Lane Cove - A Fictional CJ

[lakeyboy 12]

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For this list, I use the date format Day/Month/Year. Also, these links are very friendly to Dial-Up connections because they just show the selected update post and nothing else. Update Previews are in Itallic.

Update 1 - 29/11/2005
Update 2 - 3/12/2005
Update 3 Preview - 11/12/05
Update 3 - 12/12/05
Update 4 - 25/12/2005
Update 5 - 5/1/2006
Update 6 - 21/1/2006

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Hello everyone and welcome to my first Fictional City Journal.
I have decided after my first CJ's which were based on real life cities, I would start my first fictional CJ. I just got so bored with opening up the Melway and looking at the maps and copying down where the streets need to go and for how long and then this doesn't fit and this can't happen in SC4 due to the grid and it was just driving me abit insane!

So again, welcome to the Region of Lane Cove and I hope you enjoy your stay.

A brief run down on Lane Cove
First things first, yes I have used the Fairview region which came with SC4 but only as a base. Alot of money has been set aside to alter the terrain to give Lane Cove it's own true unique feel. We spray painted the grass, put food dye into the lakes and rivers and brought truckloads of cream for snow! For those who may realise where did I hear the name Lane Cove before, the name is based on a suburb just north of Sydney. Some people might remember it being on the news recently (in real life!) when the new Lane Cove Tunnel caused a mini landslide and left a huge hole in the ground above a block of flats. They had to pour heaps of cement into the hole to stabilise the ground and the flats! But enough about that. The suburbs in this region will be named after suburbs and towns in Australia. The first suburb is named after a suburb near where I live in Melbourne called Bayswater. The whole region is also vastly based around a huge network of trains, trams and trees (or the 3 T's!). 

I think that you guys will love the method I'm going to use for the pictures for this CJ. Friendlier to Dial-Up Connections but people with Broadband Connections can still experience the fine details of the region.

[Nexis 1]

interesting, i will be following this one very closely.

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Looks great, but ah...

 

Ditch that mountain. To be honest, it looks ugly.

[jacqulina 162]

nice start

[lakeyboy 12]

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Well, here is my first update. I have spent alot of time taking 20 pictures (10 day and 10 night) in SC4, changing the file types from PNG to JPEG, duplicating them all into a smaller size so there is 40 and then uploading them all one by one to imageshack. Enjoy!

How the images in this City Journal work
The preview pictures are 640 x 512 with the file size roughly around 100kb which is handy for dial-up connections but for those with broadband and want more detail,  click on any image and you can get the full 1280 x 1024 picture. These are roughly 500 - 600kb each.

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The Train / Tram Interchange
Perfect when you want to get to different parts of the town without walking much at all! Lane Cove decided when thinking about what trams to use on the system, they brought replicas of the W-Class trams which operate in Melbourne for the classic tram ride feel which feels totally different to a slick new train.

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Clifface Estate
A mid - high wealth estate right on a cliff next to the Main Lane Cove Beach.

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McDonalds Rest Area
Just travelling along the freeway and you see all these McDonalds signs and you just start thinking.. Mmmmm, Large Big Mac Value Meal for $6.25!

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The mini suburb of Urchinside
This area is mainly a haven for beachgoers during the summer and has medium density residental and commercial as well as direct railway and freeway access with bus stops nearby.

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Bayswater National Park
One of the many park areas in Bayswater but this one is the biggest and best of them all.

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Bayswater's Multi-Zoning Law
This just shows you how close everything is to each other in Bayswater. Farms are still thriving in residental and business areas with elevated avenues nearby as well!

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The Blue Tower Commercial Area
This area features sky rise appartments, an open air, underground shopping centre with undercover parking and a bustling commercial district. (Note all the residents are asleep in the tower!)

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The Bayswater Meeting Place
With a huge roundabout, eight fountains and four light towers, this is a popular meeting place for the residents of Bayswater.

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End of the tram line / Lakelin Civic Area
All your civic needs are all here including schools, hospitals, police station as well as tram and train stops all around. There is also a handy footbridge for getting from the train station to the hospital with ease.

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Birds Eye view of Bayswater
Book a tour with Lane Cove Aerial Tours today and you can get great view of Bayswater like this one.

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Transport Map of Bayswater
Black = Avenues & One Way Roads
Red = Roads
White = Streets
Green = Trees
Orange = Railway & Tram Tracks

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Nexis
Thanks for being the first to reply and I'm glad you will be following this.

Shadow Assassin
That mountain I have terraformed is just a base for the moment. I'm going to spread it out thru more cities so it's more gradual.

Jacqulina
It's always nice to get short but great comments from you. Thanks.

[Nardo69 51]

Now this quite a lot you put there - farms and a highrise, GLR, two McDonalds (those sims seem to love the BigMac!)

But I like it!

Nardo

[lakeyboy 12]

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Nardo 69
Well with this suburb, I decided to mix quite abit of whatever I could into the city without overdoing it so thats why there is only one highrise and it overlooks the huge beach and is near the edge of a huge cliff. The GLR plays a big part of moving people around the city. There is also many oppurtunities to switch transport modes (train, tram and bus) in the city providing a seamless service. (Unlike another real life city which has these three transport types and that is the reason why the city slipped from equal no1 to no2 in the livable city rankings.)

I'm going to start working on finishing the areas around bayswater to the north and east to expand the population.

[choco1 4]

Great start Lakeyboy! You are another great CJer, and its great to see you take on something new! The region is a great base and has alot of potential. I look forward to seeing it developed. The first look looks great! I just love how you design your cities! The M-Class trams are fatastic and its great to see them in a CJ, I just love how they look and they work well in this CJ. I use the in Green Depra too. Your use of the RHW looks very nice in your region and I look foward to more from you!

[lakeyboy 12]

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Chocolate Max 285
Thanks for replying. I was hoping you would after your reply to me in your CJ. Thanks for the comment. I guess when I design a city, I just guess I feel I have to place this here or zone this there to get a balance and basing your city around something such as water, railways, trees, commercial districts and etc is important as well. I would also love to look at the W class trams in your city as well. I might just go over there now and drop another reply into your letterbox that is your thread!

[sloppet 3]

interesting start, but the terraforming isn't so great...

[GMT 389]

since i've also done this region, but without editing it (well, at least almost without, the only edit was the result of a wrong step), i should comment this here:

your start is very great.
i like the idea of using fairview as a base to get a unique region. but the mountain you've done looks... bad.
flatten it a (bigger) bit and alter the slopes a litte to make it look more realistic.

your town itself has a great start. i hope it will expand also that great.
keep it up and us updated

[Deathtoall 28]

Hi! Nice new Cj. I just have to say that finally the government decide to do something about traffic problems( Lane Cove Tunnel) and all it does is cause mayhem. Thats the problem with Iemma's government.

 

I like your starting. How do you get the trams to show up? (P.S On the stex i found some Melbourne like trams if your interested)

 

I like how you have the farms right up close to the city. That what it was like for me. I had frams on my doorstep. 40k's from the CBD(Sydney) Anyway, i will be waiting for more.

[jacqulina 162]

you are welcom,i love what you are doing,very nice detail,and design,you have used lots/bats very well,the pics are amazing i do so like the night pics, that was a longer post

[lakeyboy 12]

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Welcome to Port Bayswater
In this update, I am showcasing the new Western Cove Mountain Range which will soon be the site of a five star ski resort during the wintertime and a hot retreat for summer training for famous Lane Cove sport players who don't play during the summer. There is also  the construction of Port Bayswater which extends to the north of Bayswater. It contains an extension of the industral area and the railway line down to a dedicated port which exports and import goods to and from all over the world. Three new bridges have also been built. One for rail and two for the new six lane freeway which links the residental and commercial area of Lane Cove. This has been provided instead of a regular road due to there not being enough room to have a rail line running through furthur due to losing quite abit of land. The only public transport available is Buses which provied a frequent 'every 5 minutes' service in peak hour, 'every 15 minutes' during the day and 'every 30 minutes' during the night and on weekends and public holidays.

Here are the pictures
Please excuse the U Drive It mission icons. I forgot to turn them off.

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Region View of Bayswater
Contains the new Mountain Range and Port Bayswater. The Mountain Range has been designed in such a way to bring the best views of the surrounding landscape which are unmatched anywhere in the world. Safety will be on the top of the agenda with a huge 10m wall being built along the edge of the cliff to ensure safety. Tourists will then be able to climb on the top and walk around but still be protected by a thick 1.5m wall.

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Transport Map of Bayswater & Port Bayswater

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Industrial Area & Bridges
This is where the Bayswater Industrial area ends on the mainland before it continues on the other side of the bridge.

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Bayswater Docks
Currently the only Dock in Lane Cove and it provides for all of Lane Cove's imports and exports.

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Port Bayswater Residental and Commercial Area
If you have abit extra cash, you can get away from Mainland Bayswater and live in the Port Area. Contains all civic services and is mainly a middle - high wealth area. It also has a stand out entry gates which light up magnificently at night.

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Birds Eye View of Port Bayswater
As you can see, there is 3 main masses of land. One is an island linking the two shores of the wide river which runs thru Lane Cove.

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Sloppet
If you are referring to the mountain, like others have, i'll repeat what I said a few post above. It was just a indication where I was going to place a mountain range. I have now terraformed several cities around the original base mountain to generate a nicer looking mountain range. The terrain will be used well when I get up to the stage of building on the mountains.

GMT
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has started a CJ with Fairview as a base. There will still be major terraforming around the region to give it a unique feel.

Death To All
I'm glad you like the farms being right in close to the city areas. Those trams are the Melbourne W class trams I downloaded from the STEX and I use them in all the cities I create. I'm also glad that the RTA in NSW is constructing all of these new freeways including the M7 Westlink, Lane Cove Tunnel and the Cross City Tunnel (Completed). In Victoria, we are constructing the Eastlink, Pakenham Bypass (Princes Freeway) and the Geelong Bypass (Princes Freeway also) and the Cragieburn Bypass (Hume Freeway) is about to open which is great.

Jacqulina
Thanks for saying that my pictures are amazing and I thought it would be different to post day and night pics of the same thing for abit of choice and variety in the photos.

From the east of Bayswater to the edge of the water is the next stage in the Lane Cove Construction Program.

[Abc987 3]

I dont really like the mountain no offense

[knarfmo 0]

I really enjoyed looking through this so far. You have done some very interesting things with roads and rail - I like roundabouts and there are plenty in your city. The town almost has a modern California or Florida feel to me.

[Deathtoall 28]

  align=baseline>  Death To All I'm glad you like the farms being right in close to the city areas. Those trams are the Melbourne W class trams I downloaded from the STEX and I use them in all the cities I create. I'm also glad that the RTA in NSW is constructing all of these new freeways including the M7 Westlink, Lane Cove Tunnel and the Cross City Tunnel (Completed). In Victoria, we are constructing the Eastlink, Pakenham Bypass (Princes Freeway) and the Geelong Bypass (Princes Freeway also) and the Cragieburn Bypass (Hume Freeway) is about to open which is great.

 

Don't forget the completion of the Princess Highway up grade. P.S How do you get the trams to work?

 

Nice little area reminds me of Brooklyn( NSW, Sydney outer reaches, not Brooklyn NEW YORK.)This literally one street town on the hawkesbury River on the Princess Highway.

[sloppet 3]

well, this snowcapped mountain is awful.. sorry to say it, but I hat it...
But the rest is good, the pics are nice, especially the transport map

sloppet

[jacqulina 162]

you are welcome your update is fantastic,and as i said before i love the way you present your pics

[lakeyboy 12]

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Jrhnemo & Sloppet
You haven't offened me but what exactly is wrong with it. Is it the snow, is it the shape or what is wrong with it because personally I would love to feature a snow resort down the track and for that, I need a mountain and it's really hard to terraform it because you have to edit each seperate city and then reconcile the edges everytime and it doesn't work properly. I don't want to get rid of the mountain though.

Knarfmo
I would have no idea what creates the califonian and florida feel but I must have created it by coincidence! I'm glad you like the style thatI use to lay down the roads and railway.

Death To All
I dunno what upgrade the Princes Highway is getting other than the two I mentioned probably coz I live in melbourne. And to get the trams to work, place that file in your plugins folder but make sure you don't have any other mods which change the Elevated Rail Carrages in the folder. If you've done that, then I dunno. Just force people to use them in your cities by using toll booths or building no roads from point a to point b at all.

Sloppet (Only)
It's good that you like the transit map. I've used Cammo 2003's version which includes streets being white but if you don't want the streets at all, use my version. Both are on the STEX.

Jacqulina
Thanks for the comment on the way I display my pictures. I don't think any other CJ does it (but I could be wrong). It does take some time because I've got to upload them to ImageShack one by one and the bigger versions are around 500 - 600kb each so that is a few MB i'm uploading for each update. I hope this page still loads reasonably for dial - up users though. I wouldn't know because I've had Broadband since the middle of october.

Thanks for the comments guys.

[Abc987 3]

I don't like how it just has rounded edeges.

[lakeyboy 12]

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Jrhnemo
Not all mountains have sheer drop cliffs which are hundreds of metres high but the mountain is staying. I will make improvements on what you guys say but as I have said above, I won't get rid of it because of it's role in the future of this CJ.

[Dexter 40]

Great CJ!

 

This gives me lots of ideas for my upcomming CJ (If I have time ). Even though I live in the UK the euro roads mod looks really nice in your CJ, and covers many more aspects of the road network & addons. i might try it.

 

PS. Keep the updates coming!

[lakeyboy 12]

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Preview of Eastward Point
The next suburb in the region of Lane Cove is Eastward Point. This is a suburb which is famous for it's fine food and spectacular views of the rivers and surrounding land from the Eastward Point Lookout. It also has a peaceful reputation around Lane Cove for only allowing low denstiy construction and thousands of pine trees scattered throughout the suburb.

In this update preview, you will get to see the region view, the transport map and one day / night shot of the suburb.

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Region View of Lane Cove
(Eastward Point is located north east of Bayswater)

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Transport Map of Lane Cove

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Eastward Point Civic Centre
Contains Police, Fire, Medical and School services all in one location and all of them are built with the same facade to blend in with the surrounding pine trees. Also notice the Australian Flags flapping in the wind.

I hope this satisfies everybody's hunger for this CJ. Update 3 will be coming very soon.

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Dexter
Thanks for visiting and I'm happy that you like it. When you do release your upcoming CJ, I might just pop in and have a look. I also love the Euro Road Textures Mod because it suits Australia much more than the default American road textures.

[tag_one 133]

great update, I must say that your cities look very chaotic, but that makes them very beautiful and spacial too. I really like this CJ, keep up the good work

[jacqulina 162]

i love the update it is sure coming on well as allways the pics are amazing

[Waterz 0]

Very nice! I quite like what you've done so far with the city, it's very pretty. And I live near the real life Bayswater, well, 10km away

[lakeyboy 12]

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Welcome to Update Three
I thought to start things off this time, I would post up the front cover of today copy of the Lane Cove Gazette for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
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I know there is one thing in there you won't get unless you are completing year 11 or 12 in Victoria, Australia!

Here is the main update:
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Horse Trails and Railway Line Tree Reserve
Go dust off that saddle because in Eastwood Point, you have the oppertunity to hop on a horses back and ride on kilometres of horse trails. Just watch that you don't get hit by a train!

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Ocean Hill Lookout Area
As featured in the Lane Cove Gazette. These three shots show daytime, sunset and at night. Come for the food, stay for the view, stay even longer for the romance!

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Tree filled residental area and the Bayspoint Highway
Shows you just how sought after this area is. House prices then get boosted even further because of the easy highway access to Bayswater.

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Birds Eye view of Eastward Point
For those who love a view with the lot!

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Tag One
I think the chaotic comes from the Network Addon Mod plugin I use. I might change it but i'm not sure and thanks for the praise.

Jacqulina
So far you have been the member that has posted most in my CJ so thanks for checking it often and I enjoy your company.

Waterz
Hmmm, 10km from the real Bayswater, well it's always nice to meet new Melburnians. Thanks for looking at my CJ. (P.S, I looked at yours!)

The next suburb to be built, which is currently un-named, will be a more exclusive gated community which only offers high wealth land.

[jacqulina 162]

hey you are very welcome i enjoy visiting and i must say your latest update is wonderful keep the great work coming

[Micah 16]

Yes, the mountain looks much better. Sloppet will probably say it needs more improvement. Great start... I'll come back here to see how this CJ is going.