Anduin Valley Revisited

[rooker1 4]

Super work my good friend.  On to new things I hear.  Good for you.  Although this is a great CJ, maybe one of the best I have ever followed, there is always something bigger and better over the horizon.  I can't wait to see what you have for us next.  

Robin 

[Mikeaut1 261]

Beautiful update Darmok, such a great use of the Lot Editor to really make an aesthetic and peaceful looking town. Excellent work with the development along the riverside, it's so quaint! Excellent work as always!

[szarkoz 8]

Hello John,

So, that's the end? The end of AVR?

I just can't believe it. During last months I was just a lurker here, but I used to comment your work frequently (I hope you remember me). Sorry for lack of support from me recently.

And now it's the end... I've never felt so sad before just because of CJ's ending. Well, here in AVR you can't say "just because"...

John, your CJ was the biggest inspiration for me to play since I bought SC4. I remember that I've almost lost the interest in the game completely, but then I saw AVR for the first time (it had about 60 pages then). Quickly, being inspired by AVR I started my own CJ, Caledonia and I remember it as the best project I've ever made. It was so much thanks to you, John!

I think both SCR and AVR were the best CJs ever made. And yours deserves another Trixie this year, I think. You've got my vote, John.

Thank you for that amazing journey you've taken us on. It was great to follow the development of Anduin Valley. Great job!

Take care

Tomek

[politicman 1]

I appreciate your city and I like your presentation !

[Nik-nik 3]

Hi John,

I have the pleasant job of starting this new page 157:

Well it is almost Halloween after all.

The update was a great one, a true masterpiece that showed the enormous amount of experience you gathered during the development of AVR.

Somehow I am relieved that AVR is stopping. All good things come to an end, and some bad things as well. The first is an end to AVR and in speaking of the latter I mentioning my job. I got the job.

I will start at a different job on 1 December 2007. The job is about 12 minutes on bike away from my house. We Dutch prefer living almost on top of the job as you may have started to think  .

I am very excited about this as you can imagine. One thing about new jobs is that I hardly can monitor all those magnificent updates (=one thing I did during lunch breaks at my current job). So hence I have mixed feelings about the end.

At home everything is going as it should although we are all excied about my new job (well....all is my wife and I the kids wouldn't care less, yet!).

I will PM you to keep in touch.

Take care,

your friend, Niek (Nik-Nik)

[metasmurf 705]

It is admirable to see that you've kept going for 157 pages. Very few cj's last that long. Hope to see some future projects from you

cheers //smurf

[gndrew 0]

John:

I'd just like to say that I've really enjoyed flipping through your region. I have a couple of questions: What water and farm mods/bats are you using?

O, and for the record, I'm a newbie, so what is a BAT? What is the difference between a BAT and a MOD?

[Nardo69 51]

Hi John!

Sorry for not posting earlier but I had a bad phase of RLS... hardly fired up SC4 at all ...

And just when you mentioned that I got back on a regular scheme again ...

Page 151:

I always admired your skills with the ploppable water. I still use Peg's lots even though from times to times I miss diagonality with them ...

I must say with all these pine trees your area have a "Northern" feeling (not that it is bad - it is great!). Whenever I try to recreate the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) where I grew up I don't get the density of it as the trees in SC4 have such a big distance to each other ...

Page 152:

I do love that cemetary with the big cross (even though it remings me of a lot of war cemetaries I saw - especially of those of WW I)

Again that ploppable water .... sigh ...

Nice spot for some nice holiday (as long as it doesn't take place in the middle of january that is ...)

Page 153:

(1)

Nice road network. These smooth curves are great but unfortunately there is no european version of them for me available at the moment ...

(2)

I guess sometimes being picky on details is a necessarity for a good CJ ...

Nice layout but it might be better with some garden lots instead of the free spaces between the houses. But of course for such lots you need a VERY valuable resource: time ....

(3)

I like the area at the bridges, especially the diagonal T-intersection with the smooth curve. It has a certain spirit ...

Yeah, the texture problem with roads and streets ...

Page 154:

Yes, the way farms "choose" their place can really be a drawback. With industry you may help yourself with zoning parcels with the Ctrl-key but with farms - they really can mean overtime for our friend Dozer 07 ...

Page 155:

(1)

Hmmm ... I must confess I don't like that Deviation of the avenue at the one-way-roundabout ... As you are only connecting two roads, why didn't you use the "standard" road roundabout - would have fit better IMHO ...

The SAM ... I haven't played SC4 for a while due to RLS but this is a "must-try" for me!

Nice placement of Kwakelaar's church!

(2)

Found bsolutely nothing to pick upon main street - everything fits and your LE-work are just the dot on the i ...

Oh boy, I am going to be miss AVR when I will continue Urland ... lonely ...

Take care my friend!

Bernhard

[Livin in Sim 83]

Well I was born in a small town

And I live in a small town

Prob'ly die in a small town

Oh, those small communities

All my friends are so small town

My parents live in the same small town

My job is so small town

Provides little opportunity

Educated in a small town

Taught the fear of Jesus in a small town

Used to daydream in that small town

Another boring romantic that's me

But I've seen it all in a small town

Had myself a ball in a small town

Married an L.A. doll and brought her to this small town

Now she's small town just like me

No I cannot forget where it is that I come from

I cannot forget the people who love me

Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town

And people let me be just what I want to be

Got nothing against a big town

Still hayseed enough to say

Look who's in the big town

But my bed is in a small town

Oh, and that's good enough for me

Well I was born in a small town

And I can breathe in a small town

Gonna die in this small town

And that's prob'ly where they'll bury me...

John Mellencamp taking us up to 11 o'clock here on a rainy Thursday evening on KLIV 104.3 FM--Anôrien's Evening Star.  It's currently 15 degrees, expecting more rain tomorrow morning with highs in the twenties, clearing by afternoon.  In breaking news, a Montgomery, Alabama couple returned home Tuesday to find that their home had been burglarized and trashed.  After sending his wife, Tiffany, to her sister's, Adrian McKinnon literally ran into the burglar as he went back into the house.  McKinnon took advantage of the burglar's surprise to hold him at gunpoint, and make him clean up the mess while he called the police.  Do you suppose that would work to get my teenage son to clean his room?  Go ahead, son, make my day...just kidding...or am I?

John, I'm back from visiting my brother just in time for the last regular update of AVR.  It was quite fitting.  You always did capture that small town vibe.  This game has transformed from a city grid into so much more, and you have taken full advantage of the metamorphosis.  The ballpark area, Main Street and Old Tom Road is bonafide small town. You will find no truer example, I can walk down the street and see it.  I'm copying you shamelessly in Winona Valley, my next city tile.  At this rate, it will be more like spring before I have enough to start my own efforts at a journal.  A possibly dumb question, but are the T's real or eye candy?  You've used the LE quite effectively.  (And who would have thought that guard rails would be lurking in the bowels of the LE?  However did you find them, just by typing in the name?)  I do like it better without the roundabout (drove on my first one on vacation in Oregon, and shot off too soon before I realized what it was... ) and thanks for taking out the zig zags.  It's quite aesthetic now. 

Yes, you probably knew the Carter family produced the second bride of Johnny Cash, and those future in-laws snatched him from the jaws of drug addiction by moving into the mansion with him until he kicked the habit.  That's some real in-law steppin' up to the occasion.  Now that you mention it, the diagonal pieces are that way, have you resolved it yet?  You know, farming is a lot of work, quite like the real thing, huh?  That's a neat idea about making the train mods transparent.

I can't wait for the mosaic, what a lot of work!  I doubt you will be done by Friday....  Will we see a few enhancement updates?? 

[Darmok 34]

PERSONAL ANSWERS AND NEWS ON THE MOSAIC PROGRESS

Benedict

Hi Benedict

well that's the way I wanted it to end, no bells and whistles, just simple life! The "dirt parking-baseball diamond-bleachers-bike rack-bleachers-lighting" idea simply came from what was in the center of my hometown until the 70's there was such a baseball park where everyone met, either to watch the ball game or simply hang out... there was a real community life in those days... since then they have leveled the whole thing and replaced it with (ugly) apprtment buildings... (yuck)... and rebuild the park in a remote location where people never go except to play ball of course. But the ambiance is no longer there...(sad)

See you in your CJ, once in a while!

Take care my friend

-John

P.S. I know I've said it often, but you have a great talent in story telling and a wicked sense of humor! Please whatever SC4 project your undertake never let that side go, it's your greatest asset!

sobol (twice)

What can I say Sobol, it has to end someday...

But rest assured that my SC4 days are not over, I still have fun playing, so one of these days I'll come up with a new CJ.

Don't forget to use a brown paper bag for that hyperventilation problem! WINK

See you soon Sobol

Take care

-John

P.S. As for making AVR a sticky, I don't know if the admins will go for that, they never done it for any CJ...

Tojglee (HUN)

Welcome to Anduin Valley, Tojglee

I really appreciate your comment, as I said before, the posters comments are what keep CJ'ers going, if not... what's the point of presenting a CJ?

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and have your say before the end.

See you!

penguin007

Hi Will,

Don't worry my friend, I'll be collaborating with David in 3RR, and later on (I don't know when...) I'll present a new CJ and/or MD, I have some ideas that are slowly taking shape on a backburner inside my head... somewhere...

It's been a pleasure having you in AVR.

Take care

-John

Mr. Beer

Hi David,

Welcome (finally!... hehehe) to Anduin Valley

Thanks for stopping by and comment, better late than never hey!

Don't apologize about meeting friends in a pub... (I'm of Irish descent...) in fact what are you still doing here!!! Go GO! and raise a Guinness in AVR memory!

Take care

dedgren

David,

What can I say...

You amongst a few others are not only very special to me, but also have had an active part in how AVR turned out... you are responsible for me to turn to superdetailling and ploppable water, (Jeroni, pushed me in the CJ business in the first place and Dan and Bernhard (Dhoppeii and Nardo69) into rural setups..).

Busy as you are, I always appreciated each and everyone of your comments, encouraging and to the point with razor sharp wit, you being a lawyer, how could it be otherwise...

We'll see and talk to each other in a near future, and I'm looking forward to it my friend.

As for AVR, as they say, It's now part of SC4 history.

Thanks for all.

Regards

-John

freedo50

Welcome to AVR Fred,

It really please me to learn that AVR have been a source of inspiration for you.

As for Jeroni, David and so much other great CJ'ers helping us being better at what we do I really concur, I know that they have been a GREAT help to improve my skills and the driving force that permit me to go to the end of that small experiment.

Your kind words Fred are really appreciated believe me. All those CJ pages have been saved to my HD (678MB so far), as a reminder of tha

[Benedict 3,119]

John, thanks for that reply. Amazingly, Anduin Valley has pretty much stayed on page 1 all week - quite the testament to you and your region-building skills.

Thanks for that really nice comment - I mainly write the CJ for myself, as a place to track the progress of my work with all the extras (mainly transit maps). However, if there are people like you who enjoy my sense of humor (some would say its twisted) and my writing then that is just icing on the cake, and I really enjoy reading and answering everyone's comments. Lately I have come to give the CJ a subtitle in my own mind - The Mayors of Ellis Valley: It's not for everyone!

[penguin007 27]

Wow that pic is going to be so detailed cant wait for more

Will

[Nik-nik 3]

Hi John,

Thanks for the kind words.

The kids are watching Lingo (a letter and word game) on the telly as I write this.

Back at the office, my new job hit as a bomb. I have still 6 weeks to go at this firm and I am trying to do my best.

AVR Mosaic is coming steady as she goes.

Regards to Nacy and take care.

Nik-Nik

[sobol 1]

Yea, I know what you mean. But your CJ is by far one of the best, and they need to take a chapter out of SC4D, and have a few historic cj's as examples of what could be with enough work and practice.

Though so far, my cities are damned ugly still, but utilitarian.. if only the sims developed some brains and used the road/rail/etc... network I have built for them.. samned bastiches.

[autoVino 26]

oh wow that is huge!  wish you luck on making it :-D

[Fallon144 1]

Sure are a lot of pics

keep up the good work mate!

[jacqulina 162]

hiya john,

yes i learnt my lesson lol i backup every month now.yes we all have our slumps,i just hope my next updates will be ok lol fresh ideas sometimes dont go down well lol.its starting to get chilly here at night now,but still ok ish during the day,frost at first light though.awwwww its a shame to see AVR finishing but its been a wonderfull ride thankyou.other projects now that sounds interesting my friend i will be there for you when your ready.i enjoyed being with you too.and your very welcome john.more mushy stuff plz lol.

roundabouts i cant seem to get them right lol,i have been practising this week.excellent job with those access points,main streets looking very good.very nice job with the le,i wish i could use that i got a couple of nice lots that just dont want to show up in rthe plugin folder,someone made them for me.but they were just learning le at the time.wonderfull job with the ball field it looks very nice,love the overview pic too.beautifull place john and nancy have and nice to be near there home are you going to visit the spa.beautifull mosaics.i cant wait to see your last mosaic and its going to be huge.well my friend its been fun all the way its sad to see your cj finished.

take care 

and have a great weekend hugzzz 

[SpecialEddie 3]

Originally posted by: Darmok

SpecialEddie

Hi Eddie,

That's what I was trying to achieve, the small town feel on that single strip (main street) didn't want any fancy name for it either it would have spoiled the mood.

As I said earlier, the ballpark area is almost the replica of the ballpark we had in our hometown a few (cough.. cough...) years back...

On the settling down topic... well it wont be a very long vacation, because I'll be working on David 3RR project in a near future. And perhaps another CJ after that.

Eddie, you have a great storytelling talent, you're also one of the more innovative CJ'er here and your CJ deserve a lot more praise and support, PEOPLE THOSE OF YOU WHO DIDN'T VISIT Eddie's CJ YET SHOULD GO THERE AT ONCE...

There I've said it!

As for the passport, keep it! You never know it may come handy one day!

Take care my friend

-Johnquote>

 

First of all thanks for sharing AVR with the world, and second of all, thanks for the compliment.

This upcoming mosaic looks absolutely promising. I'm waiting for it with baited breath.

[bbfan02 23]

I am on the edge of my seat waiting for this!

[Gayowulf 15]

What amazes me is that you have the time and patience to do all this.

Patience is not my strong suit.

[Dsrwhat316 12]

my god, how do you have the patience to do all this?! you can't be human, can you? (LOL)

take your time with it; i'm sure it'll be incredible when it is done. as for you endeavors on SC4D; i am registered there as well, so i shall see you there! hopefully you'll also stay on there and drop by from time to time.

enjoy your week!

~ Dan

[Shadow Assassin 336]

That is indeed massive. Shame there's so much wasted space (the white space)...

And now, a hundred and sixty-two posts later (yes 162...)quote>

Make that 163. That's, what, a little over a post per page?

As for the final size, I've got an estimate: 36 000 x 24 000 at about 85-ish MB @ 50% quality. It looks like you just might have to make it smaller...

[Cleaner475 150]

wow, this is gonna be awesome - can't wait for this thats going to be one mosiac all right!

Richard

[pikatchoum 2]

Hi Darmok . I'm glad to notice Anduin Valley is still here. I don't have the time to check all the updates i missed now, but i'll dot it soon!; And i guess they'll make me speachless as always. Keep it up

[suplado! 23]

wow...cant wait for the awesome huge picture...

[gndrew 0]

Thanks John - I appreciate you answering my questions and helping me get started!

[patfirefghtr 160]

John ooooh yea aint it scary to find that out lol.... BTW man that is a massive project on the mosaic but man i sooo am waiting patiently to see it in its full blown glory and looking forward to some more tidbits.... Will see you here and over dale... - pat

[ky72x 13]

Hello John,

Sad to see this end, but this paves the way for even better things to come.  Hopefully you do decide to make a new CJ!  Either way, it was great to be able to be a part of the amazingness that is Anduin Valley.  Although I didn't really get to salivate in awe over too many updates, it still was a great experience watching the town progress in growth and development. 

I didn't think that it could get any better, but by looking at the past update, I was wrong.  Forming an alley... awesome idea.  Main street looks very nice with it running behind the buildings.  Nice job with the details on the alley lots too.  Your creativity also shines greatly with the baseball field.  The dirt parking lot and bleachers are good additions for the bleak Maxis lot, which has no props (besides trees) whatsoever.  I really like the signs behind the bleachers, and the Calvin and Hobbes billboards look great!  I love C&H, it's an awesome comic.   The aerial shots make for a good lead into the ending... and the very last pics were good choices for the conclusion.  Wow, what an excellent update... I loved it all.

That is one huge mosaic.  I really appreciate your work on getting it together, because it already has exceeded what the set standard is for "big."

Keep up the incredible work!

 - Kyle

[Ron Swanson 1]

Wow, the end of an extremely beautiful and detailed journal, not to mention, extremely large. I don't think I've ever actually seen a journal end. I think most just sort of stop, for who knows what reasons, and in a way, this is point that I would want to get to in my journal. I think my largest journal ended at 3 pages, and I quit it out of boredom. So way to stick it out and create a great journal. I hope you enjoyed all the time you invested in this journal and the game itself. Thanks!

[Darmok 34]

---

Benedict

Hi Benedict,

The human mind is capable of the most amazing things, and humor is probably one the most intriguing!

So don't you ever loose it!

And continue your excellent work.

Take care

---

penguin007

Hey Will,

Thanks man, and the mosaic is slowly progressing

See you

---

Nik-nik

Hi Niek,

Hey we had such a TV show a few years back (Lingo) it was on Radio-Canada (our national TV Network) for two years.... I wonder if it's the same concept?

Yep the mosaic is going fine, I just finished two new strips of 1600X28000 yesterday... the main file is now over 1.2GB!!! but the jpg version (100% quality) weighs in at 221MB.

I'm continuing to work on it, I hope the final version will be uploadable (sic) somewhere!

See you soon my friend

Regards to the family!

-John

---

sobol

Hi Sobol,

Don't give up, as they say practice makes perfect, just try and try, and if you just compare my work in Minas Tirith (the first city in Anduin Valley) and Anôrien, you'll notice a LOT and I mean A LOT of difference in the building style.... just takes time, practice and experimentation of course, don't be afraid to blast and redo! Use a money cheat for your experimentation, after all it's simply a game, do with it what YOU want...

Take care

---

autoVino

Welcome to Anduin Valley Autovino,

Strange name BTW, auto and vino!!! hummm... please don't drink and drive! WINK....

Well it is a very big mosaic, I never attempted something like it before... I sure hope it'll turn out OK!

See you

---

Fallon144

Hi Fallon,

Hehehe... yep an awful lots of pics!

---

jacqulina

Hi Jacky

We just had few days of very warm weather, around 25 celcius.... end of October... wonderful.

And I sure hope that some of the AVR regular posters will be following David's 3RR project at SC4D also.

And of course will be visiting the Spa! Why do you think I decided to build my house there! So we'll be visiting regularly and have milk (or tea for that matter) and cookies! hehehe...

Still working on the mosaic but it's coming fine!

Have a great weekend my friend.

-John

---

SpecialEddie

Hi Eddie,

Hey, that was no compliment, it was simply what I think!

So, continue to entertain us my friend!

As for the mosaic, it's slowly taking form...

Take care

---

bbfan02

Hi bb

Watch out that the seat doesn't topple! WINK

Probably a couple of weeks more for the mosaic...

See you!

---

Alafel

Hi Alafel,

Well, the time I don't have so much, I try to steal some minutes here and there.... just of matter of being stubborn I guess.

I kind of surprising myself with this project! Because I'm not that patient a person usually!

Take care

---

Dsrwhat316

Hi Dan,

See the answer to Alafel for the patience bit...

Me!.... being human.... what do you mean by that earthling ? Hehehehe....

No beside being a long time Star Trek fan (I was watching the original TV series... Kirk, Spock, Bones.. etc...) yep I'm that old... I'm not an alien... at least not yet!

Looking forward to reading you on 3RR...

Take care

---

Shadow_Assassin

Hey Daniel,

Yep I don't know when they will address that white space problem... sheesh!

It does look like more than one post per page, only you and Jacqulina are in that situation!

As for the mosaic, my guess is that the jpg 50% quality should be around 150MB or something, but as I'm in uncharted territory, I guess I'll see that when I get there!

And I'l sure try not to reduce the file itself!

Ta