Anduin Valley Revisited

[RushHourFreak 1]

Wow, that is AMAZING, another impressive page for this veteran Cj, hope this run for more!

Can't wait for more pics

[threestooges 0]

I must say that these tech shots are always a nice change of pace. They provide so much insight/inspiration for new ways of road design (some of which have greatly changed some of my cities). I was wondering which slope mod you were using (and on a completely random note, if you knew of a good chinatown lot/bat out there... I've seen a few in cj's but not where to find them). This is really good stuff. Can't wait to see it developed (well, maybe I can... but it'll be tough).

[owenluby 1]

This is really just excellent!

I love your methods of attack when it comes to tricky situations!

[luker91 0]

wow it has been a while since i have been here.... Anorien looks excellent.... all of the details put into shaping the highways (by the way, those rural highways look excellent) are putting a lasting impression on me.... very nice work!

Luke

[capitol1 1]

eherm. Let me introduce a newb to the most famous cj ever known on the lands. As im starting to just now notice that this cj and 3rr are kinda similar with your little tutorials and your ongoing road networks.I enjoy this awsome work darmok and from the words of the jewish"Keep it bagel

[GMT 389]

wonderfull work here with these transit network!

waiting for more

[Pinchman 0]

Salut John! 

Did you buy your new guitar?

Amazing tutorial-update my friend. Thanks to reveal your magic tricks. Maybe someday I'll be a great magician like you are?! The first one I'll try is the 4 railway tracks wide method.

Flying out the road is exactly why I would drive a BMW at that speed, lol!

About Ant Bully, I would say to wait for the DVD also. You'll see, It's a cute little movie.

Thanks again for these useful tricks my friend!

Can't wait to see the first BATs in Anôrien!

Take care!

[smartalco 0]

wow, i only wish i had the time/knowledge of game mechanics that you do to make something like this, keep up the good work! (i just looked at pages 1-7, then saw that there were 117 pages and skipped to the last few...)

[MadTV_Freak 0]

Wow... I mean, is there anything you can do better with those rural roads? One question... how do you make your text boxes?

Keep up the EXCELLENT work!

[dhoppeii 12]

John my friend, brilliant as ever. Looks like I stopped by at the right time....and got see some tech shots. You know they're my favorite. I really like what you are doing with the rural highway set. I also see that you have been playing guitar.....are you ready to make the drive and sit in on a few tunes with Exit Reality?

[rooker1 4]

Very nice work.....I can't wait to see what will be in this area.  Nice hill sides and the RHW looks great.  See you soon.

[Micah 16]

I'm back... !

Wow, it was become so advanced since I was last here!

Darmok, you are still truly inspiring.

The satellite imagery is AWESOME!

Fantastic job! Btw, I'm surprised only about 15 pages have passed since I was last here. I would have expected 35 more pages.

[Darmok 34]

Rural Highway download

Rural Highway Thread

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Note

Typing those answers while listening to Bob Dylan last CD "Modern Times".... just great!

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wouanagaine - SC4 Terraformer a tool for regional hand-terraforming

Hi wounagaine, long time no see!

The RHW overpass I found them in the Road Puzzle Pieces menu...

See picture below

Hoping this can help you.

Glad you liked the presentation, I'm trying to keep it as ZEN and unobtrusive as possible.

Take care!

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Ript73

Hi rip,

Well I did not want it as a full fledged tutorial, more like "here's the basics", and I'm sure you'll come up with your own solutions and personnal style. Which in the end is all that matters!

And I really appreciate that you're doing the effort of reading the whole thing!

I hope you'll enjoy it.

Take care

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Bat

Thanks Bat!

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VesterDK - VDK Showcase

Hey Arne, how's it going!

As for opening a construction firm in AV, you're perfectly entitled to do it!

The slope mod I'm using is a modified BRF Tunnel and Slope mod.

Thanks for the link in your signature, It's a really nice gesture!

Take care!

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Aleking - AK's Ever changing title CJ...

Hey Alek!

Well I guess we're both learning from one another then! Your industrial setups as well as your downtown are inspiring me!

See you in your ever changing title CJ! 

Take care   

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Simfan34

Welcome to Anduin Valley SimFan!

Glad you appreciate it!

Come back anytime!

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Szarkoz - Everon Metro Area

Hey Tomek don't faint on AVR account!

I hope you'll like using the slope mod, I know I'm kind of addicted to it, it never leaves my plugin directory!

Hehehe... some kinks I just plant some trees on!  I'm not always on the rampage to find them and smooth them!

Yes Anôrien is a big city tile, but I'm trying to develop it more like a lot of small communities that somewhat came closer at one point in time.

I hope you'l like this one as much,

Take care

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Jacky (jacqulina) - Paradise Falls

Hi Jacky, here's more tech shots, as for your villages, have you tried JB SmallTown lots? They really are different and small!

Weekend was great, and I wish you the same!

Take care my friend!

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Slann - Viceroyalty of Dominea: Valmont

Hey Slann

Yeah talk about a crisis! What will happen?

Glad to see you back!

Take care

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Charles Rodulfo - Azalea City

Hi Charles, hey no mistake there! You spoke your mind and it's just what I want people to do! That's the way we always learn.

So please don't ever hesitate to speak your mind, as long as it is constructive advice or suggestions I'm always listening.

The railroad track tip comes for Jeroni, way back in 2004, I just adapted it to my style of play.

So here's more...

Take care

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MS (magpieshooter) - Kinata Region SAR

Hi MS, Yeah I really like the RHW, the only drawback is that slowdown (not that bad on my machine, but still annoying at times)

See you!

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Nik-nik

Hey Nik, I don't know what I would do without them (the tracks)! There my bread and butter, terraforming wise.

I totally agree about the lack of good connectors to the RHW, but you'll see later on that I've circumvented the problem with a bit of twisting the street tool!

It's been a while since I visited the RHW thread, you remind me that I should go soon!

About Will Wright, I think that I have a lot to learn from him! hehehe.... but thanks anyways!

Really glad to know you survived the weekend with the kid.... I know they're great but sometime they have so much energy that they're exhausting! 

A tip for the mosquitos, use Watkins insect repellent, it's one of the best if not the best, and it's even good for the skin! Google it you'll see!

That's what I use when fishing.

Enjoy your weekend my friend, and regards to family!

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El Burro

Welcome to Anduin Valley, El Burro

Interesting name BTW!

Thanks for your in depth comment! The readers support is what make all CJ's continue!

And reading your comment, I must say that the part about "shoving in random curves and diagonal stretches" is one interesting bit for me, cause that's what I do very often! (not enough digonals though! those I should use more often!), but I do believe that a good mix of "planned look" and randomness is what do the best job about a realistic look!

Again thanks for your good words, and come back whenever you feel like it!

Take care

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Anubis - anubis' cities

Hi Anubis, yeah I was looking for a way to situate the overpass so the readers would not feel lost in the wilderness! WINK

And even if not perfect I think the rotated region pic did the trick.

See you!

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Crazychickensc12

Hi Crazychickensc12, Mind if I call you CC?

Thanks for the visit!

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Mightygoose - Vil-valad, a city and its roots

Hi John,

Hehehe, sometimes when I go back to page one to edit the title, I take the time to visit (or revisit!) the early pages of AVR.... Yes, the style have changed since the beginning, I realize then how much I've learned just by looking at everyone's CJ and picking an idea here and a new terraforming technique there! Simtrop is really one of the best SC4 think tank!

As for the pics, I guess It has to become a reflex, but even then I often forget to take some while building... FYI at this time Anôrien is just half finished and I already have over a thousand pics taken!!!

See you later my friend!

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Owen (Yoman3) - United Republic of Ankara

Hi Owen,

The NAM pieces for the RHW overpass, you'll find in the Road menus look at the answer to wouanagaine (first one) and pic.

Donig the transit is indeed fun, and after that is trying to develop according to it! Though I must say that very often I'll change the transit system to conform to my zoning needs.

Always good to read you!

Take care

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Bokrif - Szabadság-szigetek // Liberty Islands 

Hehehe... glad you feeling better now  !

As for the RWW, you use it like any road tool, it's quite easy, the only thing I had to "tweak" was the "on-ramps" and exits, as there are none! (that I know of, mind you) so I had to find ways of making some, those you'll see later on in Anôrien development cause in the early stages I didn't really paid attention to that particular problem.

As for the "how to use it", there's a good tutorial that come with the mod.

I'll put a link in the Links section   

See you!

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Phil (PhilsCafe) - Acorn Creek

Salut Phil,

Hehehe.... I certainly hoped that you were joking! 

I've looked at your zoning/terraforming tutorial, very informative! Never saw it before, and I'm sure it'll come handy in certain circumstances.

And I agree about the Zero Tolerance in hockey, after all if you're not respecting the rules then it's no longer hockey!

See you

Take care

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Sorchin – Developping Macedon

Hey Steve,

Hehehe, I'm not (yet!) able to play SC4 AND play the guitar at the same time....

And I'm really tryiong to play more these days, but I must say that I only have time to prepare the answers and do the one update per week. I don't even play the game these days!

Good to see you mate!

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Cityhawk - Wannabe County

Yeah, I was looking for some way to "dress" the overpasses and came up with this.

Congrats on your 4600th post!

Take care

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Special Eddie - Oasis--The Wild West

Hey Eddie,

Really glad you liked the slopes, I'm really trying to get the more natural looking grades possible.

What can I say, sometimes I'm just another detail freak!   But I must also admit that very often hide them (the kinks) with trees! WINK

As for the number of pics.... well... let's say that I've begun the work in Anôrien in March, and it's not finished yet.... it's about halfway through and so far I have just over 1,000 (one thousand) pics taken! 

So I guess there's at least 2 or three updates coming! 

Take care

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Salut221

Hi Salut,

Thanks for your comment!

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RushHourFreak

Hi Rush,

Thanks for the visit man!

See you

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Threestooges – Matt

Hi Matt,

The RHW project gives us more flexibility in our city design as far as I'm concerned. The only thing missing IMO are exits puzzle pieces, but even without them we can manage to do good design.

I'm using a modified BRF Tunnel and Slope Mod, and I must confess my ignorance about any chinatown BAT's!

But I'll keep an eye for them and keep you informed if I find some.

Take care!

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Owen - (Owenluby) - Unifire

Hi Owen,

Thanks for your comments man!

Take care

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Luker01 - San Lucas: My first CJ

Hey Luke,

Thanks! I really like the RHW mod!

See you

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Capitol1 - Reveska Valley

Hi Capitol,

Well I guess that David and I keep influencing one another! WINK

Take care

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GMT - Greater Columbia River

Hi Torben,

Thanks for the visit my friend!

See you

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Pinchman

Salut Éric,

Nope not yet, BUT, maybe this weekend, I have a pretty good deal on a Fender American Deluxe Strat, that could perhaps beat the G&L Legacy.... still waiting to hear from my G&L dealer to see if he can come to a better price...

Glad you liked the tech shots, and I'm sure that you can do magic with your setups, I think that the thing to remember is this: TRY ANYTHING THAT COULD WORK, just don't forget to save your precious work BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANYTHING NEW!

As for your driving habits... well... please remember me not to go on a ride with you on a bumpy highway! 

A+

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Smartalco

Welcome to Anduin Valley smartalco,

Rome wasn't build in a day, don't get discouraged and just don't be afraid to try new things. I've learned a lot of things in SC4 by accident or by looking at how others are creating their cities, even when they don't show us "how-to" just seeing the end result give us an idea of what we want to achieve!

And if you've seen the first pages, you can see how my playing style have changed over the last 18 months, and that is mostly due to other CJ'ers influence.

So, go ahead and take the plunge you'll be surprised how fast you'll improve.

See you later!

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MadTV_Freak – San Martinez

Hi MTV,

Thanks man,

how do I make my text boxes, first, I'm using Photoshop (Elements and CS2) both can do this simple trick, (PaintShop Pro, can too by the way)

All right let's begin, Create a new layer, then using the Marquee Tool create a rectangle of the desired size, using the Paint Bucket tool fill it with white.

After that, just reduce the opacity of the layer, I think I use an 80% opacity.

Then it's a simple matter of using the text tool and write on a layer above the white box.

That's about it.

If you need a more detailed explanation tell me, I'll try to prepare a small "How to do it" with some pics.

See you!

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Dan - La Plaisance County (Best County South of Canada!)

Hi Dan,

Good timing as always, although my skills are slightly improving (been a month or so now), it's still mostly scales, some rock and blues exercises but no "real" playing yet. I give myself a year to be able to play some simple songs, I do practice at least an hour each night.

Reserve a stool for me and someday I'll get there and we'll jam!

Take care of you man!

Regards to the family

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Rooker1 - Xania a tour of my world

Hey Rooker!

What will be in that area.... humm... let me see... **pinching nose bridge, eyes half-closed and speaking in an ethereal voice...** "I see houses... farms.... some comerce... trains...." **snapping back to real world...** ehhhh.... what was that? Sorry I think I was kind of daydreaming there! hehehe.... BTW glad to see you back at your CJ!

See you there!

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Micah - Kingwood

Hey Micah, log time no read!

hehehe... glad you still like old AVR, as for 35 more pages you'll have to be patient!

See you!

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And now ladies and gents, without further ado, here's....

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Words, often are not adequate to express oneself, so I'll simply say thanks again to all of you, you really are a great bunch! You support and patience is more than appreciated.

OK 'nuf with the mushy stuff...

On with some wise words... (not from me!)

"An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin

That Benjamin guy was really something!

To all of you, have a great time this weekend, and a good week as well!

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In the meantime

Take care and enjoy life

Darmok

[cityhawk 12]

I really love that stream! And good idea with the bridges, although I could never get mine to do what yours did under the same conditions. BTW, just a heads up: I have a new CJ now that I would appreciate the link to next time you reply to my comment; it's called Wannabe County. I don't want to be associated with Montrose anymore, so I thought I'd just let you know. Anyway, I really look forward to more, especially if you've "corrected" some stuff from this last update that was great anyway!

[owenluby 1]

I try and try and try to get my overpasses and bridges like yours, but always sem to fail...

How do you do it?

Great update though, i loved it!

[bat 6]

Very nice update! I like your stream, which has great details (trees).

bat

[Charles Rodulfo 0]

Nice update there Darmok, I like your stream and the pond makes me wanna rest there... and play SC4 (I haven't played it since Saturday!) and update my CJ there! I hope that pond area has Wi-fi! =) I can't wait for the updates that would feature the first residential areas. Hey, what is that fence that you use in the overpass? Is that the yellow fences? if not, can you get me the link to it? thanks, Darmok!

Take Care,

Charles

[jacqulina 162]

hi my friend glad you had a great week so did i lol no babysitting i have been babysitting for 6 weeks,it was lovely to get a rest although had to the other night ,i hope you have a great weekend too,and thankyou i will have a look at the housing,awesome work i also love the stream excellent bridges great idea love your step by step the countryside looks great and your pics are fantastic.

take care my friend

[dedgren 830]

John- Really nice prep work for your stream- I'll be very interested to see how it turns out in the end.  The last pic- the local highway exit, points out one of the great remaining "holes" in the serious SC4 players toolbox.  Your bridge is far and away more "real world" than what is available in the game- the lack of simple highway exit puzzle pieces, though, puts you back in the 50's era of exit design.

Truly great work, as always.  It's wonderful, as usual, to stop by home.

David

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Great update, Darmok. I doubt I posted on your last update.

Oh well, this one's even better. Great job on gettin the little details of that stream right.

[mayormommy 8]

It's been a while since I've stopped by so I'm glad to jump back in with a new city! I appreciate people who take the time to be picky about their bridges - it often takes two or three tries to get just the right effect. I'm looking forward to seeing how this area turns out.

[rw0381c 2]

Hi there John!

It's been awhile, I apologize for not dropping a line sooner. I've been busy lurking, hardly any time to respond to any of my favorite CJs. But, seeing as though I had a free moment, I'm going to make up for that now! It's looking good so far, the Rural Highway, and the stream look nice. Excellent detail on the bridges! Keep it up, and here's hoping you soon will be able to resume your Monday and Friday posts!!!

Take care,

Rheal

[rooker1 4]

Hey John, everything looks great, I really like the RHW, the bridge, especially the two across the river.  The stream you created using Peg's lots looks pretty good, but why don't you try the plopable water.  There is also a nice falls lot to go with it.  The only thing that I don't like anymore about Peg's lots is the streams edge.  With plop water you can add the rocks, trees, the fallen longs and some water plants.  Maybe you should try it just for fun and post the two to compare.  See what your audience likes best.  (That's just a little dare, if you will)
Either way everything looks incredible as always.

have a great weekend my friend.

[Rayden 7]

Hey mate, nice update again. I love your care for details, that briges across the river, the prepare of the terrain to fit the bridge pillars, nice. Also thx for another tip, that Shift+Tab to go through the menus
About your stream, maybe if you use both Peg's streams, together with ploppable water you could achieve something more at you like and standard. You know better than me how to disguise, hide or use tricks to make those transitions look good, at least better than me.
Here's 2 examples:

Example 1

Example 2

Looking forward for your next one.

Cheers
Rayden

[bokrif 18]

Thanks for the links. I will take a look at this stuff, see how good it is. I might use it..

Good update. Yes the stream is not so good looking. I would convert it into some kind of canal. But it is my obsession. I am sure you will find the best way to make it nice.

[mightygoose 92]

well mate so far im greatly impresses again so you have been doing anorien since march i like that wokring months behind jeeze, well over a 1000 pics thats mad but hey i think i can say yours is the best current cj out there for presentation of tech work, keep up the work, hell you should probably discontinue the link to vil valad, the futurist bat project is sucking time and its gone to the bottom of the list, it may be revisited later but for now i working on a prep region for high capcity lot testing, so far i found you can grow without dilapidation a 24,000 r$$ but hic in the future densities may be higher than that so im still pushing, i find you can creat with planning real developement hotspots but hic enough about me mate great work...

[Fallon144 1]

absolutely amazing tuturials you hand out mate!

I love the bridge part, it looks so incredibly realistic, keep up the excellent work mate!

[Pinchman 0]

So the big day is for this weekend! I'm very happy for you! Hope you'll find the perfect one for you!
Yeah! you're right about saving our work. That's something I always forget..hey! I'm a graphic designer so....know what I mean! LOL.
If you need to be at Montreal in 1 hour...I'm your man! Where can I pick you up? LOL

Wow! These bridges look much better now. Very nice improving.
About the fishing spot, I hope we can't smell the gas odor coming from the station. That could be awful! (fishing point of view)
What's wrong with the tree's shadows? They are cutted when touching the pond.

Very good update my friend!
Looking forward to your next one.

[SpecialEddie 3]

Darmok makes another home run! *looks in the sky*

Where did the ball go? 

Another informative update!

I love PEG's limestone rock mod!

[Nik-nik 3]

Nice stuff (again) John,

Thanks fr the tip on musquitos. I will try to find it here at our local Outdoor World (that's Simgoober's I know).

Those bridges are absolutely flabbergasting! I never saw those pilars before. One thing, how do you know if the height at both sides of the river are the same? How do you make the height the same?

Update 2 s a clasic update. It is like looking back (.....browsing what page we are on.... flipping......flipping....... .....THAT MUCH!) a hundred pages or so. I mean this in a nice way, but I would say that I am looking forward to the use of ploppable water. Is theer any way to change the colour of the ploppable water to a bit more lighter water?

I also agree with Rayden, maybe in that corridor you could use canals. I like what Rayden did with his first picture example.

Nik-Nik