My Cities: Skylines CJ Scrapbook -- The Night Cometh...

[tankmank 853]

Looking great, you have taken to Cities:Skylines really well, and are building s great city 

[schooner2 2]

Truly excellent work!!

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Replies:

 

TekindusT: That's the best thing I've heard in a while! This next entry gets pretty hardcore with new visual areas the mods are unlocking and the parameters one must consider to take artful/realistic/great pictures.

 

iviaarten: Thank you!

 

Vitor13: Thanks! I can spend quite a bit of time making tiny little adjustments to the camera searching for that golden position.

 

Indagroove: Tell you what I will PM you the picture(s) of Tamboria's traffic overlay, and if I forget then remind me with a PM!

 

Hamish: On a sliding scale from gradual to sharp I like to contrast the various city areas; is it a clear cut barrier, a gradual merge or a messy one? This game and all of the corresponding mods offer too many options!

 

mb1.0.2: I am always on the hunt for amazing mods, where possible I will describe their applications and how to use them. This CJ is getting better because of all the new mods, my mind goes numb when I think about what kind of mods and new features will be available in a year's time. This game is like unlocking vistas folded within vistas of content, ideas and possibilities.

 

switchkeys: Thanks!

 

tankmank: Thank you; I'll be working on a different city next week but even so there is still a lot more to do in Tamboria. I haven't even covered a third of the map yet!

 

schooner2: Thanks a lot!

 

 

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Entry 9: Do you see the light?

 

In this entry I explore the Sun Shaft mod while combining it with the Sun control mod and applying two different colour filters to fit different times of the day: Fall Colour Correction and Real Colour Correction. The links to the two colour filters will be at the bottom as usual. Now let's see the results.

 

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Having raised the Sun to a higher position, I noticed that the Sun Shaft mod dramatically increases the bloom of the Sun when there are no obstacles for the light to pass by, and when the camera is looking at the Sun.

 

 

 

A few large Sun shafts.

 

 

 

Since the day was brighter I realised that I needed a different colour filter.

 

 

 

Since the Fall Colour Correction emphasises a Sunset/Sunrise tone then-

 

 

 

-I needed a more neutral colour filter and this is where the Real Colour Correction comes in.

 

 

 

It somewhat desaturates the colours and makes the greater luminosity more forgiving on the buildings and textures.

 

 

 

Looking at the Sun through trees produces some fantastic Sun shafts.

 

 

 

One thing to note about brighter days is that as the brightness increases the quality of textures decreases in an inversely proportional relationship.

 

 

 

So if in doubt about the Sun Control mod and its luminosity slider, always tend towards the dimness and lower half of the luminosity scale. Of course with different bloom, contrast and colour filter settings this may add, or subtract, more leeway for greater brightness.

 

 

 

With the Dynamic Resolution mod and the insane levels of anti-aliasing it can provide one starts to notice the little details like the seagulls flying over the farms.

 

 

 

 

This neighbourhood is very special though not at first glance.

 

 

 

The reason for this is precise building control enabled by-

 

 

 

-the CS equivalent of SC4's "make historical" option for buildings.

 

 

 

The Control Building Level Up is the mod that finally provides the "make historical" option.

 

 

 

To apply this mod, query the building and click on one of the five segments which constitute the level up bar. Click the first segment, on the left, to restrict the building to a level one... and you get the idea. RCI building control at last!

 

 

 

 

To save space this mayor decided to lay a large section of the railway next to the highway.

 

 

 

 

At its very best the Sun Shaft mod can produce some ridiculously gorgeous pictures.

 

 

 

The more light shafts you can obtain in a view then the better the result.

 

 

 

Don't forget to set the detail setting in the graphics options to very high, this brings the terrain and trees to life!

 

 

 

Holes in buildings and canyon-like city areas can greatly exaggerate the Sun shafts.

 

 

 

Want to go OTT on the Sun shafts? Rotate the Sun horizontally about the tangent line to the surface to get the best shadow angles and Sun shaft angles.

 

 

 

 

Also Sun shafts can be a good substitute for tilt-shift.

 

 

 

 

It's all about finding the angles and positions to really break up the Sun shafts. Build the city accordingly!

 

 

 

All in all I would say to use pictures with Sun shafts sparingly. This mod is tricky to use because the difference between too much bloom and glorious diffracted rays of Sunlight is a precarious one. Also think realistically to- small Sun shafts occur when looking at the edges of tall buildings, or through narrow holes in the building's exterior design and larger ones appear in cloudy skies with holes for the sunlight to punch through. Hazy skies can also produce a very blunted Sun shaft effect and definitely "bloom" similar to what this mod can do. Do you want to go for an exaggerated photograph effect or tend towards what you see with ones eyes in the outside world? The choice is yours with the Sun Shaft mod!

 

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Fall Colour Correction- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=403437135&searchtext=.

Real Colour Correction- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406960822&searchtext=.

Control Building Level Up- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410535198&searchtext=.

[iviaarten 534]

Nice to see some extensive eperimentation with these mods. Lovely photowork as usual.

 

Personally though, I think that especially the real colour correction mod is a bit too washed out, but I guess that's taste.

 

The picture of the elevated real line though... just wow!

[TabascoJack 5]

Absolutely gorgeous.....

[Vitoraju 675]

Your city is so "alive", full of details, and wonderfully beautiful! ^^

[89James89 1,169]

Lovely sun soaked images here Ln X. I especially like the one of the elevated railway you've got going. It's a real shame that we don't have any elevated railway stations.

 

Cheers

 

James

[RipRap 4,400]

The detailing is superb. I like the first person views of the avenue the most and the tree "sun shaft" is exceptionally wonderful!

Also, the effect looked like photochemical smog

[mb1.0.2 193]

The elevated rails reminds me of Chicago's EL...and awesome job playing around with the sun mods. I've had trouble getting them to look as nice as you have them. The pictures of the farms look oppressively hot. It's awesome.

[SimWarrior 10]

I'm enjoying your CJ because as the modding community evolves so does your city. Good job!

[Hamish 1,370]

Nice use of mods! The sun shafts make the images look so good, I need to try that mod out, it makes your images look great!

And the contrast between the areas of the city gradually blends when viewing large sections of the city, or from far away, but is noticeable when comparing two sections of the city. It works well, and looks great.

[TekindusT 3,809]

[drooling intensifies]

[tankmank 853]

Another great entry showcasing the ever growing base of mods 

[realdimension 6]

A pure beauty

[El Argentino 170]

Very Well! I like your city. In specially, the elevated train, is very real!! With these mod... really really well. I think I'll start playing this game jaja. Grettings!

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Replies:

 

iviaarten: The real colour correction is a little washed out but you can sometimes get that effect in real life on bright sunny days in urban areas, especially around midday.

 

TabascoJack: Cheers!

 

Vitor13: Thanks a lot!

 

89James89: Elevated railways really fit in dense urban areas in the game, also like you said it is a pity there are no elevated railway stations. But I am sure they will come soon!

 

Tonraq: Photochemical smog huh? I totally agree about the tree sun shafts to.

 

mb1.0.2: I personally think that in a few months time it will be possible to construct an elevated rail network similar to that of Chicago's.

 

SimWarrior: This is the principal idea of this CJ.

 

Hamish: When done right the sun shafts can take pictures to the next level, it is a very special mod.

 

TekindusT: [mops furiously]

 

tankmank: Yep!

 

realdimension: Thank you.

 

El Argentino: That's good to hear! You will not regret it.

 

 

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Entry 10: Random Pictures + Teaser for the Next City!

 

This has been quite the week! An update every day and looking back the difference in this game is so noticeable, there have been so many amazing mods. So the random pictures are the ones I disregarded, maybe the angle was a little off, maybe there was some very comical or glitchy in the picture, maybe there was too many pictures for one particular area, maybe I dropped the ball on some occasions and maybe one little vehicle was out of place...

 

Whatever the reason the first twenty pictures follow in chronological order both the progress of this city and that of this journal. While the last five are pictures that have been taken just now to add some spice to this entry- you'll like these ones!

 

I have had so much fun with Cities Skylines and this CJ, I look forward to many more weeks and months like this. Thanks for the comments to, they always spur me on to up my game.

 

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The last five pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the future site for the settlement of Charon Lake.

[feyss 1,981]

Nice pictures.

 

The one with the tractors and the fields is perfect.

[mb1.0.2 193]

That's a gorgeous map. Did you make it or is it one you found? Lookin' forward to the next city!

[Haljackey 17,394]

First time I've ever seen tractors in a image that looks good! Great work!

[Mymyjp 1,052]

Comment for the previous journal: completely speechless...I have happy you have shared your experience with various light mods.

The picture with the light shining through the trees is simply amazing.

 

Comment for this entry: sweeeetttt! That building on fire is awesome. Well, maybe not the consequences of having a building burning, but it looks pretty awesome in a picture.

I am not surprised that you are the first one to "experiment" with everything that is currently available for this game. Excellent job and thanks again for sharing your thoughts and experiments.

[Vitoraju 675]

Beautiful update! and the fire left the realistic city...

[89James89 1,169]

Some really nice random images here. I really liked the second one looking up at the skyscrapers and all the farmland shots.

 

Can't wait to see how you tackle the new city!

 

Cheers

 

James

[blackdragonbird 13]

Pretty city.

 

How do you get the green farm fields? I made some for me but I see only yellow wheat, don't find this green one.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Replies:

 

feyss: Thank you.

 

mb1.0.2: I downloaded the map, it is called Faldon Lake and it was made by Tryllian.

 

Haljackey: That's cool man.

 

Mymyjp: I actually downloaded some mods before I started my first city, from the get go I wanted to use the Steam Workshop content to its full effect.

 

Vitor13: Thanks.

 

89James89: Cheers.

 

blackdragonbird: Erm, what green fields? Because of the map the fields come out a neon yellow with a hint of green, with the Real Colour Correction mod they turn the colour of barley.

 

 

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Entry 11: Presenting the Industrial Town of Charon Lake

 

It feels great to be working on a different map, so without further adieu let's see Charon Lake.

 

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Charon Lake.

 

 

 

And the lake this town is named after. This highway interchange and the railway station are two of three available routes into Charon Lake.

 

 

 

The second interchange East of Charon Lake.

 

 

 

A prototype microwave power plant provides electricity to the town.

 

 

 

 

Basket Wells. The basket part of the name comes from the drumlins, formed by a retreating glacier, scattered around the area, another expression for drumlins is "basket of eggs".

 

 

 

Crude oil, petroleum and plastics are Charon Lake's chief exports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The glorious nodding donkey.

 

 

 

The manufacturing area of Charon Lake.

 

 

 

It's always good to sneak in a SC3000 power plant to substitute for heavy industry. There are actually three such SC3000 power plants in this entry and all of them are different!

 

 

 

Hurden's Phthalate Works- the massive factory.

 

 

 

Hurden's Phthalate's Works makes phthalates which are important chemical compounds used to soften and increase the flexibility of plastic.

 

 

 

 

Meffane's Light Oil Refinery.

 

 

 

 

This petrol station gets petrol directly from the town's oil refineries.

 

 

 

 

Council housing for the industrial workers.

 

 

 

Although a few properties were purchased outright and correspondingly rebuilt.

 

 

 

Hexane Hills in the distance.

 

 

 

One more look at the phthalate plant.

 

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I'll show the suburbs of Charon Lake tomorrow, of course by then this town would have probably rapidly expanded!

[iviaarten 534]

It's looking great already, and looks like it's going to get only better

 

Amazing area, with a town that fits it well and seems to have a story behind it. Looking forward to the future.

 

Small question; in my small ore and oil industrial areas in the Forkton region I noticed that the natural resources run out VERY quickly. I've seen some mods to counter that. Are you using any of those?

[Haljackey 17,394]

Some of the best industry I've seen yet. Very nice!

[Vitoraju 675]

Graphics skylines cities look like a "model" and your city is a beautiful type of model and well made!

[89James89 1,169]

Grungy and industrial. My kind of town!

 

Love the look of that large factory and its unique parking and that council row housing looks like something out of the Wild West lol.

 

Cheers

 

James

[Mymyjp 1,052]

*bowing to the King of Industrial sectors*

Your cjs are always amazing, but it really shines when you create industrial sectors. You really have a keen eye to build your cities Ln X.

Wonderful entry.

[Snugies 91]

Awesome industry I think that was the gas plant from SC3000unlimited. Layout of the city looks great very realistic. With a good low density/high density ratio. Simtropolis people know a good low density/ high density ratio. All the youtube lets play's people seem to only build high density.