Anduin Valley Revisited

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Update 40 of Anorien already?

Jeez, that many? I thought it was more like 20.

Everything looks good, though, I don't like those condos (image 17) there. It doesn't fit in with the area. Maybe you can change the building?

In image 18, fix up the one-way road going into the avenue. That's a small bug that can easily be corrected by clicking on it (the offending tile) with the street tool.

If you're planning on adding RAM, remember that the most you can have under Windows XP is 3GB (it might not even be that), because of memory addresses. If I remember, you told us you had 1.5GB, go up to 2GB, and you'll be okay.

It's more to do with your CPU (and to a lesser extent, your graphics card), though. It can only send data at a certain rate to the other parts of your computer. Unfortunately, that's SC4's fault.

I say this because I have a powerful CPU and only a GB of RAM, and it runs along quite smoothly, and the lag comes from the amount of stuff being sent between CPU and graphics card.

Having an extra GB of RAM will help hugely in that it can allow the computer to recover from the horrors of running SC4.

[Nardo69 51]

Hi John!

First sorry for not sending the third email - I just haven't found the time

... is it still actual?

That region shot ... not much left ... I had a b?t the same feeling when I saw Dan's last Region Shot of Las Plaisance County ...

If I could "wish" where you continue after Anorien I would like to see what you are doing with those smal, steep, hilly tiles at the upper edge ... by far a not at all easy terrain ... 

 

I like these buildings next to the bridge - where did you find them?

Goof work on Perkins Furniture yet ...

the fence goes all around but leaves such a big gap at the entrance If the fence comes in small parts I would prolong it right to the entrance by leaving a gap just big enough for the trucks to enter the factory court. (just the missing dot on the "i")

Interesting idea of using these tunnel entrances as a underground garage but why didn't you use the new underground garages by gshmail? they do look better!

About the lags .. did you install the new NAM? It should solve that lag problem with the RHW ...

Another hint: Cut your internet connection and shut down your AV / firewall while playing - this can make a real difference, too but don't forget to restart your pc (at least your AV / firewall) before going online again!

Take care

Bernhard

[Nik-nik 3]

Perfect!
What better way to start the week than with AVR.

The weekend was relaxing. Played a bit with C&C Tiberian Wars. It's taking up all my gaming time unfortunatelly.
Jop had a soccer weekend and had a great time playing about two dozen mini games in two days. He was exhausted! I do not know if you remember an exhausted kid, but it is testing the nerves. Fortunatelly we knew where he got so distresed and upset from so we could sooth him before it got worse. Today my wife found out that we left his shoes in the club house, fortunatelly we have some spare ones else he had to go to school with his soccer shoes on LOL.

I guess the comercials near the bridge are plopped?
Nice!

Andreas Roth SC4 tools ?
Do not know what it is taht you are referring to but it is great!

Love those parkngs you used. That parking in pic 10, just behind the commercials is very good, but I like the grafitti even better (here not in RL, I hate 'em).

Now that hotel.
I noticed in pic 14 that the street in front of the hotel is so very crowdy with all those cars parked. Considering the texture of the parking (black) I would recommend to use roads in stead as Jeronij's street mod is then not used and the road is much less crowded.
Besides that you've done a great job. Especially the way you redecorated the back exit with the foot path, maybe add a small terrace too, for example instead of the statue?

LOL I was thinking immediatelly why in earth's name is he putting that condo there? Then I noticed the header of pic 17. greedy contractor. That explains it. i live in a small town that is continuously under fire by these kind of contractors and in general if you let them go without proper supervision, they tend to go for the money and not estetics.

Love that overview especially when comparing it to pic 1.

Have a great week John, enjoy the guitar and stop making me jealous with stories of attending such great concerts!

Nik-Nik

[SoNell 0]

Superfantastic !! I 

I love your eye for detail...  Keep those updates coming !!

[The_Dalai_Llama 15]

Fantastic CJ... so much attention to detail.

Kinds of reminds me... I haven't been to a Friendly's in about a year.

[Livin in Sim 83]

The lunatic is on the grass

The lunatic is on the grass

Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs

Got to keep the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall

The lunatics are in my hall

The paper holds their folded faces to the floor

And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon

And if there is no room upon the hill

And if your head explodes with dark forbodeings too

I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

The lunatic is in my head

The lunatic is in my head

You raise the blade, you make the change

You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane

You lock the door

And throw away the key

There's someone in my head but it's not me.

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear

You shout and no one seems to hear

And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes

I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

"I can't think of anything to say except...

I think it's marvelous! HaHaHa!"

We're rollin' right on in to a summer mid afternoon here on KLIV, and what's a little Brain Damage between friends, right?  Turning to the news, did you hear about the TV director who was detained at the airport for five hours?  He said he was there to shoot a pilot...

OK, John, you may now groan loudly. 

About AVR Live, well, I can't think of anything to say except--I think it's marvelous! 

Seriously, I like the way you have lined that BSC path with trees, gives it a very sheltered feeling,  That furniture factory has some nice funky details, and it looks like you've transit-enabled it.  I did read some where there was a way to "fake transit-enable" lots by plopping roads and then demolishing in a certain order.  I tried it and it worked--altho it wouldn't work for an end of a road, a remnant of the road remained by the roadside.  I dunno if I bookmarked that little tutorial.  Did I actually think I would remember how to do it?  Madness!  I will have to look on the other computer.  Adolescent Sims suffering from summer boredom have decorated the back wall by the parking ramp--we need to get them a job at the Friendly's and recruit them for Legion Baseball.  That's a natural spot for a large hotel, and the statue is The Honorable Mr SimGoober, right? 

Glad you had a good time at the show, that things are well, and that you are enjoying your live updates.

Til Friday!

--Liv

[Fallon144 1]

clean and wholesome, the way I like it

keep up the amazing work mate!

[Darmok 34]

New Fleidner Block by sparkythepenguin

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AsianEvolusioner

Welcome to Anduin Valley Asian Evolutioner,

Thanks for stopping by and come back anytime you feel like it!

See you!

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Bat - Capporth City

Thanks BAT! Your support is always appreciated!

Take care

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Gilligone - The headwaters of Nemonos

Thanks Gilligone!

And speaking of trees perhaps it's their sheer number who are causing the lag in my game...

See you

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sEAhAwk fAn121

Welcome to Anduin Valley SeahawkFan

Thanks for your kind words...

Were aiming to please WINK

Do come back when you want the door's always open.

See you!

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jimmymac - Shaping Invermere Valley

Hi jimmymac,

I'll try to query them as soon as possible and give you an answer soon. I think They're from PEG... not sure though.

See you!

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Luker01 - Plantation Bay

Hi, Luke,

Yeah the non slope conforming fences.... I thought several time replacing the fences with either BuddyBuds or Jeroni's slope conforming fences... maybe one day!

Take care

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Bruce - Schulmanator - Schulmania

Hi Bruce,

Thanks, and as I said to Luke, perhaps I'll try to fix the non slope conforming fences....

Take care

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Sobol - Twice

Welcome to Anduin Valley Sobol

Almost all that you see comes from Simtropolis STEX, the rest is divided between SC4Devotion LEX, Japanese BATS, and do not forget PEG!

As for improving, I think we all improve by playing regularly and trying new things.

For your second question, if you read the very first post in AVR, I've stated there that Anduin Valley is a mostly aesthetic experience, before that I've always played the game "by the rules" and created cities nearing 1 million sims that were self-sustaining, but I can't say that it was a lot of fun... I just took Jeroni's advice to PLAY WITH the game instead of PLAYING AGAINST it... and since then I'm having a blast.

I must say that if you ENJOY playing it by the rules, then by all means do so, because in the end that is all that matters.

See you!

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Richard - Cleaner475 - The biggest CJ Ever

Hi Richard,

and thanks for helping Sobol!

See you!

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Owen (Yoman3) - Ankara reloaded

Again a Yankee game... man!

Some have all the luck!

Take care

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tommiej

Hi tommiej,

The new RAM helped somewhat, but not that much... I've tried playing with the software renderer instead of the hardware option and then it goes very fast, BUT, the BIG difference is the trees shadows who are really not good looking.... sheesh... nothing's perfect.

Take care

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schm0

Hi Schm0

I use SC4Tools for editing the parking lots, quite easy to do. And yes that's exactly what I did with the Furniture Mill.

Try the SC4Tools, you will wonder why you never did it before!

Take care

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Godwin

Hi godwin,

That's unfortunate, you'll have to tune in to KLIV radio station for the news then! WINK

Take care and best of luck with your studies!

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Jayo

Welcome to Anduin Valley jayo

Thanks for taking the time to voice your opinion!

Come back anytime!

Take care

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Threestooges – Matt

Hi Matt,

Hehehe... yeah the small "Live from AVR" came at the last minute... just an afterthought...

Stubborn as a mule.... you talked to my mother? hehehe... yeah I guess it fits.

My RAM is now pumped up to 4GB, I know that XP is not adressing more than 3GB but as I plan to upgrade to VISTA (yuck...) it'll be useful then.

I can't even imagine what it would be like playing SC4 with only 256MB.... if you do, you're a saint amongst men! (the patience you must need when terraforming!!!)

All the best Matt!

See you

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Daniel - Shadow_Assassin - Ensenada - That City in the east

Hey Daniel,

Yep already 40! Time flies!

I placed those condos there almost against my will... I was looking at the space available, not finding anything satisfactory... and then I just plopped this one... and thought YIKES it's stealing the view... I was about to blast it when I realized that in RL those things happen... so I left it there.... but who knows what the future has in reserve!

I'll see what I can do about the one-way problem, I have another idea on how to modify it...

I think that the lag must be caused by the newer ATI drivers, because when using the software renderer it goes lightning fast, so my CPU is really up to the task, I'll try to find an older version and try that...

Take care my friend

-John

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

Hi Bernhard,

Richard has by now left Istambul (he'll be back at the end of his travel) he's now in the Ankara region and also be visiting a nearby national park if I remember correctly... then Mersin, Antalya and some other place along the coast and then back to Istambul for a few days, he emailed me saying that he really liked Istambul and found the people there very friendly and helpful, he said that the cost of living was very high! He thanks you again for your help!

I guess there's about 20% left to develop in Anôrien, the hills I don't want to touch much.... yet.... perhaps when David's long curves project will be finished I'll try my hand at them, but not before.

The buildings near the bridge are New Fleidner Block by sparkythepenguin , I just plopped a series of them to get that city block effect.

Right you are about the Furniture Mill, I added a small loading ramp on the side but forgot to modify the chainlink fence... good eye on this one.

Yep, gshmail lots would probably fit better, I'll see what I can do.

I installed the new NAM and the new RHW, but I'm sure by now that It's a driver issue, because when playing in software rendering mode, all is lightning fast! but the shadows are simply not as good looking as with the hardware rendering process. So I'll try to find an old driver...

Thanks for the tips Bernhard, and see you soon!

Take care

-John

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Niek - Nik-nik

Hi Niek'

I never really liked "real time" strategy games like C&C, I've always prefered the more relaxed pace of Sid Meiers Civilization series. I never liked to be "rushed" by a game, except when playing GrandPrix4 Formula 1 simulator of course!

Two dozen games in a weekend! jeez.... I believe you about testing the nerves! But as I already told you, brace yourself for later, it maybe another kind of testing, our son had a car accident, fortunately no one was injured, but he totalled the car! It's not a very pleasant surprise being waked-up at midnight by that kind of call! Anyhow the important thing is no one was injured, the rest is only metal... (and money... sheesh!)

Back to topic, yeah the commerce were plopped they are New Fleidner Block by sparkythepenguin , Oops I thought that SC4Tools was Andreas's.... sorry!

Good thinking about the street in front of the hotel, I'll try that. And yes I've also seen my share of greedy contractors denaturing beautiful sites for the sake of money! (grumble grumble...)

Well the week has almost been entirely dedicated to finding a new car for Nancy, the rental car (as covered by the insurance company) will expire monday, after that we're on our own... So were trying to fix the situation before that... Ah RL at it's best!

Regards to your family my friend and see you soon.

-John

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SoNell

Hi SoNell

Thanks man!

See you!

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The_Dalai_Llama

Welcome to Anduin Valley dear Enlightened Ruminant! WINK

It's really an honor having your official visit!

Seriously, Thanks for taking the time to stop by, I really appreciate it.

Glad to know that you liked what you saw, and looking forward to reading you again!

See you

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Liv - Livin in Sim - (Nibishookee County... hopefully...) 

Hey Liv!

That was an EXCELLENT choice, Brain Damage is one of my Pink Floyd favorite songs! In fact  love them all (well... almost... Atomheart Mother and Umaguma LP's were a bit to "esoteric for my taste")

Good one about the TV Director! hehehe... (I did groan...)

Interesting that transit enabling tip you gave, if you ever find the tutorial again please give us the link! Never heard that one...

The statue must be Mr. SimGoober, because it's certainly not one in honor of the condo's contractor! hehehe...

Yeah the show was certainly fantastic, the sound system was one of the best I've ever heard in a show, best sound ever is when I saw Jesus Christ Superstar rock opera with the original broadway cast, it was a tour they made in 1993 for the 20th anniversary of the opera, it was astounding!

Always good to see you Liv, and hearing that PinkFloyd tune in my head (like the lunatics of course!) was a good way to start the day!

Now I'm back to car hunting (See news in Niek answer.. ) .... groan.... (not the same kind of groan this time...)

Enjoy your upcoming weekend

-John

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Fallon144

Thanks Fallon!

See you

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And now ladies and gents, here's....

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As you can see this is not a big update, but I thought that you would rather have this than none at all.

Currently working on another one, hoping that RL will give me some slack finally!

To all, a great weekend and week!

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In the meantime

Take care and enjoy life

John - aka Darmok

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Aw crud. That all?

Looks like you've got big plans for that bit of Anorien.

As for the lag, I'm using the latest ATI drivers, they're not too bad. But the lag only really hits when I have densely forested land. >.<. Maybe I'll try software rendering for general playing, then use hardware rendering for taking photos.

[bat 6]

That's another awesome update, John!

Great work! Looking forward to the next update!

bat

[Benedict 3,119]

Mmmmm.... plans! Great stuff as always, seems like it doesn't matter the size of the update the quality is always top notch.

[gshmails 536]

I like the step by step process shots. I always find those to be inspirational when I make my own cities. Thanks for sharing!

edit:  This is the first CJ where I have seen my parking lots being used!  Thank you, it was a real treat to see them.  I hope they work well!

[rooker1 4]

Wow, super work as always John.
I can't believe so much time has passed so quickly since my last visit, jan 12th to be exact.  But I'm here now and that's what counts, right.  I have just spent the last three hours flipping back and forth between your CJ and my daily work, trying to not get caught. hehehehe, If they only knew. 
There are so many good things to say, I don't know where to begin.  Your methods for making the perfect bridge is outstanding and I have adopted it myself quite a while ago.  Your style of showing us your CJ the way you do is a very good learning experience.
HOw is life treating you and how is your guitaring coming along?  You must be great by now.  I did read that you only play about an hour a week.  That's about what I get too.  My second boy was born May 6th, so I am very busy.  Two boys and a wife, a huge handful.
Anyways, great work, I'll try to stop by more often and take care my friend.

Robin 

[sEAhAwk fAn121 0]

wow! i love the bridges! cant wait tosee the pumping station! your work continues to amaze me!

[SpecialEddie 3]

Live from Anduin River Valley at last! As good as the reruns were, it's good to seem some fresh new episodes!

Once again your attention to detail in the bridges is superb, terraforming is top notch, and the bridges look absolutely scenic. Is there any place in the world that looks as great as this? Well maybe not here...but what about Middle-Earth?

-Eddie

[luker91 0]

good job with the bridge.... the little touches make it look very good... youve left me wondering what that access road to the river is for... but im sure it will make sense when you get finished... cant wait for more!

[Mikeaut1 261]

Wow, really nice with the bridge. Very suspensful too, I can't wait to see what else pops up in that deforested area. Great flora as always too, great attention to detail!

[Nardo69 51]

Hello John!

Good work with the bridge support - that slope looks really good now. As for the speed in AVR live, well, I guess, we are not that different in that point ...

For the surroundings of the furniture factory and the space between the road and the railway I would wait some times - T Wrecks' new Filler lots (those who I began to showcase in my recent update) should be released rather soon and will look perfect there.

As for the access road to the water station ...  well, I am rather sensitive to steep slopes but on the other hand I don't want to be more catholic than the pope is ... if the access road is dirt track the grade is okay (thinking of the mud after an average summer rain) but if you use the standard grey street the grade may be much steeper.

Take care and have a nice weekend!

Bernhard

(and of course don't forget to make backups!)

[owenluby 1]

Haven't checked Anduin for a while... but it's still as good as it always has been!

[JanYpe 17]

An update full of learnin'! I need to check in here more often.

[Giligone 10]

Great work! Thats some high quality teraforming. The switchbacks are good too. Can't wait for more.

[threestooges 0]

Well, as far as the playing goes with 256, patience isn't really a problem. I have to keep it to medium tiles at most (and those slow down with decent sized city on them too), so I find myself sticking to mostly rural towns/areas (it helps too that I like to do those areas). The dat packer really helped, but since I play on a laptop I just plop down in front of the tv and find something good on. I am a bit curious to see what RAM goes for these days though. Interesting (maybe) sidenote (as if I don't go on enough of those he he) I called tech support b/c my fan was overheating the whole comp (or rather wasn't cooling it properly, but you get the idea) and, while running some tests, they found an issue with my HD. Naturally, knowing the nature of computers, and having heard the stories around here, I have absolutely nothing backed up (aside from a 128mb usb drive) but thanks to a fine warranty, I am pretty much getting new parts for most of the computer (other issues are being taken care of too; but what can I say? I was busy during school).

But enough of that. On to the update. The attention to detail you have shown on the hill under the bridge really shows why this cj has lasted so long (that and the fact you seem to really enjoy what you are doing). The environmentalists will be after you for your "little" bit of deforesting, but I'm looking forward to see what you'll be doing with the area (we'll see if we can get some pies sent to those environmentalists for you, care of the comedy school of course  he he). I think that, though the update was short, it had enough substance to hold us for another week, and is such that we'll be waiting to see what the water pumping areas looks like. One last thing, I have taken an interest in bridges (for SC4) since I finished my western US roadtrip so I'm working on a few for the game. If you have any realism suggestions, or suggestions/requests overall, please let me know. I can use what help I can get. Take it easy, and good luck with the next installment.

[Nik-nik 3]

Hi John,

What an awfull news about the car accident. I am very glad that apart from your nerves everything is OK with your son and of course with you and your wife.

The new banner is very nice. LOL! 

Very nice what you did with the bridges. Love the use of Jeronij's bridge. It's a masterpiece.
Oh my... that tedious terraforming. I like what you do with the road patch technique and still manage to keep some knolls and hills in teh country side. The road to the waterpump is very well executed.

I have finished playing C&C and I am going to start up SC4 again soon.
I had a great weekend I went with the two eldest to a small stream where we netted some tiddlers and some dragonfly larvae.  I did my sons some boots on, but still wonder why because they went up to their knees in the water. As you can imagine a big part of the small stream ended up in the boots. Later on at the river beach Jop managed to fall in the water wetting the rest of his clothes. In afterthought it was hilarious but I had to remain a poker face and comfort him of course at that time. Even more later I went on a bike ride with Merijn, the yougest. What started out as a small tour took me 1.5 hours and some steep climbs (well steep for Dutch standards). But we both enjoyed it tremendously, we saw squirels, rabbits, horses and cows, and Merijn knew every one of them (well, the squirrel was a bit difficult).
Did I tell you already that Pim is going to the third grade? We were very surprised as we were expecting another year in kindergarten (from age 4-6, the first two grades are more or less similar to Kindergarten in the Netherlands). I guess that is what happens when you have an smart elder brother.

John, have fun and take care.

Nik-Nik

[sobol 1]

Darmok:

Wow... a response.. I feel accepted.. (doesn't know which smiley to use just yet.. being a new guy and all).

I love this CJ. I have read it once all the way through... took me some time, and now I am doing it page by page. I honestly love your region, but your terraforming skills and foresight are mindboggling. I am going to create something alot my play style using your ideas and hints.

The first thing I am developing in my new region is a new style of farming, and I am getting stumped. Maxis didn't put enough variety, and the uploaded lots on STEX and LEX (SC4Dev) have insane amounts of dependancies that I do not know how to get (I am going to purchase the STEX collections 1&2, I was on the fence until you pointed at them).

The things I am looking for specifically right now, and all dependancies they require are: more farm varieties of all types, rural roads/walkways/hiking trails, fences, aquaducts, rural train stations, bike paths, some variety in trees and general shrubbery.

I have NAM ver #2 downloaded and a few low dependancy (all included) plugins (LOT/BAT's).

I am relearning how to build in SC4RH with the NAM #2, and now I have been reading up on the CAM, and I am so giddy with anticipation. Have you given any thought to the CAM at all? (the one thing about the STEX collections is that they will not be compatible with the CAM)

Anyways, keep up the great work.....

Oooohh one request.. I've tried to download the huge picturesque files of the region you've had, but non of the old ones work anymore, when will you update with newest developments in Anduin and post a new megafile for download... I am very curious about those.

on edit #2:

The hiking trails and bike paths, are they transit enabled???  are they for pedestrian, motor, or cycle transit??

on edit: #3

Parking lots.. lots of them, they are wonderfull...  I saw you reference some other sites...

Can you list the sites you get your lot/bat's from??

I am at the main SC4 site (maxis officialis), SimT ( ), and trying to properly register at SC4D, where else should I go???

[jacqulina 162]

hiya john how are you my friend,i did post on your other update but i have a feeling just as you put yours in i posted my comment lol but never mind,my nets been down for 6 days my router got fried with the storm,the tech engineer has repaired the wires but i got to wait for a new home hub,so im using an old router for now lol.

another awesome update my friend,i love the bridge work,i must admit i dont much like the shelflook either.excellent work and pics.

take care and have a great week

[smartalco 0]

I haven't visited simtropolis in quite some time, and i believe the last time i saw this thread was around page 80, im surprised this thing is still going!, keep up the fantastic work!

[Livin in Sim 83]

I'm not man or machine

I'm just something in between

I'm all love, a dynamo

So push the button and let me go

You want me to come alive

Just flick the switch into overdrive

You and me can let it be

Ready-aim-fire

Touch that dial - turn me on

Start me like a motor, make me run

Lovin every minute of it

Lovin every minute of it

Turn that dial all the way

Shoot me like a rocket into space

Lovin every minute of it

Lovin every minute of it

Lovin every minute of it

I got fun - you got deal

You wanna drive then take the wheel

You and me can let it be

Ready-aim-fire

That's Loverboy, out of Vancouver, Canada, here on Late Night Rock of the Eighties, on Anôrien's Evening Star, KLIV.  Happy Summer Solstice, Anduin Valley, it's gonna be hot and humid tomorrow, temps nearing 37 degrees, with possible severe weather in the afternoon and evening...

John, what a week!  Staff shortages, hail, a tornado sighting, dental work, these are a few of my least favorite things.  So I am a bit late in responding to your update.  Even though it was short, I was lovin' every minute of it.  Getting those bridges just right can take a bit of patience, but in the end, you prevailed.  It now looks so nice and smooth, and the shoreline has a natural slope.  The road to the water pump site is a skillful piece of terraforming as well.  I am anxious to see what you have coming in at the top in the now open area.

Yes, I found the "fake transit-enable" tutorial, it is here , and I tried linking directly to the post, so I will have to edit if I messed up.  The instructions sound a bit confusing until you actually do it.  It works, tho.

"The boy has wrecked the car..."  I wonder what exact percentage of parents say that at some point--I'll bet it's over 50.  Mine sure dented his a few times, and his head once (just a goose egg).  He was always in such an all fired hurry, but has since slowed down.  Thank God no one was injured.  I know a good used car salesman.  My friend does that for a sideline, we kid him all the time about how he fits the fast-talking profile, but he has a good heart.  We have all bought cars from him, and if they run well, he is toasted, if not, well...he finds us others--cheap.  It is sort of funny also how his girlfriend was the only one who never fell victim to his sales pitch, until he asked her to marry him! 

But I digress, and I must be turning in.  Give my best to the fam, and tell junior to be careful!

Bye for now.

--Liv

[Darmok 34]

NDEX Parking Lots By Ardecila by Equinox

Street And Road Culdesac Functional Parkings

Cycleways Parking Lot by darmok

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Daniel - Shadow_Assassin - Ensenada - That City in the east

Yep Daniel, it was a bit short but I thought that it would be better than not posting anything...

And on the lag topic, I found that one of the things that slows the game is the shadows... when I drop the quality of the shadows, the gameplay is greatly improved! But the pic quality is really not the same! (darn...) Oh well.. nothing's perfect!

See you!

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Bat - Capporth City

Thanks Bat! And here's more...

Take care

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Benedict - The Mayors of Ellis Valley

Hey Benedict!

Thanks for the good words, and I do not lack ideas and plans, I only lack time....

See you!

-John

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Gshmails - Creator of the Shmails 1x3 Parking Set amongst other things...

Welcome to Anduin Valley gshmails,

I'm a genuine fan of your work and you can see a lot of your bats in AVR, be it some of the Black Hole series, the small chapel, the bus stops, the Bondell Bandshell, the Little church... and then some...

I'll take this opportunity to thank you for your great work and dedication!

As for your parking entrances, they work very well and I like them a lot! They really are an asset to the game.

Well, again thanks, and come back anytime you'll always be welcome here!

Take care.

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Rooker1 - Xania a tour of my world

Long time no see my friend, congratulations on your second child! You are blessed!

Enjoy those early years, they go very fast! My guitar playing is going well, I can now play some songs, I can read tablatures but not real music notation yet... but my first goal was to play reasonably well within one year. The rest will come with time, and lots and lots of practice of course! Yes I play SC4, about an hour or so a week, I guess I would play more if the lag was not that bad... I'm still working on trying to fix that problem... I've found and downloaded some very old drivers and I'll do some test... (knocking on wood...)

Good to read you Robin, and to know that all is well for you!

Regards to you and your family!

Take care

-John

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sEAhAwk fAn121

Hi SeaHawk,

Thanks!

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SpecialEddie - Planning Gotham City

Hehehe... Can't say about Middle Earth, never been there! Well.... not in the flesh.... but in my mind, quite often, and I guess that I'd like very much the ambiance in Hobbiton!

Take care my friend!

-John

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Luker01 - Plantation Bay

Hi Luke,

There will be a water pumping station at the end of that access road. I figured It would be a good place to place it just alongside the river. Now if we only could have real dirt roads.... (sigh..)

See you!

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Mikeaut1 - Touring Napoli Island

Hi Mike,

Well the suspense will not be very long... you'll see the new sector in this update.

Always good to see you Mike, looking forward to reading you again!

-John

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

Hi Bernhard,

I guess that it's more a question of being "comfortable" with the idea that I may not be able to post some pic on a regular basis that bothers me the most... old habits die hard! But, I'll learn to adapt...

Yes I've seen those filler lots... can't wait to try them... though that sector is already done... but I'm sure I'll find use for them in a near future, and perhaps remodel that setup when they'll come up...

As I was telling Luke, if we only had "real" dirt roads in SC4, I'd use them in those particular setups, if we can now "drag" the GLR tiles, couldn't we do the same with dirt roads... just a thought! Oh well..

Again thanks for helping Richard with your tips on Istambul.

And see you in Urland!

Take care

-John

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Owen - (Owenluby) - Unifire

Hey Owen,

Good to see you!

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JanYpe

Welcome to Anduin Valley JanYpe,

Come visti anytime you feel like it!

See you

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Gilligone - The headwaters of Nemonos

Hi Gilligone,

Well it was not a big update but better small than nothing!

And here's more...

See you

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Threestooges – Matt

Hi Matt,

Well, perhaps I'll have to stick with medium tiles as well, seeing how slow it is when I play a large map with lots of trees...

And as for creating rural area, the more I work with them the more I like creating them! So no problem here either. Even in RL I've never been a big city person..

The DatPacker is indeed a big help, the only drawback being repacking everything when you want to add something, but boy is it fast!

For 2GB of RAM I paid 186$ CDN. Not bad... But the it only improved slightly the gameplay...

Glad to know you prevented some potential problems on your laptop... indeed a good warranty is essential when dealing in laptop, we just bought one for Nancy's son, and we took the three year plan that covers everything. So he can now finish his studies without worries. (Though I think he's listening to music more than studying... oh well...)

The deforesting... what can I say sometimes it's a necessary evil... people needs jobs. And as you'll see, it won't be so bad... I like the pies idea! hehehe If only we could do that on a regular basis with our politicians... hummm....

New bridges, that would be great. I guess that I'd like to see more "real-life" and "ordinary" bridges, instead of only spectacular ones, you know, the kind of bridges that we cross each and everyday without even noticing them... but that are looking good and detailed.

Hoping you had fun on your road trip!

See you my friend!

-John

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Niek - Nik-nik

Hi Niek,

Yes fortunately there was no one injured in the accident, only our son's ego! WINK

About the Live Banner, you'll see that I'm trying something new this week...

Jeroni's bridge is really stunning, it probably be more "at home" within an european city setup instead of being out there in the woods, but it's so beautiful that I decided to keep it there... The terraforming was not so tedious as it is not a very big sector. The only problem is the lag... I plop, wait a few seconds and then plop again, it's no longer a "real-time" process... sheesh... 

You really made my day with the boys adventures hehehe.. I just can picture Jop falling in the water and you trying not to laugh out loud.... I'm sure you'll replay that one in your head for years to come!! Thank god for children. We don't have that many steep climbs here either, unless you go in the Charlevoix region, then you have 'em, but here it's pretty flat, we have a bike path 20 minutes from here, it's 15km long and follows a river, it's a real beauty, we do it both ways which give us a good ride for the day and we can have a picnic along the way.

Third grade already! time flies.... it won't be long now before he'll ask to borrow the family car... (beware.. wink )

Bye for now Niek, have a great weekend and see you soon!

Take care

-John

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Sobol

Hi Sobol,

Hehehe... I sure hope that you were expecting a response, I try to answer everyone that post a comment, it's a simple matter of courtesy.

I'm glad to know that you took the time to read it all, I guess you'll find many answer to the question you're asking in that reading. Speaking of which, if terraforming is a subject that interest you, you should read also Jeronij's Simtropia you'll find tone of good examples of great terraforming! he is one of the creator of the new terraforming techniques.. it's a must read.

You can't imagine how please I am to hear that you'll create something in your style using some of my ideas,  I've learned so much from this community that it's always good to know I can contribute in some fashion. And doing it YOUR way is what matters the most, after all where here to have fun!

As for the dependencies issue, don't worry, I was like you at first, only downloading things that didn't had dependencies... until I tried, just do it step by step, practically all the BATS or LOTS that need dependencies, have a link to them in their description or readme files. Take your time, those farms are well worth the extra efforts to download all the dependencies, and soon you'll find that the more you download them the less you need new dependencies because they have a lot of those in common. Just a hint here, as you are beginning to download and creating your plugins folder, be VERY ORGANIZED at the start, it's the best way to go. On this topic, you HAVE to also read David's (Dedgren) Three Rivers Region David's another master at terraforming, AND as an added bonus he's probably the more organized person I know with his plugin folder, you'll find great information on the first page of his CJ on that matter. Don't miss it!

The best advice I can give you, is to read a lot of CJ's, take your time to find all the dependencies you need, and be organized.

I've heard about the CAM, but didn't yet read a lot about it... I'll try to find some time to read the thread on SC4Devotion.

About a new BIG region picture, I'll be uploading a new one when Anôrien will be finished, but I'll try to "re-upload" the old one in the mean time.

- EDITED - In fact I found a new big file storage site, so here's a link to the last BIG REGION (click here)  pic (BEWARE this is a 10MB file). Mind you it doesn't show Anôrien... that'll be in the next one. This one is the same that I already posted a long while ago but the file server went down...END OF EDIT -

The bike trails and walk paths are not transit enabled, they are mostly eye candy.

The parking lots: you'll find several links at the beginning of this update, in the links section, for more of them just go to the STEX ad do a search with "Parking" and you'll find lots of them!

I get most of my BATS and LOTS from the STEX, the BSC Lot Exchange (LEX), also this Japanese site , and PEG's Web site of course.

Those are the main SC4 site that I'm visiting, there are tons of other site, but I lack the time to visit them all...

Well I hope this can help you, I wish you good luck, and if you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Take care

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Jacky - Return to Paradise Falls

Hello Jacky,

I'm fine, hoping you are the same.

Sorry to hear about your fried router,

(it sounds like an exotic recipe... "what did you have for lunch?--- why, we had fried router!.... it was quite tasty!")

hehehe... I know I know another bad joke! I just can't resist...

Can't wait to see new development in PF2!

Take care my friend!

-John

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SmartAlco

Hi SmartAlco,

I just look into my.. cough... cough... (dust flying through the air) old records, and you commented on page 117, so it's not that long ago... hehehe

Thanks for stopping by!

See you

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Liv - Livin in Sim - (Nibishookee County... hopefully...) 

Hi Liv,

Your answer will be coming in the following minutes.... I didn't want to delay the update... see you in a sec...

-John

Hi Liv, I was reading the lyrics, and saying.... I know this... I know this... but in the end I had to give up, until I saw the answer.... the everybody here at work heard the biggest slap on the forehead in recent history! Loverboy... how could I forget! Indeed what a week you had! That's exactly what I was thinking, that you had some kind of busy week... but to be honest I never thought about a tornado! YIKES! That's something we very rarely see up here.... I saw vey small ones when I was working as a forest ranger but they hardly do any damage save for a few trees when in the forest or some, what you would call light damage, with houses, one of my friend had his roof "redone" by one of those small tornado, around 20.000$ damage... But the house itself was OK. And this was 10 years ago, never saw one since then. Thanks for the link to the tutorial, I saved it, It's really interesting! I'll sure try it. Yeah boys will be boys I guess, but as you say besides the financial impact (boy is it ever an impact on a budget!) the rest is only material damage, and we always pull through and it makes for good stories around the campfire a few years later.... (much later because right now were still a bit miffed...) WINK Well, we'll be picking up the new car this evening (friday), so it'll close the incident for now. Have a great weekend Liv, and be on the lookout for those stray tornados. Take care my friend. -John

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Ladies and gentlemen, hoping you'll enjoy it, here's another "Live" update...

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Thanks for your patience and kind support... you're the best!

I'll try to come up with some fresh pics for next friday, hoping I can find some free time....

See you next week!

---

In the meantime

Take care and enjoy life

John - aka Darmok

[Simfan34 11]

Wow, you have an amazing attention to detail. I like how you show us how you do things, like a perpetual tutorial! Can't believe I've never visited this place!

[Nardo69 51]

Hello John!

yeah, before my big harddisk problem last year that knocked me off for months I enjoyed it doing regular updates once a week. I even try to do so still; the problem is just that I need to work to get my bills paid, my wife claims some of my time, too, the normal RLS syndrome ..

So I am glad if I can do an update at least once in a month ... and sometimes like the last days RL lets me even update more often ...

Back to topic:

I must confess I am almost only zoning industry with the CTRL -Key pressed on determined lot sizes. This way I drastically increased the chances of getting the industry that I want to have. 

Disadvantage is if the "wrong" lots are growing you have to dezone and zone again with CTRL-Key.

Anyway these plopped industrials do fit there (even though I am still "old school" preferring wait & bulldoze rather than plopping ... I assume, you too ... )

And the trees, I do feel the same. One major disadvantage of the Columbus mod is that you don't get nice edges of the wood. These areas are usually the most dense areas of the wood and I found it ?mpossible to get a real dense forrest without plopping tree lots ...

Because of this I started using T Wrecks Fillerlot as edge lots for the forrests, too. BTW it shouldn't take too long till they will be released ...

Take care and make Backups my friend!

Bernhard