Anduin Valley Revisited

[Rayden 7]

Amazingly detailed as usual. I'm glad you changed for ploppable water, it looks so much better. About the farms layout, you just had to leave one tile gap on the road to connect both sides of the farm area, and it would raised as one on both sides. Give it a try, delete one tile of road and zone it again. You'll see

[anubis89 108]

Hi Darmok

Those are very nice pics, I especially like the pond with the surrounding trees

why don't you use those dirty roads in the farming areas?

[Jerebannus XVI 7]

Wow Darmok, 

Those are some fantastic pics showing yet more of the amazing infrastructure of the valley. I get the impression that the Valley is largely rural, especially with the ponds and relatively large farms; indeed a very charming place, extremely scenic and beautiful.

Keep it up ( I know you will, AVR shall exist forever!!), lol only kidding.

[sorchin 18]

WOW. John. So that's how the farms are done? Just bulid a small road, let the farm grow, then take the road out once the farm house has grown? I'll have to try that. So simple yet very easy to miss. Thanks buddy for the two great tutorials in this update mate.. btw.. that pond area was nicely created as well. Very lovely my good friend..

[Tommy_Vercetti3 3]

Very very cool. Fantastic work! Great lookign farms.

[PhilsCafe 8]

Bonjour John

Sure, blasting and redoing... I guess I'm getting the hang of it . And I'm really looking forward to that corrected version of the stream. Very nice update there... there are already some nice details emerging. The train station for example... I like that you have placed the two buildings next to eachother (seperated by the MTP parking lot), that's a very nice touch actually. And of course Joelle's Pond is beautiful.

Take care my friend.

- Phil

[choco1 4]

Darmok! Stunning!

I just love how you staggered those farms so they twisted to the left, really nice idea. I can't wait to see what you put in between them. I liked the original idea of making the farms on either sides the same style, but I must say the end result looked very nice.

The pond is very pretty, the combination of evergreen trees on one side and seasonal on the other has a really interesting effect. They contrast and yet blend... if you know what I mean!

Haha, Funny Hat Bridge! And I can see exactly why it is called that... hehe.

The train station is adorable! It has a rustic country charm that I just love. I can imagine sitting on its deck in quiety country air just wasting the day away.

Brilliant update as always mate!

Take care.

[cityhawk 12]

Hey, John:

Nice work with the farm development process, and I see that you like the RHW just as much as I do! I like those ponds as well, and the plans are very good ones. I very much look forward to more!

[crazychickensc12 84]

Great update here, the pond in the beginning is fantastic, the transportation layout is great, and i was wondering at funny hat bridge i cannot make bridges like that is it a lot?anyways great work keep it up!!

This is my 900th Post also, i felt like this would be a great place for it!!

[GMT 389]

well, first off, the missing ground textures look awesome... somehow...

and second, belfalas is incredible!

the town is as creative as the name is, very well done layouting work and cool development results!

EDIT: ok,... my browser screwed around and gave me the last page in the select menu instead of the last page of all...

anyway, the statement on the railway still counts... looks better without ground textures ^^

the farming areas are great. maybe you should add trees along the diagonal free tiles for some sort of a wind breaker and a natural fence drawn between the diffrent farms...

waiting for more

[Yoman3 5]

Crap I missed an update!!! Good work my friend. THe highway still looks great and the highway on the ridge above farms reminds me of a highway in this area. Cant wait to see the next ypdate as usual!

[jacqulina 162]

i am looking out for more updates my friend

[rooker1 4]

Great work my friend.  I really hope you can type very fast.  Answering all those replies is very nice of you, but it must take forever.  None the less, thanks for always answering me. 

What slope modd do you use? And can you send me a copy?  I have been looking for a good one but they all are missing now from the forums.  

Your last update is great.  Your little test for the farm growing was a great idea.  I have tried to get the same farm to grow beside each other but it's like rolling dice.  I let it grow and destroy if it's not the same, but I find it takes too long, so I give up.  I think if someone could figure out a way for this to be possible it would add a new lawyer of realism.  I see so many farms in my area growing the same thing....eg. corn and wheat.  

Anyways I could blab on and on............so I leave you now with this, great work and most of all thanks for all the help you give everybody, it indirectly helps more people than you know.

Have a great week, see you later.

[szarkoz 8]

I have no idea why I haven't commented that update earlier?

Anyway, hey John!

Now that's a proper use of PEG's ponds. Used as a pond - that way it looks perfect. Also, the use of trees is very good in there. I really like the "sunken" road (well it's more just a underpass), usually you see only sunken highways and sometimes some rails, while using roads and avenues in that way look great too. You've also made a nice work with farms at the end of the update.

Weren't you going to make an update today (21st September)? I swear I saw changed topic summary today to Sept. 21st **Avenue... or something? Maybe my eyes were wrong... I was afraid I left an update without commenting it.

Tomorrow I'm going away for a 2 day class trip in mountains (Tatry, Poland's highest mountains) so I'll probably miss the release of new update, however, I'll comment it just when I come back to home!

See you around, and take care John!

[GaBoR 7]

Great Pond Use, totally realistic, love every bit of the update, wicked farmlands...Thanks for another great update

[Darmok 34]

BuddyBud's lots

PEG Alternate Rail set mod

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Benedict - The Mayors of Ellis Valley

Hi Benedict,

Hey Benedict,

We missed the intrigue of your CJ this summer, just went there (this I'm writing Friday 15th on my lunch hour) and left a comment....

You still have the knack for creating suspense!!!

Glad to see you back

Regards

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MS (magpieshooter) - Kinata Region SAR

Hi MS,

Well, I can't say that I've been very active on posting in my favorite CJ's as of late, RL is really a b***h these last weeks, but I try to lurk here and there when I can find some time.

For your question about zoning, yes that what I've done in that setup. I know that usually farmland is mostly rectangular, but I wanted some parallelogram shaped zone, so I had to dezone tile by tile with a "stair" pattern, which later on will be less apparent with all details in place.

Thanks for dropping by my friend!

Take care

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rushman5

Welcome to Anduin Valley Rushman,

Glad you appreciate AVR, and feel free to come back whenever you feel like it!

See you!

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Bat

Thanks Bat.

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Jacky (jacqulina) TWICE  - Paradise Falls

Hi Jacky,

I'm doing very fine, having so much fun at playing guitar again! But I feel like a apprentice...  But it's great nonetheless.

I can easily believe that the rest was not only needed, but well earned!

Enjoy your weekend as well my friend, and take care of yourself!

2nd post - Hehehe.... here's more my friend....

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Nik-nik

Hehehe...

In fact, that last quote is more or less the modern version of the ancient Roman saying "Carpe Diem" -Seize the day-.

And I don't believe that it has been that long that you had a steak on the BBQ!

Yes it was a box in pic 15, the fact that it was not showing completely is perhaps a problem with Imageshack!... Usually they're very reliable, but it can happen...

And the box problem was fixed rapidly!

The trees in the middle of Joelle's Pond? That's an easy one, the way I've done the small island in the middle of the pond, left an empty tile there, so it was just a matter of plopping some jeroni's or Cycledog's trees.

The sloping overpass is simply due to me using a slope mod, I use Smoncrie ground lifting tool, and then dragging FROM the ground lifting tool OUTWARDS I drag for as long a slope I want, in this case I believe it was 7 tiles long, but I've experimented with longer slopes than that.

This weekend (Last weekend in fact, this was written last friday) I'm going to Montreal, to do a jam session with my cousin. And then some book shopping on Ste-Catherine Street. So I'm pretty sure that it'll be (was) great! (Strange to write in a future past tense!!!!)

Enjoy your upcoming weekend my friend and regards to your family!

John

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Charles Rodulfo - Azalea City

Hey Charles, about the small train station, it'll stay that way only for a short time, because as the community will grow, so will the station who'll become more... elaborate, I don't even remember the number of time I've redone that setup!!!

But at that particular point in time, yes it had a certain small town charm to it.

Hahhh, playing SC4, or working on the CJ under a tree! I totally agree!

And here's more pics!

Take care

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Bernhard (Nardo) - Urland a (mostly) rural coastline

Hi Bernhard, how are you?

Yeah, I really wanted the railway as straight as can be in that city tile, that and almost no grade at all....

As I said to Charles (above) the stations will be replaced by a more elaborate setup as the needs grow. I've redone it so many times, looking for the right thing!!! Well more on this on later updates...

Weekend was good (I'm writing this message monday morning), went to Montreal and we had a great time.

Wishing you the very same my friend and BTW is your PC up and running OK these days?

Will we have the chance of having a new Urland update in a near future??

This last part was answered in a PM

Take care!

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USMC

Hi USMC

First, it takes patience and dedication to go through all those pages, hats off to you on that!

I'm really glad that AVR can give you some ideas on how to develop you own cities, I have taken inspiration from so many great CJ's here, that to know that I can be of some help in that matter is like being able to pay back in some way!

Excellent question about the transit network, the road network is used and sometimes depending on the setup traffic can be heavy (even when using the NAM pathfinding mod), the rail is another story, it's used, but not as much as would like, I would really like to find a mod that at least is "showing" more trains, even if the actual usage is low, I simply like seeing trains!

And yes it can be frustrating to see a very good (to our standards that is) railway setup, not being used, and see the commuters using roads that will take them twice as long to go where they want!

See you soon!

Take care

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ThomasAH - Zorturia

Hey Thomas, don't worry about not visiting often these days, I understand, I really do, I'm going through the same phase right now.

My guitar is eating almost all my free time, and SC4 have to take the back seat for a while.

Hoping all is going well for you.

See you when you can drop by my friend.

Tot Ziens!

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VesterDK - VDK Showcase

Hi Arne, how are you doing?

Any news on the station?   Answered in a PM

Sorry about not being able to put more than one update per week. But just answering the posts is taking quite a lot of time...

But anyhow, here's more my friend.

Take care

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Capitol1 - Surion/Sutton metro area

Hey Capitol, well, don't despair I'm sure someday a new PC will go your way WINK

Thanks for pointing out about Reveska Valley, I've corrected the link now!

See you!

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Rhéal – rw0381c

Salut Rhéal!

Yep, I'm re-learning, sore fingers and all!! LOL

Bur having so much fun, in fact my biggest problem is to put the guitar back in the case, It's like it's always calling me.... I can her it even now! Hehehe.... seriously I'm really having a great time with it. Music as always been very important in my life.

About the farming experiment, well... trying is how I learn, sometimes it works, sometimes.... mehhhh...

And you'll see that sector will change quite a bit in the following updates.

And yes the quotation, under simple words, really means that.

My friend have a great weekend, and regards to your family

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Rayden - New Haven

Hola Sylvio!

Yep from now on I'll use mostly ploppable water, a bit more work, but in the end it does look more realistic.

Thanks for the tip on farm zoning I'll sure try it.

Always good to see you amigo

Salud!

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Anubis - anubis' cities (ending)

Hey Anubis,

Sorry to see that you're stopping your CJ, and I hope that you'll fix your PC problems.

Planning on starting a new one later on?

As for your question about the dirt roads, I would gladly use them, if only we could have a mod that KEEPS them as dirt road! But everytime we place trees it transform into asphalt! so for the time being I'm keeping the tar road mod instead.

See you later buddy!

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Jerebannus XVI

Hey Jerebannus,

Yes this part of the Anduin Valley will be be mostly rural, but with a twist, you know how cityfolks like to play gentleman farmers so.... more on this on the following updates!

As for AVR existing forever, I thank you for that uplifting thought, but like everything else, one day it'll come to an end, but I'll keep it on a DVD somewhere, that's for sure.

Thanks for dropping by and looking forward to reading you again.

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Sorchin – Developping Macedon

Hey Steve, well, in fact they didn't grew has I wanted, so I had to revert to the regular technique... though in some case it can work as we want, just a matter of blasting and patience...

And you'll see in the updates to come that this particular area will undergo many changes.

Take care

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Tommy_Vercetti - Ridge - Moving On

Hi Tommy,

Thanks for the comments!

See you

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Phil (PhilsCafe) - Acorn Creek

Bonjour Phil,

Yep, I guess I must have been a demolition man in a previous life! LOL

About the train stations, you'll see many changes in that sector in this update, this was probably one of the sectors I've redone the most in all AVR...

Keep in mind that what you'll see today, will not be the final version, other changes will follow along Anôrien's growth.

Enjoy your weekend my friend!

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Choco (Chocolatemax285) - Green Depra

Hey Max,

Glad you appreciate the farms, you'll see more of them today, Yes I would have liked to have the same fields on either side like we often see in RL but, it just wouldn't work the way I wanted so...

About the train station, while it'll remain a small one, you'll notice some changes in the setup... a growing community needs more service! So much for peace and quiet!!

Good to see you mate

Take care

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Craig - (Cityhawk) - Wannabe County

Hi Craig,

Yep I really like the RHW, it's the one I'm most familiar with, not having that much of elevated highways here! The only drawback is the lack of good interchanges, but it's something we can live with.

Thanks for the support

Take care

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Crazychickensc12

Hi CC,

The small railway bridge is found in Buddybud's pieces, see in the links section at the top.

And you can use it with roads too.

Thanks for choosing AVR for your 900th post!

Take care

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GMT - Greater Columbia River

Hehehe, you were doing some revisiting! Belfalas was quite a long time ago, but I remember having fun doing it.

And at that time the texture was completely gone altogether, but now all that's gone is the jagged edge of the texture Thanks to PEG's Alternate rail set mod if you're interested, you'll find the link in the links section above.

About adding some trees, you'll see some of them, but mostly I begun to use my Rural Trail Set, so you'll see several experiments with them in the following updates.

Thanks for stopping by Torben

Take care

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Owen (Yoman3) - United Republic of Ankara

Hey Owen, don't worry about missing one, we all do at times.

Glad you like the highway setup, and that's why I wanted it that way, I also often see that kind of "sheltered" setup here, and find it very scenic.

Always good to read you my friend.

Take care

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Rooker1 - Xania a tour of my world

Hi Robin,

In fact I type at 100 words/minute! NOT!

hehehe... no really You could tell that I'm not so bad (I.E. I don't type with only two fingers) but I'm not very fast either. As for taking the time to answer, I firmly believe that it's simple courtesy to answer those who made the effort to drop a encouraging word (or two sometimes  ). As I come early to work, to avoid the traffic, I take this opportunity to type the answers almost each morning, so it keeps me occupied while waiting for my coworkers!

On the farm topic, yeah it would be fun if we could zone OVER an existing road thus telling to the game that this particular zone is the same on both sides! Farmland is often divided by roads in Quebec, and elsewhere too I guess!

I should ask Dhoppeii, if memory serves me right he already done something similar.

I'll PM you for the slope mod. (Done)

On the helping topic, I'm glad that I can return something to the community, I've learned so much here (and still am BTW) that it's a pleasure to do so.

How's the family these days, still appreciating your new house?

Always good to read you, warmest regards to you and family

John

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Szarkoz - Everon Metro Area

Hi Tomek,

Don't ask me! I haven't the slightest idea why you didn't comment before!  hehehe...

The important thing is, you did comment, and I'm glad to read you.

Updates are always friday nowadays, so it's just about right now!

Humm let me see..... having a choice between a trip to the mountains, and looking at boring pictures... hummmmm... If I were you I think I'd chose the trip without hesitation!

I hope you have a great time there, it should be very interesting especially at the beginning of fall....

I just googled it, and went to see the pics.... WOW! no contest the montain wins!

See you when you get back,

Take care

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GaBoR - Oro Bruno

Hola GaBoR

Long time no see amigo, I hope all is going well for you, is there an update in the air for Oro Bruno?

Good to see you my friend

Take care

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And now dear readers, without further ado, here's....

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Fall is there... the most beautiful season! Colors everywhere! Crisp cool air! Ahhhh..... I just love it!

My friends, this weekend take some time to enjoy all this.

Some words from the wise... (not me.... I don't want to be wise, must be a bit boring... WINK )

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." - Benjamin Franklin

That Benjamin was really something!

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In the meantime

Take care and enjoy life

Darmok

[jacqulina 162]

hi my friend thats great that you are doing what you love and im very sure you are fantastic at playing it,its been really nice having a break even though i work too but thats from home so i can take one more o less when i wish lol. i love it when you do rural updates,yes i see with the barn the t piece works great,i love the paths are they the transport enabled ones i cant seem to get them to fit together.i love the farms excellent with the little railway running through,and going past the pond thats a beautifull shot.as allways you continue to emaze us with your building skills.your pics are allways awesome.its the little details that make things look so great.

take care my friend and have a great weekend.

[Rayden 7]

This time I will refrain from commenting this update. Why? Because I just don't have enough words to describe this without quoting myself all the time. I must find new words to describe these magnificent updates.

Thx for all the good times you're providing.

Cheers

Silvio

[Benedict 3,119]

More fantastic stuff in AVR! I am blown away each visit because of your attention to detail. I'm sure from all the responses that you know your CJ is something very special. And yes, this summer was very busy, which kept me from the forums, but I hope to keep Ellis Valley going at a more regular pace now that things have calmed down.

[rooker1 4]

Hi John, 

Thanks for your help again and that slope modd is much better.  Hopefully I will figure out how to load iLive Reader.  

I'm going to guess you live in Quebec, true?  I live in just 20 minutes north west of Toronto, in Brampton.  Anyways I agree with you about the farms.

The house is still great, I love it.......esspecially now that I have family visiting from Santiago.  I now have six people in the house, pretty crowded, but it's only for a couple of weeks more.

Enough personel stuff.  Your farms look awesome.  I really like your farm road peices, great work BTW.  The railyard looks great also.  Very realistic I might add.  I can't find anything I don't like.  Great work as always.

Have another great week and see you soon.

Robin

[mayormommy 8]

Nice action shots with the trains rolling by. Looks like this will be a very scenic place!

[____----____ 37]

absolutely wonderful shots love all the nice train skins

everything has a midwestern US feel to it to me at least

which is a little different for you but I love it.

Everything looks so alive a bustling, maybe a grain silo freight station too?

the rails look great (coming from a rail fan and i know nardo will be proud)

AWESOME update

Alek

[bat 6]

Wonderful update! Great pictures! Fantastic work! Awesome details! Very, very nice freightyard-layout! Great overview!

bat

[ThomasAH 0]

Hey John,

I'm glad you understand me, I hope you've great fun with your guitar but don't let your cj end like I did

I think I got my interest in sc back so I'm planning to start a new cj, I lost Zorturia when my computer crashed. But I will be active agian on simtropolis so you can expect some posts from me 

Great update! The farming area looks really beautiful but in pic 7 there is a small problem with that mosaic, the pics don't connect eachother good (I hope you understand me, you know my english isn't very good so I couldn't find the correct words) sorry for being that critic  The last overview is looking amazing! Keep it up the good work!

Thomas

[jglei701 8]

I can't imagime how long your updates must take..... not only do you fill them with detail, you extensively comment on every comment!!

[owenluby 1]

Hi there John,

Really nice update, it was great

I love the simplicity of this CJ, it is so nice to see such detailed rural areas, made in a unique fashion.

I just can't get enough of that rural highway, the way it conforms to the land perfectly, well done!

I'm looking forward to more!

Owen

[crazychickensc12 84]

Great update im going to have to get a thesauras for this CJ , I love the farming areas you have created here and the close-ups are great as always, awesome work Darmok keep it up!!

[SpecialEddie 3]

Fantastic--I'm loving the trains! Um...not sure about the constantly twisting paths, but it's not developed that much yet--so we'll see! I really like Etienne's Junction. The name reminded me of Etnies shoes , which I like btw. Keep up the work on the farms and the trains (though this city was made a long time ago, am I right?)

[szarkoz 8]

Hi John!

As I promised, I'm commenting just after my arrival from the trip. It was great, the weather was beautiful, however, 2 days is too short for Tatry. You need at least one whole day (from morning to evening) to try the most beautiful and challenging trails. I took two quite interesting pictures there, that I think you might like to take a look at. The first and the second one - they're my favourites.

Anyway, let's move to today's update of AVR.

I knew that dirt trails will take a place in that area. They fit in perfectly. Freigh rails station is looking very good too, and even from pure SC4 purposes it does look functional. That's always hard to achieve both of those targets. It's also nice to see some mosaics, they're very good way to present a specific area.

As always, it's a great pleasure to read a new update of AVR, I'm looking forward to next one on next Friday! See ya!

[Yoman3 5]

Awsome changes and so much detail. Sry this wasent longer but I got to run! Bye!