Twin Rivers Region - a work in progress

[hbn 244]

Looking great. I'd never have had the patience to do 1,000,000 trees. I just did my forest lazily with a large brush. Do agree with your sentiments with rural areas though. Farms are a disappointing note for me. They're typically larger than 4x4 squares. They're not always uniform in shape or size either. I'd like it if CO did an update to address this and some zoning aspects as well. 4x4 zones are too small for some buildings. Larger cities for example have skyscrapers with subdivided units but with a building itself that can take up a whole block. FHI and Monte Cristo may have done a terrible job with a great idea on Cities XL, it had massive potential but the game is buggy, flawed and screwed beyond any hope with the community on that one. That said how farms were done were great. They filled up a drawn area. My ideas for farm would use vector paths and break from the block zoning. You draw the path, it snaps to roads or paths of adjacent farms and it fills the area. It doesn't require the fertile soil terrain thing but that would help them, by making them more desirable or doubling their output/profit.

Alas, I can only hope. CO have created the basis for a great game and on many fronts have delivered but like you said, flaws still exist. Some more flexibility with roads would be nicer. There is still a bit too much wastage with land because the zones don't quite have the same flexibility offered. I'd like option for more turn lanes, in built option over traffic lights, the ability to drag a road to a dual-carriage way and not have it force a turn onto both ways by cutting through the median/central reservation. Improving roundabouts a bit by getting with of the crossings in the middle of the road so traffic flows a bit better. More options for bridge construction styles (though given how Boformer has managed to create a great pillar changing mod, I wonder if a mod is capable of changing bridge styles). Bit better standards for custom assets would be nice like AD-compatibility checker in the Workshop, requiring a proper screenshot for mods so you actually know what you're downloading and proper consideration for LODs but that's not exactly Colossal's fault for them. Still they've got a game worthy of rescuing the city builder genre and challenging Sim City 4, as fantastic as it was, is showing it's age and date. Hills are better to build on though. Trenches are still frustrating to do.

Still learning some of the terraforming and water mechanics myself though. Try as I might I still struggle to create reservoirs with a proper working dam (every attempt the water level is wrong). My coastlines are also too high. I try to create a bay with a nice waterfront, instead I've got a 24 metre cliff face.

Looking forward to seeing more of this develop though. There is a way around the farms though. It's only cosmetic and that, not really practical but people have used the terrain resources (oil, fertile and stone) to change the colour of the terrain, and used trees as a border. from a distance it would present itself as farm land. No practical use up front though. Just a thought.

[Turjan 1,048]

I agree, the agricultural areas in CXL etc. were a bit more realistic, one of the few highlights of that game.

35 minutes ago, hbn said:

Still learning some of the terraforming and water mechanics myself though. Try as I might I still struggle to create reservoirs with a proper working dam (every attempt the water level is wrong).

A simple rule is that the water source must be higher than the top of the dam. You can see that if you hover the mouse over the water source. Don't worry if it overflows in the beginning, that will level out as soon as the dam starts working.

I posted an example here.

[hbn 244]

3 hours ago, Turjan said:

3 hours ago, Turjan said:

I agree, the agricultural areas in CXL etc. were a bit more realistic, one of the few highlights of that game.

A simple rule is that the water source must be higher than the top of the dam. You can see that if you hover the mouse over the water source. Don't worry if it overflows in the beginning, that will level out as soon as the dam starts working.

I posted an example here.

I agree, the agricultural areas in CXL etc. were a bit more realistic, one of the few highlights of that game.

A simple rule is that the water source must be higher than the top of the dam. You can see that if you hover the mouse over the water source. Don't worry if it overflows in the beginning, that will level out as soon as the dam starts working.

I posted an example here.

That much I know, but every time I've tried it, the water level has been too low. I have the terrain tools mod enabled though so I might try and mess about with it a bit. It needs optimising anyway. I want more electricity out of my dam. I am aware that due to the great fluid dynamics of this game though (where water acts like water acts) that it does take time to settle the flow. I've been tempted many times to try and flood my city anyway.

[Turjan 1,048]

24 minutes ago, hbn said:

That much I know, but every time I've tried it, the water level has been too low.

I guess you know that, if you keep the left mouse button pressed down, you can raise or lower the water ceiling of the source by moving the mouse back and forth? As the water ceiling is shown by that light plane, it's easy to judge at which point it's finally higher than the dam.

But yes, water dynamics are great. Even the houses pose realistic obstacles (see here).

[dedgren 830]

 

David

 

[gfvsims 169]

When I read about their priority being to port the game to Xbox, I was highly disappointed. (Do people really play this kind of game on consoles? We've always used ours for FPS and sports games.) I am really, really, really hoping for a rural/farming expansion pack. Pretty please, CO?

Anyway, fantastic updates, David. I love seeing new pics from your game. (And I also hope there is a modder out there who can create proper rural roads!)

[raynev1 1,886]

Nice game pics . Maybe contact CO about your feelings on the game . Someone there may try to please the community on the rural aspects , so many are interested in . 

   Yeah , and don't worry about the rant . Sometimes , that's what it takes to get the ball rolling . Look at how long it took SC4 to be as awesome of a game as it is today . Maxis gave us the basics , the community is who made what we can do with it now . And they continue to amaze me . Still making stuff that could not have been created a year after the release . When C;S was released , could you plop a million trees ? Hang in there Bud , there seems to be a handful of talented people working hard to make our games better and better . Count to ten and breath . If that doesn't work , then count them trees you plopped . Everything will be okay. Patience my friend , patience .

   Now to change the subject . Is that your house ? If so , it is incredible . If not , I still think it's incredible . I love how it blends in with it's surroundings and yet seems so modern . 

[catty-cb 4,411]

1 hour ago, raynev1 said:

...Now to change the subject . Is that your house ? If so , it is incredible . If not , I still think it's incredible . I love how it blends in with it's surroundings and yet seems so modern . 

It looks a lot like the Igloo City Hotel in Cantwell, Alaska, I remember reading a news report on it as it was for sale back sometime 2013, so it could be David's 

[dedgren 830]

 

We are not unaware here at TRR that the developer of C:S kindly added a day/night component to the game back last fall.  Thus far, it never seemed like a really big deal in Jessamine.  Not a big deal, that is, until our incredibly talented modder friend TPB modded the sky [linkie]!

We're still planting trees like crazy, so here's a few eye candy pics we took a few minutes to shoot.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

 

Amazing stuff, eh?

Later.

 

David

p.s.  raynev1, my friend- no, not my igloo.  Thank God [linkie]. -de

9677/247

  Edited December 27, 2015 by dedgren  
Image uploader broken again - very frustrating, insert igloo link, fix pics again

[Turjan 1,048]

Great night pictures, and I now finally read the text to the last entry. It's as detailed as Jesper107 promised .

On 12/23/2015 at 11:45 PM, dedgren said:

This pic is taken downstream above the river to the west of the bridge.  A truss bridge style available for the old road would greatly enhance accuracy here as well.  The tunnel under the rock fill will have to wait until we finally fire up the game, as you cannot build tunnels (yet?- fingers and toes crossed) in the Map Editor.

Let's see what you say when the tunnel entrances make the road bend up on both sides .

Quote

I'll pretend that dustbin, or mailbox, or whatever on the right side of the highway before the bridge is a utility cabinet or something.

That's an electrical enclosure that distributes either electricity or landline services to nearby houses. You have nearby houses, right?

However, you can sometimes find similar boxes for sand next to mountain roads.

[jesper107 113]

David - are you telling me you're still in the map editor? Jesus! We're gonna spend years in this thread aren't we? I've no objection to that! Happy plopping!

Gonna have to check out that night sky mod.

Jesper

[The Big Z 103]

Awesome work, David. #3 is my favorite one, but they are all so fantastic. That skyscape mod is the best.

[Benedict 3,119]

The bridge at night is superb.

And well done - TRR was number one on BTT for the week ending 24 September.

[raynev1 1,886]

Another cool entry , and that night sky looks amazing .

Wow , your image of the igloo made it look nice , I wouldn't want it either it's in some pretty bad shape .

[tariely 4,496]

that night mod is amazing !  Is there a snow mod ?

I concur with the rant !:-)

 

[catty-cb 4,411]

5 hours ago, tariely said:

that night mod is amazing !  Is there a snow mod ?

I don't think you can get actual snow ... I could be wrong

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=582425905

But you can certainly get things looking all snowy, also can get snow covered trees as well 

[tariely 4,496]

wow. That's the snow we're not really having over here where I live:-))) Looks good. But I wonder id it will also cover buildings.

[dedgren 830]

Wow!  We have been moving along.  This is the mail from page 5 [linkie] and we're most of the way through page 9. We'll reach 10,000 page views sometime on the 29th.  I really need to step up my game- I never intended to get more than a page, or at most two, behind.

UPDATE 151229 at 3:21 AKDST (GMT-9): There we go!

I think we are seeing a modest resurgence of Cities: Skylines CJing since the doldrum days of late summer when we launched TRR.  There are a number of great start-ups on the forums now that are just waiting for you to come and take a look.  If you haven't checked these out recently, please click here [linkie] and go leave a couple of comments about the things you see.  Don't worry- TRR will be right here when you get back.

...

And, now that you've done that, let me thank you for the incredible support you've given TRR.  In a little less than four months, you've validated my sense that I had prior to day one here that Cities: Skylines was the right game to re-enter the realm of city journaling with, and that folks would be interested in something that would go beyond the unfortunate paradigm of "build a bunch of stuff and highways real fast until the game maxes out, irretrievably crashes or the author simply loses interest" CJing that appeared to have become all too much the norm in the C:S forums within just a few months of the games's release.  Sure, you can disagree with that assessment, but I can show you about five Cities: Skylines city journal index pages (over 80% of all C:S forum-based CJs ever started) full of dead and abandoned CJs that I think back up my argument.

This is a post in progress- I'm working on it offline because of problems I continue to have with the ST post editor.  I am shooting for late in the day tomorrow, the 3rd, to have it all up.  If you are seeing this message, please check back.  Thanks!

 

David

9908/255

  Edited January 2, 2016 by dedgren  
Page crashed, long update posted over several days, added 10K view graphic

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Incredible night pictures, number 5 is particularly soothing to the eye.

[jesper107 113]

Good luck with recreating the update David!

[dedgren 830]

Into the woods...

We're working on the latest "We've got mail" update [linkie] today, along with another project that looks very promising.  I'll let you know when we wrap the mail up.

 

David

 

[ianclowe4c 1]

Everything looks amazing as always. Always looking forward to updates. 

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

I planted some seeds........You may want to leave some room for more foliage types.  As I'm working on the new trees I actually think about this region and how they will fit in....Just letting you know this CJ is influencing my modding of nature things.    Will show some screens soon.....In fact, if you have any species in mind let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

Dennis

[jesper107 113]

5 hours ago, Mr_Maison said:

I planted some seeds........You may want to leave some room for more foliage types.  As I'm working on the new trees I actually think about this region and how they will fit in....Just letting you know this CJ is influencing my modding of nature things.    Will show some screens soon.....In fact, if you have any species in mind let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

Dennis

Sorry for the ninja, but:

Make us a scots pine and a beech and I'll mail you a love letter! 

Jesper

[Benedict 3,119]

Nice work, your CJ was number on on BTT for the week ending October 1. Happy New Year!

[dedgren 830]

Been distracted.

Haven't forgotten about Jessamine.  I've just been spending a bit of time in, yes... Three Rivers Region [linkie].  Cities: Skylines may never be quite the same.

Back in a bit.  Happy New Year from Alaska!

 

David

[jesper107 113]

The pull of SC4 is strong!

Edit: reading from sc4devotion it would seem that you are trying to import 3rr into C:S! IS THIS TRUE?!?

[Turjan 1,048]

10 minutes ago, jesper107 said:

The pull of SC4 is strong!

Edit: reading from sc4devotion it would seem that you are trying to import 3rr into C:S! IS THIS TRUE?!?

I had the same initial reaction, but then I also noticed my mistake. That sounds like the project for a decade.

[jesper107 113]

6 hours ago, Turjan said:

I had the same initial reaction, but then I also noticed my mistake. That sounds like the project for a decade.

Well, David is known to do a project for a decade 

[dedgren 830]

On 1/2/2016 at 9:01 AM, jesper107 said:

Well, David is known to do a project for a decade 

Just upping my game a bit.

So yes, I'm going to do 3RR maps in Cities: Skylines.  It's a long term project, and I plan to do it alongside Jessamine, from which I have learned a lot about C:S terraforming.  Three Rivers Region will be, heh!... ten years old in March.

That gives me a couple of months.

UPDATE: Weird scenes from inside the heightmapping.

1#

Canyonlands?

#2

#3

#4

Monument Valley?

#5

 

David