A Trixies Interview with Ln X

[_Michael 2,681]

So as part of the upcoming Trixie Season, the Staff team have been interviewing various prominent members of the community and asking them about their favorite STEX files and City Journals over the past two years, inspiration and creative workflow, along with life outside of Simtropolis. So without further ado, please welcome our first guest:

 

An Interview with Ln X

So thanks very much Ln X for agreeing to take part in this special Trixie 2015/2016 Interview.

Sure.

 

I'd first like to talk about the community as a whole. We all have our own unique Simtropolis story. How did you first discover this community?

I think about four or five years ago. I came across it by accident when I was looking at custom SC4 content, I had been playing the vanilla game but decided that I wanted more skyscrapers in the game.

 

I'm sure many have had the same experience! And your work here, specifically your City Journals have definitely inspired me and I'm sure many other members, so they question is, who has inspired you over the years? And do you feel and competition in your genre has helped you personally improve?

I have always liked @paeng's CJs, his special detailing was always impressive. 

He said something, in the now gone PLEX about how he focused on every single building, how if it didn't fit in he would try something else. I have gradually adopted this strategy.

Other inspirations were @Fasan and @korver.

Fasan began publishing his  Krokanien MD, on SC4D, in 2014. The pictures were incredible as was his MMP work. He was a lotting/modding meistro who did unbelievable things in the game. He inspired me to pursue a MMP approach to rural areas and also urban areas where necessary. The city tile of Ravensworth, in my CJ, was my first emulation of his work.

The link is here for all those interested- https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=16683.0

Finally @korver...

Need we say more about his totally jaw-dropping entries...

He started last year with incredible MMP scenes from around the world. He inspired me to go nuts with the MMPs for the last city I created-Erinsberg.

As good as they are they can't be replicated in game.

They involve taking 3D models in Sketchup and using huge amounts of photoshopping to transform most of the SC4 out of SC4.

Note: Any model imported from an online resource (including Sketchup) may be functional in game, and not necessarily Photoshopped.

So going back to the point of competition...

I probably felt it in 2014 but now I don't really think about it anymore. In 2014 there was @Benedict's top ten CJs of the week, that's gone and so I did it all purely for experimentation.

 

Now competition can only arise if members are updating and creating City Journals. 
Many though, may be fearful of starting one, so what would your number 1 advice be to someone wanting to start a City Journal?

Plugins, plugins and more plugins.

But I think number 1 advice is misleading and too arbitrary. It can't be condensed down to one point.

 

Indeed, and with custom content being one of the cornerstones of this communtiy, who do you think has shone brightly during the past 2 years, in relation to custom content creation? This could be a BATer, Mapper, or LOTer.

Anyone really that has made and published custom content.

Mods are massive game changers since it helps to unify the grass textures, it is subtle but powerful. Others would be @kingofsimcity's parking sets and NAM.

A huge shout out must be given to @rsc204. His Terrain Grass relots, another huge gamechanger.

@T Wrecks is still going strong with his wall-to-wall industry.

@InvisiChem created the CAM 2.0 (Colossos Addon Mod) to fix the buggy, but legendary CAM of 2007.

Also @Simmer2 has made waves last year with his lots, RRW (real railway) work and modular sets- like the pipelines...

 

And do you think there is content that you have used that has been overlooked by the community?

That question is a tough one because of how old Simtropolis is. I would say content has been overlooked due to age: @Glenni, IL Tonkso, @Pegprod and other oldies, they did some fantastic work. I also think a lot of good work is found outside the STEX such as the LEX, PLEX, Simcity Polska and Working Man Production.

My CJs would not have been the same without having downloaded nearly all the content from the WorkingMan Productions website and scouring the LEX for fillers and civics.

 

And has anyone from the STEX surprised you with their work over the past few years? The quality of it, what it does etc.

@JP Schriefer... When he first started I thought what he was doing was a novelty. But now he is cranking out content which is just as good as @Reddonquixote.

 

I do agree - those buildings are truly wonderful.

Another person would have to be @rsc204, his mods are subtle but very useful.

 

So now moving slightly away from the community, but what do you do when you're not playing SC4 or C:S?

Right now teacher training in the further education sector in England. Spare time: story-writing, listening to music, reading religious stuff, walking, skateboarding, reading the news, browsing Simtropolis' current events and watching films.

 

Such a varied selection!

That's the usual week for me.

 

Busy Busy! And to top the interview off, what has been your highlight of this community over the past 2 years?

My SC4 CJ Scrapbook.

 

Such a great thing as well!

And continuing from your personal City Journal, what inspires you when creating?

The countryside and Teesside...

 

Such diversity and variety in that part of the country.

I build large industrial areas because every Sunday of each week I drive through Teesside, and past the industry, to get to a skatepark in Redcar.

Did you know that the sci-fi movie BladeRunner was inspired by the steelworks in Teesside?

 

Large cities in one direction, beautiful countryside the other.

I did not know that.

Now your City Journal has been highly important over the past two years, but what City Journals do you feel have been incredibly important?

is a great one because of his CJ @Takingyouthere's lotting improvisation, I think he has definitely inspired many people with his experiments.

I really admire @Mymyjp's CJs and her content, she has a great style of blending various mods and together.

@philforhockey51 has done great work, the fact he uses Maxis terrain and makes it work is rather incredible.

and photoshopping CJs @Huston's sci-fi has always been good to see. 

@Scribosilyn, of SC4D and who now posts here, has done incredible MMP scenes.

@Tonraq pumps out great Japanese scenes 

And finally @korver has at last created a CJ which truly feels global. I think's it safe to say that Korver can create any area on this planet.

So that's it for the CJs... The quality definitely improves each year thanks to the new mods, BATs and LOTs.

Even though the activity decreases a bit each year... 

 

It's the issue with ageing games.

But as we know, a brand new city builder has been released was in 2015. So how has Cities affected the community?

It's given SC4 a competitor.

Some famous community content developers such as @Bipin and @xannepan have "jumped ship" so to speak and gone to Cities Skylines.

is definitely the future and it exists largely on Reddit, C:S Youtube and the Steam Workshop community. C:S, with all the mods and custom content, has beaten the modded SC4 game by a mile and then some.

The STEX can't compete with the Steam Workshop.

 

With the range, diversity, size, quality?

Just about everything: accessibility, popularity, quality, size...

See, SC4, with all the mods, has become a great city painter.

It's not about the simulation anymore, it's about creating beautiful cities and countryside with these great mods and BATs and LOTs.

 

I must say, that's what I use SC4 for.

And this is why Cities: Skylines has such a big community.

What I have seen on Youtube, and on Reddit, it has become the most highly-detailed city painter to ever exist in the world of computer games.

You can plop in decals (textures) for concrete, grass, skid marks, dirt... You can drag in props and place them anywhere.

Or pick up any object and move it, and rotate it and shift its height...

While SC4 cannot compete with this I do think there are certain areas where it can stay fresh.

And still carry on despite Cities: Skylines being so detailed.

There is hope, and I do believe the SC4 community on the Simtropolis and SC4D will be around for at least another ten years.

 

I very much hope so!

The modding which community members such as @Simmer2 and @rsc204 do have helped keep the game fresh and alive.

They given everyone new toys and that is very important.

But for the future I think SC4 needs something to the decals of Cities: Skylines and believe it not SC4 does have something similar.

It has "paint" textures found in a mod made by https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3077 xannepan, this HIGHLY overlooked mod is I believe the future for SC4 since it imposes a texture on top of current textures. Link to the mod in question. 

If there are more variations of textures then it could truly transform the game.

Also more diagonal and FAR buildings would be nice too!

 

I agree with this being overlooked. I only found out about it a few months ago.

But this is why I'm hopeful.

There is definitely more interest and development happening with SC4 mods, there are a few more movers and shakers out there (@rsc204, @Simmer2, @kingofsimcity, @T Wrecks, etc...)

I dunno why but two years ago the STEX and LEX felt stagnant.

It felt like everyone had ran out of ideas but 2015 and 2016 proved me very wrong.

So that's why I'm hopeful for SC4's future despite there being a better game out there.

And that's all I have to say about that.

 

Well, thanks very much for participating.

Thank you!

Have fun with interviewing the other community members and I look forward to the Trixies coming out.

C ya!

 

I wish you the best, and the community a very good Trixie season!

 

 

I hope you enjoyed reading this interview - We can assure you there will be many more to come!

- _Michael, Staff and Trixie Team

[feyss 1,981]

Interesting interview! I know now where did LnX find his inspiration for his realistic industrial areas. I can't wait to read the next ones.

 

 

(Regarding the interview itself, do you really need to use a smaller font size?)

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Very nice to know more about Ln X, definitely one of my favourites CJ'er!

Thanks for your words, Ln X
but I can't agree with you saying I'm cranking out content as good as Reddonquixote's, because his creations just like Jason's are like the top of the top

[Hamish 1,369]

5 hours ago, feyss said:

I know now where did LnX find his inspiration for his realistic industrial areas.

 

1 hour ago, JP Schriefer said:

Very nice to know more about Ln X, definitely one of my favourites CJ'er!

It's such a great way to find out how some people make their master pieces! And also a really interesting look into what they've content they've appreciated over the past two years. There will certainly be more like this in the upcoming interviews.

 

 

[slickbg56 778]

A very good interview, compelling and rich.

[korver 27,685]

Great interview! Loved reading through it, very in depth and thank you for the praise as well

Although, just for clarification: whenever I've occasionally used a sketchup model in my CJ, those are actual in game models just like any other BAT - not photoshopped in. PS is mainly used for improving the presentation of a scene/fixing small issues (not necessarily taking the SC4 out of a scene, either.)  I even wrote two entire tutorials on this subject with behind the scenes pictures, links, etc in my last update here.

[Hamish 1,369]

20 minutes ago, korver said:

whenever I've occasionally used a model from sketchup in my CJ, those are actual in game models just like any other BAT - not photoshopped in.

Oh cool  They look great in your CJ,  thanks for the look behind the scenes of your creation process 

[Simmer2 23,784]

I feel honored and delighted to be mentioned here.

Great interview @_Michael and excellent insights @Ln X, your CJ's are real master pieces!  Over the course of the last few months you and @korver have inspired me to create many of my works.

I will continue to bring new content and to, particularly, fill gaps of missing items in the game.

Lets keep SC4 alive for many more years, shall we?

Simmer2

 

[TakemeThere 5,833]

Thanks for the shoutout, interesting to hear your opinions on how the game can progress and who inspired you in the beginning, I'll have to take a look at the work of those two. Agreed completely that the last two years have been an exciting period, seems SC4 still has some legs and hopefully there's more to come.