Twin Rivers Region - a work in progress

[dedgren 830]

Haven't forgotten about you.  Rounding Handy's Bend at about three-quarters of a million trees.  I had cataract surgery last week, so am taking a little bit to get back to 100%.

Later.

 

David

[jesper107 113]

Hope you get better soon!

So.. any plans on what to do when you've used up all those pretty trees?

[dedgren 830]

So Jessamine at Twin Rivers Region is three months old today  You've viewed us 7,381 times, an average of about 80 times a day, but page views have been gathering steam, and we are solidly averaging around 150 views a day at this point.  One hundred and eighty one times, less mine, since the first week of September you have seen fit to comment on stuff you find interesting here.  TRR is now the third most commented on CJ in the Cities: Skylines forums.  You folks did that- I'm just providing the venue.  Thanks so much for your interest

Here's a few eye candy shots in celebration.

#1

I can do these meadow shots all day..  There's so much more to add- I think at the end of the day "amazing" will be an understatement.

#2

You can't beat natural landforms for scenic value.  They just ring true.

#3

This stuff makes my heart soar.

#4

I take back everything I said about low-poly trees.

#5

We've all laid back in the grass on a summer day and seen this, right?  Who could have guessed we'd see it again in a city-builder game?

Back with the mail tomorrow.

 

David

7,381/181

  Edited December 6, 2015 by dedgren  
Typo/expand sentence

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Shot number 3 made me whisper to myself. Beautiful development as usual!

[The Big Z 103]

The last shot is awesome. I agree with Mr_Maison, #3 is superbly beautiful too!

[Turjan 1,048]

Congrats. The shots look so serene. It's a celebration of space.

[jmyers2043 5]

Hi David. How nice it is to write to you. I like your screen grabs and hope your are doing well.

 

Jim

 

 

[tariely 4,499]

A pity this will be built upon !:-))) But, I think, not in the very near future, and I guess not all of it... I know that, when I return to CS I will be even more loathe than in SC4 to let a city grow, after so painstakingly and lovingly massaging the landscape !

[catty-cb 4,412]

Congrats. The shots look so serene. It's a celebration of space.

Couldn't agree more 

...that third shot with the dirt road heading off into the distance look great as does the closeup of the trees in pictures 4 and 5, the sky looks great in all of them ... still not quite sure about the ground I keep expecting to see more green in it

[raynev1 1,887]

Even after surgery , you still provided an update . Hope that all is good , I hate having any kind of surgery . Makes me feel blah for so many days after . 

[dedgren 830]

And it's the mail from page four [linkie].  We're into our fourth month of CJing, and your comments have been just great.  They've led me in directions I never dreamed I'd be taking.

Folks have asked me at various times where all this is headed.  As time has gone by in doing basic work in the Jessamine quad, I'm starting to have an idea.  During the "map" phase, I'll complete the basic forestation, make another pass or two to fine tune things, then one or more passes with supplementary vegetation- other trees, bushes, grasses, and the like.  I will be filling in the road and rail network as I go along.  Based on the almost two months it has taken me to do the first pass of trees, I'm guessing that it will be next spring to complete all this work.  I plan, once trees and transportation facilities are in place, to do as much boulder and rock placement as I can.  When I do this, I will also be designing and creating all the non-game water streambeds.  I'm going to estimate the last fine terraforming tasks will be done by June, 2016, a little more than six months from now.  Sometime that month, we'll do a final map save, then open Jessamine quad up in the game.

After that, who knows?  Will the game run after I've plopped 1.8 million or so trees, bushes and grasses?  Will my FPS be a whole number greater than zero?  Will ongoing modding keep up with the things we need to make Jessamine as realistic as possible?

Stay tuned.  And now, the mail.

_________________________________________________________

On November 9th, TRR Regular and "Double-0 Club" member Cathy (catty-cb - Citybuilder's Website) noted:

On 11/9/2015 at 11:51 AM, catty-cb said:

Its worth it tho, those pictures are looking stunning especially no. 3 and 4 they are looking very real life

It's up and down in the RL simulation biz, ma'am.  One day you think you have nailed it, the next you are ready to give it up as hopeless.  We do keep trying- thanks for the encouragement!

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Later on the 9th, another TRR Regular, The Big Z (Dewey Dell) agreed with Cathy:

On 11/9/2015 at 2:42 PM, The Big Z said:

Looking awesome! The trees are pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing the links to them on the Workshop. I can't wait to see what Twin Rivers looks like when you reach 1,000,000 trees.

Now that our friends DRen72 and knighthawkGP over at the Steam Workshop have raised the limit of their great Unlimited Tree mod [linkie] to two million trees I can breathe a whole lot easier.

800,000 trees.

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The 9th of November was a big day for comments.  First-time commenter matthewscott6615 (Lenox) stopped by:

On 11/10/2015 at 3:35 PM, matthewscott6615 said:

and to think...i once felt silly for placing and curating individual houses in a medium sized neighborhood. the different ways people use this game never cease to amaze me, sandbox games are great like that

I can relate.  I played Three Rivers Region for several years without ever placing a building, and still kept myself busy the entire time.

Thanks for checking TRR out- please don't be a stranger.

_________________________________________________________

The 9th saw our incredibly talented friend boformer (Cap de Creus/Steam Workshop) come by and say:

On 11/10/2015 at 3:39 PM, boformer said:

The problem with the trees is that all of them are rotated the same. It looks repetitive. The only fix: Create multiple versions of the trees with different rotations. There is no other way.

What makes this community so great is that, when one person has a problem, there is almost always another member who has the skills to offer a fix.  Within a few days our friend had posted a Random Tree Rotation mod [linkie], which made ranks of the exact same tree a thing of the past.  Coupled with his LOD Toggler mod [linkie], Cities: Skylines images can now be amazingly sharp, clear and detailed.  As far as we're concerned, boformer is our favorite Cities: Skylines mad scientist and we can't say thank you enough.

_________________________________________________________

Twin Rivers Region Regular Dennis (Mr. Maison - Mr. Maison's Creations) closed out the 9th with:

On 11/10/2015 at 5:40 PM, Mr_Maison said:

Nice update! And the magic begins  Just beautiful.

That is so kind.  Beauty comes in many forms in Cities: Skylines.  I have taken one path, but there are so many others.  IMHO right now in C:S is even better than 2004 following the release of the Rush Hour upgrade to SC4.  The sense of possibility and potential is almost overwhelming.  Nice to be able to ride that wave a second time.

_________________________________________________________

On November 10th, TRR Regular Marisa (gfv1974) said:

On 11/10/2015 at 0:04 AM, gfv1974 said:

I hope we're in for the long haul with this CJ! Your latest pics are amazing.

Well, ma'am, Three Rivers Region [linkie] was active for about five years (and is closing in on its second million page views even though I don't actively maintain it any more).  I think we'll be hanging around Jessamine for a while yet.

Quite a while, come to think of it.

_________________________________________________________

Also on the 10th first-time commenter Kaschperl observed:

On 11/10/2015 at 4:33 AM, Kaschperl said:

Your landscape looks quite impressive already! I adore those sophisticated nature scenes that some players put together in SC4. It's nice to see that you're now trying to take that to C:S, that vegetation is much more convincing than the vanilla trees

You bet!  While I am interested in adding a few trees and other flora by other asset creators in the future, up through now I have exclusively used Breeze's trees [linkie] and specifically Summer Tree #6 [linkie] (10%) and Summer Tree #7 [linkie] (90%). 

_________________________________________________________

The 10th saw our great friend Cathy (catty-cb) make the 100th comment here at TRR since we started on September 5th of this year.  She said:

On 11/11/2015 at 5:29 PM, catty-cb said:

People are starting to do some really nice bridges, but so far it looks like you are out of luck when it comes to having a Under-deck Truss Bridge

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198187028459/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=543756499

With this comment Cathy became the first member of the TRR "Double-0 Club" [linkie], a status reserved for those who make comments that number in multiples of 100.  Why not multiples of 95, say, or 77?  Like Mel Brooks said, "It's good to be the King."

The next Double-0 Club member ought to be along in the next couple of days.  Wonder who it will be?

_________________________________________________________

On the 10th, I posted a "TRR Wish List" in an update [linkie].  One of the items I wished for was a "boulders and cobble" asset to use on shorelines and the banks of streams.  It didn't take our great friend boformer even a day to offer;

On 11/11/2015 at 6:23 PM, boformer said:

How about this?

Which one is better? The brighter decal version (basically just a texture) or the modeled rocks?

Don't mind the color difference.

One difference is that the modeled prop has a normal map, that means the shadows will be nicer at sunset. The decal version on the other hand looks better from far away.

Wow!  Talk about ask and you shall receive.  This was exactly what I was hoping for.  The same goes for everyone else, too, based on the reception our friend received when he uploaded his Cobblestone textures to the Steam Workshop in high [linkie], medium [linkie] and low [linkie] density variants.  These, along with various ploppable rocks and boulders, were made even more useful by boformer when he also uploaded his No Water Check mod [linkie], which allows these essential superdetailing items to be placed directly into the game's water.

_________________________________________________________

Later in the day on the 10th, our good friend tariely (P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)) spoke up for all of us when she said:

On 11/11/2015 at 6:40 PM, tariely said:

On 11/11/2015 at 6:23 PM, boformer said:

How about this?

Which one is better? 

 

I like both !!!

Well, me too.  Just amazing stuff.

_________________________________________________________

On November 11th, our friend GC_Vos (GC_Vos Workshop Assets) revisited the Wish List:

On 11/11/2015 at 0:31 AM, GC_Vos said:

+1 for Local Blacktop/Chip Seal Roads

I'll see if I can work something like that into TAM/NExt. It kind of looks like T++ pedestrianised roads (albeit with stripes).

Our friend is a member of the team working on the Network Extensions Project (NEXT) mod [linkie] and he is referring to this item from the list.

Quote

#5 - Local Blacktop/Chip Seal Roads

I'm waving my arms in front of the monitor in the hopes of getting Katalyst6's attention about the possibility of adding a hard-surface local road to the Network Extensions Project mod [linkie].  Rural areas, at least in the US, are full of these minor roads, which rate no centerline, but carry enough traffic to merit an upgrade from gravel.  These roads often lack shoulders, which is the way I have proposed them.  The road is the same width between the white edge lines, but lacks the pavement outside of those lines found on the National Road shown below for comparison.

The NEXT mod was just updated a couple of days ago and, alas, no Local Blacktop/Chip Seal Roads.  I know from being a member of SC4's NAM Team how busy and difficult this work can be, though, and so there's always next time.  It's nice to know we've got a member of the NEXT mod team pulling for these.

_________________________________________________________

UPDATE

While we had a little extra time on our hands, we continued to plant trees.  And more trees.  And more trees.

As we noted above, our friend The Big Z recently said

Quote

I can't wait to see what Twin Rivers looks like when you reach 1,000,000 trees.

 

Well...

Wait's over.

Chirpy is tired.  It was almost quitting time, so I gave it the rest of the day off. 

We'll do a proper update on this milestone in a bit.  Just thought you might want to know.

_________________________________________________________

boformer came back to wrap things up on the 11th by confirming he'd uploaded the cobbles:

On 11/11/2015 at 6:35 AM, boformer said:

On 11/11/2015 at 9:31 PM, dedgren said:

Oh, be still my beating heart.  Ohhhhh....

Amazing, my friend.  I'm going to think about your question and observations overnight, but I think tariely might have the best answer already.

Here, done: https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/69221-custom-ground-textures-and-other-interesting-prop-shader-tricks/?do=findComment&comment=1598687

Hard to say thank you enough times.  We'll put them to good use.

_________________________________________________________

Cathy (catty-cb) kicked off November 12th  by observing:

On 11/12/2015 at 2:00 AM, catty-cb said:

You are certainly starting to show what's possible with C:S, I must admit this topic is really bringing up fond memories from the SC4 past for me when SC4 had just been released and people started to work out just what they could do with this new game ... it was exciting to watch ... I was still very much a lurker in those days 

As I've noted, I feel the same way.  I can hardly wait to check for new mods on the Steam Workshop every day.  I've got my fingers crossed for some particular stuff in the next official update, but my guess is that whateever we see will be great.

_________________________________________________________

TRR Regular raynev1 stopped by on the 12th to, among other things, admit he, like me is a roadgeek:

On 11/12/2015 at 2:39 AM, raynev1 said:

@dedgren you are making Cities Skylines even more appealing to the die hard Simcity4 fan that I am . After reading your post in Roadman's City Development Journals: Seattle, Washington, USA , now I understand . You sound like someone that's very passionate and dedicated about their work . I too was passionate and dedicated to my career , but it was in the asphalt paving industry . Yes , I am a "roadgeek" too . Reading this back to myself , humored me a bit . Sounding like an alcoholic at A.A.

   I believe this CJ will be as big of a hit as 3RR of your SC4 days , I can't wait to see how this CJ evolves . 

Thanks for the kind words, my friend.  We're working hard to live up to high expectations like yours.

Here, by the way, is what I said in the post on Roadman20'sincredible CJ Roadman's City Development Journals: Seattle, Washington, USA.

Quote

I wound up, after dropping out of architecture school at University of Kentucky in 1972- my GPA was on life support- getting drafted.  Sixteen years and an undergraduate degree in business management from the University of Maryland later I wound up with a dual degree program J.D. from the University of Richmond and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University.  I worked as a professional planner for St. Lawrence County in New York and as a planning consultant for the Northwest Arctic Borough in Alaska hired to redraft its coastal management plan.  The law ultimately got me, though, and from 1995 'til 2013 when I retired I was in private practice in Anchorage doing planning and zoning work when I could and marital and domestic relations stuff when I had to.  Through that, I've always been a roadgeek in one form or another.  I've taken pictures of things like the old "ghost ramps" on the Alaskan Way where I-90 was supposed to end.  I always thought that was the pits- here 90 makes it all the way from Boston, surviving places like Buffalo, Cleveland, and the middle of nowhere out in South Dakota and Wyoming, and then gets killed off less than half a mile from its destination.  It is still, in my book, probably the best Interstate though.  I have driven its entire length.  Same for I-5, but I don't find it near as interesting.

So all my dirty laundry is now out on the table.  I retired at the end of 2013 and started collecting Social Security the following year, so now I am a government subsidized know-it-all with lots of time on my hands.

_________________________________________________________

On the 14th, Marisa (gfv1974) stopped back in and remarked:

On 11/14/2015 at 11:05 PM, gfv1974 said:

Wow, just wow. That looks amazing, David! You're a real inspiration.

Thank you, Marisa!  Although I'd be inclined to think it's the game, not me.

_________________________________________________________

My long-time friend Art (art128 - Art128's SC4 Projects) dropped in later on the 14th and commented:

On 11/14/2015 at 0:04 AM, art128 said:

Absolutely beautiful update David. Your detailing is as always on a very high level. The overview is great so far.  

Art, thank you.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

_________________________________________________________

Our massively talented friend Roadman20 (Roadman's City Development Journals: Seattle, Washington, USA) joined our busy day on the 14th, commenting:

On 11/14/2015 at 1:36 AM, Roadman20 said:

The attention to the natural detail is simply stunning.  The land is shaping up well.

I appreciate the kind words.  However, I prostrate myself at the feet of the master of infrastructure detail.

Folks, if you are even just a little bit of a roadgeek, go see our friend's CJ [linkie].  It's amazing (I already used incredible on it a bit ago).

As for TRR infrastructure, we are working on the US 27 alignment south of the bridge at Camp Nelson.

Here's RL US 27 headed south from the end of the bridge through that rock cut.

Not too shabby, eh?

_________________________________________________________

Our old SC4 friend Jesper (jesper107) popped in on the 14th and exclaimed:

On 11/14/2015 at 5:25 AM, jesper107 said:

This is great!

It is great, but if I could be so bold, only because you and so many others have joined in to make it that way.

_________________________________________________________

The 14th also saw our great friend tariely (P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4) come in and drool on the carpet:

On 11/14/2015 at 9:16 AM, tariely said:

We recognize that praise can come in many forms.  As long as you bring your own paper towels.

_________________________________________________________

Cathy (catty-cb) joined in on the 14th, saying:

On 11/14/2015 at 10:09 AM, catty-cb said:

When you say out loud that you want more rocks and boulders, etc ... I think most people would shrug their shoulders and say why bother when you can do skyscrapers, but then you see what a difference those rocks and boulders make to the game and ones ability to replicate real life and its magic 

I was famously asked by a commenter back on 3RR when I was in my second or third year of pre-game terraforming and superdetailing the countryside, "Why do you think they call this game Sim City?"  To that person and to all the others who would be shrugging those shoulders I would respond, "For every skyscraper in RL there's millions of rocks." 

_________________________________________________________

Later on the 14th, our friend Cool_Z (Steam Workshop) agreed with Cathy:      

On 11/14/2015 at 11:50 AM, Cool_Z said:

On 11/14/2015 at 10:09 AM, catty-cb said:

When you say out loud that you want more rocks and boulders, etc ... I think most people would shrug their shoulders and say why bother when you can do skyscrapers, but then you see what a difference those rocks and boulders make to the game and ones ability to replicate real life and its magic 

Yep !! Little things add a lot.

The landscape is naked without them.

_________________________________________________________

Finally on the 14th new commenter and new friend charlesnew (The City of Rockhill) closed out page 4 and this mail update with:

On 11/15/2015 at 9:37 PM, charlesnew said:

Wow, this is so cool! So detailed!

Thank you.  Please don't be a stranger.

_________________________________________________________

So we're done.  Thank you so much for reading this journal.  Let me once again encourage you, though, not to stop here and log out of ST for the day.  There are many other fine Cities: Skylines CJs that await [linkie] just a click or two away.  And, if you just have time for one or two comments today, please leave them in one or two of those other journals instead of here.  I know what the things you say do for me and TRR, encouragement-wise.  I'd like to see as many other CJ authors share in that same feeling.

Remember though, your third comment, if you have the time, is mine!

 

David

7551/189

  Edited December 11, 2015 by dedgren  
Lengthy update worked on over several days and delayed by ST outage

[raynev1 1,887]

That last image looks amazing , like a postcard of a national park or something . 

[jesper107 113]

It's like being here from the beginning, unlike 3RR where I arrived some years down the road. I get this sensation of excitement in my stomach saying "this is an adventure into great creative and technical minds".

 

Cheers for the update!

[dedgren 830]

After the recent update to ST, I cannot upload images (other than the one above- I have no idea, after trying for an hour, why it went up).  Until that is fixed, we'll need to suspend things here.  Thanks so much in advance for bearing with us.

 

David

7837/192

[Turjan 1,048]

I'm already happy that I can post in your thread now. I guess we will have to wait till everything regarding the update will be sorted out.

[The Big Z 103]

Gasp! How am I supposed to get my tree-plopping fix?  I hope you're back on track soon!

[catty-cb 4,412]

I've spent the last couple of days either hitting the reply button here which wasn't working or putting up Christmas Decorations over at the CB Website, Joan (Jmouse) was all for adding stuff down the sides as well and if I could have I would have, but the software wouldn't allow us to do it ... still thinking of adding something around the world map at the bottom of the page and I am forecasting snow on Christmas Day.

I was still able like things but it is nice to be able to say shame you are having problems posting anymore pictures, but ones you have posted are    and its looking increasing likely that I'm going to have to watch other people play C:S as the money I was saving up to buy a new computer has had to go on surgery for the cat, so I could be spending a lot of time over here  

[dedgren 830]

Simtropolis remains broken insofar as posting images to forum-based CJs is concerned.  Sometimes you can post one- here's a shot from the update that is on hold.

I have registered a polite yet firm complaint with the management.  Please stay tuned for whatever happens.  I will keep you posted.

 

David

7987/196

 

[jesper107 113]

One picture is better than none

[Vals Loeder 27]

I have fond memories reading the TRR journal in Simcity4. The collaborative work of so many talented players showed how great Simcity could be. I am certain this new instalment of the TRR will be as awesome as the previous one.

[feyss 1,981]

I just understood I had to click to see all the pictures

Great work so far. I just like how you take your time to create something the most realistic possible

[dedgren 830]

And, with comment 200, our friend feyss (Republic of Arinsia) becomes the second member of the TRR "Double-0 Club [linkie].  Thanks!

As for the image posting issue, no news on that front.  I hate to stir up old things perhaps best left forgotten, but nine years ago next Sunday Three Rivers Region moved from this site over the same sort of issue.  ST staff, please talk to us and keep us informed about what is happening.

 

David

 

[catty-cb 4,412]

12 hours ago, dedgren said:

....  ST staff, please talk to us and keep us informed about what is happening....

Having been down the site upgrade path a few times on my site, it isn't that you don't want to tell people what's going on but equally you need to fix whatever has gone wrong with the install and try and do in such a way that the rest of the site keeps running as there is nothing worse that a user turning up to find a "down for maintenance screen" or even worse a blank screen with a "fatal error message", and sometimes you don't know what's caused the problem or how to fix it or how long its going to take to fix it ... and if that's all I can tell my users then to be honest I'll probably not going to post a message saying ... its broken and I don't know why.

It is very frustrating as I know from the last week when I couldn't post anywhere on site, but that got fixed so I'm trusting that the other issues will get sorted out as well.

-Cathy

[Turjan 1,048]

2 hours ago, catty-cb said:

... and if that's all I can tell my users then to be honest I'll probably not going to post a message saying ... its broken and I don't know why.

I may be an exception, but I prefer an honest message like this over silence. Although I don't know anything about running a website, I know how time-consuming bug-hunting can be, so I can empathize. That way, you at least know that someone is looking at it.

[catty-cb 4,412]

4 hours ago, Turjan said:

I may be an exception, but I prefer an honest message like this over silence. Although I don't know anything about running a website, I know how time-consuming bug-hunting can be, so I can empathize. That way, you at least know that someone is looking at it.

I do put out a message saying I'm updating the site and for people to report bugs and if they do, then I do try and make a point of talking to them about it ... but otherwise I do tend to just be working away in the background ... its certainly something I'll bear in mind the next time I do an upgrade

[lmalossi 2]

Hi David! This new CJ is AWESOME!!! 

This definitely made me buy the game: thanks and good work

 

[dedgren 830]

Folks, this is ridiculous.  I am watching other CJers in the Cities: Skylines forum now posting updates with uploaded images.  I just spent  the past hour attempting every which way to upload even one.  Tomorrow will be ten days since I have updated Jessamine.  Wednesday I have cataract surgery on my left eye and I will be out of commission for at least a couple of days.  I apologize in advance for TRR's unavailability for such a long time.

 

David

8213/205

[Turjan 1,048]

3 hours ago, dedgren said:

Folks, this is ridiculous.  I am watching other CJers in the Cities: Skylines forum now posting updates with uploaded images.  I just spent  the past hour attempting every which way to upload even one. 

I feel very sorry for you. I have no idea what the issue may be. I inserted my images via the "Insert other media" menu in the lower right, followed by "Insert image from URL".

Good luck with your surgery.

[catty-cb 4,412]

Have you tried a Force Refresh on your Browser, sometimes they are a real devil at hanging on to old site settings even when they have changed.

Testing grabbing a URL link from CB and posting here

You probably recognize the picture, if you are still having problems with URL links feel free to set up a picture album here

https://community.simtropolis.com/clubs/26-city-builders-website/my-albums

If you do and you want to do a URL link to here, click on the picture and then View Original and copy the link from there.

Good luck with the surgery.

Cathy

[dedgren 830]

Cathy (catty-cb), you are such a great friend.  I'm not going to be doing anything until Friday at the earliest, but much better participation by me at your website will happen no matter what the outcome.  There are interesting things happening right now.

I have flushed the browser (Firefox) cache and forced a refresh (at least I think I did- nothing much seemed to happen).  I'm out of ideas.  And frustrated.  My ImageShack content works fine everywhere else I go. Soooooooooo...

Cataract surgery in 12 hours.  I'm headed for bed.

 

David

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