best picture but I'll try to find a better example from one of my CJ pics.