Monthly Challenge December 2014 - Complete The Interchange

[rubberduck3y6 45]

I've finally finished the main interchange, now just need to beautify it and the rest of the tile!

 

[zimmie 521]

Great idea for a challenge. Looks fun. Hope I get all setup before the deadline to be able to partake.

[Hamish 1,370]

Since this is kind of the beta month of this challenge I've just altered a few conditions so we can test out some ideas before the full launch in January.

 

Firstly, the submission period is extended until the end of the month.

I've been wondering if it should either be a whole month dedicated to one theme, or if the submissions period should cover the entire month. So, as a test we will extend submissions until the end of the month and voting will take place in the first week of the New Year.

 

 

Secondly, Image submission requirements have been changed.

Submit what ever images you want of the interchange, but have one main image which fits within the 4:3 or 800 x 600 ratio requirement which shows the entire city tile or region. Other additional images can be in what ever format you want, and these will be accessible on the voting page through the use of the spoiler tag. So make the first image inviting, while also showing the whole tile, and supplement this with what ever images you see fit. A short example of how this will work is below.

 

 

Main Image Here (in 4:3 or 800 x 600 ratio)

Then additional images here

Of any size

Mosaics or video are welcome!

 

 

If you feel you have suggestions that could improve the challenge I'd love to hear them Hopefully this makes it easier for people to submit their interchanges.

[slickbg56 778]

It is good to see this challenge becoming as popular as it is. Anything that continues to put life into the game is appreciated. Thanks for this. I'm looking forward to the results.

[kschmidt 6,223]

NAM 32 requirement is a little bit of a annoying thing; since differences aren´t great in between NAM,s a lot of player who don´t wish to update who prefer there older NAM,s a very wel much more are left out !

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

NAM 32 requirement is a little bit of a annoying thing; since differences aren´t great in between NAM,s a lot of player who don´t wish to update who prefer there older NAM,s a very wel much more are left out !

You're forgetting one other critical feature about NAM 32: bugfixes. Since previous NAM versions have their bugs squashed out by successive NAM versions, by playing with an older version of the NAM, you're subject to all of the bugs that the current version fixes, and according to NAM Team policy, we can't help anyone with older versions of the NAM except for updating the NAM.

-----

By the way, there needs to be some clarification: what happens if you're a mac user and you're using NAM 32.1, the current Mac version of the NAM?

[Hamish 1,370]

NAM 32 requirement is a little bit of a annoying thing; since differences aren´t great in between NAM,s a lot of player who don´t wish to update who prefer there older NAM,s a very wel much more are left out !

 

You are more than welcome to try with older versions of the NAM. Just remember that not upgrading to v32 will put you at a disadvantage. We chose v32 because it is the most recent and up-to-date meaning that it was the easiest for people to instal if they want to play with a fresh plugins folder and, since most people upgrade when new NAMs are released, they can use all features of the NAM.

 

 

 

By the way, there needs to be some clarification: what happens if you're a mac user and you're using NAM 32.1, the current Mac version of the NAM?

 

 

Oh, I didn't realise the mac version had a different version number. Is there much of a difference between the two? Otherwise I say it would be fine, there probably isn't any less features in one or another that would impact someones chances of winning had they used the mac version or the windows version.

[Durfsurn 539]

I will make my official entry with one pic. 

 

 

Some other assorted pics can be found on this

 

-Billy

[kschmidt 6,223]

 

NAM 32 requirement is a little bit of a annoying thing; since differences aren´t great in between NAM,s a lot of player who don´t wish to update who prefer there older NAM,s a very wel much more are left out !

You're forgetting one other critical feature about NAM 32: bugfixes. Since previous NAM versions have their bugs squashed out by successive NAM versions, by playing with an older version of the NAM, you're subject to all of the bugs that the current version fixes, and according to NAM Team policy, we can't help anyone with older versions of the NAM except for updating the NAM.

-----

By the way, there needs to be some clarification: what happens if you're a mac user and you're using NAM 32.1, the current Mac version of the NAM?

 

NAM queutly complicated, when playing LHD there some features wich do not completly correctly translate into the game maybe this id due to the NAM version. Bugfixes maybe the answer, remain some features like tuliped road crossing wich refuse to be LHD. Still not fixed the HSR or BTM rail bridge crossing over RHW ! Starting a new plugin folder is queutly a very time consuming expedition !

[mayorplease 116]

Hi Simtropolis!
First post, gotta make it count! 
 
So here is my entry to the challenge. Welcome to the glorious small city going by the name of "Build Here" (Pop. 44.000 Sims)   
As requested, the first picture is 4:3 (1600x1200) and provides an overview of the whole city tile. 
 

 
Now that this is out of the way, go ahead and open the spoiler below and let me take you on a tour through town    
I hope you enjoy the tour and of course I wish good luck to all other participants 

Now, to start off, here is the transportation map. As you can see, I split the RHW6 up to go down the mountain. I made a tunnel for the RHW4 coming from the north to pass the water. Finally I connected everything up with a stack Interchange.

So first, here is the main interchange connecting all 4 highways.




Next we go to the southern part of the tile where the highway curves and provides access for a suburban area in form of a diamond interchange.




On our way north towards the city center we come across another diamond interchange before the highway splits up for its climb up the mountain.




Following the main arterial road further north we have reached the city center.
Honestly, if Coca-Cola sets up its headquarter in this town, it sure must be a winner.
Am I right???




To the west of the city center the suburban sprawl continues, oh my...
Can you believe it, they dont even mind living next to the prison.
But what a good opportunity to build a small parclo interchange to give them direct access to the highway.




Turning the view around, now looking from the north towards the city, we can see where the rich people decided to live, right next to the beautiful waterfront.
Of course, who would have thought anything else... Oh these sims...




So now that you have seen the city, its time for to follow that highway to the top of the mountain where it enters the industrial area.
But hey, if you need to drive up that mountain every day to get to work, why not drive it up with style?
As a side note: Only very minimal terraforming has been done for this!
There were two plateaus on the mountain already, which were used to plop the water on them.
While I was looking for a way to get the highway down, I came up with this idea






That was a nice scenic drive, but here is where reality strikes.
This is what industrial development does, it kills the beautiful forest and pollutes everything around it.
Elevated RHW4/6 with parclo interchange in the 3rd picture.
Currently about 3500 cars + 1100 buses use the highway connection to the industrial area.
On top of that, about 1500 sims use the train connection.








Now there you have it, thats "Build Here".
I hope you enjoyed your visit
Last but not least, here you have some night shots.
The highway is fully lit, cause who wants to drive down that mountain after work in the dark?

[Compdude787 916]

So here is what I ended up doing for my interchange:

 
More pics to come once I'm done with the city; obviously this is not my final submission.

[Indiana Joe 1,752]

Hi Simtropolis!

First post, gotta make it count! 

 

So here is my entry to the challenge. Welcome to the glorious small city going by the name of "Build Here" (Pop. 44.000 Sims)   

As requested, the first picture is 4:3 (1600x1200) and provides an overview of the whole city tile. 

 

Walks into the building; immediately shuts it down.

 

That's a wrap.  May as well delete your accounts now and buy The Sims 4, everyone.

 

I think you've also beaten for the most impressive first post on Simtropolis.  Two challenges knocked out with one stone.

[jmsepe 2,039]

This is the reason why I don't want to join competitions. Nice first entry buddy!

 

[mayorplease 116]

Walks into the building; immediately shuts it down.

 

That's a wrap.  May as well delete your accounts now and buy The Sims 4, everyone.

 

I think you've also beaten for the most impressive first post on Simtropolis.  Two challenges knocked out with one stone.

This is the reason why I don't want to join competitions. Nice first entry buddy!

Oh, well, thanks so much for the kind words 

I'm glad you like the little thing I made there. But the other entries look very cool as well and the submission period isn't over.

I don't know how much of a chance I got against those tbh.

But again, thanks for your kind words! It's nice to see someone appreciates what you made 

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

We have a winner! Highways, interchanges, fillers, suburbs, waterfront, industrial complex, railyards, waterfalls and MMP wonderland... You can't top that.

[Forsma7 1,325]

^^ that a really (100x) nice work on the tile!  I really like how you put that lake in the middle of mountain!

 

 

You are more than welcome to try with older versions of the NAM. Just remember that not upgrading to v32 will put you at a disadvantage. We chose v32 because it is the most recent and up-to-date meaning that it was the easiest for people to instal if they want to play with a fresh plugins folder and, since most people upgrade when new NAMs are released, they can use all features of the NAM.

 

glad to hear it too since I use NAM 31.2 in this tile. 

[kschmidt 6,223]

As metioned I´m not competing in this competion because of a lower NAM 31.1 version; wich I queutly find not relevant ! Unlike competing members who may use the mountain slope or maxis tunnels, i´v set me the challenge to work with what i have availble, not bound by the competition rules i acknowledge the rulls with some freedom, no mayor terraforming only smoothing or restoring the lanscape in case of any blackholes; you those when you place a fractional curve ! Mountain pass queutly straight forward, without any unnecesary twist or turns ! Here some pictures !

[Hamish 1,370]

As metioned I´m not competing in this competion because of a lower NAM 31.1 version...

 

Don't worry about that, its totally fine if you use 31 or anything lower than that. I created the region using NAM 32, which is why I specified that version incase there were issues with people using previous versions of the NAM. So if 31 works for you, then feel free to use that.

[Haljackey 17,398]

Great work everyone! I for one welcome all the entries. It's so cool to see just how radically different our designs are.

 

With the extension to the month end of this 'monthly' challenge, I was able to find some time to continue work on the junction.

 

 

 

---

 

Here's where I got done:

 

This curve took way too long to complete. This may not look like rugged terrain, but it was a pain to build through.

 

My primary exchange with flyovers done.

 

Zoom out showing the secondary exchange and mountain approach.

 

I've still got a lot of work to do, but I'm hoping to get this complete by the end of 2014.

[Forsma7 1,325]

Let me put my submission (if this final)

 

 

This is part of Higashi-Shiromoto City and Araoka City which located in Shiromoto Prefecture, Nakama. Mizushiro which now part of Higashi Shiromoto is main hub of several expressway: Matsushiro Expressway (to north) which serves from Shiromoto to Matsukawa, Nakama 3rd largest City; Mashiro Expressway (to east) which serves from Shiromoto to Matsuriya in Higashi-Tama Prefecture; and Suzukake-Nami Expressway (west and south) which serves from Suzukake to Nami city though this route isnt fully finished in the way toward Nami City.

 

 

Here's the detail:

Araoka

Araoka (荒岡市, Araoka-shi) is a city in Shiromoto Prefecture, Nakama with population 43k. it formed in 2004 by the merge of Araoka Town (荒岡町), Tsunonome Town (東雲町) and Sakaori Town (酒折町) all from Higashi-Shiromoto District.

Overview of Western part of Araoka City.

 

Araoka located in the valley within the Shiromoto-Tama Mountain Range in eastern Shiromoto Prefecture. It has flat plateau land in the west part of city and mountainous area in most of east part of cities. The city located about 17km east of Shiromoto, and as a part of its metropolitan area definition which is 8th largest in Nakama.

 

Area nearby Tsukumo station which is the terminus of Ashiyama line (Serve Ashiyama-Araoka) and a stop for Nanbu Main line (which serve Suzukake toward Matsukawa). There's some minor shops in this area.

 

Residential area. Some of the citizens here are commute toward the main city Shiromoto

 

North of Tsukumo Station

 

Close up of station and its surrounding

 

Mashiro Expressway (魔白自動車道) (I called this Araoka Expressway beforehand) a 128km long expressway connect Shiromoto with Matsuriya in east coast of Nakama.

 

Train arrived at Araoka Station, which part of Ashiyama line.

 

 

Area nearby Araoka Station is a center of former Araoka town.

 

Nakama National Route 403 which connect Shiromoto with Matsuriya runs in the middle of Araoka Town centre

 

North part of the town which host the Araoka City Office (formerly Araoka Town Office)

 

 

Another shots around Araoka town area.

 

Southeast of former Araoka town lies former Shinuonome Town which also absorbed into Araoka in 2005. here is Shinuonome Station

 

Another shot from Shinuonome area.

 

Shinuonome Station.

Mizushiro

 

Welcome to the former town of Mizushiro (now is part of Higashi-Shiromoto City). Mizushiro has population about 41k prior to its merge with Higashi-Shiromoto. City centre located within this picture below:

Closeup of Mizushiro Station where it serve the Mizushiro line from Mizushiro toward Shiromoto....

West from the station. the big road is Nakama National route 14 which serves from Matsukawa toward Suzukake

Southeast part of Mizushiro mostly consist of residential area....

Same case with southern Mizushiro. There's a Shiromoto Prefectural Route 5 which connect Mizushiro with Higashi-Shiromoto central

North of the town... the main road is National Route 14 heading toward Matsukawa:

There is a Mizushiro Bypass which bypassing the city toward south of the city... it also served as Nakama National Route 14

Part of Mizushiro Bypass intersecting with Nakama National Route 403.

Mizushiro Higashi IC gives access from Suzukake-Nami Expressway to the Mizushiro Bypass

Toward north again, there is Kita-Mizushiro IC gives access of Mashiro Expressway to the National Route 14. It also gives the limit border of former town but as the town merged with Higashi-Shiromoto, it still part of Higashi Shiromoto now

From northern part of Mizushiro, there's several suburban area

Ukawa Station located in the north end of the town which also the only station of Nanbu line in Mizushiro

Meanwhile outside the town there're several area like these:

Tanosawa Town in the north of the city:

Fukukuro Town (which also part of Higashi-Shiromoto), there is Fukukuro Station which serves Ashiyama Line

Mizushiro known as the hub of expressway since it's the location of several expressway junction:

Mizushiro JCT which intersect Suzukake-Nami Expressway with Matsushiro Expressway:

And Kita-Mizushiro JCT which intersect Matsushiro Expressway with Mashiro Expressway:

 

Also if you interested might you can watch this video:

 

 

Best luck for everyone!

 

[sanjiban 11]

Hello everyone.
Here is the final version of city "Build Here" and my final entry to this challenge. I dont know how to take pic of the whole city at once. So I have taken two pics.

 

Pics for the main interchanges. 

 

 

Close up pics of the town.

 

 

 

Here is a small tour of "Build Here". Hope you guys will enjoy it.

[rivit 3,402]

rivit's Entry
 
The M31A enters town from the north transitioning into an avenue which threads the small country farming town of Build Here Please (pop. 23,874), crossing over the railway near the station. Taking the same avenue south out of town brings you to the M2/M31 low-profile cloverleaf interchange usefully placed in the old river plain. M31B then travels on to the south. Because of traffic volumes westbound a two lane feeder is required - nevertheless the last stretch of avenue is always very busy. The M2 running eastbound works its way along the side of the dividing range before traversing a massive cutting (very tough going for the B-doubles despite the crawler lanes) up to the plateau, where it tunnels under the railway before exiting East. Westbound the M2 runs along the plain, interrupted only by a small interchange allowing freight traffic from the farms to find a ready route to market.
 
City View to the East
 

  

The Intersection

 

Town Centre by Night

 
This challenge got me playing SC4 for the first time this year (yes really). If I had known just how testing it is to use RHW when you have never used it before, I probably would have thought better of it.  However, having got to here, I'm quite pleased I tried.

cheers rivit

[mayorplease 116]

omg omg omg!

I just saw that I am mentioned in this video. Am I famous now?

You can say whatever you want - in my mind, I am!   

Seriously though, thanks a ton Hal for all the videos you do. I watched an embarassing amount of your "building a city from scratch" series and loooved it

Tbh that series got me back into playing SimCity 4 in the first place. I never even knew what was possible with all these mods until i watched you playing around with all your stuff.

 

 

Oh, and let me try to quote you from your video as best as I can, if you don't mind:

"(...) like this guy here, like, I never even heard of this guy, Mayorplease, (...) he's built an entire city on this tile. (...) The Interchange itself, I mean it's pretty simplistic using tunnels and stuff. (...)"

 

Well, all I can say in my defence is that simple is good, right?

You don't want to confuse the drivers with a ton of ramps   

 

Let me put my submission (if this final)

-snip-

Train arrived at Araoka Station, which part of Ashiyama line.

-snip-

Wow! What a great submission Kisa Atsuko! I love your style of building!

I especially like your picture I quoted. It's so full of detail and the shot was taken at excactly the right time. It's truly marvelous. Hats off to you sir.

[Haljackey 17,398]

My official entry.

Highlights:  
-Completed only with the Real Highway Mod. (no Maxis highway/override, one-way roads or anything like that)
-No tunnels, as that would involve converting the RHW into another network
-The mountain pass has a maximum slope of 2% (RHW slope mod), making it an ideal for trucks. The majority of it is 1% (bullet train slope mod).
-STR was converted to standard rail. The rest of the rail network is pretty much unaltered.
-Minimal terraforming. Hole diggers and ground lifters used for the interchanges, embankment on the mountain pass used on the route 'of least resistance'.
-The interchange is 4 levels (one level below-grade, one level at-grade, two levels above-grade)
-I designed the interchange for no weaving and to keep as many lanes as possible, minimizing merge points. This is why I decided to create two somewhat-parallel highways between the two exchanges
-All on/off ramps have accel/decel lanes.
-Smooth curves or FARHW are used for all turns, with one exception for the EB to NB ramp because elevated RHW networks do not include smooth curves (as of NAM 32).
-A minimalist use of extras to keep the focus on the interchange. Beautification work includes trees, signs, and lights.
 
My 800x600 overview:

 
Additional pictures and video are found in the spoiler below.
 

 
High-res mosaic of the overview.

 
Mosaic of the interchange

 
Zoomed in mosaic of the main junction

 
Imgur album containing a variety of photos.

I am having issues embedding HTML within a spoiler tag (BBCode). If this isn't working properly, click here.  
 
Building the interchange in real-time. 10 videos, over 8 hours in length
 
 
UDI video and overview
 
 

[nos.17 5,257]

 Well I finally decided to call it quits and turn this city in as-is when I realized that no matter how hard I wanted, the MMPs just won't appear on their own.    

 

Anyways, here it is. It was good to actually play the game for the first time in a few months and created probably my best interchange in the process. Below is my 4:3 image scaled down to 25% it's original size. (its 15 pixels too short, but whatever).

 

 

And it only took me dozens of hours to complete and not one but TWO custom slope mods in addition to complete some of the hills. I chose not to use any tunnels and decided to go with the two parallel slopes setup yall see here. I would have also built a city or at least suburbs, but my plugins folder is undergoing 'radical reconstruction' and is temporarily unavailable. In my album with closeups of the rest of the interchanges, the first one is the one I am the most proud of. Interchange 03 is the first time I experimented with underground road and am happy it turned out well. In the upper interchange, the windy MIS exit was meant to allow for a small lake/creek to run in that valley between the MIS and northbound RHW4; a retaining pond was also supposed to appear, but that never materialized. Finally, I tried to maintain RHW "best practice:" smooth/FAR curves, accel/decel lanes, no weaving, etc.

 

The album with remaining pics: https://imgur.com/a/aWmP3#0

 

Finally glad this is over. Now I can move on to all the other projects that I have been neglecting for too long. 

 

Good luck to everyone else...

[henrys1996 127]

Ok, never mind, I'm about done.

 

Final submission:

 

Interchanges towards the south:

 

Interchanges towards the center of the city:

 

Mountain pass:

 

Coastal highway towards the north:

 

Another full interchange view pic:

 

This was definitely a challenge for me... It was quite tempting for me to have just grabbed the level terrain tool and flattened everything but I had fun tackling the mountain and dealing with the finicky RHW and BTM slope mods lol

[kschmidt 6,223]

Challenge in basic completed ! Chinageen, with fly over i kept off, got a nice cloverleaf constructed. While some took lot of space to make widespread interchanges. May this simple sollution be viewed, and finnished for this day !

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

First progress report in over two weeks. I'm gonna have to forego recording after this point so I can focus on actually completing the interchange. Video is still uploading at the time of me posting; you may need to wait ten minutes to watch it.

 

[rubberduck3y6 45]

Nice work getting through those Ðíãçŕīťîčął Môůñŧäìńş! I mostly just went straight down them, which you will hopefully be able to see to tomorrow when I get my entry posted! 

[Asser 78]

Nevermind. Forgot a connection