Seattle, Washington, USA (Update 19: Seattle Municipal Tower)

[Azurespecter 506]

This is fantastic! I really love those construction shots, gives your city a feeling of being alive

[penguinpc 1]

Love watching you do this. I'm doing what I call a "loose approximation" of Seattle, so I have more and less roads and things out of place compared to the real one.

What are you going to use for Safeco Field and Centurylink Field?

[jesper107 113]

Wow these pics are fantastic!

[jesper107 113]

On 12/6/2015 at 5:22 PM, Roadman20 said:

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I just love this picture! How did you make that cement thing stand out from the concrete underneath? Reference the arrow above for the place i'm asking about! It's the one with some orange barriers.

[Roadman20 601]

Well, it's been a relaxing holiday time for myself, and Seattle's development has crawled to a near standstill.  However, I'll dig through the replies and reveal one screenshot of progress.

10 hours ago, jesper107 said:

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I just love this picture! How did you make that cement thing stand out from the concrete underneath? Reference the arrow above for the place i'm asking about! It's the one with some orange barriers.

That concrete piece is part of GCVos's toll buildings.  The rest is plopped concrete.  Also, thank you for stopping in.

On 12/23/2015 at 4:17 AM, penguinpc said:

Love watching you do this. I'm doing what I call a "loose approximation" of Seattle, so I have more and less roads and things out of place compared to the real one.

What are you going to use for Safeco Field and Centurylink Field?

Thanks for the comment.  Yeah, I'm going a lot slower trying to hammer streets into the right place.  As for both of Seattle's stadiums, I might put a placeholder there until someone makes both stadiums to scale.  I'm not good at making models, so making both stadiums are out of my league at this time.

 

On 12/21/2015 at 3:53 AM, Azurespecter said:

This is fantastic! I really love those construction shots, gives your city a feeling of being alive

Thanks!  That was the vibe I was wishing to give off.

On 12/16/2015 at 6:49 PM, FullStrenght said:

Great CJ! Why haven't I seen this before? Also great to see some fellow urban planners around here. Keep up the nice work on Seattle!

Thank you.  I've visted your CJ and it's pretty awesome in its own right.  Keep up the good work over there as well.

And finally, something to look at in the meantime... (don't mind the return of all the seagulls )

 

 

[dedgren 830]

Great to see Seattle- and you- heading back from the holidays.  Can't wait to see what's next.

 

David

 

 

[Turjan 1,048]

Great train image. Is that one functional or just for looks?

[Roadman20 601]

39 minutes ago, Turjan said:

Great train image. Is that one functional or just for looks?

It's just a prop train.  The amount of props to "fill" the industrial area will be a major talking point when I'm ready to publish the next post.

[jesper107 113]

Looking forward for that next post!

[Roadman20 601]

Welcome back everyone to Seattle.  The long awaited Harbor Island update is upon us and now a tour of probably the biggest industrial/seaport complex being built in C:SL.  Now a little background of Harbor Island, it is an artificial island made from the Jackson and Dearborn Street regrades with about 18 million metres cubed of earth.  At it's time of completion in 1909, it was the world's largest artificial island, lost the title in 1938 to Treasure Island in San Francisco. Harbor Island regained the title in 1967 and lost it again in 2004.

Recreating Harbor Island for Cities:Skylines has been an immense challenge for the past month.  A lot of preliminary design work in placing various facilities as well as thousands of filler props have been carefully placed all around the island.  Details from fences, security entries, bustle of fright cargo distribution have been thought out along the way in preparation of today's unveil.  As much as this facility showcases the beauty of C:SL, it also showcases the woefully inadequate shortcomings of industry in C:SL.

This is now the completed development of Harbor Island in C:SL.  A bustling industrial hub with shipbuilding and repair, bulk petroleum storage, metal fabrication, containerized cargo shipping, warehouses, and laboratories.  It has come a long way from it's humble beginnings of virtually forest.

The southern end of the island is home to various upscale offices and marinas.  A stark difference to the most grimy industrialized part of the island.

The West Seattle Freeway rises over the island and the much lower Spokane Street Bridge are the only connection to the island and the northernmost connection to West Seattle.

A view from the freeway towards the island both in day and night.

A view of the Dry Goods facility on the island.

As you're beginning to notice, a lot of the island is made by thousands of props to recreate the bustle of an industrial area of this size.

All entries to the container port are limited access via security gates.

Views on massive cargo distribution facilities.

And equally massive trainyards.

The island's gas station and truck stop before shipping cargo out across the Northwest region.

Oil storage facilities is also a big part of this island.

There is about four different trainyards spread across the island.

And some beautiful night shots...

And who says you can't see the stars from the bustle of the city???

This is the layout of Harbor Island in its completed state.   You can observe all the train yards and road layout on the island.  A lot of the roads are Traffic++ ped roads and blend in with the plopped concrete. Luckily since the introduction of Prop Anarchy, I can plop larger plots of concrete and place other props on top of it.  It was a huge pain in the ass beforehand.  

[hitzu 139]

Amazing level of details!

[Judazzz 1,936]

That is unreal, so much attention to detail!
Can imagine it was seriously painstaking work (enjoyable though - I sometimes spent hours 'prop'ping up small sections of my city as well), but the result is pretty much spot on!

[jesper107 113]

Fantastic harbor! Just brilliant!

I particularly like the picture with two rail tracks becoming four. Smooth!

[Simulanten 681]

On 7.1.2016 at 11:00 PM, Roadman20 said:

The West Seattle Freeway rises over the island and the much lower Spokane Street Bridge are the only connection to the island and the northernmost connection to West Seattle

Halleluja - nice addition to this amazing CJ! And this particular pic is totally to my taste. Bring more!

Is American Roads updated now? Or do you have any tricks up your sleeve how to use it together with Network Extensions?

Dominic

[Vals Loeder 27]

The level of detail you have put into this is astounding. Very well done!

[Roadman20 601]

19 hours ago, Simulanten said:

Halleluja - nice addition to this amazing CJ! And this particular pic is totally to my taste. Bring more!

Is American Roads updated now? Or do you have any tricks up your sleeve how to use it together with Network Extensions?

Dominic

American Roads is still in a semi-broken state (only works on vanilla roads) and hyperdrive_engage is no longer making mods for C:S.  There was a recent thread on the C:SL modding subreddit on finding someone interested in taking on several of his mods.  I have to be honest that mods are the only driving point to completing Seattle, WA.  If there were no mods, I wouldn't even have considered being serious in a recreation. I am afraid that my slow pace is going to break Seattle again once another DLC comes out since I am very dependent on using an array of mods to develop Seattle, and if they start breaking or fall in disrepair, it will be a problem.  So my interest in the Seattle recreation and in C:SL itself is tied to the depth of the mods.

After Dark was a so-so DLC, I did welcome the day-night cycle; however, that was free.  Everything else, I never used and probably will never use.

I actually have plenty of issues with the vanilla game, that having nearly 90 game mechanic changing mods active goes to show how much I wish to divert from the vanilla game.  I have a dislike towards how city services are done and their small radius are.  I've had a big problem with how garbage and deathcare is simulated and handled, although I solved the garbage problems with grabbing a 3x1 lot to grab garbage locally.  

[DaHindi 11]

Very nice port area

[Simulanten 681]

21 hours ago, Roadman20 said:

American Roads is still in a semi-broken state (only works on vanilla roads) and hyperdrive_engage is no longer making mods for C:S.  There was a recent thread on the C:SL modding subreddit on finding someone interested in taking on several of his mods.  I have to be honest that mods are the only driving point to completing Seattle, WA.  If there were no mods, I wouldn't even have considered being serious in a recreation. I am afraid that my slow pace is going to break Seattle again once another DLC comes out since I am very dependent on using an array of mods to develop Seattle, and if they start breaking or fall in disrepair, it will be a problem.  So my interest in the Seattle recreation and in C:SL itself is tied to the depth of the mods.

After Dark was a so-so DLC, I did welcome the day-night cycle; however, that was free.  Everything else, I never used and probably will never use.

I actually have plenty of issues with the vanilla game, that having nearly 90 game mechanic changing mods active goes to show how much I wish to divert from the vanilla game.  I have a dislike towards how city services are done and their small radius are.  I've had a big problem with how garbage and deathcare is simulated and handled, although I solved the garbage problems with grabbing a 3x1 lot to grab garbage locally.  

This. Same with me. It's why I'm a bit ambivalent about mods. I wouldn't do anything on C:S anymore without them - but they also turn the game into a very fragile monster and I end up doing more file-management and balancing in the game setup than really managing cities concerning budget, traffic, services etc.

The vanilla game is IMO so weird concerning balancing and scaling - and the AD DLC made it even worse. Why do we need bizarre parades of hearses to avoid "dead persons waiting for transport" at remote power stations? The same goes for armadas of garbage trucks. What about education with universities splattered over hundreds of square kilometers to get the educated workers and in the end industry is dying because of all those academics? Why do I have the feeling that nothing really matters except for traffic? Mindless plopping cures everything - and even while creating a city without endless money you'd be able to overcome any crisis with a pop >15'000. The milestones are a joke for the immersive process of creating a new town in the middle of nowhere: Why should I wait for trains that could be the nucleus and reason for a settlement to grow?

Sorry for ranting - C:S is a neat game. But I'd wish much more focus on the depth of the simulation from the devs. Rather than working on some duckburg-styled theme park tycoon eye candy.

Looking forward to seeing your Seattle grow!

Dominic

[Turjan 1,048]

I finally get to say how amazing I find this recreation. It's so wonderfully spacious. How many tiles does your harbor cover?

 

1 hour ago, Simulanten said:

 What about education with universities splattered over hundreds of square kilometers to get the educated workers and in the end industry is dying because of all those academics?

I see this repeated very often, but it is not an issue. Fully upgraded industry wants educated workers. It's actually the best workplace to have for them. Specialized industry suffers of course, but that's usually dealt with via a modest unemployment number, unless you have lots of specialized industry.

[boformer 3,169]

On 10.1.2016 at 1:11 PM, Roadman20 said:

American Roads is still in a semi-broken state (only works on vanilla roads)

That's not broken. American Roads is a very simple, but stable mod.

A while ago a tutorial and textures were released to replace the NExt textures. It is quite simple. You just have to replace a few files.

[Judazzz 1,936]

Thing is that afaik. most textures have been replaced since the NExt's tunnel update: even the base textures were different after that update, so you basically need a complete set of new textures (in my experience the old ones didn't really work that well - aesthetically, not functionally - any longer after that update). Not sure if anyone has already created a new texture set - sure hope so, the default roads are a bit of a bummer after you've used American Roads for some time.

[Roadman20 601]

I suppose this post is a spoiler of what is to come... plus reserved intrigue of the upcoming announcement from CO about the game.  From the top, renewed focus on Beacon Hill and Rainier Valley.  Network Skins is being put to good use for those tree-lined streets.  Meanwhile, the bottom two pictures is a rebuild of the Sound Transit Link Light Rail maintenance facility.  Also the West Seattle Freeway/I-5 interchange getting it's surroundings finished as noted with the first retaining wall.

EDIT: I know I mentioned earlier on how woefully bad the simulation is.  The vehicle limit is literally crippling all city services in Seattle.  I have edited the hearse to accept 500 bodies per hearse through the Advanced Vehicle Editor, but this is why the simulation in C:S is just plain bad.  Personally, if they are not willing to up the vehicle limit, they need to resolve the issue by either removing some services like deathcare, make a new limit for service vehicles exclusive from other vehicles, or set aside a number from the existing limit for services.  Honestly, deathcare is probably the most glaring of problems in terms of simulation in C:S, and it's definitely not a local governmental function.  I did fix the issue by clearing all the traffic, letting vehicles repopulate the map.

 

[hbn 244]

Excellent work, especially on that port. Hope CO do something about the limits, the game seems to perform well so there should be more headroom for relaxing some of the restrictions. I take it mods can't do that job.

[Roadman20 601]

50 minutes ago, hbn said:

Excellent work, especially on that port. Hope CO do something about the limits, the game seems to perform well so there should be more headroom for relaxing some of the restrictions. I take it mods can't do that job.

Actually, I was talking to zdza about my vehicle issue.  I have a hard time trying to keep track of older, useful mods.  I am trying to stay under 100 mods apart from the growing asset collection.  Addressing the service vehicles issues was made by the same person who made the show limits mods, KnighthawkGP.   As the new DLC has been announced, the problem CO is going to have with the vehicle limit is every time they introduce a new service, it's going to threaten the vehicle limit pool.

  http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=529979180&searchtext=services

zdza also convinced me to pursue some personal shopping in the 3D Warehouse in the couple hours since the last post.  While the below picture is something of a longer term project, the first piece to be modeled is probably the Sound Transit light rail maintenance building (which is significantly easier to deal with).  I just wanted to see how the Century Link model looked in Blender and what I needed to change.

[Turjan 1,048]

I guess I repeat myself, but the scope of this project is simply amazing. I have to admit that I stuck to some mini-harbor in my city and called it quits.

On 1/19/2016 at 5:24 AM, Roadman20 said:

 Honestly, deathcare is probably the most glaring of problems in terms of simulation in C:S, and it's definitely not a local governmental function.  I did fix the issue by clearing all the traffic, letting vehicles repopulate the map.

I guess they wanted to have something that was truly theirs, and they chose foolishly. As travel of the hearse is simulated in real-time while the life of a Cim is drastically accelerated, you get this silly flood of hearses. It doesn't help that ambulances get only dispatched from a few choice facilities. If I had the possibility to just switch the whole deathcare simulation off, I would do so.

In the real world, most people die in a hospital or nursing home.

[Horus_Kol 118]

On 1/19/2016 at 2:54 PM, Roadman20 said:

I love this railyard design...

[ExtraNoise 18]

On 1/19/2016 at 6:50 AM, Roadman20 said:

zdza also convinced me to pursue some personal shopping in the 3D Warehouse in the couple hours since the last post.  While the below picture is something of a longer term project, the first piece to be modeled is probably the Sound Transit light rail maintenance building (which is significantly easier to deal with).  I just wanted to see how the Century Link model looked in Blender and what I needed to change.

I did the math on this (it's one of the buildings on my list of Seattle buildings to make) and it came out to approximately 30 tiles by 30 tiles. I'm still iffy on whether I wanted to explore the use of mods to make a single seamless asset or instead do something like six 10x15 assets. What route would you take if you continue this? Or rather: what would you prefer if/when I get to it?

[Roadman20 601]

3 hours ago, ExtraNoise said:

I did the math on this (it's one of the buildings on my list of Seattle buildings to make) and it came out to approximately 30 tiles by 30 tiles. I'm still iffy on whether I wanted to explore the use of mods to make a single seamless asset or instead do something like six 10x15 assets. What route would you take if you continue this? Or rather: what would you prefer if/when I get to it?

Well, I am certain that my PC could handle both Century Link Field and Safeco Field as a singular asset.  Also to note about CLink Field is the attached parking garage and WaMu Theater at the south end of the complex.  The prime example right now is BoldyBuilding's updated World Trade Center complex that is a 36x43 lot, all one piece using boformer's sub-building enabler.  It just makes sense to make it one piece if I were going to finish this model and place it in my Seattle recreation.

I'm not attempting Century Link anytime soon, I am actually working on the Sound Transit Link maintenance building since I'm pretty new at modeling.

[USA Patriot 49]

I have really enjoyed reading through your topic you have here, and the amount of thought and details that goes into your thoughtful commentary about real world places and road infrastructure is astounding to me.  Great photos, great work, and you got a follower.  Emerald City for life!  

[Roadman20 601]

Haven't really played Seattle in a bit due to real life stuff happening, but had some time to see the Rush Hour mod at work in Seattle.  The crippling traffic has arrived.  I am trying to squeeze in some more development before Snowfall comes out and cripples some mods on release.

Anyhow, the below shot is entry onto I-90.  The red busway is the SoDo Busway once in operation and the Sound Transit LRT Airport Link with the SoDo Trail next to it.  Currently, Seattle is 100% nuclear powered, but the plants are moving to another location eventually.  I'm actually going to remove the busway since it is the last thing holding me onto Traffic++ and I want to shift to the rest of the features of Traffic President.

The next shot is traffic going into Rainier Valley is immense since it is currently the major development focal point.  I'll be seeing more traffic bottlenecks in the traditional spots of Seattle as development progresses.

The two shots is another growing bottleneck happening on Spokane Street from the eastern end of the West Seattle Freeway and showing a 90 minute in game lapse of traffic processing in this area.

In the final shot, well, I do not know how this traffic light appeared at this on-ramp, but it shall not be the last as Seattle adopts ramp meters for handling traffic.