Californian Desert - More Ghost Town!

[Simulanten 681]

Hi all,

I'm back. After my Silva NC build got heavier and heavier (and with me getting lost in some asset creation like this https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1321658963 or this https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1314771179 ) I left this recreation of a real town because I wanted to go back to more freedom of something more fictional. What could be better than a desert town (with lots of empty space - good for FPS) and I like the bleak and dry places anyway.

So here I started with a typical junction town - on a custom map taken from terrain.party with elevation data from around Tecopa CA - tweaked just a little bit in Wilbur.
I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to develop this town - and if I ever will get back to Sylva. But expect some pics of this gem of the desert rather sooner than later...
 

 

[boformer 3,169]

That looks really cool, I'm looking forward to this! Are you also planning to make some assets for this kind of theme?

[Simulanten 681]

1 hour ago, boformer said:

That looks really cool, I'm looking forward to this! Are you also planning to make some assets for this kind of theme?

Yes maybe small stuff. Like the shitty trailer from Kill Bill 2 or some ghost town buildings... But I always underestimate how tedious asset creation really is - kudos to you guys who are far more productive...

[Simulanten 681]

Finally I had some time to work on this junction - there is a truck stop / travel center, some fast food joints and a lot of rubble. Enjoy the images of this godforsaken place...

[Simulanten 681]

Just a quick summer night's pic to keep this up...

[Simulanten 681]

Here's a series of the large Love's Travel Center and Truck Stop. I came back to this because of the new Freightliner Props. It's partly based on Kramer Junction in CA - a place you drive by if you can...

[Simulanten 681]

Across the highway, in the "older" part of this settlement there is a new residential area. It reminded me of the Dougie's home in Twin Peaks The Return so it's called Rancho Rosa Estates. You know what I mean...

[eufl 133]

Wow! Just found your CJ, very impressive pictures, nice!

And then I directly had to download your Sweet Home and the Pine Motel, Thank you for these!

[Simulanten 681]

Here's an overview over what I accomplished so far. More detailed shots to come.

 

[The Duke of Rockford 1]

Hello! This looks sweet. Awesome job on this! Any chance you could share the map with us, seeing that you generated it? And do you use custom map theme / LUT? Again, great job on this! I love desert maps.

[gfvsims 169]

Oh, wow! I haven't been here for a while and I come back to find this glorious little town! Nice work. Keep it up!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

This is, without any doubt, one of the most realistic creations I have seen for C:S.  Very well done! I can almost smell the dust and exhaust gases and hear the chirping of crickets, the noise from the highway and the electric buzzing from those power lines and the substation.

The lighting results in a palette mainly composed of colder hues, though - some warmer colour hues could intensify the desert atmosphere even further, but I reckon it may be difficult to balance the filter such that saturation remains realistically low and textures don't end up looking garish and cartoonish.

The scene also has a certain Interstate '76 / GTA vibe to it IMO.

[wallasey 8]

This reminds me a lot of what you see on American Truck Simulator! Great atmosphere! 

[Simulanten 681]

Thanks for your nice comments. I had a break in another desert (in Northern Africa) an now I'm back in Decal Junction...
About the colors... Whenever I was in backcountry California I felt it didn't have that warm glow of other deserts. Depending on the season it can be quite whiteish, bleak. But I will try out some variation.
Here's some older screens of the nice little Other Lands Café and Gift Shop - a cute asset that fits perfectly in this otherwise so generic junction town. A bit hippie style with home made organic pastries and fair trade espresso to enjoy in the little desert garden backyard... (oh yes, I know there's no Waffle House in CA - but I still think it fits.)

[Simulanten 681]

There is a middle school with municipal sport grounds around it. It's a bit hard to create good sport fields for this theme though...

[The British Sausage 5,449]

Brilliant pictures!

The quality of your work and creations is just like that of Strictoaster, Pres, TwoDollarsTwenty and other C:S youtubers!

Keep it up!

[Simulanten 681]

On 7.9.2018 at 3:59 PM, The British Sausage said:

Brilliant pictures!

The quality of your work and creations is just like that of Strictoaster, Pres, TwoDollarsTwenty and other C:S youtubers!

Keep it up!

Thanks so much. Although I'm not a youtuber... ???? These guys appear to spend more time on the game I guess. I follow 2$20's Bordertown - I thought about a El Paso recreation myself but I'd never had the time and patience that he uses.

[Hrafninn 2]

This looks really good! Looking forward to seeing this grow.

[Simulanten 681]

Here we go back to the desert again. Some cool assets gave me the idea of creating a ghost town in my desert map. It's where all cities might end...

A teaser now - more to come soon!

 

[TekindusT 3,809]

Why haven't I noticed this CJ earlier?? Very cool and unique job here!

[Simulanten 681]

Here is more.

I really like this - surprisingly there are some workshop assets that work with the Ghost Town theme. I included two of my own assets (the picnic pavilion and my home sweet home) to create the visitors area, parking and the park rangers' living quarters. There is even an old mine in the background - more to come soon.

[gfvsims 169]

That looks so cool! I'd love to wander around in a place like that.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

That looks like a scene from an open world game - it's so atmospheric!

(On a totally unrelated note, I wonder if it would be possible to pull off that S.T.A.L.K.E.R look with C:S...  )

[Simulanten 681]

Now for more. Let's start with the visitors entry and parking lot. There is a house for the park rangers close to the entry - the ghost town is a State Historic Park. During peak season there is a parking / entry fee to be paid at the entrance, during off-season you can pay in the visitor's shop in one of the Main Street buildings.

The new pipe fence assets came in handy for creating those gates and to close a few roads around the site. The cattle grid is another great thing to have here - together with the simple barbed wire fence running along those wooden fence poles...

And here's another of my modest contributions to the workshop: The picnic pavilion - public restrooms are in the booths behind the wooden fence on the right.

[The British Sausage 5,449]

Incredible, incredible scenes!

[rivit 3,402]

Move over Radiator Springs!   This is a very beautiful place in its desolation. 

[boformer 3,169]

I love the ghost town. You did a great job with the landscaping.

[Simulanten 681]

There was a lucky guy who made a fortune with his claim nearby. But 125 years later his mansion is falling apart and the park... well. Gold isn't everything.

 

[Simulanten 681]

More Ghost Town. It looks a bit like RDR2 after a trip in a time machine.

The undertaker was the last one to leave...

The town was sort of active until the early 1940s

The (only) reason for this town: The old mine...

Another shot of the visitor's area. Restrooms are kinda simple (it's a really dry area...)

And a bird's view to end this post: